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LR Retreat Med Outlines SK MP 1MonthRetr09
LR Retreat Med Outlines SK MP 1MonthRetr09
Lam Rim
Meditation Outlines
by Venerable Sangye Khadro
If you cannot find a guru with all ten qualities, try to find one who has at least five:
1-3. A mind subdued by the three higher trainings: ethics, concentration, and wisdom
4. Having love and compassion
5. Having a realization of suchness
If you cannot find a guru with these ten or five qualities, try to find one who has at least the following
three qualities:
1. More good qualities than faults
2. More concern for others than for himself/herself
3. More concern for future lives than this life
Conclusion: In order to attain enlightenment (and even to obtain good rebirths in future lives and liberation from
samsara), we need to rely on a qualified spiritual teacher. And we need to check carefully to make sure that a
teacher is properly qualified before making the decision to reply upon him/her as our guru.
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MEDITATION 2: The qualities of the disciple; advantages of relying on a guru;
disadvantages of not relying properly
Conclusion: generate the determination to do your best to rely properly on your teacher and never disparage or reject
him/her, and confess/purify any mistakes you might make.
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MEDITATION 3: How to rely on the guru with thought (part 1)
Conclusion: Once we have decided to take a particular person as our guru, we must train in seeing that teacher as
the Buddha, contemplating their good qualities again and again. Also, we must understand the disadvantages of
seeing faults in the guru, and learn to stop finding faults. If we do happen to conceive of faults in the guru, we
should confess this and refrain from doing it again.
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MEDITATION 4: How to rely on the guru with thought (part 2); how to rely with
actions
Conclusion: It is in dependence on our spiritual teachers that we are able to free ourselves from all suffering and
its causes, and to attain peace and happiness, especially the highest state, enlightenment – even in this lifetime!
Generate a strong feeling of respect and reverence, and concentrate on that.
Conclusion: Generate the wish to practice these three ways of relying on your gurus through your actions, and
think about how you can do it.
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PART II: The Stages of Training the Mind
Contemplate each of these eight states: What would it be like if I was born in these situations? Would I be able to
practice the Dharma?
Conclusion: Generate joy that you are free from these inopportune situations, and focus single-pointedly on that
experience.
Conclusion: If you recognize that you have these ten, recognize how fortunate you are. Generate great joy, like a
beggar who has found a precious jewel, and focus your mind single-pointedly on that joyful feeling.
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Meditation 7: The great value of a precious human rebirth, and how it is rare and
difficult to obtain
Contemplate how the precious human rebirth is rare and difficult to obtain:
1. In terms of its causes: it is difficult to create the causes for a precious human rebirth, namely
pure morality, generosity, patience, and stainless prayers.
2. In terms of numbers:
• Among all migrations the happy migrations are rare, and
• Among happy migrations a precious human rebirth is rare.
3. In terms of an analogy: The Buddha said that obtaining a precious human rebirth is more
difficult and rare than for a blind turtle—who lives on the bottom of a great ocean and comes
up once every hundred years—to put its head through a golden yoke floating on the surface.
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The Small Scope
The stages of the path shared with persons of small capacity
Impermanence and Death
Meditation 8: The disadvantages of not being mindful of death, and the benefits of
being mindful of death
Meditation 11: Only spiritual practice can help you at the time of death
Contemplate the last three points of the nine-point meditation on death, which come under the heading of “at the
time of death, only Dharma can help”:
1. Your loved ones cannot help
2. Your possessions and enjoyments cannot help
3. Your own body cannot help
Conclusion: Make the decision to practice the Dharma purely, without being mixed with the eight worldly
concerns..
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The Lower Realms of Samsara
It is certain that we will die, but we do not know when death will occur. When we die, our mind does not cease,
but will take rebirth in either a happy or unhappy migration. We have no choice or control regarding which type of
rebirth we take; it will happen according to our karma. If we have created many negative karmas in this life, or
past lives, one of these could ripen at the time of death and propel us to a rebirth in one of the three unfortunate
realms. Contemplate these three realms to get a sense of how completely undesirable it would be to be born in them.
The hell realms– There are eighteen hells: eight hot hells (where the beings experience intense fire,
torture, etc), eight cold hells (where the beings are in the midst of ice, without any source of warmth),
the neighboring hells (e.g. the Pit of Embers; these lie outside the hot hells), and the occasional hells
(for example, having ordinary experiences during the day and hell-like sufferings during the night, or
vice-versa).
The animal realm—animals in the wild suffer from hunger, thirst, heat, cold, getting killed and eaten
by other animals or by people, etc. Domestic animals may also experience some of these sufferings, but
even if they are well taken care of, they lack freedom to go where they want, etc. The worst suffering of
animals is their lack of intelligence, such that they cannot practice Dharma.
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Taking Refuge
Meditation 13: The causes of taking refuge
Contemplate the following two causes of refuge, and generate them sincerely in your mind:
1. Fear of the sufferings of the lower realms
2. Conviction that the Three Jewels can protect you from the lower realms:
• Buddha, who is free from all that is negative and perfect in all that is positive, is the founder of
refuge
• Dharma, his liberating teachings, is the actual refuge
• Sangha, those who follow the teachings, guide and inspire us
We can also think of Buddha as being like a doctor who diagnoses our illness and prescribes the
medicine, the Dharma as being like the medicine that cures us, and the Sangha as being like nurses
who help us while we are recovering.
