Intermediate/Advanced Courses
We are very happy to offer courses for students who are ready to explore Buddhist Philosophy even more deeply. These courses offer a rare opportunity to study specific topics or texts with experienced teachers in small groups – if you have the time, grab the opportunity!
These courses are for students who already have a fairly stable understanding of the core concepts within Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy; here at Tushita, our courses follow a traditional presentation of teaching known as the Lam-Rim (The Graduated Path to Enlightenment).
This is a systemized overview of Buddhist Philosophy and students of other traditions may not be familiar with some aspects of it. Therefore our Intermediate and Advanced courses assume a solid understanding of the Lam-Rim and acceptance onto these courses these pre-requisites:
One should have participated in a 10-day residential introductory course to Tibetan Buddhism, such as those offered at Tushita Meditation Centre and Kopan Monastery (or similar Lam Rim studies and practice).
If you do not have such experience, we will recommend that you take one of our excellent Introduction to Buddhism courses beforehand (equally appropriate for beginners as well as those with some background knowledge). This is also the case even if you have studied within another tradition; specifically, a 10-day Vipassana course is not sufficient preparation to take one of our Intermediate Level courses. If this applies to you, you may find this FAQ informative:
Our first question in reply would be “Why not take an Introduction course?”. Buddhist understanding should not be measured in breadth but depth, and every good student knows that there’s always something new to learn! Although the courses are called “Introduction to Buddhism”, many experienced students also take part (even long-term monastics!) and find them of immense value. Students sometimes repeat the course; when teachings and guided meditations are heard from different teachers, their varied perspectives and styles – combined with your own personal experiences acquired since your last course – can stimulate fresh insights for even the most experienced students. We particularly recommend that you take an Introduction course if you have only learned about Buddhism from books; nothing compares to being taught by an actual teacher.
We often receive registrations for Intermediate Level courses from people who have meditation experience: we must stress that our courses focus on Buddhist Philosophy rather than the deepening of meditation practice and therefore meditation experience alone is not sufficient to qualify a student for one of our Intermediate Level courses. For example, the Vipassana meditation technique (as taught by SN Goenka) is a wonderful practice which we wholeheartedly endorse, but we know from personal experience that the retreats do not provide equivalent philosophical depth to our 10-day “Introduction to Buddhism” courses.
If you have studied a lot within another Buddhist tradition, you will also find a great deal of new information on our courses. Here at Tushita, we follow a traditional presentation of Tibetan Buddhist teaching known as the Lam-Rim (The Graduated Path to Enlightenment). This is a systemized overview of Buddhist Philosophy and students of other traditions may not be familiar with some aspects of it. Buddhist Philosophy investigates many subtle conceptual points: different traditions often use different terminology or translations which may actually conflict with those common in other lineages. Consequently, long-term students of other traditions who have not studied Tibetan Buddhist philosophy before sometimes find our programs more challenging than those who have never studied Buddhism at all.
Therefore, we qualify students as being “Intermediate Level” once they have taken one of our (or our sister centre’s) 10-day Introduction to Buddhism courses or formal equivalent, because our Intermediate level courses assume a solid understanding of the Lam-Rim. It’s our way of making sure that everyone is “on the same page”; of course we try to be flexible, so if having read the above you still feel strongly that an Intermediate Level course would be more suitable for you, then contact us.
We often receive registrations for Intermediate Level courses from people who have meditation experience: we must stress that our courses focus on Buddhist Philosophy rather than the deepening of meditation practice and therefore meditation experience alone is not sufficient to qualify a student for one of our Intermediate Level courses. For example, the Vipassana meditation technique (as taught by SN Goenka) is a wonderful practice which we wholeheartedly endorse, but we know from personal experience that the retreats do not provide equivalent philosophical depth to our 10-day “Introduction to Buddhism” courses.
If you have studied a lot within another Buddhist tradition, you will also find a great deal of new information on our courses. Here at Tushita, we follow a traditional presentation of Tibetan Buddhist teaching known as the Lam-Rim (The Graduated Path to Enlightenment). This is a systemized overview of Buddhist Philosophy and students of other traditions may not be familiar with some aspects of it. Buddhist Philosophy investigates many subtle conceptual points: different traditions often use different terminology or translations which may actually conflict with those common in other lineages. Consequently, long-term students of other traditions who have not studied Tibetan Buddhist philosophy before sometimes find our programs more challenging than those who have never studied Buddhism at all.
Therefore, we qualify students as being “Intermediate Level” once they have taken one of our (or our sister centre’s) 10-day Introduction to Buddhism courses or formal equivalent, because our Intermediate level courses assume a solid understanding of the Lam-Rim. It’s our way of making sure that everyone is “on the same page”; of course we try to be flexible, so if having read the above you still feel strongly that an Intermediate Level course would be more suitable for you, then contact us.
To get an idea of the material covered in our introductory courses, you could watch both parts of Tushita’s online program (as offered from March 2020 – March 2022):
- The Buddhist Path of Training the Mind – Recordings
AND - Going Deeper: The Buddhist Path of Training the Mind – Recordings
The links, above, take you to Youtube playlists of the 10th instance of these courses in March – April, 2022. Recordings of all instances are linked from Programs > Online Program.
Please be aware these online courses are not a substitute for the residential Introduction to Buddhism course!
