Expanding Your Mind’s Capacity with Mahamudra
with Yangsi Rinpoche
The mind is the basis of the reality we experience, including the suffering of samsara or the peace of nirvana. However in everyday life, we often feel as if our mental potential is limited, due to the pervasive influence of dualistic thinking. Mahamudra, meaning “the Great Seal” of emptiness in Sanskrit, is a lineage of teachings that gets at the inexpressible inseparability of conventional reality and ultimate reality, and starts with our very own consciousness. As Lama Yeshe says, “The realization of mahamudra cuts the wrong conceptions and destroys the nuclear energy of ego. This is revolutionary—more revolutionary than any political ideology. And it brings you totally beyond fear: Mahamudra is the antidote to fear. So beautiful!”
To truly transform our lives, we must address mental afflictions through practices like self-reflection, karmic purification, and the accumulation of merit—prerequisites for integrating Mahamudra into our dharma practice. Yet, it is profoundly inspiring to experience the restful state of our own innate, luminous awareness—the primordial mind common to all sentient beings. Yangsi Rinpoche returns to Shantideva Center to offer teachings on Mahamudra, exploring its role within our broader dharma practice and its power to expand our mind’s capacity for boundless compassion, concentration, and positive potential.
Additional Materials
Prayers for Teachings – Yangsi Rinpoche – Jan 2025 (Desktop-Friendly PDF) (Mobile-friendly PDF)
Recordings
This is a playlist. To jump to a particular session, click the playlist icon (near the top-right corner) of the video frame to select video.
About the Teacher
Yangsi Rinpoche was recognized as the reincarnation of Geshe Ngawang Gendun, a renowned scholar and practitioner from Western Tibet, at the age of six. Rinpoche trained in the traditional monastic system for over 25 years, and in 1995 graduated with the highest degree of Geshe Lharampa from Sera Je Monastery in South India. He then completed his studies at Gyume Tantric College, and, in 1998, having the particular wish to benefit Western students of the Buddhadharma, Rinpoche came to the West to teach and has traveled extensively throughout America and Europe. Rinpoche was a resident teacher at Deer Park Buddhist Center in Madison, Wisconsin for five years, and is currently the Spiritual Director of Ganden Shedrup Ling Buddhist Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Spiritual Director of Dharma Friendship Foundation in Seattle, Washington. He founded Maitripa College in 2005 in Portland, Oregon. Rinpoche is the author of Practicing the Path: A Commentary on the Lamrim Chenmo, published in 2003 by Wisdom Publications. Rinpoche teaches in English, and is admired wherever he travels for his unique presentation of the Dharma, his interest in and enthusiasm for Western culture, and his evident embodiment of the wisdom and compassion of the Buddhist path.
