Yuthok’s Ati Yoga
A nine-day MIRROR OF LIGHT retreat with Lama Justin Von Bujdoss
September 20 - 29 2024
At Pure Land Farms Tuscany, Italy
This retreat is open to all participants of current or previous cohorts of the Mirror of Light year-long dharma immersions as well as experienced practitioners of Ati Yoga.
PRICE 2,250 Euros
INCLUDES:
Nine days of dharma teachings, guided group meditation sessions, and personal practice instruction
9 nights deluxe accommodations (double occupancy) at Pure Land Farms Tuscany or our neighbor’s Agriturismo farm hotel (See accommodation options below)
Farm to table Italian meals
Swimming pool, hiking trails, waterfall
PRICE DOES NOT INCLUDE:
International travel to Florence, Italy
ONLINE COMPONENT
To support those who may not be able to join us in person because they are unable to travel for whatever reason there is an online component to this retreat. For those who wish to join us for an online retreat through which you can keep the same retreat schedule (see below) at home or another suitable location for you we will share access to streamed morning teaching/group practice sessions.
(Online registration will be available soon).
ABOUT THE RETREAT
Join us for 9 days dedicated to touching-in to the fundamental purity of our minds through the practice of Yuthok’s Ati Yoga.
Yuthok Yonten Gonpo was the highly realized 12th century master practitioner and doctor who developed the practice of Sowa Rigpa as well as the spiritual practices known as the Yuthok Nyingthik, or Heart Essence of Yuthok. Part of the Yuthok Nyingthik includes a cycle of Ati Yoga (Tibetan: Dzogchen) known as The Great Self-Liberation of Samsara and Nirvana. This retreat serves as a way of supporting practitioners of Ati Yoga found within the Yuthok Nyingthik as well as practitioners of other Ati Yoga practice cycles. It is an excellent supplement to the various year-long intensives based upon Dr. Nida Chenagtsang’s book, Mirror of Light: A Commentary on Yuthok’s Ati Yoga but is also open to new practitioners with a sincere motivation.
Participants will have the opportunity to engage in intensive practice of the classical Ati Yoga preliminaries such as rushen, the purification of body, speech and mind, the three gazes, various exercises training the three gates as well as the practice of trekchö. The practice of trekchö is essential to the practice of Ati Yoga. Trekchö aides us in ‘cutting through the hardness’ of our dualistic grasping so that we can experience and then repeatedly familiarize ourselves with our primordially pure nature. This practice is refreshingly – sometimes deceptively – simple and can lead us to directly experiencing the nature mind free from the play of afflictive emotions. Through the practice of trekchö meditation we can begin to familiarize ourselves with the view of the Great Perfection, or Ati Yoga, in a way that increases our understanding of mind and appearance while leading to the practical benefits of more embodied, less anxious, being.
In the morning of each day there will be an initial daily teaching session accompanied by a group practice session. The rest of the day will be divided into two practice sessions in which participants will engage in group practice sessions. There will be time for one 1:1 interview with Lama Justin for each in-person participant if desired.
ABOUT MIRROR OF LIGHT BY DR. NIDA CHENAGTSANG
Ati Yoga, literally meaning the ‘utmost yoga,’ is the pinnacle of Buddhist Vajrayana practice. It is the most simple, direct, and profound path to experientially realize the primordial wisdom which is one’s basic nature. In his remarkably clear and accessible commentary which seamlessly weaves in verses from Yuthok’s own root text and quotations from Tibet’s great masters of meditation, Dr Nida Chenagtsang skillfully points us to the sky-like nature of our own mind which is clear, vast, and unobstructed by the clouds of afflictive emotions. Much more than a theoretical exposition, Volume One of Mirror of Light contains precise instruction on Ati Yoga’s preliminary practices and trekchod (‘cutting through hardness’) -- ancient proven techniques that reveal the present fresh awareness that is free from all confusion and beyond the 'hardness' of dualistic thinking.
