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Exploring the Bardo of Now – Meditation Retreat (Online)

June 19, 2021 - June 25, 2021

Exploring the Bardo of Now

Meditation Retreat (Online) | June 19-25, 2021

Bardos relate to both living and dying, creating and dissolving.  In 2020, we collectively had the rug pulled out from underneath us by the COVID-19 virus. During this retreat, we will investigate the bardos and what they can teach us about life and impermanence.

*Due to the ever-changing travel restrictions, globally and in Canada, this course is now offered online.  

OverviewRegistration
exploring the bardos meditation retreat

Exploring the Bardo of Now

During this retreat, we will investigate the bardos and what they can teach us about ordinary life. We’ll draw on Vajrayana Buddhism, contemporary psychology and modern exploration practices to learn how to make peace with the bardos and live more fully in the present moment. 

death and dying process

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Why Exploring the Bardo of Now?

June 19-25, 2021

Why a meditation retreat on the Bardos?

Bardos relate to both living and dying, creating and dissolving.  Bardos can appear at any time, and may make us feel we have lost all of our stability and reference points. However, they also offer us an opportunity to explore what is dying and prepare for a new birth.

 Bardo study is relevant to people of all ages, regardless how old they are or how close to dying they are.

 

Who is this retreat ideal for?

This retreat is ideal for relatively new students who are interested in exploring Buddhist principles that include both Eastern and Western views of death and impermanence. It will appeal to students of the Positive Death movement. Is is also ideal for AIT students who cannot travel to BC as often as they like to, given the pandemic situation.

What’s Expected of Me if I Come to This Retreat?

The Course

  • An open mind and heart, and a spirit of adventure are excellent things to bring!
  • It’s human to have some apprehensions about doing something new, meeting new people, or going to a new place. Particularly when all three happen together. We try to make this as supportive as possible.
  • When exploring our growth edges, it’s natural to feel uncertain and awkward. And it’s very fruitful to transform that emotional tension into creative energy by drawing on your own inner resources – such as inquiry, going with the flow, and self-reflection, just a few of the many kinds of constructive engagement.
  • To maximize your retreat experience, we ask that you refrain from reading, using the internet, phone or listening to music during the course.
  • Students are expected to be silent during the silent parts of the retreat, and participate in all classes, group meditations, activities, and discussions.

Meet the Teachers

Catherine Pawasarat
Catherine Pawasarat
Doug Duncan
Doug Duncan

Doug Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat are Dharma and meditation teachers who founded Clear Sky Meditation Centre, BC, Canada. Achariya Doug Duncan received lay ordination from Namgyal Rinpoche in 1978, and is a lineage holder in that teaching. Known for his direct, humourous and compassionate engagement with students, Doug embraces various traditions, contemporary psychology, and science, to mentor all beings to a more awakened state. Catherine Pawasarat has trained daily with Acariya Doug Duncan since 1998 in an intensive spiritual apprenticeship that is rare in the modern West. She received lay ordination from Namgyal Rinpoche in 2003. In addition to Buddhist philosophy and its applications to daily life, Catherine also draws on generative living and the arts. With Doug she is co-founder of Clear Sky Retreat Center in the BC Rockies.

Lina Hochstetler
Lina Hochstetler

Lama Linda (Linda Hochstetler) has studied both mindfulness meditation and Vajrayana Buddhism for more than 20 years. She trained in mindfulness meditation with Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 90’s, and studied under Namgyal Rinpoche (the first Canadian-born Rinpoche) from 1995 until his death in 2003. She received permission to teach in the Namgyal lineage in 2014, and currently studies Vajrayana Buddhism with Doug Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat. Silent meditation retreats are a central part of her study and practice, and since 1995, she has completed retreats of between 1 week and 2 months in length every year.

What Do Previous Retreatants Say?

I attended two retreats led by Doug Sensei. Both were life-changing experiences. During the retreats I was led to confront hidden parts of myself, unaware that they were affecting me so deeply. Shadow work helped me accept and integrate parts of myself that I had rejected, and also to acknowledge new strengths and wisdom that were within me all along. After each retreat I left feeling freer and more confident about my spiritual practice.

