Upcoming Retreats

  • Zoom Only – $0.00
  • Commuting – $50.00
  • Camping – $98.00
  • RV/Camper Van – $125.00
  • Women's Dorm – $125.00
  • Men's Dorm – $125.00
  • Women's Quad – $190.00
  • Men's Quad – $190.00
  • Private Room- Twin Bed – $242.00
  • Private Room- Double bed – $242.00

Saka Dawa Merit Festival: Prayer Wheel Turn-a-thon and All Night Tara Practice

Geshe Tenzin Legtsok and Venerable Angie Muir

June 10 - 11, 2025

Join us as we welcome Geshe Legtsok for our Saka Dawa merit festival and fundraiser!

 

There will be so many ways to create merit on this merit-multiplying day!

 

Make a date with Tara for our All-Night Saka Dawa Tara Purification Practice!  Join us in-person or online.  Sessions begin at 7:00 pm Tuesday, June 10th and continue through the night, concluding the practice at 7:00 am the following morning, Wednesday, June 11th.  For those coming in-person we will have a small dinner to kick things off, and then end with a breakfast celebration.

 

Our 24-hour Prayer Wheel turn-a-thon will be live-streamed on YouTube from 5 PM Tuesday, June 10th to 5 PM Wednesday, June 11th.

 

In-person participants can also create merit by circumambulating holy objects such as our newly finished Ksitigarbha statue, Lama Yeshe’s cremation stupa, and our magnificent main stupa.

 

Zoom participation is free but donations are incredibly appreciated on this Merit Making/Fundraising day. Vajrapani is a non-profit and relies on the generosity of its donors to continue to offer precious teachings and a sacred space for deep retreat. We are deeply grateful for your continued support.

 

How to take part in the 24-hour turn-a-thon:

Participate in TWO different ways!  Be a SPINNER or a SPONSOR.  The turn-a-thon will be a donation-based fundraiser activity.  Join us for this fun-filled merit-making event! To sponsor a half hour of spinning by an in-person participant, please register as a Zoom participant and donate any amount in the Sponsor a Spinner section on the Registration page.

If you will not be joining us in person or on Zoom, you will receive the merit from your sponsorship of the spinner. The spinners will say the names of their sponsors live on YouTube before their half-hour spin session.

Our recently completed Wheel of Great Compassion has the most mani mantras of any prayer wheel globally at more than 3 Quadrillion thanks to new nanofilm technology.

 

TO BE A SPINNER SIGN UP HERE 

 

I don’t want to participate but I want to make a DONATION.  How do I do that?

Great news—there are three easy and meaningful ways to donate!

  •  Sponsor a butter lamp offering
  •  Sponsor a spinner
  • Make a general donation

Simply register to get started! Registration also gives you access to the live YouTube stream and Zoom during the event—so you can still be part of the joy from wherever you are!  Make us much merit as you would like!

 

What is Saka Dawa?

We are fast approaching the auspicious merit-multiplying day of Saka Dawa Duchen—the fifteenth day of the fourth month in the Tibetan lunar calendar—which commemorates Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana.

Saka Dawa Duchen is one of the four great holy days of the Tibetan calendar, each of which celebrates an anniversary of Shakyamuni Buddha’s display of extraordinary powerful deeds for sentient beings’ sake. On these four days, karmic results are multiplied by 100 million, as taught in the vinayana text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

It is a day when karmic results are multiplied by 300 million times as it commemorates Shakyamuni Buddha’s three major life events.

 

About Our Wheel of Great Compassion

 

What is All-Night Tara Purification Practice?

This is a dynamic practice performed in relation to Arya Tara and the 21 Taras.  Through paying homage, making extensive offerings, and requesting prayers to Mother Tara and her retinue, one seeks her blessings to fulfill all our wishes and swiftly pacify our obstacles.  Included in the practice are the activities of performing circumambulations and prostrations and singing praises to Tara.  By focusing on devotion to Tara in this way throughout the night, we are able to quickly accumulate merit and, just as quickly, purify our negativities.

A wise way to remove obstacles and pray for your own and others’ success and happiness as we navigate the second half of 2025.

 

How to take part in the Tara Practice:  

In-person in the gompa, or drop in via Zoom to the session(s) below. Upon registering, you will receive the Zoom Link one week prior to the event. We offer the Zoom at no cost but please make a donation of any amount to the center if you are feeling generous and would like another merit making opportunity!

 

Tara Practice Schedule:

  • Dinner  – 6:30 pm
  • Session 1  – 7:00 pm
  • Session 2 – 10:00 pm
  • Session 3 – 1:00 am
  • Session 4 – 4:00 am
  • Breakfast –  7:00 am

 

Note: The timing for sessions 2-4 may vary slightly as the practice progresses through the night.  You are welcome to attend any or all of the sessions on Zoom.

 

About Vajrapani Institute

Vajrapani Institute for Wisdom Culture was one of the first Tibetan Buddhist Retreat Centers in America.  Vajrapani aims to provide a friendly and conducive environment for people of all nationalities to learn and put into practice the teachings of the Buddha, and connect with other Dharma practitioners.  Located on 70 acres of secluded land within the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz mountains, Vajrapani Institute has been an immersive space for people of all backgrounds to find and deepen their spiritual practices, with the main goal of bridging the gap between the head and heart of practice.

 

Financial Aid/ Scholarships

We want to make retreats available to everyone. With this in mind, we will gladly work out a payment plan with you if needed. If more assistance is necessary, we offer several scholarships.

For detailed information on setting up a payment plan, please see Financial Aid: Payment Plans

Our utmost goal is to help as many beings as possible to have the gift of retreat. If you have additional questions after reviewing the guidelines for payment plans and/or scholarships, please email the Office at office@vajrapani.org.

 

Teachers

Geshe Tenzin Legtsok
Geshe Tenzin Legtsok has been ordained as a Buddhist monk since 2001 and is the first American to complete the twenty-year Geshe Studies Program in classic Indian Buddhist treatises and their Tibetan commentaries at Sera Jey Monastic University in South India, following the tradition of ancient Nalanda University. In 2025, he completed the traditional study of tantra at Gyumed Tantric Monastery. With over two decades of study and practice under the guidance of great masters, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Geshe Legtsok brings profound insights into the application of Buddhist teachings. Born in Virginia,…
Learn more about Geshe Tenzin Legtsok
Venerable Angie Muir
Born in Scotland, in 1970, she obtained a Bachelors Degree in 1992.   Feeling disillusioned with her prospective career path and life ahead of her, she left Scotland and combined travelling with work in Asia for 3 years until in 1995 she felt a calling to go to India to explore meditation and find her life path. Within a few months “I had the incredible fortune due to some previous karma” to discover Tibetan Buddhism, meet her main spiritual teacher Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche (of almost 30 years) and become ordained.   Venerable Angie has been a buddhist nun for…
Learn more about Venerable Angie Muir