This list describes courses offered at Maitripa College between 2016 and Fall 2023. Maitripa College faculty and staff are committed to periodic review and revision of degree curricula in light of new findings and methods in the fields of study, feedback from alumni and professionals, and faculty expertise. These courses are not guaranteed to be offered in the future, and new courses may be developed in 2023 and beyond.
Action Research Project
ARP502 Action Research Project – I
(2 credits) The Action Research Project is a form of integrative and collaborative research, reflection, and writing. Students become researchers by choosing a principle question and working with faculty mentors to design a research [...]
ARP504 Action Research Project – II
(2 credits) Building upon ARP502, students who have implemented their approved Action Research Project proposal and successfully gathered significant data enroll in ARP504 to complete their Action Research Project. In this term, students will [...]
Classical Tibetan Language
TIB101 Introduction to Classical Tibetan Language
(2 credits) Introduction to alphabet, grammar, and sentence structure of Classical Tibetan language. Students gain first exposure to dictionary use and online resources for Tibetan studies. Go to full course [...]
TIB102. Introduction to Classical Tibetan Language II
(2 credits) This course continues the study of Tibetan grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of Classical Tibetan language that students have undertaken in Introduction to Classical Tibetan I, including alphabet, grammar, and sentence structure. [...]
TIB108 Classical Tibetan Language Summer Intensive
(4 credits) The focus of this eight-week summer course will be on gaining the ability to pronounce and read paradigmatic Tibetan sentences, then read and debate in Tibetan the early chapters of Pur-bu-jok’s Collected [...]
TIB110 Classical Tibetan Summer Intensive
(6 credits) This course is for beginning students of Classical Tibetan or for those who wish a systematic and thorough review. The course starts with the alphabet and pronunciation, then rapidly moves on to [...]
TIB118 Introduction to Translating Texts
(1 credit) This beginning/intermediate course is for the student who has familiarity with the alphabet but little or no prior formal study of classical Tibetan grammar. Students will begin to learn translation skills by [...]
TIB201 Classical Tibetan Language Intermediate: Reading Class/Bridge to Translation I
(2 credits) Students continue to deepen their knowledge of Tibetan grammar and syntax through reading and decoding basic verse and prose texts and commentaries on Buddhist philosophy and practice in their original language. This [...]
TIB202 Classical Tibetan Language Intermediate II
(2 credits) Students continue to deepen their knowledge of Tibetan grammar and syntax through reading and decoding basic verse and prose texts and commentaries on Buddhist philosophy and practice in their original language. This [...]
TIB301r Seminar in Tibetan Translation
(2 credits) Students read and translate Tibetan texts and their commentaries in their original language. In this course we will learn reading and reciting Tibetan texts, developing pronunciation, and translating with an emphasis on [...]
Compassionate Service
CS002 Compassionate Service: Building Bridges
(1 credit) Building on the foundation of CS/T001, this course will focus on developing the students' practical understanding, fluency, and perspective on issues of Buddhist social service, with a focus on framing community issues [...]
CS003 Compassionate Service: Conflict and Diversity, Wisdom and Method
(1 credit) This course focuses on applying real-world skillful means for the individual and groups working in engaged service. The practical emphasis will be on ethics, identifying and engaging with diverse populations. This course [...]
CS009 Interfaith Literacy and Leadership: A Perspective and Tools for Our Times
(1 credit) Largely based on the groundbreaking work of Eboo Patel and the Interfaith Youth Core, this course will explore the role of and foster the development of the knowledge and skills necessary to [...]
CS104 Ethics for the New Millennium: Basic Goodness and Service on the Path to Enlightenment
(1 credit) This course will use the foundational knowledge of the graduated path to enlightenment as a basis from which to explore practical ways in which we can act in service in our world. [...]
CS301 Foundations of Buddhist Service
(2 credits) This course is an introduction to the service core at Maitripa College for all students, focusing on understanding and developing a Personal Theology both within and outside of the Buddhist tradition, understanding [...]
CS302 Finding Your Voice: Communication and Contexts
(2 credits) This is the second course in the service pillar at Maitripa College, which builds on the foundation of the first term, exploring concepts and practicalities related to identifying and expressing yourself as [...]
CS303 Chaplaincy and Models of Spiritual Care
(2 credits) Spiritual Care, or offering the arts of ministry and chaplaincy in the midst of others’ suffering, is now being done by Buddhists in a variety of secular and multi-faith contexts. Through multiple [...]
