Pema Khandro and Buddhist Yogis News Archive
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Dear Friends,
I still remember when the pandemic was first announced – our first meeting when our team was faced with so many decisions. We eventually scrapped the year’s calendar we had planned and re-imagined our activities one month at a time until we faced that the whole year would be online. Instead of flying to California to stay at Dakini Mountain for our summer retreats, I remained in Virginia. That was the beginning of letting go of everything we had imagined for the year.
When the pandemic first hit we had just finished a year-long study on the Buddhist philosophy of impermanence. And suddenly, impermanence seemed so obvious to everyone. The stories of losses started coming in from the community. The loss of social life to the lock downs, the job losses and the loss of structure and security. Sadly, the loss of loved ones too. I grieve with you for the family members and friends we lost this year. May they rest in peace and find freedom.
The biggest challenge our team faced early on in the pandemic was how to go forward with our consecration of Dakini Mountain. It was a day we had been waiting for and looking forward to for so long. We knew that auspicious energy would be needed for Dakini Mountain since it became clear that we would have to cancel our entire retreat season. In the end we re-imagined the consecration through a weekend long online event – a Vajrayogini retreat taught by myself and Drupon Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche. I taught the Vajrayogini Chod cycle with Rinpoche giving the empowerment into Vajrayogini generation stage. The weekend culminated with the consecration at Dakini Mountain. Here is a photo of that beautiful event.
Throughout the summer, in place of the retreats we offered three series featuring 12 guest teachers. The first series was In the Presence of Dying, which featured talks on Buddhist views and practices for death and dying. This was followed by a daylong teaching on instructions for dying from Dzogchen. I also taught the Zhitro practice, which is the Tibetan funerary rite to guide the deceased ones through the post-death state. If you missed the teaching on Dying but wish to attend, I will be teaching this for Zen Mountain Monastery in New York via an online program – click here to find out more. And this winter I will give an advanced class on Dying, Death & Living in the Bardo.
Can Vajrayana be taught online?
We also had, for the first time, our Dzogchen retreat online. This is usually our big annual retreat in person together, and would have been at Dakini Mountain, but we brought it online. It was a stunning experience for me actually. The students who were committed and focused on the retreat, dedicating their time in a focused way and showing up to every practice had a deep and profound experience. It was so moving. Before the pandemic, the thought of doing Dzogchen online was of course out of the question. There are traditional reasons for this which orbit around what constitutes transmission, the essential ingredient in Vajrayana practice. But this year the opinions about this shifted and opened up in the Vajrayana communities. I saw the intense dedication of the community who practiced and studied through so many obstacles. Through job losses, wildfires, illness, loss of loved ones and intense uncertainty, we all kept practicing. Seeing this, I felt the highest integrity would be to support the students who wanted to keep their commitment to practice through this crisis. So we did the annual Dzogchen retreat online and it was a beautiful experience. It was touching to see the home shrines of the participants and to feel our connection to one another.
Can Buddhists be Angry?
In September, we had a series focused on the “Bodhisattva in Troubled Times,” to address this issue. The point of this program for me was to reflect with our guests on the complex relationship between anger and our bodhichitta- the altruistic enlightened intent. Some people believe the stereotype that Buddhism is all about suppressing anger, and there are forms of Buddhism that have anti-anger rhetoric. Meanwhile, others criticize Tibetan Buddhist tantra for its radical engagements with wrath, anger, power and at times the rhetoric of domination and control. For my community, the role of anger in terms of moral outrage was very clear in the wake of racial violence in the U.S. The anger and moral outrage rallied awareness and momentum for change.
So how does this all interface with the bodhisattva ideal? What is the role of anger if we seek to live compassionate altruistic lives? In Buddhist tantra we think of anger in terms of the “Vajra” family in the five Buddha families, an energy that can arise as clarity or it may trigger a cascade of aggressive neurosis. It is an energy that requires great care, meticulous presence, lest we lose our altruistic enlightened intent. I suggested that we can realize that anger may be natural, acceptable, and have its place in healing and social change, while at the same time recognizing that we must be very careful with it. Like a sharp weapon, we carry it mindfully realizing that we could easily hurt ourselves and others. We recognize that it is, as one of the sangha members so aptly put it, a bardo. In other words, it is an impermanent state, one that has to be met with care and wisdom.
