Handouts & Class Notes - Truth of Origination - Fall 2011

Below are links to Handouts 10-22 for the Fall term of the Perfection of Wisdom Course topic:  the Four Noble Truths.  Handouts 10-22 cover the Second Noble Truth - the TRUTH of ORIGINATION, which is the subject starting in the 6th Class held September 23, 2011.  For Handouts used in Classes 1-6 (Sept. 12-23), click: TRUTH of SUFFERING.

The Handouts, prepared by Geshe Kelsang Wangmo, serve as the text for the Fall 2011 semester.  Also below:  links to CLASS NOTES/Partial Transcripts (DRAFT) of Truth of Origination (prepared by Ven. Tenzin Nordron) will be posted.  Each Class Blog Post also links to the Handouts covered in the class (and partial Class transcripts when available).

Please note:  Even though the Creative Commons logo copyright logo does not appear on the downloadable Charts and Handouts, they are also covered by Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs" Copyright.  [See right hand column.]

Handouts 9-22.  Four Noble Truths - NOBLE TRUTH of ORIGINATION - ཀུན་འབྱུང་འཕགས་པའི་བདེན་པ། 

2011 Handout 9 - conclude Six-Fold Categorization of Suffering.  II. (Second) Noble) TRUTH OF THE ORIGIN - ཀུན་འབྱུང་བདེན་པ། - (of Suffering):  DELUSIONS (ཉོན་མོངས།) & Contaminated KARMA/Actions (ཟག་བཅས་ཀྱི་ལས།).

2011 Handout 10 - Truth of Origin (ཀུན་འབྱུང་བདེན་པ།), Delusions (ཉོན་མོངས།), cont.  IGNORANCE (མ་རིག་པ་):  Categorizations::  A.  (1) Deprecating Misconception (སྐུར་འདེབས་ཀྱི་ལོག་རྟོག) & (2) Superimposing Misconception (སྒྲོ་འདོགས་ཀྱི་ལོག་རྟོག); B. (1) Innate/instinctive Ignorance (མ་རིག་པ་ལྷན་སྐྱེས།) & (2) Intellectually or Ideologically Acquired Ignorance (མ་རིག་པ་ཀུན་བརྟགས།).  C. Ignorance that is the Root of Cyclic Existence (འཁོར་པའི་རྩ་བར་གྱུར་པའི་མ་རིག་པ།) [i.e., Ignorance that apprehends the inherent existence of:  (1) the "I" and "mine"; and (2) phenomena (other than "I" and "mine").

NEW CORRECTED - 2011 Handout 11 -  Delusions (ཉོན་མོངས་): IGNORANCE , cont. - Six Primary Delusions (རྩ་ཉོན་དྲུག):  Five Non-Views:  (1) Attachment, (2) Anger, (2) Arrogance, (4) Ignorance, (5) (Afflictive) Doubt; Five Views of (6) Wrong View = Ten Delusions:   Five Non-Views:  (1)  Attachment - འདོད་ཆགས་.  (2) Anger - ཁོང་ཁྲོ་.  (3) Arrogance - ང་རྒྱལ།. (cont. in Handout 12).

2011 Handout 12 - Ten Delusions, Five Non-Views -  (3) Arrogance, cont. - 7 Kinds.   (4) Ignorance - མ་རིག་པ་.  (5) (Afflictive) Doubt - ཉོན་མོངས་ཅན་གྱི་ཐེ་ཚོམ།.  Five Views -   (6) View of Transitory Collection - འཇིག་ཚོགས་ལ་ལྟ་བ།.  (7) View Holding to Extremes - མཐར་འཛིན་པའི་ལྟ་བ།.  (8) Esteeming Unworthy Views - ལྟ་བ་མཆོག་ཏུ་འཛིན་པ།.  (9) Belief in the Supremacy of Mistaken Ethics & Religious Conduct - ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་དང་བརྟུལ་ཞུགས་མཆོག་འཛིན་. (cont. in Handout 13). 

