World's largest Buddhist university town

Explore world’s largest hidden monastic town to get a glimpse of Tibetan monastic life

Sichuan's Giant Leshan Buddha

Tibet Travel (Tibet Vista) May 23, 2025: Today, we visit somewhere truly incredible — a place that feels like it is from another world. Deep in the mountains of western Sichuan, China, is a vegetarian Tibetan Buddhist university called Larung Gar* in the world’s largest and nearly hidden monastic college town.

Few may have heard of it — as it’s not easy to get to — but once it is seen, viewers will understand why it’s so special.

Imagine a valley completely covered with thousands of tiny red cabins, all packed tightly together on the hillsides. These are the homes of Tibetan monks (lama) and nuns (ani) who come here from all over the Tibetan Plateau to study and practice Vajrayana Buddhism.

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  The ruins of Nalanda Buddhist University

  NALANDA was a renowned Buddhist university or "great monastery" (maha vihara) in ancient and medieval Magadha (modern Bihar), eastern India, widely considered among the greatest centers of learning in the ancient world and often referred to as "the world's first residential university" [9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14], like Timbuktu in Africa and much older than Oxford, but destroyed by Muslim marauders. It was located near the city of Rajagriha (Rajgir), roughly 90 kms (56 miles) southeast of Pataliputra (Patna), operating for almost a thousand years from 427 CE until around 1400 CE [15][16] and playing a vital role in promoting the patronage of arts, culture, and academics. More

This video is a look around Larung Gar, the heart of Seda (Sertar or Serthar) — the massive Buddhist academy that has been quietly growing since the 1980s.

• 

  From here, we will save the world by magic

  SERTAR (Tibetan གསེར་ཐར་རྫོང།, Chinese 色达县) is a county in the northwest of Sichuan province, China, bordering Qinghai province to the north. It is one of the 18 counties under the administration of the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, covering 9,340 square kms (3,606 square miles). Sêrtar means "Golden Freedom" [Golden Horse?] in Tibetan. It lies in the southeast of the Tibetan Plateau in the historical region of Kham. The vast majority of the population is Tibetan, followed by Han Chinese. Sêrtar comprises 17 towns and 66 villages and is the home of:
• *LARUNG GAR - Larung Gar Buddhist Institute, the largest Tibetan Buddhist institute in the world, formally named the Serta Larung Five Sciences Buddhist Academy. The institute was founded by Lama Jigme Phuntsok in 1980, beginning with just a few monks. It now houses tens of thousands of monks and pilgrims from around the world [2], which constitute the vast majority of the Sêrtar population. Most monks spend 6 to 13 years completing their training. The institute, divided into two main segments and spread over just a few square kms, is located in a valley about 15 kms from the town of Sêrtar. A permit is occasionally required for non-Chinese nationals to enter the institute. Sêrtar is remotely located and requires more than half a day's driving if travelling from Chengdu via Maerkang. It is also possible to travel from Xining, the capital of Qinghai. Sêrtar is at an altitude of 4,100 meters (13,500 feet above sea level), so temperatures range between a maximum of 30 °C (86 °F) in summer and a minimum of −30 °C (−22 °F) in winter. More

It is a place of devotion, discipline, and deep spiritual life, hidden away from the outside world. Let’s go through the narrow paths between the red homes to see what daily life looks like here and try to get a sense of what it feels like to be in such a peaceful spiritual environment.

We’ll visit the main prayer halls, catch a glimpse of the study sessions, and have a chance to see some of the unique local traditions.

For those interested in Tibetan culture, Himalayan Vajrayana (Tantrayana, Mantrayana, Esoteric Bon-infused) Buddhism, or those who just love discovering places most travelers never get to see, this is it. This is going to be something very special. Let’s explore Seda.

