1. The Bardo of Luminosity - A Teaching by Tsoknyi Rinpoche

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During this teaching, Tsoknyi Rinpoche lucidly discusses our opportunities during the "bardo of living" to prepare for the "bardo of luminosity" that follows death. With characteristic humor, he shows us how our practice during the various bardos will support and lead us to recognition of our true nature. He illuminates how the stability of our meditation has an impact on our dream yoga practice, which can greatly influence our experience between death and rebirth in the "bardo of becoming". Rinpoche points out that engaging in the exercise of cutting through our ordinary perceptions helps to purify our minds on the path to the non-dual state of awareness. He reminds us that our motivations are essential to spiritual development and how, during the bardo of living, consciousness is linked with the bardo of dying and our own luminosity. Tsoknyi Rinpoche is a world-renowned Vajrayana Buddhist teacher and the founder of the Pundarika Foundation. He helped to oversee the Tergar Osel Ling Monastery, founded in Kathmandu, Nepal by his father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche. Tsoknyi Rinpoche is a great supporter of nuns, particularly the Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns in Eastern Tibet, and this is the subject of a wonderful documentary called "Blessings: The Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns of Tibet" narrated by Richard Gere. He is also the author of Carefree Dignity, Fearless Simplicity, and Open Heart-Open Mind’.

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CLICK HERE 1:07

Recorded on Zoom 11-5-22

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2. Moving through Grief with Trust - An Excerpt from an Interactive Dharma Talk

with Lama Choyang

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This video is an excerpt from Lama Choyang's talk about actively working with grief. Personal loss, the impact of our climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, and the ongoing pandemic are all addressed. Lama Choyang explores how we access our refuge, the ground, and the spaciousness to stay present for our suffering hearts and world, drawing from her experience as a hospice chaplain and dharma teacher. Lama Choyang (Allison Rader) is a Vajrayana Buddhist teacher who worked as a hospice chaplain for five years with Hospice of Humboldt. Her root teachers are Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche and his Dzogchen lineage holder, Lama Drimed Norbu. She completed seven years of retreat under Lama Drimed's guidance and was ordained by him in 2009. Lama Choyang teaches dharma, leads retreats, and offers grief counseling, grief workshops, and spiritual mentoring in Arcata, CA, and online.

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CLICK HERE 34:00

Recorded on Zoom 7-23-22

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3. New Choices: Alternative Interment & Green Burial - with Ed Bixby and Seth Viddal

 

This program with Ed Bixby, President of the Green Burial Council and owner of Destination Destiny and green cemeteries across the US, and Seth Viddal, partner with The Natural Funeral and Reverent Body Care, Parlor Magazine, and naturaltransitions.org, presents pertinent and compelling information about alternatives to traditional burial and cremation. This video is perfect for those interested in or curious about new interment methods and funeral practices that offer a dignified resting place while protecting the environment. In a friendly and accessible manner, these two professionals introduce possibilities that are currently becoming more popular and being legalized in various states in the US. They also share insights about how meaningful these new methods are for families and loved ones. A significant amount of information is offered that will assist with making decisions about end of life disposition and other concerns. A powerpoint presentation as well as questions and answers are included. Highly recommended by TLC. 

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CLICK HERE 1:43

Recorded on Zoom 8-20-22

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4. Lighting the Path through Loss and Grief - Jetsunma Jamyang Yeshe Palmo

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In this poignant teaching, Jetsunma Jamyang Yeshe Palmo opens the conversation about bereavement and learning to accept the reality of death. Her open-hearted approach to this subject, often avoided in the west, includes her great knowledge of Buddhist scripture and western psychology. She leads the listener through a sensitive contemplation of “The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind" as well as unconditional love to help us work with grief. Jetsunma Jamyang Yeshe Palmo is a scholar, retreat master, and teacher recognized by His Holiness Sakya Trizin Rinpoche. She was the rebirth Freda Bedi, known as Sister Palmo, who helped bring Buddhism to the west in the early 1970s. She has completed nine years studying at Ngagyur Nyingma Nunnery at Namdroling, and nine years of retreat, and also has a degree in western psychology and currently teaches at Ewam Buddhist Center in Arles, Montana. Please forgive the slight technical issue visual observable in this video. 

