A short overview of what we need to know about tantra and empowerments before we take the Kalachakra Initiation.

Defining Tantra in Terms of Basis, Path and Result I am delighted to be here and to have this opportunity to speak with you about approaching Vajrayana as a Westerner. This is always an interesting question. Is there really a difference between approaching it as a Westerner or...

The energy-winds of our minds give rise to appearances resembling holograms. Depending on the mental factors accompanying this appearance-making, the holograms may be of samsaric appearances or the nirvana-type appearances of a Buddha-figure.

The Dalai Lama looks at the major world religions, each having their own specialty. Through close contact in a globalized world, they can learn new things from each other and enrich their own traditions.

The Sanskrit and Tibetan classical Buddhist literature provides the source material for how to relate to a spiritual mentor. Most of the texts, however, explicitly refer only to the relationship with a tantric master. The main examples include Ashvaghosha's Fifty Stanzas on...

The Gelug interpretation of the issue of existent phenomena as validly knowable.

The Kyrgyz Conquest of Mongolia The Kyrgyz (Kirghiz) were originally an early Turkic-speaking people whose homeland lay in the mountain forests of the upper Yenisei region, corresponding roughly to present-day Tuva and the adjacent Altai region of southern Siberia north of...

The Founding of the Qarakhanid Empire When the Orkhon Uighur Turks were driven from Mongolia by the Kyrgyz takeover in 840 CE, they lost possession of the sacred earth-goddess mountain Otuken near their former capital, Ordubaliq. According to the pre-Buddhist and...

The first women ordained as nuns were Buddha’s maternal aunt and 500 female followers. They were given additional vows to those given to the monks in order to avoid suspicion of this mixed-gender celibate order from society at that time.

With ethical self-discipline, we can overcome the compulsiveness of our karma that causes us all levels of problems.