©2025 The Ringu Tulku Archive
In this Wisdom chapter, we begin to examine the existence of mind and the illusory nature of thought. Here an example is given of a discussion between members of the Chittamatrin (Mind Only School) and the Madhyamaka or Middle Way School of Chandrakirti, as was taught at Nalanda and which Shantideva expounded as his philosophical stance.
Through a dialogue between two perspectives, we are given insight into how these schools of thought use debate, providing various everyday objects to illustrate the main point: Does mind exist separate from the object of its radiance? Can a sword cut itself? Can a light source exist independent of darkness?
The arguments presented challenge ordinary thinking and raise even more tantalising questions which Rinpoche elucidates in a profoundly simple way.
You can can also view the teaching on the Chapter 9 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 16th May. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words.
Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Continuing the exploration through questions and answers, we enter more deeply into the dialogue. Rinpoche returns to Verse 12, discussing questions that arise when we confuse our understanding of the illusory nature of material things. It is difficult to even hold the concept that pain is illusory when we are experiencing suffering, so for this understanding to arise there must be some examination of what we normally hold to be solid to discover whether it is actually so.
The questioner asks why Buddhas, who have cut away from the causal stream of samsaric conditioning, still engage with the world? Rinpoche reasons that the Buddhas, because of their compassion and understanding, are able to move through worldly affairs without being affected emotionally in the way that ordinary beings are, because they have understood the illusory nature of things: thus they view phenomena differently to worldly beings.
You can can also view the teaching on the Chapter 9 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 16th May. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words.
Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
These verses discuss how we can understand emptiness. Here Rinpoche takes the lines of the next verses in couplets, a series of questions and responses illustrating the power of mind and its illusory nature, and on how to create merit. He uses the example of dreams to explain how mental activity can create karmic consequences––and when it will not, even when all our experience is understood to be an illusion.
We have seen in previous chapters the way in which positive and negative karma and the generation of merit can arise through the result of physical actions. Here Rinpoche compares the mind that sees phenomena as real and the mind that generates illusory experiences and he looks at how ever-changing causes and conditions over a protracted period of time will change because phenomena do not truly exist in a concrete way. He explains how a mind engaged with emotions will cause a positive or negative karmic result and how this creates the causes and conditions for future experiences even though everything is illusory.
You can can also view the teaching on the Chapter 9 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 16th May. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words.
Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
Ringu Tulku returns briefly to verse 5 before introducing Verses 6 and 8, which continue to examine whether or not things are truly existent in a concrete way. He reminds us that the Buddha taught step by step, in ways that help us understand through analysis of the objects we desire to break down their solid appearance into component parts, this helps us gain an understanding of the nature of emptiness. The text tells us that this is the difference between ordinary samsaric mind, and the mind of a meditator.
He points us to the scientific evidence that supports the teachings of the Buddha: with the right tools, even an atom can be endlessly deconstructed, proving that there is no basis for what we experience as solid, and he says that when we examine the objects of desire, through this analysis we are able to identify faults and failings even on the things we are most attracted to––which points to the power of mind in forming attachments to what we perceive as solid.
You can can also view the teaching on the Chapter 9 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 16th May. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words.
Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
This LIVE Question and Answer Session with Rinpoche took place on:
The recorded video of the live session is now above. For the audio only version, and all the audio translations, visit the Chapter 9 page.
The next LIVE Question and Answer Session with Rinpoche will be:
See the LIVE Teaching Events page for more details.
Please join us for these bi-monthly live sessions with Rinpoche and ask your question live or send them in advance using the comments areas or forms on any of the Bodhicharyavatara teaching posts.
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These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
The previous two verses have distinguished ordinary folk from yogic meditators, recognising that they have different ways of understanding reality and the truth of the way things are. The question asked here is, how does the yogic meditator who has insight into the absolute truth influence the samsaric being whose view is limited to ordinary understandings?
Rinpoche approaches this question through a process of deduction, and we come to see that while the ordinary person can never persuade the serious meditator who has gained some clarity and insight that everything is real; that yogic meditator will be able to show the truth of emptiness to the non meditator, through the analysis of the same causal conditions that create the samsaric way of thinking.
As well as this, once the illusory nature of things has been understood, the serious meditator will also realise the importance of using the same causal conditions to generate a caring and altruistic attitude in their way of life and will never lead a samsaric being into holding wrong view.
You can can also view the teaching on the Chapter 9 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 2nd May. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words.
Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
The next verses begin by describing what in Buddhism are called the two aspects of phenomena: also known as two truths of relative and ultimate reality. These describe the way the ordinary samsaric person perceives and experiences things in a relative way, and the way things actually are; the ultimate nature of what we perceive. Understanding these two aspects as different, but equally important––that they are the same thing from two perspectives, is critical to developing the right View.
It is said here that with practice, a yogic meditator will come to see the empty or transient nature of phenomena and develop an understanding that is not immediately available to ordinary samsaric beings. This is enlightened understanding which is not grounded in passions or attachments to objects, people, or concepts, in fact it is not of the intellect: ultimate reality can only be authentically discovered through experiencing it, because it goes beyond concepts. If we consider the act of dreaming, it is revealed to be a dream only after we have woken up.
Rinpoche emphasises the importance of gaining this insight, into our samsaric mind if we are to relieve ourselves and others of suffering.
You can can also view the teaching on the Chapter 9 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 2nd May. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words.
Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
In this first session of chapter 9 Rinpoche discusses the meaning of Wisdom: when we clearly experience the way things truly are, the real nature of things, we see that the true way of freedom and release from the causes of suffering come directly through the elimination of ignorance.
Rinpoche begins by explaining that while the more commonly used Tibetan terms Sherab [knowing the detail], Yeshe [knowing the nature of things], and the Sanskrit Prajna are all translated into the one word, Wisdom, in English, they have slightly different meanings. However, we should understand that the outcome of accomplishing the Paramita of Wisdom will be directly responsible for overcoming our habitual negative tendencies which are the root cause of our suffering. This ultimately leads us to freedom.
All the teachings of the Buddha are presented in Bodhicharyavatara and these are trainings leading to the generation of awakening: raising bodhichitta and through practising the Paramitas of Generosity, Discipline, Patience, Diligence and Meditation all lead to the Wisdom of understanding experientially the basic truth of the way things are.
You can can also view the teaching on the Chapter 9 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.
New sessions will be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.
Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 2nd May. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words.
Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.
In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.
These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.
©2025 The Ringu Tulku Archive