Dzogchen Center will be hosting Lama Surya Das for one of its special weekend retreats, in Laguna Beach, CA at the end of January. This is a delightful, rare and precious opportunity to receive guidance and inspiration from one of the foremost Western Buddhist meditation teachers and scholars and a pioneering interpreter of Tibetan Buddhism in the West.

He will offer an Evening Talk with Q&A on Friday, January 30th at 7.30 pm; followed by a One-Day Retreat on Saturday, January 31st from 10 am to 5 pm. His topic is "One Step Enlightenment: Coming Home"

Both events will be held at the beautiful Bridge Hall and Courtyard in the Neighborhood Congregational Church, 340 St. Ann's Drive, Laguna Beach, CA 92651.

Further details are available on the event page, and secure online registration for the events is now open.

Teachers will be in retreat with Lama Surya Das during early January, and there will be no Sunday afternoon meetings on either January 4th or 11th. Regularly scheduled Sunday afternoons at the Shala will re-commence on January 18th, when we will be starting to review the series of maxims entitled "Commitments of Mind-Heart Training".

As shown on the event page and in the email sent to those registering to attend, access to this Saturday's one day retreat at Laguna Woods Village is at Gate 12.

Directions to Gate 12 were also provided in the same email. They are as follow:

Clubhouse 2 is accessed from Gate 12, on Moulton Parkway north of the El Toro Road intersection. Your name will be on the event registration list; for entry, you will need to give your name to the gate guard upon arrival. For map and directions, see here.

Going south on I-5, take the El Toro exit. Continue straight on Paseo de Valencia for 0.2 miles, then right on El Toro. Take El Toro west for 0.7 miles, then right on Moulton for 0.2 miles to Gate 12. The gate guard will have your name on a list for the meditation retreat.

Going north on I-5, take El Toro exit and turn left on El Toro. Then as above.

Dzogchen Center Southern California will be holding its annual Fall One-Day Retreat on Saturday, November 29th, 2014, in Laguna Woods, CA from 9.30 am to 4 pm. 

There will be guided meditation, chanting & prayers, teachings and plenty of opportunity to ask questions.

The title for the retreat is
Rainbow of Liberation: Longchenpa's Four-Themed Precious Garland 

This is a short text by one of the tradition's most celebrated masters, and summarizes the entire path of awakening from a Dzogchen perspective.

Further details will be published shortly, and we look forward to seeing many of you there for this wonderful day of practice and community.

During this summer hiatus, the group will be practising the Mind Training Maxims already covered in Sunday meetings. A list of those can be found here.

Our dear teacher Lama Surya Das will be giving a one-day workshop hosted by InsightLA and open to all in Santa Monica, CA on Saturday, September 20th: Awakening Together and the Six Building Blocks to Creating Your Spiritual Life (please click here for further details).

This is a great opportunity to connect with our principal teacher, who is both a recognized Lineage Holder in the ancient wisdom tradition of Dzogchen and a masterful guide to modern spiritual life. We hope many of you will join us in supporting this event and receiving these rare and precious teachings.

Since teachers will be in retreat with Lama Surya Das at the Dzogchen Center Summer Retreat on this date, the Sunday group meeting will not be held on July 13th, 2014. Regular Sunday afternoon meetings will resume on July 20th.