10th -13th August 2023
£200
Price includes all meals, teas, accommodation.
Dzogchen Retreat
Hum! Having reached the top of a high mountain,
One sees peaks in every direction,
By harnessing a wild horse,
One can reach any border,
A bee gathers the essence of many flavours,
And blends them into a single flower,
A vision encompassing all of space,
Destroys craving for small sighted beliefs…
In the pristine clarity of sky like awareness,
Write letters of pure awareness and wisdom,
Impart instructions for many diverse methods,
Sharing the essence in a stream thats unceasing…..
Ekavajra...
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Radical Dzogchen points at the non dual reality that is the nature of mind, the nature of our being, the nature of our every timeless moment of experience in the here and now.
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That reality, or the nature of mind, or the ground of being, or however one wishes to express the non dual awareness of the now, may be pointed at by means of nine verbal formulae. First, it is non referential; it has no point of reference, no starting point and no purpose. Second, it arises spontaneously in a timeless moment; it has no objective existence. Third, it is our total identity; our real ‘self’ is all-inclusive. Fourth, it is awareness of the here and now and as such it is a timeless instant and thus without cause or condition. Fifth, it is non-functional; that moment is utter serenity and, therefore, no action or technique can induce it. Sixth, it is complete joy, pure pleasure, beyond bliss. Seventh, it is non duality, unity, and as such ineffable and ineluctable. Eighth, it is a boundless sphere in which macrocosm and microcosm are one. Ninth, it is the natural dispensation; it is home.
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Radical Dzogchen has no specific home in any religion or culture. Rather, every religion and culture is home to radical Dzogchen. Although different labels may identify it in those diverse human contexts, its existential reality is the same. Although non dual reality is recognised by some human beings everywhere, beings who express it in music, poetry and art, it has been the Tibetan tradition that through coincidental political and social factors has brought it to our attention. A renaissance of the radical human spirit in Eastern Tibet in the twentieth century provided the dynamic which has high-profiled Dzogchen and in particular radical Dzogchen.
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Sarva Mangalam!
May all beings be happy!
Keith dowman, Dzogchen teacher & Translator
Keith Dowman is a translator and teacher of Dzogchen. A student of the great Dzogchen lamas Dudjom Rinpoche and Kanjur Rinpoche, he has lived in Banares, India, and Kathmandu, Nepal, for 50 years. His translations include SkyDancer, and Longchenpa’s Natural Perfection and Spaciousness.
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A cultural refugee from his native England, Keith Dowman arrived in Banares, India in 1966, after travelling overland from Europe. Apart from an occasional foray back to the West he has spent a lifetime in the sub-continent, engaged in existential buddha dharma. In India and Nepal, not always in Tibetan refugee society, he has lived as a yogin, monk, pilgrim, and then as a householder, and as a scholar and poet gloriously free from western academia and cultural institutions of all shapes and sizes.
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Keith received initiation, empowerment, pith instruction and personal guidance from Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje and Kanjur Rinpoche Longchen Yeshe Dorje, who became his root gurus, among many other Nyingma lamas and lamas of other schools, notably Khamtrul Rimpoche and the 16th Karmapa Rikpai Dorje. As Chogyal Namkhai Norbu remarked "In communion with many great masters [Keith Dowman] has fortuitously absorbed the realization of Dzogchen."
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Settled in Kathmandu, in the ‘eighties he translated the Rabalaisian hagiography of The Divine Madman (Drukpa Kunley) and also that of the Guru’s Consort, Yeshe Tsogyel, in Skydancer, both of which remain in print. More recently, spending less time in the polluted Kathmandu Valley, leaving Vajrayana behind, he has concentrated exclusively on the translation of Dzogchen texts: The Flight of the Garuda, Natural Perfection, Maya Yoga, The Great Secret of Mind, and Spaciousness: Longchenpa’s Treasury of the Dharmadhatu. Guru Pema Here and Now, The Mythology of the Lotus-Born, his most recent book, reverts to the imagery of the myth of Padmasambhava to illustrate the reality of Dzogchen.
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Teaching the Dharma since 1992, his original concern was to assist in bridge building from East to West, a conduit for the lamas’ buddha-dharma. Now that aim has been achieved, leaving even the Dzogchen that is embedded in Vajrayana behind, the essence of Dzogchen which he calls radical Dzogchen is his primary concern and the main content of his teaching.
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Keith leads a nomadic lifestyle, teaching Dzogchen nonmeditation worldwide. This Dzogchen, derived from the early Nyingma tantras, free of the tendency toward the spiritual materialism so evident in western Buddhism, nonculturally specific, easily assimilable into Western culture, can, he believes provide a key to a renaissance, or at least a reformation, of Western mysticism in the existential mold.
Price
The price includes an Dzogchen teachings with Keith Dowman, three meals a day, unlimited teas and shared sleeping accommodation in a yurt, roundhouse or tipi. You can also bring your own tent or rent one from us.
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Price: £200​
Practicalities
Arrival Time: 3 pm - 5 pm. There is a welcoming meal and tea at around 7pm - 7:30 pm
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Please make sure to arrive on site at the arrival time. We will ferry you and all your gear in our four wheel drive vehicles down the steep mountain road to the village (if you don't fancy the spectacular mountain footpath). This takes only a few minutes to drive but you will have to load everything into our vehicles with our help. Welcome to the Bhutan of Wales. You can have the full Himalayan adventure without ever leaving Britain.
Spirit Horse Mountain Retreat is set amidst 200 acres of wildest Wales, allowed through the Forest of Dreams (registered charity) to return to its natural original face.
Rent a Bell Tent
You can bring your own tent for some extra privacy. If you would like to rent a bell tent from us please click the button below for more information.
Bookings and Cancellations Policy
It is really helpful for us when running courses and events if you book in advance.
If we have to cancel an event, we will provide you a full refund without question.
If you need to cancel your booking, you can carry the value of your booking over to another event (subject to availability) or pay £100 admin fee, unless exceptional circumstances.