Questioning appearances

Questioning appearances

Part of a series of teachings on His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s book titled How to See Yourself as You Really Are given during a weekend retreat at Sravasti Abbey in 2017.

  • Understanding our situation in cyclic existence
  • Review on checking the type of self we have negated
  • Chapter 16: Keep working at it
  • Questioning our investment in appearances
  • The difference between emptiness and nihilism
  • Relationship between the I, the body, and consciousnesses
  • Chapter 17: Extending this insight to what you own
  • Chapter 18: Balancing calm and insight
  • The difference between “one” and “nondual”
  • The role of conceptuality in realizing emptiness
  • Not grasping at our meditative experiences

Venerable Thubten Chodron

Venerable Chodron emphasizes the practical application of Buddha’s teachings in our daily lives and is especially skilled at explaining them in ways easily understood and practiced by Westerners. She is well known for her warm, humorous, and lucid teachings. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in 1977 by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in Dharamsala, India, and in 1986 she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. Read her full bio.