[CASonline] Retreat with the great Drikung Ontrul !!
 

 
 
 
 
Dearest Friends @ CAS of Thousand-Arm Chenrezig !!
 
 
Great Rejoicings to the excellent-successes of the blessed programmes with the Great Terton, Ganor Rinpoche !!
 
The auditorium overflows daily with humans...... and even the gods are so cramped, mighty and patient, for blessings from the Emissary of Guru Padmasambhava !!
 

It coudln't have happened without all our friends' solid support..... to you all, our SOLID "Thank You !!"

 
  bb & all beings @ CAS belonging to Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa ( !! )
 
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Drikung Ontrul Rinpoche
 
We are sending you two important retreats with the great Drikung Ontrul Rinpoche.
 
Ontrul Rinpoche is recognized by the late 16th Gyalwa Karmapa as the emanation of one of the 25 Heart Disciples of Guru Padmasambhava.
 
His Holiness the Dalai Lama remarked, "My friend, Drikung Ontrul Rinpoche, gets tears in his eyes when he talks about Dzogchen. This is due to his great Bodhicitta."
 
Before leaving Singapore, the Great Terton exhorted all students to learn as much as possible from Drikung Ontrul Rinpoche as Ontrul Rinpoche is such a genuine and realized Master, so rare and precious in our present age.
 
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Details of Ontrul Rinpoche's retreat-programmes in Singapore are given in  
 
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Programme in gist
 
Phowa Retreat
25 May - 7:30 pm - Great Empowerment of Buddha Amitabha **
25 and 26 May - 8 am to 10 pm ( Full Day )
27 May - 8 am to 5 pm ( Almost Full Day )
 
Mahamudra Retreat
1 and 2 June - 8 am to 10 pm ( Full Day )
3 June - 8 am to 5 pm ( Almost Full Day )
 
( ** Course fees are not applicable for the two empowerments )
 
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Essential Practices for All
 
THESE TWO PROGRAMMES ARE DECIDED UPON DETAILED CONSULTATION  WITH ONTRUL RINPOCHE HIMSELF.
 
THEY ARE ALSO DECIDED UPON AS THEY ARE POWERFUL AND ESSENTIAL COMPLEMENTARY PRACTICES TO ANY OF THE PRACTICES THE STUDENTS ARE CURRENTLY ENGAGED IN, HENCE, NO ADDITIONAL "BURDEN" OF PRACTICE-COMMITMENTS AND LIKE CONCERNS.
 
ANY STUDENT OF THE DHARMA SHOULD BENEFIT GREATLY FROM HAVING LEARNT AND PRACTISED THEM FROM AND WITH A GEUINELY REALIZED MASTER AS ONTRUL RINPOCHE.
 
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Important Note
 
The deadline for the programme is on 17 May 2007, twelve mid-night.
 
The hostel offers a range of accomodation facilities, the allocation of which, on a first-come-first-serve basis.
 
The accomodations are reasonably comfortable and air-conditioned, food and amenities are fit for modern day yogis and yoginis.  
 
At the moment, several groups including other exciting religious groups are also vying for the places.
 
Our Friends will need to register fast to get a place !!
 
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Retreat Costs
 
The costs to be paid by the students are mainly to off-set their own stay-in costs and rental costs of the auditorium. 
 
Ontrul Rinpoche has indicated that He prefers a retreat venue with stay-in facilities.
Hence, Katong Hostel, which is comparatively affordable to most of us, with a friendly and supportive management.
 
All Net Proceeds ( if any !! ) will be offered to Drikung Ontrul Rinpoche and if the net amount exceeds ten thousand sing dollars, plus, minus, ( which is unlikely ), the remaining sum will be channlled into  
CAS's myriad ( "life-saving" !! ) projects, so important to our Tibetan retreat monks and all in India.
 