NEW CORRECTED - 2011 Handout 13 - Ten Delusions, Five Views - (9) Belief in the Supremacy of Mistaken Ethics & Religious Conduct, cont.  (10) Wrong View - ལོག་པར་ལྟ་བ། / ལོག་ལྟ།. Twenty Secondary Delusions:  (1) Aggression / belligerence - ཁྲོ་བ།. (2) Resentment - ཁོན་འཛིན།. (3) Concealment / denial - འཆབ་པ་།.  (4) Spite - འཚིག་པ་།.  (5) Jealousy / envy - ཕྲག་འདོག.  (6) Miserliness - སེར་སྣ།.  (7) Pretension / deceit - རྒྱུ།.  (8) Dissimulation - གཡོ།.  (9) Haughtiness - རྒྱགས་པ།.  (10) Harmfulness - རྣམ་པར་འཐསེ་བ།.  (11) Shamelessness / non-shame- ངོ་ཚ་མེད་པ།.  (12) Inconsideration / non-embarrassment - ཁྲེལ་མེད་པ།.  (13) Dullness / lethargy - རྨུགས་པ།.  (14) Excitement - རྒོད་པ།.

NEW CORRECTED - 2011 Handout 14 - (15) Non-faith - མ་དད་པ།.  (16) Laziness - ལེ་ལོ།.  (17) Non-conscientiousness - བག་མེད་པ།.  (18) Forgetfulness - བརྗེད་ངེས་པ།.  (19) Non-alertness - ཤེས་བཞིན་མ་ཡིན་པ།.  (20) Distraction - རྣམ་གཡེང།. Three Types of Cravings:  (1) for Sense Pleasures.  (2) Fearful Craving; (3) Craving for Existence.  Process of Producing Delusions, cont. on Handout 15.

NEW CORRECTED - 2011 Handout 15 - Process of Producing Delusions, cont.  Six Causes of Delusons:  [(1) Basis; (2) Object; (3) Distractions; (4) (Mistaken) Explanatons; (5) Habituation; (6) (Wrong) Mental Engagement]:  1. Basis: Imprints that: are and are not Seeds. 2. Objects (cont. on Handout 16). 

2011 Handout 16 - Six Causes of Delusions, cont.  3. Distractions.  4. (Mistaken) Explanations.  5. Habituation.  6. (Wrong) Mental Engagement.  KARMA (ལས།) - Four Reflections on Karma: (1) Certainty of Karma. (2) Magnification of Karma. (3) One does not experience the result of an action one has not accumulated.  (4) Actions one has accumulated do not perish.  1) Certainty of Karma - (ལས་ངེས་པའི་ཚུལ།). (cont. on Handout 17). 

2011 Handout 17 - Four Reflections on Karma, cont.  (2) Magnification of Karma - (ལས་འཕེལ་ཆེ་བ།).  (3) One does not experience the result of an action one has not accumulated - (ལས་མ་བྱས་པ་དང་མི་ཕྲད་པ།).  (4) Actions one has accumulated do not perish - (ལས་བྱས་པ་ཆུད་མི་ཟ་བ།). Strength of actions is dependent on Four Factors {i.e.,  (1) Powerful in terms of the recipient.  (2) Powerful in terms of the support.  (3) Powerful in terms of the substance.  (4) Powerful in terms of the motivation.} (1) Powerful in terms of the recipient (ཞིང་གི་སྒོ་ནས་སྟོབས་ཆེ་བ།). (cont. on Handout 18.) 

2011 Handout 18 - Four Factors for Weighty Actions, cont. (2)  Powerful in terms of the support (རྟེན་གྱི་སྒོ་ནས་སྟོབས་ཆེ་བ།).  (3) Powerful in terms of the substance (དངོས་པའི་སྒོ་ནས་སྟོབས་ཆེ་བ།).  (4) Powerful in terms of the motivation (བས་པའི་སྒོ་ནས་སྟོབས་ཆེ་བ།).  Presentation of 3 Karmic Results (i.e., (1) Fruitional Results; (2) Causally Concordant Results; (3) Environmental Results.)  1) Fruitional Results (རྣམ་སྨིན་གྱི་འབྲས་བུ།).  2) Causally Concordant Results (རྒྱུ་མཐུན་པའི་འབྲས་བུ།): (i) Causally Concordant Behavioral Results (བྱེད་པ་རྒྱུ་མཐུན་གྱི་འབྲས་བུ།) & (ii) Causally Concordant Experiential Results - (cont. on Handout 19.)

