S011E01 Refuge Precepts

The class is the teaching given before a refuge and Bodhisattva ceremony, and turns on the difference between one's own liberation and Buddhahood, described as the same realization extended to all beings. Shabkar's heart advice to his students supplies the correction: emptiness without compassion is an empty house without a landlord, and the years spent meditating on the one should be matched by years on the other. This class was recorded at the Crystal Mountain Retreat Centre on Galiano Island, Canada, during a retreat on Gampopa's text, "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation". The talk was given prior to the traditional Mahayana ceremony for the Taking of Refuge, the Five Precepts,the Bodhisattva commitments, and the bestowal of a Dharma Name. Reference is made to Gampopa's text.