Vajrayana + Technology = A Worthy Cause to Support






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Buddhist Studies Institute

Dear Dharma Friends,

Since 2011 we have had this bold vision of integrating Vajrayana and technology. It is a highly contested issue amongst Vajrayana communities, how much, if at all, can online programming and Vajrayana education be utilized. All the concerns are legitimate, such as concerns about the quality of transmission, so sacred to Vajrayana. There are concerns about the personal relationship between teacher and student. There are concerns about the quality of study and practice. I acknowledge all these concerns as real. We are all right, people who can’t see technology for the possibility that it offers could not experience it the way that I have – because I also have seen that so much of Vajrayana online depends on how it is used. An online course can be an alienating talking head, or it can be a lively, dynamic, intimate, engaged experience. For me it has been an opportunity to showcase the aesthetics of Vajrayana, the art, the music, and the integration with the natural world. When I teach online I can use images, video, sound all integrated with my thoughts in real time as well as with my planned lesson. It’s so engaging for me and for my students because we are visual, somatic, and auditory, we need all the senses engaged and that is our tradition, to use the senses for liberation.

In my time of teaching online I have taught students the bardo teachings as they sat at the bedside of a dying mother. I have taught students dying instructions while they were on their own deathbed, waiting for their terminal illness to complete its unfolding. I have taught teachers, therapists, and business leaders who had only one hour and used that one hour to raise bodhichitta or sharpen their mastery by learning cutting-through practice. I have taught single mothers who attended yidam instructions with their child on their lap. These are advanced practitioners yet they never would have been able to leave their home, travel to an expensive retreat center and leave their child behind. I have seen that people build community online, they form bonds, and get to know each other. They find best friends, they find belonging, some of them get married and have kids. Deep relationships can be fostered through online community, keeping the sangha jewel alive, I have seen it.

It isn’t for everyone, but it is for us. We will continue with our in person and local events but it is my goal to offer the full array of Vajrayana practices to my online students as well.


I invite you to help me make this possible by supporting our fundraising effort with a donation this year, to celebrate the embrace of Buddhism and technology and to enable the continual unfolding of this benevolent, generative effort that we have made. Our goal this year is to revamp our online platform to fulfill this potential at the next level. We can’t do that without you. We are a grassroots organization and all of our funding is based on individual donations.

Please help us reach our goal of raising $50,000 by December 31, 2023. To make a donation, you can click the donate button below or mail your check to the address listed below. No amount is too small or too large. Every gift counts and makes a difference.

As a token of appreciation, you, a cause you hold dear, or your loved ones in need, will be included in the Dedication of Merit that will take place at the annual celebration of Losar (the Tibetan new year) which will happen in February. This is a great way to spread the blessings and to practice one of the essential Buddhist teachings – dedicating the merit of your good actions to others. You can easily include your dedication of merit request with your online donation or include a note naming those to whom you wish the dedication to be made with your mailed donation.

My very best to you always,


Donate Now

Thank you for your support! We are a small grassroots organization, completely dependent upon individual generosity to continue.

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.

Dakini Mountain Retreat Center
P.O. Box 2396
Nevada City, California 95946
USA


Donate Now


Pema Khandro’s Birthday Celebration






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Buddhist Studies Institute

The 21 Taras
Pema Khandro’s Birthday Celebration & Fundraiser

December 2, 2023


Online

6pm – 7:30pm PT San Francisco

9pm – 10:30pm ET New York

1pm- 2:30pm AEDT Sydney

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 celebration in honor of our beloved Pema Khandro Rinpoche’s birthday.


Register for The 21 Taras

The Heart Sutra

with Pema Khandro & Shugen Roshi

December 1 – 3

Online

9am PST San Francisco | 12pm EST New York | 5pm GMT London

The Heart Sutra for more than two thousand years has been chanted daily by Buddhists around the world. Known as Prajnaparamita, the Heart Sutra, powerfully illuminates the path of freedom from suffering. The Heart Sutra contemplates the way we perceive, and what is beyond what our dualistic assumptions portray. This course with Lama Pema Khandro & Shughen Roshi explores the Heart Sutra from the Tibetan Buddhist perspective including the pivotal teachings of the four extreme mistakes on the spiritual path, discovery of one’s true nature and one’s true purpose.


Register for The Heart Sutra

Meditation Instructor Training 2024

February 19 – August 5

People all over the world have turned to Buddhist meditation as a source of wisdom. Meditation offers a powerful method to access a sense of spaciousness, peace and authentic presence. The practical benefits of meditation are well documented. Research shows it improves mood, reduces stress (Brown & Warren 2003), it improves memory, visuospatial reasoning, sustained attention and executive brain function (Zeidan et al. 2010). It reduces sub-clinical depression and anxiety (Schreiner and Malcolm 2012).

From a Buddhist point of view, when we know how to meditate, we learn how to work with mind and emotions. We have a practice for unraveling conditioned scripts and unconscious habits. Meditation is a pathway to discovering human goodness by making peace with our mind. Ultimately it is a method for getting free from dissatisfaction, resolving confusion and waking up to see reality more clearly.

The Meditation Instructor Training supplies the fundamental knowledge and experience necessary to lead meditation classes and one-day meditation intensives.

3 Modules

Traditional Meditation

Teaching Practicum

Teaching Ethics

This training is a pre-requisite for the Chaplaincy Certificate offered summer of 2024.


Register for Meditation Instructor Training

Pema Khandro on Karmapa-

Full Ordination for Tibetan Women

“The growing presence of female leaders in Tibetan Buddhism is taking place at an unprecedented level throughout the world. Women’s monastic ordination is one of many types of roles of religious leadership that women will contribute to Tibetan Buddhism.” ~ Pema Khandro


Read More Here

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

NOVEMBER

November 1 Season of Practice Kick-off Event with Pema Khandro

November 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online with Pema Khandro Lama Lhanang, & Father Francis Tiso

DECEMBER

December 1-3 Heart Sutra with Pema Khandro & Shugen Roshi

December 2 The 21 Taras – Pema Khandro Birthday Celebration & Fundraiser

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone


Technology Fundraising Update






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Buddhist Studies Institute

Dear Friends,

Greetings from the Buddhist Studies Institute! I hope this message finds you in good health and spirit.

I am writing to you today to share some exciting news and ask for your support in this year’s fundraising drive.  As you may know, Buddhist Studies Institute is a 501c3 nonprofit.

Pema Khandro, the staff, and many volunteers have been working now for over 20 years to create a comprehensive program of education and training for people like you in the rare and precious tradition of the Ngakpa (non-renunciate) Buddhist teachings.  

It’s been an enormous success.  Thousands of classes, trainings and retreats have been given. Rare Buddhist texts have been translated and practices have been kept alive.  Many lives have been touched and a vigorous schedule of teaching and training continues.

Pema Khandro remains a dynamic and courageous Buddhist leader.  Her focus is helping busy people in modern life have a profound grasp and practice of the most advanced Buddhist teachings while maintaining family, job, and relationships.  

Pema Khandro is dedicated to forging ahead, nurturing gender equality in Buddhism, increasing respect for diversity, supporting the emergence and flourishing of female leaders, students and teachers and other cutting-edge progressions.

Of course, there are challenges we have been victorious with as well.

Running a modern organization requires a complex digital infrastructure including numerous software platforms working together in synchronization.  There is no one out-of-the-box system that satisfies the need.  The current system is seriously inefficient and requires much extra work and stress on staff to hold it together.  This area, behind the scenes, has been greatly limiting what can be accomplished and it has been exhausting the staff.

The exciting news is that due to a great deal of groundwork, a comprehensive digital upgrade is on the horizon.  This upgrade will make all aspects of the organization flow much more smoothly, allowing more people to easily benefit from the offerings of the Buddhist Studies Institute and more resources will become available to expand the current services.  The expense of this upgrade is significant.

Many other expenses of running the organization are ongoing and only continue because of individual donations.  

As often said, the tuition for BSI classes and training do not cover the full cost because of our policy of not turning away those who cannot afford courses.  Fundraising is the means to close that gap.

To fund the software upgrade and meet the other ongoing expenses, $50,000 is needed by the end of 2023.  

This is where you come in.  You are invited to join this mission of making these Buddhist teachings accessible by making a generous donation. 

By supporting the general fund, you are enabling the leadership of the Buddhist Studies Institute, Pema Khandro, and the Governing Board to allocate resources where they are most needed and respond to emerging needs and opportunities.