2011 Handout 19 - Presentation of 3 Karmic Results, cont.  (ii) Causally Concordant Experiential Results (མྱོང་བ་རྒྱུ་མཐུན་གྱི་འབྲས་བུ།).  (3) Environmental Results (བདག་པོའི་འབྲས་བུ། or དབང་གི་འབྲས་བུ།).  Various Classifications of Karma.  A. (1) Physical Karma / Karma of the Body (ལུས་ཀྱི་ལས།). (2) Verbal Karma / Karma of Speech (ངག་གི་ལས།).  (3) Mental Karma / Karma of the Mind (ཡིད་ཀྱི་ལས།). B.  (1) Virtuous Karma (དགེ་བའི་ལས།).  (2) Non-virtuous Karma (མི་དགེ་བའི་ལས།).  (3) Neutral Karma (བཏང་སྙོམས་ཀྱི་ལས།).  C. Category of Projecting & Completing Karma:  (1) Projecting /Throwing Karma (འཕེན་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ལས།) - (cont. on Handout 20.) 

2011 Handout 20 - Various Classifications of Karma:  C. (1) cont.  (2) Completing Karma (རྫོགས་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ལས།). Four Possibilities re Inter-Relationship of Projecting & Completing Karma re Virtue.  D.  Category of Karma that (1) Will Definitely Be Experienced (མྱོང་བར་ངེས་པའི་ལས།) & (2) Will Not Necessarily Be Experienced (མྱོང་བར་མ་ངེས་པའི་ལས།) & Accumulated Karma:  Four Possibilities between Karma that is Accumulated & Karma that is Done (e.g., killing).    E.  Timing of Result of Karma that Will Definitely Be Experienced - (cont. on Handout 21.)

2011 Handout 21 - cont. E.  Karma that Is Experienced (1) in the Current Life (མཐོང་ཆོས་ལ་མྱོང་འགྱུར་གྱི་ལས།); (2) after Taking Rebirth (སྐྱེས་ནས་མྱོང་འགྱུར་གྱི་ལས།); (3) in Subsequent Existences (ལན་གྲངས་གཞན་ལ་མྱོང་འགྱུར་གྱི་ལས།).  F.  Order of Precedence in which numerous Karmic Imprints that exist in mental continuum Ripen.  G.  Middle Way Consequentialist (Madhyamika-Prasangika) & Great Exposition (Vaibhashika) Tenets re Mental, Physical & Verbal Karma Differ from Sutra School (Sutantrika), Mind Only (Cittamatrin) & Middle Way Autonomy (Madhyamika-Svatantrika) tenets:  1) Karma that is Intention (སེམས་པའི་ལས།) & 2) Intended Karma (བསམས་པའི་ལས།) - (cont. on Handout 22).

2011 Handout 22 - cont. G. Chart.  H. Three-fold Division of Projecting Karma:  (1) Meritorious Karma (བསོད་རྣམས་གྱི་ལས།); (2) Non-meritorious Karma (བསོད་རྣམས་མ་ཡིན་པའི་ལས།); (3) Immovable Karma (མི་གཡོ་བའི་ལས།).  I.  Contaminated Karma & Uncontaminated Karma (ཟག་མེད་ཀྱི་ལས།).  Concludes Truth of Origination & Begins TRUTH OF CESSATION.

CLASS NOTES/partial transcripts

Rough drafts of notes/partial transcripts of Classes on topic, the
Second Noble Truth of Origination,
offered for what they are worth, will be posted here as they become available.

Class 6 NOTES

(If you are interested in assisting in proofing/editing, contact Ven. Tenzin Nordron.)

If any of the links do not work, please leave a comment or notify us by e-mail.

Handouts & Class Notes - Truth of Suffering - Fall 2011 Classes

Below are links to Handouts 1-9 for the Fall term of the Perfection of Wisdom Course topic:  the Four Noble Truths.  Handouts 1-9 cover the First Noble Truth - the TRUTH of SUFFERING, which was the subject of the first * Classes held September 12-, 2011.  Click on TRUTH of ORIGINATION for Handouts on the Second Noble Truth.

The Handouts, prepared by Geshe Kelsang Wangmo, serve as the text for the Fall 2011 semester.  Also below are links to CLASS NOTES/Partial Transcripts (DRAFT) of Truth of Suffering (prepared by Ven. Tenzin Nordron).