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Meditation 15: Commitments and benefits of refuge
Also, it is good to make three prostrations to the Triple Gem in the morning and evening, and to take
refuge three times in the morning and three times in the evening, by reciting a refuge prayer.
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The Law of Cause and Effect/Karma
1. Karma is definite – non-virtuous actions bring suffering, never happiness, and virtuous actions
bring happiness, never suffering. Conclusion: “In order to achieve happiness in the future and
avoid suffering, I must practice virtue and avoid non-virtue.”
2. Karma increases – even small actions can bring immense results, just as one small seed can
bring a huge tree bearing many flowers and fruits. Conclusion: “I must try my best to refrain
from even small negative actions, and to create even small virtuous actions.”
3. One does not experience the results of actions that one does not do – one does not
experience sufferings for which one did not create the causes, and one cannot expect to
experience happiness for which one did not create the causes. Conclusion: “There is no way
that I will experience good results in the future unless I create the causes for them, and I will
not have to experience bad results as long as I avoid creating the causes of those.”
4. Actions done do not disappear – once an action has been created, an imprint is left on one’s
consciousness which will bring results in the future when the right conditions have come
together, even after many lifetimes. The exceptions are that virtuous karmic seeds that have not
been dedicated to enlightenment can be destroyed by anger, etc., and non-virtuous karma can
be purified with the four powers. Conclusion: “I must purify whatever negative karma I have
created, and dedicate whatever virtuous karma that I create to enlightenment.”
2. Stealing – (1) basis: another’s possession; (2) attitude: the discrimination must be unmistaken, one of
the three poisons must be present, and one has the wish to steal; (3) performance one takes the object by
force, by cheating, by stealth, etc., or orders someone else to take it; (4) culmination: the thought “It is
mine” arises in oneself or in the person one ordered to steal.
3. Sexual misconduct – (1) four bases: wrong person, wrong bodily parts, wrong place, wrong time; (2)
attitude: the discrimination must be unmistaken (for someone who does not have a vow of celibacy, but
need not be unmistaken for someone who has a vow of celibacy), one of the three poisons must be
present, and one has the wish to engage; (3) performance: one does the action oneself (some texts say
one can also order it to be done); (4) culmination: meeting of the organs.
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Four of speech
4. Lying – (1) eight bases: the seen, the not seen (eyes); the heard, the not heard (ears); the experienced,
the not experienced (other sense-consciousnesses); the known, the not known (mental consciousness);
(2) attitude: the discrimination must be unmistaken, one of the three poisons must be present, and one
has the wish to misrepresent; (3) performance: oneself indicating by speaking, not speaking, or with
bodily gestures, or one orders it to be done; (4) culmination: the other person understands.
5. Divisive speech – (1) two bases: sentient beings in harmony or those already in disharmony; (2)
attitude: the discrimination must be unmistaken, one of the three poisons must be present, and one
has the wish to divide, further divide, or impede their reconciliation; (3) performance: oneself expressing
pleasant or unpleasant facts or non-facts for one’s own or another’s purpose, or ordering someone else
to do it; (4) culmination: the other person understands.
6. Harsh speech – (1) basis: a sentient being towards whom one feels hostile, and who could be hurt by
one’s words; (2) attitude: the discrimination must be unmistaken, one of the three poisons must be
present, and one has the wish to speak in an offensive manner; (3) performance: saying something
unpleasant (which could be true or false) about the person’s characteristics; (4) culmination: the other
person understands.
7. Idle talk – (1) basis: a meaningless topic; (2) attitude: one perceives the topic about which one is
going to talk, one of the three poisons must be present, and one has the wish to talk without a
meaningful purpose; (3) performance: expressing the words to someone else or to oneself; (4)
culmination: having finished speaking.
9. Malice – (1) basis: a sentient being towards whom one feels hostile, and who could be hurt by one’s
words; (2) attitude: the discrimination must be unmistaken, one of the three poisons must be present,
and one has the wish to give harm; (3) performance: having that thought; (4) culmination: deciding to
bring about that harm.
10. Wrong view – (1) basis: an existent object such as the law of cause and effect; (2) attitude: one
perceives that one’s denial of the object is correct (e.g. one really believes that there is no karma), one
of the three poisons must be present, and one has the wish to deny the object; (3) performance:
beginning to deny the object; (4) culmination: the certainty that one has denied the object.
Conclusion: Generate the strong determination to avoid creating the ten non-virtuous actions and to create the ten
virtuous actions as much as possible; concentrate on this thought.
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Meditation 18: The results of karma; purification with the four powers
1. Nature – killing is the heaviest among physical actions, lying among verbal actions, and wrong
views is the heaviest among mental actions
2. Attitude – strong presence or absence of mental poisons
3. Performance – e.g. killing in such a way that causes great suffering to the victim
4. Basis – actions done in relation to gurus, the Three Jewels, parents, etc. are more weighty
5. Habit – frequency and continuity
6. Absence of an antidote – if one does no virtue, non-virtue becomes very heavy
Meditate on these factors until you are clear about how to avoid powerful non-virtuous actions and how to make a
virtuous action as powerful as possible.
