The Wheel of Sharp Weapons Mind Training
| Date | September 11-13, 2009 |
|---|---|
| Time | 9:00 AM - 6:30 PM |
| Location | Namgyal Monastery, Ithaca, NY |
| Instructors | Geshe Lharam Tenzin Dorjee Palden Oshoe, translator |
| Cost | $140, see details below |
| Registration | Pre-registration required, see details below |
| Prerequisites | None. This intensive is suitable for both beginning and advanced students. |
Over the course of two September weekends, Namgyal Monastery is offering two powerful mind-training teachings: The Wheel of Sharp Weapons and The Poison Destroying Peacock Mind Training are two of the most important and influential texts from the genre of Mahayana Buddhist teachings referred to as “Lojong” or “Mind Training.” Though lojong texts, they also possess a strong tantric influence. Similar in language, treatment, and historical impact, both texts invoke the wrathful deity Yamantaka to crush the inner demon of ego-clinging. One of the striking features of these texts, in contrast to the mainstream lojong tradition, is the central theme of using the mental poisons and afflictive emotions as a means to enlightenment, turning them to spiritual ends through mixing them with bodhichitta, the altruistic intention to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all living beings. These texts show how desirous attachment, anger, ignorance, jealousy, and pride can be used as skillful means.
The Wheel of Sharp Weapons was composed by the great Indian yogi Dharmarakshita. From among his numerous disciples, Dharmarakshita transmitted this teaching to Atisha (982–1054) who brought it to Tibet and transmitted it to his greatest student Dromtonpa. It has been treasured and continuously passed on until today. A striking feature of the Wheel of Sharp Weapons is the invocation of Yamantaka to tear apart and annihilate the demon of ego-clinging by means of a bladed wheel-weapon. This weapon defeats the enemy of self-clinging and turns adversity into opportunity, the primary theme of the lojong teachings. These teachings free us from our primary enemies, self-clinging and self-cherishing. The abandonment of this selfish concern opens our hearts as well as the door to liberation. The message of the text is a poignant one, as it reminds us in repeated and poetic detail of our karmic responsibility for our own suffering and the suffering of others and how, like hero bodhisattvas, we can learn to transform that same suffering into tools for future enlightenment.
Geshe Lharam Tenzin Dorjee was born on the 4th of February 1939, in Lhatse, Tibet. He became monk at the age of six, and at thirteen went to Sera Monastery to study Buddhism under the guidance of his teacher, Geshe Lhundub Sopa. When he was only twenty years old, Geshe Dorjee immigrated to India due to the Chinese invasion of Tibet. After arriving in India, he went to Basa in the Northeast, where he lived and studied Buddhism for ten years. By 1970, he travelled to South India to continue his studies. In 1984 he received his Geshe Lharam degree, and in 1998 was appointed disciplinarian in charge of the temple. In 2003, Geshe Dorje travelled to France, where he lived and taught the buddhadharma for four and a half years. His former teacher, Geshe Sopa, then requested Geshe Tenzin Dorjee to come to Madison, Wisconsin in the United States in order to take charge of the Deer Park Buddhist temple, where he has resided since 2008.
Location
Aurora Street House, Namgyal Monastery, Ithaca, NY (address and directions.)
Cost
The cost for the weekend intensive is $140, and includes a simple breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, and a catered vegetarian dinner on Saturday.
Senior Discount
15 percent
Registration
To register, please contact Namgyal with your full name, address, telephone number, and email (optional).
Payment
Please make your personal check, money order, or bank cashier's check payable to “Namgyal Monastery” and send to our mailing address.
For payment by credit card, please register first and then process your payment through the “Donate to Namgyal Ithaca” link on our Supporting Namgyal page. In the Comments field of the Payment Form, enter the name of the event for which you are paying.
Schedule of Activities
Friday 9/11
7:00 - 8:30 PM: Introductory talk
(Free and open to the public - Donations are welcomed)
Saturday 9/12
8:30 - 9:00 AM: Simple breakfast
9:00 - 10:15 AM: Session one
10:15 - 10:30 AM: Tea break
10:30 AM - Noon: Session two
Noon - 2:00 PM: Lunch break
2:00 - 3:15 PM: Session three
3:15 - 3:30 PM: Tea break
3:30 - 5:00 PM: Session four
5:15 - 6:30 PM: Catered vegetarian dinner
Sunday 9/13
8:30 - 9:00 AM: Simple breakfast
9:00 - 10:15 AM: Session one
10:15 - 10:30 AM: Tea break
10:30 AM - Noon: Session two