Discovering the Buddha Within
A three year study and practice curriculum of Buddha Dharma created by
His Holiness Tai Situ Rinpoche
Discovering the Buddha Within is an experiential learning program of the Buddha Dharma created as part of the vast vision of Guru Vajradhara His Holiness the 12th Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa.
The purpose of this curriculum is to explain the essence of the Buddha's teachings in a simple and detailed way. This three-year course follows the Buddha’s teachings on the three wheels of the Dharma, and continues with the sacred transmission of the four tantras that correspond to the three gradual levels of recognition of the ultimate nature of mind and phenomena.
For each level, the teacher will explain the view (intellectual understanding), meditation (experiential understanding), and application (applying this understanding to change one's daily habits) of the topics according to Shravakayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. Through these three aspects: View, Meditation, and Action, one will discover the Buddha within oneself.
Meditations that form the core part of each level are divided into two sections: Shamatha (calm abiding) and Vipashyana (advanced insight).
Discovering the Budda Within 1-3 at Palpung Wales
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Discovering the Buddha Within Level 1
INNER PEACE
October 29th to November 1st 2026
A new cycle of a 3-year study and practice programme "Discovering the Buddha Within" is starting in October, and will be led by Choje Lama Rabsang.
This sacred transmission is open to everyone (both Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike).
This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with the lineage and deepen the knowledge and understanding of the Buddhist path along with gaining practice experience in a gradual, step-by-step manner. There will also be regular practice / follow-up group meetings throughout the year led by Choje Lama Rabsang.
You can find more information of the curriculum and the different levels below.
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Discovering the Buddha Within Year 2
AWAKENED HEART
Autumn 2027
The programme which starts in 2026 at Palpung Wales will continue to its second level, Awakened Heart.
To be eligible for this second year, you must have either:
attended the Year 1 in person (anywhere in the world)
or completed the 50 hours of homework for Joy of Living 1
or being a Mahamudra Ocean of Definitive Meaning student by His Holiness Tai Situ Rinpoche.
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Discovering the Buddha Within Year 3
ORIGINAL PURITY
Autumn 2028
The programme which starts in 2026 at Palpung Wales will continue to its third level, Original Purity.
To be eligible for this third year, you must have either:
- attended the Year 1 & 2 in person (anywhere in the world)
- or being a Mahamudra Ocean of Definitive Meaning student by His Holiness Tai Situ Rinpoche
The Discovering the Buddha Within
curriculum consists of three levels (3 years):
1. Inner Peace
2.Awakened Heart
3. Original Purity
Level 1: Inner Peace
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Focuses on calming the mind and developing insight and wisdom through some simple yet profound study, meditations, and contemplations derived from the Shravakayana teachings of the Buddha.
Awareness meditations and precise knowledge will allow students to discover inner peace, accept and let go of worldly concerns without grasping at or rejecting them, and develop a stable aspiration for genuine freedom.
Guided meditations and question-and-answer sessions will help students learn how to start a daily meditation practice at home.
For those new to Buddhism, the practice commitment is to practice at least 10 minutes every day for a minimum of 30 consecutive days. For those who are already practicing the Buddha Dharma, their actual practice will work as the commitment.
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In this level students will:
1. Learn the essence of meditation
Develop and nurture awareness and inner peace using breath, body, feelings, thoughts, emotions, and phenomena as a support for meditation.
2. Learn the basics of Buddhism through knowledge and advanced insight meditation
Understand the shortcomings of one's life and the world, the origins and cessation of suffering, and the means to reach that cessation, along with understanding refuge -the starting point of the path to an everlasting state of well-being, rich with innate goodness and radiant pure qualities.
Develop advanced insight meditation mainly based on experiential observation of the natural flow of everything as being impermanent.
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Will be starting again 2026
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Teaching takes place at Palpung Changchub Dargyeling.
Address:
96 King Street
Brynmawr
NP23 4SY
Wales, UK -
Teacher will be Sherabling Monastery’s Shedra senior teacher, Venerable Khenpo Phurba Wangchuk.
