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

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.

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.

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.

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

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