2027 New Year Nyungne | The Eight Precepts: Thousand-Armed Chenrezig Fasting Retreat

Date: Thu, Dec 31, 2026 – Sun, Jan 3, 2027
Time: 17:00
Status: Open

Nyungne: Thousand-Armed Chenrezig Fasting Retreat

This New Year, at Huazang Center in Shenkeng, GarTul Chimi Dorjee Rinpoche will personally lead a complete Thousand-Armed Chenrezig Eight Precepts retreat (Nyungne). We will enter retreat on the last night of the year, cross into the new year, and conclude the retreat at dawn on January 3. Through fasting, silence, and the deity practice of Chenrezig, we purify the body, speech, and mind of the past year and step into the new year with clarity and compassion.

Whether you have joined a Nyungne before or are encountering the Chenrezig fasting practice for the first time, you are warmly welcome to register.

On the eve of the retreat, Rinpoche will teach the key points of the practice. The pre-retreat notice will also include an explanation of the practice text and preparation materials, and volunteers will support the retreat throughout, so that first-time participants can take part with peace of mind.

Huazang Center is spacious, with plenty of dormitory rooms, and this year we hope to welcome even more people with a connection to this practice. You are welcome to invite family and friends to spend the turn of the year in a Nyungne retreat, giving yourself a time of purity, settling, and transformation, and planting a beginning of compassion and auspiciousness for 2027.

May the new year bring
purity of body and mind, growth in merit and wisdom,
peace, auspiciousness, and success in all you do.

Blessing tablets and tablets for prayers for the deceased will also be set up on the shrine for this ceremony, and offerings and volunteering are open as well, so that Dharma friends who cannot attend in person can also accumulate precious merit and share in a connection with Chenrezig.

Presiding Teacher

GarTul Chimi Dorjee Rinpoche

Venerable GarTul Chimi Dorjee Rinpoche is the reincarnation of a teacher of Kyabje Garchen Rinpoche, the realized master revered by all the major traditions of Tibetan Buddhism today. He is regarded as an emanation of the compassion of Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara). For many years, with great compassion and aspiration, Rinpoche has guided beings on the path of purification and bodhicitta, benefiting countless sentient beings.

For Rinpoche's life, lineage, and his path of retreat and study, see Our Spiritual Director: GarTul Chimi Dorjee Rinpoche.

About the Practice

In Tibetan Buddhism, the Eight Precepts practice of Thousand-Armed Chenrezig takes two forms, depending on how many days the precepts are kept. One is a two-day, two-night fasting retreat, called Nyungne in Tibetan; the other is a one-day, one-night practice, called Nyiné (one-day fasting practice) in Tibetan.

Both observe exactly the same precepts. In Nyungne, however, participants do not eat after noon on the first day and abstain from both food and water on the second day, until the retreat closes at 5:00 AM on the third day. It is an extremely skillful method for giving rise to great compassion in the mindstream of disciples. Those who practice while relying purely on a teacher's guidance can often experience the suffering of hungry ghosts and so give rise to the genuine great aspiration of bodhicitta. It is truly precious!

In light of the present circumstances, we will hold a two-day, two-night fasting retreat.

The Benefits of Practice

Venerable GarTul Chimi Dorjee Rinpoche taught:

"Nyungne is a precious practice that brings purification through fasting and meditation. It deeply cultivates compassion, purifies negative karma, and greatly helps practitioners progress swiftly on the path, giving rise to genuine realization."

Bhikshuni Lakshmi (Gelongma Palmo), the founding master who passed down this practice, once prayed earnestly to Chenrezig and received the Nyungne practice directly from the deity. Through diligent practice, she not only purified her karmic obscurations and was cured of leprosy, but her appearance became even more beautiful than before. This shows how inconceivable the power of this practice is to purify obscurations and accumulate merit.

Dates

Thursday, December 31, 2026, 5:00 PM to Sunday, January 3, 2027, 9:00 AM

Venue

Huazang Center, Shenkeng

No. 9, Dalunwei, Neighborhood 5, Arou Village, Shenkeng District, New Taipei City

Condition of participation: I commit to respecting myself and others, and to cherishing the opportunity to study and practice together with my fellow Sangha members.

Retreat fee: NT$2,000

This includes four days and three nights of dormitory lodging, vegetarian meals during the retreat, and travel accident insurance for all retreat participants.

If the fee is a financial difficulty, please feel free to contact the organizing team privately. (The practice text and shuttle bus are paid separately.)

What the retreat fee covers:

Venue: the meditation hall, dormitory rooms, toiletries, and cleaning and maintenance at Huazang Center.
Meals: vegetarian meals and drinks for the teacher, retreat participants, volunteers, and center staff.
Shrine setup: shrine arrangement, offerings, flowers, and other materials for the ceremony.
Insurance: travel accident insurance for all retreat participants.
Volunteer transportation: travel costs for volunteers' site visits and setup beforehand.

