Instructions on the Garland of Views

The great master Padmasambhava

The great master Padmasambhava

Instructions on the Garland of Views

The only written teaching by Padmasambhava (Lopon Pema Jungna)

A note summarizing the different views, vehicles and so on.

Homage to the Blessed Manjushrikumara and Vajradhharma!

The Worldly Paths

The countless erroneous views that exist in the realms of the world may be subsumed into four categories: (i) the unreflective, (ii) the materialists, (iii) the nihilists and (iv) the extremists.

The unreflective do not understand whether or not all things and events have causes and conditions; they are thoroughly ignorant. The materialists do not understand whether or not there exist previous and subsequent lives and, relying upon the words of mundane secrets, they acquire wealth and power [only] for this one life. The nihilists view all phenomena to be devoid of cause and effects and maintain all elements of existence that have come about in this one life as having done so accidentally. Continue reading »

H.H. Dalai Lama: What is the Mind?

By His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Cambridge, MA USA

There is little agreement among Western scientists about the nature and function of mind, consciousness—or even about whether such a thing exists. Buddhism’s extensive explanations, however, stand firm after twenty-five centuries of philosophical debate and experiential validation. Here His Holiness the Dalai Lama explains the Buddhist concept of mind to the participants of a Mind Science symposium at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

One of the fundamental views in Buddhism is the principle of “dependent origination.” This states that all phenomena, both subjective experiences and external objects, come into existence in dependence upon causes and conditions; nothing comes into existence uncaused. Given this principle, it becomes crucial to understand what causality is and what types of cause there are. In Buddhist literature, two main categories of causation are mentioned:

  1. external causes in the form of physical objects and events, and

  2. internal causes such as cognitive and mental events. Continue reading »