Ornament of the Middle Way (MP3CD)

Description

Shantarakshita, also known as Khenpo Bodhisattva, was the abbot of India’s Buddhist Nalanda University in the eighth century, where he united the Madhyamika and Yogachara schools of thought. He went to Tibet at the invitation of King Trisong Detsen, founded the temple of Samye and established the first monastic tradition. After a time his teachings were all but lost for many generations. In the nineteenth century Ju Mipham, at the request of his teacher, Jamyang Kyentse Wangpo, wrote the commentary for the Ornament of the Middle Way. Thrangu Rinpoche notes that this teaching proves through logic why all the appearances we see are mind, and why the essence of mind is naturally empty. This teaching helps generate deep certainty that can benefit those who meditate on Mahamudra and Dzogchen and when receiving the oral instructions of pointing out the nature of the mind. Rinpoche received the transmission for this teaching from a student of Mipham Rinpoche himself. Thus this teaching comes to the present day via a short and direct lineage. Translated by David Karma Choephel. Thirteen talks on seven DVDs.

Features

Mainly English Edition Because Thrangu Rinpoche often speaks for long periods of time in Tibetan when he teaches, his long monologues have been curtailed on CD and MP3 CD recordings (audio) to preserve the continuity of the teaching and make listening easier. Thus the voice heard for the majority of the time is that of the translator. DVD video recordings include all of Rinpoche’s Tibetan.
MP3CD Recordings MP3CDs look like ordinary CDs, but contain compressed audio files. While a regular audio CD holds a maximum of only 80 minutes of recorded audio, an identical-looking MP3CD can easily hold the audio files from an entire weekend or even week-long teaching. MP3CDs can be played in a computer and/or the audio files can be downloaded into an iPod or similar device. MP3CDs may also be played on a portable MP3CD player. Most ordinary CD players, such as the CD player in most older cars (roughly 2005 and earlier), will not play MP3CDs. Many but not all cars 2006 or later do have MP3-capable CD players. Any car or home stereo CD player that is capable of playing an MP3CD will have “MP3” or “MP3-WMA” clearly marked on the front of it.
The MP3CDs available for sale on this web site are all clearly labeled and packaged in a clear case. The audio files on them 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).