Vows

Session Four, Day Two: History of the Vinaya Lineages Bhikkhu Sujato, Abbot of the Santi Forest Monastery, Sydney, Australia “The Origin of the Three Existing Vinaya Lineages: Theravada, Dharmaguptaka, and Mulasarvastivada” Indian ordination lineages did not develop...

Nonrevealing Forms Can Be Known Only with Mental Cognition When we talk about a nonrevealing form, how is this known? Can we in our practice learn to be able to perceive it? “Nonrevealing” means that it doesn’t reveal its motivation to anybody. It is something that can be...

The Sufferings of the Higher Planes of Existence An actual spiritual person, or Dharma practitioner, is someone who is working to be able to benefit future lifetimes and beyond. Such a person then, on an initial level, would follow the ethics of restraining themselves from the...

Taking the Vows for Involved Bodhichitta, Engaged Bodhichitta  (19) Except through the vows that are the very nature of engaged bodhichitta, your pure aspiration will never come to increase. Therefore, with the wish to progress toward aspired full enlightenment, take them...

Point 6 The sixth point consists of 18 practices that will bond us closely to this attitude training. The seventh point contains twenty-two points for cleansing and training our attitudes. These are long lists, but they’re also wonderful guidelines for how to be less selfish...

[Clarification of His Holiness' answers by Dr. Berzin are included within square brackets.] The Vow Not to Lose Seminal Energy-Drops Dr. Berzin: Many Westerners are married, what about the Kalachakra close bond of not losing (mi-nyams) seminal energy-drops (khu-ba)? What lay...

Morning Session, Day Three: Welcome and Keynote Speeches Welcoming Speech Dr. Roland Salchow, State Councilor of the Department of Science and Research, Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Germany Bishop Maria Jepsen, First Female Bishop of the Lutheran Church, North...

Introduction to the Root Bodhisattva Vows When we take the bodhisattva vows, we are promising to refrain from two sets of acts. Although these are usually referred to as the root bodhisattva vows and the secondary bodhisattva vows in our Western languages, those are not the...

Developing Love and Compassion Even in the material world, we can’t put all of our efforts into one strong move and expect to get immediate results. Instead, we need to work progressively in stages. This is true in terms of working on our mind and working on our attitudes. To...

Survey of the Misunderstanding One of the more perplexing and most easily misunderstood aspects of tantra is its imagery suggestive of sex, devil-worship, and violence. Buddha-figures often appear as couples in union and many have demonic faces, stand enveloped in flames, and...