DF Summer Semester 2024 

June 3-June 28 / Mid-course break July 1-July 5 / July 8-August 2

All meetings meet remotely via ZOOM.

ALL TIMES ARE PDT Pacific Daylight Time

Our semester schedule is 4 weeks on and one week off, in order to accommodate our adult students' lives

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What the Dharma Farm offers: All the content of grad school with none of the pressure.

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We offer a comprehensive intensive introduction to how Classical Tibetan signifies meaning for those becoming Tibetan translators or thinking about Grad School in Tibetan Buddhist Studies. Other students frequently want to be exposed to this material so they can better understand their own practice texts.

 

Our students have complex lives and we want to help their learning. All classes are recorded. It’s easy to meet with students out of class hours because everything is over Zoom.

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Introduction to translating the philosophy of liberation from Tibetan:

Grammar and Beyond

with Craig Preston, J.D.

Apply Here

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Course length: Sixty-four hours, June 3-August 2

Class hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday 9:00am-11:00am PDT

First four weeks: Monday June 3-Friday June 28

One week mid-course break: July 1-July 5

Final four weeks: Monday July 8-Friday August 2

Tuition: $1920:  $960 if you have attended my intensives with me previously

Some scholarship aid will be available (we hope... donate to The Dharma Farm)

 

Zoom room: TBA.

Zoom Office hours: TBA.

 

Prerequisites: Some experience with pronouncing syllables and words. Any experience with phrases and sentences would be helpful. Some experience with Buddhist philosophy also would be helpful but not necessary.

 

Course Description: This is our initial course on translating the philosophy of liberation from Tibetan. It is a comprehensive intensive introduction to how Classical Tibetan signifies meaning. We focus is understanding the grammar of Classical Tibetan as found in the Indian treatises translated into Tibetan from Sanskrit, and in the Tibetan works on those treatises. Our method of teaching Classical Tibetan translation is systematic, detailed, and has proven effective over 20 years of teaching. Among the topics we will cover are:

 

1.   Recognizing recurring patterns in phrases, clauses, and sentences;

2.   How phrases are held together;

3.   How verbs anchor clauses and sentences, along with verb forms, and compound verb syntax;

4.   How to recognize frequently recurrent syntax within groups of verbs with similar meanings;

5.   How relational meanings are indicated by declension, identity constructions, and temporal qualifiers;

6.   Beyond declension: How lexical particles and the range of syntactic particles also signify relational meanings.

 

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Beginning at the Beginning:
Learning to read and pronounce the Tibetan language

with Andrew M.McKenzie

Apply Here

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Course length: 32 hours over eight weeks of classes, June 3-August 2    

Tuition: $960

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Class hours: Tuesday & Thursday, 9:00am – 11:00am PDT

First four weeks: Tuesday June 4-Thursday June 27

One week mid-course break: July 1-July 5

Final four weeks: Tuesday July 9-Friday Thursday August 1

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Fascinated by Tibetan? Perhaps you have a Tibetan Buddhist practice and would like to be able to read you practice texts? Well then, what could be more natural than taking the first step by actually learning to pronounce and read the language? And of course, maybe it’s time for a relaxed review from the beginning?

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This is your opportunity for a relaxed, fun summer class for beginners, and for folks who would like a relaxed review from the ground up. We will start with learning how to write and pronounce Tibetan letters, and then learning how to pronounce letters when they are combined into syllables. Next is the introduction to words and their pronunciation. Tibetan has nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and postpositions. This is the grounding you need, opening the door to learning how to read sentences, not to mention the many upper level Dharma Farm Tibetan translation courses.

 

Prerequisites: only that you want to read and pronounce the Tibetan language! Our students have complex lives and we want to help their learning. All classes are recorded. It’s easy to meet with students out of class hours because everything is over Zoom.

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A course beginners might also be interested in

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Not Just a Pretty (type) Face:

Exploring the Tibetan Syllabary

with Andrew M.McKenzie

Apply Here

 

Course length: 8 hours over four weeks of classes, June 5-June 26        

Tuition: $320

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Class hours: Wednesday or Saturday, 9:00am – 11:00am PDT

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Students learning to write Tibetan may also be interested a more detailed exploration of Tibetan writing. In an on-going course exploring the Tibetan Syllabary we will learn how to write the Syllabary correctly, their background and their history, proceeding at a relaxed pace and continuing next semester. Over the course of eight hours we will begin to go through—in a relaxed fashion—all of the characters of the Tibetan syllabary, a journey through the vast Tibetan Syllabary that may continue semester by semester if there is interest. We will look at how to write these correctly, their background and their history. What could be more fun than that? Answer – nothing!

