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"Stages of the Path"
[Lam-rim]
Thursdays,
7pm to 9pm
with Emily
Hsu, FPMT Master's Program graduate
New Topic: "Karma"
begins July 9
read
more about the instructor
Topics
This course covers various topics which
take one or two months each to cover. So far this year,
we have covered the Three Scopes—the various
levels of motivation that practitioners of Buddhism
can have—and then Death-Impermance, an awareness
of which can help clarify our life's purpose, and Refuge
in the Three Jewels. We are now on the topic of
Karma.
Overview
The Lam-rim (or Stages of
the Path) represents a synthesis of the entire path
to enlightenment. It is the essence of the teachings
of the Buddha. As Lama Zopa Rinpoche said:
"The lam-rim
is the best method to pacify suffering because it destroys
the root of samsara - ignorance - and is the antidote
to all the causal delusions and resultant suffering.
With the thought to benefit others and the mind renouncing
this life - with these the lam-rim immediately cuts
your relationship problems. The lam-rim brings very
deep benefit and the happiness you find is forever."
These teachings are easy to understand,
relevant to daily life, and are to be applied in meditation.
Instruction begins with the preliminary practices,
and then progresses through the essential practices
of the ‘beings of the three scopes’, including how to
rely on a spiritual teacher, perfect human rebirth,
death, karma, bodhicitta, calm abiding, the view of
emptiness, etc. As a foundation and context for
Buddhist practice, this subject is a key element of
the Basic Program.
The text we will mainly use is Lama
Tsong Khapa's Medium Exposition of the Stages
of the Path, while sometimes jumping into his
Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
(Lamrim Chenmo) for additional detail. Lama Tsong Khapa’s
middle length version of the Stages of the Path covers
all the topics of the graduated path, from the preliminaries
up to the mind of enlightenment and the correct view
of the middle way. As one of the author’s five major
works elucidating Madhyamaka, a large part of this text
is given over to a challenging special insight section
which presents the essential points contained in the
Great Treatise.
To register: email
us at  or
go to Contact Us
Suggested donation:
$60 - $80 per month. Your generous donation helps
to keep programs like this going. No one turned away
for lack of funds.
Location: 1550 La
Pradera Drive, Campbell, CA 95008 Directions
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Emily Hsu at Boudhanath
Stupa, Nepal, 2009.
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* About the Basic Program
In spite of its name—Basic—this
is the intermediate level program, being more rigorous
and intensive than the Discovering Buddhism program.
It assumes that the students have some previous background
in Buddhism.
[from the FPMT Basic Program brochure:]
Devised by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche
as an integrated program of Buddhist studies suitable
for a contemporary setting, the Basic Program is introduced
by a foundational teaching on the stages of the graduated
path to enlightenment, and further includes a sutra,
four classics of the Indian Mahayana tradition, ancillary
Tibetan treatises on mind and tenets, and an introductory
level teaching on tantra.
The curriculum is taught by Geshes
(a Tibetan title denoting a thorough knowledge of Buddhist
doctrine) or qualified non-Tibetan teachers.
A program of meditation, discussion
and examination complements the teachings to ensure
that participants develop an accurate working understanding
of the dharma as a sound basis for daily practice, contemplative
retreat and further study.
Read brochure.
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