TongLen is a meditation done in conjunction with
one's breathing, and in relation to one's parents, friends and enemies, to all
beings gathered around oneself. As one breathes out, imagine that with the exhalation
out goes all one's happiness and all the causes of happiness, all the good karma
that one has, in the form of white light rays. These light rays go out to all
beings to touch them, so that they obtain present temporary happiness and the
cause for the ultimate happiness of buddhahood.
With inhalation one imagines that all the suffering, the causes of suffering
and the bad karma that beings have are drawn into oneself with the incoming
breath, in the form of black light rays. These black rays enter and merge into
oneself, so one thinks that one has taken on the suffering of all other beings.
Thus this Sending & Taking meditation involves giving away happiness and
taking on suffering, in combination with one's breathing.
What does this meditation accomplish? Generally, happiness & suffering occur
as a result of karma, one's good or bad actions. If someone has done a good
action, then naturally from that there will come a result of happiness. That
person will receive the result of happiness that cannot be denied him or her.
Likewise, suffering occurs as the result of bad actions. If someone has done
a bad action then the only result that can be obtained from that is suffering,
which cannot be avoided.
In doing this meditation one changes the attitude of seeing oneself as more
important than other beings; one will come to consider others as more important
than oneself. The normal attitude that people have is to think that it does
not matter if other beings are not happy, it does not matter if others are suffering,
but it is important that oneself is happy & free from suffering. One normally
considers oneself, takes care of oneself first, regarding oneself as more important
than others. Through doing this sending & taking practice it is possible
to change one's attitude so that it does not matter if oneself is unhappy or
suffering, but it does matter that others are happy & free from suffering.
Thus one develops the attitude that one is able to take on the suffering of
other beings.
Some people new to this practice get worried because they think that by doing
the practice they will have to lose happiness and experience suffering, which
makes them fearful. However, there is no need for this anxiety because whatever
happens to oneself is solely a result of one's karma. Doing this practice does
not bring suffering.
Other people do the practice with great expectation, with great hope. They think
of a friend who is ill, unhappy or otherwise suffering and they visualise this
friend during the meditation in the hope that they will remove the suffering.
When they find it does not work they lose hope and become disillusioned. This
also is not what the practice is about. The point is to cherish other beings
as important, rather than regarding oneself as important. So there is no need
to have worry, fear or expectation.
However, it is not true to say there is no result from the practice. In the
immediate present one is not able to bring happiness or remove suffering, but
by doing this practice one will gradually cease to cherish oneself over others.
Instead, one will develop the wish to practise in order to benefit other beings,
eventually leading to the ability to help beings, teach and train them in the
Dharma, and so forth. Consequently, one will be able to give them happiness
and relieve them of suffering, and offer them whatever qualities and abilities
that one has. This is the relative bodhicitta.
The ultimate bodhicitta is approached by pacifying concepts and dualism: all
one's thoughts are calmed; one's clinging to dualism assuaged; one just rests
in the state of peace, of meditation. One dissolves into emptiness and just
rests in the true nature of the mind. This is the ultimate bodhicitta.
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Arya Avalokitesvara and the Six Syllable
Mantra
by Venerable Shangpa Rinpoche.
Introduction
As a result of our grasping to a "self-ego", defilement such as pride,
jealousy, desire, ignorance, miserliness and hatred arise. Due to these wrong
views and emotions, sentient beings perform negative actions that bind themselves
to sufferings in samsara, which is the cycle of birth, aging, sickness and death.
All the Buddhas including Shakyamuni Buddha appear in this world to show us
the path of release from this suffering. To reach the goal of Enlightenment,
a practitioner needs to develop the wisdom and qualities of the Buddha. During
the development stage, the aspiring Bodhisattva relies on the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
for their teachings, blessing, support and empowerment. Through the perfection
of the six paramitas, these Great Beings or Bodhisattvas accumulate tremendous
merits, compassion, wisdom and qualities, which enable them to help all sentient
beings.
One of the most revered Bodhisattva in Tibet, China, Japan, Korea and the South
East Asia is Arya Avalokitesvara. He is known as Chenrezig to the Tibetans or
Kuan Yin Pu Sa to the Chinese.
Avalokitesvara's Miraculous Birth in the Pure Land of Padmawati
According to Mani Kabum text, in the pure land of Padmawati, there was a universal
monarch called Zangpochog. This King wished for a son. He made many offerings
to the Triple Gems to grant him his wish, and for each offering, he would send
his servants to gather lotus flowers.
On one occasion, a servant found a giant lotus at the lake. The size of its
petals was like vulture's wings and it was about to bloom. He rushed back to
inform the King. The King felt that this is a sign that his wish for a son would
be granted. He went with his entourage of ministers to the lake with many offerings.
There they found a giant lotus blooming. Within its petals, there was a boy
of about sixteen years old. His body was white colour and he was adorned with
the physical marks of perfection of a Buddha. Lights were radiating from his
body. The boy exclaimed, "I feel pity for all the sentient beings who are
suffering so much!"
The King and his entourage made many offerings and prostrations to the boy,
and invited him to the palace. The King gave him the name "Lotus Borne"
or "Essence of Lotus" because of his miraculous birth. He also consulted
his master, Buddha Amitabha on this matter. The Buddha told the King that this
boy is a manifestation of all the Buddhas. He is also the manifestation of the
hearts of all the Buddhas. His name is Avalokiteshvara and he is to fulfill
the purpose of all sentient beings as vast as space.
Avalokiteshvara's mission and the manifestation of the six Buddhas in the six
realms of beings
One full moon day, the King made great offerings to the Triple Gems and Avalokiteshvara.
At that moment, Avalokiteshvara recollected his mission. He had to liberate
all sentiments beings from their sufferings. With his great compassion, he gazed
at the sentient beings within the three realms of the desire, form and formless.
He saw their defilements and sufferings. He saw that "their desires are
like the waterfall; their hatred is like a blazing fire; their ignorance shrouding
them like clouds of darkness; their pride is as solid as the mountain, and their
jealousy is as rapid as the wind. The chain of self or ego ties each and every
sentient being to the cycle of birth and death. The sufferings they experienced
are as if they have fallen into the blazing fire".
Great compassion arises and tears flowed from Avalokitesvara's eyes. He made
great offerings and prostration to the Buddhas of the ten directions and prayed
for their guidance on how he could benefit all these suffering beings. The Buddhas
responded in unison," If you wish to benefit all these sentient beings,
you must be motivated by loving-kindness and compassion. Do not be tired of
this work. Do not give up." Again he asked, "How shall I develop loving
kindness and compassion?" Buddha Amitabha appeared to instruct Avalokiteshvara
on the practice, and empowered him to fulfill his mission. With this blessing,
Avalokiteshvara aspired further "from each and every pore of my body, may
I manifest Buddhas and bodhisattvas according to the needs of all sentient beings.
With these manifestations, may I liberate all sentient beings without leaving
anyone behind. If I have self-clinging, may my head crack into pieces".
Amitabha Buddha praised him, "Well done. The Buddhas of the ten directions
and three times and I have also developed the same enlightened attitude as you.
We have made this aspiration and attained Enlightenment. I will assist you".
Buddha Amitabha blessed his aspiration and empowered him further.
Manifestation of Six Buddhas in the Six Realms
Avalokiteshvara then radiated six lights from his body to the six realms of
beings. Each light manifested as one Buddha.
The six Buddhas are:
1. Buddha Gyajin in the gods realm to subdue the pride of all gods and relieve
their suffering;
2. Buddha Thagzangri in the demi-gods realm to subdue their jealousy and relieve
their suffering of constant fighting and warfare;
3. Buddha Shakyamuni in the human realm to subdue their desire and relieve them
from birth, old age, sickness and death;
4. Buddha Sangye Rabten in the animals realm to subdue their defilement of ignorance,
and relieve their suffering of being hunted, eaten and tortured;
5. Buddha Namkhazod in the hungry ghost realm to subdue their defilement of
miserliness, and relieve their suffering of hunger and thirst;
6. Buddha Chokyi Gyalpo in the hell realm to subdue the defilement of hatred,
and relieve the suffering of extreme hot and cold and other intense sufferings.
Countless sentient beings were thus liberated.
Manifestation of the Thousand-Armed Thousand-Eyes Avalokiteshvara and the six-syllable
mantra
After some time, Avalokiteshvara thought that he would have reduced significantly
the number of suffering sentient beings. When he gazed with his wisdom eye from
Mount Meru, he was disappointed to find that the numbers had not decreased.
He radiated his lights to the six realms another three times to liberate the
sentient beings. When he checked again, he was disappointed. With despair, he
thought, "Truly as what the Tathagatha has spoken, space is infinite; so
like-wise sentient beings are also infinite. I have liberated so many beings
and yet their numbers have not decreased. Samsara has no end. I must liberate
myself."
With this degenerate thought, he broke his bodhisattva vow. His head cracked
into a hundred pieces. With great repentance, he cried to Buddha Amitabha and
all the Buddhas for help, " I have not accomplished my purpose and sentient
beings' purpose, please help me". Buddha Amitabha appeared, collected the
hundred pieces of cracked skull, and transformed them into eleven heads. He
blessed ten of them with peaceful appearances and one with wrathful appearance
in order to subdue those who could not be subdued by peaceful means.
Buddha Amitabha then instructed, " There is no beginning to samsara. There
is also no end to samsara. You must benefit sentient beings until samsara ends."
Avalokiteshvara requested " If I need to benefit all the sentient beings
until samsara ends, may I have one thousand arms, and one thousand eyes. May
these one thousand arms manifest as a thousand universal monarchs, and the one
thousand eyes manifest as a thousand Buddhas". Buddha Amitabha granted
him his wish with one thousand arms and one thousand eyes, each eye in the palm
of each hand.
Amitabha Buddha then further instructed him " If you want to relieve the
suffering of the six realms, you must propagate the Six-Syllable Mantra "OM
MANI NI PAD ME HUM" which will stop the rebirth and sufferings of the beings
of the six realms. Each of the syllabuses will eliminate the cause and condition
to be reborn in one of the respective six realms. " OM " will eliminate
the cause and condition to be borne in the gods' realm. " MA " will
eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the demi-gods realm. "
NI " will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the human realm.
" PAD " will eliminate the cause and condition to be borne in the
animal realm, " ME " will eliminate the cause and condition to be
borne in the hungry ghost realm. " HUM " will eliminate the cause
and condition to be borne in the hell realm. You must engage, keep, recite and
absorb this. This will empty the six realms. "
The Coming of Avalokitesvara into this World
Amitabha Buddha manifested the six syllables of "Om Mani Padme Hum"
in the form of light, which came into this world to Mount Potala. He also instructed
Avalokitesvara to go there to liberate all the sentient beings. Heralding Avalokitesvara's
coming, the whole world was filled with wondrous signs and brilliant lights,
which surpassed the sun and moon.
During that time, Shakyamuni Buddha was giving a teaching at Mount Malaya. One
of the Bodhisattva noticed the brilliant lights. He kneeled down and asked the
Buddha for the reason. Shakyamuni Buddha replied, " From here to the West
beyond the countless universes, there is a place called Padmawati. At that place,
there is a Buddha known as Amitabha, and he has a Bodhisattva called Avalokiteshvara.
This Bodhisattva has come to this world to Mount Potala where he will benefit
countless sentient beings. He is the most perfect amongst all the bodhisattvas.
He manifests one thousand Buddhas pervading the whole universe in order to liberate
all sentient beings. "
The Teachings of the Six-Syllable Mantra by Shakyamuni Buddha
On one occasion, Shakyamuni Buddha was dwelling at the monastery of Anathapindika,
in Jeta Grove, near Shravasti with his entourage of disciples. He introduced
this remarkable bodhisattva and the Six-Syllable Mantra to the assembly. A Bodhisattva
by the name of Sarvanivaranaviskambhim made a request to the Exalted One. The
Bodhisattva paid homage and cried, " For the benefits of the beings in
the six realms, please advice me how I may obtain this Great Mantra that is
the wisdom of all the Buddhas, which will cut the roots of the samsara. May
Buddha please bestow me this teaching. I offer the whole universe as Mandala.
To whoever who wishes to write this Six-syllable Mantra, I offer my blood as
ink, my bones as pen and skin as paper. Please, Lord Buddha, grant me this teaching
of the Six-syllable mantra.
Shakyamuni Buddha then gave the teaching, " This is the most beneficial
mantra. Even I made this aspiration to all the million Buddhas and subsequently
received this teaching from Amitabha Buddha."
The benefits of the Six-Syllable Mantra
The merits of the Six-Syllable Mantra are immeasurable and cannot be fully described
even by the Buddhas of the three times. Some of these benefits are:
1. Whoever keeps this mantra, his body will transform into the vajra body, his
bones will transform into the relics of the Buddha and his ordinary mind will
transform into the wisdom of the Buddhas.
2. Whoever recites the mantra for even one time will obtain immeasurable wisdom.
He will be born as a universal monarch. He will achieve the irreversible stage
of the Bodhisattva and finally attain Enlightenment.
3. If this mantra is carved onto rocks and mountains, and human or non human
beings comes into contact and sees the mantra, he will develop the cause to
be a bodhisattva in the next life, thereby relieving his sufferings.
It is said that the sand of the Ganges and the drops of water in the ocean can
be counted but not the merits from the recitation of this Six-Syllable Mantra.
The Six-Syllable Mantra is the speech manifestation and the wisdom energy of
all the Buddhas. It purifies our impure perception of sound. It is also a means
to protect our mind from its deluded thoughts. It cuts off one's ignorance and
opens up one's wisdom. It augments immeasurable blessings and peacefulness can
be obtained. It can save and alleviate beings from hundreds and thousands of
suffering and difficulties.
This may sound inconceivable to some people. The Bodhisattva, however, has made
great aspiration and accumulated countless merits, wisdom and skilful means
to help sentient beings. He has the "hook" to liberate beings. If
we have the sincerity and deep faith in him and exercise effort in our practice
of Dharma, we are likened to having " a solid and unbroken ring."
With our ring of faith, Avalokitesvara will be able to "fish" us out
of our sufferings.
Therefore, we should respectfully bring Avalokiteshvara to mind, and sincerely
and clearly recite the Six-Syllable-Mantra. All our worldly and beyond worldly
needs will be fulfilled.
Avalokiteshvara In Tibet
At one time, Lha Thothori Nyentsen, a Tibetan King, was residing in the Yumbu
Lagang Palace. A casket fell from the sky upon the palace roof. It opened and
revealed the Sutra of The Rites of Renunciation and Fulfillment (spang-skong
phyag-brgya-pa'imdo), a mould engraved with the Dharani of the Wish-fulfilling
Gem (Cintamanidharani), the Sutra of the Cornucopia of Avalokitesvara's Attributes
(Aryakaranda-sutra), the Six-Syllable Mantra, and a golden Stupa. The king did
not know what they were, but understood them to be auspicious. The king had
a visionary dream that the meaning of the "auspicious objects" would
be understood after five generations.
The fifth monarch after Lha Thatori was King Songtsen Gampo. He married the
Nepalese princess Brikuti and the Chinese Tang princess Wen-Cheng. Each of them
brought a statute of Shakyamuni Buddha to Tibet and introduced the Buddhist
culture to the country. The King felt the importance to bring the Buddhas' Teachings
to his people. He sent Thonmi Sambhota to India to study grammar and writing.
Thonmi Sambhota later invented the Tibetan alphabets and grammar based on the
Sanskrit. The first Buddhist text that was translated from Sanskrit to Tibetan
language is the Twenty-One sutras and tantras of Avalokiteshvara. Subsequently,
many other important Buddha teachings were also translated.
The King and his people engaged in the practice of Avalokiteshvara. The scriptures
of the teachings were collected and hidden in separate treasures. The accomplished
masters Ngodrup, Lord Nyang and the teacher Shakya-O later recovered these treasures.
The treasures are renowned as the Collected Works of the King concerning the
Mantra "Om Mani Padme Hum" (mani bka-bum).
Many past and living great masters in Tibet propagate the teachings of Avalokiteshvara
to their devotees. There are a number of sadhanas composed by such great masters
who had personally received the teachings from the deity in the course of their
practice. Many Tibetan practitioners follow these methods of practice to accomplish
the state of Avalokiteshvara and liberate themselves from the sufferings of
Samsara. They also lead others to this perfect path.
Many monasteries and nunneries also conduct yearly purification retreats (Nyungne),
Grand recitations of the Mantra for the ordained and lay people. The masters
also encourage the casting of the Six-Syllable Mantra on prayer wheels, etc
to create merits. The Tibetans believe that all these actions will support them
in the progress of their spiritual path. They believe that Avalokiteshvara is
their savior and protector, while King Songtsen Gampo was an emanation of Avalokiteshvara,
and his two consorts were emanations of the two Taras.
Avalokiteshvara In China
Although Buddhism came to China since the Eastern Han dynasty, it became very
widespread and influential in the country only during the period of Tang dynasty.
Many followers of the religion made pilgrimage to India to learn from the source
of the Teachings. The most famous of these Tang pilgrims is Master Hsuan-Tsang.
It was recorded that during his journey to India, he lost his way in the desert
but managed to find his way out by calling upon the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara
for assistance.
In Chinese Buddhism, there are two main schools concerning the teaching and
practice of Avalokiteshvara. The Tien Tai School teaches the Saddharmapundarika
Sutra or Lotus Sutra. In one of the chapters of "Pu Men Pin", Shakyamuni
Buddha related that this Bodhisattva has the ability to manifest everywhere
and in any form in order to save beings from sufferings. He readily responds
to those who are facing dangers such as dangers caused by the weapons, fetters,
fire, demons, cliffs and water. The Buddha also related that if there is a woman
who desires to have a child, then she should pray to the bodhisattva with reverence
and respect, and in due time she will give birth to a child of her choice endowed
with blessings, virtues and wisdom.
The other is the Jing Tu (Pure Land) School, which propagate the teaching of
the Amitabha Sutra. According to the text, Amitabha Buddha has created a Buddha
Pure Land out of his boundless compassion and love for all sentient beings.
He vows that anyone who has absolute faith in him and the Pure Land will be
reborn there. In that Pure Land, Avalokiteshvara who is his assistant is ever
ready to go anywhere to lead the faithful to the land of purity and bliss. The
simplicity of this teaching appeal and touch the heart of those who are seeking
for peace and happiness. With the spread of this school of practice, Amitabha
Buddha and Avalokiteshvara become even more popular. There is a Chinese Saying,
"Amitabha in every place; Kuan-Yin in every house".
The worship of this Bodhisattva is now very much merged with the Chinese tradition
and beliefs. This can be evidenced from the change of the gender of the Bodhisattva
from male to female. The paintings from Dun-huang portrayed the Bodhisattva
as a male with a moustache. He is also sometimes depicted with eleven heads,
a thousand eyes and a thousand hands. However, after this period the Bodhisattva
is shown as a female clad in white called Pay-Yi Kuan Yin. It is possible to
justify such a change for the Mahayana sutras teach that a Bodhisattva could
assume any form and shape to assist sentient beings.
Great Practitioners of Avalokiteshvara
The biographies of great masters are always a continual source of inspiration.
Their enlightened activities benefit countless beings. We introduced here two
such great masters who had practised the Avalokiteshvara's teachings and attained
Enlightenment.
