February 7-16, 2025
With Lama Mark Webber (Lama Yongdu Chokyi Gyaltsen – via Zoom)
and
Jonathan Chambers (in person)
Amitabha: Embodying Great Love and Open Mind. Contemplating the natural freedom of mind with discernment and infinite love.
ANNOUNCEMENT
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.
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 four Zoom sessions, where he will give reading transmissions, guidance and inspiration on this profound meditation. 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 mediation, 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 lead into three days, two group sessions per day, of study, contemplation and reflection.
Lama Galytsen’s offerings will be combined with guidance throughout the retreat from Jonathan Chambers in gentle body-awareness practices (yoga, qigong) and meditation. We will use these methods to bring a clear bright awareness of sensation within and around one’s body, thereby linking four types of mindfulness together; attentiveness, awareness of cause and effect (interdependence), interdependence of prana-mind and awareness of natural unfabricated mind.
The root text by Lama Galytsen called the “Eight Confidences and A Garland of 100 Mindfulnesses Recollections” 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 four, Lama Galytsen 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. The remainder of the retreat will incorporate daily group practice sessions of Amitabha, which retreat participants will have the opportunity to lead. Additionally, each day, Jonathan will lead a session of deepening the four qualities of mindfulness.
Other teachings and guidance will be given by Lama Gyaltsen and Jonathan depending on the participants requests and requirements. The remainder of the days will be available for solo retreat time, self-practice and discovery.
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, in appreciation of the teachings and to help support the continued flow of Dharma. Please give as generously as you can (within your own means, of course).
Donations to Lama Mark Webber can be made directly via Paypal to the address: mwebber108@yahoo.ca
A deposit of $100 is required to secure your place on the course. Refer Wangapeka’s refund policy: https://wangapeka.org/refund-policy/
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
A scholarship fund has been established to provide financial support to people who wish to attend teachings and retreats with Lama Mark Webber. It is primarily intended for those who would be unable to attend without financial assistance. To be eligible, you must be a NZ citizen or permanent resident. Funding is limited and preference is generally given to those who have attended teachings with Lama Mark Webber in the past. It may not be necessary that Lama Mark is your main Dharma teacher, however a good connection is helpful. Funding is subject to an application process and is awarded at the discretion of the funding committee. Other terms and conditions apply. If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity for financial support, please contact the course manager.
TRANSPORT & TIMING
Wangapeka Retreat Centre is approximately 75 min drive from Nelson. We will be coordinating shuttles & car-pooling options in the week prior to the start of the retreat. If you do require transport to and from the Centre, please email the course manager with your flight times, etc when you have these confirmed. Cost usually works out to be between $50-$80 per person each way. If you are able to offer a lift to others, please let us know.
Please aim to arrive by 5pm on 7 Feb, in time for a light meal and orientation meeting. First class will be at around 7:30pm that evening. The course will officially finish around 2pm on 16 Feb, after a light lunch and clean-up. We do rely on retreatants to help with cleaning the Centre so please organise transport times to allow for this.
ENQUIRIES
For all enquiries and to express interest in attending this retreat, please contact the course manager, Zoe Buchanan:
p: +64 27 545 8481
REGISTRATION
To register please fill out our online registration form
Paypal: We have recently been informed that Paypal is not currently available as a payment option. If you need to make a payment from overseas, please liaise with the Wangapeka office caretaker (info@wangapeka.org) to make alternative arrangements, e.g. an international bank transfer.
Please consider becoming a Wangapeka member – click here for details.
ABOUT LAMA MARK WEBBER
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 Padmasmabhava, 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) Lama Webber’s compassionate activities demonstrate a profound commitment to freeing beings from innumerable suffering states. His emphasis with practitioners and students is on uncovering pure Dharma to reveal its extraordinary benefits and share the great joy of its deep study, meditative practices and integration into all aspects of our lives.
For more information about Lama Mark Webber please see:
www.facebook.com/lamamarkwebber
ABOUT JONATHAN CHAMBERS
Jonathan 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. Jonathan has both facilitated and participated in Lama Gyaltsen’s annual Dzogchen retreats at Wangapeka since 2016.
Jonathan has been fortunate to receive transmissions and empowerments in the Dzogchen tradition of the Drikung Kagyu directly from Kyabje Lho Ontul Rinpoche and H.E. Lho Ratna Rinpoche (Galiano Island, 2014; Tso Pema, India 2016). In 2018, he traveled with Lama Gyaltsen, Ontul Rinpoche, Ratna Rinpoche and many western practitioners to eastern China to receive empowerments, transmissions and undertake a pilgrimage at Lho Lungkar monastery, Drikung Thil monastery, Terdom, Tsurphu monastery, ancient Samye monastery and many other holy places.
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, having received an Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga teaching diploma from Stillpoint / John Scott. In addition, he holds a Diploma of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy from Body Intelligence and is a Registered Craniosacral Therapist (RCST) with the Pacific Association of Craniosacral Therapists (PACT).
Jonathan lives in Nelson, New Zealand, with his partner and two young children. He 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.