A Guided Meditation on the Steps of the Path (1998, Brisbane)

Steps to Enlightenment Course Series

In this 10-year training, which is currently underway, we will be learning the details of deep meditation and all the steps of spiritual practice, from baby-steps all the way to enlightenment, from one of the greatest teachings on meditation ever given: a book called A Gift of Liberation, Thrust into the Palms of Our Hands. This text was written by the Tibetan master Pabongka Rinpoche (1878-1941), who was the heart teacher of the heart teacher of His Holiness the present Dalai Lama. The teaching will be given by Geshe Michael Roach, who is the first American ever to receive the title of “Geshe” or “Master of Buddhism,” after more than 20 years of study in a Tibetan monastery. He has translated more than 10,000 pages of the ancient Tibetan books, and will be giving the teaching directly from the original, drawing from 35 years of meditation experience, three of them spent in a solitary, silent retreat.

Living Lam Rim: How Khen Rinpoche’s Life Reflected the Teaching on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (2005, Bowie, Geshe Michael Roach)

In November 2010 Geshe Michael will begin a new series of courses on the Lam Rim or Steps of the Path to Enlightenment. This got us thinking about another extraordinary teaching that Geshe Michael gave on the Lam Rim back in 2005 at Diamond Mountain University. This is a beautiful series of classes called Living Lam Rim which followed the passing of his Lama Seramey Khensur Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, in Dec. 2004. After spending many years at His teacher’s side, Geshe Michael teaches us the Steps of the Path to Enlightenment using beautiful examples and stories of how His own teacher’s life reflected these Lam Rim teachings. One of the greatest ways to learn these teachings is simply to observe the behavior of a great teacher who has received and mastered these teachings themselves.

Daily Practice Series Course 1: Mandala of the Steps to Enlightenment (1999, Redding, Geshe Michael Roach)

Each step along the spiritual path should be taken in its proper sequence to bring one to the end of the path. This meditation reviews the steps of the path and the order in which to move through those steps. We visualize the mandala of the Lam Rim, contemplating each and every step of the path, as we travel through the rooms of the mandala in the same order that one should progress through their spiritual practice. By visualizing the spiritual path as a mandala, and seeing ourselves journeying through the rooms of the mandala, we deeply internalize the stages of the path.