Purifying the Mind – Starts Today!

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…

Pema Khandro Birthday Celebration & Fundraiser

With Pema Khandro

November 19, 2025

Your presence, prayers, and generosity sustain the living stream of this wisdom tradition through the Buddhist Studies Institute, allowing authentic Dharma to reach countless beings. You are cordially invited to spend this special evening with Pema Khandro and the worldwide BSI community. Each year, Pema Khandro’s birthday celebration is a heartfelt gathering of our worldwide community, and a joyful evening of dharma, music, stories, and connection. Khandro-la’s annual birthday wish is that offerings go directly to the Buddhist Studies Institute’s Core Support Fund

Meditation Teacher Training 2026

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

January 26 - June 27, 2026

Equanimity, calm, peace, inner strength, resilience, centeredness… there are so many reasons the world needs meditation teachers. Meditation Teachers can offer important tools for relating to these tumultuous times. Meditation promotes mindfulness and equanimity – the ability to let emotional states arise and pass without becoming overwhelming. With mindfulness, we are able to become aware of our mind-states, rather than carried away by them. It promotes the state of equanimity, the ability to respond skillfully to situations. Instead of responding with knee-jerk reactions, blame, resentment and anger we can choose healthier responses, such as loving-kindness and compassion. "The new…

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…

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April 24, 2023 by Buddhist Yogis

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Buddhist Studies Institute

Purifying the Mind

Ngondro Training Module 2 – Online with Pema Khandro

Starts Monday, April 24 – Online

5-6:30pm San Francisco (PDT)

8-9:30pm New York (EDT)

10-11:30am Sydney (AEST)

Have you ever wanted to do something important to you, went through cycles of trying and failing, given up in frustration and then later went back to it and found, to your extreme joy and possibly to your surprise, that, yes, you could do it?

Through the Buddhist Studies Institute, Pema Khandro has made your successful practice her top priority. And perhaps the most seminal of the practices of Tibetan Buddhism is the Ngondro (pronounced “Non dro”) which literally translates as “Before Going.”

Ngondro provides a firm basis for living the meaning of Buddhist practice by training the body, speech and mind in the vast view. It provides an immersion into the core techniques of Buddhist tantra. Module 2, Vajrasattva meditation and purification of karma, is a highly effective practice. It’s an education that teaches you the attitudes, mindset and ways of a successful practitioner.

This training is designed with busy people in mind and if you cannot attend a segment of the training live, you will have access to the recording so you can view at a time that fits your schedule.

Chod Retreat

At Dakini Mountain with Pema Khandro

June 1st – 4th, 2023

Chod is the profound method of psychological transformation in esoteric Buddhism. Chod means cutting, referring to cutting through fictions to authentic presence.

Tsok, Chod dances and Secret Chod small group sessions will take place throughout the weekend, with transmissions and teachings from Pema Khandro.

This is a profound occasion of the sangha gathering for the first in person retreat since the pandemic at the glorious land of Dakini Mountain in the scenic Tahoe National Forest of Northern California. We will also celebrate Saga Dawa, the birthday and enlightenment day of the Buddha together in person with spiritual community!

Ngakpa Training

5pm PST April 26, 2023

For students enrolled in Ngakpa Training, we will have a Ngakpa Training with Pema Khandro on April 26th and a discussion group to talk about key parts of our reading from the Treasury of Words and Meaning to follow.

Impermanence, Illness, and Health Podcast

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo and Pema Khandro Rinpoche

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.

Listen Here