Living in the Path Online
Practice Instructions: The Seven-Limb Prayer

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

The Seven-Limb Prayer, the basis of many practice texts, is a powerful method to accumulate merit and purify negativities. In this module of Living in the Path, Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches the benefits of each of the seven limbs and how to practice them in the most effective way.

The Seven-Limb Prayer

I prostrate reverently with my body, speech, and mind.
I present clouds of every type of offering, both actually arranged and mentally emanated.
I confess all my negative actions and downfalls collected from beginningless time.
I rejoice in the virtues of ordinary beings and aryas.
Please remain until the end of cyclic existence,
And turn the wheel of Dharma for transmigratory beings.

Course Materials

The course materials consist of 64 pages of lightly edited transcripts of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s teachings drawn from the Light of the Path Retreat 2010 held in North Carolina, USA. Additional teachings are extracted from a letter of advice to a student from Lama Zopa Rinpoche dictated in March 2012, Dharamsala, India. The module is introduced in a video featuring Ven. Chantal Tenzin Dekyi.

Chapters:

1. The Limb of Prostration
2. The Limb of Offering
3. The Limb of Confession
4. The Limb of Rejoicing
5. The Limb of Requesting the Guru to Remain
6. The Limb of Requesting the Guru to Turn the Wheel of Dharma
7. The Limb of Dedication

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

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.