9. Discussion with Students about Courses

Lama.³³ Perhaps someone would like to suggest what would be the best way to run future meditation courses. Each person has their own different kind of wisdom, so it would help the organizers if you could share your opinions with them. “Do it this way; do it that way; this kind of course discipline is too strict; that kind is too loose.” Something like that. I think it could be valuable to offer different kinds of courses. So, if you have some suggestions, please make them. For example, some people don’t like to sit and meditate that much; for them we could offer simple intellectual philosophy that’s easy to digest. For people who are more academically inclined we can offer something more rigorous. Basically, I’m looking for suggestions as to the different ways in which we can give people the opportunity to taste wisdom. 

Student. Courses on Buddhist psychology would be good.

Lama. Yes, sure, that’s right. We can give courses on Lord Buddha’s psychology; on how his teachings affect the human mind. However, if we’re talking about one-­month courses, sometimes it’s not very productive to tell people just to sit, meditate and pray for long periods of time. I think it’s OK that after a two-­hour lecture they walk around outside for a while, and if they don’t want to come for the group meditation, they can sit outside as well. For them, that’s their meditation. If they do the morning and evening one-­hour sitting meditations, they can spend the rest of the day as they wish. We don’t need to push them: “It doesn’t matter if you skip the next meditation session; it’s up to you.” We should be open. 

In terms of Buddhist philosophy, there are so many different schools and traditions, both Indian and Tibetan. Different doctrines, various ways of looking at things, all sorts of books and commentaries, things like that. We can teach courses on all of it. 

Student. We could hold courses on thangka painting.

Lama. Sure, possible; that’s right. That’d be interesting. Then?

Student. It would be also interesting to have courses on Tibetan medicine.

Lama. Absolutely. We could invite Tibetan doctors and give one-­month courses on Tibetan medicine. That’s a good idea.

Student. I’ve got a great idea! Religious music.

Lama. Sure, that’s possible as well. Music doesn’t necessarily have to mean samsaric sense gratification. The entire lamrim can be expressed through music. If you have wisdom, anything’s possible. We even allow dancing. And last year, Chenrezig Institute held a cooking course run by an excellent cook who knew how to prepare healthy vegetarian food. The people really liked that course.³⁴

Student. A course specializing in one particular meditation rather than several different kinds could be good so that people could gain proficiency in that one type. 

Lama. You mean people shouldn’t do different meditations but focus on just one? Yes, that’s a good idea as well. We should think about how to put such a course together. 

Student. What about Tibetan astrology?

Lama. Sure, that’s good, that’s possible. It is absolutely possible. 

Student. Some people, like social workers, for example, might be interested in doing meditation courses, but simpler ones than those we do.

Lama. I agree. That’s a good idea. Simple practices. In reality, we don’t need geshes for many of the courses we could offer. We always ask Tibetan lamas to give our courses but that’s not right. Simpler courses of the type you mention could be taught by older students sharing their experience. I tell you, the subject of the course we’re giving here at the moment is as vast as an ocean. It could be spread over a year rather than be given in a couple of weeks. Four-­hour sessions don’t work for the Western mind. An hour’s discourse in the morning and another in the evening is probably enough. Western people don’t like interminable talk. And we don’t have to try to cover everything in one course. We can do shorter courses on each basic topic, first one, then another and so forth. So those courses don’t have to be taught by lamas; students can run them, as long as they use their wisdom.

Student. We could even hold two-­ or three-­day courses for old students to refresh their practice. 

Lama. I see, yes. You mean rather than two-­week or one-­month courses, we offer two-­day courses or something like that, for students who might have forgotten what they learned at previous courses? Yes, that’s possible. For instance, this year at Chenrezig Institute, as well as the usual one-­month lamrim course and a ten-­day advanced course on Avalokiteshvara, we offered a weekend course, and later, in Melbourne, we did a three-­day course. So those short courses are very helpful and also bring people together.³⁵

Conclusion

While Lama Zopa Rinpoche and I would like to stay here, we are obliged to go here and there all over the world, so before your resident geshe arrives, it’s been suggested that a Western monk or nun comes first to lead courses and meditation sessions in order to keep the energy going. In the meantime, resident students who don’t have jobs here at the center can find employment outside and return here after work. In that way we integrate with society and people don’t regard us as some kind of outcast. You have to act so that people say, “Those Manjushri people are reasonable. They work hard and take responsibility.” 

And when tourist-­type people come to visit, don’t greet them with, “What are you doing here?” Instead of shocking them we should be inviting: “Welcome. How can I help you?” “Oh, we’d like to know what you do here.” Then somebody can give them an introductory lecture and explain what goes on here at the Institute. If we are too full of ourselves and visitors come, we might have the tendency to ignore them. Then they’ll go away thinking, “What kind of place is that? Everybody acts so exclusive.” We’re not open to others. That’s no good. 

With respect to outreach, sometimes the resident monk or nun can go to different cities and towns to give lectures, answer questions and perhaps show a film on Tibetan Buddhism. Films that show unusual religious rituals and so forth are very useful because people often don’t understand what’s going on and then start asking questions. So that’s good.³⁶

With respect to teachings that we offer at the center, for new students we should keep them fairly simple and digestible, but once they get more interested we can offer stronger stuff and more intensive meditation courses. People need to be led step by step. 

The conclusion is that this center exists to serve all mother sentient beings. In particular we want people to gain inner knowledge-­wisdom and there are many ways to approach people with this in mind. For sure, we should think in terms of a wide variety of courses rather than only intensive meditation courses. Eventually, though, if such courses are what it takes for mother sentient beings to discover everlasting peaceful enlightenment, then that’s what we should lead them to. 

Notes

33. During the 1976 course at Manjushri Institute Lama Yeshe engaged the students in this discussion. [Return to text]

34. A vegetarian cookbook is currently in production at LYWA and is expected to be published in 2026–27. Its tentative title is How to Have a Happy Life with a Good Heart. [Return to text]

35. Over the subsequent decades, many of these ideas have been implemented in the wide variety of courses offered by the FPMT. See fpmt.org/education. The advanced course on Avalokiteshvara that Lama mentions has been published as Becoming the Compassion Buddha. [Return to text]

36. On Lama Yeshe’s extensive round-­the-­world tour the previous year, 1975, he gave many public lectures that were preceded by the showing of Sheldon Rochlin’s film The Tantra of Gyüto, which indeed was followed by a lively discussion with the audience. The film is on YouTube. [Return to text]