The Complete Buddhist Path Series:
Embracing the Three Yanas
– Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche IX

The Evening and Day of Teachings and Practice is a quarterly series that includes meditation sessions with instruction and teachings from Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche IX.

In this special series, we will explore The Three Yanas, or the Three Vehicles, which is the complete Buddhist Path to reduce suffering and achieve liberation.

Emphasising the dynamic nature of Tibetan Buddhism through the Three Yana system, Rinpoche provides a comprehensive guide to incorporating the discipline of Hinayana, the engagement of Mahayana, and the richness of the Vajrayana, as a complete Path towards spiritual maturity. You can attend all or part of the series.

Part 1 – The Foundations of Buddhism – “The Foundation is the most important thing”

Hinayana is like the foundation,
Mahayana is like the body of the house, the walls, the pillars, the beams, etcetera…
And Vajrayana or Tantrayana is the roof.

…when we look at a building,
the foundation is the most important thing.

– Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche IX

In part one of this series, we will explore…

How the Three Yana System (Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana) individually and together help us work with the sense of dissatisfaction ie. suffering.

The Three Yanas:

• Hinayana: being the most important and foundational, with its focus on renouncing the ‘unbridled desires’ and cravings that do not provide us lasting satisfaction
• Mahayana: with its view that things are not as solid and fixed as they appear, nor our experiences as bad as they may seem…
• Vajrayana: allows us to see everything in relation to our own, ‘vajra nature’… meaning indestructible being or indestructible nature.

Learn about the Foundations of  Meditation Practice – How meditation is used to gain a deeper understanding of our own experiences.

Exploring the two fundamental meditation practices of:

• Shamatha -Calm abiding meditation.  Pacifying the afflicted mind- First we calm the mind.
• Vipassana – insight meditation. Used to analyse the mind in order to give up the fixations that do not serve us. Learning to recognise and dispel erroneous ways of thinking and perceiving the world.

Learn about the techniques to stabilise a mind that is not at rest.
Methods that deal with:
– laziness,
– agitation
–  & distraction in meditation.

• The Five Obstacles to meditation and Eight Antidotes to these obstacles.
• The Nine Stages of Resting the Mind – The actual meditation path that leads from an initial, momentary experience resting–  all the way to one-pointed concentration of meditative equipoise.
• The Six Powers that help along the way
  –Hearing, contemplation, mindfulness, awareness, vigour and familiarisation. 

Join us for this Evening and A day of Practice as we practice meditation and learn about the Foundations of Buddhism.

Timetable