Speaking personally about stepping onto the Buddhist path, Padmavajra shares stories of spiritual friendship in the context of his own life and reflected in the work of Gampopa's Jewel Ornament of Liberation. The work, inspired by devotion to Manjusri, is one of the key texts in the development of the Tibetan Lam Rim teachings. And Gampopa, being one of the two principle disciples of the yogi Milarepa, presents both the monastic Lam Rim approach of Atisha and the Mahamudra meditation teachings of Milarepa himself. Talk given at Padmaloka Retreat Centre, 2008, the third talk in an eight part series entitled Themes from Gampopa's Jewel Ornament of Liberation. *** Subscribe to our Free Buddhist Audio podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts A full, curated, quality Dharma talk, every week. 3,000,000 downloads and counting!Subscribe to our Dharmabytes podcast: On Apple Podcasts | On Spotify | On Google Podcasts Bite-sized inspiration three times every week. Subscribe using these RSS feeds or search for Free Buddhist Audio or Dharmabytes in your favorite podcast service! Help us keep FBA Podcasts free for everyone: donate now! Follow Free Buddhist Audio: YouTube | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Soundcloud