Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Chapters 3-4: Verses 75-85

Chapters 3-4: Verses 75-85

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.

  • The body as an example of samsara: impermanent, unclean, suffering, and dependent on causes and conditions
  • Refuting arrogance based on power and wealth
  • Protecting others or exercising violence toward others is not a religious activity or a reason for becoming arrogant

Questions and answers

  • Why overcoming attachment is more important than overcoming anger from Aryadeva’s point of view?
  • Does karma produce external environment?
  • Untainted pleasure through direct realization of emptiness
  • Is there anything that is a definitive cause of desire?

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.