Embracing Death

A live interview with Roshi Joan Halifax
hosted by Cortland Dahl

Already a member? Log in!

Embracing Death

A live interview with Roshi Joan Halifax hosted by Cortland Dahl

Already a member? Log in!

September 25, 2026

Friday

11 AM–12:30 PM

EDT (New York)

Requirements

This event is open to all Vajrayana Online members.

Recordings

We strongly encourage you to join us live. If you’re unable to attend, the recording will be made available.

Few teachers today embody the intersection of deep spiritual practice and profound acts of compassion like Roshi Joan Halifax. 

A pioneer in end-of-life care, Zen priest, and anthropologist, Roshi Joan has spent more than five decades walking alongside the dying, their families, and clinicians. From her groundbreaking early work in the 1970s with psychiatrist Stanislav Grof accompanying dying cancer patients to founding the Upaya Zen Center and the world-renowned Project on Being with Dying, her life’s work has transformed how we understand death, revealing it as a profound doorway for compassion and ultimate awakening.

In this special live event, Roshi Joan joins the Vajrayana Online community for an intimate conversation with Cortland Dahl on the art of dying and living fully. Beyond hearing her insights, you will have the opportunity to bring your own questions about impermanence, caregiving, and spiritual practice.

This event is part of Vajrayana Online’s 11-month program on the bardo teachings. Designed to complement your journey through the study of the bardos, this session draws on real-world experience and contemplative practice, helping us meet death as an opportunity for awakening.

If you are not a Vajrayana Online member, please join the community to participate. You’re welcome to start with a 10-day free trial.

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This event is included with your Vajrayana Online membership. Register to receive the Zoom link and email reminders.

Thank you! You are registered! See you soon.

2026–27 PROGRAM ON THE BARDO TEACHINGS

What You Will Learn in the Dying Every Day Course

Mingyur Rinpoche and Tergar guides will offer in-depth teachings on the bardos of life, dreams, meditation, dying, dharmata, and becoming.

LESSON 1
The Bardo of This Life
In this lesson, Mingyur Rinpoche shows how accepting life’s ups and downs — and even the reality of death — can bring freedom and growth in every moment.
LESSON 2
The Bardo of Dreams
Discover how the bardo of dreams and the practice of lucid dreaming can free us from grasping and open the mind to spaciousness and joy.
LESSON 3
The Bardo of Meditation
Mingyur Rinpoche explains how the bardo of meditation helps us rest in the “gap” between thoughts, connecting with our true nature — open, spacious, and free.
LESSON 4
The Bardo of Dying
Learn how meeting the bardo of dying with awareness transforms fear into openness, revealing the luminous mind and a deep appreciation for life.
LESSON 5
The Bardo of Dharmata
Explore how the bardo of dharmata offers a rare moment to recognize pure awareness before concepts arise, awakening our innate wisdom and freedom.
LESSON 6
The Bardo of Becoming
Mingyur Rinpoche reveals how the bardo of becoming invites us to let the old, fixed mind dissolve so we can be reborn fresh, guided by awareness, love, and compassion.

Join Us Live!

This event offers a chance to connect with a vibrant community of fellow meditators, sharing the energy and support that come from learning together. We strongly encourage you to join us in real time. If you’re unable to attend, the recordings will be made available in the Dying Every Day: Essence of the Bardos course.
Life and death are of supreme importance.
Time passes swiftly and opportunity is lost.
Let us awaken, awaken.
Do not squander your life!

— Traditional Zen chant recited every evening at Upaya Zen Center

MEET YOUR TEACHER

Roshi Joan Halifax

Roshi Joan Halifax, Ph.D., is a Buddhist teacher, author, social activist, and the founder and head teacher of Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Trained as an anthropologist early in her career, she has become a pioneer in the field of end-of-life care. For more than fifty years, Roshi Joan has accompanied people who are dying and supported the clinicians and caregivers who serve them. This experience became the foundation for Being with Dying, her professional training program for clinicians and others working with serious illness, dying, and grief.
Roshi Joan began studying Buddhism in the 1960s and was ordained by Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1976. In 1990, she received the Lamp Transmission from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. She later studied and practiced for nearly thirty years with Roshi Bernie Glassman, who gave her Inka, or Dharma transmission, in 1999. Roshi Joan has also studied with renowned Vajrayana teachers, including Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
She is the founder of the Nomads Clinic in Nepal and the Upaya Prison Project, focused on meditation programs for prisoners. Roshi Joan has been involved with the Mind & Life Institute since its inception and is the founder of the Varela International Symposium. Her books include The Human Encounter with Death (with Stanislav Grof), The Fruitful Darkness, Being with Dying, Standing at the Edge, Sophie Learns to Be Brave, and her latest work, In a Moment, In a Breath: 55 Meditations to Cultivate a Courageous Heart. For more about Roshi Joan’s life and work, please visit upaya.org and joanhalifax.org.
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This event is 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.
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  • Vajrayana Online App

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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.

May I accept my anger, fear, and sadness, knowing that my heart is not limited by these feelings.
May all those I leave behind be safe and peaceful.
May I remember my consciousness is much vaster than this body as I let go of this body.
May I be open to the unknown as I leave behind the unknown.
May I live and die in ease.

— BOUNDLESS ABODES FOR DYING (From the book Being with Dying, by Roshi Joan Halifax)

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