How Do Buddhas Know Things?

- a follow-up to something I first posted in 2008 and have been adding to over time.


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How Does Vajra Become Benza

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In a recent class, we were learning the Vajrasattva mantra. During the break, somebody asked how the Sanskrit word vajra  becomes benza  in Tibetan pronunciation. I typed these notes on the screen. Notes about Vajra > Benza Vajra in Tibetan script, i.e., Badzra. Va jra – V is not really V. It’s usually a W or a B. Nepalese and Tibetan people understand it to be a B in this context. Ba jra – J is not really J. In the Tibetan alphabet there is a Ch row and a Ts row of consonants. This Sanskrit J is spelled with the Tibetan letter that we write (in Roman letters) as DZ (which is in the TS row – TS TSH DZ NY). Ba dzra – so, badzra is a completely legitimate spelling
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B-V-W Confusion

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My friends who are trying to decide how to spell mantras that are coming to us from Sanskrit through Tibetan script are frustrated about when to use the letters B, V, and W. Here are the troublesome letters: Chart by Drimay. Part of the issue is Tibetan and Indian pronunciation , but another related issue is the evolution of our alphabets .
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Screen Notes from the Mexico Retreat with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, September 2015

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To get the screen notes that were typed at the Mexico retreat with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, go to this folder: LZR Mexico 2015 The notes from all sessions, all teachers, have been combined, totalling 157 pages. You can save either the PDF or the Word DOCX file. Other resources, such as the Bodhicitta Mindfulness list will be there, too. Update: I added a file with the notes typed into the Daily Meditation , including Blessing the Speech, from when Rinpoche gave the lung  (oral transmission). Click on the same link above and you'll see all the files. Caution: The screen notes are not a transcript. Sometimes things were missed because of not understanding, Rinpoche speaking very quickly, other things interrupting the typing, or the typist's fatigue. Also, we were just typing notes for the audience; we weren't trying to get every word. In addition to Lama Zopa Rinpoche's talks, there were also sessions by Venerable Steve Carlier (the retreat leader), and Venerable
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