Class canceled for this evening

Weekly on Fridays, ongoing
July 18, 2025 – September 5, 2025 (Zoom Only)

We’ve all heard Geshe Sherab and our other revered teachers mention how fundamental the study and practice of the Lamrim—the step by step guide on the path to enlightenment—is for Buddhist practice. The Lamrim is the synthesis of all of the teachings of the Buddha. It is the basis on which we can remove all our delusions not just in this life, but forever. Furthermore, to succeed in tantra, one must have gained some Lamrim realizations.
As Lama Zopa used to say, there can’t be a more worthwhile effort.

What if together we made a real effort to gain actual realizations of the Lamrim path? This is not the same as what we all have done in the past: read and acquire intellectual knowledge. We have lots of information in our head, but not that much has entered our hearts.

This series is specifically aimed towards developing realizations—unshakeable conviction of the validity of the path and internalizing the pith instructions. In the process it will lessen our attachment, anger and other negative emotions and increase our virtuous attributes.

Effort
The Lamrim topics are set forth and are designed to be followed in a particular sequence. The topics build on each other and reinforce each other; it’s hard to gain realizations on one without having done so on the ones before.
Therefore, to make real progress, effort and consistency are prerequisites.

In this series, each topic—guru devotion, precious human rebirth and so on until wisdom—will be considered in a four- to six-week module.

You don’t have to attend every module (of course, that’s ideal). However, within each module it’s important that participants make a sincere effort to attend the entirety of each module and contemplate and meditate every day in their private practice. It shouldn’t take more than forty-five minutes or so.

Structure

We will cover one main topic in each module as mentioned above. Each module will last four to six weeks and there will be a 1.5 hour session (online and/or in-person preferably in-person, but online sessions are provided for those who can’t make it in-person) per week. Each session will be a combination of meditation and discussion (taking roughly equal amounts of time). The meditation and discussion will be on a particular point or points in the topic. The goal of each session is to clarify the points necessary to perform the meditations in private practice.
Private practice during the week will be a combination of reading, contemplation and meditation. The focus will be on those points alone that were covered in that week’s session. For meditation, we will use the text and the meditation during the session as guides.

On the last session of a module, each of us can lead a short meditation on the points covered in the topic (if one feels comfortable doing this.) Leading meditations is a really great way to learn how to meditate and find out whether it’s being effective.

Materials

We will use the following book:
Yangsi Rinpoche. Practicing the Path. Wisdom Publications, 2003.
You can find this book here.

We will also use this Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga.

Open door, open heart. Donations are always optional.