Daily Life

Introduction His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks of Buddhism as having three aspects: Buddhist psychology and science – how the mind works, as well as cosmology Buddhist philosophy – a highly developed system of logic, and a very deep analysis of reality, cause and effect, and...

Meditation is something that is found in many traditions, not just Buddhism; but while many aspects of meditation are found in all Indian traditions, here we shall limit our discussion to the way that meditation is presented in Buddhism. What Is Meditation? The word...

When we talk about meditation in a Buddhist context, we’re talking about something rather specific. Nowadays, we often hear the word “meditation” in all sorts of places, because it has quite a good reputation and many people are using it as an aid to relaxation and so on....

Basic Buddhist practice entails training ourselves in three areas. We can train in them in order to overcome our own problems and sufferings, because of concern for our own well-being. Or we can train in them with love and compassion in order to be of more benefit to others....

Homage to Lokeshvara. I prostrate always respectfully, through my three gateways, to the supreme gurus and the Guardian Avalokiteshvara who, seeing that all phenomena have no coming or going, make efforts singly for the benefit of wandering beings. Fully enlightened Buddhas,...

Introduction Our topic for this weekend is “ways of knowing” or lorig in Tibetan. This is a very helpful topic because it deals with how we know anything, how we know that what we know is correct, and how we know that it is decisive. It very much affects how we proceed on the...

Introduction to the Structure of the Three Graded Levels of Motivation “Lam-rim” is a Tibetan term often translated as the “graded path to enlightenment,” but it’s not talking about a path we walk on. “Path” here actually refers to a state of mind that acts as a pathway that...

Review The three trainings in ethical discipline, concentration and discriminating awareness are always focused on helping us to overcome our problems and any suffering we experience. The method is to identify the causes of our difficulties, and to apply the three in order to...

I pay heartfelt homage to you, Lokeshvara; you have true compassion extending to all. To those who in all of the comings and goings have seen that all things are inherently void, and thus can devote both their time and their efforts with one aim in mind – “Let me benefit...

Review We have spoken about how it is possible to follow and practice tantra at a Dharma-Lite level in which we are thinking only about this lifetime and doing the practices in order to benefit this lifetime alone. In this case, our goal or objective is to attain enlightenment...