Buddhist Yogis News

Pema Khandro and Buddhist Yogis News Archive

Letter from Pema Khandro

Upcoming Events

Bardo Teachings – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro, Father Francis Tiso, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche, Chagdud Khadro, Shugen Roshi, Julie Rogers, Jim Tucker, M.D., Koshin Paley Ellison and Dr. William McGrath

Open Dates
Teachings on Death and Dying Facing realities of dying, death, and grief are central to our human experience. This program offers practical instructions for helping others in the process of dying and an overview of essential knowledge on death, bardo, and rebirth. This includes self-paced lectures on dying, loss, grief, and illness from Lamas and scholars of Buddhist Studies.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhism & Sexuality – Self Paced Course

With Dr. Nicole Willock, Julie Regan, Ph.D., Pema Khandro, Lama Willa Miller, Amy Langenberg , Dr. Ann Gleig, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Lama Rod Owens, Dr. Jim Hopper, Dr. Elizabeth Call and Damchö Diana Finnegan

Open Dates
Join Pema Khandro and a group of esteemed Buddhist Studies scholars for an exploration of the history of Buddhist Sexualities from celibacy, to sacred sexuality in Buddhist Tantra and a simple approach to embodied integration with nature in Dzogchen.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhist Ethics – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This course on Buddhist Ethics goes through the Five Buddhist Precepts. The five precepts form the basis of a Buddhist way of life and the vows that Buddhists Seek to follow. The Five Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the extraordinary perspective of non-duality.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Women in Tantric Buddhism – Self Paced Course

With Holly Gayley, Judith Simmer-Brown, Sarah Jacoby, Amy Langenberg , Damchö Diana Finnegan, Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo and Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This is the missing history of women in Tantric Buddhism. This course addresses the fascinating story of nuns, mothers, teachers, consorts, prophets, and disciples. Taught by scholar-practitioners whose groundbreaking research on women and Buddhism has changed the way we think of Buddhist history. This course will address the history of women in Buddhism, the history of yoginis and dakinis in India and Tibet, the stories of important Buddhist women, Buddhist philosophy on gender, sex, and sexuality, and the role of the consort in historical Tibet, and contemporary manifestations and so much more. Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for…
Register Now

Cutting Through Fear: Dzogchen Chod Retreat

With Pema Khandro

May 28 - June 1, 2025
May 28 - June 1 San Diego and Online In a world beset with fear, profound methods are needed to reclaim intrinsic wisdom and awaken innate courage. Join Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies institute for a contemplation of fierce compassion through the annual Chod retreat, Troma Nagmo teachings, and an optional five month Comprehensive Chod intensive training to follow. Chod is the profound method of psychological transformation in esoteric Buddhism. Chod means cutting, referring to cutting through the fictions that cause fear, anxiety, and hesitations in one’s life.    
Register now

Fierce Compassion: Comprehensive Chod Training

With Pema Khandro

June 9 - October 13, 2025
Embark on a transformative five-month journey into the heart of Dzogchen Chod with Tulku Pema Khandro, Ph.D. and the Buddhist Studies Institute. This comprehensive Chod training offers a rare opportunity for an in-depth immersion in the Dzogchen Chod system, Healing Chod, and the Secret Black Dakini Teachings. Take your Chod practice to the next level and cultivate fierce compassion and psychological transformation while studying the Tibetan tradition.
Register now

by

Slowing Down in the Midst of 100,000 things

PemaKhandro19_Ngakpa

Dear Dharma Friends,

We are just a few days away from the beginning of the next ngondro training. This morning I was remembering something I learned from Ngondro meditation- how to slow down in the midst of 100,000 things. Ngondro is not a practice that can be done in a hurry. Well, one can hurry, but it doesn’t really help one get there, because the destination is so far away. And hurrying feels horrible, it ruins the practice to go beyond a natural rhythm. Ngondro requires slowing down precisely because it is an extended experience, it is a journey, one where the goal is not just to finish. Because of this it requires a radical re-orientation, an abandonment of ambition and speed – in the midst of 100,000 things ahead. I didn’t discover this at first. I used to do ngondro with urgency. Then one day, I was sitting in the middle of a field on a warm autumn day, and I found myself just simply being there with the felt experience of the practice. I had slowed down enough to enjoy it. It’s something I often think of in the midst of the demands of my busy life, when in the midst of 100,000 things, slowing down makes it better. That is the beauty of ngondro. It is such serious training that puts us in contact with the urge to strive and simultaneously the need instead to slow down and find our stride. I forget this and remember this over and over again, which is why I love teaching ngondro so much, it is a reminder of the most profound things about being and doing.


The great Nyingma master, Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1898), said that if we give up ngondro we cut off the root of dharma and indeed he practiced ngondro repeatedly throughout his life. That practice he did was the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse – the same ngondro we are starting on Monday. Its name, Longchen Nyingthig, (klong chen snying thig) is a treasure revelation of the Nyingma lineage. It was revealed by Jigme Lingpa after he had three visions of the great yogi-philosopher, Longchenpa, from the fourteenth century. Its word “klong”  is vast expanse, “chen” is great and “snying thig” refers to the innermost essence. So in English its name is Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse. It is a guide to the practice of Dzogchen and ultimately an introduction into the expanse of being. 


I am overjoyed to be embarking on a journey into the Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse  together with a new group beginning this Monday. You are are warmly invited to join us.


My very best to you always,

NGONDRO TRAINING STARTS JAN 24TH!

2022 Ngondro Generic

 
2022 is the year you will finally finish Ngondro!
HEART OF THE VAST EXPANSE
 
Begins January 24th, 2022
 
Self-Paced Classes
Live Webinars
Weekly Practice Group

Register Here

Meditation is more than you think! Tibetan Buddhists engage in meditation as a dynamic system for identity transformation, healing from the past, changing karma and generating resilient compassion. Ngondro is pillar of Vajrayana meditation engaging with all the techniques that central to Buddhist Tantra. But Ngondro can be extremely difficult to complete by oneself. It is a practice best done with expert guidance and community support. In 2022, the Ngondro Training is being offered in an expanded program with extra support – weekly Monday night meetings plus live webinars and self paced material. 

PemaKhandro5_ngakpa.org

Join the Ngondro Training at the first Live Webinar Class with Pema Khandro on January 24th, 2022. Then get all your questions answered in the quarterly live classes with Pema Khandro.

Live Webinars and Self-Paced Learning

with Pema Khandro

Ngondro self-paced classes and live webinars will be led by Lama Pema Khandro, scholar and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. Khandro-la’s teachings emphasize Buddhist philosophy and practice from a trauma-informed, feminist perspective that engages tradition with the great questions of our time. Classes with Pema Khandro will be given by self-paced videos and live meetings once a quarter, with practice sessions led in between by Tsalgyur.

Register Here

Tsalgyur_2017-07-10_1-3-e1509775025559-661x682

New for 2022:
Monday Nights
Ngondro Practice
Led by Tsalgyur

Ngondro students can enjoy support to accomplish the accumulations with a weekly online practice group. It is optional to join with your ngondro community every Monday night in Ngondro practice led by Tsalgyur. 

 

Also, foster a community through signing up for an accountability partner to support each other through the journey. 

About Tsal’gyur Dorje Tsalgyur has been studying with Pema Khandro since 2005. She is the Membership Co-ordinator and Registrar for the Buddhist Studies Institute and has been on the leadership team for Ngakpa International since 2012. Tsal’gyur is a certified Yoga Instructor, Meditation Teacher, and Teaching Assistant in the school. Having danced professionally for 10 years, she now teaches ballet, yoga, and meditation in group classes and private lessons.

Register Here

Letter from Pema Khandro

Upcoming Events

Bardo Teachings – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro, Father Francis Tiso, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche, Chagdud Khadro, Shugen Roshi, Julie Rogers, Jim Tucker, M.D., Koshin Paley Ellison and Dr. William McGrath

Open Dates
Teachings on Death and Dying Facing realities of dying, death, and grief are central to our human experience. This program offers practical instructions for helping others in the process of dying and an overview of essential knowledge on death, bardo, and rebirth. This includes self-paced lectures on dying, loss, grief, and illness from Lamas and scholars of Buddhist Studies.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhism & Sexuality – Self Paced Course

With Dr. Nicole Willock, Julie Regan, Ph.D., Pema Khandro, Lama Willa Miller, Amy Langenberg , Dr. Ann Gleig, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Lama Rod Owens, Dr. Jim Hopper, Dr. Elizabeth Call and Damchö Diana Finnegan

Open Dates
Join Pema Khandro and a group of esteemed Buddhist Studies scholars for an exploration of the history of Buddhist Sexualities from celibacy, to sacred sexuality in Buddhist Tantra and a simple approach to embodied integration with nature in Dzogchen.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhist Ethics – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This course on Buddhist Ethics goes through the Five Buddhist Precepts. The five precepts form the basis of a Buddhist way of life and the vows that Buddhists Seek to follow. The Five Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the extraordinary perspective of non-duality.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Women in Tantric Buddhism – Self Paced Course

With Holly Gayley, Judith Simmer-Brown, Sarah Jacoby, Amy Langenberg , Damchö Diana Finnegan, Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo and Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This is the missing history of women in Tantric Buddhism. This course addresses the fascinating story of nuns, mothers, teachers, consorts, prophets, and disciples. Taught by scholar-practitioners whose groundbreaking research on women and Buddhism has changed the way we think of Buddhist history. This course will address the history of women in Buddhism, the history of yoginis and dakinis in India and Tibet, the stories of important Buddhist women, Buddhist philosophy on gender, sex, and sexuality, and the role of the consort in historical Tibet, and contemporary manifestations and so much more. Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for…
Register Now

