This series presents chapters from Freedom Through Understanding in a multimedia format that weaves together all the assets found in the Archive: transcripts enhanced as much as possible by video, audio and images, and supplemented by other related material. We hope your understanding of these precious teachings is deepened by engaging the Dharma in this multidimensional way.
Freedom Through Understanding is based upon teachings given by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche at a weekend seminar in Surrey, England in 1975. Preceded by Lama Yeshe’s lecture on meditation, these teachings encompass the entire Buddhist path to enlightenment.
Click on the chapter links below to experience these teachings, or go to multimedia.lamayeshe.com to find the free collection of all LYWA multimedia titles.
Making the Most of Your Life: In this multimedia title, Lama Yeshe discusses our human potential and how to act in a way that leads us to everlasting, peaceful happiness, a truly joyful state. Lama advises the benefits of knowing the relative nature of our own mind and how this inner understanding or knowledge-wisdom can end our suffering. This title presents Chapter Three from Freedom Through Understanding.
How to Meditate: Lama shares his profoundly experiential understanding of how mantra is a tool for meditation; how improper motivation is the cause of obstacles; how right actions depend upon the wisdom from meditation, and how dedicating to others protects us from falling into ego. You can also listen to Lama guiding a short meditation to purify our body, speech and mind in order to remove obstacles to successful meditation. This title presents Chapter Four from Freedom Through Understanding.
The Importance of Motivation: Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how we must prepare our mind to listen to Dharma teachings by establishing a pure motivation, which is vital to making our Dharma study the cause of happiness. The most perfect pure motivation is the mind of bodhicitta, the determination to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. This title presents Chapter Five from Freedom Through Understanding.
Making Life Meaningful: Lama Zopa Rinpoche rejoices in the rarity and great opportunities afforded by our present human rebirth and encourages us to examine fearlessly whether or not we are creating the causes necessary to attain a human rebirth again in the future. This is a presentation of Chapter Seven from Freedom Through Understanding.
The Shortcomings of Attachment: From beginningless lifetimes we have acted under the influence of attachment, which gives rise to all our problems. Lama Yeshe encourages us to open our hearts and minds by replacing the tightness of attachment with the expansive mind wishing to benefit others. Lama also warns that cultivating a mere intellectual understanding of spiritual practice is not enough. Instead we must be realistic, act sincerely, and practice to the best of our ability every day. This title presents Chapter Eight from Freedom Through Understanding.
Giving and Taking on the Breath: Lama Yeshe guides us through the Mahayana practice of tong-len where we give all our causes of happiness to others and bring all their causes of suffering into our heart. Lama impresses upon us how this practice helps us flush out our egotistical self-cherishing mind while simultaneously planting the seeds for liberation and enlightenment. This is a presentation of Chapter Nine from Freedom Through Understanding.
The Best Answers Come Through Meditation: In this latest multimedia offering, Lama Yeshe calls upon us to turn intellectual knowledge into living reality through meditation. Lama then graciously answers questions from students on a variety of topics including the karma of being born female, how to manage the negative mind once it is recognized, what meditations to do upon waking and before sleep and the reasons we must dedicate the merit of our actions. This is a presentation of Chapter Eleven from Freedom Through Understanding.
