The Path to Auspiciousness—A Course on The Verses of the Eight Auspicious Noble Ones

Walker Blaine

Individual: $108
Patron: $149 The Patron rate helps us offer our generosity policy to those in need.

El curso está traducido al español, además de los subtítulos.

The Path to Auspiciousness is a pre-recorded course exploring the famous chant by Jamgön Mipham Gyatso (1846-1912), The Verses of the Eight Auspicious Noble Ones. This short liturgy, recommended for daily practice by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, is a method to help establish positive circumstances through relying on all the buddhas and bodhisattvas—particularly those associated with auspiciousness—to pacify obstacles and increase the beneficial outcomes of whatever we do. The chant can be done at the start of the day, and before beginning any spiritual or secular project or activity. The course includes remarks on how to approach a new chant, the nature of auspiciousness, feminine principle, and the symbolism and deities in the chant.

This offering from Shambhala Online is pre-recorded in short sections that can be viewed at your own pace. There is no pre-requisite for The Path to Auspiciousness and no assigned reading.

Course Topics:

  1. Welcome and Course Outline
  2. Helping Ourselves Get to Know a New Chant
  3. The Author of the Chant and the Chant in the Context of the Buddhist Path
  4. The Title: The Verses of the Eight Auspicious Noble Ones, Auspiciousness, Glory
  5. Structure of the Chant
  6. The First Syllable and the Three Jewels
  7. The Eight Sugatas
  8. The Eight Bodhisattvas
  9. Nonduality, Interdependence, and Imagery
  10. The Eight Auspicious Symbols
  11. The Eight Goddesses of Auspiciousness, the Feminine Bodhisattvas, Dakini Principle
  12. Eight Protectors of the World
  13. Conclusion, Practice Instructions, and Colophon

Teachers and Faculty

Walker Blaine has been part of the Shambhala community for more than 35 years, spending many of those years working, living, or on retreat at rural land centers. In addition to being a student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Walker studied intensively under the guidance of Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, one of the great meditation masters who left Tibet in the late 1950s. Since 2012, Walker has provided background support for the texts and instructions of the Sakyong lineage teachings, as well as overseeing Tibetan translation projects for Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. His account of the Rinchen Terdzö received by the Sakyong in 2008 can be downloaded here. Walker lives with his wife Patricia and their son Griffin in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is working on a book about Shambhala Buddhism.

Individual: $108
Patron: $149 The Patron rate helps us offer our generosity policy to those in need.