One of the great masters is Gelogma Palmo (or bhikunis Lakshimi) who lived in
the tenth or eleventh centuries C.E. She was born in a royal family of an Indian
Kingdom, and was ordained in her youth. She received many teachings from the
great masters of her time and practiced diligently. Due to the ripening of her
past karma, she contracted leprosy and was cast into the forest by the people.
She had a vision of Kind Indrabodhi who advised her to practice Avalokiteshvara.
She recited the mantras of Avalokiteshvara and subsequently performed the continuous
Nyungne retreat before the image of Avalokiteshvara. Through devotion and diligence
in her practice, she was able to recover from leprosy. She also developed great
love and compassion for all beings. She became an enlightened nun and guided
many disciples in the practice of Avalokiteshvara.
She was credited for passing down the practice of Nyungne retreat, a very effective
practice for purification and developing loving-kindness and compassion for
all beings.
Another great practitioner of Avalokiteshvara is Thangton Gyalpo (1385-1509).
He was born in upper Tsang in Tibet. One day, while he was practising the Six-Syllable
Mantra, the sublime Avalokiteshvara appeared before him to guide and empower
him.
Through his diligent practice, he became a realized being. Based on his practice
and achievement, he wrote the sadhana "For the Benefits of Beings as Vast
as Space" to guide others in the practice of Avalokiteshvara. This text
is found in all the Tibetan schools of Buddhism.
He was able to recall his previous life as Gelong Padma Karpo (or bhikhu White
Lotus). During that lifetime, from the age of 20 to 80 years old he consistently
practiced the Avalokiteshvara Nyungne Retreat. He could even remember how he
had supplicated to this great bodhisattva. This supplication was recorded in
the Buddhist prayers and passed down to this day.
After, he was enlightened; he also recovered many concealed treasures of the
doctrines, and introduced the Buddha teachings to many people. He produced uncountable
images, books and stupas representing the Buddha's body, speech and mind. He
built more than a hundred ferry-crossings and iron suspension bridges to benefit
the people. In order to encourage virtuous conduct in the people and to support
the cost of the construction works, he depicted the lives of past bodhisattvas,
religious kings, and others in folk operas. All his activities were inconceivable
in his time.
Conclusion
According to the Buddha Teachings, it is extremely difficult for one to receive
the teachings of Avalokiteshvara and the Six-Syllable Mantra. However, due to
our accumulated merits, we are able to learn about Avalokiteshvara, his development
process, his great mission and his accomplishments. We also learn about the
inconceivable merits of the Mantra, we should rejoice and cherish this.
If we recite this Mantra, which liberates all the beings from samsara, we will
be able to purify our misdeeds, clear our obscurations and perfect our Bodhicitta.
Thus we should:
Take the Arya Avalokiteshvara as our Yidam (deity),
Recite the Six Syllables as the essence mantra,
Be free from the fear of going to the lower realms.
With this I complete my short article on the Arya Avalokiteshvara and the Six-Syllable
Mantra with a stanza from the Thirty-Seven Practices of A Bodhisattva :
Due to the virtue arising from this, may all sentient beings
By means of the supreme and conventional Bodhicittas,
Become the Protector Avalokiteshvara who does not abide in the
Extremes of cyclic existence and solitary salvation.
Dedication of Merits
As it is said,
" The Buddha Dharma has no owner
except for those persevere in it."
May the merit from this gift of Buddha Dharma be shared by all beings.
May all those who have the affinity with Arya Avalokiteshvara
be able to come into contact with his teachings,
and may all develop his great compassion
and love for all beings.
May all be able to follow his footsteps
To Complete Enlightenment.
Praise to Arya Avalokitesvara,
To hear his name and see his form
Delivers beings from every woe.
This teaching was originally available as a small printed booklet from the Karma
Kagyud Buddhist Centre, Singapore.
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Avalokiteshvara - bodhisattva of compassion
by Ken Holmes
Avalokiteshvara is known as Chenrezig to Tibetans
Universal love and compassion are the very foundation of every bodhisattva's
spirituality yet nowhere are they more evident than in Chenrezig. In many ways,
he is the archetypal expression of compassion, which is the sine qua non for
attaining enlightenment. He occurs throughout mahayana Buddhism, either as a
specific being or, more commonly, as an archetypal bodhisattva who is the quintessential
expression of every Buddha's love.
The legend of Chenrezig as a specific being
Whether it be plain fact or apocryphal legend, the story of Chenrezig as a specific
being is also the tale of compassion as it develops in the mind. Compassion
is first born through a sincere wish for enlightenment and a vision of life's
meaning which puts others first. The initially heroic approach towards helping
others mellows and deepens as the infinite vastness of the task unfolds and
the underlying nature of samsara becomes clear. One also comes to recognise
the diabolical skill of ignorance in eluding the truth and thwarting attempts
at its destruction. This forces one to learn how to tackle it from many angles
simultaneously. After long experience of the battle between good and evil, one
finds a need to draw closer to the real heart of the problem and to befriend
and understand it rather than attacking it. For this, one must learn how to
mobilise both the masculine and feminine aspects of mind's innate loving compassion,
and be both dynamic yet responsive in one's dealings with the myriad manifestations
of mind. These steps are all reflected in the traditional story:
"Countless ages ago, a thousand young men vowed
to become Buddhas, each offering up a different resolution. One resolved to
become Gautama Buddha, in what was a far distant time in the future and which
has now become our era. Another, Chenrezig, resolved not to become enlightened
until all the others had succeeded, promising to assist them all in their task
and to be the servant of any being wishing to attain enlightenment, anywhere
in the universe. He would both teach them and put questions on their behalf
to the Buddhas, as humans often find it difficult to formulate their enquiries
clearly.
Feeling great compassion for all beings, he made many journeys into their various
domains of existence, from the highest realms of the gods to the most pitiful
hells. The more he saw of the confusion and suffering that predominated everywhere,
the more he longed to be of help. He prayed to the Buddhas, May I help all beings.
Should I ever tire of this great work, may my body be shattered into a thousand
pieces. Subsequently he visited the worst hell (avici hell) and liberated as
many beings as were receptive to his teachings. Progressively he worked his
way up through the worlds until he reached the deva realms. Surveying the universe,
he saw that although he had released thousands from the sufferings of the three
lower realms - animals, spirits and hell-beings - thousands more new entrants
were pouring in to take their place. Distressed by this and despondent, his
resolve waned and he flew into a thousand pieces, like the seeds of a pomegranate.
He cried out to all the Buddhas who, like a fall of snowflakes, came to his
rescue and made him whole again through their beneficent influence. Thereafter,
he had a thousand arms and nine heads, to which Amitabha Buddha added a special
head along with the blessing of his higher wisdom. Then Bodhisattva Vajrapani
added a wrathful head symbolising the special powers of all the Buddhas. This
is why Chenrezig is sometimes depicted with a thousand arms and eleven heads.
In his new form, Chenrezig became even more powerful than before but he was
still moved to tears by the manifold sufferings of samsara. Again he took a
solemn vow before all the Buddhas, May I not attain enlightenment until every
last being has been liberated. At one time, his tears of compassion fell to
the ground and caused two lotuses to spring up. From each of these emerged a
form of the female Bodhisattva Tara, one white and the other green. Tara (dölma
in Tibetan) means the Saviouress, the One Who Carries Across the Ocean of Samsara.
The two Taras pledged to be Chenrezig's sisters in dharma and to help him bring
beings to enlightenment."
The mahayana scriptures also recount that Chenrezig offered his mantra Om mani
padme hung to the Buddha, who advised him to use it a a very special means for
liberating beings. The Enlightened One blessed the mantra, pronouncing that
it embodied the compassion of all the Buddhas combined. At that time the gods
rained flowers on the worlds, the earth quaked with soft rumblings and the air
was filled with the sound of celestial beings chanting the mantra.
Chenrezig - the guiding light of Tibet
It is not unusual for one buddha, or even bodhisattva, to be placed centre stage
by a particular sect, as is the case, for instance, with Buddha Amitabha in
the teachings of the Japanese Pure Land school. But the fact that a whole nation
- possessing the greatest diversity of Buddhism found anywhere on Earth - considers
itself to be guided and protected by Chenrezig is a tribute to him indeed.
The early kings who brought Buddhism to Tibet are believed by Tibetans to have
been emanations of Chenrezig and Mañjushri. Since then, some of the greatest
reincarnate lamas, such as the seventeen generations of Karmapas and, more latterly,
the fourteen Dalai Lamas, are also considered to be his emanations. More strikingly,
almost every Buddhist in Tibet recited Chenrezig's mantra om mani padme hung
on a daily basis, to such an large extent that a popular saying recounts that
Tibetan children pick up the mani mantra before learning to say mama or papa.
Chenrezig the cosmic bodhisattva
Mahayana Buddhism offers a wealth of techniques for transmuting the negative
into the positive. At the heart of them all is compassion. Chenrezig the bodhisattva
is the symbolic expression of all these forms of compassion in action. As the
Discourse on Chenrezig's Realisation says:
Were one thing and one thing alone to represent every enlightened quality, as
though it were in the palm of one's hand, what would it be? Great compassion.
The light of compassion shines wisely and with timeliness. It illuminates things
appropriate to a particular disciple. It shows the family person how to bring
peace, wisdom and harmony into the household. It shows the solitary meditator
how to relate lovingly yet firmly to the complexities of his or her own mind.
It shows the ruler how to govern and the afflicted how to cope with their suffering.
Some of the techniques of compassion are superficial and remedial. Others are
extremely profound and radical. Of the more profound techniques, Chenrezig is
particularly associated with the use of the power of sound as a gateway to liberation.
The Suramgama Sutra tells how, in ages long gone by, the bodhisattva followed
a certain Buddha Avalokitesvara, from whom he took his name, who instructed
him to focus his meditation on the faculty of hearing. By analysing what at
first seemed to be two things - external sound and the inner faculty of hearing
- the bodhisattva soon recognised their inseparability; their non-duality. Neither
could be found to have existence on its own and hence each was devoid of existence.
By then pursuing this voidness, with direct awareness rather than intellectual
analysis, the bodhisattva understood the whole question of consciousness and
attained successive degrees of enlightenment, thereby acquiring extraordinary
powers to help others. We find these powers, which are embodied in his mantra
om mani padme hung, also mentioned in the Lotus Sutra. They enable him to manifest
to anyone, in forms having direct relevance to their needs. He appears as the
Buddha to teach bodhisattvas, as a disciplined monk to those seeking the Four
Noble Truths, as a mighty dharma warrior to those wishing to protect the weak,
as a wise civil elder to those wanting to learn government, as a nun to women
weary of their worldly lot, as a powerful Brahmin to those wishing to master
natural energies and so on and so forth.
Praying to Chenrezig, reciting the mani mantra and practising profound meditation
on the nature of sound is believed to save people in dire situations, such as
shipwrecks, fires and armed attacks. Some hold that reciting a million such
mantras can enable the blind to see. Sometimes such claims are meant to be taken
at face value but fuller explanations show them to be more reasonable, since
they work over a period of lives. The general theme of such explanations is
that misfortunes are caused by bad karma and that such karma is more often than
not habitual, and therefore likely to produce the same misfortune in future
lives. Meditation on Chenrezig and his mantra not only radically ruptures these
negative habits but also opens the inner floodgates of compassion, spontaneously
giving rise to their opposites, replacing aggression with love and tolerance
and so forth.
Chenrezig takes on many forms in the tantras, having one, three, five, seven,
nine, eleven and so on up to 84,000 faces, with two, four, six, eight, ten twelve
and so on up to 84,000 arms. Some of his forms are gentle, kind and merciful.
Others show the wrathful face of compassion. The extraordinary quality of the
most common form - that with one face and four arms - is to be the only tantric
practice which bears no element of risk and which can be practised by anyone
and everyone. In general, mahayana Buddhists believe the grace of Chenrezig
to be so powerful that even one sincere recitation of his mantra or one open-hearted
look at his kind face is enough to sow a seed of future illumination in the
mind.
Also widely practised is the eleven faced, one-thousand-armed form associated
with the two-day uposita fasting ritual, known as nyungné by Tibetans.
Involving an austere first day and total abstention from food or drink during
the second day, this ritual is one of continuous prayer, humility and generation
of compassion. It is aimed at helping wretched ghosts and spirits and, in the
process, eliminating some of the participants' bad karma, caused through greed
and avarice. More wrathful than this form is the red standing form of Chenrezig
known as 'He who shakes the very foundations of existence'.
***********************************************************************************************
Buddha
by Venerable Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche
Ngöndro Program 2001
Ratnashri Meditation Center, Sweden
In the next few days, we are going to discuss in detail on taking refuge in
the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The basic purpose of taking refuge or to get
involve in the study and practice of the Dharma is to purify all our obscurations.
It says in the Prayer Book: "All mother sentient beings, especially those
enemies who hate me, obstructors who harm me, and those who create obstacles
on my path to liberation and all knowingness, may they experience happiness
and be separated from suffering, and I will quickly establish them in the state
of the unsurpassed, perfect, complete and precious buddhahood." As we ourselves
desire to free from suffering and to gain happiness, in the same way, all other
sentient beings have the same desire. Our Dharma study and practice is to purify
all our mental obscurations. Mental obscurations arise when we encounter something
negative. We get upset when we do not like something. That is why the prayer
mentions "enemies". When we look at enemies, our mind shakes and cannot
stay in one place. Aggressiveness rises up. At that time, Dharma practice has
to be applied. When everything goes well, we do not need special Dharma practice.
There is no problem. We need to do Dharma practice in order to free ourselves
from different types of sufferings and obstacles both on a day-to-day basis
and in the long run. In order to free ourselves completely from suffering and
to attain buddhahood, we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. For example,
when we are hungry, we take refuge in the food. We rely on the food. When we
are thirsty, we take refuge in a bottle of water. When we feel cold, we take
refuge in the heat either by wearing warm clothes or by turning on the heater.
When we feel hot, we take refuge in the cold by using air-conditioning or staying
in the shaded areas or swimming. So, that is the idea of taking refuge. Here,
we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha because in the samsara, where
we are now, there is no real happiness. Even if we take refuge under the tree
when it is hot, that only helps temporarily, but it cannot help us to solve
all our problems. We take refuge in the food when we are hungry, but again that
does not help us all the time. There comes other fundamental problems, especially
our mental obscurations. No matter how much we take refuge in the outer materials,
outer technology, they cannot help us to free from all the suffering. Because
of that reason, Buddha worked to attain complete Enlightenment, buddhahood,
to free completely from suffering.
'Buddha' is a Sanskrit word translated into 'a fully enlightened one', the one
who fully perfected in all the purification. In Sanskrit, Tibetan or in other
languages, the word was translated long time ago. People do not use the word
'Buddha' so much as nowadays. In Sanskrit or Tibetan, we say 'sang-gye' which
means the fully awakened one. Sang means fully awakened from ignorance and gye
means fully blossomed, like a lotus, knowing the suchness, the reality of all
phenomena. Nowadays, the word 'Buddha' is popular in the world and we say Buddha
everywhere. Basically, a fully awakened one does not confine to a specific Buddha
or a specific person, but rather it can be achieved by anyone. We use the word
'Buddha' to refer to a specific Buddha, the historical Buddha once appeared
on this planet and taught Dharma teachings. In fact, there are many Buddhas,
hundreds and thousands of Buddhas. Anybody who achieves that state fully can
become Buddha. Anyone whose mind is completely free from all obscurations and
attain absolute peace, the absolute reality, that person can be a Buddha. Anyone
can take refuge in that individual when he attains that absolute state. So that
is basically what Buddha is.
Mind is very profound and complex. Because of its complexity, we are capable
of producing lots of things in a complex way. Like computers, we make such a
complex computer nowadays. We need to think so much, put all the necessary mechanical
things together, put lots of knowledge and information together to make it works,
isn't it? Like aircraft, automobiles and machines, all are mind-created. Every
year, something new - new features or new in design, is made and put into the
market. If you do not make something new all the time, people would not be interested.
Mind can create such complexity. However, our mind is too much externalized
right now. We project everything from outside. If one can internalize the mind
and realize the complexity of the mind, one can become a Buddha. Due to the
fact that there are many different levels of the mind, there are many stages
of Buddha. Buddha manifests in Nirmanakaya, Sambogakaya and Dharmakaya form
according to the individual's level and ability of the mind -from ordinary level
to those who are accomplished in their meditation and to those who attain the
ultimate state of Buddahood, the Enlightenment state. Of these, Dharmakaya is
the most profound state that we have to actualize within the mind. Only Buddha
can actualize this state. Then from that state manifests Sambogakaya and Nirmanakaya.
So Dharmakaya is the base to manifest the other two. The analogy is like when
there is mind, there is thinking and from thinking there is physical actions.
If there is no mind, we cannot talk and we cannot have any physical movement.
The historical Buddha, who was born as a person in this world, called Siddhartha
who lived in a powerful Kingdom in Northern India. His father was a very successful
and powerful man. When Siddhartha was very little, he was a little special when
compared to other ordinary people. Then he grew up in the Kingdom, went to school
and studied all the different aspects of knowledge. He was a little smarter,
a little faster and gentler, more peaceful than other children. People admired
and respected him. He grew up that way. Since he was the only son in the family,
his father had very high expectation that he should stay in the Kingdom and
rule the Kingdom. He grew up in the perfect environment. All the positive things,
education etc were present there. He stayed in the Kingdom until he was 29.
He learned every knowledge. He was gifted physically and mentally. Sometimes
he went for a retreat and meditated and his father became worried and wondered
why he wanted to meditate when his life is alright. Even nowadays, we may think
that way that if somebody meditate, that person may have some problems or imbalances.
His father sent a minister to ask him if Siddhartha had a problem. The minister
said that he did not have any problem. He just wanted to do that. Siddhartha
could stay under the tree for a long time meditating.
One day, he saw a man who was very old and had difficulty in walking and seeing.
The man was shaking his head. Siddhartha had a very sharp mind and with such
discriminating wisdom, he asked one of his attendants, "What is this? Does
this happen only to some individuals?" The attendant explained, "This
is normal and can happen to everybody." Siddhartha continued, "It
looks like it is a very uncomfortable experience. You cannot see well, cannot
walk well. You have to use a walking stick to walk. Why do we need this?"
The attendant explained, "It happens." Another day, he saw a person
who was sick, physically full of pain. The man could not tolerate the agony,
but had no choice. He was watching the person and perceived all the difficulties
and suffering. He asked, "Who is he? What is happening to him?" Attendant
explained, "He gets sick. When people get sick, they went through these
experiences. Medicine may help a little, but otherwise, they do not have so
much choice but have to go through these." Another day, he saw a person
who was dead. His body was carried out to the road. His relatives were crying
and screaming, "Don't leave us behind. Please come back. I cannot take
this. What should I do?" They were in pain. Siddhartha was very shocked
to see these things. He asked his attendant, "What is this?" "This
is called death. When a person dies, he or she goes this way. Relatives and
friends have difficulty in accepting this. That is why they are crying,"
replied his attendant. Siddhartha was thinking about these things seriously
as a king of the country. He thought, "When people go through these, how
can I help them? Is there any solution to free from this kind of suffering?"
Yet another day, he saw a monk who was walking peacefully, calmly and gently.
