Join us for a 9-day Ngöndro practice intensive and connect with the energy and power of our Vajrayana heritage. We welcome individuals practicing Ngöndro in any lineage of the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche – Kagyu, Nyingma, and/or Shambhala Ngöndros.

Through our practice together, we will be connecting with the living wisdom and lineage energy of the Vidyadhara and the thousand years of the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions he represented. Ngöndro is a powerful conduit to over fifty generations of mahasiddhas and our connection to the greater Vajra sangha of living masters today.

Drawing from the Vajrayana teachings of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and other Tibetan Buddhist masters, this retreat will explore important topics and questions that arise throughout the Ngöndro process:

How do I understand the guru and the guru principle?

How do I connect to the energy of devotion? How do I connect with a teacher when they may be physically distant, deceased, or when devotion may not always naturally arise?

What does it mean to discover the guru not only as a person, but to also recognize the world and the situations of our own lives as sacred and profound teachers?

How do I work with the qualities of surrender, egolessness, and bodhicitta within my practice?

What am I actually doing when I practice visualization and formless meditation?

This retreat is an opportunity to deepen one’s Ngöndro practice, to engage in the traditional accumulations of wisdom and merit, and to connect with tantrikas from all branches of the Vidyadhara’s spiritual lineage. It is also a rare opportunity to practice with one of Trungpa Rinpoche’s closest students, the Dorje Loppon, Lodro Dorje, whose deep devotion to the Vidyadhara and the lineage continues to inspire and empower new generations of practitioners today. 

The schedule will include group practice sessions, discussion groups, and opportunities to connect with the power and blessings of the lineage here at Karmê Chöling. Sangha members who have completed Ngöndro and wish to revisit the practice are also warmly invited.

Please bring all ngondro texts and materials necessary for your practice.

Arrival & Departure

Friday, please arrive 3:00 - 6:00pm for registration.
Dinner will be served at 6:30pm.
The program will officially begin at 7:30pm.

The program will finish Sunday by 12:30pm with lunch afterwards.

Cancellation Policy

Approximately two weeks before the start date of a program we confirm that we have sufficient numbers to hold the event. On the rare occasion when enrollment is too low, we may need to cancel a program. If this happens, we will notify all registered participants as soon as possible and provide a full refund of the program and accommodation fees paid to us. The center is not responsible for airfare or other travel expenses incurred. For this reason 

we recommend purchasing refundable travel tickets or travel insurance whenever possible.

Getting Here

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A 9-Day Retreat

 was head of the Office of Three Yana Studies from 1976 through 1990, which facilitated the meditation practice and study of the three yanas for Vajradhatu (now Shambhala). He was designated Dorje Loppon in 1985, with reference to his responsibility for working with Vajrayana students. Lodro continues to support practitioners of the Kagyü and Nyingma traditions and promotes the Vajrayana and Shambhala practices as mutually enhancing.

Adrienne Chang has studied in the tradition of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche for over fifteen years, helping co-lead Shambhala and Buddhist meditation retreats and study courses in Europe, North America, and online. Adrienne is currently a member of the Milinda program, a ten-year, inter-sangha, shedra-styled Buddhist teacher training program under the guidance of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, which brings her to Asia for three-months of intensive study and practice each year. Adrienne has been teaching and publishing in the fields of Buddhist philosophy and history, as well as of gerontology, meditation, and aging and spirituality. She currently splits her time between her home in Luxembourg and Limoges, France, near Dechen Choling, Shambhala International’s land center in Europe.