Rangjung Yeshe Gomde

Dzogchen Meditation and Retreat Center

Annual Spring Work Week

May 25-June 3 Gomde needs your help in setting up the facilities and land for this year’s many activities. This includes raising the tents, preparing the campgrounds and gardens, house cleaning, carpentry, painting and several administrative tasks. Spreading the Dharma in the West is a meritorious group effort and is the perfect occasion for generosity and service.

We invite all Bodhisattvas and aspirants to join in the Dharma community at Gomde for a day or a week. Participants will receive free camping and meals plus group practice and study. Lama Tsultirm will be in residence by then and available for interviews and practice support to those who join us.

For more information or to sign up please email Ani Marcia at adminassist@gomdeusa.org. Let us know if you have any special skills, like carpentry, website management etc.

Other Opportunities for Dharma Service

Crew Leader positions are critical to the operation of a comfortable, healthy and pleasurable seminar experience. If you would like to join the Gomde Staff in serving our practitioners visit the Work Exchange Drop Down menu under Programs on the website www.gomdeusa.org.

Please read the Crew leader Positions and contact Ani Marcia adminassist@gomdeusa.org for more information. Seminar discounts are available to Crew Leaders.

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Individual Retreat Summer Program June 1 to August 4, 2012

This summer Rangjung Yeshe Gomde invites practitioners to engage in individual retreats in our Tent Cabin settings. This program is also suited to those who are not in the Kumara age range, cannot commit to the one month requirement yet would like the benefits of supported practice. Retreats maybe personalized and solitary or participatory in the Gomde activities. Practitioners will have access to meditation and practice support with Lama Tsultrim and Lama Gerry Prindiville, Gomde daily practices, and the Kumara study groups on the Seven Point Mind Training if desired. Kumara staff will bring meals for those who wish to minimize contact. This offering is only for days when there are no public seminars although those who are attending seminars will have priority if they wish to remain on the land for practice. Fee includes meals, classes, Lama support, and Tent Cabin $35/day. For those who would like to engage in service to the dharma center for 4 hours a day the fee is reduced to $20. Please contact Ani Marcia programs@gomdeusa.org for reservations or more information. 707-925-0201.

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Dīpaṃkara Tibetan Translator Internship Program

The Dīpaṃkara Translator Internship Program is an intensive program for intermediate-level students of the Tibetan language designed to facilitate the transition from language student to translator. Interns will work alongside translators from the Dharmachakra Translation Committee on active translation projects, gaining hands-on experience working in an intensive and collaborative environment in order to hone their abilities to read and translate Tibetan texts and acquire the skills necessary to undertake their own translation work.  The texts chosen for the program will be drawn from theKangyur and will be published as part of the 84,000 translation project to translate the Tibetan Buddhist canon.  Working with these classic Indian Buddhist texts in Tibetan translation will train future translators to read and translate this complex material and prepare them to make their own contributions to this important initiative.

Program Structure

Dīpaṃkara interns will participate in translation sessions for four hours each day, five days a week and will spend a similar amount of time preparing for class.  They are expected to study with the same degree of diligence required of any intensive academic setting. Interns will be provided with a draft translation and other resources and will be expected to arrive at each translation session having prepared the day’s material, to be actively engaged in discussion of the text and difficult points translation and to bring their questions and comments.  Wednesdays and Sundays are free days, but it is expected that interns will need to use some of that time to prepare the material for the translation sessions.

In addition to these sessions, interns will participate in the activities of Gomde’s Kumara Program, attending regular talks and discussions led by Rangjung Yeshe Gomde’s resident lamas, programs with visiting teachers and the center’s daily meditation practices.

Qualifications

Applicants must have a minimum of two years formal study of classical Tibetan or equivalent experience, a demonstrated capacity for advanced language study, excellent recommendations from language teachers or mentors, and background in the study of Buddhism. Though not required for acceptance, familiarity with Sanskrit and spoken Tibetan is helpful. The ideal applicant is respectful, diligent, and capable, and has a genuine interesting in translating Buddhist texts so they may be made available to a wide audience.

Cost

The cost of the program is $1000 for six weeks, inclusive of room and board onsite at Rangjung Yeshe Gomde,  which is located on 250 acres straddling the Eel River in the forested mountains of Northern California.  Interns will live with other students participating in the Kumara Program and will eat communally with all residents of the center. The cost of the program also includes participation in talks led by our resident lamas, community practice weekends and those programs presented by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee.  Interns will be given free admission to seminars by visiting Tibetan teachers in exchange for the performance of staff duties during the program.  Interns are invited to stay at the center following the completion of the intern program for a reduced residential fee.

The Summer 2012 Application Cycle is now closed.  Please check back next season for registration.

 

Instructors

Catherine Dalton

After receiving a BA in Religion at Middlebury College, Catherine moved to Kathmandu, Nepal in 2001 to continue her studies of Tibetan Buddhism.  From 2003 to 2011 she worked as an oral interpreter and Tibetan language instructor at Kathmandu University’s Centre for Buddhist Studies and directed the Centre’s Translator Training program for several years.  Catherine received an MA degree in Buddhist Studies from the Center in 2008.  She has been a member of the Dharmachakra Translation Committee since 2005, and her published translations include Middle Beyond Extremes (2005), A Practice of Padmasambhava (2009), Vajra Wisdom (2011), and the Lalitavistarasūtra (forthcoming). She is currently a PhD student in Buddhist Studies at UC Berkeley.

