“The three higher trainings in ethical conduct, concentration, and wisdom are essential elements of the path to liberation and full awakening.”
— His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Following in the Buddha’s Footsteps, volume 4 of The Library of Wisdom and Compassion.
Join us for an in-person weekend workshop with internationally recognized teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, Geshe Pema Dorjee, as he delves into the Three Higher Practices—ethical conduct, concentration, and wisdom—over the course of three days. Class sessions will include discussion, review of previous session materials, Q&A, and meditations. A recommended text for this class is How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (translated by Jeffrey Hopkins); copies will be available to purchase at Tibet House US.
Ethical Conduct
Ethical conduct is the foundation of all Buddhist practices. Ethical conduct means to refrain from doing harm (to ourselves and others). Overcoming the 10 destructive paths, we seek to do no harm through body, speech, or mind. A mind that causes harm is a mind that is afflicted with self-centeredness. Moreover, ethical conduct is essential to developing mindfulness and introspective awareness, which are the basis for concentration.Concentration
The only tool that we have with which to increase happiness and decrease suffering is our mind itself. How can we sharpen our mind? By learning and practicing concentration (also known as meditative concentration, meditative stability, single-pointed meditation, and calm-abiding meditation). The scattered mind cannot see clearly. The mind that can focus and concentrate can develop the wisdom that is necessary to eliminate suffering and achieve lasting happiness.Wisdom
Wisdom requires not only ethical conduct and meditative concentration but also analytical meditation. Wisdom means realizing emptiness. But what is emptiness? And what does realizing mean? Is the self empty? Do things exist? What are the two truths, and what is the Middle Way? The answers to these and related questions must be analyzed and understood because only a realization of emptiness can eliminate self-attachment and all destructive emotions and thus achieve either nirvana or enlightenment.
Ticket fee: $150
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Class schedule
Friday 10/28
6–8pm ET
Saturday 10/29 & Sunday 10/30
10am–4pm ET (lunch break from 12:15–1:45pm)
Geshe Pema Dorjee
Geshe Pema Dorjee is an internationally recognized authority, scholar, and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. His fluent English, keen intellect, clear and practical explanations, warm-hearted nature, and infectious sense of humor enrich his talks and discussions with meaning and inspiration. He was born in Tibet and escaped to India where he completed an undergraduate degree and two Masters degrees in Buddhist Philosophy, one in Prajnaparamita (the Perfection of Wisdom) and one in Madhyamika (the Middle Way). After going on to earn his Geshe degree, he served as the Principal of the Tibetan Teachers Training Center and then was named the first Principal of the College for Higher Tibetan Studies. He now lives in Dharamsala, and at the request of the Dalai Lama he started and runs a monastery in Kathmandu. Geshe Pema Dorjee lives the compassionate life about which he preaches. He travels to the most remote and impoverished regions of Himalayan India and Nepal where he creates, organizes, directs, and raises funds for numerous humanitarian projects.
