Summer Term (8 weeks) 

June 21 – August 14

Buddhist Studies (DHS)

Reading the Sutras: Following the Words of the Buddha (DHS101)
Wednesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM, PST (June 23 – August 11)
Reading the Sutras is an ongoing course that examines in detail essential sutras in the Buddhist tradition. We read the sutras not as historical texts but as a practical encounter with the teachings of the Buddha. Our goal is to develop a respect for the sutra tradition and to foster an internal examination of how these texts can speak to our twenty-first century experience.
This term we read the Lalitavistara sutra, a Mahayana sutra that tells the story of the Buddha’s life from the time before his birth to the time of the first transmission of his enlightened realization. The sutra has been translated by the 84000 translation project as The Play in Full, and by Dharma Publishing as The Voice of the Buddha: The Beauty of Compassion in two volumes. We will read the text without much commentary, reflecting on the Buddha’s life and its relevance for us today.
Instructor: Hugh Joswick. Cost: $144. Prerequisites: Sincere interest in the Buddha’s teachings. 

Register: https://nyingmainstitute.asapconnected.com/#EventID=1884382 

Who Owns Mind? (DHS203)
Part Three of the Path of Liberation Program
Tuesdays 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM, (June 22 – August 10)
We introduce 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. Class includes the Saturday Workshop “Question of Identity: Ten Ideas of Self.”
Instructors: Mark Henderson and Hugh Joswick. Cost: $154, includes one workshop. 

Register: https://nyingmainstitute.asapconnected.com/#EventID=1884389 

Guide to Chanting Tibetan Prayers (DHS114)
This class is on break during Summer term and will return in Early Fall.

Meditation (MED)

Advanced Meditation: Born and Unborn Beauty (MED301)
Mondays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM, PT (June 21 – August 9)
“If we allow ourselves the leisure and pleasure of relaxing into beauty, the rich inner dimensions of the senses start to activate naturally. Sense consciousness begins to connect to the heart, and the distance between the seer and seen diminishes.” -Tarthang Tulku, Seeing the Beauty of Being
Connecting to natural beauty deepens into a meditative embrace through an array of inner techniques. This course activates a process of appreciation that releases judgments, interpretations, and dialogues. Mind and senses arise with sparkling clarity and we enter into the miracle of unborn beauty. Creativity flows like nectar through every interaction.
Instructor: Santosh Philip. Cost: $144. Prerequisites: At least 3 years of practice experience or consent of instructor. 

Register: https://nyingmainstitute.asapconnected.com/#EventID=1884396 

Intermediate Meditation: Discovering Mind (MED204)
Thursdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM, PT (June 24 – August 12)
The texts for this class are two books by Tarthang Tulku, Mind Over Matter and Milking the Painted Cow. Practices will be drawn from the reading and from the section in Milking the Painted Cow called “Making Mind the Matter,” pp.99-106. These practices build on a basic meditation practice that grows out of earlier courses in this sequence, and that could be described in this way: letting go, transforming obstacles, and opening the heart.
Instructor: Pauline Yu. Cost: $144. 

Register: https://nyingmainstitute.asapconnected.com/#EventID=1884399 

Beginning Meditation: Meditations for Healing Body/Mind/Heart/Spirit (MED105)
Wednesdays, 6:00 – 7:30 PM, PT (June 23 – August 11)
This course will introduce you to traditional meditations from the Tibetan Buddhist Nyingma Lineage, focusing on their healing benefits; for the beginner as well as for those wishing support in restarting a lapsed daily meditation routine. The course will include guided sitting practice, as well as walking meditation, relaxing breath practices, gentle body movement (Kum Nye), and healing sound: chanting. As Tarthang Tulku, founder of Nyingma Institute says, Meditation helps us to be calm and happy … to enjoy life, to be cheerful, and to deal effectively with both our physical and mental problems.
Instructor: Olivia Hurd. Cost: $144. Open to all. 

Register: https://nyingmainstitute.asapconnected.com/#EventID=1884401 

Kum Nye (KNR)

Anatomy of a Kum Nye Exercise: #103 Vitality and #108 Touching the Present Body (KNR130)
Wednesdays, 8:30 – 9:30 AM, PT (June 23 – August 11)
In this 8-week class we will work intimately with body, breath, senses, and awareness as we explore two Kum Nye practices in depth and detail. #103 ‘will revitalize the whole body, increase stability, and improve coordination’. #108 ‘relieves qualities of inner holding and inner chill and creates lightness in the body’. Commitment to daily practice between classes is required to get the full benefit of this course. This morning class meets weekly for 1 hour.
Instructor: Donna Morton. Cost: $96. Prerequisites: completion of at least one Kum Nye course or workshop, or with permission of the instructor. 

