About the interview
Lama Palden Drolma and Lopen Karma Phuntsho discuss experiences of buddha-nature in this episode of the ongoing series "Conversations on Buddha-Nature."
Among the topics of discussion include her first encounter with buddha-nature teachings, the Shangpa Kagyu lineage, tonglen practice, and incorporating Vajrayana practices into a therapeutic setting. In the last portion of the interview Lama Palden Drolma offers listeners a guided tonglen meditation practice.
Lama Palden was one of the first Western women to be authorized as a lama in 1986, by her primary teacher, Kalu Rinpoche, following her completion of the traditional Tibetan three year, three month retreat. She has been a student and practitioner of Buddhism and of Comparative Mysticism for over 40 years. She is the founding teacher of Sukhasiddhi Foundation http://www.sukhasiddhi.org in the SF Bay Area, a Tibetan Buddhist center in the Shangpa and Kagyu lineages. Lama Palden has a deep interest in helping to make the teachings and practices of Vajrayana Buddhism accessible and practical for Westerners in order to help students actualize our innate wisdom, love and joy. As a teacher, she is committed to each student's unique unfolding and blossoming. In 1993 Lama Palden completed a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University in Silicon Valley. After licensing as a psychotherapist, she engaged in facilitating clients psycho-spiritual integration and development, through bringing together understandings and methods from Buddhism and Psychology, as well as from the Diamond Heart work, that she engaged with and trained in for many years.Clips from the interview
Clips from the interview
