Teacher Training Program
The purpose of the Teacher Training Program (TTP) 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 Teachers of Modern Buddhism.
Current book:
Meaningful to Behold
Meaningful to Behold is a highly acclaimed commentary to the great Indian Buddhist Master Shantideva’s famous spiritual poem Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, one of the best loved and most important Mahayana Buddhist texts. It reveals with poetic beauty and deep spiritual insight how to enter, make progress on, and complete the Buddhist path to enlightenment.
More about the book here
Twelve Subjects
The program comprises the following twelve subjects, based on Buddha’s Sutra and Tantra teachings and the corresponding commentaries by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche:
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1. The Stages of the Path to Enlightenment,
based on the commentary Joyful Path of Good Fortune
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2. Training the Mind,
based on the commentaries Universal Compassion and The New Eight Steps to Happiness
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3. The Heart Sutra,
based on the commentary The New Heart of Wisdom
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4. Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life,
based on the commentary Meaningful to Behold
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5. Types of Mind,
based on the commentary How to Understand the Mind
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Guide to the Middle Way
based on the commentary Ocean of Nectar
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Vajrayana Mahamudra
based on the commentary Clear Light of Bliss
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The Bodhisattva's Moral Discipline
based on the commentary The Bodhisattva Vow
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Offering to the Spiritual Guide
based on the commentaries Great Treasury of Merit and Mahamudra Tantra
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Vajrayogini Tantra
based on the commentary New Guide to Dakini Land
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Grounds and Paths of Secret Mantra
based on the commentary Tantric Grounds and Paths
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The Practice of Heruka Body Mandala
based on the commentary Essence of Vajrayana
Benefits of the program
The benefits of studying and practicing these texts are as follows:
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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, the Stages of the Path, or Lamrim, is the main body of Buddha’s teachings, and the other teachings are like its limbs.
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We gain the ability to integrate Buddha’s teachings into our daily life and solve all our human problems.
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We gain the ability to integrate Buddha’s teachings into our daily life and solve all our human problems.
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We gain a realization of the ultimate nature of reality. By gaining this realization we can eliminate the ignorance of self-grasping that is the root of all our suffering.
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We transform our daily activities into the Bodhisattva’s way of life, thereby making every moment of our human life meaningful.
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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.
For an extensive explanation of the benefits of the Foundation Program and the Teacher Training Programs, you can read the transcript of a talk by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche.
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 and Sundays. 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, Offering to the Spiritual Guide and Melodious Drum.
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.
The Teacher
Gen Kelsang Chodor
Gen Kelsang Chodor is our Resident Teacher at Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada. He has been ordained and has studied under the guidance of Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche for more than twenty-three years.
He has taught extensively in both the UK and the US, and is now teaching in Canada. He is admired by students because of his practical knowledge, warm presentations and authentic teachings, as well as his natural joy and sense of humour. He is skilled at putting everyone at ease and helping them solve their problems and anxieties with practical Dharma advice.
At Kadampa Meditation Centre Canada, he usually teaches the Sunday morning class, the Tuesday evening class, the Wednesday morning class, as well as special events, courses and workshops and two in-depth study programmes; the Foundation Programme and the Teacher Training Programme.