Dear Sangha and Friends,

With next weekend’s Ngöndro Retreat rapidly approaching, Her Eminence Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo Rinpoche has issued a direct and essential notice to all practitioners: “If people want to complete their Ngöndro, they should come to this retreat.”

Ngöndro—the Namchö Dzogchen preliminary practice traditionally termed “Buddha in the Palm of the Hand”—is revered by lineage masters not as a mere preliminary step, but as a complete and flawless path to absolute Enlightenment. It is the foundation that cuts through lifetimes of delusion, purifying karmic obscurations and transforming the mind into a fertile field where the seeds of realization can flourish.

As serious practitioners understand, completing the formal accumulations of 100,000 repetitions for each section of the practice is a profound, often years-long discipline of deep personal transformation. This discipline is protected by samaya—the sacred bond linking student, teacher, and lineage. Approaching these accumulations with consistency and devotion directly sustains the spiritual vitality of our Lineage Teachers and ensures the continuous presence of the Dharma in our world.

While a practitioner will not complete their entire Ngöndro over the course of a single weekend, attending this retreat is a critical step for anyone walking that path. This weekend immersion provides the precise instruction, formal transmission, and powerful collective practice container required to establish a daily practice at home or to clarify, stabilize, and reinvigorate your ongoing accumulations.

Retreat Details & Registration

• Teacher: Retreat Master Khenpo Tenzin “Karze” Yeshi
• Dates: Saturday, June 27 – Sunday, June 28, 2026
• Location: In-Person Only at Kunzang Palyul Choling (Maryland Temple)

Please Note: To practice together as a unified body, this retreat will be held strictly in person. Hard copies of the Ngöndro practice books will be available for purchase onsite at the Mani Jewel gift shop.

Suggested Donations

Full Retreat: $108

Single Day: $60

REGISTER FOR THE RETREAT HERE

Sponsoring from Afar: Accumulating Merit

If you are unable to attend in person, we invite you to participate from afar by sponsoring the retreat or Tsog offerings. You may submit your prayer dedications and sponsorships online HERE. Please add a note specifying “Ngöndro Retreat” so our team can properly route your offering.

 Retreat Schedule

Saturday, June 27

• 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM | Session 1: Ngöndro Instruction & Practice (Refuge & Bodhicitta Accumulation with Prostrations)
• 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Session 2: Ngöndro Instruction & Practice (Refuge & Bodhicitta Accumulation with Prostrations)
• 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM | Lunch Break 
• 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM | Session 3: Ngöndro Instruction & Practice (Refuge & Bodhicitta Accumulation with Prostrations)
  4:30 PM – 6:00 PM | Session 4: Ngöndro Instruction & Practice, Short Tsog Offering, and Protector Prayers

Sunday, June 28

• 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM | Session 1: Ngöndro Instruction & Practice (Refuge & Bodhicitta Accumulation with Prostrations)
• 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM | Session 2: Sunday Dharma Teaching
• 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM | Lunch Break 
• 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM | Session 3: Ngöndro Instruction & Practice (Refuge & Bodhicitta Accumulation with Prostrations)
• 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM | Session 4: Ngöndro Instruction & Practice, Short Tsog Offering, and Protector Prayers

About the Retreat Master

Khenpo Tenzin Yeshi, affectionately known to our community as Khenpo Karze, arrived at Namdroling Monastery in 1993 from his village in northern India. In 2006, he graduated from Ngagyur Nyingma Institute’s intensive Buddhist graduate course and in 2011, received the degree of Khenpo, equivalent to a PhD in Buddhist Philosophy. He has received teachings and empowerments from many great Nyingma masters, and taught extensively in various Palyul temples in Nepal, India, Europe and Taiwan. Khenpo has been in residence at KPC since 2023, offering precise, traditional Dharma instruction to help us deepen our practice of wisdom and compassion.

Lineage and Historical Connection

The Namchö cycle represents an unadulterated, direct approach to realizing the mind’s primordial nature, revealed in the 17th century by the great visionary Terton Migyur Dorje. KPC’s connection to this pure lineage is bone-deep. Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo was enthroned by His Holiness Penor Rinpoche as the reincarnation of Genyenma Ahkön Lhamo, a 17th-century wisdom dakini and sister to Rigdzin Kunzang Sherab, Terton Migyur Dorje’s primary Dharma heir. Along with her brother, she was instrumental in the foundational genesis of Palyul Monastery.

A silver dollar-sized fragment of her miraculous, “AH”-embossed kapala relic survived the Cultural Revolution and was returned to Jetsunma by Penor Rinpoche in 1987. This sacred relic remains permanently housed in the KPC Maryland prayer room, serving as an unbroken material anchor for the very practice we gather to accumulate next weekend.

Please make every effort to join us in person for this critical weekend of practice. For any questions regarding the schedule or registration, contact us at kpc@tara.org.

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