Mahamudra
with
Venerable Gyelse
online course
September 18 – October 2, 2025
Сertified ACI teacher Venerable Gyelse will offer a new series—Mahamudra—to help us understand how the mind works with the six flavors of emptiness.
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In this five-class course, we’ll explore the mahamudra tradition through both teachings and meditation. Half of our classes (approximately) will be devoted to meditating on various aspects of emptiness. Our focus will be on the six flavors of emptiness taught by the Buddha across the three turnings of the wheel, during the three distinct teaching periods of his life. The student groups he taught in each of these periods understood the idea of emptiness in very different ways, and we will explore each way. This approach, inspired by the First Panchen Lama, Chukyi Gyeltsen (1570-1662), includes examining both correct and mistaken views of emptiness, which will help you locate and refine your current understanding.
Mahamudra
The term mahamudra in Buddhism can have many meanings, but essentially it refers to the role of mind in meditation and Diamond Way, and how to use the mind to make an inseparable connection between wisdom and emptiness. Mahamudra literally means great seal, and this is how we come to stamp our understanding of reality, of everything we see, as emptiness melded with wisdom (ultimate reality), instead of the way we used to think things worked (deceptive reality).
To practice mahamudra you need to know what emptiness is not, so that you can use your ultimate understanding of emptiness to meditate on your own mind. In mahamudra we use the mind as our object. In this way it is different from meditating on emptiness.
Ultimately, only the sixth flavor of emptiness presents the definitive conception. This is the version taught by Buddha, Arya Nagarjuna, Lama Tsongkapa, Master Chandrakirti, and others. Yet it is extremely helpful to know other ways of thinking about emptiness, both to help each of us understand better and to assist us when trying to explain emptiness to others.
During the course we will cover two flavors per class, progressively deepening our understanding of emptiness. The course culminates with the ultimate view of emptiness. This ultimate view is essential for mahamudra and Diamond Way practice.
Mahamudra
The root text we will be using is from Lobsang Chukyi Gyeltsen’s works, The Highway of the Victorious Buddhas and A Lamp for Making Things Even More Clear.
Come ready to reflect, question, and deepen your insight!
Join us! The class is free and open online to everyone.
Venerable Gyelse
Venerable Lobsang Gyelse, a certified ACI teacher, has studied Tibetan Buddhism for over 30 years with many of the great Tibetan masters. Her main teacher is Geshe Michael Roach.
Venerable Gyelse was ordained a nun in the winter of 2006, completed a three-year silent meditation retreat in 2014 at Diamond Mountain, and is the mother of a grown son.
She is a chaplain/spiritual care provider, counseling people around the world, and currently serves as Diamond Mountain Retreat Center board president.
She lives in central Arizona near her teacher.
🗓️ Mahamudra Schedule:
🕗 ALL CLASSES at 7:00 am
(ARIZONA TIME)
Class 1 – Thursday, September 4
Class 2 – Monday, September 8
Class 3 – Thursday, September 11
Class 4 – Monday, September 15
Class 5 – Thursday, September 18
Ultimately, only the sixth flavor of emptiness presents the definitive conception. This is the version taught by Buddha, Arya Nagarjuna, Lama Tsongkapa, Master Chandrakirti, and others. Yet it is extremely helpful to know other ways of thinking about emptiness, both to help each of us understand better and to assist us when trying to explain emptiness to others.
During the course we will cover two flavors per class, progressively deepening our understanding of emptiness. The course culminates with the ultimate view of emptiness. This ultimate view is essential for mahamudra and Diamond Way practice.