Dzogchen Cycles
Why Dzogchen Cycles?
Dawn Mountain is blessed to hold lineage teachings from Longchen Rabjam, Jigme Lingpa, and their spiritual heirs, including Ad.zom Paylo Rinpoche and the late Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche, our teacher for several decades. Especially destined for our era and conditions, Dzogchen teachings are a further blossoming of the ancient Dzogchen Nyingthig traditions, which we practice in light of wisdom writings by Longchenpa and Jigme Lingpa.
In Dzogchen,the Great Completeness tradition of TIbet, wisdom is there from the start. Recognizing this makes a huge difference in our hearts and in our lives. Dzogchen Cycles introduces and furthers our path to our innate wisdom.
We invite you to join Dawn Mountain, on a transformative path of practice, study, and personal growth, especially destined for our era and conditions.
Our annual Dzogchen Cycles on-line program celebrated a revelation from one of the most illustrious Dzogchen masters in Tibet today. These teachings unite the compassion of Avalokieshvara with Dzogchen spaciousness with poetic songs revealed by Adzom Paylo Rinpoche.
Rinpoche received these teachings during his day-long direct encounter with Avalokiteshvara on Potu Island, off the coast of Shanghai. This mountainous isle has for centuries been revered as the home of Avalokiteshvara, known in China as Kuan Yin.
With Rinpoche’s encouragement and blessings, these profound and simple poems from his Lotus Heart Essence cycle of Dzogchen were taught for the very first time in the West by Dawn Mountain founders Lamas Rigzin Drolma and Namgyal Dorje (Anne C. Klein & Harvey Aronson), who report that “Rinpoche revealed during this encounter, he received the entire Dzogchen teachings of Avalokiteshvara. We and Dawn Mountain are beyond honored and inspired to be sharing them with you all.”
May Retreat: Powa
May 12-19
Online and In-Person at 4803 San Felipe Street, Houston TX 77056
Powa is the profound practice of transferring your own or another’s consciousness at the moment of death to arrive in Amitabha’s Pure Land. This means that instead of powerlessly falling back into samsara after death, you remain with Amitābha until you fully awaken to freedom there from this swirl.
The practice of Powa (Transference) is traditionally described as “Buddhahood without Meditation” because you can accomplish it in a single week of retreat. We will practice four sessions each day together, a tremendous support for everyone involved. While we offer on-line participation as needed, this is a retreat to attend in person if at all possible. Experience shows there is nothing like uniting our voices and energies in physical space as we power this practice together to join with Amitabha.
We are aided by Rinpoche’s own powerful connection with Amitabha. Not long after founding his monastery in Rege, Adzom Paulo Rinpoche had a vision of Amitabha–the Buddha of boundless light and limitless vision–dancing in space above the sacred land he was then reopening. These words rang out for him:
May I and my companions, everyone,
In all times be born in the Pure Land (of Amitabha).
This vision inspired him to begin the annual Amitabha Pure Land Festival, and that prayer graces our Powa practice as well. Rinpoche’s connection with Amitabha is personal, and we conduct this Powa retreat with his blessings, guided also by Adzom Drukpa’s written instructions (recently translated by Lama Rigzin). Under the guidance of Lama Rigzin Drolma, who has sat in five Powa retreats with Rinpoche, together with Lama Namgyal Dorje and with further assistance from Rigzin Sherab Gyatso, we sing sacred words and melody as we train to transfer our consciousness to the Pure Land, the place of our true nature, as Rinpoche indicated for those who took the retreat more than once.
Natural Liberation into the Nature of Mind: Core Principles & Practices of Seeing to Being Part 1
September 12-14
Online and In-Person at 4803 San Felipe Street, Houston TX 77056
In 2002 Adzom Paylo Rinpoche revealed to Lama Rigzin Drolma an exceptionally brief and profound quintessential instruction on the path of Dzogchen. He later titled this Natural Liberation into the Nature of Mind (Sems nyid rang grol), or Natural Liberation into Evenness (mnyam nyid rang grol). In this retreat we share with you the very practical core principles and practices of this precious revelation.
Following Adzom Rinpoche’s revelation of the core of Natural Liberation into the Nature of Mind, Lama Rigzin unfolded it further based on several meaningful dialogues (2007, 2014) with Adzom Rinpoche aimed at identifying an array of distilled Dzogchen-related principles that apply to the entire spectrum of the path, and that were implicit in Rinpoche’s initial revelation. This endeavor was remarkable and perhaps unheard of – a traditional Treasure Revealer (Terton) working with a contemporary scholar-practitioner to produce a model of practice for modern students, in what can be described as a teaching developed in tandem, something like a co-revealed revelation.
We find this model is proving to be of inestimable value for accessing the profound view of Dzogchen through nuanced steps that are easily digested by mind and body. It is a blessed practice and thus carries the transmitted blessings of Rinpoche and his lineage.
