Dawn Mountain

05/20/2026

Introducing the Dawn Mountain Legacy Training Program: Deep Practice in Modern Life

We are excited and inspired to share with you a dynamic program of study, practice, and experiential learning that we look forward to offering select students over the next three years. After thirty-plus years of teaching and tracking our students, we feel the time is ripe for The Legacy Training Program. It promises to foster an ever more profound sense of spacious aliveness and open heartedness within each of us. Lama Rigzin Drolma and Lama Namgyal Dorje see this as an opportunity to pass on their legacy of practice, experience, and reflection.

We will host a Legacy Program Virtual Open House this Saturday, May 23rd (9:00 AM-10:30 AM CT) on Zoom to discuss and open the floor for a Q&A.

To learn more, visit: https://www.dawnmountain.org/legacy/

05/15/2026

REMINDER:
This Sunday, May 17th, due to a scheduled retreat, our 9 AM Free Yoga Class will be postponed. Yoga will resume at its regularly scheduled time on Sunday, May 24th.

Schedule of Events for Sunday 5/17:
10 AM CST: Guided Meditation (In-Person)

dawnmountain.org

05/08/2026

Beginning Monday, May 11, join us for the Yeshe Tsogyal: The Great Bliss Queen (Yumka Dechen Gyalmo) Teaching Retreat.

This is the first part of a two-year sequence on the Great Bliss Queen continuing in May 2027. Rinpoche’s distillation of Jigme Lingpa’s 18th century text offers us an easy way to connect with the bliss-filled and passionately compassionate Yeshe Tsogyal, who is known in this context as the Great Bliss Queen. She is the principal Dakini of the Heart Essence Great Expanse cycle revealed by Jigme Lingpa.

Given a continuation of auspicious circumstances, the Great Bliss Queen wang (initiation) will be offered by Lama Rigzin Drolma on Dakini Day May 12th for all attending in person. Lama Rigzin will also offer formal jenang (permission to practice) for those live online.

The wang offered during this retreat is a rare opportunity and a very special, complex ritual requiring significant preparation. If you are planning on coming in person for this event, please let us know when registering.

Please note: It's important that the sacred space of the wang is not disrupted. No one will be admitted into the Wang in person after 10:00 AM.

To learn more, visit: dawnmountain.org/dzogchencycles/

If you are not yet part of Dzogchen Cycles, visit: dawnmountain.org/apply-to-dzogchen-cycles/

05/01/2026

This First Sunday, May 3rd, we welcome you to Dawn Mountain for a special day of practice and community.

Schedule of Events This Upcoming First Sunday:

9 AM CST: Free Yoga with Dr. William Kritsonis (In-Person Only)

10 AM CST: Guided Meditation (In-Person & Online)

11 AM CST: Refuge: Open Door to the Entire Path (In-Person & Online)
Join us as we conclude our winter and spring teaching series, exploring the deeply personal significance of refuge for us as practitioners and as people living in the modern world.

12:15 PM CST: Free Lunch (In-Person Only) Enjoy a meal and connect with the Sangha.

To learn more, visit dawnmountain.org

04/30/2026

Northwestern University warmly invites everyone's virtual attendance to: "Yeshe Tsogyal in Practice: Sādhana Voices in Sacred Rapport,” a keynote address delivered by Professor Anne Klein of Rice University for the Khyentse Foundation Buddhist Studies Lecture Series at Northwestern's 3rd In-Person Workshop.

Khyentse Foundation has been supporting Northwestern University’s Buddhist studies scholarship and programming for the past six years and Northwestern University offers this year’s keynote address specially in celebration of the foundation’s 25th anniversary. All are welcome to join the Zoom webinar online.

📆Date: Thursday, April 30th

🕣Time: 5:30 - 6:30pm CST

Registration link:

https://northwestern.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3bRznfmhSCeXCJySkZQdTg #/registration

Lecture Abstract

Practitioners in Tibetan traditions encounter Yeshe Tsogyal through the fluid medium of sādhana. A Yeshe Tsogyal sādhana is way to meet her, join with her wisdom, and finally become her. In practice, this process is based in the growing rapport between practitioner and Yeshe Tsogyal. This rapport is fostered by singing poetic sādhana lines resonant with guiding phrases of great import in Dzogchen. To better appreciate this process, I point to vital lines from a 21st century Treasure centered on white Yeshe Tsogyal, and reflect on how recognizing them as echos reverberating with, for example, Longchenpa’s 14th century Precious Treasury of the Dharmadhātu and Jigme Linpga’s famous 18th sādhana centered on red Yeshe Tsogyal, the Great Bliss Queen, can help dispel misperceived distance between oneself and the wisdom known as Yeshe Tsogyal. Practice is animated by the aspiration that, as the sādhana unfolds, rapport melts into union.

