Renunciation is the determination to do everything we can to get rid of our suffering and attain liberation.

The Revival of Monasteries in Central Tibet In Central Tibet, a great many of the monasteries, even smaller ones, are being rebuilt. Local disrobed monks, usually with financial aid from geshes and lamas in the West, are doing much of the work, reconstructing the buildings...

As of 1995, there were no books on Buddhism in the colloquial Mongolian language, hardly anyone who could make such translations and no money to print such books, even if they were made. Thus, young people and intellectuals were being drawn to Christianity, which they now...

Introduction Amdo, especially the areas around Lanzhou 兰州 and southern Gansu 甘肃, and Xining 西宁 and northeastern Qinghai 青海, has seen an influx of Han Chinese and Hui Muslim settlers. Many villages, even in the highlands, are almost entirely Muslim, and this is reportedly the...

The Creation of Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia was created as a separate entity from the rest of Mongolia by the Manchus, because the Mongols in this region submitted to the Manchus in the mid-seventeenth century, about 60 years before Khalkha, or what later became known as...

The situation of religion in the People’s Republic of China had deteriorated over the two years since 1994, with Buddhism facing the most difficulties of all the religions. At that time, in contrast to Buddhism, Islam was not considered a threat to people’s allegiance to the...

Verses 25 through 37 and Concluding Verses Togme Zangpo then discusses the six far-reaching attitudes or the so-called “perfections” or “paramitas,” which are a very important basis for our bodhisattva behavior. The bodhisattva vows, particularly the secondary vows, are a way...

The six preparatory practices derive from Atisha. They are preparation for any meditation session or session of ngondro preliminary practice.

The four noble truths have sixteen aspects, four to each of the truths, a topic that is the main focus of meditation on the path that leads to both liberation and enlightenment.

Brief Review In our last session, we discussed death, impermanence, and the suffering of the three lower realms. These unfortunate states of rebirth are as a hell creature, a hungry ghost or an animal. The suffering of each of these three rebirth states can be explained...