LATE SPRING CLASSES

8 weeks: Monday, April 15 – Saturday, June 9, 2024

BUDDHIST STUDIES 

The Resolve for Ultimate Goodness (DHS206)

Tuesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM, PT (April 16 – June 4, 2024)

Term Seven of the Path of Liberation Program

Online and In Person at the Nyingma Institute 

“Cultivate gazing at the world with eyes of compassion and learn to experience whatever arises with a compassionate heart.” Tarthang Tulku, Path of Heroes.

 All living beings have the nature of a Buddha, yet this nature is obscured by veils of obscurations. We live in ignorance of this great treasure, like a poor, blind man, unaware that a jewel of infinite value lies buried under his hearth. Traditional teachings and practices can help us develop confidence in our ability to discover the Buddha nature within. We will deepen our study of the teachings on Bodhicitta (the ‘seed of enlightenment’) and continue to work on mind training practices that overcome the destructive forces of anger, attachment, and ignorance in our lives. Class practices will help ground these teachings in our lives today. Readings will be drawn from Path of Heroes by Zhechen Gyaltsab and the Uttaratantra (Buddha Nature). Class includes the workshop “Filled with Devotion.” Open to all with some background in Buddhist thought.

Instructors: Mark Henderson and Hugh Joswick. Cost: $144. Registration: https://go.asapconnected.com/?org=4698#EventID=2569897 

Sutra Study: Reading Mahayana Sutras (DHS125)

Wednesdays, 10:00  – 11:30 AM, PT (April 17 – June 5, 2024)

Online Only

This class is an ongoing study of the essential teachings of the Buddhist sutras. We present historical background on the sutras, read aloud key passages, and discuss the importance of the ideas and practices the Buddha invites us to contemplate. We complement discussion with guided reflections and meditations. 

 This term we turn to The Sutra of Queen Śrīmālā of the Lion’s Roar (Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanāda-sūtra)—a classic Mahayana text that depicts Queen Śrīmālā as a female bodhisattva who teaches the doctrine of the tathāgatagarbha and the single vehicle. The sutra is notable for its treatment of women as fully capable of enlightenment and as worthy teachers of the Dharma. It raises many issues regarding Buddha-nature and our potential for full awakening. We also will read another sutra with a female protagonist, the Miraculous Play of Manjushri (Mañjuśrīvikrīḍita), which develops the theme of emptiness and sameness of all phenomena.

Instructors: Pema Gellek and Hugh Joswick. Cost: $144. Registration: https://go.asapconnected.com/?org=4698#EventID=2569898 

MEDITATION

Advanced Meditation: The Seven Points of Mind Training (MED328)

Thursdays, 10:00 – 11:30 AM, PT (April 18 – June 6, 2024)

Online Only

The Seven Points of Mind Training, known as lojong in Tibetan, were introduced to Tibet by the brilliant 11th-century master Atisa, and the aphorisms, in their present form, were composed by Guru Chekawa Yeshe Dorje in the 12th century. A profound current that courses through Tibet’s diverse practice traditions, these teachings aim to transform the ordinary mind into the awakened mind and ultimately lead to perfect enlightenment. With 59 slogans offering clear guidelines for training in relative and ultimate bodhicitta, practitioners are guided to reframe daily interactions as a vibrant field for awakening. Practices such as tonglen, ‘sending and receiving’ and other contemplations will serve as direct entrances into the powerful cultivation of compassion. 

Instructors: Lama Palzang & Pema Gellek. Cost: $144. Registration: https://go.asapconnected.com/?org=4698#EventID=2569899 

Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation (MED150)

Tuesdays, 6:00 – 7:00 PM, PT (April 16 – May 21, 2024) 

6 Weeks, In Person at the Nyingma Institute (Not Online) 

Bring more awareness into your life. In this 6-week, 1-hour course we will explore:  what mindfulness is, mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of emotions, working with thoughts and beliefs, the wise heart, and bringing your practice into the world. 

