Rushen Retreat

RUSHEN CAMPING RETREAT

Rushen Camping Style Retreat
with Lama Justin von Bujdoss

July 26th - August 1st 2025

Join us on the Yangti Land in Buckland Massachusetts, for a week long camping style Rushen retreat let by Lama Justin von Bujdoss. This immersive retreat is limited to students enrolled in one or both of our Ati yoga year long immersions, the Marvelous Guide to Actual Practice or Complete Liberation of the Three Realms.

This retreat will serve as a profound and unique opportunity to integrate the teachings received up to this point in the courses preparing oneself for the transition into Trekcho. As is customary, Rushen, otherwise considered the Dzogchen preliminary is an essential practice to ripen and purify and is essential to the dzogchen path. In this retreat we will focus on both the Outer and Inner practice of Rushen. Camping provides a rare and unique circumstance enabling all retreatants to engage with practice in the style of a true yogi immersed in nature, stripped of many of our creature comforts, and having the solitude required to engage the practice, especially that of the Outer Rushen. These Dzogchen preliminaries aid in the exhaustion of the inner causes of illusory perception thereby leading to greater purification of Body, Speech and Mind ripening oneself for the proceeding Dzogchen practices. The practice of Rushen is a powerful way of creating the auspicious circumstances that aide in liberating the way in which the three gates (body, speech, and mind) and the three bodies (Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya) are experienced.

Each day will be primarily structured around solitary practice. Each evening we will gather as a group for practice instructions and guidance followed by dinner and a fire puja with Lama Justin von Bujdoss.

PRICING
This Retreat is offered on a need based sliding scale from $700 - $1000
All meals are included
Registration is limited to 15 participants
Upon submission of application below participants will receive information from Yangti regarding how to submit payment and finalize registration.
Not included in registration cost:
Teacher dana
Transportation
Camping Supplies

Submit Application

Lodging Details:

This retreat is a camping only retreat, as such guests should be comfortable with tent camping and have the following supplies and or whatever they deem necessary for their time camping on the land:

a tent with any covers or accessories needed
a sleeping bag with appropriate temperature for time of year in MA
a sleeping pad and pillow
Headlamps, flashlights or lanterns
bug spray, sunscreen, and any other personal toiletries (unscented is important as there are bears and other animals that will be attracted to scent)
seasonal and activity appropriate clothing and layers or jacket for evening
hiking boots and any other shoes you feel you need
hiking stick or poles for uneven terrain

Getting Here:

The Yangti Yoga Retreat Center is located in Buckland, MA which is a semi rural location there is not direct transportation to Buckland unless you are coming by car. Whether arriving by plane, train, or bus guests should plan to coordinate transportation to either Shelburne Falls or Greenfeild where we will be coordinating group pickups. Nearby airports include Boston (BOS), Hartford (BDL), or Albany (ALB). From these airports further transportation via bus, train, or taxi can be arranged. Rome2Rio is a very helpful site for planning your trip and comparing options. Additional instructions and exact address will be provided to all confirmed participants upon registration.

Meals:

The Yangti Team will be providing all meals to guests. If one has allergies or specific dietary restrictions there will be modifications available.

GENERAL SCHEDULE:

SATURDAY JULY 26TH:

2pm Check In | Arrivals & setting up camp

5pm Dinner | Evening campfire dinner with orientation & teachings

SUNDAY - THURSDAY JULY 27TH - 31st

Solitary Practice with suggested practice schedule.

6pm | Evening Group Dinner with Teachings & Fire Puja with Lama Justin

FRIDAY AUG 1ST:

Morning self led practice & packing

1pm | Final Group Lunch

check out and departures following

detailed schedule to be provided upon booking

our TEACHER

Lama Justin von Bujdoss

Lama Justin von Bujdoss is an American vajrayana Buddhist teacher, writer, and the is a co-founder of Bhumisparsha an experimental Buddhist sangha along with Lama Rod Owens and Founder and Director of Yangti Yoga Retreat Center with Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, a retreat center dedicated to the practice of Dark Retreat, or Yangti Yoga. Lama Justin has made the focus of his dharma teaching Ati Yoga (Dzogchen) and Yangti Yoga (Dark Retreat). He is the author of Modern Tantric Buddhism: Authenticity and Embodiment in Dharma Practice published by North Atlantic Books, and contributor to Buddhism and Whiteness: Critical Reflections published by Lexington Books. From 2016 until December 2021 Justin served as the Executive Director of Chaplaincy and Staff Wellness for NYC Department of Correction where he also served as Staff Chaplain supervising over 30 chaplains and guided wellness programming for staff. Justin also has years of professional experience in home hospice and hospital settings as a pastoral caregiver. From 2018 to 2024 Lama Justin served as the chaplain for Hart Island, New York City’s public cemetery and is currently the chaplain for the Shelburne Falls/Buckland Fire Department. Lama Justin was ordained as a repa, a lay tantric yogin in the tradition of Milarepa, by His Eminence Gyaltsab Rinpoche, one of the heart sons of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa and is a ngakpa in the Yuthok Nyingthik tantric Buddhist lineage under Dr. Nida Chenagtsang. Lama Justin has presented on Buddhist practice at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, University of Chicago, Wellesley, Columbia University, has been a visiting instructor at Union Theological Seminary, and teaches at Pure Land Farms. Justin is passionate about helping to create the conditions for authentic embodied tantric Buddhist spiritual practice in the West.

Rushen Application

APPLICATION

Thank you for your interest in joining us for our very first Rushen Camping Style Retreat at the Yangti Yoga Retreat Center. Please note that this retreat is only open to previously or currently enrolled students of Marvelous Guide to Actual Practice and/or The Complete Liberation of the Three Realms. Following submission of this application you will be contacted regarding next steps to finalize registration.

First Name

Last Name

Address

Briefly describe your background with vajrayana and intensive retreat practice

Breifly describe your background with camping

Do you have any extenuating health conditions that we should be made aware of whether mental or physical

Please let us know of any dietary allergies or restrictions

By submitting this application, the applicant acknowledges and agrees to the following terms and conditions of participation in the retreat. The applicant understands that this retreat involves camping on the land and accepts full responsibility for bringing any gear they deem necessary for their comfort, as camping supplies will not be provided. Additionally, they acknowledge the need to dress appropriately for the environment, particularly with regard to warmth and suitable footwear, given that the land is wooded and may have uneven terrain. The applicant further understands that due to ongoing drought conditions in Massachusetts, fires of any kind—including smoking of any substance—are strictly prohibited. They also recognize that water usage will be limited, and showers will be scheduled accordingly. Lastly, the applicant affirms that they are aware of the intensive nature of the practice and, to the best of their knowledge, are of sound and stable mind, feeling prepared and balanced to engage with the depth and intensity of the retreat experience.

I agree to the terms & conditions

Thank you for your submission! You will be contacted by a memeber of our team regarding next steps