Review of the Four Noble Truths and Voidness  We’ve been speaking about the importance of understanding the four noble truths:  true suffering  true origins, or causes  true stopping  true pathway-mind that will lead to that stopping. Although we...

Following the Lam-rim Stages in Progressive Order We’ve been discussing the lam-rim, a scheme for organizing the basic sutra teachings. It presents three scopes of motivation that act as pathway minds that will lead to better rebirth, liberation from uncontrollably recurring...

The Fragmentation of Tibet after Langdarma’s Assassination The Tibetan Empire disintegrated after the assassination of Langdarma in 842 CE. Central authority was not restored for four centuries. The imperial Tibetan troops had already started to withdraw from the border...

The ancient Indian teachings on the mind, emotions, cognition, and logic can be of great benefit to the modern world.

The Nyingma explanations by Mipam and the Sakya explanation by Gorampa concerning the stages for ridding ourselves of the emotional and cognitive obscurations.

Overview We are looking at the three trainings and how they can help us in daily life, through practicing the eightfold path. The three trainings are in: Ethical self-discipline Concentration Discriminating awareness. We implement right speech, action, behavior and...

Review The three trainings in ethical discipline, concentration and discriminating awareness are always focused on helping us to overcome our problems and any suffering we experience. The method is to identify the causes of our difficulties, and to apply the three in order to...

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...

Dr. Berzin’s practical advice for each day of the Kalachakra initiation conferred by the Dalai Lama in Rikon, Switzerland.

The Regional Context Before discussing historical developments during the early Abbasid caliphate, let us briefly review the political situation in Central Asia just before the dawn of this period. The Umayyads ruled Sogdia and Bactria, while the Tang Chinese army occupied the...