DISCOVERING BUDDHISM: Establishing a Daily Practice

Assemble the tools you need to develop a successful daily practice. Become familiar with all the elements necessary to generate realisations in the mind, and the practice to bless our speech for daily life. Also, receive some tips for making every action of the day meaningful, no matter how menial it seems!

This unit shows the rituals and meditations we need to practice in order to become enlightened. It also has essential advice on how avoid practicing for worldly reasons, how to ensure we have success in our practice, and how to make the entire meaningful, even if we have very little time for meditation.

We also have an introduction to Rinpoche’s extensive daily visualisation sadhana practice on Shakyamuni Buddha. It incorporates all the aspects of the Lam Rim, with the experiential aspect of visualisation of the Buddha to integrate it deep into our psyche.

UNIT 7: Establishing a Daily Practice
We are half way through the 13 units, but you are most welcome to join the course at any time. Discovering Buddhism is the core program of LTC, and usually takes about three years to complete. Come along for a couple of classes and see how the course suits you. More details here.

Topics include:
– How to sleep, wake up, get dressed, eat etc
– Short Lam Rim practice to direct your day
– How to bless one’s speech (so important if we work with others or have family!)
– Preliminaries of cleaning, setting up an altar, refuge, mandala offerings
– How to make the four immeasurable attitudes of love, compassion, joyfulness and equanimity heartfelt and powerful
– How to do prostrations (even if you cannot do them physically)
– All about the 8 Mahayana vows and how to live in the precepts
– Daily purification incorporating the Four Opponent Powers
– Importance of accumulating merit and rejoicing for success in one’s spiritual life

Presented by:

“Practice with the bodhisattva attitude every day. People can’t see your mind; what people see is a manifestation of your attitude in your actions of body and speech. So pay attention to your attitude all the time. Guard it as if you are the police, or like a parent cares for a child, like a bodyguard, or as if you are the guru and your mind is your disciple.“

Lama Zopa Rinpoche