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“The 37 Bodhisattva Practices,” considered the essence of the enlightenment path, require no erudite explanations or secret initiations, but they do upend our minds, so it is helpful to have a teacher unpack them for us. Du Bois delights in the task, as a longtime practitioner familiar with both the tricky conditioned mind and what it is hiding from. Addressing both our own longings for happiness and freedom and the root causes of our confusion and pain, the bodhisattva trainings turn our self-absorption inside out, revealing the good heart that seeks ultimate freedom – for all. Du Bois’s teachings show clearly how love and compassion bring us onto the bodhisattva path, in the intentional, wholehearted process that transmutes mind of self-grasping to the “awakening mind,” bodhicitta. Her invitation: take what speaks to you and test it for yourself; contemplate and practice on it until you attain confidence, and then continue, for the benefit of all. -- from publisher
Table of Contents:
Root text by Gyalse Tokme Zengpo
Homage to Bodhicitta: the opening verses
Engaging bodhisattva way
Karma, Renunciation and bodhicitta: the three bodhisattva trainings
Bodicitta relative and absolute
The six perfections
Guardians of the gates
Tokme Zangpo's concluding words
Appendix A : tonglen a teaching by H.E. Garchen Triptrul Rinpoche
Appendix B : the four opponent powers
Appendix C : studying "The 37 Bodhisattva Practices"
Appendix D : biographical notes on persons mentioned in the commentary
Readers guide to the contents
FY2022 /
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Brave, Generous, and Undefended is a profound teaching on how to become and how to live as a bodhisattva, dedicated to the liberation of all. To the classic pith instructions of "The 37 Bodhisattva Practices," by 14th-century Tibetan teacher Tokme Zangpo, contemporary Western teacher Barbara Du Bois brings her fresh, energetic, penetrating wisdom from the heart. Rich with insight and fearless love, these teachings embrace us as participants in intimate, dynamic discussions that vividly demonstrate the transformational power of the bodhisattva intention in relation to life purpose, suffering, relationships, and spiritual path. Arrows of love and truth pierce our illusions of self and separation, showing us that we already are what we aspire to become: embodiments of truth and love. This profound and practical book will encourage, guide, and invigorate beginning seekers and advanced practitioners in any tradition, as well as those with or without a formal spiritual path. "The 37 Bodhisattva Practices," considered the essence of the enlightenment path, require no erudite explanations or secret initiations, but they do upend our minds, so it is helpful to have a teacher unpack them for us. Du Bois delights in the task, as a longtime practitioner familiar with both the tricky conditioned mind and what it is hiding from. Addressing both our own longings for happiness and freedom and the root causes of our confusion and pain, the bodhisattva trainings turnour self-absorption inside out, revealing the good heart that seeks ultimate freedom - for all. Du Bois's teachings show clearly how love and compassion bring us onto the bodhisattva path, in the intentional, wholehearted process that transmutes mind of self-grasping to the "awakening mind," bodhicitta. Her invitation: take what speaks to you and test it for yourself; contemplate and practice on it until you attain confidence, and then continue, for the benefit of all.… (more)