Cutting Through Fear: Dzogchen Chod Retreat

With Pema Khandro

May 28 - June 1, 2025
May 28 - June 1 San Diego and Online In a world beset with fear, profound methods are needed to reclaim intrinsic wisdom and awaken innate courage. Join Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies institute for a contemplation of fierce compassion through the annual Chod retreat, Troma Nagmo teachings, and an optional five month Comprehensive Chod intensive training to follow. Chod is the profound method of psychological transformation in esoteric Buddhism. Chod means cutting, referring to cutting through the fictions that cause fear, anxiety, and hesitations in one’s life.    
Register now

Fierce Compassion: Comprehensive Chod Training

With Pema Khandro

June 9 - October 13, 2025
Embark on a transformative five-month journey into the heart of Dzogchen Chod with Tulku Pema Khandro, Ph.D. and the Buddhist Studies Institute. This comprehensive Chod training offers a rare opportunity for an in-depth immersion in the Dzogchen Chod system, Healing Chod, and the Secret Black Dakini Teachings. Take your Chod practice to the next level and cultivate fierce compassion and psychological transformation while studying the Tibetan tradition.
Register now

by

ENERGY AND POWER

Pemakhandro_GR_Chod Dances

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Dharma Friends,

I turned on the news the other day and found out there was a Tsunami advisory on the West coast. Dakini Mountain is far from the coast, but it was another example of how we are in a time of multiple crisis, from the pandemic to climate change, to personal health and social change. Challenges are a part of life, and there are times like these when it is the governing theme of life, when uncertainty is more apparent. Which is why it makes perfect sense that Tibetan Buddhists spend so much time and effort training to have a stable, calm mind whatever arises – a mind that is not dull and stuck but is flexible, adaptive, present enough to be responsive. One of our primary ways of training for this in Buddhist tantra is a meditation series called “ngondro.” It is a hard-core meditation series, it takes six to nine months to complete though some people take years or even decades. It includes forty thousand to four hundred thousand repetitions of various mind, body techniques and prayers. Great yogis would even then repeat the ngondro series again, once, twice, some say it is ideal to do it four or five times. I met nuns living on a mountain top in Nepal who had done the ngondro series eleven times!  Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche said that trying to do good in the world without first doing ngondro is like trying to build a palace on a frozen lake – because we cannot do good for others without having a firm foundation. Why do Tibetan Buddhists value this type of meditation training so much? Why not just do Calm Abiding? I believe it is because of the value there is on energy and power in Buddhist tantra. The idea is that one must deal with one’s own fundamental obstructions and untie one’s own knots in order to be in a clear state, the type of clarity that is required to show up in the world. In Tibetan Buddhism our greatest value is kindness and love, but these are not simple states to maintain, we have to train. Ngondro is the ideal training because we exercise and express our wisdom energies, letting go of our fictive self to find the expanse within which kindness is possible and is authentic. It also addresses a fundamental concern of tantra, which is how we are with our identity. According to Buddhism, ordinarily, human beings live in states of grasping and self-clinging. The model in Buddhism instead is a model of interdependence and care. For tantra it is additionally a matter of creativity, of engagement with sacred energies like the Buddhas, bodhisatttvas, Dakinis and other wisdom beings. The practices of tantric meditation are contemplations that these buddhas live within us as our very own innermost mind. So that way identity shifts from a locked, dualistic prison to be a domain of display, of creative altruism, an axis of liberation. As Thinley Norbu Rinpoche said, “Fish play in water, birds play in the sky, ordinary beings play on earth. Sublime beings play in display.” I often think of this when I think about the purpose of ngondro, which works in such a deep way with how we know ourselves, with what we know ourselves to be. Ngondro is a process of refuge, resource, healing and empowerment so that we can begin to play in the display of how we are in the world.
 
There are different approaches to ngondro, for some schools of Tibetan Buddhism it is reserved for much later.  But for the Nyingma tradition we open the door to ngondro meditations sooner, because for us it is the core or nucleus of spiritual training. 
 
We have been fortunate to continue ngondro through the pandemic via the Buddhist Studies Institute. We had our first online training with the Iron Mice, the group who started ngondro in the year of the Iron Mice and completed it during the pandemic. Congratulations Iron Mice! Some of the Iron Mice will continue to join us again this year. This year, we will also start a new group, the Water Tigers, who will begin and complete ngondro together during the pandemic and beyond into the after times. For this year’s group we have expanded support, weekly ngondro practice meetings and we will also continue to offer practice partners. You are warmly invited to join us, there is always a place for you here.
 
Praying for your good health and for everyone you know to also be healthy or recover swiftly. 
 
May we meet at Dakini Mountain,
PemaKhandro_Logo_Font_NgakpaV1

NGONDRO TRAINING STARTS JAN 24TH!

2022 Ngondro Generic

2022 is the year you will finally finish Ngondro!
HEART OF THE VAST EXPANSE
 
Begins January 24th, 2022
 
Self-Paced Classes
Live Webinars
Weekly Practice Group

Register Here

Meditation is more than you think! Tibetan Buddhists engage in meditation as a dynamic system for identity transformation, healing from the past, changing karma and generating resilient compassion. Ngondro is pillar of Vajrayana meditation engaging with all the techniques that central to Buddhist Tantra. But Ngondro can be extremely difficult to complete by oneself. It is a practice best done with expert guidance and community support. In 2022, the Ngondro Training is being offered in an expanded program with extra support – weekly Monday night meetings plus live webinars and self paced material. 

PemaKhandro5_ngakpa.org

Join the Ngondro Training at the first Live Webinar Class with Pema Khandro on January 24th, 2022. Then get all your questions answered in the quarterly live classes with Pema Khandro.

Live Webinars and Self-Paced Learning

with Pema Khandro

Ngondro self-paced classes and live webinars will be led by Lama Pema Khandro, scholar and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. Khandro-la’s teachings emphasize Buddhist philosophy and practice from a trauma-informed, feminist perspective that engages tradition with the great questions of our time. Classes with Pema Khandro will be given by self-paced videos and live meetings once a quarter, with practice sessions led in between by Tsalgyur.

Register Here

Tsalgyur_2017-07-10_1-3-e1509775025559-661x682

New for 2022:
Monday Nights
Ngondro Practice
Led by Tsalgyur

Ngondro students can enjoy support to accomplish the accumulations with a weekly online practice group. It is optional to join with your ngondro community every Monday night in Ngondro practice led by Tsalgyur. 

 

Also, foster a community through signing up for an accountability partner to support each other through the journey. 

About Tsal’gyur Dorje Tsalgyur has been studying with Pema Khandro since 2005. She is the Membership Co-ordinator and Registrar for the Buddhist Studies Institute and has been on the leadership team for Ngakpa International since 2012. Tsal’gyur is a certified Yoga Instructor, Meditation Teacher, and Teaching Assistant in the school. Having danced professionally for 10 years, she now teaches ballet, yoga, and meditation in group classes and private lessons.

Register Here

THE WORLD NEEDS MEDITATION TEACHERS MORE THAN EVER

Meditation-300x188

Meditation Instructor Training 2022

With Pema Khandro, Aruna Rig’dzen, & Dr. Satya

 

150 Hour Certification Training

Begins March 26, 2022

 

The Meditation Instructor Training supplies the fundamental knowledge and experience necessary to lead meditation classes and one-day meditation intensives.

People all over the world have turned to Buddhist meditation as a source of wisdom. Meditation offers a powerful method to access a sense of spaciousness, peace and authentic presence.

The practical benefits of meditation are well documented. Research shows it improves mood, reduces stress (Brown & Warren 2003), it improves memory, visuospatial reasoning, sustained attention and executive brain function (Zeidan et al. 2010). It reduces sub-clinical depression and anxiety (Schreiner and Malcolm 2012). 

From a Buddhist point of view, when we know how to meditate, we learn how to work with mind and emotions. We have a practice for unraveling conditioned scripts and unconscious habits. Meditation is a pathway to discovering human goodness by making peace with our mind. Ultimately, it is a method for getting free from dissatisfaction, resolving confusion and waking up to see reality more clearly.

Learn More

UPCOMING EVENTS & OTHER NEWS

AdobeStock_43535323

Daily & Weekly Programs

January

February

March – Next MIT begins in March!

As more details roll out for our Upcoming Events, please visit the Event List Here.

SELF-PACED COURSES

red-black-buddha-faces-1030x643

A Return to Sanity
Buddhist Ethics
with Pema Khandro
 
Self-Paced Course Online
Open Teaching – No Prerequisites
 
This course focuses on tantric interpretations of the Five Buddhist Precepts. The Five Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, openness and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the uncommon, extraordinary perspective of non-duality. 
 
Topics covered in this course include:
  • Buddhist theories about vegetarian lifestyle vs. meat-eating, 
  • Buddhist perspectives on alcohol and drug use, 
  • Conscious use of sexual energy, Buddhist philosophy about desire
  • Handling resources, money and spirituality
  • Honesty, and the speech that takes us beyond confusion.
 

PEMA KHANDRO NEW ARTICLE ON LION’S ROAR

Pema-Khandro-Trolma_cAntony-Gormley

Breaking Open in the Bardo
By Pema Khandro Rinpoche | January 2, 2022
 
It’s when we lose the illusion of control – when we’re most vulnerable and exposed – that we can discover the creative potential of our lives. Pema Khandro Rinpoche explains four essential points for understanding what it means to let go, and what is born when we do. 

