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Dear Sangha,

We currently have a residential opening at Dakini Mountain, in the Tahoe National Forest, outside of Nevada City.

We are currently offering the ground floor to potential resident/s for a minimum of 3-6 month contract starting December 1st, 2023.

This is in the lodge that hosts Dakini Mountain and Buddhist Studies Institute headquarters upstairs.

It is the independent retreat home you have dreamed about! This spacious home is steel framed on over 35 beautiful acres, serene and private, isolated and surrounded by nature. This is your opportunity to escape the ordinary and urban life, solitude offers an opportunity to inspire your spiritual practice and creativity in the quiet of this setting.

Off the grid, and fully self-sufficient. Enjoy the sunshine and a lovely refreshing clean mountain air setting in the great outdoors, with hiking, mountain biking, equestrian and Nordic trails nearby, and just a few minutes to Yuba River swimming holes and Scotts Flat Lake boating activities—only 30 minutes to world-class skiing and less than 90 minutes to Sacramento or Reno airports. Sugar Bowl is just 29 miles up the road. Lying within the Tahoe National Forest, it has ready access to a recreation paradise. Skillman Horse Campground and Chalk Bluff OHV (Off-highway vehicles) staging area are minutes away, so bring your dirt bike. Stunning Harmony Ridge and Scotts Flat Reservoirs a short distance to the west.

The resident or couple would have an entire 1600 square foot floor of the eco-lux retreat center to live surrounded by the beauty of nature. Grand and large open great room with a wall of windows overlooking the spacious grounds and a panoramic vista has central heating and a wood burning stove for extra winter warmth. Luxury master bedroom and full bath. Perfect for online business owners as high-speed Starlink internet is included. Starlink enables video calls, online streaming, and other high data rate activities. Includes indoor garage space and outdoor parking, access to outdoor kitchen and stage, ample storage space, and dog-friendly!

Click Here for more photos

Must be winter snow savvy! Must be enthusiastic about being in a rugged environment!

Great location for snow-lovers.

Dakini Mountain is a gorgeous place to have a quiet white winter retreat. Must have 4-wheel drive or all-wheel drive car. No smoking, drugs, parties.

Single Resident: $2275
*includes utilities: power, water, internet

Couple: $2975
*includes utilities: power, water, internet

Partial work-trade discount is also available for skilled handi-person/s with snow or snow-plowing experience, based on skill level and availability for work-trade.

Interested applicants, please fill out this short form:

Residential Inquiry Form

Buddhist Studies Institute

The Bardo Retreat:

Buddhist practices for death & dying

November 3-5

Online with Pema Khandro

5pm PT San Francisco | 8pm ET New York | 11am AET Sydney

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. This includes recorded lectures, and conversations with experts in caregiving, hospice, Buddhist ministry, Tibetan Buddhist history, and scientific research on reincarnation. It also includes a self-paced training in Buddhist funerary practices, known as Zhitro, led by Pema Khandro.

Fri. Nov 3rd – Kunzang Monlam with Pema Khandro
Sat. Nov 4th – The Tibetan Book of the Dead for Beginners: A Guide to Living and Dying, with Lama Lhanang and discussion with Pema Khandro
Sun. Nov 5th – Shitro for Departed Loved Ones with Pema Khandro

Annual Season of Practice Begins

November 1st

Online with Pema Khandro

5pm PT San Francisco | 8pm ET New York | 11am AET Sydney

“Use the 100 days to try to evoke a contemplative life…this may be something you don’t feel like doing, your attention span may be conditioned otherwise, and it may take some kind of effort, but it is a way of creating sovereignty and reclaiming sovereignty over our attention span.” ~ Pema Khandro

The Season of Practice is held each year starting November 1st – Tibetan Lunar New Year (Losar).

The Heart Sutra

with Pema Khandro, Ph.D & Shugen Roshi

December 1st – 3rd

Online

9am PST San Francisco | 12pm EST New York | 5pm GMT London

The Heart Sutra for more than two thousand years has been chanted daily by Buddhists around the world. Known as Prajnaparamita, the Heart Sutra, powerfully illuminates the path of freedom from suffering. The Heart Sutra contemplates the way we perceive, and what is beyond what our dualistic assumptions portray. This course with Lama Pema Khandro & Shughin Roshi explores the Heart Sutra from the Tibetan Buddhist perspective including the pivotal teachings of the four extreme mistakes on the spiritual path, discovery of one’s true nature and one’s true purpose.

