Foundation Programme (FP)
‘Eight Steps to Happiness’ taught by Kelsang Devi
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Deepen your understanding and meditation practice on this unique study programme designed to help you develop wisdom, cultivate a good heart and maintain peace of mind, through systematic study and meditation. The Foundation Programme covers 5 essential subjects of Mahayana Buddhism, helping you to create a focused daily meditation practice and make genuine spiritual progress.
Geshe Kelsang says: "Our present understanding and experience of Dharma is quite superficial. There is a big gap between our mind and Dharma and we cannot apply Dharma in our daily lives. Our approach remains passive, like someone watching television, and our mind remains as uncontrolled as before. Why is this? It is because we are not studying systematically, according to a specially designed programme. If we just pick at Dharma randomly we shall never gain deep and stable experience. For this reason the foundation programme is very important."
In this inspiring book, Eight Steps to Happiness, The Buddhist Way of Loving Kindness, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso reveals profound yet totally practical methods to enable a powerful opening of the heart, the source of all true happiness. This inspiring book explains how to meditate on eight beautiful verses showing how we can transform all life's difficulties into valuable spiritual insights. Geshe Kelsang now shares this ancient wisdom with all those seeking meaning and lasting happiness in their modern lives.
The purpose of the Foundation Programme is to provide a systematic presentation of particular subjects of Mahayana Buddhism to enable practitioners to deepen their knowledge and experience of Buddhism.
Five subjects
The program comprises the following five subjects, based on Buddha’s Sutra teachings and the corresponding commentaries by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso:
- 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
