Four Noble Truths

Working toward a Spiritual Goal There are two ways that we can work toward a spiritual goal: On the basis of faith – we have faith that it’s possible to achieve that goal. On the basis of this faith you work toward it, and as you proceed further in your training, you...

IntroductionWe started our discussion of tantra in general with an introduction to what tantra actually is. And one of the main points that I try to emphasize is that tantra is an advanced practice. It’s a practice that is not intended for beginners. Even if we have started...

Part One: Contrasting Bodhisattvas with Ordinary Beings Two Traditions for Developing Conventional Bodhichitta To destroy self-grasping and self-cherishing and to attain enlightenment, all mind training texts emphasize tonglen. This is the practice of giving and taking as...

The Necessity of Dharma-Lite before Real Thing Dharma When we’re working on the bodhisattva path, we’re trying to overcome our selfish concern, and have concern just for others. However, we’re not going to overcome all of our disturbing emotions until we become an arhat, a...

The Second Noble Truth — True Causes of Suffering Just as we looked at the First Noble Truth in a more personal and accepting kind of way, likewise we need to look at the other three Noble Truths in the same way, so that we can have our Buddhist practice touch us personally...

Review of the Five Aggregates of Experience We have been going through the text of the Heart Sutra, which is presenting in a condensed fashion the teachings on Prajnaparamita, the “far-reaching discriminating awareness of voidness.” Inspired by the Buddha, who is sitting in...

The First Aspect of Close Placement of Mindfulness on the Body: The Body as Being Nonstatic, Impermanent We saw in the Mahayana tradition that with the general way of focusing on the body, what we distinguish about it is that it is unclean and impure. We take our body to mind...

General Introduction and Overview The teachings are infinite in their extent and are addressed to beings of infinite types of dispositions. They can all be included within three vehicles of mind: Hinayana, Mahayana sutra, and Mahayana tantra. All of these vehicles of mind and...

The Indian Tenet Systems on Rebirth, Liberation and a Creator In India, at both the time before and after the Buddha came, there were many systems of tenets. Within the Charvaka school of tenets, there's no acceptance of past lives and future lives. They assert that the mind...

Once we have a little bit of an understanding of the twelve links of dependent arising and how our uncontrollably recurring rebirth, samsara, actually works, then we can focus with close placement of mindfulness on the feelings in terms of being the true origins of suffering....