Luminous Mind: The Way of the Buddha
 



TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword
His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Biographical Note
The Quick Ripening of the Desired Fruit
Preface
Editor's Note
Acknowledgments

GENERAL INTRODUCTION: THE UNITY OF THE DIFFERENT TRADITIONS

  1. The Spirit of All Traditions

    • Understanding Our Actual Nature

  2. The Basic Unity of All Traditions

    • Realization of Mind as the Origin of All Traditions

    • The Complementarity of Different Traditions

  3. Buddhadharma

    • The Inner Science

    • The Transmission of Speech and Mind

PART ONE: MIND AND ITS TRANSFORMATIONS

Calling the Lama from Afar

SECTION ONE: MIND, REALITY, AND ILLUSION

  1. What Is Mind?

    • The Fundamental Paradox

    • In Search of Mind

  2. One Mind, Two States

    • Enlightenment and Illusion

  3. The Nature of Mind

    • Openness

    • Clarity

    • Sensitivity

    • A Brief Meditation

  4. Mind's Veils

    • The Veil of Ignorance

    • The Veil of the Basic Propensity

    • The Veil of the Passions

    • The Veil of Karma

    • Dharma: A Practice of Unveiling

  5. The Game of Illusion

    • Karma

    • Samsara

    • Karma and Freedom

  6. The Six Realms

    • The Hell Realm

    • The Hungry Ghost Realm

    • The Animal Realm

    • The Human Realm

    • The Jealous God Realm

    • The Divine Realm

  7. Two Truths

    • The Two Truths

    • Karma, Interdependence, and Emptiness

SECTION TWO: THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF MIND: LIVES, DEATHS, REBIRTHS

  1. Mind After Death

    • One Life or Many Lives?

    • Death and the Continuity of Mind

  2. Birth and Death: Continuity of Illusion

    • Who Dies? Who Is Born?

