12 04, 2024

Mind and Its World I: Valid Cognition

2024-04-12T11:41:04-07:00Categories: Blog, Buddhist Studies, Mind & Its World, Semester Course, Shedra, Valid Cognition|

This is the first course in Nitartha’s curriculum, and one of many that will be offered at this year’s Summer Institute in July.  This course explores the question: How do you obtain accurate and valid knowledge about the world? That’s the subject of pramana, or Buddhist epistemology. We typically assume that what we know about the world is valid. But is it? Our mind processes information so quickly, it responds so fast to what’s happening around us that we usually don’t realize when we are having a conceptual experience that is not actually in agreement with the object that we are experiencing. In this course, we become able

8 05, 2023

The Elegance of Union

2024-03-26T09:11:00-07:00Categories: Blog, Intermediate Curriculum, Lorik, Mind & Its World, Summer Institute, Tibetan, Valid Cognition|

The Elegance of Union:Joining Study and MahamudraAt Nitartha's Summer Institute study and Mahamudra meditation are joined. Why?Jirka Hladiš says, “It's very simple -- that’s the elegance of it. The whole point of studying the view is to clarify the object of meditation. When you get the object of meditation right, then you just rest one-pointedly on the object, without the need for more instruction.”Study is quite extensive at Nitartha because it is crucial for determining the object of meditation. We often determine our object of meditation in an incorrect or unclear way. This creates a problem. While we still benefit from shamatha because it settles our minds, we

17 04, 2023

The five sciences

2023-04-18T16:16:25-07:00Categories: Blog, Intermediate Curriculum, Lorik, Mind & Its World, Summer Institute, Tibetan, Valid Cognition|

The Five Sciences: Accomplishing the Aim of the Bodhisattva This year at the 2023 Summer Institute, thefive sciences will be taught on site at the University of Colorado, Boulder In order to benefit all sentient beings, one needs to be able to communicate according to the interests and abilities of a great diversity of minds. The best training for achieving that goal is the training in the five sciences because, together, they encompass all that can be known. Lama Mipham said, “All mundane and supramundane topics of knowledge can be contained . . . within a simple enumeration of just five fields of knowledge.”1 As aspiring bodhisattvas, we

13 12, 2022

BUD 692 Treasury of Valid Cognition and Reasoning

2024-12-20T07:54:35-08:00Categories: Acharya Kelsang Wangdi, Advanced Curriculum, reg-EN, reg-semester, registration, Valid Cognition|

BUD 692 Treasury of Valid Cognition and Reasoning Faculty: {!{types field='faculty' style='text'}!}{!{/types}!} Course Description: This course is the continuation of an in-depth study of Treasury of Valid Cognition and Reasoning, (tshad ma rigs gter) by renowned scholar Sakya Pandita (1182-1251) – an influential work that inaugurated a new period of pramana studies in Tibet by focusing particularly on Dharmakirti’s Pramanavarttika and identifying the errors of earlier Tibetan scholars, especially Chapa Chökyi Senge. We will study Sakya Pandita’s seminal work on the basis of the commentary by Jamyang Loter Wangpo (1847-1914). This semester, we will continue and complete Chapter 5 "Investigation of the Object of Expression and

7 04, 2021

Hearing, Contemplation & Meditation Part II of II

2021-08-19T12:48:28-07:00Categories: Acharya Sherab Gyaltsen, Blog, Buddhist Studies, Consciousness, Foundation Curriculum, Hinayana, Mind & Its World, Sautrantika, Summer Institute, Vaibhashika, Valid Cognition|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

This excerpt is copyrighted material, please do not use or copy without written permission from Nitartha Publications. The following is part II of an excerpt from Commentary on Hinayana Tenets by Acharya Sherab Gyaltsen (You can read part I here). This is included in the introduction section of the sourcebook we use in our Mind & its World I course. Some things we learn about in details in the course rare: Divisions of mind Definitions of valid cognition Definition of direct valid cognition Sense direct valid cognition Two truths in Vaibhashika and Sautrantika view Process of perception in Vaibhashika and Sautrantika view Mental direct valid cognition Self-aware

