Ignorance is the cause of suffering.

Understanding the ultimate nature of reality is the key to liberation.

The goal of the Rime Shedra is to make accessible the vast treasures of Buddhist wisdom to scholars and practitioners who wish to progress further in their understanding of the profound principles presented in the advanced classical Buddhist texts that are now available in English. For practitioners, Rime Shedra provides an opportunity to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the nature of reality through study. For scholars it provides the opportunity to expand on their study by cultivating an experiential understanding of Buddhism. The program is based upon the traditional Shedra, or monastic college, curriculum which is the cornerstone of Buddhist education in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Shedra curriculum, which evolved over many centuries in Tibet, distills the vast corpus of Indian Buddhist literature into five core texts, which represent the essence of Buddhist philosophy and practice.  While we do not yet have complete and viable English translations of all five texts, we do have excellent translations of three of them, and substantial related literature in the form of similar texts, as well as commentaries on either the five texts themselves, or the topics they present. This makes it possible to pursue the Shedra curriculum in English by expanding from exclusively focusing on the five core texts, to the study of the five topics they cover.

In the spirit of the Rime, or “unbiased” movement, Rime Shedra utilizes texts from all traditions of Buddhism in India and Tibet.

Since the successful study of the traditional Shedra curriculum requires the understanding of a substantial range of more introductory subjects, these are also included in the Rime Shedra curriculum.

Read a detailed description of the Rime Shedra curriculum here.

The next Rime Shedra course: Shamatha Vipashyana in the Mahamudra Tradition - Exploring Tashi Namgyal’s Moonbeams of Mahamudra, 10 Tuesdays from February 20 through April 23, 2024, 7-9:15 pm EST. Based upon the text: Moonbeams of Mahamudra by Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, translated by Elizabeth Callahan.

Rime Shedra courses are taught by Derek Kolleeny.