Bodhicitta Sangha

According to the extraordinary key instructions and practices of the lineage masters, it is extremely important for those who wish to practice the Buddha’s teachings to begin by creating a stable foundation for the spiritual path with the preliminary practices (ngöndro) and mind training (lojong). One may then proceed to the other elements of this profound path. Progressing through these levels in a step-by-step manner will bring one to a precise realization of the view of the Great Perfection—the ultimate, true nature of things.
 
The following curriculum is designed to gradually immerse the mind of the student in these contemplative practices. 

The following courses guide interested individuals through the various stages of the spiritual path. The first three courses contain teachings suitable for practitioners of all religions and faiths. The seminars that follow, while open to all, are designed for those who are interested in making Buddhism their primary spiritual path.

Seminar I: The Heart of Meditation

This introductory seminar will present the basics of meditation and the core principles of the spiritual path. Practical instructions will be offered that will enable students to cultivate a peaceful mind and an open heart. Individual course topics include:
 

1. An introduction to the practice of meditation
2. Preparing for a meditation session
3. How to train the mind in love, compassion and equanimity
4. How to cultivate peace of mind through the practice of mindfulness
   

 
Requirement: Ten hours of each meditation (forty hours total)

Seminar II: Mind Training

This seminar builds upon the Heart of Meditation by presenting further instructions on contemplative practice. The topics presented in these courses instill the meditator with a sense of enthusiasm for spiritual practice and insight into the nature of existence. Individual course topics include:
 

1. The preciousness of the human life
2. Subtle and obvious impermanence
3. Karmic causality and interdependence
4. Suffering and its causes
5. The cessation of suffering and the path of liberation

 
Requirement: Ten hours of each meditation (fifty hours total)

Seminar III: Cultivating Wisdom

This seminar focuses on the nature of reality itself, and how we can use meditation to cut through confusion and the causes of suffering. This course includes a mixture of guided contemplation, discussion, and practical instructions on daily meditation. Individual course topics include:
 

1. The self and destructive emotions
2. Meditating on the absence of the individual self
3. Meditating on the absence of self in phenomena

          
Requirement: Five hours of each meditation (fifteen hours total)
   

Seminar IV: Preparing for Buddhist practice

This course is designed for those who are considering becoming Buddhist, though all are welcome to attend. Through teaching, discussion, and guided meditations, students will explore the core concepts of the Buddhist path. Individual course topics include:
 

1. Doubt and devotion: investigating the spiritual teacher
2. The refuge vow
3. The bodhicitta vow

        
Requirement: Ten hours meditation on devotion (ten hours total)
    

Seminar V: The Preliminary Practices

Having completed the various stages of the common outer preliminary practices, one next trains the mind in the unique inner preliminaries. The preliminary practices serve to strengthen one’s resolve to pursue the spiritual path and set the stage for advanced spiritual practice. This series will present detailed instructions on the five preliminary practices, which employ visualization, the recitation of prayers and mantras, and physical movement to undo deeply ingrained destructive habits.
 

1. Taking refuge: the cornerstone of the Buddhist path
2. Cultivating Bodhicitta: the root of the Great Vehicle
3. The meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva, which purifies adverse circumstances, negativity, and obscurations
4. Mandala, which brings together conducive circumstances and the two accumulations of merit and wisdom
5. Guru yoga: the method for generating the wisdom of realization in one’s own mind stream

 
Requirement: 100,000 repetitions of each preliminary practice
 

Seminar VI: Transference & the Six Intermediate States

Transference is one of the main practices of the Vajrayana and also one of the easiest to accomplish. This meditation employs visualizations and the recitation of sounds to consciously project the mind to different planes of existence and undo deluded forms of perception. This practice is an especially powerful way to work with the moment of death. The six intermediate states comprise the various transitions that we experience throughout life. When approached correctly, these transitions provide powerful opportunities for spiritual transformation.

1. Buddhahood without meditation: key instructions on transference (powa)
2. The six intermediate states

 
Requirement: One week transference (powa) retreat and ten hours on each intermediate state (bardo)
     

Seminar VII: Investigating the Mind

The primary difference between Buddhas and ordinary beings is that the former have recognized the nature of mind, while the latter have not. In the Great Perfection, the main role of the guru is to point out the nature of mind to the student. Such instructions are given in stages, using different experiential and philosophical exercises to lead the student to a direct realization of the mind’s pure and luminous nature.