Siddhartha asked, "Who is that person?" Attendant answered, "He
is a monk." "What is he looking for?" "He is looking for
nirvana, the Enlightenment." "What is Enlightenment?" "Enlightenment
is the solution to all the suffering." He was inspired and thought, "I
must go this way because there is no other choice. Even though right now I am
so powerful and I can give order and can get anything I want in this country,
but I cannot order people not to get old, not to get sick, not to die. This
is the most critical time. I must do something to help all the people in the
world who are suffering." He was thinking like this day and night, "This
beautiful palace will not last long. It will become an illusion even though
it does so much at the time. Life is like a dream." Because of that reason,
Siddhartha renounced the Kingdom. This was very difficult for an ordinary person
to understand because everything was in perfect conditions. They could not find
anything unpleasant around him. They tried to do everything to make him happy.
Many people were confused. His father was very upset and depressed.
Siddhartha left the Kingdom and searched for the Dharma teachings - the solution
to how to encounter all the delusion and suffering that sentient beings had.
For six years, he was practicing and meditating, under great hardship, not eating
food and not drinking. He ate only one grain per day. He found out that that
was not a solution neither - just enduring hardship was not the solution to
free from suffering. What then was the solution? He achieved a very high state
of meditation, a very high state because, otherwise, he could not have sustained
his life by eating only one grain per day. Still, he was not satisfied with
the achievement. He continued to seek. He finally realized that the mind is
the one. When we do not know how to relate to the mind, we suffer. When we know
that, the real peace is just there, within the mind. With that realization,
he went to Bodhgaya and meditated there. "On this very seat, I will stay
until I actualize the complete result with all my effort. I am committed to
this. Even when my whole body crumbles, disintegrates, I will sit here. With
this kind of determination, strength and critical insight, he sat there. With
one-pointed mind, he attained Buddhahood. He was then called Buddha.
This happened more than 2500 years ago. So attaining Buddhahood was not some
kind of a creation of religion, culture or tradition, but rather it was something
that he went through, investigated, scrutinized and finally realized the complete
nature of mind - the Enlightenment. At that moment, Buddha said, "I reveal
such an undefiled ambrosia which is so profound. So profound because the ordinary
mind, the duality mind cannot penetrate through. The mind needs to be free from
duality. That is why meditation becomes so important. It is in total peace because
all delusion is dissolved in that state. It is unfabricated and completely free
from all elaboration, like space. Space is free from all elaboration. The mind
is of that nature, of luminosity nature, meaning that all the excellent qualities
such as great compassion, great wisdom and all the knowing qualities are just
there. Just like when a candle is lit, it has all the brilliant qualities to
dispel the darkness. In fact, all sentient beings have that nature.
For forty-five years from age thirty-five to eighty, he walked on this planet
with people talking to people, teaching, instructing and helping as many as
he could. He taught all sutra teachings. When people had delusion, they went
to him for help. For example, one time, a woman suffered a lot because she lost
her only child. She could not accept that. She went around and asked people
for help. She said, "I want to get the child's life back. I cannot accept
this. Why do I deserve this? I do not want this. If my child is not coming back,
I will die with the child." She went to many different places, meeting
many spiritual masters. Of course, nobody could help to bring back the life
of the child. So finally she arrived to Buddha. She gave the body to Buddha
and cried, "I want this child's life back!" Buddha, knowing all the
conditions, with great compassion, said to her, "I understand your feeling
and what you are going through. Maybe we can do something. You leave the child
here and I will watch the child. You go to this small village and visit from
house to house. If you can find a handful of mustard seed from a house where
nobody died, maybe we can do something about your child." She was very
excited and replied, "Yes, I will look for it. She just went around from
house to house, from door to door. At that time, there was no general hospital
available. All the children were born in individual's house and all the people
died in their house. She went around the whole day and could not find any house
where nobody died. They told her that their parent died, their brothers and
sisters died, their children and relatives died. By the end of the day, she
was totally exhausted, but felt much relieved. She realized that it was not
just her child died, but rather, everybody died. Some died when they were young,
some when they are old. Everyone lose their relatives, friends and family. Without
much choice, she came back to Buddha and said, "I could not find any house
where nobody died." Buddha said, "It is not just your child. All died.
Even suppose we could bring back the life of your child, he would die sooner
or later. One day I will die. One day you will die. We cannot do anything about
not to die, but we can train ourselves to face death, when it comes, in a positive
way. We do not have to die with delusion, but we can die peacefully and joyfully.
We can do that much. Her mind was awakened by this insight and said to Buddha,
"I need to take refuge in you and please give me the path and instructions
on how to die peacefully and joyfully." Buddha said, "Sister, just
follow me."
Like that, Buddha walked on this planet, living with people and eating with
people. People perceive something special about Buddha. Buddha walked very peacefully,
spoke very softly and gently. People admired him. People took refuge in him
in order to achieve the enlightened state to free from delusion. One time, a
wild elephant came through. Through Buddha's great compassion and great wisdom,
he realized that elephant was also suffering as we human beings do. He pacified
the great neurosis, the great negative thoughts. Even that wild elephant took
refuge in the Buddha. So people and sentient beings took refuge in the Buddha
is to free from delusion and suffering. However, only a few had the opportunities
to meet Buddha physically. Therefore, the teachings of Buddha (Dharma) and our
Dharma practices become important. Dharma practices are methods to open the
mind.
We are born in this world, growing up in different ways depending on system
in different countries. We make effort to survive in our lives and then at the
end, we die. Everything is impermanent, of transitory nature. It comes and goes.
Look at today's flower, so fresh and beautiful. Next day, it faints and decays.
Today we buy a fresh flower and after a couple days, we throw it in the trash.
Today, we pay a lot to buy a new computer and after some time, we throw it away
because it is no longer useful. While living in the delusion and having all
our negative thoughts, we make so much effort and suffer unnecessarily. When
the negative thoughts are purified, we feel free, relaxed and happy. But when
negative thoughts arise in the mind, we feel so much suffering. Everything seems
negative, "I do not like this and that." When the negative thoughts
disappeared, everything seems fine and nothing seems to matter much. You would
say, "It is okay." So that is universal. Buddhas' teachings, the Dharma
helps us step by step to purify our delusion and negative thoughts and to realize
our own nature of mind.
First, it is important to see that as a historical Buddha, he realized that
nature. Buddha went through all the steps since the day he was born, growing
up in the Kingdom and dealing with people. He left the Kingdom, went through
great hardship and finally attained Enlightenment. He went through all the procedures
in life to show us that we, too, can do the same thing. He did not use magic
to solve the problem, but rather he showed us the practical way and laid out
all the steps for us to follow. For example, when dealing with the mother who
had a child, as mentioned before, he just showed her the practical thing in
the life. She had so much grievances from what she went through. Buddha showed
her the way. Through her own wisdom, she accepted the situation even though
her child's life was never brought back. There are ways to accept things in
life even though things may go wrong, even when we cannot replace them. That
was how Buddha taught. Usually in our lives, if something cannot be replaced,
we cannot accept it. Instead of fighting with that, we learn how to accept that.
Buddha taught in this marvelous way. We learn to purify our delusion and negative
thoughts. That is why we take refuge in the Buddha.
I take refuge in the Buddha means that I want to become Buddha. I want to attain
Enlightenment. I will practice the Dharma until I have perfected my mind. This
does not mean how much new things we are going to learn. When we study and practice
the Dharma, we tend to look for new things, new information all the time. There
are not so many new things to be learned. It depends on how much we practice
and how much we purify our negative thoughts. This is what counts. It counts
when we put the Dharma teachings into practice, when we bring the teachings
into our mind and exercise it thoroughly. This is how we take refuge in the
Buddha.
Buddha used his wisdom mind to purify all the obscurations. There are two types
of obscurations-obscurations of afflictive emotions and subtle obscurations.
First, obscurations of afflictive emotions like ignorance, attachment, pride,
jealousy and hatred. When any of these are in our mind, it takes away all our
peace, joy and happiness. So Buddha purified these negative thoughts. But just
that much is not enough. Just by reducing a little bit, those deeply-rooted
bad negative thoughts are bound to manifest in the mind. We have to totally
uproot them. To uproot them, we have to purify all our subtle obscurations before
we can attain Enlightenment. So Buddha purified both of these obscurations.
When you meditate, your mind becomes calm and peaceful. Then there is clarity.
When there is clarity in the mind, then critical insights come. Through critical
insight, you can penetrate the reality of the mind. In this way, you will see
the nonexistence nature of afflictive emotions. They are just like cloud. When
you see the cloud at a distance, you see that it looks like a mountain that
you can be held on to. But when you are inside a cloud, can you grasp the cloud?
No. Negative thoughts are like that. When you have some critical insight, you
see a glimpse of the true nature. Then you make effort in order to purify obscurations
repeatedly. It is not enough to do one or two times. We have to dedicate ourselves
to do it the rest of the life. This is crucial because there is no other choice.
Jus like what Buddha did, he purified all the obscurations without exception.
Then he revealed the two great wisdoms - knowing the nature of phenomena and
knowing everything. Knowing the nature of phenomena is like the nature of water
in the ocean. The water in Indian Ocean and the water in the Pacific Ocean are
the same, isn't it? There is no difference. But there is a difference in locations
and names. Indian Ocean belongs to some countries while Pacific Ocean belongs
to some other countries. Sometimes people from different countries have argument
over the territories. But for the water, there is no difference. Like sky, you
can say, "This is the sky of Sweden. Nobody is allowed to come here without
our permission." Then you cross the border, enter into the Danish sky and
you need permission. But for the sky itself, there is no difference. Buddha
came to know that everything is in that nature, as it is. It is unfabricated,
unelaborated. We fabricate it, elaborate it. This is this and that. We made
a lot of boundaries. Through delusion, we make all the fabrication and complication.
Buddha realized that everything is in that nature, as it is, precisely without
any mistake. There are many different types of trees, sentient beings and so
on. Their appearance is due to the result of many different causes known as
karma and can be distinctly identified without any mistake. So Buddha can develop
and manifest this kind of wisdom. This is what Buddha is.
Buddha's compassion manifests to every sentient being without exception. Buddha's
compassion is not greater to the buddhists than to the non-buddhists. It is
impartial to human and non-human, to buddhists and non-buddhists. Buddha's compassion
is like sunshine. When the sun shines, it shines everywhere - to the snow mountain,
down to the valley, to clean places and unclean places. Buddha's compassion
is impartial and complete therefore everyone can take refuge in the Buddha.
Here is a story. At the time of Buddha, there was a king, Bimbisara, who was
very devoted to Buddha and his followers. He himself was a great practitioner.
He achieved a very high level of realization in spite of his busy life as a
king. His son was a very aggressive person. He had a bad friend. Together they
put his father to prison. His father died in the prison. Not only that, he harmed
Buddha and together with his friend, they divided the Sangha, the Dharma practitioners.
Because of all the negative deeds and such great negative thoughts, he got very
sick. He got lots of pimples on his body. The whole palace smelled puss that
was produced by his sick body. Many physicians in that area came and treated
him, but no one could help. The best physician came to him and tried to treat
him. At the end, the doctor advised him to take refuge in the Buddha. The king
was desperate to do anything, but since he had harmed Buddha and his followers
in many ways, the king thought that Buddha would hate him. That was why he never
thought of seeking help from Buddha. He told the physician that he did not think
that Buddha would help him. The physician said that if the king took refuge
in the Buddha, Buddha would help him. The king hesitated and asked the physician
again, "Are you sure that Buddha would really help me?" The physician
replied, "Yes, I am sure. You should go and ask for help and he will help
you." At that moment, the king got some prediction that he would die within
a couple of days. So he was very afraid and desperate. The king prepared the
elephant to rid on and set off the journey. He asked the physician to sit next
to him to help him just in case something might happen. Together, they went
to see the Buddha.
At that time, Buddha was teaching high up on the mountain in a temple with thousand
of monks listening to the Buddha's teaching. At a distance, when the King saw
Buddha, Buddha said, "Welcome the King." The king thought that there
must be some great king coming. The king just looked around because he did not
think that the greeting was for him. He proceeded. When he came closer, once
again Buddha said, "You king, welcome!" Still, he thought that there
must be some great king coming from another country, maybe from god realm or
some other places. He looked around and proceeded. When he came very close to
Buddha, Buddha called his name and said, "Welcome, the King!" The
king became very emotional because he harmed Buddha in so many ways and seeing
Buddha having such great compassion and also he had such a great sickness. With
all these emotions, he fainted and fell down from the elephant to the ground.
All the people rushed to help him. When he awoke, he got such great devotion
to the Buddha. The king perceived that Buddha had no resentment, no aggression
to him. Buddha said to him, "Now, you go and purify all your negative karma."
The king replied, "Yes, I will purify not only all my negative karma, but
the negative karma of all sentient beings." He became such a great Dharma
practitioner. This is how Buddha helped those who harmed him and his followers.
Buddha had no resentment. That is why we take refuge in the Buddha. The king
took refuge in the Buddha and practiced the Dharma sincerely and achieved a
very high realization and purified all his obscurations and negative karma.
Sometimes we may think that Buddha has passed away for more than 2500 years
ago. We do not have a chance to see him but yet his Dharma teachings are still
very fresh, very applicable. To that, it is very important to understand that
Buddha cultivates his bodhicitta (mind of Enlightenment) unceasingly to free
all sentient beings from suffering and delusion. Since sentient beings are still
not free from suffering, Buddha's wisdom and compassion continue to manifest
even during this time. Therefore, when we now study and practice Dharma, we
get much benefit. When you sit down and meditate, take refuge in the Buddha,
say some prayers and bring the Dharma teachings to your heart, you get much
benefit. That comes from Buddha's blessing. Infinite Buddhas' activities are
manifested unceasingly, therefore, we need not go to some special place or rely
on some material things in any physical form. All we need is our pure motivation,
interest and effort.
In samsara, within the six realm in this universe, everything is of cyclic existence.
Cyclic means going around and round. This is due to our delusion. The analogy
is like a fly flying from this corner to that corner thinking that it has flown
a long distance. Then it stays there for some time and then flies to a new place.
So, from there, it flies back to here thinking once again that it has flown
so far. Sometimes it flies up in the ceiling and stayed there for a few moments
until it is disturbed. Every time, it thinks that it flies to a different dimension,
different place. However, no matter how far the fly goes around, it is still
inside this tent. Likewise, we go around in this world just like the flies fly
around this tent. Nowadays, because of the good transportation system, you can
easily fly from here to Hawaii to have a vacation, to enjoy the beautiful islands.
However, if you stay there for too long, you will experience suffering there
too. It is not a place where you can stay all the time. If you are buddhists,
you may like to go to India to see Buddha's birth place, or Bodhgaya, Buddha's
enlightened place. When we go there, there are lots of suffering too. If you
live in India, you may think, "Let's go to the western countries which
are highly developed and can see many wonderful things at many wonderful places."
You made lots of efforts and there too has lots of suffering. This is what samsara
is, in cycle, back and forth. If you do not get out of this cycle, there is
no permanent place of peace and happiness. That is why we take refuge in the
Buddha. It is not because we are trying to make people buddhists. If you do
not practice Dharma, just becoming a buddhists does not make much difference.
The most important purpose to practice the Dharma teachings is to purify our
negative thoughts, our delusion and to develop and manifest good qualities in
the mind so that our mind becomes more peaceful, calm and clear. Then we do
things more precisely, less mistakes. This is the purpose of taking refuge in
the Buddha.
Buddha's twelve great deeds outline his life:
1. Descending from Tushita heaven to the human realm.
2. Buddha being conceived in mother's womb
3. Birth as a prince
4. Receiving all-round education: studying and learning all kinds of knowledge
like arts, astrology, philosophy, sciences, physical education and military
skills.
5. Marriage
6. Renouncing the Kingdom
7. Six year of hardship in search of truth
8. Proceeding to Bodhgaya
9. Subduing all maras and demons during his meditation
10. Enlightenment
11. Giving Dharma teachings
12. Passing away
Buddha was born when his mother was walking to Lumbini (nowadays, Napa). There
were lots of stories about how his mother proceeded to Lumbini. After Buddha
was born, he was taken back to the Kingdom. He stayed in the palace and many
great masters came to see him. When he was a young child, he went to school
and studied all different aspect of knowledge. He then married. By seeing the
nature of samsara, he renounced his Kingdom. He underwent six years of hardship.
He then realized that mind is the most important. Because of that he proceeded
to Bodhgaya to practice meditation. The remaining subtle inner delusion manifested
into maras and demons. He meditated with great loving-kindness and compassion
to all the maras and demons. With one-pointed concentration, he subdued all
the maras and demons and purified all delusion. After that, there is no obstacles
left in his mind. By the power of clarity and one-pointedness, he perfected
his wisdom and compassion and attained Buddhahood. After that, out of his wisdom
and compassion, he taught the Four Noble Truths - the truth of suffering, the
truth of the origins of suffering, the truth of the cessation of suffering and
the truth of the causes of the cessation. For forty-five years he gave the precious
Dharma teachings. When he was eighty years old, he went to Kusinagara and he
passed away there. He showed us that we all have to go through this journey.
We are born, live the life and then die. But Buddha passed away with great peace
and joy. He gave his joy and peace to others impartially. Therefore, we follow
that path. How fortunate we are to have the opportunity to study and practice
the Buddha's teachings and follow Buddha's footsteps! We need to have great
determination and devotion to purify all your negative thoughts and bring forth
all the good qualities within the mind just as Buddha did. This is what we called
taking refuge in the Buddha and cultivating bodhicitta. From that time up to
now, hundreds and thousands of people got much benefit by studying and practicing
the Dhamra teachings. We are following just that path. We should feel fortunate
and dedicate our lives to follow Buddha's footsteps.
There are three qualities concerning Buddha's wisdom, compassion and ability:
1. Buddha's wisdom penetrate into all knowledge
2. Buddha's compassion reaches all sentient beings and
3. Buddha's ability is there when we study and practice the Dharma, which has
the ability to purify our delusion and to manifest all good qualities within
our mind. Buddha's activities have the ability to awake our primodial wisdom.
The study of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is most important at the start because
it is like opening the gate towards Enlightenment. It is also most important
in the middle because we read many books, practice and progress on the path
to Enlightenment. It is most important at the end because we become perfect,
become Buddha. We embody Buddha's wisdom and compassion, embody all his Dharma
teachings. Historically, Buddha went through the life experienced and realized
the cyclic existence of samsara and then renounced samsara. He renounced the
causes of suffering delusion, but not the sentient beings. Renounce does not
mean not eating food, not wearing clothes or going to mountain. These are primitive
way of renouncing. The actual renunciation is to renounce the cause of suffering.
By knowing what suffering is universally and the causes of suffering, we understand
that suffering does not just happen to us but to everybody. The only way to
get out of that is to renounce and purify the causes of suffering. This is called
renunciation. Buddha did this historically and taught us this teaching.