Classes Starting in January

Upcoming Events

Bardo Teachings – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro, Father Francis Tiso, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche, Chagdud Khadro, Shugen Roshi, Julie Rogers, Jim Tucker, M.D., Koshin Paley Ellison and Dr. William McGrath

Open Dates
Teachings on Death and Dying Facing realities of dying, death, and grief are central to our human experience. This program offers practical instructions for helping others in the process of dying and an overview of essential knowledge on death, bardo, and rebirth. This includes self-paced lectures on dying, loss, grief, and illness from Lamas and scholars of Buddhist Studies.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhism & Sexuality – Self Paced Course

With Dr. Nicole Willock, Julie Regan, Ph.D., Pema Khandro, Lama Willa Miller, Amy Langenberg , Dr. Ann Gleig, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Lama Rod Owens, Dr. Jim Hopper, Dr. Elizabeth Call and Damchö Diana Finnegan

Open Dates
Join Pema Khandro and a group of esteemed Buddhist Studies scholars for an exploration of the history of Buddhist Sexualities from celibacy, to sacred sexuality in Buddhist Tantra and a simple approach to embodied integration with nature in Dzogchen.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhist Ethics – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This course on Buddhist Ethics goes through the Five Buddhist Precepts. The five precepts form the basis of a Buddhist way of life and the vows that Buddhists Seek to follow. The Five Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the extraordinary perspective of non-duality.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Women in Tantric Buddhism – Self Paced Course

With Holly Gayley, Judith Simmer-Brown, Sarah Jacoby, Amy Langenberg , Damchö Diana Finnegan, Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo and Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This is the missing history of women in Tantric Buddhism. This course addresses the fascinating story of nuns, mothers, teachers, consorts, prophets, and disciples. Taught by scholar-practitioners whose groundbreaking research on women and Buddhism has changed the way we think of Buddhist history. This course will address the history of women in Buddhism, the history of yoginis and dakinis in India and Tibet, the stories of important Buddhist women, Buddhist philosophy on gender, sex, and sexuality, and the role of the consort in historical Tibet, and contemporary manifestations and so much more. Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for…
Register Now

Cutting Through Fear: Dzogchen Chod Retreat

With Pema Khandro

May 28 - June 1, 2025
May 28 - June 1 San Diego and Online In a world beset with fear, profound methods are needed to reclaim intrinsic wisdom and awaken innate courage. Join Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies institute for a contemplation of fierce compassion through the annual Chod retreat, Troma Nagmo teachings, and an optional five month Comprehensive Chod intensive training to follow. Chod is the profound method of psychological transformation in esoteric Buddhism. Chod means cutting, referring to cutting through the fictions that cause fear, anxiety, and hesitations in one’s life.    
Register now

Fierce Compassion: Comprehensive Chod Training

With Pema Khandro

June 9 - October 13, 2025
Embark on a transformative five-month journey into the heart of Dzogchen Chod with Tulku Pema Khandro, Ph.D. and the Buddhist Studies Institute. This comprehensive Chod training offers a rare opportunity for an in-depth immersion in the Dzogchen Chod system, Healing Chod, and the Secret Black Dakini Teachings. Take your Chod practice to the next level and cultivate fierce compassion and psychological transformation while studying the Tibetan tradition.
Register now

by

VAJRAYANA TRAINING 2022 BEGINS JANUARY 12TH

2021b_VajrayanaTraining_PKR

Join The Community

Vajrayana Training

With Pema Khandro Online

 

Wed Jan 12th & Jan 19th
6pm PT

 

Join The Community

Be clarity and wisdom in chaotic times

Engage vigorous inquiry

Turn your heart towards compassion

 

Vajrayana Training is our core community for ongoing dharma study, a vibrant learning community, part lecture, part dialogue, part Tibetan meditation. A place to learn, grow and engage in Buddhist study with a vastly opened mind.

Taught by scholar and teacher, Pema Khandro, Vajrayana Training offers a rare opportunity of traditional study and practice in direct engagement with the pressing issues of our time.

Vajrayana Training will continue on the 1st and 2nd Wednesday at 6pm PT every month. (The schedule has changed for January 2022 only and will continue on its regular schedule again in February!)

 

Learn More

DAILY MEDITATION 2022

2021b_DailyMeditation_FB_1

This is the year to make time for your spiritual life.

Pandemic. Climate change. The mainstreaming of hate. These are not the times to ignore your inner life. Your spirituality and your peace of mind will be your anchor in times of crisis and will be a resource when others are in need. And you don’t have to do this alone. Start your daily meditation today with our worldwide community. It’s free. It’s short. It’s beautiful.

 

Register now

NGONDRO TRAINING STARTS JAN 24TH!

2022 Ngondro Generic

2022 is the year you will finally finish Ngondro!

 

Ngondro Training

Module 1
The Field of Buddhas

With Pema Khandro

 

Begins January 24th, 2022

 

Self-Paced Classes

Live Webinars

Weekly Practice Group

Register Here

Ngondro is a series of Vajrayana meditation practices for cleansing, training and empowering the body-mind. Also known as the ‘tantric preliminaries,’ ngondro literally means ‘before going,’ referring to the training one needs to be on the path of liberation.

Ngondro also serves as the foundation for the highest practices of Tibetan Buddhism, it is the pre-requisite to Tsa-lung and Dzogchen practices. Ngondro represents the cognitive, physical, emotional and philosophical components which are keys to the practice of liberation.

PemaKhandro5_ngakpa.org

Join the Ngondro Training at the first Live Webinar Class with Pema Khandro on January 24th, 2022. Then get all your questions answered in the quarterly live classes with Pema Khandro.

Live Webinars and Self-Paced Learning with Pema Khandro

Ngondro self-paced classes and live webinars will be led by Lama Pema Khandro, scholar and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. Khandro-la’s teachings emphasize Buddhist philosophy and practice from a trauma-informed, feminist perspective that engages tradition with the great questions of our time. Classes with Pema Khandro will be given by self-paced videos and live meetings once a quarter, with practice sessions led in between by Tsalgyur.

Register Here

New for 2022:Tsalgyur_2017-07-10_1-3-e1509775025559-661x682

Monday Nights
Ngondro Practice
Led by Tsalgyur

Ngondro students can enjoy support to accomplish the accumulations with a weekly online practice group. It is optional to join with your ngondro community every Monday night in Ngondro practice led by Tsalgyur.

 

Also, foster a community through signing up for an accountability partner to support each other through the journey.

About Tsal’gyur Dorje Tsalgyur has been studying with Pema Khandro since 2005. She is the Membership Co-ordinator and Registrar for the Buddhist Studies Institute and has been on the leadership team for Ngakpa International since 2012. Tsal’gyur is a certified Yoga Instructor, Meditation Teacher, and Teaching Assistant in the school. Having danced professionally for 10 years, she now teaches ballet, yoga, and meditation in group classes and private lessons.

Register Here

THE WORLD NEEDS MEDITATION TEACHERS MORE THAN EVER

Meditation-300x188

Meditation Instructor Training 2022

With Pema Khandro, Aruna Rig’dzen, & Dr. Satya

 

150 Hour Certification Training

Begins March 26, 2022

 

The Meditation Instructor Training supplies the fundamental knowledge and experience necessary to lead meditation classes and one-day meditation intensives.

People all over the world have turned to Buddhist meditation as a source of wisdom. Meditation offers a powerful method to access a sense of spaciousness, peace and authentic presence.

The practical benefits of meditation are well documented. Research shows it improves mood, reduces stress (Brown & Warren 2003), it improves memory, visuospatial reasoning, sustained attention and executive brain function (Zeidan et al. 2010). It reduces sub-clinical depression and anxiety (Schreiner and Malcolm 2012).

From a Buddhist point of view, when we know how to meditate, we learn how to work with mind and emotions. We have a practice for unraveling conditioned scripts and unconscious habits. Meditation is a pathway to discovering human goodness by making peace with our mind. Ultimately, it is a method for getting free from dissatisfaction, resolving confusion and waking up to see reality more clearly.

Learn More

FUNDRAISING NEWS – THANK YOU!!!

DM lodge winter

Thank you for your generosity in supporting the 2021 Dakini Mountain Fundraising goal of $50,000.

We got very, very close, raising $48, 932!

Only $1062 short of our goal!

May all your good actions bring plentiful good karma and blessings to you in this new year.

If you did not get a chance to donate in 2021 but want to do so now to help us meet the goal, you can use the button below.

Donate Heart 2

Gifts can also be made by check, payable to Ngakpa International, and mailed to Dakini Mountain, P.O. Box 2396, Nevada City, California 95959, USA.

Ngakpa International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit EIN 68-0529687 and all gifts are tax deductible as allowed by law.

For more information about Dakini Mountain, visit www.DakiniMountain.org

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy 2022!

UPCOMING EVENTS & OTHER NEWSAdobeStock_43535323

Daily & Weekly Programs

January

February

  • Feb 23 – Buddhist Philosophy Online Resumes!
  • Feb 26 – Dakini Day Chod Online Resumes!

March – Next MIT begins in March!

As more details roll out for our Upcoming Events, please visit the Event List Here.

SELF-PACED COURSESred-black-buddha-faces-1030x643

A Return to Sanity
Buddhist Ethics

with Pema Khandro

 

Self-Paced Course Online

Open Teaching – No Prerequisites

 

This course focuses on tantric interpretations of the Five Buddhist Precepts. The Five Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, openness and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the uncommon, extraordinary perspective of non-duality.

 

Topics covered in this course include:

  • Buddhist theories about vegetarian lifestyle vs. meat-eating,
  • Buddhist perspectives on alcohol and drug use,
  • Conscious use of sexual energy, Buddhist philosophy about desire
  • Handling resources, money and spirituality
  • Honesty, and the speech that takes us beyond confusion.

