Teacher Training Program

What is the Teacher Training Program?

The purpose of the Teacher Training Program is to provide an 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.

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.

~ Venerable Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche

Through a deep and continuing commitment to the program of study, meditation, discussion, and retreat, we can gain deep experience of Buddha’s teachings, establish a strong meditation practice, and become a qualified teacher in our own right.



Purpose

The Teacher Training Program exists to provide extensive training for those wishing to become qualified teachers of Modern Kadampa Buddhism. The program is centered around the study of various Buddhist subjects as explained in the collection of books written by the founder of the New Kadampa Tradition, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche. In addition to completing the study of 14 texts of Sutra and Tantra, including the six texts studied on the Foundation Program, students are required to observe certain commitments, and to complete a number of meditation retreats each year.

Program structure

Students sign up to complete all the books in the program and undertake to attend every class, to learn the material, and to take tests at various intervals throughout the study of each book. Class meets twice a week, on Wednesdays (6:30-8:30pm) and Sundays (4-6pm). If for a suitable reason a student is not able to attend the class in person, he or she is expected to listen to the class recording and submit a summary.

TTP students are also encouraged to attend one or all of the several monthly ritual pujas, such as Offering to the Spiritual Guide, Melodious Drum, or Wishfufiling Jewel. 

Class structure

Prior to class, students study an assigned portion of the text, usually a few pages long, and memorize the essential points. The class begins with chanted prayers and guided meditation. The teacher then reads the assigned portion from the book while giving commentary to the text. Afterwards the students divide into pairs to discuss the section. The teacher and students then conclude with suggestions for what to meditate on in the next class and how to practice during the week.

Featuring the book Great Treasury of Merit

A work of unparalleled profundity and clarity, this book contains a wealth of accessible and practical instructions on Lamrim, Lojong and Mahamudra, the very essence of Buddha’s teachings. An indispensable handbook for all those who wish to accomplish the swift path to enlightenment. At every level of Buddhist practice, relying upon the Spiritual Guide is regarded as the source of inspiration, understanding, and progress on the spiritual path. But nowhere is this practice more important than in Tantra.

TTP curriculum: 12 subjects, 14 books

The program comprises the following 12 subjects, based on Buddha’s Sutra and Tantra 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 The New Eight Steps to Happiness
  3. The Heart Sutra, based on the commentary The 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
  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 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

Admission into the program

The Teacher Training Program takes approximately 12 years to complete and requires an enrollment procedure.

The cost is $75 per month to become a monthly TTP member, which also includes General Program classes at the Center and branches, and weekend events and retreats at the Center. 

To find out more about the Teacher Training Program, contact [email protected]