Our Exploring Buddhism Program aims to provide a balance between study and practice, and between the growing understanding of the theory and the deepening of personal experience of the Buddha’s teachings.
Over six modules we explore the important Buddhist philosophical topics related to the mind, the practice of meditation, the different presentation of truths, the structure of the Buddhist path, the training and transformation of our mind and thoughts, and the supporting practices of prayers and the special ngondro (preliminary practices) that are conditions for generating spiritual realisations. Special attention will be given to relate these concepts to our daily experiences to facilitate the integration of the Buddha’s teaching to help us find genuine joy and peace in our life.
Benefits of the Exploring Buddhism Program
- Learn key Buddhist concepts on the mind and its functions to gain clarity into our habitual reactions.
- Cultivate meditative serenity or calm-abiding to pacify the physical and mental reactions to stress and emotional turmoil.
- Analyse the Buddhist presentation of truths to discern the reliable from the unreliable
- Be acquainted with the structure of the Buddhist path to chart our journey to inner freedom
- Adopt the special mind training practice to enhance our resilience and inner confidence in the face of life challenges
- Gather the favourable conditions through practice for genuine spiritual growth.
The whole Exploring Buddhism course could take several years to complete, however these modules can be studied in any order.
The six modules are:
Exploring the Path
- Structure of the Buddhist Path and Gathering Inspirations
- Appreciating our Life and Death
- Shaping our own Future
- Emerging from Dissatisfaction
- Opening the Heart
- Dissolving Self-imposed Limitations
Exploring the Mind (Current Module)
- What the Mind Is
- Destructive and Constructive Emotions
- Objects and Object-Possessors
- Seven Types of Awarenesses
- Conceptual and Non-Conceptual
- Consciousnesses Main Minds and Mental Factors
Exploring Meditation
- How to Organise a Meditation Session
- Basic Types and Components of Meditation
- How to Train in Calm-Abiding
- The Stages in which Mental States Are Developed
- The Concentrations of the Form and Formless Realms
- The Four Close Placements of Mindfulness
Exploring the Truths
- Turning The Three Dharma Wheels
- The Two Truths of Interdependence and Emptiness
- The Four Truths leading to Freedom from Suffering
- Exploring Our Own Wheel of Life
- The Truths and Finding Refuge in The Three Jewels
- Buddha Nature – Our Fundamental Purity
Exploring the Common Prayers and Practices, and Preliminary Practices
- The Threefold Activities of Learning,
- Reflecting and Meditating for generating Realisations
- The Favourable Conditions for Realisations
- Support and Motivation for Realisations
- Purification of Obstacles to Realisations
- Accumulation of Positive Momentum for Realisations
- Receiving Blessings that Ripen Realisations
Exploring Mind Training
- Seven-Point Mind Training
- Eight Verses of Thought Transformation
- The Bodhisattva Vows