Vajrayana Training

Under the Direction of Lama Pema Khandro

So you finished Ngondro (or didn’t), what’s next?

For students interested in pursuing the long-term accomplishment of traditional Vajrayana stages of study and practice, we invite you to check out Vajrayana Training.

The course is taught by Pema Khandro whose background of growing up in North America has provided her with an understanding of Western culture and learning styles. Thus the Vajrayana Training offers advanced esoteric teachings in a modern format. She engages straightforward language with a supportive teaching methodology that offers lecture, question and answer, slide shows with outlines of the material, recordings of the class for viewing and reference and the support of an assisting instructor who will follow up with one on one conversations after each class. The training is given in the accessible format of live web-cast teachings to keep Vajrayana accessible despite the demands of modern life. It is held on the first two Wednesdays of every month.

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training – 1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training – 3rd Wednesday of each month

NOVEMBER

November 1 Season of Practice Kick-off Event with Pema Khandro

November 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online with Pema Khandro

DECEMBER

December 1-3 Heart Sutra with Pema Khandro & Shugen Roshi

December 13 Pema Khandro Birthday Celebration & Fundraiser

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone

Buddhist Studies Institute

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

October 6-8th, 2023
Online

9:00am-12:00pm San Francisco PT

12:00pm -3:00pm New York ET

5:00pm-8:00pm London BT

The meditation practice of the black wrathful Dakini, Troma Nagmo, unlocks the innermost wisdom mind. Troma Nagmo is the fiercely compassionate form of Vajrayogini. It is a gateway to the profound wisdom that sees things as they are, that faces reality in its full range of expressions – of horror and beauty, rupture and peace, death and renewal. Troma Nagmo is the black wrathful dakini who escorts beings to the state beyond fear, an advanced meditation for discovering resilience, bravery and intensely compassionate presence.

This online retreat focuses on the meditation of Troma Nagmo and study of the Troma Nagmo pith instructions from the seventeen tantras.

Join Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D. for three days of deep dharma study, Chod meditation, and dharma conversation.

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training – 1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training – 3rd Wednesday of each month

OCTOBER

Oct 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

NOVEMBER

Nov 1st – Member Event: Season of Practice with Pema Khandro

Nov 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online

DECEMBER

Dec 1-3 The Heart Sutra

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone

Buddhist Studies Institute

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

October 6-8th, 2023
Online

9:00am-12:00pm San Francisco PT

12:00pm -3:00pm New York ET

5:00pm-8:00pm London BT

This is a rare opportunity to study excerpts from the Troma text held within the original Dzogchen tantras known as the seventeen tantras, the Dakini’s Secret Tantra.

About Troma Nagmo
Underlying Tibetan Buddhist Chod meditation is the practice of Troma Nagmo, the black, wrathful dakini. In the Dakini’s Secret Tantra, Troma Nagmo’s meaning and practice is explained in terms of the ultimate view of reality. It explores how to cut through limited concepts to experience expansive freedom, but without spiritual bypassing. Thus it explores the line been the vast views of intrinsic wisdom, and the practicality of working with dualistic experience.

Join Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D. for three days of deep dharma study, Chod meditation, and dharma conversation.

Meditation Instructor Training 2024

February 19 – August 5

3 Modules

Traditional Meditation

Teaching Practicum

Teaching Ethics

Pema Khandro on Buddhist Women –

A Hero in Dark Times:

Jetsuma Mingyur Paldron

(Tib. rJe btsun Mi ‘gyur dpal sgron)

“This is one of my favorite Buddhist stories of Buddhist women. It is the story of an eighteenth century female Buddhist teacher and leader who despite extreme hardship, becomes a major teacher and the pivotal figure in the revival and restoration of a major Tibetan monastery and its lineage.” ~ Pema Khandro

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training – 1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training – 3rd Wednesday of each month

OCTOBER

Oct 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

NOVEMBER

Nov 1st – Member Event: Season of Practice with Pema Khandro

Nov 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online

DECEMBER

Dec 1-3 The Heart Sutra

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone

Buddhist Studies Institute

Members Only Class

with Pema Khandro, Janak and Aruna

Buddhism & Sexuality: Clarifying Consent

Wednesday September 27th, 2023

5pm PT / 8pm ET

A conversation with Pema Khandro, Janak, and Aruna on creating a safe community for non-celibate practitioners.  

