We're happy to now offer this online program on a generosity-based system. If you benefit from this, please remember that we depend on the generosity of students like you to support our publishing efforts. In addition to the opportunities for donations provided by the shop, please consider the FPMT Education Fund.

Following your order of this online course, you will receive an email with a link to a webpage to download a PDF document that contains the enrollment key for the course and instructions on how to access the course on the FPMT Online Learning Center.

Overview

Buddhism in a Nutshell is an FPMT introductory course that provides an overview of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and practice. It is suitable for people encountering Buddhism for the first time, as well as for people who have heard or read some Buddhist teachings but would like a more structured approach to understanding the path to enlightenment as taught by Shakyamuni Buddha. It consists of five sessions that cover topics including the life of Shakyamuni Buddha, the four noble truths, and the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment—renunciation, bodhichitta, and the right view of emptiness. The course also provides a brief presentation of meditation and five guided meditations suitable for beginners. The course book, Buddhism in a Nutshell: Essentials for Practice and Study, includes teachings by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Thubten Yeshe. The course is taught by Ven. Amy Miller, a senior American teacher of Tibetan Buddhism known for her accessible teaching style.

Course Structure

This program is presented as a series of five sessions. Each session consists of teachings by Ven. Amy Miller available in both MP3 and written formats, each approximately one and a half hours in length. Each of these sessions includes a short guided meditation, for a total of five guided meditations. Ven. Amy’s teachings are complemented by and elaborated upon by the teachings of Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Ven. Amy herself found in the book Buddhism in a Nutshell: Essentials for Practice and Study. The book also includes short meditation instructions to encourage meditation on the various topics covered in the book. Each session of teachings concludes with some points for reflection that are intended to encourage a personal reflection and analysis of the topics taught.

Course Topics

The five sessions of the course cover the following topics:

Session 1: The Buddha and His Teachings

Teachings on:

• Shakyamuni Buddha’s life and the experiences that led to his enlightenment
• How the Buddha’s life exemplifies the search for the answers to life’s big questions
• An explanation of the Buddha's teachings from the point of view of different ways of categorizing them
• The Buddha’s first teaching on the four noble truths
• Meditation in the Buddhist tradition
• The seven-point meditation posture

A guided meditation on:

• Scanning the body

Readings and meditations from Buddhism in a Nutshell: Essentials for Practice and Study
Points for reflection

Session 2: The Buddha's Path to Enlightenment

Teachings on:

• The nature of mind or consciousness in Buddhism
• The continuity of mind from moment to moment and from life to life
• What it means to be a Buddhist (accepting the four seals, living in precepts, and practicing the eightfold path)
• Why the Buddha taught suffering first among the four noble truths
• The different types of suffering and the causes of suffering
• How to put an end to suffering

A guided meditation on:

• Counting the breaths

Readings and meditations from Buddhism in a Nutshell: Essentials for Practice and Study
Points for reflection

Session 3: The Practices of Lower Scope

Teachings on:

• The three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment: renunciation, bodhichitta, and the right view of emptiness
• The three scopes or motivations of the three types of practitioners
• The four features or qualities of the lamrim teachings
• The need to find and devote oneself to a qualified guru
• The precious opportunity for spiritual practice provided by a perfect human rebirth
• The need to contemplate the reality of death in order to not waste our life and how to contemplate it
• A Buddhist is someone who seeks help, or takes refuge, in the Three Jewels—the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha
• What karma is and how it functions
• The four characteristics of karma
• The four components of a fully complete action
• The ten non virtuous actions and the ten virtuous actions

A guided meditation on:

• The clarity of consciousness

Readings and meditations from Buddhism in a Nutshell: Essentials for Practice and Study
Points for reflection

Session 4: The Practices of Renunciation and Bodhichitta

Teachings on:

• Renunciation means renouncing our delusions, especially our attachment to samsaric pleasures
• Living life in renunciation by keeping vows, practicing the three higher trainings, and countering delusion
• The bodhichitta attitude of cherishing others more than ourselves
• Cultivating the equanimity that is the basis for developing bodhichitta
• The method of the six causes and one effect for developing bodhichitta
• The method of equalizing and exchanging oneself and others for developing bodhichitta
• Living life in bodhichitta by keeping the bodhisattva vows, practicing the six perfections, and engaging in training the mind

A guided meditation on:

• The mind as knower

Readings and meditations from Buddhism in a Nutshell: Essentials for Practice and Study
Points for reflection

Session 5: The Practices of Calm Abiding, Special Insight, and Tantra

Teachings on:

• The six circumstances that are necessary to achieve perfect concentration or calm abiding
• The objects on which one can meditate to achieve calm abiding
• The six powers and the eight antidotes that lead to calm abiding
• Developing special insight—the wisdom realizing the nature of reality
• The way in which we and all phenomena appear to exist and how we actually exist
• How our mind creates our reality
• How to meditate on emptiness using the four-point analysis
• A brief introduction to the practice of tantra
• How to practice Dharma in daily life

A guided meditation on:

• A visualization of Shakyamuni Buddha

Readings and meditations from Buddhism in a Nutshell: Essentials for Practice and Study
Points for reflection

Course Materials

The course materials consist of the following resources:

• A detailed description of the course including an explanation of how to use the course materials and how to complete the course and qualify for a Certificate of Achievement
• Outlines of the topics and meditations covered in each session
• MP3 recordings of five sessions of teachings by Ven. Amy Miller, each totaling approximately one and a half in length but divided into smaller parts approximately 15–45 minutes in length
• MP3 recordings of five guided meditations led by Ven. Amy Miller
• Transcripts of all the teachings and guided meditations that can either be read online or downloaded as PDF files
• The course book Buddhism in Nutshell available to read online or to download in PDF format
• Supplementary materials that include summaries of the five guided meditations; an illustrated explanation of the seven-point meditation posture; a summary of the four noble truths; An Outline of the Path to Enlightenment by Nicholas Ribush; the short text Foundation of All Good Qualities by Lama Tsongkhapa, which Ven. Amy uses to explain the path to enlightenment; and a glossary of common Buddhist terms
• Points for reflection that give course participants the possibility of sharing their thoughts with the Buddhism in a Nutshell elder, an FPMT registered teacher, who will then provide feedback
• A discussion forum that provides an opportunity to discuss the topics with fellow participants
• An offline activity log and an online checklist for the Certificate of Achievement that course participants can use to keep track of the course components they have completed
• A final Certificate of Achievement for those who complete the required teachings, readings, meditations, and points for reflection

Course Readings

The required reading for this course is the book Buddhism in a Nutshell: Essentials for Practice and Study by Lama Thubten Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Ven. Amy Miller. This 246 page book comes with an MP3 disc containing eleven hours of teachings by Ven. Amy Miller. However, since these MP3 files are the same audio files that are provided with this online course, this book is made available with the course materials both online and in PDF format and only needs to be purchased separately if you prefer to have a hard copy.

Complementary Course

Buddhism in a Nutshell can be done either before or after the introductory course Buddhist Meditation 101, in which Buddhist meditation is explored in more detail. However, if you are new to both Buddhism and meditation it is recommended to begin with Buddhist Meditation 101 and then do Buddhism in a Nutshell.

Note: The entire course was revised in 2018 to provide the option of either reading and listening to it online or to download all the audio and text files and use them offline.