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This course will proceed in a leisurely fashion and will continue in the second session.

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How to Debate in Tibetan

with Craig Preston, J.D.

Apply Here

     

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Course length:16 hours, June 8-August 3

Tuition: $480

Tuition if you memorize definitions, divisions, and illustrations: $0

 

Class hours: Saturday 9:00am-11:00am PDT

First four weeks: June 8-June 29

One week mid-course break: July 1-July 5

Final four weeks: July 13-August 3

 

Zoom room: TBA.

Zoom Office hours: TBA.

 

Prerequisites: Interest in the material.

 

This course teaches how to translate the Collected Topics genre and more importantly, how to debate in Tibetan. The course is part philosophy class and part play practice. Actually, it’s mostly play practice.

 

Course materials:

We use a text widely used today: The Presentation of Collected Topics, Revealing the Meaning of the Texts on Valid Cognition, The Magical Key to the Path of Reasoning by Pur-bu-jog Jam-pa-gya-tsho (phur bu lcog byams pa rgya mtsho, 1825-1901). We start with the beginning of Pur-bu-jok’s Small Path of Reasoning, Chapter Two on established bases.

 

In addition to the Tibetan text we will be using Daniel Perdue’s Debate in Tibetan Buddhism, Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 1992. This is his translation and extensive commentary on Pur-bu-jok’s first of three volumes, the Small Path of Reasoning.

 

We also have all the established bases debates in full dialogue form in dual language Tibetan and English translation prepared by Dharma Farm students.

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Companion to Reading Jamgön Kongtrül’s

Textual Systems Encompassing all Objects of Knowledge

 with Craig Preston, J.D.

Apply Here

    

Course length: 16 hours, June 3-July 29

Tuition: $480

 

Class hours: Monday 12:00pm-2:00pm PDT

First four weeks: Monday June 3-Monday June 24

One week mid-course break: July 1-July 5

Final four weeks: Monday July 8-Monday July 29

 

Zoom room: TBA.

Zoom Office hours: TBA.

 

Prerequisites: Interest in the material.

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This on-going course supplements Jules Levinson’s course on Jamgön Kongtrül’s Textual Systems Encompassing all Objects of Knowledge by providing detailed help with vocabulary and grammar, as well as presenting the philosophical backstory in a general Religious Studies kind of way.

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The Effect of Climate Change on the Himalayas And
The Tibetan Communities of Nepal and Western Tibet

with Rob Vanwey. J.D.

Apply Here

Course length: sixteen hours, June 7-August 2

Tuition: $480

Class hours: Friday 11:30-1:30 PDT
First four weeks: June 7-June 28

 

Zoom room: TBA.

Zoom Office hours: TBA.

 

Prerequisites: interest in the material

 

This course will introduce interested students to the effect of Climate Change on the Himalayas and the Tibetan communities of Nepal and Eastern Tibet. Also included will be an overview of the acute issues in the Himalayan region from climate change and human development.

 

This course draws a lot from Rob’s experience in the non-profit sector. Some of the examples we will look at are the degradation of glaciers and the subsequent increase in natural disasters from it, specifically flooding, glacial lake outbursts (GLOFs) and increased prevalence of landslides.

 

We will also look at the changing agriculture environment—in this area, Rob has discussed this with farmers, hearing about the changes they have made in their crop selection. This is particularly relevant in Dolakha where Rob and some of his colleagues are building a vocational academy. At 9,400 feet, the farmers there have seen a major transformation in their yields and crop placement and planting strategies. The discussion would address the political issues with engaging in non-profit activities to assist with both disaster preparation and education.

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Tibetan Civilization and History

From the Era of the Dalai Lamas to the Early 20th Century

with Rob Vanwey. J.D.

Apply Here

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Course length: thirty-two hours, June 3-August 2

Tuition: $960

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Class hours: Tuesday and Thursday 9:00-11:00 PDT

First four weeks: June 4-June 27

Mid-course break: July 1-July 5

Final four weeks: July 9-August 1

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Zoom room: TBA.