Questions on requirements for a tour of Tibet, please never hesitate to contact Jamyang Tour:

• Email jamyangtour@gmail.com
• Wechat ID: Jamyang-1234
• Website: tibettravel.org
• Facebook: tibetvista
• Jamyang, Tibet Travel ( Tibet Vista ), May 23, 2025; Amber Larson, CC Liu, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Buddhist colleges in the USA: Soka U

Soka University of America

See Soka University photo gallery  (Niche)

Soka University of America (SUA) is a private, non-profit institution in Aliso Viejo, Orange County (next to Laguna Beach), Southern California.

It offers a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in liberal arts and a Master of Arts (M.A.) in educational leadership and societal change.

Each offers a unique curriculum that emphasizes leadership and contributive citizenship. SUA was founded on the Buddhist principles of peace, human rights, and the sanctity of life. The curriculum, however, is entirely secular.

• Soka University of America (Niche)

The study of sciences (STEM)

Undergraduates are required to study a non-native language and study abroad for a semester in a country where that language is spoken. (The cost of this is included in tuition).

Undergraduates with a family income below $90,000 and who have demonstrated financial need have their tuition covered by a combination of grants and scholarships from the university, federal and state governments, and private agencies.

SUA also offers generous needs-based aid to students whose household income is greater than $90,000 as well as scholarship opportunities that are not based on family income.

• Soka University of America (soka.edu)
• Soka University of America (Wikipedia)
• ADDRESS: 1 University Drive
• Aliso Viejo, California 92656
• PHONE: (949) 480-4000
• EMAIL: info@soka.edu

• What about the school's name? It is from the Soka Gakkai International Buddhist Movement
• Worship through chanting of Japanese mantra: Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō
• Institute of Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, California (1949)
• Shambhala founder Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche's Naropa University (1974)
• Taiwanese Buddhist Dharma Realm Buddhist University (1976)
• University of the West, Buddhist college, San Gabriel Valley (1990)
• Wat Phra Dhammakaya with Buddhist college in Azusa
• Maitripa College Tibetan Buddhist College of Oregon (2005)
• Won Institute of Graduate Studies Pennsylvania (2001)
• Ewam Buddhist Institute – located in Arlee, Montana
• Go vegan and supplement with Vitamin B12 to avoid deficiency and dementia (The Hearty Soul)
• Japanese mountain town is known for lacquerware — tradition goes back centuries
• Buddhist universities and colleges in the United States
• Soka.edu; Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Why Muslims destroyed world's 1st university

Bodhisattva, Jan. 30, 2022; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Why Muhammed Bakhtiyar Khilji burnt the Nalanda Buddhist University: the real reasons and firsthand accounts

(Bodhisattva) Why did Khilji slaughter thousands of monks and why did he then set the entire university on fire?

Was this the result of some misunderstanding or done on purpose with the objective of bringing Islam and driving Buddhism out of India? What do the accounts of the eyewitnesses of this unthinkable massacre tell us? Do they report a different motive for the bloodshed and burning of 9 million books?

Bakhtiyar Khilji arrived at Nalanda University with only 200 Central Asian horsemen. The six-story maha-vihara ("great monastery") looked like a huge military fort without any beginning or end.

Khilji killed thousands of monks and burned the nine-story library of the university. At any given time more than 1,500 Buddhist teachers and 10,000 students (first monastics then open to lay people from all over Asia) used to live in this university.

CHAPTERS

• 0:00 - Intro
• 2:02 - Eyewitness Accounts
• 5:01 - History and Significance of Nalanda University
• 8:28 - Destruction by Bakhtiyar Khilji
• 9:41- Impact on Buddhism

They were caught completely unaware of the impending attack. The next several hours were some of the most shameful hours in the long history of India (Great Bharat).

Every single teacher and student was murdered in one of the most horrible massacres the country has ever seen. The destruction was so complete that when he asked his soldiers to bring someone who could explain the content of the books, the soldiers could not find a single person alive.

They discovered that the entire city and hundreds of buildings spread in several kilometers was not a "fort" but a university, which the locals called Bihar (Vihar = monastic complex).

