Drepung Loseling Monastery, Inc.
an affiliate of Emory University, presents
The Lamrim Series - Part II
Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
 
July 27 - December 7, 2024
10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Fourth Saturdays
 
Taught by
Geshe Ngawang Phende
 
The Lamrim system is a practical, step-by-step presentation of the entire stages of the path to enlightenment, starting from the very beginning of an individual’s spiritual development, and leading progressively to the state of Buddhahood. As such, it is a system that is practice, rather than theory-oriented.
 

This is done so according to the three capacities of beings: lower, middling and highest. These capacities represent the individual proclivities and faculties of beings, according to the level of their spiritual development.

 
The path of the being of lowest capacity leads beings to safety from the fears of the lower realms, while the path of beings of middling capacity leads beings to safety from the fears of cyclic existence. Finally, the path of beings of highest capacity leads to the states whereby all suffering and the two obscurations – afflictive and cognitive – are completely exhausted.
 
The stages of the path system has four excellent features, namely:
 
1)
   The excellence of establishing all the of the teachings as non-contradictory: allowing beings to realize that all of the Buddha’s teachings, without exception, are paths that lead individuals to the state of enlightenment.
     
2)
   The excellence of taking all the teachings as a personal or pith instruction: allowing beings to understand all of the Buddha’s teachings as being personal instructions for bringing an end to one’s own mental afflictions.
     
3)
   The excellence of making the thought of the victors easy to comprehend: allowing beings to immediately understand the very essence of the teachings with ease.
     
4)
   The excellence of causing negative behaviors to naturally decline: causing the negative emotions as well as the harmful behaviors they motivate to be put an end to with ease. Part one of the series will focus on the commonly shared paths of the beings of lowest and middling capacity, while part two will focus on the uncommon stages of the path of the being of highest capacity.
 
Part one of the series focuses on the commonly shared paths of the beings of lowest and middling capacity, while part two will focus on the uncommon stages of the path of the being of highest capacity.
 
Part Two:
Training the Mind According to the Path of the Being of Highest Capacity
 
Class # 6 
July 27 
  Generating the Mind of Enlightenment by Means of the Sevenfold Quintessential Instructions of Cause and Effect
The manner of giving rise to the mind of enlightenment by means of the seven-point cause and effect precepts belonging to the lineage derived from Maitreya and transmitted to Lord Atisha.
     
August 24 
   *Class #7 moved to September 28.
     
Class # 7 
September 28 
   Generating the Mind of Enlightenment by Means of Equalizing and Exchanging Self and Others through the Tradition of Mind Training
 The manner of giving rise to the mind of enlightenment by means of exchanging oneself and others and the mind training practice of giving and taking (Tonglen) derived from the lineage of Nargarjuna transmitted through Lord Atisha.
     
Class # 8 
October 26 
   The Ritual for Adopting the Mind of Enlightenment and, the Manner of Training in the Practices of a Bodhisattva, the Six Perfections
 The preparatory practices, actual session and concluding practices of the ritual for generating the mind of enlightenment. Having attained it, the manner of protecting this mind from degenerating and the manner of training in the practices that ripen one's continuum, the six perfections.
     
Class # 9 
November 23 
   The Manner of Training in the Four Ways to Gather Disciples, and the Manner of Training in Calm Abiding, which has the Nature of Meditative Concentration
The manner of training in the four means of gathering disciples, which ripens the continuum of others. Also, the manner of meditating on calm abiding: the causes of calm abiding - the nine levels of concentration; the five faults of mental laxity and mental excitement; the antidote to these, the eights types of application.
     
Class # 10 
December 7 
   The Manner of Training in Special Insight, which has the Nature of Wisdom
The root of suffering, self-grasping and how one must realize emptiness as its antidote; identifying the object of refutation and the logical arguments which negate it.
 
     
  Geshe Ngawang Phende was born in Nepal in 1968. As a young boy he entered Drubthob Rinpoche’s monastery in Nepal where he received his initial monastic training. He joined Drepung Loseling Monastery, south India in 1982 at the age of 12, where he successfully completed his monastic education and passed the Geshe Lharampa examination in 2001. He then attended Guymey Monastery for further Tantric studies and stayed there for a year. Geshe Ngawang was the resident teacher at the Lam Rim Tibetan Buddhist Center in Johannesburg, South Africa for nearly four years. Twice he has been on the Mystical Arts of Tibet tour and at present is one of the resident teachers at DLM.
Tuition:
  

Part Two Series: $325 ($275 for DLM members)
     
 

A voluntary offering to the teacher is customary in the Buddhist tradition.
     
Location:
   On-Line via Zoom
Payment and registration deadline is four days before the event date.

To register click here
 
Recording Policy:
No recordings, audio or visual, without express permission from Drepung Loseling Monastery.
 
Cancellation Policy:
One-day events: If you withdraw before the day of the event, we will refund your fees, minus a $20 administrative charge. You must speak with a member of the administrative staff by 6pm. Leaving a message will not alter your registration. There will be no other refunds.
If you do not attend a session it is counted as a withdrawal and there will be no refunds or exchanges.
*When purchasing a series for either the Foundation or the Intermediate classes note that the series advantage gives you a lower rate and purchasing classes individually gives you flexibility. When purchasing these series the first class will count toward the one day cancellation policy. After the first class has begun for the purchase of the series there will be no other refunds or exchanges.

Multiple-day events: If you withdraw before the start of the retreat, course, or event, we will refund your fees, minus a 10% administrative charge. If you withdraw after the first retreat or teaching session, we will refund 75% of the fees. After the start of the second session there will be no refunds.