For Members and Participants of the Buddhism & Sexuality Series

This program is only being offered to Members of The Buddhist Studies Institute and registrants of our Buddhism & Sexuality program. Email Info@BuddhistStudiesInstitute.org to receive the

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

October 6-8th, 2023

Online

9:00am-12:00pm San Francisco, PT

12:00pm -3:00pm New York, ET

5:00pm-8:00pm London, BT

Underlying Tibetan Buddhist Chod meditation is the practice of Troma Nagmo, the black, wrathful dakini. Troma Nagmo’s meaning and practice is explained in terms of the ultimate view of reality in the Dakini’s Secret Tantra. It explores how to cut through limited concepts to experience expansive freedom, but without spiritual bypassing. Thus it explores the line been the vast views of intrinsic wisdom, and the practicality of working with dualistic experience. Join Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D. for three days of deep dharma study, meditation, and dharma conversation.

The Bardo Retreat:

Buddhist practices for death, dying, and beyond

November 3-5

Online with Pema Khandro

5pm PT San Francisco | 8pm ET New York | 11am AET Sydney

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. This includes recorded lectures, and conversations with experts in caregiving, hospice, Buddhist ministry, Tibetan Buddhist history, and scientific research on reincarnation. It also includes a self-paced training in Buddhist funerary practices, known as Zhitro, led by Pema Khandro.

An Introduction to Tibetan Medicine

– the Body Mind Connection

by Pema Khandro (Excerpted from a Lecture)

“Tibetan Buddhism highlights the interconnectedness of our body and mind. Buddhists carry the wish to be sane, kind and present. That can be difficult when the body is pain, when the mind is racing or when moods are unpredictable. Therefore utilizing Tibetan Medicine principles can help to reduce obstacles to Buddhist meditation and practice.” Pema Khandro

Pema Khandro’s teachings specialize in the integration natural medicine with Buddhist practice. A practitioner of Tibetan medicine and Ayurveda, she founded the Yogic Medicine Institute within which she co-directs a school and clinic. Tibetan Yoga and meditation, nutrition and cleansing practices are essential tools to renew ourselves on a regular basis and to discover what it is to be fully alive.

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training – 1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training – 3rd Wednesday of each month

OCTOBER

October 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

NOVEMBER

November 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online with Pema Khandro

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone

Buddhist Studies Institute

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

Online: October 6-8th, 2023

9am -12pm San Francisco PDT

12pm – 3pm New York EDT

11am – 2pm Sydney AEDT

Tantra and Dzogchen with their themes of transformation and being exactly we as are can sometimes seem contradictory. Yet they represent two profound paths to contemplative realization that have always been practiced together in some form. And both represent crucial aspects of the path.

This retreat focuses on a rare early Dzogchen text called the Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra. In striking contemplative poetry, it unites the themes of Tantra and Dzogchen through contemplations of fierce compassion and primordial knowing. This is an essential text to study for those who follow Chod, the esoteric Tibetan meditations for cutting through fear. It explains and presents the meaning of the Black Wrathful Dakini and explains all aspects of ultimate reality from a non-dual perspective. This important scripture is part of the collection of the seventeen tantras, the early Dzogchen texts that were the major source of the Dzogchen Nyingthig tradition.

This sacred text unites Tantra and Dzogchen in a single stream of contemplative vision of ultimate reality as understood through the Dakini principle.

This three-day retreat focuses on the study of excerpts from the scripture, the practice of the Troma Nagmo cycle from the Rinchen Trengwa three Dakini Chod, meditation, and dharma conversation. This is part one in a series that will explore this profound scripture with Pema Khandro, whose scholarly research focuses on early Dzogchen. 

The Bardo Retreat

Buddhist Practices for Death & Dying

Online: November 3-5, 2023

5pm – 7pm San Francisco PDT
8pm – 10pm New York EDT
11am – 1pm Sydney AEDT

Bardo refers to the experience of rupture- of endings and uncertainty – that leaves us suspended in the liminal spaces between what was and what will be. Bardo also refers to dying and post-death periods as well as to states of radical transformation in life. Join Dr. Pema Khandro, scholar and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism and Lama Lhanang Rinpoche for an intensive course focused on the profound wisdom and skillful means presented by the Buddhist philosophy of death, bardo, and rebirth.

