Author: Lama Rita

A Weekend Urban Retreat with Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche

Can true peace, inner development, and joyful awareness flourish amidst the busy demands of modern city life?

Following Friday evening’s public teaching on Mindful Healing Meditation, Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche invites participants to go deeper through a special Weekend Urban Retreat in the heart of Vienna.

We often associate spiritual retreat with leaving ordinary life behind — withdrawing to a quiet place far away from work, responsibilities, relationships, and the distractions of the modern world. But genuine Buddhist practice is ultimately meant to transform the life we are actually living.

Joyfully Achieving Enlightenment in a Modern City explores how meditation, awareness, and Buddhist wisdom can become part of everyday urban life. Rather than separating meditation from our daily activities, the retreat will offer practical methods for bringing greater awareness, compassion, clarity, and positive thinking into our work, relationships, challenges, and ordinary routines.

More Than a Teaching — A Weekend of Practice

Unlike a conventional lecture, this urban retreat offers an immersive and practical experience. Throughout the weekend, participants will receive direct oral transmissions from Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche, practice guided meditation, explore active methods of mind training, and have opportunities to ask questions directly related to meditation and everyday life.

Rinpoche will be accompanied by experienced Lamas and disciples, who will guide additional meditation sessions and support participants in integrating the teachings into practice.

Each retreat day will unfold in three sessions:

10:00–12:00 | Foundation & Guided Practice
Introductory teachings and guided meditations led by senior Lamas and disciples of Rinpoche.

12:00–13:30 | Lunch Break

13:30–15:30 | Core Teachings & Meditation
In-depth teachings and guided meditation directly with Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche.

15:30–16:00 | Tea & Reflection Break

16:00–18:00 | Deepening Practice & Q&A
Practical methods, interactive meditation, and an opportunity for live questions and answers with Rinpoche.

Ancient Wisdom for the Life We Live Today

Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche is the 33rd-generation lineage holder of the Dzogchen Lineage, an ancient Buddhist tradition dedicated to recognizing the innate awareness, wisdom, and clarity of the mind.

Born in Tibet, Rinpoche began his Buddhist training at the age of five at Dzogchen Monastery. He received extensive teachings and transmissions from forty-two Buddhist masters and later studied and taught for ten years at Dzogchen Shri Singha Five Sciences University. He subsequently spent seven years in intensive meditation retreat in the Siltrom Mountain caves of the sacred Dzogchen region of Tibet.

Today, Rinpoche teaches internationally, sharing Buddhist philosophy and meditation with thousands of students in more than forty countries. His teachings bring profound traditional wisdom into direct relationship with the realities and challenges of contemporary life.

Bringing the Buddha Path into Everyday Life

The heart of this weekend is practice. Participants will not only learn about meditation but will have the opportunity to experience it, ask questions, and discover practical ways to continue beyond the retreat.

No previous meditation or retreat experience is necessary. Everyone is welcome, regardless of background or belief.

This is Rinpoche’s second visit to Vienna this year, and no further visits to Austria are currently planned. For those wishing to experience his teachings more deeply and receive direct guidance in meditation practice, the weekend offers a rare opportunity.

The teachings will be given in English with German translation.

Seats are limited. Secure your place via Eventbrite and join us for this special weekend of teaching, meditation, and practice in Vienna.

A Special Evening with Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche in Vienna

☸︎ Public Teaching | Vienna ☸︎

Friday, October 23, 2026 ・ 18:30 – 20:30

How consistently do we give our minds the same care and attention we give our bodies?

In our fast-paced modern world, we devote considerable attention to physical health, yet often overlook the well-being of the mind. Buddhist wisdom reminds us that genuine well-being begins within: with the way we think, perceive, and relate to our experiences.

Following his inspiring visit to Vienna earlier this year, Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche returns to Austria for a special public teaching on Mindful Healing Meditation.

This evening offers an opportunity to discover practical ways of bringing greater clarity, balance, and awareness into everyday life. Whether you are experiencing stress or emotional exhaustion, seeking greater inner peace, or simply wishing to deepen your meditation practice, Rinpoche will share accessible methods for working directly with the mind.

The teaching will explore how our patterns of thinking influence our well-being, how meditation can support inner healing, and how seemingly small changes in our daily thoughts and habits can gradually transform the way we experience ourselves, others, and the world around us.

An Ancient Wisdom for Modern Life

Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche is the 33rd-generation lineage holder of the Dzogchen Lineage, an ancient Buddhist tradition dedicated to recognizing the innate awareness, wisdom, and clarity of the mind.

Born in Tibet, Rinpoche began his Buddhist education at the age of five. He received extensive teachings and transmissions in Sutra, Tantra, and Shastra from forty-two Buddhist masters, as well as the complete empowerments and instructions of the Dzogchen Tantras from his root masters.

