Letter on Reopening

Dear Dharma Friends,

We have been receiving questions of joyful anticipation for when Dakini Mountain can open again. Dakini Mountain is our retreat center in the making. It is dedicated to supporting the cultivation of rest, rejuvenation, wisdom and compassion amidst this vivid landscape of raw elemental beauty. It is 35 acres, completely off grid and a power spot of Vajrayogini.

Before addressing Dakini Mountain re-opening plans, it’s important to acknowledge that the pandemic is not over for everyone. Its effects continue for all those who lost family members, for those with long-haul COVID-19 symptoms, those with post-COVID complications, those who are immunocompromised for whom the vaccine does not mean safety and so forth. Now in California there are cases rising with new variants. Our love and prayers are with all our dharma friends who are effected by the pandemic. May all who passed find great peace. May all who remain ill, feel loved and supported. May they recover fully and swiftly.

The effect of the pandemic on Dakini Mountain is still in full swing as well. We lost a year and a half of events income. On top of that, we did not meet our winter fundraising goal. There weren’t many community members there to maintain the land, so just like in so many places around the world, while we were not active on the land, wildlife started encroaching. The meadow was taken over by gophers, then a community of rattlesnakes moved in and a bear lounged openly next to the pond, making himself at home in our absence. Brush and bush expanded and we went through several rounds of broken water pipes.

We are all looking forward to re-opening but to achieve this will require much work and help from the whole community.

We have planned a two-stage opening process which will depend on whether we meet our next round of fundraising goals.

Our goal is to fundraise $15,500 by our partial re-opening on August 15th and a remaining $34,500 this fall. This includes funding for fire clearance and critical immediate needs and maintenance to restore the land back to use level.

Partial Re-opening Plans

Since Dakini Mountain is perfect for outdoor events, with its stage, outdoor kitchen and scenic meadow, it is really a perfect site to have outdoor events. The partial re-opening will allow us to host other groups for day-long, non-residential events including a monthly Community Day at Dakini Mountain. This will offer a chance to practice meditation together and work on the land.

Upon partial re-opening on August 15th, we will open Dakini Mountain for:

• AirBnB rentals

• Community Day once a month, outdoors and social distanced

• Day-long Event rentals for groups, workshops [non-residential]

See DakiniMountain.org for the full details of our fundraising campaign.

The Full Re-Opening

Our full re-opening is scheduled for June 2-5th, 2022, for our annual spring Vajrayana retreat and anniversary of Dakini Mountain. We have postponed full re-opening until then since residential retreats include dining together, hanging out inside the lodge and working alongside one another, so we don’t feel we can guarantee guests safety for indoor residential retreats at this time. However, we are eagerly looking forward to preparing for our full-opening when we can spend time immersed in all the joy and wonder that Dakini Mountain has to offer. After losing water and power in previous residential events, we can see the importance of doing our necessary fundraising for upgrades before our next retreat and this full re-opening date will give us time for fundraising and working on the land.

How Online Programs Are Affected

Many have asked how the reopening of Dakini Mountain will affect our online programs. We plan to continue the online programs in full, along with our previous rhythm with three public in-person retreats per year and one-day events or weekend Vajra Sangha programs resuming our regular schedule again in Spring 2022. In between these events Dakini Mountain will be used by other groups of guests for non-residential events.

Our goal before the pandemic was to develop the Buddhist Studies Institute as an online school with a full spectrum of Buddhist philosophy and practice taught by Tibetan and Western scholars. This platform developed more quickly than we had planned due to the pandemic, and this will only continue to develop. This continues to be possible due to donations and due to our wonderful community of volunteers.

Speaking of volunteers, we have much more work to do to catch up with our growth and are in need of video editors and tech hosts for our programs. Email us if you’d like to join in and help at Volunteer@BuddhistStudiesInstitute.org

Changes to Ngakpa Training and Vajra Sangha

The board of directors has decided to change the requirements for Ngakpa Training in order to open it up as a resource for new members who have already been involved in intensive Buddhist study for an extended period. This course is our advanced study course for students who are doing longer term intensive study, practice and service. It has pre-requisites, which previously included Vajra Sangha membership. However, as our online programming has expanded we have opened Ngakpa Training to non-Vajra Sangha students. Other pre-requisites will still apply.

We are also in the process of revising our Vajra Sangha membership pre-requisites which will be completed by the end of the year. Vajra Sangha are my personal students. You can recognize them by the red and white Ngakpa shawls they wear at programs. Buddhist Studies Institute serves students from many other sanghas as well, everyone is welcome and appreciated. Diversity is beautiful.

