RELB 2165

I took this course during J-term, so my experience may have been different from the other reviews here. Note: my work/week numbers are really work/day because each day corresponded to one week. Schaeffer was a nice guy, not an amazing lecturer. A lot of the content was pretty interesting, but not extremely useful. It was great to have real Tibetan Buddhists come talk to the whole class. Overall a pretty easy class (especially if not over J-term).

While the course itself is still being adapted and updated to make sure that it is doing the most it can I would recommend this course! It was very different from any other course I've taken, and did not cause me a lot of stress. There are 4 written assignments and a weekly journal and that's it! No exams. There is no need to take notes in lecture either - instead it acts as a great opportunity to go and just listen. Kurtis Schaeffer makes this so easy, and is a really funny and endearing guy. Additionally, a lot of the material focuses on topics outside of Buddhism (namely Psychology and Neuroscience) so it stays mostly fresh.

My hope is that they get rid of the video lectures which I found to be a nuisance, and that they condense the incredibly long and unnavigable syllabus and calendar to make it more accessible.

Finally, the weekly lab was a great opportunity to relax at the end of the week and practice meditating. I looked forward to it and it never felt like a chore.