October 22 – 27, 2017
Led by Geshe Lhakdor
Special 6-day residential course. Appropriate for beginners and advanced students.
Don’t miss the opportunity to study with this amazing teacher!
This course is based on Atisha’s “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment”.
Atisha, the eleventh-century Indian Buddhist scholar and saint, came to Tibet at the invitation of the king of Western Tibet, Lha Lama Yeshe Wo, and his nephew, Jangchub Wo. His coming initiated the period of the second transmission of Buddhism to Tibet, formative for the Sakya Kagyu and Gelug traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.
Atisha’s most celebrated text, Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, sets forth the entire Buddhist path within the framework of three levels of motivation on the part of the practitioner. Atisha’s text thus became the source of the lamrim tradition, or graduated stages of the path to enlightenment, an approach to spiritual practice incorporated within all schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
For this very popular course a non-refundable/ non-transferable deposit applies. See this FAQ for more information. Please only register if you can make this deposit promptly!
Please visit these links for general information about our residential courses, especially the retreat environment.
Day 1 | 1:00pm | Registration in Dining Hall |
4.30 – 6.15pm | Introductory Talk about Tushita | |
6:15pm | Dinner | |
7:30pm | Introduction to Course |
Days 2 – 5 | 6.45 – 7.30am | Mindfulness Meditation |
7.30am | Breakfast | |
9.00 – 9.45am | Meditation | |
10.00 – 12.00noon | Teaching with Geshe Lhakdor la | |
12.00noon | Lunch & Karma Yoga Jobs | |
1.30 – 3.30pm | Teaching with Geshe Lhakdor la | |
3.30 – 4.00pm | Tea Break | |
4.00 – 5.00pm | Discussion Groups | |
5.15 – 6.00pm | Meditation | |
6.00pm | Dinner | |
7.30pm | Guided Meditation |
Day 6 | 6.45 – 7.30am | Mindfulness Meditation |
7.30am | Breakfast | |
9.00 – 9.45am | What comes next? | |
10:00 – 12noon | Teaching with Geshe Lhakdor la | |
12.00 noon | Picnic lunch | |
1.00pm | Check out |
Please note this schedule is subject to change and might change on short notice!
You can register by filling out our online form.
Please make sure you have read the information on this page first.
Venerable Geshe Lhakdor was born in Yakra, Western Tibet in 1956 and left Tibet in 1962 following the communist Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959. Geshe received his novice monk ordination in 1964, attended the Central School for Tibetans, in Dalhousie, India from 1972 to 1976 and studied specialized Buddhist Philosophy in the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, India until 1986.
From December, 1986 to May, 1989 he served as translator and research assistant in Tibet House, the Cultural Centre of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in New Delhi. In August 1989, Geshe joined the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama where he has served as Religious Assistant and Translator and has accompanied His Holiness the Dalai Lama to over thirty countries in the Americas, Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia.
Beside the Master of Prajnaparamita in 1982, he also received the Master of Madhyamika in 1989 and the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) from the University of Delhi. In 1995 he received the Geshe Degree from Drepung Loseling Monastic University in South India. In 2008, he was also conferred Honorary Professorship by the University of Delhi, Department of Psychology.
Since 2005 he has been the director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, after serving as His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s official translator for 16 years (still occasionally travels with H.H. as translator).
Geshe Lhakdor has also co-translated and co-produced several books by His Holiness, including The Way to Freedom, The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace, Awakening the Mind and Lightening the Heart, and Stages of Meditation, among others.
Geshe Lhakdor is a trustee of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility, established by His Holiness, Director of the Central Archive of His Holiness, a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Tibetan Classics in Montreal, Canada, and Honorary Professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada.
You can hear a recording of a teaching Geshe Lhakdor gave at Tushita in July 2014 here.