The Definition of the Word Tantra Buddha's teachings include both sutras and tantras. The sutras present the basic themes of practice for gaining liberation from uncontrollably recurring problems (Skt. samsara) and, beyond that, to reach the enlightened state of a Buddha, with...

Point 5 Point five is the measure of having cleansed and trained our attitudes: If all my Dharma practice gathers into one intention; This intention is to eliminate self-cherishing. All of the various aspects of this entire literature on the seven points, as well as all other...

Explanations of Karma If we’re going to work to overcome karma, to rid ourselves of this compulsiveness in our behavior, we need to know how karma works. There are several detailed explanations of this to be found in Buddhist literature. In general, there is the explanation...

The Dalai Lama talks about the meeting points between the East and the West, which aren’t for religious reasons, but simply for the exchange of knowledge about the science of mind.

Monastic sites differed not only in their size and number of their lamas, the circumstances of their foundation, and their arrangements or layouts, but also in their specific functions. These included the types of temples and monastic colleges they had and thus the ceremonial...

Review Yesterday, we spoke about the meaning of tantra, a stream of continuity that goes on forever. There is a basis level – our mental continuum with the Buddha-nature factors. These include our networks of positive force and deep awareness, and the relative and deepest...

The Gelug explanation of how all our problems come about because of confusion about appearances, how the mind makes appearances and what is arising and engaged with when we talk about mental activity.

Review We have been speaking about appearances in conceptual and non-conceptual cognition. We got the basic mechanism with the Sautrantika presentation and in the Chittamatra variation on it we had just a few things that were different, specifically concerning the natal...

We’ve been speaking in depth about mental appearances or holograms that arise in both non-conceptual and conceptual cognition, and we’ve seen that it’s rather complex. Before we go any further, perhaps it might be a good thing to ask if you’ve understood at least something...

The Relevance of the Topic of Time  Time (dus, Skt. kāla) and such topics as the past, the present and the future are very important to study when we are on the Buddhist path. They’re not just metaphysically interesting, but they are actually quite relevant. That’s...