Course Details
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. This includes recorded lectures, and conversations with experts in caregiving, hospice, Buddhist ministry, Tibetan Buddhist history, and scientific research on reincarnation. It also includes a self-paced training in Buddhist funerary practices, known as Zhitro, led by Pema Khandro.
Course Description
Six Bardos
with Pema Khandro
Pema Khandro 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. She has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, a Master’s degree specializing in Tibetan studies, and a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Virginia. Her scholarly research focuses on the history of Dzogchen and on Women in Tibetan Buddhism.
Zhitro for Departed Loved Ones
with Pema Khandro
The Tibetan Book of the Dead for Beginners: A Guide to Living and Dying
with Lama Lhanang
Lama Lhanang Rinpoche is a spiritual teacher of the Nyingma Longchen Nying-Thig order of Tibetan Buddhism who has studied with many masters from different lineages. He is an accomplished instructor of meditation, Anu-yoga, art, Feng-shui, cultural and historical studies as well as a skilled practitioner of Tibetan medicine.
Lama Lhanang is the leader of Project Wisdom Path, as well as the Dharma and Wisdom Path Cultural Centers.
Rainbow Body and Resurrection: Spiritual Attainment, the Dissolution of the Material Body, and the Case of Khenpoi A Cho
with Father Francis Tiso
Father Tiso is a theologian and scholar who specializes in inter-religious dialogue between Tibetan Buddhism and Catholicism. He is a Catholic priest, writer and professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. His research has included the great Tibetan Yogi, Milarepa and the subject of miraculous death in Tibetan Buddhist thought – the rainbow body.. He is the author of the book “Rainbow Body and Resurrection,” which includes insights into the geographical connections between Dzogchen and religions across Central Asia.
Buddhist Medicine “Ambrosia & Poison”
with Dr. William McGrath
William McGrath is the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Assistant Professor of Buddhist Studies at New York University.
His research interests include Buddhism in East and Central Asia, Tibetan and Chinese medical traditions, Tibetan language and history, and the intersections of religion and medicine. He recently edited a volume entitled Knowledge and Context in Tibetan Medicine.
Death & Dying
with Chagdud Khadro & Pema Khandro
Chagdud Khandro is the spiritual director of Chagdud Gonpa in Brazil. She was ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist teacher in 1997, by Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche—a great master of the Nyingma school. Khadro and Chagdud Tulku were married in 1979. She remained his devoted student for twenty-three years. She has taught the meditation of Phowa, transference of consciousness at the moment of death, since 1986.
Death & Zen in Dzogchen
with Shugen Roshi & Pema Khandro
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi is the Head of the Mountains and Rivers Order, abbot and resident teacher of Zen Mountain Monastery. Shugen entered full-time residential training in 1986 after studying mathematics and receiving a degree in classical music. He received dharma transmission from John Daido Loori, Roshi in 1997. His teachings on Zen, social justice and environmental stewardship have appeared in various Buddhist journals.
His book of poetry, O, Beautiful End, a collection of Zen memorial poems, was published in 2012.
Transitional Life Care
with Julie Rogers & Pema Khandro
Julie Rogers has been a student of Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche since 1983. She is the author of TLC’s end of life manual ‘Instructions for the Transitional State’, published in 2007 (vimalatreasures.org). Julie received hospice and bereavement training at Ashland Hospital in Oregon where she volunteered for two years, and was employed as a caregiver for elders and developmentally disabled adults for over twenty years.
Post Death
with Dr. Jim Tucker & Pema Khandro
Jim Tucker, M.D.i s Bonner-Lowry Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. He is Director of the UVA Division of Perceptual Studies, where he is continuing the work of Dr. Ian Stevenson with children who report memories of previous lives. A board-certified child psychiatrist, Dr. Tucker worked with Dr. Stevenson for several years before taking over the research upon Dr. Stevenson’s retirement in 2002.
Compassion at the End of Life
with Koshin Paley Ellison and Pema Khandro
Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison is an author, Zen teacher, Jungian psychotherapist, and ACPE Certified Chaplaincy Educator. After more than a decade as a chaplain and psychotherapist, Koshin co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.The non-profit center offers contemplative approaches to care through education, carepartnering, and Zen practice
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!
- Donate Any Amount
- 108$
Suggested Donation - Learn at your own pace
- Access this course anytime for life.
- Watch again and again
- *Fulfillment of Pre-requisites may apply.
**Does not include costs for lodging, meals, or guest teachers. - Annual meeting with Pema Khandro
- *Fulfillment of Pre-requisites may apply.
**Does not include costs for lodging, meals or guest teachers.
- Online Access Pass
- 150$
per month - Instant Access to Online Classes and Self-Paced Courses
- 50% Discount on Tuition for trainings and residential retreats, with 6 month commitment
- Invitation to Member-Only Events
- *Fulfillment of Pre-requisites may apply.
**Does not include costs for lodging, meals, or guest teachers. - Annual meeting with Pema Khandro
- *Fulfillment of Pre-requisites may apply.
**Does not include costs for lodging, meals or guest teachers.
- All Access Pass
- 250$
per month - Unlimited access to all online and in-person courses, trainings, retreats
- 100% Discount on tuition for courses, trainings and residential retreats, with 6 month commitment
- Unlimited access to all videos, audio recordings, and digital downloads
- Invitation to Member-Only Events
- Annual meeting with Pema Khandro
- *Fulfillment of Pre-requisites may apply.
**Does not include costs for lodging, meals or guest teachers.
