Solitary Hero Yamāntaka
8 to 24 January 2025
Retreat with Geshe Gyaltsen at Nalanda Monastery
About the teacher

Geshe Gyaltsen was born in Tibet in 1968, in a village named Dzogang, located in the Tsawa region of the Kham province. At the age of 16 he received rabjung ordination in the local monastery of Sang Ngak Chö Khor Ling. At 19 he travelled to Lhasa and received getsül ordination from the Sera Je Geshe Gyaltsen Shakya. He then returned to Kham, where he began the study of philosophy in the monastery of Chamdo Jampa Ling.
Wishing to further his studies and meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Geshe Gyaltsen escaped from Tibet by walking over the Himalayan mountain range and reached India in 1990, at the age of 22. He then enrolled in Sera Je Monastery and became a member of the Tsawa college.
In 2007, after 17 years of intensive studies, he attained the qualification of Geshe Lharampa, the highest degree in the traditional Tibetan monastic education system. He then specialised in tantra in Gyümed monastery. After serving for two years as philosophy teacher in the Sera Je school, he became the director of Tsawa college for one year.
After some time spent in retreat, Geshe-la was requested by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to become the teacher of the residential Basic Program in Nalanda Monastery where he has taught since 2014.
Lharampa Geshe Gyaltsen is widely admired by students for his deep and clear explanations and inspiring demeanor. Following the commentary Geshe-la gave on this practice and the retreat he led last year, some dedicated students requested him to lead again the retreat again in January 2025.
“With regard to destroying ignorance, Mañjuśrī is supreme in bestowing wisdom. With regard to destroying the lord of death, Vajrabhairava is marvellous. Therefore, having seen that this path that practices the peaceful and wrathful Mañjuśrī is the wonderful entrance for intelligent trainees, I take delight in accomplishing this method.”
Lama Tsongkapa
Yamāntaka or Vajrabhairava is seen as the wrathful manifestation of Mañjuśrī, the Buddha of wisdom. Lama Tsongkhapa adopted Yamantaka as His personal deity-practice. Vajrabhairava is the principal Gelugpa yidam-meditation practice and to this very day it is considered one of the most important yidam practices, both for monastic and lay practitioners alike.
The practice of Solitary Hero Yamāntaka is a particularly powerful method using wrathful manifestation of the Enlightened mind to control those difficult to tame. It is a means to destroy the hallucination of ignorance which grasp to true existence as well as the afflictions that prevent us from developing bodhicitta and attaining enlightenment.
To attend the retreat, it is required to have received a full initiation into the Highest Yoga Tantra of Yamāntaka!
Having recited with mindfulness the appropriate number of the various mantras, one will be able to perform the fire puja at the end of the retreat and thus to perform later the self-initiation.
Arrival on the 8th end of the afternoon, departure on the 24th of January – 16 nights, non-divisible package for the whole retreat.
The ordained Sangha pays no retreat fees and receives a 50% discount on accommodation and food.
Full board at Nalanda:
Accomodation and food | Retreat participation | Total | |
Hut | 742€ | 190€ | 932€ |
Individual room | 704€ | 190€ | 894€ |
Double room | 614€ | 190€ | 804€ |
Caravan | 486€ | 190€ | 676€ |
Camping | 461€ | 190€ | 651€ |
Full board at Maitreya Pure Land:
Accomodation and food | Retreat participation | Total | |
Suite | 947€ | 190€ | 1137€ |
Individual room with private bathroom | 832€ | 190€ | 1022€ |
Individual room with shared bathroom | 742€ | 190€ | 932€ |
Double room with shared bathroom | 666€ | 190€ | 856€ |
Meals only (for those who are staying at home and only want breakfast, lunch and dinner):
Accomodation and food | Retreat participation | Total | |
Visitor | 333€ | 190€ | 523€ |
Sangha | 167€ | 0€ | 167€ |