Living in the Path Online
Realizing the Lamrim, Nature of Samsara: Abandon Stretching the Legs

Overview

Living in the Path is an online program taught exclusively by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the spiritual director of the FPMT. Many of the modules are extracted from Rinpoche’s explanations of the topics of the lamrim – the teachings on the stages of the path to enlightenment according to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa (Gelug). Other modules cover specific practices intended to help us purify our negative karma and create the merit necessary to actualize the lamrim topics.

Prerequisites

Living in the Path is ideal for anyone who wishes to deepen their personal practice and develop the realizations of the path to enlightenment by relying on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s heart advice and teachings. However, as Rinpoche’s teachings often assume familiarity with the topics of the lamrim, it is advisable to have done some prior study of the lamrim, such as by having completed some or all of the modules of Discovering Buddhism.

Course Contents

In this module of Living in the Path, Lama Zopa Rinpoche comments on the four-line verse:

Abandon stretching the legs.
Give up entering samsara.
Vajrasattva, the great king,
Urges again and again.

(From a commentary to the Heruka Body Mandala practice)

In brief, Rinpoche explains how to give up being lazy and thereby "Abandon stretching the legs," how to understand the nature of samsara and samsaric pleasures and thereby "Give up entering samsara," and how to generate bodhichitta and strive to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible, thereby doing as "Vajrasattva, the great king, urges again and again."

Course Materials

The course materials consist of 28 pages of lightly edited transcripts accompanied by a short video excerpt of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings drawn from the Light of the Path Retreat 2009 held in North Carolina, USA. This module is introduced in a video featuring Emily Hsu.

Chapters:

Introduction
1. Give Up Being Lazy
2. Understand the Nature of Samsara
3. Generate a Bodhichitta Motivation
4. Verses to Complete the Bodhichitta Motivation

To help deepen your personal understanding and experience of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings, they are supplemented with:

• points for reflection at the beginning of each chapter
• guidelines for meditation at the end of each chapter
• mindfulness practices for keeping the teachings present throughout the day
• a service practice to benefit others

A “Certificate of Achievement” is granted upon the successful completion of all the course requirements regarding study, meditation, and practice.

Important information about your order of online materials: Following your order, you will receive an email with a link to a webpage to download a PDF document which will contain the enrollment key for the course and instructions on how to access the course on the FPMT Online Learning Center.