Fall Term 2017

Please visit our CALENDAR for a day-by-day course schedule. You can also visit our STUDENT PORTAL for course listings.

Buddhist Studies

Who Owns Mind? Quarter Three of the Path of Liberation Program (DHS203)
Tuesdays, 7–8:30 PM (October 10–December 12)
This quarter’s course introduces tools of analysis and introspection to explore consciousness, looking for the source of thoughts, feelings, impulses, and actions. Using classical insight meditations, students will be guided in a search for an independent self who controls and owns the mind and experience, glimpsing how mind, free of the confines of self, might function. Students will also study teachings on karma and klesha; cultivate the “four immeasurable” qualities of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity; deepen mindfulness; and learn about the Bodhisattva’s aspiration and the role that devotion plays in Dharma study.
Cost: $200. Instructors: Mark Hendsrson and Hugh Joswick. Students are encouraged to attend the associated and included workshops “Question of Identity: Ten Kinds of Self (DHS405)” on October 20–21: Friday 7–9 PM; Saturday 10 AM–4:45 PM and “Cultivating Unlimited Love” (DHS406)” December 2; Saturday 10 AM–4:45 PM. Prerequisite: sincere interest in the Buddha’s teachings.

Guide to Chanting Tibetan Prayers (DHS113)
Wednesdays, 1:30–3 PM (October 11–December 13)
This class presents a special opportunity for individuals to learn chanting of traditional prayers without prior knowledge of the Tibetan language. Practice materials will be provided showing the Tibetan text, phonetic pronunciation, and English translation. In addition to providing background teachings, Lama Palzang will methodically guide students in the correct pronunciation, melody, and rhythm of selected traditional Buddhist prayers, including Lama Mipham’s profound and beautiful Practice of Shakyamuni and the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra.
Cost: $180. Instructors: Lama Palzang and Mark Henderson. Prerequisite: sincere interest in the Buddha’s teachings.

The Vimalakirti Sutra (DHS212)
Mondays, 7 – 8:30 PM (October 9–December 11)
Amid the glittering profusion of Mahayana Buddhist Scriptures, The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti stands out like a diamond, located between the treasures of the Transcendent Wisdom scriptures and the array of Light found in the Avatamsaka (Flower Ornament) sutra. We will read, discuss, and practice from the Vimalakirti text in our best attempt to make it relevant to our lives today.

Cost: $180. Instructor: Bob Byrne.

Thus Have I Heard: Reading of the Prajnaparamita Sutra (DHS213)
Tuesdays, 10–11:30 AM (October 10–December 12)
The Prajnaparamita teachings propound the perplexing view of shunyata, or emptiness, which is at the heart of Mahayana Buddhism. In this practice-oriented class, we recite the 8,000 Line Prajnaparamita interspersed with periods of silent meditation. You will find that the sutra itself can be your guide to this transcendent, non-conceptual and perfected wisdom that is considered the mother of the Buddhas.
Cost: $180. Instructor: Pauline Yu. Prerequisite: New students need the consent of the instructor.

Nyingma Meditation Courses

Beginning Meditation: Quieting the Mind (MED101)
Thursdays, 7:00–8:30 PM (October 12–December 14)
This class will introduce beginning students to meditation practices that calm the mind and relax the body, through offering a wider perspective on our experience of thoughts and perceptions. We will use time-tested, traditional practices, such as integrative body movement, breathing techniques, mantra, and visualization, in order to quiet distracting thoughts, opening mind to a clearer experience. A key focus of this course will be to establish support for daily practice, both for beginners and those whose practice has lapsed.
Cost: $162. Instructor: Olivia Hurd. For beginners and those wishing to review basic techniques. No class on Thanksgiving.

Intermediate Meditation: Sustaining Meditation (MED201)
Morning Session: Wednesdays, 10–11:30 AM (October 11—December 13)
Evening Session: Wednesdays, 7-8:30 PM PM (October 11—December 13)
Once we go through a true process of self-discovery, no one can take away our self-confidence; the inspiration comes from within, and we know without needing to be told. Tarthang Tulku, Gesture of Balance.
This class is for students who have begun a meditation practice and are ready for further guidance and inspiration. The goal is to sustain effortless meditative concentration.
Cost: $180 (mornings); $162 (evenings). Instructors: Olivia Hurd (mornings); Hugh Joswick (evenings). Prerequisite: one year of meditation experience. No class on Thanksgiving eve.