Please note:  Even though the Creative Commons logo copyright logo does not appear on the downloadable Charts and Handouts, they are also covered by Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs" Copyright.  [See right hand column.]

Handouts 1-9.  Four Noble Truths - TRUTH of SUFFERING

2011 Handout 1 - Ornament for Clear Realization's two verse on Mahayana Practice Instructions; the Four Noble Truths; the TRUTH OF SUFFERING:  Three Kinds of Feelings.

2011 Handout 2 - Six categories of Feelings.  Three-fold Division of Suffering:  Suffering of Suffering; Suffering of Change; Pervasive Compositional Suffering (cont. Handout 3).

NEW CORRECTED - 2011 Handout 3 - cont. Pervasive Compositional Suffering: Contaminated Five Aggregates.  Four-fold & Eight-fold Categorization of Sufferings of Suffering:  Five types of Sufferings of Birth (cont. on Handout 4).

2011 Handout 4 - Eight-fold Categorization of Suffering, cont.:  Sufferings of Aging.  Five Sufferings of Sickness.

2011 Handout 5 - Five Sufferings of Sickness, cont. 2-5.  Five Contemplations of the Sufferings of Death.  Five Contemplations of the Sufferings of Encountering what is Unpleasant - 1-2, cont. on Handout 6.

2011 Handout 6 - Five Contemplations of the Sufferings of Encountering what is Unpleasant, cont. 3-5.  Five Contemplations of the Sufferings of Separation from what is Pleasant.  Suffering of Not Getting What We Want.  Five Contemplations of the Sufferings of Having the Five Aggregates - 1-3, (cont. in Handout 7.)

2011 Handout 7 - Sufferings of Having the Five Aggregates, cont. 4-5.  Six-Fold Categorization of Suffering (cont. in Handouts 8 & 9):  1):  1) Suffering of Uncertainty.

2011 Handout 8 - cont. Six-Fold Categorization of Suffering:  2) Suffering of Insatiability.  3) Suffering of Having to Give up our Bodies Repeatedly.  (cont. in Handout 9)   

2011 Handout 9 - cont. Six-Fold Categorization of Suffering:  4) Suffering of Repeated Rebirth.  5) Suffering of Repeatedly Descending from High to Low.  6) Suffering of  Having No Companions.

CLASS NOTES/partial transcripts  

Rough drafts of class notes/partial transcripts of Classes on the First Noble Truth of Suffering - offered for what they are worth - are posted here as they  become available. 

(If you are interested in assisting in proofing/editing, contact Ven. Tenzin Nordron.)

Class 2 NOTES

Class 4 NOTES
Class 5 NOTES

If any of the links do not work, please leave a comment or notify us by e-mail.

Class Schedule Change - Class on THURSDAY

H.H. Dalai Lama begins teaching in McLeod Ganj on Saturday, October 1, 2011 through Monday, October 4.  So there will be NO CLASS on MONDAY, October 4.  Instead, we will have class on Thursday, September 29.  That is, we will have four class sessions this week:  Monday, Wednesday (9/28), Thursday (9/29) and Friday (9/30).

Class 6 - Truth of Suffering & Truth of Origination of Suffering

Download PDF's of Class materials and MP3 Tracks from the 6th class of Fall 2011 term held on Friday, September 23:

DOWNLOAD Handouts used in Class 6 & Class NOTES  (i.e., very rough transcript):

2011 Handout 9 - conclude Six-Fold Categorization of Suffering.  II. (Second) Noble) TRUTH OF THE ORIGIN - ཀུན་འབྱུང་བདེན་པ། - (of Suffering):  Delusions (ཉོན་མོངས།) & Contaminated Karma/Actions (ཟག་བཅས་ཀྱི་ལས།).