This is a class for beginners and those wishing to review these powerful fundamentals in a supportive space. Everyone is welcome. 

Instructor Pauline Yu has been meditating for 16 years, with experience primarily in Nyingma practices, and teaching meditation for 5 years. This course is being offered as part of a teacher training program she is enrolled in, which is certified by the Awareness Training Institute and its partner, the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley. 

Instructor: Pauline Yu. Cost: $72 or by donation. Please sign up early, as there is a minimum of 8 enrollments required for this program to be held. Registration: https://go.asapconnected.com/?org=4698#EventID=2569900 

KUM NYE

Advanced Kum Nye: Transforming Breath, Energy, Feeling (KNR301) 

Tuesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 pm, PT (April 16  – June 4 , 2024)

Online Only

“In practicing Kum Nye, your best friend is patience – patience with yourself, based on the knowledge that you deserve a relaxed, healthy body and mind, and developing them is well worth the effort” – Joy of Being p. 28

In this year-long series for experienced Kum Nye practitioners, we will approach each of the six perfections through Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga as embodied forms, feelings, and movements. 

The six perfections are the practices of a bodhisattva, one who has oriented their entire being to pure altruism and awakening. This term’s class is inspired by and will playfully explore the paramita of Patience and Joyful Effort

Instructor: Santosh Philip. Cost: $144. Prerequisite: two years of Kum Nye practice. Registration: https://go.asapconnected.com/?org=4698#EventID=2569901 

Anatomy of a Kum Nye Exercise: The Joy of Being Part One: The Working Basis (KNR139)

Wednesdays, 8:00 – 9:00 AM, PT (April 17 – June 5, 2024)

Online Only

In this 8-week class we will focus on the text and practices in Part One of The Joy of Being: The Working Basis. We will also continue to refine our understanding and embodiment of the movement exercises in Part Five, utilizing The Joy of Being Workbook as additional source material. 

Instructor: Donna Morton. Cost: $96. Prerequisites: at least one Kum Nye course or workshop. Registration: https://go.asapconnected.com/?org=4698#EventID=2569902 

Beginning Kum Nye Practice (KNR122)

Tuesdays, 8:00 – 9:00 AM, PT (April 16  –  May 7, 2024) 

4 Weeks, Online Only

Kum Nye is a unique combination of postures, breathing, massage and working with the senses that helps us learn to truly relax, contact and enrich our experience in our body. It can be done as a practice in itself, or as a very effective aid to developing and deepening meditation. Based upon the book, Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga, by Tarthang Tulku, Rinpoche, we will learn the basics of how to engage in this practice. All levels welcome to join

Instructor: Anita McNulty.  Cost: $48. Registration: https://go.asapconnected.com/?org=4698#EventID=2569903 

Beginning Kum Nye:  The Inner Alchemy of Kum Nye (KNR186)

Mondays, 6:00 – 7:30 PM, PT (April 15 – June 3, 2024)

Fifth Term of the Kum Nye Teacher Training

Online and In Person at the Nyingma Institute

“Through relaxation, we awaken feelings which then expand and accumulate until we slowly become aware of a deep, interpenetrating field of energy, inside our body and beyond it. This energy can stimulate itself internally to sustain and nurture us in our daily lives, recycling sensation so we become sensitive and strong, and our sensations rich and powerful. Our minds become clearer as well, and we discover what it means to be balanced.”

                                                                        Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga p. 4

 This 5th term of introduction to Kum Nye features its “inner alchemy” (Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga p.294).  We engage in practice that encourages relaxing self-concepts while embracing experience. Exercises that integrate feelings as well as activating and circulating energy help us to develop a quality in our Kum Nye practice that is without holding or clinging. Refining concentration and entering experience more fully, we expand feeling and energies more and more, and cultivate enjoyment and playfulness in every action of our lives, even enjoying stressful situations. 