1. Fruitional result – according to the strength of the affliction involved, great non-virtues lead to
rebirth in hell, middling to rebirth as a hungry ghost, and small to rebirth as an animal
b. Habit – one will be born with the tendency to commit the same action again
3. Environmental result – the character of the misdeed is reflected in the environment, e.g.
• due to killing: food, drink, and medicine have little power
• due to stealing: a shortage of food, droughts, or hailstorms
• due to sexual misconduct: the environment is filthy and bad-smelling
• due to lying: your work will not be successful; there will be disharmony and deceit among
your workers
• due to divisive speech: the ground is uneven and difficult to travel on
• due to harsh speech: the environment is full of thorns, sharp stones, dangerous animals
• due to idle gossip: crops will fail and rain will fall at the wrong time
• due to covetousness: all excellent things will deteriorate day by day, year by year
• due to harmful intent: war, sickness, famine, dangerous animals and people
• due to wrong view: resources will disappear; you will have no home or protector
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The four results of virtuous actions
1. Fruitional result – great virtuous actions lead to rebirth as a god in the form and formless
realms, middling to rebirth as a desire realm god, and small to rebirth as a human
2. Result similar to the cause
a. Experience – long life, plenty of resources, harmony with your spouse, etc.
b. Habit – one will be born with the tendency to commit the same action again
3. Environmental result – food, drink, and medicine have great power, etc.
Conclusion: Generate the strong determination to live your life in such a way that you create virtuous karma as
much as possible, to refrain from non-virtuous karma as much as possible, and to purify whatever non-virtuous
karma you have created in this life and previous lives, in order to avoid its painful results.
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The Middle Scope
The stages of the path shared with persons of medium capacity
True Sufferings
2. The suffering of aging – one’s beautiful body deteriorates; one’s strength declines; one’s sense
powers and mental power decline; enjoyments become less enjoyable; the more one’s life
deteriorates, the more one comes to worry about death.
3. The suffering of sickness – one’s body becomes disfigured; one experiences pain and anguish; one
loses desire for attractive things; one must undergo unpleasant treatments and procedures; one
loses one’s vital energy (life force).
4. The suffering of death – one has to separate from attractive objects, from one’s relatives and
friends, and from one’s body; one experiences pain and anguish at the time of death.
5. The suffering of encountering the unpleasant – upon encountering an enemy, pain and anguish
arise; one fears punishment by him; one fears malicious words; one fears death; one fears that
one will have a bad rebirth due to having acted contrary to the Dharma.
6. The suffering of separation from the pleasant – in one’s mind there is sorrow; with one’s speech,
one laments; one does harm to one’s body; one is sad because of missing what one has lost; one
can no longer go back to what one has lost.
7. The suffering of not getting what one desires (the same sufferings as in #6).
8. The suffering of the five appropriated aggregates – they are vessels for future suffering; they are
vessels for suffering in this life; they are vessels for the suffering of suffering, the suffering of
change, and pervasive compounding suffering.
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Meditation 21: The three types of suffering
1. The suffering of suffering – unpleasant feelings (plus the main minds and mental factors that
accompany them) and their objects. For example, physical pain and sickness, emotional
suffering such as grief, loneliness, etc.
2. The suffering of change – pleasant feelings (plus the main minds and mental factors that
accompany them) and their objects. Pleasant feelings are not happiness by way of their own
entity since they arise due to a relief of suffering—e.g. after we have been sitting for a long time,
standing up feels pleasant, because the suffering of sitting has been relieved. Also, pleasant
feelings are impermanent; they slowly transform into suffering—e.g. if we continue to stand,
eventually it becomes unbearable.
3. Pervasive compounding suffering – contaminated neutral feelings (plus the main minds and mental
factors that accompany them) and their objects. They arise from karma and delusions, and co-
exist with karma and delusions (which will give rise to more suffering in the future), therefore
they are in the nature of suffering.
The five appropriated aggregates are pervasive suffering since they are the basis for the
other two types of suffering, due to being associated with negative tendencies…. From the
crown of one’s head to the soles of one’s feet, the body is pervaded by suffering…. Every place
in samsara, from the Peak of Existence down to the hell of Unrelenting Torment, is pervaded
by suffering
Contemplate the four aspects of true suffering, using the example of your own five aggregates:
1. Impermanence: both our body and our mind are changing every moment.
2. Suffering/misery: we experience physical pain and discomfort; we also experience mental suffering,
such as depression, disappointment, irritation, grief, etc.
3. Emptiness: Although it seems that, within our body-mind complex, there is a self/I which is
permanent, unitary, and independent of causes and conditions, such a self is an illusion.
4. Selflessness: we believe that there is a self-supporting, substantially-existing self—a self that seems to
exist within the aggregates, but is independent of them, like a “boss” or controller of the aggregates—
but such a sense of self is false, an illusion.
Conclusion: generate deep conviction that any kind of existence that is together with contaminated aggregates is
suffering in each moment, and develop the wish to become completely free, forever, from such suffering states.
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True Origins
* The Prasangika Madhyamikas assert that the view of the transitory collection and ignorance are the same,
meaning that the root of all the mental afflictions is the view of the transitory collection. Their definition of the
view of the transitory collection is: “an afflicted wisdom that observes the mere I of one’s own continuum and
conceives of it as inherently existent.”
