EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS - Tashi Choling Center for Buddhist Studies

The Educational Program at Tashi Chöling

The Educational Program at Tashi Chöling offers traditional Buddhist training for students selected by Gyatrul Rinpoche as future lamas and translators of the Buddhist teachings. With the guidance of esteemed Khenpos, and benefited from a limited enrollment, students receive close supervision and attention, enjoying an unparalleled opportunity for integration of the teachings. Regularly scheduled retreats and personal study add to this contemplative environment.

Marig Munsel ~ Dispelling the Darkness of Ignorance ~
Tashi Chöling’s Four-Year Training Program with Lama Bruce Newman

Lama Bruce Newman, an authorized teacher and student of both Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche and Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, is now leading a four-year educational program for the entire Sangha’s benefit. Marig Munsel is geared toward the training of committed students in Buddhist theory, meditation and ceremony and is presented in a focused, systematic manner, while acknowledging and allowing for the reality of our lives and responsibilities as laypeople.
About Lama Bruce and his new book: www.snowlionpub.com

Lama Bruce Newman Talks about Marig Munsel~

The present situation among western Buddhists was neatly summarized by Suzuki Roshi more than 30 years ago, ‘You’re not monks but you’re not exactly laymen either.’ Asian Buddhist societies have developed with a sharp delineation between the ordained and the laity. The ordained had the opportunity for full-time study and practice; the laity were usually illiterate and mainly functioned as a support for the ordained. We as westerners are different; we do not have the leisure to study and practice as ordained but our education and sophistication gives us different needs
than the traditional Asian layperson.

With that in mind, we have developed here at Tashi Chöling a program that takes beginning and intermediate students and trains them systematically so that they can personally benefit from their exposure to the great lamas in a much deeper way and also so that they will be able to participate at Tashi Chöling with much greater knowledge, wisdom and competence. We recognize and acknowledge the reality that most of us are busy, active laypeople whose needs for a meaningful spiritual path are nonetheless quite real.

Gyatrul Rinpoche has given our program the name “Marig Munsel.” Marig Munsel is Tibetan for “clearing away the darkness of ignorance.” We started in September 2001 and are now well into our fourth and final third year. We meet for eight hours one weekend each month with reading, writing, thinking, meditating, and daily life practices to do in the intervening time.

I formulated this program with two interrelated goals in minds: to help older students integrate the various teachings and practices they had learned over the years into one meaningful package and to transform this understanding into genuine change, growth, and a deepening of spiritual experience in a way that is real and meaningful in the context of modern life. It has been incredibly satisfying and gratifying to see the enthusiasm of the participants as they have tackled the challenges of the program. I think we have formed a very trusting and bonded group where support is always available for the often difficult or confusing process of inner transformation. They have amply demonstrated that profound change and growth is possible in the midst of today’s world through the power of Lord Buddha’s
teachings.

Marig Munsel follows a yearly cycle. In the first year of the program, we study The Jewel Ornament of Liberation, which gives a complete and systematic overview of the whole Buddhist path. Our meditation is mindfulness, both in sitting and daily life. Without mindfulness, none of the more advanced meditations really work, and without deliberate training in this crucial skill a westerner can be involved in Tibetan Buddhism for many years without developing any depth to his or her meditation.

The second year focuses on the Mahayana. We study the Lojong (Seven Point Mind Training). Our meditational emphasis is on “tonglen,” the practice of taking and sending as well as on developing some initial understanding of absolute bodhicitta, drawing on traditional texts of shamatha and vippasana.

The third year is an introduction to the Vajrayana. The main text is Kunzang Lamai Shellung –(Words of My Perfect Teacher), and the practice will be the ordinary and extraordinary preliminaries (ngöndro). We are also putting great emphasis on the key point of devotion—what it means and how we practice and enhance it.

Now in our fourth year, we are studying the Vajrayana. We are focusing on Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche’s books Generating the Deity and Natural Liberation and doing some of the relevant practices.

In addition to in-depth study and practice of what may be familiar texts to some, Marig Munsel provides the important benefits of support for an often lonely and difficult task. It is our aspiration to develop the discipline of an external structure leading to more diligent practice, study, faith and confidence, all engendered by comprehension of the “cohesive whole” of the Buddhist teachings, and a more efficient use of our limited time to progress along the path. As we travel this path together, consistent contact, practice and discussion with other students provides an important resource and support, and our program recognizes and offers this asset.

All interested Dharma students are invited to participate in the next program, which will start sometime in ealy fall of 2005.

For more information about fees and dates, contact:
Lama Bruce Newman at 541 488-0881 or brucejaynewman@msn.com.

Meditation Classes with Lama Bruce Newman

Relaxing the Mind -- beginning meditation from a variety of Buddhist sources.
Deepening Meditation -- a continuation of the above class.
Uniting Wisdm and Compassion -- focus on 37 Precepts of a Bodisattva

Text-based Classes often taught:

Awakening the Heart -- Seven-Point Mind Training from Kongtrul Rinpoche’s Great Path to Enlightenment.
Natural Liberation -- Gyatrul Rinpoche’s and Guru Rinpoche’s teachings on the six bardos.
Spacious Path to Freedom -- Karma Chagme Rinpoche and Gyatrul Rinpoche on the stages of meditation.
Generating the Deity -- Gyatrul Rinpoche on deity meditation
Indisputable Truth -- by Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche.
Quintessence of Oral Instructions-- Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche on the union of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.

A message from Bruce ~ In the text-based classes, a book on Tibetan Buddhism is selected for study. The book may be modern or a ‘classic’ and generally one that I have received teachings from, often from the author. In-class meditations will be based on the material studied. Texts favored are those authored by one of my two main teachers, Gyatrul Rinpoche and Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. The classes emphasize discussion and the integration of the material into the experience of the student.

Class subjects are generally requested by students or recommended by my lamas. I ‘check in’ frequently with my teachers for aid, feedback, suggestions, and inspiration. Most classes are held in Ashland, OR, and there are reasonable fees for each class.

Please contact Bruce Newman for details: 541-488-0881 brucejaynewman@msn.com

Ngöndro Classes with Senior Student, Matthew Small

From the lineage of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche’s mind treasures, the Tersar Ngöndro is a traditional set of preliminary practices that focuses on prayer, visualization, meditation and accumulation of the five main aspects of all ngöndro practices: refuge, bodhicitta, mandala offering, Vajrasattva purification practice and Guru Yoga. Requested and authorized by Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche to teach and guide students in the study of these preliminaries to the higher practices, Mat Small intermittently holds small, personable classes for students of all ages. A personal offering to the teacher is recommended. For more information call the Tashi Chöling Info Line at (541) 482-2399.