Verses 107-112 Recap We are continuing our study of Wheel of Sharp Weapons – this lojong or attitude training or mind training text by Dharmarakshita. It speaks primarily about how to overcome the self-cherishing attitude and then, on a deeper level, how to overcome the...

Verses 113-118 Recap Tonight will be our last class of this course on Wheel of Sharp Weapons; there are only few verses left to go. We have seen that this text presents quite an extensive and full treatment of this basic material on changing our attitudes, particularly to...

Recap  We have gone through the preliminaries for being able to study Wheel of Sharp Weapons. We’ve gone through the graded stages of the path, with which we work ourselves up through three levels of motivation on the spiritual path. First, to have the aim to improve our...

Verses 1-3 Recap  Last time we began the text Wheel of Sharp Weapons, with the introductory verse which was basically just giving the name of the text, and paying homage, or showing respect to Yamantaka. That is the embodiment of wisdom, or clarity of mind, to cut through...

Verses 4-6 Recap  We started the text, and the text so far has introduced the analogy of bodhisattvas with peacocks. Just as peacocks don’t thrive or don’t feed themselves on medicine plants that would give nourishment to others – they prefer plants of poison – similarly...

Verses 7-9 Recap We have been looking at this text, this first attitude training text, or lojong, or mind training, Wheel of Sharp Weapons by Dharmarakshita. We’ve seen that bodhisattvas – people who are trying to reach enlightenment, who have this aim of bodhichitta to reach...

Verses 10-11 Recap  In our discussion of the text Wheel of Sharp Weapons, we have spoken about how we need to change our attitude about self and others. We’ve seen that this attitude of cherishing ourselves – which means to consider ourselves the most precious, the most...

Intermittently Manifest Mental Factors Like primary consciousness, the five types of deep awareness and the ten ever-functioning and ascertaining mental factors, the rest of the mental factors also have no beginning. Although they share the same essential nature as the...

The superficial and deepest truths of anything are those phenomena that the valid conceptual and non-conceptual cognitions, scrutinizing superficial truth on the one hand or deepest truth on the other, take as their involved objects and explicitly apprehend.

The Dalai Lama’s thoughts on issues in Western society, ranging from education, health, and human rights to materialistic lifestyles.