Foundation for Buddhist Thought

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Geshe Tashi Tsering

A sample of Geshe Tashi’s teachings.

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You will be able to listen to many of Geshe Tashi’s teachings on the Talking Buddhism website for free, please visit: this site
Here we include a sample of one of the teachings he gave in London as part of his regular public teaching programme. It is not a part of The Foundation of Buddhist Thought course. It is offered here as a way to introduce you to Geshe Tashi. We hope it will be of benefit to you and countless others.

Developing a daily practice.

What is Daily Practice?

Why we need a daily practice?

In order to have an effective daily practice first of all we need to know why we should have one. What is the purpose of a daily practice?

 

In my own experience I do many things, I participate in many events and in the majority of cases I have not thought through very thoroughly why I am doing these things: "What am I looking for in participating in this event?" Because of this lack of thorough understanding - that failure to really ask myself the question "why am I doing this?" - the benefits of participating in such events are limited. Although the teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama or other great masters are really amazing - very profound, very precise - from my side the intention is not clear. Why am I there with the other monks? In part it is a social occasion and I may think I will go along with the other monks to these teachings. What I am saying is that I am not really digging deep down in my heart searching, looking inside to understand what am I looking for.
Because of a lack of that kind of thorough analysis within myself the benefits of receiving the teachings are limited. That is something that we need to consider in relation to a daily practice. You might well believe it is good to do a daily practice but you might not know why it is.
So, why do we need a daily practice? What can a daily practice do for us? If we do not have a daily practice what are the things that we will miss from our daily lives; if we do have a daily practice what are the things that we will gain? These are important questions that need to be addressed. If we have a clear idea of why we need to set up a routine of meditation and practice, then we will not be wasting our time and we will get the most from the experience.
I do not see daily practice as some ritual of meditation, recitation and prostrations. These are things to facilitate our daily practice but they are not daily practice in their own right. Real daily practice is engaging in activities such as helping other people, having a good heart in the community. I would like to differentiate between the practice and the tools that aid that practice. I am not saying recitations, meditation and making prayers are not spiritual practice, they are. But I would count these as supporters of our real daily practice which are the actual actions we do in the home, in the community, in public or individually - activities done with a good heart and love and caring; actions which are committed out of that mind. If we manage to do that then that is what I would count as real practice.
The main practice is how we act and how we behave and what state of mind we have during our daily lives - working in an office or looking after children. Our Buddhist "practice" helps us with the real practice of have a good state of mind and good behaviour.

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Other courses

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Geshe Tashi has also developed the Lamrim Chenmo correspondence course based on Lama Tsongkhapa’s Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lamrim Chenmo). Geshe Tashi's teachings support and guide students through each of the seven modules taken over two and half years.
 

Geshe Tashi’s participation on the course.

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Throughout the course you will be listening to Geshe Tashi’s teachings and reading his books and following his meditation advice. Once every module we organise a Question and Answer video session with Geshe-la, a great opportunity to discuss the questions that have arisen from your study.

However, your main point of contact will be the moderator tutor and fellow students. The moderators for the Foundation of Buddhist Thought are all graduates of the course. Geshe Tashi has chosen them for their knowledge and ability to communicate with students. While not 'teachers' of the course, their job is to make the course as interesting and accessible to you as possible. See Students & Moderators.

 
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“Geshe Tashi’s writing and talks give deep and insightful pointers for how to develop our daily practice whilst at the same time giving a strong philosophical grounding to my attempt to practice the teachings of the compassionate Buddha Shakyamuni” –
George, FBT graduate.


“Geshe Tashi is quite unique in that he is able to convey complicated Tibetan Buddhism or the concepts of Tibetan Buddhism very much to western minds using western analogies and he's quite funny and he quite often pokes fun at us westerners and the sorts of things we do so it is an interesting and different approach and not as esoteric as you'd expect from someone from such a different background as most of us.”
John, FBT graduate.

“I particularly loved his practical suggestions. I am a practical person, so when I read something, unless it's something I can put into practice I don't really retain it. I'm not an intellectual book learner. I like to be able to read something and think 'Hey this could be useful in my life right now”. So his examples were always very pertinent and I felt that he really understood where we were coming from actually, which is very nice. And then his sense of humour of course, was always there just to remind you not to get too bogged down with it all.”
Cynthia, FBT graduate

 
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GesheTashiCumbria4cropweb fbtbooks
Geshe Tashi Tsering is a Tibetan Lama who holds the Lharampa Geshe degree (the equivalent of a PhD) from Seramay Monastic University in South India, gaining the highest marks possible at every level of the sixteen-year course.
Since 1994 Geshe Tashi has been based at Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London, where he is renowned for his warmth,humour and ability to make the most profound Tibetan Buddhist philosophical teachings accessible to students.
Geshe Tashi teaches an extensive programme at Jamyang that includes both traditional texts and meditation, along with classes for students who are newer to Buddhism. To get a full range of the teachings Geshe Tashi has given in recent years you can visit theTalking Buddhism archive: