The Bardo Teachings

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…

Cutting Through Fear: Dzogchen Chod Retreat

With Pema Khandro

May 28 - June 1, 2025

May 28 - June 1 San Diego and Online In a world beset with fear, profound methods are needed to reclaim intrinsic wisdom and awaken innate courage. Join Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies institute for a contemplation of fierce compassion through the annual Chod retreat, Troma Nagmo teachings, and an optional five month Comprehensive Chod intensive training to follow. Chod is the profound method of psychological transformation in esoteric Buddhism. Chod means cutting, referring to cutting through the fictions that cause fear, anxiety, and hesitations in one’s life.

Fierce Compassion: Comprehensive Chod Training

With Pema Khandro

June 9 - October 13, 2025

Embark on a transformative five-month journey into the heart of Dzogchen Chod with Tulku Pema Khandro, Ph.D. and the Buddhist Studies Institute. This comprehensive Chod training offers a rare opportunity for an in-depth immersion in the Dzogchen Chod system, Healing Chod, and the Secret Black Dakini Teachings. Take your Chod practice to the next level and cultivate fierce compassion and psychological transformation while studying the Tibetan tradition.

BARDO TEACHINGS

Wednesday, March 17th, 6-7:15pm PT

Death & Dying with Chagdud Khadro and Pema Khandro

Saturday, March 20th, 5-6:15pm PT

Death in Zen & Dzogchen with Shugen Roshi and Pema Khandro

Friday-Sunday, March 19-21st, 10am-6pm PT

The Six Bardos with Pema Khandro

Bardo refers to the experience of rupture – of endings and uncertainty – that leave us suspended in the liminal spaces between what was and what will be. Bardo refers to dying and post death as well as to states of radical transformation in life. Join Pema Khandro and esteemed guests for conversations and teachings on death, dying and the six bardos.

Laughter of the Dakinis:

Dakini Day Chod

March 8th, 2021, 1-3pm PT

Chod is a meditation method through meeting fear and neurosis with compassion and skill. Rather than renounce these mind states, in Chod, they are allowed to transform and be reintegrated as keys to innate wisdom.

This is a Tibetan meditation which is a potent, dynamic practice for cutting through fear and facing death. It is a practice of healing through ultimate compassion. The practice is the Dzogchen Chod, known as Khandro Geykyang, the Laugher of the Dakinis, the concise version. Rinpoche will lead the practice and discuss its meaning. This has been a monthly practice in Virginia for the last two years on Dakini Day, but in-person Chod practices are cancelled and Pema Khandro will now be offering Chod practice online for the first time, in order to support Vajrayana practitioners during the worldwide pandemic.

Self-Paced Courses

Buddhism As a Way of Life

Online Training with Pema Khandro — Learn at Your Own Pace

Includes 6 video and audio recordings, class slides and a question/comment section.

ONLINE OPEN TEACHINGS

*All times are listed in Pacific Time UTC-8 (Timezone Converter)

The 100 Days of Practice is being extended year round!

Starts Feb 12th, 12pm

Daily Meditation
Join our certified meditation instructors for a short free daily practice online. Each day meditation is followed by conversations about Buddhism.

Thursdays – Through April, 8am
A Course in Valid Cognition with Geshe Sonam
Winter Pramana Study

Mar 8, 1-3pm

Laughter of the Dakinis: Dakini Day Chod

Meditation and instructions on letting go of fictions and self-deception in Tibetan Chod meditation.

Mar 17, 6-7:15pm

Bardo Teachings – Death & Dying with Chagdud Khadro & Pema Khandro

By Donation. A free event open to the public.

Mar 19-21, 10am-6pm

The Bardo Teachings with Pema Khandro

Pema Khandro will teach on the six bardos, Buddhist instructions for how to live wakefully in the phases of change within our lives.

Mar 20, 5-6:15pm

Bardo Teachings – Death in Zen & Dzogchen with Shugen Roshi & Pema Khandro

By Donation. A free event open to the public.

Apr 23-25, 10am-6pm

Finding Comfort and Ease

Pema Khandro teachings on Longchenpa’s Finding Comfort and Ease in the nature of mind.

April 25

Dharma Dialogue Series

Pema Khandro and Lama Willa in the Dharma Dialogue Series on Women in Buddhism.

MEMBERS-ONLY CLASSES

Learn More about Membership

1st and 2nd Wednesdays – Vajrayana Training with Pema Khandro

A study of Buddhist philosophy for students on the path of Vajrayana and Great Perfection (Dzogchen).

3rd and 4th Wednesdays – Ngakpa Training with Pema Khandro

In-depth study of the Ngakpa Tradition for students who have completed pre-requisites. These classes continue the study of Buddhist philosophy examining source texts and discussing the main points of living a Buddhist life.

Self-Paced Courses

ONLINE OPEN TEACHINGS

MEMBERS-ONLY CLASSES

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