Place: India

Awakening Faith in the Mahayana

Theme: Awakening Faith in the Mahayana (Mahāyāna śraddhotpādaśāstra)
Place: Buddha Pada (buddhapada.in), Kalimpong, India
Date: 13th – 22th Jan 2023

Audio: Download or Archive.org
Note: Recording from morning 20th failed.
Text: Mindfulness of Breathing is an extract from Asanga’s Shravakabhumi (Stages of Disciples), translated from Tibetan and Sanskrit by B. Alan Wallace. Please use this text only to supplement listening to the lectures. The text is not intended for free distribution.

We thank Buddha Pada and Br. Tenzin for their kindness and sharing these great lectures.

Retreat with Bhante Dhammadipa: The Study of Mahayana Shraddhotpada Shastra (Attributed to Ashvaghosha)

In the Mahayana tradition, one is encouraged to combine Shamatha and Vipassana even before realizing the Ultimate Reality. In the non-dual tradition, Shamatha is the base for the penetration of the non-dualistic nature of the mind. This penetration is done either on the Alaya tradition, or on the basis of the Buddha-nature tradition. Both are traced back to the teachings of the Bodhisattva Maitreya.

In this course, Bhante Dhammadipa will explore Shamatha practice from the point of view of Buddha-nature (Tathagatagarbha), explained with reference to Alaya or store-consciousness. We will discover meditation as the base for insight into the non-dual nature of mind, the mind which is pure and always present, and the application of this method in understanding not only the Zen tradition, but also Tibetan Vajrayana (Dzogchen / Mahamudra).

The Awakening of Faith in Mahayana is a text attributed to Ashwaghosha, who was clearly a Shravastivada poet and philosopher. In the Chinese tradition this text is widely studied as the philosophical foundation of the Zen tradition, and it is also related to the Pure land tradition.

Samdhinirmocana Sutra

Theme: Samdhinirmocana Sutra
Place: Somaiya Vidyavihar University (somaiya.edu), Mumbai, India
Date: 12th – 24th Nov 2022

Audio: Download or Archive.org
Video: KJ Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies YouTube Channel

We thank Somaiya University for their kindness and sharing these great lectures.

These twelft lectures of the teachings by Bhante Dhammadipa, starting from 12th November 2022 to 24th November 2022, organized by KJ Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies, Somaiya Vidyavihar University. These teachings are based on the 6th Chapter of the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, a foundational text of the Yogācāra school of Buddhism.

Bhante Dhammadipa was instrumental in developing KJ Somaiya Institute outreach project, Jetavan, at Sakarwadi, which is a wonderful collaboration with Godavari Biorefineries Ltd, Bhante Dhammadipa and the Centre for Buddhist Studies at KJSIDS.

Kumarajiva’s Meditation Manual

Online lecture series: Kumarajiva’s Meditation Manual
Place: Somaiya Vidyavihar University (somaiya.edu), Mumbai, India
Date: 02.03. 2021 – 10.20. 2021

Audio: Download or Archive.org
Bhante’s working version of English translation: here
KJ Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies YouTube Channel

We thank Somaiya University for their kindness and for sharing these great lectures.

This is the series of lectures by Ven. Dhammadipa, starting from 3rd Feb 2021, organized by KJ Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies, Somaiya Vidyavihar University. These teachings are based on one of the three meditation manuals ascribed to Kumarajiva in Chinese catalogues: the Chanfa yaojie, which Ven. Dhammadipa has translated into English. The special features of the text are the incorporation of bodhisattva ideas into classical Buddhist meditation. He will use selections from the text to explicate the meditation method in comparative light, drawing extensively upon his study of the Abhidharmakosa and his long years of study and practice guided by his teachers of the forest tradition in Sri Lanka and Burma.

Anapanasati according to the northern tradition of Buddhism

Theme: Anapanasati according to the northern tradition of Buddhism
Date: 09.27. – 10.05. 2019
Place: Deer Park Institute, Bir, India (www.deerpark.in)

Audio: Download or Archive.org
Text: Mindfulness of Breathing is an extract from Asanga’s Shravakabhumi (Stages of Disciples), translated from Tibetan and Sanskrit by B. Alan Wallace. Please use this text only to supplement listening to the lectures. The text is not intended for free distribution.