Two New Sangha Leaders to be Trained. Because of our recent growth and the new awareness gained from the pandemic, we are also planning to develop two other leaders who can take on the same roles as Aruna and Satya, my trusted advisors and the leaders of all our other teams. The three of us have run our projects together over the last ten years, working together week by week to make the decisions by consensus that have guided all the events and projects. The pandemic made us aware how important it is to have doubles and a backup system, so we are now actively looking for two more people to join our directors team who can play a leadership role and step into Satya and Aruna’s roles as needed. This includes skills of Aruna, our CFO [Chief Financial Officer], such as overseeing legal and accounting for Ngakpa International and the skills of Satya, our COO [Chief Operations Officer], managing projects, overseeing events, outreach and leadership team. Please do email us if you have experience in these roles and would like to apply to join the directors team: Info@BuddhistStudiesInstitute.org.

Buddhism and Trauma

Finally, I want to personally invite you to our upcoming program on Buddhism and Trauma with events from July 20-24th. This series will examine the relationship between Trauma theory and Buddhist philosophy and practice. Trauma theory has evolved greatly since the time it was thought that PTSD was something only war veterans had. The growing knowledge about the effects of traumatic stress now extend to address how adverse events effect bodies and minds in any scenario. Unresolved past events are thought to drive our behaviors in the present time, whether we are aware of it or not. We may be more susceptible to traumatic stress for various reasons such as if we are ill, tired or have had previous adverse events. There are so many important aspects of trauma theory that overlap with the basic knowledge we need to have as human beings, how our minds, bodies, emotions work. How past events stick. How past stresses can be reprocessed and released. This sounds familiar to Buddhists, because these are the issues we think about as well, how to get free from the residue of past events, and how to get free from suffering. Furthermore, Buddhist based practices have been a major resource used for recovery and healing by trauma-informed therapists. I want to share this series with you because I believe this knowledge can be life-changing, and it is knowledge that we need in the Buddhist community. And also because there is a fascinating and exciting exchange happening between the two discourses of trauma theory and Buddhist theory and practice. If you would like to join us, Click Here to Register

I want to finish by expressing my gratitude to our community and friends for all the support that has sustained us thus far. It is beautiful to collaborate together in fostering a learning community, and a practice community, one that is so brilliant and kind. Thank you and I look forward to studying and practicing together.

My very best to you,

Dzogchen Series: Longchenpa, His Life & Teachings

with Anne Klein (Lama Rigzin Drolma),

Khenpo Gawang Rinpoche

Pema Khandro

Aug 17-21st

One of the most celebrated scholars of Tibetan Buddhism was Longchenpa, a fourteenth century philosopher-yogi who wrote about Dzogchen.

Dzogchen is the esoteric tradition of Tibetan contemplation, regarded as the highest and most precious body of knowledge held by the Nyingma tradition. It emphasizes teachings on intrinsic buddha-nature as the ground of reality, as well as contemplative relationship with the elements and environment.

Longchenpa’s work on Dzogchen defined the tradition as it is practiced today. Longchenpa’s extensive collected works synthesized the Dzogchen teachings and their relationship to the exoteric Buddhist philosophical movements.

This series features even lectures, scholars and teachers of Tibetan Buddhism specializing in the works of Longchenpa and Dzogchen. These classes will focus on the life and teachings of Longchenpa, followed by a day-long meditation course, all online. Join us in celebrating the history of Dzogchen and reflecting on its developments, views and contributions in the life and works of Longchenpa.

To register email us at info@BuddhistStudiesInstitute.org to get the registration link. *This program has a limited enrollment of 100 participants.

Buddhism and Trauma Series

Buddhism & Trauma

Hosted by Pema Khandro

July 20-24, 2021

6pm PT / 9pm ET

Tue July 20 – Mark Epstein

Wed July 21 – Sarah Lewis

Thu July 22 – Jim Hopper & Dr. Elizabeth Call

Sat July 24 – Medicine Buddha & Trauma w/ Pema Khandro

Both Buddhism and Trauma Studies have asked questions about human suffering. Both explore the profound journey of getting free from the bonds of negative experiences of the past.

This series will focus on the dialogue between Buddhism, trauma, and cross-cultural reflections on psychology. Join us for this week of online dialogues with scholars and teachers on the compelling topic of Buddhism and Trauma.

Click Here to Register Now

Medicine Buddha & Trauma

Click Here to Register

EXCELLENT PATH

NGONDRO TRAINING

NGONDRO TRAINING

SADHANA OF SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA

Saga Dawa Celebration

With Pema Khandro & Khenpo Gawang Rinpoche

This Wednesday, May 26th, 6pm – 8pm PT

Celebrate the Anniversary of the Buddha

With an Evening of Meditation and Mantra

• Receive the initiation for the sacred Buddha mantra
• Receive the initiation for the Kunzang Monlam, the eclipse practice
• Practice mantra and meditation with Pema Khandro & Khenpo Gawang
• Make aspiration prayers with the community
• Accumulate merit through the meditation and offerings

“Saga Dawa,” is the most auspicious day of the Buddhist Calendar. Saga Dawa is celebrated by Buddhists all around the world as the anniversary of the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and the day he passed away into parinirvana.

Join us online for a celebration with Khenpo Gawang Rinpoche and Pema Khandro. Khenpo Gawang Rinpoche will teach the Sadhana of Sakyamuni Buddha and give the initiation for the practice and for the mantra. This will be a reading transmission, or lung.

