Bodhicitta Sangha

The following courses guide interested individuals through the various stages of the spiritual path. The first two courses contain teachings suitable for practitioners of all religions and faiths. The seminars that follow, while open to all, are designed for those who are interested in making Buddhism their primary spiritual path.

For those who wish to practice under Khenpo Sherab Sangpo’s direct guidance, there are guidelines for practices and requirements for each course. Practitioners of other lineages and teachers are welcome to attend classes to enrich their own spiritual practice.

Seminar I: The Heart of Meditation

This introductory seminar will present the basics of meditation and core principles of the spiritual path. Practical instructions will be offered that will enable students to cultivate a peaceful mind, love and compassion, and insight into the workings of the mind and the natural world. Individual course topics include:

1. Introduction to meditation
2. Cultivating love and compassion
3. Interdependence
4. Impermanence

Requirement: Ten hours of each meditation (forty hours total)

Seminar II: Cultivating Wisdom

Level two focuses on the nature of reality itself, and how we can use meditation to cut through confusion and the causes of suffering. This course includes a mixture of guided contemplation, discussion, and practical instructions on daily meditation. Individual course topics include:

1. What is the “self”?
2. Selflessness I
3. Selflessness II
4. Ultimate reality
5. The relative world

Requirement: Ten hours of each meditation (fifty hours total)

Seminar III: Preparing for Buddhist practice

This course is designed for those who are considering becoming Buddhist, though all are welcome to attend. Through teaching, discussion, and guided meditations, students will explore the core concepts of the Buddhist path. Individual course topics include:

1. Liberation
2. Refuge
3. The Three Jewels
4. Refuge precepts

Requirement: Ten hours of each meditation (forty hours total)

Seminar IV: The Preliminary Practices

The preliminary practices serve to strengthen one’s resolve to pursue the spiritual path and set the stage for advanced spiritual practice. This series will present detailed instructions on the five preliminary practices, which employ visualization, the recitation of prayers and mantras, and physical movement to undo deeply ingrained destructive habits.

Requirement: 100,000 repetitions of each practice

Seminar V: Tranquility & Insight

Tranquility and insight are the two forms of Buddhist meditation. Through tranquility meditation, one learns concentrate and calm the mind, while insight meditation allows for the flowering of wisdom. In this seminar, these practices will be presented as taught in the Great Perfection lineage, which contains unique and powerful versions of these core practices.

Seminar VI: Transference

Transference is one of the main practices of the Vajrayana and also one of the easiest to accomplish. This meditation employs visualizations and the recitation of sounds to consciously project the mind to different planes of existence and undo deluded forms of perception. This practice is an especially powerful way to work with the moment of death.

Seminar VII: Pointing Out the Nature of Mind

The primary difference between buddhas and ordinary beings is that the former have recognized the nature of mind, while the latter have not. In the Great Perfection, the main role of the guru is to point out the nature of mind to the student. Such instructions are given in stages, using different experiential and philosophical exercises to lead the student to a direct realization of the mind’s pure and luminous nature.

Seminar VIII: Great Perfection—Breakthrough & Direct Leap

This seminar will begin with the empowerment to the display of pure awareness, the highest transmission in the Nyingma School of Tibet, followed by the practices of breakthrough and direct leap. Breakthrough relates to the principle of original purity. This practice allows the student to first identify, and then sustain, recognition of the mind’s true nature. The direct leap hastens the process of realization by working with the spontaneously present manifestations of reality itself. These two are considered the most profound and direct paths to realization in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.