Modern Buddhism Study Programs

To celebrate Buddha Shakyamuni’s Turning the Wheel of Dharma (Skt. Dharmachakra) Day, which also happens to be Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso’s birthday, I thought I’d share some thoughts on the study programs in Kadampa Buddhism. Today, these are turning the Wheel of Dharma at hundreds of Buddhist centers around the world.

(Please scroll below for a new addition on November 29 2024 called “A short history and overview” of the New Kadampa Study Programs.”)

There are 3 programs — General Program, Foundation Program, and Teacher Training Program. They’re all great, but I will mainly be talking about the last two.

As you may or may not know, Buddhism has always put an emphasis on (1) listening to lots of teachings, (2) contemplating them to check they work in our own experience and transform them into our own idea, and (3) meditating on them to bring them deep into our heart where they will be a constant joy and protection, leading us all the way to enlightenment. Buddha gave 84,000 teachings of Sutra and Tantra, and basically the idea is to learn the jist of all of these and put them into practice 😊

I will be quoting Venerable Geshe Kelsang’s words from a talk he gave called A Wishfulfilling Dharma Jewel, and you can read the whole thing here.

At present in our Centers we have a Foundation Program and a Teacher Training Program. This is not a new tradition. In the past there have been other programs specially designed for Dharma students according to their particular circumstances.

All these programs involved studying a certain number of texts, memorizing material, passing examinations, and being awarded a degree or certificate. For example, the ancient Kadampa Geshes had a program in which they studied six texts. Later Je Tsongkhapa introduced a program based on ten texts, and later still Tibetan Monasteries such as Ganden, Sera, and Drepung introduced a program based on five texts.

Even for the 1,000 years before Buddhism got to Tibet, deep learning and meditation had always been integral to the Buddhist tradition – for example the famous monastic university of Nalanda in Southern India produced generations of famous master practitioners from the fifth to twelfth century CE.

Now Geshe Kelsang has made all these teachings and meditations accessible to us in the unwieldy modern world through modern books, teachers, centers, temples, and study programs. Most of us definitely don’t have the same kind of time for formal study that they had in the old days, so he has made the time we do have incredibly efficient, and put more emphasis on sustaining and deepening these teachings and meditations through mindfulness in our regular daily lives.

Geshe Kelsang said:

Inspired by my own experience, I developed a strong wish to introduce a similar program for western Dharma students so that they could reap the same results. However, I understand very clearly that the program designed for Tibetan Geshes is not suitable for westerners.

For one thing, most western Dharma students are lay people …

Recently I asked some of my teacher friends to tell me what they thought were the main benefits of the Foundation Program (FP) in particular, as this is the program that most people tend to join. I wanted to hear what they had to say in particular about the commitments of the FP and why someone might want to take those on. So here goes, their ideas and mine, all jumbled together.

Becoming our own Protector

I agree with Socrates, the unexamined life is not worth living. Studying Dharma consistently guarantees our getting to know ourselves and our lives a lot better, and overcoming all our faults and limitations. This gives our life a spiritual dimension, and a vision far less ordinary.

As Geshe Kelsang says:

With wisdom and Dharma experience we can bring our deluded minds under control. We can reduce our attachment, anger, jealousy, and so forth, and subdue our self-grasping and self-cherishing. By controlling our deluded minds we will come to experience permanent peace day and night. We will bring about a permanent cessation of human problems in particular and of samsaric problems in general. In this way we will become our own protectors.

The commitments of the FP involve attending every class for the enrolled book, reading ahead, memorizing the root text and main points of the commentary, discussing, doing pujas (chanted prayers), and taking an exam.

Their overall purpose is so that our practice is not stop/start but regular and consistent, leading to guaranteed results. Buddha’s example for this kind of steady effort is like leaving water in a pot on the stove to boil at a low heat rather than moving it on and off a high heat such that it never gets around to boiling.

