Understanding Mind and Experience

Rinpoche will be teaching a three-weekend course on Understanding Mind and Experience (Tib. sems dang sems ‘byung).

This course continues the study of Lorig, the Buddhist science of mind and cognition, by turning directly toward the structure of experience itself. Rather than focusing on how confusion arises, we will look closely at what is happening in each moment of knowing.

In Buddhist psychology, experience is not a single, solid event. Each moment is composed of mind together with a range of mental factors (feeling, recognition, intention, attention, and many others) that arise together and shape how the world appears.

By examining these components carefully, students begin to see how experience is constructed, how emotional and cognitive patterns take shape, and how both confusion and clarity arise within the same basic process.

Rinpoche will be presenting a practical framework for recognizing what is happening in meditation and daily life. As we become more familiar with the mind and its mental factors, our experience becomes more workable. What once felt overwhelming becomes something we can observe, understand, and relate to differently.

When we begin to understand the mind, practice becomes less about trying to change our experience and more about recognizing what is already happening. And from that recognition, clarity and insight naturally begin to develop and unfold.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, students will:

✔️ Understand the distinction between mind (sems) and mental factors (sems ‘byung)
✔️ Recognize how experience is constructed moment by moment
✔️ Identify key mental factors such as feeling, recognition, attention, and intention in direct experience
✔️ Understand how afflictive and virtuous mental factors shape perception and behavior
✔️ Develop the ability to observe mental processes in meditation and daily life
✔️ See how recognizing the elements of our experience makes the mind more workable
✔️ Strengthen confidence in the path through direct understanding of mind and its nature

Course Schedule

🗓️ April 5 Start
🗓️ April 18–19
🗓️ May 9–10
🗓️ May 23–24

Live Lectures: Saturdays and Sundays at 6:30 AM Pacific Time (8:30 AM CT)

All sessions will be recorded. Students will have ongoing access to lecture recordings and course materials throughout the program.

Course Fee

The full course fee is $108, which includes access to all live and recorded teachings.