Cause and Effect

Introduction: Deconstructing the Self and the Aggregates According to the Buddhist analysis, the self is imputed on the individual continuity of the five aggregates. The aggregates are made up of all non-static phenomena – everything that changes from moment to moment – and...

I make prostration to the Three Rare Supreme Gems. “The Throwing Star Weapon Striking the Vital Point of the Foe.” I make prostration to forceful Yamantaka. (1) In the case of peacocks strutting in jungles of poisonous plants, although medicine gardens have been finely...

Are there any questions left over from what we discussed this morning? We were discussing how voidness means absence of impossible ways of existing, or impossible relations of cause and effect, and that it’s the same word as is used in Indian languages for the number zero. And...

The Four Noble Truths: Two Sets of Cause and Effect As Shantideva said: (IX.1) The Sage has spoken about all these branches for the sake of discriminating awareness. Therefore, generate discriminating awareness with the wish to pacify sufferings. Gaining a state of...

Beginningless Phenomena Our basis is reality. When we see what possibilities there are for transformation, then enacting them is the path. When we have transformed ourselves, that’s the result. The basis, then is what exists and what doesn’t, and the difference between the two...

Review  The presentations of the various metaphysical topics in Buddhism, as I’ve explained, are useful in helping us to deconstruct various problems that we might face. One way that we saw that we can deconstruct what we experience is to analyze them within an experience....

The name of this work is The Wheel of Sharp Weapons Effectively Striking the Heart of the Foe. I pay heartfelt homage to you, Yamantaka; your wrath is opposed to the Great Lord of Death. [1] [notes by Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey: see below] (1) In jungles of poisonous plants...

If I explain like I have been doing, is this something that you find beneficial? I ask because there are many different ways the Dharma can be taught. Dr. Berzin: Rinpoche is asking for some feedback. Is this a suitable manner to present this material for you? If you find this...

Review of the Three Principal Pathways  Tsongkhapa emphasized that there are three principal paths, meaning three principal pathways of the mind, or ways of thinking, ways of understanding that are the essence of the graded path. These are renunciation or the determination to...

Suffering and Rebirth The Buddhist teachings teach us methods for overcoming various types of suffering. We have the general suffering of unhappiness, which can accompany either our sensory experiences or also our mental experiences. We also have a problem with our ordinary...