Dalai Lama Foundation Study Circle Montreal

The Buddha’s teachings can be divided into two main categories: the scriptures and realization. A verse states:

The teachings of the Teacher have two aspects:
Scripture and realization presented as they truly are.
There is nothing else to do but
Sustain them, speak of them, and practice them.

When we practice listening, reflecting, and meditating, the teachings will free us from the heavy darkness of suffering. They are like a never-setting sun whose luminous rays reach to the farthest corners of this world. Among the eighty-four thousand teachings of the Buddha are those found in Tibet that maintain the unity of the sutra and mantra traditions. These teachings are like a tree trunk with numerous branches: a variety of lamas hold lineages within diverse traditions.

…In showing how to cut through the delusion of duality, these teachings open up to every living being the possibility of attaining true mastery over the immense and profound gates to the eighty-four thousand teachings. They are precious because they make nonconceptual wisdom manifest and bring forth the amrita of all-pervading emptiness. Like placing a perfect fruit in the palm of our hand, these teachings bring about two kinds of wisdom: the wisdom that sees the multitude of all phenomena distinctly and the wisdom that sees clearly into their nature.

Relying on an appropriate path allows the fruition of practice to manifest. This result is possible because buddha nature is found in the mindstream of all living beings. (p.160)

–from Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje by Michele Martin, published by Snow Lion Publications

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