Year of the Wood Dragon: End-of-Year Practices (Shambhala Online)
Please register by clicking here.
Join us on Shambhala Online each day from Jan 30-Feb 8 for a FREE (Donations welcome) line-up of “Shambhala New Year Programming.” These special events will take place in the end of year practice period before Shambhala Day, and will feature talks by teachers in our community, followed by group recitations of the protector, mamo, and closing chants.
Each daily talk will follow roughly the same schedule:
- Welcome and Presentation (30 mins)
- Sitting Chants (25 mins)
- Closing & opportunity to give
Presenters for these end of year practice sessions will include: Rhea Colmar, Lennart Krogoll, Tillie Perks, Judith Simmer-Brown, Jeff Scott, Greg Smith, and more!
End-of-Year Practice Session Lineup
January 30—Opening Up The End of Year Practice Season: The Meaning of Protector Chants and Why We Do These Practices At This Time of the Year with (Session Leader to be announced)
January 31—Pacifying the Turmoil of the Mamos: The Mamos In the Context of Dakini Lore with Judith Simmer-Brown
February 1—Iconography of the Protectors: Dharmapalas, Mahakalas, and Lokapalas with Greg Smith
February 2—Protectors and Their “Land Centre Homes”: Trungpa Rinpoche & The Histroy of These Connections with Tillie Perks
February 3—Exploring the Mamos Chant & Its Relevance to Today with Jeff Scott
February 4—The Importance of Mind-Protection and Protector Chants with Lodro Dorje Holm
February 5—Structure of Protector Chants – Seed Syllable, Description, Request, Offering, Exhortation, & Mantra with Rhea Colmar
February 6—The Four Karmas and Protector Chants with Lodro Dorje Holm
February 7—Exploring the Concluding Request To The Protectors with Lennart Krogoll
February 8—Closing the Year End Practices Together with (Session Leader to be announced)
About the Year of the Wood Dragon
The Wood Dragon is associated with qualities of wisdom, confidence, cleverness and honesty. In Dragon years, we may see revolutionary ideas, but these years can also be known for reliability and a lack of arrogance. The element of Wood in the upcoming year makes this year less fierce and domineering than other dragon times, bringing us a year with potential for working well with others and being able to compromise when needed.
About End-of-Year Practices
The 2024 End-of-Year practice sessions are every day from January 30-February 8 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. These special events take place in the end of year practice period before Shambhala Day, and feature talks by teachers in our community, followed by group recitations of the protector, mamo, and closing chants.
These sessions will offer explorations of the various protector chants, deepening our understanding of this end of year practice tradition and greatly enriching our ability to practice in a whole-hearted way.
During the last 11 days of the year, we offer end-of-year practices to lay the ground for a positive transition into the New Year. The first 10 of these days are a time for intensive practice, focused on protector chants as a way to help overcome obstacles in our life, community and world. The end of the year is traditionally considered a positive time to do these practices. Other end of year activities could also include cleaning the household and shrine, resolving debts or disputes, and gathering energy for the new year.
The last day before Shambhala Day is a “neutral day” (Feb 9, 2024) on which we could do the final preparations for the New Year, having finished the practice from the 10 days before.