Guru Yoga and Mandala Offerings Retreat

On this retreat we practice the third and fourth of the four great preliminary guides – powerful methods for preparing our mind for deep and successful meditation. The third preliminary guide – offering mandalas, is a method for accumulating a vast collection of merit and for attaining an enlightened pure land. Merit is the positive potential created by virtuous actions. It is this potential energy that enables us to fulfil our wishes, particularly our spiritual wishes, and making mandala offerings is one of the most powerful methods for accumulating merit. To make a mandala offering we offer the entire universe visualized as a Pure Land and offer it to all Holy Beings.

The fourth preliminary guide – Guru Yoga is a method for connecting with all the enlightened beings through our Guru, or Spiritual Guide. In this way we receive the blessings, or inspiring energy, of all Buddhas, empowering our mind to transform from its present ordinary, weak and sel-centered state into the limitless, blissful mind of a Buddha.

The retreat sessions will be in the context of the ritual prayer The Hundreds of Deities of the Joyful and according to Highest Yoga Tantra. At the beginning of the retreat Kadam Mike will give a brief explanation of the practice, but the retreat itself will be unguided. In each session we will make many mandala offerings and recite the Migstema request prayer according to Highest Yoga Tantra many times according to the commentary in Oral Instructions of Mahamudra. Since this requires some knowledge and belief in Buddhist teachings this retreat is not suitable for complete beginners.

This retreat is one of the six annual retreats which are an integral part of the TTP (Teacher Training Programme) and all TTP students should attend every session. People who are not on TTP but attend regularly either on Foundation Programme or the general classes are also welcome to attend and can drop into any sessions without booking in advance. A donation of £2 a session would be welcome.