Our Mission

Vision

To offer people the meditative tools to recognize the nature of their minds and achieve their highest potential for the benefit of all.

Mission

Vajrapani Institute for Wisdom Culture supports the transformation of spiritual teachings into experience through contemplative retreat. As a spiritual community serving the needs of retreaters in all traditions, we are nurtured by the energy of our Tibetan Buddhist founder Lama Thubten Yeshe and our spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche, by our teachers and holy objects, and by the stillness of the California redwood forest.

Values

Wisdom – where mind awakens

Harmony– where joy flows

Loving-Hearted– where kindness is

Spaciousness– where all expands

Clarity– where vision is present

Trust– where friends share

Diversity– where all aspects of people are respected.

 

Vajrapani Institute for Wisdom Culture is affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition and is dedicated to preserving Lama Tsong Khapa’s rich living tradition of wisdom and compassion.

Upcoming Retreats

Online Book Club – Vol 1: Approaching the Buddhist Path

Venerable Gyalten Chimé

August 30 - October 18, 2023
When On Zoom Every Wednesday for 8 weeks (Aug 30 to Oct 18) 6:30 - 8:00pm Pacific Time   ABOUT This weekly online book gathering will feature facilitated conversation, discussion and meditation sessions with Buddhist monastic Venerable Chimé.  The text we will explore over the course of these 8 weekly Zoom gatherings is Wisdom Publications’ Approaching the Buddhist Path by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Venerable Thubten Chödrön. This recently published book is the first in an amazing series containing the traditional Buddhist Sanskrit tradition teachings, together with comparisons from the Buddhist Pali tradition, as well as rich parallels with modern…

Four Views of Reality

Scott Snibbe

October 6 - 8, 2023
In-person Only Indo-Tibetan Buddhism posits four progressively subtler understandings of reality, in particular, exploring what “self” and “objects” may or may not be. Monks, nuns, and serious students of Buddhism study these different views, called “tenets” that were developed 1500-2000 years ago. The topics can be tricky to understand and it’s hard to remember the schools’ specific Sanskrit names of Vaibhashika (Great Exposition), Sautantrika (Sutra), Cittamatra (Mind Only), and Madhyamaka (Middle Way). Simplified, these four views posit the “ultimate” nature of reality progressively from a view that believes in indivisible atoms and moments of consciousness to a reality where living…

Our Blog

  • Spring has officially arrived and with it a sense of renewal, a spark of hope. Trees are leafing and blossoming. So many wildflowers dot the hillsides. Bees are buzzing and early morning birds chatter like townsfolk exclaiming the beauty of this valley.  Living a quiet......

Vajrapani Institute is affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition www.FPMT.org