I have been thinking about ways to help people who want to deepen their Dharma practice. This could include those who want to prepare for taking solitary retreats at either the Holy Vajrasana Temple and Retreat Center in Sanger or eventually at Holy Heavenly Lake in Buddhist Town in Hesperia, California. I am hopeful that we will be able to finish the landscaping and site work at our Sanger temple next summer, but that work may cause us to be living in a construction site and make it difficult to hold retreats there in 2026. When we did our construction on the temple before, I arranged to do group retreats in New York and Asia. I had also looked at a retreat site near Big Bear Lake in southern California as another possible site for a group retreat. With all that in mind I contacted the Big Bear site again about what they might have available in 2026 and found, to my surprise, that they had just had a cancellation in mid September of this year. That cancellation could enable us to do such a group meditation retreat there this year. On Monday we visited this site and found it cool, lovely, and very conducive to such a retreat.
What I need now, is to know if anyone is interested in such a retreat, either yet this year or sometime in 2026? I am envisioning a seven-day silent meditation retreat with the possibility of having a few people do the solitary retreat as per the requirements of R-97X. This form of solitary retreat does require having some experience in silent retreats and a regular Dharma practice. I could transmit some of the required Dharmas, if needed. The solitary retreat program is Dharma the Buddha Master gave me when we dedicated the yurt at the Holy Vajrasana Temple to the Dharma Protectors. It is a Dharma Protector Dharma, but one that enhances your other Dharma, not a separate Dharma per se. I do not sense that there are a lot of students ready for such intensive practice and most students do not know what is involved. I am very impressed with the results achieved by those who have taken seven-day retreats and even more so with those who have been able to do the thirty-day version. It has changed their lives. This is the reason I want as many students as possible to have this opportunity.
I envision this event in September of this year or next year being more of a “boot camp” for people considering doing the solitary, but not yet ready to do so. If we do this in September, I want the meditation retreat experience to be available for people with a range of meditative skills and commitments. I can tailor the program to fit the needs of those who want to attend. The focus would be on meditation sessions–both sitting and walking. The meditation sessions could be done as a group or as individuals seeking sites in the surrounding forest or in their rooms. I could also offer readings from English translations of the Buddha Master’s teachings, if that is desired. The cost would be dependent upon how many people participate and whether you had a single or dorm room. The dates would be around September 10-18, 2025 or at some time in 2026.
Please let me know ASAP if you are interested. Attached below is a form where you can give me the information I would need to do this. You can email or text me this information and any ideas of what you would like to see in such a retreat. Right now, I need to know you are interested and your ideas on what you would want from such a retreat. We only have a two-month window to plan for this, so please get back to me as quickly as possible if you are interested in the September 2025 experience or something in 2026.
XuanfaInstitute@gmail.com or 626-375-6328.
CLICK for more background and the history of Solitary Retreats including experiences by those who have taken these retreats.
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