The Index Page provides an outline of the topics discussed in each of the lectures. Click on the links below to go directly to a particular lecture.

Please note: Because there were no dates on the recordings, the dates and the breaks in teachings are approximations.

Lecture 1: Offering Practice

• The beggar and the billionaire
• How to do a tea offering
• Seeing the guru as the dharmakaya

Lecture 2: The Need for Great Compassion

• Subduing the mind
• Karma and the body
• The need for great compassion
• Bodhisattvas welcome suffering
• Why are we scared of hell?
• Having a good heart is the best benefit
• From ignorance all delusions arise
• Questions and answers
• Dedications

Lecture 3: The Root of Samsara

• The emptiness of the tall finger
• The definition of ignorance
• The fear of realizing there is no I
• Seeing this hallucination brings compassion

Lecture 4: This Precious HUman Rebirth

• Zina and Mummy Max
• Rinpoche in a Hindu cemetery
• The concept of permanence cheats us
• The preciousness of this body
• The qualities of a precious human rebirth
• Renounce attachment
• We can achieve enlightenment only with this perfect human rebirth
• The concept of permanence cheats us (back to)
• All phenomena are like illusions
• Animal liberation
• The importance of holy objects

Lecture 5: Mahayana REfuge

• The various ways of taking refuge
• Without the guru, there is no Buddha
• The need for guru devotion
• Seeing mistakes in the guru
• Knowing the cause of happiness and suffering
• Four people reciting the Tara prayer
• Is breathing meditation Dharma?
• A virtuous motivation is the door to all happiness
• The base and the label
• Suffering refers to all aspects of samsara

Lecture 6: tHE iMPORTANCE OF rEFUGE AND pRECEPTS 

• The importance of refuge and precepts
• The karma of sexual misconduct
• We can’t judge the actions of our teachers
• The power of Chenrezig and his mantra
• The meaning of OM MANI PADME HUM
• How to practice the Dharma
• Advantages of taking vows
• Taking the lay vows

Lecture 7: tHE KINDNESS OF THE GURU

• How we are guided by Chenrezig
• Why the guru is kinder than the three times’ buddhas
• The dharmakaya is the absolute guru
• Acting with a bodhicitta motivation
• Prostrating to the Thirty-five Buddhas
• Advice on daily practice

LECTURE 8: The Power of Tantra

• Is there any point to ignorance?
• Breaktime should be breaktime from samsara
• The twelve links
• Monkeys don’t choose to be monkeys
• Animal liberation
• Chenrezig initiation motivation
• Protecting the mind
• The power of tantra
• The disadvantages of the self-cherishing mind
• The advantages of bodhicitta
• We must create even the smallest positive karma