Meditation

The Components of the Aggregate of Other Affecting Variables The fourth aggregate, the aggregate of other affecting variables, is the largest collection of items. “Variable” means that it changes, and “affecting” means that it affects our experience. This grouping contains all...

Review True sufferings and the true origins of sufferings are the first two noble truths. These are the things that we need to rid ourselves of. There are four aspects that are associated with each of these and, to work with them in meditation, it is necessary to have a clear...

Working to Benefit Others As the Fully Enlightened Buddha has said, "Refrain from all negativities and build up everything positive. By relying on this, one becomes enlightened." This is a fundamental point of Buddha's teachings. We all wish to be happy, and nobody wishes...

Features of Negation Phenomena When we have gone through the four-point analysis and we have come to the conclusion that this impossible “me” is not in either of the two possibilities of the dichotomy of existent phenomena, then we have to conclude that it is non-existent....

How to Practice Giving and Taking: Tonglen  Now, that leads us into our discussion of tonglen and the understanding of how important it is and why then it can be our core practice. “Tonglen” is giving and taking, and is an extremely, extremely advanced and difficult practice...

Approaching the Challenge of Taming the Mind The root for all actual attainments of good qualities is the decisive realization of renunciation, bodhichitta and a correct view of reality. At our present level, it may be difficult to have the full determination to be free that...

Mind Is Nonstatic Let’s go on to the close placement of mindfulness or mental glue now holding onto or focusing on the mind, meaning specifically primary consciousness – the five types of sense consciousness (eye, ear, nose, tongue and body consciousness) and mental...

Review Let’s continue our ongoing discussion of how we stop uncontrollably recurring rebirth such that it never recurs. To stop it, we need to realize that there isn’t some impossible “me” undergoing rebirth through the twelve links of dependent arising: experiencing true...

Exceptional Resolve  The next step after tonglen (giving and taking) is developing the exceptional resolve (lhag-bsam), which is the even stronger wish to be able to eliminate all the suffering of others and bring them the happiness of liberation and enlightenment. What is...

[The recording of the initial part of this session is missing] Meditation on Voidness Builds up a Network of Deep Awareness  Let’s analyze the relation between a whole and its parts in terms of the example of a year and twelve months. A year is made up of twelve months. If...