Preparing for Death with Confidence and Compassion
November 20 – 28, 2024
9-Day Intermediate-Level Course led by Venerable Amy Miller.
While we generally think of death as an anxiety-producing experience of loss, it can also be a time of great opportunity if we have trained our minds. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has commented that it is possible to die with joy, without fear, and regret.
In this course, Venerable Amy will help us prepare for this important time of transition and teach us how we can train our minds for a more peaceful and happy death. She will also help us understand what happens at the time of death, how we can utilize thought transformation (lojong) and other techniques, how mantras and prayers can be helpful, and how to help others who are passing away.
Teacher
Venerable Amy J. Miller (Ven. Lobsang Chodren) first encountered Tibetan Buddhism in the spring of 1987 during a course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Since then, she has spent a great deal of time engaged in meditation retreats, study, teaching, and Buddhist center management throughout the world. Before meeting the Dharma, Amy was a political fundraiser in Washington, DC, and also worked for Mother Jones Magazine in San Francisco, California. Amy also trained as an emotional support hospice counselor during the peak of the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco and offers courses and retreats on death and dying and end-of-life care.
From 1992-1995, Amy managed Tse Chen Ling Center in San Francisco, California. She then served as Director of Vajrapani Institute, also in California, from 1995-2004. From 1998-2002, she was also the Manager of the Lawudo Retreat Fund (which supports the center where the sacred cave of Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche is located) in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. In 2004, after resigning as Director, Amy completed a seven-month solitary retreat at Vajrapani. For most of 2005 and 2006, she organized international teaching tours for and traveled with the esteemed Tibetan Buddhist master, Ven. Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche until Rinpoche’s death in 2006. Amy then became a touring teacher for the FPMT (the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition). From 2008-2014, Amy was Director of Milarepa Center in Barnet, Vermont. Amy also had the good fortune to visit Tibet in 1987 and again in 2001 as a pilgrimage leader for the Institute of Noetic Science in the United States. She has also led pilgrimages to India, Nepal, and Bhutan. The next pilgrimage Amy is leading may be in the spring of 2025 or 2026 (possibly late April to mid-May) to Lawudo Retreat Center in the Mount Everest region of Nepal. See Amy’s website below for more information.
Amy was ordained as a Buddhist nun in June 2000 and has been teaching extensively since 1992. Her teaching style emphasizes a practical approach to integrating Buddhist philosophy into everyday life. She is happy to help people connect with meditation and mindfulness to gain a refreshing perspective on normally stressful living. Amy’s courses and retreats focus on establishing and maintaining a meditation and mindfulness practice, death and dying, overcoming anxiety and depression, battling addiction, dealing with self-esteem issues, and cultivating compassion and loving-kindness.
Amy is the co-author of Buddhism in a Nutshell – and a contributor to Living in the Path, a series of online courses produced by FPMT.
Amy currently teaches and leads retreats and pilgrimages around the world. Her teaching schedule and other information can be found at www.AmyMiller.com. She is based in the United States in the Philadelphia area.
Course Details
For more information about Intermediate Courses, including a typical schedule and how to register, please see our Intermediate Course Page.