Handouts & Class Notes - FALL 2012

Below are links to Handouts 1-5 for the FALL term of the Perfection of Wisdom Course topic:   Traditionally, at the beginning of a new term, the material covered in the course previously is reviewed so that old and new students are oriented for new material.

The Handouts that are/will be posted here are prepared by Geshe Kelsang Wangmo.  These Handouts serve as the text for the FALL 2012 semester.  Also below:  links to CLASS NOTES/Partial Transcript (DRAFTS) (prepared by Ven. Tenzin Nordron) will be posted.  Every individual Class Blog Post has links to the MP3 files of the class as well as to any PDF materials related to that class.

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 1-15 & Chart 1.

2012 Fall Handout 1 - to illustrate the omniscient mind of a Buddha (Exalted Knower of All Aspects), Chapter 1 of Maitreya's Abhisamayalamkara presents 10 Topics.  So far course has covered Topic 1 - Bodhicitta (Fall 2010-Spring 2011 and begun Topic 2 - Practice Instructions which has 10 Sub-Topics of which (1) Two Truths, (2) Four Noble Truths & (3) Refuge have been covered.  Practice Topics to be studied in Fall 2012:  (4) - (6) Three Diligences.  7. Five Sublime Eyes.  8. Six Clairvoyances. 9. Path of Seeing.  9. Path of Meditaiton.  Three Diligences presented in J. Tong Khapa's Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lam Rim Chenmo) :  I.  How to Train in the perfection of Diligence (i.e., how to train):  (1) Nature of diligence (i.e. what is diligence):  Mental Factor of Joy & delight focused on virtue.

2012 Fall Handout 2

2012 Fall Handout 3

2012 Fall Handout 4

2012 Fall Handout 5

2012 Fall Handout 6

2012 Fall Handout 7

2012 Fall Handout 8

2012 Fall Handout 9

2012 Fall Handout 10

2012 Fall Handout 11

2012 Fall Chart 1 - Three Realms, Nine Levels, and Eight Meditative Absorptions,

2012 Fall Handout 12

2012 Fall Handout 13

2012 Fall Handout 14

2012 Fall Handout 15

2012 Fall Handout 16

2012 Fall Handout 17

2012 Fall Handout 18

2012 Fall Handout 19

2012 Fall Handout 20

CLASS NOTES/partial-rough draft transcripts

September 2012 Class Transcript/Notes            

NOTES - Class 2 (Sept 19) - Handout 2

NOTES - Class 3 (Sept 21) - Handouts 3 & 4

NOTES - Class 4 (Sept 24) - Handouts 4, 5 & 6

NOTES - Class 5 (Sept 26) - Handouts 6 &7

NOTES - Class 6 (Sept 28) - Handouts 7

NOTES - Class 7 (Oct 5) - Handouts 7 & 8

NOTES - Class 10 (Oct 12) - Handouts 10 &11

           

Rough drafts of notes/partial transcripts of Fall 2012 Classes on topics: 
Perfection of Wisdom Course - Ornament Ch. 1 Practie Instructions: Diligence, Divine Eyes &
Concentrations offered for what they are worth, will be posted here as they become available.

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

  

Class 12 - Form Realm, Debate re Physical Sublime Eyes

Download PDF's of Class Handouts, Class Transcript, and MP3 Tracks from the 12TH class of Fall 2012 term held on Wednesday, October 17.

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 12:

2012 Fall Handout 11

2012 Fall Handout 12

ALL FALL 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Review:  Concentrations:

• Steps in development, levels.

• Characteristics of First Concentration of Form Realm  Desire Realm.  

• 8 Levels of Concentration can cause rebirth in 8 levels of Form/Formless Realms of Samsara.  

• Disadvantages of Formless Realm.

Track 2 - HANDOUT 11, p. 2 & HANDOUT 12

• Divisions & Descriptions of Form Realm concentrations.  

•  Losing Fourth Realm Concentrations.  

•  Death in Formless Realm.

Track 3 - Nature of the Five Sublime Eyes.

• Debate:  Some assert Sublime Eyes are physical. 

