Who Are We ... Really?
with Venerable Losang Gendun
According to Buddhism, the root of all our problems lies with misunderstanding. We hold onto a narrow, solid view of ourselves, often referred to as “ego-grasping”. Based on this limiting view, we search frantically for things that will maximize status, praise, gain and pleasure – only to find that we are never satisfied and live in constant anxiety over losing the things we have.
The Buddha gave an alternative description of who we are: an ever-changing collection of elements related to the body and mind. Known as the “five aggregates”, this more accurate view of ourselves helps us more easily embrace change and let go of the neurotic, self-centered habits that hold us back from mental freedom and happiness. Instead of living in a fantasized world of ego-projection filled with negative emotions and dashed hopes, we become empowered to see ourselves in new ways, accept our bodies and its limitations with grace, and develop healthier mental qualities to an endless level of progression.
We can also look more deeply at our five aggregates to see that beyond these solid-seeming entities, there are subtler levels of understanding that bring even greater freedom and joy. With deeper understanding comes a deeper sense of possibility and fuller awakening to our enlightened potential.
In this three-session series, Venerable Gendun will help us see ourselves in new ways. He will help us dissolve our limiting ego views, demystify the “five aggregates”, and apply these insights to living in the world with greater ease, confidence, and compassion.
About the Teacher
Venerable Losang Gendun has spent nearly four decades in Buddhist practice, and has been living as a fully ordained gelong in the Tibetan tradition for the past twenty years. His training spans ten years of monastic study across France, India, Nepal, and Myanmar, and more than four years in solitary retreat in the Tibetan Mahayana and the Burmese Theravāda traditions.
For the past eighteen years he has taught Buddhist philosophy, psychology, and meditation worldwide within FPMT, serving the vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In 2023, as a gesture of gratitude to his teachers, he founded The Buddha Project (TBP), offering long-term guidance for serious meditators. TBP webpages serve as the online learning platform for its core programs, the FPMT In-Depth Meditation Training and the FPMT Ngondro Lamrim Training.
