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Teachings from Tibet (PDF) This book is published by Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive Bringing you the teachings of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche This book is made possible by kind supporters of the Archive who, like you, appreciate how we make these teachings freely available in so many ways, including in our website for instant reading, listening or downloading, and as printed and electronic books. Our website offers immediate access to thousands of pages of teachings and hundreds of audio recordings by some of the greatest lamas of our time. Our photo gallery and our ever-popular books are also freely accessible there. Please help us increase our efforts to spread the Dharma for the happiness and benefit of all beings. You can find out more about becoming a supporter of the Archive and see all we have to offer by visiting our website at http://www.LamaYeshe.com. Thank you so much, and please enjoy this ebook. Teachings from Tibet Previously published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive 2!!!!!!! Becoming Your Own Therapist, Illuminating the Path to by Lama Yeshe Enlightenment, by the Dalai Lama (for TDL Publications) Advice for Monks and Nuns, by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche The Joy of Compassion, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche Virtue and Reality, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche The Kindness of Others, by Geshe Jampa Tegchok Make Your Mind an Ocean, by Lama Yeshe Ego, Attachment and Liberation, by Lama Yeshe Teachings from the Vajrasattva Retreat, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche How Things Exist, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche Mirror of Wisdom, by Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen (for TDL Publications) Universal Love, by Lama Yeshe A Teaching on Heruka, The Heart of the Path, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche by Lama Zopa Rinpoche A Teaching on Yamantaka, Teachings from the Medicine Buddha by Lama Zopa Rinpoche Retreat, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche Daily Purification: A Short Vajrasattva Freedom Through Understanding, Practice, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche Making Life Meaningful, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche Kadampa Teachings, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche Teachings from the Mani Retreat, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche Life, Death and After Death, by Lama Yeshe The Direct and Unmistaken Method, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche Bodhisattva Attitude, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche The Yoga of Offering Food, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche How to Practice Dharma, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche The Peaceful Stillness of the Silent Mind, by Lama Yeshe The Perfect Human Rebirth, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche The Essence of Tibetan Buddhism, by Lama Yeshe May whoever sees, touches, reads, remembers, or talks or thinks about these books never be reborn in unfortunate circumstances, receive only rebirths in situations conducive to the perfect practice of Dharma, meet only perfectly qualified spiritual guides, quickly develop bodhicitta and immediately attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. Teachings from Tibet Guidance from Great Lamas edited by Nicholas Ribush Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive • Boston LamaYeshe.com A non-profit charitable organization for the benefit of all sentient beings and an affiliate of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. fpmt.org First published 2005 20,000 copies for free distribution Second printing 2015, 5,000 copies Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive PO Box 636 Lincoln, MA 01773, USA © Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, 2015 Please do not reproduce any part of this book by any means whatsoever without our permission Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Teachings at Tushita. Teachings from Tibet : guidance from great lamas / edited by Nicholas Ribush. pages cm Previously published as: Teachings at Tushita. New Delhi : Mahayana Publications, 1981. Includes bibliographical references. Summary: “A collection of teachings on all aspects of Buddhism by various great lamas, given in India (mainly at Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre) and Nepal in the 1970s and 1980s, with an introductory overview of the path to enlightenment by the editor” — Provided by publisher. isbn 978-1-891868-15-3 1. Buddhism—Tibet Region—Doctrines. I. Ribush, Nicholas, editor of compilation. II. Title. bQ4165.t43 2015 294.3'420423—dc23 2015001515 isbn 978-1-891868-15-3 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Cover photograph by Pete from a thangka by Peter Iseli, courtesy Nalanda Monastery, France. Back cover drawing by Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, 1972. ♻ Printed in the USA with environmental mindfulness on 30% PCW recycled paper. The following resources have been saved: 17 trees, 515 lbs. of solid waste, 7,681 gallons of water, 1,416 lbs. of greenhouse gases and 7 million BTUs of energy. Contents Editor’s