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H.E. Jhado Rinpoche with some of the participants of the 2023 Nyung Na at IVY.
Institut Vajra Yogini (IVY) in France has hosted its twelfth series of 108 Nyung Na retreats from November 2022 to June 2023. One of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Vast Visions for the FPMT organization was to sponsor people who make a serious commitment in this life to complete 1,000 Nyung Na retreats, and IVY kindly began to host the retreats every year to help fulfill this vision. For the last ten years, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has been sponsoring the food and accommodation for a number of people, each year, who undertake the 108 Nyung Na retreats, and in 2023, US$11,522 was offered toward the retreat. We are very happy to continue to offer support each year toward the retreats, in alignment with Rinpoche’s wishes.
The Nyung Na retreat is a two-day intensive practice that includes taking the 24-hour Mahayana precepts every day, with the addition of complete fasting and silence every second day. There are three sessions of about three hours each day, including meditation, prostrations, and mantra recitation. It is a powerfully effective, experiential practice that can be done by anyone with respect and faith for the practice. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has highly praised Nyung Na retreat as a supreme method for transforming the mind.
Four people completed the full round of 108 Nyung Na retreats this year and around 50 people joined to do one or a few two-day retreats. Like last year, Ven. Charles, the retreat leader, offered the morning sessions online every day as well as one complete two-day Nyung Na retreat online once a month, so more students could participate from home. An incredible 600 Nyung Na retreats have been completed at Institut Vajra Yogini over this period by those practicing on site and at home online, although the exact count is difficult to know with the inclusion of the online retreatants. Please take a moment to rejoice!
There were the times when there were only six participants and sometimes around twenty people joined the retreat. The long-term participants enjoy doing this practice in a bigger group as Nyung Na retreats can be more powerful when more people participate, says Nicolas, the director of Institut Vajra Yogini.
Compared to the previous retreats held during the pandemic, it has been much easier to manage the retreat as the Institute did not need to organize COVID tests and follow the safety protocols. This was time-consuming previously, especially due to the high turnover of short-term participants, according to Nicolas.
This spring was especially difficult for the long-term participants, who used to receive personal advice and guidance from Lama Zopa Rinpoche. They did their practice in the midst of great loss and grief when Rinpoche showed the aspect of passing away.
It was a moment of joy when His Eminence Jhado Rinpoche, the former abbot of Namgyal and Gyuto monasteries, visited the Institute on May 4-7, 2023, and over four days conferred the Thousand-Arm Chenrezig initiation and offered a commentary on Nyung Na practice.
To continue fulfilling Rinpoche’s Vast Visions, Institut Vajra Yogini has already begun planning for the thirteenth series of 108 Nyung Na retreats, which will begin mid-November 2023 to mid-June 2024. The retreats are led in French but can be followed simultaneously in English and other languages.
Please join us in rejoicing in twelve consecutive years of Nyung Na retreats at Institut Vajra Yogini.
If you would like to support Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s wish to support these important retreats, you are welcome to offer any amount to the Practice and Retreats Fund
If you are interested in joining the Nyung Na retreat, please contact Institut Vajra Yogini’s Center Director.