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Depending on your financial situation, there are three options for the suggested donation to cover the costs of organising the teaching:
STANDARD:
£35/day (£140 full course)
CONCESSION 1:
£25/day (£100 full course)CONCESSION 2:
£20/day (£80 full course)(Meal cost will be added to this. More details about this to follow soon.)
It is highly recommended that one attends the full 4 days of teachings and practice sessions, but if there is a situation where one needs to skip one or two days, there is a recording available afterwards.
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The accommodation will be outside the Centre. You can find a list of some accommodation places near the Centre HERE, but the list is not comprehensive. We are still enquiring about a block booking to some of the nearby hotels. Updates to follow soon.
Lunches will be catered at the Centre at the cost of £10 / day.
Level 2:Awakened Heart
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Through meditations on loving kindness, compassion, joy, equanimity and so forth, students will learn to awaken their hearts and discover their innate goodness, further enriching the calm state of mind and deepening their meditation through recognition of emptiness, which is the essence of the Mahayana.
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In this level students will:
1. Discover their inner goodness
By discovering and cultivating love, compassion, appreciation or joy, and equanimity.
By developing their potential through six perfect states of mind, the six paramitas.
By training their mind to transform defilements into love and compassion.
2. Widen their motivation and outlook and gain deeper insight
By learning about and meditating on bodhicitta, the awakening mind.
By gaining an advanced insight that understands selflessness through direct experience.
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Thu 12th - Sun 15th September 2024
Thursday
10 - 10:30am: Introduction
10:30 - 12 noon: Teaching session 1
14:00 - 15:30 : Teaching session 2
16:00 - 17:00 : Meditation 1
17:30 - 19:00 : Teaching session 3
20:00 - 21:00 : Meditation 2Friday
9 - 10am: Meditation 3
10:30 - 12 noon: Teaching session 4
14:00 - 15:30 : Teaching session 5
16:00 - 17:00 : Meditation 4
17:30 - 19:00 : Teaching session 6
20:00 - 21:00 : Meditation 5Saturday
9 - 10: Meditation 6
10:30 - 12 noon: Teaching session 7
14:00 - 15:30 : Teaching session 8
16:00 - 17:00 : Meditation 7
17:30 - 19:00 : Teaching session 9
20:00 - 21:00 : Meditation 8Sunday
9 - 10: Meditation 9
10:30 - 12: Teaching session 10
14:00 - 15:30 : Teaching session 11
15:45 - 16:15 Meditation 10
16:30 - 18:00 Teaching session 12
18:00 - 18:30: Offerings and Conclusion -
Teaching takes place at Palpung Changchub Dargyeling.
Address:
96 King Street
Brynmawr
NP23 4SY
Wales, UK -
Venerable Khenpo Phurba Wangchuk
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SUGGESTED DONATIONS
The below donation options cover four days of teachings with or without lunches. Please choose according to your capacity.
Please make every effort to attend the full four days, as this is a transmission from a teacher to student, so it is important to be present in person.
STANDARD
£190 Standard with 4 lunches
£150 Standard (NO lunches)CONCESSION 1
£140 Concession 1 with 4 lunches
£110 Concession 1 (NO lunches)CONCESSION 2
£130 Concession 2 with 4 lunches
£90 Concession 2 (NO lunches)If you cannot afford the suggested donations, please contact the office palpungukoffice@gmail.com.
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Lunches will be served during the 4 days. It will need to be booked through the registration form.
At the Centre there is accommodation available only for the volunteers who help before and during the teaching days (currently fully booked).
If you need a list of some local accommodation places, please let us know at palpungukoffice@gmail.com
Level 3: Original Purity
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Meditations connected with Buddha nature, which is the basis of Vajrayana, the last of Buddha's teachings, will allow students to discover their enlightened nature, the primordial purity of the mind and the universe, and to experience pure perception of everyone and everything.
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In this level students will learn:
1. Discover the primordial purity of their own mind and the universe
By discovering through advanced insight their own buddha nature and the original purity of everything.
