The Bardos:
Wisdom for Living, Dying, and Beyond

A year-long immersion with Mingyur Rinpoche, Lama Trinley, Vajrayana Online guides, and guest teachers

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WISDOM FOR LIVING AND DYING

About the Bardo Immersion

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In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the various stages of living and dying are viewed as powerful opportunities to awaken. These intervals, known as bardos or “intermediate states,” encompass six experiences: the bardos of life, dreams, meditation, dying, dharmata (nature of reality), and becoming (rebirth). Rather than something to fear, each of these transitions offers precious opportunities to discover the heart of awakening within our own minds.
Beginning in September 2026, we invite you to join us for a year-long immersion into these transformative teachings. Because the bardo teachings originate from a terma (treasure text) and are an essential part of the Dzogchen teachings, this immersion will unfold alongside our ongoing Dzogchen transmission. We will begin our journey together in August, drawing inspiration from the Voices of Dzogchen teachings before fully entering into the topic of the bardos.
Through online courses, retreats, and interactive live sessions, we will explore the depths of the bardos with Mingyur Rinpoche, Lama Trinley, Tergar guides, and special guest teachers. At the heart of this year-long journey is a strong emphasis on community and integrating the teachings into our lives. You will be supported by bi-weekly live sessions with Tergar Guides Tim Olmsted and Kasumi Kato throughout the entire immersion. These community sessions are designed to help you work through each lesson’s material, ask questions, and practice together.
Our curriculum for this year will be guided by two profound sources: Mingyur Rinpoche’s deeply moving book In Love with the World and Padmasambhava’s core text on the bardos, Natural Liberation.
Whether you are seeking to live more in the present or preparing for life’s ultimate transitions, this immersion offers a beautiful opportunity to uncover the luminous awareness that is your true nature. We look forward to walking this path of profound discovery and natural freedom together.

This year-long immersion starts on August 1, 2026

If you are not a Vajrayana Online member, please join the community to access the courses and live sessions in this immersion.

Already a member? Log in!

All courses and live sessions in this immersion are included in your Vajrayana Online membership. Please register separately for the online retreats.

Thank you! You are registered! See you soon.

LEADING BUDDHIST TEACHERS

Meet Your Teachers and Guides

In this transmission, you will receive teachings from Mingyur Rinpoche, Lama Trinley, Vajrayana Online guides, and special guest teachers.

Mingyur Rinpoche
TEACHER
Mingyur Rinpoche was born in 1975 in the border region between Tibet and Nepal. Drawn to contemplation from an early age, he spent much of his childhood in strict retreat and studied with some of the greatest Dzogchen masters of our time. In 2011, he left his monastery for a four-and-a-half-year wandering retreat, an experience he later recounted in his book, In Love with the World. Today, Rinpoche leads the Tergar Meditation Community, oversees monasteries in Nepal and India, and guides students in more than thirty countries.
Lama Trinley
TERGAR LAMA
Lama Trinley has been the resident teacher at the Tergar Mingjue Phoenix Center since 2007. He began his education at Tergar Monastery, where he studied rituals, prayers, and traditional practices of Tibetan Buddhism. He entered the traditional three-year retreat when he was seventeen years old, after which he spent six years training in the monastic college of Tergar Monastery, where he taught for three years as an assistant professor.
Robert Thurman
GUEST TEACHER
Robert Thurman is a renowned scholar, translator, and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1965, he became the first American ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk by the 14th Dalai Lama. After returning to lay life, he earned a PhD from Harvard and taught at Amherst and Columbia, where he held the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West. He cofounded Tibet House US and is widely recognized for his translation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead: Liberation Through Understanding in the Between (Bardo Thödol), one of the most influential English renderings of the classic text.
Roshi Joan Halifax
GUEST TEACHER 
Roshi Joan Halifax is a Zen teacher, anthropologist, hospice caregiver, and founder of the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A pioneer in the field of end-of-life care, she has spent decades working closely with people at the threshold of death, integrating Buddhist practice, contemplative care, and hospice training. She is the author of Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death and creator of the Being with Dying training program, which has supported caregivers, clinicians, and spiritual practitioners around the world.
Kasumi Kato
VAJRAYANA ONLINE GUIDE
Kasumi Kato holds two master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin. In 2011, she encountered Mingyur Rinpoche’s teachings and has been practicing under his guidance ever since. She has completed over a year in solitary meditation retreat, in addition to many group retreats in the Tergar community. Kasumi currently works full-time for Tergar International as a curriculum specialist and serves as a senior facilitator. She also oversees the activities of Tergar Japan. Kasumi lives with her husband Cortland in Madison, Wisconsin.
Tim Olmsted
VAJRAYANA ONLINE GUIDE
Tim Olmsted began Buddhist studies in 1977 with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He lived in Nepal for twelve years, studying with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and many renowned Dzogchen teachers while working as a psychotherapist. A founding instructor of Tergar International, Tim shares meditation with warmth and humor, often highlighting the bardos as one of his favorite topics. He lives in Colorado with his wife, Glenna, leading a community following Mingyur Rinpoche’s teachings.

