eDharma Courses

Welcome to the Tsadra eDharma Courses Series. This new app for iOS devices introduces a selection of courses for Buddhist studies that combines the various elements that are important for the study and contemplation of pivotal Buddhist philosophical texts. Tsadra Foundation is delighted to begin this series of courses for Buddhist studies in collaboration with the Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Center for Buddhist Studies, at the Kathmandu University.

The Madhyantavibhaga course is the first release of the series and introduces, for the first time, a comprehensive and immersive environment for studying this text. The course presents a translation of the Buddhist masterpiece Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes. This famed text, often referred to by its Sanskrit title, Madhyāntavibhāga, is part of a collection known as the Five Maitreya Teachings (byams chos sde lnga). Maitreya, the Buddha's regent, is held to have entrusted these profound and vast instructions to the master Asanga in the heavenly realm of Tusita.

In pithy verses, Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes employs the principle of the three natures to explain the way things seem to be as well as the way they actually are. Unravelling the subtle processes that condition our thinking and experience, Maitreya's teaching reveals a powerful path of compassionate vision and spiritual transformation. Distinguishing the Middle from Extremes is presented alongside commentaries by two outstanding masters of Tibet's nonsectarian Rimé movement, Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham.

This course is an offering designed and produced by Tsadra Foundation to complement other courses of the Rangjung Yeshe Institute's online learning program.

Each course included in the app presents:

- A bilingual Tibetan-English presentation of the text
- An intuitive navigation scheme for topic outlines
- An extensive collection of video and audio lectures
- Transcripts of these lectures
- Enhanced materials drawn from the commentaries and from classroom handouts
- Student evaluations
- A list of external references including academic works by authoritative Western scholars.

Along with each RYI course the app offers the free Tibetan editions of the texts that are taught in the courses.