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Chapter 1: Verses 17-25

Chapter 1: Verses 17-25

Part of a series of teachings on Aryadeva’s 400 Stanzas on the Middle Way given on an annual basis by Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe from 2013-2017.

Motivation from Shantideva

  • Making use of the precious human life with all the favorable conditions to practice the Dharma
  • Difficulty of creating the causes for the precious human life
  • Three long-term aims we can achieve as human beings and causes for achieving them

Verses 17-25

  • Instability of attachment to those to whom we are attached
  • Why grieving over death of relatives for the sake of convention and being attached to friendships is inappropriate
  • Advice on making effort to practice the path to liberation by giving up destructive actions
  • The benefits of meditating on impermanence

Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe

Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe was born in 1930 in Lhokha, Central Tibet and became a monk at the age of 13. After completing his studies at Drepung Loseling Monastery in 1969, he was awarded Geshe Lharampa, the highest degree in the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism. He is an emeritus professor at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies and an eminent scholar of both Madhyamaka and Indian Buddhist studies. His works include Hindi translations of The Essence of Good Explanation of Definitive and Interpretable Meanings by Lama Tsongkhapa and Kamalasila's commentary on the Rice Seedling Sutra. His own commentary, The Rice Seedling Sutra: Buddha’s Teachings on Dependent Arising, was translated into English by Joshua and Diana Cutler and published by Wisdom Publications. Geshela has facilitated many research works, such as a complete translation of Tsongkhapa’s The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, a major project undertaken by the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center in New Jersey where he teaches regularly.