Lampeter 2020 Virtual

RECORDING

Of the 6 Day Retreat with
Lama Alan Wallace & Dr Eva Natanya
Held: 18 - 23 August 2020

Register to receive link to the recording

DWELLING IN THE HEART OF REALITY:

Parallel Practices in Buddhist Dzogchen and Christian Mysticism

About The Retreat

In this six-day virtual retreat, the world-renowned Buddhist teacher, Dr. B. Alan Wallace, will dialogue with Dr. Eva Natanya, an experienced meditator and scholar of both Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity, to explore the deep parallels in practice and theory that may be found in these two ancient contemplative
traditions.

  • They will each lead numerous guided meditations, teaching details of meditation technique that are indispensable to developing a clear and stable practice, whichever tradition of prayer or meditation one may follow.
  • They will also explain the meaning of each practice within their respective contexts: how stillness meditation, or shamatha, fits within the full scope of the Buddhist path of Dzogchen, or the Great Perfection, and how the Christian practice of hesychasm, or silent stillness, becomes a mystical path to contemplative union with the mind of Christ.
  • Thus, participants will be invited to an experiential practice of interreligious dialogue, in which we take seriously the points of apparent contradiction, but also cut through to a perspective from which even irreconcilable differences might make sense within a greater encompassment.

Each day will consist of three sessions, totaling 5½ hours.

  • In each morning 2-hour session, Dr. Alan Wallace will introduce and guide a meditation, followed by explanation from the Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen tradition, and comparative discussion with Dr. Eva Natanya.
  • In each afternoon 2-hour session, Dr. Natanya will lead a meditation in Christian terms, followed by explanation from the Christian Hesychast tradition, and further dialogue with Dr. Wallace.
  • In the evening 1.5-hour session, Dr. Wallace will lead a meditation, followed by an opportunity for both teachers to respond to questions posed through the online platform.

TEXTS UPON WHICH THE RETREAT IS FOCUSED
Will be provided in pdf format before the retreat starts:

LAMA ALAN’S TEXT: will be drawn from a selection of chapters in OPEN MIND

Dr EVA NATANYA’S TEXT: will be drawn from a selection of passages in THE PHILOKALIA VOL IV

(See below in Suggested Reading )

Suggested Reading

Open Mind: View and Meditation in the Lineage of Lerab Lingpa, translated by B. Alan Wallace, edited by Eva Natanya (Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications), 2018. See especially “Oral Instructions of the Vidyādhara Gurus,” by Dharmasāra, and “An Ornament of the Enlightened View of Samantabhadra” by Jé Tsultrim Zangpo, pp. 127–207.

The Philokalia: The Complete Text Vol 4, compiled by St. Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth, translated by G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware (New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux), 1998. See especially St. Symeon the Theologian (pp. 11–75), Nikiphoros the Monk (pp. 192–206), and St. Gregory Palamas (pp. 287–345).

Selected Readings From Original Sources Will Be Provided

This retreat will be held via Zoom recording of the teaching sessions which will be made available
to students from the CCN website. Participants may download and listen in their own time, and may
email their questions to CCN daily.

CURRENTLY the teachings will be available in the following 5 languages:

  • ENGLISH: 18 – 23 August
  • SPANISH: 24 – 29 August
  • ITALIAN: Dates To Be Confirmed
  • RUSSIAN: 20 – 25 October
  • POLISH: 2 – 7 November
  • PORTUGUESE: 23 – 28 November

Recordings of Lama Alan & Dr Eva Natanya’s teachings will be posted on the website for download as Video & MP3 Files

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN IN YOUR OWN TIME.
English Language Recordings will be available from Tuesday 18th August on a Daily basis

QUESTIONS to Lama Alan or Dr Eva Natanya - email to retreatsccn@gmail.com Lama Alan & Dr Eva will respond to your written questions in Session 3

DAILY TEACHING SESSIONS

(All Sessions include Meditation practice periods)

SESSION 1: Lama Alan 1.5hrs + 30mins response from Dr Eva Natanya
SESSION 2: Dr Eva Natanya 1.5hrs + 30mins response from Lama Alan
SESSION 3: Lama Alan leads with Meditation + Written Questions response from Lama Alan & Dr Eva Natanya

Recordings in the Following Languages will be available as follows:
• Portuguese / Spanish / & Italian - early September
• Russian & Polish - mid-late September

THE RETREAT FEE IS £200 GBP

There will also be an opportunity to offer DHANA to Lama Alan & Dr Eva Natanya

PLEASE APPLY for a BURSARY if you feel you cannot meet the Retreat Fee. NO ONE WILL BE TURNED AWAY

Email Jude : retreatsccn@gmail.com

SUPPORTING BURSARIES

If you would like to support our vision of making
these teachings as accessible as possible,
please consider contributing to the bursary fund.

BURSARY FUND

CCN offers bursaries to help cover the cost of the retreat.

It is important that no-one is excluded because of low income.

We offer a full bursary to members of the ordained Sangha.

Others on low income will receive a bursary according to their circumstances

NO ONE WILL BE TURNED AWAY

To inquire about the bursary fund and all other queries, please email Jude: retreatsccn@gmail.com.

If you would like to support our vision of making these teachings as accessible as possible, please consider contributing to the Bursary Fund.

About Lama Alan Wallace

Lama Alan Wallace is an internationally recognised Buddhist teacher and scholar who has studied and practiced Buddhism for over 45 years. He spent 14 years as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, ordained by H.H. the Dalai Lama and he has studied with many great teachers from the Geluk, Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Theravada schools.

Alan is a world-renowned meditation teacher and guide, specialising in śamatha, vipaśyanā, dream yoga and Dzogchen teachings. He also brings deep insight into mindfulness as taught in secular movements and spiritual traditions other than Buddhism.

Apart from his training in Buddhism, Lama Alan has a degree in physics and philosophy of science, and a doctorate in religious studies. Drawing on this multi-faceted background, he brings many years of dedicated and profound practice and the wisdom of authentic experience to the challenge of integrating traditional Buddhist training with the needs of the modern world.

Alan’s website is: http://www.alanwallace.org

About Dr Eva Natanya

Eva Natanya is a scholar of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, an academic lecturer, writer, translator, and retreat leader. Following a nine-year career as a professional ballet dancer with both the New York City Ballet and the Royal Ballet of England, she earned an MA in Christian Systematic Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA, and a PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia.

For over twenty years, she has studied meditation, yoga, and philosophy in both the Christian and Buddhist traditions with master teachers in the United States, England, and India. She is the editor of Open Mind: View and Meditation in the Lineage of Lerab Lingpa(2018) and co-editor of Fathoming the Mind: Inquiry and Insight in Düdjom Lingpa’s Vajra Essence (2018), both by Dr. B. Alan Wallace.

Her own work explores the deep connections between Christian and Buddhist thought at rigorous levels of theology, ethics, mysticism, and contemplative prayer. Eva has spent over thirty months in solitary meditation retreat, and will soon return to full-time meditation practice, living in remote mountains of Colorado.

Eva’s website is: www.evanatanya.com

London Teaching Weekend

29 & 30 August 2020

THESE EVENTS WILL ALSO BE VIRTUAL

Saturday 29th August 2020 – THE WORLD OF MIND & MANDALAS
A Seminar with Ian Baker & B. Alan Wallace

Sunday 30th August – Devotion As A Path To Divinisation & Buddahood
From the View of The Great Perfection

A Meditation Workshop with Eva Natanya