Maitripa College’s 2021 commencement ceremony, fully masked.
Photos by: Namdrol Miranda Adams, Kate Macdonald, Laura Miller, Alfredo Pineiro, Jeremy Russell, Marc Sakamoto

In late May Maitripa College celebrated its first in-person event in more than a year, a positive turning point in the Portland Buddhist institution’s efforts to survive the pandemic.

Zoom setup became complex as Maitripa College adapted to the pandemic.

The event was a celebration of Saka Dawa, the Buddhist holiday that celebrates Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth, death, and enlightenment. In traditional Buddhist cultures, this is a day of great rejoicing.

Maitripa College celebrated the day by holding a traditional prayer celebration onsite, in our meditation hall, led by our main teacher and president of the college, Yangsi Rinpoche. In-person participation was limited to 20 fully vaccinated participants, but the powerful event brought palpable joy and delight for those attending.

Yangsi Rinpoche teaching an online Maitripa College class during the pandemic.

Through the summer of 2021, Maitripa College will begin to offer periodic in-person participation again, although the majority of classes and programs will remain online. This fall, as pandemic conditions improve and restrictions loosen, we will start slowly shifting back to more in-person classes.

Return of in-person classes and events marks a great recovery for us. We were forced to move our entire operation online in March, 2020, under emergency orders from the State of Oregon due to the then-emerging pandemic.

Maitripa College staff met remotely, via Zoom.

The challenges, especially at first, were significant. Our first problem was financial, as our investment and donation income ceased almost entirely due to COVID. How would we survive? How would we care for our teachers and staff, who in turn care for our students and community?

The second problem was practical. Would our students stay? Would they still find it valuable to attend classes, practices, and community events in virtual reality?

Happily, these challenges were overcome. Maitripa College teachers and staff took voluntary pay reductions of 20 percent to 40 percent over the year, and we worked hard to gain access to much-needed state and federal emergency assistance. These tactics allowed us to keep everyone at the college employed and cared for, and to end the year in a good financial position.

A pre-pandemic Maitripa College Meditations on Emptiness class.

Equally happily, our students remained connected and engaged throughout. In fact, evaluations of courses and programs during this time demonstrated consistent appreciation for our offerings and methodology. Course enrollment rose 20 percent this spring, and we have been able to continue all of our programs online, including two graduate degree programs and multiple offerings for the community.

So it was with great hope and some trepidation that we returned to in-person practice in May, after so many months apart with a visceral need to connect.

There were many hugs and sighs of relief. We very much hope this event will be the first of many this year, where we can share physical space with one another.

Presentation of khatas to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, during his 2013 visit to Portland.

As we move back to in-person education at Maitripa College, we find ourselves on the cusp between the two worlds of our experience of this pandemic: the world leading up to it, and the world that we will move into as the pandemic fades from our direct experience. The stakes are high, the tone must be cautious, and underlying everything, we cannot unsee what we have seen during this time.

Today we find ourselves humbled by our fortune in having resilient minds and spirits to carry us thus far. We are grateful for access to the basic requirements of life including food, shelter, and medicines. We rejoice in our connections to the teachings and our teachers, for showing us the way. We take inspiration from the deep well of boundless compassion and infinite wisdom that propel us forward.

Maitripa College neighbors watch His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit on the big screen.

Although we are forever changed by witnessing the suffering this pandemic has brought, and the shortcomings it has exposed, at Maitripa College we will try to use this as fuel for our path. We will move ahead even more determined to continue the work of Buddhist education, which is to learn and practice to alleviate suffering, in conventional and ultimate terms.

You are warmly invited to join us for summer Discovering Buddhism modules online. Also we plan to offer at least one more academic semester partially online, including philosophy and meditation classes with Yangsi Rinpoche. Please visit our website for details.

A Maitripa College nature hike and practice with Yangsi Rinpoche in 2012.

In addition to our courses offered for degree program credit, this summer Maitripa College is happy to offer a number of free online programs for the community.

Among them are a short course called “Introduction to Tantra,” a course called “The Spiritual Teacher,” an “Introduction to Meditation” course, and a retreat-style teaching and practice weekend on Mahayana Buddhist refuge.

Although all of our programs are offered for the general community from a Buddhist point of view, the intelligence and perspectives of all are welcome.