Foundation Programme

At Ashoka Centre we are currently studying the book - Understanding The Mind.

Each class runs from 9am - 2pm on a Saturday.

The dates for the Summer term 2008 classes are:

• 26th April,
• 3rd, 10th, 17th May,
• 7th, 21st, 28th June,
• 12th, 19th July.

New students welcome on this date. Please contact the Education Programme Coordinator (Kelsang Dema) for a preliminary interview.

Read about the benefits of the FP and TTP programmes Wishfulfilling Jewels for Dharma practitioners

The Foundation Programme provides an opportunity to deepen our understanding and experience of Buddhism through a systematic study of five 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 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.

Eight Steps to Happiness - a commentary to Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa's Eight Verses of Training the Mind.

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 and Eight Verses of Training the Mind - 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 our problems.

The Foundation Programme requires an enrollment procedure.

Please contact Kelsang Dema (Education Programme Coordinator) if you would like to join the Foundation Programme.