Online lecture series: Awakening Faith in the Mahayana

Theme: Awakening Faith in the Mahayana (Mahāyāna śraddhotpādaśāstra)
Organizer: Indonesian Chan Community
Date: 21th April – the lecture series is still ongoing

Video: Indonesian Chan Community
Audio: Download or Archive.org

We have added two recordings from the meeting on Shanta Vana (2024-08-10). The topic was how to combine the theoretical basis with practice.

We will not be able to keep this page up to date till the end of October. You can always find the latest recordings on YouTube channel – Indonesian Chan Community. At the end of October, we will update all audio recordings according to the YouTube channel.

Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86430732068
ID Rapat: 864 3073 2068

Lectures already held
3-24, 3-31
4-6, 4-21, 4-28
5-5, 5-19, 5-26
6-2, 6-16, 6-23
7-6, 7-14, 7-28
8-3, 8-10, 8-24, 8-31
9-8, 9-14, 9-21

Awakening Faith in the Mahayana

Theme: Awakening Faith in the Mahayana (Mahāyāna śraddhotpādaśāstra)
Place: Buddha Pada (buddhapada.in), Kalimpong, India
Date: 13th – 22th Jan 2023

Audio: Download or Archive.org
Note: Recording from morning 20th failed.
Text: Mindfulness of Breathing is an extract from Asanga’s Shravakabhumi (Stages of Disciples), translated from Tibetan and Sanskrit by B. Alan Wallace. Please use this text only to supplement listening to the lectures. The text is not intended for free distribution.

We thank Buddha Pada and Br. Tenzin for their kindness and sharing these great lectures.


Retreat with Bhante Dhammadipa: The Study of Mahayana Shraddhotpada Shastra (Attributed to Ashvaghosha)

In the Mahayana tradition, one is encouraged to combine Shamatha and Vipassana even before realizing the Ultimate Reality. In the non-dual tradition, Shamatha is the base for the penetration of the non-dualistic nature of the mind. This penetration is done either on the Alaya tradition, or on the basis of the Buddha-nature tradition. Both are traced back to the teachings of the Bodhisattva Maitreya.

In this course, Bhante Dhammadipa will explore Shamatha practice from the point of view of Buddha-nature (Tathagatagarbha), explained with reference to Alaya or store-consciousness. We will discover meditation as the base for insight into the non-dual nature of mind, the mind which is pure and always present, and the application of this method in understanding not only the Zen tradition, but also Tibetan Vajrayana (Dzogchen / Mahamudra).

The Awakening of Faith in Mahayana is a text attributed to Ashwaghosha, who was clearly a Shravastivada poet and philosopher. In the Chinese tradition this text is widely studied as the philosophical foundation of the Zen tradition, and it is also related to the Pure land tradition.

Samdhinirmocana Sutra

Theme: Samdhinirmocana Sutra
Place: Somaiya Vidyavihar University (somaiya.edu), Mumbai, India
Date: 12th – 24th Nov 2022

Audio: Download or Archive.org
Video: KJ Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies YouTube Channel

We thank Somaiya University for their kindness and sharing these great lectures.


These twelft lectures of the teachings by Bhante Dhammadipa, starting from 12th November 2022 to 24th November 2022, organized by KJ Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies, Somaiya Vidyavihar University. These teachings are based on the 6th Chapter of the Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra, a foundational text of the Yogācāra school of Buddhism.

Bhante Dhammadipa was instrumental in developing KJ Somaiya Institute outreach project, Jetavan, at Sakarwadi, which is a wonderful collaboration with Godavari Biorefineries Ltd, Bhante Dhammadipa and the Centre for Buddhist Studies at KJSIDS.

Inside Vasubandhu’s Yogacara: A Practitioner’s Guide

In this down-to-earth book, Ben Connelly sure-handedly guides us through the intricacies of Yogacara and the richness of the “Thirty Verses.” Dedicating a chapter of the book to each line of the poem, he lets us thoroughly lose ourselves in its depths. His warm and wise voice unpacks and contextualizes its wisdom, showing us how we can apply its ancient insights to our own modern lives, to create a life of engaged peace, harmony, compassion, and joy.

In fourth-century India one of the great geniuses of Buddhism, Vasubandhu, sought to reconcile the diverse ideas and forms of Buddhism practiced at the time and demonstrate how they could be effectively integrated into a single system. This was the Yogacara movement, and it continues to have great influence in modern Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. “Thirty Verses on Consciousness Only,” or “Trimshika,” is the most concise, comprehensive, and accessible work by this revered figure.

Vasubandhu’s “Thirty Verses” lay out a path of practice that integrates the most powerful of Buddhism’s psychological and mystical possibilities: Early Buddhism’s practices for shedding afflictive emotional habit and the Mahayana emphasis on shedding divisive concepts, the path of individual liberation and the path of freeing all beings, the path to nirvana and the path of enlightenment as the very ground of being right now. Although Yogacara has a reputation for being extremely complex, the “Thirty Verses” distills the principles of these traditions to their most practical forms, and this book follows that sense of focus; it goes to the heart of the matter—how do we alleviate suffering through shedding our emotional knots and our sense of alienation?

This is a great introduction to a philosophy, a master, and a work whose influence reverberates throughout modern Buddhism. 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Vasubandhus-Yogacara-Practitioners-Guide/dp/1614292841

Understanding Our Mind: 50 Verses on Buddhist Psychology

Based on the fifty verses on the nature of consciousness taken from the great fifth-century Buddhist master Vasubandhu and the teachings of the Avatamsaka Sutra, Thich Nhat Hanh focuses on the direct experience of recognizing, embracing, and looking deeply into the nature of our feelings and perceptions.

Presenting the basic teachings of Buddhist applied psychology, Understanding Our Mind shows us how our mind is like a field, where every kind of seed is planted—seeds of suffering, anger, happiness, and peace. The quality of our life depends on the quality of the seeds in our mind. If we know how to water seeds of joy and transform seeds of suffering, then understanding, love, and compassion will flower. Vietnamese Zen Master Thuong Chieu said, “When we understand how our mind works, the practice becomes easy.”

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Our-Mind-Buddhist-Psychology/dp/1888375302