The medicine of the Dharma
05 In Praise of Dependent Arising (2025)
Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche II 
Wisdom 
Aug 31, 2025 A series of teachings on Lama Tsongkhapa's text In Praise of Dependent Arising given during a special Labor Day weekend retreat at Sravasti Abbey in 2025
- What taking refuge in the Dharma should entail in order to be of benefit
- Verse 16
- All phenomena are dependent arisings with the nature of emptiness
- Verse 17
- The four seals as support for the claim made in verse 16
- Verses 18 and 19
- How dependent arising contradicts inherent existence
- There’s no conflict between dependent arising and emptiness
- How to rely on our teachers
- Verse 20 and 21
- Different understandings of dependent arising in Buddhist systems
- The two truths as the foundation for the Four Noble Truths
- Verses 22-25
- Being satisfied with an incomplete understanding hinders us on the path
Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche II
Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche II, born in Spiti, India, in 1984, was recognized at the age of three and a half as the reincarnation of Serkong Tsenshap Rinpoche, a highly regarded Buddhist teacher, the debate partner of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, and Venerable Thubten Chodron’s root teacher. He underwent extensive Buddhist training at Ganden Jangtse Monastery in South India and furthered his education at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, India. Recognizing the importance of connecting with Western students, His Holiness the Dalai Lama advised him to complete three years of intensive English study in Canada. This experience acquainted him with the Western world and gave him a basis to combine his profound Buddhist knowledge with an understanding of the modern world.
