Chapter 1: Verses 45-48
Venerable Thubten Chodron 
Teachings at Sravasti Abbey 
Aug 20, 2015 Chapter 1 addresses what to abandon and what to practice to attain upper rebirth and highest good. Part of a series of talks on Nagarjuna's Precious Garland of Advice for a King.
- Our problems seem so real and serious, but if we examine our mind we can see how the afflictions operate and our problems don’t seem so real
- We will see how we and others suffer unnecessarily by fabricating problems
- Liberation from samsara is the extinction of grasping at true existence
- How the afflictions are extinguished and rebirth in samsara stops
- Avoiding the two extreme views of inherent existence and total nonexistence regarding cause and effect
- Samsara is neither inherently caused nor arises without a cause
- Refuting inherent existence by examining cause and effect
- The Prasangika Madhyamaka view refutes inherently existent cause and effect, not conventionally existent cause and effect
- There are two places to cut the twelve links of dependent arising
Precious Garland 16: Verses 45-48 (download)
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.
