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COURSES
Classes offered at the Dharma Farm

Spring 2024

Jamgon Kongtrul’s Treasury of Knowledge: the Two Truths I

Jules Levinson, Ph.D.

Cost $1,350

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Jules Levinson will discuss the section on the two truths from a classic of the Tibetan nonsectarian (ris med) movement, Treasury of Knowledge (shes bya mdzod), by Jamgon Kongtrul (kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas. 1813–1899).

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8 Classes: Wednesday 1.00pm-3:00pm PDT starting October 4, 2023:

October 4; October 11; October 25; November 1; November 8; November 15; November 29; December 6.

Course continues in Spring Semester: Jamgon Kongtrul’s Treasury of Knowledge: the Two Truths II

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Jamgon Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge - Click here for details

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Translating Classical Tibetan I

Craig Preston, J.D.

Cost: $750

M/Th 9:00-10:30

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Prerequisite: Familiarity with the U-chen alphabet and pronunciation of syllables. Any prior study of Tibetan or Sanskrit will be helpful but not necessary.

Continues in Spring Semester: Translating Classical Tibetan II

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Translating Classical Tibetan I is the first of two classes on translating the Classical Tibetan found in the Tibetan translations of Indian treatises translated from Sanskrit, and in the Tibetan philosophical works on those treatises.

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8 Classes: Wednesday 1.00pm-3:00pm PDT starting October 4, 2023:

October 4; October 11; October 25; November 1; November 8; November 15; November 29; December 6.

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Translating Classical Tibetan I - Click here for details

Fall 2023

Jamgon Kongtrul’s Treasury of Knowledge: the Two Truths I

Jules Levinson, Ph.D.

Cost $400

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Jules Levinson will discuss the section on the two truths from a classic of the Tibetan nonsectarian (ris med) movement, Treasury of Knowledge (shes bya mdzod), by Jamgon Kongtrul (kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas. 1813–1899).

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8 Classes: Wednesday 1.00pm-3:00pm PDT starting October 4, 2023:

October 4; October 11; October 25; November 1; November 8; November 15; November 29; December 6.

Course continues in Spring Semester: Jamgon Kongtrul’s Treasury of Knowledge: the Two Truths II

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Jamgon Kongtrul's Treasury of Knowledge - Click here for details

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Translating Classical Tibetan I

Craig Preston, J.D.

Cost: $750

M/Th 9:00-10:30

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Prerequisite: Familiarity with the U-chen alphabet and pronunciation of syllables. Any prior study of Tibetan or Sanskrit will be helpful but not necessary.

Continues in Spring Semester: Translating Classical Tibetan II

​

Translating Classical Tibetan I is the first of two classes on translating the Classical Tibetan found in the Tibetan translations of Indian treatises translated from Sanskrit, and in the Tibetan philosophical works on those treatises.

​

8 Classes: Wednesday 1.00pm-3:00pm PDT starting October 4, 2023:

October 4; October 11; October 25; November 1; November 8; November 15; November 29; December 6.

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Translating Classical Tibetan I - Click here for details

Summer 2023

Beginning Classical Tibetan Intensive

The sixty-four hour course over eight weeks covers all of first year Classical Tibetan.

 

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

First four weeks: Monday June 5-Friday June 30

One week mid-course break July 3-July 6

Final four weeks: Monday July 10-Friday August 4

 

2023 Summer Intensive - Click here for details

 

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Summer Int

Spring 2023 

Second Year Classical Tibetan

Craig Preston

Texts: 

  • Georges B.J. Dreyfus
    Recognizing Reality: Book 1, Part 1 Ontology

This is companion reading for the Collected Topics course.

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Wednesday from 9:30 to 11am PST

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Collected Topics on Valid Cognition: Small Path of Reasoning
Craig Preston
Texts: 

  • Pur-bu-jok Jam-ba-jya-tso (1825-1901)

The text we will be looking at is Pur-bu-jok’s Magical Key to the Path of Reasoning, written for the Thirteenth Dalai Lama at the beginning of his philosophical study. The text provides initial training in debate, the principal pedagogical technique of the Dalai Lama’s scholastic Ge-luk school. It also provides the basic ontology and epistemology for the study of Dharmakīrti’s Commentary on Valid Cognition, one of the five core texts for Ge-luk scholastic study.

 

Monday, Friday, 9:30 to 11am PST

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Dharma Farm Lecture Series

Select Fridays at noon

 

Sravasti Translation Committee 
Bill Magee and Paul Hackett

Texts: 

  • Maitreya, Ornament for the Great Vehicle Sutras (mdo sde rgyan, mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra)

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Image by Meiying Ng

2022

Intermediate Classical Tibetan
Craig Preston and Jess Perry
Texts: 

  • Joe Wilson, Translating Buddhism From Tibetan

  • Paul Hackett, Learning Classical Tibetan

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Classical Tibetan
Craig Preston
Texts: 

  • Pur-bu-jok, Introductory Path of Reasoning From Collected Topics on Valid Cognition

  • Magical Key to the Path of Reasoning (tshad ma’i gzhung don ‘byed pa’i bsdus grwa’i rnam bzhag rigs lam ‘phrul gyi lde mig). Evidence.

