Class weekly meeting times:
THURSDAYS 6:30-8:30pm + SUNDAYS 4-6PM
at Heruka Kadampa Buddhist Center
Normal enrollment is for in-person attendance. We do offer a remote learning option via live Zoom to qualifying students who live too far away to attend in person.
Enrollment cost is Supporting Membership, $75/month
Program Teacher: Resident Teacher Trina Gunther
Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche, our founder and renowned Kadampa Buddhist master, explains why the Foundation Program is so important for making spiritual progress:
"Our present understanding and experience of Dharma is quite superficial. We are like someone who has entered a huge food store and seen many things but sampled only a few. We may have received many different teachings from many different Teachers, but we have taken in very little, just a few morsels. Therefore, our actual experience remains superficial.
Why is this? It is because we are not studying systematically according to a specially-designed program. If we just pick at Dharma randomly we will never gain a deep and stable experience, and our wisdom will never become like a full moon."
About the Foundation Program
The purpose of the Foundation Program is to provide a systematic presentation of particular subjects of Mahayana Buddhism to enable practitioners to deepen their knowledge and experience of the spiritual path. Six books are studied in sequence, covering the essential aspects of the Buddhist path.
Class meets twice a week, with term breaks throughout the program, including a longer break in the summer. Each class includes chanted prayers, a guided meditation, a teaching, discussion, and time for Q & A. Class is taught by our Resident Teacher Trina Gunther.
Class meets: THURSDAYS 6:30-8:30pm & SUNDAYS 4-6pm
Become part of a community of spiritual friends, which are known as Sangha in Buddhism. Through regular meeting and discussion with fellow enrolled students, we can find genuine support for our spiritual path.
Each class includes paired discussions, and every 5-6 classes the whole group discusses together, clarifying the meaning of the text and improving our understanding of how to put these teachings into practice. Over the course of time, warm friendships develop in Foundation Program as students inspire each other, sharing insights and experiences of the spiritual path.
Discover the preciousness of the Sangha jewel!
There are three reasons why we need to study and practice the teachings of Buddha - to develop our wisdom, to cultivate a good heart and to maintain a peaceful state of mind.
By studying on this program we shall gain great confidence in meditation – from basic techniques for overcoming our everyday problems to practices leading to unsurpassed happiness and permanent inner peace.
In this way, we are able to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning of Buddha’s teachings, maintain a daily meditation practice that is both focused and powerful, and make genuine spiritual progress.
With this book, the author Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche offers us step-by-step guidance on the meditation practices that will lead us to lasting inner peace and happiness. With extraordinary clarity, he presents all Buddha’s teachings in the order in which they are to be practiced, enriching his explanation with stories and illuminating analogies. This book is a perfect guidebook to the Buddhist path.
Joyful Path of Good Fortune can be purchased from Tharpa.com
Interested in joining Foundation Program? Please email Tim at: info@meditateinfortcollins.org
Cost for Foundation Program is Supporting Membership, which includes free access to all weekly classes and half-price for most events at Heruka Kadampa Buddhist Center. Please see the Membership page for details.
Trina Gunther is a long-time practitioner of Modern Kadampa Buddhism. She has studied and practiced in Dharma centers under Gen-la Dekyong and Gen Rigpa, and she has worked as Education Program Coordinator at centers in Los Angeles and the UK. She is an inspiring example of a lay practitioner of Kadampa Buddhism, and brings with her a wealth of practical experience of putting Buddha's teachings into practice amidst a busy daily life.
149 W Harvard St, Suite 102, Fort Collins, CO 80525
info@meditateinfortcollins.org