CS304 Buddhist Ministry and the Spiritual Caregiver in Buddhist/Spiritual Communities
(2 credits) This course will explore methods of embodied spiritual leadership in support of Buddhist/spiritual communities, with a particular emphasis on cultivating the inner and outer qualities of skillful community ministry and spiritual care. [...]
CS500 Field Education Placement
(3 credits) The Field Education Placement is a structured internship co-created by the host organization and Maitripa College. Credit is variable. Go to full course catalog index [...]
CST001 Who We Are and Who We Serve: Personal Theology and Foundations of Engagement
(1 credit) An introduction to the service core at Maitripa College for both MA and MDiv students, focusing on understanding and developing a personal theology both within and outside of the Buddhist tradition, understanding [...]
CST131r Contemplative Care and Counseling Skills
(1 credit) This course will focus on developing practical contemplative care and counseling skills, applicable in therapeutic, organizational, and interpersonal contexts. Using techniques such as role-plays, self-assessment exercises, and other forms of experiential learning [...]
CST132r Topics in Chaplaincy, Pastoral Counseling, and Contemplative Care as Service
(1 credit) This course builds on the material from CST131. This course will focus in depth on working with specific issues such as grief, loss, illness, pain, and trauma. We will practice counseling and [...]
CST135 Spiritual and Pastoral Care in Theory and Practice
(1 credit) This course will familiarize students with the history and paradigm shifts in the field of chaplaincy and pastoral care. Students will learn current therapeutic professional skills, such as basic presence, spiritual [...]
CST142r Spiritual Leadership and Applied Buddhist Theology
(1 credit) This course is for students who are ready to translate their studies into the practicalities of being a spiritual leader or community chaplain. This course will challenge you to examine your own [...]
CST237 Survival and Liberation: The Complicated Relationship between Trauma and Dharma
(1 credit) The experience of suffering is a gateway for many to the study of Buddhism. In the west, there is a common root of that suffering which propels exploring dharma but which is [...]
CST317 Expressing the Bodhisattva Vow through Skillful Relating: An Introduction to Compassionate Communication
(1 credit) You have a vow to help others become liberated from suffering, but the day to day of navigating your way through relationships can be challenging. Finding the words to say what's essential [...]
CST318 Compassionate Communication and Buddhism
(1 credit) This course builds upon an introduction to Compassionate Communication (such as CST317) to focus on practicing the view and skills of Compassionate Communication and explore how that relates to and interacts with [...]
History
HIS301 History of Buddhist Philosophy: India and Tibet
(2 credits) This course will provide a broad-based survey of the history of Buddhism in India and Tibet. The course may begin by discussing the historical and cultural context out of which Buddhism emerged, namely [...]
HIS317 Buddha: Stories, Songs, Theories, Devotion
(1 credit) Buddha, “the awakened,” is the ideal being – and state of being – in all Buddhist traditions. This course will explore the contours of the Buddha-ideal as revealed in legendary narratives, devotional [...]
Meditation
MDT301 Introduction to Buddhist Meditation
(2 credits) This course will provide a broad introduction to the vast corpus of techniques and practices of Buddhist meditation, with particular emphasis on the techniques of analytical meditation. The course will be taught [...]
MDT302 Techniques of Buddhist Meditation: The Medium and Great Scope
(2 credits) This course will continue with instruction in meditation based on the foundations established in MDT 301. The course will be taught in an interactive format, allowing students the opportunity to learn specific [...]
MDT303 Techniques of Meditation: Madhyamaka
(2 credits) The subject matter of this course will parallel the topics of Buddhist philosophy as taught in PHL303. The course will be taught in an interactive format, allowing students the opportunity to learn [...]
MDT304 Madhyamaka Meditation: Preparation for Vajrayana
(2 credits) The subject matter of this course will parallel the topics of Buddhist philosophy as taught in as taught in PHL304. The course will be taught in an interactive format, allowing students the [...]
MDT308 Techniques of Meditation: Mahamudra
(2 credits) This course will continue with instruction in meditation based on the practices established in MDT 303 (fall semester), with a focus on deepening Shiné (calm abiding) and practicing mahamudra instructions for realizing [...]
MDT330 Meditations on Emptiness
(1 credit) This course is intended for those students who have already completed a year of lamrim study and practice (PHL301, MDT301, PHL302, MDT302) and wish to complement their continuing study of lamrim, Madhyamaka, and [...]
MDT334: Meditations on Emptiness II
(2 credits) The heart of Buddhist practice is meditation on emptiness, a rigorous contemplative approach towards gaining deep insight into the nature of reality with the goal of attaining liberation for the benefit of [...]
