Walking for exercise, sightseeing, or shopping, can all be used to meditate on impermanence and emptiness. Here Rinpoche offers guided meditations on how, in particular, to think about emptiness, to habituate our mind in a positive way to looking at everything that appears to be real as false. While walking, we can meditate on emptiness in three ways: By seeing the hallucination as a hallucination, by looking at everything we encounter including ourselves as merely labeled, and by looking at everything as empty. These meditations free us from the oceans of unimaginable sufferings of samsara forever in order to help all sentient beings become free from these sufferings as well. The teaching for this episode was recorded on December 13, 2018, at Kopan Monastery, Nepal. 

What is the benefit of having compassion for those who mistreat us and how is our survival, comfort, happiness—and ultimately—enlightenment dependent on the kindness of others, especially those who we consider an enemy? All of our past, present, and future happiness come from our virtuous actions. These come from the buddhas’ holy actions, which come from a buddha, which come from a bodhisattva, which come from bodhicitta, which come from great compassion. Great compassion comes from those sentient beings who are always angry, criticize, abuse, and harm us. Rinpoche explains that, therefore, the benefit they offer us is like the limitless sky. They fulfill all our wishes. All our happiness comes from sentient beings. The teaching for this episode was recorded on June 30, 2019, at Ganden Buddhist Centre, Latvia. 

What enables us to quickly achieve enlightenment, Rinpoche explains, is correctly following the guru, the virtuous friend. For example, if for one thousand eons we made charity of our limbs and dedicated our merit—we would collect this much merit in one second by following the guru’s advice and fulfilling the guru’s wishes. We are unbelievably fortunate to have this opportunity, it is the quickest way to be free from samsara, which we have been suffering in from since beginningless rebirths. In addition, pleasing the guru purifies heavy negative karma in one second! Rinpoche says that when we experience hardships while following the guru’s advice, we purify the negative karma to wander in the lower realms for ten million eons. Instead, we experience a small suffering in this life or even in a dream. By receiving the blessings of the guru in our heart, realizations can happen quickly, like a seed receiving water so it can grow. The teaching for this episode was recorded on September 16, 2018, at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore. 

The door to all suffering comes from the self-cherishing thought, only thinking of our own happiness, Rinpoche warns. This not only harms us, but also harms numberless sentient beings now, has harmed them in the past from beginningless rebirths, and will harm them in the future. Conversely, cherishing others, changing our mind into bodhicitta, opens the door to all happiness up to enlightenment. The purpose of life is to benefit others, not to use them for our own pleasure. A selfish mind brings many problems, so we must let go of the I and cherish others. Rinpoche emphasizes that by cherishing even one sentient being, we can achieve enlightenment. The teaching for this episode was recorded on November 10, 2018, at Nagarjuna C E T Madrid, Spain. 

There is no such thing as a “real I,” and subsequently, it is not possible for anything to be a “real mine,” Rinpoche says. In the first second, our mind merely imputes I on our aggregates. Then, in the next second, this I appears back to us as one hundred percent true, and we believe it. We trust that something is there from its own side. This becomes the basis for many delusions to arise and creates the root of samsara. For this reason, we need to collect much merit and continually purify negative karma. However, the most powerful thing we can do is to correctly follow the guru and thereby receive the blessings of the guru in our heart. The teaching for this episode was recorded on April 11, 2018, at Great Stupa Of Universal Compassion, Australia. 

Whether we understand the qualities of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha or not, if we open our hearts to them and rely on them, we will have an unmistaken refuge—like catching hold of a rope when we are about to fall into a fire. When we come to understand how Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha free us from samsara and bring us to enlightenment, our faith will become more and more stable. Rinpoche explains that Refuge begins by considering our own situation until we can’t stand being in samsara for even a second more. Next we can think of how numberless other sentient beings have also been experiencing the sufferings of samsara from beginningless rebirths. Like us, they don’t like suffering but create the cause for suffering, without end, day and night. Thinking of this helps us generate compassion for ourself and others who are numberless. Because we can’t stand this situation for ourselves or others, we must rely on Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha strongly, from our bones, with all our heart. The teaching for this episode was recorded on September 16, 2017, at Light of the Path Retreat, United States. 

Our gurus appear to us according to our impure karma, in an ordinary aspect, showing mistakes and having delusions. Because of this ordinary aspect, we are able to see the guru, communicate with the guru, and receive teachings and advice. Without their manifesting in this ordinary aspect we would remain lost in samsara, like a small child abandoned in a desert. We could not become free from the lower realms, from samsara, and from the lower nirvana, nor could we achieve the great nirvana of enlightenment. Because every second that our guru appears to us in an ordinary aspect is most unbelievably kind and precious, we should cherish our guru as more precious than the numberless buddhas. The teaching for this episode was recorded on April 6, 2018, at Great Stupa Of Universal Compassion, Australia. 

The purpose of taking a long-life initiation is not to gain more time for creating negative karma through harming ourselves and other sentient beings. Rather, the purpose is to pacify life obstacles and to use the resulting long life to collect virtue, to abandon the causes of suffering, and to purify the negative karma already collected. Most importantly a long life should be used to benefit others.We have taken this human body to free others from suffering and cause them happiness. By cherishing others, they give us enlightenment. On the other hand, by following self-cherishing thought, we won’t succeed even in accomplishing the works of this life. To fulfill the purpose of our life, we need to have a good heart. That will make us happy and then we can make others happy.The teaching for this episode was recorded on September 22, 2019, at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, Singapore. 

What would it be like to experience the world without the hallucination of true existence being projected onto everything we experience? We need to become a buddha for this to happen, Rinpoche explains. Right now the gross negative imprints left by ignorance from beginningless rebirths decorate whatever appears to us—form, sound, smell, taste, tangible object—making it appear real but it is actually a total hallucination. In reality, it is merely imputed by the mind. From birth to death everything that appears to us is a total hallucination, like watching a movie produced by our karma and then believing everything, including the I, is real. All of the problems of life arise on the basis of this hallucination. Our ignorance creates suffering, this is why we need to eliminate it. A buddha does not have this. Practicing mindfulness of emptiness in daily life is the most important awareness. After one realizes emptiness, all that has been appearing as real, including the I, is understood to not have even an atom of true existence. The teaching for this episode was recorded on June 30, 2019, at Ganden Buddhist Centre, Latvia. 

All of our failures, problems, illnesses, and suffering from beginningless rebirths come from cherishing ourselves, Rinpoche warns. If we want happiness, we must start cherishing others. If someone harms us, instead of blaming them, direct the anger toward the real enemy—self-cherishing. This way, there is no anger toward others, no external enemy for us to harm and kill, and we can put the blame where it belongs, our own mind. This is like shooting a long-range missile exactly on target, causing the enemy (the self-cherishing thought) to burst into a thousand pieces. Less anger means more happiness, more peace. Cherishing others is the root cause of happiness for ourselves and others, all the way up to enlightenment. The teaching for this episode was recorded on December 10, 2017, at Kopan Monastery, Nepal.