Vows

Day One: Opening Addresses Welcoming Speeches by the Host Institution Prof. Dr. Ing. Habil. Monika Auweter-Kurtz, President of the University of Hamburg Prof. Dr. Ludwig Paul, Dean of the Asia-Africa Institute, University of Hamburg Rinchen Khandro Chogyal,...

Review We started our discussion of how to make our tantra practice more effective. We saw that the most fundamental thing to start with is to understand what tantra is and what the essential points of tantra practice are – how does it work. Also, we saw that the word “tantra”...

I have a stack of questions here in front of me. Let me try to answer some of them during the course of explaining what will happen today during the first day of the actual empowerment. Following the Visualizations One thing to keep in mind about what is going on here is...

Preliminary Steps The actual empowerment begins with the disciples rinsing their mouths and prostrating, as the day before. Whether a participant or an observer, we still imagine ourselves as a simple Kalachakra on the black eastern porch of the mandala palace, and our...

We were discussing bodhichitta and what it means to be a bodhisattva, and we saw what role taking the bodhisattva vows has in the general progression of developing bodhichitta, and in the stages of developing bodhichitta. What’s really important is to understand the role of...

From my heart, I take safe direction from the Three Precious Gems. May I free all beings from torment and place them in everlasting bliss. To become fully enlightened for their sake, I develop bodhichitta and train myself through bodhisattva acts.In the sky before me, on a...

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...

Review Having an Accurate Idea of Bodhichitta and Enlightenment We have seen that there is a relative and deepest bodhichitta, and it is aimed at enlightenment, and specifically our own individual enlightenment that has not yet happened, but which can be imputed on...

Fear of "A Breach of Guru-Devotion" Almost every classical text on the disciple-mentor relationship includes a section on the hellish suffering that follows from what is usually translated as "a breach of guru-devotion." The material derives mostly from Ashvaghosha's vivid...

Brief Review We have been discussing the fundamental elements that we need before taking the bodhisattva vows. We spoke about the foundations in the lam-rim, the graded stages of the path, and we spoke about the process and meditation for building up a bodhichitta motivation....