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DharmaQuest of the Naga: Service to the Path
August 12 - August 15, 2021
Adam Foizen
Michael G. Burbank
Deep in the heart of the Catskills lives an ancient being that dwells deep within the mountain ravines and clear cold waters, a great Naga known locally as MahaNaga. This shape-shifting water serpent inhabits our beloved Pantherkill Valley and summons you to complete her DharmaQuest here at Menla. When MahaNaga first inhabited this land, she used her divine abilities to do battle with the unruly local spirits of the wilderness, installing 16 relics atop rock cairns throughout the valley to tame them and bring peace and harmony to the local landscape.Sometime in the late 20th century, however, the ancient foe of the Naga--the Garuda--destroyed MahaNaga’s cairns, spread invasive overgrowth over the trails, and temporarily subdued her. MahaNaga thus lay dormant until 2005 when she awoke from her slumber and caused damaging floods on Menla’s campus. During his inaugural visit in 2006, His Holiness the Dalai Lama recognized her presence and asked us to make offerings of milk, chant mantras, and perform fire pujas to supplicate her, which we’ve been doing since then... but now MahaNaga calls out to us to help her restore the 16 cairns and definitively re-establish peace among the spirits of our land.MahaNaga seeks twenty adventurers to team up over the course of a long weekend to scour our hiking trails in search of the destroyed cairns using special tools. Each party will look for the components of 8 cairns with a special capstone that contains one of the 8 auspicious symbols of Buddhism. Adventurers will utilize the blessed instruments of purity to restore the trails to their former glory. Once all the cairns have been built and the surrounding trails are brought into balance, harmony will be restored between the Garuda and MahaNaga. She can once again resume her full protection of the world of humans.Adventurers should be fit enough to climb a steep hill, clear brush and have keen senses to detect the Cairn components. MahaNaga has provided sustenance each day with delicious meals on the quest and off it. Adventurers will rest in the evening each day while MahaNaga gathers strength and may just have a few extra surprises up her sleeve.Join Menla Director Michael Burbank and Events Coordinator Adam Foizen in our forests to help fulfill the DharmaQuest of the Naga: Service to the Path for a 3-night stay August 12-15 2021.Book today!*This is a game and as such is a work of fiction and not to be taken as literal Tibetan lore. Any resemblance to Tibetan lore is purely for context and meant to honor the history and culture of the Tibetan people.Schedule
Thursday, August 12thABOUT THE TEACHERs
Adam Foizen
If music be the food of love, than Adam is like a bread bowl. Supportive and a strong exterior but a chewy container for delicious liquids. He also is a man of many talents, like writing third person bios about himself. He believes that an education is priceless and plans to be a...
Michael G. Burbank
Michael G. Burbank has been a student of Robert Thurman and HH the XIV Dalai Lama for 20 years, since his undergraduate years at Columbia University. In February of 2002 he was invited to help the Thurmans and Tibet House start the newly acquired Menla retreat. Over the years, he...
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