As mentioned before, due to the different levels of the mind, Buddha manifests
in Nirmanakaya, Sambogakaya and Dharmakaya form according to the individual's
level and ability of the mind - from ordinary level, to those who are accomplished
in their meditation and to those who attain the ultimate state of Buddahood,
the Enlightenment state. Historical Buddha came to this planet in Nirmanakaya
form. People had seen Buddha, lived with Buddha and received his teachings face
to face. This is also called the manifestation body or the emanation body. Sambogakaya,
the enjoyment body who possesses all the perfect qualities. Buddhas wearing
silken robes and jewel ornaments like Chenrezig and Tara are manifested in this
form. They can be perceived by great bodhisattvas who are highly accomplished
in their meditation and has purified most of their obscurations. They possess
pure vision. Dharmakaya is the ultimate buddhahood which is formless. When one
achieve total, complete perfection, buddhahood, one achieve Dharmakaya. The
ultimate nature of Nirmanakaya, Sambogakaya and Dharmakaya is the same. But
the appearance of Nirmanakaya can be seen by ordinary people, while Sambogakaya
is seen by great bodhisattvas who are high accomplished, while Dharmakaya is
seen directly by Buddha himself. Dharmakaya is like space, no form, free from
concept and form. Look at the mind, mind has no form. Sambogakaya is like a
sun or moon in the sky manifest in an insubstantial form and Nirmanakaya is
like the reflection of the sun or moon on the ocean water. The reflection in
the water can be seen directly in short distance. To see the sun and the moon,
we have to look up higher not so close. Bodhisattvas are very close to the sun
and the moon while Nirmanakaya is close to the reflection of the sun and moon.
These are just analogies for us to understand.
Buddha has special qualities called the ten powers, four fearlessness and eighteen
unequal qualities.
The ten powers or strengths are:
1. Knowing right and wrong completely and perfectly
If we practice virtue, the virtuous actions will manifest into peace and happiness.
Through the virtuous practice, suffering will not come. Buddha knows that directly,
exactly and perfectly. It is because through the virtuous practice, its benefit
is enjoyed by all the sentient beings in the six realms and can help sentient
beings to be free from the samsara. It does not create any undesirable conditions.
Thus suffering will never come. Usually, we do not have this knowledge. For
example, when you go to the river and see a fish, you immediately made an association
to a nice meal. We are not so aware of the suffering it brings to the fish.
But Buddha perceives that directly.
2. Directly perceiving karma cause and result
There are so many varieties of karma causes in all the six realms. In the human
realm, there are so many different types of human beings. Each individual has
its own cause and each cause manifests result. Then there is animal realm, hell
realm and so on. Buddha can directly perceive them all.
3. Knowing the ability of each individual directly
When Buddha taught, he could perceive each disciple and being directly. Individuals
have different abilities: some can receive very profound teaching, some are
just beginners. He knew precisely how much devotion, perseverance and the power
of the mind each individual had. For us, it is a very hidden and mysterious
subject. We do not know who has ability and of what level.
4. Power to perceive directly the constitution of the mental elements, seeing
the profundity of the mind.
5. Power to see all the wishes of each individual without any mistake.
Different people have different wishes and they all make wishes in a different
way. We cannot perceive that. We know only our own mind what we wish. Even there
were millions of people out there, Buddha had the power to perceive all directly
without any mistake.
6. Buddha has perfected the practice of all the vehicles and paths
Therefore, he understood and knew all the different paths each individual was
walking on -in the six realm, beyond samsara, path of Shravakas, the hearer
path, Pratyeka Buddhas, the solitary realizer path and the bodhisattva path.
Buddha perceived all and gave teachings accordingly.
7. Buddha perfected all the paths of meditation
Because of his achievement, he could perceive all the causes of suffering, all
the different levels of the causes and how to purify each of them and how to
proceed towards Enlightenment.
8. Buddha never forgot any teaching he had studied
Because of that, he had limitless recollection to his past lives. We do not
know even this life. Buddha could recollect limitless lives before.
There was a story. During Buddha's time, a baby girl was born wearing a white
robe. When she grew up, she did not have to buy any clothes because the clothes
she had grew with her. After some time, she saw the suffering nature of samsara
so she renounced samsara and became a nun. Her white robe was transformed into
yellow and soon she achieved the arhat state. Lots of monks were very inspired
and wondered why she was so special. Buddha said:
At the time of Buddha Akshobhya, there was a poor couple. They had only one
set of clothes to wear. One time, Buddha Akshobhya visited this town and a monk
was sent to go around to inspire people to come to see Buddha. He went around
announcing loudly, "Buddha is here in town. Anyone would like to make a
connection to the Buddha, receive teaching, make offering and so on, it is the
best time to do so now." The woman asked the monk to come to their home
and gave the only set of clothes to the monk and asked the monk to offer that
to the Buddha. They could not go to see the Buddha. The monk took the set of
old, filthy clothes and offered to the Buddha. The Buddha took up the offering
in his hand and explained that that was the best offering he received that day.
There were many people there and some of them were very rich. They thought that
the clothes were so old and filthy wondering why Buddha was so happy with that.
They came forth and asked the Buddha. The Buddha explained how pure motivation
and great devotion that couple had making this offering. It was not the thing
that count, but rather their supreme motivation. So they asked Buddha where
the couple were and Buddha said that they lived down in the village. They were
so poor and had nothing. People became curious and made them clothes and brought
them to the assembly. This nun is a rebirth of that wife.
So Buddha could see and recollect the past so clearly and precisely. That is
why when we have purified all our negative thoughts, the clarity of the mind
enables us to meditate well and our memory becomes better, and better. That
is why meditation is so important. Many great meditators or practitioners have
such a clear, fresh mind of a young child. We could not meditate because our
mind is completely occupied with all the negative thoughts and it takes away
all mental peace and clarity. Because of that, we forget so much and some even
become senile. Meditation brings back freshness and clarity to the mind. Sometimes,
people think that people do meditation because they have problems. In reality,
those who can meditate have much calm and peace in the mind. Those who are mentally
disturbed or busy-minded cannot meditate. Those who can meditate are those who
have mental strength to keep the clarity and peacefulness in the mind. So we
have to change our perception. Doing meditation is the best kind of vacation
we can have. If you can meditate both in the morning and in the evening, that
would be the best. We do not have to go anywhere for vacation, just stay wherever
you are and it is the best place to rest the mind.
9. Ability to perceive what kind of rebirth each individual will have
Because of the clarity in Buddha's mind, he could perceive what rebirth every
individual would have, whether the individual would born as a human being, an
animal, in the god realms or beyond samsara.
10. Power of knowing the exhaustion of all afflicting emotions.
The ten powers are like the indestructible vajra - its nature cannot be destroyed
by others and its nature destroys all the delusions and obscurations which pile
up like big mountains. Even though some bodhisattvas may partially have these
ten powers but only Buddha has these powers completely and perfectly. To have
these powers, we need to have a very strong meditative concentration to purify
all the mental afflicting emotion and all the subtle obscurations, to attain
complete Enlightenment.
Buddha has four fearlessness:
1. When Buddha said that he attained Enlightenment or Buddhahood, nobody could
disagree with that. Nobody could prove that Buddha had not attained Enlightenment.
Buddha is free from this kind of fear. Nobody could create obstacle for him.
For us, even when we have received a Ph.D. degree, we are not so confident.
Even if we are successful in business, still we are not confident. We need to
work hard to secure what we have.
2. When Buddha said that he had purified all the obscurations including all
afflictive emotions, all the gross and subtle obscurations, nobody could say
that he had not done so. So he was free from those fear.
3. When Buddha said to his disciple, "If I gave this meditation instruction
and if you practice accordingly, you will achieve such and such realization."
Nobody could argue that what Buddha said was not true. Buddha knew so clearly
and precisely from his wisdom. So he was free from that fear. For us, we usually
say we hope, we guess and we cannot say for sure.
4. When Buddha said to a person, "When you involve in this kind of negative
thoughts under this kind of conditions, you would face obstacles." Nobody
could oppose to that.
This is called the four fearlessness. We take refuge in the Buddha because he
has this kind of great wisdom, great compassion, great power and great ability.
The four fearlessness is like a lion.
" Lion is the king of the beast. Lion roams fearlessly in the forest. Likewise,
Buddha has no fear for anything or anybody.
" Lion does not depend on any other animals because there is no other in
the animal world that excels lion. We have to depend on somebody because we
are not complete. We cannot do everything all by ourselves. Lion has all the
abilities and qualities in the animal world. Likewise, Buddha knows all the
qualities and all the teachings. So he does not have to depend on anybody.
" Lion has a lot of physical talent. When other animals like elephants
come, lions have no fear because they have the capacities to fight. All lions
have that ability. Likewise, Buddha has all the capacities to subdue all the
negative forces through mental strength. Therefore Buddha's fearlessness is
just like a lion having no fear in the animal realm.
Buddha possess eighteen unequal qualities:
1. Perfect physical movements
Buddha performed all actions peacefully and gently. Anyone who perceived that
admired such physical discipline. There was a story:
Buddha had a disciple called Gadayana. Gadayana walked with much physical discipline.
Anyone who saw him admired him and developed great devotion. Before Shariputra
(Buddha's great disciple) met Buddha or became a Buddhist, he had been a great
teacher with many great disciples. One day, he met Gadayana on the road and
Shariputra perceived Gadayana's great physical discipline and greatly admired
that. Shariputra thought that he must be a special person. Shariputra asked
Gadayana what he practiced and Gadayana replied, "All the phenomena come
from the cause and that cause is explained by the Buddha and Buddha explained
also how to cease the causes of suffering in samsara." As soon as Gadayana
said that, Shariputra thought that he might be Buddha and asked Gadayana, "Are
you Buddha?" Gadayana said, "No, I am not Buddha. I am a disciple
of Buddha." Shariputra was so impressed because even Buddha's disciple
had such great qualities. Shariputra asked, "Can I see Buddha?" Gadayna
took him to the Buddha. On the way, Gadayana explained "All the phenomena
comes from the cause and that cause is explained by the Buddha and Buddha explained
also how to cease the causes of suffering in samsara." As soon as Shariputra
heard that he was awakened. When Shariptura met Buddha, he took refuge in the
Buddha and followed the Buddha. So Buddha's physical actions and all the bodily
movements are always performed with consciousness, mindfulness and there is
no fault in them.
2. Buddha possessed unequal speech
Buddha always gave the right speech with the right amount in a clear and precis
manner. His speech would stay in the mind of each individual. There is no empty
speech or gossip.
3. Buddha's mind always can remember and he never forget anything.
4. Buddha's mind is always in meditative state, always stayed completely at
the present moment.
5. Buddha has no duality thought
Buddha has no duality thought like good or bad, like or dislike. His mind is
always in equanimity with no attachment or aversion. Mind is completely clear
just like wind that can be blown to any place, not just stay at one place. We
should look at wind as an example to remind ourselves to free from attachment
and aversion when we go through place to place. Buddha has no attachment to
nirvana or aversion against samsara. Buddha actualized the equanimity nature
of mind.
6. Whatever Buddha did, Buddha did it consciously
Buddha did all things full of awareness. Buddha met every individual, taught
and did all things full of awareness. That is why he knew every individual precisely
without any mistake.
7. Buddha's interest in all sentient beings never decrease
We sometimes may loose interest in doing things or practicing the Dharma. We
may think, "This is so boring. Why am I sitting here? Let's go out and
do something else. It's better to work instead." Unlike us, Buddha's interest
in helping every sentient being never decrease.
8. Perseverance
Buddha's joyful effort in benefiting sentient beings continued like the stream
of water that never stop. If Buddha see anybody who is successful in purifying
suffering and delusion, Buddha would feel so happy, indescribably happy.
9. The power of mindfulness presents all the time.
10. The brilliant wisdom, the wisdom that pervades all knowledge always exists
in Buddha's mind.
11. Buddha is free from all obscurations.
12. Buddha always possesses the wisdom which is completely free from all the
obscurations. That wisdom never declines. Buddha never forgets the wisdom that
generates consciousness of the primordial wisdom.
13. Buddha's activities related to the body, speech and mind were always run
by wisdom awareness. Through that, Buddha could benefit sentient beings through
walking from place to place, through sitting in a big assembly with hundreds
and thousands of disciples. Even when sleeping and eating, Buddha did them with
wisdom awareness in order to benefit countless sentient beings.
14. Buddha possessed unequal quality of speech
Buddha gave teachings to thousands of disciples. Every word that he used had
profound great quality and could be understood by every individual regardless
of background or levels of practice (newcomer or advanced practitioner). Everybody
got benefit according to individual's capacity. Buddha did not need any translator.
He spoke one language and could be understood by all people who might speak
completely different languages.
Great bodhisattvas like Milarepa have perfected such power of speech. One time
when Milarepa was out in the forest, there was a hunter whose hunting dog was
chasing a deer and the deer came to Milarepa. Milarepa gave teaching to the
deer and after that, when the dog came by, both the dog and the deer could understand
what Milarepa said and especially the meditation instructions.
15. Buddha's mind is infinite like space. Because of that, infinite wisdom activities
can be manifested.
16. Buddha's primordial mind perceives infinite lives from the beginningless
time.
17. Buddha's primordial mind perceives the future endless time.
18. Buddha's primordial mind perceives the present. Buddha's primordial mind
perceives all knowledge everywhere any time horizon without any obstruction.
So Buddha processessed ten powers, four fearlessness and eighteen unequal qualities.
Unequal means unequal even to the achievement of the great bodhisattvas. Therefore
we take refuge in the Buddha. That means that I would like to become Buddha
and achieve all these great qualities in our body, speech and mind.
Here is an example illustrating how Buddha's physical body has no limit. Nobody
can really measure Buddha's body. Maudgalyayana, Buddha's disciple, always stayed
with Buddha whenever Buddha walked, sat or stood. Since Buddha was a little
taller than regular people, Maudgalyayana could not see the top of Buddha's
head. He would like to see it because the top of Buddha's head had a sign of
the perfection of bodhicitta (as one of the 112 attributes of Buddha's physical
body). Possessing the most medical power, Maudgalyayana flew in the sky and
tried everything hoping to see that. As he flew higher, Buddha's body grew the
same height. At last, Maudgalyayana was exhausted and he could not find out
how big or small Buddha's body really was. There was no measurement. It was
limitless. Another time, Maudgalyayana was sitting next to Buddha who was giving
teachings to hundreds and thousands of disciples. His speech could be heard
very clearly and precisely - neither too soft nor too loud. Maudgalyayana looked
down to the gathering of thousands of people who were listening to the teachings
and wondered how Buddha's voice sounded at a distance. Out of curiosity, Maudgalyayana
walked to the end of the gathering. To his surprise, he could hear just as good,
not soft and not loud. He went farther to the Indian Ocean. He flew above the
Ocean. No matter how far he went, he could hear just as good. So he could not
find any limit to Buddha's speech. It was limitless.
Here is another related story. When Maudgalyayana's mother died and he was looking
for his mother's rebirth. He looked at all the six realms in this planet, other
planets, everywhere, but he could not find it. He recalled Buddha said that
all sentient beings who were reborn were born from other previous lives and
all sentient beings who died will reborn in the next life. Since Maudgalyayana
could not find his mother's rebirth, he thought that maybe his mother did not
have any rebirth. So with doubt, he went to Buddha and asked Buddha where his
mother's rebirth was. Perceiving that doubt, Buddha led him to the place where
his mother was reborn. From where Buddha was, to the north, countless planets
beyond, in a particular place, Maudgalyayana's mother was reborn. Maudgalyayana
still had doubt because he could not see it. So, through Buddha's blessing,
Buddha asked Maudgalyayana to looked right there. Maudgalyayana looked there
and he found his mother's rebirth right there. Sometimes, we wonder where the
beings on this planet comes from. They can be from another planet and we may
go to another planet. So this is some basic understanding on Buddha's wisdom
body, speech and mind to whom we are taking refuge in.
What is the real meaning of taking refuge in the Buddha? When we look at the
picture or statue of the Buddha, we say that this is Buddha. Then we describe
as we did here all the supreme qualities of the Buddha. The real Buddha is not
the physical external body or object, the real Buddha is all the qualities that
it embodies from the mind within. Taking refuge in the Buddha means that I want
to actualize all these supreme qualities of the Buddha so that I would be free
from suffering and delusion just like Buddha did.
How do we know that Buddha manifests activities unceasingly until samsara ends?
From there, we can understand how Buddha manifests activities to benefit countless
sentient beings.
First of all, Buddha has practiced Dharma teachings for three limitless eons
or kalpa (one complete age of this planet is called one kalpa). It is not a
simple thing to do to create such a vast cause. For us, going to school for
sixteen to twenty years seems to be a long time and then working for the rest
of the life. Then we die and do the same thing again in our next life to create
the cause for the lives to come. For three limitless eons, Buddha practiced
the Dharma teachings. This creates a complete cause to benefit sentient beings
continuously. When Buddha was practicing Dharma teachings, sometimes, he received
Dhamra teachings even at the risk of his life, wealth and body. Through that,
he accumulated all Dharma teachings and practices. This is the kind of cause
he created. Buddha is benefiting sentient beings now and will continue to benefit
sentient beings because samsara does not end. For three limitless eons, Buddha
cultivated bodhicitta in order to free all sentient beings from suffering until
samsara ends. So Buddha's activities continued, never exhausted.
Sometimes, we may wonder how Buddha can manifest all these activities and we
worry that maybe Buddha loses interest in helping sentient beings.
Buddha has purified all the obscurations - gross and subtle. Therefore, Buddha
always has a clear and pure mind to benefit all the sentient beings. When our
mind is deluded, through obscurations, our interest swings up and down. But
Buddha never loses interest in helping sentient beings. Buddha has the ability
to continue his activities because he has achieved the complete, excellent and
perfect qualities to manifest beneficial activities unceasingly. Therefore,
we take refuge in the Buddha.
Buddha never gives up sentient beings. Sentient beings are indispensable in
his heart. For us, when we understand samsara and nirvana, we would not like
to stay in samsara and would like to reach nirvana. Buddha transcends that duality
thought. He has purified all the duality of thoughts. That is why you hear some
teachings saying, " If you harm or hurt sentient beings, it is the same
as hurting the Buddha. As you respect sentient beings, you respect Buddha too."
It is because all sentient beings are in Buddha's heart. Buddha's mind is solely
for the benefit of all sentient beings. Especially when you practice bodhisattva's
path, to train the bodhicitta mind, Buddha and sentient beings are of equal
importance. Buddha taught us how to practice the Dharma teachings with the help
of sentient beings. Without sentient beings, we cannot practice the Dharma.
We cannot develop compassion and loving-kindness to a piece of rock or to a
piece of wood. So sentient beings give us the opportunity to cultivate loving-kindness
and compassion. So for that reason, sentient beings and Buddha are of equal
importance. In fact, Buddha attained buddhahood thanks to sentient beings. Therefore,
sentient beings are indispensable factor for attaining buddhahood. So when somebody
gives you a hard time, you should feel grateful that that person gives you opportunity
to practice patience, loving-kindness and compassion. If you know how to practice
Dharma well, you can get benefit from all sentient beings whether in favorable
or in unfavorable conditions. Since Buddha attained buddhahood in the Dharmakaya
state, all the excellent qualities pervade equally in both samsara and nirvana.
From that point of view, Buddha benefit all sentient beings unceasingly and
limitlessly.
Moreover, Buddha's activities manifested effortlessly like the sunshine. When
the sun shines, it shines everywhere. Without sunshine, nothing can grow. When
there is sunshine, everything grows. The sun does not have to think about shining.
It happens effortlessly. We just need to stay in the sunshine to get the benefit.
As long as the grass, flowers and plants are in the sunshine, they just bloom
without conceptual thoughts. When the sun is obstructed by clouds, it cannot
shine well. When the plant has some disease, it cannot grow even when there
is sunshine. Since Buddha has purified all the negative obscurations and perfected
the complete wisdom and compassion, his activities like the sunshine just manifested
effortlessly. Even though Buddhas' activities are always there, if we are not
connected to such activities, we cannot get benefit. In order to get the benefit,
we, individually, must create causes and conditions to purify our delusion,
to understand the teachings and to experience Buddhas' activities. So we have
to take full responsibility to study and practice the Dharma teachings in order
to get the benefit.
