Courses
Rigpa centres offer a range of courses and programmes for everyone - whether you want to learn how to meditate and develop compassion to overcome the mental and emotional challenges of daily life, or engage with a complete path of study and practice that follows every stage of the Buddha’s teachings and can lead to enlightenment.
The courses below are intended for those new to Buddhism. For those who wish to embark on the Buddhist path, contact your local centre to find out about a graduated path of study and practice.
About the courses we offer
These are just some of the courses offered in Rigpa centres around the world. To find out what courses are offered near you, contact your local centre or online learning site.
What Meditation Really Is
This unique course brings together over 2,000 years of Buddhist wisdom and experience in a way that is authentic, accessible and completely relevant to modern life.
Led by experienced meditators, it offers a complete introduction to meditation and shows how it can unlock our natural confidence, compassion and creativity.
You will gain a genuine experience of meditation and all the tools you need to take the benefits into every aspect of your life.
Cultivating Compassion
Explore what compassion is and why it might be beneficial to us and the world around us. In this workshop we examine how we can make compassion a sustainable part of our everyday life and considers the reasons for doing so.
Photo: KhrisKa Photos
In the Mirror of Death
This course guides participants through the essential teachings on dying and death from the Buddhist tradition of Tibet. It offers a glimpse of this practical wisdom and sacred inspiration, which is so beneficial for today’s world. The universal message of these teachings speaks to people from all walks of life and is relevant for those of any spiritual tradition or none. It shows us how we can face uncertainty and change, transform difficulty and fear, prepare for death and support others to die with dignity.
Introduction to Buddhism
The course offers an introduction to Buddhist ideas and approaches. Taught by the Buddha over 2,500 years ago and passed down to us by a lineage of masters who studied these words, reflected deeply on their meaning and experienced their truth personally, these principles are as useful today as they were when first spoken in the gardens and groves of India so many years ago.
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying - the course.
For the last thirty years, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying has been inspiring a quiet revolution in the way we look at life and death. This simple introductory course is for anyone who has read the book and who wants to reflect on and explore its main themes.
The course introduces meditation, loving-kindness and compassion practices—simple but profound Buddhist practices that you don't need to be a Buddhist to do. These practices can help us to understand ourselves better and become warmer, more open and effective human beings.