Getting Started

Lamrim Year is a standalone one-year study program for anyone who wants to taste the essence of this ancient and powerful set of Buddhist teachings. It was published as a book for free distribution by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive in 2021.

Lamrim Year was inspired by Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s advice to the students of Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore, in April 2013 to meditate on the lamrim teachings over the period of a year, commencing with two months’ study of guru devotion.

The 365-day outline and interdependent elements of Lamrim Year provide a clear and practical structure that is suitable for both individual and group study and will support students of various capabilities in establishing and maintaining a regular lamrim meditation practice.

The Lamrim Year Companion site is designed to help you access Lamrim Year‘s daily meditation wherever you are, from your computer or mobile device. When you sign up, the site will help you keep track of your progress and bring you to your next Day’s meditation each time you return to the site.

At the end of each section in the lamrim outline you will receive an email with teachings and resources related to the topic you are studying, along with inspiring quotes and images, to support you in your practice.

The page for each day is organized as follows:

The quote at the top is both an introduction to and a summary of the day’s meditation topic. The text summarizes the key points of the lamrim topic according to the outline of the renowned book, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, by Pabongka Rinpoche. Along with the accompanying quote, it has been selected from the published or unpublished teachings of either Lama Yeshe or Lama Zopa Rinpoche and offers a taste of their teaching style and scope.

The three recaps below the text summarize the key points from each paragraph, providing a quick and practical way for students to review their understanding of the material. The references in italics at the bottom of each page closely follow the outline of Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. They provide a point of reference and navigational guide through the lamrim topics, from beginning to end.

Be sure to click the “Mark Complete” button at the bottom of the page to advance to the next day’s meditation.

The Lamrim Year Companion site also offers a digital notepad to help you with your lamrim study. Click the “Take Notes” button located at the bottom of each Day’s teaching to open the notepad for that Day. Enter your thoughts and your note will autosave every few seconds. Click to print, download, save or close the notepad, or click the “View all Notes” button to see all your notes and manage them.

Sources are listed on the LYWA website for students who wish to explore the material more deeply. There you can also find excerpts from the book and a pdf of the entire text available for free download.

In addition to following the individual lamrim topics, Rinpoche recommends reciting at least one complete lamrim overview each day. One such overview—The Foundation of All Good Qualities—is included in the appendix to Lamrim Year. Others can be found in the lamrim section of the FPMT website at www.fpmt.org. Rinpoche’s advice is to do effortful meditation on the lamrim again and again until stable realizations are achieved.

The ultimate aspiration of Lamrim Year is to inspire and support people at all stages on the Buddhist path to put the lamrim into practice and to gain lasting realizations, thereby creating the cause for the peace and happiness for themselves and all living beings.

Sign up here to get started! May all beings benefit!

The lamrim contains everything we need to take us all the way to the ultimate state of enlightenment. In fact, I can definitely say that the lamrim is the very essence of the Dharma.
—Lama Zopa Rinpoche