Overview
Please join us onsite in Vancouver at Maitrivana, or online, for two days of Amitābha practice with Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen, Acharya Tashi Wangchuk, Lama Rabten Tshering, and guest teacher Lama Tenzin (from Kagyu Kunkhyab Chuling). Come for all or part of the program. No prior experience needed.
Register by filling out and submitting the form below. Zoom meeting details will be sent to you automatically via email once registration is completed. Questions about onsite participation can be sent to: vancouver@nalandabodhi.ca . Questions regarding online participation can be sent to: programs@mrclodgeandcabins.com
Schedule (Pacific time)
| 9:15 am | Doors open |
| 9:30am – 10:30am | Session #1 |
| 10:30am – 11:00am | Break |
| 11:00am – 12:00pm | Session #2 |
| 12:00pm – 2:00pm | Lunch Break |
| 2:00pm – 3:30pm | Session #3 |
Program Cost
Participation in this retreat is free, though offerings are much appreciated and help to support our teachers and this program. The recommended monetary offering is $30 per day, but any amount in accordance with your circumstances, is greatly appreciated. In particular, when prayer requests are made it is customary to make an offering to help with shrine and ritual materials, and as an expression of gratitude. However, please know that no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Prayer Requests
Within Tibetan Buddhism, Amitābha Buddha practice is most commonly performed on behalf of the departed. It is also beneficial for the living, and is often practiced in supplication for a loved-one’s health and well-being.
With this in mind, you are warmly invited to submit a prayer request on behalf of the living or deceased and we will make lamp offerings for them. If you wish to make a lamp offering, you can sponsor large or small candles at registration. You can also sponsor shrine offerings (flowers, fruit, etc).
To submit a prayer request please fill out and submit this form: https://forms.gle/iwffmjKREV77nfny9
NOTE: Deadline for prayer request submission is Thursday, April 24, 2025. Because we require adequate time to make preparations, we cannot guarantee the inclusion of prayer requests submitted after this date. Thank you for your understanding.
ABOUT AMITĀBHA PRACTICE
According to Mahayana Buddhist sutras, Amitābha was once a king who renounced his kingdom and became a monk named Dharmakāra. Inspired by the teachings of Lokesvararaja Buddha, he made forty eight great vows for the liberation of the sentient beings. The Eighteenth Vow, which is the basis of the “Pure Land” called Sukhāvatī, ran like this:
“When I have attained Buddhahood, all sentient beings in the ten quarters who aspire in sincerity and faith to be reborn in my land and who have thought of me (or repeated my name) up to ten times; if they fail to be born there, then may I not attain the Perfect Enlightenment …”
After five aeons of self-cultivation, the Bodhisattva Dharmakāra finally attained the Supreme Enlightenment and became Buddha Amitābha. Because of his infinite merits and compassion, simply calling out Amitābha Buddha’s name is enough to draw his infinite life. Repeated recitation of his name praise (especially when dying)—or his mantras—can help his devotee be reborn in Sukhāvatī Pure Land.
About the Teachers
Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen was born in Nepal and entered the monastery at age thirteen. In 1981, Lama Tenpa and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche enrolled in the first class of Rumtek Monastery’s Karma Shri Nalanda Institute in Sikkim, India. Lama Tenpa completed his studies with an Acharya degree in 1991. Following his graduation, he taught Buddhist philosophy at the Institute for two years. Under the guidance of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, he then entered a three-year retreat in Pullahari, Nepal.
Acharya Tashi Wangchuk is Nalandabodhi’s Vice Chancellor and is the resident teacher at Nalanda West, Nalandabodhi’s centre in Seattle. He also serves as the main acharya overseeing all Nalandabodhi centres in North America.
Born and raised in eastern Bhutan, Acharya Tashi moved to Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, India, at the age of 15. He was there for ten years and graduated from Karma Shri Nalanda Institute, the principal Karma Kagyu monastic college. He then taught for the Karma Kagyu lineage in Hong Kong for several years before returning to Rumtek Monastery to teach at the Karma Shri Nalanda Institute.
Following this, Acharya Tashi did editorial work for Nitartha International in Nepal, an educational organization founded by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche to preserve and digitize endangered Tibetan texts. Along with his responsibilities for Nalandabodhi, Acharya Tashi is one of the principal editors working to publish the renowned Eight Great Treatises of the Karma Kagyu lineage.
Lama Rabten Tshering is the resident teacher and spiritual director of Nalandabodhi Canada. He spent his early years at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkhim, and served as disciplinary master there for five years. In 1997 he entered a 3-year retreat at Pullahari Retreat Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal, under the guidance of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche and other masters.
In 2002 he came to the west at the invitation of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and has been serving the Nalandabodhi community since that time. He teaches regularly at Nalandabodhi’s Canadian headquarters in Vancouver. Read more here.
Lama Tenzin Sherpa was born in Nepal in 1977. When he was around 11 years old his father sent him to the Sonada Monastery (also known as Samdrub Dhargay Choling Monastery) in West Bengal to begin his training to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk. In 1989, the same year that Kalu Rinpoche died, Lama Tenzin became a monk. He continued to live at the monastery for 20 years.
In 2012, Lama Tenzin completed his three year retreat and took up various responsibilities at the Salagura Stupa Kunchab Chodey. In 2015, Lama Tenzin was invited to Canada as a resident teacher at the Tibetan Buddhist Dharma Centre “Kagyu Kunkhyab Chuling” (KKC) located at 4941 Sidley Street, Burnaby and the Niguma Meditation Centre’s retreat centre Kunzang Dechen Osel Ling (KDOL) on Saltspring Island.
About MRC
Nestled in the breathtaking Canadian Rockies, MRC is in the Columbia River Valley surrounded by the Banff, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks. It is the perfect spot for a meditation retreat. MRC offers online meditation programs and also serves those interested in solo retreats.
MRC has several retreat cabins and lodge rooms. Our largest unit has a full kitchen for meal preparation. The surrounding trails are perfect for walking meditation and contemplation.
For more information, please visit www.mrclodgeandcabins.com. For booking your retreat, please write reservations@mrclodgeandcabins.com
All prices below are in CAD