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Trechos selecionados de discursos de Lama Zopa.Thubten Zopa Rinpoche (1946 - 2023), nascido em Thami (Nepal), foi escritor, professor e renomado lama do budismo tibetano da Tradição Gelug.Aos três anos de idade Zopa Rinpoche foi reconhecido como sendo a reencarnação de Lama Lawudo. Sob a orientação de seus professores, ele recebeu uma educação budista tradicional, estudando escrituras, filosofia e práticas de meditação.Ele estudou durante sua juventude no monastério de Domo Geshe Rinpoche, até a invasão chinesa em 1959. Em 1959, fugiu para Índia, onde conheceu o Lama Yeshe, que se tornou o seu professor mais íntimo.Em 1974, Lama Yeshe e Lama Zopa começaram a viajar pelo mundo para dar ensinamentos; como resultado dessas viagens, uma rede mundial de centros de estudos budistas e de meditação começou a se desenvolver – a Fundação para a Preservação da Tradição Mahayana (FPMT). A partir do falecimento de Lama Yeshe, em 1984, Lama Zopa assumiu o papel de diretor espiritual da FPMT.Zopa Rinpoche foi fundamental na divulgação do budismo tibetano para o Ocidente, seus ensinamentos enfatizavam a importância de integrar os ensinamentos de Buda na vida cotidiana e também a prática da atenção plena, compaixão e conduta ética. Ele era conhecido por sua cordialidade, humor e acessibilidade ao apresentar profundos ensinamentos de maneira compreensível.

Trechos do livro “The Peaceful Stillness of the Silent Mind”, de Lama Yeshe.Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935-1984) foi um grande mestre da tradição Gelug do budismo tibetano e escritor.Lama Yeshe nasceu perto da cidade tibetana de Tolung Dechen, mas foi enviado para o mosteiro Sera em Lhasa no Tibete aos seis anos de idade. Ele recebeu a ordenação completa aos vinte e oito anos de idade de Kyabje Ling Rinpoche .Em 1950, após a invasão chinesa no Tibet, Yeshe continuou estudando e meditando na Índia até 1967. Dois anos depois, ele estabeleceu o Monastério de Kopan, perto de Kathmandu, para ensinar o Budismo aos ocidentais.Em 1974 começou a viajar e ensinar no Ocidente e estabeleceu a Fundação para a Preservação da Tradição Mahayana.Os ensinamentos de Lama Yeshe não eram discursos secos, acadêmicos, mas métodos práticos, para olharmos para dentro e compreendermos a mente.Yeshe sempre desafiava a descobrir quem somos e o que somos. Ele desafiava a examinar os nossos preconceitos sem medos e a perceber como tudo vem da mente; como criamos os nossos próprios sofrimentos e felicidade; como devemos ter responsabilidade pessoal por tudo que experimentamos, seja bom ou ruim.

Last time we spoke about the Mongolian Revolution of 1921. Mongolia found herself stuck between two crumbling empires who both were engulfed in brutal civil wars. Warlord Duan Qirui invaded Mongolia effectively making it a protectorate. This prompted Mongolian nobles to form resistance groups like the Consular Hill and East Urga to combat Chinese dominance. The merging of these groups birthed the Mongolian People's Party, seeking Soviet support for independence. Meanwhile, psychopath Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, claiming descent from Genghis Khan, emerged as a militaristic force, aligning with Russian Whites and Japanese interests to seize Mongolia. His brutal campaign ousted Chinese occupiers, restored the Bogd Khan to power, but brought tyranny, especially targeting Jews and Red Russians. The Mongolians were now seeking help, yet again from the Chinese, but someone else was looking to pick a fight with the megalomaniac Ungern-Sternberg. #102 The Case of Mongolia and Tibet's “status”   Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Last we left off, Ungern-Sternberg was having a merry time in Urga Mongolia. His secret police force led by Colonel Leonid Sipailov was hunting down all Reds and Jews he could find amongst the Russian colonial community of Mongolia. Although they never went after Mongols, they certainly were barbaric to their own. Its estimated Sipailov's goons killed nearly 900 people, roughly 6% of the Russian colonial population of Mongolia at the time. Of these over 50 were Jewish, representing 6% of those executed under Ungern-Sternbergs orders. Meanwhile Ungern-Sternberg continued to develop his Asiatic Cavalry Division, seeking to make it the base model for a future Mongolian national army. His division at this point was quite multicultural, consisting of Russians, Cossacks, Chinese, Japanese, Mongols, Buryats, Tatar, Tibetans and other groups. Ungern-Sternberg had crushed as many Red Russians as he could find, but they were not done for the count. A Mongolian Red leader emerged named Damdin Sukhbaatar. Sukhbaatar meaning “Axe Hero” in Mongolian was born in Ulaanbaatar, a Chinese trading settlement a few kms east of Ikh Khuree. His parents abandoned their home banner in Setsen Khan aimag when he was 6, as they moved to the Russian consulate. He then grew up around Russians, picking up the language. In 1911 when Mongolia declared independence, Sukhbaater joined the new national army. Russian military advisors to the Bogd Khan set up military academies at Khujirbulan in 1912 and Sukhbaatar found himself at one of them. He was shown to have a talent for military tactics and was good at riding and shooting. He quickly became a platoon leader of a machine gun company. In 1914 he found himself involved in a soldiers riot, they were discontent with corruption in the army and bad living conditions. He survived the ordeal and would soon serve under the command of Khatanbaatar Mahsarjav in Eastern Mongolia by 1917. That year sprang forth the Russian Revolution and China's Warlord Era, chaos would reign supreme. Soon Outer Mongolia was under Chinese occupation and this sprang forth two underground political parties, Consular Hill and East Urga group. By 1920 they united to form the Mongolian People's Party and Sukhbaatar found himself becoming a delegate sent multiple times to multiple places in the new Soviet Union seeking military assistance. In 1921 Sukhbaater was placed in charge of smuggling a letter from the Bogd Khan through numerous Chinese checkpoints. In a father of marco polo like fashion, he hid the letter in the handle of his whip and its found in a museum today in Ulaanbaater. Now the year prior the Soviet government stated they were willing to help Mongolia, but asked the delegates to explain to them how they planned to fight off the foreign invaders. In September numerous delegates were sent to Moscow, while Sukhaatar and Choubalsan took up a post in Irkutsk for military training and to be contacts between the Soviets and Mongolia.  Meanwhile back in Mongolia, Ungern-Sternberg began an occupation. Mongolian delegates Chagdarjav and Choibalsan rushed back to Mongolia to find allies amongst the nobles. On February 10th a plenary session of the Comintern in Irkutsk passed a formal resolution to “aid the struggle of the Mongolian people for liberation and independence with money, guns and military instructors" The Mongolian People's Party had thus gained significant military assistance and was now a serious contender in the battle for Mongolia. The party held its first congress secretly between March 1st-3rd at Kyakhta attended by 17 and 26 members. They approved the formation of an army, to be headed by Sukhbaatar alongside two Russian advisors. They also adopted a new party manifesto and by March 13th formed a provisional government headed by Dogsomyn Bodoo. Sukhbaatar had begun recruiting troops for what was called the Mongolian People's Partisans as early as February 9th. By the 15th of February the Mongolians decided to seize Khiagt currently under Chinese occupation. They sent an ultimatum to the Chinese, but their commanders refused to surrender. By March 18th, the Mongolian Partisans were 400 men strong as they stormed the Chinese garrison at Kyakhta Maimaicheng. They seized it from the Chinese, despite being heavily outnumbered and this greatly bolstered their confidence. To this day this victory is celebrated as a military holiday. The party issued a proclamation announcing the formation of a new government that would expel the Chinese and promised to convene a congress of representatives of the masses who would elect a permanent government.  The provisional government moved over to Khiagt where they established ministries of Finance, Foreign affairs and military. A propaganda war also emerged between the provisional government and the Bogd Khaan's court. The provisional government began spreading leaflets along the northern border urging Mongolians to take arms against White Russians while the Bogd Khaan's side issued warnings to the people the supposed revolutionaries were going to destroy their nation and their Buddhist faith with it. Meanwhile the Soviet Union was trying to re-establish diplomatic relations with the Chinese government. They had dispatched representatives to Beijing and the Chinese did the same in Moscow. Because of this delicate situation, the Soviets were trying to keep everything low key about the Mongolian movement. However in early 1921, the Chinese cut talks with the Soviets because of the mess Ungern-Sternberg was causing in Mongolia. The Soviets offered Red Army assistance to dislodge his forces from Mongolia, but the Chinese rejected this. Since talks were severed, the Soviets then felt ok to unrestrain themselves in terms of aiding the Mongolian revolutionaries. Throughout march of 1921, a flow of Soviet advisors and weapons came to the Mongolian revolutionaries. By April they doubled to 800 troops and they began sending spies and diversionary units throughout the region spreading propaganda and terror to weaken Ungern-Sternbergs forces. Once Ungern-Sternberg found out about the incursion he quickly assembled an expeditionary force to dislodge the hostile Red invaders. It seems Ungern-Sternberg was under the false belief he was a very popular figures and would receive support in Mongolia and from Siberia. Truth be told, he failed to strengthen his small army properly and would be outgunned and outnumbered heavily by the Reds. He also had no knowledge the Reds had already conquered Siberia and that the new Soviet government was beginning to make some economic progress.  Ungern-Sternberg divded his Asiatic Cavalry Division into two brigades, one was under his personal commander, the other under Major General Rezukhin. In May of 1921 Rezukhin launched a red west of the Selenga River while Ungern set out towards Troitskosavk. Meanwhile the Soviet Red Army sent units towards Mongolia from different directions. The Soviets enjoyed a enormous advantage in terms of pretty much everything. They had armored cars, minor aircraft, trains, river gunboats, plenty of horses, more ammunitions, supplies and man power. Initially Ungerns force managed to defeat a small detachment of 300 Red Army troops enroute to Troitskosavk. But Between June 11-13th the 35th Division of the Soviet 5th Red Army led by Commander Mikhail Matiyasevich alongside Mongolian People's Partisan forces decisively defeated him. Having failed to capture Troiskosavask, Ungern-Sternberg fled back for Urga, sending word to Rezukhin to do the same. The combined Red forces pursued the White Russians to Urga, skirmishing along the way and would capture the city on July 6th, brushing aside its few guard detachments. Although the Reds had seized Urga, they had not defeated the main bulk of Ungern-Sternbergs division who were then regrouping around Akha-gun-hure along the Selenga River. Meanwhile another Red Army led by Colonel Kazagrandi slaughtered a 350 man strong White Russian force stuck in the Gobi desert. Kazagrandi's forces ultimately accepted the surrender of two groups of White Russians they had managed to cut and divie, one being 42 men, the other 35. Chinese forces were also attacking White Russians remnants as they crossed the border. It is beleived some of these men were deserters of Ungern-Sternbergs division.  Ungern-Sternberg now cought to invade Transbaikal, attempting to rally his soldiers and local peoples proclaimed to all Semyonov had reached an agreement with the Japanese who were soon to unleash an offensive to support them. The reality however was the Japanese had given up on the White cause. After a few days of rest, the Asiatic Cavalry division began raiding Soviet territory on July 18th. His force was estimated to be perhaps 3000 strong. In response the Soviets declared martial law in regions where White remnants were raiding. Ungern-Sternbergs men managed to capture some minor settlements, one being Novoselenginsk that they took on August 1st. Yet upon taking this settlement, Red Army forces began to converge on his location, prompting Ungern-Sternberg to declare they would go back to Mongolia to rid it of communism again.  By this point, most of his men were not idiots, they knew they were following a doomed cause. Many of them sought to desert and flee for Manchuria to join up with Russian refugees there. Ungern-Sternberg meanwhile seemed to also have his own escape plan, he was going to head for Tuba and then Tibet. Men under both brigades began to mutiny and on August 17th, Rezukhin was assassinated. The next day the same assassins tried to kill Ungern-Sternberg. He managed to evade them twice, by fleeing with a smaller detachment consisting exclusively of Mongolians. The Mongols rode out a distance with him, before tying him up and leaving him there to flee. At this point the rest of his two brigades had scattered for this lives fleeing over the Chinese border. Ungern-Sternberg was captured on August 20th by a Red Army detachment led by Petr Efimovich Shchetinkin. Petr also happened to be a Cheka, this was a Soviet secret police organization that infamously conducted the Red Terror. Ironically, I think I can say this here, but I am currently writing a few series for KNG and one is on the Russian Civil War, I go through the formation of all these organizations, if you want to check that out though, I think its a KNG patreon exclusive for awhile. On September 15th of 1921, Ungern-Sternberg was put on trial for well over 6 hours, under the prosecution of Yemelyan Yaroslavsky. In the end he was sentenced to be executed by firing squad. He was killed that night in Novosibirsk. Thus ended the reign of quite a psychopath, gotta say written about many, this guy was something special.  Funny side note, historian John Jennings who worked at the US Air Force Academy argued Ungern-Sternberg ironically may have single handedly led Mongolia into the arms of the Bolsheviks. Ungern-Sternbergs expedition into Mongolia and conquest of Urga had driven out the Chinese forces who may have been a match for the incoming Red Army. Likewise, taking his white army into Mongolia basically drew the Reds to Mongolia to hunt him down, thus in the end some would argue its all his fault Mongolia became a Soviet satellite later on.  After Ungern-Sternbergs death and the mopping up of White armies in the region, the Soviets and Chinese reopened talks about the Mongolian situation. Unbeknownst to the Russians, China had actually appointed Zhang Zuolin to deal with the Ungern-Sternberg situation. Zhang Zuolin was supposed to create an expeditionary army to expel him from Mongolia. Yet by the time he was about to initiate the expedition, Red Army forces flooded the region making it a political nightmare for China. What ended up happening, similar to Colonel Kazagrandi's hunt of Red's in the Gobi desert, Zhang Zuolin hunted down Ungern-Sternbergs remnants as they fled into Manchuria. Thus when the talks began between the Russians and Chinese, the Chinese were emboldened, believing Zhang Zuolin had in fact cleaned up the entire situation on his lonesome and that they had the upper hand militarily. China came to the table stating Mongolia was still part of China and thus was not the subject of international negotiations. Meanwhile after Ungern-Sternberg was run out of Urga, the Mongolian People's Party proclaimed a new government on July 11th. Sukhbaatar became the minister of the army and Bogd Khan had his monarch powers limited to basically just being symbolic. It was a rough start for the new government. Dogsomyn Bodoo became the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, but he immediately found himself at political war with Soliin Danzan. Danzan had lost his seat as party leader to Tseren-Ochiryn Dambadorj a relative to Bodoo. Danzan assumed Bodoo had helped his relative steal his seat. Danzan became the Minister of Finance and began engineering a scheme to get rid of Bodoo from his office.  Bodoo had initiated a very unpopular company, initially instigated by the Soviets. It was to modernize the peoples by forcibly cutting off feudal accessories, such as Mongolian feels, womens jewelry and long hair. Danzan accused Bodoo of plotting alongside another leading figure Ja Lama, the Chinese and Americans to undermine the entire revolution so they could establish an autocratic government. Ja Lama was a warlord who fought the Qing dynasty and claimed to be a Buddhist lama. When Ungern-Sternberg sent a delegation to Lhasa in 1920, Ja-Lama murdered all of them. Since Ungern-Sternbergs death, Ja Lama attempted to operate an independent government from a hideout, he was a bit of a loose cannon. There was also Dambyn Chagdarjav who was loosely linked to the supposed cabal. He was the provisional governments former prime minister when Unger-Sternberg was around. He was quickly outed and replaced with Bodoo, and it seems it was just convenient to toss him in with the accusations against Bodoo. On January 7th, of 1922 Bodoo resigned from all his positions in the government, stating it was because of health issues. This did not stop Danzan who laid charges against Bodoo, Chagdarjav, Ja Lama and 14 others, who were arrested and interrogated by Russian secret police working with the Mongolian government. They were all found guilty and executed by firing squad on August 31st 1922. They all would only be the firsts of a longer lasting purge raging through the 1920s and 1930s. Following the execution of Bodoo, party leaders invited the high Buddhist incarnation, Jalkhanz Khutagt Sodnomyn Damdinbazar, hell of a name by the way, to became the new prime minister. He was largely chosen to quell religious minded Mongolian's who were upset at the execution of Bodoo who was a lama. Danzan was not done with political rivalries. He soon found himself butting heads with Rinchingiin Elbegdori a leader amongst the leftists and chief advisor to the Comintern in Ulaanbaatar. Following the 1921 revolution, Elbegdorj was appointed head of the Army training and education department. Alongside Choibalsan, he founded the radical Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League. He enjoyed backing from Moscow and he came to dominate the political scene in Ulan Bator. Danzan had previously collaborated with him to get rid of Bodoo, but afterwards Danzan sought to reduce the number of Soviet advisors in Mongolia and attempted to place the Revolutionary Youth league under party control. Danzan was a business man who supported capitalism as a path for Mongolia, thus he was not exactly friendly to those like Elbegdorj who wanted to make Mongolia socialist if not full blown communist. Elbegdorj joined some rightists led by Tseren-Ochiryn Dambadorj in an effort to defeat Danzan. During the third party congress in August of 1924, both accused Danzan of only representing the interests of the bourgeois and being in league with American and Chinese corporations. Danzan found himself alongside others put on trial and sentenced to death. Funny enough the trial and execution literally occurred within the same 24 hour period of the congress, the others simply continued on haha. Some rich irony in the fate of Danzan. I wont delve to far into the rest, but it goes without saying, Elbegdorj would himself be accused of representing the interests of bourgeois and was exiled to the USSR and would be executed during the Great Purge in 1938. Yes it was a very messy time for Mongolia, but in 1924 the Chinese and Soviets signed a treaty that saw the Soviets recognize Mongolia was an integral part of China.  That pretty much ends the story for Mongolia for now, but I thought it might be interesting to end this podcast looking at another similar case study, that of Tibet. Now Tibet came under rule of the Qing Dynasty in 1720. When the Wuchang uprising broke out, revolutionary fever hit numerous provinces within China, as it likewise did in territories like Tibet. A Tibetan militia sprang up and launched a surprise attack against the Qing garrison. The Qing forces were overwhelmed by the Tibetans, forced to flee back to China proper. Obviously the Qing dynasty was scrambling to face the revolutionary armies throughout China, and could not hope to challenge the Tibetans. By 1912, Qing officials in Lhasa were forced by the Tibetans to sign a three point agreement, officially surrendering and expelling their forces from central Tibet. When the new republic of China government sprang up that same year, they proclaimed control over everything the previous Qing dynasty controlled, 22 provinces within China, Outer Mongolia and Tibet.  As the provincial government's president, Yuan Shikai sent a telegram to the 13th Dalai Lama, restoring all his traditional titles. The Dalai Lama refused them and stated in a reply "I intend to exercise both temporal and ecclesiastical rule in Tibet." Now prior to the Xinhai Revolution, in 1910 the Qing had sent a military expedition to Tibet, one could argue it was an invasion mind you, to establish direct Qing rule over Tibet. This was because the British had performed their own expeditions in 1904, destabilizing the Qing dominance over Tibet. The Qing forces occupied Lhasa on February 12th of 1910 and they deposed the 13th Dalai Lama by the 25th. The Dalai Lama was forced to flee to India, but he returned in 1913 whence he proclaimed stated “that the relationship between the Chinese emperor and Tibet had been that of patron and priest and had not been based on the subordination of one to the other. We are a small, religious, and independent nation" In January of that year, a treaty was signed between Mongolia and Tibet, proclaiming mutual recognition of each others independence from China. Within the treaty both nations pledged to aid each other against internal and external enemies, free trade and declared a mutual relationship based on the Gelug sect of Buddhism. The Tibetan officials who signed this document at Urga were led by Agvan Dorjiev, a Buryat and thus subject of Russia. This caused some doubts about the validity of the treaty. The 13th Dalai Lama would go on to deny ever authorizing Dorjiev to negotiate such political issues. The Russian government likewise stated Dorjiev had no diplomatic capacity on behalf of the Dalai Lama to do such a thing. The text of the document was neer published, many believe it never even existed, until 1882 when the Mongolian Academy of Science finally published it.  Upon signed the supposed treaty, Agvan Dorjiev proclaimed that Russia was a powerful Buddhist country that would ally with Tibet against China and Britain. In response to this, Britain convoked a conference at Viceregal Lodge in Simla, India to discuss the matter of Tibet's status. The conference was attended by representatives of Britain, the Chinese republic and Tibet's government based out of Lhasa. Sir Henry McMahon, the foreign secretary of British India led the British; for China it was I-fan Chen, the commissioner for Trade and Foreign affairs at Shanghai; and for Tiet it was Paljor Dorje Shatra, known also as Lonchen Shatra, the leading prime minister of Tibet. Now the British and Chinese had telegram communications to their governments, but the Tibetan team only had land communications. What became known as the Simla conference, was held in both Delhi and Silma because of the extreme summer heat of Delhi, saw 8 formal sessions from October 1913 to July 1914. In the first session, Lonchen Shatra declared "Tibet and China have never been under each other and will never associate with each other in future. It is decided that Tibet is an independent state." Thus Tibet was refusing to recognize all the previous treaties and conventions signed between Tibet and China. The Tibetans sought their territorial boundaries to range from the Kuenlun Range in the north, to the borders of Sichuan and Yunnan. The Tibetans also sought payment for damages done to them over the past years. Ifan Chen's counter proposal was to state Tibet was an integral part of China and that China would not tolerate any attempts by the Tibetans or British to interrupt China's territorial integrity. Ifan Chen continued to say a Chinese official would be stationed in Lhasa and they would guide Tibet's foreign and military affairs. Tibet would also grant amnesty to all Chinese who had recently been punished in Tibet, and Tibet would conform to the borders already assigned to it. McMahon then issued the first and most important question “what is the definition of limits of Tibet”. Afterwards they could deal with the lesser issues, such as Tibetans claims of compensation for damages and for Chinese amnesties. Lonchen Shatra agreed to the procedure, Ifan Chen countered it by asking the political status of Tibet should be the first order of business. Ifan Chen also revealed he had definitive orders from his government to give priority to the political question. McMahon thus ruled he would discuss the frontier issue with Lonchen Shatra alone, until Ifan Chen was given authorization from his government to join it, ompf. It took 5 days for Ifan Chen to get the authorization.  On the issue of the frontier, Ifan Chen maintained China had occupied as far west as Giamda, thus this would encompass Pomed, Markham, Zayul, Derge, Gyade, Draya, Batang, Kokonor and Litang. Lonchen Shatra replied that Tibet had always been an independent nation and at one point a Chinese princess had been married to a Tibetan ruler and a boundary pillar had been erected by them at Marugong. Ifan Chen countered by stating the so called pillar was erected 300 li west and soon both argued over the history of pillars and boundary claims going back centuries. China claimed their historical evidence was that of Zhao Erfengs expedition of 1906-1911 which constituted a effective occupation recognized under international law. Lonchen Shatra said that was ridiculous and that what Zhao Erfeng had performed was a raid and thus unlawful.  McMahon meanwhile formed the idea of distinguishing Inner and Outer Tibet. He based this on the premise the Chinese had only really occupied Outer Tibet and never Inner Tibet. McMahon proposed formalizing this with official boundaries and pulled up old maps dating back to the 9th century for border lines. He also brought out maps from the 18th century and using both came up with two defined zones for Inner and Outer Tibet. Lonchen Shatra opposed some parts of Outer Tibet should be added to Inner Tibet and Ifan Chen argued some parts of Inner Tibet should be given to Sichuan province. A series of confused negotiations began over historical claims over territory, while border skirmishes erupted between the Tibetans and Chinese. McMahon losing his patience appealed to both men stating for "can we have a broad and statesmanlike spirit of compromise so that our labors could be brought to a speedy conclusion”. Ifan Chen maintained it was still premature to draft anything since they had not established what was Inner and Outer Tibet. Finally in April of 1914 a draft convention, with a map was begun by the 3 men. Ifan Chen was the most reluctant but gradually accepted it. Britain and China agreed to leave Tibet as a neutral zone, free of their interference. However China repudiated Ifan Chen's plenipotentiary actions, stating he had been coerced into the draft convention, McMahon said that was ridiculous. China charged McMahon for being unfriendly to China and having an uncompromising attitude, which is funny because if I read to you every single meeting these men had, it was 99% Ifan Chen not budging on a single issue. China continued to lobby for more and more adjustments, but all would be turned down prompting China to state they would not sign the convention. The official boundary between Inner and Outer Tibet became known as the McMahon line, it was negotiated between Britain and Tibet separately. The convention stated Tibet formed part of Chinese territory, after the Tibetans selected a Dalai Lama, the Chinese government would be notified and a Chinese commissioner in Lhasa would quote "formally communicate to His Holiness the titles consistent with his dignity, which have been conferred by the Chinese Government". The Tibetan government would appoint all officers for Outer Tibet and Outer Tibet would not be represented in the Chinese parliament or any other such assembly. China refused to acknowledge any of it. This entire situation remains a problem to this very day as most of you probably assumed. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Mongolia saw some bitter fighting between Red and White Russians and Chinese, and would gradually gravitate towards the Soviets. The case of Tibet, unlike Mongolia, was somewhat less violent, but a political maelstrom nonetheless. The chaos of China's warlord Era would greatly affect these two, well into the 1930's.  