You may think Buddha suffers just as we do. This is not true. Buddha has purified
all the causes of suffering. Since there is no cause of suffering, Buddha never
experiences any suffering or discomfort in samsara. Buddha has all the good
qualities to maintain peaceful and clear mind at all time. Like a piece of gold,
it will remain as pure even when it is put in the mud for hundred of years.
The mud will not affect the gold. Similarly, while the lotus grows in the mud
water, its flower blooms brilliantly above the water, stainless. In the same
way, Buddha and bodhisattvas are not affected by the samsaric faults. They are
committed to stay to continuously benefit all sentient beings.
The nature of Dharmakaya pervades everywhere, beyond all the conceptual thoughts,
with all the excellent qualities. It appears after the maras of death has transcended.
Dharmakaya is the complete nature of our own mind. Every sentient being is embodied
with the Buddha nature, the seed of Enlightenment. That seed has every potential
to grow into a great bodhicitta (mind of Enlightenment) tree. If the seed does
not have potential, no matter how much we try, it will never grow. When we study
about the Buddha, you maybe overwhelmed by all the abilities and qualities that
Buddha has and wonder if you can ever achieve that. You may think that you are
so limited in many ways. However, it is inconceivable that a small seed has
the potential to grow into a giant tree. If you plant the seed at the right
place, fertilized the ground and provide moisture and all the necessary conditions,
slowly, slowly it will grow into a tree after some years. It grows until it
reaches its maximum. Likewise, we have planted our seed of Enlightenment in
the Dharma field. When we make effort, put our interest in the study and practice
of the Dharma, we are building our courage, inspiration and all the necessary
conditions to grow the Enlightenment mind bigger and bigger. From that, it can
grow to the maximum. For the time being until Enlightenment, we need all the
causes and conditions. But in reality, all the excellent qualities are always
there, pervading in our own being. Just like the oil in the mustard seed, that
oil is not worse than the oil being produced. The oil being produced is not
better than the oil in the mustard seed. But as long as the oil is in the mustard
seed, we cannot use it as oil. We say that it is a mustard seed and not oil
even though oil is already there, completely pure from the beginning. So see
that nature. Our interest in the Dharma study and practice is like producing
oil from the mustard seed. All those husk has to be taken out from that seed.
We take refuge in the Buddha because Buddha gives complete explanations in great
details.
Buddha came to this planet in order to teach all sentient beings that we do
not have to suffer. We have every ability and quality to attain that. We just
have to go ahead and make effort. Here is an example. A very poor man was settled
on a piece of land where underneath the land, there was a great treasure. He
did not realize that so he thought that he was so poor having no food to eat
and no clothes to wear. Then a miner came and did some examination on the ground.
He detected that lots of treasure was buried underneath the ground. So the poor
man made every effort to dig underneath the ground. While he was digging, he
found indeed endless treasure. In fact, he was already rich from the beginning
having all the treasure underneath. But until he recognized that, he felt that
he was so poor. Likewise, we have all the enlightened qualities as Buddha, because
of our delusion, we feel that we are so limited, so poor with peace and loving-kindness
and that make us suffered. Buddha explained that we do not have to suffer that
way. Buddha gave all the instructions and explanations on how to study and practice
the Dharma teachings until we actualized them. This is the way to bring real
peace and joy.
Milarepa said, "If you do not experience the joy from within the mind,
you cannot get joy from outside no matter how much you try. Searching joy and
happiness outside is like chasing mirage." If you see mirage at a distance,
you think that there is running water. You chase the whole day, day after day.
You cannot get anything even when you are totally exhausted. Instead, we should
use our energy to explore within the mind, purify all the negative thoughts.
That is why we need to meditate. If peace and happiness can be got from outside,
we do not have to meditate. Since it is coming from within, we have to meditate
to internalize within the mind and be friend with our mind. This is the best
friend that can stay with us day after day, life after life.
That is why when we have purified all our obscurations, the total nature of
our own mind, the absolute buddhahood, the Dharmakaya reveals itself from within
our mind. We take refuge in the Buddha to help us to remove our delusion. Just
like looking at the oil which is produced from the mustard seed, we admire the
good quality of the oil and want to know all the characteristics and usage.
We are inspired to produce more oil from the mustard seed. We feel that it is
worthwhile to make effort to produce the oil. In the same way, we take refuge
in the Buddha because we admire the absolute, perfect qualities and ability
Buddha has. Buddha has purified all the obscurations, delusion and duality thoughts
and reached the Dharmakaya state, the ultimate unweaving nature of the mind
which is absolutely trustworthy. We are inspired to become Buddha to attain
those qualities. Then we read Buddha's life stories and we practice the Dharma.
When we receive the benefit from the Dharma, we practice with joy feeling fortunate.
We feel fortunate when we looked at Milarepa, how much he suffered when he could
not receive any Dharma teaching. He was so desperate and he looked for Dharma
everywhere. Marpa did not give teaching easily. Later when Milarepa received
Dharma teaching, he was completely joyful and satisfied. Even though he had
such hard times finding food and clothes, still, he felt that he was the most
fortunate people in the world. It was worth all the effort. When he was in the
mountain with no clothes to wear and his body was like a skeleton, people who
came to visit him and thought that he was a ghost. Milarepa said that he was
not a ghost but a human being, a Dharma practitioner. People thought that he
was so unfortunate living in such poor conditions with no clothes and no food.
They thought that Milarepa could do better than that. Milarepa felt that he
was most fortunate. So, like that he made effort joyfully. Nowadays, there are
people risking their lives jumping high from snow mountains just to have excitement.
So why not make similar joyful effort to the practice of Dharma? Feeling fortunate
because we have such a precious human life and have the opportunity to meet
the Dharma teaching and have the leisure to study and practice the Dharma. Feeling
fortunate is very important. Peace and happiness that you are looking for cannot
be found from anywhere. So, having the opportunity to study and practice the
Dharma to bring out the peace and happiness from within is the most worthwhile
thing to do. Feeling fortunate itself is peace and happiness. There is no need
to attach to happiness.
The perfection of Buddha nature is like space, uncompounded. Space is uncompounded
because we cannot make space and space cannot be changed or not be changed.
Space cannot be obscured by anything because space is still space. Buddha nature
is like space. It continues until the end of samsara. Its nature is uncompounded
because there is no beginning like space and no disappearing like space. No
one can say that there is a beginning or the disappearing of space. The beginning,
the middle and the end of space has no difference. Yesterday's space is the
same as today's or tomorrow's space. Likewise, Buddha's qualities never change
so that all the excellent qualities as well as all the activities are spontaneously
established by itself effortlessly like sunshine. The total undefiled peace
is spontaneously established and we have to realize it by ourselves just as
Buddha did. The historical Buddha realized that nature by himself in Bodhgaya
said, "I found such a nectar, undefiled nectar. It is uncompounded, so
profound with great peace, free from elaboration, in luminosity." Such
profound nature, we have to actualize it through our meditation. With strong
devotion and confidence to Buddha, we have to make effort to purify our delusions.
So these are the three great qualities are Buddha:
1. The uncompounded nature
2. The spontaneously established qualities and activities and
3. The excellent qualities can only be actualized by yourself, not by other
cause or conditions. That means that you yourself have to make the effort. Nobody
can give that to you. We have to first study it and then experience it from
within the mind. It is inexpressible means that nobody can communicate to you
how it is like. Just like tasting honey, until you put the honey into the mouth
and taste it, you do not know how the taste is like no matter how much you have
heard about it. So the description of it that you have heard and the actual
experience may not be the same. When you put it on the tongue, then you say,
"Oh! This is how it tastes like." There is no word to explain directly
the taste. You just have to taste it. It is inexpressible. Complete Enlightenment
is just like that.
We went through the teachings on Buddha briefly. Of course, Buddhas' qualities
are inconceivable, inexpressible and inexhaustible. In some text, Madhyantavibhaga
mentioned that suppose Buddha had to describe about Buddha's qualities, it took
Buddha himself hundreds and thousands of years and still could not finish. Buddha's
qualities are limitless like space. We have no ability to express Buddha's qualities
fully.
Dedication
May all sentient beings gain the flavor of supreme victory and ride on omniscience;
never turning back;
May all sentient beings gain the flavor of entry into the truth of the nondifference
of all Buddhas,
and be able to distinguish all faculties;
May all sentient beings attain increase of the savor of the teaching
and always be able to fulfill the Buddhhas' teaching of nonobstruction.
***********************************************************************************************
Dharma
by Venerable Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche
Ngöndro Program 2001
Ratnashri Meditation Center, Sweden
Three things are important when it comes to the study and practice of the Dharma
(Buddha's teaching), namely, cultivating altruistic thought, the actual action
and dedication at the end. First, cultivating the altruistic thought means that
the motivation for studying and practicing the Dharma is for the benefit of
all sentient beings. It resembles cooking. Before we cook, we have to think
about why and to whom we are cooking for. We need to have some motivation. Say,
in your mind, you want to cook a delicious meal for your friends. Then you have
to think about what you are going to cook. You gather all the ingredients and
then perform the actual cooking. Then at the end dedicate the delicious meal
to all your friends. Likewise, to study and practice the Dharma, first we need
to have altruistic motivation -- for the benefit of all sentient beings. Then
we have to know what Dharma is, what to study and practice and how to practice.
This is called preparation. Preparation is essential because if you do not have
any idea of what to study and practice, you cannot put it into action. Then
to accomplish the motivation, you need to do the actual study. Like cooking,
just thinking in the mind will not bring about the delicious meal. Likewise,
we need to do the actual Dharma study and practice in order to get the benefit
that you have planned. At the end of our Dharma study and practice, we dedicate
whatever merit, virtue we have gathered. We do not keep it all by ourselves
but dedicate it to all sentient beings who desire to gain peace and happiness
and free from suffering. We share all so that we are not attached to what we
have practiced. So motivation, actual action and dedication are important.
Buddha is most important because without Buddha, there is no Dharma teaching.
Without Buddha who attained the perfection of wisdom and compassion, enlightenment,
he could not give us methods to free ourselves from the suffering. Buddha renounced
the powerful Kingdom because he was not attached to himself. He wanted to do
something for all other sentient beings. To him, the Kingdom was the best place
to stay because he could enjoy the power, wealth, all kinds of services and
luxurious things. However, just staying in the Kingdom is not sufficient to
help other sentient beings. He renounced the Kingdom, went through the hardship
and finally attained enlightenment and then started giving teachings.
Basically what Buddha taught was that right from the beginning, avoid any form
of non-virtue - physically and mentally. It is because non-virtue is a cause
of suffering for all sentient beings, whether we know it or not. For example,
telling lie, everybody in the whole world, regardless of religious or cultural
background knows that it is not good. Even if you do not belief in anything,
still, people think that lying is not good. It is universal. Buddha seeing that
nature, taught us to avoid all non-virtues because they create delusion or negative
thoughts.
Taking refuge in the Dharma means that I do not want to create any types of
non-virtue which is the cause of suffering and engage in the virtuous actions
and thought because they are the cause of peace and harmony. If you are speaking
the truth all the time, you have self-confidence and have no fear even when
somebody accuses you. When you lie, you have fear because you have to think
about how you should hide this and that, one after another. Suffering follows
from that. Even if other people do not know, deep inside your heart, you feel
fear insecure. If you tell the truth, not only do you feel confident, but also
when other people see that you always tells the truth, there is a trust and
there is harmony. This is the reason why he told us to avoid all non-virtue
and develop all the virtuous thoughts and actions. After that, Buddha explained
what are the non-virtues and what are the virtues. Through that, the mind is
totally tamed. Our mind is like a wild elephant. A wild elephant can be very
dangerous and can destroy the whole field. Likewise, a wild mind can destroy
all the field of peace and harmony. Then we feel miserable. We do not realize
how we did it by ourselves, but we blame other people. So, it is important to
tame and train the mind. This is Buddha's teaching. This is why we take refuge
in the Dharma. Buddha revealed completely the true nature of the universe and
from that state of wisdom, he taught these Dharma teachings Therefore, Dharma
is good right at the beginning, in the middle and at the end.
When you study Dhrama for some time, you may hear some very high-level teachings
like mahamudra teachings and instructions. Those are for advanced practitioners
whose mind has already reached a high state of realization. At that state, there
is nothing to give up and nothing to achieve. In order to realize that, we have
to start with avoiding all nonvirtues and develop all the virtuous actions and
thoughts. With that, we build the strength of the mind. When the mind has strength,
it is unwavering. When the mind is stable like a mountain, it is clear, calm
and peaceful. In that state of mind, there is nothing to purify, nothing to
give up and nothing to accept because you have everything in your mind. Sometimes,
people missunderstand and project outward thinking that there is nothing to
give up from the outside and nothing to gain from the outside.
Buddha, in the state of mind of knowing the complete nature of all the phenomena
in the whole universe, taught these Dharma teachings. Dharma is always good,
right from the beginning, in the middle and at the end. Dharma is like medicine.
Buddha performed so many activities in his life, but Dharma teaching is one
of the most important activities. Dharma teaching has carried on now for more
than 2500 years. Still Dharma is so fresh today, so relevant. More than 2500
years ago, non-virtue was non-virtue, still now, non-virtue is non-virtue. It
is still a cause of suffering. Virtue was virtue at that time and was a cause
of peace and harmony. It is still true. The law of universe never changes. Like
fire, it has been hot right from the beginning. It is still hot right now and
it will still be hot in the future. There isn't any time that fire gets cold.
This helps us to open our mind fully to see that universal nature. It is very
important to understand that.
When we study Dharma, we do not study Dharma from the culture point of view.
From the culture point of view, there are lots of material things and activities.
We have to study Dharma from the universal prospective to see why Dharma is
relevant to everybody, everywhere and all the time. Buddha gave Dharma teaching
in India, but then Dharma went to all over Asia. In the second century, Dharma
was popular in all the Asian countries. It went to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran,
Iraq, Russia, Southeast Asia etc. Nowadays, you can still find Buddha's statue
in those countries.
Suffering like aging, sickness and death is universal. We called that suffering
because we perceive it as suffering and we dislike that. Our aversion brings
suffering. Otherwise, aging is neutral and sickness is also neutral. How much
pain we get depends on how we perceive it mentally. That is how mind is powerful.
Mind can significantly change your perception. Dharma helps us to understand
that. For example, the suffering of aging. Buddha taught us to avoid all the
nonvirtuous thoughts like attachment and hatred. When you purify all the non-virtuous
thoughts, when you age, you do not suffer. It is just a process and is neutral.
There are some great teachers who age joyfully and when they die, they die happily.
For those great Dharma practitioners, dying is enlightenment. It is just at
process, like growing crops in the field. First, the seed is being sown, then
the crop grows and finally ripes, ready for harvest. It goes on and on. Like
that, we are born one day, grow up and then get old and die. Going through life
is just a process. But from the cultural point of view, it depends on many conditions,
for example, which society you belong to and then comes many different ways
of life, depending on which emphasis you have. Then when you get old, you get
depress because you are thinking from the prospective of the people in the country.
You have to think about the reaction of the people, status, and there comes
your own grasping and duality thoughts one after another. Like that, we suffer.
Dharma helps us to transcend all these. So you see how Dharma is important and
precious to all of us. That is why we take refuge in the Dharma.
We have three basic delusion - ignorance, hatred (or aversion or anger) and
attachment (or desire). These are the three basic mental delusion, obscurations
and negative thoughts that everybody in the samsara has. Whether you are American,
German, English, Swedish or elsewhere, we are dominated by these negative thoughts.
In fact, all of these three have to coexist. It cannot exist one without the
other. For example, if I am ignorant on the interdependent causes and conditions
on the existence of this instrument bell. Through ignorance, I perceive that
this bell is something solid and concrete. I do not realize that there are many
other coexisting causes and conditions. In that state of mind, because of delusion,
when I look at this beautiful bell, it is so wonderful and I am attached to
it. So, attachement comes. If somebody steals it, I get very upset and angry.
However, if I am not attached to it, even if somebody steals it, it would not
border me so much. This is how these three are related to each other. This is
just an example, but it applies to all things and to anybody. When I perceive
myself as solid, concrete or someone very important. Then I am making boundary
for "my". This is my family, my belongings,…. Because I am so
attached to all these, if somebody takes it away and hurts that, I would not
like it and get angry. All the confusion arises from there. This is universal.
Even when it comes to religion. We say, this is my religion. I am so attached
to my religion that if somebody says some bad things about my religion, I will
try all I can to protect it saying, "Why do you say this? My religion is
perfect." This is what Buddha was trying to break that and purify that.
Even though Buddhism is good, there is no reason to attach to it. You just have
to practice it and realize it. Sometimes, when we do not practice and say buddhism
is so good. You are so proud to be a buddhist and you fight back and forth with
others. Buddha saw that and said, "May be I should not give any Dharma
teachings. I give Dharma teachings for people to practice to free themselves
from suffering and not create more suffering. There is already enough causes
of suffering in the world. Why should religion be yet another cause of suffering?"
So Buddha felt sad about that. Talking about attachment, sometimes even monks
get attached to the robe. Buddha order the robe to remind themselves the renounication
of samsara. Sometimes we become monk or nun and like to wear the robe. Instead
of releasing attachment, we attach to the robe. I am sure you have heard about
the life story of Milarepa. He was a great teacher who came to Tibet around
the 11th century. His life stories are extraordinary. He trained his mind so
vigorous that he attained enlightenment in one lifetime. His life stories are
so inspiring and popular that they are translated into twelve to thirteen different
languages and have inspired lots of people. Milarepa wore just one piece of
very old white cloth. Some people came to visit him, saw his poor lifestyle
and asked him what he was practicing. Milarepa practiced sincerely and realized
perfectly what Buddha taught. He transcended and destroyed all types of delusion.
Therefore, we need to understand thoroughly the meaning of Dharma, its purpose
and then practice it as much as we can. This is most important.
When we bring Dharma into our heart, meditate on it and practice it sincerely,
it brings calm and purity. Dharma means peace in Sanskrit. It also means to
protect the mind from non-virtuous thoughts. Dharma means also means virtue,
virtuous practice and peaceful practice. In order to purify the three basic
delusion, namely, ignorance, aversion and attachment, Buddha taught these three
categories of teachings - Vinaya, Sutra and Abhidharma. Vinaya teaching emphases
on avoiding all nonvirtuous thoughts and actions. It deals entirely with discipline
- how to discipline the body, speech and mind. Sutra teaching emphases on engaging
in the practice of all virtuous thoughts and actions. It deals with how to meditate
and all the meditative states of the mind. Abhidharma teaching emphases on totally
taming and perfecting the mind. It explains the wisdom side of the mind.
There are three trainings to these teachings. Moral ethics or discipline called
Shila; meditation or meditative concentration called Samadhi ; and special insight
or critical insight called prajna. At the beginning, we need discipline - physical
and mental discipline. It is like going to school, there is discipline for us
to follow. You are allowed to do this and not allowed to do that. Discipline
is necessary because through that, one can learn to take responsibility and
take on to different rolls. When it comes to Dharma practice, discipline is
to avoid all non-virtues and perform all virtuous actions and thoughts. Buddha
knew and realized that non-virtues are the causes of our suffering. Therefore,
he taught us to avoid all non-virtues. Avoiding all non-virtues through physical
discipline includes not taking life, not taking things from others which do
not belong to us and not engage in sexual misconduct. Verbal discipline includes
not using harsh words, not telling lies, no idle talk nor no divisive talk.