THE JOURNEY AHEAD

The Bardos Immersion Calendar
and Learning Path

Throughout the year, participants will enjoy live and recorded video teachings with Mingyur Rinpoche, guided meditations, weekly live sessions with Lama Trinley and Vajrayana Online guides, webinars with world-renowned Buddhist teachers, study material, readings, and experiential instructions for daily life.

Vajrayana Online Courses

AUG 2026

Voices of Dzogchen

Live webinars with Mingyur Rinpoche, Richard Barron, Sangye Khandro, and Erik Pema Kunsang

  Open to everyone

SEP – OCT 2026

Dying Every Day: Essence of the Bardos

  Open to everyone

NOV 2026 – JUL 2027

The Bardos Immersion: Wisdom for Living, Dying, and Beyond

  Open to everyone

Online Retreats

Please note that the online retreats are not included in your Vajrayana Online membership.

DEC 4–6, 2026

Finding Freedom in Life’s Transitions: Teachings on the Six Bardos

with Mingyur Rinpoche

  Open to everyone

MAY 15–16, 2027

Teachings on Dream Yoga

with Mingyur Rinpoche

  Open to everyone

Webinars

OCT 2, 2026

Live Interview with

Roshi Joan Halifax

  Open to everyone

MAR 12, 2027

Live Interview with

Robert Thurman

  Open to everyone

Monthly Webinars

with Lama Trinley

  Open to everyone

Tim Olmsted Welcomes You to the Bardo Immersion

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AWAKENING TOGETHER

Vajrayana Online Live Sessions

TWICE A MONTH
Bardo Heart-to-Heart with Kasumi Kato and Tim Olmsted
Kasumi and Tim will lead intimate, heartfelt sessions to explore the teachings through our own experience, opening space for reflection and questions.
Thursdays, 10 AM US ET
ONCE A MONTH
Heart-to-Heart on Aging and Illness with Kasumi Kato and Tim Olmsted
Kasumi and Tim will host heartfelt gatherings for those navigating aging, illness, caregiving, or the profound changes that come later in life. Rooted in shared experience rather than formal teaching, these sessions offer space for reflection, conversation, and community support while exploring how the Vajrayana path can enrich and sustain us through every stage of life.
Fridays, 10 AM US ET
 
Recordings
We strongly encourage you to join us live. 
If you’re unable to attend, the recordings will be made available
in the Bardo Immersion course.
If you are not a Vajrayana Online member, please join the community to access the courses and live sessions in this transmission.

Already a member? Log in!

BECOME A MEMBER

Join Vajrayana Online

All courses, webinars, and live sessions in the Bardo Immersion are included in your Vajrayana Online membership, which also gives you access to our full platform of over 25 self-paced courses, weekly live sessions, live programs, personal interviews with Tergar guides, guided meditations, and much more. We aim to make Vajrayana Online accessible to everyone by offering three different pricing options. Feel free to choose the one that best suits your needs.
Annual Plans
Monthly Plans

Reduced

$2900

USD billed monthly after a 10-day free trial.
Cancel anytime.