Khilji looted the monastery and obtained a great quantity of plunder. Before leaving the monastery, Khalji ordered the library and university to be set on fire.

With that, all the knowledge that was stored in those books and manuscripts was burned to ashes along with the bodies of the murdered monastics.

The millions of books of the library kept on burning for more than three months. But why did General Khalji kill thousands of innocent and unarmed monks, and why did he set the entire library and university on fire?

Was this result of some accidental misunderstanding or on purpose? What do the accounts of the eyewitnesses of this massacre tell us? Do they paint a better motive for the bloodshed and burning of millions of books?

Let’s explore one of the most shameful events in the history of humankind. #Nalanda #Khilji #University

CREDITS

• Timurid Siege of Multan (Mydust)
• Konark palm leaf manuscript (Amshpatten)
• Sanskrit written on the Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur (Matthew T. Rader)
• Ancient Monasteries Bihar Sharif (Odantapuribs)
• Front view of Vikramshila Monastery (Deepak Kumar Sharma)
• Buddhaghosa with three copies of Visuddhimagga (Photo Dharma)
• Painting of Battle of Tarain - Rajput States (Amit20081980)
• 1572-The Wounding of Khan Kilan by Rajputs-Akbarnama (Victoria and Albert Museum)
• Maharaja Chhatrasal (SPVCA)
• Nalanda University India (Hiroki Ogawa)

World's 1st university: Buddhist Nalanda (BBC)

BBC Reel, June 10, 2022; Bodhisattva; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How the world's oldest university was lost for 800 years (BBC)

(BBC Reel) Founded more than 1,500 years ago, India's ancient Nalanda [Buddhist monastic] University is thought to have been the world's first residential university.

The Buddha-to-be went to college at Taxila

Established more than 500 years before England's Oxford University, at its peak Nalanda hosted over 10,000 students from around the world.

It is considered by historians to be one of the great centers of learning of the ancient world.

• [Two other perhaps older universities were at Timbuktu, in Islamic Africa, and the school the Bodhisattva ("Buddha-to-be") attended along with Ananda in a previous life, Taxila/Takkasila, the capital of ancient Gandhara (modern Pakistan), which is mentioned in the Jataka Tales.]

Nalanda University was destroyed towards the end of the 12th Century AD. Its legendary library was burned to the ground, and much of its ancient knowledge was lost.

Now, 800 years later, it is being revived for the modern age.

Video by Mithun Pramanik. Commissioned by Dan John. #bbcnews #bbc #india #bbcreel #india #university #indian

Why did Muslims destroy it?

(Bodhisattva) Why Turko-Afghan mass murderer Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji burned down Nalanda Buddhist University and killed all of its resident monk teachers and monastic students: real reasons and firsthand accounts.

Where in the world is Timbuktu?

In its Golden Age, Timbuktu's numerous Islamic scholars and extensive trading network supported an important book trade, together with the campuses of Sankore Madrasa, an Islamic university.

This established Timbuktu as a scholarly center in Africa. Several notable historic writers, such as Shabeni and Leo Africanus, wrote about the city.

These stories fueled speculation in Europe, where the city's reputation shifted from being extremely rich to being mysterious. More

[So white Europeans destroyed it, took its knowledge, then denied it ever existed. This created the joke that "Timbuktu" is synonymous with "Podunk," a faraway or nonexistent place.]

Tibet, the Path to Wisdom (woman's journey)

SLICE (YouTube) documentary; Crystal Quintero, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso: I am the god-king of this land occupied Tibet/China.

Documentary: Tibet, the path to Wisdom

(SLICE) May 29, 2022. Ani Rigsang has chosen a nomadic lifestyle in the snowy land of white clouds. The Buddhist nun felt confined in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.

Tibetan Buddhist nun Ani Rigsang (SLICE)

So today she has taken to the road to reconnect with her country’s [wandering ascetic] spiritual traditions, which are now threatened by rapid modernization and the reinforcement of Han Chinese occupation and control over the region.

