2010 Oct 20 - Exchanging Self for Others method - Class 13

Ven. Kelsang Wangmo begins presenting the Exchanging Self for Others method for generating Bodhicitta. Bodhicitta is the First of the Ten Dharma Topics presented in Chapter 1 of the Ornament for Clear Realizations, Abhisamayalamkara by Maitreya and is the subject of the Fall 2010 classes in the Perfection of Wisdom Course, English Language Advanced Buddhist Philosophy program, at the Institute for Buddhist Dialectics.

You can download MP3's from the 13th class of the Fall semester (the 51st class of 2010), held on Wednesday, October 20, by right clicking the links below.

Track 1 - is not posted yet and concerns ancillary matters raised in Q&A that took place in the 45th Class of 2010 (7th of Fall semester) on October 1.

Track 2 -  EXCHANGING SELF FOR OTHERS

• History of the Practice of Exchanging Self for Others
• To Practice Exchanging Self for Others, Understand Sequence & Meaning of Each Step
• Preliminaries to Practice of Exchanging Self for Others
• Seven-Fold Cause/Effect Practice Must Be Done Before Exchanging Self For Others Practice
• Practice of Exchanging Self for Others Based on an Understanding of Emptiness

Track 3 -  SELF-CHERISHING

• Basic Meaning of practice: Reverse Attitude that Cherishes Self and Not Others

• Identify Self-Cherishing
• Is the Wish to Be Happy, a Mind that Wishes to Be Happy, Self-Cherishing?
• Is the Wish to Attain Self-Liberation Self-Cherishing?
• Is the Innate Grasping at an Inherently Existent Self Self-Cherishing?

• Distinguishing Self-CHERISHING from Self-GRASPING (at an Inherently Existent Self)

Track 4 -  Distinguishing Self-CONCERN from Self-CHERISHING

Track 5 -  Must Self-Cherishing mind Focus 

• only on the Misapprehended Inherently Existent Self, or Can Self-Cherishing also focus on the Conventionally (validly existing) Self?

• Object of Focus of a Mind is not always its Object of Apprehension.

Track 6 -  Q & A

• HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:   Spend time reflecting upon question raised in class for discussion in the next class on Monday, 25 October:  Is it good to have Self-Cherishing? Is Self-Cherishing necessary for survival of the individual and/or the species?  (Note, The text corrects Audio of Question)

Track 7 -  Disadvantages of Self-Cherishing

2010 October 13 - Geshe Thupten Palsang Q&A- Class 10

Ven. Kelsang Wangmo invited Geshe Thupten Palsang to answer students' questions in the 10th class of the Fall 2010 semester of the Perfection of Wisdom Course. Gen Wangmo served as Geshe-la's Translator.

Geshe Thupten Pelsang is one of the most respected Tibetan Buddhist monastic scholar-practitioners of his generational cohort. Born 45 years ago in a Manang village in the Annapurna range of Nepal, he became a monk as a child and studied at Drepung Loseling Monastery in India. These days he resides at Tse Chok Ling Monastery in McLeod Ganj. Geshe-la has compiled a Rimey Lam Rim based entirely upon extracts from the words of the Buddha (Lam-Rim Chen-Moe Sa-Ched Kyi Sur-Gyen Dho-Tue Lam-Drik, Compilation of Sutras for Synthesizing the Path to Enlightenment with Reference to the Topics as Outlined in Lama Tsonkhapa’s ‘The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment’(Lam rim chen mo'i sa bcad kyi zur rgyan mdo btus lam sgrig – 2005).

You can download a PDF of a Transcript of the Class HERE (not entirely verbatim) & download MP3's from the 10th class of the Fall semester (the 48th class of 2010), held on Wednesday, October 13, by right clicking the links below.

Track 1

• Is Bodhicitta a main mind or a mental factor, with explanation?
• Why does a negative mental state at the time of death trump a lifetime of virtuous living by good people?

Track 2

• Re: Four Binding Factors required to break a Bodhisattva Vow & timing of regret?
• Re: Practices, e.g., Vajrasattva, for purifying negative karma accumulated in past (lives)?

Track 3

• Techniques to reduce attachment to the Self (i.e., ego)
• When a beginner is trying to generate Great Compassion, what kind of feelings indicate the practice is progressing?

Track 4

• As so many have attained Buddhahood before now, why are sentient beings still suffering?
• Some tenet schools say that vows are a non-associated compositional factors, similarly, what is lineage?

Track 5

• Are sentient beings actually limitless, infinite without end, as time is beginningless; or do sentient beings just number a very large amount?
• Will there be one particular time when all sentient beings have attained enlightenment?
• What about purifying negative acts committed without awareness of their negativity?

Track 6

• Is there such a thing as compassionate anger, especially in the context of Wrathful deities?

Track 7

• If we can’t posit a time when sentient beings will all be enlightened, then how can we know, apart from scriptural sources, that all sentient beings will become Buddhas?
• If one mind stream is placed into Enlightenment, have an infinite number of sentient beings been saved?

Track 8

• The role of emotions on the path?
• Specific suggestions for the practice of Tong-Len to generate Bodhicitta.

Track 9

• What are the definition, definiendum and an illustration of the Truth of Cessation?

Track 10

• How can we become more aware of the Object of Negation of Emptiness in daily life?

Track 11

• Does a Buddha perceive Conventional Truth; and if so, directly or indirectly? Is there any Conventional Truth that does not appear to sentient beings?
• How can beginners make the study of Buddhist philosophy a spiritual practice?