2011 Handout 10 - Truth of Origin (ཀུན་འབྱུང་བདེན་པ།), Delusions (ཉོན་མོངས།), cont.  IGNORANCE (མ་རིག་པ་):  Categorizations::  A.  (1) Deprecating Misconception (སྐུར་འདེབས་ཀྱི་ལོག་རྟོག) & (2) Superimposing Misconception (སྒྲོ་འདོགས་ཀྱི་ལོག་རྟོག); B. (1) Innate/instinctive Ignorance (མ་རིག་པ་ལྷན་སྐྱེས།) & (2) Intellectually or Ideologically Acquired Ignorance (མ་རིག་པ་ཀུན་བརྟགས།).  C. Ignorance that is the Root of Cyclic Existence (འཁོར་པའི་རྩ་བར་གྱུར་པའི་མ་རིག་པ།) [i.e., Ignorance that apprehends the inherent existence of:  (1) the "I" and "mine"; and (2) phenomena (other than "I" and "mine").

Class 6 NOTES - rough draft transcript - offered for what they are worth. (If you are interested in assisting in proofing/editing, contact Ven. Tenzin Nordron.)

ALL FALL 2011 PDFs re Truth of Suffering are HERE. ALL Fall 2011 PDFs re Truth of Origination are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Handout 9 - cont. Six Types of Suffering:

     (4) Suffering of repeated rebirth:

• Contaminated Karma only triggers rebirth in Samsara if triggered by Delusions (attachment to self, i.e., fear of death of self & craving for existence).  
• Having realized Emptiness directly, Arya Bodhisattvas (below 8th bhumi) are reborn due to attachment to others and prayers, but not in the Cyclic Existence that we experience. Hinayana Arhats and 8th-10th ground Arya Bodhisattvas have Mental Bodies. 

Track 2 - (5)  Suffering of Repeatedly Descending from High to Low.
              (6)  Suffering of Having no Companions. 

• Cultivating disenchantment with our miserable condition in Cyclic Existence and  the single-pointed intention to overcome it, naturally leads to the question: 

What is the origin or the cause of suffering?

Track 3 - (2nd) Noble TRUTH of ORIGIN (ཀུན་འབྱུང་འཕགས་པའི་བདེན་པ།) of Suffering:

1. DELUSIONS (ཉོན་མོངས་།); and 
2. CONTAMINATED ACTIONS/KARMA (ཟག་བཅས་ཀྱི་ལས་།).  

• Delusions are Primary Cause of Suffering.  
• Root Delusion is Ignorance.

Track 4 - IGNORANCE - མ་རིག་པ་ - [Handout 10] - a mental factor and a mental consciousness:

• Examples, qualities and types of Ignorance:  
• Mere not knowing & Active Mis-knowledge. 

          (1) Deprecating misconceptions (སྐུར་འདེབས་ཀྱི་ལོག་རྟོག):  

            Denial of (aspects of) reality, e.g., deny Law of Karma, 

            Past & Future Lives (or role of human activity in Global Climate Change).

          (2) Superimposing misconceptions (སྒྲོ་འདོགས་ཀྱི་ལོག་རྟོག):  

           Apprehend (aspects of) phenomena that do not exist, e.g., Wrong Views: 

              Ignorance that apprehends a Self to be: 

1. Permanent, Partless, & Independent; 
2. Self-Sufficient Substantially Existent; or 
3. Inherently Existent. 

           Superimposing ignorance is the root of Deprecating ignorance, but 

           Superimposing ignorance are not always non-virtuous; however,

           Wrong Views included in the 10 Non-Virtuous are Deprecating Ignorance.

Track 5 - Categorization of IGNORANCE as: (1) Innate Ignorance (མ་རིག་པ་ལྷན་སྐྱེས་) or (2) Intellectually Acquired (མ་རིག་པ་ཀུན་བརྟགས།).

Innate Ignorance:  Innate Deprecating & Innate Superimposing ignorance.

• Root ignorance is Innate Superimposing ignorance apprehending Inherent Existence & apprehending Permanence.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 6th class of the Fall 2011 Perfection of Wisdom course
addressing the Four Noble Truths, the 2nd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 5 - Truth of Suffering - Five Aggregates, Six Categories

Download PDF's of Class materials and MP3 Tracks from the 5th class of Fall 2011 term held on Wednesday, September 21:

DOWNLOAD Handouts used in Class 5 & Class NOTES  (i.e., very rough transcript):

2011 Handout 6 - Five Contemplations of the Sufferings of Encountering what is Unpleasant, cont. 3-5.  Five Contemplations of the Sufferings of Separation from what is Pleasant.  Suffering of Not Getting What We Want.  Five Contemplations of the Sufferings of Having the Five Aggregates - 1-3, (cont. in Handout 7.)

