Dakini Mountain Stories!

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!

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!

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!

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…

Ngondro Module 1

With Pema Khandro and Tsal'gyur Starbuck

January 27 - April 7, 2025

Build your life on a solid foundation. Ngondro presents the core practices of Buddhist psychology, working with core needs in identity, relationality, forgiveness and repair, resources and the sense of empowerment. Join Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies Institute for a journey into Ngondro, the core practice of Buddhist tantra. This module focuses on the purification of speech as the basis for Buddhist tantric practice. It then focuses on generating the refuge field. This is a practice of getting resourced, learning one’s own lineage and understanding the field of support for one’s spiritual journey. This section concludes with a…

Meditation Teacher Training 2025

With Pema Khandro, Dr. Satya and Aruna Rig'dzin

February 10 - August 4, 2025

Meditation Teacher Training 2025 For Teachers Beholding a Diverse Beautiful World The Meditation Teacher 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. 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…

Love as a Path to Liberation

With Holly Gayley, Sarah Jacoby and Pema Khandro

February 21 - 23, 2025

Love as a Path to Liberation

Losar 2025

With Pema Khandro

March 5, 2025

All are welcome to join Pema Khandro for our annual Tibetan Lunar New Year Celebration This is a free online program; open to the public. Vajrakilaya Dances Performed Losar Address with Pema Khandro Celebration of 21-Day Meditation Marathoners Dedications of Merit Year of the Wood Snake Begins! Donate below any amount to celebrate The Buddhist Studies Institute’s mission to help the Buddhist Teachings flourish.

Choying Dzod 5: Unwavering Awareness

With Pema Khandro and Khenpo Yeshi

March 21 - 23, 2025

Beyond effort and achievement is the state of natural ease, the basic space of being. How to breakthrough to find this innate expanse is the focus of a profound Buddhist meditation manual known as The Treasury of Basic Space, The Choying Dzod (chos dbyings rin po che’i mdzod). It presents the essence of esoteric Tibetan Buddhism, known as Great Perfection, or Dzogchen (rdzogs chen) in verse form. Venerated as a manifestation of the expanse of reality itself, is the quintessential Dzogchen text by the fourteenth century master, Longchenpa. It refers to the expanse of reality and pure experience of meaningfulness as the revelation…

December 10, 2018 by BuddhistYogis

Dakini Mountain Stories by Pema Khandro

Dakini is the Sanskrit term and the Tibetan word is mkha’ ‘gro, which means traveling in the sky. It can also be rendered as traveling in space. One popular rendering is “sky-dancers”…

Click Here to visit our new website DakiniMountain.org and continue reading on!

Dear Friends,

We are happy to invite you to join the joyful community of Buddhist Yogis in Berkeley for an evening of Prayer, Practice, and Celebration in honor of our Lama Pema Khandro Rinpoche’s Birthday!

White Tara Tsok

Fundraiser and Birthday Celebration
for Pema Khandro Rinpoche

Tuesday, December 18th at 7pm

Pema Khandro Rinpoche’s birthday wish is to realize the dream of Dakini Mountain, a place to journey into the experience of intrinsic goodness, to have experience of bliss and well-being in one’s body and mind. This future retreat center will be a resource for our community to offer such experiences as our service to the world.

There are many ways to participate in helping make Pema Khandro’s Birthday Wish come true!

Donate to Dakini Mountain and/or volunteer, attend in person, and/or sponsor a candle for yourself, your loved ones, and others. (Prayers will be made for those persons by name and will be dedicated to helping them. Candle Sponsorship is $9 – 108 per person.) Contact Tsal’gyur at tsalgyur.buddhist.yogis@gmail.com to rsvp or for more information.

We Have Moved!

The Berkeley Gompa is expanding and moving to become a full blown recent center – see: DakiniMountain.org

We outgrew our old location and are in the process of selling that property and moving to our new center – DakiniMountain! Our Santa Cruz community – the House of Bodhichitta, continues on in downtown Santa Cruz and we now have a small Gompa in Virginia.

But, we still have so many friends and community in Berkeley and Pema Khandro Rinpoche plans to continue to return there annually. We are happy to welcome you to our new Home-based Berkeley Center for our annual celebration of Pema Khandro Rinpoche’s birthday.

Location: 2929 Roosevelt Avenue, Richmond, CA, 94804
Email Info@BuddhistYogis.org for more information and directions.

We are so fortunate to welcome Gyaldak Rinpoche, who will be presiding and offering White Tara Meditation, mantras for World Peace and our loved ones, and a Tsok* ceremony on behalf of Pema Khandro Rinpoche. Tsok is a Tibetan Buddhist prayer and chanting ceremony involving shared food, offerings, and meditation. Please bring a favorite vegetarian dish to share for the Tsok, with an ingredient list for those with allergies, and please feel free to invite your loved ones and friends.

