8-Week Retreats

  • The Vajra Essence – Part 2

    Phase 3: “Revealing the Ground Dharmakāya” and Phase 4: “Determining the Characteristics and Qualities of the Ground” in The Vajra Essence: From the Matrix of Pure Appearances and Primordial Consciousness, a Tantra Self-Emergent from the Nature of Existence. April 1 – May 26, 2021

    Prerequisite Requirements to Purchase Program

    By purchasing you acknowledge that you have satisfied the retreat prerequisites of listening to the 2020 8-week retreat and will listen to Lama Alan’s oral commentary to the Vajra Essence in its entirety and have had an empowerment or will receive the recommended empowerment. If you need a scholarship, you can apply here.

    Please read full details below in description.

  • A virtual retreat from Miyo Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado

    Sponsored by Santa Barbara Institute and the Center for Contemplative Research

    The Vajra Essence – Part III March 31 - May 30, 2022

    Audio Stream/Download Registration

      This online, 8-week retreat will focus on completing Phase 4: “Determining the Characteristics and Qualities of the Ground,” Phase 5: "Determining Secret Dualistic Grasping and Revealing the Way of Natural Liberation" and Phase 6: "Teaching on the Essential Points of Practice and Their Key Distinctions" from The Vajra Essence: From the Matrix of Pure Appearances and Primordial Consciousness, a Tantra Self-Emergent from the Nature of Existence. Prerequisite Requirements to Purchase Program By purchasing you acknowledge that you have satisfied the retreat prerequisites of listening to both the 2020 and 2021 8-week retreats on The Vajra Essence and will listen to Lama Alan’s oral commentary to The Vajra Essence in its entirety and have had an empowerment or will receive the recommended empowerment. If you have not received the Lake-Born Vajra empowerment from Lama Alan, then you should not listen to Yangchen's teachings on the sadhana (which began after the empowerment was granted during the 2022 8-week retreat on May 11, 2022). We do hope that at a future date the empowerment will be available again. This year we are offering multiple pricing options as you will see below when you select Choose An Option. If you need a scholarship, you can apply here. Please read all of the details below under description.
  • B. Alan Wallace 25 Aug 2012 – 17 Oct 2012 Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand Teachings from the eight-week retreat at Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand
  • A Meditation Retreat on Shamatha, Vipashyana, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen

    B. Alan Wallace 29 Mar 2016 – 24 May 2016 Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy Spring 8-Week retreat on Shamatha, Vipashyana, and Mahamudra, based upon two texts: Panchen Lozang Chökyi Gyaltsen’s Highway of the Jinas: A Root Text on the Precious Geluk-Kagyü Mahamudra Tradition, and Karma Chagmé’s Naked Awareness: Practical Teachings on the Union. Prerequisite Requirements to Purchase Program To register for this retreat you should be familiar with the foundational teachings and practices of shamatha, the four applications of mindfulness, and the four immeasurables. See below for list of teachings. Please read full details below in Description.
  • An in-person and virtual retreat from Crestone, CO The Vajra Essence - Part IV March 31 – May 27, 2023 Co-sponsored by the Center for Contemplative Research
    This registration is for the virtual, online retreat.
    During this 8-week retreat, Lama Alan will grant an oral transmission and commentary to Düdjom Lingpa’s revealed treatise, The Vajra Essence, picking up where we left off last May. Please read all of the details below for more information on the teachings and additional details about the retreat. The most important prerequisite for participating in this retreat is that all applicants must have already listened to the oral transmission and commentary on the opening phases of The Vajra Essence by Lama Alan given during the first retreat in this series, offered during April – May, 2020 via either the SBI audio-stream or the Wisdom online retreat. You must have completed this before this retreat begins. To request a scholarship please complete this scholarship application. This year we are offering multiple pricing options as you will see below when you select Choose An Option.
  • B. Alan Wallace 08 Apr 2012 – 30 May 2012 Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand Spring 2012 shamatha retreat audio teachings with Alan Wallace. Live from the Thanyapura Mind Centre in Phuket, Thailand.
  • B. Alan Wallace 03 Sep 2013 – 25 Oct 2013 Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand Alan Wallace Fall 2013 8-Week retreat on Shamatha and the Bodhisattva Way of Life, including teachings on the Seven-Point Mind-Training and A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, by B. Alan Wallace at the Thanyapura Mind Centre in Phuket, Thailand, from September 2nd- October 28th, 2013
  • B. Alan Wallace 15 Nov 2010 – 30 Dec 2010 Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand Welcome! On this site you’ll find downloadable podcasts from the Fall 2010 Shamatha Retreat led by B. Alan Wallace in Phuket, Thailand. Follow along with the retreat as Wallace gives daily meditation instructions to help one cultivate attention and awareness as well as the qualities of love, compassion, joy and equanimity. We hope you will enjoy and benefit from these beautiful teachings! We are offering this item free.
  • Phase 1: “Taking the Impure Mind as the Path” and Phase 2: “Revealing Your Own Face as the Sharp Vajra of Vipaśyanā” in The Vajra Essence: From the Matrix of Pure Appearances and Primordial Consciousness, a Tantra Self-Emergent from the Nature of Existence with B. Alan Wallace.

