The Meditator’s Nest Vol. 2

A Mahayana Meditation Manual

Christian Bernert (Ed.)

Based on the pith instructions from the famous Sakya teachings known as Nang Sum, or The Three Visions, which are part of the Lamdré system, this manual is designed to guide practitioners on the Mahayana path through the various stages of cultivation. Learning how to systematically cultivate sincere faith, genuine renunciation, compassion and insight, these instructions will help students of all levels to build a stable foundation for their path, especially those eager to practice the Vajrayana teachings.

Together with The Meditator’s Nest, Vol. 1: Building a Spiritual Practice.

Oral Teachings on the Essentials of the Buddhist Path by Khenpo Jamyang Tenzin, this manual forms a set, a precious companion for those travelling the path to awakening.

CONTENTS

Preface

Foreword

Introduction

The structure of each session

After the meditation

Getting started: sit and relax

Stage One. Taking a safe direction in life

1. Confidence and trust: going for refuge

Stage Two. Setting priorities: turning towards the Dharma

2. Appreciating what we have: the value of a precious human life
3. Cultivating a sense of urgency: contemplating impermanence and death
4. Taking responsibility: reflections on karma—actions and their results
5. Longing for true freedom: contemplating the faults of samsara

Stage Three. A change of heart: for the benefit of all

6. Opening the heart: cultivating loving-kindness
7. Cultivating compassion
8. Bodhicitta: generating the resolve to become a buddha
9. Applied bodhicitta in meditation, part 1: cultivating
   equality between oneself and others
10. Applied bodhicitta in meditation, part 2: exchanging
    oneself for others

Stage Four. Learning to see

11. Bringing the mind home: the practice of shamatha, calm abiding
12. Seeing reality as it is: the practice of vipashyana, superior insight

Selected bibliography

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