• Characteristics of Eye Sense Power/Eye Consciousness, awareness.

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

This is the 12TH class of the Fall 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Five Visions (Sublime Eyes), Four Concentrations & Four Absorptions, etc., 

the 7th sub-topic of the 2nd Topic (Mahayana Practice Instructions) of 

Chapter 1 of Maitreya's Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 11 - Sublime Eye of dharma, Attaining Concentrations

Download PDF's of Class Handouts, Class Transcript, and MP3 Tracks from the 11TH class of Fall 2012 term held on Monday, October 15.

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 11:

2012 Fall Handout 11

2012 Fall Handout 12

2012 Fall Chart 1 - Three Realms, Nine Levels, and Eight Meditative Absorptions

ALL FALL 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Review:  Functions of the Sublime Eyes.

• Dying & Death.  

• Physical & Mental Basis for Sublime Eye

•  Minds pertaining to Desire Realm versus minds that have one of the 8 Concentrations that pertain to the Form & Formless Realms.

Track 2 - Review, cont.

• Sublime Eye of Dharma.  

•  Mental Basis for Bodhicitta (mental states preceding generation).   

•  Minds pertaining to Desire Realm versus minds that have one of the 8 Concentrations that pertain to the Form & Formless Realms.

Track 3 - Handout 12 & Chart 1.

•  Qualities of Form & Formless Realms. 

•  Definitions of Virtuous, Non-Virtuous & Neutral karmic actions.  

•  Four Concentrations' qualities.

•  Afflictions in Desire, Form & Formless Realms.   

• Questions & Answers: 

• Attaining Concentrations as Human.
• If we've all be in born in the Formless realms, how did we fall from Peak of Cyclic Existence?

Track 4 - Questions & Answers

• Grasping to Self at time of Death, Death process

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

This is the 11TH class of the Fall 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Five Visions (Sublime Eyes), Four Concentrations & Four Absorptions, etc., 

the 7th sub-topic of the 2nd Topic (Mahayana Practice Instructions) of 

Chapter 1 of Maitreya's Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 10 - 4 Concentrations, 4 Absorptions, Form & Formless Realms

Download PDF's of Class Handouts, Class Transcript, and MP3 Tracks from the 10TH class of Fall 2012 term held on Friday, October 12.

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 10:

2012 Fall Handout 10

2012 Fall Handout 11

2012 Fall Chart 1 - Three Realms, Nine Levels, and Eight Meditative Absorptions

ALL FALL 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Emotion and Dharma Teachings:

• Emotional Response to Topics re Clairvoyance. 
• Scientific Experiment validating Mental abilities, e.g., Premonition

Track 2 - Clairvoyance & Reliance on a Spiritual Teacher (Lama); Blessings (chin lab - བྱིན་བརླབ་).

Track 3 -Review Class 10 & HANDOUT 10 -

• Five States of Mind, the Five Sublime Eyes
• Spiritual Teachers (Lamas) & the Five Divine Eyes
• HANDOUT 10 Corrections

Track 4 - HANDOUT 11 - Five Sublime Eyes per Panchen Sonam Drakpa:

             I. Physical Basis of the Five Sublime Eyes.

• First & Second Sublime Eyes of Buddhist & Non-Buddhist Gurus:
• Physical Sublime Eye and Celestial Eye, 
• Debate: Can Non-Buddhists cultivate Sublime Eyes?

Track 5 -  II. Mental Basis of the Five Sublime Eyes – CHART 1

• Four Concentrations (བསམ་གཏན་; Skt. dhyānas) & Four Formless Absorptions (གཟུགས་མེད་ཀྱི་སྙོམས་འཇུག; Skt. ārūpya-samāpatti)

• Rebirth in Three Realms - Desire Realm, Form Realm (གཟུགས་ཁམས་, rūpadhātu) & Formless Realm (གཟུགས་མེད་ཁམས་; ārūpadhātu) as Karmic Consequence of Mental Actions:

• Our environment/reality is created by Mind. 