Philosophy
PHL412 Tibetan Medicine: The Wind Element
(2 credits) Tibetan Medicine (bod kyi gso ba rig pa, or Sowa Rigpa) is one of the oldest known traditional medicine systems in the world. It is a unique tradition based on medical knowledge [...]
PHL301 Introduction to Buddhist Thought
(2 credits) This course will make use of philosophical treatises, literature, and historical analysis to present the foundations of Buddhist philosophy as taught by the early Indian pandits and commented upon by Tibetan scholars. [...]
PHL302 Foundations and Ethics of Buddhist Thought: The Medium and Great Scope
(2 credits) This class surveys the foundational philosophical ideas of the Buddhist tradition as presented by the great pandits of India and commented upon by the Tibetan inheritors of the Indian Buddhist tradition. The [...]
PHL303 Madhyamaka Philosophy: Where is the Middle Way?
(2 credits) An overview and in-depth introduction to the heart of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the philosophy and practice of Madhyamaka, or the “Middle Way,” as presented by the renowned Indian Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna [...]
PHL304 Madhyamaka Philosophy: A Dose of Emptiness
(2 credits) A continuation of the Madhyamaka I course, in which the exploration and debate of the philosophy and practice of Madhyamaka, or the “Middle Way” is deepened and refined. The primary reading text [...]
PHL308 Mahamudra: Realizing the Nature of Mind
(2 credits) The aim of this course is to explore the Great Seal, Mahāmudrā, which in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism is the attempt to realize the conventional and especially the ultimate nature of the [...]
PHL321 Mindfulness and Compassion: Mind Training
(2 credits) This course will examine mind training from both traditional Tibetan Buddhist and secular science-based approaches. Tibetan Buddhist teachers developed a genre of Buddhist teachings called lojong (mind training) that purport that the [...]
PHL322 The Good Heart: The Spirituality and Science of Motivating and Sustaining Positive Change
(2 credits) This course will examine the spirituality and science of motivating and sustaining positive change from both traditional Indo-Tibetan Buddhist and western psychological perspectives. The Buddhist perspective will be examined through a close [...]
PHL323 The Good Heart: Cultivating Patience and Joyous Effort, Reducing Anger and Apathy
(2 credits) This course will examine the cultivation of patience as an antidote to anger, and joyous effort as an antidote to apathy from both traditional Indo-Tibetan Buddhist and western psychological perspectives. Specific attention [...]
PHL324 The Good Heart: Advice for Living, Liberation, and Leadership
(2 credits) This course will explore the application and integration of spiritual values in leadership, from the perspectives of ancient India and contemporary contexts. The course will focus on a Buddhist text about the qualities [...]
PHL325 The Good Heart: Mind Training to Transform Our Lives
(2 credits) This course will examine a corpus of Buddhist teachings called lojong (mind training) from both traditional Tibetan Buddhist and Western approaches to applied spirituality in communities. Based on the essential Mahayana Buddhist [...]
PHL403 Introduction to Tantra
(2 credits) This course will give an introduction and overview to Buddhist tantra as it came through India to Tibet. We will explore its history and lineage, as well as gain an understanding of [...]
PHL404 Fundamentals of the Vajra Vehicle
(2 credits) This course will provide students with an overview to the history, theory, and ethical practice of the tantras of the Secret Mantra Vehicle as described in the works of Tsongkhapa, founder of [...]
PHL450 Theories and Methods of Buddhist Studies
(2 credits) This course is designed to give students the methodological and theoretical tools needed to think critically about ways to approach the academic study of Buddhism, tools that will be imperative in the [...]
PHL500 Masters Thesis/Comprehensive Exam
(4 credits) Final mastery for the MA degree is demonstrated through one of the following options. MA students with permission to complete the Exam or Thesis will register for PHL500 (and PHL501, below, for [...]
PHL501 Masters Thesis/Comprehensive Exams
(1 credit) This course is required of MA students who have successfully completed all coursework toward their degree with the exception of their final degree requirement. Students must register for PHL501 to maintain residency [...]
Theology
THL327 Birth, Aging, Sickness, and Death in Comparative Theology and Religion
(2 credits) Guatama Buddha famously experienced the four sights in the form of encounters with the human experiences of aging, sickness, death, and a wandering renunciate. These encounters are said to have led directly [...]
THL324 Self-Compassion for Buddhists
(1 credit, 8 weeks) Many Buddhists dedicate themselves to practicing kindness and compassion for others, and inadvertently leave themselves out. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said, “If your compassion does not include [...]
THL007 Applied Buddhist Theology: Difficult Topics
(2 credits) In the Applied Buddhist Theology Internship, students work under the supervision of faculty on a proposed and approved special topic, project, or training that integrates Buddhist thought, practice, and skills, with clear [...]
