Tradition

Vajrayana

The Diamond Vehicle. The tantric Buddhism of Tibet, the Himalaya, Mongolia, and Bhutan. The path of transformation.

Knowledge8

Sites3

Teachings4

Products2

Knowledge

Tibetan tantric mandala of the forms of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of transcendent wisdom

TraditionsVajrayana

Vajrayana

The Diamond Vehicle — the tantric path that uses mantra, visualization, deity yoga, and direct transmission to make buddhahood possible in a single lifetime, in this very body, provided one has the right empowerment from a qualified lineage holder.

FiguresVajrayana

Padmasambhava

Eighth-century tantric master from Uddiyana who brought Vajrayana to Tibet at the invitation of King Trisong Detsen, founded Samye monastery in 779 CE, subdued the protector spirits of the Himalayan land, and concealed teachings — the terma — for retrieval by future generations. The founding figure of the Nyingma school and, in the Tibetan imagination, a second Buddha.

FiguresVajrayana

Milarepa

Tibetan yogi (1052-1135) who began life as a black-magic sorcerer, killed thirty-five of his relatives by hailstorm, repented, sought the lama Marpa the Translator, and after twelve years of brutal apprenticeship achieved enlightenment in a single lifetime. His Hundred Thousand Songs and his autobiography are the most beloved texts in Tibetan literature.

PracticesVajrayana

Mantra Recitation

The recitation of seed-syllables and sacred phrases — speech-mind training that pervades the Vajrayana, Pure Land, and Newar traditions. Om mani padme hum. Namo Amituofo. The Heart Sutra mantra.

Tibetan manuscript pages of the Bardo Thödol on display

TextsVajrayana

The Tibetan Book of the Dead

A 14th-century Tibetan terma text revealed by Karma Lingpa — instructions to be read aloud to the dying and the dead, guiding consciousness through the bardo states between death and rebirth.

ConceptsVajrayana

The Bardo

In Tibetan Buddhism, the bardo is the intermediate state between death and the next rebirth — but more broadly, any transitional state. The Bardo Thödol maps these states as terrains of practice and recognition.

FiguresVajrayana

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Bhutan-Tibetan Nyingma master who became, in his last decades, the foremost teacher of the Tibetan diaspora's lineage holders, and head of the Nyingma school for much of the 1980s.

FiguresVajrayana

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

Tibetan master of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, founder of the Tergar Meditation Community, and one of the most-studied subjects in the neuroscience of meditation. Author of The Joy of Living and In Love with the World.

Sacred Sites

extended asia

Boudhanath

The Great Stupa.

extended asia

Mustang

The Forbidden Kingdom.

extended asia

Swayambhu

The Self-Arisen.

Teachings

HH 41st Sakya Gongma Trichen Rinpoche

The Empowerment of Guru Padmasambhava

A transmission of the empowerment of Padmasambhava, the Lotus-Born — given from the hand of the 41st Sakya throne-holder, drawing the two great streams of Tibetan Buddhism into one rite.

HH 41st Sakya Gongma Trichen Rinpoche

The Great Empowerment of Avalokiteshvara

A live broadcast of the great empowerment (wangchen) of Arya Avalokiteshvara — the Buddha of compassion in whose name the entire Tibetan tradition has lived for a thousand years.

HH 41st Sakya Gongma Trichen Rinpoche

Lamdre 2024 — Day 3: HH the 41st Sakya Gongma Trichen

The third day of the 2024 Lamdre transmission, opened by the 41st Sakya Gongma Trichen Rinpoche — the senior of the two Sakya throne-holders.

Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche

Dharma Discourse — Session I

The first session of a Dharma discourse by the eldest of the late Tulku Urgyen's sons, taught at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling in Boudhanath. Foundational instruction on the gradual path, given in Rinpoche's characteristic warmth.

Products

Tiger's Nest atelier

Bhutanese Thangka · Medicine Buddha

Medicine Buddha in lapis-blue body, holding the myrobalan plant. Traditional Bhutanese composition, mineral pigments on cotton, 24k gold leaf detailing. 18" × 24". Each thangka is consecrated by a Drukpa lineage monk before shipping.

$4,800 Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling

The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa

672 pages, leatherbound. The classic Vajrayana text. Songs of awakening, sorrow, instruction, and joy.

$64

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Engaged Buddhism8 Mahayana14 Mindfulness-Based7 Newar Buddhism10 Nichiren2 Pure Land5 Theravada16 Zen4