About
Lama Palden is a meditation teacher in the Meditation tradition.
Teaching focus
Palden's teaching draws on the Shangpa Kagyu and Karma Kagyu lineages of Tibetan Vajrayana. She teaches shamatha and vipashyana as foundational practices, then the more characteristically Tibetan practices of guru yoga, deity visualization, tonglen (the practice of taking and giving), and Mahamudra pointing-out instructions for direct recognition of the nature of mind. Her work with tonglen is particularly well-known and forms the heart of Love on Every Breath. She teaches it carefully, beginning with the felt experience of compassion before moving into the formal exchange-of-self-and-other instructions, so that students don't get stuck on visualization mechanics. She also teaches the specifically feminine practices of Vajrayana, including dakini practices, which fit her broader work to make depth Vajrayana available to women practitioners in the West. Her teaching of Mahamudra is direct but accessible, and she's spent considerable time helping students stabilize basic awareness practice before introducing the more advanced pointing-out material. Across her work runs a steady devotion to the lineage and a warm, practical voice.
Background
Lama Palden Drolma is an American teacher in the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition, ordained as a lama by the late Kalu Rinpoche after completing the traditional three-year three-month meditation retreat in the Shangpa Kagyu and Karma Kagyu lineages. She founded Sukhasiddhi Foundation, a Tibetan Buddhist center in Fairfax, California, where she has taught for decades. She's the author of Love on Every Breath, a book on tonglen and heart practices, and a sought-after teacher of the more devotional and visualization-rich practices of the Tibetan tradition. Her Dharma Seed archive is small, holding only a handful of recordings, since most of her teaching circulates through Sukhasiddhi and her own website rather than the largely Theravada Dharma Seed platform. She was one of the first Western women authorized as a lama, and her work has been important in opening Vajrayana practice to lay practitioners in the US, particularly women and people drawn to the heart-centered side of Tibetan teaching. Her style is warm and grounded, with a depth of practice experience from her three-year retreat and decades of subsequent teaching. Students describe her teaching as full of practical instruction in the more advanced devotional and energy practices that aren't always available outside long retreat. She continues to teach at Sukhasiddhi and to lead retreats internationally.
Lineage
Palden Drolma was authorized as a lama by Kalu Rinpoche after completing the traditional three-year three-month meditation retreat in the Shangpa Kagyu and Karma Kagyu lineages, becoming one of the first Western women ordained at this level. She's also studied with senior Tibetan teachers across the four schools and is the founder and resident lama of Sukhasiddhi Foundation in Fairfax, California. She teaches as a lay lama in the Vajrayana sense, having held vows of practice and lineage rather than monastic vows.
What to expect
Retreats and programs with Palden include traditional Tibetan elements, refuge and bodhicitta practice, mantra recitation, visualization, and tonglen, alongside the foundational sitting practices. The atmosphere is more devotional than most Theravada retreats, with shrines, offerings, and the use of specific deity practices as the framework. Beginners are welcomed and given foundation practice, while longer-term students receive more advanced instructions including Mahamudra pointing-out teaching when ready. Palden's teaching also addresses the integration of Vajrayana practice with daily Western life, including the specific challenges of householder practitioners juggling family, work, and serious dharma practice. Her work has been important in showing that the depth of Tibetan Buddhist tradition can be available to lay practitioners outside monastic structures, particularly women, without diluting the lineage commitments that make the practices effective.