In October, we turned to the topic of Buddhist Sexuality reflecting on everything from non-celibate practice to sexual abuse and responses to sexual abuse in Buddhist communities. This had been preceded by study of texts about sexuality in Buddhist tantra that we conducted during the Vajrayana training. But the ultimate context of this was the #metoo movement in Buddhism. We covered so much but there is so much more to cover and I hope we will do that in the times to come. I realized through this program, how much emotional labor it takes to talk about these issues, especially because my scholarly research is also touching on this subject. But I had this sense that the emotional labor is worthwhile, for the awareness and potential for change it produces. For me, the motivation is that Buddhist community would be a safe place for women and for all vulnerable people since abuse harms every kind of person.
We also had our annual Vajra Sangha retreat online. This is an event where usually the Vajra Sangha members all come to stay with me at Khandro Ling and is one of the most memorable events of the year. But this year, with the pandemic and everyone’s safety in mind we canceled that and instead had a one-day Vajra Sangha day of practice, teaching and reflecting. Although we met online this time, there was still some sense of the special energy we have together. Actually I was startled by that, how we could cultivate a sense of connection and a palpable sense of the sacred space we hold together – even though it was through an online medium.
Season of Practice
As we turned towards the winter, despite the pandemic we have continued in our annual tradition of a “season of practice” from November to February. This is a period from November until Losar, the Tibetan New Year (this year on February 12). Thanks to our project, the Buddhist Studies Institute, this season has been one of support for practice on multiple fronts.
100 Days of Practice Daily Meditation
For the first time we decided to create an online daily free meditation class for the entire practice season. Usually we all brave this period alone and it has been beautiful to see this period led by our Meditation Instructor Training Alumni as well as Group Leaders.
This year the 100 days of practice has been led by Janak, Tsal’gyur, Fa Jun, Zat, Dedzin, Norbu, Kundini, Namkhai, Tashi, Detsal, Kalsang, Darius, Ngawang and Sonam. It is continuing every day at 12pm San Francisco time (PST), 3pm New York (EST), and 8pm London (GMT).
It has featured the refuge, bodhichitta and bodhi vows followed by twenty-four minutes of Zhine, Calm Abiding meditation. It is twenty-four minutes because that is the length of our daily practice cycle – one minute for every hour of the day. This is followed by a short reading of one of the five precepts and then followed by group conversation. Congratulations to everyone who has been attending. I imagine that these last two weeks are the hardest to maintain as we headed deep into winter and the holidays. But this is how discipline is forged, one day at a time, regardless of obstacles and distractions.
Discipline and structure keep us in tune with life’s meaning.
Ngondro – Iron Mice Sangha
In 2020, we also started a year-long Ngondro training to support a group to finish ngondro. It began in November in this year of the Iron Mouse. We have been wanting to do an online ngondro program for a long time and now we finally have set it in motion. Ngondro is the foundational training for Vajrayana. But to accomplish Ngondro requires determination, it is a practice which is traditionally repeated 100,000 per practice totaling 400,000 – 500,000 repetitions per practice. It is hardcore training of the body and mind!! But it is more than just repetition – at best it is a sense of lingering with great attention in the poetry, prayers, songs and postures of Tibetan Buddhist meditation. Therefore, it is beautiful for those who can allow it to be.
We have been doing the Longchen Nyingthig Ngondro, which means the preliminaries of the Heart of the Vast Expanse. As you are reading this now, someone is doing Ngondro. We have a whole group performing it daily so that the whole group will be ready for the second module in February.
You can read more about it here and you can still join.
If you are in the Ngondro program and have fallen behind, you can still catch up before the next module by doing 185 repetitions a day starting January 1st.