This year, Saga Dawa Full Moon falls on an eclipse. Therefore, for this special occasion, Pema Khandro will give the lung and lead the recitation of the beloved and powerful prayer of the Nyingma lineage for eclipses, the Kunzang Monlam.

Join Khenpo Gawang, Pema Khandro, friends and members for this joyous celebration of the Buddha’s Anniversary.

Click Here to Register Now

Opportunity for Auspicious Butterlamp Offerings

The effects of actions on this day are said to be multiplied by ten million times because of the spiritual power of this full moon on the fourth month. To participate in this momentous occasion, friends and members of the community may become butterlamp (or candle) sponsors and offer aspiration prayers on this special occasion. Sponsors of the Butterlamp offering will be given the opportunity to come online live during the ceremony and recite their aspiration prayer while holding a butterlamp, candle or tea light. Plan to write your aspiration prayers to be completed in under two minutes. For an example of an aspiration prayer, please visit the link below.

Click Here to Register Now

VAJRAYOGINI EMPOWERMENT

Vajrayogini Empowerment

With Drupon Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche & Pema Khandro

June 4th, 6pm – June 6th, 6pm Online

Click Here to Register Now

Join us for this special event, the Vajrayogini Empowerment, an initiation into the inner tantra practice of generation stage meditation.

Generation stage meditation is the central method of Tibetan tantra. It centers on the transformation of our identity and a re-inhabiting of embodied experience in the energy of the yidam – the meditational deity. It is a practice used to liberate the mind from the confines of its habitual reference points.

Generation stage meditations are closely kept secret practices passed through ritual initiations, known as empowerments. The empowerment provides an introduction to the practice, permission to practice, as well as the direct introduction with the energy of the yidam.

This special weekend will feature two and a half days of instructions, empowerment and meditations of Vajrayogini.

It will be led by Drupon Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche who will give the empowerment and Lama Pema Khandro who will give the explanation and instructions.

We are honored to host the most excellent interpreter, Ina Bieler! The empowerment will be translated into lucid and easy to understand English.

This special event is offered online for the special occasion of the celebration of Saga Dawa and the one year anniversary of Dakini Mountain.

Click Here to Register Now

An invitation in the beautiful world of Tibetan Buddhist Tantra

• Receive empowerment for the secret practice of Vajrayogini
• Learn the symbols, ornaments and meaning of Vajrayogini
• Learn and practice the Vajrayogini mantra
• Learn and practice Vajrayogini generation stage meditation
• Learn and practice the Vajrayogini torma offering

Vajrayogini is regarded as the essence of all buddhas, venerated by every sect of Tibetan Buddhism and venerated by Buddhists and Hindus all over the world. Vajrayogini is the symbol of the freedom and power of intrinsic wisdom.

This weekend will focus on two Vajrayogini rites.

Friday evening will open with the Vajrayogini torma offering from the Dakini’s Heart Essence (Khandro Nyingthig) and the Jewel Garland Chod (Rinchen Trengwa Chod) entitled, Calling the 100,000 Dakinis. The oral transmission and explanation will be given by Pema Khandro, followed by engaging in the practice.

Saturday and Sunday will focus on the short-form Drikung Kagyu, Vajrayogini generation stage meditation. Drupon Rinchen Dorjee Rinpoche who will bestow the Vajrayogini empowerment and give the full transmission of the empowerment, oral transmission and explanation. This will be followed by practice instructions, explanation and mantra accumulations led by Pema Khandro.

Pre-requisites

Traditionally, the Vajrayogini empowerment is difficult and rare to get. For this special occasion of Saga Dawa and the Anniversary of Dakini Mountain, and upon so many requests, the Buddhist Studies Institute is sponsoring the Vajrayogini Empowerment one more time. The pre-requisite for long term extensive Vajrayogini practice is completion of ngondro, the tantric preliminaries. However, out of generosity, Drupon has welcomed anyone to attend, as long as they complete the ngondro before begining the Vajrayogini accumulations. This will allow everyone to receive the empowerment while they can.

Click Here to Register Now

Vajrayogini is the female buddha who takes many forms, as a dancing Dakini, as a fierce warrior, as joyous, as wrathful, as compassionate mother, single or in embrace with consort. She is the symbol of the vibrant intrinsic power of altruistic love and radical clarity.

Click Here to Register Now

So That We Can Breathe

It has been one year since the murder of George Floyd. We are committed to searching our hearts and minds, learning and educating so that racism and all forms of hate are cut at their root.

We are committed to providing education in the fundamental tools needed to create communities in which people of all races and ethnicities can live in safety and dignity including Black, Brown, Indigenous, Trans and Queer People.

Faith communities each respond in their own ways to times of tragedy. We are a Buddhist community led by an indigenous woman of color, thus we regard diversity issues as core to understandings of the Buddhist philosophy of emptiness, compassion and interdependence. There are so many actions needed for the world to change, at Buddhist Studies Institute we work together to contribute to that change through providing education and empowerment of all those we serve.

