Time: 9am to 10am
Date: March 17 - December 31, 2008
Courses: (March 14 - April 17)
TAKING REFUGE Text: Maitreya's Uttara-tanra (rGyud bla ma, Sublime Continuum)
Taking refuge in the Buddha, his teachings and his spiritual community is what determines a person to be Buddhist and a practitioner of Buddhism. It also serves as the foundation for the three sets of ethical disciplines, Pratimoksha, Bodhisattva and Tantra. Geshe la will guide us through the most effective way of seeking refuge in the three jewels; not blindly, but rather through a knowledge of their qualities. The seeking of refuge in the Buddha, his teachings and his spiritual community can be summed up with this practical analogy: the Buddha is like a doctor, his teachings are like medicine, followers of his teachings are like nurses and we are like the patient.
(April 18 - September 30) ANTIDOTES TO THE FOUR WRONG VIEWS
Text: Dragkar Tulku Lobsang Palden Tenzin Nyendrak's Essence of Nectar: Pith Instructions on the Graded Path of Mediation on Impermanence, Suffering, Emptiness and No-self as an Antidote to the Four Wrong Views (Phyin ci log bzhi'i gnyen po mi rtag sduag bsngal stong bdag med bzhi bsgom p'i lam gyi rim p'i man ngag bdud rtsi'i snying po)
The foundation of Dharma practice is the realization of the Four Noble Truths. This depends upon the realization of their features, such as impermanence and the empty and selfless nature of phenomena including the self. Mistaking self and phenomena as truly and independently existing is the cause of all suffering. Thus, to benefit and liberate sentient beings the Buddha Shakyamuni's first teaching was the Four Noble Truths. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has given public teachings on this text; a text which contains clear instructions on how to mediate on impermanence, suffering, emptiness and selflessness of the individual and phenomena. The text will be taught in accordance with the following schedule:
(April 18 - May 28) Homage and General Explanation of the Four Noble Truths This chapter deals with verses of homage paid to Buddha Shakyamuni, Tsongkhapa and the Great Kadampa masters. After the homage, Brag-dkar sprul-sku reasons why it is necessary to realize the Four Noble Truths, especially in this modern time of spiritual degeneration. The master further asserts that spiritual practitioners should take the Four Noble Truths as the main subject of meditation, since the Buddhas liberate sentient beings on the basis of the Four Noble Truths.
(May 29 - June 30) How to meditate on Impermanence
Quoting Aryadeva's Four Hundred Verses and Tsongkhapa's Lamrim , this chapter gives a detailed explanation of the nature of death and impermanence. From the moment of our birth, we are nearing death and there is no way we can avoid it. Therefore, realizing the nature of death as such, we should use our immense potential for spiritual development while we are alive.
(July 1 - July 19)
How to Meditate on Suffering
No matter where a sentient being is born within the cycle of existence ( samsara ), he or she is not free from suffering. Sentient beings are tormented by the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change and conditioned suffering. Although we cherish and care for our physical form, our love and care for this collection of five causal aggregates brings us no lasting happiness and benefit. Rather, it plunges us into suffering. This chapter deals with such nature of suffering.
(July 21 - August 12) How to Meditate on the Impure Nature of Physical Form
Our physical form is nothing but a vessel for impure substances such as blood, puss and bones. Even the father's sperm and mother's egg, the very substances that lead to the formation of a zygote and then a body, are of an unpleasant nature. The more we take care of this physical form, the more our attachment to it grows. Thus we distance ourselves from the attainment of higher spiritual realizations. This chapter presents the methods through which we can lessen our attachment to our physical form.
(August 13 - August 30) How to Meditate on Selflessness
This chapter offers a lucid explanation on the method of mediating on selflessness or the absence of a conceptualized self-entity. Our misperception of the self as inherently and independently existing binds us to samsara , away from the path leading to liberation. Here, the master teaches how to mediate on selflessness according to Nagarjuna's Precious Garland, which he finds to be very powerful and easily understandable.
(September 1 - September 30) Condensation of the Text
This final chapter of the text summarizes the teachings on meditation on the antidotes to the four wrong views. First, how to meditate on impermanence is summarized under five headings: the certainty of disintegration, change, separation, the impermanence of near and dear ones, and the impermanent nature of all phenomena. The chapter then proceeds to summarize the teachings on meditation on suffering, mainly by revising the teachings on the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change and conditioned suffering. While summarizing the stages of meditation on the impure nature of physical form, the chapter explains that our physical from is composed of thirty-six impure substances. Thus, if it so lacks essence and purity, why do we still cherish it? Finally, the stages of meditation on the selflessness of the individual and phenomena are further clarified according to the oral instructions of the great masters of the past.
(October 1 - November 29) AN OVERVIEW OF BUDDHIST THEORY AND PRACTICE
Text: The Fourteenth Dalai Lama's Opening the Eye of New Awareness (Legs bshad blo gsar mig 'byed)
With an intention to benefit those individuals who do not have the time to study the great texts, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama wrote Opening the Eye of New Awareness four years after his arrival in India as a political refugee. The text is truly the most appropriate for students who desire to gain an overview of Buddhism in general and Tibetan Buddhism in particular. The text contains ten chapters, all with relevant and important messages concerning our daily life and the prospects of spiritual endeavour. Through this text His Holiness explains: the need for spiritual practice in our modern time, the ultimate and conventional truths, how the teachings of the Buddha are included in the Three Scriptural Collections, training in special ethics, training in meditative stabilization, training in special insight, the manner in which one should proceed on the path of Greater and Lesser Vehicles in dependence upon the Three Trainings, an introduction to the Secret Mantra Great Vehicle or Tantra, and the nature of Buddhahood. His Holiness concludes the text with a brief introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, with a clear explanation of the link between Indian Mahayana Buddhism and the Buddhism of Tibet.
(December 1 - December 31) TRAINING THE MIND
Text: Jangsem Zhonnu Gyalchok and Muechen Kunchok Gyaltsen's Hundred Teachings on Mahayana Mind Training: A Compilation of Teachings on Training the Mind (Theg pa chen po blo sbyong brgya rtsa)
Training the mind primarily means familiarizing oneself with, aspiring towards and engaging with aspects of bodhicitta . One of the principle practices here is exchanging self for others: bestowing one's happiness on others and taking others' suffering on oneself. The text contains Atisha's Byang sems nor bu'i phreng ba, Dromtonpa Gyalwae Jungnae's Jo bo rjes rgyal sris spangs nas thar par byon pa'i rnam thar and Jo bos gser gling pa dang mjal pa'i rnam mthar , Geshe Langri Thangpa's Blo sbyong t shigs brgyad ma and more. In total, the collection contains forty-one great and concise texts on training the mind. Therefore, this compilation can be considered as the most comprehensive and important mind-training text. 
Teacher:
Geshe Monlam Sangpo was born in the Trehor region of Kham in Eastern Tibet . In 1985, at the age of nineteen, he came into exile in India and joined the Monastic University of Drepung. He completed his studies for the degree of Geshe Lharampa in 2003. He then joined the Gyume Tantric University for one year. In February 2005 he joined Nechung Monastery as a Buddhist philosophy teacher. He began teaching Buddhist philosophy at the LTWA in May 2005.
Translators:
Tenzin Gyaltsen holds a bachelor's degree in Tibetan studies and Buddhist philosophy from the College for Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarah and a bachelor's degree from Delhi University . He joined the Research and Translation Department of the LTWA in the summer of 2006.
Sonam Gyatso holds Acharya degree in Tibetan studies and Buddhist philosophy from the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Varanasi . He joined the Research and Translation Department of the LTWA in the winter of 2005.
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