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Course on Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend (higher quality version, larger files)

Here we present the recordings of a continuing weekly course given by Dr. Alexander Berzin in Berlin, Germany, on Nagarjuna's letter of advice to a king, outlining the main points of the Mahayana Buddhist path.

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Course Recordings

All files are in MP3 format. To listen to or download one of the recordings, choose one of the dates below:

• Tue 7. February 2006 Introductory Verses (Verses 1 ‒ 3) (10.5 MB)
• Tue 14. February 2006 The First Three of the Six Objects of Mindfulness ‒ The Three Gems (Verse 4) (12.3 MB)
• Tue 21. February 2006 The Buddhas Are the Deepest Source of Safe Direction and the Endpoint of the Path (11.3 MB)
• Tue 28. February 2006 The Four Qualities Why the Buddhas Are the Deepest Source of Safe Direction (10.8 MB)
• Tue 7. March 2006 The Thirty-two Excellent Signs of a Buddha’s Enlightening Body (12.5 MB)
• Tue 14. March 2006 What Does It Matter What a Buddha’s Body Looks Like How Does an Artist Buddha Teach (12.3 MB)
• Tue 21. March 2006 The Sixty-four Qualities of a Buddha’s Enlightening Speech (1 ‒ 44) (9.5 MB)
• Tue 28. March 2006 Bodhichitta and the Relevance of the Qualities of a Buddha to Bodhichitta (10 MB)
• Tue 4. April 2006 The Sixty-four Qualities of a Buddha’s Enlightening Speech (45 ‒ 64), The Qualities of a Buddha’s Omniscient Mind (11.4 MB)
• Tue 11. April 2006 The Qualities of a Buddha’s Omniscient Mind (continued), of the Dharma, and of the Arya Sangha (20.7 MB)
• Tue 9. May 2006 The Good Qualities of Generosity, Ethical Discipline, and the Gods; Pathways of Karma ‒ The Ten Destructive Actions (Verse 5) (14.2 MB)
• Tue 16. May 2006 The Four Factors that Make a Pathway of Karma Complete (20.7 MB)
• Tue 23. May 2006 The Three Destructive Actions of Body (21.1 MB)
• Tue 30. May 2006 The Four Destructive Actions of Speech (11.8 MB)
• Tue 6. June 2006 The Four Destructive Actions of Speech (continued) (19.3 MB)
• Tue 13. June 2006 The Three Destructive Actions of Mind (19.1 MB)
• Tue 20. June 2006 Factors that Affect the Ripening of Karma and the Certainty of Ripening within a Specific Time Frame (23.3 MB)
• Tue 27. June 2006 Factors that Affect the Ripening of Karma (continued), Turning Away from Intoxicants, Delighting in Constrcutive Livelihoods (20.9 MB)
• Tue 11. July 2006 The Six Far-Reaching Attitudes – Generosity and Ethical Discipline (Verses 6 – 11) (19.5 MB)
• Tue 25. July 2006 Ethical Discipline (continued), the Four Types of Discriminating Awareness, the Two Truths (verses 12 – 14) (9.6 MB)
• Tue 1. August 2006 Patience (verses 15 – 17) (14.7 MB)
• Tue 8. August 2006 Patience (continued) and Joyful Perseverance (verses 18 – 20) (19.9 MB)
• Tue 15. August 2006 Gaining Mental Stability (verses 21 – 26) (20 MB)
• Tue 22. August 2006 Avoiding Distraction from Lust for Women and by the Eight Worldly Concerns (verse 27) (18.8 MB)
• Tue 5. September 2006 Avoiding Distraction from Wealth (verse 33) (11.6 MB)
• Tue 12. September 2006 Contentment (verse 34 – 35) (20.6 MB)
• Tue 19. September 2006 Avoiding Distraction from Partners (verses 36 – 37) (20.6 MB)
• Tue 26. September 2006 Avoiding Distraction from Desire for Food and Sleep, Preliminary Preparation for Gaining Concentration, and the Four Immeasurable Attitudes as Aids for Concentration (verses 38 – 40) (20.3 MB)
• Tue 3. October 2006 Actual Concentration and Avoiding the Hindrances for Attaining It (verses 41 – 44) (21.6 MB)
• Tue 10. October 2006 Discriminating Awareness – The Five Forces and Five Powers, the Five Pathway Minds; the Sixteen Aspects of the Four Noble Truths (verse 45) (21.2 MB)
• Tue 17. October 2006 The Sixteen Aspects of the Four Noble Truths, and The Five Forces and Five Powers (continued) (21.9 MB)
• Tue 24. October 2006 True Sufferings and Distorted Ways of Understanding Them (19.3 MB)
• Tue 31. October 2006 Distorted Ways of Understanding the True Causes of Suffering (17 MB)