Mixing our minds with Dharma

In a busy, distracted, ofter overwhelming world, it’s only too easy for other stuff to get in the way; so committing to attending each class (or catching up with the recording and study summary in a timely manner) moves us past that problem. It helps us fulfill our wish to help ourselves and others.

We go deeper than in drop-in General Program classes because each class can build upon the one before it, presupposing knowledge, and shifting the responsibility of learning from the teacher to the student. And then we start to change.

This is good for the group, as we all literally stay on the same page. It becomes teamwork. The team is strong and unified and so everyone likes being on it. It is also good for the teacher as they don’t have to repeat the same points each week for people who weren’t there, and can take all the students more deeply into the material.

Reading ahead is a bit like toasting bread into which the hot butter of Dharma can easily soak during the class. That’s my analogy anyway! We come prepared with questions and looking forward to hearing the commentary on what we’ve already read and studied.

At the end of discussion the students come up with creative ideas together on what to practice in the meditation break to transform our everyday lives. We can troubleshoot how to practice Dharma throughout all our activities, lifestyles, and challenges. There are so many examples of people practicing Dharma in all walks of life, and we can learn from each other’s practical wisdom.

As Geshe Kelsang puts it:

The nature of western people is to study something one day and to want to put it into practice the next. This is a very good quality because they are always trying to gain practical experience of what they study.

Scale the highest mountain

One friend sent me this:

The Foundation Program is an opportunity to turn intellectual understanding into insights that authentically move our mind. For example, we understand intellectually that real or lasting happiness cannot be found outside out mind, and yet we still have a strong pull to find happiness from outside. FP is a chance to make a lasting change on our mind so that we genuinely want to find happiness from within.

We do this by giving more structure to our practice and spiritual development. FP is the opportunity to go through the training the mind teachings in depth, discuss, ask questions, and meditate on them. We make a commitment to study in this way so that, when difficulties come, we already have the structure in our mind to transform them. We have internalized the meaning. This means we will be able to actually transform adverse conditions in real time which is so much more difficult without this foundation.

FP creates the “foundation” for lasting happiness in our life. It’s an opportunity once or twice a week to reconnect deeply with our intention to improve our mind. We learn to consistently rely on Buddha and his teachings to solve our inner problems. We learn to trust and grow with our Sangha friends who are on the path with us. It’s a much more enriching way of experiencing this inner transformation.

As Geshe Kelsang says:

Our present understanding and experience of Dharma is quite superficial. We are like someone who has entered a huge food store and seen many things but sampled only a few. We may have received many different teachings from many different Teachers, but we have taken in very little, just a few morsels. Therefore our actual experience remains superficial. There is a gap between us and the Dharma. It feels as if Dharma is there and we are here. Our mind is not mixed with Dharma and so we cannot apply it in our daily lives.

As a result our ordinary everyday problems remain. For example, we may have received many teachings on Lamrim and read many books. Intellectually we find it relatively easy to understand and we accept it all, but we find it difficult to integrate into our daily lives, and so we cannot use this Dharma to solve our daily problems. When we study Dharma our mind remains passive, like someone watching television. It does not engage in the subject and mix with it. Therefore our daily life and our Dharma remain completely separate and unrelated.

Why is this? It is because we are not studying systematically according to a specially-designed program. If we just pick at Dharma randomly we will never gain a deep and stable experience, and our wisdom will never become like a full moon.

Commitments

Geshe Kelsang has always said we should not view commitments as “heavy luggage” (Ed: it’s more like a purse).

We are simply making time for the things we actually know are good for us and love to do. I read a study the other day where a large group of women were questioned on how much time they spent meditating and so on versus watching Netflix – they replied that although they felt far better when they were meditating, they still spent about 5x more time on Netflix.

As Geshe-la puts it: 

We should try to memorize the important points of the subject and combine whatever we understand in a practical way with our daily activities. We also have to observe the various commitments of the program. These commitments are designed to help us accomplish our aim. Without them there is a danger that we will be distracted by laziness or other circumstances and not complete our studies.

