10/08/2026
My dear friend and student of twenty-six years, Lama Chokyi, passed away this morning.
We first met high in the mountains of Colorado, when he was a local sheriff with a budding interest in Buddhism. One day, he wandered into one of the classes I was teaching, beginning a friendship and Dharma connection that would continue for more than two decades.
As he entered the autumn of his years, his devotion to Dharma deepened. He attended countless Sangha gatherings and meditation retreats, eventually completing the traditional three-year, three-month retreat at the age of seventy-eight.
Even then, he continued attending classes until this week. From his hospice bed, he appeared each week on our screens - joyful as ever, supported primarily by our loving Sangha members in San Diego and beyond. In his final days, he listened to the Bardo Thödol, along with teachings and meditations from the Dra Thal Gyur—the Reverberating Sound Ta**ra. He passed away peacefully, with the blissful and radiant expression of realization.
Before his passing, Lama-la asked for a final instruction, which he followed perfectly: with the final exhalation of his life, he breathed out loving-kindness and compassion for all beings in every direction and every realm, and then rested in the natural state, in direct recognition of the nature of mind.
The warmth of his heart continues.
ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ།
Om Mani Padme Hung
ཨོཾ་ཨ་མི་དེ་ཝ་ཧྲཱིཿ
Om Ami Dewa Hri
Until we meet again.
With Love and Blessings Always
Lama Michael
🙏💎🌹