To make a donation, you can click the donate button below or mail your check to the address listed below.  No amount is too small or too large. Every gift counts and makes a difference.

As a token of appreciation, you, a cause you hold dear, or your loved ones in need, will be included in the Dedication of Merit that will take place at the annual celebration of Losar (the Tibetan new year) which will happen in February.  This dedication will be made by Pema Khandro herself on behalf of all of those who donated. This is a great way to spread the blessings and to practice one of the essential Buddhist teachings – dedicating the merit of your good actions to others.

You can easily include your dedication of merit request with your online donation or include a note naming those to whom you wish the dedication to be made with your mailed donation. 

 

On behalf of Pema Khandro, the staff, the volunteers and all our members, students and friends, I thank you for your consideration, generosity, partnership and friendship. Together, we can make a difference. 


Donate Now

Thank you for your support! We are a small grassroots organization, completely dependent upon individual generosity to continue.

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.

Happy Holidays!

Janak Kimmel,
Director of Fundraising
Ngakpa International
Buddhist Studies Institute
Dakini Mountain Retreat Center
P.O. Box 2396
Nevada City, California 95946
USA


Donate Now


Heart Sutra Early Enrollment Ends Tomorrow






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Buddhist Studies Institute

The Heart Sutra

with Pema Khandro & Shugen Roshi

December 1 – 3

Online

9am PST San Francisco | 12pm EST New York | 5pm GMT London

The Heart Sutra for more than two thousand years has been chanted daily by Buddhists around the world. Known as Prajnaparamita, the Heart Sutra, powerfully illuminates the path of freedom from suffering. The Heart Sutra contemplates the way we perceive, and what is beyond what our dualistic assumptions portray. This course with Lama Pema Khandro & Shughen Roshi explores the Heart Sutra from the Tibetan Buddhist perspective including the pivotal teachings of the four extreme mistakes on the spiritual path, discovery of one’s true nature and one’s true purpose.


Register for The Heart Sutra

The 21 Taras
Pema Khandro’s Birthday Celebration & Fundraiser

December 2, 2023


Online

6 – 7:30pm PT San Francisco

9 – 10:30pm ET New York

1 – 2:30pm AET Sydney

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 celebration in honor of our beloved Pema Khandro Rinpoche’s birthday.


Register for The 21 Taras

Meditation Instructor Training 2024

February 19 – August 5

People all over the world have turned to Buddhist meditation as a source of wisdom. Meditation offers a powerful method to access a sense of spaciousness, peace and authentic presence. The practical benefits of meditation are well documented. Research shows it improves mood, reduces stress (Brown & Warren 2003), it improves memory, visuospatial reasoning, sustained attention and executive brain function (Zeidan et al. 2010). It reduces sub-clinical depression and anxiety (Schreiner and Malcolm 2012).

From a Buddhist point of view, when we know how to meditate, we learn how to work with mind and emotions. We have a practice for unraveling conditioned scripts and unconscious habits. Meditation is a pathway to discovering human goodness by making peace with our mind. Ultimately it is a method for getting free from dissatisfaction, resolving confusion and waking up to see reality more clearly.

The Meditation Instructor Training supplies the fundamental knowledge and experience necessary to lead meditation classes and one-day meditation intensives.

3 Modules

Traditional Meditation

Teaching Practicum

Teaching Ethics

This training is a pre-requisite for the Chaplaincy Certificate offered summer of 2024.


Register for Meditation Instructor Training

Tibetan Buddhism in a Nutshell

by Dr. Pema Khandro

Who are you really? What underlies all persons? What is the true nature of mind?

Pema Khandro answers these questions and offers an introduction to Tibetan Buddhism.


Read More Here

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

NOVEMBER

November 1 Season of Practice Kick-off Event with Pema Khandro

November 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online with Pema Khandro Lama Lhanang, & Father Francis Tiso

DECEMBER

December 1-3 Heart Sutra with Pema Khandro & Shugen Roshi

December 2 The 21 Taras – Pema Khandro Birthday Celebration & Fundraiser

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone


Bardo Retreat Starts Tomorrow






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Buddhist Studies Institute

The Bardo Retreat
Teachings on Death & Dying

November 3-5


Online

5pm PT San Francisco | 8pm ET New York | 11am AET Sydney

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.

Live Online Teachings and Conversations

  • Fri Nov 3rd – Kunzang Monlam with Pema Khandro

  • Sat Nov 4th – The Tibetan Book of the Dead for Beginners: A Guide to Living and Dying, with Lama Lhanang Rinpoche and discussion with Pema Khandro

  • Sun Nov 5th, 9-10:30am PT – The Rainbow Body with Father Tiso

  • Sun Nov 5th – Zhitro for Departed Loved Ones with Pema Khandro

    Additional Recordings, Interviews and Conversations

  • Instructions & Explanation on the Six Bardos with Pema Khandro

  • Buddhist Medicine “Ambrosia & Poison” with Dr. William McGrath

  • Death & Dying with Chagdud Khadro & Pema Khandro

  • Death & Zen in Dzogchen with Shugen Roshi & Pema Khandro

  • Transitional Life Care with Julie Rogers & Pema Khandro

  • Post Death with Dr. Jim Tucker & Pema Khandro

  • Compassion at the End of Life with Koshin Paley Ellison & Pema Khandro


Register for The Bardo Retreat

The Heart Sutra

with Pema Khandro, Ph.D & Shugen Roshi

December 1 – 3

Online

9am PST San Francisco | 12pm EST New York | 5pm GMT London

The Heart Sutra for more than two thousand years has been chanted daily by Buddhists around the world. Known as Prajnaparamita, the Heart Sutra, powerfully illuminates the path of freedom from suffering. The Heart Sutra contemplates the way we perceive, and what is beyond what our dualistic assumptions portray. This course with Lama Pema Khandro & Shughin Roshi explores the Heart Sutra from the Tibetan Buddhist perspective including the pivotal teachings of the four extreme mistakes on the spiritual path, discovery of one’s true nature and one’s true purpose.


Register for The Heart Sutra

Meditation Instructor Training 2024

February 19 – August 5

People all over the world have turned to Buddhist meditation as a source of wisdom. Meditation offers a powerful method to access a sense of spaciousness, peace and authentic presence. The practical benefits of meditation are well documented. Research shows it improves mood, reduces stress (Brown & Warren 2003), it improves memory, visuospatial reasoning, sustained attention and executive brain function (Zeidan et al. 2010). It reduces sub-clinical depression and anxiety (Schreiner and Malcolm 2012).

From a Buddhist point of view, when we know how to meditate, we learn how to work with mind and emotions. We have a practice for unraveling conditioned scripts and unconscious habits. Meditation is a pathway to discovering human goodness by making peace with our mind. Ultimately it is a method for getting free from dissatisfaction, resolving confusion and waking up to see reality more clearly.

The Meditation Instructor Training supplies the fundamental knowledge and experience necessary to lead meditation classes and one-day meditation intensives.

3 Modules

Traditional Meditation

Teaching Practicum

Teaching Ethics

This training is a pre-requisite for the Chaplaincy Certificate offered summer of 2024.


Register for Meditation Instructor Training

Emptying out Misconceptions –

Making sense of Madhyamaka

with Pema Khandro

“Since our obstacles are held together by the unconscious assumptions generated from the matrix of concepts that obscure our true nature – understanding the idea of “emptiness” is a basis for emptying out our greatest obstacles. ” ~ Pema Khandro


Read More Here

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

NOVEMBER

November 1 Season of Practice Kick-off Event with Pema Khandro

November 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online with Pema Khandro Lama Lhanang, & Father Francis Tiso

DECEMBER

December 1-3 Heart Sutra with Pema Khandro & Shugen Roshi

December 2 The 21 Taras – Pema Khandro Birthday Celebration & Fundraiser

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone


Season of Practice Begins Tomorrow






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Buddhist Studies Institute

The Bardo Retreat
Teachings on Death & Dying

November 3-5


Online

5pm PT San Francisco | 8pm ET New York | 11am AET Sydney

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.

