SUMMER CLASSES

8 weeks: Monday, June 16th – Saturday, August 9th, 2025

BUDDHIST STUDIES 

The Way of the Bodhisattva 

Tuesdays, 7:00—8:30 PM (June 17 – August 5, 2025) 

Online & In-Person at the Nyingma Institute

Shantideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicaryavatara) is a guide to cultivating the mind of enlightenment. Generating love and compassion, the bodhisattva develops the qualities of generosity, discipline, patience, joyous effort, meditative concentration, and transcendent wisdom. Inspired by the celestial bodhisattva Manjushri, in the eighth century this text was first spoken in verse by Shantideva at the monastic university of Nalanda. Ever since, The Way of the Bodhisattva has inspired generations of Mahayana practitioners on the path to a true and perfect awakening of the heart. A Saturday workshop on the perfections of wisdom and meditation is included. 

Instructors: Mark Henderson and Hugh Joswick. Cost: $160. Registration: https://nyingmainstitute.com/courses-new/the-way-of-the-bodhisattva

The Way of the Bodhisattva: Daily Practice Program

Mondays through Fridays, 6:45 – 7:30 AM, PT (June 16 –  August 9, 2025)

Online & In-Person at the Nyingma Institute

This class is open to those who enroll in The Way of the Bodhisattva (the Tuesday evening course on Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara). This rigorous meditation practice class will meet five (5) mornings a week. We will experientially engage the sequence of meditation practices presented by Patrul Rinpoche in The Brightly Shining Sun, A Step-by-Step Guide to Meditating on the Bodhicaryavatara and selected Bodhisattva contemplations and meditation practices composed by Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche. Participants will need to acquire the revised edition of The Way of the Bodhisattva, translated by the Padmakara Translation Group (2006).

Instructors: Mark Henderson. Cost: $160. Registration: https://nyingmainstitute.com/courses-new/the-way-of-the-bodhisattva-daily-practice-program/

MEDITATION

Caring: Meditations on Beauty & Radiance in Difficult Times

Thursdays, 7:00-8:30 pm PT (June 19th-August 7th, 2025) 

In-person at Nyingma Institute and Online

Our time is in urgent need of healing, but it seems that the divisions and pressures of our crowded world often make paying attention and staying aware, let alone offering care, remote. It can feel like we are almost losing the capacity to care. Yet even in challenging times, we can still find ways to care for ourselves and appreciate life’s beauty. In this class, we explore how through caring and awareness of beauty we can shift from reactivity to responsiveness and awaken to being fully present in all situations. Just as we can cultivate caring in meditation, reflecting on beauty can become a pathway to open our awareness to a shining radiance at the heart of all forms. Readings and practices from Tarthang Tulku’s Caring and Love of Beauty will structure each class.

Instructors: Hugh Joswick. Cost $160. Registration: https://nyingmainstitute.com/courses-new/caring-meditations-on-beauty-radiance-in-difficult-times/

Beginning Meditation and Gesture of Balance

Wednesdays, 6:00-7:30pm, PST (June 18th-August 6th)

In-Person at Nyingma Institute and Online

This beginning class is an invitation to explore meditation. We will use Tarthang Tulku’s book, Gesture of Balance and we’ll follow his advice to deepen relaxation and open the heart. Working with practices that develop awareness of body, breath, and mind, we find a path that leads to full engagement with whatever arises in daily life. Open to anyone with an interest in starting or developing a meditation practice to bring ease into your life.

From Gesture of Balance, pg.137: “The way to meditate is simply to ‘let go’ of all preconceptions and expectations and to simply just be.”

Instructor: Bob Byrne Cost: $160 Registration: https://nyingmainstitute.com/courses-new/beginning-medita…sture-of-balance/

 KUM NYE

Interested in becoming a certified Kum Nye Instructor? Click here to learn more about our Kum Nye Teacher Training Program!

Advanced Kum Nye: Living Practice of Kum Nye

Tuesdays, 6:00 – 7:30 pm, PT (June 17th  – August 5th, 2025) 

Online Only

“We all have memories of times when we felt particularly alive, when the world seemed fresh and promising, like a flower garden on a bright spring morning.” Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga by Tarthang Tulku p. 3

Are you a live Kum Nye practitioner or dead Kum Nye practitioner?

Is your Kum Nye empowering  you to BE as you have never been before or are you working off a repetitive Kum Nye script – your BE-ing remaining the same? In this class we will work with methods that will keep your Kum Nye practice alive at all times.

Instructor: Santosh Philip. Cost: $160. Prerequisite: two years of Kum Nye practice. Registration: https://nyingmainstitute.com/courses-new/advanced-kum-nye-living-practice-of-kum-nye/

Kum Nye Relaxation – All Levels Practice

Wednesdays, 8:00 – 9:00 am, PT (June 18th – August 6th, 2025)

Online Only

“These simple exercises help us develop the abundant riches of our inner resources in a natural way. Even if nothing in particular appears to be happening while you do an exercise, a change will be gradually occurring in the quality of your daily life. Every aspect of experience will become clearer and more vital. Every activity of the senses- smelling, seeing, hearing, tasting-will become more substantial, full, and alive. Life develops a special, tangy quality.” Tarthang Tulku, Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga

This Summer, make a commitment to cultivate your own inner resources, and discover the balance, ease, and clarity that comes with regular Kum Nye practice. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned practitioner, it can be helpful to have the guidance and support that comes with a weekly class. All abilities welcome.

Instructor: Donna Morton & Niko Eng. Cost: $120. Registration: https://nyingmainstitute.com/courses-new/kum-nye-relaxation-all-levels-practice/

TIBETAN LANGUAGE

Intermediate Tibetan Level XII

Thursdays, 6:15 -7:45 pm, PT (June 19  – August 7, 2025)

Online Only

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

Instructor: Mark Henderson. Cost: $140. Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor. Registration: https://nyingmainstitute.com/courses-new/intermediate-tibetan-level-xii/