September 2026 Newsletter

In this issue:

• September at Dorje Ling
• Book Group starts September 8th with new selection!
• October Silent Meditation
• In Our Greater Community: TLC Transitional Life Care

For all lunar pujas, please visit the Event Page for prayer packets, texts, and Zoom links.

Ongoing at Dorje Ling

Sunday mornings, 11:00-12:15pm: Ngöndro Practice (DL center and online)

Tuesday evenings, 7:00-8:30pm: Book Study (online only)

New Group Starts September 8th

Wednesday evenings, 7:00-8:30pm: Meditation Class (DL center only)

In Our Greater Community

TLC Transitional Life Care: Sunday, September 19th, 8:00-10:00 & 5:00-7:00pm: Natural Freedom Upon Hearing Teachings on the Bardos with Gochen Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche (online)

As we hear more about the devastating flooding in Nepal and Tibet, we are reminded of the opportunity to offer support to those in need. Please consider donating to relief efforts.

In addition to the most immediate Nepal relief funds—the Nepal Red Cross and the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund—we also want to suggest Karuna-Shechen – altruism in action, the organization founded by Matthieu Ricard.

Every small gift will make a difference.

Om Mani Padme Hung

In September Mat Small, our program director, will be in Nepal at a Dharma Retreat, studying with Khenchen Namdrol.  He will be returning in the first week in October.  Students Mark Fry, Carolyn Myers, Amber Crane, and Caleb Forrester will fill in for Dorje Ling’s regularly scheduled programs.  Collectively, we hope this month will be of benefit to newcomers, and that long-time sangha members will make an effort to support us in keeping our programs alive.

On Ngöndro from Mark Fry:

I would like to encourage all of us to keep motivated to practice dharma in the coming weeks when our Mat will be away. I see the Ngondro practices as taking action to transform our ordinary habitual ways for the sake of others. I have had the good fortune to lead our Ngondro practices before and will carry on (Sundays at 11) so all of us may continue to practice together ~practitioners on Zoom, practitioners who make the trek to our shrine room, all joining our intentions to benefit others. 

On Meditation Class from Carolyn Myers:

Dorje Ling’s Wednesday evening meditation practice (7:00-8:30, in person only) has been a steady part of our community life for more than two decades, initiated by Jampal Gyatso (Clark Hansen). During September, I will facilitate the practice, which includes opening prayers followed  several sitting periods of 15–24 minutes each. Guidance and readings are drawn from His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, and current meditation teachers such as Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal, Alan Wallace, Khentrul Lodrö T’hayé, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Pema Chödrö n. I am also inviting sangha members to share in the leadership by offering a favorite meditation practice or teaching.

On Pujas:

In our tradition, we begin with Ngöndro, which lays the foundation for the path and introduces the elements of Kyerim (generation stage practice), in which we invoke our true nature as the deity. Generation stage is something Gyatrul Rinpoche taught extensively, emphasizing its importance for Vajrayana practitioners. It's precisely this kind of practice we do at our lunar pujas. No matter where we are on the path, these gatherings offer a precious opportunity to purify negativity, accumulate merit, and learn how to uphold what has been so graciously given to us. So come join us! There's visualization, music, mantra, ritual, and tsok offering — what more could you want?

"It is so wonderful that the centers are keeping the tradition of holding practices on Guru Rinpoche and Dakini Days, as well as the new moon and full moon, without fail! Each center was opened by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, who was an emanation of Berotsana himself— amazing! Each center has his blessing—that kind of blessing. Each center has his energy, the energy of his tradition, which is the tradition of all of Guru Rinpoche's twenty-five principal disciples. They were not just superficial or funky guys, absolutely not! That is Guru Rinpoche's own energy. Therefore, it is amazing good karma and good fortune that you guys are keeping the practices of that lineage and not ignoring them. When you practice, you are practicing with Guru Rinpoche and those twenty-five disciples."

-Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, June 24th, 2021

Luminous Emptiness

by Francesca Fremantle

Discussions will begin on September 8

Meeting Information

• Our study group meets online on Tuesday evenings, from 7:00-8:30 pm.
• Discussions of Luminous Emptiness will begin on September 8
• Prospective members may attend for a week or two to decide whether or not they would like to join.
• To express your interest or ask a question, please contact Beverly, one of the group coordinators: daggettbeverly@gmail.com

In Luminous Emptiness, Francesca Fremantle presents the classic Tibetan Book of the Dead not as a scripture to be read to the dying but as a guide for the living.  Fremantle, who worked closely with Chogyam Trungpa on the 1975 translation of the original text, brings the expertise of a lifetime of study to rendering this intriguing classic more accessible and meaningful.

“This work is an excellent and plainly written manual to the complex mythologies, symbols, philosophies and doctrines of Tibetan Buddhism.  The West could hardly ask for a better primer.  Highly recommended.” - Library Journal

Save the Date!

Saturday, October 10th & 11th, 2026

8:30am - 5:30pm

Whether you are new to meditation or have an established practice, you are welcome to join our Fall Meditation Retreat.

Throughout the day, Matthew Small, Dorje Ling’s Program Director, will guide participants in shamatha (calm abiding) meditation with some exploration of vipassana (insight) meditation. Sessions will gradually lengthen, with supportive instruction drawn from Natural Liberation by Gyatrul Rinpoche, The Attention Revolution by B. Alan Wallace, PhD, and other sources.

Meditation Classes

Wednesdays 7:00-8:30pm

(in person only)

We explore a variety of meditation techniques.

Open to everyone

and drop-ins are encouraged.

Ngöndro Practices

Sundays 11:00-12:30pm

(in person and online)

A foundational practice for students of Vajrayana Buddhism. Open to everyone.

Lunar Day Practices or Pujas

4:00-6:30 pm

See Upcoming Events for dates

(in person, some offered online)

These practices are intended for our sangha members to come together and make offerings.

Open to everyone.

"You must first practice hearing the Dharma, then contemplating it, then meditating upon it. If you don’t learn the Dharma first, then on what will you meditate? It will help you accomplish your own benefit and the benefits of others—in this life and future lives."

-Ven. Gyatrul Rinpoche

"Firstly, "intermediate state" constitutes all that manifests as something other than originally pure basic space... Because the perceptions of this life are impermanent, when they fade away may we recognize our true nature during the stages of the elements dissolving..."

From Natural Freedom Upon Hearing by Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche