Suitable for Beginners: Recent Episodes
Kadampa Buddhism
"Meditation is an action of mind whose nature is single-pointed concentration, and whose function is to make the mind peaceful and clam"
Geshe-la has helped us understand that causing Kadam Dharma to flourish will give protection and happiness to all living beings.
Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong explores how we can move beyond temporary relief from suffering to find true freedom and happiness in this life and future lives. By learning from Buddhist teachings and applying them to our daily lives, we can break the cycle of suffering and achieve lasting peace. This practical advice is accessible to everyone, regardless of their beliefs, and encourages us to make the most of our human life in pursuit of genuine liberation.
Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong discusses the increasing amount of suffering in the world and the need for a correct method to solve human problems. She explains that this method cannot come from an ordinary person, but from an enlightened being such as Buddha Shakyamuni. She emphasizes the importance of understanding Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths, which can lead to the cessation of human problems.
We have no wish to accept things we don't want. The 1st step in accepting suffering is to acknowledge it is unavoidable; Accepting pain and suffering is part of life, it is a realistic step to then coping with it in a way it doesn't make you unhappy. When we learn to accept difficult circumstances patiently, the real problem disappears.More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Solve Our Human Problems and How to Transform Your Life.
All of Buddha's teachings can be summed up in 3 lines: Abandoning non-virtue, practicing virtue and controlling the mind. This is Buddha Dharma. Buddhist teaching provides a method for controlling the mind.More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Understand the Mind and How to Transform Your Life.
A simple yet powerful breathing meditation from Venerable Geshe-la combined with visualization techniques, designed to help individuals transform their minds from negative to peaceful states. By exhaling negativities, worries, and anxiety in the form of dark smoke and inhaling pure positive energy as radiant white light, practitioners can gradually experience a more peaceful mind and a sensation of pure light within their body and mind, ultimately promoting inner peace and mental clarity.
Gen-la Thubten discusses abandoning delusions, such as anger, attachment, jealousy, and pride. He explains that temporary cessations of delusions, such as when one is not currently angry, are not enough, and that the goal is to attain a true, permanent cessation of delusions. To do so, one must use opponents, such as love to prevent hatred, and patience to prevent anger, and must ultimately develop wisdom that directly realizes emptiness.
What is the reason that Buddhists gather? For refuge, to gain a clear and confident understanding of the practice, for encouragement, for inspiration and for empowerment. What is the reason that Buddhists gather? For refuge, to gain a clear and confident understanding of the practice, for encouragement, for inspiration and for empowerment.More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Transform Your Life and Modern Buddhism.
Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong discusses the importance of developing universal compassion through the practice of cherishing all living beings. She explains how our belief that our own happiness and freedom are most important, while neglecting the happiness and freedom of others, is rooted in ignorance, and how we must abandon this ignorance through wisdom to find true happiness. She emphasizes that the belief in the importance of the happiness and freedom of all other living beings is more important than our own, and through this correct view, we can develop universal compassion and wishing love. She concludes by discussing the importance of wisdom and the teachings of Kadam Dharma to change our mind swiftly and attain pure and everlasting happiness.
Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong discusses how to change our views, intentions, and actions to lead a happy life. She explains that changing our ordinary intentions, contaminated by selfishness, into a good heart is essential. A good heart brings good results and is the main meaning of being a Kadampa. The main practice of a Kadampa is cherishing all living beings, and a good heart is the best method to solve daily problems. Changing our intentions into a good heart doesn't require formal sitting meditation and can be done anywhere, anytime. Practicing Dharma is the union of daily life and Dharma instruction, and we need to train practically. To find happiness and liberation from suffering, we need to control our mind and identify, reduce, and abandon our delusions. Lastly, we need to change our activities and turn them into the six perfections: giving, moral discipline, patience, effort, concentration, and wisdom.
We never learned how to fulfil our deepest wish for lasting happiness. Geshe-la says that he never denies modern life, but if we ignore ancient wisdom we are making a big mistake. We have a feeling that the method we are choosing to make us happy, like technology, is not working. Why? Because we are intelligent, through concentrating on external development and technological advancement in our search for happiness, we ignore internal development of virtue, such as compassion, wisdom. Then our technology becomes very powerful but our mind becomes very rough and uncontrolled.
Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong talks about the importance of wisdom and spiritual teachings as presented in the book "How to Transform Your Life" by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Gen-la discuss how wisdom is a deep knowledge that understands meaningful objects, and how the pursuit of wisdom is the greatest meaning of our lives. Gen-la also emphasize the importance of practicing spiritual teachings to develop and maintain inner peace, which is the key to achieving pure and everlasting happiness. Gen-la highlights that wisdom is not talked about in society and that we have been looking for happiness in the wrong places.More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Transform Your Life and Modern Buddhism.
We can see in our own experience that we can transform our mental states from busy, distracted states to calm, peaceful states even with breathing meditation.When our mind is peaceful we are free from worries and stress, mental discomforts. Therefore we experience true happiness. In the space of a peaceful mind there is a feeling of contentment and a sense of wellbeing. All problems of unhappiness are solved in the space of our peaceful mind.Everybody needs to have this experience because everyone wishes happiness in their life. Therefore it is very important to learn the method to make ourselves and others happy.
Modern Kadampa Buddhism or Modern Buddhism is a practical presentation of Buddhism for the western world. More information on this subject can be found in the book How to Transform Your Life and Modern Buddhism .
Modern Buddhism was created for a modern world. To practice, you don't need to do formal meditation. You can incorporate it into your daily life whilst at work, at home, in the car etc. Your daily life is not an obstacle to your practice; it can be incorporated into it.More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Transform Your Life and Modern Buddhism.
The more strength of mind we have, the more patient, positive, peaceful and happy we can be no matter what is happening externally. The person who has strength of mind can cope with anything. If you want a strong mind, you have to make a decision to train your mind, and then confidence will follow.More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Understand the Mind and How to Transform Your Life.
We need to stop identifying with our delusions and start identifying with our actual potential...to become a Buddha. Our job is to help our Buddha nature come alive within us.More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Transform Your Life and Modern Buddhism.
If we don't train in meditation we have a hard time controlling the mind, and we become vulnerable to changing external circumstances. We feel that our happiness is dependant on external situations. We need something reliable like meditation so we can control our mind regardless of changing external circumstances.More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Transform Your Life and Modern Buddhism.
Aspiration (desire/wish) is one of the 51 mental factors in Venerable Geshe-la's book "How to Understand the Mind". The difference between a wise person and a fool is their aspirations; be sure your aspirations are correct.More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Understand the Mind and How to Transform Your Life.
When we see the real nature and source of our anxiety, we'll eventually gain freedom from it. We become anxious in the face of uncertainty and adversity, but it doesn't mean the uncertainty is the cause of our anxiety. The cause is inside our mind; our uncontrolled mind. Anxiety is the experience of an uncontrolled mind. To solve our anxiety problem we just need to learn to control the one thing we can - our own mind.
The essence of what it means to be a Dharma practitioner can be summed up in 3 steps: 1) receive correct instruction. 2) Mix our mind with these instructions via meditation. 3) Focus on virtuous aspirationsMore information on this subject can be found in the bookHow to Transform Your Life
Every day we need to recognize we have a precious human life, which is why our Lamrim meditation on death and impermanence is so important. If we understand death and impermanence, we will take advantage of our precious human life and not waste a second of it.
It's important to have confidence and also patience to reduce, and eventually abandon completely, all feelings of fear, anxiety and worry. This freedom from anxiety has many levels - we gradually improve as our wisdom and spiritual experience grows.
The most important thing is to improve our faith in Je Tsongkhapa and Dorje Shugden. Geshe-la encourages us to practice Heart Jewel everyday. We should care for our faith as if it is a precious jewel. As soon as we make the sun of our faith shine, we receive blessings and our mind becomes peaceful, calm and positive.
We may die before we purify our negative Karma, so we should not wait to do it. Do it now. Our reliance on the spiritual guide depends on our belief in Karma.
Meditation is an essential spiritual practice for controlling the mind. The purpose of meditation is to make the mind calm and peaceful, then we will be free from worry, which leads to happiness.
We make the determination and then the promise to go for refuge, which means applying effort to receive Buddha's blessings. Why do we go for refuge? To permanently liberate ourselves and others from suffering. Temporary liberation is not good enough. We need it for countless future lives.
Pure happiness comes from wisdom, which comes from practicing pure spiritual teachings, known as Dharma. Inner peace is pure happiness because it comes from wisdom, not worldly enjoyment.
Geshe-la is caring for us and the tradition. He encourages us to work in harmony and cherish each other. He gives us everything we need and is the source of all happiness, joy and goodness.
Our problems and unhappiness are all created by our uncontrolled desire (wishing ourselves to be happy all the time). If we wish for others to be happy all the time, then we will not experience problems or unhappiness ourselves. To do this we must learn to control our mind; principally our uncontrolled desire.
If our hearts are peaceful, we contribute actively to World Peace. We practice Buddhism to deveop wisdom, cultivate a good heart and maintain a peaceful state of mind. Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible. If our hearts are peaceful, we contribute actively to World Peace. We practice Buddhism to develop wisdom, cultivate a good heart and maintain a peaceful state of mind. Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible.
If our aspriations are mistaken we will not find happiness.More information on this subject can be found in the bookHow to Transform Your Life
It is most important to cultivate and put effort into appropriate aspirations which are in accordance with our basic wishes to be happy and free from suffering.More information on this subject can be found in the bookHow to Transform Your Life
Looking at how we need to recognise and identify our delusions. Of the 3 stages of identifying, reducing and Abandoning delusions Gen la Jampa discusses the first- identifying.More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Transform Your Life and The Mirror of Dharma.
Negative karma ripens as a negative cycle, keeping us bound in a cycle of suffering life after life. Signs you have purified. The Power of Regret and the Power of Reliance.More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Transform Your Life, and Modern Buddhism.
We need to study and deeply contemplate the law of action and effect, karma, if we want to quickly make progress out of suffering. Stories like Shri Datta’s help us understand the hidden connection between our past actions and their present effect. Another example to consider is how the practice of moral discipline is like the great earth.More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Transform Your Life, and Modern Buddhism.
A spiritual practitioner is concerned for future lives. How we get there depends on the potentials in our mind we want virtuous potentials. We want to get rid of negative potentials. Negative actions create negative potentials leading us into lower realms.More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Transform Your Life, and Modern Buddhism.
We can make sure we have a happy life. We can choose how we respond to difficulty.
More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Transform Your Life and Modern Buddhism.
Normally success is measured by things like our material resources. Worldly success does not bring freedom from suffering and problems. We don’t know how to be happy all the time.
More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Transform Your Life and Modern Buddhism.
Genla Dekyong explains how the mind is the creator of all, and we can stop the hallusination by realizing the true nature of things - Emptiness of all phenomena.
More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Understand the Mind and Modern Buddhism.
Genla Dekyong explains by understanding how the mind moves, we can stop the mind functioning by stopping the wind on which it is mounted.
More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Understand the Mind and Modern Buddhism.
Gen-la is describing where we are going wrong, explaining how we need to develop and adapt to correct view. I need to identify my I my mind and body correctly as mere appearance.
More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Transform Your Life and Modern Buddhism.
We need to know how we feel when focusing on an object. If focused on a person as an object of aversion, then non virtuous minds arise, we have uneasiness, and can blame them instead of internal inappropriate feelings.
More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Solve Our Human Problems and How to Transform Your Life.
Gen-la discusses the first 3 dangers of not meditating on death and not developing mindfulness of death. The first is not remembering dharma and death. The second one is if we do remember dharma but don't remember our death we won't put dharma into practice. So even if we remember dharma, and put it into practice, if we don't have mindfulness of death our dharma practice will be impure. Gen-la discusses what pure dharma is. Renouncing attachment to this life.
More information on this subject can be found in the books Modern Buddhism and Joyful Path of Good Fortune.
Within Buddha's teachings we learn to identify within ourself where all of our fears and problem comes from. If we can learn to let go of our habitual view regarding ourself as most important and instead learn to cherish others we will become a fearless person.
More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Solve Our Human Problems and How to Transform Your Life.
By training in Patience--acceptance we can learn to maintain a peaceful mind even in the midst of life's difficulties.
More information on this subject can be found in the books How to Solve Our Human Problems and How to Transform Your Life.