Why Study Buddhism? – Alan Wallace

We are honored to be able to host the Venerable Thubten Semkye from Sravasti Abbey for a series of teachings on the Six Paramitas. Venerable will be here July 13-15. We will be posting more details soon. To learn more about Venerable, click here – Ven. Thubten Semkye.

In this short teaching, Mingyur Rinpoche discusses one of the four common foundational practices, also called the four thoughts. These practices help us understand our true nature and develop wisdom that can end suffering. They aid in seeing and ending our negative habitual patterns. The first thought, precious human birth, is a contemplation of appreciation…

Here I shall say nothing that has not been said before, And in the art of prosody I have no skill. I therefore have no thought that this might be of benefit to others; I wrote it only to habituate my mind.

Samsara is not the planet, the planet is perfectly in sync, it’s the minds of the beings that inhabit the planet that makes it samsara or nirvana. When you enter nirvana you don’t suddenly disappear you’re still living on the same planet but the planet itself has transformed because the mind has transformed. It all…