Blogs on the 4 Noble Truths

Dear Friend,

Please visit http://www.onebodhitree.org for more details.

On December the 12th we had His Holiness the Dalai Lama with us for an hour in the shrine room in West Sacramento. Members of One Bodhi Tree sat
within few feet of His Holiness and Ven. Thupten Jinpa. That is how it felt to listen to his lecture on a large screen.

One Bodhi Tree invites you to the meditation and discussion session on Wednesday the 19th December starting at 6:30 PM till 8:30 PM.  This
session is follow up on the lecture of His Holiness.

We will take up the following topics for meditation and discussion on this evening based on what we learned from the lecture by His Holiness.

1. Two Truths
2. Dependent Origination
3. Emptiness

We will use the book by His Holiness for support text.

This was the second session on the Four Noble Truths at One Bodhi Tree.  The sessions are based on the book by the Dalai Lama which is a
transcription of the lecture that he delivered in London in 1996. We have been going through the introduction portion of the book.

On the screen, Robert Thurman introduced the topic with a resounding assertion that Buddhism is mostly  if not all about alleviating suffering
all sentient beings.

The Four Noble Truths, truth about suffering;  origin of suffering;  cessation of suffering; and the path that leads to cessation of suffering;
 are the foundation Buddhism of all lineages.

In the portion of the lecture we watched, the Dalai Lama  prepared the audience with the basics of Mahayana teachings before taking up the Four
Noble Truths. The Dalai Lama took some of the difficult concepts of Mahayana tradition and explained them in layman's language. It was
wonderful to watch His Holiness explain the philosophy of Two Truths, Emptiness, Dependent Origination in common man's language.   Two Truths,
Emptiness, Dependent Origination are some of the difficult topics of the Mahayana tradition. The phrase “empty of inherent existence” can be an
exercise in mental gymnastics.   Only a scholar like the Dalai Lama can make these concepts seem simple.

There are thick books on those topics. It may seem ambitious  to meditate and discuss these topics while most of us mere beginners.  Still we have
the confidence that with a teacher like His Holiness we can make an attempt.

We look forward to seeing you on December the 19th at 6:30 PM.