Obstacles

The methods for cultivating boon experiences and stable realizations is divided into two sections: The methods for cultivating boon experiencesThe methods for cultivating stable realizations. Prayer to Cultivate Boon Experiences Properly Verse 20 is a prayer to be able to...

Paranoia and Vulnerability One of the most important aspects of healthy disciple-mentor relationships is for disciples to receive inspiration from their mentors. This can only occur if they are open to their mentors' uplifting positive influence. Some disciples, however, are...

Applying Sutra-Level Guru-Meditation to a Faulty or Abusive Teacher His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama had two regents during his minority. They taught him extensively and conferred upon him numerous tantric empowerments. They also engaged in a power struggle and had...

Verses 7 through 10 Verse 7: Ridding Ourselves of Distractions to Our Meditation Let me rid myself of all material burdens and adorn myself with an arya’s gems. So, let me rid myself of all bustling activities and live in seclusion. Living in Seclusion to Avoid Becoming...

Combining Mahamudra with Other Sutra and Tantra Practices and with the Four Types of Behavior As for the third part, the concluding material, there are also the actions for enhancing your progress. When, without meandering, you have totally immersed yourself in the mental...

Preliminaries for Shamatha Meditation The text continues with a full discussion of the sutra tradition of mahamudra, And so for this (sutra tradition of mahamudra), out of the two methods, namely seeking a meditative state on top of having gained a correct view (of voidness)...

Discriminating awareness is to discriminate between what’s correct and incorrect, what’s helpful and harmful. For this, we have the last two of the eightfold path: right view and right intention (right motivating thought). Right view concerns what we believe to be true, based...

Sutra and Tantra Mahamudra There are various traditions of mahamudra: there’s the sutra tradition and the tantra tradition. The sutra traditions involve the various methods for meditating on voidness, which is the absence of all fantasized, impossible ways of existing. The...

Brief Review of the History of Mind Training Texts We have been discussing the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, by Dharmarakshita, which is included in the collection of mind training texts and seems to be the forerunner of them. Dharmarakshita was one of Atisha’s teachers and Atisha...

Introduction We have covered how to transform adverse conditions into a path to enlightenment with our thoughts, and now we’ll discuss it in terms of our actions, which is explained in the last line of this section: The supreme method possesses four actions of use, (so)...