Letter from the Deans for Winter & Early Spring 2020

December 2019

Dear Friends,

As a new year approaches, it’s worth contemplating what you would like to cultivate and invite into your life. Here at the Nyingma Institute, we take to heart our responsibility to hold open a space for inquiry, discovery, and transformation, so that we can empower individuals with life-long tools for accessing their own inner wisdom. We see ourselves as part of a greater movement supporting meaningful living, universal wisdom, and visionary goodness in a time when the planet’s very survival depends on such values.

Many of the fields of study we offer are powerful and unique in that they essentially address how to balance and transform mind without relying on Buddhist terminology, dogma, or ritual. In addition to supporting well-being and balance, we also hold open a doorway to an authentic and ancient lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in the Nyingma tradition for those seeking the richness, depth, and beauty of a traditional Dharma path. All these transformative teachings reach us through our founder, Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche, to whom we are tremendously grateful.

Awakened beings have described our experience of suffering to be like a bubble or weather pattern that forms when we operate from a view of the absolute centrality of the self. How can we investigate the dark unknowing that swirls in the center? We are very fortunate, here at the Institute, to be able to draw upon an array of incisive, accessible methods that allow us to question, touch, and release the deepest knots of mind, taking us right into the mystery of our being. As practitioners we come to understand that we must continually seek out the edge of the known, where there is an incredible play of light that moves between confusion and knowing. It’s deeply rewarding to see how individuals encounter these teachings and engage their own direct experience, shining light on fractured areas and discovering that these are the very places where wholeness and freedom can manifest.

We warmly invite you to join us at the Nyingma Institute for a class, workshop, or retreat this year, so that you may delve into your own being through Tibetan Yoga, Buddhist studies, contemplation, and meditation.

 

Pema Gellek and Lama Palzang
Deans, Nyingma Institute

P.S. How you can help:
• Have an old but reliable van or car you’d like to donate? We are seeking a vehicle.
• Full-time and part-time volunteer positions are open. Experience in bookkeeping, IT, promotions, or construction is particularly helpful.
• We have a major renovation and construction project to create a sacred contemplative garden that will continue through 2020. Donations are tax-deductible, as we are a volunteer-run, 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Thank you so much for your support!

What makes “Path of Liberation” special?

What makes “Path of Liberation” special?

This program is an excellent entry point to the vastness of this body of knowledge that is our lineage, a living path, and a shared human inheritance that becomes all the more precious the more we appreciate its origins, sources, and context.

Two Year Buddhist Studies Program 

The Path of Liberation Program is a training in Buddhist study and practice that introduces students to the basic cognitive and experiential teachings of the Buddha. Texts will be drawn primarily from the Mahayana tradition.

Upon completion of the Path of Liberation Program, students will have a basic understanding of fundamental Buddhist teachings, such as the Four Noble Truths, the Eight-fold Noble Path, Karma and Klesha, Interdependent Co-operation, and the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. They will be familiar with Buddhist history and important works of literature.

Deepen your understanding of the living spirit of Buddhist teaching and practice.

Program components: 10 classes, 15 workshops, 1 retreat.

Why enroll in the Path of Liberation program?

Complete a two year course of study that is about the living spirit of Buddhism, an “insider’s” approach to practice, history, and its traditions. 

This is more than being exposed to inspiring ideas, it’s about your inner journey, integration, and embodiment.

Please contact us to talk to an advisor!  (510) 809-1000 

 

Letter from the Deans for Fall 2019

Letter from the Deans for Fall 2019

August 8, 2019

Dear Friends,

It is well known that the Buddha taught a universal love and compassion that had a profound effect on all who met him, but he was also modeling a revolutionary way of caring for our mind at the deepest level, in order to resolutely pursue and come to know reality. The path he opened did not lead to some other transcendent dimension free from suffering. Instead, he offers us the possibility of a journey straight into the heart of reality, into an unfailing operability of knowing, shining and pulsing within each present moment.

His proclamation of reality as the ultimate medicine of liberation remains as startling today as it was two and a half millennia ago.  We stand, just like the Buddha’s first disciples, astonished at his invitation to enter reality as it is, and begin the ultimate journey that lies before all beings: to awaken from the dream of the self to a freedom that has no derivation, no point of reference in our limitations, and no reversibility.

The “how” of how we get there has been taught by the Buddha as an exacting process of study, contemplation and meditation.  Not merely cleansing and cultivating the intellect, this training aims at total embodiment of wisdom and compassion through a deep form of caring for the endlessly creative producers of experience — mind, body, speech, the sensory fields, and the subtle energies.

We live in a culture and an age of self-improvement, where we are always trying to “fix” ourselves, and worship at the altar of the ever-elusive perfect version of ourselves.  What would it mean to expand our imagination, to relinquish attachment to all “image”, and journey inward instead, into the depths of mind, where experience gets prepared, cooked, and consumed with the convincingly impenetrable feel of the “real”?

Here at the Institute, in a holistic way, we can practice the teachings of the Buddha, Padmasambhava, and other enlightened, extraordinary masters of this wisdom-lineage, including our founder and my father, Tarthang Rinpoche. Thanks to Rinpoche’s great skill and compassion, we have a rich array of secular and traditional dharma teachings that provide accessible, incisive lines of inquiry that can help us unfold our own unique manifestations of wakeful humanity.