    • The Five Aggregates of Individuality

  3. From Life to Life: Transitions and the Bardo

    • Bardo

    • The Four Great Bardos

  4. The Bardo of the Moment of Death

    • Outer Dissolution

    • Inner Dissolution

  5. The Bardo of Emptiness

    • Lights and Deities

  6. The Bardo of Becoming

    • The Body and the Mental World

    • The Moment of Rebirth

  7. The Bardo of Birth to Death

    • Gestation

    • During Life

  8. The Eight Consciousnesses and the Five Principal Elements

    • Alteration of the Elements in the Mind and Bardos

  9. The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination

  10. Practices at the Moment of Death

    • Liberating Practices in the Different Bardos

    • Wishes to Be Reborn in a Pure Land

  11. Human Life and Its Problems

    • The Three Kinds of Suffering

    • The Main Kinds of Human Suffering

  12. Human Life: Using It Well

  13. On the Urgency of Practice

PART TWO: THE PATH OF LIBERATION

Beseeching the Lama to Shower Blessings

SECTION ONE: A GENERAL OVERVIEW: THE DIFFERENT APPROACHES OF DHARMA

  1. The Three Turnings of the Teaching

    • The Turnings and the Yanas

    • The Characteristics of Each Vehicle

  2. The Three Vehicles: Complementarity and Unity

    • Three Methods

    • Complementarity and Progression

SECTION TWO: THE HINAYANA: PATH OF DISCIPLINE

  1. The Path of Discipline

    • The Discipline of Vows and Meditation

  2. Refuge and the Three Jewels

    • Faith

    • Buddha

    • Dharma

    • Sangha

    • Taking Refuge

  3. Karma and Outer Discipline

    • Negative Karma of Body, Speech, and Mind

    • Positive Karma of Body, Speech, and Mind

  4. The Components and Results of Actions

    • Qualitative and Quantitative Differences

    • The Components and Results

  5. The Karma of Meditation

SECTION THREE: THE MAHAYANA: PATH OF OPENING AND COMPASSION

Introduction: From Hinayana to Mahayana

  1. Bodhicitta and the Bodhisattva Vow

    • The Different Aspects of Bodhicitta

    • The Bodhisattva Vow

  2. Compassion

    • Three Levels of Compassion

    • Tonglen

    • Universal Love

    • The Eight Aspirations of a Great Being

  3. Emptiness, Heart of Compassion

    • From Compassion to Emptiness

    • Emptiness: Twofold Selflessness

    • From Emptiness to Compassion

  4. The Two Accumulations

    • The Accumulation of Merit

    • The Accumulation of Wisdom

  5. The Six Perfections

    • Generosity

    • Discipline

    • Patience

    • Effort

    • Meditation

    • Transcendent Wisdom

  6. Samatha-Vipasyana

    • Meditation

    • Analytical and Contemplative Meditation

    • Samatha, Vipasyana, and Mahamudra

    • The Practice of Samatha

    • Insight Practice

    • The Path of Samatha

    • The Practice of Vipasyana

  7. The Stages of Realization

    • The Five Paths

  8. Enlightenment and the Three Bodies of the Buddha

    • The Buddhas' Enlightenment

    • The Qualities of a Buddha's Body, Speech, and Mind

    • The Three Bodies of the Buddha

SECTION FOUR: THE VAJRAYANA: PATH OF TRANSMUTATION

  1. The Path of Transmutation

    • Uniqueness of Vajrayana

    • The Secret Teaching

  2. The Guide and Spiritual Direction

    • The Lama: Spiritual Father-Mother

    • Levels of Relationship with the Guide

  3. Transmission and Blessing

    • Continuity of the Lineage

    • The Role of the Root Lama

  4. The Three Roots

    • Lama

    • Yidam

    • Dharmapala

    • Outer, Inner, and Absolute Refuges

  5. Progression in Vajrayana

    • Slow Path, Instant Path

    • Stages of Progress

  6. The Common Preliminary Practices

    • The Precious Human Rebirth

    • Impermanence and Death

    • Faults of Samsara

    • Karmic Causality

  7. The Ngondro

    • Refuge and Prostrations

    • Vajrasattva Purification

    • Offering the Mandala

    • Guru Yoga

  8. Deity Yoga

    • Relative Deity, Ultimate Deity

    • The Two Stages of Deity Yoga

  9. The Subsequent Practices

    • The Five Golden Teachings

    • The Tree of the Five Golden Teachings

SECTION FIVE: MAHAMUDRA AND DZOGCHEN: THE IMMEDIATE PATH

  1. Mahamudra and Dzogchen

    • Mahamudra

    • Path of Mahamudra

  2. Transmission and Qualification

    • The Golden Nugget

    • Three Kinds of Receptivity

  3. Ngotro: Introducing Mind

    • To See Mind

    • A Personal Relationship

  4. The Practice of Mahamudra

    • Preliminaries Before a Session

    • The Mind of Immediacy

    • The Three Key Points

    • Mind's Three Bodies

    • Integration and Transmutation of Thoughts and Emotions

  5. Experience and Realization

    • Recognizing, Cultivating, Stabilizing

    • The Four Yogas

    • Conclusion

SECTION SIX: DHARMA PRACTICE TODAY

  1. Living Dharma in Daily Life

    • Right Motivation

    • Detachment

    • The Six Perfections in Daily Life

    • A Day of Practice

  2. The Study and Practice of Dharma

    • How to Listen to Dharma

    • Practice in Daily Life

    • In a Dharma Center

    • On Retreat

    • The Three-Year Retreat

    • Tibetan Language Study

    • Monastic Discipline

    • Beyond Attachment

    • Patriarchs of the Lineage: Different Styles of Practice

EPILOGUE: THE GREAT SHIP OF LIBERATION

Notes
List of Stories and Anecdotes
List of Illustrations
Glossary of Terms
Glossary of Proper Names
Index


Created on July 31 2007. Last Revised on February 25, 2013
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