The 2025-2026 series is foundational to our teaching in the next 3-5 years, an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an exciting sequence of Seeing to Being retreats and sādhanas on various topics. It is highly recommended to everyone seeking a pithy introduction to crucial aspects of the path as a whole, as well as anyone wishing to optimize benefitting from our work together in the next three to five years.
Exploring the Elements : Natural Liberation into the Nature of Mind: Core Principles & Practices of Seeing to Being Part II
February 20-22 2026
Online and In-Person at 4803 San Felipe Street, Houston TX 77056
We are all conditioned to one degree or another by certain habit patterns: we are fiery, weighed down, compulsively active, flexible to a fault, or spaced out. In traditional Buddhist language, these states are associated with the elemental energies of fire, earth, wind, water, and space. Exploring our own proclivities and obstacles provides a path for us to the compassion and wisdom already present as latent elemental energies in our mind and body.
Following a unique sādhana from the Seeing to Being cycle, this retreat explores patterns that bind us and reveal how, when released, these same elemental energies become available as one or more of the boundless states or Buddha wisdoms.
Teachings and practices on the elemental energies are essential to traditional systems of mind-body healing and foundational for Tantra and Dzogchen. This retreat approaches the teaching on the elements through the lens of Seeing to Being, as inspired by Adzom Rinpoche’s teachings and specifically tailored to the needs of the contemporary practitioner.
These retreats will greatly support the May 2026 Dzogchen Cycles program, a first-of-its-kind retreat whose details will be announced later in the year.
Unique Features of Full Dzogchen Cycles Program
We encourage those of you who want to deep your overall practice and understanding of Dzogchen to take our Full Cycles program. Each year is carefully planned so that its retreats support and strengthened each other, and also complement previous years. Your learning is additionally supported because you have access to a mentor, a senior student whom we have trained to help guide you, you are also invited to a peer bi-monthly peer support group, as well as follow-ups to each of our three retreats so as to give you more time to process and received feedback on it. All included in your annual Cycles fee.
A La Carte Participation
This provides maximum flexibility; some students are attracted to one or more courses from different years. Once you are accepted to Cycles, you may take any course appropriate to your level of experience at that time. There are no other meetings nor a mentor option. Should you wish to join full cycles at some point, you need only write us, you need not reapply.
Please submit an application here. If you are interested in prior retreats, please reach out to us, and we will provide you with a link to register, and after paying the appropriate fee, you can take the class at your discretion (some retreats are limited to those with prior experience).
Past Dzochen Cycles Events
Upon approval of you application, either as a Full Cycles Member or an A La Carté participant, you are eligible to take past Dzogchen Cycles events. Here is a list of the events we have had previously.
2017-2018
Longchenpa’s Seven Trainings
Becoming Guru Rinpoche
Severance Though Offering
2018-2019
Yeshe Tsogyal: Wisdom Dakini Foundations
Secrets of Wisdom
Green Tara Practice Retreat
2019-2020
Yeshe Tsogyal: Accomplishment
Jigme Lingpa Severance: Deep Wisdom
Guru Yoga
2020-2021
Yeshe Tsogyal Practice Retreat
Troma Severance
Troma Practice Retreat
2021-2022
Yeshe Tsogyal 2021
Embodying the Elements
Dakini Element Practice
2022-2023
Avalokiteshvara’s Dzogchen Part II
Liberation Through Hearing
2023-2024
2024-2025
Being Human and a Buddha Too
Zhitro Calm & Fierce Deities of Our Being
Chö Severance
Guru Yoga
Dzogchen Cycles: Heart Essence Transmission
The curriculum will be guided by the teachings to date and in consultation with Rinpoche.
The full Dzogchen Cycles curriculum includes one annual seven-to-ten-day teaching retreat and two weekend retreats and access to a trained mentor for the program if requested. Additionally, three interactive webinars are provided to support practice of these teachings. Some years will include a formal practice retreat and a teaching practice retreat, either independently or attached to the May retreat.
We strongly recommend that students attend at least one retreat annually in person as it strengthens both transmission and community.
The A La Carte option allows participants to take select retreats appropriate to their background. Upon application, our lamas may suggest ideal starting points for individual situations.
No prior experience is required to join the program. Everyone is welcome to apply. Participation in all formal practice retreats such as our Yeshe Tsogyal 2021 requires having previously received the teachings.
The curriculum deepens practice opportunities for modern, Western Buddhist students. In particular, we offer connection with the wonders of one of Tibet’s most celebrated wisdom lineages, The Heart Essence Vast Expanse (Longchen Nyingthig) cycle of teachings, as well as related cycles. This includes the Luminous Heart Essence (Osel Nyingthig) cycles recently revealed by our teacher in Tibet. These cycles are taught by Lama Rigzin Drolma (Anne C. Klein, PhD.) and Lama Namgyal Dorje (Harvey B. Aronson, PhD.) who have for many years had the golden opportunity to receive personal instruction on these practices from the revealer, Ad.zom Paylo Rinpoche.
