6th ANNIVERSARY OF SOGYAL RINPOCHE’S PARINIRVANA - at Lerab Ling and Online, 25-29 August 2025

Written by Nicolas Schram on 25 August 2025.

6^th ANNIVERSARY OF SOGYAL RINPOCHE’S PARINIRVANA – AT LERAB LING AND ONLINE

Annual Rigpa Sangha Gathering

Dates: from 25 to 29 August

This annual all-mandala retreat brings together the whole sangha in a festive atmosphere to practise, celebrate, share stories, receive teachings, and simply for us to be together as a sangha.

This is one time in the year that we can each connect with the wider Rigpa family, of which we are all part, revitalise our connection with each other, to our spiritual home Lerab Ling, and our many great teachers, and foremost celebrating Sogyal Rinpoche’s life and legacy.

Each year this event has been held, something surprising or unexpected has been added to the programme at the last minute, making it an even more joyful and auspicious time.

The practice programme that is the heart of the retreat includes a range of practices to enable everyone to participate, wherever we are on the path. We will practise meditation, Guru Yoga, Riwo Sangchö, Rigdzin Düpa* and offer an abundant tsok feast every day.

Interspersing practice sessions, we will revisit some of Sogyal Rinpoche’s best teachings and hear stories from his life, as well as receive teachings and advice from Rigpa teachers and practice holders as well as Rigpa’s spiritual advisors, either in person or online.

During the 2023 retreat, the inner stupa of Sogyal Rinpoche was consecrated in a ceremony led by Tulku Rigdzin Pema Rinpoche and Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche. In 2024 we will see the construction of the Great Enlightenment Stupa outside the Lerab Ling temple. This stupa will contain millions of mantras, thousands of tsa-tsas, specially prepared mandalas that liberate upon sight, and numerous other texts and precious substances.

In August, under the exacting guidance of Tulku Rigdzin Pema, our monastic community will start placing numerous precious vases and other sacred substances in the base of the Stupa, as prescribed in the texts. This will be immediately followed by assembling and filling the remaining levels of the Stupa, currently scheduled to take place during the Dzogchen retreat and Parinirvana celebrations.

Once the Stupa has been completed, Tulku Rigdzin Pema Rinpoche will conduct a rabné (blessing). A fuller inauguration will take place at a later date with guest lamas and gathered sangha.

As in previous years, we look forward to sharing the retreat with the wider family of students of other teachers who are connected to Rigpa, many of whom have joined us for this event over the last 5 years.

Many people have shared that this retreat has produced some of the most inspiring and magical moments for them in recent years in Lerab Ling. We hope this experience will continue in 2025.

HOW TO FOLLOW

We encourage everyone to gather physically in Lerab Ling, but the commemorations can also be followed live online.

In Lerab Ling

• 5-day programme (25-29 August)
• Sogyal Rinpoche’s Parinirvana Anniversary (28 August)
  The commemoration programme on the 28th of August will be based on donations, for all those who wish to join in Lerab Ling or online. Please note that this is also reflected in the lowered price of the 5-day event.
  
  

Live online

• Please register for the online event on Prajna (see below).
  
  

*Rigdzin Düpa, 'The Gathering of Vidyadharas,' is the inner lama practice from the Longchen Nyingtik, the terma revelation of Jikmé Lingpa. It is one of the main sadhanas practised in Rigpa. For those unfamiliar with this practice, there will be guidance on how to participate according to your level of practice.

Teachings on Rigdzin Düpa, 24 May - 1 June 2025

Written by Paula on 24 May 2025.

TEACHINGS ON RIGDZIN DÜPA

With Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche in Lerab Ling & live online

Dates: from 24 May to 1 June. Onsite and live online (except for the empowerment).

Rigdzin Düpa is a sadhana that focuses on the root of all blessings: Guru Rinpoche. It is one of the most important and profound practices of the Longchen Nyingtik tradition that we follow in Rigpa and has the power to awaken, in our experience, the view of the natural state of Dzogpachenpo—the nature of mind. It is also considered to be a profound long-life practice.

Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche will commence the event by bestowing the empowerment of Rigdzin Düpa to those following his teachings in Lerab Ling. According to our spiritual advisors, an empowerment can only be received in person from a qualified master.