Silent Auction
A few of the very special White Tara prints (see below) will be offered by silent auction at this event, with very low starting bids – don’t miss your chance to receive this one-of-a-kind scroll painting!

Thank you for another year of support!

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your continued support in 2018. Because of you, Ngakpa International continues to offer in-depth Buddhist Education worldwide.

Thanks to you we were able to offer:

217 Programs in 2018. This was 80 more programs than in 2017, and 103 more programs than in 2016!
We served 1,352 Participants and 84 Members.
We offered 164 Free Classes and we gave $8,420.00 of Financial Aid to those with financial hardship.

This was also another year of training leaders, teachers, counselors, doctors and health professionals. We offered our online Meditation Instructor Training as well as Group Leader Training. Classes were offered in Seattle, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, LA, San Diego, Charlottesville, and Online.

We hosted His Eminence Gyaldak Rinpoche, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche, and Lama Tenzin at our Retreats and centers. And we once again supported Himalayan children and orphans.

Also in 2018, Pema Khandro Rinpoche continued to be published in Lion’s Roar magazine and Buddhadharma magazine as one of their most read authors.

Pema Khandro Rinpoche has continued to offer us extraordinary access to in-depth training and education in esoteric Buddhist philosophy, Vajrayana and Dzogchen. Through Vajrayana Training and Ngakpa Seminary she has guided students in a classical Buddhist intellectual education while also offering retreats to give ongoing training in the contemplative sciences of the Buddhist Yogis. This past spring’s Vajrayana residential retreat at Jikoji Zen Center and summer’s annual Dzogchen residential retreat at Mount Madonna were major successes with serious practice and joy.

Pema Khandro Rinpoche was also a keynote speaker at Commune Retreat in Malibu and taught at Soulstice in San Diego, California.

In pursuit of our commitment to support wellness in body and mind, we led our signature Detoxification and Cleansing Retreats in Santa Cruz and Lake Tahoe. Meanwhile, our local leaders led regular Meditation Classes in five cities and our Residential Centers fostered 28 residents. We also hosted the first three retreats at Khandro Ling in Charlottesville, Virginia

But she cannot do this alone – this year, more than ever, she needs your help. This year, we are on the brink of acquiring Dakini Mountain, and your participation and support and donations are needed to realize this dream.

“Dakini Mountain is the place where we encounter our authentic wisdom.”
~Pema Khandro

You may make a one-time gift and you may also give monthly by being a Member. And for those of you have donated before, for this we heartily THANK YOU! We hope you will consider making a Year-End Donation toward Dakini Mountain.

May we Meet at Dakini Mountain

Below you will find some Very Special White Tara Gifts that one of our members would like to give you as a special thanks for your generous donation – a White Tara scroll painting. White Tara is the female Buddha who embodies pure peace, forgiveness, extension of life, protection from destructive forces, and the bliss of recognizing our innate wisdom.

We’ve reached $49,511 so far – help us reach the goal!

Ngakpa Intl is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations are
Tax Deductible. Federal Tax Id# 68-0529687.

Very Special Gift for You
One of a Kind – White Tara Thangka Print

This special thangka image will not be reproduced outside of the Buddhist Yogis Sangha or for any other purposes. The image is meant for members and practitioners of Ngakpa International only, however because of the importance of the Dakini Mountain location, donors now have an opportunity to receive this very special print of White Tara.

Message from the Artist
“This White Tara was made with great devotion and in a traditional manner. The original is stretched cotton sized with yak glue. The paint was made from stone pigments mixed with various binders and acrylic paint was used as well. The painting itself is painted in Karma Gadri style, which has greater compositional depth and detail as it combines all other styles, and is also considered a depiction reference of the ‘pure land’. The two flowers in front are for my stepfather and mother. During its creation mantras and pujas were performed. When the eyes were ‘opened,’ referring to the painting of the eyes last to bring the thangka to life, it was done on the first day of the full moon. When done properly, the thangka will be ‘alive’ and subtle energy emanating from the image will affect the practitioner. If you are to receive one of these images please treat it with respect, devotion and honor. It will benefit your life.” ~ Rin’dzin Prema

The artist has donated proceeds for a limited number of these prints as gifts for the donors of Dakini Mountain, as follows:

Archival Pigment Print – on Archival Paper
$1200 Donation – Small size 8×10”

Archival Pigment Print – on Premium Canvas
*Enhanced by the artist*
$2400 Donation – Small size 9×11
$3600 Donation – Medium size 12×14.5
$5000 Donation – Large Size 17×22 (*only one available in this size)
*Canvas prints to be framed or brocaded by the donor

Ngakpa Intl is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations are
Tax Deductible. Federal Tax Id# 68-0529687.