Any meaningful relationship requires commitment. For example, what would a marriage be like without any commitment? Or our job? Or working to combat climate change, or improving social justice, etc.? I think we find things more meaningful or of benefit when we have some commitment to them; and we get more done.

The FP commitments are also largely a commitment to each other. If everyone turns up and gets with the program, the group becomes stronger. If attendance is sporadic, the group weakens and our fellow students’ Dharma experience suffers.

One friend puts it like this:

On FP we come to experience in our heart (1) who we truly are, and (2) who we can become, and (3) more importantly, who our family, friends, and everyone else can become. Not through hearing ideas that it’s easy to soon forget, through dropping in on General Program (GP), but through a relaxed, consistent, dynamic engagement and deepening experience of Dharma and meditation on FP. FP closes the gap between the teachings we hear and experiencing them in our heart.

If we signed up to be a doctor with the goals of (1) having a good life ourselves and (2) benefitting others, but then didn’t turn up to classes consistently or seal that understanding through exams, out in the field we’d quickly realize we’re not equipped to fulfil our goals. From this point of view our 7 years in medical school would feel meaningless, because meaningful just means we feel we have accomplished or are accomplishing our goals.

In a similar way, to derive the greatest meaning and fulfillment from the time we have chosen to spend on FP, the commitments and exams are not rigid rules, but rather helpful guidelines and opportunities to accomplish the goals of (1) having a good life ourselves and (2) benefiting others. Or, in Geshe-la’s words, 1) to be happy and 2) to make others happy! In this way taking the commitments to heart is the best way to make our time on FP FEEL meaningful for us (not to placate the teacher or program coordinators) and be beneficial for others.

As Geshe-la explains from his own experience:

I studied this program at Sera Monastery. When I completed it and was awarded my Geshe degree, I felt as if I had reached the summit of the highest mountain. My faith and experience had increased considerably and I felt great confidence in teaching others. My mind was very happy and I felt completely free from problems.

Become a really good meditator

We learn how to have a regular practice that is sustainable at home, know what to meditate on clearly through structured study, and build up self-discipline. Plus being there for other meditators in the FP group.

On the Foundation Program we can learn to meditate very well and always know what to meditate on — we learn how to do analytical meditation (contemplation) and placement meditation (single-pointed meditation) on every aspect of Buddha’s Sutra teachings. This leads to results, confidence, and joy.

The power of discussion

Geshe-la says:

Discussion is a particularly important aspect of the program because we can help each other greatly by sharing our experience and understanding of Dharma.

Discussing with each other resolves our doubts, increases our understanding, and shows us what we don’t yet understand. Talking about gaining a realization of emptiness in particular, Geshe Kelsang says in The New Heart of Wisdom:

If we develop doubts or cannot accept what is taught we should discuss the matter with others. In this way, our understanding will become clearer and clearer. We should not keep doubts hidden inside our hearts — we need wisdom in our hearts, not doubts!

Geshe Kelsang has said that, in terms of his own understanding, he got 50% from the teachings and contemplations and 50% from his discussions with others! Which is quite a statement given how much he understands. He also gives some great advice on how to discuss in this talk.

Community

The Foundation Program builds the spiritual community so everyone ends up with more friendship and support. Connections strengthen due to weekly study, discussion, meditation, and so on; and once an FP group has been studying together for a while, people connect with each other at a deep level (a bit like people who do retreats together). This is the true meaning of Sangha community. And, as Sangha are the third Jewel of Buddhist refuge, who can really help us to make spiritual progress, the more the better.

Why prayers?

The study programs involve prayers as a support for the meditations. Sometimes people are a bit like, “I didn’t know Buddhists did prayers!” But we do, as explained more here. Prayers give us the opportunity to quickly purify our mind, accumulate merit or good karma, and bathe in inspiring blessings.

