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
- Training the Mind, based on the commentaries Universal Compassion and Eight Steps to Happiness
- The Heart Sutra, based on the commentary Heart of Wisdom
- Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, based on the commentary Meaningful to Behold
- Types of Mind, based on the commentary Understanding the Mind
The Foundation Programme is for those who wish to deepen their understanding and experience of Buddhism by engaging in the systematic study of five essential Buddhist texts.
Joyful Path of Good Fortune - a commentary to Atisha's Lamrim instructions, the stages of the path to enlightenment.
Universal Compassion - a commentary to Bodhisattva Chekhawa's Training the Mind in Seven Points.
Heart of Wisdom - a commentary to the Heart Sutra
Meaningful to Behold - a commentary to Venerable Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life.
Understanding the Mind - a detailed explanation of the mind based on the works of the Buddhist scholars Dharmakirti and Dignaga.
The benefits of studying and practicing these texts are as follows:
- Joyful Path of Good Fortune - we gain the ability to put all Buddha's teachings of both Sutra and Tantra into practice. We can easily make progress on and complete the stages of the path to the supreme happiness of enlightenment. From a practical point of view, Lamrim is the main body of Buddha's teachings, and the other teachings are like its limbs.
- Universal Compassion - we gain the ability to integrate Buddha's teachings into our daily lives and solve all our human problems.
- Heart of Wisdom - we gain a realization of the ultimate nature of reality. By gaining this realization we can eliminate the ignorance of self-grasping, which is the root of all our suffering.
- Meaningful to Behold - we transform our daily activities into the Bodhisattva's way of life, thereby making every moment of our human life meaningful.
- Understanding the Mind - we understand the relationship between our mind and its external objects. If we understand that objects depend upon the subjective mind, we can change the way objects appear to us by changing our own mind. Gradually we shall gain the ability to control our mind and in this way solve all our problems.
