As the latest cases and deaths from Covid-19 filled the news, it has been impossible to not think about death. The virus has brought major changes to how we live our lives. Those who have lost loved ones and the medical personnel caring for the sick are having a particularly stressful time. Our emotional, spiritual and cultural distance from death has been narrowed. Our denial and avoidance in talking about and facing death has been challenged. It is likely that the pandemic will change the conversation around death and dying.

With all that's going on in the world, the yidam practices have been particularly helpful, because there’s a point where you can welcome everyone, including people you’re having difficulty with, into the practice. That’s so profound for a time like this, because there are so many voices in the world that are so difficult to hear — that are so destructive. These times are stressful, but not nearly as stressful as if I didn’t have that kind orientation.

Kalu Rinpoche, lineage holder for the Shangpa Kagyu, will be visiting Sukhasiddhi in April 2020. Here, he talks about a key preparation for living the true dharma.

THE DEFINITION of the true meaning of dharma itself is being in this particular moment. Being in this particular moment does not mean the empty emptiness....

In America and in the West in general, we are exposed to many different spiritual traditions, not only our own Judeo-Christian traditions, but also the traditions of Islam, all of the different traditions of Buddhism plus an immense variety of other Eastern and indigenous spiritual traditions and disciplines. This is an incredible opportunity and time that we are living in right now, an opportunity to touch into so many traditions, to read and study, to explore and travel, and to do different kinds of spiritual practice.

Practicing the dharma is much more than just sitting on the cushion. Though our sitting practice is absolutely important in helping us calm the mind and gain insight into the working of our mind, the integration of what we learn on the cushion or on the chair is vital to the transformation of our habitual patterns that cause us to suffer.

In August, 2014, Lama Palden, along with several Sukhasiddhi teachers and sangha members, traveled to France to participate in the first monlam held in the West by Kalu Rinpoche. What follows is her day-by-day account of the event.