Discovering Buddhism in the Daytime with Jon Landaw
To meet Jon and learn more about the Discovering Buddhism program, please attend the Open House on Sept. 26 at 10:30am: Discovering Buddhism Open House with Jon Landaw
This is Discovering Buddhism (DB) for people who prefer to take classes during the day. We hope this weekday morning time slot will work for parents, seniors, self-employed and people with flexible schedule.
Discovering Buddhism module 3 is a general overview of the Lam Rim – stages of the path to enlightenment. This system of clarifying the teachings of the Buddha and how to practice was taught to the Tibetan people by the famous Indian Buddhist master, Guru Atisha Dipamkara Shri Jnana around 1000 years ago. Based on Master Atisha’s seminal work, A Lamp for the Path, many later books and poems were composed in Tibet, by masters such as Gampopa and Tsongkhapa, all the way up to modern times.
The Lam Rim gives us a road map for our study and practice – a way to make sense of all the volumes of Buddhist scriptures and commentary. When we understand the Lam Rim, we understand how all the Buddha’s teachings fit together as a practice for an individual person, i.e., ourselves.
Topics covered:
- The goal: enlightenment, i.e., buddhahood
- structure of the lam-rim, stages of the path
- lam-rim literature and outlines
- Three Principal Paths:
1. deciding to get out of suffering
2. developing the compassionate courage of a bodhisattva
3. understanding the nature of reality - How to meditate on the lam-rim
Each module includes an experiential element in the form of a Saturday practice day or a weekend retreat. This is required in order to get your completion certificate for the course.
See more about the whole Discovering Buddhism program at Land of Medicine Buddha, here.
About the Instructor
Jon Landaw, the author of Buddhism for Dummies, was born in New Jersey in 1944 and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1965. After spending three years in the Peace Corps in Iran, Jon worked as an English editor for the Translation Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India from 1972 to 1977, producing numerous texts under the guidance of Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey.
As a student of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche since 1973, Jon has edited numerous works for Wisdom Publications, including Wisdom 
Energy and Introduction to Tantra. He is also the author of Prince Siddhartha, a biography of Buddha for children, and Images of Enlightenment: Tibetan Art in Practice, published by Snow Lion in 1993. As an instructor of Buddhist meditation, he has taught in numerous Dharma centers throughout the United States, Mexico, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere. He currently lives with his wife in Capitola, California.
| Date(s): | 6 Consecutive Thursdays at 10:30am-12:15pm. Oct. 3 thru Nov. 7 |
| Times: | 10:30 am - 12:15 pm |
| Instructor/Leader: | Jon Landaw |
| Type of event: | |
| Number of sessions: | 6 |
| Level: | Introductory |
| Participation: | |
| Location: | Main Gompa |
| iCal Link: | iCal |
| Add to Google Calendar: |  |
Registration and Donations for Discovering Buddhism 3: Presenting the Path
Online registration is now closed for this event.