Yangchenma Arts & Culture

02/04/2026

Meet Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya, 35th generation Ta***ic Buddhist priest from Nepal and ritual master of the Charya Nritya dance tradition and other ritual forms. Prajwal began his training in Charya Nritya, the dance aspect of Newar Buddhism, from the age of eight, receiving formal instruction from his father, the Buddhist scholar and ritual master Ratna Kaji Vajracharya. Prajwal Vajracharya is now the foremost teacher, practitioner, and performer of the tradition. He is a veteran of several world tours. He teaches beginning and advanced students around the globe. He founded Dance Mandal in 1996, and the Foundation for Sacred Buddhist Arts of Nepal to preserve and expand this rare ancient form of Buddhism and its related traditions.

Prajwal has just arrived in Los Angeles and will be teaching the workshop “Embodied Heart Sutra” this weekend February 7 & 8 at Pure Land Farms in Topanga. He will also be guiding the Saturday morning movement and meditation program open to the public 10-11am.

Learn more and sign up:
https://purelandfarms.com/events/embodied-heart-sutra

Excerpt from “Inside the Mandala” short film, viewable on link above.

Kathmandu Valley Photography by Thomas Kelly

01/19/2026

Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya is a 35th generation Ta***ic Buddhist priest from Nepal and ritual master of the Charya Nritya dance tradition and other ritual forms. Prajwal began his training in Charya Nritya, the dance aspect of Newar Buddhism, from the age of eight, receiving formal instruction from his father, the Buddhist scholar and ritual master Ratna Kaji Vajracharya.

Prajwal Vajracharya is now the foremost teacher, practitioner, and performer of the tradition and a veteran of several world tours. He founded Dance Mandal in 1996, and the Foundation for Sacred Buddhist Arts of Nepal to preserve and expand this rare ancient form of Buddhism and its related traditions. He teaches beginning and advanced students around the globe.

Join Prajwal at Pure Land Farms in Topanga, California for a very special weekend of Buddhist dance and teachings exploring the classic Heart Sutra text through movement, mudra, and meditation:

Embodied Heart Sutra:
February 7 - 8

Pure Land Farms
Topanga, Califfornia

Learn more and register:
https://purelandfarms.com/events/embodied-heart-sutra

01/19/2026

Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya is a 35th generation Ta***ic Buddhist priest from Nepal and ritual master of the Charya Nritya dance tradition and other ritual forms. Prajwal began his training in Charya Nritya, the dance aspect of Newar Buddhism, from the age of eight, receiving formal instruction from his father, the Buddhist scholar and ritual master Ratna Kaji Vajracharya. Prajwal Vajracharya is now the foremost teacher, practitioner, and performer of the tradition and a veteran of several world tours. He founded Dance Mandal in 1996, and the Foundation for Sacred Buddhist Arts of Nepal to preserve and expand this rare ancient form of Buddhism and its related traditions. He teaches beginning and advanced students around the globe.

Join him at Pure Land Farms in Topanga, California for a weekend of Buddhist dance and teachings exploring the classic Heart Sutra text through movement, mudra, and meditation:

Embodied Heart Sutra:
February 7 - 8

Pure Land Farms
Topanga, Califfornia

Learn more and register:
https://purelandfarms.com/events/embodied-heart-sutra

01/16/2026

Medicine Buddha Sand Mandala Special Events
With the monks of Gaden Shartse Phukhang

January 24 - February 1
Pure Land Farms Topanga, California

We live in a time of profound global discord. Yet, within the ancient wisdom traditions of Tibetan Buddhism lie timeless pathways to restore peace and harmony both within ourselves and among communities and society. Sacred Harmony World Peace International Tour and the monks of Gaden Shartse Monastery Phukhang seek to cultivate intercultural understanding, peace, and healing through the transformative power of sacred sound, art, and Tibetan Buddhist teachings and empowerments.

Pure Land Farms and Yangchenma are honored to host the monks of Gaden Shartse to build a Medicine Buddha sand mandala in our Yuthok Ling temple. This mandala represents the architectural layout of the entire celestial palace of the Medicine Buddha, who embodies the perfection of the physical and mental health of all beings. Upon completion, the monks will dissolve the mandala representing the Buddha’s teaching of impermanence and offering the accumulated healing energy of the sand in the environment for the benefit of all.

