Tantric Samaya and How to Listen to the Teachings

Drubpon Pema Rigdzin

Two-Part Series (Tuesday, March 3 and 10 6:00 PM)

This two-part teaching series explores how to skillfully receive, contemplate, and integrate Vajrayāna teachings, with particular emphasis on the role of samaya, a sacred bond between student and guru, as an embodied vehicle for one’s path to realization. Rather than treating transmission as merely intellectual, the series examines what it actually means to listen to the Dharma in all its expressions as a way to transform view, meditation, and conduct over time. 

Drawing on classical sources—including Jigdral Yeshe Dorje’s The Three Vows, Khenpo Ngawang Palzang’s Guide to the Words of My Perfect Teacher, the writings of Thraktung Dudjom Lingpa, and Sera Khandro Dewé Dorjé—the teachings will clarify how different vows and commitments function together staring with the personal liberation and bodhisattva vows, as the foundation, culminating on the Vajrayāna vows, and why their integrity is essential for genuine realization.

The series begins by examining the inner qualities and capacities of the student: discernment, motivation, humility, devotion, and responsibility. We will explore how these qualities shape one’s ability to receive teachings accurately, avoid common misunderstandings, and apply Dharma in lived experience rather than an abstraction.

From this foundation (personal liberation vows and bodhisattva vows), samaya will be presented as a lens for understanding how pure view is safeguarded, how meditation remains fertile through growth, and how conduct aligns with both compassion and clarity. Attention will also be given to common confusions around samaya, and how to work skillfully with commitment in a modern context without diluting its original meaning.Overall, this series aims to support practitioners in developing a mature understanding of a timeless bond —one grounded in accountability, discernment, and a deep respect for the conditions that allow realization to unfold.

This program is open to all and is offered by donation.  Sign up to receive a Zoom link.   A recording will be shared with all who sign up. 

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