INTEGRITY

Living the fullness of who we are

May 31, 2026

Today, Tibetan Buddhists worldwide mark the peak of the month honoring the birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana of Shakyamuni Buddha. Three moments of one life, celebrated as a cohesive whole.

This year, the holiday lands on a blue moon, the second full moon in May. To honor this special occasion, the Prajna Sparks podcast’s Full Moon Sit considers integrity, inspired by the threefold expression of the Buddha’s life.

Not only the moment under the Bodhi tree, as if the rest of the story were merely prelude.

Not only the final passing, as if completion erased the path.

Not only the birth, as if potential alone were enough.

We hold the whole arc.

The child born into privilege.
The young man sheltered from suffering.
The shock of aging, illness, death, and reorientation of mind.
The sincere, austere practice years.
The exhaustion of partial answers.
The seat beneath the Bodhi tree.
The earth-touching gesture.
The awakening.
The decades of teaching.
The final passing.

One life, whole.

Not because every moment was the same.

Not because every stage was equally clear.

But because the path incorporates all the conditions through which awakening comes to expression.

*Prajna Sparks podcast is available through most podcast players*

STREAM ONLINE

Why does this matter for us?

Under the influence of habitual dualistic thinking, we may act in ways that fragment our experience, slicing up our lives into acceptable and unacceptable compartments and revolving through each reactively:

the spiritual part and the embarrassing part,
the wise part and the wounded,
the generous part and the grasping one,
the years we approve of and those we wish could quietly leave aside.

This flinching from internal coherence impedes our receptivity to the very embodied action that supports the wholeness we seek.

Integrity does not require every instant in our history to be wise.

Not even this one.

Rather, integrity springs from the welcoming recognition that nothing need be excluded from the field of awakening.

What a relief.

Regret can soften into humility.
Error can encourage discernment.
Longing ache blossoms into devotion.
Confusion can become curiosity.
And pain, compassion.

“Feel what happens when fragments of experience are neither rejected nor enthroned.”

— from Prajna Sparks podcast, “Integrity”

Even fragmentation,
met in the light of Dharma,
can shape the threshold toward wholeness.

It just takes one small honest step, not grand gestures of perfection. And then another step rises to invite us forward. And again.

“From mistake to mistake, we walk the unmistaken path,” the great contemporary Mahamudra master, Khenchen Tsultrim Gyatso Rinpoche, often said.

Not because mistakes are secretly virtuous in and of themselves.

Simply because every moment, brought into awareness, can serve awakening.

This is integrity.
Not moral perfection.
Nor the fantasy of a life without contradiction.
And not a limited idea of self trying to smooth itself whole by rejecting the pieces it does not yet know how to love.

Come and explore integrity not as moral perfection, but as the growing coherence of a life that gathers every experience into the path, without letting any fragment overrule the whole.

A spacious Dharma talk, active contemplation, and guided meditation for Saga Dawa Duchen, offered under a blue moon.

🎧 Listen to Integrity on your favorite podcast player, or stream online.
📖 Missed Self-Love? Stream here, and invite both episodes into conversation.

SAGA DAWA DUCHEN

PRAISE OF THE TWELVE DEEDS OF THE BUDDHA

Sunday, May 31, 2026
8:00 to 9:00 AM USA Mountain Time
ONLINE: via Zoom
OPEN TO EVERYONE

A practice commonly undertaken on the four holy days of the Tibetan Buddhist calendar, the Praise of the Twelve Deeds of the Buddha is a short text with a poignant tune for chanting in Tibetan. It relays the twelve deeds of a “supreme Nirmanakaya,” that is, a buddha who manifests as a buddha in the ordinary world to teach the Dharma to beings.

An English translation of Arya Nagarjuna’s Praise of the Twelve Deeds is available here.

CHANTING PRACTICE

Sunday, May 31, 2026
2:00 to 4:00 PM USA Mountain Time
In-person at Kagyu Shenphen Kunkhyab in Santa Fe
OPEN TO EVERYONE

All are welcome to join the KSK sangha in Santa Fe for chanting practice and prayers to benefit all sentient beings at the full moon that is the peak of the “month of merits,” or bumgyur dawa, which means “multiplied by a hundred thousand times,” expressing the amplification effect of all our actions in this special month honoring the life of the Buddha Shakyamuni.

KSK website

REFUGE AS LIVING PRACTICE [in Spanish]

El refugio como práctica viva
Domingo 31 de mayo
2:00 to 4:00 PM USA Mountain Time
SPANISH LANGUAGE ONLY
ONLINE | via Zoom

We are delighted to announce a new and vibrant connection with Tennnyi Drolma Ling in Puebla, Mexico, a new dharma center under the aegis of the Jamgon Kongtrul Labrang of Pullahari monastery in Nepal to bring the teachings of the Buddha to Spanish speaking practitioners in their native language.

This Spanish-language teaching explores refuge as a living practice of the heart. Lama Yeshe will discuss how the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha serve as the three outer sources of refuge, each guiding us toward inner refuge, and how we can keep refuge alive in our life until our true nature manifests directly. Talks on the fundamental principles of Tibetan Buddhism continue weekly going forward.

En esta enseñanza, Lama Yeshe explorará por qué el Buda, el Dharma, y la Sangha son las tres fuentes externas de refugio, y cómo cada una cumple una función única para ayudarnos a conectar con nuestro propio refugio interior. El Buda nos muestra la posibilidad del despertar, el Dharma nos ofrece el camino, y la Sangha nos sostiene mientras aprendemos a encarnar las enseñanzas en la vida cotidiana.

Juntos, reflexionaremos sobre cómo mantener el refugio en nuestros corazones, hasta que se convierta en una fuente de estabilidad, valentía, y devoción. A medida que nuestra práctica se profundiza, el refugio secreto amanece dentro de nuestra propia encarnación, revelando la naturaleza despierta que nunca ha estado separada de nosotros.

REGISTRO