The Heart of Compassion - April 2025

Rigpa US is pleased to offer an exciting series of online courses exploring The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche, the groundbreaking book that has helped millions of people find wellbeing in their lives and the possibility of ultimate freedom from suffering through their experience of the Buddhist tradition of wisdom and compassion.   

The series of courses provides an overview of the Tibetan Buddhist teachings as presented in this acclaimed book.

This course series and each short course is suitable for everyone. 

If you are new to the series, you are welcome to join at any time.  Each module is designed to stand alone, so you do not need to have attended previous course modules.  

SEVENTH COURSE IN THE SERIES

THE HEART OF COMPASSION

This course provides an introduction to the central role of compassion in Tibetan Buddhist teachings. We will focus on how to practice compassion and be introduced to the “holy secret” of Tonglen.  The course will especially emphasize meditating on Loving Kindness, which can help us restore our love and confidence and heal unresolved emotional wounds. The practice of loving kindness also puts us back in touch with the fundamental goodness of our core being. When we are connected to our basic goodness, we are able to love ourselves and others unconditionally.

Dates: Every Wednesday from April 16 to May 14, 2025 (5 Sessions)

Start Time: 4 pm Pacific Time/ 7 pm Eastern Time

Each session will be approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes in length

Location: Online through Zoom

Led by Teaching Team: Pat Best, Katy Burns, Joan Elizabeth, Linda Forrester, Jeff Middelton, Betty Lynn Moulton, and Hanne Riegg-Luedge

Participant Limit: The maximum number of participants is 30 for each course

Materials: You will need a copy of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. This book is readily available for purchase online.   Please note this book is also available as an audiobook. The audiobook would be a complement to the course materials for students if they choose to also purchase it.

Platform: We will be using the Rigpa Online Courses platform (ROC). Course materials for each session will be available on this platform, including suggested home study and a forum for participants to discuss the lessons.  Information on accessing the ROC platform will be provided at least a week prior to the first class. 

Pat Best has been instructing Rigpa public courses since 2011. She originally met Sogyal Rinpoche, first through his book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying in 1992, and later found that there was a local group of students and began classes in 1997. She finally met him in person when he was with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at American University in 1998. During the years in between, she found the teachings a way to understand her mind and therefore, a new way of seeing the world in a more expansive and open way. With many years of study, practice, and the motivation to help others, she continues to offer time to guide students with their own study and practice. Recently, she has accepted to be an entrusted Rigpa teacher in 2022. She lives in the Washington, DC area with her husband, her daughter, and three grandchildren nearby.

Katy Burns lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. She first met Sogyal Rinpoche through The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying in 1993 and attended her first Rigpa retreat that fall. Since then she has been to many US national retreats and many retreats at Rigpa’s retreat centers in upstate New York, Ireland, and France; including the teaching periods of the three-year retreat held in Lerab Ling, France. She also participates in the Rigpa Shedra, an intensive study program that takes place in Pharping, Nepal. Katy participates as a distance student in their distance program.  Katy began instructing in the San Francisco Center in the mid-2000s. She enjoys engaging with students on a variety of dharma topics and helping them to clarify their path and practice.

Joan Elizabeth lives in Maine. She has her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and helped start the children’s school in the spiritual community where she met Sogyal Rinpoche in 1980. She became a student of Rinpoche in 1987.  Joan has attended many retreats of various lengths with Sogyal Rinpoche. She has helped to support the work of Rigpa and has made many friends on this journey towards enlightenment.  Due to the kindness of her teacher, Joan has met and had the good fortune to receive teachings from many extraordinary Tibetan Buddhist masters.  Joan began sharing the teachings after the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying was published in 1992 and was entrusted as a teacher for the Rigpa Sangha in 2022. 

Linda Forrester first read and fell in love with the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying in 2001. She knew that she needed to meet the author! She sought out the New York City Rigpa center and started going to weekly meditation sessions. In May 2001, she attended her first retreat with Sogyal Rinpoche. She felt she’d found her Home, and she became Rinpoche’s student. In the chaos that followed in September of that year, she also felt his support and the solidarity of the local sangha. Over the years, Linda attended many retreats in the U.S., France, and Ireland. She has been a Rigpa instructor since 2005. She completed the Intensive Home Retreat in 2012 and a 5-month retreat in 2022. Retired now, Linda Forrester taught ESL at the City University of New York for over 25 years. Her work with immigrant and international students was constantly inspired by Sogyal Rinpoche’s teachings, and she feels deep gratitude to him.

Jeff Middelton has been a student of Sogyal Rinpoche and a member of Rigpa for over twenty years, having initially connected through the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying while traveling in India, only to find that a Rigpa center was in his neighborhood back home in Seattle. He has found that the brilliant clarity in the teachings and the practice have provided an accessible refuge so essential in today’s modern world. He completed the 7 year home retreat program in 2012 and has instructed Rigpa courses since 2010. He particularly enjoys interacting with students who are drawn to the Buddhist path. He was entrusted as a teacher in 2022.

Betty Lynn Moulton is a retired psychologist. She has been instructing Rigpa courses for 15 years. She originally met Sogyal Rinpoche over 25 years ago and was immediately moved by the clarity and relatability of his teachings. Rinpoche’s teachings were exactly what she had been seeking in her quest to understand the mind. Betty Lynn has been privileged to help guide many students over the years in their study of the teachings. She particularly enjoys interacting with students who are just beginning to study the Buddhist path. She was entrusted as a Rigpa teacher in 2022. She lives on Maui with her husband, three horses, and three cats.

Hanne Riegg-Luedge met Sogyal Rinpoche in 1985 at a retreat in the Santa Cruz Mountains. She has been following Rinpoche’s teachings ever since and has been an instructor since the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying was published in 1992. After living in Santa Cruz for over 30 years, she moved to Southern Oregon in 2020 with her husband to live close to her daughter, son-in-law, and grandson.  Hanne is a retired psychologist.