George Wiegand

George Wiegand is our well-known and loved meditation teacher and volunteer at Ratna Ling. He  has been a student of our Founder Tarthang Tulku and a full-time volunteer in Nyingma organizations for 40 years, as a chef, baker, kitchen manager, temple builder, book binder, and pressman.
He earned his Masters of Education in Counseling in 1974. After teaching high school while in the Peace Corps, he served as a Counselor at a Catholic high school before moving to California in search of a meditation teacher. He intensively trained in Tibetan Yoga (Kum Nye) from 1982-1986 at the Nyingma Institute in Berkeley, and then moved to the Odiyan country center.
George describes his daily practice as meditation in action, working on projects in the Nyingma community, cooking, baking, building temples, printing, binding books, and teaching Tibetan meditation. His active meditation has been a solitary practice, internally studying the working of his own mind as he performs dharma activities. Some of his greatest lessons have come from caring for a dying parent and teaching communication to teenagers at a mindfulness-based youth treatment center.

His hobbies include bread baking, basketball, and choir singing.

Events with George Wiegand

Space and Ease: A Personal Retreat
October 30 - November 1, 2026

Quiet the mind. Restore the spirit. Reconnect with your inner self. Are you in need of a break — just some time and space for quiet with a change of scenery? A Space and Ease retreat at Ratna Ling invites you to slow down and move at your own pace. This experience can be deeply restorative, offering a sanctuary for solitude, self-reflection, and mindful presence in the natural beauty of our land. You are free…

Joy & Appreciation - SLIDING SCALE
November 27 - 29, 2026

For this special Thanksgiving retreat, we are offering a sliding scale to allow you to give what you can. We hope you can join us! For many folks, Thanksgiving weekend is a time to feast, gather with family, give thanks for each other, and shop the Black Friday sales. But maybe you need something different for yourself this year. Maybe you want silence, time to do less, a space to eat less, and an opportunity…