8th Annual Dzogchen Retreat
Great Love and Open Mind: An Amitabha Phowa retreat
with
Lama Mark Webber & Jonathan Chambers
Wangapeka Study & Retreat Centre
Great Love and Open Mind: An Amitabha Phowa retreat
ANNOUNCEMENT (Updated 25 January 2025)
We are thrilled to announce this opportunity for Dharma practitioners to come together for a 9-day Dzogchen retreat at Wangapeka Study and Retreat Centre in February 2025. This year’s retreat will focus on entering the discerning and infinite loving space of Amitabha Buddha, including through Phowa practice: with teachings on the death process, consciousness transference, bardos and rebirth.
Though Lama Gyaltsen (Lama Mark Webber) will be in a one year retreat at Namgyal Gompa in Canada at this time, he has kindly offered to join us for at least five Zoom sessions, where he will give reading transmissions, guidance and inspiration on these profound meditations. In addition, Jonathan Chambers will lead classes and be available for personal guidance throughout the retreat.
The retreat is an ideal opportunity for established practitioners, as well as those with a genuine interest in Buddhist Dharma and meditation, to come together in a supportive practice community.
RETREAT FORMAT
The retreat will begin with Lama Mark Webber offering a reading transmission of Khunu Gyaltsen Rinpoche’s extraordinary text on bodhicitta, “The Jewel Ship” (published under the title, Vast as the Heavens, Deep as the Sea: Verses in Praise of Bodhicitta).
This will be followed on day 2 by a reading transmission of Lama Gyaltsen’s root text called the “Eight Confidences and A Garland of 100 Mindfulnesses Recollections”. This text will serve throughout the retreat as a framework for enhancing our awareness, to bring forth the inherent awareness of unconstructed mind, inseparable with great love.
On day three, Lama Gyaltsen will lead participants in an ever deepening practice of Amitabha, from the Drikung Yangzab and Orgyen Nuden Dorje traditions. Amitabha Buddha is the wisdom Buddha of Boundless Light. Our primordial mind has always been Amitabha. With the support of this retreat, we have an extraordinary means to re-glimpse these extraordinary qualities and open them to awareness.
On day five, Lama Mark will introduce the Amitabha Phowa practice and give related teachings on the death process, consciousness transference, bardos and rebirth.
The remainder of the retreat will incorporate daily group practice sessions of Amitabha, which retreat participants will have the opportunity to lead.
COSTS
For Wangapeka members: NZ$950 + dana
For non-members: NZ$1,050 + dana
The set fee covers accommodation, prepared meals and a resource fee. The fee does not include any payment for the teacher/teaching. In accordance with Buddhist tradition, both Lama Mark and Jonathan offer the teaching of Dharma freely, out of the spirit of generosity. There will be an opportunity to make an offering of dana/donation in return.
Lama Mark Webber (Lama Yongdu Chokyi Gyaltsen) has been studying and teaching Buddha-dharma for almost fifty years. For thirty years his main root teacher was the great Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche who taught all three cycles of the Buddha’s teachings, including Abhidhamma, Vipassana in the lineage of Mahāsi Sayādaw, generation and completion stage practices of the Tantrayana and Mahamudra/Dzogchen of many lineages, especially of the Karma Kagyu and Sakya. Under the guidance and transmissions of the late Drikung Kyabje Ontul Rinpoche and transmissions from H.E. Lho Ratna Rinpoche, Lama Webber has been teaching principally the richness of the Drikung Mahamudra, Drikung Dzogchen Yangzab and Orgyen Nuden Dorje Dzogchen traditions, transmissions of pith texts of Padmasamabhava, Je Gampopa, Jamgön Ju Mipham, Patrul Rinpoche and Shantideva’s Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra a transmission from Amnyi Trulchung Rinpoche.
He has a deep and long-term interest in the sciences and collaborates in marine biology research and the arts which he integrates with the teaching of Buddhism. Lama Webber is a founding board director of the national ecological research institute IMERSS (imerss.org).
Websites:
Jonathan Chambers is an established practitioner of Burmese style vipassana and traditional Tibetan Vajrayana Mahamudra and Dzogchen meditations. He first came into contact with Buddha-Dharma in 2003, through the SN Goenka tradition. In 2008, while traveling in India, he connected with Tibetan traditions and was fortunate to attend teachings and receive the Bodhisattva vow from HH Dalai Lama, and blessings from HH 17th Karmapa.
In 2013, Jonathan met his root teacher, Lama Gyaltsen (Lama Mark Webber), with whom he took refuge and Bodhisattva vows in 2016, and tantric / Ngakpa vows in 2018. Since their meeting, Jonathan has become a dedicated student of Lama Gyaltsen, attending regular retreats and teachings on the three cycles of Dharma, throughout New Zealand and in Canada.
Originally trained as a structural & seismic engineer, Jonathan has long been fascinated by the dynamic interplay of physical form, the environment and the forces of nature. Through the practice of yoga, meditation, mindfulness and qi-gong, he has taken this exploration inward and developed an intimate experiential knowledge of how body and mind respond to the many and varied challenges of life.
Jonathan has been given the blessing to give Dharma classes and guide people in meditation by Lama Gyaltsen. He is a qualified yoga teacher, a Registered Craniosacral Therapist (RCST), and continues to work as a professional engineer, cranio-sacral therapist and musician, while integrating a full family life with a dedication to the practice and teaching of a universal path of healing and awakening.
Websites:
The Wangapeka Retreat Experience
Whenua Land
The retreat takes place on the beautiful Wangapeka whenua nestled in stunning native forests with expansive views down the Wangapeka valley. The land itself provides a healing sanctuary surrounded by mature trees and offering the perfect environment for reflection and reconnection with nature.
Kainga Accommodation
Accommodation is included in the price of the retreat, with all rooms being comfortable and well-appointed with single beds and electric heating. Shared bathroom facilities are conveniently located close to all rooms.
Kai Food
All meals are included in this retreat to support the your well-being and focus. Our kitchen team prepares nourishing vegetarian food to sustain and delight you throughout your stay. Specific dietary requirements can be accommodated and self-catering is also possible if you prefer to bring and prepare your own food.
Whare Wānanga Teaching Space
This teaching room is beautifully crafted and has been used for a wide variety of teaching for over 20 years. It has a wooden parquet floor and a pot belly stove to keep away winter chills. Set amongst beautiful mature trees, it offers a charming view looking down the Wangapeka valley, creating an inspiring environment for movement and meditation practices.
Whare kai Main Hall
The original building at Wangapeka, the Main Hall serves as the heart of community life with its combined living and dining room, library, and welcoming wood burner. Tea, coffee, and snacks are freely available here throughout your stay. Whether you choose to relax in the cosy interior or step out onto the porch to enjoy the expansive views, this space invites connection and contemplation. The hall also houses the kitchen, bathroom facilities, and laundry for your convenience.
More Upcoming Events
The Fives Retreat
Entering the Mandala of Wisdom Buddhas
Five wisdoms, five activities, five families - investigating awakened nature while learning and unlearning what obstructs liberation in predominantly silent retreat at Wangapeka.
Awakening Intimacy
Join friends, co-facilitators and intimacy explorers Camila and Ross for an immersion into the mystery and practice of intimacy. Flowing between stillness and movement, inner and outer, solitude and togetherness, we offer opportunities to give, receive, and savor experiences of authentic connection with yourself, with others, and the natural world.
Touching Grief, Touching Earth
A Solstice Retreat
This five-day retreat is an exploration of the apprenticeship of grief — learning how to turn towards what is difficult, rather than away from it; learning how to be shaped by not-knowing, restraint and humility as acts of reverence.