Ngakpa Intl. welcomes you to the study of Tibetan Buddhism. We offer four approaches to learning and participating, each representing varying levels of commitment and interest.

Four Levels of Study

1. Community Classes: taught by Ngakpa Intl. Instructors. These classes include weekly meditation, community gatherings and the Skillful Means Training. The Skillful Means Training and meditation classes are tailored to a secular audience  to provide education and contemplative methods to uplift and empower the lives of those who participate.

2. Public Classes, Empowerments and Retreats: taught by Pema Khandro and guest Lamas. These take place online, by phone or in person with regular retreats at the Berkeley MahaSiddha Center in California. Topics covered range from introductory to advanced teachings. Visit our weekend Courses page for more details.

3. Vajrayana Training: web class taught by Pema Khandro with a mentorship program led by her students. These classes are open to the public with a six-month commitment. The VT focuses on cultivating and sustaining a firm understanding of fundamental principles of Vajrayana and the Nyingma tradition. Visit our Vajrayana Training page for more information.

4. Vajra Sangha: Vajra Sangha are the long-term personal students of Pema Khandro. Becoming a member of the Vajra Sangha takes place via application and interview. Vajra Sangha members maintain the five precepts and offer a regular service commitment to the community.

• Ngakpa Training course for in-depth study of Vajrayana Buddhism in the Nyingma lineage
• Calling the Lama from Afar
• Private classes and private retreats

April 26th
Free Public Tele-Class, 10am – 11am PST
Q&A for Members, 11am – 12pm PST

This free Tele-Class will cover the Six Root Verses of the Bardo, and explores death, birth and life from the Tantric Buddhist perspective. Register to join live or sign up and receive access to the recording.

Suggested Donation $15 – $20 / No one is ever turned away for lack of funds

Tibetan Buddhist teachings say that in one moment of anger we can burn up lifetimes of merit. Aversion, anger and aggression can be some of the most painful and difficult emotions of life. Yet they also hold great potential. The Buddhist Tantras regard anger as a potential doorway to immaculate clarity and fierce kindness. This teaching explores the transformation of sharp, wrathful destructive energies through the study of the five elements, the Vajra family and Vajra Dakini symbols of immaculate clarity and total presence. This is a teaching on harnessing and transforming the most powerful emotions in life. *This class is part of a five course series on mind, emotions and modes of being, each class explores one aspect of the five elements, the five wisdoms and the six realms based on the Blessings and Wisdoms of the Five Dakinis and the Purification of the Six Realms from the Jeweled Garland of Chod.

This webcast will also be joyously hosted by the Berkeley Mahasiddha Center! You are welcome to join the webcast viewing and being together for these rare teachings. Contact Tsalgyur for more information: bkgompa@ngakpa.org

A Buddhist Psychology of Awakening – Karma and the Six Realms
Thursday May 22, 7:30pm
Santa Cruz: Pacific Cultural Center

Death, Birth & Reincarnation
Friday May 23, 7:00pm
Berkeley: MahaSiddha Center

Five Elements Retreat: The Ground of Being
Saturday May 24, 10am – 6pm
Berkeley: MahaSiddha Center

Apprentice Retreat
Sunday May 25, 10am – 3pm
Berkeley: MahaSiddha Center

Vajrayana Training 2 – Course of Study:

• Emptiness
• Self, No-Self and Identity in Buddhism
• The Goal of the Path
• Intrinsic Purity: Tantra, Conduct & the 5 Precepts
• Savoring the Flavor of Experience: Tantra, Conduct & the 5 Precepts
• The Inevitability of Death and the Vow to Help Beings: Tantra, Conduct & the 5 Precepts
• 2 Truths & the Lie of Duality: Tantra, Conduct & the 5 Precepts
• Ethics in an Ambiguous World: Tantra, Conduct & the 5 Precepts
• Ngondro 1
• Ngondro 2
• Ngondro 3
• Ngondro 4

Course includes:

• One hour LIVE training class with Pema Khandro via webcast, You also receive the recording via email.
• Optional monthly sessions with your personal Dharma instructor via phone or Skype.
• Membership in N.I. with the privilege of discounts, newsletters, and private meetings with Rinpoche.
• Member Events and Sacred Service. 

Instructor Support: 

The supportive group environment allows for engaging with practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, which fosters the experience of genuine and long-lasting change. Working monthly with Dharma Instructors, will help answer your questions and support your integration of this life-changing information that is rarely explained in depth.

