Hello, everyone!
Welcome to the Waystation for July 2023!
This is our monthly newsletter, talking about our progress towards the land of Shambhala.
Oh, what a month we had, coming back from the #MaraRoast. But fear not: things are…accelerating, around here. We have quite a full month, with lots of activities. So let me dive right in.
Our Monthly Activities
(don’t mean to brag, but this is going to be a long list)
Saturday 7/1 at 3pm EST – Sutric Teaching – Prajñaparamita Cycle / The Kausika Prajñaparamita
This Saturday, 7/1 I will start something new with the Sutric teachings: I’ll focus on a cycle for the remainder of the year. In this year, I’ll focus on Prajñaparamita Sutras. We’ll start with the Kausika, a text that combines both philosophy and magic.
To sign up to this, please use this form before 7/1: https://forms.gle/Pbv4bxQTnsQDCgf47
This is in English.
Thusday 7/6 at 9pm EST – Start of the Vasudhara Pure Vision Course
You probably already know about this; if not, this is a one-time opportunity to learn a system of wealth magic based on a very powerful Buddha and Goddess. There’s more info here: https://www.tantricsorcery.com/post/vasudhara-the-mother-of-wealth
Remember: this is open only to T-1. We’ll explain those terms for those new here in a bit, but if you want to sign up, do so before 7/4 EOD here: https://forms.gle/jxiBnbFkGTWYza2p8
This is in English.
Saturday 7/8 – Open Workshop – Learning to Visualize
Have you ever had trouble with visualizations? You’re not even sure what that word means? Or you can visualize, but it’s not something stable? On this workshop, we’ll cover the how-to of visualization, which you can apply to any kind of technique or meditation. This is open for everyone, regardless of Tier.
Sign up before 7/7 here: https://forms.gle/iaE1MQrHB9tRJj9t9
This is both English and Spanish
Wednesday 7/12 at 9pm EST – P1-C5 Refuge and Bodhisattva vows
As a graduation ceremony, the Vth cohort of P-1 will be taking their vows next Weds. This is a private ceremony, but if you are part of the cohort and would like to invite someone, let me know!
In English and Spanish
Friday 7/14 at 9 pm EST – Girando la Rueda del Dharma
Our own Lama Celeste will be teaching on a Mexican group called “Turning the Wheel of Dharma” the meditations and text of the Eight Verses of Mind Training. This is an excellent opportunity to learn this foundational text of Lojong.
Since it’s in another group, to sign up please go to: https://www.facebook.com/REBAPVeracruz or you can watch it on https://www.youtube.com/@capac.veracruz
This is Spanish, open and free
Saturday 7/15 at 2pm EST – Orgyen Menla and Guru Dragpo Empowerment
The special healing Upadesha of Orgyen Menla, Padmasambhava as the Medicine Guru. This Upadesha contains healing mantras and a series of three deities for healing. Lama Sherab will offer everyone the chance of getting the empowerment of the outer deity, Orgyen Menla.
For those of you who have completed the accumulation, Lama Sherab will also give the empowerment of the wrathful form of Padmasambhava, Guru Dragpo, the Scorpion Lord. This contains a new series of healing practices, more wrathful in their effect.
Sign up before 7/14 here: https://forms.gle/QvVmjcLz8ZFP3GQ56
This is English
Saturday 7/22 at 2pm EST – Bodhisattva Beatblast
We’ve been talking with the new Lamas, and we think that we need to have a monthly practice session focused on the basics. Shamatha, Vipashyana, Karma, etc. But we’ll also try to make it as adaptable as possible, focused on applicability to day-to-day life. Hence, we’ll try to keep it jazzy, and we’ll invite everyone.
This does not require signup. We’ll stream it here, or you can join via the Zoom that we’ll post at the time. It’s totally open and free.
This is in English & Spanish.
Friday 7/28 at 9 pm EST – Girando la Rueda del Dharma
Our own Lama Sherab will be teaching on a Mexican group called “Turning the Wheel of Dharma” the meditations and text of the Advice for a Dying practitioner of the Dodrupchen Jigme Tenpe Nyima.
Since it’s in another group, to sign up please go to: https://www.facebook.com/REBAPVeracruz or you can watch it on https://www.youtube.com/@capac.veracruz
This is in English and Spanish, open and free
Saturday 7/29 at 2pm EST – 1st Nirvana Overdrive
We were also talking with Lama Sherab about the good effect that the #mararoast had. So we’d like to propose a gathering: at least, quarterly. In this we’ll do what we would do in any gathering: get some empowerments, learning, practicing, having Ganacakras together. Our first one is going to be on 7/29, and It’s going to be called the Nirvana Overdrive. We’ll have several activities that we’ll announce a little bit closer to the date.
It’s going to be open and free also, streamed here, so you just need to show up at the time.
This is in English and Spanish.
Tiers and support
So, 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 chose 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. Since our objective is to spread the Dharma, there are some slots for people to exchange work that allows us to spread the Dharma (correcting texts, transcriptions, etc.) for teachings or workshops, on a credit system.
The way it usually goes (wait before clicking in anything) is like this.
If you want to…
…support T-1 for this month, you can click here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/FedericoAndino/108
…set an automatic support for T-1:
…support T-2 for this month: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/FedericoAndino/30
…set an automatic support for T-2: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=VM4YBHET3ZXKN
…support at T-3: At this moment, the current credit rate is 10 hours = 1 credit.
You can exchange 1 credit for one workshop or one session of a long-form course. Remember that we will track commitment and those who do not complete their commitment will not be eligible for further T-3 work. If you’d rather not, you can buy the courses and workshops full price.
You can sign up for this T-3 here by writing to us at bastardesdelbuda@gmail.com
Please remember that T-3 slots are open on the basis of work to be done and are limited monthly.
However
This month, being the half point of the year, we have a special T-1 tier.
If you would like to support for the rest of the year (July-December included) which means the whole Vasudhara course, you can commit to it by a single offering of $500. This means that, instead of $648, the usual cost for the months, you save almost $150.
To sign up to T-1 for the rest of the year and support our work, please click here: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/FedericoAndino/500
This must be the longest Waystation that I wrote! And I left a lot of things out, like the next book or the upcoming visit of a Nepali Vajracharya. We’ll cover that soon, but thank you for being here, as always and Sarva Mangalam!
-LF
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