Using harsh words are like using knives, they pierce the mind and cut into the
heart. They destroy peace and joy in the mind and the result will eventually
bring back to us. We have already discussed how telling lies brings fear. Gossiping
is not good. Sometimes we talk so much especially when we do not feel so good
after our work and we do not know what to do, we just pick up the phone and
talk for a long time. After all that, you still do not feel good. Your mind
is so busy thinking, "I have said this and that. He said this and that.
I should not have said these things…" Mind is occupied with all that
one after another. At that moment, mantra is so useful. Instead of talking on
the phone, you chant mantra like "OM MANI PADMI HUNG" or "OM
AH HUNG". It is like talking and you are releasing your tension by chanting.
Saying things to divide people bring no peace and harmony. Disciplining the
mind includes avoid greediness, harmful and negative thoughts and wrong views.
These are some of the disciplines that Buddha made. These discipline serves
as an outline on how we should train ourselves. Like in school, the teacher
gives us outline, some idea of what and how to do things. Buddha made those
outline. It is universal. If everybody has interest in keeping those discipline
in a country, how peaceful the country will be regardless of what religion or
culture we are in.
In order to keep the discipline well, we need to train our mind to be mindful.
Whenever we have mindfulness, we are in meditative state. If you just say, "Keep
these discipline!" without training, it is very difficult. It is like trying
to put a wild poisonous snake inside a narrow bamboo. Since the snake has not
trained well in the mind, the snake will never be able to settle down and be
peaceful. So the second training is called the meditative state or meditation.
Meditation is not just close the eyes and sit there. Meditation means training
the mind, bringing antidote to the mind, practicing it well and finally actualizing
and experiencing it. Training the mind, for example, when we are talking about
I or myself, strong ego comes in and starts making boundary. First examine where
ego exists. It is just a notion in the mind, it does not exist in the body.
If it exists in the body, is it on the hands, head, legs, chest or other parts.
So it does not exist in the body. It does not exist by my name either because
the name you got after you are born. Your name was given by somebody else. So
if somebody calls your name and says bad things, you should not be upset because
your name is just a sound, it does not exist substantially. The name itself
is neutral. It can be changed and it does not hurt anything, so let go. Name
is temporary. The mind, I do not see where it exists so how come I have so strong
attachment to the ego. It is just level, just name - me, mine etc. So try to
relax and release the grasping of ego because such strong attachment to ego
is the cause of all suffering. Since I do not want suffering, I have to learn
to release this attachment and grasping of ego. This is called the training
of the mind. In this way, mind gets peace. When the mind is peaceful, we can
keep the discipline better. They support each other. So when somebody causes
you to be angry, that person suffers too. As I am deluded, that person is also
deluded. So the person who is deluded and suffering is a subject to compassion,
not a subject to anger. If I develop anger, instead of reducing suffering, it
brings more suffering. Suffering to that person and suffering to me, so it serves
no purpose and it is not right. Release anger and attachment to ego. This is
an example of how to train the mind to be in the meditative state to bring mindfulness.
See the impermanent and transitory nature in all things. Like at day-break,
the sun shines and at dawn, the sun set. It goes on everyday without stopping.
So in the morning when you see the sunrises, it is a sign of impermanence, constantly
changing and never stopping, it goes down towards the west. Then darkness comes
and night again is a sign of impermanence, it never stops. The same way, we
are all marching towards death since the day we are born. So I will definitely
die one day. This is not being negative, but rather, it is a special method
of contemplation to reduce attachment, delusion, hatred and anger. One day I
will die so what the benefit is to fight for all these, what the benefit is
to attach to all these. I create suffering unnecessarily without much benefit.
Further, he taught us how to free from suffering by releasing attachment and
to appreciate and rejoice whatever you have. "I am so fortunate to have
this." "OH, I have a lunch." Just rejoice and appreciate what
we have make us feel good. When you rejoice and appreciate everything around
us, there will be less hatred and anger in the mind. When the positive side
gets release and stronger, the negative side gets less and less and delusion
becomes less. When negative thought arises in the mind, as soon as it arises,
instead of you being with it, immediately bring all these practices to the mind.
If I can change the situation, I should make effort to change the situation
and make it better. So there is no reason to be upset. If the situation cannot
be changed, there is no benefit to be upset. It only brings suffering. It is
useless. This is called meditative state - the way how to contemplate and practice
the Dharma.
This is the Dharma teaching that Buddha taught. When we practice this way, we
are taking the refuge in the Dharma. So just meditate on this. This is called
the meditation training.
The third training is prajna. Be able to know right or wrong. This is right
things to follow and practice while those are wrong things to avoid. Seeing
that nature and having clear insight in the mind is called prajna or discriminating
wisdom, critical insight. When you have a special insight and a clear mind,
you have the ability of knowing and penetrating into how things exist.
If we make effort on these three training - moral ethics, meditative state and
special insight, delusion has no space to abide. This shows that delusion and
negative thoughts have no foundation. This is how Buddha taught the Dharma teachings.
Buddha was enlightened in Bodhgaya and then at the Deer Park, he taught the
Dharma teaching, the Four Noble Truths. The Four Noble Truths are the Noble
Truth of suffering, the Noble Truth of the origin of suffering, the Noble Truth
of the cessation of suffering and the Noble Truth of the path to the cessation
of suffering. First, why is it called the Noble Truth of suffering? Noble, because
we ordinary people only experience suffering, but we do not know the suffering
and we do not know what suffering is. We just suffer. That suffering is only
known by the noble beings who are enlightened. The enlightened beings know what
suffering is and that is why it is called the Noble Truth of suffering. The
truth of suffering means suffering is suffering for everybody and suffering
is never joy for anybody. Even if you believe that the nature of suffering is
joy, it never lasts long. Buddha taught that the original suffering, or suffering
itself is not independent. It does not arise without cause or condition. It
is not just randomly manifested. All different types of suffering has its origin
(causes and condition). This is called the Noble Truth of the origin of suffering.
Then how can we free from suffering? Generally, in the world system, it seems
that we cannot get away from suffering. Like a very successful business person,
he or she owns all the companies in the world and you can ask if that person
is free from suffering. A leader in the country being elected to be a leader,
there is nothing higher to achieve and just examine to see if that person is
free from suffering or not. Being so powerful, still that person is not free
from suffering. Buddha having achieved complete enlightenment realized that
there is a cessation of suffering, nirvana. He taught the Noble Truth of the
Cessation of Suffering and then how to achieve cessation, i.e. the Path to the
Cessation of Suffering for us to follow.
These three training are the path to the cessation. First, buddha laid out the
discipline which sets the boundary for us to stay in the right direction. Then
to keep that discipline, we have to have meditative state. We have to know how
to train the mind and how to practice the mind to develop that mental quality.
Then special insight or critical insight brings into the mind to practice. It
is called the thirty-seven branches of enlightenment which are organized into
five paths - path of accumulation, path of application, path of insight, path
of meditation and path of perfection. This thirty-seven branches of enlightenment
is related to these three training. The Four Noble Truths are very vast. It
is the foundation to all the teachings. On the basis of that, you develop all
the mental qualities of meditation practices. Then there is the Four Foundations,
or the Four Preliminaries or the four ways of turning the mind from samsara
to enlightenment - impermanence nature of all phenomena, precious human life,
the suffering nature of samsara, and the karma causes and result. These four
are common to all the buddhist systems, whether tanavada system, mahayana system
or vajrayana system. These four are important to all buddhist practitioners.
Everyone accept this and there is no disagreement. On this basis, we take refuge
in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. We study and practice the Dharma and do meditation.
In the Tanavada system, they do meditate on selfness nature of all things. Like
this bell, looks very substantial. But if you divide the bell into parts, it
is all illusory nature and none of the part exists by itself. We purify that
illusion in this way. Tanavada system practice mindfulness and individual liberation.
They achieve arhat state. In mahayana system, there is lots of emphasis on bodhicitta
(mind of enlightenment). Even though Tanavada system study and practice loving-kindness,
compassion, joy and equanimity, they do not put emphasis on bodhicitta, the
thought to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. To cultivate
bodhicitta, the four limitless or immeasurable thoughts are very crucial. Based
on the four limitless loving-kindness and compassion to all sentient beings,
everybody feels joy, peace, happiness and harmony. Mind has enough space for
everybody. So instead of being jealous to successful people whom we do not like,
you feel rejoice and happy for their success. Normally in the world in that
situation, we do not feel happy and our mind becomes so narrow. We feel so miserable
thinking, "They should not have that!" Instead learn to rejoice and
that brings the real peace in our mind. Even say some prayers wishing "May
their happiness lasts long! May they always be successful!" In this way,
no matter where you are, you will always be happy. In the Tanavada system, they
practice all that, but they do not encourage to achieve enlightenment buddhahood
in order to benefit all sentient beings. This is however very much emphasized
by the mahayana system. They practice bodhicitta to attain enlightenment for
the benefit of all sentient beings. They continue to reborn as bodhisattvas
life after life to benefit all sentient beings until the end of samsara. They
practice bodhicitta to attain enlightenment, buddhahood for all sentient beings,
not just for themselves. I am just one single person. It does not matter so
much whether I suffer. If I am happy just by myself, it does not matter so much
because it is only one single person. However, all sentient beings are important.
It is countless. That is why the democratic system is established. The leader
is elected by the majority and ruled by the majority. The leader has to make
all the people happy all the time. If you put bodhicitta into practice, saying,
"I desire to carry out such and such program to help all the people in
the country or all over the world." If you can practice bodhicitta in this
way which is wonderful. This is the mahayana system. Based on that, the vajrayana
or the tantra system emphasis on non self-cherishing thought. The Four Foundations
are so important for the vajrayana too. Without that, you cannot practice the
Dharma well. Your mind cannot fall into the Dharma. Once again, they are the
precious human life, the impermanence nature of all phenomena, the suffering
nature of samsara and the inexorable nature of the causes and result. Inexorable
means unyielding, uncompromising nature which cannot be ignored. The four limitless
thoughts - loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity are also very important.
Based on all these foundations, the vajrayana system perform deity or tantra
practice. You visualize yourself as en enlightened deity like Chenrezig or Tara
and everybody is manifested in the form of deity. You meditate in that state
and at the end everything is dissolved into emptiness. It is called arising
and completion stage. That is what Buddha taught. We arise into the deity, enlightened
state in order to purify our ordinary body. We purify our attachment to this
body, our anger, hatred and so on and we see all beings as enlightened beings.
With that vision in our mind, we purify attachment, hatred, ignorance and delusion
of oneself and others. Then there comes a danger that when one is in that state,
one gets arrogance. We may attach to that. In order to purify that, we dissolve
everything into emptiness like space. The whole universe is manifested from
the space and dissolved into the space. So this is the outline of Buddha's teachings
and what we are taking refuge in in order to purify all our suffering and delusion.
Milarepa, as mentioned before, was a great Dharma practitioner around the 11th
century. His lifestory was most inspiring. He practiced the Dharma so sincerely
that he attained enlightenment, buddhahood within one lifetime. Here is a story
about how much Milarepa received benefit from the study and practice of the
Dharma. He was born around the 11th century in Tibet. In the village Kyanga
Tsa where he belonged to, his father was very successful. Because of that, his
family was one of the richest. Unfortunately, his father died when he was very
young, about seven years old. His sister was even younger. Milarepa's paternal
uncle and aunt had moved to that areas from other places because Milarepa's
father was so successful. At the time when his father was going to die, he called
in this uncle and aunt saying, "I am going to die. My son and daughter
are so young. Please take good care of them until they grow up. I have much
wealth and processions like houses and animals. So please take charge of them
and make wise decisions." The uncle and aunt pledged to do their best to
help the family until Milarepa grew up. When the father died, the uncle and
aunt suggested to the mother that they should keep the wealth because her children
were so young and she had no power. They promised to give the wealth back to
the family later. The family did not have much choice so they went along with
that because the father asked them to keep and so they did. Before long, the
uncle and aunt treated Milarepa and his sister like slaves. They went through
that without much choice. They lived in such a poor condition. Their heads are
full of laces and they wore worn clothes and had hardly anything to eat. People
in the village had much sympathy towards them. Before they used to be respected
so much and now everybody looked down on them. Milarepa's mother was a very
strong person. Eight years later, when Milarepa was fifteen, she thought that
his son should get the house and the wealth back. So she organized a feast inviting
the head of the village including the uncle and aunt. She fed them well and
during the feast she said, "Eight years ago when Milarepa's father past
away, he left the advice that the uncle and aunt should take care of the wealth
until Milarepa grew up and they have promised to give it back to us. Now, Milarepa
can do things by himself so I ask today, uncle and aunt, please give back all
the wealth that my husband asked you to keep. All the witnesses are now here.
Please support me to do these things." As soon as she said that, the uncle
and aunt were so furious saying, "What kind of wealth you are talking about?
We fed all of you for all these years. We gave you food, clothing and lodging.
We do not remember that much wealth that you have!" All the people were
powerless and they could not do or say much. They had great sympathy to the
family. The uncle and aunt went on charging her, "You do not have gratitude
how much we helped your family. You are shameless. If you have power, you just
do anything you want. If you start a war, you can fight with us. If you have
power to spell black magic, you can do whatever you want!" Then they left.
Because of that Milarepa's mother sent Milarepa to a teacher to learn writing,
reading and all that. Milarepa started studying and reading all the classics.
One time, in that area where Milarepa's teacher was, there was a festival. So
the teacher organized some drink and Milarepa had some beer. He was a little
drunk. Because of that, he lost his awareness. He came singing songs. His mother
heard sounds from a distance that are very similar to his son's voice. She looked
through the door and he came singing. She was very furious. She lashed him on
his face when he entered into the house. She said, "I cannot believe this.
How can you do this? We are so miserable. Uncle and aunt treated us like dirt.
Under this situation, how can you sing like that? You must go to the center
of Tibet. I heard that there are some teachers who can teach you black magic
and how to spell. I will organize all the provisions, food and clothes. You
must go!" They discussed for a long time. She found somebody who also went
to the central Tibet. So she sold some of the land and got some gold to buy
food and clothes for Milarepa. She said to Milarepa, "Now you remember
that you are in a different situation than others. Other people go there just
for knowledge. They read and drink. But you are not going there not only for
knowledge, but also to take revenge, to get us out of this difficult situation."
"Yes, mother, I will do my best," Milarepa replied. He made the journey.
When he came to the teacher, he asked, "Please give me such kind of teaching
because, unlike others, I come here to deal with such kind of situation. Please
give me the powerful teachings to fulfill my mother's wish to give my uncle
and aunt a lesson." The teacher said, "I understand your situation.
You are so poor." Then the teacher taught him the complete black magic
spell. One day, one of uncle's elder sons was going to marry. They organized
the marriage ceremony in a big house and invited all the best friends and family
members. As soon as they went into house and started the ceremony, Milarepa
performed the black magic. Suddenly, like earthquake, the ground shook violently
and the whole house was broken into many pieces. What happened was that during
that time, both the uncle and aunt were busy doing something outside the house.
So, unlike all other thirty-five people who caught inside the house and died,
they were not injured at all. When Miarepa's mother heard that they were all
dead in the house, she went to the roof and proclaimed, "I got such a great
son who could do all these. I am the happiest person in the world. I could take
revenge." Having heard these words, the uncle was very upset and proclaimed
in front of all the local people, "I am ready to kill her and her son!
You are one of the most wicked people who always gave us a hard time and now
all my thirty-five people died because of you." The local people advised
him, "If you kill Milarepa's mother, her son will destroy the whole village.
Do you dare to do that?" The uncle hesitated. Anyhow, there were lots of
rumors about killing Milarepa's mother and son. Milarepa's mother sent a message
to his son, "Now, they are ready to kill us. I heard that there is another
magic that uses hell storm and it is capable of destroying the whole village.
You better learn that; otherwise, you are going to be killed." Milarepa
received the message and once again asked his teacher for instructions of how
to bring forth a hell storm. The teacher said, "I do not have those instructions,
but I will send you to another teacher who had them." So Milarepa went
there. He gave all the offerings and asked for the instructions. He then meditated
for seven days and achieved all the abilities to perform the spell.
He went closer to the village during the fall just a few days before harvest.
Everybody was preparing for harvest. It was the best crop-growing season ever.
Everybody expected a record harvest. Milarepa and one of his friends went to
a cave that was located very close to the village. Together, they made a hell
storm. All the crops were washed away completely. Milarepa became so famous.
All the villagers were very furious and were ready to kill Milarepa. Milarepa
could not see her mother because it was big risk that he would be killed. So
he left the village and went back to the teacher. Now he remembered vividly
all the negative karma he created. He had such a great remorse. He was thinking
that if he had to die with all the negative karma, he would directly be reborn
in the hell realm. There was no other alternative. He was very desperate. He
could not sleep nor eat. His mind was burning desperately to find a solution.
At that time, his teacher had a good friend who was rich and he greatly supported
his teacher. One day, the friend was sick and Milarepa's teacher went to the
family and did some special prayers. Within a few days, the friend died. The
teacher was very sad. He said to Milarepa, "My sponsor died. Everything
is impermanence. During my life, I did spell and I taught you and you did all
that. Life is so impermanence!" He felt so depressed. Milarepa said, "I
heard that there are some special meditation practices and teachings that can
help those who are dead. Do you have those teachings?" The teacher said,
"I know some rituals, but I do not have the ability to do the complete
way." Milarepa said, "Either I study and practice the Dharma or you
go and study the Dharma and I take care of the temple." The teacher said,
"You are younger, maybe you go and study and practice the Dharma teachings
and I will support you. In that way, you can help me and yourself." Milarepa
was so pleased and immediately, he accepted the offer. The teacher told him
that in such and such place there is such a great teacher and that teacher had
such powerful teachings. He advised Milarepa to study and practice with that
teacher. So he gave Milarepa enough food and clothes and Milarepa went.
As soon as Milarepa met the teacher, he said, "I come from western Tibet.
I am a very simple person. I have created lots of negative karma and I am coming
to ask for the instructions to free from all those negative karma and delusion."
The teacher said, "I have such a profound teaching called Dzogchen. If
you receive the teaching during the day and study during the day, you will achieve
enlightenment during the day. If you receive this teaching in the evening, you
will achieve enlightenment at night. Those who are fortunate enough, they will
achieve enlightenment even without practice." Milarepa thought that he
was so fortunate meeting this great teacher and received those teachings. He
received all the teachings and he thought that he might not need meditation,
so he slept. After a week, the teacher came and asked him what his experience
was and Milarepa said, "Nothing." Then the teacher suggested that
he should practice it. Milarepa practiced seven days in the retreat and the
teacher came and asked him again. Milarepa had no experience. Then the teacher
said to Milarepa, "It looks like I cannot help you. There is a great teacher
called Marpa, a great translator, who went to India three times and met his
great teacher Naropa and received all the great vajrayana teachings. Maybe you
go and see him. Maybe he can help you." As soon as Milarepa heard the name
Marpa, his whole body felt chilly and shaky. He immediately had such strong
devotion and felt inexpressible joy in his mind. He felt that he must see the
teacher. So the next day, he made the journey to see Marpa. Next day when Marpa
was going to meet Milarepa, Marpa got such a strong and powerful dream. In his
dream his teacher, Naropa, came to him and gave him a golden vajra and said,
"You just clean this golden vajra and put on a banner. That light will
radiate to all directions." Marpa cleaned and washed the golden vajra on
put it on a banner. Lights radiated in all the ten directions. All sentient
beings' darkness was dispelled by those lights. Marpa looked around. He saw
many Buddhas and bodhisattvas making prostrations to this golden vajra and they
respected Marpa. Marpa got such confidence because even Buddhas and bodhisattvas
paid their respect to him. With this state of mind, he woke up in the morning.