2. Learn how to reveal that purity
By appreciating and developing gratitude for one's own enlightened mind, by meditating on guru yoga, and by learning about creation and completion stage meditations according to the Vajrayana.
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Thu 18th - Sun 21st September 2025
Thursday
10 - 10:30am: Introduction
10:30 - 12 noon: Teaching session 1
14:00 - 15:30 : Teaching session 2
16:00 - 17:00 : Meditation 1
17:30 - 19:00 : Teaching session 3
20:00 - 21:00 : Meditation 2Friday
9 - 10am: Meditation 3
10:30 - 12 noon: Teaching session 4
14:00 - 15:30 : Teaching session 5
16:00 - 17:00 : Meditation 4
17:30 - 19:00 : Teaching session 6
20:00 - 21:00 : Meditation 5Saturday
9 - 10: Meditation 6
10:30 - 12 noon: Teaching session 7
14:00 - 15:30 : Teaching session 8
16:00 - 17:00 : Meditation 7
17:30 - 19:00 : Teaching session 9
20:00 - 21:00 : Meditation 8Sunday
9 - 10: Meditation 9
10:30 - 12: Teaching session 10
14:00 - 15:30 : Teaching session 11
15:45 - 16:15 Meditation 10
16:30 - 18:00 Teaching session 12
18:00 - 18:30: Offerings and Conclusion -
Teaching takes place at Palpung Changchub Dargyeling.
Address:
96 King Street
Brynmawr
NP23 4SY
Wales, UK -
Khenpo Phurba Wangchuk
-
SUGGESTED DONATIONS
The below donation options cover four days of teachings with or without lunches. Please choose according to your capacity.
Please make every effort to attend the full four days, as this is a transmission from a teacher to student, so it is important to be present in person.
STANDARD
£190 Standard with 4 lunches
£150 Standard (NO lunches)CONCESSION 1
£140 Concession 1 with 4 lunches
£110 Concession 1 (NO lunches)CONCESSION 2
£130 Concession 2 with 4 lunches
£90 Concession 2 (NO lunches)If you cannot afford the suggested donations, please contact the office palpungukoffice@gmail.com.
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There is no accommodation available at the Centre, but let us know if you need a list of local accommodation places.
Meals are catered by Cinnamon Garden, a local Indian restaurant. When you register, you can choose vegan / gluten free options.
Teachers of the Programme
The main masters who will teach the Discovering the Buddha Within curriculum are His Eminence Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and other masters including His Eminence Gyalton Rinpoche and senior Khenpos of Palpung Sherabling Monastic Seat. H.E. Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche has agreed to lead the program, which started at Palpung Sherabling Monastic Seat in November 2022.
From 2023, H.E. Gyalton Rinpoche and four venerable senior Khenpos will also travel to Palpung monasteries and Dharma Centers worldwide each year to teach this curriculum.
Following the annual teachings, resident Lamas from each centre will be offering follow up sessions with regular practice gatherings at each Palpung Centre.
After receiving the teachings by any of the appointed teachers and for a proper
follow up of this study curriculum, each student will be granted a username and password to access an online study platform, via which they will be able to send questions to the khenpos.
“All sentient beings, having buddha nature, will attain enlightenment ultimately. It may take some sentient beings a long time to purify their defilements and recognise their buddha nature, but others may become enlightened more quickly. It is based on how the individual being pursues the path to realisation, and what choices are made. One thing is certain: all beings will be able to do this because their essence is buddha.
— Tai Situ Rinpoche, Awakening the Sleeping Buddha
“Ignorant sentient beings are unaware of of their buddha nature because of their dualistic aspect of their minds. The dualistic mind of a sentient being does not recognise the essence of his or her nature. Some degree of buddha nature is recognised in the dualistic mind of a bodhisattva or a developed indivisual. When a person becomes buddha, the dualistic aspect of mind is totally purified. Mind is beyond dualism. The fully awakened person becomes the embodiment of buddha nature, transcending all limitations.
— Tai Situ Rinpoche, Awakening the Sleeping Buddha