This Online Retreat opens with the 6 AM to 8 AM (PST) morning session on 05/18/2021. It closes after the 6 PM to 8 PM evening session on 05/18/2021. This event will be held entirely on Zoom. Registered participants will receive an email with the Zoom meeting link and retreat instructions approximately a week prior to the event.
If you are in a different time zone, it is permissible to attend those sessions which work with your time zone, and to catch up on the other sessions on your own.
Who can attend?
We want to make this retreat as accessible as possible. The Medicine Buddha Empowerment is not a requirement for attendance. The only prerequisites are a sincere and respectful attitude, a reliable Internet connection, and a commitment to fully participate in the schedule. (This means attending FOUR two-hour sessions, each day, for all three days of the retreat.)
“Any living being who hears the name of Medicine Buddha never gets reborn in the lower realms … that’s the benefit of just hearing the name, the mantra of Medicine Buddha. This is due to the great compassion of the Medicine Buddhas.” LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE
What are the Benefits?
Recitation of the Medicine Buddha Mantra as part of the Medicine Buddha practice is enormously powerful, as Lama Zopa Rinpoche has explained:
“The Medicine Buddha encompasses all the buddhas. This means that when we practice the seven-limb prayer and make offerings with the seven limbs, we receive the same merit as we would if we had made offerings to all the buddhas. Similarly, when we recite the mantra of Medicine Buddha, we collect unbelievable merit just as when we offer the seven-limb practice to Medicine Buddha.”*
The benefits of the powerful blessings associated with the Medicine Buddhas apply to a broad array of life situations, in fact Rinpoche has said that: “If you pray to Guru Medicine Buddha, you will quickly accomplish all that you wish.” The Medicine Buddha practice is also especially beneficial for those engaged in helping others, especially those involved in healing work.
If you are interested in a fuller description from Rinpoche about the benefits of the mantra and the practice, please read the following linked PDF document (prepared for free distribution by FPMT Education Services.) https://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/education/teachings/texts/mantras/medicine_buddha_benefits_mantra_and_practice_c5.pdf
*Excerpted from Medicine Buddha Sadhana by Ngawang Losang Tenpa Gyältsän, translated by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, and prepared by Ven. Thubten Gyatso. Published by FPMT Education Services.
About the Retreat Leader:
Ven. Steve Carlier
Ven. Steve Carlier resides at Land of Medicine Buddha, teaching the Basic Program and other courses. He has been studying Buddhism since 1977 and was ordained as a Buddhist monk by Lama Zopa in 1979, then receiving full ordination from Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche the following year. He studied for eleven years at Nalanda Monastery in France, and from 1993 to 2004 was one of only a handful of Westerners who have followed the Nalanda (India) tradition of studies at Sera Monastery in India. He has served as English interpreter for several of the great masters of Tibetan Buddhism.
About the Retreat:
Those who register for the full *online* retreat will set up their own meditation seats in a suitably clean and quiet space at home. A good Internet connection is needed, plus a commitment to attend all sessions in the schedule, as follows:
6am to 8am – Session 1
8am to 9:30am – Break for breakfast
9:30am to 11:30am – Session 2
11:30am to 2pm – Break for lunch
2pm to 4pm – Session 3
4:30pm to 6pm – Break for dinner
6pm to 8pm – Session 4
Altar Offerings: Land of Medicine Buddha will make offerings on the altar here at LMB on behalf of participants.
Retreat Materials: We will email registered participants pdf copies of the materials we will be using for the retreat a week before this virtual event commences . Ven. Steve will lead all sessions via Zoom. The emphasis will be on the simplicity, using a short and accessible practice and allowing plenty of time for mantra recitation.
Dietary Restrictions: since the Medicine Buddha Practice is an Action Tantra practice, retreat participants are required to refrain from consuming ‘black foods‘ for the duration of the retreat. Black food includes: onions, leeks, garlic, radishes, meat of any kind including fish, eggs, including cookies and cakes that contain eggs. Ven. Steve says that these restrictions should apply to all participants
About Scholarships:
Email to inquire about scholarship opportunities.
Gift of Dharma—Be a Benefactor!
If you don’t have time to participate, you can still help by sponsoring this event. Your gift of the Dharma creates the causes for your good health and long life and for the Dharma to flourish!
Benefactors will receive special prayers and dedications during the Medicine Buddha retreat–for your health, purification and removal of obstacles.
-
- Gold level: $500
- Silver level: $250
- Bronze level: $108
Become a Friend of LMB!
There are many benefits to becoming a Friend of LMB – discounts at our bookstore, special dedication prayers in our daily Medicine Buddha puja, and, at $50/month or more, FREE attendance in our Discovering Buddhism, Basic Program, and Guided Contemplation courses. Consider becoming a Friend of LMB today!
| Date(s): | May 18, 2020 - May 20, 2021 |
| Times: | 6:00 am - 8:00 pm |
| Instructor/Leader: | Venerable Steve Carlier |
| Type of event: | |
| Number of sessions: | Three Full Days |
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Participation: | Full-time Only |
| iCal Link: | iCal |
| Add to Google Calendar: |  |
Registration and Donations for Medicine Buddha **Online** Retreat led by Ven Steve Carlier
Online registration is now closed for this event.