Tempaduktelama

Welcome to Olmo Ling

Olmo Ling is a religious educational non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the ancient teachings of the Bon tradition of Tibet and making them available and accessible to lay practitioners.

Olmo Ling offers weekly meditation practice and teachings, prayers, meditation instruction and private interviews, and a study program that includes regular retreats with Tempa Dukte Lama and visiting lamas of the Bon tradition.

Learn more about Olmo Ling or Subscribe to our Mailing List.

Visit the Olmo Ling Teaching and Retreat Schedule for 2025 to view upcoming programs and please visit Olmo Ling online Bookstore!


Olmo Ling Newsletter | June 24th – Click to Read


Tempalama-tsalungthrulkhor

THIS WEEKEND

Tsa Lung Practice from the Tibetan Bon Tradition

in Saratoga Springs, New York with Tempa Dukte Lama

Saturday June 28th – Sunday, June 29th, 2025

In-Person Attendance ONLY

Saturday’s Teaching Hours:

10:00 AM – 3:00 PM EST

Sunday’s Teaching Hours:

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM EST

Retreat Location
Saratoga Senior Center
290 West Avenue #1
Saratoga Springs, New York 12866

Tsa Lung is an ancient Tibetan Bon Yoga (Thrul Khor) practice. It is a contemplative practice that employs breathing, gentle physical movement, vocal sound, visualization, and deep meditative awareness as a path of harmonizing the body, mind, and energy, and ultimately attaining awakening. Among the cycle of Bon Trul Khor, the Tsa Lung practices are particularly accessible as they are simple and gentle and do not require a lot of flexibility. At the same time, Tsa Lung is a powerful and deeply beneficial practice for strengthening our awareness and healing our body and mind. No familiarity with Trul Khor or yoga is required for attending this weekend.

Read More & Register



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Chang Bu Gyatsa Chod Healing Prayer Ritual

House of Mica Peace Chamber

East Greenbush, New York with Tempa Dukte Lama

Monday, June 30th, 2025

from 6:30 – 8:30 PM

In-Person Attendance ONLY

Ritual Location
House of Mica Peace Chamber
105 State Route 151
East Greenbush, NY 12061

Join us for a special evening of ceremony, chanting and teachings from Tempa Dukte Lama from Olmo Ling Bon Center and Institute. We will begin the evening in the peace chamber where Tempa Dukte Lama will teach us the Ma Tri Mantra, one of the three Heart Mantras of the Bon. Then we will move to the yoga studio to rest peacefully on mats as he offers the Chang Bu Gyatsa Chod Healing Prayer Ritual. This special ritual prayer opens the possibility of deep healing of our body, mind, and soul from illness and trauma. We human beings are constantly affected by changes in our lives, difficult relationships, illness, pain and suffering. When we attend the Chang Bu Gyatsa Chod Healing Prayer with an open mind and a strong motivation, the ritual will help us clear karmic obscurations that restrict our happiness, prosperity, health and longevity and that can lead to misfortune and difficulties in our relationships. Moreover, the prayer supports us in reconnecting with our true nature of purity and joy.

A donation of $35-45 is requested to support Tempa Dukte Lama’s work. More if you
can, less if you can’t. Space is limited.

To Register, Please Email Rick at: rick@houseofmica.org



His_holiness_jc

Visit from H.H. 34th Menri Trizin to Pittsburgh, PA : Cancelled

Friday, August 29th – Sunday, August 31st, 2025
at Olmo Ling Bon Center and over Zoom

His Holiness 34th Gyalwa Menri Trizin Lungtok Dawa Dhargyal Rinpoche has cancelled his 2025 USA tour

We apologize for any inconvenience. If you made a deposit via PayPal or Stripe, your payment will be fully refunded. If you mailed a check, please rest assured it has not been deposited and will be securely destroyed.

Click here to read the official letter from the Yungdrung Bon Monastic Center Society at Menri, India.

Please email us with any questions at bon@olmoling.org.









Update on the Olmo Ling Temple Building!

Thanks to the generous support of our community we were able to acquire our temple building in Pittsburgh in December 2022. Our temple is the cornerstone of our work in offering Bon teachings and carrying out charitable projects in the Himalayas. Following His Holiness’ visit in July 2023 we began work on obtaining a residential-use permit for the two floors above the temple so that we can rent them out to community members and help cover the monthly mortgage payments.