Remembering the Poem

When black men are 3.6 times more likely to die from police use of force

… I can’t breathe. 

When black men between the ages of 18-35 are dying twice as fast as any other American

… I can’t breathe…

Father Lamas, Mother Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Dakas and Dakinis, Protectors, lineage masters, elders and ancestors.
Help me to breathe in “I Can’t Breathe” and breathe out compassion
Help me to breathe in “I Can’t Breathe” and breathe out education
Help me to breathe in “I Can’t Breathe” and breathe out altruistic action
Help me to breathe in “I Can’t Breathe” and breathe out the practice of liberation…

– Excerpts from Pema Khandro’s poem as read at the Dakini Mountain Inauguration, May 31, 2020

Click Here to Read More

Ngondro Training

Offering the Illusory Body

Dakini Day Chod
Offering the Illusory Body

May 6th, 2021
San Francisco 1pm  |  New York 4pm  |  London 9pm  |  Sydney 6am
Timezone Converter

This is a Tibetan meditation which is a potent, dynamic practice for cutting through fear and facing death. It is a practice of healing through ultimate compassion. The practice is the Dzogchen Chod, known as Khandro Geykyang, the Laugher of the Dakinis, the concise version. Rinpoche will lead the practice and discuss its meaning.

 

Donations Welcome ~ No one turned away for lack of funds.

Click Here to Learn More

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Saga Dawa Celebration

Saga Dawa Celebration

With Khenpo Gawang & Pema Khandro

 

Wednesday, May 26th, 6pm – 7:30pm PT

 

Saga Dawa is the most auspicious day of the Tibetan Buddhist Calendar and a day celebrated by Buddhists all around the world. It is the anniversary of the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and the day he passed away into parinirvana. The effects of actions on this day are said to be multiplied by ten million times because of the spiritual power of this full moon on the fourth month of the lunar calendar. This year, the Saga Full Moon also takes place on an eclipse day. Join us for prayers and aspirations on this auspicious occasion.

 

Details Coming Soon

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Save the Date

             

Vajrayogini Retreat

With Pema Khandro & Drupon Rinchen Dorje

 

June 4th, 6pm – June 6th, 6pm

Details Coming Soon

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SELF-PACED COURSES

Tibetan Dream Yoga

Self-Paced Online Training with Pema Khandro

Considered the practice most similar to our experience at death, Dream Yoga is about navigating in the real and unreal aspects of our experience without falling asleep to awareness. It is a practice of recognizing the nature of our minds.

This Teaching focuses on the Tibetan Buddhist methods for navigating Dream, Waking Life, and Sleep.

Waking, dreaming, and deep sleep present transformations of perception and they highly the continuity and discontinuity of experience. Through recognizing the opportunities for meditative awareness in these states, we can understand our own minds and face all our experiences with greater presence. A teaching based on the Six Yogas of Naropa – which is a system of harnessing ordinary experience for awakening.

Click Here to Register Now

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ONLINE OPEN TEACHINGS

Daily Meditation – Online

Join our certified meditation instructors for a short free daily practice online. Each day meditation is followed by a brief discussion on Buddhist ethics.

Resuming in June

Excellent Path and Group Leader Training have been CANCELLED on Wednesday, May 26th, 2021, due to the Saga Dawa Celebration, and will resume in June. 

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MEMBERS-ONLY CLASSES

Learn More about Joining Membership

1st and 2nd Wednesdays – Vajrayana Training with Pema Khandro

Bring a deep, engaged study of Buddhist Philosophy and practice into your life! Join this intimate study group for an ongoing study for students on the path of Vajrayana, led by Buddhist studies scholar, Pema Khandro. 

 

This includes the study of Tantra and Great Perfection (Dzogchen) as it is traditionally explained in source texts of the Tibetan tradition. Students will read a combination of materials translated by Pema Khandro as well as works published in English Translation. 

 

The course examines Vajrayana with multiple perspectives, considering how Vajrayana has been understood throughout history, how it is handed down traditionally today and how it engages with current paradigms. This is a non-sectarian class, with emphasis on approaches from the Nyingma school, but simultaneously offering a deliberate embrace of the numerous contesting views of Buddhist philosophy held by the various traditions of interpretation. This is a deep, traditional Buddhist study, without dogma, with ethics intact, in a community oriented towards thorough engagement with Buddhist texts and practice.

 

Vajrayana Training meets twice a month and includes meditation, lecture, discussion in small groups and in the whole class as well as question and answer period with Pema Khandro.

3rd Wednesdays – Ngakpa Training with Pema Khandro

In-depth study of the Ngakpa Tradition for students who have completed pre-requisites. These classes continue the study of Buddhist philosophy examining source texts and discussing the main points of living a Buddhist life. 

