How purification works
06 New Year's Vajrasattva Retreat 2026
Venerable Sangye Khadro 
Vajrasattva New Year's Retreat 2026 
Jan 3, 2026 A talk given during the 2025-2026 New Year's Vajrasattva Retreat at Sravasti Abbey
- Review of the four opponent powers
- The power of remedy
- Reciting the names of buddhas
- Reciting mantras
- Reciting sutras and scriptures
- Making images of enlightened beings
- Meditating on emptiness
- Making offerings to buddhas or stupas
- Four results of karma
- The fully-ripened result
- Results similar to the cause
- The environmental result
- How does purification work?
- Questions and answers
Venerable Sangye Khadro
California-born, Venerable Sangye Khadro ordained as a Buddhist nun at Kopan Monastery in 1974 and is a longtime friend and colleague of Abbey founder Venerable Thubten Chodron. She took bhikshuni (full) ordination in 1988. While studying at Nalanda Monastery in France in the 1980s, she helped to start the Dorje Pamo Nunnery, along with Venerable Chodron. Venerable Sangye Khadro has studied with many Buddhist masters including Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, and Khensur Jampa Tegchok. At her teachers’ request, she began teaching in 1980 and has since taught in countries around the world, occasionally taking time off for personal retreats. She served as resident teacher in Buddha House, Australia, Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore, and the FPMT centre in Denmark. From 2008-2015, she followed the Masters Program at the Lama Tsong Khapa Institute in Italy. Venerable has authored a number books found here, including the best-selling How to Meditate. She has taught at Sravasti Abbey since 2017 and is now a full-time resident.
