Buddhism in a Nutshell

Registration is now closed for this 6 week course. Due to content and structure of the course, it is required that all participants attended the first class held on 1/16/20. Thank you!

This course is offered on an ongoing basis, please sign up for our weekly enews to stay informed of new offerings: Click Here

Buddhism in a Nutshell with Venerable Tenzin Chogkyi.

*Note Location: Louden Nelson Community Center  Downtown Santa Cruz: 301 Center St.  Two Hours Free Parking!

Why do we put so much energy into chasing after happiness, only to be disappointed? Why is it so hard to find peace and contentment?

Buddhism teaches that true freedom and happiness can only be found within, by transforming our own minds. Find out more about this essential truth that the Buddha taught.

This course, based on the Four Noble Truths, the first teaching the Buddha gave after his enlightenment, will include lectures, discussion periods and meditation sessions.

Buddhism in a Nutshell is an FPMT Education Department introductory level course. This program is appropriate for beginners with no prior knowledge of meditation or Buddhist philosophy, and also for more experienced students wanting to deepen their understanding.

About the Instructor

Venerable Tenzin Chogkyi first became interested in meditation and Buddhism after reading Be Here Now and early translations of Buddhist sutras in the early 1970s, and then in early 1991 she became a student of Tibetan Buddhism. From 1992 to 2000,
Venerable Tenzin was director of Vajrapani Institute, co-director the FPMT International Office, and coordinator of FPMT Center Services. She also completed several long meditation retreats over a six-year period.

Venerable Tenzin took novice ordination in 2004 with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In 2006 she became a touring teacher in the FPMT, and began teaching in prisons on behalf of the Liberation Prison Project.

Venerable Tenzin is authorized by the FPMT to teach at both the foundational and in-depth levels, and is also a teacher of Cultivating Emotional Balance (a secular program developed by Alan Wallace and Paul Ekman). She is also a certified teacher in Compassion Cultivation Training, a program developed by Geshe Thubten Jinpa and colleagues at Stanford University. Venerable Tenzin joined the faculty at Land of Medicine Buddha in August 2018.