Bodhisattva Vow Program with Mitra Tyler Dewar

The Bodhisattva Vow Program with Mitra Tyler Dewar is a four-week Buddhist workshop in Seattle, Washington, for practitioners who wish to take the bodhisattva vow or renew it. It is held at Nalandabodhi Seattle @ Nalanda West and rooted in the Indo-Tibetan Mahayana tradition. Three Saturday teaching sessions lead to a bodhisattva vow ceremony, with Mitra Tyler serving as preceptor.

The Indo-Tibetan Mahayana tradition teaches that bodhicitta cannot fully arise without receiving and holding the vows of bodhisattva discipline. To take the vow is to commit to the training of aspiration bodhicitta, the wish born of loving-kindness and compassion to awaken for the benefit of all beings, and to application bodhicitta, the practice of the six pāramitās.

What to Expect

The program meets on four Saturdays, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. each day. The first three sessions are talks followed by question-and-answer periods on the bodhisattva vow. Mitra Tyler offers key instructions on how to develop and keep alive the two bodhicittas, and on the six pāramitās: generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation, and prajñā, or supreme discernment.

On the fourth Saturday the group gathers for the bodhisattva vow ceremony, followed by a celebratory luncheon. First-time vow recipients receive a vow card or certificate and a bodhisattva name. Those who already hold the vows are also welcome, whether to refresh their study and contemplation, renew their vows, or support and rejoice in those taking them for the first time.

About Mitra Tyler Dewar

Mitra Tyler was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. He has studied and practiced Buddhism since 1996 and became a student of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche two years later. He began studying Tibetan in 1997 and, from 2000, worked as an oral interpreter and textual translator for Nitartha Institute and Nalandabodhi.

He joined the Nitartha Institute faculty in 2003 and was appointed a senior teacher in Nalandabodhi in 2005. He has interpreted for lineage-holding masters of the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions, and he enjoys teaching on subjects such as the four immeasurables and on how the great Buddhist forebears inform life in the 21st century. A musician and singer, he has helped create several melodized liturgies and dharma songs. He lives in Seattle.

The title Mitra comes from the Sanskrit Kalyanamitra, "spiritual friend." In 2005 Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche gave it to a group of his long-time students whom he empowered as senior teachers of Nalandabodhi. The Mitras guide its three paths of Study, Meditation, and Mindful Activity.

The Setting

Sessions are held in person only, at Nalanda West, the Seattle center of Nalandabodhi, on Woodland Park Avenue North. There is no online option.

Before You Go

This program is at an intermediate level. It is recommended for people who have practiced sincerely for a good while, have a decent understanding of the foundational principles of the Buddha's teachings, and wish to deepen their commitment to the Mahayana path. Participants should already have taken the refuge vow. Anyone taking the bodhisattva vow for the first time is encouraged to attend all sessions.

The program is taught in English. The three talks, the vow ceremony and the celebratory luncheon are included. A voluntary dana offering to the vow preceptor and Nalandabodhi Seattle is separate.