The Wisdom of a Spiritual Life
![The Wisdom of a Spiritual Life](/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Wisdom_Spiritual_Cover.gif)
The Wisdom of a Spiritual Life series was recorded over five sessions of the Nyur Lam Wisdom teaching, November 2010.
Please scroll down to read a description of each individual recording.
![Wisdom for Everyday Life](/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/WS_Lesson1_WisdomEveryday.gif)
Wisdom for Everyday Life
Lesson Number 1 of 5
Wisdom is not something abstract or just philosophical. It has to be relevant to our day to day life and make it meaningful.
In this lesson Gelek Rimpoche explains that this wisdom can be developed through learning, thinking and meditating and begins with understanding how attachment to material things, but also to success and popularity, holds us back on the spiritual path.
![Deepening Wisdom](/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/WS_Lesson2_Deepening.gif)
Deepening Wisdom
Lesson Number 2 of 5
Can suffering be ended once and for all? According to Buddha it can and wisdom is helping us to gain certainty.
In this lesson Gelek Rimpoche explains how through wisdom we can ascertain the Four Noble Truths of Suffering, Cause of Suffering, Cessation of Suffering and the Path to that Cessation.
Since suffering is impermanent, if its causes are stopped, suffering will cease and not arise again. Grasping at an inherently existing self is the root cause of all negative emotions and thereby of all suffering. The wisdom of seeing that all things are merely dependently originated contradicts it.
![Wisdom of Generosity](/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/WS_Lesson3_Generosity.gif)
Wisdom of Generosity
Lesson Number 3 of 5
To free ourselves from suffering may be the immediate priority, but ultimately we have to go beyond self concern and help others to attain freedom from suffering as well. Generosity is the first of the six transcendental activities of compassion. Who should we give to? How much is enough?
In this lesson Gelek Rimpoche explains that true generosity coupled with wisdom is the mind that wants to give all but yet is able to discriminate what to give to whom.
![Wisdom in Compassionate Activities](/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/WS_Lesson4_Compassion.gif)
Wisdom in Compassionate Activities
Lesson Number 4 of 5
Morality, patience, enthusiasm and concentration belong to the six transcendental activities of compassion.
In this lesson Gelek Rimpoche shows how wisdom is necessary for all of them to succeed, by seeing for example that morality is about more than sexual orientation, but is the fabric of a happy life. Similarly, patience coupled with wisdom protects us from wrong doing, particularly hatred. Enthusiasm should be for helpful, not harmful activities.
Understanding how to properly focus and finding the most powerful positive object to focus on is the wisdom of concentration.
![The Wisdom of Reasoning into Reality](/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/WS_Lesson4_Reasoning.gif)
The Wisdom of Reasoning into Reality
Lesson Number 5 of 5
The last of the six transcendental actions is wisdom itself, the wisdom of emptiness or selflessness. What kind of self is empty and empty of what?
In this lesson Gelek Rimpoche talks about the grasping at an inherently existing self, which is unrealistic, because in fact there is no such self. We do exist, but only because all necessary conditions are right. The sense of self arises only in dependence on many other factors. To refute the false sense of self is the object of wisdom meditation.