The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE) was the first Arab empire in the Middle East. It was the first Muslim empire to interact with Buddhists in parts of Central Asia and the western regions of the Indian subcontinent.

Review Having an Accurate Idea of Bodhichitta and Enlightenment We have seen that there is a relative and deepest bodhichitta, and it is aimed at enlightenment, and specifically our own individual enlightenment that has not yet happened, but which can be imputed on...

[The recording of the initial part of this session is missing] Meditation on Voidness Builds up a Network of Deep Awareness  Let’s analyze the relation between a whole and its parts in terms of the example of a year and twelve months. A year is made up of twelve months....

Stay mindful of your breath, to calm down and become more positive.

Conceptual thought has many varieties. Some are useful and some detrimental in meditation and daily life.

Life goes much more smoothly when we don't make a big deal out of the everyday ups and downs that occur.

Fine Points about Categories  There was an interesting question Ulla brought up this morning that I thought about. That is, how do we know a double negative? We were speaking in terms of specifiers (ldog-pa). How do we know that something is not anything other than...

We started our discussion of conceptual cognition last time and I asked you to think of a dog and examine: what is it that appears? Did you think of all dogs in general? Or did a mental picture of a specific dog come to your mind? Answer please. My dog. So, a specific...

Different types of causes and conditions lead to different results.

Kalmykia faces a very special challenge because Buddhist culture was repressed for many years and now is experiencing the pressures of globalization.