Mon 14 & Tue 15 April | Nyungnay Fasting Purification Retreat | From 6.30am | Morden

What is Nyungnay?

Nyungnay is one of our most precious Kadampa Dharma jewels and as a centre practice it comes around just once a year – on Buddha’s Enlightenment Day.

We can spend two days with thousand-armed (eleven-faced) Avalokiteshvara – ‘Mahakaruna’ – the nature of our Guru’s great compassion, making exquisite offerings, praises and prostrations and thereby accumulate huge merit, purify vast negativity for ourself and others and receive the most powerful blessing to propel ourself swiftly along our path to enlightenment.

Wrapped within the practice of Mahayana Precepts, it involves fasting and making three sessions of prostrations, with the sadhana ‘Drop of Essential Nectar‘, over two days. Usually the second day is accompanied by a full fast, although strongly recommend, this is not compulsory. Everyone is welcome to join us for this special retreat.

Each morning Gen Zoma will grant the Mahayana Precepts, then we’ll engage in three unguided sessions.
To engage in this retreat you must take the Mahayana Precepts in the morning session and attend every session of that day.

What are the Eight Mahayana Precepts?

It is a necessary requirement to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts to engage in this retreat.

The essence of the practice is to take eight precepts and to keep them purely for a period of twenty-four hours.

By doing this practice again and again, we acquaint ourself with the practice of moral discipline and thereby make our human life meaningful.

We receive many great benefits from practicing moral discipline in this way. It helps us to solve the problems of this life by avoiding the causes of suffering; and it creates the cause for us to take fortunate rebirths in future lives and thereby protects us from the sufferings of lower rebirth.

In particular, because it is performed with bodhichitta motivation, this practice is very powerful for purifying negative karma. It accumulates a vast collection of merit and creates the cause for us to attain the unsurpassed happiness of enlightenment.

We first need to receive these precepts from a qualified Preceptor, and then we can take them on our own as often as we wish. Instructions on both these methods are included in this sadhana.

If we wish to take the essence of this precious human life we should strive to engage in this practice as often as we can.

An explanation of the practice

When we take the eight Mahayana precepts, we explicitly promise to abstain for twenty-four hours from eight actions: Killing, Stealing, Sexual activity, Lying, Taking intoxicants, Eating after lunch (we only eat one simple meal at lunch), Sitting on high or luxurious thrones or seats, Wearing ornaments, perfume, etc, and singing and dancing, etc.

These eight, however, are merely symbolic, for in reality we promise to abstain from all non-virtuous actions for twenty-four hours.

Taking and keeping these precepts is a special purification practice. Buddha realized that all living beings’ suffering comes from their previous negative karma, and so he taught special practices to purify it.

If it will be your first time taking part in this retreat please contact epc@meditation.london if you have any questions.

Please bring your own yoga matt for the prostrations.

Schedule

Monday 14 April
6.30am – 7.00am Mahayana Precepts
7.30am – 8.30am Nyungnay session
10.30 – 11.30am Nyungnay session
12.30 Precepts Lunch (BOOK YOUR LUNCH HERE)
4.00 – 5.00pm Nyungnay session
6.00 – 7.00pm Wishfulfilling Jewel Puja

Tuesday 15 April
Celebration of Buddha’s Enlightenment Day

6.30am – 7.00am Mahayana Precepts
7.30am – 8.30am Nyungnay session
10.30 – 11.30am Nyungnay session
1.15 – 1.45pm Lunchtime Class (Sheila)
2.00 – 3.45pm Offering to the Spiritual Guide Tsog Puja
4.00 – 5.00pm Nyungnay session

Please Note: In order to attend any of the Nyungnay sessions during the day you will
need to attend Precepts in the morning.

BOOK YOUR MONDAY LUNCH HERE