Many people may consider themselves spiritual seekers and may even study with spiritual teachers at Dharma centers. The most committed type of spiritual seeker, however, is a disciple of a spiritual mentor. Problems in relating to spiritual teachers often arise because of...

The Rectification of Terms Titles, particularly those in foreign languages, often mystify Western people. They frequently conjure romantic images that are inappropriate. This especially happens with the various titles for spiritual teachers, such as – in the Tibetan...

We looked at the unawareness of behavioral cause and effect and how that underlies our experience of unhappiness. Now we need to look at the second type of unawareness, a much deeper type of unawareness, which is unawareness of reality: how we exist, how others exist and how...

A list of the 12 enlightening deeds of the 1,000 supreme Nirmanakaya Buddhas who will come to our universe during this fortunate eon.

This series of teachings provides an in-depth analysis of the twelve links of dependent arising, which describe the mechanism of rebirth and the continuity of the mind through successive samsaric lives.

Twelve Links of Dependent Arising Describe Rebirth and How to Stop It The twelve links of dependent arising (rten-’brel yan-lag bcu-gnyis) describe the mechanism of rebirth. Rebirth concerns the continuity of the mind. When we speak about mind in Buddhism, we are not talking...

Review We were talking about how "mind" in Buddhism refers to an activity that goes on with no break, with no beginning and with no end. It is the mental activity of experiencing things and it is an individual, subjective experiencing of things. We are not talking here about...

The next three links – eight, nine, and ten – are the causal links that actualize (bsgrub-byed-kyi yan-lag). They are what activate the karmic aftermath of throwing karma in the moments preceding death so that the karmic results will actualize. Thus, they serve as the...

The various ways of dividing Buddha’s verbal teachings according to different textual points of view.

Conventional and deepest bodhichittas as the basis for mind training.