A reading for meditation taken from the text, 'The Peaceful Stillness of the Silent Mind: Buddhism, Mind and Meditation' by Lama Thubten Yeshe. Lama Thubten Yeshe was born in Tibet in 1935. At the age of six, he entered Sera Monastic University in Tibet where he studied until 1959, when as Lama Yeshe himself has said, “In that year the Chinese kindly told us that it was time to leave Tibet and meet the outside world.” Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, together as teacher and disciple since their exile in India, met their first Western students in 1967. By 1971, they settled at Kopan, a small hamlet near Kathmandu in Nepal. In 1974, the Lamas began touring and teaching in the West, which would eventually result in The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. Lama Yeshe followed the Gelug tradition, and was considered unconventional in his teaching style. He died in 1984.

Citações e trechos do livro “Heart of the Path: Seeing the Guru as Buddha”, de Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Thubten Zopa Rinpoche (1946 - 2023), nascido em Thami (Nepal), foi escritor, professor e renomado lama do budismo tibetano da Tradição Gelug. Aos três anos de idade Zopa Rinpoche foi reconhecido como sendo a reencarnação de Lama Lawudo. Sob a orientação de seus professores, ele recebeu uma educação budista tradicional, estudando escrituras, filosofia e práticas de meditação. Ele estudou durante sua juventude no monastério de Domo Geshe Rinpoche, até a invasão chinesa em 1959. Em 1959, fugiu para Índia, onde conheceu o Lama Yeshe, que se tornou o seu professor mais íntimo. Em 1974, Lama Yeshe e Lama Zopa começaram a viajar pelo mundo para dar ensinamentos; como resultado dessas viagens, uma rede mundial de centros de estudos budistas e de meditação começou a se desenvolver – a Fundação para a Preservação da Tradição Mahayana (FPMT). A partir do falecimento de Lama Yeshe, em 1984, Lama Zopa assumiu o papel de diretor espiritual da FPMT. Zopa Rinpoche foi fundamental na divulgação do budismo tibetano para o Ocidente, seus ensinamentos enfatizavam a importância de integrar os ensinamentos de Buda na vida cotidiana e também a prática da atenção plena, compaixão e conduta ética. Ele era conhecido por sua cordialidade, humor e acessibilidade ao apresentar profundos ensinamentos de maneira compreensível.

Trechos do livro “Make Your Mind an Ocean”, de Lama Yeshe. Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935-1984) foi um grande mestre da tradição Gelug do budismo tibetano e escritor. Lama Yeshe nasceu perto da cidade tibetana de Tolung Dechen, mas foi enviado para o mosteiro Sera em Lhasa no Tibete aos seis anos de idade. Ele recebeu a ordenação completa aos vinte e oito anos de idade de Kyabje Ling Rinpoche . Em 1950, após a invasão chinesa no Tibet, Yeshe continuou estudando e meditando na Índia até 1967. Dois anos depois, ele estabeleceu o Monastério de Kopan, perto de Kathmandu, para ensinar o Budismo aos ocidentais. Em 1974 começou a viajar e ensinar no Ocidente e estabeleceu a Fundação para a Preservação da Tradição Mahayana. Os ensinamentos de Lama Yeshe não eram discursos secos, acadêmicos, mas métodos práticos, para olharmos para dentro e compreendermos a mente. Yeshe sempre desafiava a descobrir quem somos e o que somos. Ele desafiava a examinar os nossos preconceitos sem medos e a perceber como tudo vem da mente; como criamos os nossos próprios sofrimentos e felicidade; como devemos ter responsabilidade pessoal por tudo que experimentamos, seja bom ou ruim.

This is a reading of excerpts from the text, 'Virtue and Reality' by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Thubten Zopa Rinpoche (3 December 1946 – 13 April 2023) was a Tibetan Buddhist lama in the Gelug school. He was one of the most internationally renowned masters of Tibetan Buddhism, working and teaching ceaselessly on almost every continent. He was the spiritual director and cofounder of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), an international network of Buddhist projects, including monasteries in six countries and meditation centers in over thirty; health and nutrition clinics, and clinics specializing in the treatment of leprosy and polio; as well as hospices, schools, publishing activities, and prison outreach projects worldwide.

