The Rhythm of the Teachings Part 2

We settle in, cross our legs on our little cushions, tune the radio to 92.2FM and listen to the slight breathing coming through the English translator's microphone. There were two sets of teachings this past week. First, for a group from Singapore a teaching was given on the most famous of Tibetan scholar's, Tsong-Ka-Pa's Stages of the Path. Then another five day teaching was given on Kamalashila's Middling Stages of Meditation and Arya Nagarjuna's Bodhicitta Commentary. I will have to come back to the keyboard with Mary by my side as she took copious notes. Together we will try to distill some of what was being talked about. But beyond that I can say....

The first day, much to everyones surprise, HH The Dalai Lama decided to begin the teaching in English. This was very reasonable as the group that requested the teaching, from Singapore, mainly understand English over Tibetan. This was a very crowded talk, with the biggest turn out of young travellers we saw throughout the teachings. In part it is this turnout that I am guessing also precipitated the talk to be very good introduction. The Dalai Lama, more than any other speaker I have ever heard, is supremely reasonable. It nearly spills out of him. His approach to solving the world's major crisis seems like something to be quickly and efficiently taken care of after tea rather than a series of hopeless and endless tragic encounters. The many many Tibetans that were there (and did not understand English) just sat and patiently waited through the whole talk. One of the many things I remember him saying repeatedly was that non-violence was not the mere absence of violence but the active manifestation of compassion.

He went into more philosophical matters too bringing three fundamental religious questions to the forefront. Does the self have a beginning? What is the self? and Does the self have an end?

It is beyond me to go into his explanations here but I can say that it was a very clear introduction to religion in general and Buddhism in specific.

At one point Tibetan bread is distributed (think fat large but slightly old english muffins) and then Tibetan butter tea (essentially hot water, butter and salt) which much to my own surprise I actually liked.

Then in the afternoon we continue to listen more and more intently as the lecture begin to deepen...