About This Course
Discovering the Buddha Within is an experiential learning program of the Buddha Dharma created as part of the vast vision of Guru Vajradhara His Holiness the 12th Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa. The aim of this curriculum is to explain the essence of the Buddha's teachings in an easy and understandable yet comprehensive way. This three-year curriculum follows the Buddha's teachings on the Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma, followed by the sacred transmission of four tantras that correspond to three gradual levels of discovering the ultimate nature of the mind and phenomena. For each level, the teacher will explain the view (intellectual understanding), meditation (experiential understanding), and application (applying this understanding to change one's daily habits) of the topics according to Shravakayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana.
Meditations that form the core part of each level are divided into two sections: Shamatha (calm abiding) and Vipashyana (advanced insight).
DBW Level 1 focuses on calming the mind and developing insight and wisdom through some simple yet profound study, meditations, and contemplations derived from the Shravakayana teachings of the Buddha.
Awareness meditations and precise knowledge will allow students to discover inner peace, accept and let go of worldly concerns without grasping at or rejecting them, and develop a stable aspiration for genuine freedom.
For those new to Buddhism, the practice commitment is to practice at least 10 minutes every day for a minimum of 30 consecutive days. For those who are already practicing the Buddha Dharma, their actual practice will work as the commitment.
What is learned at Level 1
1. Learn the essence of meditation
Develop and nurture awareness and inner peace using breath, body, feelings, thoughts, emotions, and phenomena as a support for meditation.
2. Learn the basics of Buddhism through knowledge and advanced insight meditation
Understand the shortcomings of one's life and the world, the origins and cessation of suffering, and the means to reach that cessation, along with understanding refuge -the starting point of the path to an everlasting state of well-being, rich with innate goodness and radiant pure qualities.
Develop advanced insight meditation mainly based on experiential observation of the natural flow of everything as being impermanent.
Main Masters
His Eminence Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a much-loved and accomplished Tibetan Buddhist meditation teacher. With a rare ability to present the ancient wisdom of Tibet in a fresh, engaging manner, Rinpoche's profound teachings and playful sense of humor have endeared him to students around the world.
His first book, The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into over twenty languages.When not attending to the monasteries under his care in India and Nepal, Rinpoche spends time each year traveling and teaching worldwide.
His Eminence Gyalton Rinpoche
The previous Gyalton Rinpoche, Orgyen Jigma Chokyi Senge Gyalton Rinpoche (1908-1970), was the spiritual head of Chungpo monastery in Eastern Tibet. He was one of the principal students of the 11th Tai Situpa, and of Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro. While in Tsurphu Monastery, the seat of the Karmapa, the 16th Karmapa bestowed on him the title of Khenchen, meaning Great Learned One, as did Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and Choling Rinpoche in recognition of his high attainments and learning. The present, seventh reincarnation, Karma Palden Lungtok Trinley Rangye, was born in Sikkim and identified as Gyalton Tulku in 1983 by the Tai Situpa and shortly after enthroned in the palace temple in Gangtok, Sikkim. Rinpoche speaks fluent English, Hindi and Nepali and is perfectly at home with Western cultural norms.