  • Fri Nov 3rd – Kunzang Monlam with Pema Khandro

  • Sat Nov 4th – The Tibetan Book of the Dead for Beginners: A Guide to Living and Dying, with Lama Lhanang Rinpoche and discussion with Pema Khandro

  • Sun Nov 5th, 9-10:30am PT – Rainbow Body with Father Tiso

  • Sun Nov 5th – Zhitro for Departed Loved Ones with Pema Khandro


Register for The Bardo Retreat

For Members:
Annual Season of Practice Begins

November 1st

Online with Pema Khandro

5pm PT San Francisco | 8pm ET New York | 11am AET Sydney

“Use the 100 days to try to evoke a contemplative life…this may be something you don’t feel like doing, your attention span may be conditioned otherwise, and it may take some kind of effort, but it is a way of creating sovereignty and reclaiming sovereignty over our attention span.” ~ Pema Khandro

The Season of Practice is held each year starting November 1st – Tibetan Lunar New Year (Losar).


Listen to Pema Khandro Explain the Ngakpa Tradition

The Heart Sutra

with Pema Khandro, Ph.D

& Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi

December 1 – 3

Online

9am PST San Francisco | 12pm EST New York | 5pm GMT London

The Heart Sutra for more than two thousand years has been chanted daily by Buddhists around the world. Known as Prajnaparamita, the Heart Sutra, powerfully illuminates the path of freedom from suffering. The Heart Sutra contemplates the way we perceive, and what is beyond what our dualistic assumptions portray. This course with Lama Pema Khandro & Shughin Roshi explores the Heart Sutra from the Tibetan Buddhist perspective including the pivotal teachings of the four extreme mistakes on the spiritual path, discovery of one’s true nature and one’s true purpose.


Register for The Heart Sutra

Meditation Instructor Training 2024

February 19 – August 5

People all over the world have turned to Buddhist meditation as a source of wisdom. Meditation offers a powerful method to access a sense of spaciousness, peace and authentic presence. The practical benefits of meditation are well documented. Research shows it improves mood, reduces stress (Brown & Warren 2003), it improves memory, visuospatial reasoning, sustained attention and executive brain function (Zeidan et al. 2010). It reduces sub-clinical depression and anxiety (Schreiner and Malcolm 2012).

From a Buddhist point of view, when we know how to meditate, we learn how to work with mind and emotions. We have a practice for unraveling conditioned scripts and unconscious habits. Meditation is a pathway to discovering human goodness by making peace with our mind. Ultimately it is a method for getting free from dissatisfaction, resolving confusion and waking up to see reality more clearly.

The Meditation Instructor Training supplies the fundamental knowledge and experience necessary to lead meditation classes and one-day meditation intensives.

3 Modules

Traditional Meditation

Teaching Practicum

Teaching Ethics

This training is a pre-requisite for the Chaplaincy Certificate offered summer of 2024.


Register for Meditation Instructor Training

Pema Khandro for Lions Roar:

The Four Points of the Bardo

It’s when we lose the illusion of control—when we’re most vulnerable and exposed—that we can discover the creative potential of our lives. Pema Khandro Rinpoche explains four essential points for understanding what it means to let go, and what is born when we do.


Read More Here

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

NOVEMBER

November 1 Season of Practice Kick-off Event with Pema Khandro

November 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online with Pema Khandro Lama Lhanang, & Father Francis Tiso

DECEMBER

December 1-3 Heart Sutra with Pema Khandro & Shugen Roshi

December 2 The 21 Taras – Pema Khandro’s Birthday Celebration

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone


Season of Practice






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Buddhist Studies Institute

The Bardo Retreat
Teachings on Death & Dying

November 3-5


Online

5pm PT San Francisco | 8pm ET New York | 11am AET Sydney

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.

  • Fri Nov 3rd – Kunzang Monlam with Pema Khandro

  • Sat Nov 4th – The Tibetan Book of the Dead for Beginners: A Guide to Living and Dying, with Lama Lhanang Rinpoche and discussion with Pema Khandro

  • Sun Nov 5th, 9-10:30am PT – Rainbow Body with Father Tiso

  • Sun Nov 5th – Zhitro for Departed Loved Ones with Pema Khandro


Register for The Bardo Retreat

For Members:
Annual Season of Practice Begins

November 1st

Online with Pema Khandro

5pm PT San Francisco | 8pm ET New York | 11am AET Sydney

“Use the 100 days to try to evoke a contemplative life…this may be something you don’t feel like doing, your attention span may be conditioned otherwise, and it may take some kind of effort, but it is a way of creating sovereignty and reclaiming sovereignty over our attention span.” ~ Pema Khandro

The Season of Practice is held each year starting November 1st – Tibetan Lunar New Year (Losar).

The Heart Sutra

with Pema Khandro, Ph.D

& Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi

December 1 – 3

Online

9am PST San Francisco | 12pm EST New York | 5pm GMT London

The Heart Sutra for more than two thousand years has been chanted daily by Buddhists around the world. Known as Prajnaparamita, the Heart Sutra, powerfully illuminates the path of freedom from suffering. The Heart Sutra contemplates the way we perceive, and what is beyond what our dualistic assumptions portray. This course with Lama Pema Khandro & Shughin Roshi explores the Heart Sutra from the Tibetan Buddhist perspective including the pivotal teachings of the four extreme mistakes on the spiritual path, discovery of one’s true nature and one’s true purpose.


Register for The Heart Sutra

Meditation Instructor Training 2024

February 19 – August 5

People all over the world have turned to Buddhist meditation as a source of wisdom. Meditation offers a powerful method to access a sense of spaciousness, peace and authentic presence. The practical benefits of meditation are well documented. Research shows it improves mood, reduces stress (Brown & Warren 2003), it improves memory, visuospatial reasoning, sustained attention and executive brain function (Zeidan et al. 2010). It reduces sub-clinical depression and anxiety (Schreiner and Malcolm 2012).

From a Buddhist point of view, when we know how to meditate, we learn how to work with mind and emotions. We have a practice for unraveling conditioned scripts and unconscious habits. Meditation is a pathway to discovering human goodness by making peace with our mind. Ultimately it is a method for getting free from dissatisfaction, resolving confusion and waking up to see reality more clearly.

The Meditation Instructor Training supplies the fundamental knowledge and experience necessary to lead meditation classes and one-day meditation intensives.

3 Modules

Traditional Meditation

Teaching Practicum

Teaching Ethics

This training is a pre-requisite for the Chaplaincy Certificate offered summer of 2024.


Register for Meditation Instructor Training

Pema Khandro on Buddhist Women –

Remembering the Yoginis

“Without the great Buddhist leaders of the past, the tradition would not have survived. Women and men who have devoted their lives to study and practice of Buddhism have allowed a living lineage from the time of the Buddha to be carried on until today. That community has been composed of not only of monks and nuns but also of yogis, yoginis, scholars, meditators, oracles, dynastics, healers and many other leaders who fall outside the lay/monastic divide that is often applied to Buddhism.” ~ Pema Khandro


Read More Here

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

NOVEMBER

November 1 Season of Practice Kick-off Event with Pema Khandro

November 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online with Pema Khandro Lama Lhanang, & Father Francis Tiso

DECEMBER

December 1-3 Heart Sutra with Pema Khandro & Shugen Roshi

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone


Buddhist Practices for Death & Dying






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Buddhist Studies Institute

The Bardo Retreat:

Teachings on Death & Dying

November 3-5

Online

5pm PT San Francisco | 8pm ET New York | 11am AET Sydney


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 also 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.

  • Fri Nov 3rd – Kunzang Monlam with Pema Khandro

  • Sat Nov 4th – The Tibetan Book of the Dead for Beginners: A Guide to Living and Dying, with Lama Lhanang Rinpoche and discussion with Pema Khandro

  • Sun Nov 5th – Rainbow Body with Father Tiso

  • Sun Nov 5th Zhitro for Departed Loved Ones with Pema Khandro


Register for The Bardo Retreat

For Members

Annual Season of Practice Begins

November 1st

Online with Pema Khandro

5pm PT San Francisco | 8pm ET New York | 11am AET Sydney

“Use the 100 days to try to evoke a contemplative life…this may be something you don’t feel like doing, your attention span may be conditioned otherwise, and it may take some kind of effort, but it is a way of creating sovereignty and reclaiming sovereignty over our attention span.”

~ Pema Khandro

The Season of Practice is held each year starting November 1st – Tibetan Lunar New Year (Losar).

Members will receive email instructions for joining this event.