From snowy mountains to green valleys, from Buddhist monastery (gompa) to monastery, this documentary accompanies Ani Rigsang as she makes her way on foot through Tibet.

The world's largest Buddhist university, with a student body numbering 50,000

.

A moving testimony that brings together age-old traditions and legends, this film takes us through stunning landscapes, revealing to us a contrasting Tibet, jostled by modernity and the upheavals of its holy geography.

• Documentary: “Tibet, the path to wisdom”
• Direction: Hamid Sardar Production: DreamCatcherMotionProductions, les gens bien productions for France Télévisions & Ushuaïa TV.
• SLICE wants to satisfy curiosity! Accessible to anyone from anywhere at any time, this channel is a weekly dose of short docs about curious facts, discoveries, astounding info, unusual stories that are weird, fun, and instructive. Be smart, have a slice! Subscribe now ► youtube.com/channel...
• Follow: 👇 In French: youtube.com/c/SLICEFR, facebook.com/slicedocs, instagram.com/slicedocs.

American Buddhists do 3 years of silence

Los Angeles Times via Mercury News (mercurynews.com, 9/15/09); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly

Dozens of American Buddhists prepare for 3 years-plus of silence to heighten inner awareness

BOWIE, Arizona - Deep in a remote desert valley, Stephane Dreyfus and several dozen other American Buddhists are preparing to undergo a mind-altering journey: three years, three months, and three days of silence.

There will be no word from the outside world during the Great Retreat, only the deafening quiet of sand, rock, and cactus, with seemingly endless time to ponder the emptiness [impersonal and therefore liberating nature] of life.

Dreyfus and his fellow adherents hope to find enlightenment in the silence, a gift they plan to share when they emerge from their long seclusion.

They know that outsiders might dismiss them as eccentrics, but their résumés suggest otherwise. Among them are an airline pilot, a dermatologist, a retired biochemist, and a former television editor.

They’re jettisoning the trappings of their lives to carry on a Tibetan Buddhist tradition that traces its lineage through the Dalai Lamas of Tibet. For many, that means leaving behind six-figure incomes, young children, or aging parents for the solitude of cramped cabins made of adobe, wood, and hay bales.

Prolonged silence, they believe, is the only way to reach the deep level of inner awareness required to bring true happiness to the world. “If I can get to the position of being perfectly free of suffering and develop high levels of mental clarity that cause enlightenment, I can show others how to get there perfectly, quickly,” says Dreyfus, 32, who left a job as an assistant editor on the prime-time show “The Bachelor” to teach yoga and prepare for his undertaking.

Dreyfus, a Berkeley native, will be joined by his fiancee, Jessica Kung, a Yale graduate and also a yoga teacher. When they start the retreat, they will be newlyweds, sharing a 500-square-foot cabin, communicating only through gestures and facial expressions and refraining from physical intimacy.

Such physical pleasure, they both say, would dissipate prana — [lit., "breath," chi, spiritus, invisible life force] inner energy — distracting from the important karmic work at hand.

“I feel a desire to have some serious Ph.D.-like study in yoga meditation,” says Kung, 27. “There is nothing better to do with my youth.”

Families bewildered, angry, skeptical

Padmasambhava Rinpoche, 

Such talk provokes bewilderment, skepticism, and even anger from the family members of many of those who will join the retreat. Prof. Hubert Dreyfus, who teaches existential philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, worries that his son, Stephane, is wasting his talent for writing and filmmaking to pursue [spiritual] ideas he sees as irrational.

The elder Dreyfus admits his son is happier than ever. Still, he can’t understand why anyone would leave loved ones behind to disappear into the desert — in this case, for 1,190 days. “I’m just torn,” says Dreyfus, 79. “I want grandchildren.”

Each retreat participant will need $60,000 to $75,000 to build a cabin and pay for three years of food and supplies. Some already have set aside the money. A few are searching for sponsors at yoga and meditation seminars or relying on the generosity of others on the retreat.

