Welcome to Karmê Chöling!

Karmê Chöling offers a wide range of programs from instruction for those new to meditation through the most advanced Vajrayana practices in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition. These include teachings in Tibetan Buddhism, Shambhala Training, programs in the contemplative arts, visits from renowned Buddhist teachers, Shambhala School of Buddhist Studies, solitary and group retreats as well as long-term residency programs through the Mukpo Institute and much more.

Our resident staff consists of many long-term practitioners including Ashe Acharya (senior teacher) John Rockwell who began studying with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in late 1975 after completing an 8-week program at Karmê Chöling.  In 2001 Mr. Rockwell was appointed by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche as the Ashe Acharya.

Visit Karmê Chöling and explore the many ways that meditation and contemplative practices can add a sense of well-being and peace to your life, as well as bring loving-kindness and compassion to the world.

Located in beautiful northeast Vermont on more than 600 acres of lush wooded hills, Karmê Chöling includes seven meditation halls, a zen archery range, a large organic garden, comfortable private guest rooms, and full dining facilities. We welcome you to visit this magical place of practice.

"Buddhism has been described as a religion, philosophy, ideology and a way of life. Pema Chödrön, one of the first Western women to become fully ordained as a Buddhist monastic and author of "When Things Fall Apart", talks to Oprah about learning from pain and what it means to be a Buddhist.

Oprah: How did you end up following this path, taking this path? Were you always a Buddhist?

Pema: No, no, I was not always a Buddhist. I got involved in this path in a way that's very appealing to a lot of people, because of the fact that their lives fall apart. And that's what happened to me. I was about, oh, 34 years old, something like that, not a Buddhist. And my second marriage broke up. And it broke up in a way that for some reason just floored me, pulled the rug out. I was in what I would say now is quite a severe depression.

Oprah: Um hm.

Pema: But I had some kind of fundamental sanity that kept saying to myself, there's something in this that's trying—that will teach you something. Something very profound that will bring you to a much deeper level. And so I started looking. I looked at every therapy, I looked at, you know, anything you can imagine in that time, the 70's, that was available. And then I came across an article by the man that became my teacher, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master named Chogyam Trumpa. And I knew nothing about Buddhism or about him. But the article was called "Working with Negativity." And its first line was, there's nothing wrong basically with what you feel, like the negativity in this case; the problem is that you don't stay with the underlying emotion. You don't stay with the feeling, you spin off and try to escape it in some kind of way. And in that way, all the, you know, suffering for yourself and for other people comes from the spin-off. But if you could stay present, then you'd really learn something. And I don't know, it just—everything else who kind of looked towards the higher good or something like this, and—

Oprah: Right.

Pema: —this just said, stay with your experience, very direct. And that's how I got into the whole—

Oprah: And that's—"

Want to read the whole story? Follow this link or click here to download the PDF, part 1, part 2.

To find out more about our residency training program - Click the Mukpo Institute Logo above.

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Simplicity: Meditation for Real Life is an ideal introduction to Karmê Chöling's contemplative community and is offered several times throughout the year. View the programs page for upcoming dates.

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Offering enriching training programs that combine the practical and personal benefits of mindfulness meditation with the professions, business, social engagement, the arts, music, dance, theater, writing, yoga, chi kung, qi gong, family life and leadership.

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Organic Spirituality Garden Internship
April 13 - November 1, 2008

with Master Gardener Jan Enthoven
a 1-9 week garden internship program

Connect with this living earth and deepen your understanding of growing vegetables & flowers organically and learn to combine this with the practice of meditation.

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Coming or going, need a ride or have a ride to offer, check out the
Karmê Chöling Ride Board!