Category Archives: Lineage

Facing the Holiday Season: How to Thrive and not just Survive

Tibetan

Tergar Bozeman will host guest speaker Tim Olmsted on Wednesday November 5th via Zoom at their regular sangha meeting from 5:30-7 PM. Tim will be discussing the stresses that come with the holiday season and how to thrive, not just survive. All are welcome! In person or online.

Tim began his Buddhist studies in 1977 under the late Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, Colorado. In 1981, Trungpa Rinpoche invited Mingyur Rinpoche’s father, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, to teach in Boulder. Profoundly moved by him, Tim and his family moved just a few months later to Kathmandu to study with Tulku Urgyen and his sons. During the twelve years that he lived in Nepal, Tim studied with many of the older teachers living there and worked as a psychotherapist serving the international community. In 2000, Tim moved to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia where he served for three years as the director of Gampo Abbey, the largest residential Buddhist monastery in North America. He is presently the president of the Pema Chödrön Foundation, which supports Gampo Abbey.

In 2003, after a visit by Mingyur Rinpoche to Gampo Abbey, Tim started the Yongey Foundation to support and promote Mingyur Rinpoche’s activities in the West. Tim lives with his wife Glenna in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where he leads an active community that follows Mingyur Rinpoche’s teachings and those of his family lineage.

Peace Within & Without

Non-denominational, Uncategorized

On Friday November 14, 5:30-6:30 PM, join us for an hour that includes silent meditation to center body and mind, reflections on interconnectedness and compassion, and concluding with a candle-lighting ceremony, where attendees may quietly declare intentions for peace—both within themselves and in the world.

Living from True Nature with Elaine Huang

Half-Day Retreat, Non-denominational

On Saturday October 11, step into a morning of exploration from 9:00 AM to noon where guided meditation, mindfulness, reflective exercises, and practical tools open the way to freedom from limiting patterns of heart, mind, and body. This retreat offers practical pathways for embodying your true nature, cultivating presence, openness, and love in everyday life.

Highlights:

  • Practices that nurture freedom, presence, and embodied awakening
  • Tools to soften limiting patterns of heart, mind, and body
  • Guidance for living with more ease as your true nature shines through

Elaine Huang (MSW, MA, SEP) is a seasoned mindfulness teacher and guide, with 25 years of experience facilitating individuals, groups, and corporate teams. A dedicated meditator for over 35 years, she holds certifications in Mindful Leadership, Search Inside Yourself, and Somatic Experiencing. Elaine leads mindfulness retreats, intensive workshops, and half-day offerings in a variety of settings, and facilitates trainings for leaders and teams across companies of all sizes and industries. With master’s degrees in social work and clinical psychology, she brings a rich educational foundation to her work. Elaine’s focus is supporting individuals on their journeys of personal growth, presence, and awakening to their true nature.

Zen Sesshin with Nomon Tim Burnett

Weekend Retreat, Zen

The Zen Sesshin offers inspiring practice with zendo forms in place – right at the Bozeman Dharma Center. Enjoy zazen, service, dharma talks, and oryōki (formal eating) practice. We will be providing two oryōki meals with instruction provided by Nomon. These meals are part of the practice and will be held in silence. 

The sesshin will happen over the course of four days, October 23-26, from 7:00 AM– 5:00 PM Thursday – Saturday and from 7 AM to noon on Sunday. Although participation can be flexible, priority for attendance will be given to those who sign up for all four days.

Nomon Tim Burnett has been a student of Zoketsu Norman Fischer since 1987 when he was a resident at San Francisco Zen Center’s Green Gulch Farm. After sitting practice periods at Green Gulch and Tassajara Zen Monastery, Tim helped found the Bellingham Zen Practice Group in 1991. Tim was ordained as a Zen Priest by Norman in 2000, received Dharma Transmission in 2011, and was installed as Guiding Teacher of the Red Cedar Zen Community in April, 2017. A person of wide-ranging professional interests, Tim has been a botanist, carpenter, elementary school teacher, writer, and computer programmer. In addition to his work at the Guiding Teacher of Red Cedar Zen Community, Tim is Executive Director of Mindfulness Northwest where he offers the Dharma in the form of secular mindfulness to many in local communities and professions.

Buddhism Basics

Classes, Non-denominational

Join senior BDC practitioners on Saturday October 4 from 9 AM to 12:30 PM to explore central teachings of our 2600 year old Buddhist tradition. We will learn about the five aggregates, five remembrances, five hindrances and the six paramitas. Great for those new to meditation and Buddhist practice; seasoned practitioners are warmly encouraged as well.

Yamama!

Non-denominational, SoundGate

Explore meditation and connection through sound on Friday October 3 from 7-8 PM with Yamama!

Yamama! will offer a meditative soundscape using drums, percussion and vocals as guest artists for October’s SoundGate program. No registration necessary. Donations welcome! Any funds collected will be split evenly with the guest artists.

Mindful Creativity: Tibetan Singing Bowls

Classes, Non-denominational

Learn about Tibetan singing bowls and how to ring them from Brian Sparks! He will offer an introduction to sounding the bowls on Sunday, September 21 from 1:30 to 3:30 PM.

The class will introduce information on several therapeutic uses, bowl types, considerations on buying a bowl and a therapeutic set of bowls, how to play the bowls, mallet types, and physiological impacts of bowl sounds on the body and brain as well as some hands on practice with the bowls. 

 Brian received his spiritual teaching from several masters in the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. His teachers blessed his bowl work by giving him the specific “Prayer of Aspiration” and granted him many Buddhist empowerments. He has toured with notable Tibetan musicians, actors, and at the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas in Arlee.

He offers his practice of playing Tibetan bowls in service of healing, compassion and awakening.

If anyone is interested in learning how to become part of this tradition, they can talk with Brian after the session to discuss the structure and content of what is required to become a proficient bell ringer.

Mindfulness and the Addiction Economy

Non-denominational, Uncategorized

Dave Smith will lead a discussion on Sunday September 28 from 5-7pm on Mindfulness and the Addiction Economy. We can all see how our devices have become weapons of mass distraction, but by turning inward, taking an honest look at our pain and dissatisfaction, and coming to terms with what fuels our addiction, we can find hope in the future of our ever more connected world. In this talk, Dave Smith discuses using the four noble truths and mindfulness as an active framework for recovering the innate goodness of our humanity.

No registration necessary. Please consider offering a donation to Dave in support of his teaching.