Buddha Nature: Longchenpa’s Treasury of Words and Meaning
With Pema Khandro and Dr David Germano
February 6 - 8, 2026
Join us for a transformative weekend with scholars-and-practitioners of the highest calibre. In this immersive course, we dive into the luminous heart of the Dzogchen tradition through the lens of the great fourteenth-century master Longchenpa. His seminal work, the Tshig-dön mDzöd (The “Treasury of Words and Meaning”), offers a profound mapping of the mind’s nature, the ground of reality, and the path of awakening.
Guided by David F. Germano — distinguished Tibetologist whose scholarship illuminates Longchenpa’s philosophical architecture. And by Tulku Pema Khandro, Ph.D.— a recognized lineage holder in the Nyingma-Kagyu streams, bridging deep contemplative practice with academic clarity.
Together, they will lead you to engage Longchenpa’s text not only as a philosophical treatise but as an experiential gateway: to awaken to Buddha-Nature (Tib. Tathāgatagarbha) in the living moment, to abide in the natural state of awareness, and to carry this realization into daily life.
Leaders
Tulku Pema Khandro, Ph.D is an internationally renowned teacher and scholar of Buddhist philosophy. She is the founder of Ngakpa International and its three projects, The Buddhist Studies Institute, Dakini Mountain, and the Yogic Medicine Institute. In her work as a Buddhist teacher, she is an authorized Lama and lineage holder of the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions and was enthroned to carry on the lineage of her predecessor, the first Pema Khandro, an early twentieth-century yogini from Eastern Tibet, whose primary practices were Dzogchen and Chod. Pema Khandro has led a vibrant worldwide community since 1999. Through the Buddhist Studies Institute, she…
Learn more about Pema Khandro
David Germano is Professor of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia, where he also serves as Director of the Tibet Center and co-director of the Contemplative Sciences Center. A leading scholar of Dzogchen and the Nyingma tradition, his work bridges rigorous textual study and lived contemplative practice. He founded the Tibetan and Himalayan Library, an international digital platform for collaborative research and preservation, and has written extensively on Longchenpa, visionary literature, and the evolution of Buddhist contemplative systems.
Learn more about Dr David Germano