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The Christ and the Buddha and the Apocalyptic Rise of the Sacred Feminine
February 19 - February 22, 2026
Andrew Harvey, Ph.D.
Robert A.F. Thurman
Andrew Harvey and Robert Thurman are great old friends who have been sharing their insights and passions for over 30 years and who led a very galvanizing retreat earlier this year on the apocalyptic partnership between the Buddha and the Christ. This next retreat happens in the awareness that all of us humans have come to our once in several millenniums defining evolutionary ordeal manifesting through our narcissism and hubris a ferocious global dark night which threatens our extinction. We both feel that this terrible situation, unprecedented in its intensity and scope, offers extraordinary possibilities for radical spiritual growth and for a creative re-visioning of all human structures through the next level of divine, embodied, enlightened consciousness. We intend to pursue those possibilities in this retreat, sharing our efforts with everyone.In this weekend retreat, drawing on his many decades of exploration of Christian mysticism, his visionary relationship with perhaps the greatest Christian mystic of the 20th century—Father Bede Griffiths, and is truly the consummation up to now of his work, his passionate plunge into the Magdalene-Jesus relationship and the relationships in Tibetan Buddhism that mirror it such as Padma Sambhava and his brilliant consort Yeshe Sogyal.Andrew will present his profoundly aligned vision of the message of Jesus as a call to all beings to embody Christ consciousness in its grandeur and passion and put it into dynamic sacred action. Andrew and Bob love and admire and have learned deeply from Miranda Shaw’s Passionate Enlightenment and from Lama Tsong Khapa’s Esoteric Community magic body transformation mandalas which represent a total integration of the divine feminine in all its transcendent and radically embodied aspects with the divine masculine and shows that it was briefly but amazingly lived d actualized between the 7th and 10 th CE centuries. In this way we will plunge into the Magdalene Revolution and dance there, with Andrew soaring from the treasures revealed in his new book and Bob plunging into the revelation of the magic body/clearlight spirit, male/female tantric buddhahood communion (yuganaddha), also exemplified in the male-female dynamic in Padma Sambhava and Yeshe Sogyal’s relationship. They both intend to drop some luminous bombs into the dissociation, disembodiment and tragic lack of integration that characterize and mar both Christianity and Buddhism as they have evolved, limiting their power to birth the new humanity and transform our world. This could be tenderly incendiary and provide a map for millions of people who love both revelations but are waking up to the patriarchal distortions that limit their transformative power. We are so excited to share this with our friends.Bob will present the vision that he has brilliantly revealed in book after book of how the teachings and practices of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism help us to create a new way of being and doing everything. Drawing on his own inner experience and his long and profound friendship with the Dalai Lama, he will demonstrate how seekers on all paths now need to be inspired by this magnificent vision to rise in joy and focused communion with the sacred feminine power to put love into action to transform society, save democracy, build equitable and sustainable economic structures and provide radiant guidance to generations to come. Bob’s partner Nena will also be invited to speak, since Andrew as well as Bob wants to hear her vivid and vibrant thoughts on this subject. I hope this vision excites you. I think we both know the times require this leap, which is sanctioned within certain aspects of the traditions to be made bravely and nuancedly right now before the whole human adventure flounders in crazed violent horrifying idiotic mystically illiterate division.We all will follow the precept given the Holy Neem Karoli Baba to our beloved Ram Dass, “Love everybody, and speak the truth!” Bob has the highest respect for Christian mysticism and recognizes Jesus as a Buddha. Andrew is deeply attuned to Buddha’s great vehicle and honors the Bodhisattva ideal as a noble interlinked counterpoint to that of the Christed embodied divine. Andrew and Bob will engage in dialogue demonstrating the thrilling parallels between the two visions while also teaching them separately from the depths of their mutual traditions. What they hope to achieve is the clearest possible offering of a way forward for all around the planet, a way that marries profound inner sacred practice with wise urgent sacred activism.In this retreat, you will receive three divine gifts: a vision of engaged enlightenment to aspire to with your whole being, maps towards that enlightenment derived from the deepest Mahayana and Christian traditions, and sacred practices both simple and transformative that you can start using now to inspire yourself in our grim age to be joyful and compassionate agents of transformative change.Click Register Now above if you wish to register to attend in person at Menla. If you cannot attend in person and wish to join virtually/online, please click here to register for virtual participation.*The style of the upcoming teachings differs from traditional, academic presentation. What is being relayed is not simply information, but an invitation into a living wisdom tradition. At the heart of the retreat experience, is the presence of teachers, and the presence of yourself, as student. This relational emphasis, and your innate capacity to absorb, question, and clarify are your keenest assets in an unfolding, and at times, unpredictable atmosphere of learning.Schedule:Thursday, February 19
ABOUT THE TEACHERs
Andrew Harvey, Ph.D.
Andrew Harvey is a poet, novelist, mystical scholar, lecturer in comparative religions, and one of the most celebrated translators of Rumi. He has taught at Oxford, Cornell, Hobart and Smith Colleges, California Institute of Integral Studies, and UCS. The honors he has received ...
Robert A.F. Thurman
Robert Thurman is Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University as well as co-founder and President of Tibet House US and it's Menla Retreat & Spa. A world-wide lecturer on Tibetan Buddhism, activist for the plight of the Tibetan people, translator of Buddhis...
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