Register: https://nyingmainstitute.asapconnected.com/#EventID=1884413 

Kum Nye in Daily Life (KNR119)
Mondays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM, PT (June 21 – August 9) OR 7:00 – 8:30 AM, PT (June 24 – August 12)

“When you finish practicing, be sure to let your next activity also be a form of Kum Nye. Expand your feelings while eating, walking, or seeing. Let relaxation inform every experience, so your entire life becomes a part of an expanding, widening, meditation.”
Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga, 215

In this summer class we explore how the benefits of Kum Nye— such as feeling better, having more energy, being more open, doing what needs to be done—can extend into daily life. These classes offer suggestions for building and sustaining inner wholeness and a positive outlook that result from Kum Nye practice.

Instructors Abbe Blum, Anita McNulty, Donna Morton, Santosh Philip. Many exercises are drawn from the latter parts of the book. It is recommended that you have prior Kum Nye experience, preferably at least one Kum Nye course. Cannot be taken as a drop-in class.

Section 1: Monday nights, 7:00 – 8:30 PM, PST. Cost: $144. No Drop-ins. Register: https://nyingmainstitute.asapconnected.com/#EventID=1884426 
Section 2: Thursday mornings, 7:00 – 8:30 AM, PST. Cost: $144. No Drop-ins. Register: https://nyingmainstitute.asapconnected.com/#EventID=1884427  

Intermediate / Mixed Level Kum Nye:  Joy of Being, Easening Practices (KNR210)
Thursdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM, PT (June 24 – August 12)
“For our health and happiness, it is essential that we learn ways of relaxing and bringing ease to the mind and communicate directly with body and senses.” Joy of Being,144.
This ongoing Joy of Being series features practice that promotes deep relaxation, giving mind space to be, while energizing the senses. This class also develops awareness that lessens the grasping quality that comes with perceiving and narrating experience. We explore redirecting energy that gets diverted into discomfort or negative patterning into positive action that relieves and empowers.
Instructor: Abbe Blum. Cost: $144. Drop-in: $20, Based on Tarthang Tulku’s Joy of Being. Prerequisite: familiarity with Kum Nye through at least one prior class or attending Sunday sessions.

Register: https://nyingmainstitute.asapconnected.com/#EventID=1893935 

Advanced Kum Nye: Ongoing Practice (KNR304)
Tuesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 PM, PT (June 22 – August 10)
Advanced Kum Nye movement, breath, and visualization practices from Tarthang Tulku’s Joy of Being form the core of these classes. Exercises will be offered on different levels of engagement to challenge the advanced student. This course is an un-course, in the sense that it is a space of exploration best entered without expectations.
Instructor: Santosh Philiip. Cost: $144.

Register: https://nyingmainstitute.asapconnected.com/#EventID=1884430 

Nyingma Psychology (NPS)

No Nyingma Psychology courses this term. 

Time, Space and Knowledge (TSK)

Time, Space and Knowledge: Perspectives and Practices (TSK108)
Dates and times TBA
A continuing exploration of Tarthang Tulku’s Time, Space and Knowledge vision. We inquire into our presence as expressions of time, space, and knowledge. In a sense, we are activating and realizing our human potential as visionary beings. Our practice can inform our living and our living informs our practice. The primary text is Dynamics of Time and Space, although we will also engage other works by Tarthang Tulku in the TSK series. Anyone with an interest in exploring experience on a fundamental level is welcome.
Instructor: Ken McKeon. Cost: $144. Open to all.

Register: Please contact us if you’re interested in this course. 

Tibetan Language (TIB)

Beginning Tibetan Level VI (TIB106)
Mondays, 6:15 – 7:45 PM, PT (June 21 – August 9)
In this beginning language class, students continue studying grammar and working with selections from classical Tibetan texts.
Instructor: Mark Henderson. Cost: $144. Prerequisite: TIB105 or consent of the instructor. 

Register: https://nyingmainstitute.asapconnected.com/#EventID=1884438 

Intermediate Tibetan VI (TIB206)
Thursdays, 6:15 -7:45 PM, PT (June 24 – August 12)
Continued reading and translation of traditional texts and prayers in the classical Tibetan language.
Instructor: Mark Henderson. Cost: $144. Prerequisite: TIB205 or consent of the instructor. 

Register: https://nyingmainstitute.asapconnected.com/#EventID=1884439 

Advanced Tibetan: Advanced Tutorial (TIB302)
Fridays, 3:30 – 4:45 PM, PT (June 25 – August 13)
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: $144. Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor. 

Register: https://nyingmainstitute.asapconnected.com/#EventID=1884440