• Non-Buddhists Seek Moksha/Liberation by developing the Four Concentrations & Four Formless Absorptions which produce rebirth in their respective Realms.  Moksha is believed to be attained upon rebirth in the highest Formless Realm:

• Four Formless Realms: 
• Limitless Space - ནམ་མཁའ་མཐའ་ཡས་, Skt. - ākāśānantya; Limitless Consciousness - རྣམ་ཤེས་མཐའ་་ཡས་, Skt. - vijñānānantya; Nothingness - ཅི་ཡང་མེད་, Skt. – ākimcanya; and Peak of Cyclic Existence - སྲིད་རྩེ་,  Skt. – bhavāgra)

Track 6 - Questions & Answers

What is the Form Realm?  
Mahayana Motivation to attain Concentrations?
Can we Choose Next Rebirth – Free Will?

NOTES of Class 10 (Oct 12) rough draft transcript of class offered for what it's worth.  

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

This is the 10TH class of the Fall 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Five Visions (Sublime Eyes), Four Concentrations & Four Absorptions, etc., the 7th sub-topic of the 2nd Topic (Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.

Class 9 - Divine Eyes

Download PDF's of Class Handouts and MP3 Tracks from the 9TH class of Fall 2012 term held on Wednesday, October 10.

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 9:

2012 Fall Handout 9
2012 Fall Handout 10

ALL FALL 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Review -

• Emptiness in Geshe Curriculum. 
• Emptiness as Antidote to Obstacles to Diligence.   

• Five Divine Eyes [Handout 9].

Track 2 - Five Divine Eyes per Gyaltsab Je.  [HANDOUTS 9 & 10]

• Objects of Eye Consciousness
• Expressive Sound
• Object Possessors 

• Divine Eye enables Lamas to follow disciples from life-to-life. 
• Issues related to Guru/Lama teachers.

Track 3 - Five Divine Eyes per Gyaltsab Je, cont. 

• Omniscience of Buddha.
• Karmic connections between their sentient beings of 3,000-fold world systems..

Track 4 - Conclude Gyaltsab Je’s Explanation re Five Sublime Eye.

• Panchen Sonam Drakpa’s General Meaning presentation of Five Sublime Eyes:

• 7th Mahayana Practice Instructions re the five sublime eyes is intended to enable practitioners to become more self-sufficient in their practice.

• Citations from the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras respecting the Divine Eyes.

• Lamas are able perceive deaths in far off lands.
• Karmic connections between their sentient beings of 3,000-fold world systems. 

• Four Concentrations: 4 hours of calm abiding required for 1st Concentration.

 Conclude HANDOUT 10.

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

This is the 9TH class of the Fall 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course.
Subject: 7th sub-topic (Five Sublime Eyes) of the 2nd Topic (Mahayana Practice Instructions), Chapter 1 of Maitreya's Ornament for Clear Realizations.

Class 8 - Diligence; 5 Divine Eyes & 6 Clairvoyances

Download PDF's of Class Handouts and MP3 Tracks from the 8TH class of Fall 2012 term held on Monday, October 8.

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 8:

2012 Fall Handout 8
2012 Fall Handout 9
2012 Fall Handout 10

ALL FALL 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Review Explanation of Diligence.

Track 2 - Why persons of Sharp Faculty determine to realize Emptiness conceptually before generating Bodhicitta.

• Conclude Diligence of Non-Weariness

Track 3 - Conclude Presentation of Diligence [Mahayana Practice Instructions 4-6]

Track 4 - Introduce Mahayana Practice Instructions (7) Five Sublime Eyes & (8) Six Clairvoyances - [HANDOUT 9]

Track 5 - Questions & Answers

[HANDOUT 10] - Greatness of Indian Civilization that began 7,000+ years ago

Continue text on Five Sublime Eyes - Yojanas (an ancient Indian philosopher's calculation of the circumference of the world in Yojanas closely corresponds to its actual measurement)

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This is the 8TH class of the Fall 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which concludes presentation of Diligence (Joyous Effort), the 4th-6th sub-topics & begins the 7th & 8th sub-topics (Five Sublime Eyes & Six Clairvoyances) of the 2nd Topic (Mahayana Practice Instructions)
of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's Ornament for Clear Realizations.

