Online Courses

Ignite Your Spiritual Life Online Course: Sept 15-Oct 20, 2018 This course explores how to create a supportive structure in your daily life for spiritual growth.  Retreat centres - such as Planet Dharma's home base at Clear Sky Retreat Centre - provide nurturing and uplifting spaces for meditation and learning.  The good news is that the same simple principles can be applied to our daily lives at home and at work.  This gives us a strong foundation for year-round meditation and growth. This course is for you if: you struggle in the busyness of life to have a consistent meditation practice. you attend courses and retreats, and have great insights, but somehow end up stuck back in the same old habitual patterns in your daily life. you want to build a strong foundation for year-round Dharma growth and exploration. This course is offered by senior Planet Dharma students through their work at Clear Sky Retreat Centre as a complement and support to your Planet Dharma studies. Online classes will take place live on Saturday mornings 10:00-11.30am MST. Recordings will also be available if you can’t attend live. The critical lost art of the spiritual container and how it can re-ignite your spiritual life If you’re like many people, you may know what will help keep you calm and centered – like regular meditation practice, and ongoing Dharma studies and retreats - yet you have a hard time applying it in your daily life. Especially in these turbulent times, when it seems nobody is immune from growing levels of fear, depression, and anxiety in […]

How healthy is our society's views, norms and paradigms regarding human sexuality? Can wisdom traditions exist with sexuality and relationship as a core component? How about without them? The Joy of Sex & Relationship: Online Course Since this is the Year of Joy, and we're here to bring joy and humor to this rather fraught topic, so worthy of our considered attention and energy. Everything in our life comes back to our view. Can wisdom traditions exist with sexuality and relationship as a core component? How about without them? The history of human civilization is a history of diverse cultural paradigms, including varied expressions of love, sensuality, interest, sexuality, and romance. Our motivations are growth (personal and spiritual unfoldment), through learning (insight) and joy (bliss). How healthy is our society's views, norms and paradigms regarding human sexuality? How did we get here? That is, how did our views regarding sex and relationship get shaped? Partly from our family and tribe, to be sure, and how were their views shaped? More importantly, are we choosing our own views on sex and relationship? Or using second- or third-hand ones that we believe to be our own?  Are we making informed choices about how to relate to one another, sexually and otherwise? Prehistorical humans––the hunters and foragers––were polyamorous. Such behavior helped weave the fabric that held the community together. Without fixed paternity, men, women and children were all communally cared for. Without ownership, assets were shared. Then came agriculture. And fences. And possessions. Women became […]

Astrology and Buddhism?! These are two powerful tools to help us better understand ourselves as individuals, our lives, the nature of being human, and the universe around us.  The unique combination of Astrology and Dharma gives us unprecedented leverage to draw on personal strengths to transform personal and situational challenges. Intro to AstroDharma is designed to support you on your spiritual path and thereby benefit others. Why this Course? The combination of Dharma and Transpersonal Astrology is a powerful method to help you to understand your soul map––your natal astrology chart–– and your unique Hero’s Journey depicted therein.  With the Teachings of the Buddha, also known as “Buddhadharma” or just “dharma” we gain insights from 2500 years of profound consciousness studies. With Transpersonal Astrology we draw on Western Greco-Roman mythology plus Jungian principles and archetypes to help us understand ourselves, others and the cosmos. Course Overview   Understand the Map of Your Soul’s Journey & Transform Challenges Intro to AstroDharma is an online self-study program that supports you as you begin the journey of self-discovery and transformation through the uniquely combined lens of Buddhist teachings (Dharma) and transpersonal Western astrology. Learn the Fundamentals of Astrology This introductory course will help you get to know your own astrological birth chart. Along the way, you learn the spectrum of corresponding characteristics that you can choose to manifest in your life and your personality, as shown through the zodiacal signs, the planets and the houses. If you don’t quite understand what this means, this […]

The Pearl without Price: Why Awaken? An Online course with Planet Dharma's Doug Duncan and Catherine Pawasarat.