Listen to Pema Khandro Explain the Season of Practice

The Heart Sutra

Online with Pema Khandro, Ph.D
& Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Rosh
i

December 1st – 3rd

9am PST San Francisco | 12pm EST New York | 5pm GMT London

The Heart Sutra for more than two thousand years has been chanted daily by Buddhists around the world. Known as Prajnaparamita, the Heart Sutra, powerfully illuminates the path of freedom from suffering. The Heart Sutra contemplates the way we perceive, and what is beyond what our dualistic assumptions portray. This course with Lama Pema Khandro & Shughin Roshi explores the Heart Sutra from the Tibetan Buddhist perspective including the pivotal teachings of the four extreme mistakes on the spiritual path, discovery of one’s true nature and one’s true purpose.


Register for The Heart Sutra

Meditation Instructor Training 2024

February 19 – August 5

People all over the world have turned to Buddhist meditation as a source of wisdom. Meditation offers a powerful method to access a sense of spaciousness, peace and authentic presence. The practical benefits of meditation are well documented. Research shows it improves mood, reduces stress (Brown & Warren 2003), it improves memory, visuospatial reasoning, sustained attention and executive brain function (Zeidan et al. 2010). It reduces sub-clinical depression and anxiety (Schreiner and Malcolm 2012). 

From a Buddhist point of view, when we know how to meditate, we learn how to work with mind and emotions. We have a practice for unraveling conditioned scripts and unconscious habits. Meditation is a pathway to discovering human goodness by making peace with our mind. Ultimately it is a method for getting free from dissatisfaction, resolving confusion and waking up to see reality more clearly.

The Meditation Instructor Training supplies the fundamental knowledge and experience necessary to lead meditation classes and one-day meditation intensives.

3 Modules

Traditional Meditation

Teaching Practicum

Teaching Ethics

This training is a pre-requisite for the Chaplaincy Certificate offered summer of 2024.


Register For Meditation Instructor Training

Pema Khandro on Buddhist Women –

About Sonam Peldren:

Tibet’s First Female Tulku

This is the story of Sonam Peldren, a Tibetan yogini, is the earliest recorded female tulku. She lived in thirteenth-fourteenth century Tibet.


Read More Here

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

NOVEMBER

November 1 Season of Practice Kick-off Event with Pema Khandro

November 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online with Pema Khandro Lama Lhanang, & Father Francis Tiso

DECEMBER

December 1-3 Heart Sutra with Pema Khandro & Shugen Roshi

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone

Pema Khandro on Buddhist Women –

About Sonam Peldren:

Tibet’s First Female Tulku


Residential Opening at Dakini Mountain






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Dear Sangha,

We currently have a residential opening at Dakini Mountain, in the Tahoe National Forest, outside of Nevada City.

We are currently offering the ground floor to potential resident/s for a minimum of 3-6 month contract starting December 1st, 2023.


This is in the lodge that hosts Dakini Mountain and Buddhist Studies Institute headquarters upstairs.

It is the independent retreat home you have dreamed about! This spacious home is steel framed on over 35 beautiful acres, serene and private, isolated and surrounded by nature. This is your opportunity to escape the ordinary and urban life, solitude offers an opportunity to inspire your spiritual practice and creativity in the quiet of this setting.

Off the grid, and fully self-sufficient. Enjoy the sunshine and a lovely refreshing clean mountain air setting in the great outdoors, with hiking, mountain biking, equestrian and Nordic trails nearby, and just a few minutes to Yuba River swimming holes and Scotts Flat Lake boating activities—only 30 minutes to world-class skiing and less than 90 minutes to Sacramento or Reno airports. Sugar Bowl is just 29 miles up the road. Lying within the Tahoe National Forest, it has ready access to a recreation paradise. Skillman Horse Campground and Chalk Bluff OHV (Off-highway vehicles) staging area are minutes away, so bring your dirt bike. Stunning Harmony Ridge and Scotts Flat Reservoirs a short distance to the west.

The resident or couple would have an entire 1600 square foot floor of the eco-lux retreat center to live surrounded by the beauty of nature. Grand and large open great room with a wall of windows overlooking the spacious grounds and a panoramic vista has central heating and a wood burning stove for extra winter warmth. Luxury master bedroom and full bath. Perfect for online business owners as high-speed Starlink internet is included. Starlink enables video calls, online streaming, and other high data rate activities. Includes indoor garage space and outdoor parking, access to outdoor kitchen and stage, ample storage space, and dog-friendly!

Click Here for more photos

Must be winter snow savvy! Must be enthusiastic about being in a rugged environment!

Great location for snow-lovers.

Dakini Mountain is a gorgeous place to have a quiet white winter retreat. Must have 4-wheel drive or all-wheel drive car. No smoking, drugs, parties.

Single Resident: $2275
*includes utilities: power, water, internet

Couple: $2975
*includes utilities: power, water, internet

Partial work-trade discount is also available for skilled handi-person/s with snow or snow-plowing experience, based on skill level and availability for work-trade.

Interested applicants, please fill out this short form:

Residential Inquiry Form


Buddhist Practices for Death & Dying






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Buddhist Studies Institute

The Bardo Retreat:

Buddhist practices for death & dying

November 3-5

Online with Pema Khandro

5pm PT San Francisco | 8pm ET New York | 11am AET Sydney

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.

Fri. Nov 3rd – Kunzang Monlam with Pema Khandro
Sat. Nov 4th – The Tibetan Book of the Dead for Beginners: A Guide to Living and Dying, with Lama Lhanang and discussion with Pema Khandro
Sun. Nov 5th – Shitro for Departed Loved Ones with Pema Khandro


Register for The Bardo Retreat

Annual Season of Practice Begins

November 1st

Online with Pema Khandro

5pm PT San Francisco | 8pm ET New York | 11am AET Sydney

“Use the 100 days to try to evoke a contemplative life…this may be something you don’t feel like doing, your attention span may be conditioned otherwise, and it may take some kind of effort, but it is a way of creating sovereignty and reclaiming sovereignty over our attention span.” ~ Pema Khandro

The Season of Practice is held each year starting November 1st – Tibetan Lunar New Year (Losar).


Listen to Pema Khandro Explain the Season of Practice

The Heart Sutra

with Pema Khandro, Ph.D & Shugen Roshi

December 1st – 3rd

Online

9am PST San Francisco | 12pm EST New York | 5pm GMT London

The Heart Sutra for more than two thousand years has been chanted daily by Buddhists around the world. Known as Prajnaparamita, the Heart Sutra, powerfully illuminates the path of freedom from suffering. The Heart Sutra contemplates the way we perceive, and what is beyond what our dualistic assumptions portray. This course with Lama Pema Khandro & Shughin Roshi explores the Heart Sutra from the Tibetan Buddhist perspective including the pivotal teachings of the four extreme mistakes on the spiritual path, discovery of one’s true nature and one’s true purpose.


Register for The Heart Sutra

Vajrayana Training

Under the Direction of Lama Pema Khandro

So you finished Ngondro (or didn’t), what’s next?

For students interested in pursuing the long-term accomplishment of traditional Vajrayana stages of study and practice, we invite you to check out Vajrayana Training.

The course is taught by Pema Khandro whose background of growing up in North America has provided her with an understanding of Western culture and learning styles. Thus the Vajrayana Training offers advanced esoteric teachings in a modern format. She engages straightforward language with a supportive teaching methodology that offers lecture, question and answer, slide shows with outlines of the material, recordings of the class for viewing and reference and the support of an assisting instructor who will follow up with one on one conversations after each class. The training is given in the accessible format of live web-cast teachings to keep Vajrayana accessible despite the demands of modern life. It is held on the first two Wednesdays of every month.


Read More Here

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

NOVEMBER

November 1 Season of Practice Kick-off Event with Pema Khandro

November 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online with Pema Khandro

DECEMBER

December 1-3 Heart Sutra with Pema Khandro & Shugen Roshi

December 13 Pema Khandro Birthday Celebration & Fundraiser

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone


Starts Tomorrow – Dakini’s Secret Tantra






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Buddhist Studies Institute

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

October 6-8th, 2023
Online

9:00am-12:00pm San Francisco PT

12:00pm -3:00pm New York ET

5:00pm-8:00pm London BT

The meditation practice of the black wrathful Dakini, Troma Nagmo, unlocks the innermost wisdom mind. Troma Nagmo is the fiercely compassionate form of Vajrayogini. It is a gateway to the profound wisdom that sees things as they are, that faces reality in its full range of expressions – of horror and beauty, rupture and peace, death and renewal. Troma Nagmo is the black wrathful dakini who escorts beings to the state beyond fear, an advanced meditation for discovering resilience, bravery and intensely compassionate presence.

This online retreat focuses on the meditation of Troma Nagmo and study of the Troma Nagmo pith instructions from the seventeen tantras.

