Buddhism for Beginners

Most of our day involves one habit after another. Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo teaches us how to make compassion a stronger and stronger habit, so we will experience happiness, and eventually liberation. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

 You must have a qualified teacher to practice Vajrayana Buddhism. Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo clarifies the qualities to look for and how to avoid making a mistake. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo encourages us to unravel the many concepts we have, because they stand between us and having pure view. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo takes us on a journey through samsara, emphasizing the light (Guru) that guides our path. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo explains the many ways it's important to have patience and courage as we begin a path to change our habits. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

Buddhism often gets a bad rap for talking about suffering. Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo explains why it is totally unfounded. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo takes the concept of perception and describes just what it is like for us in samsara. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

Devotion is often thought of as a "feeling". Actually, in Buddhism, it is based on logic. Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo explains how if we wait for the "feeling" we will still be waiting when we die, without having achieved any result. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

The Buddha taught many paths to reach enlightenment. They build on each other, and each one is perfect for a certain karma. Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo explains these paths and how each one is a pure path by itself, as well as linking to the next. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

The teachings tell us that "just as the rays of the sun cannot be separated from the sun itself, emptiness and Bodhicitta are joined in a similar way" Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo explains how this is true. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

The Guru appears to us as a display of our own nature - Bodhicitta. To show us our own face, they often display "the hook of compassion". Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo explains this process and what blessings it can bring. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

Compassion spans both samsara and nirvana. Bodhicitta is the essence of our nature. How to determine what kinds of compassion are lasting is the subject of this talk by Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

Compassion spans both samsara and nirvana. Bodhicitta is the essence of our nature. How to determine what kinds of compassion are lasting is the subject of this talk by Jetsunma Ahkön Lhamo. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

Bodhicitta (Compassion) is the basic core of our true nature. As we reach for enlightenment, we come closer to that nature. Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo helps us understand why kindness is just logical and how to develop it. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

Change isn't easy. Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo gives us some useful tools to use to help with those hard choices. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

"Pure View" can be confusing to new students. Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo takes the mystery out of "view" and gives solid advice on the steps to take. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

The right guru can guide you to enlightenment. Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo shows us how we can identify that teacher. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

To be a true Buddhist, a personal ethical standard is a must. Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo defines what that might look like and how we arrive at our goal. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo gave this teaching Christmas eve 1995. In it she describes the hope and fear that is magnified during the holiday season, using it as a way to understand the habits of our minds. During the holiday season our minds become even more unstable than usual, according to Jetsunma. Our hopes and fears increase. "The more we grasp outwardly and try to secure what we want...the le...

Our spiritual life can be a precious living truth inside of us if we develop a deep and ultimate connection with our spiritual path. Jetsunma explains to us that this is not easy to do because our society is materialistic and removed from the natural current of life. Support the show For more resources, teachings and practices, visit www.tara.org

Jetsunma takes us to a deeper understanding of the interdependence of the practices of Refuge and Bodhicitta. Leading us through the mental equations that will result in the cessation of suffering, she points out, "The cessation of suffering does not come about when everything external gets alright." The answer to the question, "How in the world am I going to fix this?" is: you...

The ideas of competition and materialism are taught to us as virtues during our childhood. Collecting things and going somewhere are pivotal ways of viewing our life’s progress. Jetsunma steers us away from these misconceptions: "Every moment is something that you have a sacred relationship with, because you move into the awareness that there is nothing that you can do that is separate from y...

The five senses are about distinction - the idea of self-nature being inherently real. They are extensions of our ego. Why is the understanding of our own true nature so difficult for human beings? Jetsunma answers, "Because we are practicing the mantra of separation constantly, on five different levels at once!" Ngündro, a preliminary foundational Buddhist practice, is the support for a...

We are taught to never truly surrender our heart, to never risk in order to experience great passion, to always keep something aside for ourselves. Our quest for safety leads us to compartmentalize our experiences and keep everything in a neat, controlled place. Jetsunma calls us to give rise to the phenomenal flame of compassion as the only thing that will truly keep us safe. If our feeling of sa...

When Jetsunma was in her early 20’s she practiced examining all aspects of life: physical, mental, emotional. What she found in the things of samsara: "There’s no future in this." At the same time, meditating upon the natural, luminous state that is free of contrivance, she would cry, realizing that this primordial nature is free of all causes of suffering yet none of us have awakened to...