2025 Phowa Retreat Announcement
Dear Friends and Students of Tupten Osel Choling (TOC), We are delighted to announce that Ven. Sogan Rinpoche will be leading a Phowa retreat in the Bay Area from Wednesday April 2 to Sunday April 6, 2025. Training in Phowa, transference of consciousness at the moment of death, inspires confidence in our lives, spiritual practice, and in death and dying. In daily life, even the most ordinary activities take on new significance when viewed through the lens of impermanence and death.
The Phowa teachings directly address the fact that death is inevitable and that with each moment we move closer to death. These teachings are appropriate for those who are firmly grounded in the preliminaries of Vajrayana Buddhism. This retreat will have four sessions per day of teachings and practice. Leaders of the Tamang Community Center and Tupten Osel Choling want this gathering to be safe and joyous for all participants, a source of refuge. We believe that we all have a shared responsibility to protect our spiritual guide, Ven. Sogan Rinpoche and each other, so if you are feeling at all unwell, please do not attend the retreat and you will receive a full refund.
RETREAT SCHEDULE
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
8:00am to 9:00am: arrival
9:00am to 10:30am: first session
10:30am to 11:00am: break
11:00am to 12:30pm: second session
12:30 to 2:00: lunch break, catered buffet on-site
2:00pm to 3:30pm: third session
3:30pm to 4:00pm: break
4:00pm to 5:30: fourth session
Thursday, April 3; Friday, April 4; Saturday, April 5, 2025
(please note that the next three days start 1/2 hour earlier)
7:30am to 8:30am: arrival
8:30am to 10:00am: first session
10:00am to 10:30am: break
10:30am to 12:00pm: second session
12:00pm to 1:30pm: lunch break, catered buffet on-site
1:30pm to 3:00pm: third session
3:00pm to 3:30pm: break
3:30pm to 5:00pm: fourth session
Sunday, April 6, 2025
9:30am to 10:30am: arrival, potluck food set-up
10:30am to 12:30pm: White Tara Empowerment
12:30am to 3:00pm: potluck lunch
SITE LOCATION, LODGING, AND TRANSPORTATION
All the retreat activities will take place at the Tamang Community Center, which is located at 1107 Stallion Rd. in El Sobrante, CA. Please click HERE for detailed information about distances from key geographic points to the retreat location, transportation options to the retreat location, and nearby lodging options.
REGISTRATION
It is recommended that participants in the Phowa training plan to attend the full retreat. The cost for the full retreat is $495 per person. There is a $445 early bird special. Everyone who registers no later than February 28 is still within the Early Bird timeframe. No pre-registration is required for those who want to attend only the Sunday White Tara Empowerment. There is a suggested donation of $50 that can be paid onsite at the Welcome Table.
Registration payment for the full retreat can be made by:
Check
To "Tupten Osel Choling" with "Retreat" in the memo line and send to:
Tupten Osel Choling
℅ Teri Harrigan
2468 Cold Creek Trail
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150
PayPal Through PayPal by clicking HERE, select "Retreat" from the list to contribute. You can pay directly through PayPal or pay using your credit card with PayPal as the intermediary. In either case, please check the "I’d like to add to my donation to help offset the cost of processing fees" checkbox.
SETTING THE TONE
It is highly recommended that participants read The Words of My Perfect Teacher, focusing on part three, The Swift Path of Transference, starting on page 350 of the text. Once the retreat begins, Rinpoche advises that we remain as silent as we are able while at the retreat facility throughout each day. Even if we are not totally silent, it is important not to allow our attention to stray from the focus developed in our practice. Rinpoche suggests it is especially important to avoid senseless talk and pointless conversation during intervals between sessions which could otherwise dispel concentration and scatter thoughts.
CONTACT US
We realize some of you may have questions and concerns that were not addressed in the announcement. Please email us with your questions at info(at)tuptenoselcholing(dot)org. We are working hard to refine details so please allow a few days for a response.
Best wishes,
© 2025 Tupten Osel Choling