Join Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D. for three days of deep dharma study, Chod meditation, and dharma conversation.


Register Here for The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

OCTOBER

Oct 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

NOVEMBER

Nov 1st – Member Event: Season of Practice with Pema Khandro

Nov 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online

DECEMBER

Dec 1-3 The Heart Sutra

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone


Dakini’s Secret Tantra Starts Friday!






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Buddhist Studies Institute

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

October 6-8th, 2023
Online

9:00am-12:00pm San Francisco PT

12:00pm -3:00pm New York ET

5:00pm-8:00pm London BT

This is a rare opportunity to study excerpts from the Troma text held within the original Dzogchen tantras known as the seventeen tantras, the Dakini’s Secret Tantra.

About Troma Nagmo
Underlying Tibetan Buddhist Chod meditation is the practice of Troma Nagmo, the black, wrathful dakini. In the Dakini’s Secret Tantra, Troma Nagmo’s meaning and practice is explained in terms of the ultimate view of reality. It explores how to cut through limited concepts to experience expansive freedom, but without spiritual bypassing. Thus it explores the line been the vast views of intrinsic wisdom, and the practicality of working with dualistic experience.

Join Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D. for three days of deep dharma study, Chod meditation, and dharma conversation.


Register Here for The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

Meditation Instructor Training 2024

February 19 – August 5

3 Modules

Traditional Meditation

Teaching Practicum

Teaching Ethics


Learn More About Meditation Instructor Training 2024

Pema Khandro on Buddhist Women

A Hero in Dark Times:

Jetsuma Mingyur Paldron

(Tib. rJe btsun Mi ‘gyur dpal sgron)

“This is one of my favorite Buddhist stories of Buddhist women. It is the story of an eighteenth century female Buddhist teacher and leader who despite extreme hardship, becomes a major teacher and the pivotal figure in the revival and restoration of a major Tibetan monastery and its lineage.” ~ Pema Khandro


Read More Here

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

OCTOBER

Oct 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

NOVEMBER

Nov 1st – Member Event: Season of Practice with Pema Khandro

Nov 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online

DECEMBER

Dec 1-3 The Heart Sutra

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone


Members Only Class this Wednesday






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Buddhist Studies Institute

Members Only Class

with Pema Khandro, Janak and Aruna

Buddhism & Sexuality: Clarifying Consent

Wednesday September 27th, 2023

5pm PT / 8pm ET

A conversation with Pema Khandro, Janak, and Aruna on creating a safe community for non-celibate practitioners.  

For Members and Participants of the Buddhism & Sexuality Series

This program is only being offered to Members of The Buddhist Studies Institute and registrants of our Buddhism & Sexuality program. Email Info@BuddhistStudiesInstitute.org to receive the

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

October 6-8th, 2023

Online

9:00am-12:00pm San Francisco, PT

12:00pm -3:00pm New York, ET

5:00pm-8:00pm London, BT

Underlying Tibetan Buddhist Chod meditation is the practice of Troma Nagmo, the black, wrathful dakini. Troma Nagmo’s meaning and practice is explained in terms of the ultimate view of reality in the Dakini’s Secret Tantra. It explores how to cut through limited concepts to experience expansive freedom, but without spiritual bypassing. Thus it explores the line been the vast views of intrinsic wisdom, and the practicality of working with dualistic experience. Join Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D. for three days of deep dharma study, meditation, and dharma conversation.


Learn more about The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra Retreat

The Bardo Retreat:

Buddhist practices for death, dying, and beyond

November 3-5

Online with Pema Khandro

5pm PT San Francisco | 8pm ET New York | 11am AET Sydney

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.


Learn more about The Bardo Retreat

An Introduction to Tibetan Medicine

– the Body Mind Connection

by Pema Khandro (Excerpted from a Lecture)

“Tibetan Buddhism highlights the interconnectedness of our body and mind. Buddhists carry the wish to be sane, kind and present. That can be difficult when the body is pain, when the mind is racing or when moods are unpredictable. Therefore utilizing Tibetan Medicine principles can help to reduce obstacles to Buddhist meditation and practice.” Pema Khandro

Pema Khandro’s teachings specialize in the integration natural medicine with Buddhist practice. A practitioner of Tibetan medicine and Ayurveda, she founded the Yogic Medicine Institute within which she co-directs a school and clinic. Tibetan Yoga and meditation, nutrition and cleansing practices are essential tools to renew ourselves on a regular basis and to discover what it is to be fully alive.


Read More

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

OCTOBER

October 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

NOVEMBER

November 3-5 Death, Dying, and Rebirth: Bardo Retreat Online with Pema Khandro

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone


Fierce Compassion & Primordial Knowing – Dakini’s Secret Tantra






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Buddhist Studies Institute

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

Online: October 6-8th, 2023

9am -12pm San Francisco PDT

12pm – 3pm New York EDT

11am – 2pm Sydney AEDT

Tantra and Dzogchen with their themes of transformation and being exactly we as are can sometimes seem contradictory. Yet they represent two profound paths to contemplative realization that have always been practiced together in some form. And both represent crucial aspects of the path.

This retreat focuses on a rare early Dzogchen text called the Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra. In striking contemplative poetry, it unites the themes of Tantra and Dzogchen through contemplations of fierce compassion and primordial knowing. This is an essential text to study for those who follow Chod, the esoteric Tibetan meditations for cutting through fear. It explains and presents the meaning of the Black Wrathful Dakini and explains all aspects of ultimate reality from a non-dual perspective. This important scripture is part of the collection of the seventeen tantras, the early Dzogchen texts that were the major source of the Dzogchen Nyingthig tradition.

This sacred text unites Tantra and Dzogchen in a single stream of contemplative vision of ultimate reality as understood through the Dakini principle.

This three-day retreat focuses on the study of excerpts from the scripture, the practice of the Troma Nagmo cycle from the Rinchen Trengwa three Dakini Chod, meditation, and dharma conversation. This is part one in a series that will explore this profound scripture with Pema Khandro, whose scholarly research focuses on early Dzogchen. 


Learn More About the Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

The Bardo Retreat

Buddhist Practices for Death & Dying

Online: November 3-5, 2023

5pm – 7pm San Francisco PDT
8pm – 10pm New York EDT
11am – 1pm Sydney AEDT

Bardo refers to the experience of rupture- of endings and uncertainty – that leaves us suspended in the liminal spaces between what was and what will be. Bardo also refers to dying and post-death periods as well as to states of radical transformation in life. Join Dr. Pema Khandro, scholar and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism and Lama Lhanang Rinpoche for an intensive course focused on the profound wisdom and skillful means presented by the Buddhist philosophy of death, bardo, and rebirth.


Learn More About the Bardo Retreat

Save the Dates
Meditation Instuctor Training 2024

February 19 – August 5

3 Modules

Traditional Meditation

Teaching Practicum

Teaching Ethics


Learn More About Meditation Instructor Training 2024

Pema Khandro on Buddhist Women

One Nun’s Hardship & Beauty:

The Story of Gelongma Palmo 

(Tib. dGe slong ma dPal mo)

“One of the key themes of Buddhist life stories is that our experiences are not only made up of circumstances, but also of our reaction to those circumstances. Whatever happens externally may not be in our control, but we have a choice about the meanings we take from them and where we go from here. This is a Buddhist viewpoint made apparent by the radical story of Gelongma Palmo, who faced extreme hardship, yet is subsequently transformed and liberated through the experience.” ~ Pema Khandro


Read More Here

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training – 1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training – 3rd Wednesday of each month

OCTOBER

October 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

NOVEMBER
November 3-5  
Death, Dying and Rebirth: Bardo Teachings with Lama Pema Khandro and Lama Lhanang Rinpoche

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) –
Check your Timezone


The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra






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Buddhist Studies Institute

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

October 6-8th, 2023

Online

9:00am-12:00pm PST

12:00pm -3:00pm EST

5:00pm-8:00pm BST

Tantra and Dzogchen with their themes of transformation and being exactly we as are can sometimes seem contradictory. Yet they represent two profound paths to contemplative realization that have always been practiced together in some form. And both represent crucial aspects of the path.

This retreat focuses on a rare early Dzogchen text called the Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra. In striking contemplative poetry, it unites the themes  of Tantra and Dzogchen through contemplations of fierce compassion and primordial knowing. This is an essential text to study for those who follow Chod, the esoteric Tibetan meditations for cutting through fear. It explains and presents the meaning of the Black Wrathful Dakini and explains all aspects of ultimate reality from a non-dual perspective. This important scripture is part of the collection of the seventeen tantras, the early Dzogchen texts that were the major source of the Dzogchen Nyingthig tradition.

