Welcome to Samye

Flexible Dates

Sangha Practice and Volunteering Week

Samye Hermitage

From April 24th to 29th, join us for a Week of Practice and Volunteering: Plan to arrive on Friday evening  or Saturday morning. On Saturday the 25th, Morning and Evening Practice sessions will bookend gardening, painting, upkeep, and other outdoor projects.  Sunday the 26th is Guru Rinpoche Day: Join for Tsok in the morning before Lama Michael's Sunday at Samye class from 11-1:00pm.  Those who cannot stay for the whole week can leave Sunday afternoon/evening. Those who continue volunteering during the week can continue volunteering for our Spring Meditation Retreat the following weekend (May 30th - April 3rd). Please indicate…

April 30 - May 3, 2026

Spring Meditation Retreat

With Peter Woods

This Spring Meditation Retreat offers a clear and well-structured opportunity to return to meditation practice as it is taught within a living lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, under the guidance of Phakchok Rinpoche. The retreat emphasizes steady, foundational practice—beginning with settling the body and mind and cultivating familiarity with awareness. Rather than focusing on intensity or striving, the program supports a grounded and sustainable approach to meditation, drawing directly from Samye Institute’s core teachings and methods.   Lineage & Curricular Grounding The retreat is grounded in Phakchok Rinpoche’s approach to meditation training, which emphasizes: Establishing shamatha (calm abiding) as the indispensable…

June 1 - 7, 2026

Harmonizing with the Unconditional Love and Wisdom of our Buddha Nature

With John Makransky

From a Tibetan Buddhist perspective, our buddha nature (the source of our profound dignity) is the basic space of our being that is undivided from vast capacities of awareness, warmth, love, compassion and wisdom. These innate capacities are always available below our surface consciousness, but often hidden by our habits of thought and reaction.   In this week-long program of study and retreat, we will learn three modes of practice drawn from Tibetan Buddhism that harmonize us with those innate capacities. The receptive mode generates a field of care that helps us find direct access to unconditional qualities of love…

June 10 - July 4, 2026

SISI – Module 1: Path of Dignity (Weeks 1–3)

Explore Buddhism as a Way of Life Six- or three-week immersion at Samye New York, Cooperstown, New York   Samye Institute invites you into a rare educational and spiritual journey, a place where you can step out of habitual life, re-center yourself, and immerse in the Buddhist Arts & Sciences through direct experience.   You will live and learn in a supportive environment that integrates study, meditation, embodiment practices, nature connection, and traditional Himalayan arts, guided by masters, scholars, and experienced practitioners. This is more than a program. It’s a lived experience of the Buddha Dharma that you will take…

June 10 - July 27, 2026

Samye Institute Summer Immersion 2026

Explore Buddhism as a Way of Life Six- or three-week immersion at Samye New York, Cooperstown, New York   Samye Institute invites you into a rare educational and spiritual journey, a place where you can step out of habitual life, re-center yourself, and immerse in the Buddhist Arts & Sciences through direct experience.   You will live and learn in a supportive environment that integrates study, meditation, embodiment practices, nature connection, and traditional Himalayan arts, guided by masters, scholars, and experienced practitioners. This is more than a program. It’s a lived experience of the Buddha Dharma that you will take…

June 14 - 20, 2026

SISI – Week 1: Awakening Dignity & the Four Noble Truths

With Sophie (Shu-chin) Wu, Hilary Herdman and Seth Auster-Rosen

This opening week of the Samye Institute Summer Immersion: The Buddhist Arts & Sciences introduces participants to the inner and outer sciences of the Buddhist tradition through meditation, study, and dialogue.   The week begins with the Inner Science of Awakening Dignity, taught by Shu-chin Wu. From a Buddhist perspective, dignity arises from recognizing that our nature is fundamentally pure and that our hearts are inherently noble. Cultivating this inner dignity invites us to shift our sense of identity beyond the narrow confines of ego toward the broader expanse of our innate goodness.   Through meditation, reflection, and practical exercises,…

June 21 - 27, 2026

SISI – Week 2: Tibetan Medicine & the Science of Wellbeing

With Tawni Tidwell and Tulku Migmar Tsering

This week introduces the principles of Tibetan medicine and its holistic understanding of health.   Participants explore how body, mind, community, and environment interact, learning practical approaches to cultivating balance through lifestyle, diet, and awareness.  

June 28 - July 4, 2026

SISI – Week 3: Sacred Art & Buddhist Artisanry

With Tulku Migmar Tsering, Urgyen Gyalpo and Hilary Herdman

Sacred art plays an essential role in communicating Buddhist insights and shaping contemplative environments.   Students will learn, through workshop and studio time, to draw an iconometrically precise Buddha from a master of Tibetan thangka painting.  

July 5 - 11, 2026

SISI – Week 4: Buddhist Philosophy I – Understanding Reality by Knowing the Mind

With Tulku Migmar Tsering and Seth Auster-Rosen

Critical thinking is how we come to understand the most important Buddhist teachings: impermanence, selflessness, emptiness, enlightenment.   Participants explore the core Buddhist philosophical concepts through both philosophical reflection and contemplative practice. These explorations illuminate the intimate relationship between mind and world.  

July 5 - 27, 2026

SISI – Module 2: Path of Transformation (Weeks 4–6)

Explore Buddhism as a Way of Life Six- or three-week immersion at Samye New York, Cooperstown, New York   Samye Institute invites you into a rare educational and spiritual journey, a place where you can step out of habitual life, re-center yourself, and immerse in the Buddhist Arts & Sciences through direct experience.   You will live and learn in a supportive environment that integrates study, meditation, embodiment practices, nature connection, and traditional Himalayan arts, guided by masters, scholars, and experienced practitioners. This is more than a program. It’s a lived experience of the Buddha Dharma that you will take…

July 12 - 18, 2026

SISI – Week 5: Buddhist Philosophy II – The Nature of Thought, Perception, and Insight

With Tulku Migmar Tsering

The way we perceive and think shapes our understanding of our world; Buddhist epistemology is the study of what we really know and how.   Participants examine the nature of thought, language, and conceptual knowledge in Buddhist philosophy. Through experimentation and contemplative exercises, we investigate the relationship between conceptual understanding and non-conceptual meditation.  

July 21 - 27, 2026

Summer Seminar 2026

With Phakchok Rinpoche

Awakening Dignity · Transformation · Realization   We warmly welcome our local and international sangha to Phakchok Rinpoche’s annual Summer Seminar at Samye Hermitage New York in Cooperstown. This stand-alone week of teaching and practice marks the culminating seminar of the Samye Institute Summer Immersion, while remaining fully open and complete as an independent program for both new and seasoned practitioners.   Over the course of the week, participants are guided through a coherent and integrated path encompassing Awakening Dignity, Transformation, and Realization, offering a full arc of contemplative training grounded in lived experience.   The seminar opens on Tuesday…