10:00 a.m. – 12:0 p.m. ET

Donations welcome!

About the Course

We are always in transition. If you can just relax with that, you’ll have no problem. 

  -Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche

In this session we will explore a traditional Buddhist teaching called “Five Remembrances” – also known as the Upajjhatthana Sutra. The Five Remembrances are a set of Buddhist teachings that are part of the daily practice of many Buddhists around the world. The Five Remembrances are:

1. I am of the nature to grow old
2. I am of the nature go grow ill
3. I am of the nature to die
4. I will be separated from everything and everyone I hold dear
5. My only possessions are my actions

Included:

• Meditation Instruction and talks will be given by Shambhala Buddhist Chaplain, Billy Goldner and Zen Buddhist Chaplain, Alley Smith. Both are long time practitioners of Shambhala and clinically trained spiritual care providers
• Q&A, meditation, and community/group discussion
• Please bring a journal and mala to this session

Topics:

• Impermanence
• Tsewa, or, “Tenderness”
• Dying
• Death

Recommended Reading (not required):

Luminous Emptiness: Understanding the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Francesca Fremantle

Prerequisites

Open to all.

About the Teachers

Alley Smith (she/her) is a College and University Buddhist Chaplain. She holds 10 precepts in Zen Buddhism. Alley is a US military war veteran. During her career, she served with the military funeral honors teams in the US Marine Corps and Navy Reserve. Alley works in the funeral industry in Vermont and as a First Responder/Firefighter. Alley is deeply influenced by Korean and Japanese Pure Land Buddhism and Vajrayana. She has been a student of Shambhala and Zen since 1999. [email protected]

Billy Goldner is an ordained Buddhist Minister (Upadhyaya) in the Shambhala Lineage. Billy studied Buddhist chaplaincy in a multi-year program with Roshi Joan Halifax and the Upaya Zen Center and has been clinically trained in hospitals in Oregon, Seattle, and, in 2025, New York City. Billy co-facilitates a monthly grief support group called “Making Friends with Death & Dying” along with Chaplain Alley Smith through Shambhala online. Billy is also currently navigating the profound waters of caregiving for his elderly parents during a time of major health and life transition for them. Billy has been a student of Shambhala since 2014, he has been offering meditation instruction since 2017, and he has been a member of a Teacher Circle based out of the Boulder Shambhala center since 2019. [email protected]