Essence of the Lotus Trilogy: Wisdom of Padmasambhava
Three Year Program begins October 2024
Body, language, and mind are like lotuses rising from the muddy waters of our experience. For our journey to be meaningful, we can cultivate them well and encourage them to open fully, with the aspiration to be of benefit to all beings.
Tarthang Tulku’s Lotus Trilogy offers searching, novel explorations that reveal a profound vision: how ordinary structures of body, language, and mind can be deconstructed and recognized as the luminous vehicle for our liberation.
This experiential program guides you in playful and direct ways to recognize and take refuge within the intrinsic radiance of your own being. Our study and discussions of Lotus Trilogy will emphasize the importance of understanding the deep structure of ordinary experience, complemented by potent, unrestricted practices, contemplations, and prayers connected to Padmasambhava, the Lotus-born Guru.
Our journey will unfold over three successive years, focusing on one volume of the trilogy each year – Lotus Body, Lotus Language, and Lotus Mind. Designed as a progressive curriculum, the course features weekly classes, regular weekend intensives, and an annual retreat – providing ample opportunity to integrate these teachings into your daily life. Immerse yourself in thought-provoking dialogue, mantra recitation, Kum Nye (a Tibetan relaxation practice), meditation, and insightful inquiry.
We can reclaim the innate freedom and luminosity at the heart of our own body, speech, and mind. This program calls forth wonderment and appreciation of our shared potential to manifest the lotus from the boundless, open field of our being.
Essence of the Lotus Trilogy: Fall 2024 Class & Workshop
PROGRAM SCHEDULE
Weekly Class: Fridays, 10 – 11:30 Pacific time, first class October 25
Weekend Retreat 1: Friday – Sunday, October 4-6, 2024
Weekend Retreat 2: Friday – Sunday, December 13-15, 2024
Weekend Retreat 3: Dates TBA
Weekend Retreat 4: Dates TBA
Spring Retreat: Wednesday – Sunday, May 14-18, 2025
First Weekend Retreat
Lotus Born: Introduction to the Lotus Vision
Friday – Sunday, October 4-6, 2024
- Friday and Saturday: Main teachings from 10 am – 1 pm, Practice session from 2 – 3:30 pm
- Sunday: Final exercises from 10 – 1 pm with Abbe Blum and Hugh Joswick
This workshop introduces the vision of Lotus Trilogy in relation to Padmasambhava, the Lotus Born Guru. This first workshop of the 3-year program begins with an overview of the Lotus Trilogy.
Through experiential inquiry, dialogue, and relaxation practices we contemplate how three defining aspects of being human—body, language, and mind—might actually become the gateways to knowledge that liberate us from our cages of suffering and nourish us with joy and appreciation. We invite Padmasambhava’s wisdom through chanting the 7 line prayer and other mantras, as well as selected teachings that Padmasambhava brought to Tibet.
Class: 1st Semester
Lotus Trilogy and the Wisdom of Padmasambhava
Fridays 10–11:30 AM Pacific time
First class on October 25
- October 25 The Way to Begin – Lotus Vision* (from LB xxii)
- November 1 Lotus Vision
- November 8 Lotus Vision
- November 15 Lotus Vision
- November 22 Lotus Body (no class November 29)
- December 6 Lotus Body
- December 13 Lotus Body
Sign up for Essence of the Lotus Trilogy
Program Fees
1. Online-Only Option: First Year: $1,100
- Includes:
- 24 classes (Late Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Early Spring 2025, and Late Spring 2025)
- 4 weekend workshops (Friday-Sunday)
- 1 retreat (5 days in spring of 2025)
2. In-Person Option: First Year: $1,248
- Includes:
- 24 classes (Late Fall 2024, Winter 2025, Early Spring 2025, and Late Spring 2025)
- 4 weekend workshops (Friday-Sunday)
- 1 retreat (5 days in spring of 2025)
- Vegetarian lunch and tea break during workshops and retreats
Program Faculty
The weekly class is taught by Abbe Blum and Hugh Joswick, with regular participation by Pema Gellek and Lama Palzang.