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CLICK HERE 1:30

Recorded on Zoom 6-4-22

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5. Living with Sudden Loss - An Excerpt from an Interactive Dharma Talk with Lama Choyang

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Lama Choyang, Buddhist teacher, grief counselor and former hospice chaplain, explores the mostly unspoken world of loss and grief that often accompany a traumatic or sudden death. Join her in a guided mediation during this short teaching that reveals insights relevant to the many ways we experience bereavement. In her accessible manner, Lama Choyang draws from her experience as she encourages and reminds us of our potential to heal. Lama Choyang's root teachers are Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche and his Dzogchen lineage holder, Lama Drimed Norbu. She completed seven years of retreat under Lama Drimed's guidance and was ordained by him in 2009. Lama Choyang teaches dharma, leads retreats, and offers grief counseling, grief workshops, and spiritual mentoring in Arcata, CA, and online.

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CLICK HERE 33:12

Recorded on Zoom 6-3-23

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6. The Healing Nature of Presence - with Amita Lhamo

 

In this video Amita Lhamo shares various qualities of presence available to us in times of fear, illness, and death, such as tools for remaining present while honoring our vulnerability. Amita Lhamo nurtures the listener with inspiration and guided contemplations and this video is highly recommended for supporting oneself and others. Amita Lhamo is the Director of the Mandorla Project. As a former hospice chaplain and spiritual care director, she has assisted many through the dying process. She is the author of Dandelions Blooming in the Cracks of Sidewalks: Stories from the Bedside of the Dying, and Wisdom Moon: Presence in Dying.

 

CLICK HERE 1:21

Recorded on Zoom 5-16-20 

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7. Knowing and Protecting Your Rights at the End of Life - Expert Advice About Advance Directives - with Rick Beeman

 

Advance Care specialist Rick Beeman explains many reasons why it is imperative to create an Advance Directive and how to document end of life wishes. POLST forms are also addressed, help is given to identify a qualified person to act as one’s Power of Attorney, and explanations are offered about how to attach an “addenda” to any existing, basic Advance Directive. Tools are also given to begin conversations with loved ones about end-of-life wishes. Rick Beeman's  books, 'My Dying Wishes: How I Want to Be Treated as I Go and After I’m Gone', and its related workbook, 'Advance Directive Essentials' are utilized and recommended by TLC [order from Amazon]. They are perfect companions for TLC’s ‘Instructions for the Transitional State’ Buddhist end of life manual. A PowerPoint presentation and “questions and answers” are included. Rick Beeman has been a chaplain for forty years, as well as an author, videographer, and documentarian. His work with Ars Moriendi Project is dedicated to improving the quality of life for elders as the end-of-life approaches, the emphasis being on providing education, resources, and advocacy for elders relating to aging, dying, and death. 

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CLICK HERE 1:45

Recorded on Zoom 8-12-23

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8. Bridging East and West: How Buddhism is Vital to Modern Healthcare - with Lama Frederico Trancoso and Liz Hamill-Howard

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Vajrayana practitioners and hospice chaplains Lama Frederico Trancoso and Liz Hamill-Howard share some of their experiences and perspectives about bridging dharma with the medical arena. Their advice includes answers to questions we normally don’t know to ask. With the  knowledge they’ve developed and honed through experience as chaplains, their insights help to educate us about the medical system and how to be more supportive as we provide bedside assistance to our own loved ones. Frederico Trancoso is a Buddhist teacher and practitioner and has served as a chaplain with Stanford Health Care and the Hospice of Santa Cruz County. A Buddhist practitioner and interfaith chaplain, Liz Hamill-Howard trained at Stanford and UCSF in California.

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CLICK HERE 1:59

Filmed at Orgyen Dorje Den Temple 5-20-18

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9. Venerable Sogan Rinpoche - The Practice of Bodhicitta translated by Christina Monson

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Bodhicitta is the realization of compassion, or “enlightened mind.” It is both the foundation and an essential aspect of all Buddhist practice, and is accomplished when we realize the empty nature of awareness; we practice bodhicitta as we benefit sentient beings. During this teaching, Sogan Rinpoche guides us toward understanding the nature of this truth by referencing the Bodhicharyavatara and Patrul Rinpoche's text, ‘A Precious Treasury of Advice from the One-to-One Oral Lineage’. Venerable Sogan Rinpoche (Tulku Pema Lodoe) was born in Golok, Tibet. He was recognized by the XlVth Dalai Lama as the Sixth Sogan Rinpoche. Rinpoche spent many years in retreat and later established The Sogan Foundation as a way to alleviate the suffering of the marginalized poor in Golok. He is the spiritual director of Tupten Osel Choling in the San Francisco Bay Area and also of Tupten Osel Ling in Italy. Christina Monson is an esteemed translator who worked with ‘Light of Berotsana’ and was a primary translator for Dudjom Yangsi Rinpoche. TLC's board of directors has dedicated this video to the memory of Christina Monson who passed away in 2023.​

