Dharma Roadside Dialogue. The Foundation: Setting the Intention for the Path
March 28 @ 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Dear friends,
Let us meet once more for our monthly dialogue.
Saturday March 28th, 2026 at 1:30 pm East coast time (EST),
7:30 pm European time (CET).
Join us for a 90mn session of questions and answers by clicking this link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88203132402
This month topic will be:
The Foundation: Setting the Intention for the Path
The Third Karmapa Mahamudra prayer strategically begins by establishing the necessary causes and conditions for undertaking a profound spiritual journey. The opening verses underscore the critical importance of a pure motivation, orienting the practitioner’s mind not just toward personal liberation but toward a vast and selfless goal. This foundational stage is not a preliminary step to be rushed through; rather, it is the bedrock upon which the entire edifice of practice is built. The prayer outlines four key aspirations required to establish this firm foundation.
Seeking Blessings: The path begins with humility and an acknowledgment of interdependence. The practitioner calls upon the gurus, deities, and enlightened beings, requesting their blessing and support to ensure that the aspirations set forth in the prayer “will be accomplished just as intended” (Verse 1).
Pure Virtue: The aspiration is made that all virtuous actions and pure thoughts—both one’s own and those of all other beings—are dedicated to a single, ultimate purpose. This stream of merit is directed to flow into “the ocean of the victors’ four kāyas,” a poetic term for the state of complete buddhahood (Verse 2).
Favorable Conditions: Recognizing that progress requires supportive circumstances, the prayer expresses the wish for future lifetimes that are “free and endowed.” This includes being born in a context where suffering is absent and possessing the essential inner qualities of faith, vigor, and wisdom, as well as the crucial external condition of meeting a qualified spiritual master and receiving their teachings (Verses 3-4).
Commitment to Practice: Favorable conditions are meaningless without the resolve to use them. The prayer solidifies this with the aspiration to “properly practice” the Dharma in all future lives, free from obstacles that might impede the path (Verse 4).
Having established the need for these ideal conditions, the prayer naturally transitions to the specific forms of wisdom required to make profound use of them.
