Emptiness in the Three Yanas

Emptiness in the Three Yanas

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In his 1997 teaching at Open Secret Bookstore in San Rafael, California, Lama Tharchin Rinpoche explains how emptiness, or shunyata, is viewed from the Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana perspectives, and the Great Emptiness of Dzogchen Great Perfection. Hinayana focuses on the emptiness of the self, Mahayana on the emptiness of self and other, and Vajrayana on the clarity and luminous nature of the mind. Realization of emptiness, ultimate truth, is free from dualism and extremes, and is essential for liberation from suffering. Rinpoche speaks about the importance of recognizing one's Buddha nature, the role of meditation in becoming familiar with this nature, and the inseparability of emptiness and phenomena.

Posted in honor of the Wood Snake Lunar New Year, February 28, 2025.

About the recording

Featuring	Lama Tharchin Rinpoche
Creator	Heart Teachings by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche
Producer	Heart Teachings by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche
Citation	Tharchin, Lama. "Emptiness in the Three Yanas." Teaching at Open Secret Bookstore in San Rafael, California, 1997. Produced by Heart Teachings by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche. Audio, 1:11:18. https://soundcloud.com/lamatharchinrinpoche/emptiness-in-the-three-yanas-ltr-os-1997-11-17.

śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門

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Dzogchen - Dzogchen is an advanced system of meditation techniques to reveal the innate state of perfection primarily, but not exclusively, espoused by the Nyingma Buddhist tradition and the Tibetan Bön tradition. Skt. महासन्धि Tib. རྫོགས་ཆེན།

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Dzogchen - Dzogchen is an advanced system of meditation techniques to reveal the innate state of perfection primarily, but not exclusively, espoused by the Nyingma Buddhist tradition and the Tibetan Bön tradition. Skt. महासन्धि Tib. རྫོགས་ཆེན།

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prabhāsvaratā - In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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