Zoom Office hours: TBA.

 

Prerequisites: interest in the material

 

This course will introduce interested students to the big picture of Tibetan civilization from the beginnings of the era of the Dalai Lamas (starting in the very late 1400s) to around the fall of the Chinese Qing dynasty in 1911. The scope and focus of this course makes it a good introduction for students new to Tibetan history. Tibet, while intrinsically tied to and shaped by Buddhism, has a vibrant history of political intrigue, magnificent achievements, and troubling moments. This course shines some light on all of them.

 

Our primary interest will be domestic politics. Specifically we will look at the hierarchy and roles of the regents and kashak, and later the amban. We will also consider the design and application of law from the Tsang (~1620) to the Ganden Podrang codes (~1645), the latter of which remained the codified law of Tibet through the early 20th century.

 

We will also look at how Altan Khan, Gushri Khan, the Dzungar and other significant Mongol groups contributed to the rise of the Dalai Lamas and helped solidify the Dalai Lama as head of state. And from there how the entrance of the Manchus and the Younghusband expedition were parts of the international chess match that historians now call The Great Game. This competition put Tibet in the middle of a powder keg as the entire political landscape of East and Central Asia began a major upheaval in the first decade of the 20th century. 

 

Our source reading is The Tibetans by Matthew Kapstein, 9 chapters 300 pages. This will be our jumping-off point for Rob to share his many years of experience in the Himalayan culture through his work with non-profit organizations.

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Finding citations in the Tibetan Buddhist Canon Online

Made Easy

 with Craig Preston, J.D.

Apply Here

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Course length: 16 hours June 5-July 31

Tuition: $480

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Class hours: Wednesday 11:30am-1:30pm PDT

First four weeks: June 5-June 26

Mid-course break: July 1-July 5

Final four weeks: July 10-July 31

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Zoom room: TBA.

Zoom Office hours: TBA.

 

Prerequisites: interest in the material

 

This course will show you how to use online resources to locate citations to the Kagyur and Tengyur, the Tibetan Buddhist Canon translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan over hundreds of years.

 

In the Tibetan texts I translate, an author is expected to support whatever argument is made with citations to authority, similar to the way citations to authority are expected with modern legal writing. For Tibetan authors, the central authority is the Tibetan Buddhist Canon. As D. Phillip Stanley writes on the UVA Tibetan and Himalayan Library:

 

“The Kangyur and Tengyur are commonly referred to as the canon of Tibetan Buddhism. They consist of over 5,250 texts translated from other Asian languages into Tibetan, primarily from Sanskrit and related Indian languages. A small number of texts were translated from Chinese and from various languages of Central Asia. The term “Kangyur” means “translations of the pronouncements [of the Buddha]” and thus consists of the texts that are attributed to the Buddha. The term “Tengyur” means “translations of treatises [on the pronouncements of the Buddha]” and consists of texts attributed to subsequent learned and realized masters of Buddhism.”

 

For example, here’s a situation I run into all the time translating Tibetan books on Buddhist philosophy of liberation. The author makes a point, and then quotes a passage from the Canon supporting the author’s position. Often the quotation is just part of the sentence. Translation is usually about context. I need to see the whole sentence, and what came before it, and what comes after it. I need to see the context. Another problem arises when the author writes “Sūtra says” without identifying the Sūtra further.

 

The very good news is that with resources available online these citations can be identified rather quickly. You will learn how do this using the online American Institute of Buddhist Studies Buddhist Canons Research Database. With this database you can search for passages in the lha sa bka’ ‘gyur and the sde dge bstan ‘gyur by typing in the text string you are looking for using Wylie transliteration. This search will give you a list of links to where your search string is found within the full texts of Sūtras and Commentaries, all online, all in searchable Unicode. All this makes it very easy to look at the context of a citation rather quickly. During this course you will also learn how to use the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC) online library of downloadable pdf files for the passages found in the searchable Unicode text.

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Some scholarship aid is available but it is limited to the amount of donations received. Your aid is greatly appreciated. On behalf of our students learning to be translators so that they can continue the translation of Tibetan texts, we thank you.

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We are working to make recordings of previous semester available. We would greatly appreciate your help in supporting the technical preparations of editing and presenting the recordings so that students can experience the classes at times convenient for them.

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