 

Register Now

PEMA KHANDRO NEW ARTICLE ON LION’S ROARPema-Khandro

When We Have No Choice

By Pema Khandro Rinpoche | December 14th, 2021

 

Sometimes, says Pema Khandro, there’s no way out. It’s at those times that we need methods to discover the depth and resilience of the mind. 

 

Read Now

New Year’s Message from Pema Khandro & Janak

Upcoming Events

Bardo Teachings – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro, Father Francis Tiso, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche, Chagdud Khadro, Shugen Roshi, Julie Rogers, Jim Tucker, M.D., Koshin Paley Ellison and Dr. William McGrath

Open Dates
Teachings on Death and Dying Facing realities of dying, death, and grief are central to our human experience. This program offers practical instructions for helping others in the process of dying and an overview of essential knowledge on death, bardo, and rebirth. This includes self-paced lectures on dying, loss, grief, and illness from Lamas and scholars of Buddhist Studies.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhism & Sexuality – Self Paced Course

With Dr. Nicole Willock, Julie Regan, Ph.D., Pema Khandro, Lama Willa Miller, Amy Langenberg , Dr. Ann Gleig, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Lama Rod Owens, Dr. Jim Hopper, Dr. Elizabeth Call and Damchö Diana Finnegan

Open Dates
Join Pema Khandro and a group of esteemed Buddhist Studies scholars for an exploration of the history of Buddhist Sexualities from celibacy, to sacred sexuality in Buddhist Tantra and a simple approach to embodied integration with nature in Dzogchen.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhist Ethics – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This course on Buddhist Ethics goes through the Five Buddhist Precepts. The five precepts form the basis of a Buddhist way of life and the vows that Buddhists Seek to follow. The Five Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the extraordinary perspective of non-duality.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Women in Tantric Buddhism – Self Paced Course

With Holly Gayley, Judith Simmer-Brown, Sarah Jacoby, Amy Langenberg , Damchö Diana Finnegan, Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo and Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This is the missing history of women in Tantric Buddhism. This course addresses the fascinating story of nuns, mothers, teachers, consorts, prophets, and disciples. Taught by scholar-practitioners whose groundbreaking research on women and Buddhism has changed the way we think of Buddhist history. This course will address the history of women in Buddhism, the history of yoginis and dakinis in India and Tibet, the stories of important Buddhist women, Buddhist philosophy on gender, sex, and sexuality, and the role of the consort in historical Tibet, and contemporary manifestations and so much more. Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for…
Register Now

Cutting Through Fear: Dzogchen Chod Retreat

With Pema Khandro

May 28 - June 1, 2025
May 28 - June 1 San Diego and Online In a world beset with fear, profound methods are needed to reclaim intrinsic wisdom and awaken innate courage. Join Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies institute for a contemplation of fierce compassion through the annual Chod retreat, Troma Nagmo teachings, and an optional five month Comprehensive Chod intensive training to follow. Chod is the profound method of psychological transformation in esoteric Buddhism. Chod means cutting, referring to cutting through the fictions that cause fear, anxiety, and hesitations in one’s life.    
Register now

Fierce Compassion: Comprehensive Chod Training

With Pema Khandro

June 9 - October 13, 2025
Embark on a transformative five-month journey into the heart of Dzogchen Chod with Tulku Pema Khandro, Ph.D. and the Buddhist Studies Institute. This comprehensive Chod training offers a rare opportunity for an in-depth immersion in the Dzogchen Chod system, Healing Chod, and the Secret Black Dakini Teachings. Take your Chod practice to the next level and cultivate fierce compassion and psychological transformation while studying the Tibetan tradition.
Register now

by

LETTER FROM PEMA KHANDRO

Dear Dharma Friends,

Happy New Year!

PemaKhandro_42ngakpa.org 3

In the midst of this pandemic and so many cases of coronavirus in our communities may resilience, courage, health and healing dawn.

May we remember compassion for ourselves and others in all things we do.

May this year be full of increasing kindness, wisdom, healthy boundaries, healthy bodies and all manner of good fortune.

Sending millions of White Tara mantras to everyone along with a heart-felt thank you to all who donated for our Dakini Mountain fundraiser!

Stay tuned for an update on our fundraiser from Janak below.

My very best to you always,

THIS IS THE YEAR YOU MEDITATE EVERY DAY

2021b_DailyMeditation_FB_1

This is the year to make time for your spiritual life.
Pandemic. Climate change. The mainstreaming of hate. These are not the times to ignore your inner life. Your spirituality and your peace of mind will be your anchor in times of crisis, will be a resource when others are in need. And you don’t have to do this alone. Start your daily meditation today with our worldwide community. It’s free. It’s short. It’s beautiful.

THIS IS THE YEAR YOU FINISH NGONDRO

2022 Ngondro Generic

Give yourself the power of in-depth training in Tibetan Tantric Meditation.
  • Find clarity
  • Get free from negative karma
  • Transform your body and mind
  • Become a resource of altruism and compassion for your world
  • Ask the big questions
  • Ask the hard questions
This is the community support and the in-depth training you need to finish ngondro.
Join Pema Khandro for a year long ngondro program beginning January 24, 2022.
The training includes self-paced modules, live webinars and Monday night community ngondro sessions led by Tsal’gyur.

THIS IS THE YEAR YOU GIVE YOURSELF THE GIFT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY

2021b_VajrayanaTraining_PKR

Be the clarity and wisdom in chaotic times.
Do deep inner work.
Engage vigorous inquiry into reality.
Draw on the profound resources of 2,500 years of Buddhist insight.
Vajrayana Training is our core community for ongoing dharma study, a vibrant learning community, part lecture, part dialogue, part Tibetan meditation. A place to learn, grow and engage in Buddhist study with a vastly opened mind.
Taught by scholar and teacher, Pema Khandro, Vajrayana Training offers a rare opportunity of traditional study and practice in direct engagement with the pressing issues of our time.
Meets 1st and 2nd Wednesdays of every month online.

LETTER FROM JANAK – FUNDRAISING NEWS

Dear Friends and Members,

With immense gratitude, I thank you for your generosity in supporting the 2021 Dakini Mountain Fundraising goal of $50,000.

We got very, very close, raising $48, 932!

Only $1062 short of our goal!

Dakini Mountain is the physical seat of Pema Khandro and her teachings.  And it’s your place for retreat, community, and inspiration. And yet, Dakini Mountain is more than a place, it’s a vision.

It’s a vision of fostering gender equality in Buddhism, respect for diversity, learning to put empathy into our embodiment of compassion, learning skills of non-violent communication, raising our standard of ethics in today’s world, making meditation and Buddhist teachings accessible, and keeping Buddhism vital into the 21st century and beyond.

You have helped sustain and enliven this vision and bring it to reality.

Our world so much needs this way of living.  We need it so much.

May all your good actions bring plentiful good karma and blessings to you in this new year.

If you did not get a chance to donate in 2021 but want to do so now to help us meet the

goal, you can use the button below.

Donate Heart 2

DM lodge winter

Gifts can also be made by check, payable to Ngakpa International, and mailed to Dakini Mountain, P.O. Box 2396, Nevada City, California 95959, USA.

Ngakpa International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit EIN 68-0529687 and all gifts are tax deductible as allowed by law.

For more information about Dakini Mountain, visit www.DakiniMountain.org

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy 2022!

2016FI_JanakKimmel_HeartofCompassion_Ngakpa

Janak

Director of Fundraising

Ngakpa International

Buddhist Studies Institute

Dakini Mountain Retreat Center

P.O. Box 2396

Nevada City, California 95946

USA

Last Chance For This Year!

Upcoming Events

Bardo Teachings – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro, Father Francis Tiso, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche, Chagdud Khadro, Shugen Roshi, Julie Rogers, Jim Tucker, M.D., Koshin Paley Ellison and Dr. William McGrath

Open Dates
Teachings on Death and Dying Facing realities of dying, death, and grief are central to our human experience. This program offers practical instructions for helping others in the process of dying and an overview of essential knowledge on death, bardo, and rebirth. This includes self-paced lectures on dying, loss, grief, and illness from Lamas and scholars of Buddhist Studies.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhism & Sexuality – Self Paced Course

With Dr. Nicole Willock, Julie Regan, Ph.D., Pema Khandro, Lama Willa Miller, Amy Langenberg , Dr. Ann Gleig, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Lama Rod Owens, Dr. Jim Hopper, Dr. Elizabeth Call and Damchö Diana Finnegan

Open Dates
Join Pema Khandro and a group of esteemed Buddhist Studies scholars for an exploration of the history of Buddhist Sexualities from celibacy, to sacred sexuality in Buddhist Tantra and a simple approach to embodied integration with nature in Dzogchen.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhist Ethics – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This course on Buddhist Ethics goes through the Five Buddhist Precepts. The five precepts form the basis of a Buddhist way of life and the vows that Buddhists Seek to follow. The Five Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the extraordinary perspective of non-duality.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Women in Tantric Buddhism – Self Paced Course

With Holly Gayley, Judith Simmer-Brown, Sarah Jacoby, Amy Langenberg , Damchö Diana Finnegan, Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo and Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This is the missing history of women in Tantric Buddhism. This course addresses the fascinating story of nuns, mothers, teachers, consorts, prophets, and disciples. Taught by scholar-practitioners whose groundbreaking research on women and Buddhism has changed the way we think of Buddhist history. This course will address the history of women in Buddhism, the history of yoginis and dakinis in India and Tibet, the stories of important Buddhist women, Buddhist philosophy on gender, sex, and sexuality, and the role of the consort in historical Tibet, and contemporary manifestations and so much more. Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for…
Register Now

Cutting Through Fear: Dzogchen Chod Retreat

With Pema Khandro

May 28 - June 1, 2025
May 28 - June 1 San Diego and Online In a world beset with fear, profound methods are needed to reclaim intrinsic wisdom and awaken innate courage. Join Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies institute for a contemplation of fierce compassion through the annual Chod retreat, Troma Nagmo teachings, and an optional five month Comprehensive Chod intensive training to follow. Chod is the profound method of psychological transformation in esoteric Buddhism. Chod means cutting, referring to cutting through the fictions that cause fear, anxiety, and hesitations in one’s life.    
Register now

Fierce Compassion: Comprehensive Chod Training

With Pema Khandro

June 9 - October 13, 2025
Embark on a transformative five-month journey into the heart of Dzogchen Chod with Tulku Pema Khandro, Ph.D. and the Buddhist Studies Institute. This comprehensive Chod training offers a rare opportunity for an in-depth immersion in the Dzogchen Chod system, Healing Chod, and the Secret Black Dakini Teachings. Take your Chod practice to the next level and cultivate fierce compassion and psychological transformation while studying the Tibetan tradition.
Register now

by

Dear Friends and Members,

Dakini Mountain 2021 Fundraiser

Amount Raised: $44,951

Amount Still Needed: $5,049

Today is the last day left to complete the 2021 goal.  

