Living in the Path Online
Taking the Essence: Bodhichitta Mindfulness

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 shows us how to take the essence of our precious human life by transforming our normal daily activities – walking, washing, dressing, etc. – into a cause of enlightenment by doing them with a bodhichitta motivation to benefit all sentient beings.

The point of the daily activities that you are doing is to make them most beneficial for sentient beings, that is, a cause for enlightenment, a cause for yourself to attain omniscience so that you can liberate sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment.   (Lama Zopa Rinpoche)

Course Materials

The course materials consist of 24 pages of lightly edited transcripts accompanied by two video excerpts of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings drawn from the Light of the Path Retreat 2009 held in North Carolina, USA. The module is introduced in a video featuring Ven. Sarah Thresher.

 Practice Text:

Cultivating Mindfulness of Bodhichitta in Daily Activities

 Chapters:

1. Bodhichitta Brings Happiness
2. Bodhichitta Mindfulness in Daily Activities
3. Sleeping with Bodhichitta
4. Bathing with Bodhichitta
5. Eating with Bodhichitta
6. Tonglen Mindfulness

 Videos:

Video 1: “Bodhichitta Brings Happiness”
Video 2: “Sleeping With Bodhichitta”

Please download and print these beautiful bodhichitta mindfulness cards (designed by and courtesy of Sandy Carlson and Donna Seese, Kadampa Center).

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.