 Instructor: Abbe Blum. Cost: $144. This fifth, final term of Kum Nye Teacher Training program is also open to anyone who wants to learn or develop a Kum Nye practice. Kum Nye experience or permission of the instructor is required. Cannot be taken on a drop-in basis. Registration: https://go.asapconnected.com/?org=4698#EventID=2570202 

Living the Kum Nye Experience: Befriending All Experience:  Beginning to Dance in Space (KNR553)
Thursdays, 6:00 – 7:30 PM, PT (April 18 – June 6, 2024)
Online Only

“Once we become familiar with the experience of Kum Nye and know how to surrender to calmness and inner peace, there will be no need for further instruction or guidance. Kum Nye will reveal itself naturally. the process will continue to develop and become deeper and vaster.”
                            Ch.24 “Surrendering to Calmness”  Joy of Being p. 188

This last semester of Kum Nye Rhythm invites befriending our experience, gaining access to deeper rhythms of our being while continuing to give mind space to be. We practice “rejecting nothing, accepting, nothing, setting up nothing— guidelines for relaxation that open wide the gateways to meditation” (JB p.188). We will also take up joyful expression of the unity of body and mind, beginning to dance in space. Theory and practice is drawn from Joy of Being, Kum Nye Dancing, and Gesture of Great Love —with key teachings from the 2022 Osnabruck Living the Kum Nye Experience international retreat.

Includes KN Rhythm Workshop  Saturday, May 11,  1-4 PM 

Instructor: Abbe Blum. Cost: $144. Prerequisite: at least one year of Kum Nye or permission of instructor. Registration: https://go.asapconnected.com/?org=4698#EventID=2570220 

NYINGMA PSYCHOLOGY

Knowledge of Freedom 9 month Program (NPS509)

Thursdays, 10-11:30 AM (PDT)/ 19-20:30 (CEST) (September 7 2023 – May 30 2024)

Online only

This Knowledge of Freedom (KOF) program is intended for students with sufficient experience in meditation and self-observation to make precise forms of introspection possible. In a very practice-oriented way, the KOF program investigates, step-by-step, the patterns and conditioning that dominate us individually and collectively. Working with the three vehicles of body, speech, and mind, the program cultivates the innate capacity of our hearts and minds for a realization that is not constrained by self-imposed limitations.

The program consists of 31 weekly classes, weekly self-observations and reading assignments, and 2 webinar-based weekend retreats.

The classes begin September 7, 2023 and conclude May 30, 2024.

• Thursdays 10-11:30 AM (PDT)/ 19-20:30 (CEST)

Please note that there is no class on October 18, December 27, January 3, May 2, or May 9:  these breaks are partly different from our usual academic calendar as they are in sync with our Amsterdam center’s scheduling.

Two weekend retreats complete the program.

The retreats each consist of two webinars, with a webinar running 3 hours. Daily webinar times: 10 -13 AM (PDT), 7- 10 PM (CEST). 

Both retreats are included in the program cost. They can also be attended by those not taking the program for $115 or 105 euros.

Instructors: Abbe Blum, Elske Van de Hulst. Cost: $630 or €585 can be paid in 9 monthly installments of or $70 or €65 per month. Permission from instructors needed to join in later terms. Retreats can be taken by those not in the program. Email to request late registration. 

TIBETAN LANGUAGE

Advanced Tibetan Tutorial (TIB302)  

Fridays, 3:30 – 4:45 pm, PT (April 19  – June 7, 2024) 

Online only

This advanced Tibetan course consists of continuing reading and translation in the classical Tibetan language. It is for those who already have a good grasp of grammar, vocabulary, and working with Tibetan texts.

Instructor: Barr Rosenberg. Cost: $120. Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor. Registration: https://go.asapconnected.com/?org=4698#EventID=2570262 

Intermediate Tibetan Level VI (TIB206)  

Thursdays, 6:15 -7:45 pm, PT (April 18  – June 6, 2024)

Online Only

Continued reading and translation of traditional texts and prayers in the classical Tibetan language.

Instructor: Mark Henderson. Cost: $144. Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor. Registration: https://go.asapconnected.com/?org=4698#EventID=2570264