Meditation Retreats

Help Fund Lama Gerry’s Three-Year Retreat

Hi, I’m Llama Gerry. I am a Buddhist Lama preparing to enter a second three-year meditation retreat at Gomde Pyrenees, near La Bastide, France. Three-year retreat is a wonderful way of training in Buddhist methods of meditation and contemplation in order to allow the mind to become more calm, kind, and clear. This is important, especially in today’s tumultuous world, because it prepares one to more effectively be of service to others in the world, demonstrating a path that frees us from suffering and liberates us from our past traumas and destructive habitual patterns.

In my second three-year retreat, I will also have the opportunity to aid those participants who are entering into long retreat for their first time. I have spent many years counseling others in both university and religious settings, and I look forward to being a resource to participants in this retreat, whether they are seeking practical advice for their Buddhist training or are looking for someone to talk to about emotions and feelings that come up as part of the meditation process.

Over the years, I have discovered that the most meaningful activities to me, personally, are training my mind in meditation retreat and helping others to find more peace and freedom in their own lives. This retreat will give me the perfect opportunity to do both!

I believe meditation retreat is a way of setting aside time to train in methods of liberation with the motivation of positively transforming the lives of others. It is very much a tradition of bringing the world into retreat with us. So, in this spirit of carrying the world in my heart and bringing it with me into retreat, I invite and encourage you to become an integral part of my retreat by donating to this Three-Year Retreat Fund. In doing so, we embark on this path to liberation together! As it is said in many scriptures,

Practitioners in their hermitages

And their sponsors in town

Attain liberation together,

For they are linked by karma.

Come, let’s do this together, hand in hand!

A Brief Bio of Llama Gerry Prindiville

Lama Gerry is a Buddhist Lama in the Chokling Tersar tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He first moved to Nepal in 1998 when he was 22, after graduating with a BFA from UC Santa Cruz. In Kathmandu, he met Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, who encouraged him to join the Rangjung Yeshe Institute (RYI), where Gerry studied Buddhist philosophy and Himalayan languages ​​for five years, often engaging in short meditation retreats at the Nagi Gompa nunnery and retreat center during the summer.

In 2004, with Rinpoche’s blessing, he entered into his first three-year, three-month retreat in Pharping, Nepal, following the traditional meditation practices taught in the Chokling Tersar Lineage. Upon completing this solitary retreat in 2007, Rinpoche started calling Gerry, “Lama la,” and asked him to repay RYI’s kindness by working at RYI as the Student Services Coordinator, where he counseled students, planned orientations and student events, and occasionally taught meditation .

In 2011, Gerry moved back to California, where Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche directed him to teach and lead meditation retreats as Gomde California’s Resident Lama. Since then, Lama Gerry has taught on numerous topics and led many weekend and week-long meditation retreats in California and Mexico. He has also trained in many personal retreats, as time allowed.

Now, once again, Rinpoche has encouraged Lama Gerry to enter into three-year, three-month retreat, this time with an international group of practitioners, guided by Rinpoche and Lama Tenzin Sangpo at Gomde Pyrenees in France.

How Will the Money Be Used?

Gomde Pyrenees is charging participants 600€ per month for food and lodging, travel expenses for the teachers who will be guiding us, food and lodging for our helpers, and other incidental expenses. This means the whole 41-month program will cost €24,600 (US$25,900). On top of that, I am budgeting 4000€ (US$4210) for personal expenses (including offerings to our teachers, health insurance, and toiletries) and 1000€ for the approximately 3% that GoFundMe charges for each donation. This totals €29,600 (US$31,140). Thus, I hope to raise US$31,140 with the intention that any funds left over at the conclusion of the retreat will be offered in gratitude to our teachers. Thank you in advance for your generous support!

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