Namgyalma Retreat
With Venerable Steve Carlier
October 17 - 23, 2025
Online only via Zoom
October 17 – 23
“This mantra is so powerful. Reciting it can even cure illnesses that doctors who are experts in conventional medicine say are incurable, particularly if it is recited 1,000 times or more. After each set of recitations, you can bless the cream by blowing on it, and then the cream comes to have powerful healing properties. Besides that, it is incredible purification and you create a huge amount of merit.” -Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Rinpoche sent us this message after our 2017 Namgyalma retreat, during which as a group we were able to recite 10,267 mantras.
Rinpoche had asked us to hold a 1,000 long mantra retreat each year, open to all, because, as he explained, the Namgyalma practice dispels life obstacles, purifies, and protects against birth in the lower realms. He said it is especially beneficial for the sick, including those with cancer.
Even if you can’t recite this mantra 1,000 times: don’t worry! We will all get the benefits of reciting the total number recited by our group. That’s how karma works.
About the Retreat:
We will be completing 1,000 of the long Namgyalma mantra in six days. We will conclude the retreat with a Namgyalma long-life ritual offering to all our gurus.
If you have refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha and have faith in Tantra, you can attend this retreat, even without the empowerment. You can choose to attend the full retreat or just the evening sessions from 6 – 8pm PST.
This retreat will be online only via Zoom. The sessions will not be recorded as per Venerable Steve’s request.
If you live in another time zone where you can’t attend all the sessions live, you can still do the full retreat at home. You will just need to do make-up sessions on your own to complete 4 sessions a day.
Retreat Schedule:
Friday October 17
6pm to 7:00pm – Opening session (open to evening-only participants)
Saturday, October 18 – Wednesday, October 22
6am to 8am – Session 1
8am to 9:30am – Break for breakfast
9:30am to 11:30am – Session 2
11:30am to 2pm – Break for lunch
2pm to 4pm (occasionally to 4:30pm) – Session 3 with Q & A
4:30pm to 6pm – Break for dinner
6pm to 8pm – Session 4: (open to evening-only participants)
Thursday, October 23
6am to 8am – Closing session
Leader
Ven Steve was born in the UK and has been learning about Buddhism since 1977. He first met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1978. He was ordained as a Buddhist monk by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1979, and received full ordination from Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche the following year.…
Learn more about Venerable Steve Carlier