7 04, 2021

Hearing, Contemplation & Meditation Part I of II

2021-08-19T12:49:21-07:00Categories: Acharya Sherab Gyaltsen, Blog, Buddhist Studies, Consciousness, Foundation Curriculum, Hinayana, Mind & Its World, Sautrantika, Summer Institute, Vaibhashika, Valid Cognition|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

This excerpt is copyrighted material, please do not use or copy without written permission from Nitartha Publications. The following is part II of an excerpt from Commentary on Hinayana Tenets by Acharya Sherab Gyaltsen (You can read part I here). This is included in the introduction section of the sourcebook we use in our Mind & its World I course. Some things we learn about in details in the course rare: Divisions of mind Definitions of valid cognition Definition of direct valid cognition Sense direct valid cognition Two truths in Vaibhashika and Sautrantika view Process of perception in Vaibhashika and Sautrantika view Mental direct valid cognition Self-aware

3 03, 2021

Mind & Mental Events

2021-06-16T09:00:38-07:00Categories: Acharya Sherab Gyaltsen, Blog, Buddhist Studies, Consciousness, Foundation Curriculum, Lorik, Mind & Its World, Self-Paced Online Course, Semester Course, Shedra, Summer Institute, Valid Cognition|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |

Manifest & Hidden Phenomena This excerpt is copyrighted material, please do not use or copy without written permission from Nitartha Publications.This excerpt is from the sourcebook that we use for the Mind & Its World II course. This course completes the Classification of Mind (Lorik) root text, from the tradition of Pramāna or Buddhist epistemology that students began in Mind and Its World I. This course has two main sections. The first provides the practitioner with the tools for delineating conceptual and non- conceptual types of mind in meditation. This teaching is codified as the modes of engagement of mind. The second section investigates mind in terms

1 02, 2021

Meditation On Selflessness

2021-06-16T09:02:02-07:00Categories: Acharya Kelsang Wangdi, Blog, Buddhist Studies, Foundation Curriculum, Mind & Its World, Sautrantika, Self-Paced Online Course, Semester Course, Shedra, Valid Cognition|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Manifest & Hidden Phenomena This excerpt is copyrighted material, please do not use or copy without written permission from Nitartha Publications.This excerpt is from our sourcebook we use for Mind & Its World IV class. This course is an extensive exposition of the Sautrantika philosophical tradition, based on the expanded version of The Gateway that Reveals the Philosophical Traditions to Fresh Minds root text. MEDITATION ON SELFLESSNESS By ACHARYA KELSANG WANGDI Personal selflessness can be explained in three contexts: the twelve links of dependent origination. the four noble truths or the four realities. the sixteen aspects of the four realities. Here, we begin with body and mind.

8 01, 2020

2020 Offerings

2021-05-27T12:08:05-07:00Categories: Blog, Buddhist Studies, Foundation Curriculum, Intermediate Curriculum, Madhyamaka, Mind & Its World, Self-Paced Online Course, Semester Course, Valid Cognition|Tags: , , , , , , |

Manifest & Hidden Phenomena Don’t Miss This Year’s Offerings! Pre-Summer Online Course Registration is Now Open! Click here for information about the pre-summer Mahamudra shamatha, Mahamudra Vipashyana-I, and Luminous Essence (Guhyagarbha) courses, including eligibility requirements and applications. (For those who are going to attend the 2020 Summer Institute and who meet the eligibility criteria.) New Discussion groups: Register now for our first in a series of online discussions with Nitartha faculty: Madhyamaka with Israel Lifshitz, on January 18, 10-11am Pacific time. Free of charge. (This discussion is particularly recommended for those who have taken the Madhyamaka course at Nitartha.) New Advanced Online Course:  Registration is now

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