Rigpa U.S. Membership
Tibetan Year of the Wood Dragon – 2151

Why Subscribe?

We are extremely grateful to everyone who supports Rigpa U.S. through their membership. It allows us to provide a variety of services and support as we present the Buddhist tradition of Tibet in a way that is both authentic and relevant to contemporary lives and the needs of 21st century society. In addition to these activities, it also allows members to join with us in a broader international network of national entities and international retreat centers with a shared purpose to support interested students world-wide wishing to pursue this authentic lineage of Tibetan Buddhism through a graduated and complete path of study and practice. Please join us in supporting this work, which is more important today than ever.

What activity does your membership support?

Prajna Online

Prajna is a new software platform available by subscription with a goal of providing a large library of historical and current teachings and instruction to students of Buddhism worldwide. It will also be a gateway for live and delayed streaming of events sponsored by Rigpa.

Rigpa U.S. was the first country to launch Prajna and make it available to students. This Prajna subscription is included with your membership.

Dzogchen Mandala Study Program

These teachings are aimed at dzogchen students who have studied buddhism for some time, and focus on supporting them with well-designed and vital advanced material relevant to their study and practice. Most recently, this program has focused on presenting bardo teachings, one of Tibet’s unique treasures.

Rigpa Online Courses (ROC)

Members of Rigpa U.S. are entitled to take one online course at a time without charge.

Practicing Together

Practice is at the heart of our Rigpa Sangha. From the fundamentals of meditation, to key Mahayana practices like loving kindness and tonglen to vajrayana practices and liturgies passed down through the lineage, subscribing students have many resources available for practice guidance and for practicing together. While this has previously occurred in-person at centers and retreats,’ for the past year it has moved entirely onto Zoom, making it more accessible to everyone.

Your subscription supports live and delayed streaming of daily practice, special practice days, and special ceremonies that may take place in Rigpa’s international retreat centers like Lerab Ling or Dzogchen Beara, or anywhere else in the world. Rigpa U.S. supports many of these international opportunities in ways that make them available at convenient times for U.S. time zones.

The All-Encompassing Path

The AEP focuses on bringing the depth and breadth of the Buddhadharma into a complete path available to everyone. It provides monthly teachings on a variety of subjects and can include

  • Texts like Shantideva’s Introduction to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, written in the eighth century and yet perhaps even more relevant today. When Buddhism was brought to Tibet, this text was one of the first ones translated into Tibetan and it has held a prominent place in the Tibetan curriculum ever since.

  • Teachings by today’s teachers of Tibetan Buddhism focused on meeting contemporary needs through explanation of authentic and proven gradual approaches to better understanding our minds.

  • Monthly gatherings along with optional weekly home study. Home study can be done on one’s own or as part of a study group.

This material, like almost everything else offered by Rigpa U.S., is made available in-person (post-COVID) and/or online.

Study and practice support

Experienced instructors are available to offer guidance and opportunities to share insights and discuss needs and aspirations with others on the path.

In addition, Rigpa U.S. supports a variety of topic-specific self-facilitated study groups, currently meeting via Zoom. These provide opportunities for students to connect, study together, and support each other on the path. Recent self-facilitated study group topics have included teachings by Sogyal Rinpoche for the moment of death, Patrick Gaffney’s teachings entitled Minding Our Own Business teachings, current AEP topics, and for Dzogchen Mandala students who meet the qualifications, Longchenpa’s Choying Dzo as well as Chetsun Nyingtik Ngöndro retreat preparation.

Community

Rigpa U.S. has a variety of sangha communication channels for practitioners of all levels and in local communities across the USA.

In all these ways, membership in Rigpa U.S. supports our shared striving to realize the vision expressed in these sacred lines from the Bodhicharyavatara:

“Precious sublime Bodhicitta
May it arise where it has not yet arisen
May it never fail where it has arisen
But go on increasing further and further”