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Winter 2012
Nyingma Institute courses are offered in four quarters of ten weeks (Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall) and a four-week session in September. To meet the needs of our students, almost all courses are scheduled in the evening, and some meditation and Nyingma Psychology courses are also offered during the day. The daytime sessions mirror evening courses.
Each course is an integral part of one of our seven Certificate Programs and we recommend that all those interested in attending courses register for one of these programs. Each Certificate Program offers a focused educational opportunity to master an aspect of our curriculum. It is also possible to attend individual courses for which you meet the prerequisites as an auditor.
The course list below gives dates, times, and short descriptions. Following each course description is the name of the Certificate Program or Programs that the course is part of (in parentheses). Clicking on the Program name will take you to a full description of the Program. The costs shown below apply when the courses are taken individually; costs are lower when courses are taken as part of a Certificate Program.
Winter 2012 Courses
January 2—March 9
Buddhist Studies and Practices
Within our consciousness, our mind, our presence, and awareness, the inner knowledge of enlightenment is available… The dynamic of awakening operates effectively even though nothing in conventional experience equips us to access it. Within words and images and the perceptions that they rely on, there is a deeper knowing. –Tarthang Tulku
DHS201 An Awakened Vision of Being
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:15-7:45 PM (January 3—March 8)
This course is a journey into the Buddha’s vision of what embodiment means. Students will explore the teachings of the Buddhist Abhidharma, be introduced to the life-story of the Buddha and the symbolism of the form of the Buddha as presented in traditional art and sculpture, and recognize the stages on the Buddhist path.
(Path of Liberation Program; Path and Practices of Liberation Program)
Cost: $360. Instructors: Sylvia Gretchen and Jack Petranker. Students are encouraged to attend the associated workshops “Visions of Enlightenment,” on January 13-14, and “Faith in Dharma” on February 17-18. Open to all students with a sincere interest in the Buddha’s teachings.
DHS211 Buddhist Studies Tutorial: Perfect Caring through Self-Mastery
Thursdays, 1-2:30 PM (January 5—March 8)
“The aim is to turn the mind around, to put an end to self-delusion and unending confusion, to transcend all limited views and all limitations on the heart’s natural capacity for love and joy.” – Tarthang Tulku, Path of Heroes.
All teachings of the Buddha are informed by knowledge of the inner workings of consciousness. Like a magical elixir, when these teachings are united with mind, consciousness expands and wondrous qualities emerge. In this course, readings from Path of Heroes will guide and inspire efforts to cultivate mind, mindfulness, and compassionate love.
(Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program; Path and Practices of Liberation Program)
Cost: $180. Instructor: Sylvia Gretchen, assisted by Robin Caton. Open to all students with a sincere interest in the Buddha’s teachings.
Nyingma Meditation
The practice of Nyingma Meditation leads to serenity and insight. Courses provide instruction in meditation techniques and support for daily practice.
MED102 Beginning Meditation: Developing Inner Serenity
Morning Class: Tuesdays, 10-11:30 AM (January 3—March 6)
Evening Class: Thursdays, 6:15-7:45 PM (January 5—March 8)
Meditation activates a deep source of inner peace that can protect us from suffering and frustration. Through sitting meditation, walking meditation, and mantra practice students learn to relax tension and cultivate equanimity. The focus is on reducing mental distractions.
(Beginning Nyingma Meditation Program; Kum Nye (Tibetan Yoga) Program; Path and Practices of Liberation Program)
Cost: $180. Instructors: Robin Caton (mornings) and Olivia Hurd (evenings). For beginners and those wishing to review basic techniques.
MED202 Intermediate Meditation: Overcoming Obstacles
Morning Class: Wednesdays, 10-11:30 AM (January 4—March 7)
Evening Class: Thursdays, 8-9:30 PM (January 5—March 8)
In this course students learn to overcome the most common obstacles to meditation: sleepiness, overactive thoughts and “dreaminess.” The course also includes practices and teachings that further develop concentration and awareness.
(Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program; Path and Practices of Liberation Program)
Cost: $180. Instructors: Jack Petranker (mornings); Hugh Joswick (evenings). Prerequisite: one year of meditation experience.
MED204 Intermediate Meditation: Shamatha and Vipashyana
Wednesdays, 8:00—9:30 PM (January 4—March 7)
Through two aspects of meditation, calming and insight, the mind is experienced as tranquil and sensitive, alive and brilliant. In this course, students will be led through contemplative practices that reveal deeper levels of mind than are ordinarily recognized. The focus will be in sitting practice with a minimum of instruction.
(Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program)
Cost: $180. Instructors: Nyingma Institute Meditation Faculty. Prerequisite: two years of meditation experience.
MED302 Advanced Meditation: Magical Mirror
Mondays, 6:15—7:45 PM (January 2—March 5)
Brilliant and perfectly clear, mind reflects all things — good and bad, beautiful and ugly — like a mirror. Through meditation we focus on the mirror-like quality of mind, cleansing it of all that obstructs its brilliance. Meditations and discussions will be based on the teachings of the great Nyingma master Longchenpa.
(Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program; Path and Practices of Liberation Program)
Cost: $180, which includes a workshop to be announced. Instructor: Sylvia Gretchen. Based on Longchenpa’s Kindly Bent to Ease Us. Prerequisite: three years of meditation experience and consent of the instructor.
Students attending this course will benefit from also attending the Kum Nye course “Transforming, Breath, Energy, Feeling” held Mondays, 8-9:30 PM. The Kum Nye practices offered in that course will further deepen the meditations and insights gained through the advanced meditation class.
Nyingma Psychology and Practices
Nyingma psychology and practices offer unique insight into the human situation and innovative ways to ease emotional discomfort.
NPS101 Healing Mind*
Mondays, 8—9:30 PM (January 2—May 21)
Mind can reflect immense beauty, love, and clarity, but mind can also weave an intricate web of suffering. This five-month course is designed to increase self-understanding and heal mind through experiential investigation into its structures and functions. Topics include: emotions as hidden knowledge, conflict and self-image, and reclaiming the heart.
(Nyingma Psychology Program; Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program; Path and Practices of Liberation Program)
Cost: $400 or $80 per month, which includes the workshops “Transforming Negative Emotions” on January 21 and “Self-Image” on April 21. Instructors: Sylvia Gretchen and Erika Rosenberg.
KOF102 Education for a New World: Awakening Knowledge
Thursdays, 6:15-7:45 PM (January 5—March 8)
As an artist allows hand and brush to be directed by an inner vision, we can be guided by knowledge of our own value and take full advantage of the opportunities a human life offers. Supported by the inner riches we have developed within ourselves, we can live secure, free from anxiety, fear, and loneliness. –Tarthang Tulku, Knowledge of Freedom
Reaching out for fulfillment feeds endless longing, and inward grasping — even in the search for knowledge — yields nothing truly new. Trying too hard, and in the wrong way, we separate ourselves from our heart's delight. In this course we look at the process of self-deception; in doing so, we become undeceived.
(Nyingma Psychology Program; Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program)
$180. Instructor: Tom Morse. Based on Tarthang Tulku’s Knowledge of Freedom.
NPR101 The Practice of Mantra
Mondays, 6:15—7:45 PM (January 2—March 5)
Mantras are deeply symbolic sounds that, when chanted with a quiet mind and an open heart, activate qualities of wisdom, compassion and healing. This course presents traditional Tibetan mantras and the healing practices associated with them.
(Beginning Nyingma Meditation Program; Path and Practices of Liberation Program)
$180. Instructors: Rosalyn White and Mark Henderson.
Kum Nye (Tibetan Yoga)
The gentle movement, massage, and breathing practices of Kum Nye promote physical and emotional health as they bridge the gap between the material and the spiritual.
KNR101 Beginning Kum Nye: Promoting Spaciousness*
Wednesdays, 6:15—7:45 PM (January 4—March 7)
Kum Nye teaches us to live spaciously as it gently moves us beyond perceived limits and boundaries. Students open the senses, navigating the space of sensations, emotions and perceptions, and move toward an integration of body and mind.
(Kum Nye (Tibetan Yoga) Program; Beginning Nyingma Meditation Program; Nyingma Psychology Program; Path and Practices of Liberation Program)
Cost: $180. Instructor: Jack van der Meulen.
KNR301 Transforming Breath, Energy, Feeling
Mondays, 8—9:30 PM (January 2—March 5)
Kum Nye is based on comprehensive understanding of the body: how its inner systems operate, how they are interconnected, and how they are activated by energy circulating through them. –Tarthang Tulku, Joy of Being
Advanced Kum Nye practices transform the body/mind on an energetic level. This experiential course integrates breath, movement, and feeling. We become more present and embodied.
(Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program; Path and Practices of Liberation Program)
Cost: $180. Instructor: Santosh Philip. Based on Tarthang Tulku’s Joy of Being. Prerequisite: two years of Kum Nye. This course is suitable for both intermediate and advanced students.
Students attending this course may also be interested in the advanced meditation class “Magical Mirror” offered on Mondays from 6:15-7:45 PM.
KNR107 Sunday Morning Kum Nye
Sundays, 10 AM—Noon (every Sunday)
Renew a spirit of ease and appreciation through gentle Tibetan Yoga practices that relax body, breath, and mind. A range of Kum Nye movement, massage, and breathing exercises is given in each session.
(Kum Nye (Tibetan Yoga) Program)
Cost: $15 per session. Instructors: Jack van der Meulen, Santosh Philip, and Dave Abercrombie. This drop-in class is for all levels of students.
Skillful Means
The study of mind has traditionally been the province of a small minority in society, but in today's democratic times we can see it quite differently. We are all human beings aiming at similar goals, and we can all direct our efforts toward attaining knowledge, each in our own ways. –Tarthang Tulku, Mastering Successful Work.
SKM212 Exploring Mind’s Frameworks
Tuesdays, 8-9:30 PM (January 3—March 6)
Mind discloses its operating frameworks through the content and sequencing of thoughts, speech and actions. Watching closely, we discern distinct styles of mind and infer their capabilities, limitations and constraints. Seeking to release constraints and move beyond limitations, we are rewarded by new understanding and key insights. This is the second class of the four-quarter Skillful Means–Know your Mind sequence.
(Nyingma Psychology Program; Path and Practices of Liberation Program)
Cost: $180, which includes a workshop to be announced. Instructor: Barr Rosenberg. Prerequisite: Completion of the fall quarter class or consent of the instructor.
Time, Space, and Knowledge
TSK108 Time, Space, and Knowledge: Perspectives and Practices
Daytime session: Tuesdays, 1-2:30 PM (January 3-March 6).
Evening session: Wednesdays, 6:15—7:45 PM (January 4—March 7)
Enter into Tarthang Tulku’s visionary teachings on Time, Space, and Knowledge (TSK) through this introductory course. An open path of transformative inquiry, TSK is not based on a set of beliefs or a code of conduct. Its approach is light and direct. Encouraging and liberating the deepest capacities of being human, TSK offers a wonderfully refreshing way of being in the world. From the outside, the TSK vision may seem quite daunting. From within, the view is quite different.
(Nyingma Psychology Program; Two-Year Nyingma Psychology Program)
Cost: $180. Instructor: Ken McKeon. For students of all levels.
TSK101 Experiencing the Dynamic of Time
Tuesdays, 6:15—7:45 PM (January 3—March 6)
At the edge of the future, time sparkles; in the richness of feeling and energy, time glows. Practices focus on finding these places and allowing them to expand and deepen. Students discover time coursing through body and mind: a dimension inseparable from their being.
(Nyingma Psychology Program; Two-Year Nyingma Psychology Program)
Cost: $180. Instructors: Tom Morse and Ken McKeon.
Tibetan Language
TIB102 Beginning Tibetan, Level II
Thursdays, 8-9:30 PM (January 5—March 8)
Using examples and short selections from texts, students continue working with grammar and syntax.
(Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program)
Cost: $180. Instructor: Mark Henderson. Prerequisite: TIB101 or consent of the instructor.
TIB202 Intermediate Tibetan, Level II
Fridays, 6:15—7:45 PM (January 6—March 9)
Reading selected short texts develop comprehension of classical written Tibetan.
(Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program)
Cost: $180. Instructor: Mark Henderson. Prerequisite: TIB201 or consent of the instructor.
TIB301 Tibetan Tutorial
Fridays, 4:30—5:45 PM (January 6—March 9)
Reading and translation of Tibetan texts.
Cost: $180. Instructors: Barr Rosenberg and Sylvia Gretchen. Prerequisite: consent of the instructors.
*Courses or workshops marked with an asterisk meet the qualifications for continuing education credit for MFT’s and LCSW’s as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Provider: Nyingma Institute #2513.
Beginning Nyingma Meditation Program; Path and Practices of Liberation Program Two-Year Nyingma Studies Program Four-Month Human Development Training Retreat
(Nyingma Psychology Program Beginning Kum Nye (Tibetan Yoga) Program; Path of Liberation Program;
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