Value of Human Life, Liberty and Opportunity : Lam Rim Force For Good with Robert AF Thurman
In this short video Professor Robert AF Thurman discusses the Buddhist perspective on the value of human life, liberty and opportunity as presented within the “Lam Rim: Stages of the Path” collection of teachings.
“Let’s review the stages of the path as if it were a kind of arpeggio, a scale of notes to run through on the piano of the mind. And so, the first set of notes that we learned leads up to the mind of transcendence. There are four main notes in that arpeggio, and the first is appreciating our precious human embodiment endowed with liberty and opportunity.
What a wonderful life we have, with access to the great teachings of liberation, omniscience, and awakening, with the time and the understanding and the assistance and the community that helps us put these into practice. So remember that note. Quickly play it in your mind and resonate with it.”
Robert AF Thurman from Jewel Tree of Tibet.
“The Value of Human Life, Liberty and Opportunity : Lam Rim Force For Good with Robert AF Thurman ” was recorded at the 2016 Lam Rim: Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Sources Class Twelve of the Force for Good Series with Robert AF Thurman at Tibet House US.
“The Value of Human Life, Liberty and Opportunity : Lam Rim Force For Good with Robert AF Thurman” Photo by Alex Holyoake on Unsplash
This video is an excerpt from the Tibet House US Member video “Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Sources : Madhyamaka Lam Rim” (1:56:24) and is apart of the Force For Good Class Series.
‘A Force For Good’ is a Tibet House US course to further the Dalai Lama’s contemporary world initiatives, from His Holiness’ American Institute of Buddhist Studies and Mind & Life Institute science dialogues (Universe in a Single Atom) and His creation of Abhidharma 2.0 through the “Science for Monks” programs, his “secular ethics” (Ethics for the New Millennium and Beyond Religion), His nonviolent approach to conflict resolution, including His Nobel Peace Laureate activities to seek dialogue and a win-win reconciliation with China in the face of the ongoing ethnicidal policies in Tibet (Freedom in Exile and Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of Tibet’s Dalai Lama) & along with his emphasis on positive activism (A New Reality: Charter of Universal Responsibility).
This on-going series was inspired by Daniel Goleman’s ‘A Force For Good: The Dalai Lama’s Vision for Our World‘.
To join the on-going #ForceForGood series please visit: www.tibethouse.us.
To listen to audio selections from the Bob Thurman Podcast about past lives please visit: www.bobthurman.com.
To watch more videos from past ‘Force for Good’ programs please visit the Tibet House US Member Archive, available to monthly supporters.
About Robert AF Thurman
Suggested Books & Audio by Robert AF Thurman:
Man of Peace: Illustrated Life Story of Tibet’s Dalai Lama (Book), Infinite Life: Awakening to Bliss Within (Book), Anger: The Seven Deadly Sins (Book), Inner Revolution (Book), Circling the Sacred Mountain : A Spiritual Adventure Through the Himalayas (Book), Essential Tibetan Buddhism (Book), The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Book of Natural Liberation Through Understanding in the Between (Book) The Jewel Tree of Tibet: The Enlightenment Engine of Tibetan Buddhism (Book), The Central Philosophy of Tibet (Book), The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti: A Mahayana Scripture (Book), Life & Teachings of Tsong Khapa (Book), Why the Dalai Lama Matters: His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet, and the World (Book) & Liberation Upon Hearing in the Between: Living with the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Audio).
