The opening class of the retreat sets the level of mindfulness the text will demand, starting not with the mind but with the fingertips on bark and lichen, on the grounds that the discrimination trained on the taste of a tea or the grain of a piece of wood is the same one later needed to taste the qualities of mind. It then lays out the lineage behind the text, ending on Milarepa's reply to Gampopa, who could sit for seven days without a thought: good control of the mind, but not a glimpse of its nature.

This series of 60 Dharma talks were recorded during a retreat at Crystal Mountain Retreat Centre, Galiano Island, during July and August of 2012. They are a detailed exposition and commentary on the famous Tibetan text, "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation- the Wish-fulfilling Gem of the Noble Teachings" by Je Gampopa (1079-1153). Lama Yongdu primarily read from Khenpo Gyaltsen Rinpoche's 1998 translation (Snow Lion, Ithaca, New York) but referred to and used two other English translations: 1) "Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom" by Je Gampopa, translated by Ken and Katia Holmes, 1995, Altea, Forres, Scotland. 2) "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation", by sGampo.pa, translated by Herbert Guenther, 1971, Shambala, Berkeley.

The class is the teaching given before a refuge and Bodhisattva ceremony, and turns on the difference between one's own liberation and Buddhahood, described as the same realization extended to all beings. Shabkar's heart advice to his students supplies the correction: emptiness without compassion is an empty house without a landlord, and the years spent meditating on the one should be matched by years on the other.

This class was recorded at the Crystal Mountain Retreat Centre on Galiano Island, Canada, during a retreat on Gampopa's text, "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation". The talk was given prior to the traditional Mahayana ceremony for the Taking of Refuge, the Five Precepts,the Bodhisattva commitments, and the bestowal of a Dharma Name. Reference is made to Gampopa's text.

The class sets two bowls of water on the floor to make its point - that attention goes to the bowl and never to the water, to the objects of the mind and never to awareness itself. It then works the mirror at length: what its properties actually are, whether anything ever sticks in it, and what it means for a mind to be called mirror-like.

In this series of teachings, Lama Mark Webber is giving instruction on "Cutting Through The Root". The teachings were given in 2012.

A short session given over entirely to the mirror box, with participants taking turns: the hidden left hand starts to move, then to feel, and in several cases to itch and be relieved, though nothing is touching it. The question left standing is where pain and itching actually happen.

In this series of teachings, Lama Mark Webber is giving instruction on "Cutting Through The Root". The teachings were given in 2012.

The class takes up the moon in the water and the monkeys who climb out on a branch to grab it, then turns the same question on the nose, the hand and the self, each of them grasped as a concept rather than a thing. A blind-spot card and a can of shaving cream carry the point, and it closes on Anupassana, the repeated seeing in different modes that is what actually matures insight.

In this series of teachings, Lama Mark Webber is giving instruction on "Cutting Through The Root". The teachings were given in 2012.

The class works from a line illusion that stays convincing even once it is known to be false: understanding alone changes nothing, and the physiology has to be retrained like a new language or an instrument. It settles on a definition worth writing down - an illusion is not something that does not exist, but something that is not what it seems.

In this series of teachings, Lama Mark Webber is giving instruction on "Cutting Through The Root". The teachings were given in 2012.

The class runs a series of exercises - a playing card brought slowly into view, an espresso cup that turns out to hold water, a hand raised with the eyes shut - to show how little of any experience is perceived rather than filled in from memory. The point is not that concepts are the enemy, but that taking them for the thing itself is.

In this series of teachings, Lama Mark Webber is giving instruction on "Cutting Through The Root". The teachings were given in 2012.

The class opens a weekend on cutting through the root by arguing that the objects were never the problem - changing the diet, the posture, the possessions or even the religion only swaps one attachment for another. Its image is the cinema: putting a hand into the projector beam does not stop the film, it only moves the picture onto the hand, and the film ends only when the projector itself is switched off.

In this series of teachings, Lama Mark Webber is giving instruction on "Cutting Through The Root". The teachings were given in 2012.

The class returns to mirrors, opening with Marpa prostrating to a vision of Hevajra rather than to Naropa, who tells him he has mistaken the guru. It then turns to Ramachandran's mirror box, which relieves phantom limb pain with nothing but a reflection - an illusory cause with a real effect.

In this series of teaching, Lama Mark Webber is giving instruction on the nature of illusion. He is using a number of classic images like the moon in the water, a mirage, dream and others. The teaching was given in 2012. Short table of contents: E01 Introduction. E02 Bodhicitta. E03 Emptiness and Compassion. E04 View, Progress and Signs. E05 Intro and Dew Drops. E06 Magical Illusion. E07 Moon Body and Clouds. E08 Moon. E09 Moon and Visual Distortion. E10 Visual Distortion. E11 Mirage. E12 Dream (1). E13 Dream (2). E14 Dream (3). E15 Echo and Music (1). E16 Echo and Music (2). E17 City of Gandharvas. E18 Optical Illusion. E19 Rainbows. E20 Lightning and Thunder. E21 Bubbles and Foam. E22 Mirror (1). E23 Mirror (2) and Guru Yoga.

The class opens with the consecration of a thangka, which is bathed not directly but by immersing its reflection in a mirror, image and reflection being held to have the same standing. The rest is set as homework: what a mirror's properties are, whether anything ever sticks to it, and where an image actually appears.

In this series of teaching, Lama Mark Webber is giving instruction on the nature of illusion. He is using a number of classic images like the moon in the water, a mirage, dream and others. The teaching was given in 2012. Short table of contents: E01 Introduction. E02 Bodhicitta. E03 Emptiness and Compassion. E04 View, Progress and Signs. E05 Intro and Dew Drops. E06 Magical Illusion. E07 Moon Body and Clouds. E08 Moon. E09 Moon and Visual Distortion. E10 Visual Distortion. E11 Mirage. E12 Dream (1). E13 Dream (2). E14 Dream (3). E15 Echo and Music (1). E16 Echo and Music (2). E17 City of Gandharvas. E18 Optical Illusion. E19 Rainbows. E20 Lightning and Thunder. E21 Bubbles and Foam. E22 Mirror (1). E23 Mirror (2) and Guru Yoga.