Exploring Foundational Buddhist Teachings

Live sessions from 1:00pm - 3:00pm EDT/EST

2023: Oct. 14, Nov. 11 & Dec. 9

2024: Jan. 13, Feb. 17, Mar. 9, Apr. 20, May 11 & June 8

During this in-depth course on foundational Buddhist teachings, Khenpo Gawang will guide participants through his book, Your Mind Is Your Teacher. This is strongly recommended for new students but will be offered in enough depth to be interesting and useful to those who have studied Buddhist teachings for many years.

Course Overview

Class 1  – October 14th, 2023: Overview of Buddhism

Class 2 – November 11th, 2023: Philosophy of the Shravaka and Sutra Schools 

Class 3 – December 9th, 2023: Precious Human Birth and Reincarnation

Class 4 – January 13th, 2024: Impermanence, Suffering, Four Marks of Existence

Class 5 – February 17th, 2024: Multiplicity and the Five Skandhas

Class 6 – March 9th, 2024: The Twelve Nidanas, Death, Sleep, Dreams, and Other Bardos

Class 7 – April 20th, 2024: The Eight-Fold Noble Path and the Four Noble Truths

Class 8 – May 11th, 2024: Karma, Merit, and the Six Realms

Class 9 – June 8th, 2024: Ground, Path, and Result of the Shravaka and Sutra Schools

In addition to the teachings, for the periods between classes, the course will include optional contemplations, readings, and exercises to help deepen and strengthen these core understandings of Buddhism.

As a follow up to this course, Khenpo Gawang will present Mahayana teachings on Shambhala Online in 2024. 

Open to all. No prerequisites required.

Khenpo Gawang has lived in the West since 2003 and he speaks and teaches in English. Because his root teacher, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche, saw that his karmic path was the West, Khenpo Gawang has made great efforts to learn English, the methods for how he can best teach Western students, and to translate texts and liturgies into English. He has a kind heart, quick mind, and dry sense of humor that comes through in his teachings.

Class Text: Your Mind Is Your Teacher by Khenpo Gawang available from Shambhala Publications and other sources.

About the Teacher

Khenpo Gawang Rinpoche is the founder and spiritual director of Pema Karpo Meditation Center in Memphis, Tennessee, where he has lived since 2007. In 2006, he received his Khenpo degree, the Buddhist equivalent of a PhD, from the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute (Buddhist College) of Namdroling Monastery in South India. His journey started when in 2003 he was sent by his root teacher, HH Penor Rinpoche, to assist Shambhala Global and to begin teaching in the West.

Rinpoche is the author of Your Mind Is Your Teacher (Shambhala Publications). He co-translated with Gerry Wiener, The Excellent Path to Enlightenment by Longchenpa, and The Gate of Entry Into the Limitless Activities of the Supreme Noble Ones: A Short Commentary on the King of Aspiration Prayers for the Excellent Conduct of the Noble Ones by Lochen Dharmashri. Khenpo and Gerry have translated a trilogy of works related to the profound text by Shantideva on becoming a bodhisattva: Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra: Entering the Way of the Bodhisattvas - Duhuang Edition by Shantideva (a 1000 year old text), The Ketaka Jewel by Mipham Rinpoche (a commentary on the Wisdom Chapter), and Entering the Way of the Bodhisattvas:  An Annotated Commentary by Khenpo Shenga (soon to be published). These books are available on Amazon.

Before returning to Namdroling Monastery in 2018, as vice-president of the Buddhist college, and continuing after his return to Memphis, Khenpo Gawang Rinpoche lives in semi-retreat. He practices meditation in the mornings and spends his afternoons and evenings in study, contemplation and translation of Tibetan Buddhist texts. Since early 2020, Rinpoche has been teaching regularly online, something he enjoys greatly since he can simultaneously be in retreat and teach anywhere in the world.