• Tue 7. November 2006 Distorted Ways of Understanding the True Causes of Suffering (continued) and Distorted Ways of Understanding True Stoppings (17.7 MB)
• Tue 14. November 2006 Distorted Ways of Understanding True Pathway Minds (22.5 MB)
• Tue 21. November 2006 Distorted Ways of Understanding True Pathway Minds (continued) (19.6 MB)
• Tue 28. November 2006 True Pathway Minds (20.1 MB)
• Tue 5. December 2006 The Sufferings of Humans (verse 46) (18.3 MB)
• Tue 12. December 2006 The Sufferings of Samsara in General (17 MB)
• Tue 19. December 2006 Discriminating Awareness as the Root of All Happiness; Distorted Antagonistic Thinking; the Four Close Placements of Mindfulness (verses 47 ‒ 48) (17.7 MB)
• Tue 9. January 2007 The Lack of an Impossible Self of Persons (verse 49) (18.4 MB)
• Tue 16. January 2007 Refutation of a Doctrinally-Based Impossible Self (19.4 MB)
• Tue 23. January 2007 Refutation of a Self-Sufficiently Knowable Self and of Findable Characteristics of a Self (20 MB)
• Tue 30. January 2007 Refutation of Impossible Ways of Arising of the Aggregates (verse 50) (18.7 MB)
• Tue 6. February 2007 Further Analysis of the Arising of the Aggregates and Obstacles to Developing the Actual Pathway Minds (verse 51) (19.5 MB)
• Tue 27. February 2007 Perseverance, the Three Higher Trainings and Mindfulness (verses 52 ‒ 54) (14 MB)
• Tue 13. March 2007 Mindfulness of Death and the Ten Gemlike Attitudes (verse 55) (16.7 MB)
• Tue 20. March 2007 Uncertainty of the Time of Death (verses 56 ‒ 58) (13.2 MB)
• Tue 27. March 2007 Rarity of the Precious Human Rebirth (verse 59) (16 MB)
• Tue 3. April 2007 Not Wasting the Precious Human Rebirth (verse 60) and the First Five of the Ten Enriching Factors (verse 61) (19.8 MB)
• Tue 10. April 2007 Second Five of the Ten Enriching Factors (15.1 MB)
• Tue 17. April 2007 Relation with a Spritiual Teacher The Necessary Qualificiations (verse 62) (18.5 MB)
• Tue 24. April 2007 Appreciating Our Temporary Respite from Worse Rebirths (verses 63 ‒ 64) (19.5 MB)
• Tue 1. May 2007 Turning Away from Samsara While Appreciating the Precious Human Rebirth (verse 65) (17.3 MB)
• Tue 8. May 2007 First Three of the Six Sufferings of Samsara (verses 66 ‒ 68) (19.7 MB)
• Tue 15. May 2007 Fourth and Fifth of the Six Sufferings of Samsara (verses 69 ‒ 70) (19.6 MB)
• Tue 22. May 2007 Contiunuation of the Fifth and the Sixth of the Six Sufferings of Samsara (verses 71 ‒ 76) (18.4 MB)
• Tue 29. May 2007 Approach to the Sufferings of the Hell Realms (verse 77) (18.1 MB)
• Tue 5. June 2007 Importance of Dealing with Hellish Suffering (verses 78 ‒ 88) (19.2 MB)
• Tue 19. June 2007 Approach to the Sufferings of Animals and Clutching Ghosts (verses 89 ‒ 97) (13.7 MB)
• Tue 26. June 2007 Approach to the Sufferings of Celestial Beings (verses 98 ‒ 102) (20.4 MB)
• Tue 3. July 2007 Developing Confidence in Liberation and Enlightenment (verses 103 ‒ 105) (19.7 MB)
• Tue 10. July 2007 True Pathway Minds, Seeing Pathway Mind, Its Seven Branches, the Fourteen Questions Left Unanswered by Buddha (verses 106 ‒ 108) (19.8 MB)
• Tue 31. July 2007 The First Link of the Twelve Links of Dependent Arising ‒ Unawareness (verses 109 ‒ 111) (19.3 MB)
• Tue 7. August 2007 The Second Link ‒ Affecting Impulses, Karma (19.6 MB)
• Tue 14. August 2007 The Third through the Sixth Links (16.8 MB)
• Tue 21. August 2007 The Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Links (18.1 MB)
• Tue 11. September 2007 Side Discussion about the Relevance of the Indian Philosophical Systems in Our Times (20.5 MB)
• Tue 18. September 2007 Side Discussion about the Certainty Factor of Karma (18.7 MB)
• Tue 25. September 2007 Side Discussion about the Past and the Future; Obtainer Attitudes (20.3 MB)
• Tue 2. October 2007 The Last Three of the Twelve Links (verse 112) (27 MB)
• Tue 9. October 2007 Accustoming Pathway Mind; Eight Branches of an Arya Pathway Mind (verses 113 ‒ 115) (22 MB)
• Tue 16. October 2007 Encouragement to Practice the Bodhisattva Path (verses 115 ‒ 123 (11.6 MB)
• Tue 23. October 2007 Putting the Teaching into Practice (12.9 MB)