The upper two floors are currently linked with a communicating stairs. There is little fire separation between all three floors. We anticipated that we would need to remove the communicating stairs, install a separate heating and cooling system for the second floor (to close off a possible fire pathway from the basement boiler room), and install a fire alarm system. However, we learned that we additionally needed to construct either external fire stairs for all three floor or a sprinkler system with a new water main line connecting across the road from Olmo Ling. Iris worked with our architects over several months to appeal to the City Board of Appeals twice to request an exemption to these extremely costly requirements. We are delighted to share that in December we were granted an exemption given our building’s small size!

While this is very welcome news, some fire safety requirements still have be met. We ask for your help in covering these cost so that we can soon rent out the two upper floors.

Budget for Fire Safety Requirements:
  • $35,000 for removing the stairs between the upper two floors (for fire safety) and installing a separate heating-cooling system on the second floor. This has the additional benefits of expanding the narrow hallways on both upper floors and replacing a very old furnace.
  • $5,914 in professional services from the architects and engineer
  • $5,000 for better sound proofing between the temple and residential floor above
  • $881 in permit fees
  • $328 for smaller items
  • Fire alarm system (costs not yet known)

Total Budget: $47,123
Raised So Far: $29,268
To Be Raised: $17,855

We grateful acknowledge the generosity of a dear community member whose substantial gifts enabled us to bridge the time while we waited for the permit. We also thank our architects Greg and Ee Ling Marin for offering their skillful work at a discounted rate.

We sincerely thank you for your support and prayers. Your generosity allows us to manifest Tempa Lama’s deep aspiration to make the Bon wisdom teachings widely available in the West through teachings, practice, translations, and community gatherings.

READ MORE AND DONATE


Olmo Ling Bon Center Weekly Schedule


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Family Sangha

Friday, May 30th | CANCELED

7:00 – 8:00 PM EST

Offered In-Person with Olmo Ling Community Members

Upcoming Dates:
  • May 30th, 2025

TOPIC: Tsa Lung Thrul Khor Yoga Review & Basic Torma Making

The program is designed for children to experience personal familiarity with Bon teachings and for families to deepen their connections with Bon and with each other. Each Family Sangha meeting will include a snack (families are welcome to contribute to the snack table), meditation, a story/lesson, and a related craft/activity.


LEARN MORE ABOUT FAMILY SANGHA



Wednesday Ngondro (6:00 PM) & Silent Meditation (6:30 PM)

Wednesdays at 6:00 PM EST
Offered In-Person with Senior Student Gary Terner

Participants are welcome to join both the Ngondro / Preliminary teachings of Bon Buddhism (6:00 PM EST) and Silent Meditation (6:30 PM EST) or either of the two sessions. You do not need to practice Bon Buddhism to attend Silent Meditation starting at 6:30 PM EST.

The Wednesday evening practice at Olmo Ling Temple is free and open to all. This practice will offer the experience of meditating in a group. Group meditation is helpful in establishing a regular, stable meditation practice.

Silence will be observed throughout (from the second ringing of the bell following the opening chant). There will be two 20-minute sitting sessions separated by a 10 minute walking meditation. We will attempt to start on time so that we will not finish too late.

Ngondro practice is offered at 6:00 PM ET for those who have previously received Ngondro instructions and would like to practice in a group.

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Saturday Calm Abiding Meditation (Zhine) with Instruction

Saturdays at 8:30 AM EST
Offered via Zoom & In-Person with Senior Student Andrew Kaiser

Cancelled through August 30th for Summer Break

This class will provide instruction in the first phase of meditation, known as Zhine or Calm Abiding. It is important to be able to understand the full succession of meditation phases so that we know what we will learn – and just as important, what we will not be practicing.

Join us In-Person or Zoom HERE Meeting ID: 967 9436 8181

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Saturday Chod Session

One Saturday a month at 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM EST
Offered via Zoom & In-Person with Senior Students Jim DelBianco & Andrew Kaiser

Cancelled through August 30th for Summer Break

Once a month, we will practice elements of the drumming and chanting, followed by performing the Chod ritual as a group. The longer practice session will benefit us all as we learn the fundamentals of the drumming and have more time for practice. Jim and Andrew are both senior students of Tempa Dukte Lama.

Join us In-Person or Zoom HERE Meeting ID: 970 0641 9095 In-Person is recommended, however, we know that is not possible for everyone!