He thought someone very special was coming. He went out to the field, brought
the ox and all the necessary equipment, including a jar of beer and starting
ploughing. He took a break after ploughing half of the field. While Marpa was
resting, Milarepa came. Milarepa asked Marpa, "I heard that in this valley,
there is a great translator called Marpa. Do you know him?" Marpa said,
"I do not know such a great translator called Marpa, but there is a man
called Marpa down there. I will help you to meet him. Meanwhile, you just drink
this beer and plough the rest of the field. I will send someone to meet him."
Milarepa, after travelling for so many days, the beer was very sweetening and
helpful. He drank all and was very grateful to the man. He ploughed all the
rest of the field. Then a child came and said, "You are asked to see Marpa."
Milarepa followed him.
He saw Marpa, the man he saw before, sitting in front of him. Just seeing Marpa
made Milarepa feel fearful, chilly but joyful at the same time. Marpa said,
"It's me. I am Marpa right here. Milarepa did three prostrations and said,
"I came from western Tibet. I am a very simple person and I have created
such negative karma. I come here to purify all the negative karma. I offer my
body, speech and mind. Please give me the Dharma teachings to achieve enlightenment,
food and clothes." Marpa said, "If you created negative karma, it
is your responsibility to do the purification. It has nothing to do with me.
Whether you achieve enlightenment within one lifetime or not depends on you.
If you want Dharma teachings, you must get food and clothes from outside. Or
if you want me to give you food and clothes, you must get Dharma from outside.
You make a choice." Milarepa said, "In this case, I will ask you to
give me all the Dharma teachings. I will search for food and clothes from outside."
After a few days, Marpa gave him some basic instructions on Dharma. Marpa then
told some life stories about himself and his teacher, Naropa, who went through
great hardship under Tilopa. Naropa underwent twelve great hardships. Marpa
said, "If you want to practice the Dharma, you have to purify those negative
karma." So he gave Milarepa instructions to build the houses in the east,
west and north. Each time when Milarepa had finished building the house, Marpa
asked him to put all the rocks back to where they belonged. Milarepa was desperate
to receive the teaching instructions. So he bagged Marpa, "Please give
me the instructions." Every time Marpa told him, "If you build this
house and finish it, I will give you Dharma teachings." After three constructions
of houses, Marpa asked Milarepa to build a house right in the middle. Marpa
said, "This is the last house that you have to build. The house should
have nine floors. You should not ask anybody for help. You have to do this by
yourself." Milarepa started carrying rocks on his back and his body was
badly wounded. At one point, Milarpa felt that he could not stand it any more
and he left. He thought that he could never receive the Dharma teaching from
Marpa. Somehow, he came back. He did this three times. At the end Milarepa was
suicidal and thought, "It looks like in my life, I cannot get this precious
Dharma teachings. What should I do? Maybe. I should die and get a better rebirth
to receive Dharma teachings. But on the other hand, if I do not get Dharam teachings,
maybe I will go to the hell realm because of all the negative karma I have created."
Milarepa was so desperate and suicidal. At the end, Marpa accepted to give Dharma
teachings to Milarepa. Milarepa said, "I do this for the Dharma, not for
my own benefit. If I do this for my own benefit, I could have done it peacefully
and nicely." Milarepa was so desperate to receive the Dharma teachings.
Finally, Milarepa finished the construction. Marpa gave him the first teaching
and empowerment on Chakrasamvara. He taught Milarepa to build the mandala on
the ground and explained to him all the deities what they signified. After that,
Marpa showed him Chakrasamvara from the sky and said, "This is the real
Chakrasamvara!" At that time, Milarepa was so happy. He thought that it
was a dream. He said, "If this is a dream, may I not wake up from this!"
He felt such kind of joy and happiness. After receiving all the empowerment
and meditation instructions, Milarepa went to the mountains and meditated for
eleven months on one seat. After eleven months, Marpa came to Milarepa and said,
"You did such a wonderful meditation retreat for eleven months sitting
on the same seat. It is wonderful. Now please come out and tell me all your
experiences." Milarepa came out and explained all his experiences. Milarepa
said, " I realized how the precious human life is difficult to obtain.
Even if one obtain this precious human life, it is impermanence, of transitory
nature, so fragile. Within impermanence, suffering in the samsara is so powerful.
Everyone is suffering in the samsara, one way or another and that suffering
came from negative karma through delusion and negative thoughts. For that reason,
I understand that we need to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Because
without taking refuge in these three jewels, there is no other way to free from
all the suffering. I understand that after taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma
and Sangha, I need such a great teacher to receive all the teaching instructions.
After receiving the instructions, I understand that I need such a powerful diligence
to experience all the teachings." Marpa was very pleased and happy and
expressed that he had great hope that Milarepa would fulfill his wishes.
Milarepa went home. At that time, his mother died. His sister wandered endlessly.
When his mother died, all that was left was a piece of bone. That reminded Milarepa
of impermanence and suffering of samsara. He meditated a whole week on impermanence
and helped his mother to free from samsara. He sang a sad song, "When my
father was there, I am not here. When I am here, my father was not here. When
my mother was here, here son was not here and when here son is here, the mother
passed away. When the house was here, the owner was not here and when the owner
is here, the house is broken. Even when the house, owner, mother and father
all are here, there is not much benefit. I must study and practice the Dharma."
This reminded him strongly of the Dharma teachings and reinforced it strongly.
So he went to retreat by himself day and night, year after year. Because of
that, he purified all his negative karma and achieved such a great realization
of enlightenment. People started coming to him to receive teachings from him.
One of his great disciples came to him to receive teachings and said, "You
must be a reincarnation of a great Buddha or bodhisattva. It is because in the
beginning of your life, you created such negative karma and now you went through
such a great hardship and meditation practice and attain buddhahood. It is impossible
for an ordinary person to do all that. You must have done something very special.
You must be some great teacher in your previous lives." Milarepa said,
"It is wonderful that you see me as a Buddha or bodhisattva. As I have
created such negative karma, I saw directly the result of that karma. So my
mind was completely into the Dharma. There is no second thought because I know
that if I die with that kind of negative karma, the suffering is just there,
so clear. By seeing that nature, I practice the Dharma so sincerely. If this
kind of mind is born to every sentient being, everybody can do as I did!"
This is a brief history of Milarepa. It shows how Dharma can help us to free
from all delusion and negative karma and to achieve complete confidence.
The following story illustrates how Dharma can dispel darkness in our mind.
At the time of Buddha, there was a man who was born in a Bramin family. At that
time in India, it was not enough just to be born in a Bramin family to be considered
as a Bramin, one had to learn to recite mantra. The man was not gifted. When
he learned the first part of the mantra, he forgot the second part and when
he learned the second part, he forgot the first part. He tried hard for some
time. The family lost confidence in him and asked him to resign from the family.
He left the family. He spent his time wandering on the streets feeling very
sad. He had no place to go. Nobody could help him. One day, Buddha past by on
the road asked him, "What happen to you?" He explained to Buddha how
his family kicked him out because he was so stupid. Buddha said, "Would
you like to follow me?" The man was delighted to accept the offer. Buddha
took him to the temple and said to him, "You just clean the temple every
day." Buddha brought him lunch every day. So he cleaned the temple. After
a few months, his mind was clearer and fresher. Buddha asked him to keep chanting
"clean the dirt, clean the dust" while he cleaned the temple."
He could remember that easily and he kept saying it like a mantra "Clean
the dirt, clean the dust". He did that for a few months. One day, when
he was holding his broom in his hand, he said, "The dirt does not lie outside
the mind, rather, it lies dirt inside the mind. The dust does not come from
the outside, rather it comes from the mental afflictive emotions. If I cleaned
the dust and dirt of the mind, everything will be cleaned." After some
years of diligent practice, he achieved arhat state. This shows how Buddha was
skilful in helping sentient beings and how Dharma can help sentient beings to
dispel darkness in the mind. When the delusion is purified, light just shines
out.
There are twelve interdependence or links according to the Dharma. There are
twelve unenlightened or samsaric side and the twelve enlightened side of interdependent
links. They are
1. Ignorance
2. Mental formation
3. Consciousness
4. Name and form
5. Increasing fields
6. Contact
7. Feeling
8. Attachment
9. Craving
10. Existence
11. Birth
12. Aging and death
We start with aging and death. In general, people do not like aging and death.
When we die, our bodies are buried or cremated. However, death is not independent,
it depends on aging. It is aging that leads to the death. If we do not like
aging and death, we should not be born because birth is the beginning of aging
and death. Birth is not independent, it depends on the existence and the karma
cause. It is the karma that we created causes us to be born. So birth depends
on the existence of the karma cause. Creating karma cause itself is not independent,
it depends on craving. For example, when we like to go to a place, we like so
much that we have strong craving wanting to get there. Craving depends on our
attachment to that place. If you are not attached to that place in the first
place, there would not be craving. But attachment depends on contact. If you
do not have any contact to the place, to the people or the environment, there
would not be attachment. So attachment depends on our feeling of joy and pleasant.
Such feeling depends on our contact to objects. But contact is not independent.
It depends on increasing fields like eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind consciousness.
Without sense-consciousness (six increasing fields), we cannot have any contact
to objects. When these increasing fields contact objects, it increases all our
negative thoughts. These increasing fields arise when we are conceived in the
mother's womb. These increasing fields arise from the existence of names and
forms. Without names and forms, there are no objects for the increasing fields
to contact. The conception of name and form come from consciousness. Without
consciousness, nothing can be conceived. That consciousness carries a karma
called mental formation. That karma is created by us through ignorance. If there
is no ignorance, we would not create mental formation. So ignorance is the origin
of all these. We wondered in the samsara through the interdependent links. We
are born and die and again reborn through all the links. This is called the
samsaric or unenlightened interdependent link. Through that, we wander in samsara
as a wheel with no beginning and no end. When we uproot ignorance, the basic
delusion, there is no basis to create karma and there is no consciousness which
carries that and so on. It unlinks the rest of the process. This is called the
enlightened interdependent link. To totally uproot ignorance, we need to study
and practice the Dharma.
When we study and practice the Dharma, it does not help to struggle with aging
and death. It does not help to fight with what we dislike. We have to understand
where the origin is. Contemplate on that. There are different types of ignorance.
Ignorance relating to knowing the inexorable causes and effect, of knowing the
nature of all pervading emptiness, of knowing the discriminating nature of all
phenomena and so on. Through ignorance, we create karma that come from mental
factor. Mental factor means mental thoughts, different ways of thinking. All
the mental thoughts are called mental factor that creates karma through delusion.
Within that, there is positive mental thoughts which create positive karma and
negative thoughts which create negative karma. So different karma is imprinted
on our consciousness. In this way, consciousness follows according to the karma.
Just look at our mind, when we see something, our mind just goes to that direction.
The mind of itself has no idea, but there is a force that drives us around.
So karma drives all our thinking. So when we die, our mind follows according
to our what karma we have made in our lives. Karma is like a bird's shadow.
When the bird is flying in the sky, it cannot see its shadow. But as soon as
the bird lands on the ground, the shadow is there. Even though we do not see
the karma, it follows with us. Consciousness follows the karma and eventually
brings forth birth. Birth brings aging, sickness and death. So what we have
to do in our meditation practice is to purify our ignorance, delusion and negative
karma. It is not enough to fight with or dislike sickness and aging and the
negative karma that we have. Therefore, we have to study and practice the Dharma
sincerely to purify our negative karma and delusion.
The twelve interdependent links in the Dharma can be grouped into three categories.
1. Mind - ignorance, attachment and craving
2. Karma cause - mental formation and existence
3. Result - consciousness, name and form, six increasing fields, contact, feeling,
birth, aging and death
It is not only mind that creates karma. For example, when we get sick, there
come lots of mental emotions and negative thoughts. That creates the cause that
drives us to carry out the actions and that brings the result. It goes around
like that endlessly. These three become the wheel with no beginning and no end.
If there exists only mind and result and no cause, then whatever you think will
bring the result, but it does not happen that way. Sometimes, we think in such
a good and positive way and we yield negative result. It is due to the karma
cause. On the other hand, if result is absent, only mind and karma cause, there
is nothing to experience in life. Lastly, if mind is absent, how can any result
comes about. So all the three are interconnected. Therefore, when we practice
the Dharma and face some undesirable conditions, we should see it as opportunity
to purify that karma and not creating any more negative karma. That is the reason
why we are practicing Dharma. Just knowing that is easy, but when it comes to
real practice, it is not so easy. You may think that if we do not fight back
when somebody hurts you, the other may think that you are so weak. At that moment,
in your mind, you develop such kind of confidence. Knowing that this is a great
opportunity for me to purify my negative karma, so instead of responding back,
I have a feeling of gratitude of having such an opportunity. At that very moment,
the negative karma we created in the past is purified. We do not have any more
negative karma to experience. If, just the opposite that, when somebody hit
you and immediately I get so upset and hit back, then while I am experiencing
negative karma, I make another new one to be experienced in the future. This
is just an example showing how mind, cause and result go around endlessly in
the samsara. We suffer this way endlessly.
To study and practice the Dharma, it is very important to develop bodhicitta,
loving-kindness and compassion. Loving-kindness and compassion both to ourselves
and to others. That brings clarity to the mind. When our mind has peace and
not disturbed, we are purifying our negative karma. It is not easy. Sometimes,
it seems not so logical. We have to really convince ourselves and understand
why it is important to practice the Dharma. Otherwise, people think that you
are so weak because you cannot respond to others and people take advantage of
you. But in your mind, you know that you are practicing the Dharma and you have
confidence that it is not a sign of weakness, but rather a great strength in
the mind. It is through this kind of reasoning and contemplation that brings
out our mindfulness and awareness. Through that, we can keep our mental peace,
calmness in our mind and not creating more negative karma.
Most people, even for some Dharma practitioners, do not have any idea that buddha
nature, the seed of enlightenment, pervades within all of us. How can we know
that we have the seed of enlightenment, not only human beings, but every sentient
being including insect? We know that from our own understanding and experience
that nobody like suffering. Not any sentient being like suffering. Everybody,
including insects like peace and happiness. So from that point of view, we understand
that buddha nature is peace and calmness. So peace that you have inside you
does not feel comfortable with the suffering. The absolute peace, the buddha
nature is very close to the temporary peace. That is why you can say that all
sentient beings have the seed of enlightenment to achieve the absolute peace
and happiness. Basically, no matter how much suffering we experience, we will
never get used to it while peace and joy, no matter how much we experience,
we do not feel sad about it. It applies to anybody independent of cultural background
or belief system. Even for those who do not have any religion, as soon as there
is peace in their mind, we would like to stay with them. That shows that all
sentient being has buddha nature, the seed of enlightenment.
Since everybody has Buddha nature, the seed of enlightenment, it means that
buddhahood is attainable. So we feel confident, joy and encouraged. Otherwise,
there is no hope and we are discouraged and overwhelmed by the suffering in
samsara - oh, I am such an ignorant person. I have so many negative thoughts.
I am so limited in so many ways, how can I attend enlightenment? It is important
that we feel good, joy and confidence about ourselves when studying and practicing
the Dharma. Some day, I will attend enlightenment not just for myself, but for
all sentient being. May they attend enlightenment. So in this way, we will never
look down on other sentient being, but rather respect every sentient being equally.
When negative obscurations come, we have to remind ourselves of impermanence.
They are just temporary delusion, not permanently rooted, just like clouds in
the sky, do not exist substantially or permanently. Their nature is transitory
and that is why they can be purified. In this way, we purify our delusion through
wisdom. Because of our buddha nature, we have all the potential of developing
all excellent qualities. We are so encouraged to study the Dharma, to develop
bodhicitta, the great kindness and compassion and wisdom in order bring out
our potential. The following six paramitas are the six perfections that help
us to go beyond samsara to reach the shore of enlightenment.
1. Generosity
Generosity is a special practice to open our mind and to build the strength
in the mind. Generosity practice includes giving wealth, sharing your wisdom
and skills, giving advice etc. When the mind is opened, it destroys all the
boundaries that we created through delusion. This is generosity. Especially
when you share some special teachings and instructions to free people from suffering,
you are giving them opportunities and skills. There are so many ways of showing
generosity, even saying nice words when someone feels sad, or just simply smile
can make others feel so good. Sometimes when you are driving and someone rushes
to get in front of you, just give that person a chance and that person would
feel so thankful. Or simply cook a nice meal or even just boil a cup of tea
is also generosity because you are giving up your energy.
2. Moral ethics
a) Avoiding all nonvirtuous actions, both physically and mentally, in order
to keep the body, speech and mind in good discipline and be a better, more workable
person. When you keep discipline well, people will respect you. Great bodhisattvas
keep their discipline so pure and that is why they can benefit so many people.
b) Keep studying and practicing to develop all the good qualities by reading
books, studying and practicing the Dharma in order to increase all the good
qualities, skills, wisdom and compassion.
c) Benefiting sentient beings as much as we can.
3. Patience
The definition of patience is fearlessness. When you do not have fear, you have
patience. When you have fear, you do not have patience. When we cannot accept
the situation, that means that we are fear of something. Patience can be misunderstood.
Sometimes we say "Please be patient!" it does not mean just sit there
do nothing and wasting time. That is not real patience. Patience means that
when mind has such a strength to endure the practice. For example, when someone
uses harsh words and you have such a mental power to accept that. With loving
kindness, compassion and wisdom, you have no fear. This is the practice of patience.
There is a story about a young man who was sat at the street corner the whole
day. An old man passed by and asked the young man what he was doing. The young
man said, "I am practicing patience." The old man said, "If you
are practicing patience, you are a stupid fool!" The young man was so upset.
It revealed that the young man had no patience. The old man was just testing
to see if the young man has patience or not, so the young man had no patience
and could not tolerate that. If he was really practicing patience, he would
be so thankful for such an opportunity to practice patience. So patience does
not necessarily applies only to very great thing, it can also apply to small
things. Lots of things can happen in our lives and we need mental strength to
relate to that. When we practice that way, our mind would be calm and peaceful.
Moreover, it helps to purify lots of negative karma and obscurations in our
mind. Patience is very difficult to practice sometimes. For example, when you
are driving and you have to drive to a certain place on time and it's getting
late. Then when red traffic light is coming up, you have to driver even faster
to pass that traffic light. Then you realized that the car in front of you drive
very slowly, you get so upset, isn't it? There are so many situations like that,
at home, at the workplace, on the road and so on. So we have lots of opportunities
to practice patience. So these are the Dharma practices we do in our daily life.
If you learn and practice patience, you get such great benefit. Life will be
much better, more peaceful. There are different types of meditation. Sometimes,
when you sit down and meditate for five or ten minutes and your mind is not
settling down, you thought that it is better to go out for a walk or to see
something more attractive, at that time, you need to apply patience.
