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Foundations of Tantra Retreat, Ontario
July 21, 2017 - July 28, 2017
@ The Dharma Centre of Canada, Kinmount, Ontario
This week-long retreat at the beautiful and historic Dharma Centre will be an opportunity for you to delve into the Buddhist tantric tradition with Tantra Master Doug Duncan.
Tantra is a weaving of a clear mind and a blissful heart and the image often used to portray the metaphor of these dualities of consciousness is the dance of male/female in union. It is a method for exploring the relationship between our inner mental workings and our outer contact with the everyday world.
We will learn how our fears can be harnessed to become a tool for overcoming the anxieties we experience in daily life. The retreat will enable us to develop trust and confidence that conquers fear and establishes freedom to love and explore.
The retreat begins with a Green Tara empowerment in Tibetan tradition, which lays the foundations of the practice. Throughout the week there will be opportunities to develop this practice with guidance through classes, activities and meditation.
Whether you are a beginner or a more experienced practitioner, the week promises to be a deep and transformative one.
This meditation retreat is for people who:
- Are new to meditation
- Already meditate
- Want to go deeper into their meditation practice
- Want to find out what tantra is all about
- Want to develop their tantric practice through Green Tara
- Want to empower their lives and change their relationship with fear and love
What will be covered in this meditation retreat?
During the week-long retreat you will become more familiar with the four levels of tantra:
In Action Tantra, traditionally the image of a ‘smile’ between male and female is used. A smile is an invitation and a connection. It is relatively low risk and decently far enough away to ensure time to assess if further dialogue is desired or possible. As a karma yoga practice it involves service and generosity in practice.
Relational Tantra uses the metaphor of ‘holding hands’ as a symbol of closer communication and therefore deeper connection than just a smile. Here dialogue between teacher and student or between one’s actions and one’s psychology is deepened. At this level more honesty is required, not only between the teacher and student, but with one’s self as well.
Completing Tantra, requires more vulnerability, greater trust and deeper courage. The metaphor here would be ‘making out’, to use colloquial language. Not everything in our ego is nice. The monsters of our shadows and the deeper part of our hurts, our loneliness and betrayals, will be unveiled. But, also the strengthening of our hearts and minds occurs here.
Finally, in Union Tantra the illusion of separation between beings evaporates. One comes to realize that only loving kindness and compassion exist in the heart/mind of clarity. We are joyous and equanimous in this level of tantra. And as one might expect from the previous metaphoric images, union is depicted as the surrender anticipated in sexual union.
You will also have the opportunity to attend a Green Tara empowerment and receive guidance in practicing this as a personal meditation.
How will this meditation retreat help my life?
Working with Doug Sensei on this retreat and exploring the different levels of tantra through the Green Tara empowerment will give you the opportunity to explore how your inner thoughts affect your contact and relationship with the world around you.
You will begin to see how fear itself becomes a tool which supports you in your daily life. Once you begin to understand this, your exploration truly begins and your week at the Dharma Centre is just the start – what you learn and experience there will travel with you long after the retreat.
Suggested Reading: Introduction to Tantra: A Vision of Totality, By Lama Yeshe, Compiled and Edited by Jonathan Landaw, Wisdom Publications, London: 1987.
About the Teacher:
Doug Duncan is a Canadian-born Dharma teacher and counsellor who has travelled, explored and meditated for most of his life. He has studied extensively in the Theravadin, Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist traditions under the principal tutelage of Namgyal Rinpoche, as well as other teachers.
His desire to see the world and understand it more fully began at a young age – as a child he was repeatedly found wandering and had to be returned home by the police!
He teaches at and founded Dharma Japan and the Clear Sky Meditation and Study Center in British Columbia and he is a visiting teacher in the UK and many other countries. His teaching draws on contemporary psychology and science.
He is the author of Dharma If You Dare.
What others say about Doug and his teaching partner, Catherine:
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What does is the investment to attend this meditation retreat?
Dāna Practice
Doug Sensei teaches by the ancient practice of dāna or generosity. Please follow this link to learn more about this profound practice before you register. You can bring your donation when you come to the Dharma Centre – cash and cheques are both accepted.
Course and centre costs
The full retreat cost (excluding dāna to the teachers) is $760 for Dharma Centre members and $895 for non-members, which covers course fees, food and accommodation. (A 50% deposit is required upon registration.)
There is a weekend option to attend from Friday night to Sunday afternoon, including participation in the wongkur, for $270.
Register now as space is limited!
Payment details:
You can register and pay your fees or deposit by visiting the Dharma Centre website here:
Other Course Details:
- We ask that people arrive between 4-6pm on Friday, July 21. There will be a light meal served at 6pm and the retreat will open at 7:30.
- The retreat will finish at lunchtime on Friday July 28th.
A typical day on your Meditation Retreat*
- 7.00am: Breakfast
- 7:45-8:45am: Meditation
- 9.00-10:30am: Dharma teachings by Doug Sensei
- 11.00am: Walk / meditation
- 12:30pm: Lunch
- 2.00-3:00pm: Group meditation
- 3:00-3:30pm: Stretching
- 3:30-5:00pm: Dharma teachings by Doug Sensei
- 5:30- 6:30pm: Karma Yoga
- 7.00pm: Dinner
- 8:30-9.30pm: Group meditation
*This is a sample schedule. May be subject to change.
Contact us to find out more:
Email – [email protected]
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