When the Buddha taught, he said that achieving enlightenment is due entirely to receiving correct teachings and then how diligently one implements these teachings. One may ask, how does this whole phenomenal world work? The Buddha taught that it all follows the process of interdependent origination in which one action or event causes another event, which causes another event and so on. In personal terms interdependent origination explains how our happiness and suffering in our present life is the result of actions in our previous lives. This process proceeds through twelve links and each of these links or phrases is explained in detail here.

The Twelve Links of Interdependent Origination, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, 61 pages, $11.00

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche is a renowned Tibetan Buddhist master known for his deep compassion and the clarity of his teachings. He was selected by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to serve as the principal tutor to His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Oryen Trinley Dorje. Thrangu Rinpoche is a full holder and teacher of the Kagyu Vajrayana lineages. He founded the Namo Buddha retreat center in Nepal, has established two shedras (monastic universities) in Nepal and India, and serves as Abbot of Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. He also built Tara Abbey, where nuns receive a full dharma education qualifying them to become khenpos or teachers. Thrangu Rinpoche teaches entensively throughout Asia, Europe and the United States. He has centers in Maine and California, and is building the Vajra Vidya Retreat Center in Crestone, Colorado.

	Contents:  The Twelve Links of Interdependent Origination
	Biography of Thrangu Rinpoche	9
1.	Cause & Effect	13
2.	The Twelve Links	17
	1. Ignorance	17
	2. Karmic Creation	22
	3. Consciousness	24
	4. Name & Form	25
	5. The Perceptual Entrances	27
	6. Contact	28
	7. Feeling	28
	8. Grasping	29
	9. Adoption	30
	10. Becoming	30
	11. Rebirth	31
	12. Aging & Death	31
	The Process of Interdependent Origination	32
3.	The Two Main Kinds of Causes	35
	The Accompanying Conditions	36
	The View	36
	The Five Aspects of Causality	37
	The Eight Examples	39
4.	The Relevance of Interdependence for the Buddhist Teachings	41
	Interdependence in the Sutras	44
	Interdependence in the Mahamudra	45
5.	The Twelve Links Applied to One's Action	47
	The Three Groups of the Twelve Links	48
	The Conventional & Ultimate Aspects	49
	The Twelve Links & Their Analogies	50
	The Six Realms of Samsara	51
	Notes	53
	Glossary of Terms	55
	Meditation Centre Information	60
	Long Life Prayer for Thrangu Rinpoche	62