2011 Handout 7 - Sufferings of Having the Five Aggregates, cont. 4-5.  Six-Fold Categorization of Suffering (cont. in Handouts 8 & 9):  1):  1) Suffering of Uncertainty.

2011 Handout 8 - cont. Six-Fold Categorization of Suffering:  2) Suffering of Insatiability.  3) Suffering of Having to Give up our Bodies Repeatedly.  (cont. in Handout 9)   

Class 5 NOTES - rough draft transcript - offered for what they are worth. (If you are interested in assisting in proofing/editing, contact Ven. Tenzin Nordron.)

ALL FALL 2011 PDFs re Truth of Suffering are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Buddha said:

In brief, the Five Contaminated Aggregates are suffering.

Two of the Five Aggregates are Mental Factors:

• Discrimination - ordinary and intellectual.   
• Feelings 

Understanding the Five Aggregates in relation to the four Form Concentrations and four Formless concentrations. 

• Five-fold Categorization of Feelings (in terms of coarser/subtler; easier/harder to overcome):
• Limited Discrimination of Desire Realm must be overcome to attain Form Realm.
• Form Realm Concentrations overcome Worldly/Contaminated Feelings - only Buddhist Path can overcome the Neutral contaminated feeling.
• First Concentration of the Form Realm overcomes the mental feeling of displeasure.
• Second Concentration of the Form Realm overcomes the unpleasant feeling associated with physical consciousness.  
• Third Concentration of the Form Realm overcomes the pleasurable feeling associated with mental consciousness.  
• Fourth Concentration of the Form Realm overcomes the pleasurable feeling associated with physical consciousness. 

• Having then transcended the Extensive Discrimination of Form Realm, one may attain the Immeasurable Discrimination of Formless Realm.  Buddhism does not urge attainment of Formless Realm rebirth with its four concentrations of: 

• Limitless Space, Limitless Consciousness, Nothingness, Peak of Cyclic Existence.

Track 2 - Suffering of (having) the Five Aggregates (5 points) – [Handout 6, p. 2]:

• Five (contaminated) Aggregates are Vessels of Suffering (1) in the future; (2) that presently exists; (3) the Suffering of Suffering. [Handout 7] - (4) the Suffering of Change

Track 3 - Five Contaminated Aggregates are vessel of

• (4)  Suffering of Change, cont.; and of 
• (5) Pervasive Compositional Suffering. 
• Neutral Feelings are a Pervasive Compositional Suffering.

Track 4 - Necessity ofunderstanding First Noble Truth in order to generate Renunciation (which is required to generate Bodhicitta).

Six Categories of Suffering

     1.  Suffering of uncertainty. [Handout 8] - regarding the relationships we have with other people.

     2.  Suffering of insatiability:  As it says in the Compendium of the Perfections (a Perfection of Wisdom Sutra):

You get what you want,

Use it up, then acquire more,

And still you are not satisfied

What could be more pathetic than this? 

     3. Suffering of having to give up our bodies repeatedly.

4th - 6th Sufferings [(4) Suffering of repeated rebirth.  (5) Suffering of repeatedly descending from high to low.  (6) Suffering of having no companions.] in Class 6.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 5th class of the Fall 2011 Perfection of Wisdom course
addressing the Four Noble Truths, the 2nd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 4 - Truth of Suffering of Sickness, Death, Encounters, Separation

Download PDF's of Class materials and MP3 Tracks from the 4th class of Fall 2011 term held on Monday, September 19:

DOWNLOAD Handouts used in Class 4 & Class NOTES  (i.e., very rough transcript):

2011 Handout 4 - Eight-fold Categorization of Suffering, cont.:  Sufferings of Aging.  Five Sufferings of Sickness - 1) Changes the nature of the body; (cont. on Handout 5).

2011 Handout 5 - Five Sufferings of Sickness, cont. 2-5.  Five Contemplations of the Sufferings of Death.  Five Contemplations of the Sufferings of Encountering what is Unpleasant - 1-2, cont. on Handout 6.

