Dear beloved friends and sangha,

We are delighted to announce that on May 11th, Guru Rinpoche Day, as part of the 2022 8-week retreat, The Vajra Essence - Part III, Lama Alan will grant the Lake-Born Vajra Empowerment.
 
This empowerment will be open to all who sincerely wish to receive it, whether or not you are participating in the 2022 8-week retreat.
 
However, for those who have not been attending the 8-week retreats in 2020, 2021 or 2022, and wish to receive the empowerment, you must commit to listen to at least one of the full 8-week retreats offered from 2017 onwards by Santa Barbara Institute. Alternatively, you may attend at least one Wisdom Academy online course by Lama Alan Wallace, specifically on Dzogchen. You do not need to have listened to the entire retreat or course prior to May 11th, but you do need to make this commitment.
 
The empowerment will be available as a live stream, as well as recorded for those who cannot participate live.
 
During the 2022 8-week retreat Eva Natanya (Yangchen Osel) will be offering teachings on the Lake-Born Vajra sadhana so it will be essential that everyone who is participating in this year’s retreat receive this empowerment.
 
If you have not already received extensive teachings on the samayas and vows of the Vajrayana, it is strongly encouraged that you listen to Yangchen’s teachings from the 2019 8-week retreat on the Shower of Blessings as a practice of Guru Yoga, and on the Samayas and Vows, soon before or after receiving the empowerment. If you wish to receive teachings on the Lake-Born Vajra sadhana, you must register for the whole of the 2019 8-week retreat, or else follow the entire sequence of the 2020-2022 Vajra Essence retreats.
 
On Receiving an Empowerment
 
In his root Dzogchen text Extracting the Vital Essence of Accomplishment, Kyabjé Düdom Rinpoché writes that these pith instructions are intended as an entrance to the Path of Great Perfection “for those fortunate individuals… who have heartfelt trust in the profound, secret Dharma of the Great Perfection and in the guru who reveals it; and for those who are intent on pursuing this practice to its culmination.”

Similarly anyone who wishes to receive this empowerment of the Lake-Born Vajra, Tsokyé Dorjé, should have heartfelt trust in the teachings on Dzogchen revealed by the Lake-Born Vajra to Düdjom Lingpa and in the spiritual mentor who is granting this empowerment with the authorization of his root Dzogchen lama, the Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoché.
 
While there is no formal daily practice commitment associated with this empowerment—such as a sadhana or mantra commitment—taking the empowerment definitely constitutes committing to all the samayas and vows of the Vajrayana, so it is important that you know what these are, and believe that you can and will keep them purely.
 
We ask that you consider all of this deeply before making the commitment to receive the empowerment. You will need to register with this link for the empowerment unless you are already participating in the 2022 8-week retreat. The Password is: 2022LAKE

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We thank you for your support of Santa Barbara Institute.