Description
Buddhist study
and practice is the process of becoming increasingly familiar with the dynamic expressions
of our own mind, both confused manifestations and the natural play of our innate
buddha mind. As we study, reflect, and
personalize the teachings, shifts occur in our relationship with our mind and
with the world as a consequence of our increasing connection with our innate buddha
nature.
One important
shift on the Buddhist path is the ability to experience the essential nature of
ordinary consciousness as enlightened wisdom.
In order to experience this wisdom, we do not discard our mundane
consciousnesses, but learn to see them for what they truly are and work with them
in a skillful manner. Through fully understanding our ordinary confused mind,
we gain access to its flip side which is buddha mind. To help practitioners
with this process, the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, composed a text, Distinguishing Consciousness from Wisdom.
Distinguishing Consciousness from Wisdom describes the mahayana
framework of the eight consciousnesses (all-base consciousness, afflicted
consciousness, mental consciousness, and five sense consciousnesses) and
explains how, on the path, they transform into five wisdoms: dharmadhatu
wisdom, mirrorlike wisdom, the wisdom of equality, discriminating wisdom, and all-accomplishing
wisdom. Through this fivefold makeup of the enlightened mind, buddhas
understand the world experienced by ordinary beings and vastly benefit others who
suffer. Even as ordinary beings, we can experience glimpses of this fivefold
radiance of the ever-shining inner sun of our mind’s true nature.
In this
program, Mitra Karl Brunnholzl explores
these important teachings with clarity and humor, making this profound material
accessible to practitioners at all levels. This program begins with a single
talk on the relationship between study and practice and includes numerous
question and answer sessions throughout the presentation.
Features
- MP3 Audio Download Recordings
- The MP3 audio files have proper ID3 tag information, which means that on a computer, iPod or similar device the audio files will display (and can be searched by) Album (Title of teaching), Song (Talk number within a teaching) and Artist (Teacher).
