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 553 辩经1阶

2025-01-13T10:56:56-08:00Categories: reg-EN, reg-semester, registration|

BUD 553 Collected Topics Debate I FACULTY: {!{types field='faculty'}!}{!{/types}!} This foundation debate course offers a methodical training in elementary debate skills on the basis of the Clear Thinking course. Students train in formulating reasonings with correct and seeming reasons and utilize them in debate by learning how to challenge the first mode (the relationship between the subject and the reason). The debate content consists of the classification of objects in terms of entity from Collected Topics. PREREQUISITE: BUD 502 REQUIRED TEXTS: None DATES & TIMES: {!{types field='dow'}!}{!{/types}!} {!{types field='course-dates'}!}{!{/types}!}, {!{types field='meeting-times'}!}{!{/types}!} COST: ${!{types field='course-cost' style='text'}!}{!{/types}!} Nitartha’s Payment Plan

13 12, 2022

BUD 692 Treasury of Valid Cognition and Reasoning

2025-01-05T16:52:57-08:00Categories: 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

7 12, 2022

Sautrantika Philosophical System: The Path of Vipashyana

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

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 620 Paths and Bhumis

2024-12-18T09:07:23-08:00Categories: reg-EN, reg-semester, registration|

BUD 620 Paths & Bhumis: The Path to Enlightenment FACULTY: {!{types field='faculty'}!}{!{/types}!} This is semester 2 of this course, an exposition of the Buddhist path based on The Presentation of Bhumis, Paths & Results in the Treasury of Knowledge root text. Students continue to learn what is necessary for entering and progressing on the path and what the goal of spiritual journey is, through exploring the five paths, and the ten bodhisattva bhūmis, as well as the result: nirvana, kāyas, wisdoms and enlightened activity. PREREQUISITE: Fall 2024 Paths & Bhumis (Semester 1) or repeat students who have previously completed the Paths & Bhumis course

31 05, 2022

Madhyamaka: a crucial stage on our journey to emptiness

2024-03-20T12:33:52-07:00Categories: Blog, Buddhist Studies, Consciousness, Jirka Hladis, Madhyamaka, Summer Institute|Tags: , , , |

Madhyamaka and many more courses will be offered at this year’s Summer Institute in July. The topics are incredible. Don’t miss out! Check out all the information about the 2024 Nitartha Summer Institute here: https://bit.ly/nsi24retreat Madhyamaka:a crucial stage on our journey to emptinessOn 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

9 03, 2022

BUD 500 Analytical Meditation I (SPOC)

2024-09-09T09:20:11-07:00Categories: 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 Hladiš   PREREQUISITES: It is strongly recommended that students have taken some courses in the Foundational Curriculum, particularly BUD 501 as a minimum.

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