Choose this option if you have financial hardship or a currency exchange rate that makes the standard rate unaffordable.

  • 10-day free trial
  • 25+ self-paced courses, including new content every month
  • Weekly live sessions
  • Vajrayana Online App

Standard

$5000

USD billed monthly after a 10-day free trial.
Cancel anytime.

By choosing the standard rate, you keep Vajrayana Online alive and flourishing.

  • 10-day free trial
  • 25+ self-paced courses, including new content every month
  • Weekly live sessions
  • Vajrayana Online App

Sponsor

$7500

USD billed monthly after a 10-day free trial.
Cancel anytime.

By choosing the sponsor rate, you help us offer a reduced rate to someone who needs it.

  • 10-day free trial
  • 25+ self-paced courses, including new content every month
  • Weekly live sessions
  • Vajrayana Online App
  • Includes free access to the Joy of Living online program

Reduced

$2400

USD per month, billed annually at $288/year after a 10-day free trial.
Cancel anytime.

You save $60

Choose this option if you have financial hardship or a currency exchange rate that makes the standard rate unaffordable.

  • 10-day free trial
  • 25+ self-paced courses, including new content every month
  • Weekly live sessions
  • Vajrayana Online App

Standard

$4167

USD per month, billed annually at $500/year after a 10-day free trial.
Cancel anytime.

You save $100

By choosing the standard rate, you keep Vajrayana Online alive and flourishing.

  • 10-day free trial
  • 25+ self-paced courses, including new content every month
  • Weekly live sessions
  • Vajrayana Online App

Sponsor

$6250

USD per month, billed annually at $750/year after a 10-day free trial.
Cancel anytime.

You save $150

By choosing the sponsor rate, you help us offer a reduced rate to someone who needs it.

  • 10-day free trial
  • 25+ self-paced courses, including new content every month
  • Weekly live sessions
  • Vajrayana Online App
  • Includes free access to the Joy of Living online program
You will make the first payment after the free trial period. The membership will automatically be renewed in accordance to the frequency you have selected. You can cancel anytime, and no additional fees will be charged. For more questions about the membership, please visit our FAQs section.

Tergar is committed to making the benefits of Buddhist teachings and practices available to everyone. If the membership rate of $29 USD per month is a hindrance for you financially, please do not hesitate to reach out to us via volsupport@tergar.org to ask for a further reduced rate. We offer financial assistance rates for certain countries, for students with limited budgets, and for the monastic community.
When we accept that we are dying every day, and that living cannot be separated from dying, then the bardos offer a map of the mind during this lifetime, and each stage offers invaluable guidance for how to live every day.

— Mingyur Rinpoche

The Tergar Lineage Society

Preserving Wisdom Traditions
The Tergar Lineage Society honors a centuries-old tradition in Vajrayana Buddhism, where patrons help ensure precious teachings flourish. Donors who contribute annually at the $7,500 level or above play a vital role in supporting Tergar International’s mission to make the ancient wisdom of meditation accessible to the modern world. The Lineage Society creates a powerful way for practitioners to contribute to preserving and sharing these transformative practices with our global community.
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Frequently Asked Questions

I’m already a Vajrayana Online member. What should I do?

No action is required to access the courses and live sessions in this immersion. You will receive all links and updates in the weekly email we send to Vajrayana Online members.

To attend the retreats with Mingyur Rinpoche, please register for each retreat separately.

Can I join at any time?

You can join the immersion at any time. New material will be released monthly; you can engage in it at your own pace.

What if I miss part of the immersion? Can I still participate?

Absolutely! The elements of the immersion function together as a cohesive whole, but each one also stands alone. Join in whatever elements work for you!

I’m already practicing the Path of Liberation. How can I integrate this new transmission into my practice?

Mingyur Rinpoche’s teachings make it easy to integrate the bardo teachings into the practices you already do. Your daily practice will be enriched, and there’s no extra homework!
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