THL 305 Engaged Buddhism: Non-Violence and Social Justice in Buddhist Thought and Practice
(2 credits) Engaged Buddhism is the application of the Dharma to large and small scale problems that cause suffering in the world. Most commonly it is thought of as Buddhist social and political action, [...]
THL 320 Contemporary Buddhist Thought and Theology
(2 credits) The work of the academic study of Buddhism by contemporary scholars has offered tremendous insights into the historical and social conditions that grounded, informed, and influenced the formation of Buddhist ideas and [...]
THL325 Understanding World Religions: Concepts of and Contributions to Justice and Peace
(2 credits) This course offers an overview of the worldviews of various religions and ideologies and an examination of their ideas of, teachings on, and action in relationship to the concepts of justice and [...]
THL330 Mapping the Landscape of Western Spirituality: Comparative Religious Traditions in Theology and Practice
(2 credits) This course may be offered at the discretion of the instructor, to meet the goals of expanding upon interfaith and comparative studies, increasing exposure to the diversity of beliefs, practices, and traditions [...]
THL336 Skillful Means with Reactive Patterns
(1 credit) Being able to identify reactivity in yourself and others and respond with wisdom and compassion is essential to following a spiritual path in everyday life. While you may easily identify an angry [...]
THL337 Empathy, Listening, and Mindful Compassionate Dialogue
(2 credits) In the fields of professional spiritual care, and within our communities and relationships, “sympathy,” “empathy,” and “compassion,” are said to be valued, but have often been poorly or insufficiently defined. This situation [...]
THL338 Insight Dialogue: Interpersonal Meditation
(1 credit, 8 weeks) Insight Dialogue is an interpersonal meditation practice that brings together meditative awareness, the wisdom teachings of the Buddha, and relationship. It is a contemporary practice with the same purposes and [...]
THL339 Mindful Compassionate Dialogue
(1 credit) People who experience connection to core values while engaged in meditation, prayer, and other spiritual practices may also find that when they step back into daily life ‘off the cushion,’ they can [...]
THL410 Buddhist Rituals, Ethics, Services, and Ceremonies
(2 credits) This course will present an overview of some of the most important rituals, ethics, services, and ceremonies that form the core of Buddhist practice in the Tibetan tradition, and shape everyday life [...]
THL417 Making the Invisible, Visible: Working with Unhealthy Bias and Up-rooting
(1 credit) It This course will address Buddhist Principles and Racism in the U.S. through readings like: Marc Lamont Hill’s “Nobody,” Debbie Irving’s “Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race,” [...]
THL418 Arts of Buddhist Ministry: Introduction to an Emerging Field
(2 credits) What is Buddhist Ministry? In recent years, a number of Buddhist professionals and scholars are newly and creatively posing working definitions and disciplinary-defining principles and practices. Buddhist ministry appears to be emerging [...]
THL423 Spiritual Care in Practice
(2 credits) This class will develop the students’ interpersonal competencies of spiritual care or pastoral care and counseling, focusing on the foundational skills most often used by those in service roles such as chaplains, therapists, [...]
THL424 A Good Death: Approaching the End of Life
(2 credits) What is a “Good Death”? What guides decisions—our own and those of our loved ones, community, and clients—about how to have or support a “Good Death”? This course explores three times—preparing for death, [...]
THL428 Family Systems and Group Process
(1 credit) The course will offer understanding of Family Systems and Internal Family Systems theories, and engage participants in applying theory to their own experiences, including the interpersonal dynamics of the group setting. Attention [...]
THL438 Women in Buddhism
(1 credit) The Buddhist community has always consisted of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen, in that order. The question of women's place and standing within Buddhism has, throughout, remained a problematic, contentious, and sometimes [...]
THL500 Master of Divinity Final Project – Comprehensive Paper in Buddhist Theology and Chaplaincy
(4 credits) The Master of Divinity program culminates in the completion of a substantial final written project that embodies the integration of the student's practical and theoretical knowledge and understanding gained in the program. The [...]
THL501 Master of Divinity Final Project – Comprehensive Paper in Buddhist Theology and Chaplaincy
(1 credit) THL501 Master of Divinity Final Project - Comprehensive Paper in Buddhist Theology and Chaplaincy This course is required of MDiv students who have successfully completed all coursework toward their degree with the [...]
THL502 MDiv Final Comprehensive Paper/Project
(2 credits) See THL500. This course is to be selected when student wishes to complete the four required credits over a year, two in fall and two in spring, in their final year once [...]