Less Desire, Less Pain – The Art of Satisfaction

October 4 – 5, 2025 

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

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

We are living in a realm of desire. From the moment we wake up in the morning until the moment we fall asleep at night, and even throughout our dreams, we are driven by desire. And behind all of our desires lies one basic wish: the wish to be happy. Yet, although we have this basic wish for happiness, we repeatedly experience so much dissatisfaction and pain in our lives. Why is that?

To answer this question, we need to look more deeply into how ordinary desire works in the mind. According to the Buddha’s teaching, it is our own attachment-desire together with its root, self-grasping ignorance, which are responsible for our recurring experiences of dissatisfaction and pain. Luckily, the Buddha taught a way on how to get out of this situation: by gaining correct knowledge-wisdom of our own inner reality and opening our heart to others through developing loving-kindness and compassion, we can indeed make an incredible change for the better in our lives. How to approach this in our tradition is what we are going to explore in this short-course.

Teacher

Born in Austria, Venerable Thubten Wangdu initially worked as a musician, composer and filmmaker. He came into contact with Tibetan Buddhism in 2012 during his travels through India and participated in his first one-month November course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal in 2015.

He went on to facilitate meditations for two years at Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamshala before enrolling in a five-year Buddhist philosophy program (FPMT’s Basic Program) at Instituto Lama Tsongkhapa in Italy, which he completed in 2022 at Nalanda Monastery in France.

In December 2022, Venerable Wangdu was ordained by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery. After that he served as the resident teacher at Tushita Meditation Centre for two and a half years. He is currently enrolled in the Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program, an intensive two-year Tibetan language course in Dharamshala.

Schedule

This course will be in silence.

Due to the short notice change in schedule for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings at the Main Temple, the schedule for this short course also requires change. On October 4, in the morning at ~8.00am, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will give a short teaching and a session of questions and answers at the Main Tibetan Temple. We encourage everybody to attend these teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, so please take advantages of this very special and rare opportunity! 

Afterwards, the short course at Tushita will start at 2.00pm.

Approximate schedule for Saturday, 4 October 2025:

2.00pm – 4.00pmTeaching & Meditation
4.00pm – 4.30pmTea Break
4.30pm – 6.00pmTeaching & Meditation
6.00pm – 7.30pm Dinner
7.30pm – 8.15pmMeditation (Optional)

Approximate schedule for Sunday, 5 October 2025:

09.00am – 09.45amMeditation
10:00am – 12:00noonTeaching
12.00 – 2.00pmLunch Break
2.00pm – 4.00pmTeaching
4.00pm – 4.20pmTea Break
16:20 – 17:00Meditation

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.