Practice

Practice of The Fasting Ritual of the Noble Eleven-Faced Chenrezig

What Is Provided

Practice text: The Fasting Ritual of the Noble Eleven-Faced Chenrezig (available on site to borrow or to purchase, NT$300 per copy)
Lodging: the center provides mattresses, quilts, pillows, and freshly washed bedding sets; rooms are assigned by gender.
Meals: apart from the fasting period, all meals are vegan.
December 31 (check-in day): please bring your own dinner or eat before coming up the mountain; simple vegetarian buns and drinks will be available on site.
January 1: breakfast, lunch, and liquid drinks are provided; no food is eaten from noon onward.
January 2: no meals are served, following the practice of abstaining from food and water.
January 3: after the closing session at dawn, a liquid breakfast is provided.
Those who need to take medication may drink water with it; those who cannot abstain from water for health reasons, please adjust according to your own condition.

How to Take Part

Practice on site: Dharma friends are welcome to register and attend the retreat in person, taking part in the whole practice and accumulating merit together. The retreat fee is NT$2,000, covering lodging, meals, insurance, and offerings and flowers for the ceremony.
Blessing tablets and tablets for prayers for the deceased: you can register a blessing tablet for living relatives and friends, or a tablet for prayers for the deceased for relatives who have passed away; the merit of the practice will be dedicated to them. The offering for tablets is NT$1,000. Blessing and memorial tablets can be registered together, with no limit on the number of names or characters.
Offerings to the ceremony: you are welcome to offer lamps, flowers, or meals, or to support the ceremony, helping to bring about the merit of this practice.
Volunteering: if you would like to take part through action, please fill out the volunteer section of the registration form.

If you register but are unable to attend, your contribution will be used for the ceremony's expenses, and any remaining amount will go in full to support Rinpoche's Dharma activities.

Notes on the Eight Precepts

The precepts:

This retreat observes the complete Eight Precepts: killing, stealing, sexual activity, lying, alcohol, lying on high beds, singing, dancing, and adornment, and eating at improper times must all be given up. The focus of the retreat is for everyone to rest single-mindedly in the practice of deity yoga, so keeping the root eight precepts is sufficient, together with prostrations, confession, and visualization following the practice text.

Silence and devices:

Throughout the precept period, silence is kept and phones and other digital devices are not used. Please do not substitute passing notes or using hand signs. In special situations, please ask a volunteer wearing a name badge for help.

Duration of the precepts:

The precepts are taken each morning at the first session by reciting the precept text, and kept until dawn the next day. On Sunday, January 3, the retreat concludes with the closing session at dawn.

Fasting from food and water:

The teacher encourages retreat participants to do their best to keep the practice of abstaining from food and water.

Fasting: no food after noon from Friday, January 1; no food from the afternoon of January 1 until the conclusion at dawn on January 3.
No water: no water from midnight at the end of January 1 until the conclusion at dawn on January 3.
Those who need to take medication may drink water with it; those who cannot abstain from water for health reasons, please adjust according to your own condition.

Retreat schedule:

Thursday, December 31: check in, settle your luggage and wash up, then take your seat and wait for the teacher's talk.
Friday, January 1 to Saturday, January 2: four sessions a day starting at dawn (two in the morning, two in the afternoon).
Sunday, January 3: closing session at dawn; after breakfast, pack up and return home.

Retreat dress code:

All participants in the Eight Precepts retreat are asked to wear a white top and white or light-colored long pants. Please keep clothing simple and comfortable.

Getting There

You may travel on your own or sign up for the shuttle bus. (The shuttle bus departs from Taipei Main Station, NT$200 one way.)
Details on meeting time, parking, and carpooling will be given in the pre-retreat notice.

Refunds and Use of Funds

Thank you for your generous support. To help all the arrangements for the retreat go smoothly, and to protect your rights, please take a moment to read the following before making a payment.

In short: the retreat fee of NT$2,000 can be refunded. Tablet offerings and other donations are put toward the ceremony for the purposes you specified, so we kindly ask for your understanding that they are not refunded.

Which payments can be refunded

How the retreat fee is refunded

If you are unable to attend, please contact us before the retreat begins. We will handle it as follows:

If you notify us before insurance is purchased and preparations begin: a full refund of NT$2,000.
If you notify us after insurance has been purchased or meals and offerings have been paid for: we will deduct the costs actually incurred that cannot be recovered and refund the rest in full. We will explain the deducted items and amounts to you.
If you notify us after the retreat has begun, without advance notice, or do not check in on the day: because insurance, lodging, and meals have all been arranged, this portion cannot be refunded. Thank you for understanding.

How to apply

Before the retreat begins, please contact us through our official LINE account or by email at [email protected], and provide: your name, phone number, the original payment date, the last five digits of the account you paid from, and your bank, account number, and account name for the refund.

Your application is dated from when we actually receive your message. Once your details are verified, the refund will normally be processed within fifteen days; if your details are incomplete, the refund period starts once they are complete.

If the retreat is cancelled or changed

If the retreat is cancelled by the organizer, the retreat fee will be refunded in full.

If the retreat is postponed or changed due to natural disasters, government orders, venue safety, transportation disruptions, disease prevention measures, or other force majeure, we will notify you as soon as possible of the new arrangements and refund options. If tablet and donation funds can still be used in the ceremony for their original purposes, they will be used as specified; if that is definitely not possible, we will contact you separately.

When registering, you will be asked to check a box on the form confirming that you have read these terms. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at any time.

Registration

Please fill out the form below to register (form in Chinese).

A pre-retreat notice will be sent before the ceremony, so please watch the email address you provide.

Registration form: https://forms.gle/khcUwP15ReyFD28b9