The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva and the Four Seals of the Dharma

Ngulchu Thogme Sangpo's  
37 Practices of a Bodhisattva

The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva (Tib. Rgyal sras lag len so bdun ma) is a short Buddhist text authored by the Tibetan master Ngulchu Thogme Sangpo (1295–1369).  It enjoys enormous popularity throughout all the different Buddhist traditions in Tibet and is also one of my favorites. 

This is also one of the reasons why I decided to take up the text here on this blog. Another is that it sums up the Buddhist path in a very condensed way, but still does so in a very complete way. Simply reading the root verses alone is already very touching. With the hope to inspire myself and others who also do not have that much time to engage in extensive studies at the moment, I will start to explain the work here little by little. 

While doing so, I will rely on different explanations I received over the years, and on existing Tibetan commentaries. Nevertheless, I will also try to relate the verses to our present time and see what we can learn from them for our daily life.

Being aware of the fact that its author, Ngulchu Thogme Sangpo, lived in Tibet during the early 14^th century, one may of course wonder whether the teachings therein are of any relevance for us today. It is well-known that Buddhism was able to easily adapt very quickly to different cultural surroundings throughout its long history of approximately 2500 years. Different Buddhist traditions found in Sri Lanka, Japan, Tibet and elsewhere are a witness of this fact. 

Teachings with Drubpon Tsering Rinpoche, Vienna

Drubpon Tsering Rinpoche's public talk in Vienna

Recently, the new meditation group "Samaya"  has been established in Vienna. It follows the Drikung Kagyu tradition. The group is lead by Drubpon Tsering Rinpoche, a longstanding student of the renown Drikung Kagyu master Garchen Rinpoche. Lama Tsering therefore recently paid a short visit to Vienna. It was the second time he came to town, but the first visit to the new group. 

During the short program (Thursday 3^rd – Sunday 6^th of April, 2014), he offered instructions and an empowerment. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend the first day of the program, the public teaching on Thursday evening. About 30 to 40 people had gathered for this event in the spacious meditation hall. 

Public talk about Love and Compassion

During the public Dharma lecture, Rinpoche talked about "Love and Compassion in our day-to-day life". He explained that the importance of these qualities should be obvious already from the fact that they play a central role in almost all religious systems. He further explained that a mind which is filled with love and compassion for others is naturally peaceful, loving and joyful since it is unperturbed by mental afflictions. 

With Lama Tsering Rinpoche in Pärnu, Estonia

Loving kindness and compassion can be developed through meditation. By habituating oneself with these qualities, we will eventually gain the superior intention of benefiting others, and develop bodhicitta, the awakening mind. As a result, all one’s actions will be motivated by loving kindness and compassion. Thus, training in these qualities leads to benefit for both oneself and others. 

Problems within Tibetan translations from Sanskrit - Peter Alan Roberts

I would like to draw your attention to the following upcoming lecture: Dr. Peter Alan Roberts will speak on "Problems within Tibetan translations from Sanskrit" at the Institute for South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies (ISTB), University of Vienna. The lecture is a part of the program for Buddhist Translation Studies at the ISTB.

Problems within Tibetan translations from Sanskrit

Dr. Peter Alan Roberts

The lecture will discuss examples of some defects in Tibetan translations from Sanskrit and their causes: corruption in the text of the Sanskrit manuscripts available to the translators, subsequent faulty copying of the Tibetan text, errors or lack of clarity in translation. The texts that will be referenced are the Kāraṇḍavyūha, Karuṇāpuṇḍarīkasūtra, Aparimitāyurjñānasūtra, Daśabhūmikasūtra, Mahāmudratilakatantra, and Maitripa’s Amanasikāroddeśa.       (Source: ISTB)

Dr. Peter Alan Roberts is a Senior Translator for "84000-Translating the Words of the Buddha", and authored/translated among others the following books:

- Mahamudra and Related Instructions: Core Teachings of the Kagyu Schools (Library of Tibetan Classics)

- The Biographies of Rechungpa (Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism)

Please, visit the homepage of the institute for more information on this and further public lectures.

Eight good reasons for engaging in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies in Vienna

Eight good reasons for engaging in

Tibetan and Buddhist Studies in Vienna - Buddhist Studies, Part 2

 

Introduction

This post will give you a good idea what it’s like to engage in Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna. In an earlier post on Buddhist Studies I tried to answer the question why one would at all engage in Buddhist Studies. So, in case you still take that into consideration, you might wonder what would be a good place for doing so. 

Suppose you want to dedicate yourself full-time to studies, you basically have two options: you can either enroll in a Buddhist Studies program at a Western university or enter a private institution run by a Buddhist society. Both approaches do have their pros and cons, but I am planning to dedicate a separate post to this subject at a later time.

ISTB, Vienna

Let’s say for the moment you consider studying at a Western university. There are of course a lot of Buddhist Studies programs worldwide to choose from, but only a few of them belong to the circle of leading institutions of the field. I will not make any judgment, stating which University belongs to this group and which doesn’t. Still, the program of the Institute for South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies (ISTB) of the University of Vienna is certainly among them.

I have chosen to introduce this particular institute simply for the reason that I’ve spent a large part of my studies there. Therefore, I really do have an idea how the program is like. No doubt, other institutes might have an equally good offer, and I am very interested to learn about that.  

Please, feel free to share your own experiences, either about the program in Vienna or your own institute! You can do so by commenting at the end of this post, but you can also send me a short article about your institute by Email. I will do my best to publish it here in near future.

Eight good reasons for choosing Vienna

 

1. The location

If you have never visited Vienna before, you really should. It is for good reason that Mercer has ranked Vienna for the fourth time in a row as the number one most livable city in the world.  

Not much to add, it is really a wonderful place to be. You can get some impressions here. If you do not come here for your studies, you should at least come for some sight-seeing once. 

Buddhism is also a state-recognized religion in Austria which goes along with a lot of benefits. It for example means that schools are obliged to offer Buddhist religious classes upon demand. Hence, some students may already have a good knowledge of the subject prior to their studies.

The Sūtra of the Three Bodies

Truly Wonderful! 

Our translation of the Trikāyasūtra called "The Sūtra of the Three Bodies" features in 84000's eNews of December 2013. Having had the honor of being the responsible translator for this wonderful short text by our team, it is a great joy to know that so many people will have access to it. Anyone can read (and soon also download) it for free.

About 84000

84000 is a symbolical number in Buddhism representing the entirety of the Buddha's teachings. "84000 - Translating the Words of the Buddha" is a very ambitious nonprofit initiative to translate the entire Buddhist canon into Western languages. It was started by the Khyentse Foundation but has recently matured into an independent organization. 84000 is a truly incredible undertaking, a global collaborative of Buddhist scholars, translators, academics and Buddhist practitioners.

Buddhist studies, Part 1 - Why Buddhist Studies?

Taking the decision to engage in Buddhist studies is a step with far-reaching consequences. If you happen to live in a Western country without a traditional Buddhist background, you should be prepared for the following question: 

“Buddhist studies – Wow! But what do you do with that once you are finished! Can you live from that”

You might want to have some good responses at hand, because you will be confronted with this question as soon as you inform your relatives and friends about your decision to engage in Buddhist studies. Here is my favorit suggestion:

“True. There is not much jobs out there for Buddhologists. Luckily, there isn’t that many of us either and so it is a fair match. “

The following answer is of course possible as well:

“There is no answer to this, because the question is already wrong. There is actually no end to Buddhist studies, because they go on and on.”

That is very true indeed. Buddhist studies are a life-long enterprise, but isn’t that great? Anyway, here’s another possible answer: