Hello, everyone!
Welcome to the Waystation!
July was a turning point. Not only we’ve just returned from the Mara Roast, but we had:
New Lamas!
The BeatBlast!!
The Overdrive!!!
Which, on top of our activities, made the month quite hectic. This, without counting unplanned things, like our now weekly CinemaDharma night.
But
It
Was
A
Blast!
Everything we did, was golden. The BeatBlast was great. We loved meeting each other in the Overdrive. The new Lamas kicked into high gear, teaching at the CEPEC Veracruz.
So, let’s try to keep the momentum going, shall we?
There are some changes, both to the structure and to the activities, that we’re enacting in order to streamline this thing we call the Tantric Revolutionary Center. Since last year, we’re concerning on taking this big tanker of a ship, designed to haul a lot of things to the other shore and we’re stripping it down, making a pirate vessel.
But still, some things will continue:
The Bodhisattva Beatblast was a banger, so we’ll do another one this month.
With Lama Sherab and Seba’s idea, CinemaDharma was born! We’ll keep this, every Sunday at 8pm EST.
And there are some things that we’re changing. Mainly, the way T-3 works.
T-3
In the past, we offered anyone who wants to collaborate the ability to exchange Workshops and Teachings for work, usually transcribing stuff or editing it. The idea is that, since our aim is to spread the Dharma, it all helped, and it would result in a lot less work for Lama Sherab and myself.
But since the beginning of that program, in total, 738 people have signed to it so far.Do you know how many pieces of actual usable transcriptions or texts we received?
9
Yeah, nine. Around 1.2% of the work that we expected. And this meant, of course, in the end, more work for us. We had to chase people, to ask them to send us the thing they’ve promised, to cross-reference if they have done what they’ve committed to do. It’s a mess, and it’s our fault, because we wanted to take people at their word, and we didn’t account for Samsara.
So, we’re changing things up.
Starting this month, we’ll have 5 slots for T-3. Currently, they are all occupied, but I’ll let people know when one is open. We’ll offer those slots to people that we know we can trust, because they’ve already completed their assignments. If there’s another opening in the future, please know that we will track it.
The bottom line is: if there are people who we can trust to complete things, it takes a load of work from us. If we need to track them, and re-edit or correct things too much, it ends up being even more work that we must do.
For now, T-3 will be on a personal basis. However, we also will commit to keep at least one big teaching open and free each month, so if you cannot either support or commit to work, you will have a teaching and/or a practice session available.
Activities:
The following are ongoing activities and courses:
P-2 C-1, now deep in the study of Vajrakilaya
P-2 C-2, doing the practices of Vajrasattva
If you’re new to Buddhism, P-1: Intro to Buddhism starts on 8/11! This is a great opportunity to get the basics of meditation and ritual practice down. In English & Spanish
Every Sunday at 8pm EST there’s CinemaDharma. So far the movies have been selected on a week to week basis, so I cannot provide an advanced program, but the next one is Tree of Life, by Terence Malick.
Also, this month there is:
Sat 8/5 2pm EST: How to get Magic Powers – The 10th chapter of The Prajñaparamita in 10.000 lines.
Siddhis, those magic powers that you gain from meditation are often thought to be gained almost willy-nilly by practitioners. However, the Buddha explained the mechanism to gain them in detail. This Saturday, we’ll go over the 10th Chapter of the Prajñaparamita which explains exactly how are Siddhis gained through yogic practice. This practice is open for every one. In English.
To sign up, please do so here
Sat 8/5 4pm EST: Sun Wukong’s secret Spell of the Flying Cloud – Part of the Upadesha of the Three Kings
There’s nothing as iconic to Sun Wukong as the Staff and his Cloud. In this secret teaching of the Upadesha of the Three Kings, we’ll learn how to ride the staff to gain access to Sukhavati and learn from Kwan Yin, Avalokiteshvara herself. This requires having received the Upadesha and having Sun Wukong as a practice deity (i.e. you do his practice habitually). It is free for those practitioners. English & Spanish.