 

A Little Story About Nepal and Advice for How to Prepare for Retreat

I remember one time when I was visiting with the great Tibetan yogini, Jomo Samphel Dechen in Nepal. I had just wandered over to her apartment, and she was there about to take tea. Her legs were having problems so she needed help to get back and forth to get the kitchen. In Kathmandu it was very hot and sticky, but the kitchen was really cool. And I realized, during our slow walk from the kitchen back to her sitting room that I could ask her anything. No one was in sight, and I was slowly getting used to her accent, hard for me at first, because I was trained in Lhasa-dialect Tibetan. So with no one around and at least a fifty percent chance of understanding her answers, I quickly assembled my thoughts about what I would like to ask, how best to use this marvelous precious time. So many possible questions – dharma practice as a woman, dharma practice after her spouse had died. I had all these scholarly interests at hand, and as usual, they were there creating my inner fireworks of fascinations and curiosities. Plus, because I had previously always visited with others, I had already asked her so much in more formal meetings with other people. So there was this space, this wide open room to ask the deeper questions in private. We had our tea and then it was time. But instead, a few hours later I realized I just got lost in the moments. I totally missed the opportunity as a historian of Buddhism to dig in, because we just sat there quietly and delightfully together doing recitations, visualizations, chatting, reciting mantras and then again having tea. She started reading from a prayer from a pecha text, a Tibetan scripture. These are the long, narrow papers with wood block printing on them. I read along. And then we had these long periods of pleasing silence and then the prayers again and more tea. That’s when I remembered (yet again) how it is really, really wonderful to do dharma practice. It is especially wonderful to do dharma practice with someone so experienced, so integrated with the aesthetics of contemplation as the core of their life. We sat in the richness of all the practices either of us had ever done and in the stark simplicity of just being human together. It is hard to describe that experience, but words do come to mind: grounded, firm, present, soft, gentle, joyful, serene, focused. And yet, the chaos of Kathmandu was not too far away, somehow still looming, but without any sense of invading our serenity.

Jomo Samphel Dechen and Pema Khandro Kathmandu 2017

This is how all things in India, Tibet and Nepal have tended to be for me. Not what I expect, impossible to control, but offering something potent. (It is easier to live in Asia if one is comfortable letting go of control.) Through these travels I found out, surprisingly, that really deep dharma practice can happen in all kinds of scenarios. Just after tea on a visit to a great yogini. At sunrise at a stupa. In a huge crowd of Troma Chod yogis and yoginis, with our long hair and red and white shawls coloring the landscape. While being assailed by mosquitos in India. By rivers and meadows in Tibet. While stuck on a remote road and eventually surrounded by giant scary yaks in Kham (If a yak steps on my legs, what will happen? And other thoughts…but they simply walked around me). When the King was murdered and there was a coup in Kathmandu, but there was the strange persistent beauty of a garden to practice in. At ground zero after 9/11. And pleasant, protected practice retreats in a nice hotel in China or Mexico. The scenes of dharma practice may change, but the sense of being centered, sane and simple has not. I try to think of words to describe this since I teach classes and words are necessary. I look for kitchen sink words, not pie in sky ones, that would fuel spiritual fantasies (or colonialist ones!). Words do come to mind: integrated, present, serene, wakeful. 

The obstacles to practice can also be what one does not expect. I remember when I had pneumonia, practicing Chod at the charnel grounds, a kind of funerary meditation, and the deceased was being cremated before us. It was a perfect place to practice Chod, but my pneumonia wanted me home. Afterall, how many charnel grounds should one visit before it is time to take a break to take care of the body again?! And yet, that night after the practice, I had these wonderful dreams, and it shifted my whole thinking about what was next in my life. I think of that dream often. Even that practice, quite half-hearted in my haze of illness while the other half just tried to keep me alive, even that practice had an interesting result.

I think its this background of shifting scenes of practice, that prepared me for the transition online. We had been preparing to launch the Buddhist Studies Institute already for many months, so online activities were already set to increase. Then the pandemic happened. Suddenly, everyone I knew (and new friends I came to know) was there with me in my home, practicing with me online. It has been such a luxury to find this way of practicing Vajrayana together and to discover that this can be so profound. There I am, on my meditation cushion and my meditation rug. No being assailed by mosquitos, not bit by scorpions, snakes, nor assailed by the smell of burning corpses or locals dressed like police trying to hassle a foreign woman, none of those obstacles that are such a hallmark of living in Asia! No visa issues looming, no smell of burning plastic outside my window like in Pharping. Just the lovely space at Khandro Ling, a peaceful place I set up just to do practice each day, but now, there are a hundred dharma friends who are there with me, in my most personal space. And I am in their home with them. 

We get to do what is the ultimate goal of our tradition as yogis, (naljormas, naljorpas, ngakpas, ngakmos) is – which is to integrate deep serious practice and study with our actual lives. To transform our home into the domain of real spiritual work. A surprising gift of zoom society. We don’t have the luxury of living in a monastery or cave. We are integrating practice and study with the complexities of modern life. Instead of scorpions, the sound of children. Instead of visa troubles, the pets need to be fed. Instead of pilgrimage sites, our own bodies. We are practicing where the rubber meets the road, where the whole of our life is present with us. 

