Transformative Wisdom and the Bardo

To celebrate the closing weekend of Death Is Not the End, join us for an experiential program that delves deeper into the Tibetan Buddhist concept of the bardo, an intermediate state between death and rebirth.

Led by Khenpo Tenzin Norgay Rinpoche, Lama Pasang Gurung, and Lama Ugen Rongdrol Palden, and hosted by Tashi Chödrön, Rubin Museum Himalayan Programs and Communities Ambassador, the program will include a guided meditation with ritual instrumental music and recitation of passages from the Bardo Thödrol (Tibetan Book of the Dead). Participants will also learn about the chod practice of symbolically offering oneself to all beings, which is the ultimate expression of bodhicitta, or the path that leads to liberation. A Q&A will follow the program.

The program will be conducted while sitting and lying down on yoga mats. Mats will be provided, but you are welcome to bring your own.

Join us for a curator-led exhibition tour of Death Is Not the End with Senior Curator, Himalayan Art, Elena Pakhoutova at 6:15 PM. The tour will meet at the base of the spiral staircase.

About the Speakers

Khenpo Tenzin Norgay Rinpoche was born in Bhutan in 1965. After completing secondary school in 1986, he joined Ngagyur Nyingma Institute, the prestigious Buddhist studies and research center, at Namdroling Monastery in Mysore. At the Institute he studied under Khenchen Pema Sherab, Khenpo Namdrol Tsering, Khenchen Tsewang Gyatso, and other visiting professors, including Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok and Khenpo Pema Tsewang from Tibet. He completed the Shedra program in 1995 and joined the Institute staff, teaching there for three years. He was formally enthroned as Khenpo by His Holiness Penor Rinpoche in 1998 and was assigned by His Holiness to teach at the Buddhist college at Palyul monastery in Tibet. He is the main resident master at Palyul Dharma Center in Queens, NY.

Lama Pasang Gurung was born in 1968 in the village of Sal Dang in Dolpa, Nepal. At the age of 16 he entered Namdroling Monastery in Mysore, India and spent the next four years learning Buddhist practice, grammar, writing, and dharma history before entering shedra in 1990.

After completing the shedra in 2000, Lama Pasang was asked to become the umdze, or chant master, for His Holiness Penor Rinpoche. From 2000 until the passing of His Holiness in 2009, Lama Pasang traveled with His Holiness to Palyul centers in the United States and throughout the world.

In 2003, he started leading the yearly Palyul Retreat in upstate New York, where he continues to instruct first year students in the Ngöndro or preliminary practices.

In addition to the many blessings, lung, and wang he received from his root teacher His Holiness Penor Rinpoche; Lama Pasang received the Mipham Rinpoche Ka Bum lung and wang from His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse in 1989, and the Northern Treasure lung and wang from Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche in 1990. He is currently one of the two resident Lamas of the Palyul Dharma Center in Queens, NY.

Lama Ugen Rongdrol Palden was born in India, but was sent to Tibet at a very young age to learn the sacred cham dance. He was chosen by H.H. Penor Rinpoche and Tulku Thupsang Rinpoche to learn the Palyul cham from the most senior cham masters in Palyul mother monastery in Tibet in the early 1980s, thus becoming the Palyul cham lineage holder. He is often called “Cham-pon” cham master by his students. In 2015 Lama Ugen led sold out Cham Dance adult classes at the Rubin Museum during the exhibition Becoming Another: The Power of Masks. He was also part of Om chanting and solo Bardho Thodrol recording during The World Is Sound exhibition in 2017.

In addition to the many blessings, lung, and wang he received from his root teacher His Holiness Penor Rinpoche; Lama Ugen received the Mipham Rinpoche Ka Bum lung and wang from His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse and great Dzogchen teachings and transmissions from many great masters including Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche. He is currently one of the two resident Lamas of the Palyul Dharma Center in Queens, NY.

Major support for Himalayan Heritage is provided by The Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism. 

Death Is Not the End is supported by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation, Robert Lehman Foundation, and The Prospect Hill Foundation.

The Rubin Museum’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.

Death Is Not the End is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Peaceful and Wrathful Deities of the Bardo; Tibet; 18th-19th century; pigments on cloth; Rubin Museum of Art; purchased from the Collection of Navin Kumar; C2005.35.3 (HAR 65860)