After 50 years of Buddhist  practice, Lama Bruce continues to deepen his dharma journey.
Photos courtesy of Lama Bruce Newman

After 50 years of dharma practice and 30 years of teaching, Lama Bruce Newman has no plans to retire.

Instead, he continues to develop meditation as an essential element of what he sometimes calls his “love affair with the dharma,” and of his ongoing efforts to share what he knows and sees with others.

Lama Bruce Newman ended a recent visit by saying, “I’ve got to get back to work.” For him, “getting back to work” means returning to his meditation cushion, usually for four hours each day.

In January Lama Bruce will be offering an online class based on Pema Chodron’s book “How You Live is How You Die.” Lama Bruce’s online classes are popular with a devoted group of American and Canadian participants, many of whom have been his dharma students for years.

“I tend to choose books by contemporary Tibetan teachers who are fluent in English and accustomed to Western culture,” he said. “I feel these are most useful for my students.”

This spring Lama Bruce will return to Ensenada, Mexico, where he teaches at Gyatrul Rinpoche’s center there. In April he will teach at Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s Rangjung Yeshe Gomde retreat center, in Leggett, California.

Lama Bruce was authorized to teach as a lama in 1995 by Gyatrul Rinpoche, the Nyingma master who founded Tashi Choling Center for Buddhist Studies in a mountain valley south of Ashland, Oregon. Lama Bruce loves teaching.

“Teaching the dharma has been the greatest joy of my life. Although I’ve done many years of practice, the experiences that arise through meditation do not for me equal the joy at seeing others change, and knowing that in some small way I’ve been a catalyst for that change,” he said. “It’s incredibly satisfying and incredibly rewarding. I must have taught thousands of people to follow their breath since 1995! The greatest joy in teaching is, of course, knowing that you are benefiting others.”

Lama Bruce developed Marig Munsel, a four-year training program focused on Buddhist theory, meditation and ceremony. He has taught the program 10 times, at all four of Gyatrul Rinpoche’s centers. In addition, he has taught at Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s centers in Austria, England, Scotland, and northern California.

Lama Bruce is the author of “A Beginner’s Guide to Tibetan Buddhism,” first published by Snow Lion in 2004. A revised version was published by Shambhala in 2022.

“’A Beginner’s Guide to Tibetan Buddhism’ speaks powerfully and directly to the Western student who is working to integrate this incredibly vast tradition into the realities of daily life,” said Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. “Drawing on his many years of practice and teaching, the author skillfully addresses obstacles, doubts, and confusions that every reader will recognize.”

Lama Bruce’s dharma journey began when he was in his early twenties, when a strong wish to meet evolved spiritual teachers led him to travel to India and Nepal. When he met Tibetan lamas for the first time, “I was impressed with their intellectual rigorousness and integrity,” he said. “And of course, their obvious joy and warmth impressed me.”

A 20-day vipassana retreat in a town near Dharamsala, India, proved to be a profound, life-changing experience. “I became completely hooked on meditation,” Lama Bruce said.

In Darjeeling, he received teachings from the renowned meditation master Kalu Rinpoche. Determined to put these teachings into practice, he found lodging near the great Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal, and spent a year diligently practicing the ngondro. These foundational practices of the Tibetan Buddhist path include completing 100,000 repetitions of four different practices.

For this practice period Newman relied on the classic text “The Torch of Certainty,” by Jamgon Kongtrul. As he practiced, Bruce recognized how helpful it would be to speak with a living teacher. One day he went to see Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a highly esteemed master who lived nearby. (In those days, it was surprisingly easy to meet with great masters.)

Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche spoke no English, but provided instruction with the help of a translator.  His son Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, who was seated nearby, also spoke very little English. Nevertheless, a meaningful connection developed. As time passed, Newman came to realize that Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche was his teacher.

When he finished his ngondro, Newman went into a solitary six-month retreat in Dharamsala, in the hills above the Dalai Lama’s residence. Much of the 11 years Bruce spent in Nepal were also in retreat. “It was not strict retreat,” he said. “But I did spend most of the time practicing.”

In 1977 Newman returned to the United States for two years, to address persistent health concerns, and because his father was dying. During that time, he lived in the San Francisco Bay area and studied with Gyatrul Rinpoche. Then he returned to Nepal.

 “Some people were starting to do three-year retreats,” he recalled. “I felt a little competitive about doing one. If you’re immersed in that world, it doesn’t seem like an unusual thing to do.”

Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche found Newman a retreat sponsor, and in 1989 Newman traveled to Scotland, joining a group of 26 other men who had just finished building the huge Samye Ling temple together. In order to start their retreat, they had to construct the building they would practice in.

“The others were used to physical work, but I was physically fragile. What I couldn’t do, someone else had to. It was intense pressure for seven to eight months,” Newman said. “The traditional Karma Kagyu retreat had two Nyingma practices added, which made it four years rather than three.”

With his retreat completed, Newman assumed he would return to Nepal, a place that felt like home to him. But Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche recommended that Bruce return to the United States and study with Gyatrul Rinpoche.

Therefore in 1993 Bruce became a denizen of the Pacific Northwest, settling into a dwelling at Tashi Choling, Gyatrul Rinpoche’s retreat center south of Ashland, Oregon.

After many years of solitary life he met Susan Bosworth and they fell in love. Lama Bruce and Bosworth married in 2003, and they now live in Talent, a small town just north of Ashland, in southern Oregon. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2023, Lama Bruce credits his meditation practice as a strong support in navigating the symptoms of the illness.

More information about Lama Bruce’s book, classes, and guided meditations is available at this site.