If you can, please help this goal to be reached.  You will be supporting the work of Pema Khandro and Buddhism to continue and flourish in 2022 and beyond. 

Dakini Mountain is a sanctuary for all the things we value most – quiet time in nature, community connections, sustainability, gender equality and diversity. The future of Dakini Mountain depends on you. Your donations will make sure Dakini Mountain continues. Every donation, small or large, makes a huge difference.

Thank you for your generosity and support.

Donate Heart 2

DM lodge winter

Dakini Mountain also needs to be refinanced.  One way to help this project is to be one of the guarantors for the new loan!  It’s a way to help without even spending money. Email info@BuddhistStudiesInstitute.org for more details.

Gifts can also be made by check, payable to Ngakpa International, and mailed to Dakini Mountain, P.O. Box 2396, Nevada City, California 95959, USA.

Ngakpa International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit EIN 68-0529687 and all gifts are tax deductible as allowed by law.

For more information about Dakini Mountain, visit www.DakiniMountain.org

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy 2022!

2016FI_JanakKimmel_HeartofCompassion_Ngakpa

Janak

Director of Fundraising

Ngakpa International

Buddhist Studies Institute

Dakini Mountain Retreat Center

P.O. Box 2396

Nevada City, California 95946

USA

  

Only 2 Days Left!

Upcoming Events

Bardo Teachings – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro, Father Francis Tiso, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche, Chagdud Khadro, Shugen Roshi, Julie Rogers, Jim Tucker, M.D., Koshin Paley Ellison and Dr. William McGrath

Open Dates
Teachings on Death and Dying Facing realities of dying, death, and grief are central to our human experience. This program offers practical instructions for helping others in the process of dying and an overview of essential knowledge on death, bardo, and rebirth. This includes self-paced lectures on dying, loss, grief, and illness from Lamas and scholars of Buddhist Studies.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhism & Sexuality – Self Paced Course

With Dr. Nicole Willock, Julie Regan, Ph.D., Pema Khandro, Lama Willa Miller, Amy Langenberg , Dr. Ann Gleig, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Lama Rod Owens, Dr. Jim Hopper, Dr. Elizabeth Call and Damchö Diana Finnegan

Open Dates
Join Pema Khandro and a group of esteemed Buddhist Studies scholars for an exploration of the history of Buddhist Sexualities from celibacy, to sacred sexuality in Buddhist Tantra and a simple approach to embodied integration with nature in Dzogchen.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhist Ethics – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This course on Buddhist Ethics goes through the Five Buddhist Precepts. The five precepts form the basis of a Buddhist way of life and the vows that Buddhists Seek to follow. The Five Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the extraordinary perspective of non-duality.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Women in Tantric Buddhism – Self Paced Course

With Holly Gayley, Judith Simmer-Brown, Sarah Jacoby, Amy Langenberg , Damchö Diana Finnegan, Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo and Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This is the missing history of women in Tantric Buddhism. This course addresses the fascinating story of nuns, mothers, teachers, consorts, prophets, and disciples. Taught by scholar-practitioners whose groundbreaking research on women and Buddhism has changed the way we think of Buddhist history. This course will address the history of women in Buddhism, the history of yoginis and dakinis in India and Tibet, the stories of important Buddhist women, Buddhist philosophy on gender, sex, and sexuality, and the role of the consort in historical Tibet, and contemporary manifestations and so much more. Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for…
Register Now

Cutting Through Fear: Dzogchen Chod Retreat

With Pema Khandro

May 28 - June 1, 2025
May 28 - June 1 San Diego and Online In a world beset with fear, profound methods are needed to reclaim intrinsic wisdom and awaken innate courage. Join Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies institute for a contemplation of fierce compassion through the annual Chod retreat, Troma Nagmo teachings, and an optional five month Comprehensive Chod intensive training to follow. Chod is the profound method of psychological transformation in esoteric Buddhism. Chod means cutting, referring to cutting through the fictions that cause fear, anxiety, and hesitations in one’s life.    
Register now

Fierce Compassion: Comprehensive Chod Training

With Pema Khandro

June 9 - October 13, 2025
Embark on a transformative five-month journey into the heart of Dzogchen Chod with Tulku Pema Khandro, Ph.D. and the Buddhist Studies Institute. This comprehensive Chod training offers a rare opportunity for an in-depth immersion in the Dzogchen Chod system, Healing Chod, and the Secret Black Dakini Teachings. Take your Chod practice to the next level and cultivate fierce compassion and psychological transformation while studying the Tibetan tradition.
Register now

by

Dear Friends and Members,

Do you ever wish you could help the cause of women in Buddhism? You can! There is a way! Dakini Mountain is a center founded by a rare female lama and tulku. It is run by three Buddhist women and is dedicated to the cause of gender equality in Buddhism. Dakini Mountain is a project worth supporting!!!!

Dakini Mountain 2021 Fundraiser

Amount Raised So Far: $40,000

Amount Still Needed: $10,000

Only 2 days left to complete the 2021 goal.  

If you can, please help this goal to be reached.  You will be supporting the work of Pema Khandro and Buddhism to continue and flourish in 2022 and beyond.

Thank you for your generosity and support.

Donate Heart 2

DM lodge winter

Dakini Mountain also needs to be refinanced.  One way to help this project is to be one of the guarantors for the new loan!  It’s a way to help without even spending money. Email info@BuddhistStudiesInstitute.org for more details.

Gifts can also be made by check, payable to Ngakpa International, and mailed to Dakini Mountain, P.O. Box 2396, Nevada City, California 95959, USA.

Ngakpa International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit EIN 68-0529687 and all gifts are tax deductible as allowed by law.

For more information about Dakini Mountain, visit www.DakiniMountain.org

 

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy 2022!

2016FI_JanakKimmel_HeartofCompassion_Ngakpa

Janak

Director of Fundraising

Ngakpa International

Buddhist Studies Institute

Dakini Mountain Retreat Center

P.O. Box 2396

Nevada City, California 95946

USA

Only 3 Days Left!

Upcoming Events

Bardo Teachings – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro, Father Francis Tiso, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche, Chagdud Khadro, Shugen Roshi, Julie Rogers, Jim Tucker, M.D., Koshin Paley Ellison and Dr. William McGrath

Open Dates
Teachings on Death and Dying Facing realities of dying, death, and grief are central to our human experience. This program offers practical instructions for helping others in the process of dying and an overview of essential knowledge on death, bardo, and rebirth. This includes self-paced lectures on dying, loss, grief, and illness from Lamas and scholars of Buddhist Studies.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhism & Sexuality – Self Paced Course

With Dr. Nicole Willock, Julie Regan, Ph.D., Pema Khandro, Lama Willa Miller, Amy Langenberg , Dr. Ann Gleig, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Lama Rod Owens, Dr. Jim Hopper, Dr. Elizabeth Call and Damchö Diana Finnegan

Open Dates
Join Pema Khandro and a group of esteemed Buddhist Studies scholars for an exploration of the history of Buddhist Sexualities from celibacy, to sacred sexuality in Buddhist Tantra and a simple approach to embodied integration with nature in Dzogchen.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhist Ethics – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This course on Buddhist Ethics goes through the Five Buddhist Precepts. The five precepts form the basis of a Buddhist way of life and the vows that Buddhists Seek to follow. The Five Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the extraordinary perspective of non-duality.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Women in Tantric Buddhism – Self Paced Course

With Holly Gayley, Judith Simmer-Brown, Sarah Jacoby, Amy Langenberg , Damchö Diana Finnegan, Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo and Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This is the missing history of women in Tantric Buddhism. This course addresses the fascinating story of nuns, mothers, teachers, consorts, prophets, and disciples. Taught by scholar-practitioners whose groundbreaking research on women and Buddhism has changed the way we think of Buddhist history. This course will address the history of women in Buddhism, the history of yoginis and dakinis in India and Tibet, the stories of important Buddhist women, Buddhist philosophy on gender, sex, and sexuality, and the role of the consort in historical Tibet, and contemporary manifestations and so much more. Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for…
Register Now

Cutting Through Fear: Dzogchen Chod Retreat

With Pema Khandro

May 28 - June 1, 2025
May 28 - June 1 San Diego and Online In a world beset with fear, profound methods are needed to reclaim intrinsic wisdom and awaken innate courage. Join Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies institute for a contemplation of fierce compassion through the annual Chod retreat, Troma Nagmo teachings, and an optional five month Comprehensive Chod intensive training to follow. Chod is the profound method of psychological transformation in esoteric Buddhism. Chod means cutting, referring to cutting through the fictions that cause fear, anxiety, and hesitations in one’s life.    
Register now

Fierce Compassion: Comprehensive Chod Training

With Pema Khandro

June 9 - October 13, 2025
Embark on a transformative five-month journey into the heart of Dzogchen Chod with Tulku Pema Khandro, Ph.D. and the Buddhist Studies Institute. This comprehensive Chod training offers a rare opportunity for an in-depth immersion in the Dzogchen Chod system, Healing Chod, and the Secret Black Dakini Teachings. Take your Chod practice to the next level and cultivate fierce compassion and psychological transformation while studying the Tibetan tradition.
Register now

by

Dear Friends and Members,

Dakini Mountain 2021 Fundraiser

Amount Raised: $40,000

Amount Still Needed: $10,000

Only 3 days left to complete the 2021 goal.  