One of my friends says he puts it like this to his students: If you don’t think you like prayers, perhaps let go of what you think about them until your growing experience of them reveals a far deeper knowing. Buddhist prayers are just another form of meditation. We are so used to skimming the surface of life (caught up in busyness and trivia, numbing the pain of ordinary life) that we can miss out on the opportunity to experience something far deeper and incredibly rich. Prayers empower us to connect to and directly experience the greater depth that life has to offer, such as our pure potential and connection to enlightenment. They provide refuge.

So if you are new to a study program and faced with the prospect of doing prayers, for now just sit back, relax, and enjoy. We don’t have to understand all the meaning of the words of a beautiful song to enjoy the experience. We don’t go into existential meltdown because we don’t get it! It’s the same with prayers — just enjoy the experience of the peaceful resonance of the prayers for now, which is connecting us to our pure nature and enlightenment, whether we know it or not. Over time their meaning unfolds in any case.

Pujas 

There is a commitment to try and attend a weekly puja (chanted prayers) at the Center. Many people don’t even know what a puja is yet; so don’t sweat this one. It will come gradually and be explained over time. The main thing to know about pujas is that they are beautiful and saturated with blessings, and people always seem to leave a puja feeling better than when they arrived.

Plus group pujas increasingly bless the center or temple so that these become refuge zones for everyone who visits them, which is providing a beautiful service to this troubled world.

Memorization and examinations!

Now we get to the commitment that generally freaks modern-day disciples out the most 😄. A dollar for everyone who says, “I left school years ago, I can’t memorize a thing, I’m way too old for this,” and variations on that theme.

It can be helpful to think of the exam at the end of the book as a self-assessment in six questions. They are marked, but no one but you knows your score (candidates have numbers, so even the marker doesn’t know.)

One teacher told me that with exams he likes to encourage people to regard it as a retreat rather than as preparing for a test. The exam is not the important part. The important part is the reading and contemplating. We can just have fun with it.

As mentioned earlier, if we are training as a doctor we need all the essential knowledge in our hearts, not on a dusty bookshelf. So this is Geshe Kelsang’s skillful way to encourage us to take the time to study – for when else are we going to be sufficiently motivated to do that?!

Another teacher says: “Don’t worry about it. This is a wonderful opportunity to study, get lots of Dharma — the cause of happiness — into your mind. Ask people who have taken exams – they have initial resistance sometimes but once they do it they realize why. Don’t be a perfectionist American (if you are) – remember Geshe-la’s advice:

Try, don’t worry.

And no one cares how you do on your exam.

If none of that works, how about regarding exam prep as an excellent way to ward off senility in a culture that is overly dependent on Google. Memorizing beautiful Dharma greatly improves our mindfulness.

We recite the Root Text and Condensed Meaning every week in class as well, so we find that we pick a lot of it up naturally.

The Kadampa way of life

Another friend, when I asked him what the benefits were, said succinctly:

This made me think of the old Kadampas and the Kadampa way of life. Foundation Program is training in a way of life. Transforming our life into Kadampa life. This takes real training – mindfulness, blessings, discipline. Do you wish to become a Kadampa?

By studying all five subjects (in six books) on FP, we come to know all of Buddha’s Sutra teachings, joining the illustrious company of tens of thousands of modern-day Sangha around the world. We will help provide hope for our society in the form of practicing and sharing Buddha’s teachings with the people around us, which amount to profound common sense that can be applied usefully to most of their everyday problems.

You can see some of these programs and students around the world in this video:

The six FP books are like jewel mines, and the FP allows us to delve deep. In this context the word ‘foundation’ does not mean basic or for beginners. It means we are constructing a strong and stable foundation for our daily Dharma practice and for attaining high realizations in the future.

If you want to train as a Kadampa Buddhist teacher, you can join the Teacher Training Program, which adds extra subjects and books including all of Buddha’s Tantric teachings, and has more of a retreat commitment.