To sign up, please do so here
Fri 8/11: On Dakini Day, we start P-1
For us, P-1 is the three-month course that teaches the basics that you will need in any Buddhist practice. It constitutes the principal transmission of concept, techniques and ways of being that makes a Buddhist into a Buddhist and it ends with you taking formal refuge. It’s the “What’s a Buddhist and how can I become one?” course. And, of course, it’s a pre-requisite for P-2 and P-3 levels. English & Spanish.
To sign up, please do so here
Sat 8/12 2pm EST: The Spell book of the Compassionate Sorcerer
Lama Sherab will offer a teaching of Avalokiteshvara, the Compassionate Lord. On that teaching, he will transmit the Dharanis (spells and incantations) that have Avalokiteshvara as the arch-sorcerer of Dharma. This is open for people in P-1+. In English.
To sign up, please do so here
Fri 8/18 9pm EST: Teachings to the Mexican Sangha – The Flower Offering
Lama Sherab will continue to teach at Girando la Rueda del Dharma Mexico. He Will teach the text called “Offering Flowers” from Drodrupchen Rimpoche. This is a free and open session to all. In English & Spanish.
This is being broadcasted by CAPAC Veracruz. To sign up, please go here
Sat 8/19 2pm EST: Bodhisattva BeatBlast!
As every month, I’ll be offering a free and open session of practice with techniques suitable for everyone; you don’t even need to be a Buddhist! We’ll focus on the basics of Mindfulness and we’ll practice together. In English & Spanish.
To sign up, please do so here
Sat 8/26 2pm EST: Gelongma Palmo’s Nyungne
Gelongma Palmo’s Nyungne is the most famous of all Nyungne practices: practices that work with yogic and fasting purification of the body. Lama Sherab will give the empowerment of the practice, which includes an eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara empowerment and will teach on how to safely do this practice. This is open for P-1+. In English.
To sign up, please do so here
And, depending on a divination, we’ll have perhaps one more activity. Stay tuned!
Tiers and support
For those of you who are new, what are those P-s and T-s that we’re talking about?
P-s are the different levels of Paths that we have. Those are:
P-1 is Intro to Buddhism. If you’re new to the Buddhadharma or Tibetan Buddhism, you should start at this point.
P-2 is general Vajrayana. You learn Three deities, the four activities and all the rituals that you will need, from Ganacakras to specific Pujas.
P-3 is advanced Vajrayana. You focus on completion-stage practice and yogas like Tummo and Dream Yoga. After P-3, you can choose to specialize as a ritualist (ngapka/ma) or go beyond and get in Lama training.
So when we say a workshop is P-2+, we mean that is for people who already have the basis of Buddhism down (i.e. people who completed P-1) and are working at a tantric level. Same with P-1+ or P-3+. Open for all means just that. Anyone can come.
T-s are Tiers of monthly support. Sadly, as we live in a capitalist system, it takes time, work, and money to keep producing teachings. The translation, formatting, zoom, Otter.ai, etc. are costs that pile up constantly. So, in order to be able to keep this level of teachings going, we ask for your support in a variety of ways:
T-1 is the full support. This allows us to produce everything that we do. Also, this enables you to take everything that we do in a month (that you have the P-level for). Workshops, empowerments, activities, P-levels: it includes all. Usual cost is $108 a month.
T-2 Is the partial support. This also enable us to produce teachings. This covers only the P-levels (which, to be honest, is still a lot of work and bang for your buck), but if you want to take something else, like a Workshop, you can get it at a very discounted price. Usual cost is $27 per month.
T-3 is work support. Right now, all slots are taken, but we’ll let you know if one opens.
If you want to…
…support T-1 for this month, you can click here
…set an automatic support for T-1, click here
…or do so via our shop
…support T-2 for this month, click here
…set an automatic support for T-2, click here
…or do so via our shop, click here
So that’s the general state of August. We have perhaps one more activity even and also, one MAJOR surprise incoming, so stay tuned!
Sarva Mangalam!
-LF
Incredible, we are truly blessed and grateful