Eight Steps to Happiness by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, a beautiful book on Lojong or training the mind, is a perfect manual for bringing your practice to life. Eight Steps to Happiness contains sections on developing pure love, perfecting the mind of compassion, developing Bodhichitta - the supreme good heart and one of the most accessible and profound explanations of Emptiness to be found anywhere. There is also a wonderful section containing a wealth of practical advice on how to transform all problems in your daily life into the spiritual path.

Length of study, prerequisites, and cost

The Foundation Program is a structured study program designed to enable the student to gain a deeper understanding and experience of Buddha's teachings. When joining FP one commits to completing the text that is being studied (or a section of the text if it is one of the longer ones). The length of the course will depend on many factors but we can say with confidence that Eight Steps to Happiness will more than likely take 12 to 18 months to complete.

Each week there will be reading assignments from the text, a suggested meditation on the teaching and a discussion of the week's reading. Attendance at classes is required. If students miss class repeatedly, they fall behind in the readings and the discussion aspect of the class will be disrupted.

You can purchase Eight Steps to Happiness at the Vajralight Center bookstore or on-line at http://tharpa.com/us/books.php. This book is required reading for those studying on the Foundation Program.

The cost of joining the Foundation Program is $48 a month.

If you have any further questions about the program, most of them will be answered in the introductory class. If you need more help, please feel free to call Marie Barab, FP Coordinator at 914-523-8909 or email her: Admin@vajralight.org