Welcome to Assyst
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If you want to learn how to meditate
or would like to deepen your practice,
then we may be able to help you at Assyst.
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The Five Buddha Families -
Exploring the Five Wisdom Energies
Energy is the basic vitality of our existence. Wisdom energy is brilliant, spacious and ineffable. In Vajrayana Buddhism, there are five wisdom energies known as the Five Dhyani Buddhas. Each of these wisdom energies manifests in every aspect of the phenomenal world and in ourselves. When we manifest our wisdom, we align ourselves with the totality of the five wisdom energies and connect with everyone and everything in our mandala.
Individually we are composed of a mixture of these energies, although we usually habituate a particular way of operating in the world that is identified by our fears, relationships, health problems, and so on. Strongly identifying with a particular energy solidifies our sense of who we are.
When we become aware of these energies, we can choose to be open to all aspects of our being and move freely from one energy expression to another. Through practice on the tantric path, we can transmute our emotions, intellect and temperament into aspects of the awakened mind, wisdom.
During this retreat, we will study and explore each of the five Buddha families and identify how these energies manifest in us. We will examine qualities of our personality, investigate how we get stuck into narrow patterns, and welcome the wisdom inherent in our individual struggles. We will:
- We will work with colour, light and textures to help us experience the qualities of each Buddha Family.
- We will try some simple drawing or painting to explore emotional preferences.
- Through movement we will explore energy patterns in the body.
- And we will work with the breath.
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To get the most benefit from this retreat, we ask that participants practice silence to help reduce the persistence of mental narratives that tend to occur.
Also, we ask that you remove yourself from all online activity, and inform your family in advance that you will not be reachable until the last day of the retreat.
Register at the
Dharma Centre of Canada website.
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Previous Courses and Retreats with Kim
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There is no being having consciousness; there is consciousness which is the sum total of experience or involvement, and that is the universe at work.
- Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche, Abhidhamma Retreat, 2000
In order to prepare ourselves to watch consciousness, we will begin this retreat with practices and exercises that help to settle the mind into a calm and relaxed state.
Once that is established, we will begin to sharpen the awareness of states of mind, watching our responses to objects of the senses and examining how our habits of response have been shaped.
We will deepen the meditation with questions about our sense of a permanent self; whether there is a single “I’ that is responding to all situations; how all things appear to exist by themselves, and how emptiness is not nothingness.
We will break down our experiences and try to find an original ground from which all things emerge.
Daily, there will be:
Classes where the practice will be explained and questions will be discussed
Group and individual practice sessions
Stretching and yogic exercises to support your practice
A loving kindness meditation each evening
Sharing of experiences
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Anyone who perseveres in the practice of meditation inevitably comes up against their own emotional patterns and states of mind that may not be readily acknowledged.
These aspects, when left unheard, can narrow one’s awareness and creative potential and keep one cycling in repeated patterns and automatic responses.
The seeds of our past actions (karma) are embedded in us energetically which further limits our chance to realize the nature of the mind.
Using methods of the Holistic Clearing meditation, as pioneered by Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche, and integrated with the traditional Vajra Sattva meditation, Kim will present a dynamic approach to meet with both personal strengths and shortcomings in order to liberate the energy tied up in the energy body.
The practice of Vajra Sattva is one of the practices of the extraordinary foundation work (Ngon Dro) and is considered a prerequisite to more advanced practices.
This course will include:
Classes that provide theoretical background and instruction
Yoga and prostrations
Group sitting sessions with guidance
Sharing of experiences
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In this 8-week series, Kim Sawyer will describe the early history of the Buddha, and the Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dhamma, which were the initial teachings taught by the Buddha following the Enlightenment. This includes the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Noble Path.
The course content will progress from there, and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness will be the meditational backbone.
Classes will present theoretical material that is intended for further contemplation following the classes.
The intention is to give the attendees a grounding in the basics of Buddha Dharma to provide context for meditation and the spiritual path.
It will be more beneficial for participants to attend all classes starting from the beginning of the series, but it is understood that some classes may have to be missed due to busy personal schedules.
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The practice of Illusory Form is designed to evoke the experience of the illusory nature of reality, the illusory nature of all that we see, but especially the illusory nature in relation to our physical body. The meditations for this are meant to cut through the view that this body is real and solid.
We will use metaphors for contemplation to deepen our understanding, by observing reflections, echoes, mirages, shadows and so on. These investigations can lead to the dissolution of deep-rooting clinging. With the ego out of the way, the realization of emptiness is possible.
This course will include:
Classes that provide theoretical background and instruction
Energy body and movement sessions
Group sitting sessions
Private contemplation of the metaphors
Previous experience with energy body work is not required for this exploration.
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Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
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