Developing Respect for Aryadeva  Aryadeva was a very great Indian master who was born in Sri Lanka. There are two accounts of how he was born. One was that he was born to a royal family, and the other account is that he was born from a lotus, like Guru Rinpoche. He lived...

Chapter Five: Indicating the Behavior of Bodhisattvas  (5.1) There are no actions of the Buddhas that are not causes (for benefiting others). Even their breath is issued only for the sake of (acting as a) medicine for limited beings. Chapter five deals with indicating the...

Introduction and Question about Concepts and Nonexistent Phenomena  We started going through the second half of the text, the chapters that deal with voidness, (specifically the topic is refuting or overcoming the incorrect views regarding voidness and the deepest nature...

At a time of massive political upheavals between warring republics and kingdoms, many, including the Buddha, joined the “shramanas” – wandering mendicant spiritual seekers. Buddhism became the fifth of the five shramana schools of the time.

The Nalanda masters of India are the authors of the major texts for studying the four major Buddhist tenet systems to suit the dispositions and capacities of different disciples.

Methodology Karma is a prominent topic discussed throughout the history of Indian thought, with several different explanations found in the varied schools of Indian philosophy, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist. Even within the Buddhist fold, there are several different...

The mind gives rise to many types of appearances, in terms of both the objects of cognition and the ways of cognizing them that arise. In both cases, what arises may be accurate or inaccurate, pure or impure, tainted or untainted, samsaric or nirvanic. Why is it important to...

Inferential Cognition Inferential cognition is the comprehension of an obscure fact through reliance on a correct line of reasoning as its basis. When divided, three types are explained: inferential cognitions based on (1) the force of the actuality of phenomena, (2) what is...

Review We have been speaking about the various ways in which we know or cognize things. In our meditation, and ways of understanding aspects of our lives and especially in terms of our interactions with others, it’s very important to know whether or not what we cognize is...

The Three Levels of Motivation for Real Thing Dharma The lam-rim presents three levels of motivation: Initial level – we think in terms of ensuring that we have one of the better types of rebirths, not just in our next lifetime, but in all future lifetimes. ...