Compassion Wheel Team

From left to right: Bill and Matt Clopton; Troy Stafford; Barbara Brown; Bridget Brewer; Dechen Brooke.

Barbara Brown

Barbara Brown’s architectural practice has been actively focused on community-oriented and residential projects in the Bay Area. She is a UC Berkeley alumni and a long-time supporter of Tibetan Buddhist causes and sacred place building efforts.
Since 2010, Barbara has been working with the Tibetan Association of Northern California to assist their members in creating a vibrant community center building in Richmond, CA. She also participated in the design and construction effort to create the new Prayer Wheel Gazebo at Gyuto Foundation in Richmond Heights.

Bill Clopton

Bill’s first connection to Buddhism was December 1969 in a week-long retreat with 3 Tibetan monks he had met in London, England. As a general contractor he has over 30 years of experience specializing in home construction and remodeling paying careful attention to all aspects of a project from client/builder, workers, design and craftsmanship of materials.

Troy Stafford

Troy Stafford is a master craftsman with 20 years experience in the Fine Arts and Museum framing field. He has collaborated with artists, galleries, collectors, and museum curatorial and conservation staff on a range of museum and private projects involving the design and creation of custom frames and the restoration of antique frames. He was personally requested by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to do the elaborate carvings of the prayer wheel and is receiving direct instructions from him.

Bridget Brewer

Bridget Brewer integrates her extensive background in landscape design and construction with her architectural practice in Sonoma County, where she is a board member of US Green Building Council. Her landscape work includes wildlife restoration in urban environments. She has received grants to restore neighborhood parks and urban creeks in Oakland and Berkeley. She has taught with the Insight Garden Program at San Quentin Prison as well as high school students planting food forests in Windsor.

Upcoming Retreats

“All Into One”: An experiential retreat on Calm Abiding and Emptiness based on Guru Yoga and the 3 Principal Aspects of the Path

Venerable René Feusi

April 25 - May 5, 2024
About the Retreat We are so pleased and honored that one of our most precious teachers is returning again to Vajrapani.   This retreat is a rare opportunity to meditate with Venerable Rene more deeply on the teachings he gave last year in the Bay Area on Guru Yoga as a basis for realizing Mahamudra or realizing "mind as it is."   Utilizing once again the Guru Yoga practice, The Hundred Deities of the Land of Joy, as the life force for collecting merit and clearing obstacles on our spiritual path, Venerable Rene will also offer experiential teachings and meditations…

Online Book Club – Vol 4: Following in the Buddha’s Footsteps

Venerable Gyalten Chimé

May 8 - June 26, 2024
When On Zoom Every Wednesday for 8 weeks 6:30 - 8:30pm Pacific Time Zoom Link will be sent a day before the Wednesday night class.     Prerequisites: None – Open to all students   It is recommended that participants read the first few chapters prior to the first Book Club session on May 8th.   About the Book This weekly online book gathering will feature facilitated conversation, discussion and meditation sessions with Buddhist monastic Venerable Chimé.   Delve into the substance of spiritual practice in this fourth volume of the Dalai Lama’s definitive series on the path to awakening,…

Our Blog

  • Spring has officially arrived and with it a sense of renewal, a spark of hope. Trees are leafing and blossoming. So many wildflowers dot the hillsides. Bees are buzzing and early morning birds chatter like townsfolk exclaiming the beauty of this valley.  Living a quiet......

Vajrapani Institute is affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition www.FPMT.org