Annual Course with Geshe Lhakdor: The Heart Essence of a Happy Mind

April 16 – 22, 2024

Special 7-day residential course with Geshe Lhakdor! Appropriate for beginners and advanced students.

HYBRID – YOU CAN ATTEND IN PERSON (the entire residential course) OR ONLINE (only Geshe Lhakdor’s teaching sessions)!

Teachings on:
The Four Seals
The Three Principal Aspects of the Path by Lama Tsongkhapa

Geshe Lhakdor is renowned for his inspiring, down to earth and humorous teaching style, making the ancient Buddhist philosophy and science of mind applicable to a 21st century audience.

The essence of the Buddhist teachings are beautifully combined in The Four Seals and Lama Tsongkhapa’s “Three Principal Aspects of the Path”, making this course similar to our well known Introduction to Buddhism courses and suitable for beginners and experienced students alike.

In this residential course Geshe la will expertly guide us step by step in how to develop our potential of compassion and wisdom, so we can lead a meaningful and happy life. The teachings are deepened by meditation sessions and discussion groups.

 

The Four Seals

The Four Seals represent the core philosophical tenets of Buddhism. They are four concise yet profound statements that contain the essence of Buddhist wisdom and present a framework for understanding the nature of existence and the path to liberation and enlightenment.

The Four Seals are:

1. All compounded phenomena are impermanent.
2. All contaminated things are suffering.
3. All phenomena are selfless.
4. Nirvana is true peace.

As His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama writes:

When a Buddhist and a non-Buddhist are differentiated by way of behavior, the difference is whether or not the person takes refuge in the Three Jewels. When they are differentiated by way of the view, the difference is whether or not the person asserts the views which are the four seals testifying to a doctrine’s being the word of the Buddha.

The Key to the Madhyamika by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

 

The Three Principal Aspects of the Path
by Lama Tsongkhapa

This concise text by Lama Tsongkhapa beautifully explains the entire Buddhist path by three principal aspects:

• Renunciation — The determination to be free of unsatisfactory conditions.
• Bodhicitta — The wish to attain enlightenment in order to benefit all beings.
• Wisdom of Emptiness — Nothing exists in the way it appears.

These may seem like lofty topics reserved for philosophers and scholars. By rephrasing these aspects we learn how relevant and practical these teachings are as the heart essence of a meaningful and happy life.

 

Teacher

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.

 

Course Details

This very popular course requires a non-refundable/ non-transferable deposit. See our Frequently Asked Questions for more information on this. 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.

 

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Registration

HYBRID – YOU CAN ATTEND IN PERSON (the entire residential course) OR ONLINE (only Geshe Lhakdor’s teaching sessions)!