The Teacher Training Program provides 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. 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.

“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

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.  Students are required to observe certain commitments and to attend the TTP preliminary guide retreats offered each year.  

PROGRAM STRUCTURE

Students sign up to complete all the books in the program and undertake to attend every class, learn the material, and take tests at various intervals throughout the study of each book. Class meets once a week, on Wednesdays, 6:45 – 9:30 pm. 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 class review summary. 

TTP students commit to attend a weekly puja at the Center or a weekly General Program class and to attend as much of the four TTP preliminary retreats as they can that are held throughout the year.

The cost is $80 per month to become a monthly TTP member, which also includes General Program classes at the Center and branches and TTP preliminary guide retreats. TTP is an in-person class.  It is not a drop-in program and enrollment is required. For more information about the Teacher Training Program, please contact epc@meditationinfortmyers.org.

CLASS STRUCTURE 

Before each 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. Afterward, 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.

TTP Curriculum: 12 subjects, 12 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

Beginning September 2024, we are studying the book Meaningful to Behold, Becoming a Friend of the World, Part 2.  Meaningful to Behold is a commentary to the universally loved poem, Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, by the 8th-century master Shantideva.

Though we are not holding an open enrollment at this time, if you feel this class may be suited for you, please contact Dona at epc@meditationinfortmyers.org.  She will be happy to set up an appointment for you to talk with Gen Namdrol.

About the book:
Meaningful to Behold is taken from the earliest teachings given by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche when he first arrived in the West in 1977. Both the teaching and the ancient text to which it is a commentary are directly relevant to the modern reader. 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. This practical handbook is essential for those wishing to follow a way of life characterized by greater empathy and compassion for others.