Bardo Hybrid Retreat with Khenpo Kunga (cUS.MSP-H-BE-260620) | Minnesota Humanities Center
Cultural Experiences
We are delighted to welcome Khenpo Kunga to guide a special weekend Retreat on the "Root Verses on the Six Bardos"
June 20 - 21, 2026
Living, Dying, and In Between: A Hybrid Retreat on the Bardos of Death and Dying
Retreat with Khenpo Kunga
We are delighted to welcome back Khenpo Kunga for this special weekend program on the Bardos of Death and Dying, supported by translator Adam Kane and retreat guide Stephanie Wagner.
The bardo teachings of Tibetan Buddhism are often understood as guidance for the time of death and what follows—but they are equally a profound invitation to discover how to live with greater awareness, compassion, and wisdom in every moment. These teachings reveal that the “in-between” states are not only encountered at the end of life, but are present in each transition we experience, offering powerful opportunities for awakening.
In this two-day retreat, Khenpo Kunga will guide participants through essential instructions on the bardos of death and dying, drawing from the traditional Root Verses on the Six Bardos. Through teachings, contemplation, and meditation practice, we will explore how to prepare for the “big transition” by becoming familiar with the nature of mind here and now.
Day One: Practicing for Yourself
The first day focuses on preparing for your own death as a path of awakening. You will receive practical meditation instructions to help you meet the dying process with clarity, stability, and confidence, transforming what is often a source of fear into an opportunity for recognizing your true nature.
Day Two: Practicing for Others
On the second day, the emphasis shifts to how we can support friends, family members, and loved ones through the process of dying and after death. These compassionate practices offer skillful ways to accompany others, helping to bring benefit and meaning during times of transition and loss.
Whether you are new to these teachings or looking to deepen your understanding, this retreat offers a rare opportunity to engage the bardo instructions in a direct and experiential way—so that, by learning how to die in awareness, we also learn how to live in awareness.
This program is open to everyone
- All are warmly welcome to attend. Whether you have an interest in meditation, are new to Buddhist teachings or a long-time practitioner, this event is an opportunity to explore and deepen your understanding.
WHEN:
Date
: June 20 - 21, 2026
Time
: 9 am - 5 pm
WHERE:
Location
:
Minnesota Humanities Center in St. Paul
Comfortable retreat lodging available:
There are 15 onsite residential rooms (12 single rooms and 3 double rooms). Please contact kelly.mcbride@community.tergar.org to reserve an overnight room.
Volunteers welcome
.
If you feel inspired to support this event, we welcome volunteers for both on-site and online roles. Volunteering is a meaningful way to engage with the teachings and help create a supportive environment for all participants. Please contact MSPSteering@community.tergar.org to contribute to the success of this wonderful event.
COSTS:
I
n Person
(includes catered vegetarian lunch on Saturday and Sunday)*
Base $240
Sponsor: $290
Reduced: $200
Zoom:
Base: $99
Sponsor: $125
Reduced: $75
No one will be turned away due to lack of funds.
Please contact mspsteering@community.tergar.org for more information.
Recordings will be made available within 72 hours after the end of the event.
All registrants will receive the recordings.
The link will be sent closer to the event, in June, through your EventBrite email address.
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A
bout
Khenpo Kunga
Khenpo Kunga is a Senior Tergar Lama. He became a monk at a young age and began his education at Tergar monastery, where he studied the rituals, prayers, and other traditional practices of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. At fifteen, he entered an extended meditation retreat and spent three years mastering the profound contemplative practices of the Kagyü lineage.
Following this period of intense meditation practice, he entered the renowned Dzongsar monastic college near Dharamsala in Northwest India. After studying there for eleven years and receiving his Khenpo degree (roughly equivalent to a PhD), he taught at Dzongsar college for three additional years. Khenpo Kunga’s primary teacher is Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, though he has studied with many other revered masters as well.
In recent years, Khenpo Kunga has taught in Asia, Europe, and the United States as one of the main teachers for the worldwide network of Tergar monasteries, meditation centers, and meditation groups.
Translation
: Adam Kane
After graduating from university, Adam began exploring the Buddha-Dharma in the Theravada lineage in 2001, and took the Anagarika ordination in the Thai Forest tradition of Ajahn Chah in 2003. After two years in a forest monastery, he began practicing Tibetan Buddhism under his teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche. He moved to Nepal in 2008 to study Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy, and stayed there for seven years, gaining an MA in Buddhist Studies from Rangjung Yeshe Institute. Adam is also helping to mentor some of Khyentse Vision Project’s translator trainees.
He has been interpreting, translating, writing and developing curriculum for his root lamas and various other lamas and khenpos since 2013. He is based in Crestone, Colorado, and enjoys walking in the mountains in his spare time.
Guide
: Stepanie Wagner
Stephanie Wagner is a board-certified health and well-being coach (NBC-HWC) with a Master of Arts from the University of Minnesota in Integrative Health and Well-being Coaching. She also holds a Master of Music in flute performance from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.
A meditator for twenty years, Stephanie has studied with some of the world’s most renowned Buddhist teachers including Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Sharon Salzberg, and Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche. She met Mingyur Rinpoche in 2009 and immediately felt a sense of connection to Rinpoche’s message that anything in daily life can be used as an opportunity to wake up to our innate basic goodness.
Stephanie’s roles at Tergar include her work as a facilitator, a course guide for the Meditation Teacher Program, and an
umdze
(chant leader) for the Path of Liberation programs. In addition to her work at Tergar, she is the lead trainer for a nonprofit founded by renowned neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson called Healthy Minds Innovations. She is also on the teaching faculty at the University of Minnesota in the Integrative Health and Well-being Coaching program.
Information Source: Tergar Meditation Community | eventbrite
