Mirror of Wisdom: Teachings on emptiness (Repost)

Buddha Shakyamuni taught the Perfection of Wisdom, otherwise known as the Wisdom Gone Beyond,on Vulture's Peak, Rajgir, in what is today the Indian state of Bihar. These sutras focus on the subject of emptiness, the ultimate nature of reality, and the Heart Sutra is one of the most significant. It is a beautifully condensed version of the Buddha’s teachings on emptiness, containing their essential meaning in only a few lines. Geshe Gyeltsen tells us that by integrating this teaching with our minds, it is possible for us to become enlightened within a single lifetime. Mind Training Like the Rays of the Sun was authored by Namkha Pel, a close student of the great Tibetan scholar and yogi, Lama Tsong Khapa. It is a commentary to the Seven Point Mind Training, which was composed by the Kadampa master, Geshe Chekawa. The mind training tradition was introduced to Tibet by the renowned Indian master Atisha and contains practices for generating bodhicitta, the altruistic attitude that seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In this book, Geshe Gyeltsen focuses on the emptiness section of Namkha Pel’s text. The subject of emptiness is very profound. Here, Geshe-la gives us clear and extensive instructions on the topic so that we may come to understand and experience its meaning. The realization of the wisdom of emptiness is vital to our spiritual development. As Geshe-la says, “We must realize that all the suffering we experience comes from the delusions in our mind. In order to cut through these delusions, we need the weapon of the wisdom perceiving emptiness.” Geshe Gyeltsen gave this commentary on the Heart Sutra over a period of months, beginning in May, 1994, when his center, Thubten Dhargye Ling, was still located in West Los Angeles. By the time he gave the teachings on the emptiness section of Mind Training Like the Rays of the Sun in September, 1996, Thubten Dhargye Ling had moved to its present location in Long Beach.