Introduction 1 An Outline of the Path to Enlightenment A Lamp for the Path 17 Khunu Lama Rinpoche Seeking an Inner Refuge 33 His Holiness the Dalai Lama Generating Bodhicitta 43 Kyabje Ling Rinpoche Creating Space for Dharma 55 Lama Yeshe In Search of a Meaningful Life 67 Lama Zopa Rinpoche How to Start Practicing Dharma 79 Zong Rinpoche Advice on Guru Practice 87 Gomchen Khampala The Four Noble Truths 97 His Holiness the Dalai Lama Method, Wisdom and the Three Paths 107 Geshe Lhundub Sopa Renunciation 125 Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche vi | teachings from tibet The Twelve Links 137 Geshe Rabten The Eight Verses of Thought Transformation 147 His Holiness the Dalai Lama Developing Single-pointed Concentration 169 Gelek Rimpoche In Search of the Self 179 Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey The Foundation of All Good Qualities 189 Khunu Lama Rinpoche Various Aspects of Tantra 209 Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche Appendices 1. The Mahayana Equilibrium Meditation 215 2. A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment 221 3. The Eight Verses of Thought Transformation 232 4. The Foundation of All Good Qualities 234 Glossary 237 Bibliography 253 Publisher’s Acknowledgments e are extremely grateful to our friends and supporters Wwho have made it possible for the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive to both exist and function, especially Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, whose kindness is impossible to repay. We have acknowledged the many people who have worked to develop the Archive over the years and who have contributed financially both in our previous publications and online and take this oppor- tunity to thank them again for their indispensable assistance. In particular, our sustaining supporters and members make it possible for us to accomplish our aims, so thank you all once more. If you, dear reader, would like to join this noble group of open- hearted altruists by contributing to the production of more free books by Lama Yeshe or Lama Zopa Rinpoche or to any other aspect of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive’s work, please con- tact us to find out how. A note on how this book came about Back in the 1970s and ’80s, most of the great lamas to leave Tibet were still alive and teaching. Those of us who had the good fortune to be in India and Nepal at that time were able to benefit by sitting at their feet, drinking in the nectar of their holy speech. It was a wonderful time. Many of the teachings in this book were given at Tushita Maha- yana Meditation Center, New Delhi, which, at Lama Yeshe’s request, I established in 1977 and directed until 1983. They were originally published in a volume called Teachings at Tushita (New viii | teachings from tibet Delhi: Mahayana Publications, 1981), which I co-edited with Glenn H. Mullin. I therefore acknowledge here Glenn’s kind, if indirect, contribution to this book—they were all re-edited for the first edi- tion of Teachings from Tibet (Boston: LYWA, 2005), with many valuable editorial suggestions from Linda Gatter. Gordon McDou- gall has made many excellent suggestions for improving on that, and I thank him for his contributions to this, the second edition of Teachings from Tibet. Two of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings contained herein were published in a souvenir booklet produced for Tushita’s Second Dharma Celebration, November 1982, the first at which His Holi- ness spoke. Three of the others are from unpublished manuscripts that I car- ried around for nearly thirty years, waiting for the right moment. This book was it. Please see the notes accompanying the author photos for details of the provenance of the teachings in this volume. Nicholas Ribush Through the merit of having contributed to the spread of the Bud- dha’s teachings for the sake of all sentient beings, may our benefac- tors and their families and friends have long and healthy lives, all happiness, and may all their Dharma wishes be instantly fulfilled. Editor’s Introduction An Outline of the Path to Enlightenment he Buddha taught so that beings would be happy and sat- Tisfied. Having attained the ultimate happiness of enlighten- ment himself, out of love and compassion for each sentient being he wanted to share his experience with them all. But he could not transplant his realizations into the minds of others, remove their suffering by hand or wash away their ignorance with water—he could only teach them to develop their minds for themselves, as he had done. Thus he showed the path to enlightenment. The nature of the mind There are two kinds of being with mind: buddhas and sentient beings. Buddhas were once sentient beings, but through engaging in and completing the practice of Dharma, they fully purified their minds of both gross and subtle obscurations and attained enlight- enment, or buddhahood. There are also two kinds of sentient being: those beyond cyclic existence and those within. Those beyond cyclic existence have purified their minds of the gross obscurations but not the subtle. Sentient beings within cyclic existence are suffering from both levels of obscuration and are under the control of the disturbing negative minds (delusions) and their imprints on the consciousness—karma.
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