Final encouragement from Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Sometimes five years or seven years may seem like a very long time, but if we practice steadily every day without giving up, gradually we will reach our goal. If we start today, tomorrow we shall already be a bit closer to completing! We should think like this and then one day we shall have completed our training.

How wonderful that will be! We shall be able to give pure teachings with confidence on any subject we have studied, and people will believe us and develop faith in us because we have prepared so well. They will appreciate us from many points of view: our teachings, our personal experience, our ability to help them solve their problems, and so forth.

These are benefits that we shall experience just in this life. In reality, future lives are much more important. We shall experience the beneficial results of studying on this program for life after life until we reach enlightenment. The benefits are inexhaustible.

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The Study Programs of the New Kadampa Tradition ~ A Short History and Overview
By Robert Thomas

The three study programs are at the heart of the New Kadampa Tradition, and are one of its unique and defining characteristics. Venerable Geshe Kelsang has described them as “the real wishfulfilling jewels for Dharma practitioners”. Here we trace their origin and history, and give a brief overview of the programs themselves.

Before leaving India to teach for the first time in the West, Ven Geshe Kelsang’s root Guru, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, asked him to do two things, 1. teach Shantideva’s Guide to The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, the stages of the path to enlightenment (Lamrim) and Chandrakirti’s Guide to the Middle Way; and 2. see if there was any meaning in remaining longer. 

The completion of the first request later became the basis for the highly regarded books Meaningful to Behold and Ocean of Nectar. (Joyful Path of Good Fortune is based not on his first Lamrim teachings that were based on Essence of Nectar, but based on Lamrim teachings he gave later.). 

The answer to the second request is considered in this article.

Upon arrival in the UK it is said that Ven Geshe Kelsang was initially unsure if the relatively wealthy and comfortably off people living there would have much interest in his teaching. However, he later recounted that he quickly realized that Western people were experiencing far more mental suffering than in poor countries, and showed a great need for Dharma. But he identified a problem connected with the way of presenting Dharma:

(Westerners) find it difficult to integrate Dharma into (their) daily lives and cannot use it to solve (their) daily problems….. (this is because they) are not studying systematically according to a specially designed programme.

The various visiting Buddhist teachers and the Geshe Studies Program available at Manjushri Centre could not fulfil this need for systematic study. Additionally, the teachings were mostly in Tibetan, and whilst the Geshe Program was at least systematic, it was only practical for a few people. In 2007, Mandala Magazine described the Geshe studies offered by Tibetan monasteries (upon which the program at Manjushri Centre was based) as accessible to “a rare and courageous breed (of westerners) who penetrates (sic) the womb of Tibetan culture to undertake this intense course of philosophical study and debate.” Commenting on this situation Geshe Kelsang said:

I understand very clearly that the programme designed for Tibetan Geshes is not suitable for Westerners. For one thing, most Western Dharma students are lay people and so they cannot study the Vinaya, which is one of the five subjects studied by Tibetan Geshes. Other subjects studied by Tibetan Geshes are quite technical and, although they are very profound and beneficial, they do not have immediate application. The nature of Western people is to study something one day and to want to put it into practice the next. This is a very good quality because they are always trying to gain practical experience of what they study. 

In 1978 the students and residents of Manjushri Centre signed a petition requesting Ven Geshe Kelsang to remain. At around the same time, Ven Geshe Kelsang recounted that he returned to India and met with Trijang Rinpoche, explaining to his teacher that there would only be meaning in his remaining in England if he could change the way of presenting Dharma, to make it suitable and accessible for Westerners. During teachings in Brazil 2010 Geshe Kelsang recounted the meeting as follows:

I told him about all these difficulties. He had only one answer: ‘You don’t need to worry. My students are Tibetan so I need to teach Dharma according to the Tibetan tradition. Your students are mainly Westerners so you should teach Dharma according to their tradition. You don’t need to teach the Tibetan tradition. You cannot change the meaning of Dharma but you should present how to practice and how to follow a spiritual way of life according to what is acceptable to their tradition and society.