For those of you doing Ngondro now, we added additional Ngondro videos to watch at home. You can watch them here.
Meditation Instructor Training
We are also in the midst of Meditation Instructor training attended by students from around the world. It started in October and goes through February. This is a 150-hour training for experienced meditators and teachers to integrate Buddhism’s most powerful supports into their meditation instruction – from ethics to empathy, Trauma-informed practice to Buddhist philosophy, it provides this firm support for teachers to develop skills to teach meditation at its highest level. For some of our instructors in training, they are in quarantine, others live in countries where there is no coronavirus crisis right now. Whatever their circumstances they are all coming together diligently to practice, study and develop their leadership skills. You can read more about it here. Or if you’d like to meet the new instructors, they will be leading MIT as student-teachers for the New Year Meditation Marathon (the last forty days of our 100-day period).
Dakini Mountain
Dakini Mountain has also made it through this year despite California having its worst fire season ever – 4.1 million acres burned. Dakini Mountain is our new retreat land and it is in Northern California in the Tahoe National Forest, the native land of the Washoe and Nisenan tribes. Although we canceled our in-person retreats, the land has been the site of intense focus and time-consuming efforts on the part of our team (and especially my right-hand-woman, Aruna). The wildfires in California darkened the skies but did not reach this land, and we were blessed that Dakini Mountain did remain safe. My heart goes out to everyone who lost their homes or who were adversely affected by the fires. So many of our sangha members had to temporarily relocate until the fires calmed down. While the fires were blazing, a water crisis touched Dakini Mountain. This happened more than once in 2020 as we discovered broken pipes and a troubled irrigation system that needed a lot of work. We were able to start a fire clearance to protect the land and started repairs on the water system and if we meet our fundraising goal of $20,000 by January 1st, we will cover the cost of these repairs and stage 1 fire clearance – Click Here to Donate. The land itself has been changing dramatically through the seasons. Here is a photo from last winter of Dakini Mountain in the snow to give you a sense of what happens there. Rigdzin pond becomes ice and the land gets blanketed by snow which sparkles like diamonds.
Yogic Medicine Institute
Even though our retreats were closed, we did conduct some small versions of the Panchakarma retreats in personalized form. This is the Ayurvedic detoxification, cleansing and rejuvenation program led by the Yogic Medicine Institute. It is an intensive process and three to five of our sangha staff these retreats. They work incredibly hard and the results are stunning. The people who come for PK at Dakini Mountain leave looking ten years younger. I am so proud that we were able to offer this support for healing and health during the pandemic when it is so important. Satya and Aruna have been coordinating these events with great skill and care.
The 21 Taras
Our final event of the year was the 21 Taras transmission with Drupon Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche. May this be the beginning of many more occasions where we sing this beautiful prayer together. This was also my birthday celebration – thank you to everyone who sent notes and messages, who donated and supported this year and this event. I am touched by your care and feel grateful for our beautiful connections.
“Homage Tara, swift heroic, eyes like lightning instantaneous,
Sprung from opening stamens of the lord of three world’s tear-born lotus.
Homage she whose face combines a hundred autumn moons at fullest…”
If you would like to listen to us singing it you can listen here.
Through all this practice and activity that has taken place we have had a dedicated team of volunteers, leaders and staff. I feel grateful and honored to be working with a community of such kindness and collaboration. I know that the programs have brought comfort, inspiration and stability to so many and that is only possible thanks to the generosity of donors, volunteers, leaders and staff.
Thank you especially to everyone who donated to the Dakini Mountain Emergency Fund for my birthday. Thank you for your notes, letters and well-wishes, it touches me deeply. I am honored to be connected to such a lovely community.
Also, thank you to our Leadership – Aruna, Satya, Janak, Tsal’gyur, Dedzin and Kundini for helping make our programs possible. Your service is greatly appreciated.