Those on retreat will cook for themselves in cabins equipped with kitchens and bathrooms. Power will be supplied by solar panels or propane tanks, and members will probably have air horns to summon help if something goes wrong. Volunteer caretakers, fellow American Buddhists who live nearby, will help by growing or shopping for food and dropping it off twice a week.

David Stumpf, a retired plant biochemist from the University of Arizona who is planning to join the retreat, is in charge of installing a water supply system in the valley. Dr. Stumpf has nearly finished building the 600-square-foot cabin he and his wife, Susan, will share on a small patch of earth surrounded by paddle cactus and ocotillo plants.

Surveying the rolling landscape and cloud-streaked sky, the 56-year-old proclaims the setting ideal for deep meditation. “This place is stunning at sunrise,” he says. “The lighting on the hillside is just magical.”

To reach “retreat valley,” participants drive 107 miles east from Tucson on the Interstate 10 Freeway through stretches of desert to the small town of Bowie then head south on a narrow asphalt road.

From there, a rutted dirt road leads to Diamond Mountain University, a nonprofit Buddhist campus where footpaths connect an adobe temple, a tented student lounge, and round Mongolian-style yurts. Another short road from there to retreat valley is even more primitive, coursing through brush-covered hillsides once home to a cattle ranch.

In the heart of the valley is a single yurt within sight of several cabins under construction. This is the home of Geshe Michael Roach and Lama Christie McNally, the university’s founders. [What could go wrong? Certainly not Murphy's Law, which is unerring in these situations.] More

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Free Daylong Retreat, Los Angeles (Jan. 13)

Ven. Sumitta (DhammaUSA), Thabarwa Nature Center, LA; Ellie, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

All (and that means you, too) are invited to join an inspiring One Day Retreat with Ven. Sumitta. This is an introductory-level meditation daylong. All are welcome to this FREE event. Volunteer donations are welcome to support the newly opened Thabarwa Mindfulness and Detachment Meditation Center in Baldwin Park and the instructor leading it from the nearby Buddhist University of the West (uwest.edu). More info: DhammaUSA.com

• FREE: Dharma Meditation Initiative
• Thabarwa Nature Meditation Center
• 13212 Francisquito Ave., Baldwin Park
• San Gabriel Valley, L.A. 91706
• Sunday, Jan. 13, 2019, 9:00 AM-4:00 PM

What happened today

LOS ANGELES, California - Twenty-five meditators arrived in the morning. The previous night's rain had broken, and the sun peered through the clouds. We sat in a warm meditation hall of the new Thabarwa Nature Center in the center of the San Gabriel Valley, where the 10 and 605 Freeways meet.

One group went on alms round in Temple City and Alhambra, while others came in, sat down, got a short orientation, and took the Eight Precepts from Ven. Sumitta ("good friend") from the Buddhist University of the West and Dhammausa.com (which has a number of talks and presentations for viewing).

Then came the Dharma talk on the Five Hindrances to meditation and happiness. This was followed by meditation practice then a donated lunch courtesy of donors with so many options and delights that it was hard to stay awake during the next sit. So we did walking meditation in the center's yard and large parking area.

Then came a Powerpoint presentation on emotions and their affect on brain structures, such as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, and how meditation changes the brain to make emotions more manageable and easy to endure. Some, like anger, ruin meditation, and so it is a hindrance. Others change in the meditating brain and cease to scatter attention. Then came questions and answers, the sharing of merits, and taking the Five Precepts.

Meditation Teacher
Ven. Nivitigala Sumitta is a Ph.D. student and pillar of the community at University of the West. He founded the UWest Pali Society and the community organization Dhamma USA (facebook.com/dhammausa). He also offers services at the Lankarama Buddhist Institute in the nearby City of La Puente, in suburban Los Angeles.

