Samye Institute, in cooperation with Gomde New York is delighted to announce a new live course on the first of the Nine Yanas, the Shravakayana. This course will be taught by senior Instructor Matthew Zalichin, resident instructor at Gomde New York as well as Samye Institute’s senior monastic instructors.
This course will examine the first of these—the Shravakayana—in detail, but from a practitioner’s perspective more than a scholar’s. Readings will include selections from texts like Jamgon Kongtrul’s Treasury of Knowledge. The length of this course will allow us to savor these vital, basic topics and experience the simplicity and beauty of the first stages of the Buddhist path.
Over 17 sessions, Matthew will guide us through the foundational vehicle. Although it may be tempting to race to the Vajrayana as quickly as seems possible, we are unlikely to gain any significant experience of the higher vehicles without first connecting with the foundational ones. Because each of us will inevitably refine our understanding gradually as we traverse the path, Phakchok Rinpoche has emphasized detailed study of each of the nine yanas and the specific meditation practices associated with each one.
Recordings of each class will be posted to this course page, under the appropriate unit after each class, so you don’t have to worry if you miss a session.
The cost of the course is $108 which helps support Samye and its ongoing activities. We want to make sure that the Dharma is accessible to everyone so if you have financial difficulty, please contact us.
Each unit will be taught twice weekly. The first session begins on March 10 at 6-7:30PM Eastern Time, the second session will be on March 11 at 11AM-12:30PM Eastern Time. You do not need to attend both sessions, the content will be the same.
Find out your local time here for Thursday’s session and here for Friday’s session.
Further sessions will continue weekly, for approximately 17 more sessions.
About the Instructor
Matthew Zalichin began studying Buddhism as an undergraduate in 1971. His teachers include many of the past and current century’s most eminent Tibetan lamas of all main lineages, but principally the Kagyu and Nyingma through his two root gurus Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, whom he met in 1977.
He has, for the most part, practiced as a householder in North America, and from roughly 1981-2000 focused on ngondros, various yidam practices, and dharma center administration while working full time, raising a family, paying mortgages, and so on. Authorized as a meditation instructor in 1981, he taught meditation, Buddhism, and related subjects continually from then until 2000, when he moved to Nepal to focus on solitary retreat practice.
In July 2009 he accepted Phakchok Rinpoche’s appointment as meditation instructor and teacher in residence at Rangjung Yeshe Gomde New York.