Ryan Damron

Ryan travelled to South Asia in 1998 and remained for nearly a decade, settling in Kathmandu.  He studied Buddhist classics and taught intermediate Tibetan at the Center for Buddhist Studies at Kathmandu University and joined the Dharmachakra Translation Committee for its inaugural publication ofMiddle Beyond Extremes (2005).  After leaving Kathmandu he spent a year as manager of Rangjung Yeshe Gomde California before beginning his academic studies.  Ryan received his BA in South Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University in 2010 and is currently pursuing a PhD in Sanskrit at UC Berkeley.  He has translated the Mahāmāyā Tantra for the 84000 project (forthcoming) and is currently working on a translation of its Sanskrit commentary, the Guṇavatīṭīkā.

 

 

 

 

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Dharmachakra Center News

In the summer of 2012 the Dharmachakra Center for Translation and Translation Studies will run a number of events designed to promote the engaged and sustained study of all facets of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.  For students of the Tibetan language the Dharmachakra Center offers the Dīpaṃkara Translator Internship Program, designed to train future translators in the skills necessary to undertake their own translation projects.  The Center will continue its lecture series with two talks, Kurukulle and the Ḍākinī Tradition and a weekend program with Jacob Dalton of UC Berkeley.  For more on the Dharmachakra Center and its activities, please visit the main page.

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Online Practice Program: Green Tara

Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Dharmachakra Practices are pleased to offer an online meditation program based on Tara, the female buddha of wisdom in action.

Known as The Triple Excellence, this teaching describes the entire Buddhist path in gradual practical instructions. With its rich and vibrant interface, The Triple Excellence is perfectly accessible and profound for both beginners and seasoned practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. The instructions spring from the great Tibetan master Chokgyur Lingpa, who met Tara in person and received this terma teaching of deep and true meaning.

In practical steps this teaching covers all three vehicles (The Triple Excellence) from the perspective of the Vajrayana. Beginning with fundamental mind training, one proceeds to the Bodhisattva path of love and insight combined. Finally, the penetrating wisdom of the Vajrayana is introduced, culminating in the secret paths of the higher tantras. At this more advanced stage of practice, participants will receive a transmission, which includes methods that use the energies of the subtle body, and they will be initiated into the practice of trekchö or “cutting through resistance” within the primordial purity that is the nature of the mind.

Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche received these teachings from H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. Rinpoche is also a close descendant of Chokgyur Lingpa. This is a wonderful and rare opportunity to receive these precious teachings from an authentic master who holds a short and uninterrupted lineage of transmission.

The program will be open from January 28th, 2011 onwards.

For more information, click here.

Best Wishes
DharmaSun team

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How to Do a Personal Retreat

Solitary retreat is an essential element for Vajrayana practice encouraged by our teachers both present and past. Rangjung Yeshe Gomde offers a serene and powerful environment blessed by Trulshik Rinpoche and many Nyingma and Kagyu masters for individual retreats. The blessings of the lineage and the auspiciousness of the land combine to create an extraordinary experience. Rangjung Yeshe Gomde is available for all traditions of Buddhist practice.

Retreat accommodations are available when programs are not in session. Personal retreats can range from a weekend to several months from October to May. Retreatants can mingle practice sessions with time spent appreciating Gomde’s unique natural environment. Walking trails crisscross 250 secluded acres of woods and meadows and meander along the banks of the rushing Eel River. Or you may choose to do an exclusively indoor retreat.

Click here to download an article giving clear guidelines for conducting your own retreat, by Lama Gerry Prindiville.

Click here to learn more about our retreat accommodations.

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Transcripts Now Available

In Nepal in January of 2006, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche gave two days of teachings on “The Five Powers: The Art of Living and Dying.” In preparation for Rinpoche’s teachings on the same subject at Orgyen Dorje Den in Alameda CA on August 23, Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery has authorized us to release the transcripts of his 2006 teachings.

Use the following links to download Part 1 and Part 2 of “The Five Powers”:

Download Part 1
Download Part 2

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Ocean of Amrita Outline

This outline PDF of the Ocean of Amrita (Ngakso Puja) presents and easy-to-follow guide to the puja as it was described by Lama Tsultrim in July of 2010. Practitioners can use the outline to more easily understand what is happening during the puja, and as a convenient guide when listening to the recording of Lama Tsultrim’s explanation.

Click here to download the Ocean of Amrita outline.

Click here to purchase a CD of Lama Tsultrim’s Ocean of Amrita teachings.

2010 Financial Report

The 2010 fiscal year was a year of productivity and balance for RYG California. Through the tireless work of many volunteers, an abundance of generous contributions from our Sangha, and the ceaseless creativity of all those who worked so hard on the land, for the first time in three years our precious gem in the forest came out in the black.  We present this financial report, compiled by our treasurer, Joanne Brion, as a thank-you note for everyone who put forward their time, energy, and contributions.  Click the link below to see the report:

2010 Financial Report

The qualities of an enlightened buddha are not his qualities; they are the qualities of the buddha nature fully manifest. We also possess that same potential, but it is hidden, lying dormant. Tulku Urgyen