The Mirror of Dharma: How to find the real meaning of human life

by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Overview

A practical manual for daily life that shows how we can develop and maintain inner peace, how we can reduce and stop our experience of problems, and how we can bring about positive changes in our lives that will enable us to experience deep and lasting happiness. This is a significantly revised edition of one of Venerable Geshe Kelsang's most popular and accessible books.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781910368572
Publisher:	Tharpa Publications
Publication date:	10/10/2018
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.83(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche is a fully accomplished meditation master and internationally renowned teacher of Buddhism who has pioneered the introduction of modern Buddhism into contemporary society. He is the author of 23 highly acclaimed books that perfectly transmit the ancient wisdom of Buddhism to our modern world. He has also founded more than 1,200 Kadampa Buddhist centers and groups throughout the world.

Table of Contents

Illustrations viii

Part 1 Training in Contemplation 1

Introduction 3

Essential Insights into The Three Principal Aspects of the Path to Enlightenment 11

Who is Je Tsongkhapa? 11

The Actual Explanation of the Essential Insights into The Three Principal Aspects of the Path to Enlightenment 14

Request to the Lord of All Lineages 33

Essential Insights into the Avalokiteshvara Sadhana: Prayers and Requests to the Buddha of Compassion 43

Part 2 Training in Meditation 53

What is Meditation? 55

Meditation of a Person of Initial Scope 57

Meditation on the Preciousness of our Human Life 57

Meditation on Death 61

Meditation on the Danger of Lower Rebirth 65

Meditation on Going for Refuge 69

Meditation on Karma 73

Meditation of a Person of Middling Scope 79

Meditation on Renunciation 79

Meditation on our Determination to Recognize, Reduce and Abandon our Self-Grasping Ignorance, the Root of Samsaric Rebirth 97

Meditation on our Determination to Engage in the Actual Path to Liberation, the Three Higher Trainings 100

Meditation on our Determination to Attain True Cessations 104

Meditation of a Person of Great Scope 109

Meditation on Cherishing all Living Beings 109

Meditation on Universal Compassion 111

Meditation on the Supreme Good Heart, Bodhtchitta 114

Meditation on our Determination and Promise to Sincerely Practise the Six Perfections 117

Training in Meditation on Emptiness 123

Meditation on Relying on our Spiritual Guide 125

Dedication 129

Appendix I The Root Text: The Three Principal Aspects of the Path to Enlightenment by the Wisdom Buddha Je Tsongkhapa 131

Appendix II Liberating Prayer 137

Appendix III Avalokiteshvara Sadhana: Prayers and Requests to the Buddha of Compassion 139

Appendix IV Prayers for Meditation 149

Appendix V The Blissful Path: The Condensed Self-generation Sadhana of Vajrayogini 159

Appendix VI The Eleven Yogas of Vajrayogini 171

Appendix VII The Yoga of Buddha Heruka: The Essential Self-generation Sadhana of Heruka Body Mandala & Condensed Six-session Yoga 183

Appendix VIII Offering to the Spiritual Guide: A Special Way of Relying Upon Our Spiritual Guide 203

Appendix IX The Hundreds of Deities of the Joyful Land According to Highest Yoga Tantra: The Guru Yoga of Je Tsongkhapa as a Preliminary Practice for Mahamudra 251

Glossary 273

Bibliography 289

Study Programmes of Kadampa Buddhism 295

Tharpa Offices Worldwide 301

Index 303

Further Reading 317

Finding Your Nearest Kadampa Meditation Centre 320

Editorial Reviews

"The Mirror of Dharma" is an outstanding and invaluable contribution to the growing library of Buddhist literature and very highly recommended for both community and academic library collections.

Midwest Book Review