Between 1980 and 1986, Ven. Geshe Kelsang began laying the foundation of what was to become the new and systematic Dharma study program for his “Western” students. As well as teaching regularly and learning English, he also prepared 4 new books and oversaw a program of translating teachings and prayers into English. 

The Creation of Kadampa Study Programs

In a talk in 1990, Ven, Geshe Kelsang said: 

When I completed .. and was awarded my Geshe degree, I felt as if I had reached the summit of the highest mountain. My faith and experience had increased considerably and I felt great confidence in teaching others. My mind was very happy and I felt completely free from problems. Inspired by my own experience, I developed a strong wish to introduce a similar programme for western Dharma students so that they could reap the same results.

From 1984 to 1987, Ven Geshe Kelsang experimented with different models of study programs at Madhyamaka Centre, his first Centre. In 1987, he entered a three-year retreat at Tharpaland in Scotland, during which time he designed and started the so-called Foundation Program and Teacher Training Program at Madhyamaka Centre, and not long after at Manjushri Centre – both these programs remain to this day, along with the General Program that had started earlier. Also during his retreat he worked to prepare the essential books that would form the basis of these Study Programs, including Joyful Path of Good Fortune. 

On completion of his retreat, Geshe Kelsang gave a talk at Tara Centre in October 1990, during which he said:

I have designed a special Teacher Training Programme to enable westerners to complete their study and practice. I have chosen eleven subjects, some of which are philosophical subjects from the Geshe programme, and some of which are subjects for practical application, such as Lamrim, Lojong, and Mahamudra. The Foundation Programme is based on five of these subjects, all derived from Buddha’s Sutra teachings.

Both the Foundation Programme and the Teacher Training Programme have now been running successfully for a few years at Manjushri Centre and Madhyamaka Centre. I am very happy with the results. When I read the examination papers it is clear to me that the students have understood the subjects well and that they are deriving great benefit from the programmes. I realise that these programmes are very meaningful and that they are the best method for increasing wisdom and Dharma experience. 

Later in 2001 he added:

Previously my problem, or the problem with Tibetans, was the language. We don’t know your mind, or way of thinking, or way of life. Now you know all these things, and you know Dharma too. You know your culture, your people’s minds, way of life, and so it is very easy to present and offer this special, precious instruction everywhere. It is not just imagination or belief, but is reality.

Since that time the three study programs – the General, Foundation and Teacher Training Programs – have become a unique and defining characteristic of the New Kadampa Tradition. They are the basis for all the classes and retreats being offered in all 1300 Centers and branches around the world.

In the same talk given at Tara Centre in 1990, Ven. Geshe Kelsang stated:

We need qualified Teachers. The New Kadampa Tradition cannot buy qualified Teachers, nor can we invite them from outside. We need Teachers who can teach the twelve texts that we have chosen as our objects of study in the Teacher Training Programme and the Foundation Programme. Other Teachers cannot teach these books because they have not studied them and they do not have the transmissions. Therefore, qualified Teachers within the New Kadampa Tradition can come only from our own students.

Critically, with the introduction of these Study Programs across all New Kadampa Tradition centres, a new lineage, the “Western Tradition” described by Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche in the earlier meeting with Ven. Geshe Kelsang, came into existence. From that point onwards Westerners or modern people, had access to a new presentation and lineage or “transmission” of the Dharma given according to “their (own) tradition” with no “change to the meaning” or break from the blessings of the “Tibetan tradition” that preceded it. 

As Ven. Geshe Kelsang said when introducing the Internal Rules of the New Kadampa Tradition: 

Spiritually, what is the New Kadampa Tradition? From a spiritual or religious point of view …the New Kadampa Tradition, or NKT, is the hundreds of our Dharma Centres united into one common spiritual path. … Otherwise, who else? There is nothing. I am not the NKT, the Secretary is not the NKT, and the Treasurer is not the NKT. 

