Review of the perfection of meditative stabilization
88 Middle-Length Lamrim
Venerable Tenzin Tsepal 
Stages of the Path 
Oct 16, 2025 Part of a series of weekly teachings on Lama Tsongkhapa's Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment.
Refer to the slides for the teaching.
- Meditation on the seven points of cause and effect for developing bodhicitta
- Terms for meditative stabilization
- What is meditative stabilization?
- The benefits of developing meditative stabilization
- The nature of meditative stabilization
- The orientation of meditative stabilization
- The functions of meditative stabilization
- The eleven activities of meditative stabilization that benefit sentient beings
- How all six perfections are practiced with the perfection of meditative stability
- Questions and comments
Venerable Tenzin Tsepal
Venerable Tenzin Tsepal was first introduced to meditation in high school in the 1970s. While working as a dental hygienist in Seattle and hospital administration in Yakima, she practiced and attended retreats in the Vipassana tradition. In 1995, she found Dharma Friendship Foundation and teachings with Venerable Thubten Chodron. She attended the Life As A Western Buddhist Nun conference in India as a lay volunteer in 1996. Following a life-changing 3-month Vajrasattva retreat in 1998, Ven. Tsepal lived in Dharmsala, India for two years where she further explored the idea of monastic life. She received novice ordination as a Buddhist nun with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in March of 2001. After ordination, she was immersed in the full-time residential Buddhist Studies Program at Chenrezig Institute in Queensland, Australia, principally with Khensur Rinpoche and Geshe Tashi Tsering. As a qualified FPMT teacher, Ven. Tsepal was appointed the Western Teacher at Chenrezig Institute from 2004 to 2014, teaching the Discovering Buddhism series, tutoring for the general program and leading retreats. In 2015, she tutored three subjects for the FPMT Basic Program. Venerable Tsepal arrived at Sravasti Abbey in mid-January for the 2016 Winter Retreat. She joined the community in September 2016, and received Shiksamana training that October.