This sacred text unites Tantra and Dzogchen in a single stream of contemplative vision of ultimate reality as understood through the Dakini principle.

This three day retreat focuses on the study of excerpts from the scripture, the practice of the Troma Nagmo cycle from the Rinchen Trengwa three Dakini Chod, meditation and dharma conversation. This is part one in a series that will explore this profound scripture with Pema Khandro, whose scholarly research focuses on early Dzogchen. 


Register for the Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

Ngondro Module 4: 

Intrinsic Wisdom

Aug 21-Oct 16

Online

5pm PT | 8pm ET

Whether Starting New, Catching Up, Continuing or Starting Over, 

You are Welcome to Join Now!

It is possible to join Ngondro Training at any time and it can be taken in any order. Join current modules live and take previous modules at your own pace. This module focuses on Intrinsic Wisdom including Receiving the Four Empowerments and Merging into Buddhahood.


Learn More About Ngondro Module 4

Pema Khandro on Buddhist Women
Nangsa Obum: The Story of A Survivor

This is a brief summary of the legend of Nangsa Obum who overcome a lot to live a life devoted to liberation of her self and others. It is a story of a woman overcoming extreme resistance to her spiritual pursuits.


Read More Here

Death, Dying, and Rebirth

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D, and Lama Lhanang Rinpoche

November 3-5, 2023

Online

5-7 PM PST
8-10 PM PST
11AM-1PM Melbourne (one day ahead)

The profound and inevitable encounter with death has been a subject addressed by great Buddhist philosophers for the last two thousand years. The pinnacle of those teachings were presented in the sacred books that came to be known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which was part of a larger tradition of Great Perfection (Dzogchen) manuscripts that addressed the bardos, the phases of change in a life. Those complete teachings describe the phases of change, dissolution, and rebirth. They identify the stages of dying, practices to extend the life force when possible, and practices to die well when possible. They also describe how to help others in their process of departure from a life.

This weekend course, hosted by Pema Khandro investigates these moving and precious death, bardo, and rebirth teachings as taught by scholars, and Lamas of the Tibetan tradition. In a format of unprecedented accessibility, this series features self-paced and live classes with Pema Khandro, Lamas, and scholars of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as a Buddhist funeral ceremony to honor beloved friends and family who have recently passed away.

The course also includes a self-paced course on Buddhist funerary practice, to learn how to help loved ones who have died in the forty-nine day period as they travel from one life to the next. The oral transmission initiation (lung) will be given by Pema Khandro on the third day of the course.


Register for Death, Dying & Rebirth

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

OCTOBER

October 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

NOVEMBER
November 3-5  Death, Dying and Rebirth: Bardo Teachings with Lama Pema Khandro and Lama Lhanang Rinpoche

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) –
Check your Timezone


Starts Tomorrow – Retreat with Pema Khandro






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Buddhist Studies Institute

Finding Rest & Ease in the Nature of Mind: 

Longchenpa’s Guide with Pema Khandro
September 8-10th 2023

Online

8:00am-12:30pm PST San Francisco

11:00pm -3:30pm EST New York

4:00pm-8:30pm BST London

Why online Buddhist Study?

This retreat is led entirely online.

We believe that online dharma study provides access for in depth practice for those who might not otherwise ever be able to access it. Caregivers, parents, people who live far away, people with differently abled bodies, people engaged in demanding careers, those who are unable to learn another language and travel to Asia… there are so many who long for serious engagement with Buddhist teachings who need access to the highest quality study and practice. As the Buddha taught in the 84,000 languages of the 84,000 types of beings, so to does the dharma continue to be shared in limitless ways for those who have pure motivation. Guided by Lamas, Khenpos, Scholars from East and West, let your journey be supported by experts. And, you don’t have to do it alone. Experience the life-changing experience of dharma study within a beautiful community of international dharma friends!

Encounter the profound instructions of the trilogy of comfort and ease, the exposition on the stages of the journey by one of the great Tibetan philosophers, Longchenpa (1308-1364). This is a text that is taught annually in Nyingma schools around the world because of its comprehensive engagement with all the stages of the path.

These beautiful teachings consider the fundamental ease available in the depths of being, and how to access those states. It is often difficult to access rigorous engagement with Buddhist intellectual traditions. The Buddhist Studies Institute offers groundbreaking efforts to make that study available.

This online retreat will offer the opportunity to study the core writings of one of the most venerated and brilliant Buddhist philosophers of Tibet, Longchenpa. In classes you will read passages in Tibetan and translated English and enjoy the rich commentary and interpretation by Dzogchen scholar, Lama and lineage holder, Dr. Pema Khandro.

Yes, you can also receive expertly guided yoga classes too. Sitting can be hard without physical preparation, and this retreat comes with help and support! Deep rest is the best preparation for class, enjoy restorative yoga in the morning led by Buddhist Studies Institute Faculty.

Other parts of the retreat includes:

  • Feeling the support of group practice

  • Enjoy dharma conversations, fostering community through small group discussions

  • Experiencing guided meditation sessions led by Pema Khandro

  • Delving into Buddhist philosophy anchored in rigorous engagement with classical Buddhist texts; enjoying daily lectures given by Dr. Khandro

  • Exploring Buddhist Philosophy

  • Remembering the profound teachings that unravel it all at the root

  • Exploring reality, enjoying question and answer sessions with Dr. Khandro

  • Signing up for one-to-one meetings at the end of the retreat with the Lama

  • Bringing the dharma home to you; engaging in in-depth training from your own home, an unprecedented accessibility to traditional Buddhist training

Pema Khandro will lead practices from the 27 Practices for Training for Dzogchen Meditation from the sems nyid ngal gso, Longchenpa’s instructions on Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind. A system venerated for its power to awaken the primordial knowing beyond illusions, these practices provide an opening to the authentic nature of innate wakefulness.

Pre-requisites

Previous meditation experience and a history of meditation practice is necessary to fully appreciate and engage in the practices taught in this retreat, but this class is offered with open enrollment. Recommended prerequisites are: completed Ngondro training, are currently enrolled in Ngondro training or have completed Ngondro in any lineage.


Register Here for Finding Rest & Ease

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

October 6-8th, 2023

Online

9:00am-12:00pm PST

12:00pm -3:00pm EST

5:00pm-8:00pm BST

Enter the vast view of Tibetan Great Perfection, with its contemplative cultivation of innate wakefulness and poetic evocations of sublime knowing. These teachings redefine how we understand meditation through unpacking how non-duality expands us beyond our conceptual frameworks. Join Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D. in a deep study and meditation immersion online.


Learn More about The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

SEPTEMBER

Sept 8-10 Finding Rest and Ease in the Nature of Mind: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

OCTOBER

October 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) –
Check your Timezone


Finding Rest & Ease Online – Starts Friday!






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Buddhist Studies Institute

Finding Rest & Ease in the Nature of Mind: 

Longchenpa’s Guide to Dzogchen with Pema Khandro

September 8-10th 2023

Online

8:00am-12:30pm PST

11:00pm -3:30pm EST

4:00pm-8:30pm BST

Unplug. Disconnect.

Take space for inner silence.

Enjoy the soothing sound of chanting meditation.

Enjoy deep dharma study.

Encounter the profound instructions of the trilogy of comfort and ease, the exposition on the stages of the journey by one of the great Tibetan philosopher, Longchenpa (1308-1364).

These beautiful teachings consider the fundamental ease available in the depths of being, and how to access those states. It is often difficult to access rigorous engagement with Buddhist intellectual traditions. The Buddhist Studies Institute offers groundbreaking efforts to make that study available. The Dzogchen Retreat online will offer the opportunity to study the core writings of one of the most venerated and brilliant Buddhist philosophers of Tibet, Longchenpa (1308-1364). In classes you will read passages in Tibetan and translated English and enjoy the rich commentary and interpretation by Dzogchen scholar, Lama and lineage holder, Dr. Pema Khandro.

This is a continuation of an annual study of this precious text that is central to esoteric Buddhist meditation.

This retreat is led entirely online. Prepare a serene space to watch the classes, and be ready to show up on camera for practice sessions with an international community.

Yoga Classes

Rest your body and mind! Enjoy restorative yoga each morning led by Buddhist Studies Institute faculty, this is an optional class for retreat participants, focused on deep relaxation and support of the body.