It is the end of the year but still so much uncertainty lies ahead. In the U.S. where the coronavirus is raging and many of us are on lock down or curfews, there is this looming sense of the unknown. But one thing we learned this year remains with us – the sense of interdependence, the urgent need to relieve suffering. The importance of continuously training our body and mind.
Whatever comes, this too is what we have been training for. To face whatever comes with bodhichitta, to meet life wakefully and bear what is as best we can.
Yours always,
Dear Friends,
One important reason to Donate Today is that there is a need for more Buddhist organizations dedicated to gender equality in Buddhism.
Pema Khandro’s teachings consistently emphasize waking up to liberate ourselves from harmful gender conditioning. Her teachings emphasize creating safe Buddhist communities for women and creating inclusive affirmative spaces for all gender identities.
Her straightforward approach to teaching about abuse and sexism are greatly needed in Buddhism. Pema Khandro herself is rare as a female lama leading an organization run by women. This is extraordinary and necessary for the future of Buddhadharma. Help Pema Khandro’s projects flourish and thereby support women in Buddhism in a direct and practical way with your financial support.
There are 3 days left in 2020 and 3 days left in the end of the year fundraising drive to support the work of Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies Institute.
We are a grassroots organization. Your donation makes a huge and decisive impact. It is individual donations that have allowed us to survive the pandemic so far.
May your generosity bring great benefit to this world!
Kind Regards,
Dr. Satya
Chief Operations Officer,
Ngakpa International
Buddhist Studies Institute
Dakini Mountain
Yogic Medicine Institute
The 21 Taras
Teaching and Practice with Drupon Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche
December 16th, 6pm Pacific Time
Timezone Converter
Tara is considered to be the mother of all Buddhas. Prayers to her counteract illness and obstacles. There are numerous prayers, praises and meditations upon Tara, one of the most precious is that of the 21 Taras. The 21 Taras meditation is a poetic supplication of the female bodhisattva Tara in her many forms. It is practiced in all the lineages of Tibetan Buddhism as a prayer for protection from fears, calamities, and harm. It celebrates the manifold powers of the divine feminine as nurturing, magnetizing and fierce in her many forms as mother, teacher and tamer.
The beautiful practices of Tara were revealed as treasures and commented on by great masters of Tibetan Buddhism including an oral commentary tradition of Rongzompa, Taranatha, Jigme Lingpa and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. In this program, Drupon Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche will give the oral transmission (lung) which is the initiation to practice the meditation known as the Praises to the 21 Taras. He will also give an explanation of the practice. Following this, chanting of this profoundly inspiring practice in English will be led by sangha members.
This program is offered as part of our seventh annual year-end celebration of Tara on the birthday of Lama Pema Khandro Rinpoche. Every year on Pema Khandro’s birthday, the community celebrates with a practice of Tara led by guest Lamas.
All the proceeds from this event will go to support the Dakini Mountain Emergency Fund. Pema Khandro’s birthday wish is for donations to go to Dakini Mountain Emergency Fund Due to the temporary closure of Dakini Mountain due to the pandemic, this year’s year-end fundraiser is more important than ever!
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2020 Fall Calendar
ONLINE OPEN TEACHINGS
*All times are listed in Pacific Time UTC-8 Timezone Converter
Now – Feb 12th Tibetan New Year (Losar)
100 Days of Practice – Meditation Marathon
Free, Short, Daily.
Starts December 10th, 8am
A Course in Valid Cognition with Geshe Sonam
Winter Pramana Study
December 16th, 6pm
The 21 Taras – Teachings and Practice with Drupon Rinpoche
Pema Khandro’s Birthday Celebration and Fundraiser
Members-Only Classes
Learn More about Membership
1st & 2nd Wednesdays – Vajrayana Training
3rd & 4th Wednesdays – Ngakpa Training
Every Monday – Meditation Mondays
Group Meditation with Janak Kimmel & Guest Teachers
Dec 21st, 6-7pm – Tara Day
White Tara Meditation is a Buddhist prayer offered in times of calamities, natural disasters, wars, and major obstacles in order to bring peace and healing to the community and environment. Learn the mantra, mudras and visualization practice of White Tara, and also practice the 21 Taras. Led by Dr. Satya.
