The Five Systems of Five Buddha-Families  We’ve seen that when we speak about the five Buddha-families, if we look at it from the dimension of what will develop into all the aspects of a Buddha, we have this one set of five: mental activity, good qualities, verbal...

Recap of the Previous Session  Previously, we discussed how the Buddha-families speak of various groups of factors we all have that will either transform into various aspects of a Buddha or account for the fact that we can have these factors of a Buddha. We saw that there...

Buddha-family traits refer to aspects of Buddha-nature that all of us have that enable us to become Buddhas.

Review Yesterday we began our discussion of the types of appearances that the mind gives rise to. We saw that in order to understand this, we need to understand what we mean by “mind.” We saw that what it’s referring to is mental activity, which is the individual, subjective...

Verses 26 through 31 Now, we are going to continue talking about the six perfections, or the six far-reaching attitudes. You might have notice that they go in the order of generosity, ethical self-discipline, and then patience. This is because the focus of our practice should...

In “A Filigree of Realizations” (“Abhisamayalamkara”), Maitreya explains the progression of the five levels of mind we achieve that serve as pathways leading to liberation and enlightenment.

An advanced, detailed presentation, according to the various Buddhist tenet systems, of the practitioners’ progress in terms of the “five paths.” These five refer to the five levels of pathway minds we achieve, which lead to liberation and enlightenment.

Sources of the Text I’d like to explain a very important text in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition called The Seven Point Mind Training by a great master from the Kadam tradition, Geshe Chekawa. This teaching is primarily based on the practice of changing the viewpoint of self...

Tsongkhapa offers verses of request for inspiration to follow the lam-rim graded path from its foundation, a healthy relation with a spiritual teacher, through the two stages of tantra, all the way to enlightenment.

Tantra requires a firm foundation in sutra, since it is a very advanced practice that allows us to put together all the various insights of sutra. It’s important to understand why this is so.  Safe Direction and Understanding the Four Noble Truths First, we need a very...