Throughout the pandemic we have been doing this together. We are practicing alone, on our own, as we must do, but simultaneously together. We are in our own ideal or non-ideal environments. There is something incredibly intimate about practicing this way. So hard to describe. But words do come to mind: integrated, wakeful, open-hearted, sane, deep, connected, expansive. 

There is something also so honest about it, practicing at home together.  

I am supposed to be writing about preparing for a home retreat, so we should get back to the tea and the tale of my time with Jomo Samphel Dechen. That afternoon, on my way walking home from the visit, I was reflecting on what actually makes a perfect place for meditation practice. We were in her home, a humble space, put together with minimum expenditures. Yet it was an ideal space for a home retreat. She had surrounded herself with Buddhist images, there was a small shrine. There was a window so the sky and space were present ever so simply. There was tea and cookies so that we could take as long as we needed. There was a little table for texts to rest on. There were pictures of inspiring figures, including her deceased spouse, the famous tsa-lung yogi, Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche. There was a blanket for when it was cold, but it could be shed when it was warm. There were nice cushions to sit on for the guest and a bed for her, so our bodies were supported. Just like my place for practice at Khandro Ling in Virginia, 7,708 miles away. Simple, practical, intimate. In light of this cherished memory of a perfect place to practice at home, I have included some tips on setting up a home retreat space for you below.

But before closing, we should contemplate bell hooks. 

“I want there to be a place in the world where people can engage in one another’s differences in a way that is redemptive, full of hope and possibility. Not this ‘In order to love you, I must make you something else’. That’s what domination is all about, that in order to be close to you, I must possess you, remake and recast you.”

― bell hooks, Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies

Practicing in Times of Intensity

I love this quote from bell hooks. I have been reading her today to help prepare and process the energy of the verdict. The quote reminds me of Dzogchen in the sense that our freedom is only possible if we make friends with what we are. Until we do, we are so lost and exploitable. 

Fascinating that last year we had retreats together during protests, when the heart-wrenching George Floyd video had just been released. Now we will practice just after the guilty verdict in the trial of his murder. So we happen to meet again in a charnel grounds, in the middle of sea change in consciousness…Moving ever so step by step towards a world with empathy and respect for the dignity of beings. There is hope, but even with accountability, which was so desperately needed, there is also grief. There has been no closure in the grief about racism. There is still so much grief from all the wounds that have been scratched open. There is the continuously refreshed grief as we face the horrors of stories like Adam Toledo, a thirteen year old boy killed by police. Grief, empathy, anxiety, sorrow, a tidal wave of emotions is understandable – and we bare these while being so isolated from one another during the pandemic. There is no one right way to grieve. Some of us get angry, others withdrawn, others reach for connection, the sadness, the depression or numbness. It is part of a greater process of waking up and healing individually and collectively.

My article on grief in Lion’s Roar is here: Pema Khandro on Grief.

We can bring all this with us to our practice, carrying it on to the path as we learn to find a sane, open-hearted way to meet the whole of this life as it is. It is another scene, another charnel grounds another moment to train.

May we face what comes together, one breath at a time, one session at a time, one day at a time. 

I look forward to seeing you at the online retreat in a couple of days.

Yours always,

Pema Khandro

How To Set Up A Place To Practice

Home Retreat Preparation Details

Finding Comfort and Ease with Pema Khandro

April 23-25, 2021, 10am-6pm PT

There is something so intimate about one’s practice spot, the home shrine or meditation cushion. We can have some unique things there that make it a place of comfort and support in our lives. Mine has photos of my teachers and the beings I visualize in my refuge field. It has my glasses and a book light (I learned the brilliance of a good book light from the Zen practitioners!) As you set up for this weekend’s retreat, I recommend that if possible, you set up a place that will be yours beyond this retreat, that it will be a place you can care for your body and mind every day. It doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. In leaner times, I used to just use a tent in the yard outside my cabin at our first retreat center in Santa Cruz, because the temple was still a space for everyone. I needed a solitary sacred place to work within the powers of my introversion. That’s why I was so happy when someone at the summer retreat did the whole retreat in a tent in their backyard, a reminder of happy memories. I have also seen lovely retreat spaces made out of a closet. Or for those who are so lucky a shrine room or small temple. In a small house a closet may be the only way to create a place for solitude, and with some imagination that can be quite lovely. Even that darkness there can help to make it space to deescalate, to reduce the over stimulation of daily life. 

Whatever place you set up, may it be an opportunity to establish a sacred place that you can return to, with body and mind. 

Our retreat will be from Friday to Sunday, April 23rd-25th. 

The lung, or oral transmission, will happen on Friday morning, which is the traditional pre-requisite to practice.

You will need your texts for the Heart Sutra, which if you don’t have it, it will be provided.

We will study two great works of Dzogchen nyingthig, Longchenpa’s Finding Comfort and Ease and the Mirror Illuminating Heart. I will share my translations.

We will do the practices from Finding Comfort and Ease.

