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The view from Marpa’s Point at Drala Mountain Center at dawn
Photo by Brad Johnson-Dupre
The third Entering the Vajra World Retreat will be held
July 23rd to August 22nd, 2026 at Drala Mountain Center
Applications for the retreat will be available soon
This retreat was fantastic! I could tell that there was a ton of care and consideration behind the scenes, and what I experienced as a participant was truly a once in a lifetime experience.
Retreat content and teachers were fabulous. I enjoyed every bit of my experiences at the retreat. Teachers were open, gentle and available for participants.
Just perfection - The teachings and content mattered so much to me.... I also loved the difference in style with the teachers and really looked forward to every single talk.
All the aspects of this retreat were done exceptionally well!!!! Planning, communication, schedule, study week, practice week were amazingly well done.
The Three-Yana Retreat is designed for Buddhist practitioners with experience in study and meditation, who wish to establish a solid foundation for a life-long journey.
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The Entering the Vajra World Retreat begins with a 13 week online study program on the Foundational Vehicle and the Mahayana. It is followed by a month-long, in-person retreat at Drala Mountain Center involving intensive practice and study of Mahayana and Vajrayana topics. During the third week of the retreat participants receive Vajrayana transmission and the opportunity to explore the ngöndro preliminary practices.
The Three-Yana Retreat is a contemporary version of the deep training that was the hallmark of Trungpa Rinpoche’s Vajradhatu Seminaries. It provides students with an introduction to Vajrayana practice in Trungpa Rinpoche’s tradition with a solid foundation in the three-yana principles.
“Proper training consists of practice and study put together. When you practice properly, you also begin to develop a state of mind that allows you to study properly. This twofold system of study and practice is very, very old. We used this system in Tibet, and it was also used quite a lot in India. Traditional monastic discipline consisted of alternating periods of practice and study. Nalanda University and Vikramashila University, among others, used this twofold system to train people’s minds and at the same time develop their intellects. In turn, those ancient centers of learning produced great teachers and scholars like Padmasambhava, Atisha, and Naropa.
Maybe you could be one of those people!”
—Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche