7 min
Documentary · Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
Heading West
Seven minutes from his own organisation on how he came out of Tibet and ended up teaching in the West.
Overview
What does tibetan buddhism point to?
Tibetan Buddhism brings together meditation, philosophy, ritual, devotion, and a rich lineage of teacher-to-student transmission. Rooted in the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, it places strong emphasis on compassion, the nature of mind, and the possibility of awakening for the benefit of all beings.
Over centuries, Tibetan masters developed many distinct schools and practices, from analytical study and monastic training to deity yoga, mantra, Dzogchen, and Mahamudra. Although its forms can appear elaborate, the heart of the tradition is often very direct: to see more clearly, loosen the grip of self-clinging, and live with greater wisdom and compassion.
What is handed down is not information; it is a way of seeing.A central teaching within Tibetan Buddhism
Explore Tibetan Buddhism
Clear ways in.
The full history is complex. The browse experience does not need to be. Start with a recognizable living tradition and discover its deeper context naturally.
Living tradition
Kagyu
Meditation lineages especially associated with Mahāmudrā and yogic transmission.
Explore Kagyu↗
Living traditionNyingma
Oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism; strongly associated with Dzogchen and numerous treasure lineages.
Explore Nyingma↗
Living traditionGelug
Systematic philosophical study, monastic scholarship and tantric practice.
Explore Gelug↗
Living traditionJonang
The Tibetan school built on the Kalachakra tantra and the shentong view, suppressed in the seventeenth century and carried on unbroken in Amdo.
Explore Jonang↗
Living traditionSakya
Known for the Lamdré system and a strong scholastic-tantric synthesis.
Explore Sakya↗
Teachers
Voices within this path.
Tibetan Buddhism holds many schools and lineages beneath it. Its teachers are gathered below.
AT
Tibetan Buddhism
Anam Thubten
Nyingma-trained teacher and founder of the Dharmata Foundation, offering Dzogchen-inspired meditation to Western audiences outside a monastic structure.
SchoolNyingma
AH
Tibetan Buddhism
Andrew Holecek
Teacher and author specialising in Tibetan Buddhist dream and sleep yoga, associated with the Shambhala-rooted Drala Mountain Center.
TraditionTibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
B. Alan Wallace
American scholar-practitioner and former Tibetan Buddhist monk with a Stanford PhD, founder of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies.
TraditionTibetan Buddhism
In memoriam
Tibetan Buddhism
Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
Tibetan lama of the Nyingma school (1930–2002), born Padma Gargyi Wangchuk in the Tromtar region of Kham and recognised at the age of three as the sixteenth Chagdud tulku. His mother, Dawa Drolma, was held to be an emanation of Tara. He entered a three-year retreat at eleven, left Tibet after the Chinese occupation, and from 1979 built the Chagdud Gonpa Foundation in the West. In 1994 he moved to Brazil and founded Khadro Ling in Rio Grande do Sul, where he died in 2002. He was a sculptor, a painter and a physician as well as a teacher, and wrote the autobiography Lord of the Dance.
SchoolNyingma
In memoriam
Tibetan Buddhism
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu
Tibetan Dzogchen master and scholar who brought the Dzogchen teachings to the West, founding the International Dzogchen Community and the Shang Shung Institute.
SchoolNyingma
TeachingsDzogchen
Tibetan Buddhism
Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche
Abbot of Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Kathmandu, recognized in childhood as the seventh incarnation of Gar Drubchen within the Drikung Kagyu lineage.
SchoolKagyu
Artists
Musicians and singers.
Devotional music and chant from within this path, alongside its teachers.
Tibetan Buddhism
Ani Choying Drolma
Nepalese Buddhist nun of Tibetan origin from the Nagi Gompa nunnery, who brought Tibetan Buddhist chants and feast songs to audiences far outside the monastery.
TraditionTibetan Buddhism
DG
Tibetan Buddhism
Drukmo Gyal
Drukmo Gyal was born in Rebgong in the Amdo region of north-eastern Tibet into a family of ngakpas, lay tantric practitioners, and grew up with mantra chanting in the household. She studied traditional Tibetan medicine in Amdo and later worked at the Estonian Academy for Traditional Tibetan Medicine in Tallinn; her teacher is Dr. Nida Chenagtsang. She sings traditional Tibetan and Sanskrit mantras in concerts in Europe, the Americas and Asia, and leads retreats in the Yuthok Nyingthig, the meditation tradition of Tibetan physicians.
