Less Desire, Less Pain – The Art of Satisfaction

May 31 – June 1, 2025 

2-day non-residential course led by Venerable Thubten Wangdu

Open to all levels of practitioners: beginners and experienced alike.

No desire means no emotional pain of attachment, anger and jealousy. There is peace, openness and space for genuine love and compassion to arise. – Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Buddhism aims to provide methods for us to become more genuinely happy human beings—to cultivate a sense of contentment that is lasting. This derives from understanding our own minds and clearly seeing how things are. From the buddhist perspective, our repeated experiences of dissatisfaction and frustration do not have external conditions as their root cause, but all mental problems come from the dissatisfied mind.

In this course we will take a look at the Buddha’s teaching on how our own attachment-desire keeps us imprisoned in a state of dissatisfaction and how we have the potential to completely break free from that. We will also learn methods on how to tap into our potential for lasting peace and fulfilment through the power of study, reflection and meditation.

Teacher

Venerable Thubten Wangdu is an Austrian monk who has been involved in the study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism since 2012.

He finished the 5-year residential FPMT Basic Program of Buddhist Philosophy at Nalanda Monastery in France in 2022 and completed his studies with a three month lamrim retreat.

Before this, for two years Ven. Wangdu was a resident at Tushita Dharamshala and led the meditations in the various ten-day courses. He also led meditations at Kopan Monastery in Nepal for the one-month November Courses in 2019 and 2022.

Ven. Wangdu is involved in giving regular Dharma talks and meditations for the Austrian FPMT Centre in Vienna. He was ordained as a monk in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition in 2022 at Kopan Monastery by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Venerable Thubten Wangdu is our residential teacher since February 2023.

Schedule

This course will be in silence.

Approximate daily schedule for both days:

09:00 – 09:45 Meditation
10:00 – 12:00 Teaching
12:00 – 14:00 Lunch Break
14:00 – 16:00 Teaching
16:00 – 16:20 Tea Break
16:20 – 17:00 Meditation

Please note: This schedule might change on short notice!

Registration in Tushita’s Office Required!

Practical Information

Tushita’s Donation Policy

Tushita Meditation Centre operates entirely on the basis of donations, most of which come from people attending our courses and retreats. We will ask you to please give your full donation for the course in our reception office in the days before the course starts, payable in Indian Rupees only (unfortunately we cannot accept Foreign Currency, Travellers Cheques or Credit / Debit Cards).

For example, the minimum amount that Tushita needs to cover our costs for a 2- / 3-day course is 1500 / 2000 Indian Rupees per person. This includes lunch and afternoon tea on this day. It does not include any other meals or accommodation, since it will be a non-residential course. Of course, extra donations to help Tushita are always welcome!

Course Registration

For our non-residential courses, registration is only possible in our reception office by making your full donation of 1500 INR for this 2-day course.

Office hours are: Monday – Saturday (closed Sundays)

  • 9:00 – 11:30am
    – lunch break –
  • 12:30 – 4:00pm

Closed Sundays

Accommodation Options

Since this is a Non-Residential course, it will not be possible to stay here at Tushita. There are many guest houses and hotels nearby however, varied enough to meet all comfort levels and budgets. Here are some tips for finding accommodation in McLeod Ganj.

What to Bring

  • Warm clothing which can be worn in layers and a shawl/blanket for using in the meditation hall are advisable. Bear in mind that we are at a slightly higher altitude than in McLeod Ganj, it is noticeably colder here.
  • You are welcome to take notes during the course, so you may find a notebook, pen etc useful.
  • It is handy to have your own water bottle. Filtered water is available in our dining hall and out of concern for the environment, we strongly discourage students from buying water in plastic bottles.
  • An umbrella or rainwear, depending on the weather that day.
  • Please read our Library page: we sell books and other items, so you may want to bring some extra money with you; or check conditions for borrowing.
  • Please DO NOT bring: any musical instruments, camera, radios / tape / CD / MP3 players or mobile phones as you will be asked not to use them while you are here.

Read more on our Short Courses page.