The Middle Way and the Two Truths

with Iris Grossmann, PhD via Zoom and In-Person at Olmo Ling Bon Center

SUNDAY, MARCH 9th, 2025
from 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM EST
PLEASE NOTE: DAY LIGHT SAVING’S FOR THE USA STARTS ON MARCH 9TH

Original date Saturday, March 8th has been changed as our Chod Practice Group will be using the temple to practice. Click to learn more about that wonderful group!

Iris Grossmann is currently offering a special series of Free Tuesday Evening Talks on the Bon Middle Way teachings of the Two Truths while Tempa Lama is traveling in Nepal. This series is based on Nyamed Sherab Gyalten’s text dbu ma bden gnyis.

The Bon Middle Way teachings are at the heart of the Bon Sutra Path. Tempa Lama would like to have enough time for the community to learn from this talk series and requested Iris to offer one or more additional weekend morning teachings to complement the Tuesday Evening series.

Nyamed Sherab Gyalten’s text dbu ma bden gnyis illuminates the Bon teachings on the two truths, the absolute truth which is what is seen by the wisdom of the Awakened Ones, and the relative truth that is the deceptive perception of ordinary beings. Nyamed Sherab Gyaltsen’s text is in turn a commentary on 240 verses composed by the great 12th century Bon Master Meton Sherab Ozer.

Together with the ongoing Tuesday talk series, this Saturday morning teaching will explain the two truths as viewed in Bon and the Four Great Reasonings of the Middle Way that point us towards realizing the nature of reality as free from the extremes of existence and non-existence. Similar to the format of the Tuesday talks, Iris will combine an explanation of the text with reflections on what these teachings mean in our lives.

The teaching will begin with a review of key points covered during the Tuesday talks so far. This will enable you to join if you missed all or some of the Tuesday talks. In addition, if you would like to review the recordings of the previous Tuesday talks, please email Joanna at bon@olmoling.org.

For those who are interested to read more in parallel with these teachings, a translation of Nyamed Sherab Gyaltsen’s text (including the original verses by Meton) by Seiji Kumagai is available on Amazon.

About Iris Grossmann

Iris is co-founder of Olmo Ling and has studied closely with Tempa Lama since 2004, including by assisting Lama la with his writings and books. Iris has a long-term Bon practice and has been exploring the Bon Sutra teachings and their integration into our daily lives for a number of years. She previously offered a series of Tuesday evening talks on Journey into Buddhahood, Tempa Lama’s book on the Sutra path of compassionate beings.

Last year Iris received one-on-one teachings from Tempa Lama’s brother Geshe Tsewang Ngodup Rinpoche on the Bon Middle Way teachings according to Nyamed Sherab Gyaltsen’s text dbu ma bden gnyis, which this teaching is based on. She has also studied several Middle Way commentaries from different Tibetan Buddhist traditions.

Registration and Donations

This Zoom teaching is offered free of charge. Pre-registration is required. Please register here.

If you would like to offer a donation, Iris asks that donations benefit our ongoing efforts to raise the necessary funds for fire safety measures at the temple building that are required for the residential use permit for the upper two floors.

Once completed, we will be able to rent the two floors to two long-term community members immediately. This will help stabilize our temple operations by helping us cover the monthly building mortgage. Read more about our capital campaign here or make a donation here. Thank you so much for your generosity!