Episode 121 Today we are joined by Dr. Chris Impey to talk about exoplanets, the search for life in space, and the search for meaning on Earth.   Dr Impey is a University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. He has over 220 refereed publications on observational cosmology, galaxies, and quasars, and his research has been supported by $20 million in NASA and NSF grants. He has won eleven teaching awards and has taught two online classes with over 300,000 enrolled and 4 million minutes of video lectures watched. He is a past Vice President of the American Astronomical Society, won its Education Prize, has been an NSF Distinguished Teaching Scholar, Carnegie Council's Arizona Professor of the Year, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. He has written 70 popular articles on cosmology, astrobiology and education, two textbooks, a novel called Shadow World, and eight popular science books: The Living Cosmos, How It Ends, Talking About Life, How It Began, Dreams of Other Worlds, Humble Before the Void, Beyond: The Future of Space Travel, and Einstein's Monsters: The Life and Times of Black Holes.    Support this podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/DowntheWormholepodcast   More information at https://www.downthewormhole.com/   produced by Zack Jackson music by Zack Jackson and Barton Willis    Transcript (AI Generated) ian (01:16.703) Our guest today is a university distinguished professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona. He has over 220 refereed publications on observational cosmology, galaxies, and quasars, and his research has been supported by $20 million in NASA and NSF grants. He's won 11 teaching awards and has taught two online classes with over 300,000 enrolled and 4 million minutes of video lectures watched. He's a past vice president of the American Astronomical Society, has been an NSF Distinguished Teaching Scholar, Carnegie Council's Arizona Professor of the Year, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor. He has written 70 popular articles on cosmology, astrobiology, and education, two textbooks, a novel called Shadow World and eight popular science books. I'm very excited to welcome Dr. Chris Impey to the podcast today. chris_impey (02:07.898) Yeah, delighted to be with you. zack_jackson (02:09.75) Welcome. That's quite an introduction. Ha ha ha. Thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video. I'll see you in the next one. Bye. ian (02:12.983) Yeah. Obviously, I shortened down what you sent us, and it was tough for me to do that, Chris, because you've done a lot. You know, obviously, I was at fellow academic. I understand the need to do peer-reviewed research and those types of things in our field, but I was really impressed with how much writing you've done for the general public, both articles and also your books. You've written a novel. You've been on several podcasts. Can you kind of tell us a little bit about your background, what is you do, and then how you also got into that part of your profession of making sure you communicate with the general public as well? chris_impey (02:53.298) Sure, you won't hear it in my voice, my accent, but I was born into Edinburgh, I'm a Scott. I had a little transatlantic childhood that sort of wiped out the Scottish borough, but if you feed me single malt whiskey it would come back. And of course, I'm sure you noticed if you've gone to Britain that you look up and there are not many stars visible there. So once I decided to do astronomy I knew I was going to leave, so I did my undergrad work in London. zack_jackson (03:04.15) Thank you. Bye. Ha ha ha! chris_impey (03:22.938) and never look back and I'm a dual citizen now. So astronomy is big in Arizona. I've not looked elsewhere. The grass is never greener anywhere else. We're building the biggest telescopes in the world and we have five observatories within an hour's drive. So this is the perfect place to do observational astronomy. So I'm very happy. But then as people's careers evolve, you know, the writing research papers is important. It's the sort of stocking trade of the academic. But it's also, you know, the texture of the average research article is that of a three-day old bologna sandwich. It's almost designed to be indigestible writing. The constraints of an academic discourse make that happen. So I was always interested in more popular writing, so I segued into textbooks. And then I realized the problem with them is that you've written a textbook and that's a nice challenge. But then the publisher just wants you to update it every year or so. It's like, okay, that's not so exciting. I think I'm not going to do this anymore. And then I think more broadly, apart from just liking education and being very committed to teaching and mentoring students, you know, I've just seen the, well, even before the sort of large waves of misinformation and the assault on facts in our culture, it's, I viewed it as an obligation of a professional scientist to communicate to a larger audience because, well, to be blunt, we're paid by the taxpayer. zack_jackson (04:26.05) Thank you. Bye. zack_jackson (04:44.15) Hmm. chris_impey (04:54.118) And also, there's a lot of misinformation out there, and science is often misperceived or characterized in wrong and inappropriate ways. And so I think all scientists should not just stay in their little lane doing research, but they should, if they can, some better than others. And not everyone can be Neil deGrasse Tyson. That's fine. But I think there's an obligation to communicate to larger audiences. And once I got into it and got practiced and better at it, then I now understand that I mean, it's like I couldn't imagine not doing it. chris_impey (05:32.018) And the books just, okay. And so books just flow out of that because writing popular articles is just a sort of lighter version of writing a technical article. And then, you know, you want a meaty subject. You do a book-length version. So I've been writing about cosmology and astrobiology. And I've started about 10 years ago I say, I think this is my ninth book, Exoplanets. So books are fun. They're more challenging. ian (05:32.543) I almost had to sneeze. Sorry, go ahead. Ha ha ha. chris_impey (06:01.958) to take on a big subject and distill it down and make it, you gotta make it, have a resonance for a person with no, maybe with no background in astronomy or maybe just a little background and you're taking them through what could be a very esoteric subject. So that, I like the challenge of that. Although the books are exhausting. Once I've done a book, I don't wanna, I almost don't wanna look at a book or read a book or write a book for a while. zack_jackson (06:28.65) do people ask you like when's the next one coming out? Like right after you finish. It's like having a baby. I'm not sure if you can tell, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. chris_impey (06:31.898) Of course. Yeah, they are. Yeah, it's like I'm not going to go there about the having a baby because my wife would my wife would give me a hard time. There's nothing like having a baby. You can't even imagine, you know, and and and she and yeah, and she's right. But like having a baby, you know, women may feel that and then they do it again, you know, so I write the book, have have a slight, you know, trauma afterwards or just let down. It's a little bit of a let down sometimes. zack_jackson (06:43.89) That is a good man. Good job. ian (06:45.766) Yes. chris_impey (07:01.918) you finished any big-ish thing. But I do like writing, so I'm committed to it. zack_jackson (07:02.094) Hmm. ian (07:09.303) Yeah. zack_jackson (07:10.05) So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot chris_impey (07:15.718) Yeah, it's a super hot field with the number has up to 5,300 last time I checked on NASA's website. And remember, you know, 1995, the number was zero. So this is all, this is all the last few decades and it's just growing gangbusters. And now it's a slightly unfortunate because I have, we have students here who are working on exoplanets or astrobiology. And, you know, there was a time when if you discovered one cool Earth-like planet or water world, ian (07:27.244) I remember that. chris_impey (07:45.818) about it. Well now you know you'd have to find a hundred interesting things to write a paper. So the bar has been raised just by the success of the field. But the interesting thing is that it's moving to a new phase. So the most of what's known about those 5300 exoplanets is not much at all. They're basically is either a mass or a size or maybe both and you get a density and know it's a gas planet or a rocky planet. And that's it. We can't characterize zack_jackson (07:46.792) Hmm. zack_jackson (07:54.15) Yeah. zack_jackson (08:04.316) Hmm. chris_impey (08:15.698) thousands of exoplanets. So the next stage of the game, everyone's taking a deep breath in the research field is to try and characterize the atmospheres and the geology and of course find life. And that's just a very hard experiment. It's just much harder than detecting an exoplanet in the first place. So there's sort of excitement in the air because if I were betting, I would say that within five to seven years, we will have done the experiment of looking for life or Earth planets that are nearest to us and will either know the answer. Either there will be microbes on those planets that have altered their atmospheres or there won't be and that will be an amazing experiment to have done. So it's really on the horizon. But it's daunting because it's a very difficult experiment. Earth-like planets are a billion times fainter than the stars they orbit. So you have to, and they're far away so they appear very close to their star. So you have to isolate the planet from the star, blot out the billion times brighter and then smear the feeble reflected light from the exoplanet into a spectrum and look for molecules that indicate life like oxygen, ozone, methane, water vapor and so on. ian (09:26.503) But the molecules you're looking for are always in the atmosphere itself, right? Like you wouldn't, and I understand that, and I think we all do, but, you know, some people listening may not realize that that's, that's what you're looking at. When you're talking about with the spectrum is that makeup of the atmosphere, nothing about like if there's, if it's a rocky planet, what's on the ground, I guess. zack_jackson (09:26.614) Now. chris_impey (09:30.458) there. chris_impey (09:45.358) Right, right. And it's important for people to realize that the characterizing the exoplanets is done in that indirect way. For instance, of those 5,300, only 150 have ever had an image made of them. You know, seeing is believing. It's nice to have images of exoplanets. That's a hard thing. And those images are, you know, they're pathetic, a few pixels. They're just pale blue dots in a far away. So there's no, and if you ask this, ian (10:02.488) Right. zack_jackson (10:03.35) Thank you. Thank you. chris_impey (10:15.678) The question of when will we be able to make an image of an exoplanet to be able to see continents and oceans? The answer is maybe never. The answer is decades or a very long time because it's just too hard to make images that sharp of things that far away, even with space telescopes. So astronomers have to be a little more indirect and the clever method that's on the table now and will be done, James Webb is doing some of this but was never built to do this experiment, it will actually be better done with the huge... set of ground-based telescopes under construction. So the experiment is you use the star to backlight the exoplanet when it crosses in front of it, and the backlit, the light from the star filters through the atmosphere of the exoplanet and imprints absorption from these relevant molecules called biosignatures. So that's the experiment you're doing. And it's still hard. And it's also not clear you'll get an unambiguous answer. You know, obviously, and its cousin ozone are the prime biomarkers because on Earth, the oxygen we breathe, one part and five of our air, was put there by microbes billions of years ago. So the reverse logic is if you see oxygen on an exoplanet or in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, it must have been put there by life because oxygen is so reactive, so volatile that it disappears. If there's not life to sustain it, say the biosphere of the Earth shut down overnight, the entire biosphere just shut down. ian (11:41.803) Thank you. Thank you. chris_impey (11:45.458) just imagine the thought experiment. Within five to seven billion, a million years, so very short time in geological terms, the oxygen, that one part in five we breathe, would be gone. It would rust things, it would dissolve in seawater, it would oxidize with rocks, and it would be gone. So if it were not put there originally by life and then sustained by photosynthesis and other life processes, it would disappear. So the logic, therefore, is if you see it elsewhere, bang, it's got to be microbes putting it there and causing it to be there. ian (12:16.845) Yeah. zack_jackson (12:16.95) Hmm, unless there's some hitherto unknown non-living process by which these things happen. chris_impey (12:24.058) Right. So that's a good point. And there is a debate there because the data that's going to come in, well, first of all, it'll be noisy. It won't be beautiful, perfect spectra. So they'll be ambiguous to interpret. And then when you see it, what is the, where's, does the bar set for being enough? And the geologists have weighed in on this. And so whereas the sort of simplistic view as well, if you see any significant level of oxygen, certainly 18% like on the earth, what's got to be biology. zack_jackson (12:41.694) Yeah. chris_impey (12:54.218) That's pretty much true, but geologists have figured out ways where without biology, just with geochemical reactions, if you conjure up a geochemistry, you can get 6%, 5%, 7% oxygen. That's quite a lot, more than most people would have expected. So the geologists are saying, well, hold on. Yes, a lot of oxygen is probably a biomarker, but you would have to know more about the planet to be sure that it didn't have some weird chemistry and geology going on. for any of the other biomarkers. Methane is a biomarker too because it's produced on earth, you know, mostly by life, a good fraction of that, cow farts I think. But so it's the same argument. So these wonderful and difficult to obtain spectra are going to be, everyone's going to jump all over them and hope they give an unambiguous answer, but they might not. Science is not always as cut and dried as that at the frontier, which is where we are. But it's the zack_jackson (13:34.511) Hmm. Sure. chris_impey (13:53.958) exciting experiment and it will be done fairly soon. ian (13:58.804) Okay. chris_impey (14:01.358) And then a sort of related issue is that it's not just microbes. I mean, that's just looking for life as we know it on the earth. You could also look with the same technique, and this is an interesting possibility, for what are called techno signatures. So biosignatures is just evidence of life, typically microbes, because we think most life in the universe is going to be microbial, even if it's not exactly like our form of biology. But you could also look for things technology like chlorofluorocarbons, which you know, were responsible for almost killing the ozone layer for a few decades until we sort of ruled them out of refrigeration units. And there are other chemicals that are produced by industrial activity in a civilization, which would normally be very trace ingredients in an atmosphere, barely, you know, not present at all really. And if you could detect them in an atmosphere, it would be indirect evidence of a technological or industrial civilization. Realization on that planet and that will be very exciting. So that's the same method being used to ask a very different question But it's a more challenging experiment because these are trace ingredients. I'll give you an example I mean, we're all aware of climate change global warming and we've seen the carbon dioxide content of our atmosphere Increased by 30% roughly in the last few decades. That's quite a lot. It's obviously concerning and we know the implications But if you step back and look at the earth from afar and say, well, shouldn't that just be obvious? Shouldn't some other alien civilization look at the Earth and say, oh, those people are really screwing up. They're killing their atmosphere with climate change and fossil fuel burning? The answer is probably not because carbon dioxide is a trace ingredient of our atmosphere, and 30% increase on a trace ingredient would actually be very hard to detect from a distance. So even that dramatic thing that we are all anxious about on our planet industrial activity and fossil fuels is not dramatically obvious from a distance. So these are quite difficult experiments. The techno-signature experiment is much harder than the biosignature experiment. zack_jackson (16:13.592) Hmm. ian (16:14.165) Interesting. rachael (16:17.101) One of the things that you had said when looking at these exoplanets was, you know, we look at them and we want to see them and what's going on with them. And then you added the line, and of course, detect life. And that's where our conversation has gone for the last couple of minutes. But I'm wondering, you added that phrase that seems to think that finding life is part, entire reason for studying exoplanets. And I'm wondering, A, why you think that? And B, what that says about, you know, making it very narcissistic and Earth-centered, what that says about us. chris_impey (16:54.799) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (17:02.778) Right. Okay. So good question. I can unpack that in parts. I mean, yes, if I were a geologist or a planetary scientist, I'd be just pleased as punch and happy as a pig in a poke to just study exoplanets. That's all that I'm happy. I've got 5300 new, new geological worlds to study. Whereas the solar system only has a handful. Oh, yeah. So depending on your discipline, you might be totally zack_jackson (17:16.049) Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe rachael (17:19.507) Right! chris_impey (17:32.718) properties. But astrobiology, I mean astrobiology writ large is the study of life in the universe, and the context for that search for life in the universe is the fact that we only know of one example of life, and that's on this planet. And everything in astronomy and the history of astronomy, and the Copernicus onwards, has told us we're not special, has told us there's nothing singular zack_jackson (17:59.891) Thank you. Bye. chris_impey (18:02.718) about our solar system, about our galaxy, or our position in the galaxy, and so on. In space and time, we are not special. And so, you know, for biology to be unique to this planet, when the ingredients are widespread, we've detected carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, the biogenic elements out to distances of 12, 13 billion light years, almost to the birth of the universe. Water is one of the, you might think it's special. Earth is a water world. Well, actually, some of the exoplanets have 10 to 30 times more water. water than the Earth. So it's not, the Earth isn't really a water world even, pale blue dot, it's not that special. And water is one of the most abundant molecules in the universe too. So all the ingredients, the table is set for life in the universe. And as the universe is evolved and is quite old, more and more of those biogenic elements are made by stars and spat out into space to become part of new star systems and planets. And so in an old mature universe with a lot of heavy elements, and with many habitable locations now, we the best guess is 20 billion Earth-like habitable worlds just in our galaxy, then it just, whether or not it's central to astrobiology, it absolutely begs the question, is biology unique to this planet? Because it really shouldn't be statistically. However, logically, you know, to be correct and scientific, it's possible that there were a unique set of accidents and flukes that led to life on Earth, and it is unique. It would still chris_impey (19:33.038) It's historical science to wonder how life on earth developed and nobody's ever built a cell from scratch in the lab people have done various parts of that experiment and They can't connect all the dots, but they've done some very interesting experiments that certainly suggest It's not a fluke that the whole thing happened. You need time. You need the possibilities of Chemicals bumping into each other and getting more complex, but that tends to happen It happens if you do it in a computer it in a lab as well as you can. And so the context of the ingredients for life being so widespread and there not seeming to be any sort of bizarre, flukish occurrence in the development of at least replicating molecules that could store information, if not a full cell, would certainly lead you to anticipate life elsewhere. And then game on, because the big question then is, so there are two almost binary questions you're trying to answer, which is why the field is so exciting. Is there life beyond Earth, yes or no? And then if yes, is it like our life? Is it biology? Because everything on Earth, from a fungal spore to a butterfly to a blue whale, is the same biological experiment. They seem like very diverse things, but that's one genetic code. experiment that led to that diversity after a long time, after four billion years of evolution. And there's no reason to expect, even if the ingredients for life and the basis for biology exist far beyond Earth and in many locations, there's no real reason to expect that it would play out the same way elsewhere. And so that second question, is it like Earth life, is a very big question. rachael (21:27.201) Just as a curiosity, when did, if you know, when did microbes appear on Earth? chris_impey (21:39.158) So the earliest, the indications of life on Earth, the history of that is really tricky, because as you know, the Earth is a restless planet, and we weren't there, it's historical science, and it's possible you may never answer the question, but the big problem is the restless Earth. It's very hard, there's only a handful of places on Earth, Western Australia, Greenland, somewhere in South Africa, where you can find four billion year old rocks. They just don't exist. I mean, everything's been churned by geology and eroded rachael (21:46.661) We weren't there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. rachael (21:56.104) Right. chris_impey (22:09.338) Weathered and so on so just even and that's about when we think life started So you're dealing with you know a crime scene where the evidence has been trampled many times and the crowds have just Obliterated the evidence so that's a hard thing and then the second hard thing is that the incipient Traces of life as you get to cells are very indirect They're sort of just you they're biochemical tracers or sorry there. They're chemical imbalances isotopic imbalances of versus normal carbon and so on. Because you're not looking for fully fossilized cells. So if you're just looking at what would be called chemical tracers of life, they're pretty good, but argumentative, this field is not resolved, traces that go back about 3.8 billion years. If you're asking when do you have the first fossil life forms, fossilized microbes, single cells, rachael (23:00.421) Okay. chris_impey (23:09.238) to 3.4, 3.5 billion years, and that's people then stop arguing about it. I think they believe that evidence. And then there's this enormous long time between that and multi-celled organisms. That step in the evolution of life seems to have taken a long time. You could infer that that means it's difficult or doesn't happen very often, but that's a dangerous inference from data of one. All the inferences, hazardous. So astrobiologists have to keep pinching themselves and saying, it's a sample of one. It's a sample of one. rachael (23:30.921) Thank you. Thank you. zack_jackson (23:32.75) Thank you. Bye. rachael (23:39.721) One does not make a line. One day to... That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. chris_impey (23:41.139) Don't draw too many conclusions. So, yeah, the cell formation, the evolution of the first cells and microbes seem to have taken 300 or 400 million years from the first chemical traces of life. But those chemical traces, we don't know. There's that Zircon that was found in Western Australia, 4.404 billion years accurately measured by radioactive dating. chris_impey (24:09.378) environment and so there's evidence really soon after the earth formed when it was just a hellhole of a place you know impacts and craters and geological activity that the earth surface was almost tacky like magma and yet there were there were any ingredients for life there so nobody would rule out life going back very close to the formation of the earth but then but tracing all these evolutionary paths is really hard I mean we have stromatolites which are modern descendants of the first microbial colonies. You can go to Western Australia, Shark's Bay, I've been there and it's great, they're stromatolites. These were just the same as they were now three billion years ago, it's really cool. One of the things you can't see behind me is my stromatolite collection. rachael (24:53.985) Yeah. rachael (24:59.962) One of the reasons, yeah, that's fascinating. It makes a collector about that. It makes a collector. Um. Yeah. zack_jackson (25:00.071) kind of a few collections chris_impey (25:01.578) Yeah. Oh, well, three. Does that make a collection? ian (25:05.749) It's good enough. chris_impey (25:07.958) Well, yes. It's like primitive counting systems, one, two, many. So I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. rachael (25:13.941) That's right. zack_jackson (25:15.016) Ha! rachael (25:19.021) One of the reasons I was asking that question about Earth, because you were talking about these very far away planets and looking for microbial, likely microbial life, then showing up in the atmosphere by its various products. And so my question was stemming from how far back are these planets that we're looking at? a really long time to create its microbes, then perhaps, since we're looking so far back in time, that maybe those microbes exist now, but when we're looking at them, they didn't exist. Right, that lovely time, space question. chris_impey (25:51.579) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (26:02.098) Right. So in that context, it's important to say that the exoplanets we're finding are in our backyard. So Kepler, NASA's Kepler mission is really responsible for almost half the exoplanets, even though it stopped operating a few years ago. And so the most exoplanets we know of are within 100 to 1,000 light years. And that's our backyard. The Milky Way is 100,000 light years across. rachael (26:12.785) Okay. rachael (26:28.064) Oh, close. Yeah. chris_impey (26:32.398) And of course, logically, therefore, we're only seeing them as they were a century or millennium ago, which is no time geologically. So we can't see that far back. So we're not really looking at ancient history. However, the more important point, having mentioned that carbon nitrogen, oxygen, and water have been around in the universe for a long time, is that we now can very confidently say, even if we can't locate such objects, that an earth clone, rachael (26:32.606) Okay. rachael (26:38.901) Yeah, it's no time at all. Yeah. chris_impey (27:02.098) something as close to Earth as you could imagine, could have been created within a billion years of the Big Bang. And that's seven billion years before the Earth formed. So there are potential biological experiments out there that have a seven billion year head start on us and then add the four billion four and a half billion years of evolution. And that's boggling because you know, we can't imagine what evolution and biology might come up with given 10 or 12 billion years to evolve rather zack_jackson (27:11.75) Hmm. chris_impey (27:31.958) Maybe it makes no difference at all. Maybe these things are slow and they're hard and the Earth was actually one of the fastest kids on the block rather than one of the slowest kids on the block. We don't know. Sample of one again. We'll just put that as a big asterisk over almost everything I say so I don't have to keep saying sample of one. Okay. zack_jackson (27:32.014) Hmm. rachael (27:41.861) Simple of one. zack_jackson (27:42.808) Yeah. zack_jackson (27:48.834) No. rachael (27:49.221) That'll just be today's episode title, right? Today's sample of one. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. chris_impey (27:51.14) Yeah, right. zack_jackson (27:52.65) That's Apple F1. chris_impey (27:55.038) Yeah, induction is a bitch when you can't do it. zack_jackson (27:55.492) So. zack_jackson (28:02.51) So we've talked a lot about the how it's possible, how we might detect it, but what do you think it might do to our sense of self and our sense of spirituality, our sense of humanity, our sense of earth? Should we start discovering life outside of, or at least biological markers in other places? chris_impey (28:28.898) Right. I mean, I think it sort of bifurcates if we find microbial life elsewhere and improve it, you know, it's beyond a reasonable doubt. And even if we don't know if it's our biology or not, it's just a biomarker that's irrefutable or set of biomarkers. That will be a transformative, epochal event in the history of science. It'll be dramatic. But it will make front page headlines and then fade, I would say, fairly rapidly, because it's microbes. zack_jackson (28:44.618) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (28:58.858) Like, that's Ponskum or stuff on your shower curtain, like, okay, who cares? So, I mean being facetious, but not too facetious, because I think the public will just be interested and science interested people will be very interested, and books will be written, and documentaries will be made, and so on. But in the public consciousness, I don't think it will permeate very far or persist very long. Of course, the counterpoint of if we decide we found intelligent life in the universe through those techno markers. zack_jackson (29:03.391) Ha ha ha. chris_impey (29:28.978) you know, the search for artificial radio or optical signals from some civilization. So they're obviously artificial and they couldn't have been produced by nature. That will be more profound, of course, because that's companionship in the universe. And that will raise all sorts of questions. So I think it really divides that way. And since the universe logically, if life exists in the universe elsewhere, there'll be many more microbes than intelligent civilizations. You know. ian (29:29.523) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (29:58.858) seed in that first mode. Although SETI is a side bet. I mean SETI for 65 years has been placing this little side bet. Okay, yeah, we can look for microbes and those are hard experiments and now we can almost do it. But let's always place this side bet of jumping over the evolutionary path from microbes to men or humans and look for those intelligent technological civilizations directly. And so it's worth doing. I'm not science scientists are divided on SETI, even astronomers are divided on it, whether it's a worthwhile pursuit or not, whether it's even scientific or not. That's the strongest critique of SETI is that unlike, you know, if I wanted to go to the National Science Foundation and get a million dollar grant to study some issue of, you know, solid state physics or high energy physics, I'd have to propose an experiment and define my parameters and how I was going to control variables and say how I would interpret the data. could refute or confirm. SETI doesn't have that kind of situation. They don't know how to define success or failure even. Well, they can define success more or less, but they can't define failure and they can't say what the probability of success is. So it's not a normal scientific pursuit. So that's the critique of SETI from scientists, but I still think it's worth doing. ian (31:04.946) Right. ian (31:23.628) Yeah. rachael (31:24.842) You talked about, and I think you're probably right in terms of how much people will care in the long run or in their day-to-day life or, right? Okay, so we found some microbes from, you know, a thousand light years away. I don't, that didn't reduce my student loan at all. But like, didn't, thank you. It's nice, saw the headlines. It's now three years later. chris_impey (31:45.018) Right. rachael (31:54.441) But I've noticed that you did a lot of work with the Vatican and with monks, and I think that that's a different population that might respond to and other religious figures, but specifically those I'm asking you because those are the groups that you've worked with. They might respond a little bit differently to this existence. Could you speak a little bit ian (32:01.35) Yeah chris_impey (32:16.803) Right. rachael (32:23.726) in this idea of how it would change. chris_impey (32:25.658) Sure. And maybe preface it with just the cultural comment, with independent religion, that the other issue that will arise with, I mean, if microbial life is found elsewhere and astrobiology is a real field with the subject matter, finally, yeah, it's foundational for science. And of course, it terraforms biology because, you know, if you want to poke, if physicists want to poke at biologists who say, well, you just spent your whole life studying one form of biology, What about all the other forms? You don't have a general theory of biology like we have a standard model of particle physics because you've just been studying one thing like staring at your navel. Well, what about all that stuff out there? Okay, so so it'll be a big deal for biology for all of science but on the intelligent life or advanced life, the problem with what happens outside the scientific community is it's not a tabula rasa. It's not a blank slate. The popular culture, especially in the US ian (32:59.524) Hmm. ian (33:08.503) Thank you. Bye. chris_impey (33:25.718) but almost everywhere now, is so primed for the fact that, A, it's already there and sure, and B, it's visited, and three, it's abducted some of our people, and four, it can make a list of all the conspiracy theories and wild ideas about alien life. And they're just so embedded in the popular culture that it's like that the fact of the existence of intelligent aliens has been amortized. It's sort of been, it's just already been built in. zack_jackson (33:39.8) Thank you. chris_impey (33:55.698) in to the culture. And so, you know, that would lead to a collective shrug. Well, sure, we knew that, you know, the government's been hiding this stuff from us for 70 years, since Roswell. So, you know, and now your astronomers are coming along and telling us, oh, it exists and you're all excited, really? Oh, come on, you know. So I think that's the larger cultural issue or problem or whatever, it's not a problem, it's just amusing to me. But as far as a religious reaction to this, and I'll say, zack_jackson (34:02.271) Hmm. rachael (34:04.421) Thank you. Bye. zack_jackson (34:05.05) Thank you. Bye. zack_jackson (34:12.722) Ha! chris_impey (34:25.698) the gate that I'm an agnostic, which my wife's a pretty hardcore atheist. And so she gives me a hard time about being agnostic. She thinks that's a kind of, it's a kind of wussy position to take. But I, and I argue with her, we argue vigorously about that one. I argue with her and I use the phrase that was attributed to Feynman. And I think he did say this in the biography of Richard Feynman, famous physicist. His biographer said, zack_jackson (34:43.45) Fantastic. chris_impey (34:55.738) Feynman believed in the primacy of doubt and that he held as a high scientific mark and doubt skepticism and doubt is a is a very high mark of a scientist. So I'm proud to wear that mantle of skepticism doubt of not being sure and being okay with not being sure. So I'm an agnostic but I do keep bad company and some of that bad company is Jesuits. Don't you know, don't don't go drinking with Jesuits. You'll you'll you'll end up in a rachael (34:59.461) Thank you. Bye. ian (35:13.024) Right. zack_jackson (35:14.092) Yeah. chris_impey (35:25.798) and a Rome gutter somewhere and they'll be they'll have got back home safely. With the Buddhists, the other group I hang out with, you don't have to worry about being drunk in a gutter because they really don't drink. They do bend the rules a bit, you know, I've seen them eat a lot of meat for people who are supposed to be vegans and vegetarians. But anyway, those are the two tribes that I've sort of affiliated myself with. And their reactions or perspectives on life in the universe is are quite different. They're interesting. Each the Buddhists that I've been with and I've read behind this of course and read some of their More you know the scholarly articles written about this It is completely unexceptional in their tradition to contemplate a universe filled with life That could be more advanced It could be human like or it could be more advanced or different from humans in also a vast universe with cycles of time and birth and and death of the universe and rebirth of other universes. So the Byzantine possibilities of life in the universe are pretty standard stuff for them and would not surprise them at all. They do get into more tricky issues when they come to define life itself, which biologists of course have trouble with, or sentience, which is also a tricky issue. But on the larger issue of the existence of life in the universe far beyond Earth, that's just non-controversial. zack_jackson (36:48.35) Hmm. chris_impey (36:55.898) to them and when I say that's what we anticipate and that's what scientists expect it's like okay sure and the Jesuits are in a different slightly different space they're of course in an unusual space as we know within the Catholic Church because they're you know they're the scholarly branch you know they're they're devoted to scholarship they from Gregory and the calendar reform they were liberated to measure ian (37:17.944) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (37:25.678) the heavens and then eventually that just segwayed smoothly into doing astronomy research. The Jesuits have been doing pretty straight up astronomical research since certainly the early 19th century, so quite a long time. And they have that sort of intellectual independence of being able to pursue those ideas. All the Jesuit astronomers I know, there are I think 11 or 12 in the Vatican Observatory and they all live the double life. They're all PhD astronomers. rachael (37:37.221) Thank you. chris_impey (37:55.798) with parishes. So it's not a problem. Whoever else, whoever elsewhere might think there's a conflict between science and religion, they don't see it. They don't feel it. And if you ask... Yeah. Yeah. ian (38:05.145) Mm-hmm. zack_jackson (38:06.03) No. And if anyone out there wants to hear more about that, they can listen to episode episode 113 with brother guy, the, uh, the director. Yeah. ian (38:10.246) We have an episode. chris_impey (38:13.821) Right. ian (38:15.343) Director of the Vatican Observatory. chris_impey (38:16.418) Sure, sure. So I've known guys since, well, since he was a grad student actually, and a long time. And yes, and so they, they're pursuing it from a scholarly direction. And for them, it's also uncontroversial that there would be life elsewhere. Now, what is the, you know, what does that do to God's creation when you imagine that Earth and humans are no longer the centerpiece of it? That's a more interesting question. zack_jackson (38:22.034) Wow. chris_impey (38:46.298) I've had debates about that. And I heard Jose Funes, who was the previous director of the Vatican Observatory and Argentinian astronomer, in a press conference actually in the Vatican City State when we had a conference on astrobiology. In response to a question about astrobiology, because that was what the conference was about, he gave a very interesting answer. He said he gave a parable of Christ in the flock of sheep and how there was the sheep that was lost. you know, you had to gather back to the rest of the flock. And he didn't complete the story, he just left it hanging there. And so you were left wondering, are we the lost sheep, you know, and the other, and all the intelligent aliens out there are the rest of the flock? And what's the message, you know? So he sort of almost muddied the waters with his little parable. But in the manner of how they view the universe, zack_jackson (39:27.914) Hmm. rachael (39:28.621) Thank you. Bye. zack_jackson (39:33.792) Hmm. chris_impey (39:46.398) the rules of physics. I used to teach a team graduate cosmology with Bill Staker, who is one of their tribe. Sadly, he died a few years ago. We teach cosmology and he's a relativist. He works on general relativity and the Big Bang and all that. And if I was just wanting to pull his leg at breakfast, we had breakfast before we taught us to organize ourselves. I could do one of two things. I could say, oh, Bill, physics, we got you with physics. is squeezed back to the first 10 to the minus 43 seconds. Got to the gaps, there it is, that's a little gap. And then physics owns the rest, you know. And then if I was really feeling frisky, I'd sort of, since he was a Catholic, I'd tease him about the three impossible things he has to believe every morning before breakfast. Virgin birth, resurrection, et cetera, you know. So I don't know how all those circles are squared truly because we've had, you know, I've had conversations. zack_jackson (40:22.572) Hmm. zack_jackson (40:26.32) Hehehehehe zack_jackson (40:35.05) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. chris_impey (40:46.798) But I know that it's not a conflict or a tension or even a problem to imagine life in the universe and even intelligent life. So for neither of those two very different religious tribes, does it seem to be an issue? ian (41:06.443) So can you talk more about, especially how you got involved? Cause I think that science for the monks and nuns program was really interesting. And, you know, one, how you got involved, but you know, reading your book Humble Before the Void was just very interesting to kind of see about your experience from there. And you told us before we started recording that you wrote that after your first time going and that you've been there eight or nine times now. What has all of this been like for you? How has it had an impact on your work and also your personal life? if yes and what ways. chris_impey (41:38.798) Yeah, it was a sort of profound, it's been a profound experience since 2008, I guess, so it's almost 15 years and eight trips. So the first time was one of those great things of you come across the transom professionally. Sometimes I got a call from a colleague that I didn't know that well, who he knew I had an education, a good reputation as an educator. And he just called me, he's a postdoc at Berkeley actually, an environmental science postdoc. He said, how'd you like to go and teach the Dalai Lama's monks cosmology? And it's not a question you ruminate over or look at your skit, look at, oh, I'll check my calendar. Let me get back to you. No, you just say yes, and then you make it happen. So I said yes, and then it happened. And I was savvy enough in hindsight to take my 17-year-old Paul with me on that trip. And he'd never been anywhere out, he'd been to Europe a couple of times, but he'd never been to Asia or anywhere exotic. zack_jackson (42:14.65) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha rachael (42:17.821) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha zack_jackson (42:23.05) Thank you. Bye. chris_impey (42:38.738) if you like. And so that was a profound trip in that sense. It was a bonding with your 17-year-old and you know, we were a little more adventurous together than either of us might have been on our own. And so the context was that invitation. And then I learned that his holiness the Dalai Lama, who famously has said in his autobiography that if he hadn't been selected at age four to be the of compassion would have been an engineer. Fine, that's an interesting statement to make. But, and it meant that when he was a child in Eastern Tibet, in a pretty primitive village, you know, he would just infuriate his parents by taking apart their clocks and mechanical devices and never quite putting them together again. So he had this analytic and mechanical and engineering and scientific mindset even as a child. And then of course his future was cast into the role he had zack_jackson (43:11.134) Hmm. zack_jackson (43:25.992) Hmm. chris_impey (43:38.798) he took. But he's always had that strong interest in science. So he looked around 20 or so years ago and realized that the monastic tradition, his, the Gelug tradition, of course, or other traditions in Buddhism, was sort of outdated. You know, the monastic training was extremely rigorous. They take years and years of rhetoric and philosophy and theology and comparative religion and all sorts of things. But there's very little science, very little math. And in the schools, there's zack_jackson (43:39.972) Bye. chris_impey (44:08.718) very little science and very little math. And he just thought that was unacceptable. He said, my monks and nuns, the nun part actually did come later. And that was a good part of his work to make the level of playing field for monastic training to include nuns. But he just said, these my monastics cannot be prepared for life in the 21st century if they don't have science and math. And so in the manner that he does these things, he just looked around and waved his arm and said, make this happen, you know, and I've now zack_jackson (44:19.05) Thank you. Thank you. zack_jackson (44:30.035) Yeah. zack_jackson (44:37.45) Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe chris_impey (44:38.798) heard from proximity to people in his orbit that his holiness, the Dalai Lama says a lot of things. He has great ideas. He's very activist. He's very visionary. And he says all sorts of things. And people scurry around and sometimes they just ignore him. Sometimes nothing happens. But this one, they decided to make it happen. And what happened was they looked around Dharamsala chris_impey (45:08.658) the blue, who was an educator and a scientist, a young scientist. And they just glommed on to him and they said, Hey, can you help us with this? Can you set something up? And so he set up the science for monks program, then science for monks and nuns. When the nuns came on board and I was one of the early people he called. And so the model was to bring three to four Western teachers in different subjects. The Dalai Lama's core interest. it doesn't mirror a bit his interests, which are evolutionary biology, neuroscience, physics, math, and then environmental sciences come on board too. So it's not every field of science. So these, we would come out as Western teachers and there'd be cohorts of monks and then monks and nuns, about 24 in a group. And we do three week intensive workshops and they're very intense, you know, we're in the classroom six, seven hours a day and then our evening sessions or observing zack_jackson (45:50.671) Hmm. chris_impey (46:08.658) telescopes. So it's kind of grueling actually, but it's inspiring as well. And eventually, the idea is that enough of the monks and nuns will be trained to be educators themselves, and you won't need to depend on Westerners to come out and do this. And they're not really there yet, but they could get there. I don't want them to get there, because then I won't get invited out. So it was a singular experience. And the book I wrote, of course, was fresh, zack_jackson (46:24.494) Hmm. chris_impey (46:38.738) I was really, I wrote it not long after the first trip. And to your question of did it affect me or change me? Well, yes, in many ways, some of which I probably haven't fully appreciated. I mean, first of all, it was a deep embedding in a culture, in a way that I'd never done. I was pretty experienced world traveler, but in that sort of slightly superficial way of someone who goes to Asia and tries to hang out and go to a bar in a local restaurant and see the sights, but you don't really get to know the people ian (47:05.228) Mm-hmm chris_impey (47:08.838) you're moving around. So being three weeks, sometimes four weeks, and then traveling with them afterwards or during, you know, really you get to learn the culture. You also see in these northern Indian towns, most of the workshops are in northern India, there's now in southern India, Bidtabhatta, Nepal for this too. They're mixing very well. India has a, you know, kind of black mark on it right now with its current government of sort of sectarian strife and Most recently with the Sikhs, but also obviously with Muslims But in those little northern Indian villages where there are sometimes 50 percent Buddhist 50 percent Hindus They really get on pretty well. I mean that they're just they're sort of under the radar the geopolitics or the What the Modi government is doing at the time so? It works pretty well, and it's nice to see that So I learned that I saw the culture up close. I would be part of their rituals and go, you know and ian (47:50.666) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (48:08.758) see everything they saw and listen to their prayers and talk to their scholars. And so it was a pretty deep embedding. And then as far as my own life, when I come back, rather than just view it as, you know, amazing experience, I got some beautiful photos. I had these great memories. Um, it did sort of make me reflect a little, uh, because of their, the ethos they had. And their ethos is, is of course very, um, very different from most of a Western ethos. It's a Buddhist are all about compassion and suffering, suffering and compassion. They do go together. They're almost bedfellows. So I got the message, I think very early on, when I was walking towards the lecture hall and it was at one of these Tibetan children villages and they're very poignant places. They're about 11 or maybe now 14 Tibetan children villages in the northern part of India. And that's where the refugees go. ian (48:46.008) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (49:09.158) that escaped. So almost all the monks in my early workshops left Tibet when they were teenagers even younger, brought across the ice fields by family members at great risk. Some didn't make it, others lost toes and fingers from frostbite. They had to go in the winter because the Chinese troops would intercept them and even even then did in the winter. So they were orphans, And they grow up and go to these Tibetan children villages, sort of orphanages, really. And so I was walking towards the lecture hall, which is situated in one of these villages. And there was a hard, scrabble, packed dirt soccer pitch. You know, it looked really uncomfortable for falling. I am enough of a Brit to have experienced playing football soccer on really nice grass, because England does have good grass, you know. And I was thinking, the first thing I thought, damn, I don't want to play football. rachael (50:04.321) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ian (50:04.525) Right. zack_jackson (50:05.412) Hmm chris_impey (50:08.918) on that field. That would be brutal. So there was this football field and there was a 10-foot wall behind it running the length of the football field, painted white, and on top of it in 10-foot high letters was a slogan of the school, others before self. And I was just thinking, I wonder how many American high schools would have that as their slogan. How would that go down with the, you know, social media, me generation, whatever. rachael (50:10.621) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ian (50:31.167) Right. rachael (50:31.321) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha zack_jackson (50:32.25) Hmm ian (50:34.845) Yeah. chris_impey (50:38.918) So that was one thing. And then a series of those little messages sort of sink in about how they do operate differently from us or me. And so one thing it made me reflect on when I went back home was I immediately embedded back in my academic life and hustling the next grant and writing the next paper and talking to my collaborators. And I just realized how really how intensely pressured. rachael (50:40.763) Wow. chris_impey (51:08.658) Darwinian that science, Western science system is, it's kind of, you know, it kind of grinds you down. I mean, I've been hustling for grants from funding agencies for 40 years and I kind of burned out on it, you know, it's hard. It doesn't get any easier because there's younger whippersnappers that are very smart and, you know, they're going to get your grant. So it definitely made me reflect on the sort of hyper competitive nature of some parts of zack_jackson (51:21.042) Hmm. ian (51:21.047) Mm-hmm. rachael (51:28.721) Thank you. Bye. chris_impey (51:39.719) and just reflect on what is important. Is it important to know something, or to teach something, or to give something, or to what is important? And how does that work when you're a scientist and educator? And that's it. Thank you for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video. I'll see you in the next one. Bye. ian (51:56.043) Yeah. Well, it's just interesting reading the book and I told you before we're recording. I've not been on to finish it yet, but I look forward to finish it just because, you know, one, you know, as I've already said, you're a fantastic writer for the lay audience, the general public, which is not something, you know, I've, I've worked with many scientists as a science educator and many of the ones I've worked with have said they struggle with that. Right. So I always applaud that. Um, but then just the, the personal experiences you shared and. chris_impey (51:59.833) I'm ian (52:26.163) humble before the void was just very interesting to me, especially someone who I have embraced meditation and mindfulness over the past three or four years and gotten really into it. And so, you know, first when I, when you shared that book with us and saw that the Dalai Lama wrote, you know, the preface for it and everything, I just was immediately fascinated because I find him to be absolutely fascinating in his perspective on things. So chris_impey (52:47.298) Yeah, I mean, I was, I mean, I've been privileged to meet him a couple of times. And, uh, and it's always, uh, a singular experience. Uh, the first time was that first trip out actually. And, and it was in that same Tibetan children village. And that was, this was in the winter. I was a January is a very, um, very difficult time to be there. It's in the foothills of the Himalayas. Quite high up. Dharamsala has trivial factoid that a Brit will appreciate like me. Um, It has the world's highest cricket stadium. And so drum solo, there you go. Now you know, when you get asked that, now you know. So we were in this auditorium, this cold auditorium, very cold, and they'd given the Westerners blankets, put over their legs, and even a few little heaters around. But it was brutal. And he was going to give an opening address. And everyone was full of excitement and anticipation. It was probably 2,000 people. But it was a cold, it was an unadorned Spartan auditorium ian (53:20.331) Oh. zack_jackson (53:20.594) Hmm. Ha ha ha. ian (53:25.403) Exactly. zack_jackson (53:34.892) Hmm. chris_impey (53:47.498) on a below freezing day in the Himalayas. And along that football field outside, which is the way his little, he has the equivalent of a pokemobile, he has the DL mobile or whatever that he comes into a place with, that he was gonna come along the edge of the field. And I'd seen walking in that the school children were starting to assemble in a long row along the side of the football field along the place his vehicle would come. And we were waiting zack_jackson (54:01.775) Thank you. Bye. chris_impey (54:17.258) He was late and it was so cold and it was quiet. People were murmuring, nothing was happening. And then suddenly we heard this sound, this wave of singing. So they were singing him in as his vehicle arrived. And I was like, wow, that was so cool. Just the sound of that. And then he came and he just radiates when he's in a room. And he's a little frail. He had trouble getting up the three steps onto the stage. But his grin is just... Oh, it's just... anyone who remelt the hardest heart. He's just so... and his comments are always, you know, they're always kind of offhand and insightful and, you know, he has a very interesting and sensibility. So that's been a remarkable thing. But the monks all had their own insights and I learned a lot from them. I mean, I was teaching them but I was learning a lot from them. And they gave me, you know, when you teach, well, the other thing I didn't say about the ian (55:12.667) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (55:17.418) experience there, which was also restorative for me, is, you know, I depend on my high tech gadgets and my PowerPoints and my whatever. And I was pretty much warned. I said, you're going to be pretty much off the grid. And it was almost like that. And there were a couple of workshops where, you know, if the cold water, if the water was hot, you were lucky. If the power stayed on all day in the classroom, you were lucky. There was hardly any equipment. We make these, these runs rachael (55:25.325) Hmm. chris_impey (55:47.278) These equipment runs down to the local bazaar, and we buy matchsticks and cloth and cardboard and foil and just super primitive ingredients to make experiments back in the classroom, rather than bring stuff out from the West. So you had to improvise, and it was good to do that. It was good to have to lecture and talk and use simple analogies and simple equipment. And so they informed me about that, too, because I wondered how they understood zack_jackson (56:02.75) Thank you. Bye. chris_impey (56:17.278) these very abstract things of physics and cosmology. And I think the first striking little insight I had, because I was always reaching for a good analogy. And then, so I sort of turned the tab