It is worth highlighting two particular things Ven Geshe Kelsang accomplished by creating the study programs: firstly he made the transmission of Dharma possible in a way that people could “integrate into their daily lives” and use to “solve their problems;” and secondly he did this in a way that allowed the teachings to flourish far and wide by empowering his students and removing the dependency of him or other Tibetan Geshes as the teacher. Also from the Internal rules talk:

So my job is nearly finished. Then there will be no Tibetans here, so you will be independent; it will be Western Buddhism. We can’t say [it is] “Tibetan Buddhism” as this will be completely Western Buddhism, Kadampa Buddhism. 

As a result, this new tradition has quickly spread, reaching hundreds of thousands of people across multiple countries and languages like a real  “wishfulfilling jewel”, offering practical methods to solve daily problems such as stress or loneliness right through to how to attain liberation or enlightenment. Additionally, as Ven Geshe Kelsang said in 2001:

Although we emphasize the practical way, Lamrim, we are studying very carefully, and not only just believing or imagining. We are really seeking and searching the real nature of phenomena, each object and subject, basis, path, and result. We can prove everything with valid, logical reasons, and not just say ‘Buddha says this’ or ‘Geshe Kelsang says this’. 

The mental continuum of every person in the West and the East should be filled with wisdom, understanding reality, ultimate truth. You know what kind of subject we are now studying — try to understand and teach this.

In conclusion, this article considers that the answer to the second request of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche: “Is there meaning in (Geshe Kelsang) remaining?” can be understood to be the creation, delivery, and success of the New Kadampa Tradition Study Programs, and the organisation and Internal rules which support them.

A Brief Overview of the Study Programs

The General Program (GP) introduces basic Buddhist view, meditation and practice suitable for beginners. It also includes advanced teachings and practices of both Sutra and Tantra for practitioners with greater experience.

The Foundation Program (FP) provides a systematic presentation of particular subjects of Mahayana Buddhism to enable practitioners to deepen their knowledge and experience of Buddhism.

The program comprises the following five subjects, based on Buddha’s Sutra teachings and the corresponding commentaries by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso:

1. The Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, based on the commentary Joyful Path of Good Fortune
2. Training the Mind, based on the commentaries Universal Compassion and New Eight Steps to Happiness
3. The Heart Sutra, based on the commentary New Heart of Wisdom
4. Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, based on the commentary Meaningful to Behold
5. Types of Mind, based on the commentary How to Understand the Mind

The Teacher Training Program (TTP) provides a more extensive presentation of particular subjects of Mahayana Buddhism to enable practitioners to deepen their knowledge and experience of Buddhism, and to train as qualified New Kadampa Tradition Teachers.

The Program comprises twelve subjects, based on Buddha’s Sutra and Tantra teachings and the corresponding commentaries by Geshe Kelsang.

Participants also need to observe certain commitments with regard to behavior and way of life, and to complete a number of meditation retreats.

The first five subjects of the Program are the same as for the Foundation Program, and the additional subjects are:

6. Guide to the Middle Way, based on the commentary Ocean of Nectar
7. Vajrayana Mahamudra, based on the commentary Clear Light of Bliss
8. The Bodhisattva’s Moral Discipline, based on the commentary The Bodhisattva Vow
9. Offering to the Spiritual Guide, based on the commentaries Great Treasury of Merit and Mahamudra Tantra
10. Vajrayogini Tantra, based on the commentary The New Guide to Dakini Land
11. Grounds and Paths of Secret Mantra, based on the commentary Tantric Grounds and Paths
12. The Practice of Heruka Body Mandala, based on the commentary Essence of Vajrayana

For more information on the Study Programs: Study Programs – Kadampa Buddhism.

Comments and questions are welcome!