2011 Handout 6 - Five Contemplations of the Sufferings of Encountering what is Unpleasant, cont. 3-5.  Five Contemplations of the Sufferings of Separation from what is Pleasant.  Suffering of Not Getting What We Want.  Five Contemplations of the Sufferings of Having the Five Aggregates - 1-3, (cont. in Handout 7.)

Class 4 NOTES - rough draft transcript - offered for what they are worth. (If you are interested in assisting in proofing/editing, contact Ven. Tenzin Nordron.)

FALL 2011 PDFs re: Truth of Suffering are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Discussion:  Implications of third type of Birth, "from moisture", etc.

Track 2 -  Discussion: How a Cause of Production is also Cause of its Effect's Destruction.

• Presentation of Impermanence, Cause & Effect.

Track 3 - Review Sufferings of Birth and Aging.
              Sufferings of SICKNESS [Handout 4 - p. 2] - Five contemplations:

1. Sickness changes the nature of the body [cont. on Handout 5]. 
2. Pain & anguish increase and are seldom absent.  
3. No desire to enjoy pleasing objects. 
4. Forced to recourse to unpleasant objects, even though one does not want them.  
5. Lose one's vital energy, i.e., one dies.

Track 4 - Sufferings of DEATH [Handout 5] - Five contemplations:  One is separated from nice/beloved:

1. Objects of Enjoyment,
2. Close relatives, 
3. Companions, and 
4. beloved Body.  Also: 
5. At the time of death one experiences terrible suffering and distress.

Track 5 - Sufferings of Encountering What Is Unpleasant - Five contemplations:

1. Encountering an Enemy.  
2. Fearing one will be Harmed by one's Enemy. 
3. [Handout 6] Fearing one's Enemy will Spread Malicious Rumors about Oneself. 
4. Dreading death.  
5. Fearing Rebirth in suffering existence due to one's non-Dharmic activities.  Also misc. sufferings from poverty, disagreeable jobs, being resented, unattractive, etc.

    Sufferings of Separation from What is Pleasant - Five contemplations:  When one is separated from loved ones, One: 

1. Grieves; 
2. Verbally Laments; 
3. Harms one's own body; 
4. Becomes sad when one remembers and yearns for the qualities of the departed; and generally experiences
5. Suffering of no longer enjoying what one has lost.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 4th class of the Fall 2011 Perfection of Wisdom course
addressing the Four Noble Truths, the 2nd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 3 - Truth of Suffering - Birth & Aging

Download PDF's of Class materials and MP3 Tracks from the 3rd class of Fall 2011 term held on Friday, September 16:

DOWNLOAD Handouts used in Class 3:

2011 Handout 3 - cont. Pervasive Compositional Suffering: Contaminated Five Aggregates.  Four-fold & Eight-fold Categorization of Sufferings of Suffering:  Five types of Sufferings of Birth (cont. on Handout 4).

2011 Handout 4 - Eight-fold Categorization of Suffering, cont.:  Sufferings of Aging.  Five Sufferings of Sickness - 1) Changes the nature of the body; (cont. on Handout 5).

ALL FALL 2011 HANDOUTS & CHARTS are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Review Three Kinds of Sufferings (Suffering, Change, Pervasive Compositional).

• Q&A (Is Ignorance arisen from Neutral Feeling?).  
• Handout 3:  Contaminated and Uncontaminated Karma.

Track 2 - [Handout 3]  Another Categorization of Suffering:

• Four Types - (1) Birth, (2) Aging, (3) Sickness, (4) Death - incorporated into 
• Eight Types: (5) Encountering what is Unpleasant, (6) Separation from what is Pleasant, (7) Not Getting What we Want, (8) (having) the Five Aggregates.  
• How do these 8 fit into the Three Types of Suffering?  
• Introduction to 1st of the 8: Birth.

Track 3 - 1. Five contemplations of the Suffering of BIRTH:

• Birth, itself, is Suffering. 
• Birth with Negative Tendencies produces Suffering.

Track 4 - Five contemplations of the Suffering of BIRTH, cont.

• Born with Negative Tendencies, cont. 
• What are "Seeds and Imprints".  
• Birth is Source of suffering. 
• Birth is Source of Afflictive Emotions:  
• Operation of Afflictive Emotions. 
• Birth Results in Unwanted Separation, cont. in Track 5.
  

