Front Matter and Introduction - Essence of Tibetan Buddhism
Previously
published by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive
Becoming
Your Own Therapist, by Lama Yeshe
Advice for Monks and
Nuns, by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Virtue and
Reality, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Make Your Mind an
Ocean, by Lama Yeshe
Teachings from the Vajrasattva
Retreat, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Short Vajrasattva
Meditation, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Making Life Meaningful,
by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
For
initiates only:
A Chat about Heruka, by Lama Zopa
Rinpoche
A Chat about Yamantaka, by Lama Zopa
Rinpoche
May whoever sees, touches, reads, remembers, or talks or thinks about this book never be reborn in unfortunate circumstances, receive only rebirths in situations conducive to the perfect practice of Dharma, meet a perfectly qualified spiritual guide, quickly develop bodhicitta and immediately attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.
Lama Thubten Yeshe
The
Essence of Tibetan Buddhism
The Three Principal Aspects of the
Path and
Edited by Nicholas Ribush
Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive • Boston
A
non-profit charitable organization for the benefit of all sentient beings and a
section of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition http://www.fpmt.org/
First published in 2001
15,000
copies for free distribution
Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive
PO
Box 356
Weston, MA 02493 USA
© Lama Zopa Rinpoche 2001
Please
do not reproduce any part of this booklet by any means whatsoever without our
permission
ISBN
1-891868-08-X
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Front
cover, photographer unknown
Designed by Mark Gatter
Printed in Canada on recycled,
acid-free paper
Please contact the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive for copies of
our free booklets
Contents
Editor's
Introduction 11
The Three
Principal Aspects of the Path
First
Teaching 15
Second
Teaching 31
Introduction to Tantra
First
Teaching 47
Second
Teaching 61
Benefactor's Dedication
In loving
memory of my brother, Albie Miller, born July 6, 1951, deceased October 16,
1974.
Also, in
special memory of Flint and Gilka. May you forever enjoy a mother's loving
embrace and your heart pirouette with unending joy.
-Therese Miller
Publisher's
Acknowledgments
We are
extremely grateful to our friends and supporters who have made it possible for
the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive to both exist and function. To Lama Yeshe and Lama
Zopa Rinpoche, whose kindness is impossible to repay. To Peter and Nicole Kedge
and Venerable Ailsa Cameron for helping bring the Archive to its present state
of development. To Venerable Roger Kunsang, Lama Zopa's tireless assistant, for
his kindness and consideration. And to our sustaining supporters: Drs. Penny
Noyce & Leo Liu, Barry & Connie Hershey, Joan Terry, Roger & Claire
Ash-Wheeler, Claire Atkins, Ecie Hursthouse, Lily Chang Wu, T. Y. Alexander,
Therese Miller, Tom & Suzanne Castles, Datuk Tai Tsu Kuang, Chuah Kok Leng,
the Caytons (Lori, Karuna, Pam, Bob & Amy), Tom Thorning, Wisdom Books
(London), Tan Swee Eng, Salim Lee, Richard Gere, Doren & Mary Harper, Claire
Ritter, Sandra Magnussen, Cecily Drucker, Lynnea Elkind, Janet Moore, Su Hung,
Carol Davies, Jack Morison, Dharmawati Brechbuhl, and Lorenzo Vassallo.
We are
especially grateful to Therese Miller for making a substantial contribution
towards the printing of this book in memory of her late brother and for the
benefit of all sentient beings.
Lama Zopa
Rinpoche has said that sponsoring the publication of Dharma teachings in memory
of deceased relatives and friends was very common in Tibet and is of great
benefit. Therefore, the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive encourages others who might
like to make booklets of teachings by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche
available for free distribution in this way to contact us for more information.
Thank you so much.
We also
extend our appreciation towards all those generous contributors who responded to
the request for funds we made in our last mailing, September 2000. Therefore,
for donations received up to February 2001, we extend a huge thank you to Linus
Abrams, Janis Alana, Ven. Paloma Alba, Jill Ansell, Rako Araki, Christine
Arlington, Isabel Arocena, Luke Bailey, Julia Bartunek, Karen Becker, Jacalyn
Bennett, Peggy Bennington, Katarina Bergh, Kathy Berghorn, Ven. Marcel Bertels,
Robyn Brentano & Bill Kelley, Ross Brooke, Arlene Cameron, Sharon Cardamone,
Eugene Cash, Steve & Polly Casmar, Wai Kwong Cheong, Michael Childs,
Victoria Clark, James Coleman, Robin Coleman, Richard Collet, Gavriella Conn,
Ven. Carol Corradi, Julie Couture, Doug Crane & Deje Zhoga, Ven. Lhundrub
Damchö, Daniel De Biasi, Paula de Wys Koolkin, Joseph Demers, Anne Detweiler,
Laure Dillon, Bradley & Julia Dobos, Richard Donnelly, Anet Engel, Manfred
Engelmann, Pam & David English, Richard Farris, Sesame Fowler, Terry Fralich
& Rebecca Wing, Nathalie Fridey, Ana Gan Yoke Nah, Fabio & Marianna
Gariffo, Su Geringer, Kathleen Glomski, Dan Goleman & Tara Bennett Goleman,
Roxane Gorbach, Lorraine Greenfield, Diane Gregorio, Sandy Grindlay, Eric
Gruenwald, Katarina Hallonblad, Bernard Handler, John Hatherley, Richard Hay,
Graziella Heins, Myron Helmer, Devam Hendry, Midge Henline, Teresa Higgins, Chor
Ho Eng, Wing-Fai Bosco Ho, Udo Hoffmann, Larry Howe & Martha Tack, Victoria
Huckenpahler, Institut Vajra Yogini, Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, Elaine Jackson,
John Jackson, Barbara Jenson, Steven Johnson, Barton Jones, Sean Jones, Ven.