Trechos retirados do informativo “Instituto Tara, Austrália, em setembro de 1992” de Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Thubten Zopa Rinpoche (1946 - 2023), nascido em Thami (Nepal), foi escritor, professor e renomado lama do budismo tibetano da Tradição Gelug. Aos três anos de idade Zopa Rinpoche foi reconhecido como sendo a reencarnação de Lama Lawudo. Sob a orientação de seus professores, ele recebeu uma educação budista tradicional, estudando escrituras, filosofia e práticas de meditação. Ele estudou durante sua juventude no monastério de Domo Geshe Rinpoche, até a invasão chinesa em 1959. Em 1959, fugiu para Índia, onde conheceu o Lama Yeshe, que se tornou o seu professor mais íntimo. Em 1974, Lama Yeshe e Lama Zopa começaram a viajar pelo mundo para dar ensinamentos; como resultado dessas viagens, uma rede mundial de centros de estudos budistas e de meditação começou a se desenvolver – a Fundação para a Preservação da Tradição Mahayana (FPMT). A partir do falecimento de Lama Yeshe, em 1984, Lama Zopa assumiu o papel de diretor espiritual da FPMT. Zopa Rinpoche foi fundamental na divulgação do budismo tibetano para o Ocidente, seus ensinamentos enfatizavam a importância de integrar os ensinamentos de Buda na vida cotidiana e também a prática da atenção plena, compaixão e conduta ética. Ele era conhecido por sua cordialidade, humor e acessibilidade ao apresentar profundos ensinamentos de maneira compreensível.

