DHARMA DEEP DIVE
Dharma Deep Dive (formerly Sukhasiddhi Sundays) is an opportunity for both new and experienced practitioners to come together in the community, exploring the principles of Vajrayana Buddhism through meditation, inquiry, and discussion.
**PLEASE NOTE**
Our series structure offers two six week courses, outlined below. You may sign up for one course or both.
Each session includes meditation, inquiry and discussion, and guidance for how to allow the teachings to steep in your experience between classes, becoming a lived understanding.
COURSE ONE
Exploring Karma:
The Power of Intentional Action
Dates:
Sundays | April 19, 26 & May 3, 10, 17, 24
Location:
In-person at Wisdom River Meditation Center or Online via Zoom.
Time:
8:30 - 10:15 AM Pacific (Teaching)
10:15 - 11:15 AM (Pacific (Tara Puja) - details below
The teaching of karma is often reduced to a simple idea: that what we do comes back to us. While this captures something of its meaning, the Buddhist understanding of karma is both subtler and more profound.
At its heart, karma refers to action and the results that unfold from action. It points to the way our intentions, words, and behaviors participate in shaping our experience moment by moment and over time. In this sense, karma invites us to recognize the power of intentional action in the unfolding of our lives.
In this six-week course, we will explore karma not as a system of reward and punishment, but as a teaching about how experience unfolds through patterns of intention and response. Together, we will look at how actions leave traces in the mind, how habits take shape, and how these patterns influence the way we perceive ourselves, others, and the world.
As we deepen our understanding of karma, we begin to see that the teaching is not meant to make us feel judged or constrained. Instead, it invites a growing sense of awareness and responsibility. It shows us that our lives are not simply happening to us—we are continually participating in how they unfold.
Perhaps most importantly, the teaching of karma reveals that patterns are not fixed. As awareness develops, the momentum of habitual reactions can begin to loosen. In a time when the world often feels pulled by fear, aggression, or reactivity, the teaching of karma reminds us that how we respond still matters. Rather than leaving us bound by the past, this teaching opens the possibility of meeting each moment with greater clarity, care, and wisdom.
Fee:
$240 course fee
$200 (base)
$180 (Sukhasiddhi member)
$300 (benefactor)
The deadline to register is Saturday, April 18 at 12 PM (Pacific).
**Please Note: This Dharma Deep Dive class series is included in the Dharma Training Program as part of the curriculum. If you are already enrolled in DTP, you do not need to register separately for this series. **Please Note: This Dharma Deep Dive class series is NOT included in the Bodhi Program. If you are enrolled in Bodhi and are interested in this series, you will need to register separately.COURSE TWO
Living the Bodhisattva Path:
A 6-Week Exploration of Chapters 4–6
of Shantideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra
Dates:
Sundays | April 19, 26 & May 3, 10, 17, 24
Location:
In-person at Wisdom River Meditation Center or Online via Zoom.
Time:
11:30 AM - 1:45 PM Pacific
Shantideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra (The Way of the Bodhisattva) is one of the most beloved and influential texts of the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition. For centuries, practitioners have turned to it for guidance on how to cultivate wisdom, compassion, and courage in the midst of everyday life.
In this six-week course, we will explore Chapters 4–6, which focus on how the aspiration to awaken for the benefit of beings is sustained and expressed in lived experience.
These chapters examine three essential qualities of the bodhisattva path:
Carefulness — recognizing the responsibility that arises when we orient our lives toward awakening and compassion
Vigilance — learning how to work skillfully with the mind so that clarity and compassion are not carried away by habitual patterns
Patience — discovering how anger, frustration, and adversity can become gateways to strength, resilience, and deeper understanding
Shantideva’s teachings are both profound and practical. They invite us to look closely at the movements of our own minds and to discover how wisdom and compassion can remain steady even in the midst of uncertainty and challenge.
Through teaching, reflection, discussion, and contemplative practice, participants will explore how these classic teachings illuminate contemporary life and offer powerful tools for cultivating a courageous and responsive heart.
No prior study of the Bodhicaryāvatāra is required, and students are welcome to join the exploration at this point in the text.
Fee:
$240 course fee
$200 (base)
$185 (Sukhasiddhi member)
$300 (benefactor)
The deadline to register is Saturday, April 18 at 12 PM (Pacific).
**Please Note: This Dharma Deep Dive class series is included in the Bodhi Program as part of the curriculum. If you are already enrolled in Bodhi, you do not need to register separately for this series. **Please Note: This Dharma Deep Dive class series is NOT included in the Dharma Training Program. If you are enrolled in DTP and are interested in this series, you will need to register separately.Twenty-One Praises of Tārā Puja
Sundays | April 19, 26 & May 3, 10, 17, 24
10:15 - 11:15 AM Pacific
Please join us for a community puja of the Twenty-One Praises of Tārā, a traditional chant honoring Tārā as the swift liberator who responds to the needs of the world with wisdom and compassion.
Through the power of collective prayer and praise, we connect with Tārā’s enlightened activity of cultivating courage, clearing obstacles, and strengthening the compassionate heart while generating shared aspirations that support one another and help the wider world remember that clarity, care, and courageous compassion remain available, even in the midst of difficulty.
This gathering is offered in connection with Lama Döndrup Drolma’s Twenty-One Praises of Tārā article series appearing in Lion’s Roar.
All are welcome.
Dana:
Base:$30
Supporter: $60
Vajrayana Buddhism has an empowering and profound view of the true nature of reality, and many methods for deepening one's understanding and realization of true nature. Sukhasiddhi classes offer teachings on Buddhist principles, topics, texts, views of reality, methods, and practices which help to integrate the teachings.
PLEASE NOTE:
For Those on Zoom
We request you be fully present with Zoom video on for classes and trainings. This is an opportunity for the lamas and teachers to connect with you. If this is not possible, please let the registrar or teacher know.
For Those in Person
NO SCENT POLICY: Sukhasiddhi Foundation maintains a fragrance-free environment. Please do not use any scented lotions, colognes, aftershave, shampoo, etc. while attending Sukhasiddhi events. Thank you for your consideration.
MEET THE TEACHER
Lama Döndrup has been practicing and studying in the Buddhist tradition since the mid-1990’s. After five years of Theravadin Buddhist training, she immersed herself in the teachings and practices of the Shangpa and Kagyu Vajrayana lineages. In 2005, she completed a traditional three-year retreat under the guidance of Lama Palden and Lama Drupgyu with the blessing of her root guru, Bokar Rinpoche and was authorized as a lama. Upon her return to Marin County, she began teaching at Sukhasiddhi Foundation. In January 2020, as Lama Palden’s successor, she stepped into the role of Resident Lama, guiding the Center’s ministerial work.
Lama Döndrup’s teaching style is thorough and clear yet with light touch as she supports the natural unfolding of each student’s innate wisdom and compassion. She aims to preserve the authenticity of the tradition while making the teachings and practices relevant and accessible to the lives of 21st century Westerners. In addition to her Buddhist practice, Lama Döndrup trained the Ridhwan School’s Diamond Approach for seven years and has a Masters of Fine Arts degree in piano performance. She is an active classical pianist and teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area.