Seeing Clearly:
Perception Without Projection
with Venerable Thubten Wangdu
As we experience the world, our minds constantly add stories to what we see. We continuously interpret our surroundings in very specific ways and then believe our personal interpretations to be objective reality. Perception is in fact a very active endeavor, not a passive mirroring. The Buddhist teachings warn of the many ways we color so much of our experience and give very practical advice on how to untangle our perceptions from these mistaken projections.
In one very direct teaching from the Pali canon, the Buddha explains clearly how to train ourselves so that, “In the seen [there] will be merely the seen; in the heard [there] will be merely the heard.” Like so many memorable lines from sutra, this is an invitation to practice. How might we approach these instructions and incorporate them into our lives in order to deepen our understanding of the fundamental ways we interact with the world? Venerable Thubten Wangdu will lead a very practical exploration of the perception without projection, before the mind adds a story. The program will include a guided meditation and discussion to help make these insights more concrete and accessible.
Recordings
About the Teacher
Born in Austria, Ven. Thubten Wangdu initially worked as a musician, composer and filmmaker. He came into contact with Tibetan Buddhism in 2012 during his travels through India and participated in his first one-month November course in 2015, at Kopan Monastery in Nepal.
He went on to facilitate meditations for two years at Tushita Meditation Centre in Dharamshala before enrolling in a five-year Buddhist philosophy program (FPMT’s Basic Program) at Instituto Lama Tsongkhapa in Italy, which he successfully completed in 2022 at Nalanda Monastery in France.
In December 2022, Venerable Wangdu was ordained by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Kopan Monastery after which he served as the resident teacher at Tushita Meditation Centre for two-and-a-half years. He is currently enrolled in the Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program, an intensive two-year Tibetan language course, in Dharamshala.
