The Entering Openness Eastern Retreat is a five day retreat, wholly dedicated to silent meditation practice, supported by silent nature walks, mantra chant and body awareness practices.
The retreat is very practice-oriented and many of the break times will also be in silence. During the sessions instructions will be given as needed, and occasional sessions will open to sharing and questioning. Smaller same language groups will be created as needed.
“The lucid openness of meditation offers the opportunity to transcend the judgmental mind and free ourselves from the thoughts and emotions it produces”
Practices on the Buddhist Path pag. 43
This five day Eastern Retreat is wholly dedicated to silent meditation practice, supported by silent nature walks, mantra chant and body awareness practices.
The retreat will be very practice-oriented and many of the break times will also be in silence. During the sessions instructions will be given as needed, and occasional sessions will open to sharing and questioning. Smaller same language groups will be created as needed.
The retreat is meant for those with some basic meditation experience, wishing to deepen their practice. Text fragments from Practices on the Buddhist Path and other books by Tarthang Tulku will be distributed for clarifying specific stages and obstacles in meditation.
Elske van de Hulst is co-dean, trustee and senior instructor at Nyingma Centrum in Amsterdam and board member of the World Peace Stupa Center Europe. Professionally trained as a mime, Elske worked in the theatre as an actress, director and author between 1969 and 1995. She taught at the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten and for many years was a member of the Dutch Arts Council. In 1998 she started studying the theatre of the mind, guided by Tarthang Tulku’s books, and has not stopped since. Elske now teaches Meditation, Knowledge of Freedom, Revelations of Mind, Dimensions of Mind, Caring and Lotus Trilogy teachings in Amsterdam and elsewhere.
Sanghasevaka was born in 1960 as Andreas Fischer and became a chemist, immunologist, and professor of occupational therapy. After a long journey of discovery during which he practiced Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and Reiki, he came to Buddhism in 1998 and became part of the Triratna community. Since 2004, he has been teaching courses at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences on meditation, stress management, dealing with difficult life situations, developing resilience, and realizing personal potential. After many years of Buddhist study and intensive practice, he was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order and received his name Sanghasevaka (servant of the spiritual community) during a four-month retreat in 2011. In the following years, he established a Buddhist community in Osnabrück. After his first contact with Kum Nye in 2010, he has been attending various courses of the Nyingma community since 2023 and has established closer contacts with the Nyingma Centers Over the years, accompanying people in their search for a deeper meaning in their lives has become a matter close to his heart.
For further practice you are welcome to a rich curriculum of classes and trainings at Nyingma Zentrum Köln or Nyingma Centrum Amsterdam.
