The curriculum consists of four years of study. The BSI offers one course per year, with 2026-2027 covering year four’s books. For convenience, we refer to them as year one through four, but students may enter the course in any year. Completing the course involves successfully completing four years of studies that cover the curriculum of all four years.
The book list for all four years can be seen on the DTO’s website. Following is the year four list:
Year 4
Main Texts
- Understanding Our Mind: 50 Verses on Buddhist Psychology
- Thich Nhat Hanh
- Previously published under the title Transformation at the Base
- Stepping into Freedom
- Thich Nhat Hanh
- Avatamsaka Sutra, (Intro, Ch 10 & 11, first 100 pages of chapter 39)
- Thomas Cleary
- Anger
- Thich Nhat Hanh
- The Way of the Bodhisattva
- Shantideva, Padmakara Translation Group
- The Heroic Heart: Awakening Unbound Compassion
- Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
- A Heart Full of Peace
- Joseph Goldstein
Supplemental (and entirely optional) Texts
- Buddha Mind, Buddha Body, Walking toward Enlightenment
- Thich Nhat Hanh
- Supports main text: Understanding Our Minds: 50 Verses on Buddhist Psychology
- Transformation at the Base (Understanding our Mind)
- Talks 1-8 by Norman Fischer commenting on Thich Nhat Hanh’s Transformation at the Base: Fifty Verses on the Nature of Consciousness.
- Supports main text: Understanding Our Minds: 50 Verses on Buddhist Psychology
- Found at everydayzen.org Click on teachings, all teachings, then search for ‘transformation’. All 8 talks should then be available
- The Ultimate Dimension, an advanced retreat on the Avatamsaka and Lotus sutras
- Thich Nhat Hanh, a 6 CD collection from Sounds True.
- Supports main text: Avatamsaka Sutra
- Avatamsaka talks
- Norman Fischer, talks 1-5
- Supports main text: Avatamsaka Sutra
- Found at everydayzen.org Click on teachings, all teachings, then search for ‘avatamsaka’. All 5 talks should then be available
- Hua-yen Buddhism, the Jewel Net of Indra
- Francis H. Cook
- Supports main text: Avatamsaka Sutra
- Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from the Buddhist Perspective
- HH the Dalai Lama
- Supports main text: Anger
- The Cow in the Parking Lot, A Zen Approach to Overcoming Anger
- Leonard Scheff and Susan Edmiston
- Supports main text: Anger
- No Time to Lose
- Pema Chodron
- Supports main text: The Way of the Bodhisattva
- A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life
- HH the Dalai Lama
- Supports main text: The Way of the Bodhisattva
- Practicing Wisdom: The Perfection of Shantideva’s Bodhisattva Way
- HH the Dalai Lama
- Supports main text: The Way of the Bodhisattva
- Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening
- Joseph Goldstein
- Supports main text: A Heart Full of Peace
- A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life
- Jack Kornfield
- Supports main text: A Heart Full of Peace
- Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness
- Sharon Salzberg
- Supports main text: A Heart Full of Peace