This course is oriented towards reading Tibetan Buddhist texts and literature. For NSI 2022 we will be reading Lama Mipham’s ངེས་ཤེས་སྒྲོན་མེ།་ along side Khenpo Künphel’s commentary as the basis for developing familiarity with Tibetan grammar and developing reading skills. Interesting and important grammatical points will be explained in the context of specific passages. In addition, we will study grammar from an annotated commentarial translation of Kelsang Gyurmé’s རབ་གསལ་མེ་ལོང་།, The Clear Mirror. Opening and closing chants are done in Tibetan. Students are encouraged to practice reading aloud to learn the rhythms and feel of the phrasing of the language and train in the traditional discipline of jor-lo (sbyor klog) — “reading the connections.”
Prerequisites:
Students are asked to translate a short passage from Tibetan to English to help the instructor determine their proficiency. Instructor’s permission is required.