On the last day we will do protector practice so please have your drums, bells and text if you have them. Text will be provided if you need it.

The afternoon community tea times are optional, but highly recommended. It is necessary to know and talk to other meditators. Otherwise, a life of training the body-mind is very hard to maintain without communal support. 

We will also have the restorative yoga sessions with some of the brilliant teachers whom I have trained to teach yoga and have carried this practice on for our community.

Remember, you will also have the opportunity to sign up for private meetings one-to-one. The best way to use that time is to bring dharma questions or practice questions, but we can also just have a simple chat as well. 

Plan to have your camera on for all the practice sessions. Wear comfortable, loose fitting clothing for sitting and yoga. If you have a shawl or blanket you may wish to have it nearby. Thank you for being fully clothed so that we can all be comfortable! Not everyone lives near a beach town and it can be distracting to see dharma friends in various states of minimum dress, so we ask you to avoid wearing anything revealing. 

If you are new, you are most welcome. Diversity is beautiful and the teaching assistants are there to answer questions.

Click Here to Register Now

Online Dzogchen Retreat

Finding Comfort & Ease

Online Dzogchen Retreat with Pema Khandro

 

April 23-25th, 2021, 10am-6pm PT

This retreat focuses on the paradox of resting in buddha-nature and recognizing illusions. It offers support for exploring Buddhist philosophy experientially through alternating dharma study and practice. The retreat is lead by Buddhist scholar and teacher, Pema Khandro, founder of the Buddhist Studies Institute. As a special event during the pandemic, Pema Khandro will lead the study of and practice of the sems nyid ngal gso, Longchenpa’s instructions on Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind, a classic text of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. This retreat is led entirely online, with alternating sessions of group practice, small group discussions, yoga, meditation, lectures, question and answer sessions with Pema Khandro and private meetings at the end.

ABOUT THE RETREAT

Buddhist Philosophy
Pema Khandro teaches from “The Mirror Illuminating the Heart,” and Longchenpa’s instructions on Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind. These are treasured teachings of Tibetan Buddhism’s Dzogchen Nyingthig teachings on the vast view. These beautiful teachings consider the fundamental nature of mind and reality.

Dzogchen

Dzogchen is the most protected and sacred practice and study cycle of Tibetan Buddhism. From the time of its early formation, it included an array of practices which center on the elements, the natural world, dynamic exercises with body and mind as well as the more restricted practices. As philosophy, Dzogchen presents a view of the world that emphasizes buddhanature and natural wakefulness as the core of one’s experience and the fabric of reality. Dzogchen is taught in the Nyingma lineage as the practice that one concentrates upon after the preliminaries (ngondro) in order to begin to work directly with ones mind in simple, dynamic and potent methods.

Group Meditation Classes
Pema Khandro will teach from the 27 Practices for training for Dzogchen meditation from the sems nyid ngal gso, Longchenpa’s instructions on Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind.

Heart Sutra Chanting
Remember the profound teachings that unravel it all at the root. Afternoon Heart Sutra chanting will be led in English by Buddhist Studies Institute Faculty.

Dharma Conversations
Spiritual community is an important aspect of Buddhist practice, and it is even more important during the times of pandemic when in-person gatherings are limited. Join your fellow community members in dharma conversations during afternoon tea breaks (bring your own tea!). These are guided, small group conversations led by the teaching assistants.

Restorative Yoga
Unwind, let go of stress and give your body support. This simple, slow, bliss yoga class is designed to give rest and release to your body and mind. Each afternoon session will begin with an optional yoga class for you to do at home led by Buddhist Studies Institute Faculty. 

Deep Practice
Unplug. Disconnect. Take space for inner silence and chanting meditation. Share silence together. Enjoy deep dharma study. This retreat includes guidance and support for taking a break from social media and news to create space for reflection and to declutter the mind. There is an optional one hour social media period suggested each day for those who want to reduce but need to stay plugged in.

Private Meetings

Individual meetings with Pema Khandro will be set up on the days following the retreat in order to accommodate the online format. These are optional short meetings to discuss practice or Buddhist study questions. Instructions to sign up for a time will be given after registration. 

About Pre-requisites
How and when Dzogchen meditation is taught varies widely today. For this retreat, previous meditation experience and a history of meditation practice is necessary to fully appreciate and engage in the practices. It is ideal if one is comfortable doing extended periods of study and practice. The most restricted practices of Dzogchen, breakthrough and direct transcendence, are not included in this retreat. Instead the focus is on instructions for evoking peace within body and mind from Longchenpa’s great work on Dzogchen, the sems nyid ngal gso, “Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind.”

Click Here to Register Now

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PODCAST EPISODES

Impermenance, Illness, & Health with Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo & Pema Khandro Rinpoche

The Lion’s Roar Podcast

 

Author, teacher, and founder of the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery, Tenzin Palmo has a frank discussion with fellow teacher and scholar, Pema Khandro Rinpoche about what advice Buddhism has to offer about health and illness during a time of pandemic. Tenzin Palmo also shares what she’s learned about suffering and gratitude while on solitary retreat in a Himalayan cave for 12 years, and what she did after.

