2024 Nitartha Summer Institute

Union of Study and Meditation

Lewis & Clark College

Portland, Oregon

Friday July 5 — Friday August 2, 2024

Session 1: July 5—13 | Session 2: July 15—23 | Session 3: July 25—August 2

A one-month program with three 9-day sessions. Attend one, two or all three sessions.

For the first time since 2019, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche will be teaching onsite at the Summer Institute! Join Rinpoche in person, along with Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen, our Western faculty and Nitartha’s community of students, where we will:

  • Receive Mahamudra instructions and Buddhist philosophy teachings.
  • Enjoy practicing Mahamudra together.
  • Rejoice in the company of old and new friends.
  • Benefit from onsite enhancement activities.
  • Chat with faculty and friends over meals.
  • Explore the nearby River View Natural Area and Willamette River trails.

Courses will also be offered online for those who are unable to attend in person.

Main Teaching

Mahamudra Lineage Chit-Chat

For the first time since 2019, Dzogchen Rinpoche will be back onsite!
Join us for these special talks on Mahamudra that Rinpoche is offering to all Summer Institute students.

Taught from a unique perspective, Ponlop Rinpoche’s teachings this summer should be of interest even to those who have previously studied Ocean of Definitive Meaning with Rinpoche at Nitartha’s Summer Institute.
Read more!

Mahamudra Meditation

Three Levels of Mahamudra Meditation

Study is skillfully joined with Mahamudra, which is held in the afternoons. Mahamudra shamatha is open to everyone who attends on site.
Read more.

Philosophical Traditions

Courses from our Shedra Curriculum

Study classes in the mornings help us better identify the object of our Mahamudra meditation. These include: Mind and Its World, Madhyamaka, Mind Only and Buddha Nature. Read more.

Tibetan Courses

Study Colloquial or Literary Tibetan

Colloquial and literary Tibetan courses will last all month. You can even take summer Tibetan courses if you don’t attend the Summer Institute. For information contact summer@nitarthainstitute.org.

The Onsite Experience

Join us in person or online

Attend in person on the college campus, with the Forest Highlands to the west, the River View Natural Area to the north and the Willamette River to the east. The college is a convenient 15 miles from the Portland Airport. On-campus housing is a short 5-minute walk to Summer Institute teachings and meditation sessions. Enjoy spending time with faculty and fellow students in and outside of class. Read more!

For information about the schedule click here.

Main Teaching
Mahamudra Lineage Chit-Chat

Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

For the first time since 2019, Dzogchen Rinpoche will be back onsite!
Join us for these special talks on Mahamudra that Rinpoche is offering to all Summer Institute students.
Read more!

Mahamudra Meditation

The statue of Buddha meditating in the mountains.

Study is skillfully joined with Mahamudra, which is held in the afternoons. Mahamudra shamatha is open to everyone who attends on site. Read more.

Philosophical Traditions

Study classes in the mornings help us better identify the object of our Mahamudra meditation. These include: Mind and Its World, Madhyamaka, Buddha Nature and Yogacara. Read more.

Tibetan Language Courses

Colloquial and literary Tibetan courses will last all month. You can even take summer Tibetan courses if you don’t attend the Summer Institute. For information contact summer@nitarthainstitute.org.

The Onsite Experience

Attend in person on the college campus, with the Forest Highlands to the west, the River View Natural Area to the north and the Willamette River to the east. The college is a convenient 15 miles from the Portland Airport. On-campus housing is a short 5-minute walk to Summer Institute teachings and meditation sessions. Enjoy spending time with faculty and fellow students in and outside of class. Read more!

The Onsite Experience

The Summer Institute will offer courses online and onsite at Lewis & Clark College in Portland Oregon.
We will enjoy seeing you in the virtual zoom-a-dhatu or in person, or both.
Below are some highlights of an onsite experience.

Enhance Your Experience

The Summer Institute includes activities to enhance our experience. These are offered only onsite, since they involve a high degree of interaction. Classes include tangka drawing, health and healing, space awareness and debate. Along with study and meditation courses, these activities encompass all the five sciences on which Nitartha’s curriculum is based. Read more about this year’s enhancement activities.

Experience Campus Life

We will stay in one of the newest residence halls on campus, Holmes Hall. It features amenities designed to build community: a generous living room, game room, hall kitchen, outdoor wood-burning fireplace, and gas grill. The residence hall is a short 5-minute walk from the shrine room and classrooms, on the Graduate Campus. The classrooms are in two buildings that are adjacent to each other and offer a lovely retreat-like environment.

Enjoy the Forest

Lewis & Clark College sits on a 137-acre forested campus atop Palatine Hill, in the Collins View neighborhood in the southwest corner of Portland, Oregon.  It is adjacent to the 645-acre Tryon Creek State Natural Area. Campus buildings include an award-winning environmentally sustainable academic building and historic architure. The Princeton Review named the college was one of America’s top ten “most beautiful campuses.” Wind power provides 100% of the college’s total electricity, and LEED-certification is required of all of its projects.

Explore Portland

On our days off or evenings we can explore the Willamette River and the Tryon Creek and River View Natural Area trails. Downtown Portland is just 15 minutes driving distance, where we’ll find shops, restaurants, the rose gardens and museums. In the nearby southwest Portland neighborhoods we can find a Hillsdale pub, a variety of options in Multnomaha Village, and the upscale Chart House, with views of Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adamas.
Check out Lewis & Clark’s top 10 things to do in Portland.

Would you like to receive information about upcoming courses and next year’s 2024 Summer Institute?

Questions? Write to us at summer@nitarthainstitute.org.