This is the fourth volume in a new series presenting previously unpublished teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche's teachings given during the 24th Kopan lam-rim course in 1991. In this ebook, Rinpoche emphasizes the benefits of renouncing the self-cherishing mind and cherishing other sentient beings. Rinpoche concludes the Kopan course with advice to students on how to practice Dharma in the West, and lastly, he offers refuge and a teaching on the benefits of taking vows. This series consists of four volumes of lightly edited transcripts that we hope will convey the feeling of being in Nepal for the one-month Kopan course. The first volume is titled Practicing the Unmistaken Path, the second volume is Creating the Causes of Happiness and the third volume is Cutting the Root of Samsara. This book is made possible by kind supporters of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive who, like you, appreciate how we make these teachings available in so many ways, including in our website for instant reading, listening or downloading, and as printed and electronic books. Our website offers immediate access to thousands of pages of teachings and hundreds of audio recordings by some of the greatest lamas of our time. Our photo gallery and our ever-popular books are also freely accessible there. Please help us increase our efforts to spread the Dharma for the happiness and benefit of all beings. You can find out more about becoming a supporter of the Archive and see all we have to offer by visiting our website. Thank you so much, and please enjoy this e-book.

What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?By popular demand, the author of Sacred Marriage returns to the topic of how God uses marriage to expand our souls and make us holy. With all new material, Devotions for a Sacred Marriage explores how God can reveal himself to you through your marriage and help you grow closer to him as well as to your spouse.Fifty-two devotions encourage you to build your marriage around God’s priorities. From learning to live with a fellow sinner, to the process of two becoming one, to sharing our lives as brothers and sisters in Christ, Devotions for a Sacred Marriage challenges couples to embrace the profound and soul-stretching reality of Christian marriage.

Tessa has collected all her treasures in an old shoe box, but she soon learns that the most important and lasting treasures are often overlooked.

"Shantideva pointed out that everything good--every form of happiness, all positive qualities and so forth--comes through the kindness of others. Therefore, the mind devoted to their welfare is like a wish-fulfilling jewel, the source of all happiness and everything good and useful in the world. Just as a farmer who possesses an extremely fertile field, where everything he plants always grows, is very happy to have it and cherishes and takes great care of it, we should feel the same way about other sentient beings--that they are extremely valuable, and cherish and take care of them. "It is interesting that, whether we are Buddhist or not, if we think about the great kindness of all beings it will be evident that all our happiness does indeed depend upon them." In this book, Khensur Rinpoche Geshe Jampa Tegchok explains how we can train our mind away from self-cherishing, the cause of all suffering, and develop compassion, the cause of everything that is good. He bases his explanation on Kadampa Geshe Chekawa’s classic text, The Seven Point Mind Training, which, amongst other things, teaches us how to transform problems into happiness. This book is made possible by kind supporters of the Archive who, like you, appreciate how we make these teachings freely available in so many ways, including in our website for instant reading, listening or downloading, and as printed and electronic books. Our website offers immediate access to thousands of pages of teachings and hundreds of audio recordings by some of the greatest lamas of our time. Our photo gallery and our ever-popular books are also freely accessible there. Please help us increase our efforts to spread the Dharma for the happiness and benefit of all beings. You can find out more about becoming a supporter of the Archive and see all we have to offer by visiting our website. Thank you so much, and please enjoy this book.

This inspiring book explains how to meditate on eight beautiful verses that comprise one of Buddhism’s best-loved teachings, Eight Verses of Training the Mind. Composed by the great Tibetan Bodhisattva, Geshe Langri Tangpa, this short poem shows how we can transform all life’s difficulties into valuable spiritual insights. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso reveals practical ways in which we can use this timeless wisdom to find meaning and lasting happiness in our busy modern lives.

In a commentary on the Buddhist poem "Training the mind in seven points," a Tibetan Buddhist teacher presents a series of methods for developing unconditional love and compassion.

