Cultivating śamatha and special insight
84 Middle-Length Lamrim
Venerable Sangye Khadro 
Stages of the Path 
Sep 18, 2025 Part of a series of weekly teachings on Lama Tsongkhapa's Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment.
- Meditation on the benefit of cultivating wisdom: Wisdom can keep the mind balanced and not overexcited by joy
- Discussion on using wisdom to prevent over excitement by joy
- How to train in the last two perfections
- The benefits of cultivating śamatha (śamatha) and special insight
- With consistent practice we can develop both
- They subdue and remove afflictions and their imprints
- Demonstrating that the two include all concentrations
- The nature of śamatha and special insight
- Differentiating śamatha and special insight
- Questions and answers
Venerable Sangye Khadro
California-born, Venerable Sangye Khadro ordained as a Buddhist nun at Kopan Monastery in 1974 and is a longtime friend and colleague of Abbey founder Venerable Thubten Chodron. She took bhikshuni (full) ordination in 1988. While studying at Nalanda Monastery in France in the 1980s, she helped to start the Dorje Pamo Nunnery, along with Venerable Chodron. Venerable Sangye Khadro has studied with many Buddhist masters including Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, and Khensur Jampa Tegchok. At her teachers’ request, she began teaching in 1980 and has since taught in countries around the world, occasionally taking time off for personal retreats. She served as resident teacher in Buddha House, Australia, Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore, and the FPMT centre in Denmark. From 2008-2015, she followed the Masters Program at the Lama Tsong Khapa Institute in Italy. Venerable has authored a number books found here, including the best-selling How to Meditate. She has taught at Sravasti Abbey since 2017 and is now a full-time resident.