(Buddhist) University of the West
UWest is a private, non-profit campus located on a beautiful hillside in Rosemead, California Itis accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and offers whole-person education in its curriculum, tending to students' intellectual, spiritual, and physical well-being. Email: info@uwest.edu. Info: (855) GO-UWEST (1-855-468-9378).

Free: learn exclusively Buddhist language

Dhamma Us (DhammaUSA.com); Ellie Askew, Sayalay, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Recently, scholar-monk Ven. Sumitta from University of the West was invited to teach a free Buddhist language class at the Thabarwa Nature Center's Arcadia temple. The hall was full, and the discussion was lively. The next class is in January 11, 2019.

 

Pali 101: Pali for Beginners

Level One – Lesson 10 [(Copyright) Dhamma USA]

Any inquiries about the exercises may be emailed to info@dhammausa.com. If coming to this free class at the center, please make sure to turn in exercises two days prior to the next class.

Lesson 10 will cover pages 23-26 of The New Pali Course Part 1 by Professor A. P. Buddhadatta.

Video updates so far:

1. Introduction and Lesson1 - Pali Alphabet pronunciation

Course Overview

Lesson 2 - Parts of Speech, Gender, Number, Case

Lesson 3 - Declension of Nouns: Nara, Buddha; Exercises 1, 2

Lesson 4 - Conjugation of Verbs, Exercise 3

Lesson 5 - Different Conjugations - Exercise 4

Lesson 6 - Different Conjugations - Exercise 5

Lesson 7 - Past Tense - Exercise 6

Lesson 8 - Personal Pronouns - Exercise 7

Lesson 9 - Future Tense - Exercise 8

The Way to Enlightenment (abbreviated)

Sayadaw Jāneyyācāra; Ananda M., Dhr. Seven, David C., Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

He's so young to be enlightened already.

We were all gathered at Los Angeles' Buddhist University (uwest.edu), Room AD205, when the Sayadaw and an assistant Buddhist nun entered.

We paid our respects, took the Five Precepts, and got these preliminary instructions:

The Buddha, the Awakened One

The Way to Nirvana is serenity-and-insight. This is because what needs to be discerned to reach complete freedom from all unhappiness and disappointment is "mentality and materiality" (nama-rupa) and their causes.

One does this by directly knowing-and-seeing consciousness (cittas) and the particles of materiality (kalapas).

Let us purify consciousness, the mind and heart. How? First let us do it temporarily then permanently. For temporary suppression of the mental defilements and hindrances, one cultivates meditative absorption. Then emerging in this temporarily purified state (where the obstacles and distorters of reality have for a short time subsided), we take up insight-meditation called vipassana.

Calm, coherence, collectedness, concentration (samadhi) as opposed to the distractedness and diffuseness of our day-to-day wandering is what powers the mind/heart to breakthrough during insight-meditation.

How do I get to space? - Go up, way up.

Otherwise, we would be a rocket with insufficient fuel to reach the stratosphere and space.

To practice vipassana without samadhi (defined by the Buddha as the first four meditative absorptions) is about as likely to work as a strong wind coming along and pushing the rocket to penetrate the sky.

Let us begin

We need a secluded place, a peaceful place because silence is a great help, and noise is the enemy of concentratedness (to use the word "concentration" misleads many into assuming it is being used as a verb when it is actually being used as a adjective, the state of being concentrated/undiluted).

Take your favorite sitting posture, one leg comfortably in front of the other, which is easier than easy pose and much easier than full lotus. The top half of the body is straight, erect, firm but not stiff. Use two cushions, a zabuton and zafu, a mat underneath and a cushion for the buttocks that allows the lumbar region of the back to be in its natural bend.

 

The Sayadaw explained that it is very useful to start with some preliminary exercises to bring about inner peace such as:

• Cultivating friendliness-kindness, compassion
• Recollecting the Buddha's nine good qualities
• Choose one quality and continue to reflect on it.