Save the Dates
Meditation Instuctor Training 2024

February 19 – August 5

3 Modules

Traditional Meditation

Teaching Practicum

Teaching Ethics

Pema Khandro on Buddhist Women –

One Nun’s Hardship & Beauty:

The Story of Gelongma Palmo 

(Tib. dGe slong ma dPal mo)

“One of the key themes of Buddhist life stories is that our experiences are not only made up of circumstances, but also of our reaction to those circumstances. Whatever happens externally may not be in our control, but we have a choice about the meanings we take from them and where we go from here. This is a Buddhist viewpoint made apparent by the radical story of Gelongma Palmo, who faced extreme hardship, yet is subsequently transformed and liberated through the experience.” ~ Pema Khandro

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training – 1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training – 3rd Wednesday of each month

OCTOBER

October 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

NOVEMBER
November 3-5  Death, Dying and Rebirth: Bardo Teachings with Lama Pema Khandro and Lama Lhanang Rinpoche

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone

Buddhist Studies Institute

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

October 6-8th, 2023

Online

9:00am-12:00pm PST

12:00pm -3:00pm EST

5:00pm-8:00pm BST

Tantra and Dzogchen with their themes of transformation and being exactly we as are can sometimes seem contradictory. Yet they represent two profound paths to contemplative realization that have always been practiced together in some form. And both represent crucial aspects of the path.

This retreat focuses on a rare early Dzogchen text called the Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra. In striking contemplative poetry, it unites the themes  of Tantra and Dzogchen through contemplations of fierce compassion and primordial knowing. This is an essential text to study for those who follow Chod, the esoteric Tibetan meditations for cutting through fear. It explains and presents the meaning of the Black Wrathful Dakini and explains all aspects of ultimate reality from a non-dual perspective. This important scripture is part of the collection of the seventeen tantras, the early Dzogchen texts that were the major source of the Dzogchen Nyingthig tradition.

This sacred text unites Tantra and Dzogchen in a single stream of contemplative vision of ultimate reality as understood through the Dakini principle.

This three day retreat focuses on the study of excerpts from the scripture, the practice of the Troma Nagmo cycle from the Rinchen Trengwa three Dakini Chod, meditation and dharma conversation. This is part one in a series that will explore this profound scripture with Pema Khandro, whose scholarly research focuses on early Dzogchen. 

Ngondro Module 4: 

Intrinsic Wisdom

Aug 21-Oct 16

Online

5pm PT | 8pm ET

Whether Starting New, Catching Up, Continuing or Starting Over, 

You are Welcome to Join Now!

It is possible to join Ngondro Training at any time and it can be taken in any order. Join current modules live and take previous modules at your own pace. This module focuses on Intrinsic Wisdom including Receiving the Four Empowerments and Merging into Buddhahood.

Pema Khandro on Buddhist Women
Nangsa Obum: The Story of A Survivor

This is a brief summary of the legend of Nangsa Obum who overcome a lot to live a life devoted to liberation of her self and others. It is a story of a woman overcoming extreme resistance to her spiritual pursuits.

Death, Dying, and Rebirth

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D, and Lama Lhanang Rinpoche

November 3-5, 2023

Online

5-7 PM PST
8-10 PM PST
11AM-1PM Melbourne (one day ahead)

The profound and inevitable encounter with death has been a subject addressed by great Buddhist philosophers for the last two thousand years. The pinnacle of those teachings were presented in the sacred books that came to be known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which was part of a larger tradition of Great Perfection (Dzogchen) manuscripts that addressed the bardos, the phases of change in a life. Those complete teachings describe the phases of change, dissolution, and rebirth. They identify the stages of dying, practices to extend the life force when possible, and practices to die well when possible. They also describe how to help others in their process of departure from a life.

This weekend course, hosted by Pema Khandro investigates these moving and precious death, bardo, and rebirth teachings as taught by scholars, and Lamas of the Tibetan tradition. In a format of unprecedented accessibility, this series features self-paced and live classes with Pema Khandro, Lamas, and scholars of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as a Buddhist funeral ceremony to honor beloved friends and family who have recently passed away.

The course also includes a self-paced course on Buddhist funerary practice, to learn how to help loved ones who have died in the forty-nine day period as they travel from one life to the next. The oral transmission initiation (lung) will be given by Pema Khandro on the third day of the course.

