Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche Sabbatical for 2020

Stay Connected Online

Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche has announced that he is cancelling almost all of his in-person teachings for the remainder of 2020, and extending his sabbatical through the end of the calendar year. He will continue online teachings and practices through his Facebook webcasts, which will be done from his home.

Since previously cancelling his spring teachings in Europe and the United States, Rinpoche has been at home with his wife, Tsering, and son, Senghe. While he has been actively teaching on Facebook, and leading Ligmincha’s first-ever online retreat in early April—with an attendance of more than 800 people—he is spending more time with his family, reflecting, and practicing.

“More and more I feel that the universe is saying that right now is the time to take my sabbatical instead of waiting until next year as I had planned to do,” Rinpoche says. “Given the current situation with the coronavirus, it is quite possible that we would have to cancel most or all of the scheduled events anyway.”

A teaching schedule for 2021, similar to what was planned for this year and cancelled, is in the process of being prepared, with input from organizers in sanghas around the world.

For now, the only retreats Rinpoche plans to teach through the end of 2020 will be an online summer retreat organized by Ligmincha International and Serenity Ridge; an online October retreat on "Serenity Ridge Dialogues: Body, Breath and Mind" previously scheduled at Serenity Ridge; the Fall Retreat in October at Serenity Ridge in Shipman, Virginia; and a November retreat at Esalen in Big Sur, California. It is possible the in-person retreats also may need to be cancelled as well, in response to the coronavirus, but Rinpoche will hold them if it is possible. 

To offer support to people during this time of social distancing and the coronavirus, Rinpoche will continue to teach and guide practices online through his Facebook webcasts. You can learn about upcoming webcasts as they are planned by visiting cybersangha.net.

Rinpoche’s teaching schedule through the remainder of the year is available here.