His Eminence Kyabje Khenzur Rinpoche, Venerable Lobsang Delek Palzangpo, graciously accepted the earnest request from the New York Sera Jey Center for Buddhist Studies to attend this year’s Saga Dawa Mahaguru Bhumtsok Offering. For three days, he will bestow teachings on the “Yönten Zhikgyurma” from the “Jinglab Spungzhü,” a renowned preliminary guidance on the common path. Additionally, for two days, he will confer the empowerment of the Avalokiteshvara Gyalwa Gyatso, the deity to whom we are particularly devoted, a swift path that allows one to attain the state of Vajradhara, the union of bliss and emptiness, within a single short lifetime of this degenerate age. We cordially invite all those who wish to partake in this sacred nectar of Dharma to seize this opportunity and join us.

The Foundation of All Good Qualities By Lama Tsongkhapa

Yön tän zhir gyur ma

In the 11th century, Tibet was blessed by the arrival of the Indian Buddhist master Lama Atisha. Motivated to present an organized summary of the sutra teachings, Atisha composed a short text entitled, The Lamp of the Path. Three hundred years later, Lama Tsongkhapa expanded upon this text with his opus The Great Exposition on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lamrim Chenmo). The often referred to “Lam-Rim teachings” are taken from this seminal text. The teachings are presented in three scopes according to the  capacities of varying practitioners — small, medium, and great — which organize practices and meditations on the path into gradual stages.

Lama Tsongkhapa’s famous prayer, The Foundation of All Good Qualities, is the most concise and stirring outline available of the Lam-Rim teachings. In only fourteen stanzas, Tsongkhapa offers us a prayer that covers the entire graduated path to enlightenment, short enough to recite every day, profound enough to study for a lifetime.