Buddha

The Relation between a Mentor's Functioning as a Buddha and Being a Buddha Beyond the suggestion to focus with firm conviction and appreciation on the good qualities and kindness that their mentors actually have, the sutras and tantras instruct disciples to regard these...

Basis, Pathway, and Resultant Viewpoints Most Tibetan texts that discuss tantric masters' being Buddhas explain the topic of impure and pure appearances from a specific viewpoint. Often, however, the texts neglect to state their point of view. This may cause confusion. In...

The First Chapter of the TextLet us begin our discussion of the text. The first chapter is the chapter on Buddha-nature, and the text starts by giving its subject matter in an outline form (remember that Maitreya’s texts start with the outline) and the text is going to cover...

Question about Method and Wisdom Could Your Holiness explain a little bit more about method and wisdom? When we speak of method and wisdom in Buddhism, method is referring primarily to the various actions and practices that will act as a cause for being able to generate a Form...

The Relation between Objects of the Three Times We have seen that there is no common-locus of a “result, which is not yet happening,” a “result, which is presently happening,” and “a result, which is no longer happening.” Moreover, although a continuum can be validly imputed...

The Basis for Valid Cognition of Not-Yet-Happenings (continued) We have been talking about the basis of negation, the basis of imputation, and so on, in terms of the not-yet-happening of the result. And we can understand the difference here: The basis of negation is the...

The Lack of an Impossible “Soul” The Hinayana schools, including Vaibhashika, Sautrantika and Theravada, assert the lack of an impossible “soul” – or selflessness – with respect only to persons, not all phenomena. Although they do not use the term voidness for this...

Buddha-fields in the Pores of a Buddha Today we are going to speak about a Buddha’s extraphysical and extrasensory powers. We will analyze whether such things actually make any sense or are they just interesting stories. I would like to look at two aspects here. The first is...

The terms Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle or Modest Vehicle) and Mahayana (Greater Vehicle or Vast Vehicle) originated in The Prajnaparamita Sutras (The Sutras on Far-Reaching Discriminating Awareness, The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras). They are a rather derogatory pair of words,...

A look at the life, enlightenment and teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.