He later studied and taught for ten years at Dzogchen Shri Singha Five Sciences University, where his studies encompassed Buddhism and philosophy as well as medicine, linguistics, fine arts, and other traditional sciences. He subsequently spent seven years in intensive meditation retreat in the sacred Dzogchen region of Tibet.

Today, Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche is a Rinpoche of the Dzogchen Monastery, Professor of Dzogchen Shri Singha University, Dharma leader of Dzogchen Shri Singha International, author of more than thirty books, and an international Buddhist teacher. For decades, he has shared Buddhist teachings and meditation practices with thousands of students in more than forty countries, presenting profound contemplative wisdom in a clear and practical way for modern life.

A Rare Opportunity in Vienna

This will be Rinpoche’s second visit to Vienna this year, and no further visits to Austria are currently planned. We warmly encourage everyone interested in meditation, Buddhist wisdom, healing, and cultivating a healthier mind to take advantage of this special opportunity.

The event is open to everyone — regardless of background, belief, or previous meditation experience.

The teaching will be given in English with German translation.

Seats are limited. Secure your ticket via Eventbrite and join us for this special evening of meditation and wisdom in Vienna.

How Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche’s Retreats Transform Practice

In today’s fast-paced world, where the demands of work, family, and daily life leave many practitioners feeling scattered and spiritually undernourished, something unusual is happening at retreat centers guided by Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche. People are arriving exhausted and fragmented — and leaving with a quality of inner settledness that they carry back into their ordinary lives for months. Not because they have been given something new to believe in, but because they have had a direct encounter with something ancient and true.

The retreat programs of the Dzogchen Buddha Path, led by Khenpo Rinpoche and his authorized Bodhi Lamas, offer this: a structured immersion in the wisdom of the Dzogchen lineage, designed precisely for practitioners living in the modern world.

What a Dzogchen Retreat Actually Is

A Dzogchen Buddha Path retreat is not a vacation from life, nor a spiritual spa experience. It is a period of intentional, intensive practice — balancing learning, contemplation, and meditation in a daily structure designed to deepen every aspect of one’s engagement with the dharma. Participants step back from the ordinary pace of life not to escape it, but to develop the clarity and stability that allows them to return to it transformed.

Each day typically begins with formal practice and collective recitation, establishing the continuity of presence that sustains the rest of the program. Teachings from a qualified Bodhi Lama or Khenpo Rinpoche himself follow, drawing from the full depth of the Dzogchen curriculum. Afternoon sessions alternate between study and meditation. Evening practice consolidates the day’s training. Throughout, the atmosphere is serious without being rigid — shaped by the understanding that genuine dharma practice is both demanding and joyful.

The Living Lineage at the Heart of Every Retreat

What distinguishes a Dzogchen Buddha Path retreat from a typical meditation program is the presence of living lineage transmission. Khenpo Choga Rinpoche — as the 33rd holder of the Dzogchen Longchen Nyingthig — either leads retreats directly or authorizes and guides the Bodhi Lamas who lead them. This means that every teaching, every practice, every empowerment transmitted in the retreat setting carries the full weight and blessing of an unbroken lineage.

This is not a theoretical distinction. Practitioners who have attended programs both with and without genuine lineage transmission describe the difference as palpable: a quality of depth, stability, and transformative potential that is recognizably different from practice that, however sincere, lacks this living source.

Retreat Settings: Oregon and Asia

The Dzogchen Retreat Center in Oregon offers a serene residential setting for immersive multi-day programs throughout the year. Located in a natural environment conducive to the inner quietude that deep practice requires, it has hosted hundreds of practitioners for seasonal retreats, special programs, and intensive training events. Similar retreat facilities in Asia serve the growing Dzogchen Buddha Path community across that region.

For practitioners who cannot travel, the tradition of in-person retreat has been extended through high-quality online programs that preserve the essential structure and transmission of the Dzogchen Buddha Path retreat format. While in-person participation offers unique dimensions of practice and community, online retreats make genuine dharma immersion accessible to practitioners worldwide.

What Practitioners Report

Retreatants consistently describe transformation that goes beyond relaxation or conceptual learning. Greater mental clarity. A more stable relationship with difficult emotions. Deeper trust in the path. A quality of inner spaciousness that begins to inform daily life, not just formal practice periods. These are the natural results of sustained engagement with a complete, authentic teaching tradition — the fruits of practice that the Dzogchen lineage has been cultivating for nearly three thousand years.

Find your next Dzogchen retreat at thebuddhapath.org — immersive programs guided by Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche and authorized Bodhi Lamas.