1. Meditative investigation on whether the body, speech, or mind is the creator of Samsara and Nirvana
2. Meditative inquiry into whether the body, speech, and mind are the same or different, and which of these three is the primary factor
3. How to meditate on a definitive understanding of the mind’s essence by analyzing its origin, presence, and cessation

 
Requirement: fifteen hours of each meditation (forty five hours total)
     

Seminar VIII: Tranquility & Special Insight

Tranquility and insight are the two forms of Buddhist meditation. Through tranquility meditation, one learns how to concentrate and calm the mind, while insight meditation allows for the flowering of wisdom. In this seminar, these practices will be presented as taught in the Great Perfection lineage, which contains unique and powerful versions of these core practices.

1. How to train the mind according to the key instructions of Lama Mipam by cultivating tranquility without focus to cut through the flow of thought activity
2. How to meditate on the insight of experience and realization brought about by the knowledge of the self-recognition of stillness and movement
3. Practicing the unity of tranquility and special insight through the view of the inseparability of stillness and movement

         
Requirement: twelve hours of each meditation (thirty six hours total)
     

Seminar IX: Preparing for Great Perfection

The Great Perfection has its own unique preliminary practices, each of which has a particular role in preparing the meditator for the advanced practices of the breakthrough and direct leap. These teachings address the following practices:
 

1. The physical, verbal, and mental outer separations (rushen) of samsara and nirvana
2. The inner separation: purifying the seeds of the six realms
3. The preliminaries of the three gates
4. Resting in the natural state and revitalization

Following the common outer preliminaries, the unique inner preliminaries, and the other stages of the path, the next set of instructions pertain to the view of the luminous Great Perfection, the pinnacle of the nine profound vehicles, in which one is introduced to pure awareness in and of itself.

Seminar X: Great Perfection—Breakthrough & Direct Leap

The primary difference between Buddhas and ordinary beings is that the former have recognized the nature of mind, while the latter have not. In the Great Perfection, the main role of the guru is to point out the nature of mind to the student. Such instructions are given in stages, using different experiential and philosophical exercises to lead the student to a direct realization of the mind’s pure and luminous nature. Following the common outer preliminaries, the unique inner preliminaries, and the other stages of the path, the next set of instructions pertain to the view of the luminous Great Perfection, the pinnacle of the nine profound vehicles, in which one is introduced to pure awareness in and of itself.
 
This seminar will begin with the empowerment to the display of pure awareness, the highest transmission in the Nyingma School of Tibet, followed by the practices of breakthrough and direct leap. Breakthrough relates to the principle of original purity. This practice allows the student to first identify, and then sustain, recognition of the mind’s true nature. The direct leap hastens the process of realization by working with the spontaneously present manifestations of reality itself. These two are considered the most profound and direct paths to realization in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. 

1. Bestowal of the empowerment into the expression of awareness as the extraordinary method that allows one to meditate on the path of the Secret Mantra and practice the profound instructions of the Great Perfection
2. Introduction to the view of the ground of original purity—the view of the breakthrough (trekchöd)—through the Three Statments that Strike the Vital Point, the parting instructions of Garap Dorje
3. How to meditate on the path of spontaneous presence—the appearances of the direct leap (tödgal)—through the Six Methods of Liberation for the Fortunate, the key instructions of Padma Sambhava
4. How to practice the fruition—breakthrough and direct leap as a unity—through the Three Ways to Strike, the key instructions of Shri Sangha
5. How to meditate on the twenty-five spheres according to the key instructions of Adzom Drukpa Rinpoche—the Self Liberation of the Six Collections

 
This meditation curriculum comprises the entire range of instructions that a given individual will need to practice the unsurpassed and utterly secret key instructions of the Great Perfection. This extraordinary system of key instructions stems from the lineage of Adzom Drukpa Rinpoche and others, according to the intended meaning of the luminous secret heart essence of Longchenpa, Jigmé Lingpa, and so forth.
 
I, Sherab Sangpo, created this curriculum according to the practice tradition of the lineage masters and how I myself received these teachings.