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training – 1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training – 3rd Wednesday of each month

OCTOBER

October 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

NOVEMBER
November 3-5  Death, Dying and Rebirth: Bardo Teachings with Lama Pema Khandro and Lama Lhanang Rinpoche

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone

Buddhist Studies Institute

Finding Rest & Ease in the Nature of Mind: 

Longchenpa’s Guide with Pema Khandro
September 8-10th 2023

Online

8:00am-12:30pm PST San Francisco

11:00pm -3:30pm EST New York

4:00pm-8:30pm BST London

Why online Buddhist Study?

This retreat is led entirely online.

We believe that online dharma study provides access for in depth practice for those who might not otherwise ever be able to access it. Caregivers, parents, people who live far away, people with differently abled bodies, people engaged in demanding careers, those who are unable to learn another language and travel to Asia… there are so many who long for serious engagement with Buddhist teachings who need access to the highest quality study and practice. As the Buddha taught in the 84,000 languages of the 84,000 types of beings, so to does the dharma continue to be shared in limitless ways for those who have pure motivation. Guided by Lamas, Khenpos, Scholars from East and West, let your journey be supported by experts. And, you don’t have to do it alone. Experience the life-changing experience of dharma study within a beautiful community of international dharma friends!

Encounter the profound instructions of the trilogy of comfort and ease, the exposition on the stages of the journey by one of the great Tibetan philosophers, Longchenpa (1308-1364). This is a text that is taught annually in Nyingma schools around the world because of its comprehensive engagement with all the stages of the path.

These beautiful teachings consider the fundamental ease available in the depths of being, and how to access those states. It is often difficult to access rigorous engagement with Buddhist intellectual traditions. The Buddhist Studies Institute offers groundbreaking efforts to make that study available.

This online retreat will offer the opportunity to study the core writings of one of the most venerated and brilliant Buddhist philosophers of Tibet, Longchenpa. In classes you will read passages in Tibetan and translated English and enjoy the rich commentary and interpretation by Dzogchen scholar, Lama and lineage holder, Dr. Pema Khandro.

Yes, you can also receive expertly guided yoga classes too. Sitting can be hard without physical preparation, and this retreat comes with help and support! Deep rest is the best preparation for class, enjoy restorative yoga in the morning led by Buddhist Studies Institute Faculty.

Other parts of the retreat includes:

• Feeling the support of group practice

• Enjoy dharma conversations, fostering community through small group discussions

• Experiencing guided meditation sessions led by Pema Khandro

• Delving into Buddhist philosophy anchored in rigorous engagement with classical Buddhist texts; enjoying daily lectures given by Dr. Khandro

• Exploring Buddhist Philosophy

• Remembering the profound teachings that unravel it all at the root

• Exploring reality, enjoying question and answer sessions with Dr. Khandro

• Signing up for one-to-one meetings at the end of the retreat with the Lama

• Bringing the dharma home to you; engaging in in-depth training from your own home, an unprecedented accessibility to traditional Buddhist training

Pema Khandro will lead practices 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. A system venerated for its power to awaken the primordial knowing beyond illusions, these practices provide an opening to the authentic nature of innate wakefulness.

Pre-requisites

Previous meditation experience and a history of meditation practice is necessary to fully appreciate and engage in the practices taught in this retreat, but this class is offered with open enrollment. Recommended prerequisites are: completed Ngondro training, are currently enrolled in Ngondro training or have completed Ngondro in any lineage.

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

October 6-8th, 2023

Online

9:00am-12:00pm PST

12:00pm -3:00pm EST

5:00pm-8:00pm BST

Enter the vast view of Tibetan Great Perfection, with its contemplative cultivation of innate wakefulness and poetic evocations of sublime knowing. These teachings redefine how we understand meditation through unpacking how non-duality expands us beyond our conceptual frameworks. Join Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D. in a deep study and meditation immersion online.

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training – 1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training – 3rd Wednesday of each month

SEPTEMBER

Sept 8-10 Finding Rest and Ease in the Nature of Mind: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

OCTOBER

October 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone

Buddhist Studies Institute

Finding Rest & Ease in the Nature of Mind: 

Longchenpa’s Guide to Dzogchen with Pema Khandro

September 8-10th 2023

Online

8:00am-12:30pm PST

11:00pm -3:30pm EST

4:00pm-8:30pm BST

Unplug. Disconnect.

Take space for inner silence.