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Sunday Dzogchen Practice Group

Sundays at 4:00 PM EST
Offered via Zoom & In-Person with Senior Student Bob Marin

  • Meditation Practice Group (IN-PERSON & ZOOM): 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month
  • Reading and Discussion Group (ZOOM ONLY): 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month

Dzogchen Olmo Ling holds a Meditation Practice sitting and a Reading and Discussion group on alternate weeks. Weekly announcements provide brief readings and indicate whether the meeting will be online or in-person. In-person meetings permit online participation as well.

If you wish to participate or if you have questions about Dzogchen Olmo Ling, please contact Bob Marin

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Tempalama

June 24th | Free Tuesday Evening Talk

Introduction to Bon View

with Tempa Dukte Lama

7:00 PM EST via Zoom or In-Person at:
Olmo Ling Bon Center
1101 Greenfield Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15217

Join us on Tuesday, June 24th, as Tempa Lama continues this summer’s theme of offering talks and meditations that are accessible to all.

In this week’s talk, Tempa Lama will continue his introduction to Bon view. We face many difficulties in our lives. These difficulties were directly addressed by the Awakened One of Bon, Tonpa Shenrab, in his teachings on the foundations of the Bon view. Tempa Lama will explore how our view as Bon practitioners can help us bring more joy, compassion, peace, and healing into our lives.

The weekly program at Olmo Ling is free! All are welcome!

Donations to Tempa Dukte Lama or to Olmo Ling Bon Center are always deeply appreciated.

We now require a one-time registration for the weekly Tuesday evening talks. If you registered already previously, you are all set!

Register Here for our Zoom Talks



Olmo Ling Daily Prayers

We recite the prayers below at the start of each weekly community practice on Tuesdays. Feel free to download for your own daily practice!

Olmo_Ling_Daily_Prayers.pdf


Tempa Dukte Lama’s Books

  • Jang Chok Ancient Tibetan Bon Ritual The Jang Chok ritual from the Du Tri Su cycle is a powerful skillful means to guide the consciousness of the deceased and protect it from the terror of the Bardo experiences. This book offers the first complete English translation and transliteration of the Du Tri Su Jang Chok liturgy (with the original Tibetan included). In the first part of the book, Tempa Dukte Lama explains the different sections of the ritual and their meaning and purpose as well as how to make the required torma offerings and prepare for the ritual. The liturgy in the second part of the book is annotated throughout and images of ritual arrangements and torma offerings are included to assist practitioners in performing the ritual.
  • Origin of the Medicine Buddha Tempa Dukte Lama illuminates the history of how the Medicine Buddha was first taught. He offers a translation of the short Medicine Buddha practice composed by 14th century Bön master Nyamed Sherab Gyaltsen along with a detailed explanation of the liturgy, visualization, and altar preparation.
  • Thrul Khor: Ancient Tibetan Bon Yoga Step-by-step instructions for 85 practices according to the A Khrid, Ma Gyud (Mother Tantra), and Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyud cycles of Bon Thrul Khor, supported by 499 photographs.
  • Heart Drop of the Loving Mother Tempa Lama offers detailed instructions on the Heart Drop of the Loving Mother practice and on how we can become a Loving Mother in our lives.
  • Inexhaustible Miracles: The Ten Perfections on the Path of Compassionate Beings The Ten Perfections are the heart practices of compassionate beings through which we bring the Bon teachings into our lived experience: generosity, wholesome conduct, patience, effort, concentration, power, aspirational prayers, skillful means, and discriminating awareness. Tempa Lama explains how we can cultivate each Perfection and use these practices to transform every moment of our lives.


Sidpa Gyalmo practice resources

  • Recording of Tempa Lama chanting the Sidpa Gyalmo Healing Practice liturgy
  • Recording of Tempa Lama chanting the Sidpa Gyalmo Healing Waters Practice liturgy
  • Recording of Tempa Lama chanting the Sidpa Gyalmo Longevity & Prosperity practice
  • A booklet by Tempa Lama with an explanation of the symbolic meaning of the Sidpa Gyalmo and Yeshe Walmo visualization, detailed instructions of the healing practice, an explanation of the Bon approach to healing, color pictures of Sidpa Gyalmo and Yeshe Walmo, and the practice liturgy of both the Healing Practice and the Healing Waters Practice is available from our store here. We are able to ship quickly and now offer lower First Class shipping rates for domestic and international orders.