5-Week Vajrayana Foundations Discussion Series: Entering the Vajrayana Path

Thursday, January 15 - Feb 19, 2026, 5 - 6:30 pm PST

5-Week Vajrayana Foundations Discussion Series — Session Overview

In this class, we will explore renunciation, refuge, bodhicitta, emptiness, and tantra. This class is based upon the 5-day course offered in the pop-up window on DW website and is suitable for new DW members and anyone interested in deepening their understanding of these key topics. Each session will include a short meditation and small discussion groups.

This 5-week discussion course offers a guided space to digest, reflect on, and integrate the key Vajrayana teachings presented by KL in the free mini course. Designed for both new and long-term students, each session explores one essential pillar of entering the Vajrayana path, emphasizing lived experience rather than theory alone. The original mini-course this discussion sessions is based on is https://subtle-mind.kit.com/140a14b365.

This series offers a supportive, conversational space to deepen understanding, ask questions, and connect Vajrayana foundational teachings to your own spiritual journey. Please register by January 8. After registering, we will send you the course material. Before each session, we request that you read the material, watch the video, and contemplate the questions for reflection.

Facilitators: Danadasa & Cameron

Schedule: Thursdays, 5:00–6:30 pm PST

Dates: Jan 15, 22, 29; Feb 5, 12, 19

Open to: All students (new & long-term)

Prerequisites: None

Registration: Click here.

Week 1 — Renunciation: Seeing Through the Illusion

We explore the meaning of renunciation not as withdrawal from life, but as a clear-eyed recognition of impermanence and dissatisfaction. Discussion focuses on what genuinely motivates spiritual practice and how renunciation opens the door to freedom.

Week 2 — Refuge: Entering the Gateway

This session examines refuge as an inner orientation rather than a belief system. Participants reflect on what it means to trust the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha as living supports on the path.

Week 3 — Bodhicitta: Cultivating the Heart of Compassion

We discuss bodhicitta as the heart of Vajrayana practice—awakening for the benefit of all beings. The session explores how compassion and wisdom can be cultivated in daily life.

Week 4 — Emptiness: Seeing Through the Illusion of Self and Other

This session introduces emptiness as a liberating insight rather than an abstract philosophy, focusing on how loosening fixed identities reduces suffering and opens spacious awareness.

Week 5 — Tantra: The Lightning Path to Awakening

We conclude with an introduction to Tantra as a method of transformation—working directly with energy, perception, and devotion to recognize awakening within ordinary experience.