Four Buddha Bodies

Introduction This weekend we are going to be talking about happiness and its role in sutra and tantra practice. There are of course many different ways to approach the topic, but what I propose to do first this evening, as a way of introduction, is to talk about where...

The Four Creative-Energy Drops and the Mental Holograms to Which They Give Rise [For further elaboration, see: Kalachakra: The Four Creative Drops] Introduction As a Buddhist practice, Kalachakra fits within the context of the four noble truths and its practice is a method...

This weekend I’ve been asked to speak about a practice that was composed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama called The Yoga of the Spiritual Master Inseparable from Avalokiteshvara, which is a practice of guru-yoga that focuses on the development and practice of compassion. And...

The Flourishing of Dharma At the time when the Buddha himself was alive in India, the land of Tibet was mostly under water. Buddha prophesized that this water would drain and disappear, and then the land of Tibet would become solid ground on which his teachings would flourish....

Points 3 and 4 Point 3: Transforming Adverse Circumstances into a Path to Enlightenment The third point looks at transforming adverse circumstances into a path to enlightenment, and it’s divided into several parts. One concerns our thoughts and the other – our actions. ...

Review We are continuing our discussion of what karma actually means. We discussed the presentation the Indian master Asanga made within the context of the Chittamatra system of tenets. If we translate Chittamatra literally, it means “mind-only.” We saw that, in this system,...

All the details of the four points for analyzing the increased efficiency of general tantra pertain to anuttarayoga. Beyond that, however, the same four points may help us to understand why the highest class of tantra, anuttarayoga, is even speedier than the other three...

Meditation Practices on the Laws of Karma Yesterday we talked about the laws of karma, the laws of behavioral cause and effect. In terms of karma in general, the main practice entails specifically to restrain yourself from committing any of the ten destructive, or nonvirtuous,...

Review of Some Essential Points First, I shall speak a little about what is going to take place today. We have reached the point in the empowerment at which we have entered the mandala. First, we did so with blindfolds on and now our blindfolds have been removed. We have...

The Sangha Gem We were speaking about the seven diamond-strong points, which are first outlined in chapter one. We’ve covered the Buddha Gem and the Dharma Gem, and now we are up to the Sangha Gem. The Sangha Gem here is referring to the arya bodhisattvas specifically,...