Citações e trechos do livro “The Peaceful Stillness of the Silent Mind”, de Lama Yeshe. Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935-1984) foi um grande mestre da tradição Gelug do budismo tibetano e escritor. Lama Yeshe nasceu perto da cidade tibetana de Tolung Dechen, mas foi enviado para o mosteiro Sera em Lhasa no Tibete aos seis anos de idade. Ele recebeu a ordenação completa aos vinte e oito anos de idade de Kyabje Ling Rinpoche . Em 1950, após a invasão chinesa no Tibet, Yeshe continuou estudando e meditando na Índia até 1967. Dois anos depois, ele estabeleceu o Monastério de Kopan, perto de Kathmandu, para ensinar o Budismo aos ocidentais. Em 1974 começou a viajar e ensinar no Ocidente e estabeleceu a Fundação para a Preservação da Tradição Mahayana. Os ensinamentos de Lama Yeshe não eram discursos secos, acadêmicos, mas métodos práticos, para olharmos para dentro e compreendermos a mente. Yeshe sempre desafiava a descobrir quem somos e o que somos. Ele desafiava a examinar os nossos preconceitos sem medos e a perceber como tudo vem da mente; como criamos os nossos próprios sofrimentos e felicidade; como devemos ter responsabilidade pessoal por tudo que experimentamos, seja bom ou ruim.

In this audio clip taken from a live-recorded SCP class on Lamrim- a thousand-year old practice from Tibetan Buddhism considered to be a complete path to enlightenment- Chris Beaudry provides teachings on the Refuge Vows.  Chris Beaudry is a father, husband and farmer from Saskatchewan, Canada. He is on the board of the Living/Dying Project and is a direct student of Lama Sonia Potie of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. He has also worked with many other teachers including RamDev Dale Borglum, Don Jose Ruiz, and Gabor Maté. Chris has a year-long study course on Lamrim that starts on April 16th. Register and learn more here: https://www.livingdying.org/lamrim/  Chris is also one of the featured teachers at the upcoming Sacred Community Retreat, an interspiritual gathering rooted in the lineage of Ram Dass and Neem Karoli Baba and centering the teachings of Bhakti Yoga and Buddhism. Register and learn more here: https://sacredcommunityproject.org/sacred-community-retreat  The Sacred Community Podcast is an inter-spiritual hub of the universal teachings, “Love, Service, Remembrance, and Truth.” Home to Sacred Community Project interviews, live workshop recordings, dharma talks, and meditations, each episode is carefully curated to ensure its alignment with SCP values. SCP works to lower the barriers of access to contemplative and devotional practices through free, donation-based, and affordable offerings, spiritual support, and prison outreach. Learn more and make a tax-deductible donation at: https://sacredcommunityproject.org   SCP Logo: Beverly Hsu Music: Carl Golembeski  

Ushnisha Vijaya, also known as Namgyelma in Tibetan, is one of the most beloved and widely practiced buddhas in Mahayana Buddhism. Why do Vajrayana Buddhists rely on the life-affirming, long-life Buddha Ushnisha Vijaya to support health and auspicious long life? What sutra, taught by the Buddha, contains the teachings on Ushnisha Vijaya and her Dharani? How can we meditate on Ushnisha Vijaya and bring her blessings into our life? We explore these questions in this short documentary on her beloved practice, followed by a short guided meditation with her beautiful long-life mantra, chanted wonderfully by Hrishikesh Sonar.In Vajrayana Buddhist tradition, the Yidam and your mind are inseparable. By visualizing the perfection of glorious long-life Ushnisha Vijaya, we connect our mind with her life-affirming, healing power. We empower our own prajna, or life force to rejuvenate our cells and heal our current physical bodies and minds. Ushnisha Vijaya, as our Yidam — or meditation deity —empowers our healing and long life by providing the perfect template — in Buddhist terms, mandala — to energize our own bodies to heal.Ushnisha Vijaya's practice was taught by Buddha Shakyamuni in the sutra, Usnisihavijaya Sutra, which contains her long Dharani, and the shorter mantra beautifully chanted here by Hrishikesh Sonar.Uṣṇīṣavijayā is considered to be very important throughout the four major lineages the Sakya, Gelug, Nyingma and Kagyu. All regard Her practice as very precious because it clears away the obstacles to life. Also, ultimately, it purifies our own obscurations, our negative karma.”  according to the 8th Garchen Rinpoche.Ushnishavijaya translates as Victorious Crown Goddess. She is one of a trinity of long-life Buddhas, including White Tara and Amitayus.Why are long-life Buddhas popular practices?Long-life Buddhas are very popular for good reason. With long life and good health, is the opportunity to practice Dharma. This is especially important in the case of our Buddhist teachers — their long lives benefit so many beings. Yet, equally, for ourselves, not because we cling to this Samsaric life, but because long life and health are conducive to a dedicated Dharma practice.Meditate along with us now, half-closing your eyes to meditate on Emptiness, and glimpsing none other than Ushnisha Vijaya. Visualize her in front of you, with healing white-golden light leaving the crown ushnisha of her head and entering your own crown, filling you with life-affirming light. Feel her healing blessings and warmth.See the glorious image of Ushnishavijaya, in front of you, the colour of an autumn moon, with three faces, white, yellow and blue and eight hands. Each face has three very large eyes. The first right hand holds a vishvavajra, a double vajra, her second hand holding a white lotus with Amitabha Buddha enthroned. Her third hand holds an arrow and the fourth in hand is in the mudra or gesture of supreme generosity. Her first left hand holds a vajra lasso. Her second left hand holds a bow. Her third left hand is in the gesture or mudra of bestowing protection, and her fourth left hand is in the gesture of meditative equipoise, and holding an auspicious nectar vase. She is beautifully adorned with silks and jewel ornaments, and seated in vajra posture.Holding the beautiful image of Ushnisha Vijaya, visualize the healing white-golden light from her crown entering your own body, reinforcing your lifeforce, your chi or prana. Her power, her healing light is removing all your negativities and your obstacles. Her healing light is strengthening you and healing you. Her blessings are filling you with lifeforce.Chant the beautiful mantra of Ushnisha Vijaya allowing the sacred syllables to empower you. Chant along now with Hrishikesh Sonar: Om Brum Svaha Om Amrita Ayur Da Dai SvahaSupport the show

This is meditation on the Nature of the Mind by Lama Shabkar taken from the text, "The Flight of the Garuda" - translated by Keith Dowman. Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol (1781-1851) was a Tibetan Buddhist yogi and poet from Amdo. Shabkar's yogic and poetic skill is considered second only to Milarepa. Shabkar begin his spiritual practice early, completing a one-year retreat at the age of 16, later becoming a Gelug monk at 20. Shabkar studied with masters of all major Tibetan Buddhist schools including Gelug and Nyingma, and received Dzogchen teachings from his main root guru Chögyal Ngakgi Wangpo. He spent years in solitary retreats in various caves, woods and mountains of Tibet. Shabkar's works express non-sectarian ideals similar to those of the 19th century Rimé movement, even though he predates the movement by about three decades and never met with any of the Rime masters from Kham.

ESCUELAS del Kalachakra Butön Rinchen Drup tuvo una influencia considerable en el desarrollo posterior de las tradiciones Gelug y Sakya de Kālacakra. Mientras que Dölpopa y Tāranātha fueron las figuras principales que desarrollaron la tradición Jonang. En la tradición Jonang se basan las escuelas Kagyu, Nyingma y la rama Tsarpa del Sakya. Hubo muchas otras influencias y mucha fertilización cruzada entre las diferentes escuelas y, de hecho, el XIV Dalai Lama afirmó que es aceptable que los iniciados en una tradición de Kālacakra practiquen en otras. Escuela Jonang Uno de los principales promotores de Kālacakra en el Tíbet fueron los eruditos yoguis de la escuela Jonang, como: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292-1361), y Tāranātha (1575-1634). Notemos los detalles…

Alexander Berzin began his study of Buddhism in 1962 at Rutgers and then Princeton University, and received his PhD in 1972 from Harvard University.Inspired by the process through which Buddhism was transmitted from one Asian civilization to another his focus has been on bridging traditional Buddhist and modern Western cultures.Dr. Berzin was resident in India for 29 years, first as a Fulbright Scholar and then with the Translation Bureau, which he helped to found, at the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives in Dharamsala. While in India, he furthered his studies with masters from all four Tibetan Buddhist traditions; however, his main teachers have been His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche, and Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey. Practicing under their supervision, he completed the major meditation retreats of the Gelug tradition.For nine years, he was the principal interpreter for Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche, accompanying him on his foreign tours and training under him to be a Buddhist teacher.  He has served as occasional interpreter for H.H. the Dalai Lama and has organized several international projects for him. Dr. Berzin has published 17 books, including Taking the Kalachakra Initiation, and The Gelug-Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra. At the end of 1998, Dr. Berzin returned to the West and created the “Berzin Archives”. There, with the encouragement of H. H. the Dalai Lama, he set out to make this material freely available to the world on the Internet, in as many languages as possible.In this episode Dr. Berzin shares:How he first was introduced to BuddhismHis days at UniversityHis first trip and traveled in India and NepalCore ideas of Buddhist philosophy Buddhism is a living traditionHow to approach dharma studyThis was a very special episode. We are very fortune to have Dr. Berzin on the show and share his fantastic journey and teachings with us. I hope you enjoy the show.To find out more please visit https://studybuddhism.com If you enjoy the program please give us a five star rating on Apple Podcasts. Thanks!