    Retreat Dates: April 1- May 26, 2020

    Prerequisite Requirements to Purchase Program

    One must have genuine interest in practicing the dharma and must have read the text, “The Fine Path to Liberation.” If you need a scholarship, you can apply here.

    Please read full details below in description.

  • Stage of Generation, Shamatha, Vipashyana and Mahamudra

    B. Alan Wallace 30 Jul 2015 – 24 Sep 2015 Araluen Retreat Center, Queensland, Australia This eight-week retreat will focus on stage of generation, shamatha, vipashyana and mahamudra.
  • B. Alan Wallace 02 Sep 2011 – 21 Oct 2011 Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand Dharma talks and guided meditations given six days per week during the Fall, 2011 eight-week Shamatha retreat at the Thanyapura Mind Centre in Phuket, Thailand, with B. Alan Wallace. Podcasts will be posted daily during the retreat.
  • Fall 2014 Shamatha, Vipashyana, Dream Yoga, and the Experience of Pristine Awareness in the Great Perfection Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism B. Alan Wallace 21 Aug 2014 – 16 Oct 2014 Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand This eight-week retreat will focus on three of the six transitional processes, namely: the Transitional Process of Living, with teachings on śamatha and vipaśyanā, the Transitional Process of Dreaming, with teachings on dream yoga, and the Transitional Process of Meditation with teachings on Dzogchen meditation. All these teachings will be based on the text The Profound Dharma of The Natural Emergence of the Peaceful and Wrathful from Enlightened Awareness Stage of Completion Instructions on the Six Transitional Processes, an “earth terma” of teachings by Padmasambhava, revealed by Karma Lingpa in the fourteen century. The English translation of this text has been published under the title Natural Liberation: Padmasambhava’s Teachings on the Six Bardos, with commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche and translated by B. Alan Wallace.
  • B. Alan Wallace 10 Apr 2011 – 04 Jun 2011 Thanyapura Mind Centre, Phuket, Thailand Dharma talks and guided meditations given six days per week during the Spring, 2011 eight-week Shamatha retreat at the Thanyapura Mind Centre in Phuket, Thailand, with B. Alan Wallace. Podcasts will be posted daily during the retreat.
  • The Enlightened View of Samantabhadra
    Location: Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
    Held From: April 4th - May 30th, 2019

    During this eight-week retreat, Alan Wallace will give detailed oral commentaries on one of the five classic Dzogchen treatises by Düdjom Lingpa, The Enlightened View of Samantabhadra. This is the third in a series of 8-week retreats in which commentaries and oral transmissions will be offered for all five of these treatises: The Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra (2018), The Enlightened View of Samantabhadra (2019), and The Vajra Essence (2020-2023)

    Prerequisite Requirements to Purchase Program

    One must have genuine interest in practicing the dharma and must have read the text, “The Fine Path to Liberation.” If you need a scholarship, you can apply here.

    Please read full details below in Description.

  • B. Alan Wallace and Glen Svensson 04 Apr 2018 – 30 May 2018 Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy During this eight-week retreat, Alan Wallace will begin by commenting on Sera Khandro’s explanation of the preliminary practices for Dzogchen in The Fine Path to Liberation and by granting the empowerment of the Lake-Born Vajra manifestation of Padmasambhava. He will then give detailed oral commentaries on one of the five classic Dzogchen treatises by Düdjom Lingpa, The Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness, in addition to Düdjom Lingpa’s commentary (edited by Pema Tashi), entitled The Essence of Clear Meaning. Alan will comment on all aspects of these texts except the pith instructions on the direct crossing over (thögal), which is to be taught only to individuals who are able to abide continuously in pristine awareness.

    Prerequisite Requirements to Purchase Program

    One must have genuine interest in practicing the dharma and must have read the text, “The Fine Path to Liberation.” If you need a scholarship, you can apply here.

    Please read full details below in Description.

  • “The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers,” “Buddhahood Without Meditation” and “The Fine Path to Liberation” with B. Alan Wallace

    03 Apr 2017 – 30 May 2017 Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy During this eight-week retreat Alan Wallace will give detailed oral commentaries on two of the five classic Dzogchen treatises by Düdjom Lingpa, The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers and Buddhahood Without Meditation, in addition to the brief text on the preliminary practices for Dzogchen by Sera Khandro, entitled The Fine Path to Liberation. This will be the first in a series of 8-week retreats in which commentaries and oral transmissions will be offered for all five of these treatises: The Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra (2018), The Enlightened View of Samantabhadra (2019), and The Vajra Essence (2020-2023).

    Prerequisite Requirements to Purchase Program

    To register for this retreat, you should be familiar with the foundational teachings and practices of shamatha, the four applications of mindfulness, and the four immeasurables. See below for list of teachings. One must have genuine interest in practicing the dharma and must have read the text, “The Fine Path to Liberation.” If you need a scholarship, you can apply here. Please read full details below in Description.

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