Continue this reflection (such as arahan, "enlightened") for about 10 minutes or until there is an inner sense of calmness and clarity. Now we are ready to begin to meditate in earnest. One excellent meditation to begin with is "mindfulness of in-and-out breathing." The meditation object is "the breath." The breath can be known in four ways:

1. moving in-and-out around the nostril/upper lip area
2. as each being long or short in duration
3. as the whole-body-of-the-breath, meaning that one knows/remains aware of each inhalation for its FULL duration and each following exhalation for its ENTIRE length
4. and as the subtle breath, the tiny movement by the nostril or the prana (invisible lifeforce energy, chi, spiritus) that accompanies it.

I was so at peace, so close to absorption, seeing light.

Become familiar with all of the, the Sayadaw recommends based on the Great Teacher's advice, just to be sure one is being mindful of "the breath" itself. 

Counting can be used for the first two ways of knowing the breath, just to anchor one in the practice. Breathe in and breathe out naturally (not controlling the breath at all) and count "one." Another cycle of breath, and count "two" up to eight then begin again.

If the mind is wandering -- and it does tend to do that, so don't be surprised or upset when it does -- count 1 1 1 1 1...for the full length of the inhalation, 2 2 2 2 2 2...for the full duration of the exhalation, up to eight and begin again.

This will keep the mind on nothing but the natural breath in real time. We want real time awareness, not memory of the past breath or projection of the future breath, just this breath right NOW.

When this can be done, with the mind fixed (fixated, fastened, stuck, nailed) to the breath, the mind will be absorbed into the breath. This is samadhi, full absorption into one thing. It is accompanied by an effervescent bliss, rapture, joy, a sense of levitating. But it is weak absorption close to normal consciousness.

Continue, and as one factor drops away another is strengthened, and it is a firmer, more fixed, more stable absorption, further from normal distracted/diffuse consciousness. This can continue until one experiences the first four absorptions.
 

Now we're ready to practice for insight

Knowing and Seeing (Pa Auk)

The goal of this is not just inner peace and bliss, which are nice (very nice). The goal is know thyself. Who am I? Ultimately, the answer is name-and-form, nama-rupa, mentality-and-materiality.

We will search for "self" there. For it is only by searching for it there that one can awaken from the illusion that has been causing all of this suffering life after life.

What is "suffering"? Dukkha (disappointment, pain, grief, boredom, lack of fulfillment, woe, ill, distress, unsatisfactoriness, crying, lamenting, this interminable wandering on lost beset by craving and yearning, ensnared by anger and upset, benighted by confusion and ignorance) is "suffering."

To be permanently free of ALL suffering, let us discern ultimate mentality-and-materiality and their causes. That's what insight-meditation (vipassana) is for. Its foundation is serenity (coherence, samadhi, the absorptions). How do name-and-form arise? They arise, that is, originate dependent on conditions.

What conditions? It is all made clear after serenity is achieved when the meditation on Dependent Origination gets underway.

• Seeing and sitting with the Sayadaw was made possible by our friends and partners. This all took place on March 3, 2018 between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm.

PasaDharma - Dharma Meditation Initiative - Dharma Punx - Disclosure Project - MARC

.

I always knew I'd find out how to awaken!

After sitting for hours, which none of us thought was possible, we were treated to a free lunch then got to talk to the Sayadaw face to face and ASK ANYTHING we wanted to know. What a rare experience to ask an enlightened being anything we have ever wanted to know. Mostly people asked about the meditation and if they were doing it right, difficulties they were having, successes they were experiencing. A short time after the Q&A in one room, the Sayadaw and the nun -- who was translating from English to Chinese -- came into the meditation classroom. There he gave a talk and took more questions. Now the focus was mainly on karma.

• You, too, can participate FREE on Sunday, March 4th (march forth as in sally forth) beginning at 9:00 am. We cannot promise we will ever offer such an opportunity, free, in Los Angeles, in a university setting. Take advantage; come investigate.