Discovering Buddhism Material

Discovering Buddhism Materials

The Wish-fulfilling Golden Sun of the Mahayana Thought Training

  • The Wish-fulfilling Golden Sun of the Mahayana Thought Training by Thubten Zopa – Part 1
  • The Wish-fulfilling Golden Sun of the Mahayana Thought Training by Thubten Zopa – Part 2
  • The Wish-fulfilling Golden Sun of the Mahayana Thought Training by Thubten Zopa – Part 3
  • The Wish-fulfilling Golden Sun of the Mahayana Thought Training by Thubten Zopa – Part 4

Introduction to Tantra

Sept 7 - Oct 1 with Don Brown

About this Module handout

To listen to the Vajrasattva mantra, click this link and then click on the mp3 link

Transforming Problems

July 9 - Aug 13 with Stephanie (Steep) Smith

About this Module handout

Completion Card

The Wisdom of Emptiness

May 7 - June 18 with Hemant Pandya

Video for Jun 4 - start at 33:43

How to Develop Bodhichitta

March 5 - April 23, 2018 with Don Brown

Homework 1 handout and link to How to Generate Bodhichitta by Ribur Rinpoche

Lam Rim prayer Three Principle Aspects translated by Lama Zopa Rinpoche (different translation by Thupten Jinpa)

Equanimity Meditation

Homework 2    Homework 3    Homework 4     Bodhichitta Twelve Steps Combined Practice

Samsara and Nirvana

January 8 - February 5, 2018 with Stephanie Smith

The Twelve Links of Dependent Arising by Geshe Tashi Tsering

Click here for the interactive Wheel of Life

Establishing a Daily Practice

November 6 - December 18 with Hemant Pandya

Link the reading for Making Life Meaningful by Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Link to the FPMT store where you can purchase a CD or mp3 download of Daily Prayers, including 35 Buddhas

Death and Rebirth

September 25 - October 23 with Robbie Watkins

Homework:     

  • Homework 1     Homework 2     Homework 3
  • Homework 4 - Finish readings, Get familiar with the Death Dissolution Meditation, Meditate 5 times focused on death dissolution

Meditations:    

 

The Spiritual Teacher

July 2017 with Don Brown

Other reading: Relating to a Spiritual Teacher: Building a Healthy Relationship by Alexander Berzin

Refuge in the Three Jewels

May 2017 - June 2017 with Shanka Mitra

Test

All About Karma

March 2017 - April 2017 with Stephanie Smith

Meditation Assignments:

  • Week 1 - Meditation on the Disadvantages of Nonvirtuous Action (Refer to hour 1 minute 20 of this video for instruction)
  • Week 2 - For a few days, meditate on how you ended up at the Kadampa Center for the first time. What are all the interdependent, related reasons? For a few days, do a review meditation on the ten non-virtues and the ten virtues.
  • Week 3 - Repeat the previous meditations.
  • Week 4 - Meditation on a place you know well, one that has changed over time and focus on present, past, and future. (Refer to minute 11 of this video for instruction). How does this relate to karma?

Other Assignments and Resources:

  • Think about how karma is dynamic. Play around with that and see if you can experience something in your life where you have a different experience because of how you are thinking differently, especially in a situation that tends to test your peace of mind. Practice entering the situation with a different mindset.
  • When you are in a store, make a mental offering of all the food -- to family, to people who never see anything like this, and also to all the enlightening beings. (The wish you have creates karma.)
  • Think about something to bring for the altar for the practice day such as a flower, fruit, or candle.
  • Think about tools to use in different situations. In a specific instance, is it more helpful to think about equanimity, karma, purification, compassion, emptiness etc.

Reading Assignments

  • Week 1 - start Karma Readings, and complete at least the first article
  • Week 2 - Continue the readings from Week 1. Next week in class we will discuss the book for this module -- The Wheel of Life: or The Meaning of Life: Buddhist Perspectives of Cause and Effect by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (note that the title changed between editions, but the subtitle is the same)
  • Week 3 - Continue readings. Other required reading for this module: Wish-fulfilling Golden Sun (pp. 76-83) and Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, 1997 gold edition (pp. 430-70) or 2006 blue edition (pp. 386-423)

Presenting the Path

January 2017 - February 2017 with Don Brown

Meditation Assignments:

  • Week 1 - Read "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path" followed by General Meditation
  • Week 2 -  Read "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path" followed by Meditation on Renunciation
  • Week 3 -  Read "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path" followed by Meditation on Renunciation (Try reading part of the prayer, meditating on the sections on Renunciation, then completing the prayer)
  • Week 4 - Read "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path" followed by Meditation on Bodhicitta

Reading Assignments:

  • Presenting the Path – Readings
  • "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path" in Essence of Tibetan Buddhism by Lama Thubten Yeshe available as a pdf on the FPMT website

Presenting the Path Prayers - The Foundation of All Good Qualities and The Three Principles of the Path

How to Meditate

Nov 2016 - Dec 2016 with Shankha Mitra

Completion Card (with FPMT requirements)

The Mind and its Potential

Sept 2016 - October 2016 with Robbie Watkins

Completion Card (with FPMT requirements)