Tenzin Kachö, John Kane, Toni Kenyon, Camille Kozlowski, Amy Krantz, Cynthia
Anne Kruger, Lorne & Terry Ladner, Mim Lagoe, Chiu Mei Lai & Anthony
Stowe, Laurence Laubscher, Joanne Lemson, Harry Leong, Ani Yeshe Lhamo, Li
Lightfoot, Charlotte Linde, Sue Lucksted-Tharp, Beth Magura, Mahayana Buddhist
Association, Khristopher Mancare, Louis Mangual, Dennis Marsella, Lenard Martin,
Amy McKhann, Glen McMillion, Helen McNamara, Ann Miles, Lynda Millspaugh, Ueli
Minder, David Molcho, Gordon Moore, Maria Morelli, Kalleen Mortensen, Peter
Muller, Janis Nadler, Kelsang Namdrak, William Neis, Eric Neiss, Wanda Nettl,
John & Beth Newman, Dan Nguyen, Quyen Vinh Nguyen, Wess Nibarger, Alicia
Nicholas, Herlmut Nieland, Stacy O'Leary, Ann Parker, Dennis Paulson, Stephen
Payne, Brian Pearson, Michele Peterson, Veronica Piastuch, Nettie L. Poling,
Janice Polizzi, Richard Prinz & Bev Gwyn, George Propps, Geoffrey Pullen,
Encarnacion Rebollo, Arlene Reiss, Roberta Rolnick, Andie Ross, John Ross, Carol
Royce-Wilder, Rachel Ryer, Elaine Rysner, Mayra Rocha Sandoval, Jesse Sartain,
John Sauls, Michael Schwartz, Victoria Scott, Brian Selius, Rebecca Seslar, Kim
Shetter, Susan Shore, Lynn Shwadchuck, Sharon Small, Robbie & Randy Solick,
Lynne Sonenberg, Gareth Sparham, Amira Amarah Sravesh, Helga Steyskal, Joan
Stigliani, Marlene Strode, Susan Stumpf, Meggin Sullivan, Laurie Sulzer, Lana
Sundberg, Sunray Meditation Society, Marsha Sweet, Olivier-Huges Terreault,
Chuck & Valerie Thomas, Ven. Charles Trebaol, Eugenie Trott, Tse Chen Ling,
Wendy van den Heuvel, Jan Van Raay, Lynne Vande Bunte, Diana Velez, Ingrid
Vickery-Howe, Lynn Wade, Tom Waggoner & Renee Robison, Richard Walker,
Gabriel Wallace, Anne Warren, Sylvia Wasek, Martin Wassell, Barbara Watkins,
Lila Weinberg, Jason Welvaert, Jim & Kathy Westbrook, Kate Lila Wheeler,
Jeanne Ann Whittington, Garret Winn, Ven. Thubten Wongmo, Louie Bob Wood, Murray
Wright and Soo Hwa Yeo.
Finally, we
would also like to thank the many kind people who have asked that their
donations be kept anonymous, the volunteers who have given so generously of
their time to help us with our mailings, and Alison Ribush & Mandala Books
(Melbourne) for much appreciated assistance with our work in Australia.
If you,
dear reader, would like to join this noble group of open-hearted altruists by
contributing to the production of more free booklets by Lama Yeshe or Lama Zopa
Rinpoche or to any other aspect of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive's work, please
contact us to find out how.
Through
the merit of having contributed to the spread of the Buddha's teachings for the
sake of all sentient beings, may our benefactors and their families and friends
have long and healthy lives, all happiness, and may all their Dharma wishes be
instantly fulfilled.
Editor's Introduction
This
publication is the third in our series of free booklets by Lama Yeshe, following
the extremely popular and well received Becoming Your Own Therapist and
Make Your Mind an Ocean.
It differs,
however, in that the material contained herein is also on video (see the back
pages of this book for details), so that you can now see and hear
Lama Yeshe giving these teachings. We have edited them less intensively than
normal so that the text quite closely adheres to Lama's original words and
phraseology, making it easier to follow when watching the videos. For the same
reason, we have also left intact Lama's references to world events of the time,
such as the various Middle East dramas of 1979-80.
Lama's
teachings were dynamic events full of energy and laughter. He taught not only
verbally but physically and facially as well. Thus, we encourage you to obtain
the videos of these teachings in order to get as total an experience of the
incomparable Lama Yeshe as possible.
The first
teaching, "The Three Principal Aspects of the Path," was given in France in
1982, during an FPMT-sponsored tour of Europe by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Just before His Holiness's scheduled teachings at Institut Vajra Yogini, His
Holiness manifested illness and asked Lama Yeshe to fill in for a couple of
days-to "baby-sit" the audience, as Lama put it. This wonderful two-part
teaching on three principal aspects of the path is the result.
The second
teaching, an "Introduction to Tantra," also in two parts, was given at Grizzly
Lodge, California, in 1980. It comprises the first two lectures of a commentary
on the Chenrezig yoga method taught by Lama at the request of Vajrapani
Institute, Boulder Creek. The entire course was videotaped and we plan to make
available the remaining six tapes as soon as we can enhance their sound and
picture quality.
I am most
grateful to Linda Gatter and Wendy Cook for their editorial input and to Mark
Gatter for his design of this book.
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