Enjoy the soothing sound of chanting meditation.

Enjoy deep dharma study.

Encounter the profound instructions of the trilogy of comfort and ease, the exposition on the stages of the journey by one of the great Tibetan philosopher, Longchenpa (1308-1364).

These beautiful teachings consider the fundamental ease available in the depths of being, and how to access those states. It is often difficult to access rigorous engagement with Buddhist intellectual traditions. The Buddhist Studies Institute offers groundbreaking efforts to make that study available. The Dzogchen Retreat online will offer the opportunity to study the core writings of one of the most venerated and brilliant Buddhist philosophers of Tibet, Longchenpa (1308-1364). In classes you will read passages in Tibetan and translated English and enjoy the rich commentary and interpretation by Dzogchen scholar, Lama and lineage holder, Dr. Pema Khandro.

This is a continuation of an annual study of this precious text that is central to esoteric Buddhist meditation.

This retreat is led entirely online. Prepare a serene space to watch the classes, and be ready to show up on camera for practice sessions with an international community.

Yoga Classes

Rest your body and mind! Enjoy restorative yoga each morning led by Buddhist Studies Institute faculty, this is an optional class for retreat participants, focused on deep relaxation and support of the body.

Other parts of the retreat include:

• Feeling the support of group practice

• Enjoying dharma conversations, fostering community through small group discussions

• Experiencing Dzogchen guided meditation sessions led by Pema Khandro

• Delving into Buddhist philosophy anchored in rigorous engagement with classical Buddhist texts; enjoying daily lectures given by Dr. Khandro

• Engaging with Buddhist Philosophy

• Remembering the profound teachings that unravel it all at the root

• Exploring reality, enjoying question and answer sessions with Dr. Khandro

• Sign up for one-to-one meetings at the end of the retreat with the Lama

• Bringing the dharma home to you; engaging in in-depth training from your own home, an unprecedented accessibility to traditional Buddhist training

Pema Khandro will lead practices 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. A system venerated for its power to awaken the primordial knowing beyond illusions, these practices provide an opening to the authentic nature of innate wakefulness.

Pre-requisites

Recommended prerequisites are: completed Ngondro training, are currently enrolled in Ngondro training or have completed Ngondro in any lineage. Previous meditation experience and a history of meditation practice is necessary to fully appreciate and engage in the practices taught in this retreat, but this class is offered with open enrollment.

“The Great Garuda states:

Abandon desire for bliss, for this harms the mind;
rely on resting naturally,
free of anything needing to be done regarding samsara or nirvana.

As for the magical display of mind and apparent phenomena,

‘This is self,’ ’This is other,” which are the hindrances of mental stirring,

are dispelled along with perceiving, thinking, and fixating,
so there is imperturbable rest
that defies all attempts at verbal expression.

The implications of whatever manifests

as the miraculous display of ordinary, conceptual mind

can be discerned within the ‘interval,’ free of characterization,

between conceptual mind and the objects that constitute its function.

– Longchenpa, Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

October 6-8th, 2023

Online

9:00am-12:00pm PST

12:00pm -3:00pm EST

5:00pm-8:00pm BST

This is a rare opportunity to study excerpts from the Troma text held within the original Dzogchen tantras known as the seventeen tantras, the Dakini’s Secret Tantra.

About Troma Nagmo
Underlying Tibetan Buddhist Chod meditation is the practice of Troma Nagmo, the black, wrathful dakini. In the Dakini’s Secret Tantra, Troma Nagmo’s meaning and practice is explained in terms of the ultimate view of reality. It explores how to cut through limited concepts to experience expansive freedom, but without spiritual bypassing. Thus it explores the line been the vast views of intrinsic wisdom, and the practicality of working with dualistic experience.

Join Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D. for three days of deep dharma study, Chod meditation, and dharma conversation.

Pema Khandro on Buddha Nature

“At the core of what we are is Buddha-nature…Buddha-mind… a wakeful presence already complete, pure, good and fully and completely enlightened.” Pema Khandro

Pema Khandro discusses Buddha-nature and the third of the major Buddhist teachings known as the third turning of the wheel of the dharma.