Meditation 23: The order in which afflictions arise; causes of the afflictions
Think of an affliction that often arises in your mind and see if you can recognize that it has the following faults or
disadvantages:
• the mind becomes disturbed
• the mind is mistaken with regard to its observed object
• they reinforce familiarity with afflictions and leave seeds for them to re-occur
• you harm yourself, others, or both
• you commit misdeeds in this life, future lives, or in both
• you experience pain and anguish
• you feel joyless, apprehensive, and lacking confidence in society
• your notoriety spreads in all directions
• excellent persons such as teachers rebuke you
• they create the sufferings of birth, aging, sickness, and death
• they destroy virtue and deplete resources
• they destroy the hope for a good rebirth
• they take you far from liberation
• you die with regret
• your aims remain unfulfilled
• after death you are born in a bad migration
Gon-ba-wa said: “To eliminate afflictions, you must know the afflictions’ faults, their characteristics,
their remedies, and the causes for their arising. After you have recognized their faults, regard them as
defective and consider them as enemies. If you do not recognize their faults, you will not understand
that they are enemies.”
Conclusion: Generate the strong determination to free yourself completely from all afflictions and their seeds.
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Meditation 25: The twelve links
The 12 links:
1. ignorance: a mental factor confused about reality.
2. compositional action: action motivated by ignorance that is able to project a future rebirth.
There are three types of karma according to the type of rebirth they bring:
1) Non-virtuous/non-meritorious karma—this is karma accumulated out of concern mainly
for the happiness of this life; it leads to rebirth in the three lower realms.
2) Meritorious (movable) karma – this is karma accumulated out of concern mainly for
sensual pleasure in future lives; it leads to rebirth as a human or desire realm god.
3) Immovable karma – this is the cause of rebirth in the form and formless realms.
Focusing on a meditative object for the sake of the bliss of concentration leads to
rebirth in one of the first three concentrations of the form realm. If one becomes weary
of meditative bliss and creates the karma for neutral feelings, this leads to rebirth in the
fourth concentration or one of the four formless absorptions.
3. consciousness on which the latency of the second link is deposited
4. name and form: the aggregates established at the time of conception of the future rebirth,
simultaneous with the link of birth
5. six sources: the sense powers at the time when, even upon the aggregation of the object,
consciousness, and power, one is unable to utilize the object
6. contact: the mental factor of contact at the time when, upon the aggregation of the object,
consciousness, and sense power, one is able to utilize the object but is unable to experience
feelings
7. feeling: pleasant, unpleasant and neutral feelings
8. craving: attachment that nourishes the latency deposited by the second link
9. grasping: an intensified form of craving that further nourishes the latency
10. existence: the latency that has been fully nourished
11. birth: the moment of conception of the future life
12. aging and death: degeneration of the aggregates starting in the second moment of life, and the
final abandonment of the aggregates at the end of the life.
Conclusion: each rebirth we take in samsara is the result of a compositional action created due to ignorance, and is
part of a set of these twelve links. And we are continuously creating more compositional actions, and thus more sets
of twelve links, and thus perpetuating our existence in samsara. Generate the strong determination to become free
from this situation by overcoming ignorance, the root of samsara.
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Meditation 26: The four aspects of true origins; renunciation; true cessations
As long as we remain in samsara, we will continue to be under the control of true origins, and will
continue to experience true sufferings, again and again. Generate the deep, sincere attitude of
renunciation: seeing samsara as being like a horrible prison, and not wishing to remain in it, but
wishing only to become free from it, by attaining the cessation of all sufferings and their causes.
True cessations are the complete elimination of the afflictions such that they will never arise again.
They have four aspects:
1. Cessation of sufferings— imagine what it would be like to be in state where you would never again
experience any physical or mental sufferings.
2. Pacification of the afflictions—imagine what it would be like to be free from the afflictions, such
that anger, attachment, pride, jealousy, etc. would never again arise in your mind.
3. Sublimity—this cessation of sufferings and their causes is sublime in the sense that there is nothing
more blissful, nothing more beneficial.
4. Definite emergence—this state of cessation is a state of freedom/liberation which is final,
irreversible—you will never lose it or fall back from it.
Conclusion: generate the strong wish to attain true cessations, and concentrate single-pointedly on that wish.
True cessations are attained by attaining true paths, which are arya paths. The main true path is the
wisdom directly realizing selflessness, the direct antidote to ignorance, the root of samsara. In order to
attain this wisdom, we must develop concentration, and developing concentration depends on pure
ethics. Thus the path to liberation consists of these three higher trainings:
1. The higher training in ethics – weakens the afflictions and enables us to overcome external
distractions;
2. The higher training in concentration – suppresses the manifest afflictions and enables us to
attain a calm, single-pointed mind;
3. The higher training in wisdom – eliminates ignorance and the other afflictions, and enables us
to attain liberation/nirvana.
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Ethics mainly involves refraining from harming others, e.g. avoiding the ten non-virtuous
actions, and taking vows, such as the five precepts or monastic vows.
Not knowing what is proper ethical Understand what is involved in ethical discipline (e.g. the
discipline vows) through studying them
Non-conscientiousness, i.e. being • mindfulness of what to adopt and abandon
careless and reckless • introspection that investigates the three doors
• shame from the perspective of oneself and the Dharma
• embarrassment through thinking of others
• fear of the fully ripened effects of faulty conduct
Lack of respect Having respect for the Buddha, his rules, and those who
observe them perfectly
Many mental afflictions Examine your own continuum and endeavor to apply the
antidote to whatever mental affliction predominates
Conclusion: Seeing clearly the benefits of attaining true paths, generate the determination to attain them, by
practicing the three higher trainings – ethics, concentration, and wisdom—to the best of your ability.
