Rainy Season Retreat “Dathün” (Pali:Vassa)

Led by Buddhist Instructors under Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

 We are very happy to be hosting the second annual Rainy Season Retreat (Datün) this July 15th – August 12th. This retreat is a month long intensive Buddhist meditation retreat that Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche designed as an essential and foundational program for his students. During the Buddha’s time, practitioners would gather and practice mediation together during the monsoon season when it was difficult to travel. We are delighted to bring together this powerful retreat format with this Vassa tradition of practicing during the rains. 

 This retreat will be led by senior students of  Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. It presents a unique opportunity to gain deep familiarity with the sitting practice of meditation as presented by Chögyam Trungpa. The meditation instruction he presented originated in India, crossed the Himalayas a millennium ago, and has been taught in Europe and North America since the 1960’s. It is moving to see this journey come full circle. 

 The datün environment is a 24 hour a day practice container. The schedule and retreat guidelines are a part of the practice. The retreat provides a space of simplicity and clarity rarely accessible in our ordinary lives. In addition to sitting meditation, practice includes morning and evening chants, walking meditation, silent meals, silent periods, meetings with meditation instructors, and dharma talks. 

 In a 1973 letter to datün participants, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche wrote: “Meditation is the way of the Buddha. A datün, or “month long training period,” is a systematic method of putting the teachings into practice. Alternating formal sitting with meditation in action (daily living experiences as practice) creates a confrontation with hidden neuroses and a means to transmute them.” Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche has said that “Ideally the ultimate retreat is to retreat from the past and the future, to always remain in the present.”

Please let us know if you have any questions about this retreat. You can write to info@deerpark.in. 

 Participants may register for shorter periods than the full month however: (a) Priority will be given to individuals committed to the full month of retreat; and (b) No new participants will be admitted after 30th July.