If you can, please help this goal to be reached today. 

You will be supporting the work of Pema Khandro and Buddhism to continue and flourish in 2022 and beyond. 

We are a grass-roots organization, your donations, whatever the size, will make a direct impact on saving Dakini Mountain – to make sure Dakini Mountain survives the pandemic. In a time when we have lost so much, with your help, Dakini Mountain will be here for all of us as a place to heal, renew and reconnect with what matters most in life. 

May we meet at Dakini Mountain one day soon and make a kinder world together!

Thank you for your generosity and support.

Donate Heart 2

DM lodge winter

Dakini Mountain also needs to be refinanced.  One way to help this project is to be one of the guarantors for the new loan!  It’s a way to help without even spending money. Email info@BuddhistStudiesInstitute.org for more details.

Gifts can also be made by check, payable to Ngakpa International, and mailed to Dakini Mountain, P.O. Box 2396, Nevada City, California 95959, USA.

Ngakpa International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit EIN 68-0529687 and all gifts are tax deductible as allowed by law.

For more information about Dakini Mountain, visit www.DakiniMountain.org

  

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy 2022!

2016FI_JanakKimmel_HeartofCompassion_Ngakpa

Janak

Director of Fundraising

Ngakpa International

Buddhist Studies Institute

Dakini Mountain Retreat Center

P.O. Box 2396

Nevada City, California 95946

USA

A Holiday Letter from Pema Khandro

Upcoming Events

Bardo Teachings – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro, Father Francis Tiso, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche, Chagdud Khadro, Shugen Roshi, Julie Rogers, Jim Tucker, M.D., Koshin Paley Ellison and Dr. William McGrath

Open Dates
Teachings on Death and Dying Facing realities of dying, death, and grief are central to our human experience. This program offers practical instructions for helping others in the process of dying and an overview of essential knowledge on death, bardo, and rebirth. This includes self-paced lectures on dying, loss, grief, and illness from Lamas and scholars of Buddhist Studies.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhism & Sexuality – Self Paced Course

With Dr. Nicole Willock, Julie Regan, Ph.D., Pema Khandro, Lama Willa Miller, Amy Langenberg , Dr. Ann Gleig, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Lama Rod Owens, Dr. Jim Hopper, Dr. Elizabeth Call and Damchö Diana Finnegan

Open Dates
Join Pema Khandro and a group of esteemed Buddhist Studies scholars for an exploration of the history of Buddhist Sexualities from celibacy, to sacred sexuality in Buddhist Tantra and a simple approach to embodied integration with nature in Dzogchen.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhist Ethics – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This course on Buddhist Ethics goes through the Five Buddhist Precepts. The five precepts form the basis of a Buddhist way of life and the vows that Buddhists Seek to follow. The Five Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the extraordinary perspective of non-duality.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Women in Tantric Buddhism – Self Paced Course

With Holly Gayley, Judith Simmer-Brown, Sarah Jacoby, Amy Langenberg , Damchö Diana Finnegan, Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo and Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This is the missing history of women in Tantric Buddhism. This course addresses the fascinating story of nuns, mothers, teachers, consorts, prophets, and disciples. Taught by scholar-practitioners whose groundbreaking research on women and Buddhism has changed the way we think of Buddhist history. This course will address the history of women in Buddhism, the history of yoginis and dakinis in India and Tibet, the stories of important Buddhist women, Buddhist philosophy on gender, sex, and sexuality, and the role of the consort in historical Tibet, and contemporary manifestations and so much more. Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for…
Register Now

Cutting Through Fear: Dzogchen Chod Retreat

With Pema Khandro

May 28 - June 1, 2025
May 28 - June 1 San Diego and Online In a world beset with fear, profound methods are needed to reclaim intrinsic wisdom and awaken innate courage. Join Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies institute for a contemplation of fierce compassion through the annual Chod retreat, Troma Nagmo teachings, and an optional five month Comprehensive Chod intensive training to follow. Chod is the profound method of psychological transformation in esoteric Buddhism. Chod means cutting, referring to cutting through the fictions that cause fear, anxiety, and hesitations in one’s life.    
Register now

Fierce Compassion: Comprehensive Chod Training

With Pema Khandro

June 9 - October 13, 2025
Embark on a transformative five-month journey into the heart of Dzogchen Chod with Tulku Pema Khandro, Ph.D. and the Buddhist Studies Institute. This comprehensive Chod training offers a rare opportunity for an in-depth immersion in the Dzogchen Chod system, Healing Chod, and the Secret Black Dakini Teachings. Take your Chod practice to the next level and cultivate fierce compassion and psychological transformation while studying the Tibetan tradition.
Register now

by

A Holiday Letter from Pema Khandro

Soothing Fear Through Empathy & Compassion PemaKhandro10_Ngakpa.org_2mb

Compassion and Empathy have a role to play in dealing with fear and anxiety.

 
It is understandable to have fear. It is understandable to feel anxious. These are the times that fight or flight responses are made for! Buddhist approaches to fear are numerous. There is the emptiness approach – of realizing that fear arises from mind alone as Shantideva says in the Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. This is not a denial but a recognition of the impermanence of all states. Then the resolution is let the fear go away on its own. Shantideva says that fear will go away on its own if we can bear it impartially. 
 
There are a few ways to bear it impartially. One is a philosophical approach. Shantideva says that fear comes from desire and self-clinging from not caring for others. Is this true? This would be a time to explore those questions. 
 

And another approach is compassion and empathy – through which we can know we are not alone. We are experiencing frightful times together; it is therefore an opportunity to practice altruism and compassion. 

 
We can connect with others’ fear as a practice of altruism, which Shantideva says is the path to fearlessness. It is possible, in a state of fear, to connect with the fearful states that others have around us through contemplation or through conversation. We may even be able to be soothing, kind, compassionate, connected presence. We can attune to how others are doing; we can ask and listen and find out again that we are not alone in our fears and anxieties. By connecting we can learn to soothe our own minds and position ourselves to care for others. 
 
This is so helpful when we are blocked in our self-soothing, by connecting and soothing others, we are unlocking the power of co-regulation, this also helps us to soothe ourselves! It helps us to soften towards our own experience, and therefore get free of that hardness and clinging that makes fear harder to bear.
 
Compassionate connections have such an important role to play in times of fear. To connect with others’ fears offers us a way to be with fear that is open hearted and authentic, yet not helpless. 
 

Here are some tips for being empathetic when our loved ones express fear this pandemic holiday season, a little reminder from the Empathy Training. 

 
1. Some cheerful self-discipline is where to begin. Resist the urge to fix them or give them advice first. Empathy first. Advice last (and only when asked or organically emerging). Resist the urge to cheer them up first, it can come off as minimizing. 
 
2. Let other people talk. Listen to other people’s feelings and ask questions about whatever they say. Make room for them to express themselves. Contemplate what their experience is like for them. Focus on understanding. Give it time and space. Just breathe and be there quietly or ask open ended questions.
 
3. Affirm that their feelings are understandable, normal and make sense. If it doesn’t make sense to you, keep asking questions until it does.
 
4. Offer physical affection if appropriate. If you are socially distanced, you can still take deep breaths and be an embodied presence.
 
5. Affirm your support by asking if you can do anything to help, or if you see things you can do to help, do them! Or if you can’t do anything – accept that – we can’t always help or fix things or do things. But there is wonderful, healing intimacy to be had in just sharing our feelings together.
 
6. Does none of this work or go well? Thats okay. It’s normal and understandable to have mis-attunements in relationships. We are not always going to gel or align or harmonize, that’s okay. Better luck next time. You can at least do some tonglen and connect your altruistic intent with them in a whole-hearted way through that meditation.
 
7. If you have overwhelming emotions happening and don’t have the bandwidth to care for others, then you might find it helpful to have professional support, a wonderful way to build up your spiritual resources. This link has a list of therapists that you can search. https://sensorimotorpsychotherapy.org/
 
 
Wishing you much care and compassion in the holiday season,
2015_PemaKhandro_Logo_Font_NgakpaV1

LAST MINUTE HOLIDAY GIFTS

DM lodge winter 2

Make a Dedicated Donation in Honor of a Loved One
Donate to Dakini Mountain in honor of a loved one this holiday season. Just check the box that says, “Dedicate this donation.” There will be an opportunity to send a custom e-card at the end. Help secure the future of Dakini Mountain and, by doing so, you help so many others find a place of refuge, healing, and support.
Donate Heart 2

THANKGAS FOR SALE

The Perfect Christmas Gift!

