Continuity of Consciousness

CONTINUITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS

In this series, Continuity of Consciousness, you will be listening to lightly edited audio teachings by Gelek Rimpoche given during a weekend at the Jewel Heart Cleveland Center in the summer of 2004. Descriptions of the four sessions are listed below.

Session 1
What is Mind?
We experience everything through the filter of our mind, yet it is intangible and formless. In this session Gelek Rimpoche draws on ancient Buddhist wisdom to illuminate the fundamental nature of mind.

Session 2
The Mind at the Point of Death
When we die our body decays, but what happens to our mind? In this session Gelek Rimpoche explains the transformation of mind during the death process and emphasizes that what happens next very much depends on how we have lived our life.

Session 3
The Continuation of Mind
If mind is formless, how does it continue after death? How does reincarnation take place? In this session Gelek Rimpoche follows the transformation of mind from life to life, discussing the different properties of matter and consciousness and discusses the key point that mind continues although it is impermanent. We may not remain the person we are now, but we don’t disappear.

Session 4
The Possibility of Enlightenment
According to Buddhism consciousness is not something that is newly created. So who are we really and where are we headed? In this session Gelek Rimpoche further explores the nature of mind and explains that since there is no new consciousness, each birth is just a change of identity, and rather than arbitrary and unconnected, it is a causal continuum based on actions in this and previous lives. That opens up a wide spectrum of possibilities and particularly allows us to eventually achieve enlightenment.