Advanced Meditation: Deepening Practice (MED301)
Mondays, 7–8:30 PM (October 9–December 11)
Drawing from his background and training in Nyingma studies and practices in Tibet, Lama Palzang highlights techniques for stabilizing and deepening meditation and traditional context for understanding the purpose of spiritual practice.
Cost: $200, which includes the “Shamatha and Vipassana (MED403)” workshop on December 9, 10 AM–4:45 PM. Instructor: Lama Palzang. Prerequisite: three years of meditation experience and consent of the instructor.

Nyingma Psychology and Practices

Nyingma psychology and practices offer unique insight into the human situation and innovative ways to ease emotional discomfort and increase well-being.

Dimensions of Mind: Part II (NPS111)
Thursdays, 7–8:30 PM (October 12–December 14)
Even the most seasoned Dharma student gets caught up in the realm of what is already known and established. Facing these limitations of mind may be profoundly frustrating. In Tarthang Tulku’s new book, Dimensions of Mind, we call upon the full scope of our faculties to exercise the mind in new ways that help us penetrate our projections. Seeing how the samsaric mind is thoroughly structured by language, concepts, ideas, and identity, we begin a process of questioning all points of mental projection to unfold a widening understanding. Ultimately, through discussion and exercises, a model is presented for the most rewarding conversation that we could ever have, in which mind freely dialogs with Mind. No class on Thanksgiving.
Cost: $162. Instructors: Pema Gellek and Hugh Joswick. Based on Tarthang Tulku’s new book, Dimensions of Mind.

Kum Nye (Tibetan Yoga)

The gentle movement, massage, and breathing practices of Kum Nye promote physical and emotional health as they bridge the gap between the material and the spiritual.

Beginning Kum Nye: Listening to the Body, Healing Body and Mind (KNR105)
Thursdays, 7–8:30 PM (October 12–December 14)
This is the first semester of a year long introduction to Kum Nye Tibetan yoga, a gentle healing system adapted by Tibetan lama Tarthang Tulku for the West. This fall we learn to listen to our bodies, opening our senses and touching our feelings directly. We explore how we can integrate body and mind in all our activities, promoting relaxation that has a vital and lasting quality. Anyone who wants to learn Kum Nye systematically is encouraged to start here; it’s also possible, however, to take beginning Kum Nye classes and topics in any order.
Cost: $162. Instructor: Abbe Blum. Open to all levels of students. No class Thanksgiving.

Kum Nye: Balancing and Integrating Body and Mind (KNR205)
Fridays, 10–11:30 AM (October 13—December 15)
“Balance is a natural condition of flowing feeling and energy that pervades the entire body and mind.” Tarthang Tulku, Tibetan Relaxation.
Exercises that allow feelings and sensations to flow more freely within and between body and mind help students reach a natural state of balance. Greater harmony develops between body and mind, self and other.
Cost: $180. Instructor: Peggy Kincaid. Based on Tarthang Tulku’s Tibetan Relaxation.

Kum Nye Self–Massage: Healing Power of Touch (KNR106)
Fridays, 7–8:30 PM (October 13—November 10)
A five-week hands-on class in Kum Nye self-massage. Students will be led through slow massage routines that promote relaxation and deepen the sense of physical presence.
Cost: $90. Instructors: Santosh Philip and the Kum Nye faculty. For all levels of students.

Advanced Kum Nye: Transforming Inner Energy (KNR305)
Tuesdays, 7-8:30 PM (October 10—December 12)
“Kum Nye is a way to relax body and mind, to awaken the senses, to nurture ourselves with enjoyment and create a rich foundation for all life activities.” Tarthang Tulku, Joy of Being.
Further intensity in the practice of Kum Nye loosens inner blockages so that vitality circulates freely through body and mind. This intermediate/advanced course introduces exercises that challenge and inspire.
Cost: $180. Instructor: Santosh Philip. Prerequisite: one year of Kum Nye practice.

