Online — Wild for Waking Up: A Retreat on Crazy Wisdom

Online component of the hybrid retreat. For the residential component, click here.

Sorry! Registration is closed.

“Every movement of the mind
Becomes bliss and emptiness;
All polarity disappears
When the mind emerges into nakedness.”

In these dark days, our world is facing the most tremendous challenges any of us have ever encountered. Warfare and unabated violence, violations of human rights and decency, the impending threat of even greater destruction, coupled with the breakdown of our ecosystems, biosphere, and the life-sustaining cycles of our planet have catapulted us into a realm of suffering and fear that is at the least, overwhelming and paralyzing, and at the worst, devastating to the very survival of the human race. What tools can we draw on? What ways of being, acting, and presencing can we access to allow us the resilience, force, and compassion to face forward into this time?

If this is a question that keeps you awake at night, this retreat is for you. Join Lama Liz and Matt as we dive into the phenomena of crazy wisdom as an expression of insight and action so powerful that it “opens the door of confidence,” “destroys the mountain of conceptualizations” and “radiates the intense heat of compassion” beyond all limiting thoughts and fears. Together, we will examine how our own innate “crazy wisdom” provides us with deep insight into the nature of reality, freeing us to dance in the charnel ground of our own grief, fear, and despair. By exploring the diverse manifestations of the “wildness” of our innate being, we discover that we do not have to be hemmed in by the dualistic frameworks we ordinarily inhabit for understanding self and other, and for acting effectively in the suffering world. Instead, we are free to access the innate kindness and powerful expressive love, the wildness of compassion unleashed, that is our birthright.

During this retreat, in addition to teachings on crazy wisdom, Lama Liz and Matt will transmit a the powerful practice of crazy wisdom known as the Sadhana of Mahamudra, a vividly poetic practice, discovered as a terma text by the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, that can catapult us beyond who we think we are, into a realm of fiercely compassionate action.

To prepare for this retreat, please consider acquiring and reading Lama Liz’s new book, Tales of a Mad Yogi: The Life and Wild Wisdom of Drukpa Kunley (Shambhala, 2021).

Here is a wonderful interview with Lama Liz Monson, speaking on “Understanding Crazy Wisdom in Vajrayana Buddhism” on the Noble Mind podcast platform. Lama Liz speaks about her motivation and process in writing this book and her understanding of how crazy wisdom can be useful in our own practice today.

This retreat includes the transmission for and in-depth instructions on the Sadhana of Mahamudra, a practice treasure text revealed at Takstang (Tiger’s Nest) in Bhutan by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche that focuses on the powerful form of Guru Dorje Trollo as the embodiment of crazy wisdom. This profound practice enacts the energy of crazy wisdom as a meditation designed to catapult the practitioner into the vastness and clarity of the mind’s essence, the true nature of things as they are.

Closed captioning is available on all online retreats.

SCHEDULE – All times are Eastern Standard Time

Friday, April 1
7:00–8:00 pm               Opening Session

Saturday, April 2 & Sunday, April 3
7:00 – 7:45 am             Morning Silent Meditation with Refuge
7:45  – 9:00 am            Breakfast and Morning Break
9:00 – 10:00 am           Teaching
10:15 – 11:15 am         Sadhana Practice
11:30 am – 12:15 pm   Small Group Session
12:15 – 2:30 pm           Lunch and Mid-Day Break
2:30 – 3:30  pm            Teaching
3:45 – 4:45 pm             Sadhana Practice
5:00 – 5:30 pm             Q&A
5:30 – 7:00 pm             Dinner Break
7:00 – 8:00 pm             Evening Session (flexible)

Monday, April 4
7:00 – 7:45 am             Morning Silent Meditation with Refuge
7:45 –10:00 am            Breakfast and Morning Break with time for packing
10:00 –11:00 am          Sadhana Practice
11:15 am – 12:00 pm   Closing Session

You can use this time zone converter to determine the start time at your home.

ZOOM LINK

The Zoom link will be sent several days before the retreat to all those registered by then. If you register after that date, you’ll receive the link with your confirmation email shortly after submitting your registration. If you don’t see an email from Natural Dharma Registrar or Wonderwell Mountain Refuge, it may have mistakenly gone to your spam folder or to Promotions or Updates in Gmail. It may help if you add this address to your Contacts list: register+wonderwellrefuge@retreat.guru. This is the sending address our booking program uses for emails to participants.

PROGRAM COST

It is Natural Dharma Fellowship’s aspiration that no one be turned away from our teachings and retreats because they are unable to pay the full cost. In order make our courses affordable for all who wish to attend, we are offering a three-level fee structure that takes into account people’s differing financial circumstances:

• Benefactor – for those who can afford it, this fee level helps provide support for those with limited financial resources and assists with the care and maintenance of Wonderwell Mountain Refuge
• Course fee – for those who can cover the basic cost of an online retreat or course
• Supported – for those with limited financial resources or recent financial hardship

The pricing options for a particular retreat are based primarily on its length and are intended to give you an idea of what it costs to offer that retreat. The amounts listed are suggestions. You may write in any amount that fits your financial situation. Any amount offered above the Course Fee level will be considered a tax-deductible donation and will be acknowledged as such.

USER ACCOUNTS & RESOURCES

The user account feature of our website provides a secure place where materials from your retreats can be posted and accessed. If you don’t have an account already, you’ll want to set one up as soon as you register.

• Paid resources – retreat recordings and other retreat materials – will only be available in the dashboard of your user account.
• If you haven’t already created an NDF user account, please visit our website to Create an account as soon as possible.
• User accounts are manually synced with the retreat 7–10 days after the retreat. Please be aware that this does not happen automatically with registration. It is a separate, manual operation.

Please visit the Technical FAQ page on our website for useful information about user accounts, helpful tutorials, as well as answers to many other questions. You can contact support@naturaldharma.org with questions about your user account.

Wonderwell Mountain Refuge Full Calendar