Awakening Practice

Contemplative practice has its roots in the living traditions of the Himalayas. Join Tashi Chodron and guest teacher Khenpo Lama Pema Wangdak Rinpoche in the shrine room for a morning mindfulness session, which explores the connections between Himalayan cultures, art, and practice. Each forty-five-minute session includes twenty minutes of guided meditation that will explore different approaches including mantra, mudra, and mindfulness.

About the Teacher

Khenpo Pema has been guiding Western students for 35 years, and he continues to travel and teach extensively at Dharma centers around the world. In 1982, he was sent to the West by His Holiness the Sakya Trichen, as the first of the younger generation of Tibetan teachers in America from the Sakya School. In 1989 Khenpo Pema founded the Vikramasila Foundation. The Foundation encompasses the Palden Sakya Centers in New York City, Woodstock, NY, Philmont, NY, Englewood, NJ, Springfield, VT, Portland, ME, and Dayton OH, which offer courses in Tibetan Buddhist studies and meditation. Khenpo Pema is the creator of “Bur Yig,” Tibetan Braille, and the founder of Pema Ts’al (English for Lotus Grove) Schools in Mundgod, India (for Tibetan lay children); Pokhara, Nepal (monastic schools for boys); and Pema Ts’al School in New York City, with a curriculum modeled on that of Sakya College, India. Khenpo Pema was recognized with the title of Khenpo by His Holiness the Sakya Trichen in 2007. He received the distinguished Ellis Island Medal of Honor award from the National Ethical Coalition of Organizations in May 2009 at Ellis Island for his humanitarian work around the world. Khenpo Pema is the first Tibetan ever to have received such an award.