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training – 1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training – 3rd Wednesday of each month

SEPTEMBER

Sept 8-10 Finding Rest and Ease in the Nature of Mind: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

OCTOBER

October 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone

Buddhist Studies Institute

Letter from Pema Khandro

Dear Dharma Friends,

I remember one morning listening to a dharma teaching in Tibet. It was an out of the way temple hidden in the mountains. Hundreds of people had finished a ngondro retreat together. There were yogis everywhere, not just men like in a monastery, but entire families, all practicing together as ngakpas, yogis who balance spiritual training with family life. At the end of the session a Tibetan woman sang a song, her voice was loud and clear, loud like opera but ringing out in a clear way like a bell. This wasn’t the teaching, the program was officially over. But it was a stunning moment none-the-less, one where we were all quiet together, listening to this emotional song of longing and redemption.

I was squeezed in between people. On my right, a person sat on part of my leg. On my left, my leg was stacked over someone’s foot. The person behind me was sitting on my skirt and I was afraid that if I stood up that it would get pulled down. It was not that comfortable and really the whole week had been so rustic that my body was starting to feel worn out. I appreciated that the setting was so simple, there was not even a restroom, just the temple and all these people squeezed together, but that it made it physically more gruelling. There was also no air conditioning and it was very hot, hotter than I ever thought possible. I found myself wondering if it was safe to be in a room that hot!

But all these details faded away as we listened to this wonderful song being performed at the end. It wasn’t even like that for everyone, I noticed at least one person wanting it to hurry up and end. But for me, time stopped and I was just still listening. It was reaching me and I was arriving to a present state.

That was when I remembered the Dzogchen practice, where when listening, we notice that which is listening. And there, more than seven thousand miles away from home, I felt at home as I settled into my own awareness. A simple and highly present state.

As they say, in Vajrayana literature, there are very elaborate, elaborate, non-elaborate and very non-elaborate teachings. This was of the very-non-elaborate kind. Just sitting with my senses, my mind, my awareness, using the basic stuff of what I am. I am grateful to know how to rest. This is the point of Dzogchen, to learn to use experience, to work with circumstance and to find the rest and ease within us.

Sometimes I remember that meditation in the temple because it was so spontaneous and so stripped of complexity. On bad days, I like to recycle past present experiences by contemplating them so I savor it again and enjoy it repeatedly. And now I share it with you (experiences can be re-enjoyed endlessly!)

This month as we prepare to enter our annual study of Finding Rest & Ease by Longchenpa, I have a renewed sense of the purpose of these instructions, that help us make peace with our own minds, wherever are. We can’t all necessarily go to Asia, or even get away from our work or family responsibilities for a full day. So we need to know how to rest right here, and I don’t mean just falling asleep, because that can be disturbing. The point is not even about free time, because even that can be draining, and we don’t have much of that. This advice from Longchenpa is about how to find a sense of refuge in our own body and mind just exactly as we are right now. This is a topic of intense scrutiny and rigorous examination, and the subject of some of the most beautiful poetry you will ever hear. I am overjoyed to share this with you and hope that year after year we will be able to work through this entire text together.

Last year we studied the first Vajra point about place, a profound teaching on integration with the environment. And this year we will study the great Longchenpa’s life of a yogi – how to live our lives as Dzogchen practitioners. I love that this addresses how to handle encounters with evil and avoid deception, because this is an important part of establishing the state of rest inside.

I hope you will join us and regardless, may we all find some moments of ease today.

My very best to you always,

Finding Rest & Ease in the Nature of Mind: 

Longchenpa’s Guide to Dzogchen with Pema Khandro

September 8-10th, 2023 Online

8:00am-12:30pm PST

11:00pm -3:30pm EST

4:00pm-8:30pm BST

“Liberation will be attained by seeing the nature of the mind itself,

the true nature of phenomena. Then there is no other peace to attain.”

Excerpt From, Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding, Longchenpa

So much about the spiritual path is uncomfortable and not easy, which is why it is important to train to tap into these states as a source of refuge, rest, and recovery.

Experience three days of profound study and meditation in this three-day online retreat with Dr. Pema Khandro.

The Power of Mind in Buddhist Thought

By Pema Khandro

“When we realize that mind is the source of joy and the remedy for suffering, we reaffirm our conviction of the self-existing dignity of every human being.”  Pema Khandro

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training – 1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training – 3rd Wednesday of each month

AUGUST

Aug 21-Oct 16 – Ngondro 4 – Intrinsic Wisdom

SEPTEMBER

Sept 8-10 Finding Rest and Ease in the Nature of Mind: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone