A Conversation with Bonni Ross, moderated by Lara Cusdin.

Join us for this rare opportunity to ask any dharma, worldly, burning questions you’ve always wanted to ask a well-respected, highly qualified female, Western dharma teacher.

We welcome Bonni to NBC, encouraged by Amnyi Trulchung Rinpoche, to share from decades of experience as a committed practitioner of Buddhadarma, mother, mentor, teacher and friend.

Enquiries Lara: laracusdin@icloud.com

The event will also be streamed on Zoom:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88655442909?pwd=N3AzODBaU0ZUT0xxSmxPZng2NXRCdz09

Meeting ID: 886 5544 2909 Passcode: dharma

Canadian by birth, Kiwi by choice, Bonni encountered the Zen teacher Alan Watts and Fritz Perls, founder of Gestalt Therapy, when she was a struggling 17-year old.

Her root Guru, Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche, catalysed profound certainty in the path of awakening in her late 20’s and later, as a young mother in her early-30’s, she served His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, who instructed her to begin teaching and to be “guided by Namgyal Rinpoche in all things.” She has served as resident teacher at The Dharma Centre of Canada, and for a time taught regularly in Bali, Australia, the US and Ireland. She was first invited to teach in Aotearoa in the mid-90’s.

Bonni and her partner, Matthew Eades, began to experiment with non-hierarchical, pan-sectarian forms of engagement with Buddhadharma after they moved to Vancouver in 1994. Invited to Roberts Creek, on the wild west coast of BC, they founded Sunshine Coast Retreat House, which was consecrated by Namgyal Rinpoche in 2002. Bonni continued to teach in New Zealand regularly and in 2012 she and Matthew committed to spending six months a year in Nelson for a five year period. They have now lived permanently in Nelson since 2017 and have a lively engagement with the Wangapeka Study and Retreat Centre and a community of like-minded folk called dharmashpere. They recently spent three months in strict retreat on Rigdzin Tsapo Nynthik practices in Vast Expanse Hermitage at Wangapeka.