The fifteen Formal Study Courses cover the main ideas of the entire course of study followed by a Tibetan monk-scholar (or geshe) at one of the great monasteries of Tibet. The three-part Great Ideas series summarizes all fifteen ACI Courses, along with the teachings of the traditional training of a Tibetan Buddhist Master. In part two, we cover ACI Courses six through ten: The Diamond Cutter Sutra, The Bodhisattva Vows, Death and the Realms of Existence, The Ethical Way of Life (Vinaya), and A Guide to the Bodhisattvas Way of Life.

The first half of each class in this Course was taught by Geshe Michael, and the second half of each class occurred in smaller study groups. Therefore, only the first half of each class is recorded in the audio portion of this series, and this Course is not available for correspondence course grading by the Institute. Successful completion of all three parts of this series, with a teacher in person, is required for a final, comprehensive ACI diploma.

This Formal Study Course includes a syllabus and a final exam along with the following written materials for each class: a reading, a quiz, homework, and an answer key. The complete written materials can be ordered by mail. The audio material will be made available as soon as we can.

WRITTEN MATERIALS:
The written materials for this Course are contained in eight PDF documents which can be downloaded, printed and assembled into a three-ring binder, or simply opened into a new browser window for quick viewing.

DOWNLOAD:
All of the files below can be easily downloaded as a ZIP file for easy printing. Course17.zip (1405 KB)

QUICK VIEWING:
Course Seventeen contains the following PDF files for their corresponding sections:
Binder Cover & Spine
Overview of the teacher training program
Prayers, Course Syllabus & Readings
Homework
Quizzes
Final Examination
Answer Key
Tibetan Study Materials


The Acrobat Reader is required to view these documents and is available for free from this link.

AUDIO FILES:
Real Audio
The class lectures are available below in Real Audio format and have been divided into smaller parts for ease of listening and downloading. These may be downloaded for saving and playing offline or listened to in streaming format which will play immediately.

The Real Audio 8 Basic Player is necessary and is available for free at this link.

MP 3
The audio class lectures are also available in MP3 format as one larger file per class. To download an MP3 file directly to your hard disk, right click on the link and use the command "Save Target As..." or "Save Link As..."

• 16k MP3 Audio files are "voice quality" and a typical 90 minute class file takes about 30 minutes to download using a standard 56k modem.
• 32k MP3 Audio files are "CD quality" and a typical 90 minute class file takes about 60 minutes to download using a standard 56k modem.

If you encounter any technical difficulties with any of the audio files please contact audio@world-view.org.