[Buddha-l] Dzogchen Internship Program

[Sean Young]

Intensive 6 Month Internship Course in Tibetan Buddhism

The Dzogchen Shri Singha Foundation is honored to announce the first  
Six-month Dharma Training Retreat at the Dzogchen Retreat Center USA.  
Scheduled to run from Friday July 4, 2008 to Sunday January 4th,  
2009, this intensive course will establish a solid foundation of  
knowledge in the view, meditation, and conduct of the Buddha’s  
teachings. The structure of the program is according to the Dzogchen  
Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.

Under the guidance of H.E. Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche, students  
will observe a full-time schedule of daily practice and study. The  
teaching methods employed will follow the traditional curriculum of  
the great Buddhist universities of ancient India and Tibet.

“Many people in the West are interested in Buddhism, but there are  
few places to learn the Dharma in a concentrated manner with like- 
minded companions,” says Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche. “This  
program is intended to fulfill this demand and provide a strong  
foundation of training for future Dharma teachers.”

The curriculum will draw from definitive Buddhist texts and  
commentaries. The method of instruction integrates scholarly study,  
personal guidance, and powerful meditation techniques. This  
comprehensive approach will help students become tutors, guides, and  
teachers of the Dharma—helping others increase personal happiness,  
foster social harmony, and create the roots of world peace.

“Time is of the essence,” says Internship Director Kunzang Bateson,  
“It’s important to authentically train western students to properly  
transmit the Dzogchen teachings in today’s turbulent world. These  
teachings have all but disappeared from Tibet. We have to act now to  
ensure that these ancient techniques survive. This is why we’re  
offering the internship with an integrated scholarship, so everyone  
who is interested can attend.”

The Internship Program fee structure is based on an integrated  
scholarship—the tuition is free and the $6,000 fee covers the  
students’ food, lodging and the operating expenses of the retreat  
center. The modest $33 per day fee is unprecedented for a program of  
this type featuring free personal instruction from a qualified  
Buddhist teacher who was trained in Tibet. Space for the Internship  
Program is limited and applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as  
possible.

Internship Overview and Online Application:
http://www.dzogchenlineage.org/internship/

The Internship Committee is also seeking sponsors to financially  
support interns and volunteer staff to assist at the Dzogchen Retreat  
Center prior to and during the Internship.

Please Contact:
Kunzang, Internship Director; 702-343-5833,  
internship at dzogchenlineage.org

About Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche
A vibrant and dynamic teacher, Khenpo Choga is a 33rd-generation  
lineage holder of the Buddhist wisdom lineage of Dzogchen. Rinpoche  
is a lama of Dzogchen Monastery and professor of the Dzogchen Shri  
Singha University. He has more than seven years of solitary cave  
meditation experience in the high Himalayas and embodies the  
qualities of a realized practitioner. He is a published author of  
numerous Tibetan and English books, including The Buddha Path, a  
practice book that encompasses all of Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha  
Path is now available in English and soon to be released in Spanish,  
Mandarin Chinese, and Russian.
More at: http://www.dzogchenlineage.org/masters.html

ABOUT THE DZOGCHEN LINEAGE OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM
The teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni have been studied, transmitted,  
and protected unwaveringly up to the present day by the masters of  
the Dzogchen Lineage. Dzogchen literally means “Great Inclusion” and  
synthesizes the entirety of the Buddha’s teaching in vast collection  
of teachings in 84,000 sutras and 6,400,000 tantras. In its broadest  
sense, the Dzogchen Lineage refers to the limitless expanse and  
continuous wisdom of Vast Awakening. This is the Buddha Nature—the  
natural enlightened lineage of wisdom and compassion that exists in  
the mind of every sentient being. The intention of all Dzogchen  
Masters is to help all beings to transform anger into peace, hatred  
into compassion, jealousy into love, ignorance into wisdom, fear into  
bliss, stinginess into generosity, and suffering into true happiness— 
the enlightenment of Vast Awakening.
More: http://www.dzogchenlineage.org/lineage.html

ABOUT THE DZOGCHEN RETREAT CENTER USA
Under the guidance of Tibetan Meditation Master Dzogchen Khenpo Choga  
Rinpoche, the Dzogchen Shri Singha Foundation began the Dzogchen  
Retreat Center USA project in 2001. The on-going goal of the project  
is to establish a permanent facility where all people can eradicate  
the roots of suffering in this world, which are negative thinking and  
destructive emotions. The new Dzogchen Retreat Center USA, acquired  
in May 2007, is located in a secluded river valley in Oregon. The  
varied landscape contains forested rolling hills, several meadows, a  
river, two creeks, and several ponds. Improvements include miles of  
private graveled roads, hiking trails, bridges, agricultural fencing,  
the large main Dzogchen Gonpa building, numerous agricultural  
buildings and a large camping area. Along with training teachers and  
students in a direct, one-on-one setting, the Retreat Center is also  
developing a major translation initiative. A copy of the entire  
Tibetan Buddhist canon containing over 370 volumes with thousands of  
individual texts is now housed at the Center. The translation project  
intends to convey all these teachings from Tibetan into the English  
language.
More: www.dzogchenlineage.org/drc

Sean D. Young