 

CLICK HERE 2:19

Recorded on Zoom 8-22-20

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10. The Conversation Project - How to Talk About Wishes for Care Through the End of Life - with Reverend Rosemary Lloyd 

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April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day when we're reminded about completing Advance Directives and end of life documents. The Conversation Project is a big promoter of this important task. In April 2024 Reverend Rosemary Lloyd, an advisor for that organization, joined us with an inspiring PowerPoint presentation about approaching how to talk with our families, caregivers, and loved ones about our health care. This video provides many tips and takes us through a simple check list called The Conversation Starter Guide, provided free by  The Conversation Project. We all want our wishes and those of our loved ones to be understood and respected. Here you'll find examples of how to bring up this topic even when people are uncomfortable with the discussion, how to address complex family situations, and suggestions for how to talk with a health care team. Reverend Rosemary's knowledge and helpful skill are fueled by her experience as an RN, a hospice volunteer, a minister, and a caregiver. She is a graduate of Georgetown University, Harvard Divinity School, and the Metta Institute for Compassionate End of Life Care led by Frank Ostaseski, co-founder of the San Francisco Zen Hospice House and author of 'The Five Invitations'. An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister and Advisor to faith communities for The Conversation Project, Reverend Rosemary has led classes on aging, living, and dying well for 20 years. TLC encourages you to download, print, and utilize the guide, accessed by the links above, and have it on hand while watching this encouraging video.​

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CLICK HERE 1:45

Recorded on Zoom 4-27-24 

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11. The Impermanence of Self and the Guru - with Lama Lakshey Zangpo Rinpoche

 

For years now, the first generation of western Buddhist students have been experiencing the parinirvanas of our teachers, many of whom were the most revered of our time. Losing them has been difficult and heartbreaking since their guidance is irreplaceable. The same goes for our sangha community and ourselves–we are all living with the inevitable outcome of birth, old age, and sickness, as Buddha taught. The deaths of our teachers, loved ones, and ourselves is one of the greatest challenges we endure as sentient beings. In this teaching, Lama Lakshey Rinpoche helps us look at this truth and guides us to work with our minds and hearts to accept our situation. By closely examining the reality of impermanence, he helps us recognize how we can integrate this awareness into our practice. Lama Lakshey Zangpo Rinpoche was born in Golok, Tibet. He began his training in the Kathok Nyingma tradition at Mardo Tashi Choling and later studied at Larung Gar in Tibet with HH Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche and other masters. Rinpoche was formally recognized and enthroned by HH Katog Getse Rinpoche. In 2011 Lama Lakshey founded and is the spiritual advisor of Tsinta Mani Choling, who began establishing a center in Aptos CA in 2024. This is the second time he has taught for TLC – see our Audio Archive soon for his teaching, “Understanding Tukdam”. Lama Lakshey Rinpoche has taught widely and his modern approach to teaching meditation addresses the needs of people from a variety of backgrounds. 

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​CLICK HERE 1:53 

​Recorded on Zoom 5-25-24

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12. “Love, Compassion and Grief: How Death Affects the Living” with HE Namgay Dawa Rinpoche

 

His Eminence Namgay Dawa Rinpoche shares his heart in this teaching as he talks about the losses of his family members  and how grief has changed his life and deepened his practice. His sincere and forthright message allows us to recognize how sorrow and bereavement lead to understanding and awareness as we examine impermanence, the preciousness of our lives, and the power of our spiritual practice. Rinpoche’s familiarity with western culture is apparent here as he freely says what we seldom allow ourselves to think about, and he does so with authenticity and humility. Namgay Dawa Rinpoche is the grandson of H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje, and the son of Dungsey Shenphen Dawa Norbu Rinpoche. His mother is H.R.H. Ashi Pema Codon Wangchuk, a royal family member of Bhutan. He is the reincarnation of Tulku Phulung Sangye Rinpoche, a principal root teacher of H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche. Namgay Dawa Rinpoche was enthroned by Dudjom Rinpoche, who blessed him and predicted his future. Rinpoche’s activities are ongoing at the Dudjom Tersar Yeshe Nyingpo Temple in New York where he is the resident lama. His main objective is to share the dharma and accomplish the wishes of his forefathers. Namgay Dawa Rinpoche’s open-hearted warmth, understanding of Westerners, and disarming sincerity are a source of solace and delight.

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CLICK HERE 1:48

Recorded on Zoom 8-25-24