Dakini Mountain Emergency Fund
BUDDHIST YOGIS INFO ♦ DONATE ♦ VISIT OUR WEBSITES
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Copyright Ⓒ 2019
Ngakpa International • PO Box 2396 • Nevada City, CA • USA
Together we have built a beautiful community.
We have continued to meditate and study throughout a most difficult year. Now we need your help to continue.
Giving Tuesday is today! Please don’t forget to make a year-end contribution to support the work of Pema Khandro, Ngakpa International and its projects – Dakini Mountain and the Buddhist Studies Institute. We need your support, your donation can make a huge difference in helping these projects flourish.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
The pandemic has had a drastic impact on our finances. Dakini Mountain, our budding retreat center, as well as our membership both suffered serious losses. For the safety of our community, we cancelled all in-person events, including our summer retreats. This would have been the main source of support for Dakini Mountain and for our operations. In response to the crisis catalyzed by the pandemic – our goal is to raise $350,000 for our Year-End Fundraiser – to ensure that our projects can continue.
Despite the challenges of the global pandemic, we have continued to offer service, with even more programs than in previous years. Our goal was to provide comfort, practical tools, community connection and the reprieve of dharma study to help our friends weather these tough times.
In 2019
We offered 261 retreats, classes and trainings.
161 of these were free.
Over $20,000 in financial aid was given.
In 2020
We offered 304 retreats, classes and trainings.
248 of these were free.
Over $25,000 in financial aid was given.
This expansion of our programs was met with responses from all over the world, our community has grown and flourished in this pandemic year. To continue to provide this service, we need your help!
Throughout all these programs we have offered Tibetan Buddhism in the context of today’s world with an emphasis on the following:
I invite your support for this Giving Tuesday to keep this school and its programs growing.
PLEASE CONSIDER AN URGENT GIFT TO OUR EMERGENCY FUND!
The Dakini Mountain Emergency Fund is our plan to sustain our retreat center and our operations through this year of the pandemic. We are optimistic, as we hold onto our retreat center, not only as a sound investment for the school but also for the days when we will be able to gather in person again. In order to make it to that time, we will need your help to make it through the pandemic.
Ngakpa International is a non-profit organization. To keep our volunteer run organization here in the U.S. we run two centers, keep lawyers, accountants, bookkeepers, three staff, insurance, permitting and many other legal expenses, technology and equipment costs and so much more. We have only been able to continue to meet all these expenses for the last twenty years through the generosity of individual donations. But this year, due to the drastic effects of the pandemic, donations are more important than ever. We ask for our friends and members to help us continue our service and sustain our programs for another year.
YOUR DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE!
Here are some more ways to express your support on this Giving Tuesday:
Thank you! May your generosity bring great good karma to you and life changing teachings to more and more beings.
Best wishes!
Janak (he, him, his)
Ngakpa International/Buddhist Studies Institute
www.ngakpa.org
janak@ngakpa.org
P.O. Box 2396
Nevada City, CA 95959
USA
P.S. If you wish to make your donation by check, please make it payable to Ngakpa International and mail to the above address.
Ngakpa International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit EIN 68-0529687 and all gifts are tax deductible as allowed by law.
LATEST NEWS
Meditation Instructor Training
Our robust Meditation Instructor Training launched last month and is now in its third module. The combination of self-paced classes and online learning culminates in over 150 hours of training. It is currently being attended by 15 people from 8 countries.
100 Days of Practice
This year has had its challenges, reminding us all that learning to self-regulate and return to calm and clarity are crucial skills. In support of our world-wide community, we are offering a daily free meditation class – in the 100 days of practice. It is not too late to join! Come on the days you can or come every day.
Thanks to Pema Khandro’s teachings and thanks to so many leaders and volunteers in the community this 100 days of practice will continue every day through the winter.
And its Free!
Register here to join 100 Days of Practice.
