How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path

About the book

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?

In How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path, Venerable Sangye Khadro 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 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.

Contents

Included are meditations on lamrim topics, such as:

• impermanence
• refuge
• karma
• the four noble truths
• bodhichitta
• the six perfections: giving, ethics, patience, joyous effort, concentration, and wisdom

Overview and origin of the book

Reviews

At a time when meditation is sold in the marketplace for dubious aims, Venerable Sangye Khadro’s “How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path” is a much-needed roadmap on how to meditate on the all the main topics—from precious human life to great compassion and the altruistic intention—on the path to liberation and full awakening. Beginners to Buddhist meditation will find this book a friendly guide written in plain English with helpful examples drawn from contemporary life. Advanced students will likewise appreciate this thorough review of all the stages of the path and the inclusion of appendices that bring in details for deeper meditation. Whether you are starting your exploration of Buddhism or planning to do a long retreat on the stages of the path to awakening, this is a book to keep on your meditation table: it will steer you toward actualizing your buddha potential!

— Bhikṣuṇī Thubten Chodron, Dharma teacher, author, and abbess of Sravasti Abbey

Sangye Khadro has done it again. The translator and teacher who gave us inspiring and engaging guidance about Tibetan meditations in general in her first book, “How to Meditate,” now focuses her well-honed skills on showing us precisely how to meditate on the multiple topics of the “Stages of the Path” (lamrim) teachings. Using the three-fold model of gaining insight—via learning, reflection/contemplation, and meditation—together with the three-fold levels of practitioner-capacities—initial, intermediate, and advanced—Khadro masterfully lays out how we each might meditate, systematically, on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment.

— Jan Willis, PhD, Author of "Dreaming Me: Black, Baptist, and Buddhist" and "Dharma Matters: Women, Race, and Tantra"