schedule:
Friday September 20th:
Arrive at Pure Land Farms after 3pm. Welcome dinner at 7pm followed by protector practice
Saturday September 21st - 28th
8:00am: Breakfast
9:00am to 12:00pm: Morning Teaching and Group Practice Session (Livestreamed)
12:30pm Lunch and rest
2:00pm to 4:00pm: Mid-day Individual Practice Session
4:30pm to 5:30pm: Afternoon Individual Practice Session
6:30pm Dinner
7:30pm to 8:45pm: Long Shanglon Mahakala Protector Practice
Sunday September 29th:
8:00am Breakfast
9am - 12:00pm: Concluding Teaching and Group Practice Session (Livestreamed)'
12:30pm: Lunch and check out
Schedule subject to slight modifications
ABOUT LAMA JUSTIN
Lama Justin von Bujdoss is an American vajrayana Buddhist teacher, writer, and the is a co-founder of Bhumisparsha an experimental Buddhist sangha along with Lama Rod Owens and Founder and Director of Yangti Yoga Retreat Center with Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, a retreat center dedicated to the practice of Dark Retreat. He is the author of Modern Tantric Buddhism: Authenticity and Embodiment in Dharma Practice published by North Atlantic Books, and contributor to Buddhism and Whiteness: Critical Reflections published by Lexington Books. From 2016 until December 2021 Justin served as the Executive Director of Chaplaincy and Staff Wellness for NYC Department of Correction where he also served as Staff Chaplain supervising over 30 chaplains and guided wellness programming for staff. Justin also has professional experience in home hospice and hospital settings as a pastoral caregiver. Lama Justin is currently the chaplain for Hart Island, New York City’s public cemetery.
Lama Justin was ordained as a repa, a lay tantric yogin in the tradition of Milarepa, by His Eminence Gyaltsab Rinpoche, one of the heart sons of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa and is a ngakpa in the Yuthok Nyingthik tantric Buddhist lineage. Lama Justin has presented on Buddhist practice at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, University of Chicago, Wellesley, Columbia University, has been a visiting instructor at Union Theological Seminary, and teaches at Pure Land Farms. Justin is passionate about helping to create the conditions for authentic embodied tantric Buddhist spiritual practice in the West.
You can purchase Modern Tantric Buddhism here.
Learn more about Yangti Yoga Retreat Center here.
ABOUT Pure Land Farms TUSCANY
Pure Land Farms Tuscany was born on what once was “Il Mulino di Ferraia” (still known to locals by this name): an old 16th Century stone water mill, newly renovated with loving care to combine a preservation of its original appearance and fascinating mystique with all modern amenities. This magical place, situated next to a river in a sheltered position is immersed in the most diverse vegetation and neighboring to vineyards which used to attract many poets, writers and artists since the 1700s when the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth became internationally famous with his verses for the nearby Vallombrosa Abbey and its fantastic forest.
The natural gardens along the riverside offers many tranquil spaces and nooks in which you can meditate and contemplate while the swimming pool is surrounded by a bamboo forest with steps leading down to the river and waterfall. This serene environment provides the perfect healing space for cultivating connection to one's own primordial nature and with the community of practitioners that have the karma to gather together here.
ACCOMMODATIONS ONSITE AT PURE LAND FARMS TUSCANY:
Deluxe Accommodations:
Double Occupancy: 2,250 Euros/ person all inclusive with retreat (9 night stay)
All rooms have private bathrooms.
Accommodations at Pure Land Farms Tuscany are limited to 8 participants on a first-come first-serve basis.
More accommodations are available at our neighbor’s farm/agriturismo (3-minute walk from Pure Land Farms) at the same rates above. Those seeking single/ unshared rooms will be placed at the Agriturismo.
A very limited number of camping options (in your own tent or in the temple) may be available at a reduced rate. Please write to info@purelandfarms.com to inquire.
ADDITIONAL ACCOMMODATIONS AT OUR NEIGHBOR’S AGRITURISMO TUSCAN FARM HOTEL
Additional accommodations in a superb setting a 3-minute walk down a country road from Pure Land Farms.
LOCATION AND INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
The closest airport to Pure Land Farms is Florence Airport, Peretola (Amerigo Vespucci Airport FLR). Alternatively, arriving by train into Florence center (Santa Maria Novella Station) is a good option for those who prefer to arrive in another larger Italian city (Rome, Milano, Bologna, etc).
If you are traveling internationally, we recommend arriving in Italy a few days before our program starts to adjust to the time change and have an opportunity to do personal sightseeing in Rome, Florence, or nearby villages.