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The Great Scope
The stages of the path for persons of great capacity
1. Equanimity – visualize a friend, an enemy, and a neutral person in front of you…. Check your
reasons for having different feelings for these three; are those good reasons?... Relationships are
impermanent: friend can become enemy, enemy can become friend, neutral person can
become either. …
Conclusion: There is no reason to cling to our present relationships and our biased feelings towards others as being
permanent. As every being has been a friend, an enemy, and a stranger to us, we should develop unbiased
equanimity towards them.
2. Recognising that all beings have been our mother – samsara is beginningless, and we have had
countless lives, and thus countless mothers. Our mother of this life has not always been our
mother; other beings have been our mother… in fact, every being has been our mother!
Conclusion: Try to generate confidence that every being has been your mother. If this is difficult, try to at least feel
that it might be true, because you can’t disprove it!
3. a. Thinking about the kindness of sentient beings when they were our mother – Contemplate
what your mother of this life did for you: carried you in her womb, went through the pain of
giving birth, completely took care of you when you were small and helpless, taught you the
most basic skills such as eating, bathing, dressing, talking, walking, etc.
Conclusion: Strongly feel the kindness of your mother of this life; contemplate that everyone else—your father, other
relatives, friends etc.— has also shown you this kindness, not once but many times; and they will do the same in the
future.
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Meditation 33: The kindness of sentient beings when they were not our mother
3. b. Thinking about the kindness of others at other times/in other ways – other provide us with
everything we use and enjoy: food, clothing, shelter, etc. They also serve as objects for our
practice of dharma: giving, ethics, patience, etc. Thus we are dependent on others for all of our
happiness, temporal and ultimate—up to enlightenment!
Conclusion: Generate the awareness that all of our happiness and good experiences comes from others; strongly feel
their kindness, and concentrate on this experience.
4. Wishing to repay their kindness – recall the incredible kindness of others and generate the
wish to repay their kindness. How? We can help other beings as much as possible in our
present life, but just giving food, clothing, medicine, etc. will give only short-term benefit. The
best help we can give is to lead them to liberation and enlightenment.
Conclusion: generate the strong wish to help all beings to become free from samsara, and to attain the peace and
happiness of liberation and enlightenment.
5. The equality of self and others – visualize a friend, enemy, and neutral person in front of you.
Contemplate that all three, just like you, want to be happy and not suffer…. If all three were
sick and you were a doctor, would it be right to help one and not the others? If all three were
hungry, would it be right to give food to one and not the others?... If the “enemy” were an
enemy from his own side, the buddhas would see him that way, but buddhas love all beings
equally. No one is a friend, an enemy, or a stranger, from their own side. “Friend, enemy, and
stranger” are just labels that we give to people, depending on our point of view.
Conclusion: strongly feel that every living being is just like you in that they all want to be happy, and do not want
to suffer. There is no good reason to discriminate among them.
6. The disadvantages of cherishing oneself – whatever problems we experience are the result of
negative karma created in the past, motivated by self-cherishing…. Self-cherishing is also the
cause of many problems in this life, e.g. in relationships… and it will bring more problems in
the future, e.g. bad rebirths…. It’s a major obstacle to developing loving-kindness, compassion,
and bodhicitta, and thus to the attainment of enlightenment.
Conclusion: feel convinced that the self-cherishing attitude is the cause of nothing but problems and suffering, and
generate the determination to work on eliminating it.
7. The advantages of cherishing others – all happiness and good experiences are the result of good
karma, created on the basis of cherishing others; cherishing others brings happiness in this life,
and future lives; it is essential for success on the path, up to enlightenment.
Conclusion: feel convinced that cherishing others is beneficial, both to yourself and others, and resolve to work on
changing your attitude, to be less self-centred, and more concerned for others.
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Meditation 38: Taking the suffering of others with great compassion
8. Meditating on great compassion and taking on the suffering of others – visualize one (or more)
being who is suffering; contemplate their suffering and generate compassion: wishing them to
be free from their suffering; then generate the wish to take their suffering. Imagine their
suffering in the form of dark smoke, which you take in (you can breath it in if you wish); it
comes to your heart and destroys your self-cherishing attitude.
Conclusion: Recall the benefits of tong-len, and generate the wish to practice it as much as you can.
9. Meditating on great love and giving our happiness to others – visualize one (or more) being in
front of you and generate loving-kindness: wishing them to have the happiness they long for.
Generate the wish to give them whatever they need to be happy. Imagine your own happiness,
good qualities, good karma, etc. in the form of light and send it to them; it becomes whatever
they need in order to be happy both now and in the future, up to enlightenment.
Conclusion: Recall the benefits of tong-len, and generate the wish to practice it as much as you can.
10. The extraordinary intention – Think that it is not sufficient to merely wish sentient beings to
be happy; if you do not take the responsibility upon yourself to take care of your dear mothers,
who else will? Generate the resolve: “I myself will provide sentient beings with happiness and I
will liberate them from all suffering!”
