A COMMENTARY ON THE AWAKENING MIND BY ARYA NAGARJUNA DVD, by HH the Dalai Lama, with Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen, translated by Thupten Jinpa

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A COMMENTARY ON THE AWAKENING MIND BY ARYA NAGARJUNA DVD

by HH the XIV Dalai Lama, with Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen, translated by Thupten Jinpa

This well-produced DVD set covers the Dalai Lama's teachings on this key text by Nagarjuna. Beautifully filmed in Pasadena in 2006, the 4-DVD set comes with a booklet containing Nagarjuna's text in English. Watching this great DVD enables you to experience these wonderful teachings.

The accompanying booklet, entitled Teaching on Arya Nagarjuna's 'Commentary on the Awakening Mind', was translated into English by Geshe Thupten Jinpa.

Arya Nagarjuna holds a unique position in the Buddhist Mahayana school and is sometimes referred to as the "second Buddha." His writings have influenced both the wisdom and method aspects of the Buddhist path.

Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, was born to a peasant family in northeastern Tibet in 1935. After nearly two decades of monastic education, His Holiness earned the highest level of a Geshe Degree, (a doctorate of Buddhist philosophy). He is widely recognized as both the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people, having assumed full political power after Communist China's military invasion of Tibet in 1951. Since 1959, His Holiness has resided in Dharamsala, India, where the Tibetan government in exile was established. The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, among many other awards, honored his nonviolent struggle for an autonomous Tibet as well as his tireless dedication to peace and human rights in the world. Today, His Holiness stands as a universal icon of compassion and universal responsibility.

Ven. Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen was born in Eastern Tibet in 1927. For 23 years, he studied at Gaden Monastery, and went on to earn the highest geshe degree. In 1962, he completed his tantric studies at Gyuto Tantric College. In 1978, he founded Thubten Dhargye Ling, a center for Tibetan Buddhist studies located in Long Beach, California, where he is the resident spiritual director. He has centers and students around the world.

As recorded in a number of Mahayana sutras, Arya Nagarjuna was prophesized by the Buddha to be the bodhisattva who would reveal the profound meaning of the Buddha's teachings.

The Lankavatara Sutra states:

The path of individual knowledge
Cannot be used by one with extreme view.
Who will uphold it when you, the Master,
Pass away? Pray, tell us.
After you have long entered parinirvana,
Who will arise and maintain the way?

The Lord Buddha answered:
In the southern Beda
Will come one renowned as the 'Magnificent Monk.'
His name will be Naga
And everywhere he will destroy
The concepts of existence and non-existence.
He will elucidate to all the world
My path, the peerless Mahayana,
He will attain the 'Stage of the Joyous One'
And will transmigrate to the 'Blissful Realm.'

Nagarjuna's teachings of wisdom and compassion became the heart of the Mahayana school of Buddhism, which flourished over the centuries in India, China, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, and many regions of central Asia. There is no greater Buddhist saint than Nagarjuna, and no greater living master of Nagarjuna's lineage than His Holiness the Dalai Lama.