WINTER SCHEDULE
Meditation Mondays for Members will continue to be offered throughout the month of December.
A White Tara Meditation has been added on December 21st led by Dr. Satya during the regular Meditation Mondays for Members time slot.
Wednesday December 16th is Lama Pema Khandro Rinpoche’s Birthday. We will host an online fundraiser and year-end celebration that evening. Stay tuned for more details. In lieu of birthday gifts, Pema Khandro’s birthday wish is for donations to the Dakini Mountain Emergency Fund. Click here to make a gift.
There will be no Wednesday Night classes on December 23rd and 30th due to the Holidays. Wednesday night classes will resume on January 6th with Vajrayana Training.
Winter Pramana Study
Valid Cognition Course with Geshe Sonam
Thursdays Mornings for One Hour Starting December 10th
8am San Francisco / 11am New York / 4pm London
What is Valid Cognition?
What are reliable Ways of Knowing?
Study Buddhist logic and epistemology to understand how mind knows, (in Sanskrit, Pramana or in Tibetan, tshad ma) and identify how wrong knowledge causes cyclic suffering. This is the study of a classic text on Valid Cognition, the Pramanavaritika, translated into English by Geshe Sonam.
To register – email info@buddhiststudiesinstitute.org
Geshe Sonam
Following his more than twenty years of intensive monastic studies on the five major treatises of Buddhism, and upon clearing all the six successive years of examination, in Jan 2019, Geshe Ngawang Sonam was formally conferred the highest degree of Geshe Lharampa [Traditional degree equivalent to PhD in Buddhism] by Gelugpa Monastic Seat of Learning [Gelugpa Monastic University]. In Nov. 2016, His Holiness the Dalai Lama called him to work in His Office, and presently he works there as a translator and a Buddhist scholar. Geshe Ngawang Sonam’s first book ‘In the Footsteps of Siddhartha’ was published in 2010. His translation of Shantideva’s work Bodhisattvacharyaavatara is going to print very soon. Alongside his office work, he also finds time to teach and attend conferences with modern scholars and scientists as a speaker.
Starts this Wednesday
Join Live or By Recording
Ngondro means ‘before going.’ In traditional Vajrayana practice, it represents the cognitive, physical, emotional and philosophical components which are keys to the practice of liberation.
Pema Khandro offers Ngondro teachings for serious students who wish to do intensive contemplative training. Dedicated to training yogis, householders and lay people outside the monastery, Pema Khandro presents these practices in their concise, essential form. This comprehensive course on Ngondro will be taught in four modules to support the accomplishment of practice over the period of one year, with the training modules completed in nine months.
2020 Fall Calendar
Buddhist Studies Institute
FALL QUARTER – ONLINE OPEN TEACHINGS
*All times are listed in Pacific Time UTC-7 (Timezone Converter)
Nov 18-20, 12-2pm
Ngondro Training – Entering the Heart of the Vast Expanse
Ngondro are the foundational practices for purifying, training and empowering the body-mind. They form the basis of Vajrayana meditation and serve as the foundation for the highest practices.
December 16, 6pm
Pema Khandro Birthday Celebration & Fundraiser
Details TBA
FALL QUARTER – MEMBERS-ONLY CLASSES
*The Curriculum below is for Members Only. Learn More about Membership
1st & 2nd Wednesdays – Vajrayana Training
3rd & 4th Wednesdays – Ngakpa Training
Every Monday – Meditation Mondays
Group Meditation with Janak Kimmel & Guest Teachers
Nov 23rd, 6-7pm
Tara Day
White Tara Meditation is a Buddhist prayer offered in times of calamities, natural disasters, wars, and major obstacles in order to bring peace and healing to the community and environment. Learn the mantra, mudras and visualization practice of White Tara. Led by Dr. Satya.
BUDDHIST YOGIS INFO ♦ DONATE ♦ VISIT OUR WEBSITES
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Copyright Ⓒ 2019
Ngakpa International • PO Box 2396 • Nevada City, CA • USA
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