The Venerable Losang Samten is returning to lead a third Tibetan Buddhist meditation retreat in Dryden.

The retreat will once again be hosted at Bonny Bay Camp on Sept. 16-18. There is still a chance to register for a fun, inspirational time in a beautiful environment with fabulous food and a wonderful teacher.

Samten says his vision is, “…to provide practical examples on how we can increase the feeling of peace and joy in our lives by incorporating spiritual practice in our everyday activities.”

Losang Samten was born in Tibet. At a very young age, he fled with his parents and sister, by foot over the dangerous snow covered mountains to Nepal where his mother gave birth to another child before they resettled in Dharamsala, India.

At a young age Losang lived, studied and became a monk at the Namgyal Monastery – the monastery of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama. In 1985, Losang became an attendant to the Dalai Lama. One of the world’s foremost practitioners of the sand mandala art form, Samten was asked in 1988 by the Dalai Lama to be one of the Masters who created the first public sand mandala in the West.

Samten has offered to create a sacred sand mandala at Open Roads School in Dryden over two days prior to the retreat, Sept. 14-15. The public is invited to watch him at work.

All proceeds go to the Namgyal Monastery in India and the Tibetan Refugee Fund.

For more information about these events, call Kate Kroeker at 938-1898 or email: insideoutkk@hotmail.com

Submitted by Kate Kroeker