EMBRACING LIFE, CONSCIOUSNESS AND JOY
Situated in the Northeast of India, in the actual North of Pakistan and Afghanistan, at the foot of the Himalaya, Gandhara was a kingdom of great spiritual, artistic and economic development for centuries. Over there, the Greek culture of the heirs of Alexander the Great (who built there the last bulwark of his empire) and the Indian culture merged in perfect harmony.
In Gandhara or Uddiyana, Tilopa and Padmasambhava were born. This kingdom was known as “the Dakinis' land”.
In the ancient India, was believed that to be a Human Being who reached the plenitude, it was necessary to have a harmonic relationship with the energies of Dharma, Kama and Artha.
Once reached this state of harmony, one could cover the way of Moksha, the Way of the Liberation.
Dharma is a spiritual vision of life and the universe. Kama means desire. Having a good connexion with Kama means having a healthy relationship – joyful, amorous and free – both in partner relationships and in everything that produces pleasure to the senses, especially in sexuality. Artha is the connection with prosperity, creativity, abundance, art, the beauty of life. All this becomes the stable base upon which a human being can start Moksha, the Way of the Liberation.
Based on this Vision, Lama Djampa Gyatso refreshes it and proposes a programme of contemplative studies and meditative practices which would prepare us to focus our life towards the Dharma, Moksha, and the deeper spiritual way that break free from suffering and take us to the happiness of Being. One of the characteristics of the Way of Tantra is that we can reach Realization in this Life. In other Ways it may take 7, 20 or 30 Lives.
THE GANDHARA PROGRAMME pretends to fuse together the best of the Oriental culture, especially that of India and Tibet, with the best of our Western, Mediterranean and Greek culture. Buddhism, during centuries, adapted to the cultures where it spread with a spirit of respect and integration: whatever China, Tibet, Korea, Thailandia, Cambodia, or Japan... with this programme we want to create a fusion of the Great Wisdom of Dharma that comes from Tibet with the richness of our MEDITERRANEAN CULTURE.
We propose to develop a timeless vision of Art, under a perspective of wisdom of Non-Ego. An Art connected with the healthy, pure, generous and wise part of our inner self, and not with the neurotic part of the Ego.
The fundamental tool that enables to connect with this wisdom is the practice of Saraswati: the Goddess of Arts, Creativity and Philosophy.
This immersion in the Art and Spirituality Programme takes place in a group retreat-curse of one week in CAN CAMPS.
The deepening should be done in individual retreats up to 30 days of deep practice during the year.
The group retreat is like to plant the seed, the individual one to make that seed grows and blossoms...
Many people who get closer to spirituality do not have a good connection with Prosperity and Abundance, with the energy of Artha. Changing this pattern of behavior is essential to make sure that everything flows in our spiritual way. We live in the society of austerity and cuts, we have to change the Paradigm. It is absolutely necessary to connect with Abundance and Prosperity. This is of the outmost importance in our lives and us, but also for the entire society.
The essential tool that enables us to connect with the energy of Prosperity and Abundance is the practice of Tara Verde of Abundance and the practice of Sang, both Termas of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche.
This immersion takes place in a one week retreat-curse in CAN CAMPS.
The deepening should be done in individual retreats up to 30 days of deep practice during the year.
Partner relationships and sexuality are two of the most important things in our life. There are only few places where human-beings can truly learn the ART OF LOVING. Considered that loving is an art, it seems necessary to learn, study, and practice it. All of us are affected by several wounds in partner relationships, in our “connection” with the other sex. Wounds that we need to heal, purify, transform in Love, Compassion, Communication, Joy, Ecstasy...
To get a slight idea of the meaning of Tantric Sexuality, it is necessary to tackle the meaning of having a healthy sexuality and harmonic partner relationship.
For this, Lama Djampa proposes us two retreat-courses:
This is a one week retreat-course where a real transformation of our relationship between masculine and feminine energies occurs and where we learn to connect with Love.
A preparation to have a healthy and deep partner relationship. We learn the importance and sacredness of partner relationship in the Tantric Way. We convert ourselves in spiritual partners toward realization. We take a tour about love and partner relationship from all the Buddhist perspectives: both of the Hinayana, that of the Mahayana, that of the Tantrayana.