The program offers a complete path from the early stages of practice to an ever-deepening appreciation of the vast view of the Dzogchen teachings..
You are invited to watch a condensed version of Lama Rigzin and Lama Namgyal’s description of this program or the full two-hour presentation of the program. This extended video includes our lamas’ connection to the lineage, questions and answers regarding course content, and other topics as well.
Materials from previous cycles are available for purchase upon request and as appropriate for new participants.
Overview of Dawn Mountain’s 2020 – 2023 Dzogchen Cycles Programs
- May 2020: Yeshe Tsogyal Dakini Foundation and Troma Severance
Based on extensive discussion with Ad.zom Paylo Rinpoche, Cycles year 2020 began in with a formal five-day Yeshe Tsogyal Dakini Foundation practice followed by a one-week teaching and practice of Troma Severance. Both are from APR’s Luminous Heart Essence Cycle and have been archived and available for purchase by Dawn Mountain.
- Spring 2021: FREEING WISDOM: From Seeing to Being with Lady Wisdom, Prajnaparamita
An inspired sky-pearl through the blessings and brief words of the incomparable Ad.zom Paylo Rinpoche. Titled by him Sem Nyi Rang Grol (Mind Nature Freeing Itself) and Nyam Nyi Rang Grol (Self-Freeing Sameness), these teachings were bestowed on Rigzin Drolma in Tibet.
This is the closing retreat of the May 2020 – February 2021 year of Dzogchen Cycles!
- May 2021: Becoming Yeshe Tsogyal: Dakini Foundation and Accomplishment Practice from the Luminous Heart Essence (Osel Nyingthig)
The retreat centers on the Yeshe Tsogyal Dakini Foundational and Accomplishment Practices. Previous participation in the Dawn Mountain 2018 Yeshe Tsogyal Foundational Practice retreat is required and teachings are available upon request. This requirement may also be fulfilled through previous participation at any of Tara Mandala’s teachings on this same cycle.
During the retreat, we offered three days for revitalizing and enriching the teaching. Thereafter, the curriculum consists of four sessions of formal daily practice (Drub Cho).
- Fall 2021: Embodying the Elements –In this retreat, we learn and experientially explore the specific qualities of each of the five elements, giving special attention to addressing situations in which elements are out of balance. This repairs imbalance and ultimately yields wisdom.
- Spring 2022: Dakini Element Practice-
- May 2022: The Lotus Heart Essence: Avalokiteshvara’s Dzogchen- Immerse yourself in six short Dzogchen texts from Avalokiteshvara’s complete Dzogchen teachings, revealed to Adzom Paylo Rinpoche in 2016 on Potu island. A prayer to compassion embodied; a sādhana; feast (Tshog) practice; prayer to Rahula; liberation through hearing—quintessential instructions; and activities. Joining compassion with wisdom can take a long time in most styles of practice. Find how in Dzogchen, wisdom is there from the start. Thanks to Rinpoche’s blessing, we are offering this for the very first time in the West. Come join us and refresh your heart!
- Fall 2022: Avalokiteshvara’s Dzogchen Part II
- Lotus Heart Essence: Liberation Through Hearing
- The Great Compassionate One – Formal Accomplishment Retreat (sgrub chos), practicing in depth for the first time in its entirety The Great Compassionate One, the Avalokiteshvara Dzogchen Treasure (gTer) revealed by Ad.zom Paylo Rinpoche in 2014. This retreat is open to all who’ve participated in our Cycles year 2022-2023 and for new students, who ideally will take May 2022 retreat first, there will be
also be brief instruction to make this remarkable practice text accessible.
2023 Sunday May 7th – Saturday May 13
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The Fullness of Refuge: Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen– This unique refuge from Jigme Lingpa opens the way to the fullness of sutra, tantra and Dzogchen. These amazing four lines lead us to the heart of the entire teaching, culminating in the heart of Dzogchen. They also provide us in this retreat with an exploration of the oral quintessential instructions which Lama Rigzin received from Adzom Paylo Rinpoche, as a process from Seeing to Being which, Rinpoche named Sems Nyid Rang grol, Naturally Free Mindnature. These essential guidelines illuminate the entire path.
Fall 2023 Friday Sept 29- Sunday October 1
- Losar Retreat – Open to All, New Year’s Eve Losar Celebration and Tales of Inspiration, Jigme Lingpa’s Guru Yoga including for the first time retreat guidance and practice grounded in Adzom Drukpa’s commentary on Jigme Lingpa’s Guru Yoga. Guru Yoga is a heart Dzogchen teaching. For some teaching lineages, mind-nature teachings are traditionally given in the context of Guru Yoga practice. In style, content, and blessings, this particular practice embodies, the elements taught in our fall retreat of Seeing to Being.
Spring 2024 Friday February 16- Sunday February 18