Then Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche will grant detailed teachings onRigdzin Düpa focusing on the commentary by Khangsar Tenpé Wangchuk (aka Tulku Tenpo)‘The Light of the Sun and the Moon—Generation and Perfection Stages, Notes Explaining the Words of the Rigdzin Düpa, the Inner Sadhana of the Longchen Nyingtik’.

This text, which Sogyal Rinpoche found so inspiring and taught only partially during the three-year retreat in Lerab Ling, clearly shows the way to practise each section of the sadhana from the Dzogchen perspective.

The teachings will be complemented by sessions led by Rigpa Teachers and Practice Holders dedicated to practising the sadhana, taking the time to go through it step by step, learning all the aspects of this practice together, and answering questions.

Khenpo Sönam Tsewang, Khen Rinpoche’s translator and teaching assistant, has also agreed to offer several review sessions.

WHO THIS EVENT IS FOR

This retreat, with all its aspects, will be a complete training in how to practise Rigdzin Düpa for anyone wishing to discover this practice.

It is also a perfect preparation for anyone wishing to focus more intently on this practice—for example, to participate in a drupchö or nyenpa retreat in Lerab Ling or Dzogchen Beara, or at home. In Rigpa, where we follow mainly the Longchen Nyingtik tradition, Rigdzin Düpa is the first sadhana we “accumulate” after having completed a first set of ngöndro accumulations.

Since Rigdzin Düpa is the designated lama sadhana of the Rigpa sangha, all Vajrayana students are warmly encouraged to participate in this event, especially if they have not received detailed teachings on this practice before.

WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS TO JOIN?

This event is open to Vajrayana students who have received the empowerment of Rigdzin Düpa.

Please check that you fulfil the following requirements.

• You are a member of the Ngöndro or Dzogchen Mandala (this does not apply if you are the member of another sangha). If you feel you should be part of the Ngöndro Mandala but are not yet, please contact your local instructor to have an interview.
• You have already formally entered the Mahayana Buddhist path by taking Refuge and Bodhisattva vows.
• You have a solid foundation and experience of the principles and practices of the Mahayana.
• You have received teachings on all the ngöndro practices, including Guru Yoga.
• You have started your ngöndro accumulations and are on track to continue.
• You have a basic understanding of Vajrayana and some experience in practising sadhanas.
• You have received the empowerment of Rigdzin Düpa already, or you will be present in Lerab Ling to receive the empowerment from Khenchen Pema Sherab at the beginning of his teachings. See the list of occasions this empowerment was given to the Rigpa sangha on the Rigpa wiki.

HOW TO FOLLOW

The best is to join in person to attend the teachings and practices, clarification sessions and ritual aspects. It is also possible to follow the teachings live online on Prajna.

Please note that the transmission of the empowerment of Rigdzin Düpa is only possible for those attending the event in person in Lerab Ling.

TEACHERS

Kyabjé Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche is the senior-most Khenpo in the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, and among the most important lineage holders in the Palyul tradition. Khen Rinpoche is one of the last of a generation of authentic Lamas who hold the pure lineage of the Nyingma tradition, both Kama and Terma. 

Khen Rinpoche has been generously guiding the Rigpa sangha, in particular giving key teachings and transmissions from the Ngagyur Nyingma lineage over the last 15 years. We are incredibly fortunate that Khen Rinpoche supports the Rigpa sangha so closely. More information

Khenpo Sonam Tsewang (translator and teacher) is a Khenpo at Ngagyur Nyingma Institute, the advanced centre for Buddhist philosophical study at Namdroling Monastery, Bylakuppe, India. 

Khenpo is known to many Rigpa students as the translator for Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche with whom he travels extensively. Khenpo Sonam is known to have a deep understanding of western practitioners and has a great skill in presenting teachings in a uniquely clear way that connects traditional teachings to a western audience. More information

PROVISIONAL SCHEDULE FOR THE TEACHINGS

08.00-08.30 Riwo Sangchö (optional)
09:00-11:00 Teachings by Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche
11:00-14:30 Break
14:30-16:30 Study & practice session with Rigpa Practice Holders or clarifications with Khenpo Sönam Tsewang
17:00-19:00 Daily Tendrel Nyesel Tsok (optional)

MORE INFORMATION

For more information on Rigdzin Düpa, please read our Rigpa Study & Practice page.