With Pema Khandro Rinpoche
March 15, 2014 ~ 10am – 4pm

Register Now

In some Buddhist philosophies, desire is renounced but in Buddhist Tantra, desire can be used as a tremendous aid to the path. Desire has the potential to be experienced as appreciation of our connection with the world. It has the potential to be experienced as a reflection of limitless compassion and the preciousness of everything that is. But Desire can also lead to an endless series of disappointments whenever we are expecting something from those desires that they cannot provide. It can lead to grasping and clinging, the mind that suffers endlessly. This teaching explores the Buddhist views of desire and the method of working with desire through the study of the five elements and what is known as the Padma family, Padma Dakini, embodiments of enlightened passion. *This class is part of a five course series on mind, emotions and modes of being, each class explores one aspect of the five elements, the five wisdoms and the six realms based on the Blessings and Wisdoms of the Five Dakinis and the Purification of the Six Realms from the Jeweled Garland of Chod. 

This webcast will be joyously hosted by the Berkeley Mahasiddha Center! Please join us in being together for these rare teachings. Contact Tsalgyur for more information: bkcenter@ngakpa.org

AAP Members please click here for WebCast Instructions

Calling The Lama From Afar
Phone conference with Pema Khandro Rinpoche
Guru Rinpoche Day, Feb 9th 8am PST/11am EST
Open to Rinpoche’s students enrolled in apprentice membership

The great Ngakpa Lama Dudjom Rinpoche is pictured here in his Ngakpa Robes – the ordained non-monastic clergy of Tibetan Buddhism. The long hair, white skirt and the red and white shawl show the common form of Ngakpa Robes. Dudjom Rinpoche was one of the greatest Nyingma masters in history and teacher to many of the most significant Lamas alive today. This weekend is Dudjom Rinpoche’s anniversary.

Dudjom Rinpoche or Dudjom Jikdral Yeshe Dorje (Tib. བདུད་འཇོམས་འཇིགས་བྲལ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་, Wyl. bdud ‘joms ‘jigs bral ye shes rdo rje) is the title of a prominent line of tulkus of the Nyingmapa order of Tibetan Buddhism. Dudjom Rinpoche was born in 1904 on the tenth day of the sixth month in the year of the wood dragon in Southern Tibet in a region called the “hidden land” (Tibetan: beyul) of Pemako. He died on January 17, 1987 at his residence in Dordogne, France. He was the head of theNyingma school in exile. From:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigdral_Yeshe_Dorje_(2nd_Dudjom_Rinpoche)

Photo from http://dudjomtroma.org/gallery_1_HHDR.html

2015 Retreats

Jan  2015  New Years Retreat: The Heart Sutra
Feb  2015  WebClass – Path of Fire
Mar  2015  WebClass – Awakening Eligthened Intent
Apr  2015  WebClass – A Buddhist Psychology of Awakening
May – Nov 2015 – TBA

Community Members of the Year
De’Dzin Alissa Kriteman
Lobsang

Leadership Award
Aruna Rig’dzin

Extraordinary Service Award
Choying Gigi Pellegrini

Patronage Award
Yene Sandy Lawrie

Gompa Steward Award
Tsal’gyur Nicole Starbuck

Today we Celebrate the Birth of our Teacher with 24 hours of continuous Prayers dedicated to the Long and Healthy Life of our Precious Teacher!

Thank you Rinpoche, We Love You!

Pema Khandro Long Life Wish Prayers

Click the link above to view the text.

Click in the player below to listen to the audio from Gyaldak Rinpoche leading the Sangha in practice for Pema Khandro

Depictions of the Dalai Lama early in his life help demonstrate that great wisdom and skill can be found in a young body. Yet when I picture great masters of yogic and spiritual disciplines, I can’t help but visualize mature teachers such as B.K.S. Iyengar, Patthabi Jois, and my teacher, Yogi Bhajan.

With those images in mind, my brain always does a double take when I attend dharma talks led by Tantric Buddhist teacher Pema Khandro. While her appearance and playfulness reveal a 30-something body, the presence of a Buddha is unmistakable when she speaks. While perhaps a more common occurrence in Tibet or India, young and realized teachers in the West—and in my own backyard—still surprise me.
Andrea Kowalski