Prasadavajri started our Zoom based mahamudra group back in March 2021. It is centered around introducing, experiencing and developing mahamudra meditation and ritual that is conducive to practicing the path of Mahamudra towards enlightenment. Since starting , the sessions soon settled down into regular bi-weekly meditation and study sessions and occasional week long retreats. Hardly a session has been missed to date.
All of the meditation sessions have been published on you-tube tm for the benefit of the members of Triratna Order Sangha. They have also been published here on this web-site and in a one-drive folder. Also published are our weekly recorded study sessions following principal Mahamudra text. . We have been slow and thorough.
We spent two years with meditation and study centered around the “Mahamudra. The Ocean of true meaning” by Karmapa Wangchug Dorje. From April 2023 till December 2023, we had remarkably fruitful practice studying the essential points and commentary in “Creation and Completion: Essential Points of Tantric Meditation” by Jamgön Kongtrul, Khenchen Thrangu, and Sarah Harding. I found this to be one of the most pithy and profound texts, of immediate applicability, I have ever encountered in my study and practice of Buddhism. I think I can say the same for others in the group.
Thanks and appreciation is felt to Dh. Prasadavajri for heading up and leading our group through this study. She has studied and practiced mahamudra for some 20 years and this shows and lends weight and confidence to the groups practice. She has lead with a strong emphasis on developing direct experience with a gentle hand leading us through the profound teachings in Mahamudra with all attention on method and direct experience. Patiently repeating sections of the study has been frequently needed to establish real effect.
Her efforts are bearing fruit. I can say that all the members of the group have experienced a profound shift in their practice and experience of Buddhism. This has enabled the immediate group, the chapter, and many in the wider audience using the youtubetm and onedrivetm recordings to practice and experience the practice of mahamudra. Up till now we have been working and studying , in some depth through video recorded sessions, with the lessons. Reflecting on the first few years of practice , we see a deeply profound positive enriching of our Going for Refuge and feel a deep gratitude to Prasadavajri and her decision to share her experience of mahamudra in this way.
Now in May 2024, we are in the middle of our fourth year of recorded practice. We continue in a similar manner as before with real experience of mahamudra through practice and study. We are now following a more condensed study of mahamudra with a concise ‘Geography of Mahamudra‘. This starts with the early stages of calming the mind from samatha to shamata, equinimity, through the mulayogas to the creation and the completion stages. It consists of 16 weeks of talks, Q&A and meditation sessions.
Following this more concise study we are now studying the ‘Ninth Karmapa’s Ocean of Definitive Meaning’ by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. It looks likely we will continue our practice together with chosen key Mahamudra text and publish our meditations and study sessions as before.
You will find links to all the sessions for the first three years under the menu item ‘RECORDED SESSIONS‘ under the site banner. To follow the sessions it’s best to be part of the weekly study group or the wider group of practitioners in the Order that use the youtube and onedrive recordings. To have access to the recordings through this website send an email to Prasadavajri introducing yourself. She can provide passwords for the various appropriate sections of the site.