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Grammar Nerds’ Reading Group
Shahar Tene

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Dharma Farm Lecture Series

Bertram Liyanage

The Nyāyābindu of Dharmakīrti

 

Sravasti Translation Committee
Bill Magee and Paul Hackett

Texts: 

  • Maitreya, Ornament for the Great Vehicle Sutras (mdo sde rgyan, mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra)

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Advanced Reading

Craig Preston

Texts: 

  • Jam-yang-shay-pa’ Decisive Analysis of Chandrakīrti’s Supplement

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Uncollected Topics: Ngag-dbang-bkra-shis’s Collected Topics

Craig Preston

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Advanced topics in Tibetan Grammar

Craig Preston

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Advanced Reading

Shahar Tene

2021

Introduction to Classical Tibetan
Jess Perry, Mikhael Landrieux, Shahar Tene, Andrew Hughes

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Intermediate Classical Tibetan
Bill Magee

Texts: 

  • Translating Buddhism From Tibetan   Joe Wilson,

  • Paul Hackett, Learning Classical Tibetan

  • Pur-bu-jok, Introductory Path of Reasoning From Collected Topics on Valid Cognition

  • Magical Key to the Path of Reasoning (tshad ma’i gzhung don ‘byed pa’i bsdus grwa’i rnam bzhag rigs lam ‘phrul gyi lde mig). Evidence.

 

Intermediate Classical Tibetan II
Craig Preston and Jess Perry

  • Tenets of Buddhist Schools in India

 

Intermediate Classical Tibetan III
Craig Preston and Jess Perry

  •   Tutor’s Collected Topics

 

Dharma Farm Lecture Series

Bill Magee

  • Tsong-kha-pa, The Essence of Eloquence (legs bshad snying po), Part II

 

Spoken Tibetan for Translators
Shahar Tene

 

Introduction to Sanskrit
Paul Hackett

 

Uncollected Topics
Craig Preston

 

Dharma Farm Lecture Series

Bill Magee

Texts: 

  • Tsong-kha-pa, The Essence of Eloquence (legs bshad snying po), part III

 

Dharma Farm Lecture Series
Bertram Liyanage

Texts:

  • Madhyamaka Philosophy from Nāgārjuna to Candrakirti

 

Grammar Nerds’ Reading Group
Shahar Tene

 

Classical Tibetan
Bill Magee
Texts:

  • Shantideva, Engaging in the Deeds of Bodhisattvas (dbu ma la ‘jug pa, bodhisattvacaryāvātara) Chapter One

 

Sravasti Translation Committee
Bill Magee and Paul Hackett

Texts:

  • Ngawang Dragpa, “The Definitive Door to Practice Derived from [Tsong-kha-pa’s] Stages of the Path to Awakening: Distillation of All Eloquence (nyams len gyi rnam par nges pa legs gsungs kun gyi nying khu)

 

Dharma Farm Lecture Series

Bill Magee

  • Tsong-kha-pa, The Essence of Eloquence (legs bshad snying po), part IV

 

Dharma Farm Lecture Series
Bertram Liyanage

 

Studies in Buddhist Logic and Scholarly Controversies in Buddhist Philosophy

Sravasti Translation Committee
Bill Magee and Paul Hackett

Texts:

  • Maitreya, Ornament for the Great Vehicle Sutras (mdo sde rgyan, mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra)

 

Dharma Farm Lecture Series

Bill Magee

  • Tsong-kha-pa, The Essence of Eloquence (legs bshad snying po), Part V

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Image by Meiying Ng

2020

Intermediate Classical Tibetan, Section I
Craig Preston and Jess Perry
Texts: 

  • Joe Wilson, Translating Buddhism From Tibetan

  • Paul Hackett, Learning Classical Tibetan

  • Aku-lo-dro, Mirror Clarifying the Important Points of the Placement of Letters (yi ge thob thang nyer mkho rab sel me long)

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Intermediate Classical Tibetan, Section II
Craig Preston and Jess Perry
Texts: 

  • Joe Wilson, Translating Buddhism From Tibetan

  • Paul Hackett, Learning Classical Tibetan

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Sravasti Translation Committee
Bill Magee and Paul Hackett

Texts: 

  • Ngawang Dragpa, “The Definitive Door to Practice Derived from [Tsong-kha-pa’s] Stages of the Path to Awakening: Distillation of All Eloquence (nyams len gyi rnam par nges pa legs gsungs kun gyi nying khu)

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Tibetan Grammar Review
Jess Perry

Texts: 

  • Joe Wilson, Translating Buddhism From Tibetan 

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Dharma Farm Lecture Series

Bertram Liyanage

  • A History of Buddhist Philosophical Trends in India

 

Dharma Farm Lecture Series

Bill Magee

  • Tsong-kha-pa, The Essence of Eloquence (legs bshad snying po), Part I

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Spoken Tibetan for Translators

Shahar Tene

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