8-Week Retreat with B. Alan Wallace

Santa Barbara Institute
8-Week Retreat 

“The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers,”
“Buddhahood Without Meditation” & “The Fine Path to Liberation” with B. Alan Wallace.
Location: Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Tuscany, Italy
From: April 3rd- May 30th, 2017.

The daily schedule for the retreat consists of two hours each day, Monday-Saturday, of group sessions. These group sessions include guided meditations, teaching, and discussion. In addition, each participant in the retreat will have regular 15-minute private meetings with Alan to discuss their practice. ng 8-week retreat titled “The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers and Buddhahood Without Meditation, in addition to the brief text on the preliminary practices for Dzogchen by Sera Khandro, entitled “The Fine Path to Liberation.” with B. Alan Wallace. This retreat will be held at Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Pomaia (Pisa), Italy from April 3rd- May 30th, 2017.

During this eight-week retreat Alan Wallace will give detailed oral commentaries on two of the five classic Dzogchen treatises by Düdjom Lingpa, The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers and Buddhahood Without Meditation, in addition to the brief text on the preliminary practices for Dzogchen by Sera Khandro, entitled The Fine Path to Liberation. These three texts cover the preliminary practices, shamatha, vipashyana, and the practice of cutting through to the original purity of pristine awareness. It is said that for very gifted practitioners, these meditations are sufficient for achieving the Rainbow Body. This will be the first in a series of 8-week retreats in which commentaries and oral transmissions will be offered for all five of these treatises: The Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra (2018), The Enlightened View of Samantabhadra (2019), and The Vajra Essence (2020-2023). While completion of the five sets of 100,000 recitations of preliminary practices will not be required to participate in these retreats, applicants should have established a sound basis in understanding and practice of the foundations of Buddhism, including shamatha, the four applications of mindfulness, the four immeasurables, and relative and ultimate bodhicitta. Such understanding and experience can be acquired by listening to, studying, and practicing any one of the following sets of teachings:

Application Process:
To apply for the Spring 2017 8-Week retreat, you may request the application instructions by emailing retreats@sbinstitute.com