8-Day Mahamudra: View, Meditation and Conduct - SCOL

Mahamudra can be understood in terms of ground, path, and fruition. Ground mahamudra refers to the essence of the indescribable totality of existence that transcends concepts. Fruition mahamudra is the complete and stable realization of that ground. Path mahamudra is that which joins the ground and the fruition, that is, our practices of view, meditation, and conduct.

The view is knowing the nature of mind and phenomena to be nondual, the experience of mind as luminous yet empty. Meditation is the formal practice of becoming more and more familiar with this. Conduct is engaging in action without straying from this experience. In this retreat we will explore how to embrace the view, how to sustain that in practice, and how to carry this experience between meditation sessions.

There will be a combination of teaching and practice but with an emphasis on the latter. We will work with both shamatha (resting meditation) and vipashyana (insight practice) in guided sessions and in self-paced meditations. There will also be opportunities for questions and discussion, both in one-on-one meetings with Lama Eric and in the group setting.

For both the 3-day and 7-day options, it is possible to stay at our retreat land, SCOL, or to participate over Zoom. For the the 3-day retreat, those who stay at SCOL will leave after breakfast on Monday. When registration opens, there will initially be more spaces reserved for the 7-day in-person retreat, so if you are interested in being at SCOL for the seven days, please register early. If the allotted beds are not filled by October 5th, more 3-day slots will open. There is no limit for Zoom participation for either the three or seven-day options.

There are no prerequisites to attend the retreat, but you must be able to participate in all of the sessions. If you have questions, please contact Lama Eric.

Three-day retreat: Thursday, October 27 evening through Monday, October 31, depart after breakfast.

Seven-day retreat: Thursday, October 27 evening through Friday, November 4, depart after breakfast.

Daily Schedule:

Session    6:30-7:30am

Breakfast    7:30-9:00am

Session    9:00-10:30am

Session    11:00-12:00pm

Lunch       12:00-2:00pm

Session    2:30-4:00pm

Session    4:30-5:30pm

Dinner       5:30-7:00

Aspirations    7:00-7:45