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The Retreat Package
 
( A )
Dormitory Style Accomodation - S$200/-
( per person - 2 nights )
[ Inclusive of course fees ]
 
( B )
4 Person Room Accomodation - S$300/-
( per person - 2 nights )
[ Inclusive of course fees ]
 
( C )
4 Men Apartment with attached bathroom - S$400/-
( per person - 2 nights )
[ Inclusive of course fees ]
 
( D )
Students who wish to attend the programme but not to stay-in, the suggested costs ( to off-set rental of the auditorium etc ) is
1) S$150/- for all 3 days of the Mahamudra Retreat &
2) S$150/- for all 3 days of the Phowa Retreat &
3) S$250/- for all 6 days of both retreats.
 
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All meals are not included. Food is available in the food centre below the auditorium.
One meal costs an average of S$3/-.   
 
Laundry services is available at S$2/- per bag.
 
Internet services is available at S$2/- an hour.
 
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As is CAS's "standard" spiritual-policy:
 
No students will be turned-away from the programme due to financial concerns.
Just drop us a line ( !! ).  
 
All Sangha members are exmpted from all costs of the programme.
 
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Registration for the programme is required.

Email bb at contact@casotac.com 

Send us your :

A) Name

B) Contact

C) Package Selection  
 
 Reservation of retreat-places is confirmed only upon receipt of the payment via any of the following routes:
 
A) Cash - Camden Education Center ( call 64686835 before coming !! )
Camden Education Center's address is available at www.camden.edu.sg
 
B) Crossed Check to "Charitable Assistance Society" 
[ Posted to 170 Upper Bt Timah Road, Bt Timah Shopping Centre, #B1-27, S(588179) ]
 
C) Funds Transfer: DBS Current Account - 022-900386-5 ( Email to alert upon transfer )
 
Payment on very day of the programme is not possble this time as we need to pay the deposit for reservation of the accomodation to the hostel at least 3 weeks before the programme. 
 
 
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Why Retreat ??
 
Besides being Ontrul Rinpoche's holy wish, we have seriously considered the fact that Singapore has more than her fair share of empowerments, pujas and blessings but is in sore need of serious retreats and follow-up teachings cum practices.
 
Profound practices have been bestowed over and over again but nothing has been internalized and the students remain their "hard-core" self, hard with aeons of all-too-familiar defilements.
 
 
YOU are needed to help nurture the "culture" for serious and proper practices.
 
Everyone -- several Heads we have talked to, the Rinpoches and students themselves ( !! ) -- is talking about the need for change to the way Tibetan Buddhist practices are transmitted and practised here.
 
Someone will need to at least TRY to do something about it.  
 
May this, then, be a first, little toddle ........!!
 
Holy Guan Yin Pu Sa please guide us for the BEST to come of this .....
"OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA !!" 
 
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More Notes
 
Pending approval from Ontrul Rinpoche, we will be requesting for bestowal of the Secret Empowerment of the Queen of Great Bliss at 7:30 pm on 1 June 2007.
( Practice-Sadhana of the Queen of Great Bliss is available to the serious student )
 
If Rinpoche decides that it will not be beneficial for bestowal of the Queen of Great Bliss thsi time, the Mahamudra Retreat will proceed as planned, with possble bestowal of a secret empowerment related to the great Mahamudra of the Kagyu School.  
  
This is in conjunction with our hosting of the entire Longchen Nyingthig Cycle of Empowerments and Teachings to be completely bestowed right here in Singapore...... with blessings and approval of the Supreme Head Emeritus of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, Kyabje Drubwang Penor Rinpoche.  
 
 
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Programme Details
 
 

Initiation of Lord Buddha Amitabha 

Drikung Ontrul Rinpoche will be bestowing the precious initiation of Lord Buddha Amitabha in conjunction with the retreat on the great Phowa.  

 

Phowa

Refers to the transference of consciousness at the time of death to Dewa Chen, the Pure Land of Lord Buddha Amitabha.

 

When one has received any of the signs of the Phowa meditation, then one is considered to be prepared to enter into the Buddha-field of Amitabha Buddha (Dewa-chen) at the time of death.

It is taught that one does not return to the samsaric realms after having entered Dewa-chen and that one can quickly achieve Enlightenment. 

 

Marpa Lotsawa said, "From now, if you study Phowa, purify, purify time and time again. Then, at that time, when death is approaching, you will know no despair. If, beforehand, you have become accustomed to this Path of Phowa, then at the time of death you will be full of cheerful confidence."