11. Bodhicitta – Think that in your present state, you cannot liberate yourself, let alone all other
sentient beings. The only one who is able to do that is a fully enlightened buddha. Increase
your faith in the buddhas by thinking about the good qualities of their exalted body, exalted
speech, exalted mind, and enlightened activities, and generate the wish from the bottom of
your heart to attain these qualities. Therefore think: “I must become a buddha in order to be
able to benefit all sentient beings, my mothers.” Recall the two aspirations that are concomitant
with bodhicitta: (a) the aspiration to benefit others, and (b) the aspiration to attain
enlightenment.
Conclusion: Generate this wish to become enlightened for the benefit of all mother sentient beings, to the best of
your ability, and concentrate one-pointedly on it as long as possible.
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The six perfections and four means of gathering disciples
Meditation 41: The perfection of generosity
Its entity: The intention to give and the actions of body and speech motivated by it.
Benefits of generosity: attaining good rebirths with sufficient resources (so that we can continue to
practice generosity and the path to enlightenment); attaining enlightenment; bringing benefit and
happiness to others; greater peace of mind in this life, etc.
Faults of miserliness: unfortunate rebirths (e.g. as a hungry ghost); lack of resources in this and future
lives; problems and conflicts with others; unhappiness here and now, etc.
Divisions of generosity:
1. The generosity of material things
2. The generosity of protection from fear
3. The generosity of the Dharma
Generosity should be practiced with the bodhicitta motivation, and in conjunction with the other five
perfections.
Conclusion: Seeing the benefits of practicing generosity and the faults of not doing so, generate the sincere wish to
practice generosity as much as you can.
Its entity: the virtuous thought to abandon harming others, and to abandon even the thoughts that lead
to harming others.
Its benefits: good rebirths; foundation of all good qualities and realizations; one’s actions of body,
speech, and mind are gentle and considerate; others are attracted to you and feel safe with you; you are
a good example/role model for others; your mind is happy and peaceful (free of guilt and fear);
ultimately, attaining enlightenment.
Disadvantages of not practicing ethics: bad rebirths; perpetuating bad habits and attitudes; continuously
circling in samsara; being unable to help others; obstacle to enlightenment.
Its divisions:
1. The ethics of restraint from misdeeds – abandonment of the ten non-virtues, keeping
pratimoksha vows (e.g. 5 lay precepts, vows of monks and nuns, etc.)
2. The ethics of gathering virtue – e.g. practicing the six perfections, making prostrations and
offerings to holy objects, studying and meditating on the Dharma, etc.
3. The ethics of enacting the welfare of sentient beings – accomplishing their benefit and freeing
them from non-virtue; any action we do with the wish to benefit others
Ethics should be practiced with the bodhicitta motivation, and in conjunction with the other five
perfections.
Conclusion: Seeing the benefits of practicing ethics and the faults of not doing so, generate the sincere wish to
practice it as much as you can.
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Meditation 43: The perfection of patience
Its entity: A mind that (i) remains undisturbed by harm done by others, (ii) is able to accept suffering,
and (iii) upholds one’s appreciation for the Dharma.
Benefits of practicing patience: your mind is peaceful; you have few enemies and many friends, and your
relationships are healthy & harmonious; you create much merit, and your merit is protected; you
exhaust previously created non-virtue and do not create new non-virtue; you die without regret, and
obtain a good rebirth; you will be able to attain liberation and enlightenment.
Faults of not practicing patience, i.e. faults of anger: your mind is disturbed, you lack joy, confidence, and
happiness, it’s difficult to relax and sleep; you have many enemies and few friends, and even your
friends might abandon you; your merit is destroyed; you create much non-virtue; you will die with
regret, and fall to an unfortunate rebirth; you will be born ugly, and with poor discrimination of right
and wrong; you will have obstacles to attaining liberation and enlightenment.
Patience should be practiced with the motivation of bodhicitta, and conjoined with the other five
perfections.
Conclusion: Understanding the benefits of practicing patience and the faults of not doing so, generate the sincere
wish to practice it as much as you can.
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Meditation 44: The perfection of joyous effort
Conclusion: Seeing the benefits of joyous effort and the faults of laziness, generate the wish to cultivate and
practice joyous effort as much as you can.
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Meditation 45: The last two perfections; the four means of gathering disciples
Meditative stabilization should be practiced with the bodhicitta motivation, and conjoined with the
other five perfections.
Benefits: it is the root of all good qualities; due to it a bodhisattva is not perturbed by adverse
circumstances; one with wisdom can act in ways that would entangle ordinary beings in cyclic
existence; one will understand that emptiness and dependent arising are compatible; one will be able
to reconcile seemingly contradictory statements of the Buddha in different contexts.
Disadvantages of not having wisdom: without wisdom, the other perfections will be “blind” and unable to
attain enlightenment; the other perfections would not be pure, but contaminated; one would not be
able to eliminate ignorance and thus will remain bound in samsara
Wisdom should be practiced with the motivation of bodhicitta, and conjoined with the other five
perfections.
Conclusion: Clearly understand the benefits of the last two perfections—of concentration and wisdom—and generate
the determination to work on cultivating them to the best of your ability.
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Special Insight
Such a self, if it existed, would be permanent (not changing moment by moment), unitary (not made
up of parts), and independent (not depending on causes and conditions). Such a self seems to be
completely separate from the aggregates, the body and mind; it seems to hold or carry the aggregates,
like a person carrying a load.