The current spiritual leader of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, is a passionate supporter of Buddhism and the rights of the Tibetan people, becoming a symbol... Uitgegeven door SAGA Egmont Spreker: Brad Carty

Green Tara is almost certainly the most popular Enlightened Buddha form in Vajrayana Buddhism. Tara's mantra is chanted daily by countless Mahayana and Tibetan Buddhists. Tara — the Liberator, the savior, the healer — is the "Mother of all Buddhas. Please enjoy and benefit from this guided meditation video on Green Tara practice for both uninitiated and initiated practitioners, with animated visualizations of the Tam syllable, green light, and Green Tara. The video ends with beautiful Tara mantras sung by the amazing Yoko Dharma. Relax, sit straight, half-close your eyes, and listen to Venerable Zasep Rinpoche guide you through visualizing Tara and chanting her mantra. Then, chant along with Yoko Dharma's amazing voice at the end of the meditation — with yet more beautiful meditational images. Venerable Zasep Rinpoche, spiritual director of Gaden for the West centers in Canada, U.S., and Australia, covers why foundations are important and how to practice: prostrations, offerings, meditation (including meditation on precious human rebirth), purification practices, and Guru yoga. Rinpoche is popularly known for his approachable teaching style, strong humor, and teachings based on a long lineage of great lamas. His own gurus included the most celebrated of Gelug teachers: His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, His Holiness Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, Venerable Geshe Thupten Wanggyel, His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Venerable Lati Rinpoche, Venerable Tara Tulku Rinpoche, and Venerable Khalkha Jetsun Dampa Rinpoche. He is the author of Buddhist teaching books, including "Tara in the Palm of Your Hand". Rinpoche is the spiritual director of many temples, meditation centers and retreat centers in Australia, the United States, and Canada. He was first invited to teach in Australia by Lama Thubten Yeshe in 1976. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/BuddhaWeekly)

Atisha was born in the year 982 AD in East Bengal. He was one of the major figures in the spread of 11th-century Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism in Asia and inspired Buddhist thought from Tibet to Sumatra. He is recognised as one of the greatest figures of classical Buddhism. Atisha's chief disciple, Dromtön, was the founder of the Kadam school, one of the New Translation schools of Tibetan Buddhism, later supplanted by the Gelug tradition in the 14th century, adopting its teachings and absorbing its monasteries.

僧人与佛窟 A Monk and His Caves by Panhan Chen 陈泮寒 原文链接 https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/NIcbOh2-PArTe61pVBzIOQ 背景音乐 Adrian Disch - Ready Riddle Apple Podcast https://apple.co/3tl9UBf Riddle 喜马拉雅 https://bit.ly/riddleximalaya Riddle Wechat Blogs https://bit.ly/riddlewechat Riddle Instagram https://bit.ly/riddleinsta Patreon Page https://www.patreon.com/yuanriddle 这里是我与一位僧人的故事。故事发生在去西藏旅行期间。 This is a story between me and a monk. The story happened on my trip to Tibet. 我们在西藏的土路上走，翻过一座山，又转过一座山，来到一座布满洞窟的山——大大小小的洞窟，看起来少说有不下几百个。据说，这里曾经是僧人们生活、修行、讲经论道的地方。 We were trekking on the dirt road of Tibet. Mountains after mountains, we came to one full of caves. There were at least hundreds of them around this mountain. We'd been told that these caves were where monks used to live, conduct their spiritual practices and teach and preach Sutras--ancient holy texts of Buddhism. 常年身处戈壁，土山上的一个个洞窟已经变得残破不堪，大部分已经被风沙埋掉了一半儿。山脚下新修建了一座小村，村民说，几十年前，他们也是住在这座土山上的窟里的。 Corroded by the desert weather, the caves looked quite shabby. Most of them were buried in the sand. The local people, from the newly built village down the mountain, told us they also lived in the caves decades ago. 村里的茶馆内坐着一位着便装的老人，随身带着一根拐杖。我们说起要爬山去看洞窟。“想看壁画吗？”旁边的人问道，指了指老人：“跟着他”。 A casually dressed old man sat in the tea house in the village, carrying his cane. We said we wanted to check out the caves in the mountain. "Wanna see the murals as well?" A stranger asked us while pointing at the old man. "Follow him". 于是，也没有什么交流的，我们起身。 Then, no words were exchanged. We got up and took off. 老人的体力出奇的好。在我们几个年轻人都已经直喘粗气，不得不停下来靠着矮墙坐下休息时，除了脖颈处的几颗汗珠，老人的脸色还是一样平静。 The old man's stamina amazed us all. Despite our young ages, we were panting heavily. Intermittent breaks of sitting by the walls alongside the road had to be made so that we could catch our breaths. Yet it was all calmness on the old man's face, except a few sweat drops around his neck. 盘山路的终点是一座和洞窟一样依山建成的红房子，老人拿出了一大串钥匙，找到开门用的那把。我们进屋。只有一间屋子，屋里摆放着两张藏族人家里几乎必备的、既能睡觉又能在接客时充当沙发的藏床，正中间放着的火炉也是当地每家每户都会用的那种。靠着山的那一面却没有墙，取而代之的是一扇木门。老人找出另一把钥匙。在进门前，他提醒我们摘掉帽子。 The end of the hilly road was a red house, resting there with all the caves at the foothill. The old man took out a bundle of keys and found the one to the house. It was a one-room house equipped with two household musts in a Tibetan family: two Tibetan beds/sofas with both the functions of sleeping and receiving guests and a furnace in the middle of the room. The side facing towards the mountain had no wall. In its place, it was a wooden door. The old man opened it with another key. Before exiting the door, the old man reminded us that we should take our hats off. 门后是另一个洞窟，但显然受到了更加用心的呵护。窟中很暗，仅点了两盏小小的煤油灯。通过灯光，四周墙壁上一个个精美的人像和图画得以映入眼帘。老人递给我们一个手电筒：“不要拍照。拿手机拍可以，不要用相机拍。” It was a cave on the other side of the door, yet with noticeable extra care. In the dark cave, two flickers of lights from the kerosene lamps showed what lied in front of our eyes: intricately drawn human figures and sceneries on the walls of the cave. The old man handed us a flash torch and reminded us, "Don't take any photos. Not with your camera. Phones are OK." 墙上的壁画刻画的大多是佛教中的各大佛祖、菩萨、金刚以及各派高僧们，还有少数印度教主神，其中包括蓝皮肤又多手的湿婆。“为什么这里会有印度教的神啊？”我们问老人。“这个地方古代的时候啊，哪里来的人都有，所以哪里的神都画。但是画得最多的还是我们格鲁派的僧人。画上那些穿黄衣服的，都是格鲁派。” Most murals on the walls were Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Caturmahārājakayikas and respected monks in different schools of Buddhism. A few of them are Hindi gods, including the blue-skinned and multi-handed Shiva. "Why Hindi gods here?" Our curiosity drove such a question. "In ancient times, people from different places came here. So they drew different kinds of gods and goddesses here. But most mural painters are my fellow monks from the Gelug school of Buddhism. Those dressed in yellow are Gelugs." “那这些画是在多久前画的呢？”我们又问。 "When did they draw these murals?" We asked again. 讲起这个壁画佛窟的故事，老人操着他那不太流利的汉语，滔滔不绝起来。他讲起早在几百年前，古格王朝兴盛时，这些佛窟四周也是最为繁华的。又讲到当年文化大革命，疯狂的人们如何找到这里，销毁了窟中供奉的那尊最大的大佛。 Speaking of the stories about the murals, he started to get eloquent even though his Mandarin was not that fluent. He said when Gelug Dynasty was in its prime hundreds of years ago, these Buddha caves were quite busy and bustling. Then he also talked about how people demolished the biggest Buddha in the cave during Cultural Revolution. 老人说他已经守在这里几十年的时间了。这件半山腰的红房子就是他的住所。他说很多人都搬走了，他留在这里，是想保护这些千百年前的同宗信徒们留下的圣像。 The old man said he'd been guarding this place for decades. This red house is his domicile. He told us many of his neighbors had moved out. He chose to stay, hoping to protect the holy figures made by his fellow believers hundreds of years ago. 由于自然的蚕食和游客不断的破坏，洞窟和壁画的完好程度每况愈下。几个月前，两个同样内有壁画的佛窟不堪风吹日晒而塌方，而那些较普通的、位于路边的洞窟，则沦为了行人游客的厕所。 The conditions of the murals and caves deteriorated due to the corrosive destructions by mother nature and human tourists. A couple of months ago, two caves with murals inside caved in in blustery weather. Those ordinary caves beside the roads became temporary toilets for a lot of tourists and passers-by. 若没有这样一个守护者，那满山佛窟或也时日无多了。 If it weren't for a guardian like him, the caves would be seeing his last days in the mountain. 而老人守着的，岂止是那几千画像和佛窟，又何尝不是一个僧侣的信仰呢。使得老人能够几十年如一日坚持下来的，除了坚定不移的信念，是否也有从中收获的喜乐呢？ What he's guarding is more than thousands of murals and caves. It is the belief of a monk. Other than such an adamant belief, could he also acquire joy from staying here for the last several decades? 我们下山时，老人也上路了——那是走向山顶的路。在那里，和那一路上，有更多的佛窟在等着他，在需要着他。临别，老人冲我们微笑。 When we trekked downhill, the old man also hit the road--a road leading to the mountain top. Over there and along the road, more caves await him and need him. He smiled a farewell to us before disappearing into the mountain. 同行者说：“老人是可怜的，一生一人驻足于荒山。但转念，却是最令人羡慕的，因为他的一生将献予其所最爱的。” My fellow traveler said, "We feel sympathetic because the old man stayed in a forsaken mountain all by himself in his life. Yet, with a second thought, we feel envious because he's devoted himself to the love of his life.

僧人与佛窟 A Monk and His Caves by Panhan Chen 陈泮寒 原文链接 https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/NIcbOh2-PArTe61pVBzIOQ 背景音乐 Adrian Disch - Ready Riddle Apple Podcast https://apple.co/3tl9UBf Riddle 喜马拉雅 https://bit.ly/riddleximalaya Riddle Wechat Blogs https://bit.ly/riddlewechat Riddle Instagram https://bit.ly/riddleinsta Patreon Page https://www.patreon.com/yuanriddle 这里是我与一位僧人的故事。故事发生在去西藏旅行期间。 This is a story between me and a monk. The story happened on my trip to Tibet. 我们在西藏的土路上走，翻过一座山，又转过一座山，来到一座布满洞窟的山——大大小小的洞窟，看起来少说有不下几百个。据说，这里曾经是僧人们生活、修行、讲经论道的地方。 We were trekking on the dirt road of Tibet. Mountains after mountains, we came to one full of caves. There were at least hundreds of them around this mountain. We'd been told that these caves were where monks used to live, conduct their spiritual practices and teach and preach Sutras--ancient holy texts of Buddhism. 常年身处戈壁，土山上的一个个洞窟已经变得残破不堪，大部分已经被风沙埋掉了一半儿。山脚下新修建了一座小村，村民说，几十年前，他们也是住在这座土山上的窟里的。 Corroded by the desert weather, the caves looked quite shabby. Most of them were buried in the sand. The local people, from the newly built village down the mountain, told us they also lived in the caves decades ago. 村里的茶馆内坐着一位着便装的老人，随身带着一根拐杖。我们说起要爬山去看洞窟。“想看壁画吗？”旁边的人问道，指了指老人：“跟着他”。 A casually dressed old man sat in the tea house in the village, carrying his cane. We said we wanted to check out the caves in the mountain. "Wanna see the murals as well?" A stranger asked us while pointing at the old man. "Follow him". 于是，也没有什么交流的，我们起身。 Then, no words were exchanged. We got up and took off. 老人的体力出奇的好。在我们几个年轻人都已经直喘粗气，不得不停下来靠着矮墙坐下休息时，除了脖颈处的几颗汗珠，老人的脸色还是一样平静。 The old man's stamina amazed us all. Despite our young ages, we were panting heavily. Intermittent breaks of sitting by the walls alongside the road had to be made so that we could catch our breaths. Yet it was all calmness on the old man's face, except a few sweat drops around his neck. 盘山路的终点是一座和洞窟一样依山建成的红房子，老人拿出了一大串钥匙，找到开门用的那把。我们进屋。只有一间屋子，屋里摆放着两张藏族人家里几乎必备的、既能睡觉又能在接客时充当沙发的藏床，正中间放着的火炉也是当地每家每户都会用的那种。靠着山的那一面却没有墙，取而代之的是一扇木门。老人找出另一把钥匙。在进门前，他提醒我们摘掉帽子。 The end of the hilly road was a red house, resting there with all the caves at the foothill. The old man took out a bundle of keys and found the one to the house. It was a one-room house equipped with two household musts in a Tibetan family: two Tibetan beds/sofas with both the functions of sleeping and receiving guests and a furnace in the middle of the room. The side facing towards the mountain had no wall. In its place, it was a wooden door. The old man opened it with another key. Before exiting the door, the old man reminded us that we should take our hats off. 门后是另一个洞窟，但显然受到了更加用心的呵护。窟中很暗，仅点了两盏小小的煤油灯。通过灯光，四周墙壁上一个个精美的人像和图画得以映入眼帘。老人递给我们一个手电筒：“不要拍照。拿手机拍可以，不要用相机拍。” It was a cave on the other side of the door, yet with noticeable extra care. In the dark cave, two flickers of lights from the kerosene lamps showed what lied in front of our eyes: intricately drawn human figures and sceneries on the walls of the cave. The old man handed us a flash torch and reminded us, "Don't take any photos. Not with your camera. Phones are OK." 墙上的壁画刻画的大多是佛教中的各大佛祖、菩萨、金刚以及各派高僧们，还有少数印度教主神，其中包括蓝皮肤又多手的湿婆。“为什么这里会有印度教的神啊？”我们问老人。“这个地方古代的时候啊，哪里来的人都有，所以哪里的神都画。但是画得最多的还是我们格鲁派的僧人。画上那些穿黄衣服的，都是格鲁派。” Most murals on the walls were Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Caturmahārājakayikas and respected monks in different schools of Buddhism. A few of them are Hindi gods, including the blue-skinned and multi-handed Shiva. "Why Hindi gods here?" Our curiosity drove such a question. "In ancient times, people from different places came here. So they drew different kinds of gods and goddesses here. But most mural painters are my fellow monks from the Gelug school of Buddhism. Those dressed in yellow are Gelugs." “那这些画是在多久前画的呢？”我们又问。 "When did they draw these murals?" We asked again. 讲起这个壁画佛窟的故事，老人操着他那不太流利的汉语，滔滔不绝起来。他讲起早在几百年前，古格王朝兴盛时，这些佛窟四周也是最为繁华的。又讲到当年文化大革命，疯狂的人们如何找到这里，销毁了窟中供奉的那尊最大的大佛。 Speaking of the stories about the murals, he started to get eloquent even though his Mandarin was not that fluent. He said when Gelug Dynasty was in its prime hundreds of years ago, these Buddha caves were quite busy and bustling. Then he also talked about how people demolished the biggest Buddha in the cave during Cultural Revolution. 老人说他已经守在这里几十年的时间了。这件半山腰的红房子就是他的住所。他说很多人都搬走了，他留在这里，是想保护这些千百年前的同宗信徒们留下的圣像。 The old man said he'd been guarding this place for decades. This red house is his domicile. He told us many of his neighbors had moved out. He chose to stay, hoping to protect the holy figures made by his fellow believers hundreds of years ago. 由于自然的蚕食和游客不断的破坏，洞窟和壁画的完好程度每况愈下。几个月前，两个同样内有壁画的佛窟不堪风吹日晒而塌方，而那些较普通的、位于路边的洞窟，则沦为了行人游客的厕所。 The conditions of the murals and caves deteriorated due to the corrosive destructions by mother nature and human tourists. A couple of months ago, two caves with murals inside caved in in blustery weather. Those ordinary caves beside the roads became temporary toilets for a lot of tourists and passers-by. 若没有这样一个守护者，那满山佛窟或也时日无多了。 If it weren't for a guardian like him, the caves would be seeing his last days in the mountain. 而老人守着的，岂止是那几千画像和佛窟，又何尝不是一个僧侣的信仰呢。使得老人能够几十年如一日坚持下来的，除了坚定不移的信念，是否也有从中收获的喜乐呢？ What he's guarding is more than thousands of murals and caves. It is the belief of a monk. Other than such an adamant belief, could he also acquire joy from staying here for the last several decades? 我们下山时，老人也上路了——那是走向山顶的路。在那里，和那一路上，有更多的佛窟在等着他，在需要着他。临别，老人冲我们微笑。 When we trekked downhill, the old man also hit the road--a road leading to the mountain top. Over there and along the road, more caves await him and need him. He smiled a farewell to us before disappearing into the mountain. 同行者说：“老人是可怜的，一生一人驻足于荒山。但转念，却是最令人羡慕的，因为他的一生将献予其所最爱的。” My fellow traveler said, "We feel sympathetic because the old man stayed in a forsaken mountain all by himself in his life. Yet, with a second thought, we feel envious because he's devoted himself to the love of his life.