Other parts of the retreat include:

  • Feeling the support of group practice

  • Enjoying dharma conversations, fostering community through small group discussions

  • Experiencing Dzogchen guided meditation sessions led by Pema Khandro

  • Delving into Buddhist philosophy anchored in rigorous engagement with classical Buddhist texts; enjoying daily lectures given by Dr. Khandro

  • Engaging with Buddhist Philosophy

  • Remembering the profound teachings that unravel it all at the root

  • Exploring reality, enjoying question and answer sessions with Dr. Khandro

  • Sign up for one-to-one meetings at the end of the retreat with the Lama

  • Bringing the dharma home to you; engaging in in-depth training from your own home, an unprecedented accessibility to traditional Buddhist training

Pema Khandro will lead practices from the 27 Practices for Training for Dzogchen Meditation from the sems nyid ngal gso, Longchenpa’s instructions on Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind. A system venerated for its power to awaken the primordial knowing beyond illusions, these practices provide an opening to the authentic nature of innate wakefulness.

Pre-requisites

Recommended prerequisites are: completed Ngondro training, are currently enrolled in Ngondro training or have completed Ngondro in any lineage. Previous meditation experience and a history of meditation practice is necessary to fully appreciate and engage in the practices taught in this retreat, but this class is offered with open enrollment.

“The Great Garuda states:

Abandon desire for bliss, for this harms the mind;
rely on resting naturally,
free of anything needing to be done regarding samsara or nirvana.

As for the magical display of mind and apparent phenomena,

‘This is self,’ ’This is other,” which are the hindrances of mental stirring,

are dispelled along with perceiving, thinking, and fixating,
so there is imperturbable rest
that defies all attempts at verbal expression.

The implications of whatever manifests

as the miraculous display of ordinary, conceptual mind

can be discerned within the ‘interval,’ free of characterization,

between conceptual mind and the objects that constitute its function.

– Longchenpa, Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding


Register Here for Finding Rest & Ease

The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

With Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D.

October 6-8th, 2023

Online

9:00am-12:00pm PST

12:00pm -3:00pm EST

5:00pm-8:00pm BST

This is a rare opportunity to study excerpts from the Troma text held within the original Dzogchen tantras known as the seventeen tantras, the Dakini’s Secret Tantra.

About Troma Nagmo
Underlying Tibetan Buddhist Chod meditation is the practice of Troma Nagmo, the black, wrathful dakini. In the Dakini’s Secret Tantra, Troma Nagmo’s meaning and practice is explained in terms of the ultimate view of reality. It explores how to cut through limited concepts to experience expansive freedom, but without spiritual bypassing. Thus it explores the line been the vast views of intrinsic wisdom, and the practicality of working with dualistic experience.

Join Lama Pema Khandro, Ph.D. for three days of deep dharma study, Chod meditation, and dharma conversation.


Register Here for The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra

Pema Khandro on Buddha Nature

“At the core of what we are is Buddha-nature…Buddha-mind… a wakeful presence already complete, pure, good and fully and completely enlightened.” Pema Khandro

Pema Khandro discusses Buddha-nature and the third of the major Buddhist teachings known as the third turning of the wheel of the dharma.


Watch Here

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

SEPTEMBER

Sept 8-10 Finding Rest and Ease in the Nature of Mind: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

OCTOBER

October 6-8 The Black Wrathful Dakini’s Secret Tantra: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

2024

February 19 – August 5, 2024 Meditation Instructor Training

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) –
Check your Timezone


Letter from Pema Khandro






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Buddhist Studies Institute

Letter from Pema Khandro

Dear Dharma Friends,

I remember one morning listening to a dharma teaching in Tibet. It was an out of the way temple hidden in the mountains. Hundreds of people had finished a ngondro retreat together. There were yogis everywhere, not just men like in a monastery, but entire families, all practicing together as ngakpas, yogis who balance spiritual training with family life. At the end of the session a Tibetan woman sang a song, her voice was loud and clear, loud like opera but ringing out in a clear way like a bell. This wasn’t the teaching, the program was officially over. But it was a stunning moment none-the-less, one where we were all quiet together, listening to this emotional song of longing and redemption.

I was squeezed in between people. On my right, a person sat on part of my leg. On my left, my leg was stacked over someone’s foot. The person behind me was sitting on my skirt and I was afraid that if I stood up that it would get pulled down. It was not that comfortable and really the whole week had been so rustic that my body was starting to feel worn out. I appreciated that the setting was so simple, there was not even a restroom, just the temple and all these people squeezed together, but that it made it physically more gruelling. There was also no air conditioning and it was very hot, hotter than I ever thought possible. I found myself wondering if it was safe to be in a room that hot!

But all these details faded away as we listened to this wonderful song being performed at the end. It wasn’t even like that for everyone, I noticed at least one person wanting it to hurry up and end. But for me, time stopped and I was just still listening. It was reaching me and I was arriving to a present state.

That was when I remembered the Dzogchen practice, where when listening, we notice that which is listening. And there, more than seven thousand miles away from home, I felt at home as I settled into my own awareness. A simple and highly present state.

As they say, in Vajrayana literature, there are very elaborate, elaborate, non-elaborate and very non-elaborate teachings. This was of the very-non-elaborate kind. Just sitting with my senses, my mind, my awareness, using the basic stuff of what I am. I am grateful to know how to rest. This is the point of Dzogchen, to learn to use experience, to work with circumstance and to find the rest and ease within us.

Sometimes I remember that meditation in the temple because it was so spontaneous and so stripped of complexity. On bad days, I like to recycle past present experiences by contemplating them so I savor it again and enjoy it repeatedly. And now I share it with you (experiences can be re-enjoyed endlessly!)

This month as we prepare to enter our annual study of Finding Rest & Ease by Longchenpa, I have a renewed sense of the purpose of these instructions, that help us make peace with our own minds, wherever are. We can’t all necessarily go to Asia, or even get away from our work or family responsibilities for a full day. So we need to know how to rest right here, and I don’t mean just falling asleep, because that can be disturbing. The point is not even about free time, because even that can be draining, and we don’t have much of that. This advice from Longchenpa is about how to find a sense of refuge in our own body and mind just exactly as we are right now. This is a topic of intense scrutiny and rigorous examination, and the subject of some of the most beautiful poetry you will ever hear. I am overjoyed to share this with you and hope that year after year we will be able to work through this entire text together.

Last year we studied the first Vajra point about place, a profound teaching on integration with the environment. And this year we will study the great Longchenpa’s life of a yogi – how to live our lives as Dzogchen practitioners. I love that this addresses how to handle encounters with evil and avoid deception, because this is an important part of establishing the state of rest inside.

I hope you will join us and regardless, may we all find some moments of ease today.

My very best to you always,

Finding Rest & Ease in the Nature of Mind: 

Longchenpa’s Guide to Dzogchen with Pema Khandro


September 8-10th, 2023 Online

8:00am-12:30pm PST

11:00pm -3:30pm EST

4:00pm-8:30pm BST

“Liberation will be attained by seeing the nature of the mind itself,

the true nature of phenomena. Then there is no other peace to attain.”

Excerpt From, Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding, Longchenpa

So much about the spiritual path is uncomfortable and not easy, which is why it is important to train to tap into these states as a source of refuge, rest, and recovery.

Experience three days of profound study and meditation in this three-day online retreat with Dr. Pema Khandro.


Register for Finding Rest & Ease in the Nature of Mind

The Power of Mind in Buddhist Thought

By Pema Khandro

“When we realize that mind is the source of joy and the remedy for suffering, we reaffirm our conviction of the self-existing dignity of every human being.”  Pema Khandro


Read More

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

AUGUST

Aug 21-Oct 16 – Ngondro 4 – Intrinsic Wisdom

SEPTEMBER

Sept 8-10 Finding Rest and Ease in the Nature of Mind: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone


Module 4 Ngondro Training Begins Today!






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Buddhist Studies Institute

Longchen Nyingthig Ngondro Training

Module 4 Intrinsic Wisdom

with Lama Pema Khandro, PhD

and Tsalgyur Dorje

Starts Monday, August 21st – Online

5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern

Take your meditation practice to the next level through the classic system of Vajrayana meditation known as Ngondro. Module Four of Ngondro presents a practice for experiencing the most empowered dimension of being through the practices of Vajrayogini and Padmasambhava. It is one of the four primary methods taught in Ngondro to purify, awaken, and transform the mind.

