| Welcome to The Rime Buddhist Center’s Summer curriculum. This semester all of our classes will be scheduled to take place online using Zoom. Geshe Thinley will be leading classes on Tsongkhapa’s Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path. Due to limitations with our online platform Geshe la’s classes will be moved to Wednesday’s at 6 pm. Unless otherwise noted, all classes meet on Wednesday evenings from 7:45pm – 9:00pm. Look for details below on these opportunities to deepen your practice with the support of fellow practitioners. To register for a class click on the class title. The hyperlink will open to the registration page. To purchase the books for the classes click on the title and the hyperlink will take you to Amazon. These classes are available to EVERYONE. We have “Suggested Fees,” however pay whatever you can afford for the class. Everyone is welcome! It is our hope that some will pay more to cover those who can’t afford the usual fee. We simply want everyone to have access to these wonderful classes. If you are unable to afford the class, during registration mark the payment method as “At the door”. |
| Classes are in order of occurrence Contemplating the Heart Sutra The Heart Sutra is a short prayer sutra loved and revered in all Buddhist traditions. Serious practitioners memorize and recite the sutra as part of their meditation practice. Thich Nhat Hanh is a beloved Vietnamese monk whose teachings have resonated with thousands of with Buddhist practitioners. His commentary on this sacred text gives the student closer to understanding the concept of emptiness which he terms, no separate self, which is not easy to grasp. “If you know that the ‘self’ that you speak about is not an immortal soul, but only a manifestation, a coming together of many causes and conditions, then you are safe. It is the awareness, not the name that is most important.” Participants are encouraged to share their understanding and experience of the Heart Sutra. Instructor:Nora Quiason Flores and Luis Flores Dates: Two sessions on Wednesdays, beginning on May 20, 2020 Times: 7:45 – 9:00 pm Class Fee: $30 Text: The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries Prerequisite: Basics of Buddhism Stages of the Path – Lamrim Part 1 Stages of the path (Tibetan: Lamrim) is the step-by-step approach to the teachings originally set out by the great Atisha. In the text, Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, author Je Tsongkhapa, expanded on Atisha’s work, and it soon became one of the most renowned works of spiritual practice and philosophy in the world of Tibetan Buddhism. Because it condenses all the exoteric sūtra scriptures into a meditation manual that is easy to understand, scholars and practitioners rely on its authoritative presentation as a gateway that leads to a full understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. Instructor: Ven. Geshe Tsewang Thinley Date: Four sessions beginning June 3, 2020 Time: 6:00 – 7:30 pm Class Fee: $30 Text: The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Volume 1) Prerequisite: Basics of Buddhism Skillful Means in Daily Life – Part II We will learn to use skillful means in our daily life with energy and enthusiasm. Each week, there will be an exercise from the book to practice throughout the week. Weekly topics include Inner Freedom, Change, Self-Knowledge and Humility. The text by Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche, founder of the Tibetan Nyingma Meditation Center is straightforward and easily accessible to any level of student. Instructor: Andrea Duloc Date: Four sessions beginning June 3, 2020 Time: 7:45 – 9:00 pm Class Fee: $30 Text: Skillful Means Prerequisite: None |
| Foundations of the Vajrayana Part 1 – The Ground – Thursdays Have you received empowerment from a teacher and asked to do a tantric practice, but you are unsure what it all means? This 4 part course will introduce you to the ground of the Vajrayana and the preliminary practices. The ground refers to all the Buddha-nature factors that will enable us to become a Buddha. And these are qualities or aspects of our mental continuum. The preliminary practices are profound and powerful means for effecting a deep purification and transformation, at every level of our being that helps us to develop the qualities of our ground nature. Instructor: Lama Matthew Palden Gocha Dates: Four sessions on Thursdays, beginning on June 4, 2020 Times: 7:45 – 9:00 pm Class Fee: $30 Text: Vajra Wisdom: Deity Practice in Tibetan Buddhism Prerequisite: Basics of Buddhism Stages