僧人与佛窟 A Monk and His Caves by Panhan Chen 陈泮寒 原文链接 https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/NIcbOh2-PArTe61pVBzIOQ 背景音乐 Adrian Disch - Ready Riddle Apple Podcast https://apple.co/3tl9UBf Riddle 喜马拉雅 https://bit.ly/riddleximalaya Riddle Wechat Blogs https://bit.ly/riddlewechat Riddle Instagram https://bit.ly/riddleinsta Patreon Page https://www.patreon.com/yuanriddle 这里是我与一位僧人的故事。故事发生在去西藏旅行期间。 This is a story between me and a monk. The story happened on my trip to Tibet. 我们在西藏的土路上走，翻过一座山，又转过一座山，来到一座布满洞窟的山——大大小小的洞窟，看起来少说有不下几百个。据说，这里曾经是僧人们生活、修行、讲经论道的地方。 We were trekking on the dirt road of Tibet. Mountains after mountains, we came to one full of caves. There were at least hundreds of them around this mountain. We'd been told that these caves were where monks used to live, conduct their spiritual practices and teach and preach Sutras--ancient holy texts of Buddhism. 常年身处戈壁，土山上的一个个洞窟已经变得残破不堪，大部分已经被风沙埋掉了一半儿。山脚下新修建了一座小村，村民说，几十年前，他们也是住在这座土山上的窟里的。 Corroded by the desert weather, the caves looked quite shabby. Most of them were buried in the sand. The local people, from the newly built village down the mountain, told us they also lived in the caves decades ago. 村里的茶馆内坐着一位着便装的老人，随身带着一根拐杖。我们说起要爬山去看洞窟。“想看壁画吗？”旁边的人问道，指了指老人：“跟着他”。 A casually dressed old man sat in the tea house in the village, carrying his cane. We said we wanted to check out the caves in the mountain. "Wanna see the murals as well?" A stranger asked us while pointing at the old man. "Follow him". 于是，也没有什么交流的，我们起身。 Then, no words were exchanged. We got up and took off. 老人的体力出奇的好。在我们几个年轻人都已经直喘粗气，不得不停下来靠着矮墙坐下休息时，除了脖颈处的几颗汗珠，老人的脸色还是一样平静。 The old man's stamina amazed us all. Despite our young ages, we were panting heavily. Intermittent breaks of sitting by the walls alongside the road had to be made so that we could catch our breaths. Yet it was all calmness on the old man's face, except a few sweat drops around his neck. 盘山路的终点是一座和洞窟一样依山建成的红房子，老人拿出了一大串钥匙，找到开门用的那把。我们进屋。只有一间屋子，屋里摆放着两张藏族人家里几乎必备的、既能睡觉又能在接客时充当沙发的藏床，正中间放着的火炉也是当地每家每户都会用的那种。靠着山的那一面却没有墙，取而代之的是一扇木门。老人找出另一把钥匙。在进门前，他提醒我们摘掉帽子。 The end of the hilly road was a red house, resting there with all the caves at the foothill. The old man took out a bundle of keys and found the one to the house. It was a one-room house equipped with two household musts in a Tibetan family: two Tibetan beds/sofas with both the functions of sleeping and receiving guests and a furnace in the middle of the room. The side facing towards the mountain had no wall. In its place, it was a wooden door. The old man opened it with another key. Before exiting the door, the old man reminded us that we should take our hats off. 门后是另一个洞窟，但显然受到了更加用心的呵护。窟中很暗，仅点了两盏小小的煤油灯。通过灯光，四周墙壁上一个个精美的人像和图画得以映入眼帘。老人递给我们一个手电筒：“不要拍照。拿手机拍可以，不要用相机拍。” It was a cave on the other side of the door, yet with noticeable extra care. In the dark cave, two flickers of lights from the kerosene lamps showed what lied in front of our eyes: intricately drawn human figures and sceneries on the walls of the cave. The old man handed us a flash torch and reminded us, "Don't take any photos. Not with your camera. Phones are OK." 墙上的壁画刻画的大多是佛教中的各大佛祖、菩萨、金刚以及各派高僧们，还有少数印度教主神，其中包括蓝皮肤又多手的湿婆。“为什么这里会有印度教的神啊？”我们问老人。“这个地方古代的时候啊，哪里来的人都有，所以哪里的神都画。但是画得最多的还是我们格鲁派的僧人。画上那些穿黄衣服的，都是格鲁派。” Most murals on the walls were Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Caturmahārājakayikas and respected monks in different schools of Buddhism. A few of them are Hindi gods, including the blue-skinned and multi-handed Shiva. "Why Hindi gods here?" Our curiosity drove such a question. "In ancient times, people from different places came here. So they drew different kinds of gods and goddesses here. But most mural painters are my fellow monks from the Gelug school of Buddhism. Those dressed in yellow are Gelugs." “那这些画是在多久前画的呢？”我们又问。 "When did they draw these murals?" We asked again. 讲起这个壁画佛窟的故事，老人操着他那不太流利的汉语，滔滔不绝起来。他讲起早在几百年前，古格王朝兴盛时，这些佛窟四周也是最为繁华的。又讲到当年文化大革命，疯狂的人们如何找到这里，销毁了窟中供奉的那尊最大的大佛。 Speaking of the stories about the murals, he started to get eloquent even though his Mandarin was not that fluent. He said when Gelug Dynasty was in its prime hundreds of years ago, these Buddha caves were quite busy and bustling. Then he also talked about how people demolished the biggest Buddha in the cave during Cultural Revolution. 老人说他已经守在这里几十年的时间了。这件半山腰的红房子就是他的住所。他说很多人都搬走了，他留在这里，是想保护这些千百年前的同宗信徒们留下的圣像。 The old man said he'd been guarding this place for decades. This red house is his domicile. He told us many of his neighbors had moved out. He chose to stay, hoping to protect the holy figures made by his fellow believers hundreds of years ago. 由于自然的蚕食和游客不断的破坏，洞窟和壁画的完好程度每况愈下。几个月前，两个同样内有壁画的佛窟不堪风吹日晒而塌方，而那些较普通的、位于路边的洞窟，则沦为了行人游客的厕所。 The conditions of the murals and caves deteriorated due to the corrosive destructions by mother nature and human tourists. A couple of months ago, two caves with murals inside caved in in blustery weather. Those ordinary caves beside the roads became temporary toilets for a lot of tourists and passers-by. 若没有这样一个守护者，那满山佛窟或也时日无多了。 If it weren't for a guardian like him, the caves would be seeing his last days in the mountain. 而老人守着的，岂止是那几千画像和佛窟，又何尝不是一个僧侣的信仰呢。使得老人能够几十年如一日坚持下来的，除了坚定不移的信念，是否也有从中收获的喜乐呢？ What he's guarding is more than thousands of murals and caves. It is the belief of a monk. Other than such an adamant belief, could he also acquire joy from staying here for the last several decades? 我们下山时，老人也上路了——那是走向山顶的路。在那里，和那一路上，有更多的佛窟在等着他，在需要着他。临别，老人冲我们微笑。 When we trekked downhill, the old man also hit the road--a road leading to the mountain top. Over there and along the road, more caves await him and need him. He smiled a farewell to us before disappearing into the mountain. 同行者说：“老人是可怜的，一生一人驻足于荒山。但转念，却是最令人羡慕的，因为他的一生将献予其所最爱的。” My fellow traveler said, "We feel sympathetic because the old man stayed in a forsaken mountain all by himself in his life. Yet, with a second thought, we feel envious because he's devoted himself to the love of his life.

Meditation is a broad word. It describes a set of tools that create conditions for a deeper state of awareness and focus. And as such, it doesn't describe one particular approach or method. Every practice has its own unique characteristics and features. Outside of a specific school, there is no right or wrong way to meditate. In this episode of the podcast I speak with my friend David Johnson. He practices the Gelug-pa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. And has done for over 30 years. He shares some gentle thoughts about how to start, nurture, and develop a practice (regardless of what tradition you might be drawn towards). Practice and Meditation There is a temptation to give up or try something else when things get hard. But in any kind of practice, the process IS the goal. It is through repetition that success is seeded, nurtured, and grown. When we are not attached to an outcome, we succeed every time we show up. And in the case of meditation, we see it working through a deeper awareness of what's going on within. Awareness expands inside the space between stimulus and response. This is where we can watch thoughts, emotions, and reactions rising within us, as we experience life and the world around us. Rather than identifying with those things, we begin instead to choose how (and if) we want to engage with the thoughts, feelings, and urges that spring to mind. In The Episode We Talk About: What meditation is (and maybe isn't). Why meditation practice can become overwhelming and confusing. And what we can do when we find ourselves down rabbit holes. The sole (or soul!) concern of meditation. The difference between the use of meditation and mindfulness as a sticking plaster and meditation as a doorway to inside-out transformation. The practice of Tonglen. Why goals around meditation should be broad. How to know if meditation is ‘working'. And why that's not necessarily a great way to think about it. Why community (being with others) is important when it comes to building meditative practices into your life. Over to You Do you have a meditation practice? What have been the biggest challenges and joys for you? I'd love to read your thoughts in the comments below. Or get in touch directly through email or social media. Connect With Me Twitter: https://twitter.com/ap_mort Facebook: https://facebook.com/andymort Instagram: https://instagram.com/ap_mort The Haven: https://the-haven.co Watch This Episode on YouTube Links to Articles and Resources Mentioned in the Show Get the Extended Play Private Podcast: https://patreon.com/andymort Listen to my music: https://music.andymort.com/ Nick Danzinger - Danzinger's Travels: Beyond Forbidden Frontiers

Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol (1781-1851) was a Tibetan Buddhist yogi and poet from Amdo. Shabkar's yogic and poetic skill is considered second only to Milarepa. Shabkar begin his spiritual practice early, completing a one-year retreat at the age of 16, later becoming a Gelug monk at 20. Shabkar studied with masters of all major Tibetan Buddhist schools including Gelug and Nyingma, and received Dzogchen teachings from his main root guru Chögyal Ngakgi Wangpo. He spent years in solitary retreats in various caves, woods and mountains of Tibet. Shabkar's works express non-sectarian ideals similar to those of the 19th century Rimé movement, even though he predates the movement by about three decades and never met with any of the Rime masters from Kham. Teaching called "Songs of Examining" taken from the book - 'Quintessential Dzogchen: Confusion Dawns as Wisdom' - translated by Erik Pema Kunsang and Marcia Binder Schmidt.

"Many of our problems stem from attitudes like putting ourselves first at all costs" - The 14th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso The Dalai Lama is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism

The 14th Dalai Lama is the current Dalai Lama. Dalai Lamas are important monks of the Gelug school, the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism, which was formally headed by the Ganden Tripas.

In honor of Tibetan New Year and the 600th anniversary of the enlightenment of Tsongkhapa, Professor Thurman gives a teaching on the history of women in Buddhism and details the on-going work to re-evaluate and re-establish Vajrayana Tantric traditions in hearts, minds and lives of institutional monastics and modern householder practitioners. Opening with a short discussion of New Year’s celebrations in Tibet, Robert A.F. Thurman elaborates the benefits of studying the teachings and commentaries of Lama Tsongkhapa for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of yoga, meditation and the Buddhist Inner Sciences. Podcast includes: An in-depth exploration of the impact of male dominated culture on the transmission of advanced Buddhist practices for women, personal stories about translating commentaries on “secret” advanced Tantric texts and an introduction to the importance of the queens, consorts and female poets of South India. This episode concludes with an invitation to join Professor Thurman during upcoming teachings at Tibet House US, Menla Retreat and online with Wisdom Publications. About Lama Tsongkhapa and “International Year of Tsongkhapa” ​Je Tsongkhapa Lobsang Drakpa (1357-1419) was one of the greatest scholar-practitioners in the history of Tibetan Buddhism and the founder of the Gelug tradition. While still a young man, Tsongkhapa distinguished himself through intense study, a sharp intellect and meditative accomplishment. In the last three decades of his life, Tsongkhapa dedicated himself to practice, teaching, writing and establishing monasteries. Respected by all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Lama Tsongkhapa’s deeds contributed tremendously to the revitalization of Buddhism in Tibet. On December 30th, 2018, the 104th Ganden Tripa Lobsang Tenzin, the supreme head of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism proclaimed that 2019 will be “International Year of Tsongkhapa.” “I call upon all Gelukpas and well-wishers to render their support to spreading awareness of the eloquent teachings and writings of the great Master Tsongkhapa throughout the world. I encourage Geluk monasteries, centers, organizers, individuals and admirers of Master Tsongkhapa worldwide to initiate special activities throughout the year of 2019 to commemorate (the) 600th anniversary of the great master and to inspire beings to follow in his footsteps.” Ganden Tri Rinpoche   Buddha’s Noble Daughters : Buddhist Tantra for All – Ep. 233 of the Bob Thurman Podcast Image via www.tenzinpalmo.com. This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was brought to you in part through the monthly support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York. Listen to more archive recordings from past Robert A.F. Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. The songs “Trance Tibet” & ‘Dancing Ling’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

In honor of Tibetan New Year and the 600th anniversary of the enlightenment of Tsongkhapa, Professor Thurman gives a teaching on the history of women in Buddhism and details the on-going work to re-evaluate and re-establish Vajrayana Tantric traditions in hearts, minds and lives of institutional monastics and modern householder practitioners. Opening with a short discussion of New Year’s celebrations in Tibet, Robert A.F. Thurman elaborates the benefits of studying the teachings and commentaries of Lama Tsongkhapa for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of yoga, meditation and the Buddhist Inner Sciences. Podcast includes: an in-depth exploration of the impact of male dominated culture on the transmission of advanced Buddhist practices for women, personal stories about translating commentaries on “secret” advanced Tantric texts and an introduction to the importance of the queens, consorts and female poets of South India. This episode concludes with an invitation to join Professor Thurman during upcoming teachings at Tibet House US, Menla Retreat and online with Wisdom Publications. About Lama Tsongkhapa and “International Year of Tsongkhapa” ​Je Tsongkhapa Lobsang Drakpa (1357-1419) was one of the greatest scholar-practitioners in the history of Tibetan Buddhism and the founder of the Gelug tradition. On December 30th, 2018, the 104th Ganden Tripa Lobsang Tenzin, the supreme head of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism proclaimed that 2019 will be “International Year of Tsongkhapa.” “I call upon all Gelukpas and well-wishers to render their support to spreading awareness of the eloquent teachings and writings of the great Master Tsongkhapa throughout the world. I encourage Geluk monasteries, centers, organizers, individuals and admirers of Master Tsongkhapa worldwide to initiate special activities throughout the year of 2019 to commemorate (the) 600th anniversary of the great master and to inspire beings to follow in his footsteps.” Ganden Tri Rinpoche Buddha’s Noble Daughters : Buddhist Tantra for All – Ep. 233 of the Bob Thurman Podcast Image via www.tenzinpalmo.com. This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was brought to you in part through the monthly support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York. Listen to more archive recordings from past Robert A.F. Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. The songs “Trance Tibet” & ‘Dancing Ling’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

