ACI 7
The Bodhisattva
Vows
with Venerable Utpala
Online Course
November 5–December 5, 2025
Become a spiritual warrior! Learn how to spend your days fighting for others and taming your bad tendencies.
ACI 7:
The Bodhisattva
Vows
ACI 7, The Bodhisattva Vows, invites you. Yes, you! Say the words: “I want to become a Bodhisattva.” You will learn everything you need to know about the vows before deciding to take them. It is impossible to succeed on the Mahayana path without strictly observing each Bodhisattva vow, and in order to observe these vows, you need to clearly understand all 64 vows.
Bodhichitta, the wish to achieve total enlightenment for the sake of helping all living beings, is one of two main factors that distinguish the highest level of Buddhism, the Mahayana, from other Buddhist paths (the other main factor is the intensive study of emptiness, which ACI 6 dives deep into). The Buddha taught all kinds of wisdom to every sort of person, but the Mahayana path is intended for students of high capacity who have a thirst to go very deeply into how things actually work. Once you develop the wish to help others in this way, you are said to have bodhichitta. And that makes you an aspiring bodhisattva--a spiritual warrior, someone who wants to dedicate their lives to helping others. How do you do this? You take bodhisattva vows, of course!
ACI 7 makes it clear that you don't have to be perfect to start on this path. On the contrary, the vows inform and support you on the path that you enter with this wish. The path can take many years, sometimes your whole life, to complete. Taking the vows is an immense help as you slowly and gradually transform every minute and every day of your life into an offering to your fellow beings. And it is a very forgiving path; the Buddha understood that humans are not perfect. Even those with strong motivation spend more time not keeping the vows than keeping them as they begin this journey, and in ACI 7 you will learn all about breaking your vows, losing your vows, and your complete ability to restore them, no matter how many times you stray from the path. You can always come back. And as you go farther down the path, you will do better and better at keeping and living your vows more consistently and perfectly.
This course is based upon Master Asanga's root text and its commentary, called The Highway for Bodhisattvas (Jangchub Shunglam) by Je Tsongkapa.
Topics include: the definition and types of bodhichitta; types of morality; types of vows; how bodhisattva vows are taken; an explanation of the eighteen root bodhisattva vows and forty-six secondary bodhisattva vows; the four factors needed to break bodhisattva root vows; how bodhisattva vows are broken; how bodhisattva vows are lost; how to keep your bodhisattva vows; how to restore your bodhisattva vows; and the benefits of keeping bodhisattva vows.
Asian Classics Institute provides one of the clearest, most detailed explanations of these ancient, traditional, detailed, and deeply penetrating aids to achieving enlightenment that you will find anywhere in the modern world.
ACI 7
ACI 7, The Bodhisattva Vows, begins November 5, taught by Venerable Utpala, a certified ACI teacher. ACI 7 is one of the five ACI Foundation Courses required to admit you to Geshe Michael Roach's Diamond Way teachings, promised for 2026.
ACI 7 will teach you everything you ever wanted to know about becoming a spiritual warrior, so you can spend your life fighting the good fight.
Register now! It's free and open to everyone online.
Venerable utpala
Ven. Utpala is an accomplished writer, editor, and teacher. She has worked in government, business, and volunteer-based organizations. She completed a three-year solitary meditation retreat at Diamond Mountain in 2014. Since 2017, she has been a member of Geshe Michael Roach's translation team, also serving as managing editor and chief archivist. Her first translation from the Tibetan into English was Emptiness Meditations; she’s working on her second translation, tentatively titled Interlude on Emptiness.
Ven. Utpala constantly works to perfect her study and practice of Buddhist philosophy, Tibetan language, and meditation. She views her work as primarily singular: serving people who are working to realize their highest dreams. She lives in Camp Verde, Arizona.
🗓️ ACI 7 SCHEDULE:
🕗 ALL CLASSES are AT 6:30–8:00 AM
(ARIZONA TIME)
Class 1 – November 5
Class 2 – November 7
Class 3 – November 12
Class 4 – November 14
Class 5 – November 19
Class 6 – November 21
Class 7 – November 26
Class 8 – November 28
Class 9 – December 3
Class 10 – December 5