Introduction In our weekend seminar we will focus on refuge. If we look at any of the Buddhist texts, we find that refuge is always described as the most fundamental aspect of the Buddhist path. In fact, it is the entry way into Buddhism. Refuge defines the dividing line...

Unawareness of How We Exist and Disturbing Emotions  We are talking about the self, “me,” how we exist and how we establish that we exist. This is a very crucial question that is asked in Buddhism. When we are unaware of how we and everyone exists, when either we don’t...

Introduction When we speak about the two truths in Chittamatra and the other Mahayana schools, we’re not talking about two different types of true phenomenon, we’re going to talk about the true truths. But speaking about the two truths that are descriptive of all phenomena,...

Today, we are going to have a meditation session on the material we’ve covered concerning voidness (emptiness). Before we actually do the meditations, what was suggested that might be helpful would be to break into small groups, perhaps of four or five people, to discuss with...

Review Tantra practice is a full practice that entails putting together a tremendous number of things and is something that we approach slowly and gradually. We can’t expect at the beginning to be able to do it in a full way; obviously not. Therefore, whether we are practicing...

We were in the middle of asking some questions concerning the defining characteristics of mind, and there were a few hands that were up with questions. Does anybody have further questions they’d like to ask?  How Can There Be Two Thoughts at the Same Time?  How can...

Chandrakīrti’s Clear Words (Prasannapadā), his commentary on Nāgārjuna’s seminal treatise on voidness and dependent arising, together with Engaging in Madhyāmaka (Madhyamakāvatāra), became the foundational texts for the Prāsaṅgika interpretation of Madhyāmaka.

Here, someone [In Nāgārjuna’s time, a Sautrantika. In Chandrakīrti’s time, a Svatantrika, asserts that the Tathāgata is self-established as conventionally existent, but depends on the self-established aggregates he obtains in order to make himself verifiable and so a marker of...

1. (Objection) If all this were void, there could be no arising or no perishing. Then, through the riddance or cessation of what could nirvāṇa be posited? Here, the Bhagavān has described two types of nirvāṇa, states of being extinguished, for persons who have lived a...

An examination of the concept of karma, which is considered the most complex topic in the Buddhist teachings.