Class 7 - Emptiness as Antidote to Obstacles to Diligence

Download PDF's of Class Handouts, Notes, and MP3 Tracks from the 7TH class of Fall 2012 term held on Friday, October 5.

DOWNLOAD Handouts - text for Class 7:

2012 Fall Handout 7

2012 Fall Handout 8

ALL FALL 2012 PDF Handouts are HERE.

DOWNLOAD MP3 TRACKS:

Track 1 - Review Explanation of Diligence from the Lam Rim Chenmo:

• Generating and Sustaining Diligence by reflecting on antidotes to their obstacles (three types of laziness)

Track 2 - Review Class 6 [HANDOUT 7]

Three Types of Diligence per Ornament for Clear Realizations:

Explanations by Haribadhra and Gyaltsab Je's commentaries on Ornament for Clear Realizations re: Antidotes to Obstacles to Generating & Sustaining Joy in Practice:

Instructions on Eliminating Manifest Discordant Factors, i.e., Negativities:

1. Instructions on the Causes for Non-Degeneration of one's Practice, i.e., for developing the Diligence of Non-Adherence.
2. Instructions on the Causes for Increasing one's Practice, i.e., for developing the Diligence of Non-Weariness.
3. Instructions on the Causes for Not Falling into the Hinayana [Vehicle], i.e., to sustain the Diligence of Thoroughly Upholding the [Mahayana] Path.

• Our Attachments that serve as Obstacles to Developing Practice arise from our pleasant/happy experiences (that ironically are products of past virtuous activities).
• Our Weariness and Boredom are Obstacles to Sustaining Practice.

Explanation of the 3 Instructions:

(1) Causes for Degeneration of one's Practice, i.e., for developing Obstacles to the Diligence of Non-Adherence per Haribahadra - Attachment.

Antidote to those Obstacles:  Realizing Emptiness - at least Remember:

“Phenomena (objects, feelings, people, the Self, etc. ) do not exist the way they appear to me to exist"

Track 3 - [HANDOUT 8] - Realizing Emptiness is Antidote to Laziness of Adhering to Negative Actions.

(2) Diligence of Non-Weariness:  Causes for Increasing one's Practice by Countering Laziness of Feeling Disheartened.

It is easier to understand that an object doesn’t truly exist than to understand that the mind that perceives the object also doesn’t truly exist.

Track 4 - Antidote to Laziness of Discouragement arisen from Grasping after Inherently Existing Lack of Attainment after (Eons) of Practice:

• Realize the Emptiness of Buddhahood by realizing the Emptiness of all phenomena.

• How to Conceptually Realize the Emptiness of All Phenomena & Avoid Discouragement:

• Two types of Selfless Objects: 
• Selflessness of the ‘I’, & 
• Selflessness of anything that is not the ‘I’.

Is it necessary to realize the Emptiness of one or the other first?  Is it better to only meditate on one object to generate conceptual understanding?

To understand Emptiness use the following syllogistic formula: 

                A (any object) is B (not inherently existent) because C (reasoning).

E.g.,  A (this Internet page) is B (not truly/inherently existent) because C (it is dependently originated).

Analyze any and many objects (A) using many different analyses (C) to determine whether or not (B) they exist in the manner in which they appear, i.e., whether or not they are truly/inherently existent or merely imputedly existent.

Examples of A (objects) to analyze:  Actions (walking, meditating), Persons (my Self, others), External Objects, Mental Objects (conceptual ideas –freedom, enlightenment, anger, boredom).

Examples of C:  All phenomena are dependently arisen, do not exist solidly, are impermanent (constantly changing) if they have parts, are neither one or many.

Questions & Answers


NOTES of Class 7 (Oct 5) rough draft transcript of class offered for what it's worth.  

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

This is the 7TH class of the Fall 2012 term Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses Diligence (Joyous Effort), the 4th-10th sub-topics of the 2nd Topic (Mahayana Practice Instructions) of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.