Ignorance

The Second Noble Truth — True Causes of Suffering Just as we looked at the First Noble Truth in a more personal and accepting kind of way, likewise we need to look at the other three Noble Truths in the same way, so that we can have our Buddhist practice touch us personally...

Review We’ve been talking about the various mental factors, and we’ve seen that there are ten that function all the time and help mental activity to function. We don’t want to get rid of them. In fact, we can’t get rid of them without destroying mental activity itself....

Review True Sufferings We began our discussion with how the cognition of voidness liberates us from uncontrollably recurring rebirth, samsara. To understand that, we need to understand what actually the true sufferings are that we want to become liberated from. Why is it that...

We have been talking about the self or “me,” which is imputed onto the stream of continuity of our aggregate factors that make up each moment of our experience. That conventional “me” is what the word or concept of “me” refers to on the basis of these ever-changing aggregates...

We have been looking at methods for integrating the various aspects of our lives. We’ve seen that in order to deal with the various things in our lives and in order to follow the spiritual path in a more whole-hearted way, it’s very important to have a clear idea of all the...

 Review Understanding Voidness We have been speaking about voidness, or emptiness, in general. We’ve seen that it refers to an absence of impossible ways of existing. There are impossible ways of existing that refer only to persons or individuals, and then there are impossible...

The Nyingma tradition of dzogchen is a complex of many lineages and teachings. Learn about the three lines of transmission, the three divisions of treasure texts, the three aspects and four types of rigpa, and other features adding to the richness of this tradition.

Attachment to someone is based on unrealistic projections; but with a more objective view, we can learn to relate to the person in a more loving and considerate way.

The non-conceptual understanding of voidness will stop the tainted aggregates from uncontrollably recurring. 

There are many forms of fear and many reasons for it to arise, but with skillful methods we can overcome fear and lead calmer, happier lives.