07.05.2024 Buddhist Teachings of the Dalai Lama   Saturday, July 6th marks the 89th birthday of Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, and we hope you’ll join us in celebrating his long, remarkable life and commitment to bettering the world for all beings. (We also hope you’ll join us in wishing the best for him as he recovers from the knee surgery he’s just received in New York. Happily, “He is rapidly recovering and is able to walk,” one of his personal physicians reports.) Now, His Holiness assures us that he will be around a good long time — recently even claiming he’ll make it to 113 years — and may it be so! For he is so much to so many: force for good, visionary, inspiration, unifier, bodhisattva, ethicist, voice for Tibetan freedom, spiritual revolutionary, lamp for our path. And of course at the heart of all his activity is the dharma, for His Holiness is also one of the great Buddhist teachers of our — or, any! — time. So in this Weekend Reader, we’re sharing three great teachings from the Dalai Lama, all of which can help anyone deepen their study and practice of Buddhism. Likewise, you’ll find these teachings and more in Buddhist Teachings of the Dalai Lama, a new “Deep Dive” published on Buddhadharma’s all-new website. The whole site has been lovingly revamped and reorganized to be the online place for committed Buddhists to deepen their understanding of the dharma. Whether you’ve been practicing for two years or twenty (or fifty!), the new Buddhadharma is made, truly, for you. Check it out, and don’t miss our all-new glossary, Buddhism A-Z, perfect for beginners and committed dharma practitioners alike. With appreciation for the Dalai Lama, all he has taught us, and all he has yet to teach us, —Rod Meade Sperry & Mariana Restrepo (the Buddhadharma editorial team) Discover Your Innermost Awareness   In his teaching on the essence of Dzogchen, the Dalai Lama describes the shock that naturally accompanies innermost awareness, the basis of all reality. All of the phenomena of cyclic existence and nirvana are, when you come down to it, not newly produced by causes and conditions but integrally complete within the nature of primordial, naturally arisen innermost awareness; everything is contained within its sphere, within its scope. On the low end, the basis of the dawning of all of the phenomena of the world of suffering is this diamond mind of clear light; on the high end, the basis of the dawning of all the pure phenomena of liberation is just this innermost awareness, also called the diamond mind of clear light. ADVERTISEMENT Don’t Let Hatred Destroy Your Practice   His Holiness the Dalai Lama takes an in-depth look at how we can work with anger and hatred in our practice. What this indicates is that our state of mind is crucial in determining whether or not we gain joy and happiness. So leaving aside the perspective of dharma practice, even in worldly terms of our enjoying a happy day-to-day existence, the greater the level of calmness of our mind, the greater our peace of mind, and the greater our ability to enjoy a happy and joyful life. However, when we speak of a calm state of mind or peace of mind, we should not confuse that with a completely insensitive, apathetic state in which there is no feeling, like being “spaced out” or completely empty. That is not what we mean by having a calm state of mind or peace of mind. Ethical Conduct Is the Essence of Dharma Practice   The Dalai Lama and Thubten Chodron outline three levels of Buddhist ethical codes and how we can follow them. Keeping the precepts we have taken is the best sign of being a holy being. If we want to do a meditation retreat but ignore ethical conduct in our daily lives, our priorities are confused. The foundation of any practice, especially Vajrayana, is ethical conduct. Without keeping the commitments and precepts we have taken, attaining realization is impossible. Thinking otherwise is a result of not understanding the essence of dharma practice. We shouldn’t cheat ourselves by ignoring ethical living.