View our website for public viewing hours and schedule of events including empowerment, rituals, art workshops and Tibetan medicine healing consultations!

https://purelandfarms.com/events/2026-sand-mandala



.arts.culture

01/15/2026

Buddhist Ritual Arts Workshops

With Lobsang Tsering Phartsang
Saturdays January 24th & 31st, 2026, 2 - 4pm

As part of the special Medicine Buddha Sand mandala programming at Pure Land Farms, Lobsang Tsering Phartsang will be offering a series of workshops on unique Buddhist ritual and contemplative arts.

January 24th: Tibetan Mantra Painting
ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྂ

This workshop invites participants to mindfully write and inscribe sacred Tibetan Mantra onto stone. The session begins with an introduction to the Tibetan alphabet and guidance on writing your personal names in Tibetan. Participants then learn the traditional practice of creating mantra stones, often placed in Mani piles or walls as a spiritual offering. These stones are believed to help remove obstacles and negative karmas while cultivating compassion and kindness. The workshop focuses on the Compassion Buddha mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum, connecting each inscription to a living tradition of devotion and spiritual transformation.

January 31st: Tibetan Mandala Drawing

In this workshop you will learn and draw a basic traditional Tibetan mandala graphic design, gaining insight into its structure, symbolism, and meditative purpose. The experience opens with a guided meditation to cultivate intention and explore how the traditional two-dimensional sand mandala structure is transformed into a three-dimensional mandala. Lobsang will explain the spiritual significance and process of creating sand mandalas and share personal stories from his experience creating more than fifty mandalas in countries including Russia and Ukraine during his time as a monk.

🪷

Learn more about the Medicine Buddha sand mandala events with the monks of Gaden Shartse Phukhang at Pure Land Farms in Topanga, California January 24 - February 1:

https://purelandfarms.com/events/2026-sand-mandala



.arts.culture

12/05/2025

Today at the magical Larione 10 Studios in Florence, Italy to record beautiful mantra music with our beloved and a beautiful band of talented misfits with wizard engineer Andrea Pellegrini for a new Yangchenma project

11/27/2025

Repost

Amazing day recording with tabla master Samir Chatterjee, Ramanan Venkatraman .music, Jay Gandhi and more incredible Indian musicians at The Bridge Studio in Brooklyn, NY ✨🎼 A collaboration between Yangchenma, Stevens Institute of Technology and Chhandayan .arts.culture

07/15/2025

We are so happy and grateful to share that Yangchenma Arts & Culture Artistic Director and co-founder Simone Giuliani is now a member of the 🎼

We’re looking forward to share our artists’ music with the Recording Academy and contribute creatively. Well done Simone!

04/24/2025

Core of Culture Presents:

Guru Rinpoche and His Buddhafield of Ta***ic Dances:
Re-establishing Dance in the Narrative of Padmasambhava

A Four-Part Course with Karen Greenspan, author, researcher, and dance writer, and Joseph Houseal, director of Core of Culture

Starts this Sunday!

April 27, May 4, May 11, May 18 2025
2:30pm PST | 4:30pm CST | 5:30pm EST

90 minutes/ session. Live Online

Registration and Information at: https://learn.yangchenma.org/courses/guru-rinpoche-dances

Featuring original research, writing, photographs and video documentation of extant dance traditions associated with Padmasambhava /Guru Rinpoche, his Ta***ic identity, and the many dynamics he set into motion.

ABOUT THE COURSE:

Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche, is revered as The Second Buddha, and the bringer of Ta***ic Buddhism to Tibet, where it flourished. Padmasambhava was an esoteric master and expert dancer, moving through dancing cultures and several extant dance traditions in Swat, Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet.

Dance specialists Karen Greenspan and Joseph Houseal have dedicated decades of their lives to researching these dances. In this workshop course, Greenspan and Houseal connect the dances to the legends, the geography, the mysticism, and religious teachings associated with the larger than life character of Padmasambhava, and re-establish dance in the narrative of Guru Rinpoche.

WEEK ONE | APRIL 27: Who is Guru Rinpoche?

WEEK TWO | MAY 4: The earthly travels of Padmasambhava

WEEK THREE | MAY 11: Treasures, Treasure Revealers, Treasure Dances

WEEK FOUR | MAY 18: Contemporary Buddhist Dance Practices and Guru Rinpoche

All sessions are recorded and available for one year

https://learn.yangchenma.org/courses/guru-rinpoche-dances

https://vimeo.com/yangchenma/guru-rinpoche-dance-core-of-culture?share=copy

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