Lamrim Year is an essential guide for meditators who want to develop their mind in the graduated path to enlightenment. This unique study program provides a 365-day outline of the graduated path in a clear, practical format that is suitable for both individual and group practice. The daily quote and text have been selected from four decades of teachings by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, both published and unpublished, and offer a taste of their teaching style and scope. Each day's teaching concludes with a recap summarizing the main points for reflection. The interdependent elements of Lamrim Year are designed to support meditators of various capabilities in establishing and maintaining regular lamrim study and practice until stable realizations are achieved. The text closely follows the lamrim outline in the renowned book, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, by Pabongka Rinpoche.

Deepen your meditation by diving into the practices of the lamrim—the stages of the path to enlightenment. Buddhist tradition tells us that enlightenment is possible for each and every one of us. It’s actually the best thing we can do for others and for the world, but also the best thing we can do for ourselves, because it means being free from all misery, pain, depression, dissatisfaction, and negative emotions, and abiding forever in peace, joy, love, and compassion. What could be more wonderful than that? Kathleen McDonald (Sangye Khadro), a Western nun with decades of experience and author of the bestselling book How to Meditate, guides us through the next step in our meditation practice: the transformative meditations on the Tibetan lamrim stages to enlightenment. She helps us see that the whole purpose of meditation is to transform our mind in a constructive way. For this to happen, we need to become so thoroughly familiar with the lamrim topics that they become our natural way of thinking and living our life. This warm and encouraging guide takes us through meditations on these lamrim topics, such as: - impermanence - refuge - karma - the four noble truths - bodhichitta - the six perfections: giving, ethics, patience, joyous effort, concentration, and wisdom How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path offers practical advice, support, and step-by-step guidance on how to meditate on the stages of the path to enlightenment that will transform the practice of new meditators and seasoned practitioners alike.

The first complete English translation of renowned scholar-saint Tsongkhapa's Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path. Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), the author of the well-known Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment and the teacher of the First Dalai Lama, is renowned as one of the greatest scholar-saints that Tibet has ever produced. A dozen years after writing the Great Treatise, he wrote the Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path, presented here in its first complete English translation. Half the length of the well-known Great Treatise, this work similarly presents a systematic overview of the Buddhist path. Tsongkhapa begins by abridging the longer work, distilling its explanations for quicker integration. He presents a series of meditations, beginning with recognizing the rarity of our human existence and the great opportunities it affords, followed by reflections on impermanence, suffering, and the promise of liberation from our past actions, until proceeding to the path of bodhisattvas, whose universal compassion seeks to free every being from suffering. Tsongkhapa gives especially detailed instructions on samatha, the deep meditative concentration that is a precondition for the highest insight into the nature of reality. The final and largest section, on that very insight, is unique to this work, particularly Tsongkhapa’s presentation of conventional truth and ultimate truth. Those new to Tibetan Buddhist teachings will benefit from the approachable style of this classic handbook for enlightenment, and beginners and longtime practitioners alike will cherish the clear guidance from one of Tibet’s great luminaries.

In the early eleventh century the Indian Buddhist master Atisha condensed essential points from the sutras and ordered them into the text Lamp of the Path. These were then expanded upon in the fourteenth century by the Tibetan Buddhist master Lama Tsongkhapa into the text The Great Exposition on the Gradual Path to Enlightenment (Lamrim Chenmo). Venerable Thubten Chodron taught on this text over several years at Dharma Friendship Foundation, and related these practical teachings to our daily lives. These ebooks are lightly-edited transcripts of those teachings. They have been organized and formatted by Lai Wee Chiang. This fourth volume contains teachings on: - Training the Mind in the Stages of the Path for an Advanced Level Practitioner - Seven Points of Cause and Effect - Equalizing and Exchanging Self and Others - The Bodhisatta Vows - Introduction to the Six Far-Reaching Attitudes - Generosity - Ethics - Patience - Joyous Effort - Meditative Stabilization and Special Insight - Training in Calm Abiding - Wisdom - Ripening the Minds of Others - The Eightfold Noble Path