(Note: there is no innate conception of such a self; this conception arises in dependence on studying tenets. But it’s useful to
meditate on the emptiness of a permanent, unitary, independent self; Geshe Tenphel said that this helps us to understand the
emptiness of a self-sufficient, substantially existent self, and that in turn helps us to understand the emptiness of a truly-
existing self.)
Get in touch with your sense of self or I, especially at times when you feel strong emotion. Check:
Does it seem to be permanent, unchanging, something that has always been there and always
will be there? For example, do you feel that the I who exists right now is the exact same I that existed
yesterday?... last year?... when you were a child?... And when you think about the future, do you feel
that the I who exists right now is the same I who will do things in the future?.... If you do have a sense
of a permanent I, then try to find it, in your body… or in your mind….
Is your I something unitary, not made up of parts? If the I was unitary, then we could not talk
about different parts of our body like our head, our hands, our legs, and so forth… we could not talk
about different parts of our mind, such as happiness, unhappiness, love, anger, etc….
Is your I independent of causes and conditions? If so, that means that you did not depend on
your mother and father giving birth to you ... It also means that you could exist without food, water,
clothing, air to breath, and so forth—is that the case?....
If there were a permanent, unitary, independent self, would it be able to: perform actions? …create
karma? …accumulate merit? … purify obscurations, and attain liberation and enlightenment?
Conclusion: based on what you understood during this meditation, ask yourself if there can be a self/I that is
permanent, without parts, and independent of causes and conditions, or if such a self is a complete fabrication,
something non-existent?
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Meditation 47: The emptiness of a self-sufficient, substantially existent self
This is a sense of a self that appears to be the controller of the aggregates; it seems to exist within the
aggregates, but is still somewhat separate from them—like a head salesman among junior salesmen.
(Note: We all have an innate conception that the person exists in such a way; it is the coarse conception of a self of persons,
and, according to the Autonomists, it is what causes us to circle in samsara.)
If a self-sufficient, substantially existent self did exist, it must be found as a substance independent of the
aggregates, either within the aggregates or separate from them—generate conviction that there are only
these two possibilities, that there is no third possibility. Then check:
• If the I is the body, how can I think? If it is the body, how does it possess the body?
• If the I is the mind, how does it walk? If it is the mind, how does it possess the mind?
• If the I is both body and mind, is it two different substances? If it is both body and mind, how
does it possess body and mind?
• If the I is separate from body and mind, where is it seen when body and mind are
eliminated?
Conclusion: based on what you understood during this meditation, check if you think that your self/I is something
that is self-sufficient and substantially existent?
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The emptiness of an inherently existent self
Meditation 48: The four-point analysis:
An inherently-existent self a sense of a self/I that seems to be completely independent of anything else.
It seems to exist completely from its own side, not merely designated by the mind. It seems as if it were
findable in the bases of designation (the aggregates) and does not depend on mental designation.
The conception of inherent existence is the root of samsara (according to the Prasangikas), and
is counteracted by developing the wisdom realizing emptiness.
2) Determining the pervasion: if such an inherently existing self did exist, it must exist either within the
aggregates (one with the aggregates), or completely separate from the aggregates. Generate conviction
that there are only these two possibilities; there is no third possibility.
3) Determining that the inherently existing self does not exist within (one with) the aggregates.
If there were an inherently existing I which is one with the aggregates, it would have to be inherently one
with the aggregates, which means identical in all ways of appearance and existence; it would have to be
identical in all ways with (i) one of the aggregates, (ii) part of an aggregate, or (iii) the collection of all
aggregates. If an inherently existing I was identical with the aggregates, there would be the following
faults:
• Since there are five aggregates, there should be five I’s.
• Or, since there is only one I, there should be only one aggregate. If that were the case, when
I get fat, my mind should also get fat!
• Is the I the body, or a part of the body? If so, could I say “I think”?
• Is the I the mind, or a part of the mind? If so, could I say “I am eating”?
• It would be redundant to talk about an I, since it is synonymous with the aggregates.
• One could not say “my body,” “my mind,” etc.
• When the body dies, the consciousness and I would also die, be cremated, etc.
• Alternatively, if the consciousness continues to the next life, the body should also go to the
next life.
4) Determining that the inherently existing self does not exist separate from the aggregates.
If the inherently existing I were separate from the aggregates, it would have to be totally separate from
the aggregates. That means that if we were to remove the body and the mind—all the parts that make us
up—we should be left with the I, existing completely on its own, independent of the body and mind.
Conclusion: If you are unable to find the I that appeared so vividly at the beginning of the meditation in any of
those places, conclude that the inherently-existing I simply does not exist. The non-finding of the object of negation
is the meaning of emptiness. Concentrate single-pointedly on that experience.
(Note: If the I does not inherently exist, how does it exist? The thought “I” is merely imputed from the side of the
mind on its respective valid basis of designation, due to which the combination of basis and label comes to fulfill
the function of the person.)
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Meditation 49: Chandrakirti’s sevenfold reasoning
Part 1: analyzing a car (with apologies to Chandrakirti, who used a chariot)
1) Is a car inherently one with its parts? If so, there should be only one part, since there is one car; or
there should be many cars, since there are many parts. Also, we should be able to point to something—
some part of the car— and say “this is the car”—is that the case?
2) Is a car inherently separate from its parts? If so, we could remove all the parts and still have the car; or
we could sell the car, but still keep all the parts!
