Foundation Course Descriptions
BUD 500 ANALYTICAL MEDITATION
This course is a systematic training in the meditation of special insight following the approach of the Abhidharma tradition. Students learn the skills to gain certainty in the view of selflessness through the practice of the Four Applications of Mindfulness, cultivating inferential wisdom and bringing it to personal experience.
PREREQUISITE: BUD 501
REQUIRED TEXTS: None
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MIND AND ITS WORLD I – IV
These four course constitute three mutually supportive disciplines in the Tibetan tradition: Collected Topics (Düdra in Tibetan), Classification of Mind (Lorik in Tibetan), and Philosophical Systems (Truptha in Tibetan). Broadly speaking, in Western terminology, these correspond to:
- Phenomenology, which is a description of the world as we experience it, primarily refers to the objective side of experience. This aspect of the curriculum involves the study of “Collected Topics,” which is based on the Abhidharma tradition.
- Epistemology, which is an analysis of how we know, is a systematic investigation of the types of mind that arise through knowing and experiencing ourselves and the world. This primarily refers to the subjective side of experience. This aspect of the curriculum primarily involves the study of the Classifications of Mind as well as Classifications of Reasons (Tarik in Tibetan). It is based on the Pramana, or Valid Cognition tradition of India.
- Ontology presents systematic assertions with regard to what is real within the subjective and objective sides of our experience, both ultimately and conventionally, as well as with regard to what is completely unreal and non-existent, such as a permanent self. This aspect of the Foundation Curriculum involves the study of the Philosophical Systems literature from the Vaibhashika and Sautrantika schools. (In addition to ontology, texts on the philosophical systems generally include a range of teachings, such as virtuous conduct, the stages of realization on the path, the fruition of the path, and so on.)
These three disciplines — Collected Topics, Classifications of Mind, and the Philosophical Systems — are closely related. Collected Topics describes experience, particularly of the external world. Classifications of Mind describes the types of mind that have that experience. And Philosophical Systems clarifies which of our experiences are true.
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BUD 501 MIND AND ITS WORLD: VALID COGNITION
This course is an introductory exposition of topics drawn from the Pramana tradition, based on the Classifications of Mind root text. Students explore the criteria for the validity of cognition, the fourfold classification of direct valid cognition, seeming direct cognition and non-valid cognition.
PREREQUISITE: None
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Root text: Classifications of Mind (Lorik), by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Nitartha Institute Publications
Mind & Its World 1 Sourcebook, Nitartha Institute Publications
BUD 510 MIND AND ITS WORLD II: MODES OF ENGAGEMENT AND MENTAL EVENTS
This course completes the introductory exposition of topics drawn from the Pramana and Abhidhama traditions, based on the Classifications of Mind and Collected Topics root text. It provides students with the tools for delineating conceptual and non-conceptual mind in meditation, known as the essential modes of engagement of mind. This is followed by the exposition of Buddhist psychology—classification of consciousness into primary minds and mental events.
PREREQUISITE: BUD 501
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Root text: Classifications of Mind (Lorik), by Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Nitartha Institute Publications
Root text: Collected Topics (Düdra), by Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen, Nitartha Institute Publications
Mind & Its World 2 Sourcebook, Nitartha Institute Publications
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BUD 520 Mind and Its World III: Vaibhashika Philosophical Tradition
This course is an exposition of the Vaibhashika philosophical tradition, based on the The Gateway that Reveals the Philosophical Traditions to Fresh Minds root text. Students explore foundational classifications of knowable objects: the five bases, five aggregates, twelve sources and eighteen constituents, followed by the presentation of the Vaibhashika theory of causation from Collected Topics and the twelve links of dependent origination.
PREREQUISITE: BUD 501
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Root text: The Gateway that Reveals the Philosophical Traditions to Fresh Minds (Truptha), by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen and Acharya Kelsang Wangdi, Nitartha Institute Publications
Root text: Collected Topics (Düdra), by Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen, Nitartha Institute Publications
Mind & Its World 3 Sourcebook, Nitartha Institute Publications
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BUD 530 MIND AND ITS WORLD IV: SAUTRANTIKA PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITION
This course is an exposition of the Sautrantika philosophical tradition, followed by the presentation of the path and result of foundational Buddhism, based on The Gateway that Reveals the Philosophical Traditions to Fresh Minds root text. Students explore classifications of knowable object into specifically and generally characterized phenomena as well as the Sautrantika’s distinct presentation of the five aggregates. The path consists of calm abiding and superior insight.
PREREQUISITE: BUD 501
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Root text: The Gateway that Reveals the Philosophical Traditions to Fresh Minds (Truptha), by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen and Acharya Kelsang Wangdi, Nitartha Institute Publications
Mind & Its World 4 Sourcebook, Nitartha Institute Publications
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BUD 502 CLEAR THINKING (INTRODUCTION TO DEBATE)This course focuses on teaching students the basic forms of Tibetan-style logic and debate (conducted in English). The intent of the debate form is to sharpen and deepen one’s understanding in a dialogue style for the mutual benefit of both debate partners. Learning basic debate lays a useful foundation that can be helpful throughout one’s Buddhist journey. Logical reasonings appear in a wide range of texts, so it is extremely beneficial for students to learn the debate format.
The debate form is practiced by using definitions and classifications taken from Collected Topics. So not only do students learn the debate form in the Clear Thinking course, they also are introduced to basic teaching topics from the Abhidharma and Pramana traditions.
Students will continue to use the debate forms to probe the course material throughout the entire Nitartha curriculum: Foundation, Intermediate, and Advanced. Open-ended discussion groups are also used to help students explore the material.
BUD 502 Clear Thinking is a foundational course for progressing through the Nitartha curriculum and is a pre-requisite for higher level debate courses (BUD 540, BUD 553, …).
PREREQUISITE: None
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Root text: Collected Topics (Düdra), by Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen, Nitartha Institute Publications
Clear Thinking Workbook, Nitartha Institute Publications