In this extended archive recording of “The Legacy of Lama Tsongkhapa” Talk by Robert A.F. Thurman from Tse Chen Ling Center in San Francisco celebrates the 600th anniversary of the enlightenment of Tsongkhapa. Opening  with personal reflections upon “The Year of Tsongkhapa”, Robert A.F. Thurman uses the miss-titled “Tibetan Book of The Dead” core teaching of infinite interconnected, past and future lives to frame his exploration of the life, work and teachings of Je Tsongkhapa and gives an in-depth teaching on his historical importance and impact upon Buddhism, Tibet and philosophy. Podcast includes a reading of the first Panchen Lama Khedrup Gelek Pelzang’s account of Tsongkhapa’s attainment of the magic body and manifestation of Manjushri during his enlightenment, a discussion of the use of spiritual consorts, Karmamudra, the history of the different schools, sects and “orders” within Pre-Invasion Tibet and a recommendation of the forthcoming biography of Tsongkhapa by Thupten Jinpa by Wisdom Publications.   About Lama Tsongkhapa and “International Year of Tsongkhapa” ​Je Tsongkhapa Lobsang Drakpa (1357-1419) was one of the greatest scholar-practitioners in the history of Tibetan Buddhism and the founder of the Gelug tradition. While still a young man, Tsongkhapa distinguished himself through intense study, a sharp intellect and meditative accomplishment. In the last three decades of his life, Tsongkhapa dedicated himself to practice, teaching, writing and establishing monasteries. Respected by all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Lama Tsongkhapa’s deeds contributed tremendously to the revitalization of Buddhism in Tibet. On December 30th, 2018, the 104th Ganden Tripa Lobsang Tenzin, the supreme head of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism proclaimed that 2019 will be “International Year of Tsongkhapa.” “I call upon all Gelukpas and well-wishers to render their support to spreading awareness of the eloquent teachings and writings of the great Master Tsongkhapa throughout the world. I encourage Geluk monasteries, centers, organizers, individuals and admirers of Master Tsongkhapa worldwide to initiate special activities throughout the year of 2019 to commemorate (the) 600th anniversary of the great master and to inspire beings to follow in his footsteps.” Ganden Tri Rinpoche   This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York and Wisdom Publications. Suggested Reading:  “The Life and Teachings of Tsongkhapa” Edited by Robert A.F. Thurman published by Wisdom Publication, 2018. The Year of Tsongkhapa : Podcast Bonus RAFT Archive Episode was recorded during the “The Legacy of Lama Tsongkhapa” Talk at Tse Chen Ling in San Francisco in 2019. Listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert AF Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. The song ‘Dancing Ling’ + ‘Trance Tibet’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

In this extended archive recording of “The Legacy of Lama Tsongkhapa” Talk by Robert A.F. Thurman from Tse Chen Ling Center in San Francisco celebrates the 600th anniversary of the enlightenment of Tsongkhapa. Opening  with personal reflections upon “The Year of Tsongkhapa”, Robert A.F. Thurman uses the miss-titled “Tibetan Book of The Dead” core teaching of infinite interconnected, past and future lives to frame his exploration of the life, work and teachings of Je Tsongkhapa and gives an in-depth teaching on his historical importance and impact upon Buddhism, Tibet and philosophy. Podcast includes a reading of the first Panchen Lama Khedrup Gelek Pelzang’s account of Tsongkhapa’s attainment of the magic body and manifestation of Manjushri during his enlightenment, a discussion of the use of spiritual consorts, Karmamudra, the history of the different schools, sects and “orders” within Pre-Invasion Tibet and a recommendation of the forthcoming biography of Tsongkhapa by Thupten Jinpa by Wisdom Publications. About Lama Tsongkhapa and “International Year of Tsongkhapa” ​Je Tsongkhapa Lobsang Drakpa (1357-1419) was one of the greatest scholar-practitioners in the history of Tibetan Buddhism and the founder of the Gelug tradition. While still a young man, Tsongkhapa distinguished himself through intense study, a sharp intellect and meditative accomplishment. In the last three decades of his life, Tsongkhapa dedicated himself to practice, teaching, writing and establishing monasteries. Respected by all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Lama Tsongkhapa’s deeds contributed tremendously to the revitalization of Buddhism in Tibet. On December 30th, 2018, the 104th Ganden Tripa Lobsang Tenzin, the supreme head of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism proclaimed that 2019 will be “International Year of Tsongkhapa.” “I call upon all Gelukpas and well-wishers to render their support to spreading awareness of the eloquent teachings and writings of the great Master Tsongkhapa throughout the world. I encourage Geluk monasteries, centers, organizers, individuals and admirers of Master Tsongkhapa worldwide to initiate special activities throughout the year of 2019 to commemorate (the) 600th anniversary of the great master and to inspire beings to follow in his footsteps.” Ganden Tri Rinpoche This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York and Wisdom Publications. Suggested Reading:  “

Continuing his celebration of the 600th anniversary of the enlightenment of Tsongkhapa, Professor Thurman gives an in-depth teaching on his "Secret Biography" and the impact of his creation of the Monlam Chenmo (Great Prayer Festival) in Tibet. About Lama Tsongkhapa and "International Year of Tsongkhapa" ​Je Tsongkhapa Lobsang Drakpa (1357-1419) was one of the greatest scholar-practitioners in the history of Tibetan Buddhism and the founder of the Gelug tradition. While still a young man, Tsongkhapa distinguished himself through intense study, a sharp intellect and meditative accomplishment. In the last three decades of his life, Tsongkhapa dedicated himself to practice, teaching, writing and establishing monasteries. Respected by all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Lama Tsongkhapa’s deeds contributed tremendously to the revitalization of Buddhism in Tibet. On December 30th, 2018, the 104th Ganden Tripa Lobsang Tenzin, the supreme head of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism proclaimed that 2019 will be “International Year of Tsongkhapa.” “I call upon all Gelukpas and well-wishers to render their support to spreading awareness of the eloquent teachings and writings of the great Master Tsongkhapa throughout the world. I encourage Geluk monasteries, centers, organizers, individuals and admirers of Master Tsongkhapa worldwide to initiate special activities throughout the year of 2019 to commemorate (the) 600th anniversary of the great master and to inspire beings to follow in his footsteps.” Ganden Tri Rinpoche Podcast concludes with a reading of the poetry of Albert Saijo by Gary Gach. This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York and Wisdom Publications. Suggested Reading:  “The Life and Teachings of Tsongkhapa” Edited by Robert A.F. Thurman published by Wisdom Publication, 2018. Celebrating Tsongkhapa : Sects, Orders and Consorts - Ep. 200 of the Bob Thurman Podcast was recorded during the "The Legacy of Lama Tsongkhapa" Talk at Tse Chen Ling in San Francisco in 2019. Listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert AF Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. Gary Gregory Gach is an author, translator, and editor living in San Francisco. A dynamic speaker and teacher in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism his works include the anthology “What Book!? Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop” and the forthcoming “Pause Breathe Smile – Awakening Mindfulness When Meditation is Not Enough”. To learn more about the writings and work Of Gary Gach please visit: www.garygach.com The song ‘Dancing Ling’ + ‘Trance Tibet’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved.

Continuing his celebration of the 600th anniversary of the enlightenment of Tsongkhapa, Professor Thurman gives an in-depth teaching on his “Secret Biography” and the impact of his creation of the Monlam Chenmo (Great Prayer Festival) in Tibet. About Lama Tsongkhapa and “International Year of Tsongkhapa” ​Je Tsongkhapa Lobsang Drakpa (1357-1419) was one of the greatest scholar-practitioners in the history of Tibetan Buddhism and the founder of the Gelug tradition. While still a young man, Tsongkhapa distinguished himself through intense study, a sharp intellect and meditative accomplishment. In the last three decades of his life, Tsongkhapa dedicated himself to practice, teaching, writing and establishing monasteries. Respected by all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Lama Tsongkhapa’s deeds contributed tremendously to the revitalization of Buddhism in Tibet. On December 30th, 2018, the 104th Ganden Tripa Lobsang Tenzin, the supreme head of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism proclaimed that 2019 will be “International Year of Tsongkhapa.” “I call upon all Gelukpas and well-wishers to render their support to spreading awareness of the eloquent teachings and writings of the great Master Tsongkhapa throughout the world. I encourage Geluk monasteries, centers, organizers, individuals and admirers of Master Tsongkhapa worldwide to initiate special activities throughout the year of 2019 to commemorate (the) 600th anniversary of the great master and to inspire beings to follow in his footsteps.” Ganden Tri Rinpoche Podcast concludes with a reading of the poetry of Albert Saijo by Gary Gach. This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York and Wisdom Publications. Suggested Reading:  “The Life and Teachings of Tsongkhapa” Edited by Robert A.F. Thurman published by Wisdom Publication, 2018. Celebrating Tsongkhapa : Sects, Orders and Consorts – Ep. 200 of the Bob Thurman Podcast was recorded during the “The Legacy of Lama Tsongkhapa” Talk at Tse Chen Ling in San Francisco in 2019. Listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert AF Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. Gary Gregory Gach is an author, translator, and editor living in San Francisco. A dynamic speaker and teacher in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism his works include the anthology

In this special podcast celebrating the 600th anniversary of the enlightenment of Tsongkhapa, Professor Thurman gives an in-depth teaching on his historical importance and impact upon Buddhism, Tibet and philosophy. Opening this week’s episode with personal reflections upon “The Year of Tsongkhapa”, Robert A.F. Thurman uses the miss-titled “Tibetan Book of The Dead” core teaching of infinite interconnected, past and future lives to frame his exploration of the life, work and teachings of Je Tsongkhapa. This two part podcast includes a reading of the first Panchen Lama Khedrup Gelek Pelzang’s account of Tsongkhapa’s attainment of the magic body and manifestation of Manjushri during his enlightenment. Podcast includes a discussion of the use of spiritual consorts, Karmamudra, the history of the different schools, sects and “orders” within Pre-Invasion Tibet and a recommendation of the forthcoming biography of Tsongkhapa by Thupten Jinpa by Wisdom Publications. About Lama Tsongkhapa and “International Year of Tsongkhapa” ​Je Tsongkhapa Lobsang Drakpa (1357-1419) was one of the greatest scholar-practitioners in the history of Tibetan Buddhism and the founder of the Gelug tradition. While still a young man, Tsongkhapa distinguished himself through intense study, a sharp intellect and meditative accomplishment. In the last three decades of his life, Tsongkhapa dedicated himself to practice, teaching, writing and establishing monasteries. Respected by all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Lama Tsongkhapa’s deeds contributed tremendously to the revitalization of Buddhism in Tibet. On December 30th, 2018, the 104th Ganden Tripa Lobsang Tenzin, the supreme head of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism proclaimed that 2019 will be “International Year of Tsongkhapa.” “I call upon all Gelukpas and well-wishers to render their support to spreading awareness of the eloquent teachings and writings of the great Master Tsongkhapa throughout the world. I encourage Geluk monasteries, centers, organizers, individuals and admirers of Master Tsongkhapa worldwide to initiate special activities throughout the year of 2019 to commemorate (the) 600th anniversary of the great master and to inspire beings to follow in his footsteps.” Ganden Tri Rinpoche Podcast concludes with a reading of the poetry of Lawrence Ferlinghetti by Gary Gach. This week’s episode’s of the Bob Thurman Podcast was brought to you in part through the support of the Tibet House US Membership Community and Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in Phoenicia, New York and Wisdom Publications. Suggested Reading:  “

Mechanismus des Karmas: Gelug Prasangika - Teil 2 by Study Buddhism

Mechanismus des Karmas: Gelug Prasangika - Teil 1 by Study Buddhism

Mechanismus des Karmas: Gelug Prasangika - Teil 7 by Study Buddhism

Mechanismus des Karmas: Gelug Prasangika - Teil 5 by Study Buddhism

Mechanismus des Karmas: Gelug Prasangika - Teil 3 by Study Buddhism

Mechanismus des Karmas: Gelug Prasangika - Teil 4 by Study Buddhism

Mechanismus des Karmas: Gelug Prasangika - Teil 6 by Study Buddhism

Feeling burnt out does not make you a failure. That’s the first thing Buddhist teacher and former tech executive Lawrence Levy would want you to know. Burnout, Levy says, is a healthy response when our human needs aren’t being met. As the former Chief Financial Officer of Pixar, Levy knows what it means to have a demanding job. But it was during his many years practicing in the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism that Levy began to find a way to apply Buddhist principles to the difficulties that we face in our everyday lives, leading him to co-found Juniper, an organization devoted to making meditation and the dharma accessible in a modern context. Here, Tricycle Editor and Publisher James Shaheen talks to Levy about the importance of continuous self-care in a mutually supportive environment and how meditation, learning, and connection can help us tend to the conditions that lead to burnout.

In this podcast Professor Thurman explains the Buddha's enlightenment & the philosophical clarity that Je Tsongkhapa brought to the mind training systems disseminated through monastic & meditative traditions of Tibet. Includes an overview of British biologist Rupert Sheldrake's Morphic resonance theory, the history of Tsongkhapa and the annual days cerebrating the founder of the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, his parinirvana & enlightenment. Episode concludes with a discussion on selflessness, power loss & Tibetan Buddhist meditative symbolism with Dr Nida Chenagtsang & Isa Gucciardi Ph.D.

As the 4 applications of mindfulness bring us knowledge of our experience, the 4 immeasurables bring balance in our emotions. If feeling down, practice loving-kindness and not its near enemy attachment. If feeling disengaged, practice compassion which is an antidote to the near enemy cold indifference. Worldly life is characterized by restlessness and anxiety, and for genuine happiness and the achievement of shamatha, we need to gradually wean ourselves from the props of hedonic pleasures. Meditation: silent meditation of your choice. Q1. Could you please explain the terms substrate and substrate consciousness? Is the substrate consciousness something we can tap into now? Are their equivalent terms in the Gelug and Kagyu traditions?
Q2. Do we also experience the substrate if we fall asleep lucidly?
Q3. Does the tactile consciousness illuminate the body or does the mental consciousness? How does consciousness illuminate?
Q4. What is the object of substrate consciousness? Most of the descriptions I’ve read have focused on what the substrate is not. Meditation starts at 12:17

In a return visit to Spokane, Venerable Geshe Thupten Phelgye, will be discussing the current situation in Tibet, and the work that he did on the new charter for the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, which no longer includes the Dalai Lama as the political head. Geshe Phelgye by was born in Tibet in 1956 and escaped to India with his family when he was three years old. He became a monk at the age of seventeen, completed the rigorous eighteen year course of traditional studies in Buddhist philosophy that earned him the title "Geshe" (PhD) from the Sera Monastic University in 1991, and followed that with Buddhist Tantryana studies at Gyumeh Tantric Monastry. In 1993 he dedicated five years to a meditation retreat in the mountains of Dharamsala. He was elected as a member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile in 2001 to represent the Gelug tradition of Buddhism. Geshe Phelgye is currently spending the year teaching at Gonzaga University as its first Global Scholar in Residence. This program originally aired on 5/14/12. contact information: http://www.universalcompassion.org/

Against the chilling backdrop of the Zeppelin Field, where Hitler addressed the vast Nazi rallies in the 30's, the Dalai Lama gave a talk at the Arena Versicherung in N?rnberg, Germany on Sunday May 18. The Dalai Lama's actions against Dorje Shugden practitioners are similar to what Hitler did to the Jews: single out Shugden practitioners and cause them immense suffering, labeling them as undesirable and persecuting them. The Dalai Lama is persecuting his own countrymen in a similar way as Hitler did to the Jews.

On Tuesday May 27, the Western Shugden Society arranged two protests in the English city of Nottingham. As people gathered to listen to the Dalai Lama at the Ice Arena in the morning, they were greeted by a vociferous picket of monks, nuns, and lay Buddhists from over 30 countries representing thousands of Western Shugden Society members around the world. They were protesting the discrimination and harm caused by the Dalai Lama's ban to the practice of Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden.

On April 22 2008, 450 Western practitioners of the Deity Dorje Shugden -- including 100 Tibetan practitioners resident in the West -- protested outside the Dalai Lama's visit to Colgate University in Hamilton, NY. Protest was regarding Dalai Lama's ban of Dorje Shugden practice. This ban instigated by the Dalai Lama is causing ostracism, suffering, and disharmony. The Dalai Lama is denying religious freedom and advocating and practicing intolerance towards his own people in the Tibetan exiled communities and all Dorje Shugden practitioners in the world.

On Friday May 16, the Western Shugden Society organized another demonstration against the Dalai Lama, this time in Germany. Almost 400 people gathered in the Ruhr district town of Bochum to protest against the Dalai Lama's continued religious discrimination against Shugden practitioners, and his abuse of human rights.

The Western Shugden Society match for Relgious freedom in Nantes, France. Protesting the ban on Dorje Shugden practice by HH the Dalai Lama

Main points: 1) Dalai Lama says there is no ban on Dorje Shugden practice being enforced but this is a LIE. 2) There is evidence of a ban including evidence of schoolchildren being expelled from schools, monks being kicked out of monasteries, Shugden practitioners being denied travel papers because they don't have an identity card, and Shugden practitioners being denied access to hospitals and medicine. People are being forced to give up their Spiritual Guide or become a refugee within the refugee community. 3) People are suffering because of the ban instigated by the Dalai Lama. Dalai Lama, please revoke the ban.

The Western Shugden Society response to the Australian Sangha Association statement regarding protests at the teachings of HH the Dalai Lama

Music video detailing the human rights abuses of the Dalai Lama and showing the Demonstrations which were organised by the Western Shugden Society

Thursday 22 and Friday 23 of May saw two days of protest in London England, with growing numbers of people taking to the streets to expose the hypocrisy of the Dalai Lama and demand an end to the religious discrimination and intimidation he is inflicting on millions of Shugden practitioners around the world. The Dalai Lama has banned a main stream Buddhist prayer. He has instigated an oath to receive an identity card. If you don't agree to give up your practice of Dorje Shugden then you cannot get an identity card. Without the card you cannot receive food from shops, medicine from hospitals, you are denied education, monks are being thrown out of their monasteries. Tibetan Dorje Shugden practitioners are becoming refugees again, monks being separated from monks, this time at the hand of the Dalai Lama. This is worst than what the Chinese did. The Chinese never separated the monks who always lived in harmony. The Dalai Lama is destroying religious harmony in the world.