How to Loosen the Grip of Ego Grasping by Understanding Dependent Arising (2 of 2)

Teachings with Venerable Robina Courtin on How to Loosen the Grip of Ego Grasping by Understanding Dependent Arising, the Best Method for Realising Emptiness. Part 2 of 2. Venerable Robina is known for her clarity in presenting Buddhist concepts in a straightforward, no-nonsense and compassionate way, and will teach on the topic of dependent origination and emptiness. Lama Tsongkhapa writes lyrically about Lord Buddha’s teachings on dependent arising – the “king of logics” to prove emptiness, as Lama Yeshe puts it. With this perfect view, Je Rinpoche says, we can never “fall into the abyss of the great mistake” of nihilism, one of the commonest misconceptions about emptiness. Over two sessions, we will investigate how in his gradual path literature he skillfully leads us to the eradication of ego-grasping, the primordial assumption of a fear-driven, bereft, separate self, which simply doesn’t exist. We start by applying the law of karma – an example of the first level of dependent arising: cause and effect -which gradually counteracts our pervasive feelings of hopelessness and self-pity, causing us to realize that we are the source of our own happiness and suffering. Next, we get to the root of the problem by becoming our own therapists: delving deep into our mind and identifying our delusions – attachment, aversion, jealousy and the rest – and recognizing that they are fabrications rooted in ego-grasping. Now, combining our practice with Bodhicitta, we are equipped to understand the subtler levels of dependent arising and to use this logic to uproot ego-grasping itself. Questions include - is there a particular definition for the wrong views, is there a universe or an atom, is the mind the I, what does bringing the two truths together mean, is the mind a random stream of consciousness that is controlled by the ignorance of conditioning if there is no owner, and is the conventional I training my intention? Mahamudra Centre for Universal Unity, North Island, New Zealand, 10th-11th May 2025.