TraditionTibetan Buddhism
GS
Tibetan Buddhism
Gaden Shartse Monks
The Gaden Shartse Monks come from Gaden Shartse, a Gelug monastic college re-established in exile in South India. They tour internationally to share Tibetan Buddhist ritual practice: during their visits they create sand mandalas, chant and perform pujas, and dissolve the mandala at the end of their stay. The tours also raise funds for the monastery.
SchoolGelug
Tibetan Buddhism
Lama Tashi
Tibetan chant master, born in 1968 in Arunachal Pradesh, India, and former principal chant master of Drepung Loseling Monastery. He is a master of the deep multiphonic voice in which a single singer sounds several notes at once, and has led the Long Life Puja chanting for the Dalai Lama.
TraditionTibetan Buddhism
PR
Tibetan Buddhism
Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya
Tantric Buddhist priest from the Kathmandu valley and a ritual master of charya nritya, the sacred dance of Newar Vajrayana, in which body, speech and mind are the means by which a practitioner embodies an enlightened deity. Newar Buddhism is a tradition of its own, kin to Tibetan Buddhism as Vajrayana but not the same thing.
TraditionTibetan Buddhism
TG
Tibetan Buddhism
The Gyuto Monks of Tibet
Monks of the Gyuto Tantric University, one of the great monastic institutions of the Gelug order, known for a chant in which a single voice sounds a chord.
SchoolGelug
Upcoming events
Gatherings across tibetan buddhism.
Events attached to unpublished lineages still roll up to the nearest public path, so this hub remains complete.
05NOV
Tummo Bliss Retreat
Lloret de Mar, Spain · Retreat
See event pageRetreat
05NOV
Cypress Bayou Dzogchen Retreat with Lama Lena
Louisiana, United States · Residential retreat
See event pageResidential retreat
06NOV
Rest and Restore: A Fall Meditation Retreat
Hot Springs, Montana, United States · Weekend retreat
See event pageWeekend retreat
06NOV
5-Day Dzogchen Retreat
Petaluma, California, United States · Retreat
See event pageRetreat
Talks & videos
Watch across tibetan buddhism.
Documentaries, interviews and talks connected to this path and its lineages.
16 min
Talk · Lama Jampa Thaye
Patterns in Emptiness
Dependent origination explained as pattern rather than as a chain of causes.
30 min
Talk · Lama Jampa Thaye
Stages of the Path in the Karma Kagyu Tradition
The structure of the path as his own lineage lays it out, in thirty minutes.
32 min
Talk · Lama Jampa Thaye
Interpretations of Emptiness
Half an hour mapping how the schools actually differ on emptiness, without taking sides early.
Listen
Recordings from across tibetan buddhism.
Talks, guided meditations and podcast conversations from the teachers within this path.
Lama LenaNyingma
S Spotify
Live from New Orleans — Vajrasattva
A teaching on Vajrasattva, recorded live in New Orleans, from Lama Lena's own podcast.
From the podcast Lama Lena Teachings
Lama LenaNyingma
S Spotify
The Six Paramitas from a Dzogchen Perspective, Part 2
The second half of a teaching on the six paramitas seen from within Dzogchen.
From the podcast Lama Lena Teachings
Tulku LobsangTibetan Buddhism
A Apple Podcasts
A Buddhist Master's Warning About AI
Tulku Lobsang Rinpoche as a guest on Inspire change, on meditation, Tummo and consciousness.
From the podcast Inspire change.
Jetsunma Tenzin PalmoKagyu
A Apple Podcasts
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo: The Revival of the Togdenma Lineage of Accomplished Yoginis
Olivia Clementine interviews Tenzin Palmo about her effort to re-establish the togdenma lineage of women yogic practitioners.
From the podcast Love & Liberation with Olivia Clementine
Discernment
Clarity should include the human context.
Guru devotion is genuinely central to this path and has genuinely been abused within it; both things are true, and a trustworthy teacher will say so themselves.
Ask about contextIs a statement philosophical, meditative, relational or practical?
Notice powerHow are authority, money, intimacy and complaints handled?
Include embodimentDoes the teaching make room for emotion, the body and nervous-system limits?
Keep agencyA useful teacher supports clear choice rather than demanding surrender of judgement.