Upcoming Retreats

 


Green Tara Retreat

Yangsi Rinpoche

February 12 - 16, 2025
About the Retreat Meditating on Green Tara is a very powerful way to identify and connect with our own inner potential for wisdom and compassion. As the embodiment of all the Buddha’s actions in the female aspect, she has a special power to remove inner and outer obstacles, dispel our fears, and grant us success in whatever we pray for. This beneficial retreat will include plenty of time for practice, teachings, and questions.   We are overjoyed to welcome back the phenomenal Yangsi Rinpoche, who has graciously agreed to return to Vajrapani and lead a retreat on Green Tara. Rinpoche is known for his…

Vajrayogini Self Initiation

Venerable Angie Muir and Elaine Jackson

February 22, 2025
Vajrayogini Self Initiation - In the Main Gompa and Online   When: February 22, 2025- 1:00pm - 5:00pm (PT) Where: Venerable Angie Muir and Elaine Jackson will lead the Vajrayogini Self Initiation in person in the gompa or online via Zoom. If joining online,  feel free to make offerings on your personal alter. Please email the office at office@vajrapani.org to let us know if you will be coming in person.   Prerequisites: This practice is restricted to those who have completed a Vajrayogini approximation retreat with fire puja.   We will be using the text, The Intermediate Practices of Vajrayogini,…

Transforming the Mind to Cultivate Lasting Happiness

Elaine Jackson

February 23 - March 23, 2025
The Buddhist Mind Science series is being offered in collaboration with Thubten Norbu Ling, our sister FPMT center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The centers will alternate handling registrations. TNL offered the first module in January and Vajrapani Institute will handle the registration for the second module starting Feb 23rd. This new and transformative series is suitable for beginners and those wishing to deepen their practice. Elaine Jackson is a long-time FPMT teacher and Vajrapani founder whose unique and warm teaching style resonates deeply with her students.   4 Sundays: February 23rd - March 23rd **No Class March 16th** Time:…

Losar Celebration Online

Venerable Angie Muir

February 28 - March 2, 2025
Happy Losar! Vajrapani is hosting Special Prayers for Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Swift Return     Friday, 28th, Saturday March 1st, and Sunday March 2nd 8:00 AM to 8:45 AM (PST) With Ven. Angie Muir Online Only     Please join us online to celebrate the first few days of the Tibetan New Year with special prayers dedicated for Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Swift Return.     There is no better time to offer these prayers than during these powerful merit-multiplying days. Each day (for the 15 days of Miracles, from February 28th to March 14th ) the power of our virtue…

Long Life Prayers for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche

Venerable Angie Muir

March 2, 2025
Long Life Prayers for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche First Sunday of the month 4:00pm – 5:30pm Pacific Time Online Only The four Bay Area FPMT centers (Land of Medicine Buddha, Ocean of Compassion, Tse Chen Ling, and Vajrapani) will offer Long Life Prayers for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa on the first Sundays of each month.  Please check the schedule below to see the organizer for each event, and how to participate. May the glorious lamas live long. May happiness and well-being arise for all sentient beings, present throughout…

Losar: Lama Yeshe Celebration

Elaine Jackson

March 8, 2025
Please join Elaine Jackson and Vajrapani Community Members in person or online for a Losar celebration to commemorate the Tibetan New Year and the anniversary of Lama Yeshe’s passing into Parinirvana. This event will begin with a Vajrasattva Tsog followed by a slideshow and storytelling by community members. There will also be a community lunch for those attending in person.   Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935-1984) was a beloved Tibetan Buddhist master who played a vital role in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West in the 1970s and 1980s. One of the first Tibetan lamas to teach in the West, he…

The Buddha’s Path to Bliss: A Kopan West Lamrim Retreat

Don Handrick

March 8 - 15, 2025
This is a Free, Pay It Forward Retreat! There are no fees for this retreat. The retreat is donation-based and offered freely to anyone who participates. It’s an experiment we started at 2012’s Kopan West - Lam Rim retreat in the spirit of making the Dharma (Buddha’s teachings) freely available to all. Your retreat is paid for by the generosity of previous Kopan West students who donated or "Paid It Forward" to support others in having the same heart-opening experience they had. This course is modeled after the famous 10-day Intro to Buddhism course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal.   About…