Track 5 - [Handout 4].  Second of 8 Kinds of Suffering:  Five Contemplations of the Suffering of Aging

1. Handsome body deteriorates.
2. Physical strength and vigour deteriorate.  
3. Senses deteriorate.  
4. Enjoyment of sense objects fades.  
5. Suffering of the diminishment of one's lifespan.

It is well that aging happens little by little. 

If it happened all at once, it would be intolerable.

             - Kadampa Geshe Gamapa

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 3rd class of the Fall 2011 Perfection of Wisdom course
addressing the Four Noble Truths, the 2nd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 2 - Truth of Suffering - Three Kinds of Suffering

Download PDF's of Class materials and MP3 Tracks from the 2nd class of Fall 2011 term held on Wednesday, September 14:

DOWNLOAD Handouts used in Class 2 & Class NOTES  (i.e., very rough transcript):

2011 Handout 2 - Six categories of Feelings.  Three-fold Division of Suffering:  Suffering of Suffering; Suffering of Change; Pervasive Compositional Suffering (cont. Handout 3).

2011 Handout 3 - cont. Pervasive Compositional Suffering: Contaminated Five Aggregates.  Four-fold & Eight-fold Categorization of Sufferings of Suffering:  Five types of Sufferings of Birth (cont. on Handout 4).

Class 2 NOTES - rough draft transcript - offered for what they are worth. (If you are interested in assisting in proofing/editing, contact Ven. Tenzin Nordron.)

ALL FALL 2011 HANDOUTS & CHARTS are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 -"Has"/"Is" confusion - "Is a white horse white?"

Review:  Feeling, an omni-present Mental Factor accompanying every main mind:

• Feeling itself is suffering & feeling experiences suffering.  
• Feeling is what experiences the three – pleasure, displeasure or neutrality. 
• Objects are not suffering; objects cause suffering and are in the nature of suffering.

Handout 2: Feelings & Six Consciousnesses.

• Distinguishing the Truth of Suffering from Suffering (i.e., feeling).  
• Suffering is Feeling.  
• Truth of Suffering is Feeling and phenomena that induce Suffering, i.e., are in the nature of suffering.  
• Root Cause of the Truth of Suffering.

Track 2 - The (Noble) Truth of Suffering (སྡུག་བསྔལ་བདེན་པ།) - Three Kinds of Suffering:
  Suffering of Suffering - སྡུག་བསྔལ་གྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ།:

• Suffering here means any unpleasant feeling.
• Physical Suffering - Mental Factor of feeling (of displeasure) that comes along with any of the Sense Consciousness.

  Suffering of Change - འགྱུར་བའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་།:

• Contaminated feelings are produced by the fundamental mis-perception of reality.
• Contaminated (ཟག་ཅས་) Objects are Not in the Nature of Happiness.
• Main Minds & Five Omnipresent Mental Factors (སེམས་བྱུང་ལྔ་) & ‘objects of pleasant feelings’
• Happiness of sentient beings is just the temporary relief from feelings of intense suffering.

Track 3 - Suffering of Change, cont.:

• Focusing on the nature of the objects that are related to suffering.
• Objects of temporary happiness, i.e., ordinary suffering, are in the nature of suffering because eventually, as they continue being the object of experience, they turn into the nature of suffering.

Track 4 - Pervasive Compositional Suffering - ཁྱབ་པ་འདུ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་།:

• The most important of the three categories of Suffering; 
• Foundation of the other two (the Sufferings of Suffering and of Change); 
• Subtlest and most difficult to recognize.
• Desire Realm, Form Realm and Formless Realms.
• Five (Contaminated) Aggregates: What they are.

Track 5 - Handout 3 cont. Five Contaminated Aggregates - ཟག་ཅས་ཀྱི་ཕུང་པོ་ལྔ་:

• Contaminated because produced by Ignorance mis-perceiving reality, other Delusions (e.g.,anger, attachment), and Karma. 
• Pervasive Compositional Suffering of the Five Aggregates includes the entire psycho-physical (mind/body) complex that accompany Feelings.
• Why is it Pervasive.
• Questions & Answers (e.g., Buddha Nature and contamination).

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 2nd class of the Fall 2011 Perfection of Wisdom course
addressing the Four Noble Truths, the 2nd sub-topic of the 2nd Topic
(Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.