Benefit Dakini Mountain
Benefit Your Meditation Practice
Benefit the Thangka Painters in Nepal

Several beautiful Thangkas and silk brocades were hand selected and brought to us by our good friend James Aplington (aka Thankga Jim) and the Lotus Gallery in Nepal.  As a way to help develop Dakini Mountain, they will donate half of the profit of these rare Thangkas to the development of Dakini Mountain.

 

Green Tara (large) $450Padmasambhava_Guru Rinpoche (large) $1600Vajrasattva_Dorje Sempa (large) $1600

To request one of these Thangkas or for more information, please email Info@BuddhistStudiesInstitute.org.

NGONDRO TRAINING

2022 Ngondro Generic

2022 is the year you will finally finish Ngondro!
 
 
Begins January 24th, 2022
 
Self Paced Classes
Live Webinars
Weekly Practice Group

Register Here

Ngondro is a series of Vajrayana meditation practices for cleansing, training and empowering the body-mind. Also known as the ‘tantric preliminaries,’ ngondro literally means ‘before going,’ referring to the training one needs to be on the path of liberation.

Ngondro also serves as the foundation for the highest practices of Tibetan Buddhism, it is the pre-requisite to Tsa-lung and Dzogchen practices. Ngondro represents the cognitive, physical, emotional and philosophical components which are keys to the practice of liberation.

PemaKhandro5_ngakpa.org

Join the Ngondro Training at the first Live Webinar Class with Pema Khandro on January 24th 2022. Then get all your questions answered in the quarterly live classes with Pema Khandro.

Self Paced Classes and Webinars

with Pema Khandro

Ngondro self-paced classes and live webinars will be led by Lama Pema Khandro, scholar and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. Khandro-la’s teachings emphasize Buddhist philosophy and practice from a trauma-informed, feminist perspective that engages tradition with the great questions of our time. Classes with Pema Khandro will be given by self-paced videos and live meetings once a quarter, with practice sessions led in between by Tsalgyur.

 Register Here

New for 2022:Tsalgyur_2017-07-10_1-3-e1509775025559-661x682
Monday Nights
Ngondro Practice
Led by Tsalgyur

Ngondro students can enjoy support to accomplish the accumulations with a weekly online practice group. It is optional to join with your ngondro community every Monday night in Ngondro practice led by Tsalgyur. 

 

Also foster community through signing up for accountability partner to support each other through the journey. 

About Tsal’gyur Dorje Tsalgyur has been studying with Pema Khandro  since 2005. She is the Membership Co-ordinator and Registrar for the Buddhist Studies Institute, and has been on the leadership team for Ngakpa International since 2012. Tsal’gyur is a certified Yoga Instructor, Meditation Teacher, and Teaching Assistant in the school. Having danced professionally for 10 years, she now teaches ballet, yoga, and meditation in group classes and private lessons.

Register Here

UPCOMING EVENTS & OTHER NEWS

AdobeStock_22684611

Daily & Weekly Programs

December

January – Next Ngondro Training Cycle Begins in January!!!

March – Next MIT begins in March!

  • Mar 26, 2022, Meditation Instructor Training Begins, Details TBA

As more details roll out for our Upcoming Events, please visit the Event List Here.

SELF-PACED COURSES

red-black-buddha-faces-1030x643

with Pema Khandro
Self-Paced Course Online
Open Teaching – No Prerequisites
The Five Buddhist Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, openness and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the uncommon, extraordinary perspective of non-duality.
Topics covered in this course include
  • Buddhist theories about vegetarian lifestyle vs. meat-eating, 
  • Buddhist perspectives on alcohol and drug use, 
  • Conscious use of sexual energy, Buddhist philosophy about desire
  • Handling resources, money and spirituality
  • Honesty, and the speech that takes us beyond confusion.

PEMA KHANDRO ON LION’S ROAR

Pema-Khandro

When We Have No Choice
By Pema Khandro Rinpoche | December 14th, 2021
 
Sometimes, says Pema Khandro, there’s no way out. It’s at those times that we can discover the depth and resilience of the mind. 

Important Update

Upcoming Events

Bardo Teachings – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro, Father Francis Tiso, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche, Chagdud Khadro, Shugen Roshi, Julie Rogers, Jim Tucker, M.D., Koshin Paley Ellison and Dr. William McGrath

Open Dates
Teachings on Death and Dying Facing realities of dying, death, and grief are central to our human experience. This program offers practical instructions for helping others in the process of dying and an overview of essential knowledge on death, bardo, and rebirth. This includes self-paced lectures on dying, loss, grief, and illness from Lamas and scholars of Buddhist Studies.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhism & Sexuality – Self Paced Course

With Dr. Nicole Willock, Julie Regan, Ph.D., Pema Khandro, Lama Willa Miller, Amy Langenberg , Dr. Ann Gleig, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Lama Rod Owens, Dr. Jim Hopper, Dr. Elizabeth Call and Damchö Diana Finnegan

Open Dates
Join Pema Khandro and a group of esteemed Buddhist Studies scholars for an exploration of the history of Buddhist Sexualities from celibacy, to sacred sexuality in Buddhist Tantra and a simple approach to embodied integration with nature in Dzogchen.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhist Ethics – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This course on Buddhist Ethics goes through the Five Buddhist Precepts. The five precepts form the basis of a Buddhist way of life and the vows that Buddhists Seek to follow. The Five Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the extraordinary perspective of non-duality.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Women in Tantric Buddhism – Self Paced Course

With Holly Gayley, Judith Simmer-Brown, Sarah Jacoby, Amy Langenberg , Damchö Diana Finnegan, Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo and Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This is the missing history of women in Tantric Buddhism. This course addresses the fascinating story of nuns, mothers, teachers, consorts, prophets, and disciples. Taught by scholar-practitioners whose groundbreaking research on women and Buddhism has changed the way we think of Buddhist history. This course will address the history of women in Buddhism, the history of yoginis and dakinis in India and Tibet, the stories of important Buddhist women, Buddhist philosophy on gender, sex, and sexuality, and the role of the consort in historical Tibet, and contemporary manifestations and so much more. Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for…
Register Now

Cutting Through Fear: Dzogchen Chod Retreat

With Pema Khandro

May 28 - June 1, 2025
May 28 - June 1 San Diego and Online In a world beset with fear, profound methods are needed to reclaim intrinsic wisdom and awaken innate courage. Join Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies institute for a contemplation of fierce compassion through the annual Chod retreat, Troma Nagmo teachings, and an optional five month Comprehensive Chod intensive training to follow. Chod is the profound method of psychological transformation in esoteric Buddhism. Chod means cutting, referring to cutting through the fictions that cause fear, anxiety, and hesitations in one’s life.    
Register now

Fierce Compassion: Comprehensive Chod Training

With Pema Khandro

June 9 - October 13, 2025
Embark on a transformative five-month journey into the heart of Dzogchen Chod with Tulku Pema Khandro, Ph.D. and the Buddhist Studies Institute. This comprehensive Chod training offers a rare opportunity for an in-depth immersion in the Dzogchen Chod system, Healing Chod, and the Secret Black Dakini Teachings. Take your Chod practice to the next level and cultivate fierce compassion and psychological transformation while studying the Tibetan tradition.
Register now

by

Dear Friends and Members,

Due to outstanding generosity, $37,000 of the 2021 Dakini Mountain fundraising goal of $50,000 has been met. Thank you so much for supporting Dakini Mountain and the work of Pema Khandro. Only $13,000 more is needed to reach the critically needed goal and we’ve got 11 days of this year left to do it.

So, why make the effort and sacrifice to give these funds?

Dakini Mountain is the physical center of Pema Khandro’s work. And I think it’s fair to say, it’s been under duress due to the pandemic – like many other places and things in today’s world.

Dakini Mountain just opened in 2019 after years of striving to make it happen.  We had one summer’s worth of retreats there and boom, it was shut down due to the pandemic.

Lack of income and lack of being able to use Dakini Mountain for its primary purpose of teaching and fortifying the Buddhadharma have been extremely hard for everyone involved.

I think when times are hard, it’s the time for us to come together and become even more clear about what is important to us.

What vision are we holding for ourselves and our world?

Where are our points of leverage to make our vision reality?

How can we make a difference?

Pema Khandro has held the vision of Dakini Mountain for as long as I’ve known her.  Why?  Because places dedicated to the teachings are vitally important to whether or not Buddhism will flourish.

It’s been shown time and time again throughout history that when Buddhist monasteries, retreats, and teaching centers thrive, Buddhist practice increases in vitality and the number of people practicing becomes larger.

Ask yourself what is most vitally needed in today’s world?

I know my answer, without a doubt.  What is desperately needed in this world is more wisdom and, perhaps even more importantly, more compassion.

This is what Dakini Mountain is dedicated to.

This is what Pema Khandro is dedicated to.

This is what the Buddhist Studies Institute is dedicated to.

It’s a beautiful thing and it makes a huge difference, but we know it’s not easy.  It seems to take all we’ve got to become the best practitioners we can be and to help others.

So, I call you to action.  There are many ways to make a difference, like doing practice, speaking kindly to our loved ones, and doing acts of service, small and large.

But right now, I ask you to give serious thought to making your best possible financial contribution to support and help Dakini Mountain stay alive and thrive.

Only $13,000 more is needed to reach the critically needed goal and we’ve got 11 days of this year left to do it.

We need everyone to take action to make this happen.

Dakini Mountain also needs to be refinanced. One way to help this project is to be one of the guarantors for the new loan! It’s a way to help out without even spending money. Email info@BuddhistStudiesInstitute.org for more details.

Thank you so much for everything you’ve already done, all your service, your donations, your practice and your caring.