How do we integrate our spiritual practice with the demands of modern life? As more of us embrace contemporary spiritual paths, we are co-creating ways to make it viable, attractive and powerful.Riding the Dragon: Spiritual Awakening in Modern Life As more and more of us embrace modern spiritual paths, we are co-creating ways to make it viable, attractive and powerful. How do we integrate our spiritual practice with the demands of modern life? To help ease the learning curve for others, we share our wisdom from founding both a virtual and a working monastery. We address the common challenges we see many contemporary spiritual practitioners face. More to the point, we share successful strategies for upcycling these challenges as fuel for the awakening fire.Course Schedule Starts June 3, 2019. MON, JUNE 3 Awakening Through Creativity The awakening mind rests in spaciousness or sunyata, where all thoughts, feelings, actions, and states of being from past, present and future exist simultaneously. All of creation is birthed from this state of spaciousness. To “find” a solution, to receive inspiration to craft something beautiful, to introduce an invention that makes our lives better, or to develop a better future for the planet, we simply need to connect with sunyata to create the space and connection for these to emerge through us. Expand your view of what “creativity” is, and develop your ability to connect with this awakening practice. MON, JUNE 10 Secrets From Ourselves: When we think of “secrets” we usually think of something […]

It takes courage and an open mind to explore the frontiers of awakening. What’s more, this greater range of understanding creates something we all desire: greater degrees of freedom. And freedom ain’t for the faint of heart. Crazy Wisdom: Taking a Walk on the Wild Side Meditation trains us to pay attention in any and every situation, making a broader range of experience available to seekers of every type. What’s more, this greater range of understanding creates something we all desire: greater degrees of freedom. And freedom ain’t for the faint of heart. It takes courage and an open mind to explore the frontiers of awakening. Course Schedule Starts September 9, 2019 MON, SEPTEMBER 9 Spiritual Energy Traders What do our relationships with our mothers, capitalism, and the Triple Gem have in common? Without mindfulness and a robust sense of love, all may fall into an exploitative dynamic, one that’s not in our own best interest. How can we live abundantly and generously as spiritual beings in a capitalist system? We look at the sophistication of giving and receiving skills, the future of sacred economics, and how these impact our spiritual awakening. MON, September 16Only the Shadow Knows Developments in 20th-century psychology introduced us to the concept of our personal and collective shadows. Integrating the shadow is central to our teaching, and can feel arduous and distressing at times, but brings with it infinite rewards. Liberating the shadow frees up immense amounts of energy previously spent repressing or otherwise avoiding it, and […]

Let your mind shine like a diamond. A clear and strong consciousness cuts through foggy or disillusioned mind states to reveal wisdom and ultimate truth. By studying the Diamond Sutra, we deepen our abilities to act in the world more skillfully and effectively with a profound reverence for every moment. The Diamond Sutra Deepen your own unfoldment with our exploration of the Diamond Sutra through the scope of awakened master, Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche. One of the most treasured sutras in the Mahayana canon, the Diamond Sutra is also recognized as the oldest dated and printed book in existence. The full translation of the book’s title is "The Diamond Which Cuts Through Illusion." “Whosoever can receive and retain this teaching, study it, recite it and spread it abroad will be clearly perceived and recognized by the Tathagata and will achieve a perfection of merit beyond measurement or calculation – a perfection of merit unlimited and inconceivable.” – The Buddha (The Diamond Sutra, Section XV, The Incomparable Value of This Teaching)  Recommended Reading  For this online study of the Diamond Sutra, we will use Suchness, the commentary by the great awakened master Ven. Namgyal Rinpoche.  We recommend that you order a copy of Suchness from Bodhi Publishing for the course.  Shipping times may vary so we suggest doing this at your earliest convenience. Course Schedule Starts January 6th, 2020 PLEASE NOTE to deepen and integrate your experience, we are offering three optional weekly Master Classes during the course and an at-home Flash Retreat at the end. See below for more details.  MON, JANUARY 6Class 1 In […]

Intro to AstroDharma is an online self-study program that supports you as you begin the journey of self-discovery and transformation through the uniquely combined lens of Buddhist teachings (Dharma) and transpersonal Western astrology.

To learn more, register or resume course, visit the course page.

Intro to AstroDharma is an online self-study program that supports you as you begin the journey of self-discovery and transformation through the uniquely combined lens of Buddhist teachings (Dharma) and transpersonal Western astrology.

Enroll at any time and study at your own pace. Access the material for up to a year.