 

Phowa of the great Drikung Lamas


The Phowa as transmitted through the great Drikung Kagyu Lineage famed in Tibet as THE supreme phowa transmission.

 

The Drikung Phowa became so powerful and rare that it is traditionally offered only once every twelve years at Drikung in central Tibet.

 

The fame of this Phowa continued to spread as thousands of participants would experience the signs of the Phowa during the 'Lung' (Blessing Transmission) given by a head Lama of Drikung Kagyu.

 

Due to the accumulated energy of the lineage and the blessing of the teaching itself, the qualified Lama is able to directly transfer the blessings of this practice to the pure and devoted disciples who can experience the signs very quickly.  

 

We now have the same opportunity as did the thousands of people in Tibet to master the Phowa practice, enabling us to transform the experience of death, which is a certainty, into a passage to the realization of Dewa-chen (Blissful, Pure Land).

 

We should all rejoice to have the utmost blessedness to undertake retreat with one of the seniormost lineage-holder of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage, Drikung Ontrul Rinpoche.

 

The Swiftest Path to Liberation

Because of all these, the Phowa is becoming particularly relevant in these times simply because in today's society we do not have the time nor the circumstances to walk the spiritual path of the Dharma as did our predecessors in the past.

 

A Means to Benefit Others

Sufficiently accomplished practitioners may use this powerful method to benefit other persons, even animals, who have reached the end of their present life. Tibetan lay people consider it extremely important to perform Phowa for the dying and recently deceased.

 
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The Queen of Great Bliss

( tentative ) 

 

The Queen of Great Bliss is one of Tibet's greatest cycles of Vajrayogini and is one of the most secret sections in the Longchen Nyingthig.

 

Receiving the empowerment of the Queen of Great Bliss is essential for subsequent practices of the Completion Stages such as the Inner Fire, Vase-Breathing and the like in the Longchen Nyingthig Cycle.

 

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Mahamudra

 

According to the 'Liberating-Biographies'of the great Guru Padmasambhava as preserved in the Rinchen Terdzod, Guru Padma is a practitioner of both the Mahamudra and the Dzogchen and is a Master and Lord of these two great traditions, both being the pinnacle of the teachings of Lord Buddha.

 

According to the Great Terton Ganor Rinpoche, the Dzoghcen and the Mahamudra are quintessentially one in intent and practice.

 

The Drikung Kagyu tradition has traditionally been one of the main lineages to uphold and transmit the Dzogchen and the Mahamudra as an integral transmission.

 

The practice of Mahamudra empowers the student into complete realization of the path and results in Buddhahood in one life.

 

 

?ˇăMudra?ˇŔ refers to all phenomena without exception, everything subsumed within samsara and nirvana such that no phenomenon, nothing whatsoever, is omitted or left out. It means the entirety of everything.

 

"Maha"means great, the highest. This is the highest and most conclusive view which realizes all phenomena of samsara and nirvana as they actually are..

 

Mahamudra is also said to be like the seal of a king under which all things of the kingdom exist.

 

There is nothing in the kingdom which does not fall under the authority of the king. So likewise, there is nothing within samsara or nirvana which does not fall under this Mahamudra.

 

The essence of Mahamudra is the source of all the Buddhas of the past, present and future.

 

* The Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang

 ( Supreme Head of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage )  

 

 

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There will be no specific pre-requisites or subsequent commitments to uphold before or after the programmes.

 

Serious students who wish to practise subsequent to the teaching-transmission, will, however, be fully empowered to continue with the follow-up practices. 

 

All relevant practice texts will be made available to all retreatants and the serious students.

Simultaneous translation into Chinese is available. Students requiring Chinese translation need to be equipped with a FM radio and a headset.

 

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"It's working !!"
 
A sure sign that our work is benefitting and causing some benevolent impact in the scene, (1) disgruntled quarters and / from (2) alleged banned groups related to spirit-cultic worships, have had busy time shredding posters hosted by CAS, even of great Masters, so pure and holy.....
We have chosen to reciprocate with unremitting love and promises to help, this life and other lives !!
 
 
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