Fall 2025 Courses

A WMC advanced-level course based on The Bodhicaryavatara by Shantideva

This Winter join us to continue our exploration of the classic Buddhist text The Bodhicaryavatara (The Way of the Bodhisattva), a volume that has long been treasured as an indispensable guide to enlightened living. Written in the eighth century by the scholar and saint Shantideva, this work has inspired many of the tradition’s greatest teachers.

This semester we explore working with the paramitas, including  dealing with anger and practicing patience, developing enthusiasm or exertion for our practice, and dissolving the barriers between self and others through meditation. As before we will read the verses together, take part in compassion practices, and engage in energetic discussion. We closely follow Shantideva's verses, along with Pema Chodron's expert commentary, which makes the richness of this guide accessible to all on the Bodhisattva path. Practical meditation exercises enrich the text.

Students are encouraged to obtain a copy of Pema Chodron’s Becoming Bodhisattvas: A Guidebook for Compassionate Action, which was also published as No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva in earlier editions. Either will do.

We are committed to making our programs affordable to all, and we endeavor to set the course fee at a rate that covers necessary expenses. We rely on donations to cover additional program costs. Please consider offering an additional amount to offset program expenses. Thank you for your contribution.

Those with limited income please note the student/fixed income option.

An Intermediate-level course based on 

The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume One

Students are encouraged to obtain a copy of the book, The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume One

We will closely follow the text, exploring topics such as a deep exploration of the heart of Buddhist practice, shamatha-vipashyana meditation. We begin with the simplicity of shamatha or "calm abiding," and explore many topics, culminating in a discussion of vipashyana; the development of an insightful, skillful awareness that can expand to all aspects of our life.

We are committed to making our programs affordable to all, and we endeavor to set the course fee at a rate that covers necessary expenses. We rely on donations to cover additional program costs. Please consider offering an additional amount to offset program expenses. Thank you for your contribution.

Those with limited income please note the student/fixed income option.

WMC Introductory Course

We have a choice in how we react to the circumstances of life. We can let them harden us and make us resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us, allowing our inherent human empathy to emerge. In The Places that Scare You, Pema Chödrön provides essential tools for dealing with the difficulties that living our lives entails, teaching us how to encourage our basic human goodness and connect more easily with others—to accept ourselves and our world including its imperfections. She shows the courage that comes with staying with what’s happening in our lives right here, right now and helps us unmask the ways in which ego causes us to resist life as it is. If we go to the places that scare us, Pema suggests, we just might find the boundless life we’ve always dreamed of.

*Those with limited income please note the student/fixed income option.