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11 04, 2023

Yogacara: the remedy for the poor diet of “Mind Only”

2023-04-11T16:55:53-07:00Categories: Blog, Cittamatra, Karl Brunnholzl, Mahamudra, Mind Only, Shedra, Summer Institute, Yogacara|

Yogacara: the remedy for the poor diet of "Mind Only" by Mitra Dr. Karl Brunnhölzl. Mitra Brunnhölzl will be teaching on Yogacara at July's Summer Institute. To remedy the poor diet of “Mind-Only” always being refuted by Madhyamaka as the highest Buddhist view and do justice to the great Indian Mahayana Yogacara tradition, recent teachings on Vasubandhu’s Thirty Verses by H.H. the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, extensively discuss the need to review the way Tibetan doxographies present the so-called “Mind-Only School” in light of the classical Yogacara School in India and China. Yogacara is (mis)represented as “Mind-Only” for three main reasons: superficial and out-of-context judgments based on

22 02, 2023

Enhance Your Mahamudra Practice through Space Awareness

2023-03-09T11:07:26-08:00Categories: Blog, Buddhist Studies, Mahamudra, Summer Institute|

Enhance Your Mahamudra Practice through Space Awareness Space Awareness will be offered on site at this year's Summer Institute (for details, check out the Summer Institute Enhancement Activities page). I wonder, how would we be able to experience the "spaciously relaxed" quality of Mahamudra meditation without having a sense of space? How big is your sense of space? As you go about your day, do you feel the space behind your back? Are you aware of the space above and below you as you walk, talk or wash the dishes? Or do you go through most of your day only aware of what is in the visual field

13 12, 2022

BUD 692 Treasury of Valid Cognition and Reasoning

2023-08-25T11:54:54-07:00Categories: Acharya Kelsang Wangdi, Advanced Curriculum, reg-EN, reg-semester, registration, Valid Cognition|

Register Here PREREQUISITES Anyone who is interested may take this course, however, it is recommended that studens have finished Nitartha Institute's Foundation and Intermediate curricula, or Mind and Its World I and II at a minimum. 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 which inaugurated a new period of Pramāna studies in Tibet by focusing particularly on Dharmakīrti’s Pramānavārttika and identifying the errors

7 12, 2022

Sautrantika Philosophical System: The Path of Vipashyana

2022-12-07T17:29:06-08:00Categories: Blog, Buddhist Studies, Shedra, Uncategorized|

Once we have developed calm-abiding to some degree, the mind becomes settled enough that we can take anything that arises in our present moment experience as the object of meditation. For example, in this course we will explore the key vipashyana practice of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, which encompasses everything that we experience. We will have an opportunity to practice some of these four foundations through guided analytical meditations. Another vipashyana practice is meditation on the Four Noble Truths: what we are to know (the truth of suffering), what we relinquish (the origin of suffering), what we attain (the truth of cessation) and what we rely upon

7 12, 2022

The Sautrantika Philosophical System: The Path of Shamatha

2022-12-08T10:21:50-08:00Categories: Blog, Buddhist Studies, Mind & Its World, Sautrantika, Semester Course, Shedra|

What is a path? It is something that, once we have entered it, will bring us to more supreme states. The previous blog discussed one aspect of the view of the Sautrantika philosophical system — that our sense perceptions do not perceive outer appearances, but rather they perceive mental images. The path, or meditation, offers an opportunity to experience the phenomena described by the view. In fact, what appears during meditation is precisely that which is presented by the view. Having studied the view, we can then bring clarity to our meditative experience. This is the very purpose of studying the view at Nitartha Institute – to

7 12, 2022

Is there a real world out there?

2022-12-12T11:43:46-08:00Categories: Blog, Buddhist Studies, Foundation Curriculum, Mind & Its World, Shedra|

The Sautrantika response to “Is there a real world out there?” In Mind and Its World IV, the last course in Nitartha’s foundation curriculum, we arrive at the Sautrantika view. The Sautrantikas share a lot with the Vaibashikas, who are the topic of Mind and Its World III, but go even further. Their perspective on existence is more subtle and they are considered even more insightful. Understanding their views helps us to understand our own confusion even more, and also better prepares us for what comes in Nitartha’s intermediate courses. So, is there a real world out there? Well, if you are a Sautrantika you would say, “Yes!”

24 07, 2022

BUD 520 Mind and Its World III

2023-09-11T15:01:23-07:00Categories: Foundation Curriculum, reg-EN, reg-semester, registration|

Register Here PREREQUISITES BUD 501 BUD 520 Mind and Its World III: Vaibhashika Philosophical Tradition Faculty: {!{types field='faculty' style='text'}!}{!{/types}!} This course is an exposition of the Vaibashika and Sautrantika philosophical views, based on the The Gateway that Reveals the Philosophical Traditions to Fresh Minds root text and the new Mind and Its world III Sourcebook. The presentation of these views are based on teachings given by Acharya Kelzang Wangdi on the Gateway that Reveals the Philosophical Systems to Fresh Minds root text during the 2009 and 2010 Summer Institutes. His talks have been incorporated into the new Mind and Its World III Sourcebook. If

24 07, 2022

BUD 502 Clear Thinking

2023-09-15T19:46:19-07:00Categories: reg-EN, reg-semester, registration|

Register here PREREQUISITES None BUD 502 Clear Thinking Faculty: {!{types field='faculty' style='text'}!}{!{/types}!} This course will deepen your understanding of knowable objects as expounded by the Abhidhama tradition, based on the Collected Topics root text. Students will learn methods for thinking clearly by formulating definitions, examples, equivalents and classifications, and by exploring the four types of logical relationships between two phenomena. This course also prepares students for debate, which is a highly effective method for clarifying one's understanding of the topics that are covered in Nitartha's study curriculum. PREREQUISITE: None REQUIRED TEXTS: Root text: Collected Topics (Düdra), by

31 05, 2022

Madhyamaka: a crucial stage on our journey to emptiness

2022-06-10T11:20:51-07:00Categories: Blog, Buddhist Studies, Consciousness, Jirka Hladis, Madhyamaka, Summer Institute|Tags: , , , |

Madhyamaka and several more courses will be offered at this year’s Summer Institute in July. The topics are incredible. Don’t miss out! Register for the 2022 Nitartha Summer Institute here: https://bit.ly/si22mind Madhyamaka: a crucial stage on our journey to emptiness On our journey to emptiness, the Nitartha curriculum takes us through several stages. In the Mind and Its World series, we become familiar with how the data coming in through our senses changes from moment to moment. There is nobody who owns it, there is no personal identity. In the Mind Only class we further discover and learn to appreciate how this manifold experience is

9 03, 2022

BUD 500 Analytical Meditation I (SPOC)

2022-03-15T20:00:31-07:00Categories: reg-spoc, registration|

BUD 500 Analytical Meditation I (SPOC) This course is a systematic training in the meditation of special insight in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Having first established a ground of calm abiding, students engage in analytical vipashyana or insight meditation into how our use of conceptuality contributes to the creation of karma and kleśa, and how to reverse that process by contemplating identitylessness, emptiness. The course will cover Part I on the Common Samadhis, from Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā. Faculty; Jirka HladišPREREQUISITES: It is strongly recommended that students have taken some courses in the Foundational Curriculum. REQUIRED TEXTS: Part I on Common Samadhis from

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