Craft of Zen
Horizons of Experience
The Three Worlds
Exploring the three different worlds of experience: personal identity, the feeling body, and formless presence. 'Horizons of Experience: The Three Worlds' is a live, online course supported by monthly lectures, embodiment sessions, and additional educational material all under the direct guidance of Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi
Our course begins Sunday, September 27th at 10 am MT // 18:00 CET.
One World, or Three?
We tend to assume that we live in one world, and that our task is simply to navigate it more skillfully. Buddhism offers a different view. Instead, it invites us into three distinct worlds of experience, each with its own logic, its own subjectivity, its own sense of what is possible. This is the teaching of the Three Worlds, or Tridhatu — and it is far more practical than it first appears.
What This Course Offers
A world, in this teaching, is not a physical place. It is the complete pattern of how we perceive, what we take to be real, and what we become within it. Our experience of ourselves and our experience of the world arise together, the way a fish is shaped by the water it swims in. When experience shifts, new responses become available — and with them, new forms of freedom emerge. Over three months, we will explore these three worlds and the ways they inform, limit, and open one another:
Month One — The World of Identity
Month Two — The World of the Feeling Body
Month Three — The World of Formless Presence
Each month includes a live lecture, audio practice inspirations for daily life, and a live Embody and Enactment session with Nicole.
For Whom
This course is for all practitioners who want to take a deep dive into moving beyond the external world — into the feeling body and the living dimension it opens.
It is assumed that you have already had some basic introduction to sitting meditation, so that you arrive with a felt sense of what we're building on. If you’re looking to start from the very beginning, try on Nicole’s 3 day, free course “You Meditate, But Something is Missing.” This is ample preparation for 'Horizons of Experience.'
As we delve deep into questions of reality, it is important to recognize that this is a course on Buddhist frameworks, and does not come equipped with additional psychological support. For the wellbeing of everyone involved, we ask that all potential participants participate in Self Responsibility Check In.

What awaits you?
'Horizons of Experience' is an exploration into the structure of experience itself — how what we call "reality" is shaped, and how it can shift. It is a program that is open to both beginners and experienced practitioners alike, meeting
Monthly Live Talks
➔ Lectures with Baden Roshi on each of the Three Worlds
➔ Lifetime access to recordings, so you can return to them at your own pace
Audio Practice Inspirations
➔ Two audio practices per month, designed to carry that month’s teaching into daily life
➔ Short, repeatable, made for the in-between moments of an ordinary day
Accompanying Study Material
➔ A structured guide to support your practice
Daily Online Meditation
➔ Online Zendos from the centers
Live Guided Embodiment Sessions
➔ One live session with Nicole each month, guiding you directly into the territory of that month's world
➔ A felt, somatic complement to the conceptual teaching
Community Forum
Participants are warmly invited to connect, share experiences, and even initiate their own practice-deepening group activities, creating a supportive and inspiring space.
Access to the Dharma Academy Library
A digital library of Dharma talks and study materials
All lectures and live sessions always take place at 7:00 pm MT.
Horizons of Experience
Core Themes
The Three Worlds (Tridhatu) An introduction to the traditional Buddhist map of experience — and why it is a practice tool. The World of Identity Looking into how the external, everyday world of self and other is constructed, and what becomes visible when it is examined directly The World of the Feeling Body Exploring perception before concept: entering the living, sensate dimension that opens once thought steps back The World of Formless Presence Working directly with presence that has no fixed object — the subtlest and, in a sense, the most ordinary of the three worlds How the Worlds Inform One Another None of the three worlds is more "true" than the others; each offers its own intelligence and its own limitation Shifting Worlds in Daily Life Recognizing, in real time, which world you are standing in — and what that makes possible or impossible in that moment Freedom as Movement Between Worlds Why flexibility across these three horizons of experience, rather than mastery of just one, is where practice is heading
Chapter 3: Horizons of Experience
We begin Sunday, September 27th 18:00 CET // 10:00 am MT
Register today!
$199
Standard price (one‒time payment)
$239 Supporter (one‒time payment): Support our work. This option also supports a fellow practionner to take the course.
$159 Supported (one‒time payment): We trust your self-assessment—no proof required.
  • Monthly Live Talks
  • Practice Inspirations for Everyday Life
  • Live Guided Embodiment Sessions
  • Accompanying Study Material
“I thank you so much for all the work you did. It is very impressing how such an event already can really change a life- path.”
— Denise
“The virtual experience and material organization provided by the Dharma Academy online platform made the learning experience smooth and straightforward. I appreciated the blend of participating in live virtual sessions and having the recordings accessible after the event. The written PDF summaries from each session were exceptionally well done.”
— B.N
“When I first heard Nicole speak, I felt an immediate sense of trust and connection. I was drawn into what she later called ‘shared aliveness.’”
— Debra M.
“There was such depth in the topics and a genuine connection to the people participating. The program was fantastic, with inspiring speakers addressing these important questions and issues”
— A.A.
“A deep sense of gratitude for sharing so much guidance and wisdom. Thank you!”
— Ramiros
“I thank you so much for all the work you did. It is very impressing how such an event already can really change a life- path.”
— Denise
“The virtual experience and material organization provided by the Dharma Academy online platform made the learning experience smooth and straightforward. I appreciated the blend of participating in live virtual sessions and having the recordings accessible after the event. The written PDF summaries from each session were exceptionally well done.”
— B.N
“When I first heard Nicole speak, I felt an immediate sense of trust and connection. I was drawn into what she later called ‘shared aliveness.’”
— Debra M.
“There was such depth in the topics and a genuine connection to the people participating. The program was fantastic, with inspiring speakers addressing these important questions and issues”
— A.A.
“A deep sense of gratitude for sharing so much guidance and wisdom. Thank you!”
— Ramiros

Tatsudo Nicole Baden Roshi,
is a Dharma successor of Zentatsu Richard Baker Roshi and has been practicing with the Dharma Sangha since 2001. She studied psychology at the University of Oldenburg until 2009, while simultaneously training in the somatic therapeutic method Body-Mind Centering©. Following her studies, she spent four years at the Crestone Mountain Zen Center in Colorado, USA. Since 2013, she has been active at the Zen Buddhist Center Schwarzwald, moving fluidly between the two centers as part of her ongoing practice and teaching. Nicole is also the founder and guiding teacher of the Dharma Academy, bringing her vision and experience to its development. In September 2024, she officially succeeded Richard Baker Roshi and has since been serving as Abbot, guiding the spiritual direction of the Dharma Sangha.
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