Speaker Bio

Anne Carolyn Klein is Professor and former Chair of the Religion Department at Rice University where she developed a graduate contemplative studies concentration, a lama in the Nyingma tradition, and co-founding teacher of Dawn Mountain, a center for Tibetan Buddhism in Houston.

04/27/2026

Join us May 11–17, 2026, at Dawn Mountain for Yeshe Tsogyal: The Great Bliss Queen (Yumka Dechen Gyalmo) Teaching Retreat with Lama Rigzin Drolma.

Our Rinpoche, after praying to Jigme Lingpa, distilled his 18th-century text to offer us an easy way to connect with the bliss-filled and passionately compassionate Yeshe Tsogyal, the Great Bliss Queen. She is the principal Dakini of the Heart Essence Great Expanse Cycle revealed by Jigme Lingpa.

With the continuation of auspicious circumstances, the Great Bliss Queen Wang (initiation) will be offered in person on Dakini Day, May 12, by Lama Rigzin Drolma. Our teacher observed that it is definitely best to receive a Wang in person. He also later added that, for one with genuine good aspiration, there can be benefit in attending live online. Therefore, we will broadcast it live for sincere practitioners unable to attend in Houston.

The teachings of this May's retreat prepare us to fully embody Deychen Gyalmo in our May 2027 Great Bliss Queen formal retreat.

To learn more, visit: https://www.dawnmountain.org/dzogchencycles/

If you are not yet part of Dzogchen Cycles, visit: https://www.dawnmountain.org/apply-to-dzogchen-cycles/

04/25/2026

Join us this Sunday for free yoga with Dr. William Kritsonis, followed by a guided meditation open to all.

This Sunday’s Schedule:
9 AM CST – Yoga (In-Person Only)
10 AM CST – Guided Meditation (In-Person & Online)

Learn more at dawnmountain.org

04/21/2026

We are excited to share that following the screening of Shambhala Story this Sunday, April 26, Lama Namgyal Dorje (Harvey Aronson) will offer a brief talk.

For more information about the film and to purchase tickets, please see the original post by WorldFest Houston!

Shambhala Story (2025) | Official Trailer | WorldFest-Houston

04/19/2026

Today, April 19, from 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM CST Lama Rigzin Drolma (Anne C. Klein) will participate in a panel discussion with artist Beili Liu at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston!

What does Buddhism teach us about caring for the Earth today? 🌏✨

Join artist Beili Liu, Buddhist scholar Anne Klein, and Houston Climate Justice Museum co-founder Aaron Ambroso, moderated by MFAH consulting curator Hao Sheng, for a conversation inspired by "Buddha | Nature: Five Dialogues" on Our Shared World. Together, they explore interdependence, compassion, and our shared responsibility in the face of today’s climate realities.

🔗 Learn more at https://bit.ly/4sZDybG

04/17/2026

This Sunday, April 19, join us at Dawn Mountain for a day of shared practice.

Schedule of Events This Upcoming Sunday:

9 AM CST: Free Yoga with Dr. William Kritsonis (In-Person Only)

10 AM CST: Guided Meditation (In-Person & Online)

11 AM CST: Refuge: Open Door to the Entire Path (In-Person & Online)
Join our winter and spring teaching series, as we explore the deeply personal significance of refuge for us as practitioners and as people living in the modern world.

To learn more or register for the series, visit: https://dawnmountain.app.neoncrm.com/np/clients/dawnmountain/event.jsp?event=1511

04/13/2026

We are glad to share that Lama Rigzin Drolma (Anne C. Klein) will be one of the featured teachers in this upcoming online program hosted by the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, April 23-26.

Registration information is included in the original post from the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.

What does radical freedom from samsara feel like, and how does it transform the way we meet the world?

In this special online program, an extraordinary group of teachers from across Buddhist traditions come together to explore liberation through dharma talks, dialogue, and guided meditation. Drawing on diverse lineages that sometimes converge and sometimes diverge, we’ll investigate qualities such as impermanence, non-duality, compassion, and non-self, grounding these teachings in lived experience and shared inquiry.

📅 April 23–26, 2026
💻 Online · Registration open
🔗 Register here: https://bit.ly/4b66dUP