Lama Palzang and I, our faculty and our staff are here to support you, ready to share our own curiosity, joy, and experiences on the path as we hold the space for your own discovery.  Please know that when you step into the Institute as a student, you enter a place that is connected to an authentic lineage of enlightenment. This lineage does not seek worldly power or many followers. It exists in order to keep alive the sublime pathways to the heart of what it means to be human. Its treasures are available today because its masters were passionate lovers of knowledge, tenacious practitioners of merit, and deeply devoted servants of universal awakening. Together, we can follow in their footsteps. Together, we can do our best to cultivate the same passion, tenacity, and devotion on our own journey.

With all best wishes, 

Pema Gellek and Lama Palzang

Why Study Tibetan?

Why Study Tibetan?

Why Study Tibetan?

A Language Created for Translating Dharma

Translation literally means “to carry across.” It is said that the Tibetan language was created with the purpose of translating Dharma texts. Translations into English are still works in progress and in the process of being improved upon. 

The terminology and understanding of translators at present is not adequate to convey certain meanings of the Dharma.

Tarthang Tulku

Milking the Painted Cow (2005)

In general, when translating any Buddhist teachings from Tibetan into English, especially precious wisdom teachings, there is a language problem, since it is difficult to connect substantial, nihilistic ordinary expressions with insubstantial wisdom expressions.

Dharma words are connected to mind, mind is connected to wisdom, and wisdom is intangible. Therefore, whoever translates Dharma must try predominately to write about the intangible qualities of wisdom . . . If words are chosen with the misinterpretation of substantial word habit, these qualities can be turned into ordinary intellectual, philosophical, or material conceptions.

For those who like to study or practice Buddhism, it is of great benefit to learn literary Tibetan rather than reading translations, since it is the most vast and profound language in the world in this generation for conveying pure spiritual meaning.

Thinley Norbu Rinpoche

Sunlight Speech That Dispels the Darkness of Doubt (2015)

What might people be surprised to learn about the Tibetan language?

Tibetan is the largest and most comprehensive repository of the Dharma in the world. The Tibetan written language was specifically and consciously designed to translate the teachings of the Buddha. Unlike Chinese and other East Asian languages, Tibetan is alphabetic and largely mirrors the Sanskrit alphabet, thereby affording highly precise and accurate translations.

What type of person is the Tibetan language course designed for? Or, what kind of person would particularly be interested?

Many Tibetan students are engaged in traditional study, including a personal engagement with the ngondro or preliminary practices. The study of Tibetan provides the time to engage traditional Dharma materials in much greater depth and detail than simply reading translations in English.

How much homework is there?

We recommended that students engage in Tibetan for a minimum of 20 minutes each day.

What types of reading / texts do you frequently work with for Beginning classes? What about for Intermediate?

Once students have grasped the basics of the alphabet and grammatical structure, we start with short prayers and texts, gradually moving towards longer works like the Bodhicaryavatara by Shantideva. Our focus is on writers central to the Nyingma tradition such as Lama Mipham and Longchenpa.

What does the Beginning class start out focusing on?

Beginning Tibetan starts with studying the alphabet and then moves into a close study of the phrase connectors that form the unique grammatical structure of classical Tibetan.

I started to study Tibetan as a way to deepen my understanding of the prayers and practices recited in  my practice. The language class here is taught as written Tibetan, starting with the very basics like alphabet and pronunciation, and a systematic look at the grammar. This is supplemented very early with translating text, which lifts it out of a purely mechanical language study into Dharma practice. Applying what is learned in the grammar in this way builds a sense of the structure of the language, and vocabulary is acquired fluidly. Most of all, I have come to treasure the effort Mark makes to clarify the meaning of the text as Dharma teaching. The longer I study the more the beauty of language and the texts shine!
L. H.

Tibetan language student, Nyingma Institute

Women’s Group

Women’s Group

June 3, 2019

Dear participants of the Women’s Meditation Practice Group,

We were delighted by the interest and enthusiasm generated in our first two Sunday gatherings, and were pleased that attendance grew significantly on the second Sunday. We anticipate that it will continue to grow as more women hear about it who are interested in finding community support for their individual practice, or starting a practice. We hope that the gathering will support both seasoned and beginning meditators.

We are learning about how to best serve this budding community. We will vary the practices offered in the meditation room, and follow with tea and discussion for those who are interested in participating. Our format during tea last Sunday – with questions as sparks for discussion in small groups – may have worked for some, and not for others. Bear with us as we refine what follows the communal meditation.

Many of you have been in the Nyingma community a long time, or have practiced for many years. We really welcome your participation if you are interested in leading group practices, want to offer topics for discussion, or are skilled in facilitating discussion. Please reach out to us. Snacks to share are also welcome!

Our intention is to promote a beneficial and supportive experience. We can speak more about our wishes for our community as a group.

We so look forward to our next opportunity to be together. Upcoming dates in 2019 include June 30, July 28, and August 25. If you are receiving news of this group for the first time, we hope you consider joining us.

Warmest regards,

Donna and Abbe

The Evolution of our Long Retreats

The Evolution of our Long Retreats

Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche first created the Human Development Training Program, an eight week residential summer program, for psychologists, social workers, educators, counselors and other professionals interested in the nature of mind. This program was held annually from 1973-1977.

In 1984, it was expanded into the Four Month Human Development Retreat. Practices in this program were carefully sequenced to help explore the very fundamental operating systems and patterns of human thinking, feeling, and sensing.

In 2019, we are offering a new take on our keystone program. The practices of the Human Development Program will be offered in a two month format — the Healing Mind Retreat

A Few Words from the Retreatants. Here’s what the retreatants of 2016 had to say about their experience with the Four Month Retreat. 

 

Interested?