Sunday Morning Kum Nye (KNR107)
Sundays, 10–Noon (every Sunday)
Renew a spirit of ease and appreciation through gentle Tibetan Yoga practices that relax body, breath, and mind. A range of Kum Nye movement, massage, and breathing exercises is given in each session.
$15 per session. Instructors: Santosh Philip, Peggy Kincaid, Donna Morton, Abbe Blum and Dave Abercrombie. This drop-in class is for all levels of students.

Skillful Means

“We can bring awareness to time, going deeply into experience in ways that open up limitless new possibilities.” Tarthang Tulku, Mastering Successful Work.

Working Well in Time (SKM218)
Wednesdays, 7–8:30 PM (October 11—December 13)
This experiential course develops attunement in time. Interactive exercises help us to hone concentration, awareness, responsibility, and energy to a wonderful sharpness. We learn to prepare and maintain suitable mental contexts for active engagement in life and work. We learn to balance active participation and unfolding understanding. We discover that attunement transforms ordinary notions of past, present, and future and self, other, and interactions. In the process, we uncover and set aside common patterns that often lead to mistakes and misfortune.
Cost: $200, includes the “Mental Rhythms in Harmony” workshop Saturday November 4, 10 AM–4:45 PM”. Instructors: Barr Rosenberg and Santosh Philip. Based on Mastering Successful Work.

Time, Space and Knowledge

Time, Space, and Knowledge: Perspectives and Practices (TSK108)
Tuesday, 6:15–7:45 (October 10–December 12) Note time
This course is a quarter-long introduction to the TSK vision that presents its basic concepts and contemplations. Instruction is in a seminar format, with lively discussion encouraged. Students should be prepared to do thirty minutes of daily practice.
Cost $180. Instructor: Ken McKeon. Open to all.

The Translucent Person (TSK102)
Wednesdays, 6:15-7:45 PM (October 11—December 13) Note time
“Whatever we do, wherever we go, whatever happens on this crowded surface of interactions constituting our world, there is also the sky. The sky is perhaps the simplest example of space, but it is a very important symbol as well. No matter how tangled, crowded, and intense our activities might be, the sky is present too…directly above everything…” Tarthang Tulku, Time, Space, and Knowledge.
The openness of space surrounds us. Yet, there is also space within—the space between internal structures and the intangible, immeasurable psychological spaces that constitute the person we are. This course explores our embodiment as space. Based on the Time, Space, and Knowledge vision, introspective exercises and transformative inquiry disclose the translucent nature of solid “boundaries.” Surfaces and partitions become windows that illuminate the very heart of space.
Cost: $180. Instructor: Ken McKeon. Prerequisite: Background in meditation and familiarity with the TSK vision.

Tibetan Language Courses

Knowledge of classical written Tibetan unlocks a treasury of wisdom—the vast sacred literature of Tibet. New students may attend Beginning Tibetan this quarter!

Beginning Tibetan, Level I (TIB101)
Tuesdays, 1:30–3 PM (October 10—December 12)
Learn to read and pronounce Tibetan script; study basic Tibetan grammar; and develop a working vocabulary.
Cost: $180. Instructor: Mark Henderson. New students are welcome.

Intermediate Tibetan, Level I (TIB201) Fridays, 7–8:30 PM (October 13—December 15) Selected readings with grammar instruction. Cost: $180 Instructor: Mollie Hughes. Prerequisite: TIB204 or consent of the instructor.

Tibetan Tutorial (TIB301) Fridays, 4:30–5:45 PM (October 13—December 15) Reading and translation. Cost: $180.Instructor: Barr Rosenberg. Prerequisite: consent of the instructor.

September Term courses are only 4 weeks, while Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall Quarters consist of 10 weeks. Registration ends after the second week, with some Kum Nye classes still available for drop-in.

2017 Quarters

• Summer Quarter: June 12 – August 18
• September Term: September 4 – 29
• Fall Quarter: October 9 – December 15