The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (LYWA) is the collected works of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Kyabje Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. The Archive was founded in 1996 by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, its spiritual director, to make available in various ways the teachings it contains. This book contains the teachings and meditations Lama gave at a five-day retreat he led near Melbourne, Australia, which he introduced by saying:"Whether or not this five-day meditation course becomes beneficial is up to you; it depends on your own mind. It's not a lama thing; I'm not going to bring you to enlightenment in this short time. Instead of having too many expectations of the lama, it's better that you generate a pure motivation for being here. Expectations cause mental problems; instead of being positive, they become negative..."If over the next five days you can begin to recognize the reality of your own nature, this meditation course will have been worthwhile. Therefore, dedicate your actions during this time to discovering inner freedom through recognizing the negative characteristics of your own uncontrolled mind."In line with Lama's intentions, this book is dedicated to the awakening of inner freedom within the minds of its readers and all other sentient beings.

Liberation is your birthright and anything that feels like a prison, like a confinement, needs your attention. Spiritualism is not very difficult to explain or understand. It is simply, freeing your spirit of all imprisonments. It is becoming aware of these sophisticated bars and then working your way out of them. It is being able to see the chains that are tied around the feet of your being and are making it tough for you to walk around. We have been living in these invisible jails for so long that they have become our homes. The world beyond our assumed limitations is unknown to us. Every now and then someone manages to jump across the high walls of the conditioning of the mind and enter the realm of enlightenment. But, the rest of us live and die within the four walls of mass consciousness.To a bird in a cage the greatest gift you can give, as an expression of love and compassion, is to open the gates and let it fly back to the open and vast sky. That is exactly what I have tried to do. I have tried to assist the bird of your spirit to fly out of the cage of spiritual enslavement. Watching that bird happily disappear into the vastness would be my joy. I love liberating and I love liberators. I write to liberate others and I liberate myself to be able to write about it. The freedom we have earned as nations is no doubt a great blessing. But it is only an environment. Authentic freedom has to come from within and only after having earned it can you call yourself a free man in a free country. I have witnessed my near and dear ones go through great pain and suffering because of the control exercised by invisible forces like lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego over their spirit. I have myself gone through an unbearable amount of it and would wish to eliminate as much of it as I can. It is quite tough to watch someone close to you consulting half a dozen doctors, spending thousands on clinical examinations and experimenting with 50 different medicines, never knowing that the real sickness is his or her ego. It is as if you were cursed to watch the whole drama helplessly. It is as if you know what someone is suffering from, have got the cure for it but can't give it because the one who is supposed to take it is not yet prepared to take it. It is a perfect situation for compassion to be born, a strange blending of helplessness, acceptance and understanding. The more I watch all this, the more I ponder into the potential of the various methods that can liberate a soul from its traps.

By pulling together some of Lama Yeshe's introductory teachings on Buddhism, meditation, compassion and emptiness, and combining them with the definitive explanation of tantra, this one valuable volume will inspire students to go more deeply into the Yoga Method of Buddha Maitreyaa tantric practice.

A bold and provocative work from the late preeminent feminist scholar, which challenges men and women alike to free themselves from attachment to gender. At the heart of Buddhism is the notion of egolessness—“forgetting the self”—as the path to awakening. In fact, attachment to views of any kind only leads to more suffering for ourselves and others. And what has a greater hold on people’s imaginations or limits them more, asks Rita Gross, than ideas about biological sex and what she calls “the prison of gender roles”? Yet if clinging to gender identity does, indeed, create obstacles for us, why does the prison of gender roles remain so inescapable? Gross uses the lenses of Buddhist philosophy to deconstruct the powerful concept of gender and its impact on our lives. In revealing the inadequacies involved in clinging to gender identity, she illuminates the suffering that results from clinging to any kind of identity at all.

Wisdom Energy is a simple and compelling introduction to Buddhism by two Tibetan lamas renowned for their insight and skill in teaching Westerners. Containing an entire meditation course, it goes to the heart of basic Buddhist practice and discusses the meaning and purpose of meditation, the causes of dissatisfaction and unhappiness, and the methods for subduing them and gaining control over our minds and lives. Originally published in 1976, Wisdom Energy still preserves the power, humor, and directness of the lamas's first teaching tour of North America, giving the reader the feeling of an intimate audience with two highly respected teachers.

In this book, Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches on one of his favorite topics—compassion. He tells us that compassion for others is the best way to overcome any obstacles we encounter, in our Dharma practice, or occupation and life itself, and the best medicine for treating any illness we experience. However, these teachings are not limited to compassion. Rinpoche also explains emptiness, karma and many other essential Buddhist subjects. As ever, his teachings are clear, relevant, humorous and direct—a perfect guide to making our lives meaningful. This book is made possible by kind supporters of the Archive who, like you, appreciate how we make these teachings freely available in so many ways, including in our website for instant reading, listening or downloading, and as printed and electronic books. Our website offers immediate access to thousands of pages of teachings and hundreds of audio recordings by some of the greatest lamas of our time. Our photo gallery and our ever-popular books are also freely accessible there. Please help us increase our efforts to spread the Dharma for the happiness and benefit of all beings. You can find out more about becoming a supporter of the Archive and see all we have to offer by visiting our website. Thank you so much, and please enjoy this ebook.