3) Does the car possess its parts? There are two ways that one thing can possess another:
(i) the way a person possesses a nose (the possessor and object possessed are one entity). If the car
possessed its parts in this way, then the car and its parts would be inherently one entity (because here
we are examining inherent existence), and thus there would be the same faults as in #1.
(ii) in the way a person possesses a dog (the possessor and object possessed are different entities). If the
car possessed its parts in this way, the car and its parts would be inherently different/separate, and
there would be the same faults as in #2—e.g. we should be able to see the car and its parts separately,
just as we can see a person and his dog separately.
(Note: Conventionally, the car does possess its parts, but not inherently.)
4) Is the car inherently the base of its parts? It may seem that the parts of the car exist within the car—that
the car is like a container that holds or supports the parts, in the same way that a bowl holds yogurt. If
the car and its parts did inherently exist in this way, they would have to be completely separate, and
thus there would be the same faults as in #2.
5) Are the parts of the car inherently the base of the car? It may seem that the car exists within its parts, like
a person in a tent—the parts are like the tent, and the car is like the person inside. If the car and its
parts did inherently exist in this way, they would have to be completely separate, and thus would have
the same faults as in #2.
6) Is the car the collection of its parts? If this were the case, we could take the car apart and put all the
parts in a heap and it would still be a car—is this true? Also, the parts of the car are the bases of
designation of the car, and therefore they cannot be the car; an object designated (e.g. “car”) cannot be
the basis of designation.
7) Is the car the shape of its parts? If so, it would have to be either the shape of the individual parts, or the
shape of the parts put together. Are the shapes of the wheels, engine, etc. a car?... And when we put the
parts together, they do not take on new shapes, so can we say that the shape of the parts assembled is a
car? Furthermore, if the shape were the car, we should be able to drive the shape!
Conclusion: If a car cannot be found to exist in any of these seven ways, then it does not exist inherently. The non-
finding of the object of negation is the meaning of emptiness. Hold your mind single-pointedly on that emptiness,
the absence of inherent existence. (Note: A car is merely labeled in dependence upon its parts. “Merely labeled”
means that nothing can be found when we search for a real thing that is it.)
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Meditation 50: Chandrakirti’s sevenfold reasoning
Part 2: analyzing the I
1) Is the self inherently one with its parts, the body and mind/the aggregates/? If so, there should be only one
aggregate, since there is one I; or there should be many Is, since there are many aggregates. Also, we
should be able to point to something—some part of our body or mind— and say “this is me/I”—is that
the case?
2) Is the self inherently separate from its parts? If so, we could remove all the parts of our body and mind,
and still have the I. Also, my body and mind could be sitting on my cushion meditating, and I could be
in the kitchen cooking a meal!
3) Does the self possess its parts? There are two ways that one thing can possess another:
(i) the way a person possesses a nose (the possessor and object possessed are one entity). If the self
possessed its parts in this way, then the self and its parts—the body and mind— would be inherently one
entity (because here we are examining inherent existence), and thus there would be the same faults as
in #1.
(ii) in the way a person possesses a dog (the possessor and object possessed are different entities). If the
self possessed its parts in this way, then the self and its parts—the body and mind—would be inherently
different/separate, and there would be the same faults as in #2—e.g. we should be able to see the I and
its parts separately, just as we can see a person and his dog separately.
(Note: Conventionally, the self does possess its parts, but not inherently.)
4) Is the self inherently the base of its parts/the aggregates? It may seem that the aggregates exist within the
self—that the self is like a container that holds or supports the aggregates, in the same way that a bowl
holds yogurt (the aggregates existing within the person like yogurt in a bowl). If the self and the
aggregates did inherently exist in this way, they would have to be completely separate, and thus there
would be the same faults as in #2.
5) Are the aggregates inherently the base of the self? It may seem that the self exists within the aggregates
like a person in a tent—the aggregates are like the tent, and the self is like the person inside. Again, if
the self and aggregates did inherently exist in this way, they would have to be completely separate, and
thus would have the same faults as in #2.
6) Is the self the collection of the aggregates? If this were the case, we could take the aggregates apart and
put all the parts in a heap and it would still be a self—is this true? The aggregates are the bases of
designation of the self, and therefore cannot be the self. The self is the object designated—it is merely
imputed on the aggregates—and thus cannot be the bases of designation: the collection of the
aggregates. An object designated cannot be the basis of designation.
7) Is the self the shape of the aggregates? The self cannot be the shape of the aggregates (i.e. the body),
because the shape is just physical, whereas the self also has consciousness. Also, the shape does not
inherently exist because it is merely imputed on the collection of shapes of the individual parts.
Conclusion: If the self cannot be found to exist in any of these seven ways, then it does not exist inherently. The
non-finding of the object of negation is the meaning of emptiness. Hold your mind single-pointedly on that
emptiness, the absence of inherent existence.
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Colophon:
These outlines were compiled by Sangye Khadro for the 2009 ILTK Masters Program Lam Rim retreat from
various sources: Lam Rim retreat outlines composed by Ven. Birgit Schweiberer for the ILTK Basic Program
retreat in 2005, Meditation on Emptiness by Jeffrey Hopkins, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the
Path to Enlightenment by Lama Tsong Khapa, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand by Pabongka
Rinpoche, The Path to Enlightenment in Tibetan Buddhism by Acharya Geshe Thubten Lodro, and The
Heart of the Path by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Any mistakes in the outlines are my own.
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