Emptiness

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 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...

Brief Introduction to Nalanda Monastery Today we are here at Nalanda Monastery in France. In ancient India there was also a Nalanda Monastery, or Shri Nalanda in Sanskrit, meaning the great all-around perfect Nalanda Monastery. Many great masters studied and taught there,...

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...

Review: The Context for Meditating on the False "Me" Yesterday we began our discussion of how to meditate on the voidness of the false “me” experiencing the four noble truths. We looked at the general context within which this is studied and meditated upon. We saw that this...

Definition of the Two TruthsDeepest TruthA mind that analyzes the deepest nature of a knowable phenomenon takes as its involved object (‘jug-yul) its deepest essential nature, i.e. it takes the voidness of the phenomenon as the main object with which it cognitively engages....

The next set of prayers are prayers not to be confused about the practice of the path. This is divided into two sections: Prayers to not be confused about the words concerning meditationPrayers to not be confused about the meaning of the words. Prayer Not To Be Confused about...

Review  We were speaking about gaining conviction in the efficiency of the tantra path so that we can engage in it with our full hearts. In order to gain that conviction, it’s necessary to understand why tantra is more efficient than sutra and how it actually works so that we...

Chapter Five: Indicating the Behavior of Bodhisattvas (5.1) There are no actions of the Buddhas that are not causes (for benefiting others). Even their breath is issued only for the sake of (acting as a) medicine for limited beings. Chapter five deals with indicating the...

The Tantra Tradition of Mahamudra The text continues, As for the actual basic methods, although there are many ways of asserting mahamudra, there are two when divided according to the sutras and tantras. On the basis of our efforts to eliminate obstacles and build up...