May it all come back to you as good karma enriching your life and may you have the joy of seeing others be happy through your good actions.

Donate Heart 2

DM lodge winter

Gifts can also be made by check, payable to Ngakpa International, and mailed to Dakini Mountain, P.O. Box 2396, Nevada City, California 95959, USA.

Ngakpa International is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit EIN 68-0529687 and all gifts are tax deductible as allowed by law.

For more information about Dakini Mountain, visit www.DakiniMountain.org

  

Wishing you a Happy Christmas!

2016FI_JanakKimmel_HeartofCompassion_Ngakpa

Janak

Director of Fundraising

Ngakpa International

Buddhist Studies Institute

Dakini Mountain Retreat Center

P.O. Box 2396

Nevada City, California 95946

USA

Let’s Celebrate Pema Khandro’s Birthday!

Upcoming Events

Bardo Teachings – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro, Father Francis Tiso, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche, Chagdud Khadro, Shugen Roshi, Julie Rogers, Jim Tucker, M.D., Koshin Paley Ellison and Dr. William McGrath

Open Dates
Teachings on Death and Dying Facing realities of dying, death, and grief are central to our human experience. This program offers practical instructions for helping others in the process of dying and an overview of essential knowledge on death, bardo, and rebirth. This includes self-paced lectures on dying, loss, grief, and illness from Lamas and scholars of Buddhist Studies.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhism & Sexuality – Self Paced Course

With Dr. Nicole Willock, Julie Regan, Ph.D., Pema Khandro, Lama Willa Miller, Amy Langenberg , Dr. Ann Gleig, Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Lama Rod Owens, Dr. Jim Hopper, Dr. Elizabeth Call and Damchö Diana Finnegan

Open Dates
Join Pema Khandro and a group of esteemed Buddhist Studies scholars for an exploration of the history of Buddhist Sexualities from celibacy, to sacred sexuality in Buddhist Tantra and a simple approach to embodied integration with nature in Dzogchen.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Buddhist Ethics – Self Paced Course

With Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This course on Buddhist Ethics goes through the Five Buddhist Precepts. The five precepts form the basis of a Buddhist way of life and the vows that Buddhists Seek to follow. The Five Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the extraordinary perspective of non-duality.   Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for these precious teachings. Your contribution, big and small, helps makes in-depth Buddhist training and education more accessible for all. May the teachings spread and flourish!
Register Now

Women in Tantric Buddhism – Self Paced Course

With Holly Gayley, Judith Simmer-Brown, Sarah Jacoby, Amy Langenberg , Damchö Diana Finnegan, Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo and Pema Khandro

Open Dates
This is the missing history of women in Tantric Buddhism. This course addresses the fascinating story of nuns, mothers, teachers, consorts, prophets, and disciples. Taught by scholar-practitioners whose groundbreaking research on women and Buddhism has changed the way we think of Buddhist history. This course will address the history of women in Buddhism, the history of yoginis and dakinis in India and Tibet, the stories of important Buddhist women, Buddhist philosophy on gender, sex, and sexuality, and the role of the consort in historical Tibet, and contemporary manifestations and so much more. Support the Buddhist Studies Institute by donating for…
Register Now

Cutting Through Fear: Dzogchen Chod Retreat

With Pema Khandro

May 28 - June 1, 2025
May 28 - June 1 San Diego and Online In a world beset with fear, profound methods are needed to reclaim intrinsic wisdom and awaken innate courage. Join Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies institute for a contemplation of fierce compassion through the annual Chod retreat, Troma Nagmo teachings, and an optional five month Comprehensive Chod intensive training to follow. Chod is the profound method of psychological transformation in esoteric Buddhism. Chod means cutting, referring to cutting through the fictions that cause fear, anxiety, and hesitations in one’s life.    
Register now

Fierce Compassion: Comprehensive Chod Training

With Pema Khandro

June 9 - October 13, 2025
Embark on a transformative five-month journey into the heart of Dzogchen Chod with Tulku Pema Khandro, Ph.D. and the Buddhist Studies Institute. This comprehensive Chod training offers a rare opportunity for an in-depth immersion in the Dzogchen Chod system, Healing Chod, and the Secret Black Dakini Teachings. Take your Chod practice to the next level and cultivate fierce compassion and psychological transformation while studying the Tibetan tradition.
Register now

by

PEMA KHANDRO’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

PemaKhandro_WhiteTara 2

 
You are Invited!
Wednesday, December 15th
6-7:30pm PT  |  9-10:30pm ET
 

Every year on Pema Khandro’s birthday, the community celebrates together. This year, due to the pandemic, this event will be online we cordially invite you to join us on this special heart-felt occasion.

  • White Tara practice led by Pema Khandro, 
  • Tsok Offering led by the Group leaders
  • A talk by Pema Khandro about her life’s work
  • Performances by community members
  • Pema Khandro appreciation ceremony
  • Fundraising for Dakini Mountain


Birthday Wish

Pema Khandro’s birthday wish is for all the proceeds to go to the Dakini Mountain Emergency Fund.

Dakini Mountain is a retreat center that Pema Khandro dreamed about for decades and now it has come to fruition but relies on your support for its continuation. Due to the temporary suspension of group retreats at Dakini Mountain as a result of the pandemic, this year’s fundraiser is more important than ever! Join us for this opportunity to celebrate Pema Khandro’s birthday, fundraise for this amazing project and practice meditation and tsok together in a vibrant Vajrayana community.

Can’t come in person but still want to support the fundraiser? Register to join anyway, your donations are greatly appreciated and a thank you card with all the list of the donors will be read at the end to Pema Khandro of the evening!

Learn More

NGONDRO TRAINING

2022 Ngondro Generic

This is the year you will finally finish Ngondro!
 
 
Begins January 24th, 2022
 
Self Paced Classes
Live Webinars
Weekly Practice Group

Register Here

Ngondro is a series of Vajrayana meditation practices for cleansing, training and empowering the body-mind. Also known as the ‘tantric preliminaries,’ ngondro literally means ‘before going,’ referring to the training one needs to be on the path of liberation.

Ngondro also serves as the foundation for the highest practices of Tibetan Buddhism, it is the pre-requisite to Tsa-lung and Dzogchen practices. Ngondro represents the cognitive, physical, emotional and philosophical components which are keys to the practice of liberation.

PemaKhandro5_ngakpa.org

Join the Ngondro Training at the first Live Webinar Class with Pema Khandro on January 24th 2022. Then get all your questions answered in the quarterly live classes with Pema Khandro.

Self Paced Classes and Webinars

with Pema Khandro

Ngondro self-paced classes and live webinars will be led by Lama Pema Khandro, scholar and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. Khandro-la’s teachings emphasize Buddhist philosophy and practice from a trauma-informed, feminist perspective that engages tradition with the great questions of our time. Classes with Pema Khandro will be given by self-paced videos and live meetings once a quarter, with practice sessions led in between by Tsalgyur.

 Register Here

New for 2022:
Monday Nights
Ngondro Practice
Led by Tsalgyur
Tsalgyur_2017-07-10_1-3-e1509775025559-661x682

Ngondro students can enjoy support to accomplish the accumulations with a weekly online practice group. It is optional to join with your ngondro community every Monday night in Ngondro practice led by Tsalgyur. 

 

Also foster community through signing up for accountability partner to support each other through the journey. 

About Tsal’gyur Dorje Tsalgyur has been studying with Pema Khandro  since 2005. She is the Membership Co-ordinator and Registrar for the Buddhist Studies Institute, and has been on the leadership team for Ngakpa International since 2012. Tsal’gyur is a certified Yoga Instructor, Meditation Teacher, and Teaching Assistant in the school. Having danced professionally for 10 years, she now teaches ballet, yoga, and meditation in group classes and private lessons.

Register Here

THANGKAS FOR SALE

The Perfect Christmas Gift!

Benefit Dakini Mountain
Benefit Your Meditation Practice
Benefit the Thangka Painters in Nepal

Several beautiful Thangkas and silk brocades were hand selected and brought to us by our good friend James Aplington (aka Thankga Jim) and the Lotus Gallery in Nepal.  As a way to help develop Dakini Mountain, they will donate half of the profit of these rare Thangkas to the development of Dakini Mountain.

Green Tara (large) $450Padmasambhava_Guru Rinpoche (large) $1600Vajrasattva_Dorje Sempa (large) $1600

To request one of these Thangkas or for more information, please email Info@BuddhistStudiesInstitute.org.

UPCOMING EVENTS & OTHER NEWS

AdobeStock_22684611

Daily & Weekly Programs

December

January – Next Ngondro Training Cycle Begins in January!!!

March – Next MIT begins in March!

  • Mar 26, 2022, Meditation Instructor Training Begins, Details TBA

As more details roll out for our Upcoming Events, please visit the Event List Here.

SELF-PACED COURSES

red-black-buddha-faces-1030x643

with Pema Khandro
Self-Paced Course Online
Open Teaching – No Prerequisites
The Five Buddhist Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, openness and precision that cover the potent themes of life from the uncommon, extraordinary perspective of non-duality.
Topics covered in this course include
  • Buddhist theories about vegetarian lifestyle vs. meat-eating, 
  • Buddhist perspectives on alcohol and drug use, 
  • Conscious use of sexual energy, Buddhist philosophy about desire
  • Handling resources, money and spirituality
  • Honesty, and the speech that takes us beyond confusion.

PEMA KHANDRO ON LION’S ROAR

open-your-heart

Open Your Heart Further
By Pema Khandro Rinpoche | June 16th, 2020
 
Pema Khandro Rinpoche on cultivating the boundless love of a bodhisattva.

Contact

Email: info@BuddhistYogis.org