Emptiness

Voidness (emptiness) ̱̱is a very difficult topic, but a very essential topic. In order to approach it, we need to see where it fits into the general presentation of the Buddhist teachings. As we all know, Buddha taught his understanding, his realization in terms of what is...

Introduction  Concerning the life of Tsongkhapa, one of the most important points is what a great revolutionary Tsongkhapa was. Through all his tremendous efforts in meditation and preliminary practices building up positive force and so on, he gained a newer and deeper...

[Clarifications by Dr. Berzin are included within square brackets.] Homage Homage to my Gurus. The author, the Third Karmapa, was an extremely learned master who wrote many profound texts that became the core of the Karma Kagyu teachings. Rangjung Dorje (Self-arisen Vajra) was...

Introductory Verses and Verse 1 Setting the Motivation First of all, we need to have very good motivation for studying about the behavior of bodhisattvas. When we have a strong motivation, it is interesting how our minds work. If I were to say, “Let’s all go to the Dalai...

The Two Truths and the Four Noble Truths  Indian religions vary among those that (1) do or do not rely on cause and effect over previous lives, (2) do or do not aim at liberation and (3) do or do not rely on internal or external means to achieve it. There is also a nihilist...

Introduction If we want to summarize the Buddhist teachings in one word that would describe what Buddha was trying to impart to us, I think that word would be “realism.” Realism means seeing clearly what is reality, and getting rid of our unawareness and confusion about that....

I’ve been asked this weekend to speak about the topic of voidness, which is of course an advanced topic and a topic which is not terribly easy to understand. And in order to understand it, we need to be very well prepared. If we’re not prepared – in other words, if we don’t...

Background to the Text This weekend I’m going to be speaking about The Heart Sutra. Actually, with a longer title, it’s The Essence of Far-Reaching Discriminating Awareness, the Vanquishing Lady Surpassing All. When we talk about far-reaching discriminating awareness – and...

Sources of the Text I’d like to explain a very important text in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition called The Seven Point Mind Training by a great master from the Kadam tradition, Geshe Chekawa. This teaching is primarily based on the practice of changing the viewpoint of self...

The Topics for Investigation Our topic for this weekend seminar is “Karma: Who’s to Blame?” There are actually three topics involved in this discussion: karma, the self – “me” – and blame. If we want to examine this question, then we need to analyze and understand what we mean...