Intermediate Apprentice Level Training: 2024
Online Retreat Schedule| May 1-5, 2024
Online Retreat Schedule & Logistics
10:45 - 12:45pm: Online Welcome | Morning Session 2
12:45 - 2:15pm: Lunch Break
2:15 - 4:15pm: Afternoon Session 1
May 2 - 4:
8:30 -10:30am: Morning Session 1
10:30 - 10:45am: Break
10:45 - 12:45pm: Morning Session 2
12:45-2:15pm: Lunch Break
2:15 - 4:15pm: Afternoon Session 1
May 5:
8:30 -10:30am: Morning Session 1
10:30 - 10:45am: Break
10:45 - 12:45pm: Morning Session 2 | Online Closing
Please plan on arriving in the Zoom room 15 minutes before the START of each day to settle in.
Due to the nature of a few aspects of our retreat programming, we have modified the online schedule.
Online students will begin at 10:45am on May 1st.
Online students will end at 4:15pm on May 1-4,
Online students will end at 12:15pm on May 5th.
The online schedule will include ALL meditation sessions, lectures, and group work.
The movement sessions and the longer opening and closing rituals will not be offered live for the online program.
However, the online students will have separate opening and closing time with the larger in person group.
If you have a strand of Mala beads, please have them with you during the practice - as we will be using them for chanting practice. If you don’t have Mala beads, please do not be concerned as it will not affect your practice. However, you may want to order a pair (108 beads is ideal) for future practice.
Please have your Main Lesson Books and art supplies on hand.
Mantras
Heart Sutra
The Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore (Heart Sutra - Plumb Village):
To be sung
Avalokiteshvara
while practicing deeply with
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore,
suddenly discovered that
all of the five Skandhas are equally empty,
and with this realization
he overcame all Ill-being.
“Listen Sariputra,
this Body itself is Emptiness
and Emptiness itself is this Body.
This Body is not other than Emptiness
and Emptiness is not other than this Body.
The same is true of Feelings,
Perceptions, Mental Formations,
and Consciousness.
“Listen Sariputra,
all phenomena bear the mark of Emptiness:
their true nature is the nature of
no Birth no Death,
no Being no Non-being,
no Defilement no Purity,
no Increasing no Decreasing.
“That is why in Emptiness,
Body, Feelings, Perceptions,
Mental Formations and Consciousness
are not separate self entities.
“The Eighteen Realms of Phenomena
which are the six Sense Organs,
the six Sense Objects,
and the six Consciousnesses
are also not separate self entities.
“The Twelve Links of Interdependent Arising
and their Extinction
are also not separate self entities.
“Ill-being, the Causes of Ill-being,
the End of Ill-being, the Path,
insight and attainment,
are also not separate self entities.
“Whoever can see this
no longer needs anything to attain.
“Bodhisattvas who practice
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
see no more obstacles in their mind,
and because there
are no more obstacles in their mind,
they can overcome all fear,
destroy all wrong perceptions
and realize Perfect Nirvana.
“All Buddhas in the past, present and future
by practicing the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
are all capable of attaining Authentic and Perfect Enlightenment.
“Therefore Sariputra,
it should be known that
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore
is a Great Mantra,
the most illuminating mantra,
the highest mantra,
a mantra beyond compare,
the True Wisdom that has the power
to put an end to all kinds of suffering.
“Therefore let us proclaim a mantra to praise
the Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore:
Gate, gate, pāragate, pārasaṃgate, bodhi svāhā,
Gate, gate, pāragate, pārasaṃgate, bodhi svāhā,
Gate, gate, pāragate, pārasaṃgate, bodhi svāhā!”
Mantras
Heart Sutra - Zen Mountain Monastery Version
To be chanted
Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, doing deep Prajna Paramita,
clearly saw emptiness of all the five conditions,
thus completely relieving misfortune and pain.
Oh Shariputra, form is no other than emptiness,
emptiness no other than form.
Form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form.
Sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness are likewise like this.
Oh Shariputra, all dharmas are forms of emptiness;
not born, not destroyed, not stained, not pure, without loss, without gain.
So in emptiness there is no form;
no sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness;
no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;
no color, sound, smell, taste, touch, phenomena;
no realm of sight, no realm of consciousness;
no ignorance and no end to ignorance,
no old age and death and no end to old age and death,
no suffering, no cause of suffering,
no extinguishing, no path, no wisdom, and no gain.
No gain and thus the bodhisattva lives Prajna Paramita,
with no hindrance in the mind; no hindrance, therefore no fear.
Far beyond deluded thoughts; this is Nirvana.
All past, present, and future buddhas live Prajna Paramita
and therefore attain anuttara samyaksambodhi.
Therefore know Prajna Paramita is the great mantra,
the vivid mantra, the best mantra, the unsurpassable mantra.
It completely clears all pain. This is the truth not a lie.
So set forth the Prajna Paramita mantra,
set forth this mantra and say,
Gate! Gate! Paragate! Parasamgate! Bodhi Svaha!
Prajna Heart Sutra.
Mantras
Perfection Mantra - Deva Premal
To be chanted
TEYATA GATE GATE PARAGATE PARA SAMGATE BODHI SOHA (tibetan)
Gone, gone, gone far beyond to the awakened state.
The path that takes us to enlightenment comprises the six arts of perfection.
This mantra helps us to be generous, patient, conscientious, diligent, focused and wise.
Mantras
The Four Great Vows & All Buddhas Dedication/Closing Invocation:
To be chanted
The Four Great Vows:
Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them.
Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them.
The Dharmas are boundless, I vow to master them.
The Buddha Way is unattainable, I vow to attain it.
All Buddhas Dedication & Closing Invocation:
All Buddhas throughout space and time
All Bodhisattvas, Mahasattvas
Maha Prajna Paramita