of the Path – Lamrim Part 2 Stages of the path (Tibetan: Lamrim) is the step-by-step approach to the teachings originally set out by the great Atisha. In the text, Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, author Je Tsongkhapa, expanded on Atisha’s work, and it soon became one of the most renowned works of spiritual practice and philosophy in the world of Tibetan Buddhism. Because it condenses all the exoteric sūtra scriptures into a meditation manual that is easy to understand, scholars and practitioners rely on its authoritative presentation as a gateway that leads to a full understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. Instructor: Ven. Geshe Tsewang Thinley Date: Four sessions beginning July 1, 2020 Time: 6:00 – 7:30 pm Class Fee: $30 Text: The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Volume 1) Prerequisite: Basics of Buddhism Under the Bodhi Tree: Buddha’s Original Vision of Dependent Co-arising Under the Bodhi Tree takes us back to the principles at the heart of Buddha’s teachings—conditionality and dependent co-arising. Ajahn Buddhadasa Bhikkhu makes the case for dependent co-arising as a natural law, and builds a compelling presentation from there of Buddhist philosophy, meditation, and practice. Basing himself squarely on the Buddha’s own words as preserved in the Pali Canon, he brings clarity and simplicity to what is typically a thorny philosophical knot. By returning dependent co-arising to its central place in Buddhist theory and practice, Ajahn Buddhadasa provides perspective on the Buddha’s own insights and awakening. Instructor: Nicole Esquibel Dates: Four Sessions beginning July 1, 2020 Times: 7:45 – 9:00 pm Class Fee: $30 Text: Under the Bodhi Tree: Buddha’s Original Vision of Dependent Co-arising Prerequisite: Basics of Buddhism Foundations of the Vajrayana Part 2 – The Path – Thursdays Have you received empowerment from a teacher and asked to do a tantric practice, but you are unsure what it all means? This 4 part course will introduce you to the path of the Vajrayana and the creation and completion practices. Through the practices of visualization, mantra recitation and meditation, ordinary perception is transformed into a ‘sacred outlook,’ where everything is seen and experienced purely in its true nature. Instructor: Lama Matthew Palden Gocha Dates: Five sessions on Thursdays, beginning on July 2, 2020 Times: 7:45 – 9:00 pm Class Fee: $30 Text: Vajra Wisdom: Deity Practice in Tibetan Buddhism Prerequisite: Basics of Buddhism Stages of the Path – Lamrim Part 3 Stages of the path (Tibetan: Lamrim) is the step-by-step approach to the teachings originally set out by the great Atisha. In the text, Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, author Je Tsongkhapa, expanded on Atisha’s work, and it soon became one of the most renowned works of spiritual practice and philosophy in the world of Tibetan Buddhism. Because it condenses all the exoteric sūtra scriptures into a meditation manual that is easy to understand, scholars and practitioners rely on its authoritative presentation as a gateway that leads to a full understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. Instructor: Ven. Geshe Tsewang Thinley Date: Four sessions beginning August 5, 2020 Time: 6:00 – 7:30 pm Class Fee: $30 Text: The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Volume 1) Prerequisite: Basics of Buddhism Liberation Through Anger For many Buddhists, anger is often thought of as a root cause for suffering and lasting, negative repercussions. In American culture at large, anger–particularly among people of color–is delegitimized and demonized, and can even be dangerous. Social activist and Kagyu Lama Rod Owens offers a different understanding. For Owens, the coauthor of Radical Dharma, anger is one of the most important aspects of his personal identity as a Buddhist, social activist, Black American, and gay man. When denied or repressed, unconscious anger can have a negative impact with destructive consequences. But when recognized and used mindfully, it can be a positive source of vitality, courage, and dedication as well as a powerful mobilizing factor in our solidarity and commitment to enacting social change. What is needed, says Owens, is a relationship to the heartbreak of anger that is embodied, nondestructive, and deeply healing for all. Instructor: Sergio Moreno Date: Four Sessions beginning on Wednesday, August 5, 2020 Time: 7:45 – 9:00 p.m. Class Fee: $30 Class fee Text: Love and Rage: The Path of Liberation through Anger Prerequisite: Basics of Buddhism |