Transforming Problems Into Happiness

Venerable Tenzin Tsepal

April 3 - 6, 2025
We are excited to welcome Ven. Tenzin Tsepal of Sravasti Abbey, who will share reflections based on a favorite Dharma book, Transforming Problems Into Happiness by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. This small book contains volumes of practical advice for training the mind to see problems as beneficial conditions supportive of, and even necessary for, our happiness. While mind-training texts like this are not intended to eliminate the difficulties we inevitably encounter, they teach us how not to be disturbed by them, and instead how to accept and transform such harms to make swift progress along the path to full awakening.   …

Experiential Vajrayogini Retreat

Elaine Jackson

May 22 - 25, 2025
Please join us for an experiential Vajrayogini Retreat with long-time FPMT Teacher and Vajrapani Founding Member, Elaine Jackson. Elaine is a student favorite, known for her warmth and skill in guiding her students through these profound and transformative tantric practices.   Elaine shares her heartfelt experiences about Vajrayogini Practice:   "My dear, dear friends, how wonderful that we will meet again to explore our relationship with Vajrayogini. I have seen over many years of practice that there is an alchemy, a gradual change, that manifests when I embrace the practice from a felt sense and try to bring that sense…

Nyung Nae Retreat

Venerable Charles

July 5 - 14, 2025
Save the Dates! Our most precious Venerable Charles has graciously agreed to return to Vajrapani in July 2025 to Lead 4 Nyung Naes. These dates are tentative. Please sign up for the waitlist and when the dates are confirmed, we will open up registration.   The lodging prices reflect a 25% discount if students attend all 4 Nyung Naes. “Nyung naes take such a short time but brings strong purification. So many eons can be purified in this life; it makes it so easy to have attainments.” - Kyabjé Lama Zopa Rinpoche   Venerable Charles leads Nyung Nae retreats around…

Family Camp 2025

July 24 - 27, 2025
  A weekend family retreat where participants are given the opportunity to better understand their mind and emotions through a Tibetan Buddhist lens using meditation, discussion, art, nature and play. Set in the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains, families with children ages 5-12 are encouraged to unplug and reconnect, supported by a community of like-minded families, staff, and volunteers.   First Time at Family Camp? Read all about what to expect at Family Camp at our Family Camp details page                

How to Train a Happy Mind

Scott Snibbe

August 28 - 31, 2025
Based on his popular book How to Train a Happy Mind, this three-day retreat with Scott Snibbe offers a relaxed tour of eight meditations that help bring out your best qualities, deepen your relationships, and build a better world.   Each of the retreat’s practices is derived from the Tibetan Buddhist lamrim “stages of the path,” a series of analytical meditations highly refined over the centuries. This lesser-known form of meditation complements the more popular mindfulness meditation by using stories, emotions, and critical thinking to actively steer the mind away from frustration, craving, and loneliness, and toward happiness, connection, and satisfaction.   The retreat requires no…

Six Session Guru Yoga & Shiné – Mahamudra

Venerable René Feusi

September 12 - 21, 2025
We are overjoyed that one of our most precious teachers, Venerable René Fuesi, is returning to Vajrapani in September! Ven. René's retreats are known to be deeply transformative as he invites us to inquire into the nature of the mind. Join us as Ven Rene creates this rare opportunity to get to know our minds and to learn how to meditate more deeply in this immersive 10-Day Retreat.    Six Session Guru Yoga Weekend With any Highest Yoga Tantra initiation in our tradition, there is a commitment to do the Six- Session Guru Yoga, but many have never received formal…

Hope in the Dharma?

Guy Newland

October 10 - 12, 2025
Join us for a transformative weekend retreat with Guy Newland, a renowned scholar and professor of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. Guy’s engaging and accessible approach, grounded in his acclaimed work Introduction to Emptiness, will help you unravel complex Buddhist concepts and apply them to your daily life. Whether you're new to Buddhism or looking to deepen your practice, this retreat offers a rare opportunity to explore profound insights in a welcoming and supportive environment. Don’t miss this chance to deepen your understanding and cultivate inner peace!   About the Retreat Does the Dharma offer hope? Or does it tell us that…