Foundation Program (FP)

The Foundation Program (FP) is a structured study program designed to enable the student to gain a deeper understanding and experience of Buddha's teachings. Geshe Kelsang has said,

Our present understanding and experience of Dharma is quite superficial. We are like someone who has entered a huge food store and seen many things but sampled only a few. We may have received many different teachings from many different Teachers, but we have taken in very little, just a few morsels. Therefore our actual experience remains superficial. There is a gap between us and the Dharma. It feels as if Dharma is there and we are here. Our mind is not mixed with Dharma and so we cannot apply it in our daily lives. As a result our ordinary everyday problems remain.

For example, we may have received many teachings on Lamrim and read many books. Intellectually we find it relatively easy to understand and we accept it all, but we find it difficult to integrate into our daily lives, and so we cannot use this Dharma to solve our daily problems. When we study Dharma our mind remains passive, like someone watching television. It does not engage in the subject and mix with it. Therefore our daily life and our Dharma remain completely separate and unrelated. Why is this? It is because we are not studying systematically according to a specially designed program. If we just pick at Dharma randomly we will never gain a deep and stable experience, and our wisdom will never become like a full moon.

 

The FP is just such a program. With weekly reading assignments from the text, as well as discussions and meditations on the week's readings, The FP creates the conditions for us to develop deep inner experience of the teachings.

The Foundation Program is a systematic study of six texts by our teacher, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. These include:

1. Joyful Path of Good Fortune - a commentary to Atisha's Lamrim instructions, the stages of the path to enlightenment.
2. Universal Compassion - a commentary to Bodhisattva Chekhawa's Training the Mind in Seven Points.
3. Heart of Wisdom - a commentary to the Heart Sutra.
4. Meaningful to Behold - a commentary to Bodhisattva Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life.
5. Understanding the Mind - a detailed explanation of the mind, based on the works of the Buddhist scholars Dharmakirti and Dignaga.
6. Eight Steps to Happiness - a commentary to Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa's "Eight Verses of Training the Mind".

Class Structure

The Foundation Program class meets each week, Sundays at 4:30pm with a break from mid-June through mid-August. Students are also strongly encouraged to attend the Wishfulfilling Jewel puja on Sundays from 3:00pm - 4:00pm. The class schedule is:
4:30 - 5:15 Prayers and Meditation Practice
5:15 - 6:15 Oral Transmission and Commentary
6:15 - 6:45 Break
6:45 - 7:30 Renew Motivation, Oral Transmission and Commentary
7:30 - 8:00 Paired Discussion
8:00 - 8:15 Group Discussion, Method of Integration and Meditation
8:15 - 8:30 Class Announcements and Dedication Practice

The fee is $70 per month for the Foundation Program (at the Center or by correspondence). This monthly course fee also entitles FP students to discounts for other events and to attend General Program classes at no additional charge. No one is turned away for lack of funds; to arrange alternative payment arrangements, please contact our Foundation Program Coordinator, epc@meditationforeveryone.org.

If you live far outside Atlanta, or for valid reasons cannot attend study class every week, yet you would like to sincerely participate in the Foundation Program, please contact our Education Program Coordinator, epc@meditationforeveryone.org, to register or for more information about the Correspondence Program.

We are currently studing Meaningful to Behold.

Many people have the compassionate wish to benefit others, but few understand how to accomplish this successfully in daily life. Bodhisattvas are friends of the world, who have such strong compassion that they are able to transform all their daily activities into ways of benefiting others. The path of the Bodhisattva was exquisitely explained in the universally loved poem Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life by the the 8th century master Shantideva. With this commentary, the full effectiveness and profundity of this wonderful poem are revealed in full and made applicable for our time. This practical handbook is essential for those wishing to follow a Bodhisattva’s way of life.

If we can maintain a sense of joy, not only shall we experience inner happiness and peace but the fruits of our practice will swiftly arise. As a result we shall relish the opportunity to practise even more. Just as a sportsman enjoys his sport and is not content to give it up, so should we practise dharma: never tiring of it and only wishing to do more.

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