Upcoming Intermediate/Advanced Courses
- Annual Advanced Course with Geshe Kelsang Wangmo: Four Tenets: 27 June – 7 July led by Geshe Kelsang Wangmo
Typical Schedule
| DAY 1 – CHECK-IN | |
| 1:00pm | Check-in |
| 2:30pm | Welcome and Introduction Talk |
| 3:30 – 4:30pm | Teaching Session 1 |
| 5:00 – 6:00pm | Teaching Session 2 |
| 6pm | Dinner |
| 7:30 – 8:15pm | Guided Meditation |
| COURSE DAYS | |
| 6:45 – 7:30 am | Guided Meditation |
| 7:30am | Breakfast |
| 9:00 – 10:00am | Teaching Session 1 |
| 10:00 – 10:30am | Break |
| 10:30 – 11:45am | Teaching Session 2 |
| 11:45am | Lunch |
| 2:00 – 3:00pm | Teaching Session 3 |
| 3:00 – 3:30pm | Tea Break |
| 3:30 – 4:45pm | Teaching Session 4 |
| 4:45 – 5:15pm | Break |
| 5:15 – 6:00pm | Guided Meditation |
| 6:00pm | Dinner |
| 7:30 – 8:15pm | Guided Meditation |
| LAST DAY – CHECKOUT | |
| 6:45 – 7:30am | Guided Meditation |
| 7:30am | Breakfast |
| 9:00 – 9:45am | What comes next? Talk |
| 10:00 am | Advice for further study/practice and Feedback session |
| 12:00 – 1:00pm | Picnic Lunch |
| 1:00pm | Check-out |
(please note: all phenomena are impermanent – the exact schedule may vary slightly from course to course)
Guidelines for Behaviour
It is only possible to stay at Tushita if you are taking one of our residential courses/retreats or are an established Buddhist practitioner doing your own formal Buddhist retreat of a minimum of 10 days duration.
Since Tushita is a semi-monastic meditation centre and not a guesthouse, we ask all of our retreatants and visitors to observe the following rules of discipline in order to maintain an atmosphere conducive to inner reflection and meditation:
- Respect all life: do not intentionally kill any living being, even small insects.
- Respect others’ property: do not steal or take anything not freely given.
- Be honest and straightforward: do not lie or intentionally deceive others. This is easy when observing silence!
- Be celibate: no sexual activity. This also includes no holding hands, hugging, massages and other physical displays of affection.
- Be alert and mindful: avoid intoxicants such as alcohol, drugs and cigarettes (we encourage you to stop smoking while here, but if this is impossible, one can smoke at a designated place within the centre boundary).
- Be considerate of others’ silence: keep silence in the appropriate areas and at all times during residential courses, especially in the Gompa and the dormitories. No singing or playing music and in general, maintain a quiet demeanor while on the property.
- Be considerate of the monks and nuns: dress respectfully (please no shorts above the knee, tank-top shirts or tight and revealing clothing).
In order to keep the atmosphere conducive to inner reflection and spiritual pursuit and to minimise distractions during the course, students on our residential courses and retreats are asked to abide by our basic code of discipline listed below.
- Please settle all outside communication before the course begins. Telling friends and family that you will be out of contact for the duration of the course and sticking by that decision significantly reduces distraction from investigation into the workings of your own mind! Likewise, please settle your travel arrangements etc before you come to Tushita!
- You are expected to observe silence (no talking at all) from the evening of the first day until the end of the course.
- Do not leave Tushita property for the entire course.
- Participants must attend all sessions of the course and come to sessions on time.
- Please put all communication / entertainment devices (laptop / mobile phones /cameras / MP3/CD players) etc into our safe at check-in.
- Please be gentle in your behaviour and sensitive to fellow group members.
“Gompa” is a Tibetan word which we use for Meditation Hall. Because a Gompa is the location of study, meditation and devotional practices, Buddhists consider them to be holy places. In this tradition, the following modes of behaviour are considered respectful in a Gompa and we ask you to follow them while here:
- Do not point your feet towards the teachers, the altar or any holy object.
- Do not put Dharma materials – prayer books, texts, Dharma books or notebooks with Dharma in them – on the floor, or sit or step over them.
- Do not lie down or do any yoga exercises in the Gompa at any time.
- No idle chit-chat in the Gompa (ie. You can ask the teacher questions during class, but do not talk with other students).
Registration
- To register for an intermediate or advanced course, please read ALL of the above and below information about the course.
- Then complete the online registration form in the Registration section of this website.
- Please don’t email just to ask about availability on the course; there will be enough space (unless indicated on our homepage that this course is full or has a waiting list), and you’ll save both yourself and Tushita volunteers time and effort by just completing the form.
- For our student’s convenience and to make the Dharma teachings as accessible as possible we keep this registration process as simple as possible.
Unfortunately up to 50% of the people who register don’t show up for courses! This results in long waiting list and a lot of uncertainty.
Therefore places on our Intermediate and Advanced courses and group retreats will now be confirmed only after a non-refundable / non-transferable (to different course or person) deposit is received from the applicant. See this FAQ for more information. - If after being confirmed for a course you realize you cannot attend this course please let us know asap about your cancellation, so we can give your spot to somebody else. In case you Confirm and then don’t show up to the course, you will be considered as a “No Show”. After two “No Shows” you will be prohibited from registering for future courses.
- Check-in time is 1pm on the first day of the course. If you don’t arrive on time, you may lose your place to people on the waiting list.
- Most of our accommodation is dormitory-style and rooms can NOT be booked in advance. We have a very small number of single rooms, and a very high demand for them. Please let us know if you are of a mature age (i.e. over 50) or have a physical condition which would prioritise you for a single room; although we can’t guarantee any particular kind of room, we will do what we can to make you comfortable given our limited resources. See this link for more information about how our room allocation system works. For other queries please visit Frequently Asked Questions.
Register Online
You can register by filling out our online form.
Please make sure you have read the information on this page first.