This course is a continuation of the Nitartha Summer Institute course, LAN530. It is similarly oriented towards reading Tibetan Buddhist texts and literature, largely from the Kagyü and Nyingma traditions. This autumn we will be reading Je Gampopa’s ལམ་མཆོག་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་ཕྲེང་བ། The Precious Garland of the Supreme Path alongside Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche’s commentary ལམ་མཆོག་རིན་ཆེན་ཕྲེང་བའི་འགྲེལ་བ་ལམ་མཆོག་གསལ་བྱེད་ལེགས་བཤད་དོ་ཤལ། A Crystal Necklace of Excellent Explanations that Illuminate the Supreme Path: A commentary on [Lord Gampopa’s] Precious Garland of the Supreme Path. Class meetings are structured as a translation group. Each student is given an opportunity to read a passage aloud and offer their translation to the group. Then we collectively analyze the translation and discuss difficult points of phrasing and grammar in the context of the specific passage. Through this process the entire group benefits from the confusion and insights of each participant.

Time is also alloted to studying Tibetan grammar using a variety of sources, both traditional and modern. Opening and closing chants are done in Tibetan. Please plan to budget 3 to 4 hours of preparation time for each class.