 

Click Here to Listen Now

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ONLINE OPEN TEACHINGS

*All times are listed in Pacific Time UTC-8 (Timezone Converter)

Daily Meditation – Online
Join our certified meditation instructors for a short free daily practice online. Each day meditation is followed by a brief discussion on Buddhist ethics.

Thursdays – Through April, 8am
A Course in Valid Cognition with Geshe Sonam
Winter Pramana Study, Join Any Time

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MEMBERS-ONLY CLASSES

Learn More about Joining Membership

1st and 2nd Wednesdays – Vajrayana Training with Pema Khandro

Bring a deep, engaged study of Buddhist Philosophy and practice into your life! Join this intimate study group for an ongoing study for students on the path of Vajrayana, led by Buddhist studies scholar, Pema Khandro. 

 

This includes the study of Tantra and Great Perfection (Dzogchen) as it is traditionally explained in source texts of the Tibetan tradition. Students will read a combination of materials translated by Pema Khandro as well as works published in English Translation. 

 

The course examines Vajrayana with multiple perspectives, considering how Vajrayana has been understood throughout history, how it is handed down traditionally today and how it engages with current paradigms. This is a non-sectarian class, with emphasis on approaches from the Nyingma school, but simultaneously offering a deliberate embrace of the numerous contesting views of Buddhist philosophy held by the various traditions of interpretation. This is a deep, traditional Buddhist study, without dogma, with ethics intact, in a community oriented towards thorough engagement with Buddhist texts and practice.

 

Vajrayana Training meets twice a month and includes meditation, lecture, discussion in small groups and in the whole class as well as question and answer period with Pema Khandro.

3rd Wednesdays – Ngakpa Training with Pema Khandro

In-depth study of the Ngakpa Tradition for students who have completed pre-requisites. These classes continue the study of Buddhist philosophy examining source texts and discussing the main points of living a Buddhist life. 

 

Dakini Day Chod

Meditation and Instructions on letting go of fictions and self-deception in Tibetan Chod meditation.

This class is by donation and open to the public. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Chod is a meditation method through meeting fear and neurosis with compassion and skill. Rather than renounce these mind states, in Chod, they are allowed to transform and be reintegrated as keys to innate wisdom.

Click Here to Register Now

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Online Dzogchen Retreat

Finding Comfort & Ease

Online Dzogchen Retreat with Pema Khandro

 

April 23-25th, 2021, 10am-6pm PT

This retreat focuses on the paradox of resting in buddha-nature and recognizing illusions. It offers support for exploring Buddhist philosophy experientially through alternating dharma study and practice. The retreat is lead by Buddhist scholar and teacher, Pema Khandro, founder of the Buddhist Studies Institute. As a special event during the pandemic, Pema Khandro will lead the study of and practice of the sems nyid ngal gso, Longchenpa’s instructions on Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind, a classic text of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. This retreat is led entirely online, with alternating sessions of group practice, small group discussions, yoga, meditation, lectures, question and answer sessions with Pema Khandro and private meetings at the end.

Click Here to Register Now

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SELF-PACED ONLINE COURSES

Buddhist Ethics

Self-Paced Course on the Five Buddhist Precepts

 

The Five Buddhist Precepts are a discipline of freedom, honor, openness and precision that cover the potent themes of a Tantric’s life from the uncommon, extraordinary perspective of non-duality. Topics covered in this course include vegetarian lifestyle, meat-eating, alcohol and drug use, conscious use of sexual energy, working with desire, handling resources, money and spirituality, honesty, and the speech that takes us beyond confusion.

 

Click Here to Register Now

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ONLINE OPEN TEACHINGS

*All times are listed in Pacific Time UTC-8 (Timezone Converter)

Daily Meditation – Online
Join our certified meditation instructors for a short free daily practice online. Each day meditation is followed by a brief discussion on Buddhist ethics.

Thursdays – Through April, 8am
A Course in Valid Cognition with Geshe Sonam
Winter Pramana Study, Join Any Time

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MEMBERS-ONLY CLASSES

Learn More about Membership

1st and 2nd Wednesdays – Vajrayana Training with Pema Khandro

A study of Buddhist philosophy for students on the path of Vajrayana and Great Perfection (Dzogchen).

3rd Wednesdays – Ngakpa Training with Pema Khandro

In-depth study of the Ngakpa Tradition for students who have completed pre-requisites. These classes continue the study of Buddhist philosophy examining source texts and discussing the main points of living a Buddhist life. 

 

Open Teaching

Excellent Path

With Pema Khandro

Buddhist Philosophy Online ~ Open Teaching Webcast

March 24th, 2021, 6-6:30pm PT

This is a monthly class to support your meditation practice and meet the challenge of integrating meditation into a full, dynamic life. This class will include meditation instruction, Buddhist teachings, and remedies for navigating through challenges to practice.

Click Here to Register Now

Dakini Day Chod