PROGRAMS

Once you have begun to establish a more stable foundation in mindfulness and emotional awareness, you may feel drawn to the Dharma Path. Here, the emphasis of study and practice is on coming to understand the nature of reality more deeply and living from bodhicitta—the heartfelt aspiration to uproot suffering in our own lives and to help alleviate the suffering of others.

Before stepping more fully onto this path, it can be helpful to become familiar with several essential teachings that support and orient this deeper inquiry. We have created this bridge as a gentle way to help you prepare, offering context and guidance as you begin your journey on the Dharma Path.

Turning Your Mind Toward the Dharma

The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind Toward Dharma—Precious Human Birth, Impermanence, Defects of Samsara, and Cause and Effect—are an essential foundational teaching in Buddhist practice. Without a deep understanding and integration of these teachings, we will not build the strong foundation needed to support our continued development on the spiritual path. Instead, we will be pulled time and again into worldly pursuits that do not have the capacity to provide true happiness and wisdom.

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We highly recommend that all students entering the Dharma Path first complete FCM’s online, self-paced course, The Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind Toward Dharma before proceeding with other Dharma Path programs. You can register at any time (click here to learn more and register) and complete the course at your own pace.

What is a Spiritual Path?

In Buddhism, a spiritual path is a way of coming to know who we truly are beneath our habits, fears, and conditioned patterns. Rather than focusing on beliefs, it invites us to look directly at our own experience and discover a deeper clarity about the nature of mind and life.

Through study, reflection, and practice, we learn to meet experience with wisdom rather than reactivity. As insight deepens, compassion naturally unfolds in how we relate to ourselves and others. The path is not about escaping everyday life, but about living it with greater freedom, understanding, and compassion.

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Listen:  How to Walk a Spiritual Path (Fred)
Read:  Letting Go of Spiritual Experience (Traleg Rinpoche)

What is Mahayana Buddhism?

In Mahayana Buddhism, the spiritual path is centered on the Bodhisattva ideal: the commitment to attaining enlightenment not just for oneself, but to liberate all sentient beings from suffering. The path is driven by Bodhicitta (the "awakened mind"), a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of others. Practitioners follow the Six Perfections (Paramitas)—generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom—to cultivate the merits needed for this transformation.

As part of FCM’s Walking the Bodhisattva Path segment of the Dharma Path, an in-depth yearlong course (Intensive) is offered every three years to study Shantideva’s profound text, “The Way of the Bodhisattva.” A second yearlong course is “Lojong: The Seven Points of Mind Training.” These mind trainings comprise 59 pithy, easily memorized ‘maxims’ that focus on how the Awakened Mind of an enlightened being can beneficially manifest in all the activities of our daily lives.

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Listen:  Mahayana Buddhism (listen from 1:09:30 to 1:47:12) (Fred)
Read:  Mahayana Buddhism (Minnesota Zen Center)

What is the Role of the Teacher?

On this path, a teacher serves as a guide rather than an authority to follow unquestioningly. Teachers draw on training and lived experience to point toward understanding, help illuminate blind spots, and support students in trusting their own experience.

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Listen:
1. How to Find a Spiritual Teacher and Community (Roshi Hogen Bays) 
2. Is this the Teacher for You? (Roshi Hogen Bays) 
3. How to Work With a Teacher Skillfully (Roshi Hogen Bays)
Read:  The Role of the Teacher in Zen 

What is the Meaning of Taking Refuge?

A "refuge" is a place, person, or orientation we turn to when we need safety, steadiness, or reassurance, especially in times of uncertainty or difficulty. It reflects where we place our trust and what we rely on to help us feel grounded and less alone when life feels overwhelming. In this sense, everyone seeks refuge in something, whether consciously or not.

In Buddhism, taking refuge is understood as an inner turning toward what supports awakening and the easing of suffering: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha (the three jewels). Rather than a vow or belief, it is a lived orientation - placing our trust in these three jewels of wisdom and compassion and learning. Over time, refuge becomes less about something outside ourselves and more about learning to rely on what is most true and reliable within our own experience.

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Listen:  True Refuge (listen from 12:56 to 51:38) (Fred)
Read:  Taking Refuge in the Three Gems (Thich Nhat Hanh)

Why is Community Important?

The inclusion of “Community” in our name is very intentional. Given the sense of dis-connection in so many aspects of our culture today, many people find that community (we also call that "Sangha" in our tradition) is a very important and meaningful part of their experience at FCM. Both the formal practice opportunities, as well as the opportunity for informal 'daily life' practice and connection with friends on the same spiritual path, enrich and support the process of growth and transformation.

Thich Nhat Hanh has said that “It is possible that the next Buddha, Maitreya, will not take on any individual form. Maybe he will take the form of a Sangha, a community practicing understanding and loving kindness, a Sangha which practices the art of mindful living.”

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Listen:  Community as Family and Family as Community (Fred)
Read:  The Jewel of Community

What is the Role of Faith in Buddhism?

In Buddhism, faith is not blind belief but a growing sense of trust grounded in experience. It begins as a willingness to explore the teachings and practices with an open mind and deepens as we see for ourselves how they help reduce suffering and cultivate wisdom and compassion. This kind of faith supports patience and perseverance, especially when practice feels challenging or unclear.

Over time, trust shifts from reliance on ideas or teachers alone to confidence in our own capacity to wake up and respond to life with clarity and care. In this way, faith becomes a quiet but steady companion on the path, encouraging us to continue even when the way forward is not yet fully visible.

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Read:  The Role of Faith in Buddhism