Shant Dolbakian, Toronto

Video producer

The retreat helped me to access both my strengths and my dark shadow side that interfere with my reaching my fullest potential. Now I am able to better integrate these two parts of myself, allowing both to unfold, rather than one suppressing the other. Making both sides more explicit, more conscious in this retreat, I lost some fears I didn’t know I had, and I continue to use the tools today, a few years later.

Lisa Feder, US / France

Ph.D Cultural Anthropologist and Ethnomusicologist

Ancient teaching that I feel is important to understand if someone was serious about meditation practice. I appreciate the teachers, Doug Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat, unrelenting perseverance to teach about the roots and traditions of these rich practices. These practices are life changing, so it is great that we can have teachers that will explore the rich history with us, and deliver the material in a very understandable and relevant way.

Jenai Lieu, Calgary Alberta

Psychology student

Course Details

Fees and Dāna

This course is offered based on the unique combination of 1) dāna  and 2) a $200 CAD administrative fee. Click on the tabs below to learn more:

You may have come across this elsewhere in the form of “pay from the heart.” Dāna is a Sanskrit term meaning “generosity.” With dāna, we give as a mutual exchange of generosity. It’s our joy to offer this course, and we trust you’ll match our time, energy, and passion by giving an amount of money that feels good and healthy to both you and us.

The dharma has been built on generosity. No one is excluded for lack of funds. However, it is also extremely beneficial to give as much as you are able.

Typically people give in a range of $120-$500 USD for a course.

As we’re committed to ensuring everyone has access to the Dharma, please feel comfortable to give less if you are not financially secure. Another form of giving dāna is to offer service, and if you are interested in providing support in a non-financial way, we invite you to contact us.

If you are financially secure, we invite you to generate merit by providing more financial support to the Triple Gem. Contributions like these make the difference in supporting our teachers, teachings, and center.

Learn more about the practice of dāna here.

In a traditional model of in-person teachings, a retreat center or urban meditation center invites teachers to visit. In these cases the centers have infrastructure and organization costs to cover, which might be covered by an admin fee. For the teaching itself, dāna to the teachers is offered in a bowl. This honors both the sustainability of the teachers, and of the supporting center.

We’ve tried to recreate this approach online. The teachers’ time and the teaching themselves are offered on the basis of dāna, separate to the admin fee. With our dāna offering we are making a direct gift of generosity to the teachers to support their teachings and livelihood.

The admin fee* goes to support the infrastructure and organization necessary to support them to teach. As anyone with an online business will know, the costs of setting up good infrastructure to support effective teaching and connection online can be surprising.

Our admin fee changes based on the date of registration.

Register four + weeks prior: $80
Register two to four weeks prior: $100
Register less than two weeks prior: $120

*We also do not wish to exclude anyone from the Teachings, so if you are not currently in a financial position to afford the admin fee, please contact the course Registrar via [email protected] so we can support you to attend.

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Below are a few of the work and benefits that your admin fee payment is supporting:

  • High speed internet (to allow interviews and classes on-line)
  • Online class systems (Zoom)
  • Registration / admin systems (Eventbrite, Basecamp)
  • Communication systems to keep everyone informed, share connection details, teachings and other resources (Mailchimp)
  • Online storage (for example, Dropbox, to allow us to let students watch recordings, and to store and share selected teachings in other forms such as podcasts and video later, and Amazon cloud)
  • Quality sound, video and editing equipment (both for live teachings and to provide good enough quality for later sharing as podcasts and video). We are regularly updating our equipment to improve your user experience.
  • Online calendar booking system to allow students to book interviews
  • Website hosting and maintenance for sharing upcoming courses, teachings, blogs and other resources.

We welcome any questions. May all our efforts be sustainable, abundant and for the benefit of all beings!

 

Please register here:

Also See the Presentation on Buddhist End of Life Contemplative Care (February 6th 2021): Buddhist perspectives on end of life speakers series.

buddhist contemplative care for end of life
death and dying process

Free Infographic: What Happens to Consciousness During the Death Process?

Add your information below to receive the infographic. You will also get amazing dharma content from Planet Dharma, directly to your email inbox. We promise not to spam!

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Details

Start:
June 19, 2021
End:
June 25, 2021
Event Categories:
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Website:
https://www.awakenintoronto.org/

Organizer

Awaken in Toronto
Email
info@awakenintoronto.org
View Organizer Website