Join a highly respected Tibetan thangka painter from Tibet for a unique exploration of the sacred art, symbolism, and contemplative power of Tibetan thangkas. Through demonstrations and teachings, participants will discover how these remarkable works are created, including the precise mathematics, geometry, and iconography that have been refined over centuries to support meditation and transformation.
More than devotional paintings, thangkas are visual maps of awakening—designed to train attention, cultivate beneficial qualities, and serve as powerful aids for contemplative practice across cultures and traditions.
Throughout the retreat, we will explore Kriya Tantra meditation practices associated with Chenrezig (Compassion) and Maitreya (Loving Kindness). Guided visualization, recitation, and meditation will be supported by high-quality traditional thangkas from Kathmandu, offering a rare opportunity to engage directly with these sacred images as living meditation tools.
Suitable for meditators, artists, spiritual seekers, and anyone interested in the intersection of Buddhist practice, sacred art, and contemplative psychology.
Derek Rasmussen graduated from the three year Buddhist minister's training program at the Kinmount Academy and Seminary, whose faculty included David Bohm, David Peat, Tarchin Hearn, Sonam Senge, Karma Chime Wongmo, Cecilie Kwiat, Sayadaw U Thila Wanta and Namgyal Rinpoche.
Derek's PhD focuses on how the Buddha taught the "four immeasurables"-- loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity-- meditations which “give us a foretaste of the final goal...the way a fully awakened person relates to others”, according to Ven. Bhikkhu Anālayo.
Unfortunately, how the Buddha taught these meditations is almost never taught today. This retreat will focus on this method, and how it supports insights into anatta (non-self) and sunyata (emptiness) and can be a helpful support to those working for social and ecological justice.
Derek loves to weave humour and storytelling into meditation teaching; and he has served as a retreat facilitator at the Queenstown Dharma House (NZ), Dharma Gate Buddhist College (Budapest), Monday Night Meditation Group (Vancouver), Tampere University (Finland), Morin Heights Dharma House (Quebec), and Ecojustice retreats (Michigan). Derek is a co-founder of Buddhists Against Genocide.
Derek has a history as a civil disobedience trainer and organizer, co-founding the first Canada-wide East Timor group, the Alliance for NonViolent Action (ANVA), and organizing a Toronto-NYC peace walk.He lived in Iqaluit, Nunavut, for twelve years, working for Inuit organizations, with whom he attended the COP 11 UN Climate Change Conference (2005). As a legal researcher, he supports lawsuits against Canada's violation of Inuit and Palestinian rights.
Derek authored/co-authored chapters in 7 books, as well as numerous magazines and journals. He's been an invited speaker at Eastern Michigan University, Concordia University, McGill University, Trent University, University of British Columbia, Carleton University, University of Ottawa, the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Tampere University (Finland), Nunavut Arctic College, University of Texas, Harvard University, and Yale University.
His writings are archived at: https://sfu.academia.edu/DerekRasmussen
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/Buddhactivist2
Tseten Tashi Badheytsang bio (Thangka Painter and Co-teacher Sept 11-14):
Tseten Tashi Badheytsang is an accomplished thangka ཐང་ཀ་ master, artist and rug designer. Born in Lhoka Danang, Tibet, in 1956, Tashi and his family fled the country following the military occupation by China in 1959. Growing up as a refugee in India, he was noted for his artistic skills at a young age. He studied thangka painting under the tutelage of Amdo Jamyang at the age of 16. Over many years of training and apprenticeship, Tashi eventually emerged as a master in his own right, skilled in all aspects of the intricately layered, ritualized and complex art of thangka painting. He opened a thangka studio of his own in the ‘80s when he settled in Kathmandu, Nepal, where he tutored young artists, many of whom went on to establish their own practices. One of his students was his younger brother, Wangchuk Dorje, who became renowned for producing one of the more meticulous and beautifully composed thangkas in the valley. Wangchuk passed away from a sudden heart attack in 2025.
While tutoring his students, Tashi also started designing and producing rug carpets as a means to supplement his income. He then started his own rug company. Over the years, while he still continued teaching and practising thangka painting, the rug business became his main focus. He immigrated to Toronto, Canada, in 2006, joining his wife and children who’d moved there earlier. As he enters his retirement years, Tashi is reengaging with the arts, through painting, carpentry and photography. He is currently overseeing the work of designing the throne of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre in Toronto. With the sudden passing of his younger brother, Tashi has reengaged with thangka painting, with the hopes of honouring his late brother's work and helping preserve and revitalize the traditional art of thangka painting in Canada.
Important Details
When: September 11-14, 2026
Please plan to arrive between 3-5pm on the first day. The retreat will begin with a property orientation at 5:30pm followed by a light supper and the first evening class and will finish after breakfast on the last day.
Rates: non-members: $414 members: $375
(To find out how to become a member please visit our membership page)
Rates include: Single accommodation and all meals. They do not include instructor fees. Teachers at the Dharma Centre are sharing their experience within the traditional Buddhist understanding of Dana. To understand more about Dana, please read the following:
What is Dana? Teachers give the teachings of awakening (Dharma) freely so that anyone, no matter their financial means can attend classes. Each time one receives teachings, it is an opportunity to consciously practice generosity. Giving money and other means of support expresses gratitude and support to the teacher and helps to ensure that these teachings continue. Each person receiving Dharma teachings determines the kind and amount of Dāna according to one’s heart and one’s financial means. When deciding how much to offer, one should think about what these teachings mean to you and try to give accordingly. It is recommended that students make an offering of dāna at the beginning of a class or retreat to establish the intention to make the most of this opportunity for one’s own progression and for the benefit of all others.
Deposit: A 50% deposit is required to hold your space upon registration.
Cancellation Policy
All cancellations are subject to a $100 fee, which will support other low-income practitioners through our Practitioner Support Fund.
If cancellation occurs within 14 days of the retreat start date, 50% of the deposit (equivalent to 25% of the total retreat cost) will be forfeited. These funds will be directed to the Uplifted Property Fund to support the Renewal Project.