Lam Rim: Stages of The Path – Buddhism 101 – Ep. 142

Exploring the history of the “Lam Rim: Stages of The Path” a collection of mind training teachings preserved in Tibet, Professor Thurman provides an introduction to these cherished practices as refined + passed down by Tsongkhapa & the Dalai Lama lineage.

Podcast includes a discussion of Gendün Druppa the First Dalai Lama, the centrality of the awareness of the possibility of infinite past + future lives, The Three Kinds of Suffering as presented in Tsongkhapa’s Lam Rim teachings & how these teachings provide a systematized path to prepare one for the study of Buddhist Tantras.

Concludes with a guided meditation on the exchange of Self + Other, Mother Kindness Recognition & the Causal Steps used in Tsongkhapa’s Lam Rim teachings.

This podcast was recorded at the “Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Sources: Madhyamaka – Lam Rim” Session of the Force For Good Series at Tibet House US in 2016 in New York City.

The oral teachings of the tradition coming from Atisha had been passed to Atisha’s chief disciple, the layman Dromtonpa. He in turn passed on the lineage and emphasized the need for a thorough comprehension of the meaning of the Buddha’s actual words in their entirety, not omitting even a single word or syllable. The Lam Rim Lineage was given to Gampopa and places reliance on Atisha’s Light on the Path to Enlightenment, The Guideline Instruction Lineage and Shantideva’s A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, that Atisha had travelled to an island near Java in order to receive.”

Robert AF Thurman from Life & Teachings of Tsongkhapa

 

To watch the full video recording of this & other Force For Good Teachings at Tibet House US please consider becoming a member. All past teachings from this on-going course are available as apart of the Tibet House US Member Archives. Full Access begins at $2 a month.

To learn more about the benefits of Tibet House US Memberships please visit: www.tibethouse.us.

‘A Force For Good’ is a Tibet House US course to further the Dalai Lama’s contemporary world initiatives, from His Holiness’ American Institute of Buddhist Studiesand Mind & Life Institute science dialogues (Universe in a Single Atom) and His creation of Abhidharma 2.0 through the “Science for Monks” programs, his “secular ethics” (Ethics for the New Millennium and Beyond Religion), His nonviolent approach to conflict resolution, including His Nobel Peace Laureate activities to seek dialogue and a win-win reconciliation with China in the face of the ongoing ethnicidal policies in Tibet (Freedom in Exile and Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of Tibet’s Dalai Lama) & along with his emphasis on positive activism (A New Reality: Charter of Universal Responsibility).

This on-going series was inspired by Daniel Goleman’s ‘A Force For Good: The Dalai Lama’s Vision for Our World‘.

To learn more about this year’s Force For Good Series please click the image above or visit: www.tibethouse.us.

The song ‘Dancing Ling’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

This podcast is apart of the ‘Buddhism 101’ Series using classic teachings from Robert Thurman to elucidate basic concepts of the tradition.