Once a Friend, Always a Friend

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…

21 Taras Pema Khandro Birthday Fundraiser

With Pema Khandro

December 4, 2024

Join us for the 21 Taras. The twenty-one taras is a sublime chanting meditation and praise of the forms of the female Bodhisattva Tara, each one a contemplation of all the forms of compassion ranging from gentle to fierce. This event explores the outer, inner and secret meaning of the twenty-one taras. This will be a joyous fundraiser in honor of our beloved Pema Khandro Rinpoche’s birthday. Wednesday, December 4th 6 pm pt | 9 pm et

September 10, 2021 by BuddhistYogis

Dear Friends and Members,

How rich is your life in terms of friendship? What does friendship mean to you? Is it a two-way street where there are times you delight in meeting a friend and at other times, you don’t really want to interact, but you do it as an offering, an act of generosity?

I like it when my understanding of things – friendship, for example, – is closely tied to the Buddhist teachings because that’s where I have the most confidence.

Years ago, I got this teaching from Pema Khandro: “Once a friend, always a friend.”

I didn’t think too deeply about it at first. It seemed nice but not as important as something like how to be a better meditator. Over the years, though, I’ve found great beauty and richness in this teaching about friendship.

Firstly, it gave me a way to view the people that came up in my memory.

Does that happen to you? I mean, I’m retired, so maybe I have more time on my hands than you do. I keep finding that people from the past just pop up in my thoughts. Some of these people were good and loving to me and some, well, not so much.

But now I know how to think of them. I don’t have to weigh things. If they were once my friend – if they were ever my friend – then they are still my friend. That’s how I think of them. I tell you from this practice I feel like I have an extreme abundance of friends!

Of course, I know the opposite of this practice. I could think of someone and then ponder, “Maybe they really weren’t that good of a friend. Maybe they really did me wrong when such and such happened!” I know that this negative view could be true and some things that go down are pretty intense and even horrible. Maybe if we find ourselves in that situation, healing work is needed.

But I’ve found that “Once a friend, always a friend” takes care of a lot. I don’t have to figure it all out. I just remember that once there was some level of friendship and that’s what I will remember, that’s what I will feel for that person.

I find that combining teachings like “Once a friend, always a friend” with the other Buddhist practices that stimulate love and compassion is a force to be reckoned with. This reminds me of another phrase that I also learned from Pema Khandro: “Through love and compassion, mindstream must evolve.”

As I look around and sometimes wonder (ok, maybe often wonder) if we are all headed in the right direction, I remember my personal power, so to speak. If I can manifest love and compassion, the mindstream of all beings will be influenced to evolve in a good way. I believe love and compassion are the most powerful of all the forces at play. That’s what Buddhism is all about. That’s why the Dalai Lama said, “My religion is kindness.”

If you feel as I do that there is immense value and benefit for us as individuals and for us as the community of beings here on this earth that come from the Buddhist teachings, and in particular the Buddhist teachings given by Pema Khandro, I ask you to support this work financially.

Right now, fundraising is in progress for the new Retreat Center, Dakini Mountain. Power centers like Dakini Mountain have always been a major influence on whether or not Buddhism will flourish in this world.

And Dakini Mountain needs your friendship in the form of donations. Funds are needed for critical maintenance, property tax and insurance. Already over $15,000 has been raised. On behalf of Dakini Mountain and our Buddhist school, Buddhist Studies Institute and our Nonprofit organization, Ngakpa International, I’d like to give a big “thank you!” to all who have contributed.

$35,000 more is needed now to make the 2021 Dakini Mountain budget of $50,000. Any amount you give, large or small, makes a difference.

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

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

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

Wishing you joy and happiness,

2016FI_JanakKimmel_HeartofCompassion_Ngakpa

Janak

Director of Fundraising

Ngakpa International

Buddhist Studies Institute

Dakini Mountain Retreat Center

P.O. Box 2396

Nevada City, California 95946

USA

Dear Friends and Members,

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