Ngondro are the foundational practices for purifying, training and empowering the body-mind. They form the basis of Vajrayana meditation and serve as the foundation for the highest practices of the nature of mind. Ngondro means ‘before going.’ In traditional Vajrayana practice, it represents the cognitive, physical, emotional and philosophical components which are keys to the practice liberation. 

It is possible to join Ngondro Training at any time, and it can be taken in any order. Join current modules live and take previous modules at your own pace.

When you attend live, its an opportunity to meet new dharma friends, practice together, talk together, and dialogue with your instructors.

This Ngondro training focuses on the foundational esoteric practices of the Nyingma tradition, of Tibetan Buddhism which emphasizes reliance on intrinsic wisdom, through its highest teaching, Dzogchen. The Heart of the Vast Expanse is a cherished cycle of the Nyingma lineage. It is also known as the Longchen Nyingthig, (klong chen snying thig). This is a cycle revealed by the brilliant eighteenth century Buddhist yogi, Jigme Lingpa, poet, leader, historian, and treasure revealer, whose texts synthesize Longchenpa’s teachings.


Register Here for Ngondro Module 4

Finding Rest & Ease in the Nature of Mind: 

Longchenpa’s Guide to Dzogchen with Pema Khandro


September 8-10th 2023

8:00am-12:30pm PST

11:00pm -3:30pm EST

4:00pm-8:30pm BST

“To be sure, ordinary beings abide in the illusions of karma. Yogis abide in the illusions of meditative experiences. Buddhas, for their part, abide in the illusion of purity. All phenomena are illusion-like.”

Excerpt From, Finding Rest in Meditation, Longchenpa

These beautiful teachings consider the fundamental ease available in the depths of being, and how to access those states. It is often difficult to access rigorous engagement with Buddhist intellectual traditions. The Buddhist Studies Institute offers groundbreaking efforts to make that study available. The Dzogchen Retreat online will offer the opportunity to study the core writings of one of the most venerated and brilliant Buddhist philosophers of Tibet, Longchenpa (1308-1364). In classes you will read passages in Tibetan and translated English and enjoy the rich commentary and interpretation by Dzogchen scholar, Lama and lineage holder, Dr. Pema Khandro.

This retreat is led entirely online. Deep rest is the best preparation for class, enjoy restorative yoga in the morning led by Buddhist Studies Institute Faculty.

Part of the retreat includes:

  • Feeling the support of group practice

  • Dharma conversations, fostering community through small group discussions

  • Experiencing Dzogchen, guided meditation sessions led by Pema Khandro

  • Delving into Buddhist philosophy anchored in rigorous engagement with classical Buddhist texts; enjoying daily lectures given by Dr. Khandro

  • Buddhist Philosophy

  • Heart Sutra Chanting

  • Remembering the profound teachings that unravel it all at the root

  • Exploring reality, enjoying question and answer sessions with Dr. Khandro

  • Signing up for one-to-one meetings at the end of the retreat with the Lama

  • Bringing the dharma home to you; engaging in in-depth training from your own home, an unprecedented accessibility to traditional Buddhist training

Pema Khandro will lead practices from the 27 Practices for Training for Dzogchen Meditation from the sems nyid ngal gso, Longchenpa’s instructions on Finding Comfort and Ease in the Nature of Mind. A system venerated for its power to awaken the primordial knowing beyond illusions, these practices provide an opening to the authentic nature of innate wakefulness.

Unplug. Disconnect. Take space for inner silence and chanting meditation. Share silence together. Enjoy deep dharma study. This retreat includes guidance and support for taking a break from social media and news to create space for reflection and to declutter the mind.

Pre-requisites

Previous meditation experience and a history of meditation practice is necessary to fully appreciate and engage in the practices taught in this retreat, but this class is offered with open enrollment. Recommended prerequisites are: completed Ngondro training, are currently enrolled in Ngondro training or have completed Ngondro in any lineage.


Register Here for Finding Rest & Ease

How to Meditate

A Guide for Beginners by Dr. Pema Khandro

Buddhist meditation is a practice of wakeful presence. During meditation, everything outside ourselves is left as it is and attention is focused on the present moment. The purpose of meditation is to wake up from the maze of habitual dissatisfaction. The goal is to be simply present to experience things as they are.


Read More Here

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

AUGUST

Aug 21-Oct 16 – Ngondro 4 – Intrinsic Wisdom

SEPTEMBER

Sept 8-10 Finding Rest and Ease in the Nature of Mind: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone


Ngondro Training starts next week!






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Buddhist Studies Institute

Longchen Nyingthig Ngondro Training

Module 4 Intrinsic Wisdom

with Lama Pema Khandro, PhD

and Umdze Tsalgyur Dorje

Starts Monday, August 21st – Online

5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern

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 “none dro”) which literally translates as “Before Going.”

Completing the Ngondro is required before one goes on to advanced practices that the Vajrayana tradition is known for, such as Yidam, Tsa Lung, and Dzogchen meditations.

More importantly, 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.  It is said that the great master Patrul Rinpoche received and completed the Longchen Nyingthig Ngondro twenty-five times.

Although many aspire to complete the Ngondro, large numbers have not.  Ngondro is known for being difficult to do.  Often people think of completing the Ngondro “some day” when they carve out time for an extended retreat or when their family or business responsibilities are at their nadir. You don’t have to wait.  It is not helpful or necessary to consider Ngondro as too difficult – something that someone else does but not you.

Pema Khandro and the Buddhist Studies Institute are focused on making the key elements of advanced practice attainable for everyday people who live ordinary lives in modern society, busy people who have jobs and families.

How can we make advanced practices available to “ordinary” people?  How is this done?  One of the key elements of accomplishing this is through accessible education.  Many times possibilities are not known or understood due to lack of exposure and knowledge.

We are not in favor of the idea of missing out on our ability to practice Buddhism through lack of access to education.  Hence, you are invited to Ngondro Training where you can learn and be supported in accomplishment of the Ngondro, a vital and wonderful accomplishment for any practitioner. 

The Ngondro is a highly effective practice.  It’s an education that teaches you the attitudes, mindset and ways of a successful practitioner.

The practices of Ngondro and Buddhism in general are designed to alleviate and counteract the ways that society unconsciously trains us to fail in being happy and loving.  Instead these time honored practices help us to be more and more free of suffering, the original goal as stated by the Buddha.

The Ngondro Training begins next week, August 21st.  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.   You will receive plenty of support for your practice in between the times of the class modules.

This Ngondro training focuses on the The Heart of the Vast Expanse Ngondro revealed by the brilliant eighteenth century Buddhist yogi, Jigme Lingpa, poet, leader, historian, and treasure revealer, whose texts are based on the quintessential Longchenpa teachings.

Module 4: Intrinsic Wisdom
 Receiving the Four Empowerments
Merging into Buddhahood

If this sounds like the training you are interested in, find out more and register here:


Register Here for Ngondro Module 4

Finding Rest & Ease in the Nature of Mind: 

Longchenpa’s Guide to Dzogchen with Pema Khandro


September 8-10th 2023

8:00am-12:30pm PST

11:00pm -3:30pm EST

4:00pm-8:30pm BST

Join us for this special online retreat led by Buddhist scholar and teacher, Dr. Pema Khandro. She will lead the study of and practice of the ngal gso skor gsum, Longchenpa’s trilogy on Finding Comfort and Ease, a classic text of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, which has been presented section by section annually for eight years at the Buddhist Studies Institute.


Register Here for Finding Rest & Ease

Meet a Teacher: Pema Khandro Rinpoche

featured in Lion’s Roar

What is Pema Khandro’s principle mind poison?

What was the most important transmission she ever received?

What did Pema Khandro have for dinner?

…..Pema Khandro gets personal with Lion’s Roar.

Check out this quick 3 minute read below.


Read More Here

2023 Schedule of Events

ONGOING MONTHLY TRAINING

Daily Meditation Online
Vajrayana Training1st & 2nd Wednesday of each month
Ngakpa Training 3rd Wednesday of each month

AUGUST

Aug 21-Oct 16 – Ngondro 4 – Intrinsic Wisdom

SEPTEMBER

Sept 8-10 Finding Rest and Ease in the Nature of Mind: Online Retreat with Pema Khandro

Click Here to view the BSI Calendar View
Click Here for Events List and Registration
*All Times are noted in Pacific Time (PT) – Check your Timezone