This is a retreat course, where both women and men learn to love and respect the spiritual potential of Female Energy. It is a course about the empowerment of the Feminine. The essential tool to connect with the sacred feminine energy is the practice of Dakini, a Terma of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche. The Dakini teaches us to transcend desire through the same desire.
This immersion takes place during a one week retreat-curse in CAN CAMPS.
The deepening should be done in individual retreats up to 30 days of deep practice during the year, after having attended the retreat-course.
In order to walk along the Spiritual Pathway, a good health is needed. The practice of the Padmasambhava of Medicine is a Terma of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche that eliminates lots of diseases and, what’s more, also gives us the blessing, power and wisdom to heal other living creatures. Therefore, it can be considered as a perfect practice for those people who wish to learn how to recover, or who want to devote themselves to healing the others. At least one-month retire of this practice is recommended to connect with its enormous blessings.
The human existence is ephemeral and impermanent. The Amitayus practice connects us with the Immortal Nature of our Mind. This practice is a Terma of Zinon Nankey Dorje. It has the power to enlarge our lives to be able to dedicate them to the practice of the Supreme Dharma. It is recommended to attend the teachings in a group retire in Can Camps and to do a minimum of one month solitary retreat in Khandro Ling.
If we want our Western culture to be impregnated with spirituality and consciousness, it is important to begin a deeper work to unite science with spirituality.
In this section of the programme, people from different fields will intervene, who united science and spirituality in a single flavor, throughout his life and his professional, personal and spiritual experience: philosophers of science, quantum physics' researchers, neuroscientists, etc...
In some of the proposed areas of study and practice, students shall form study groups that will meet monthly to deepen the study and practice of that particular topic. For example, groups of Contemporary Mystic Poetry, Tantric Music, Dance and Spirituality, a research group about the Relationship between Feminism and Buddhist Tantra, Medicine and Compassion, a study group of the Illuminated Society, etc. could be created.
Once realized all these studies and retreats, the person who aspires to enter the Way of Dharma, Moksha, and Liberation will have very strong bases. She will have done a process of healing and rebalancing that will permit her to start the Way of Dharma firmly, with perseverance and elegance. This is a very solid preparation to enter in the WAY OF DHARMA.
It is important to realize each of these stages because all of them are needed and complementary to transform ourselves in an HARMONIC and EQUILIBRATED HUMAN BEING.
The route toward the Way of Dharma is based on the teachings of the NYINGMA TRADITION OF THE 9 YANAS, where it is important to cover bottom up all the gaps of the Way to Realization.
After the CONTEMPLATIVE STUDY PROGRAMME EMBRACING LIFE, CONSCIENCE AND JOY, one is prepared to fully start the Way of Dharma which is composed of the following stages or levels:
The pillars of the Hinayana Way are Ethics and Consciousness. In this stage, there is a lot of emphasis in the practice of Shamata and Vipassana, but from the Tantrayana perspective. Here the practices of Tantric Yoga o Tsa Lung are introduced, through the Yoga of the Small Vase (Bum Chung), that later will transform in the Big Vase.
The pillars of the Mahayana Way are Compassion and Emptiness. It is an introduction to the WAY OF THE BODHISATTVAS. Compassionate love and bodhicitta (the mind that aspires to achieve Enlightenment for the benefit of all beings) are developed.
The Lo Djong is a Mahayana teaching that helps us to transform all the negative or conflicting circumstances into positive, into a part of the learning in the Way toward Realization.
In this level we enter the Way of Buddhist Tantra through the preliminary practices of Dakini o NGONDRO, which imply the karmic purification and the accumulation of merits necessary to enter in the Superior Tantras:
MAHAYOGA, ANUYOGA and ATIYOGA.
It is based on a Terma of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche called Khandro Tugtik or the Way of the Dakinis' Great Joy. Human beings live in the kingdom of desire. The Dakini's Way helps us to enter the energy of desire and take us to the No Dual Kingdom of the Great Joy. It is the Feminine Pathway: the union of Joy, Wisdom and Emptiness. A complete pathway, as it contains the tantras Maha, Anu and Ati Yoga or Dzog Chen.
