COURSE ONE

Topic: How We Perceive Our World:
The Eight Consciousnesses

Dates:
Sundays | April 20, April 27, May 4, May 11, May 18, May 25

Location:
In-person at our new center (7110 Redwood Blvd, Suite B., Novato, CA) or online via Zoom.

Time:
8:30 AM - 11 AM Pacific

Buddhist practice offers a path to freeing the mind from conditioned patterns that obscure its luminous nature. One of the most powerful ways to engage this process is to examine how perception itself unfolds how we experience the world through layers of sensory input, habitual tendencies, and karmic conditioning.

The Eight Consciousnesses provide a nuanced map of perception, revealing how sensory input is filtered through our sense of self, habitual patterns, and accumulated karma. By investigating this dynamic interplay, we begin to see how our constructed sense of self is maintained—and how we can begin to dismantle limiting patterns that obscure direct experience.

This course will explore:

• The structure of perception: How sensory, mental, and karmic consciousnesses interact to form our experience of self and world.

• How habitual patterns are reinforced: The role of the seventh (klesha) consciousness in shaping identity and the eighth (alaya) consciousness as the repository of karmic imprints.

• The path to liberation: How recognizing and deconstructing the process of perception can loosen conditioned tendencies, open space for wisdom, and allow direct experience to emerge.

Course Structure:

• Guided Meditation: Each session begins with calm abiding (shamatha) meditation led by Lama Döndrup, cultivating the stability and clarity needed to examine perception.

• Theoretical Exploration: A deep dive into each consciousness, its function, and its role in shaping our experience.

• Experiential Investigation: Engaging exercises to directly observe perception in real-time and apply these teachings to daily life.

• Collaborative Discussion: A space for participants to share insights, ask questions, and deepen their understanding through dialogue.

This series invites you into a profound inquiry into the nature of perception and mind, offering both insight and direct practice to transform how you experience reality. Open to practitioners of all levels, whether you are new to these teachings or looking to deepen your understanding.

Fee:
$225 course fee
$185 (base)
$175 (Sukhasiddhi member)
$300 (benefactor)

The deadline to register is Saturday, April 18 at 12 PM (Pacific).

**Please Note: This Dharma Deep Dive class series is included in the Dharma Training Program as part of the curriculum. If you are already enrolled in DTP, you do not need to register separately for this series. 

**Please Note: This Dharma Deep Dive class series is NOT included in the Bodhi Program. If you are enrolled in Bodhi and are interested in this series, you will need to register separately.

Life is constantly shifting—waves of joy and sorrow, gain and loss, certainty and uncertainty. The Buddha taught that suffering exists and that liberation from suffering is possible. One of the most essential teachings that helps us navigate life with wisdom and ease is the understanding of the Two Truths: conventional/relative truth (the way things appear to be) and ultimate/genuine truth (the way things truly are).

Without recognizing the distinction between these truths, we can feel caught in the turbulence of life’s ups and downs. But when we begin to understand the relationship between appearances and reality, we gain the ability to ride the waves rather than be overwhelmed by them. We learn to embrace life fully—with all its joys and sorrows—while recognizing its dreamlike nature. Everything we experience is both vividly real and the illusory play of awakened mind, wisdom, and compassion.

This course will help us:

• See how we become entangled in our experiences and emotions

• Recognize the habitual tendencies of the mind and glimpse its true nature

• Loosen the grip of solidified experience, allowing for greater spaciousness and freedom

• Cultivate the confidence to meet each moment with clarity, presence, and ease

As our understanding deepens, we discover a natural ease—fully engaging with life while experiencing a newfound sense of openness and possibility.

Course Structure

Each session will offer a blend of practice, study, and reflection, supporting a deep and embodied understanding of the Two Truths:

• Chanting the Heart Sutra – Opening the mind to direct experience of prajnaparamita

• Silent meditation practice – Resting in awareness and cultivating continuous, direct experience

• Teachings on the Two Truths – Exploring these essential insights through the lens of each Buddhist philosophical school

• Experiential and inquiry-based exercises – Engaging in guided practices and small-group reflection to deepen understanding

• Guidance for integration – Practical ways to bring these insights into daily life

This course stands on its own and is open to all. At the same time, it is part of a larger exploration of wisdom this year, following our study of The Heart Sutra and preceding our deep dive into Nāgārjuna’s Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way. Whether you are encountering these teachings for the first time or deepening an ongoing inquiry, this course will offer an accessible yet profound path to embodying the wisdom of the Two Truths in everyday life.

Join Lama Döndrup for this journey into a direct, lived understanding—one that transforms not only how we see reality but how we meet each moment with insight, presence, and an open heart.

Fee:
$225 course fee
$185 (base)
$175 (Sukhasiddhi member)
$300 (benefactor)

**Please Note: This Dharma Deep Dive class series is included in the Bhodi Program as part of the curriculum. If you are already enrolled in Bodhi, you do not need to register separately for this series. 

**Please Note: This Dharma Deep Dive class series is NOT included in the Dharma Training Program. If you are enrolled in DTP and are interested in this series, you will need to register separately.