Sometimes when you set your mind to achieve certain goal and somebody comes
and disturb that, you get so upset and angry. At that time, do not attach to
the angry feeling, instead you do what is necessary to solve the problem. If
you can achieve it, there is no need to be upset. If you cannot achieve it,
it is no use to be angry either. See that nature, you should not have fear whether
you achieve the goal or not. In this way, mind stays calm and peaceful. This
is the practice of patience and fearlessness. For example, a friend called you
and said, "Tonight, we will have a plan to go for a walk in the forest
and have a nice dinner. I invite you to go to the forest around six." At
about six o'clock, that person called and said that he could not go. You are
so attached to the plan that you felt very frustrated. You did not eat much
lunch just because you planed to eat a big, delicious dinner and now when that
person changed the plan, you felt upset. You were impatience because you are
so attached to the plan and are afraid to lose the control of your time and
other arrangements in connection to that. You become desperate and upset. There
come lots of emotions and suffering. On the other hand, if you are not attached
to the plan, it is easier for you to find other alternatives. Then you can go
on to do something else. If you are aware that everything is impermanent, then
whether or not plan comes true or not, your mind is open and you would not attach
to that. You can accept what that comes easily. This is just an example on how
to practice patience. Of course, it is easier for you to accept the situation
when that person explains the reason why he has to change the plan. "The
situation is like this and I understand that it may cause you lots of trouble
because you have planned all these. But I am terribly sorry that it happened
to me so suddenly. Please accept my apology and I really feel bad about this.
I really have to make this change." Sometimes when you start practicing
the Dharma, you find the profundity in Buddha's wisdom, compassion and the strength
of the great bodhisattvas, while other times, you feel overwhelmed and get impatience.
At that time, remind yourself that you have buddha nature and you can achieve
that. It is just a matter of time. So build the strength and free yourself from
the fear and practice patiently.
4. Perseverance
Perseverance is very important because without perseverance, nothing can be
achieved. If we are lazy and expect something will happen, it will never happen.
We have to practice perseverance. It is not just doing it for a short time,
rather we have to practice all the time. We say the prayer "Until I attain
enlightenment, I perform virtuous deeds with body, speech and mind. Until death,
I perform virtuous deeds with body, speech and mind. Until this time tomorrow,
I perform virtuous deeds with body, speech and mind." We are so fortunate
to have this life to be able to practice. This life is impermanent and I may
die anytime. So whatever time I have for the rest of my life, I will continue
to abstain from all the non-virtuous actions and thoughts and perform all the
virtuous actions and thoughts. Meditate on that every moment. We cannot say,
" I will practice Dharma when I retire. Now, I do not have time to practice."
By the time you retire, you do not have much energy left and you have poor eyesight
and cannot sit long because of pain and other physical problem. So whenever
you are interested, that is the right time to practice the Dharma. We keep practicing
the Dharma every day repeatedly. This is called perseverance. If we just sit
and wait, we will miss the opportunity. So every moment is the precious time
to practice the Dharma. Practice joyfully. Such joyfully effort putting into
the study and practice of Dharma is the definition of perseverance. There are
two aspects of perseverance. One is to purify all the non-virtuous actions and
thought and put energy and effort in that direction. Another is to develop all
the good qualities like loving-kindness, compassion and bodhicitta and so forth.
In this way, the negative side will be purified and the positive side will increase.
5. Meditative concentration
It means to organize the mind to bring the mind together. When the mind is scattered
in all directions, it has no power. Like the river that runs to all directions.
None of them has much strength. When the water is organized in a narrow channel,
water has great strength and power to perform tasks. Likewise, when our mind
goes back and forth to all directions, even if we meditate, it does not bring
much power. So we need to bring the mind to the right place one-pointedly. If
we can stay with that, it has great power to destroy all our negative thoughts
and delusion. It has great power to increase our good qualities.
6. Wisdom awareness
Wisdom awareness is the principal method to uproot delusion. One may have great
practice on generosity, moral ethics, patience, perseverance and meditative
concentration, if there is no special insight or wisdom awareness, we cannot
be freed from the samsara. We will still be at the corner of samsara wandering
in the samsara. However, to develop wisdom awareness without much support from
these five other paramitas does not work either. The analogy is that we need
eyes to see the road. We need feet to walk. If you only have eyes and no feet,
you cannot walk. If you do not have eyes, you cannot walk to the right place.
Wisdom awareness is like eyes that can see right from wrong and the causes of
samsara, the causes of enlightenment. However the actualization of wisdom can
only be attained through the practice generosity, moral ethics, patience, perseverance,
meditative concentration and so forth.
We take refuge in the Dharma because of all great qualities it possesses. It
is so precious and has great beneficial effects. Dharma is such a great medicine
that heals our sickness and all our delusion, that no ordinary medicine can
help us. No matter how much ordinary medicine we take, it will not help us to
free from samsara. It will not help us to solve our mental delusion. Dharma
is like sunshine that dispels all the darkness. Dharma is even more brilliant
because it dispels the darkness of the mind that no sunshine can dispel. By
seeing that nature, Dharma is your best friend, most reliable friend, that you
can trust and stay along with life after life. You can always rely on Dharma
even at the time of sickness or death. Dharma is there better than before because
it gives us so much comfort and peace. If you need real medicine, take Dharma
as the medicine. If you want real light, take Dharma as the light. If you need
a real friend, take Dharma as your best friend. When we are young, when we are
old, when we get sick, when we die, at all time, Dharma is there. So if you
do not give up Dharma, Dharma will not give us up. See that nature. Dharma is
the best wealth. The wealth in samsara can be lost or stolen, but the wealth
of the Dharma only increases. It only gets better. If it is not stolen by the
thief of our forgetfulness and mindlessness, Dharma will never be stolen by
others. So it is of such great wealth. Seeing that great qualities and be inspired
to study and practice Dharma. Dharma is a great bridge that no order ordinary
bridge can help us to cross the big river of samsara. Therefore, we take refuge
in the Dharma.
Some practical suggestions: study the ten non-virtues and to avoid performing
them. Study the ten virtuous actions and perform them. This helps us so much
to make the right decision and knowing what we should do and what we should
not do. It includes physical, verbal and mental actions and thoughts. On top
of that, doing meditation practice. It will help to stabilize the mind. We can
do chanting meditation practice such as OM AH HUNG visualize yourself as Chenrezig
or Tara on a daily basis. Reading life stories of great bodhisattvas like Milarepa,
Marpa and so follow their examples. When you read those books, do not just read
them through quickly. Read a couple paragraphs and then contemplate on that.
If you read a few pages and contemplate on it every day, the meaning will bring
into your mind and it will stay in your mind for some time. If you just read
page after page quickly through, it may not stay in your mind so much. This
is how to develop wisdom.
Dedication
May all sentient beings gain the flavor of supreme victory and ride on omniscience;
never turning back;
May all sentient beings gain the flavor of entry into the truth of the nondifference
of all Buddhas,
and be able to distinguish all faculties;
May all sentient beings attain increase of the savor of the teaching
and always be able to fulfill the Buddhhas' teaching of nonobstruction.
***********************************************************************************************
Sangha
by Venerable Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche
Ngöndro Program 2001
Ratnashri Meditation Center, Sweden
We are living in the samsara, which means that we are in the state of delusion
and confusion. We are tired and exhausted, but yet cannot get out of that state.
Suffering is bound to come, one after another. Therefore, we are here to learn
how to free from the delusion. We have studied Buddha and Dhamra and to conclude
the study of taking refuge in the three jewels, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, we
are going to focus on Sangha. Sangha consists of Dharma practitioners who study
and practice the Dharma teachings. If we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and
Sangha and then go on with the study of Dharma teachings, we become Sangha members.
The opportunity to study and practice the Dharma is so precious and has inexpressible
benefits. There is no better thing to achieve in life than to do this kind of
practice. It is very difficult to hear Buddha's name in this world. It is very
difficult to have a chance to hear Dharma teachings and it is very difficult
to have time and leisure to study the Dharma. The reason is because we all are
working hard, making ourselves so busy in this world in search for peace and
happiness and to free from suffering. This is the basic idea of life and there
is no end to this. Successful business people are not satisfied no matter how
successful the business would be. They are still looking for more. It is because
there is no ultimate happiness and peace can be achieved no matter how successful
a person can be. For that reason, we come to study the Dharma teachings, which
give us instructions on how to attain peace and happiness and how to avoid suffering.
That is why Dharma teaching is so precious. For those who study and practice
the Dharma, their lives are much happier even though they live in samsara. Life
is meaningful and instructive. The person has much peace and contentment in
life. This is not a matter of culture. We are not changing our lifestyle, but
rather we are making effort to understand and reshape our mind. We purify our
delusion so that the light or wisdom from within has a chance to reveal itself.
In that way, we see how fortunate we are to have opportunities to study and
practice the Dharma. Otherwise, we spend our time chasing mirage after mirage
without meaning. When we come to the Dharma, it is to realize what we already
have within me, not try to get things from the outside. We all have to work
within our mind.
It is very precious to be Sangha. There are enlightened Sangha and unenlightened
Sangha. Unenlightened Sangha are those who study and practice the Dharma but
still need to work hard and make much effort. Enlightened Sangha is one who
has achieved the first level of bodhisattva or bhumis. From there, there are
many levels to achieve, which eventually lead to enlightenment, buddhahood.
When we achieve the first bhumi, we have dispelled the basic delusion. We just
practice right from where we are and we do not have to change anything. We do
not have to change culture, clothes or language. We do not have to go anywhere
else. We just need to change the way of thinking, purify our delusion, develop
positive and altruistic thoughts and sustain that.
To practice that, we chant mantras like OM AH HUNG or Guru Padmasambhva's mantra
OM MANI PADME HUNG or Tara's mantra OM TARE TU TARE TURE SATTSOHA. We chant
these mantras to develop our wisdom and compassion. We take refuge in Sanghas
like Tara or Chenrizig because they are highly accomplished practitioners and
their wisdom and compassion are much stronger. Their mind is more peaceful,
more organized and has more strength. It is because they train and discipline
their mind in a powerful way. They organize their mind at the right place through
proper causes and conditions. They are highly accomplished masters and we can
take them as our example. This is called taking refuge in the Sangha. Sangha
basically means one who is inspired and train the mind to achieve liberation
- liberation from suffering and liberation to peace and nirvana.
There are lay people Sangha members and renounced or ordinance Sangha members.
Lay people Sangha member should have at least the five precepts - not taking
life, not telling lies, no sexual misconduct and free from intoxication. Sexual
misconduct causes lots of confusion, hatred and resentment especially if you
are married. One needs to take at least these five precepts and dedicate the
life in the study of Dharma in order to become a Sangha. In fact, if you keep
these five precepts, life is peaceful, free from delusion. Mind becomes clear
and one knows what to do, what to keep and how to free from unnecessary suffering.
If the family members keep the five precepts, there is so much peace and calmness.
Those who do not keep the five precepts, there is lots of confusion, hatred
and resentment. The second type of Sangha is the ordinance Sangha who has received
the monks and nuns ordination. If you are interested, you have the opportunity
to become an ordinance Sangha and if you are not interested in that, you can
take the lay precepts for lay practitioners. In any case, you have the same
opportunity to study and practice the precious Dharma teachings.
Sometimes, we feel that Buddha is too high up there, so unreachable while we
know so little and our mind is so fragile. In order for us who are unenlightened,
who study and practice the precious Dharma teachings, to see how much we are
progressing in our practices, we look at those highly accomplished great Sangha
members like Tara and Chenrizig who also practiced. Read their life stories
to see how they first started the study and practice of the Dharma teachings
and how they progress on the path. We look at those great practitioners who
give us inspirations to study and practice in the same way. This is called taking
refuge in the Sangha. We take refuge in them and affirm, "I will practice
as they did. They have indivisible, complete, one-pointed confidence towards
enlightenment, buddhahood. They got the experience through study and meditation
practices. They are such great and inspiring Dharma practitioners. I must take
refuge in them." This is the reason why Sangha is there for us.
There are two types of Sanghas - hinnayana (or Shravakas or Pratyekabuddha)
school and the mahayana (or bodhisattva) school. There are five paths towards
complete enlightenment- path of preparation, path of accumulation, path of special
insight, path of meditation and path of no more learning or the perfect path.
" Path of preparation and path of accumulation - both are in the unenlightened
stage. Practitioners who are in these stages are not free from the samsara.
They study and practice the Dharma. They organize and accomplish their activities,
but have not reached the enlightened quality yet. They need to study more to
reach the next path.
" Path of special insight - Those great accomplished practitioners who
have achieved the realization of special insight, are called "entering
into the stream of enlightenment" or "stream entering". They
practice and develop all the necessary qualities to enter the fourth path.
" Path of meditation - There are two classes, namely, "once returning"
and "non-returning". "Once returning" because in case if
they cannot progress fully, they have to reborn once more to accomplish their
meditation practices. However, if they make enough effort within one life, they
enter into the path of "non-returning" without reborn again.
" Path of perfection - those who achieved this path are called arhats.
The four enemies and all the gross afflicting emotions are fully purified. We
take refuge in them because they are free from the samsara.
In the mahayana system or the bodhisattva school, there are ten levels to achieve.
After achieving the first two paths (path of preparation and accumulation),
from the third path on, there are ten bodhisattvas' levels or bhumis to achieve.
So we take refuge in them especially those bodhisattvas who have attained the
eighth bhumis. They have great confidence and strength. They have purified all
the gross delusions and only very subtle obscuration left to be purified. They
have great skill, great mental power to transform things.
In order to be a good practitioner, to be a good Sangha, we study "The
Four Foundations" or "the four ways to turn the mind" or the
four preliminaries.
1. Precious human life
This kind of leisure and endowment is supremely difficult to obtain. When we
obtain this body which is easily lost, do not waste it meaninglessly, but rather
use it to attain the ultimate liberation, joyous result.
The precious human life has two excellent qualities - leisure and endowment,
which is very difficult to obtain. Leisure means having time. It is difficult
to have time to study and practice because we keep ourselves so busy rushing
here and there. We have lots of commitments, obligations and are facing lots
of pressure. In fact, leisure is difficult to find in the whole of samsara.
It is even more difficult to find leisure if we are born in other realms. Beings
who are born in the hell realm are constantly suffering. Thus, they do not have
time to study and practice. The same is true for beings in the hungry ghost
realm. If you are born as an animal, you have no power or wisdom. If you ask
a cat or dog to sit down and meditate, or teach them virtue and non-virtue,
they have no idea what you are talking about. Even though they may be very clever
and smarter than some human beings, they do not have discriminating wisdom to
know what virtuous actions are and how to practice virtuous actions and what
non-virtuous actions are and how to avoid them. They spend time looking for
something, just want to get something. That is why animals have no time and
opportunities to study and practice the Dharma. In god realm, beings experience
lots of joy and happiness temporarily. Because of such great peace and happiness,
they are not interested in the Dharma study. When mind is completely peaceful
and calm with no suffering or problem, they see no reason why they should sit
down and meditate. They feel relaxed already. Beings in the god realm are of
that nature, so they do not have the leisure to study. Even in the human realm,
you can be born in a place where Buddha's name is not known. Some heard about
the Buddha but are not interested in the Dharma study. Some do not understand
or believe in the universal law of causes and result, that is, virtue brings
peace and happiness while non-virtue brings suffering. They, too, do not have
the opportunity to study and practice the Dharma teachings. Some do not have
enough mental power to receive or to communicate Dharma teachings and to study
and practice the Dharma. In all, we have to free from the eight unfavorable
conditions. That is why having interest, time and conditions to study and practice
the Dharma is so precious and rare.
Endowment is opportunities and good conditions. There are ten different types
of endowments.
" One has to be a human being.
" One has all the physical and mental faculties - one can read, see, hear,
talk and have the ability to understand.
" One has to born in a place where there is Dharma teachings.
" One is free from heavy negative karma
If one has committed heavy negative action, that negative karma will prevent
one from freeing from samsara in one life time.
" One has to have inspiration, faith and interest in the Dharma study and
practice.
The above five conditions are obtained from within oneself. If any of the five
is missing, there is no chance to study and practice the Dharma.
" Buddha has to be in this world.
" Buddha must have taught.
" Buddhas' teachings must continue to be taught
" There are spiritual masters who can explain these teachings and there
are practitioners who follow the teachings.
" There are dedicated and devoted supporters who support and organize teaching
programs and facilitate the study and practice of the Dharma.
These five conditions come from the outside. If any of them is missing, we lose
the chance to study and practice the Dharma.
Having these favorable conditions is rare like seeing evening stars during the
day. There are only a few who have them. Look at animals, countless of them,
living in the forest, in the oceans and in the air. If you were born as one
of them, how can you study and practice the Dharma? At that time, no matter
how much you suffer, you have to take it because there is no other choice. You
do not have the chance to reason, to debate. We human beings have the right
to go to the court to appeal; while in the animal world, there is no such opportunity.
Moreover, they suffer so much when people torture them. They cannot defend themselves
but to suffer. As human beings, we have the opportunity to look around, to find
solutions to free from suffering. There are many ways even without Dharma. You
can talk to your family, your friends and other people. You can move to different
places. So you see how rare and precious it is to obtain the precious human
life. So we cannot afford to waste life like animals do. Animals spend their
time just to get food and shelter. They go from places to places to eat grass,
to drink water. In that way, they die one day. If we do the same, we are like
animals. Human beings can do much better than animals do because as human beings,
we have great mental power and mental capacity.
There are three different levels of capacities - inferior, middle and superior
capacities. Even when we are of inferior capacity, we still have opportunity
to receive the Dharma teachings, to avoid non-virtues and negative karma to
be reborn in the lower realms. Even if we are not free from samsara in this
lifetime, we can make effort to be reborn as a human being again in the next
life. However, if you constantly make negative karma, there is no way to be
reborn as human again. When the mind is dominated by hatred and craving, we
are making connection to the lower realm even in this lifetime. Our negative
thoughts make us suffer miserably. But there is solution to that. Just look
at the opportunity we have. Individually, we can achieve arhats to free ourselves
from suffering. For supreme beings, they see suffering in the samsara and they
want to free from suffering. They see also that all other sentient beings likewise
desire to free from suffering. Thus, it is not enough just to free themselves
from suffering. They cultivate altruistic thought to attain complete enlightenment
for all sentient beings. There are many other ways for us to develop our capacities.
For example, we can do the OM AH HUNG meditation to send wisdom and compassion
to all sentient beings and to purify their obscurations. We can read the history
and life stories of Buddhas or bodhisattvas who have helped countless sentient
beings. They have that kind of capacities. Millions of people follow their path
step by step. Thousands of years passed and they are still highly respected
and admired. They study and practice according to the Dharma and they can achieve
such high capacity. Seeing so many great opportunities we have, we cannot afford
to waste time and energies but to develop ourselves to attain ultimate liberation.
This is the only way to free from suffering and experience the ultimate peace.
When there is no suffering, peace is just there.
Buddha gave an analogy showing how difficult it is to obtain the precious human
life. Buddha said, "Suppose this whole world and planet is ocean. Underneath
this ocean, there is a tortoise who is supposed to live for many thousand years.
This tortoise is blind and only comes up to the surface of the ocean every 100
years. On the surface of the ocean, there is a yolk (a piece of log wood) which
has one hole in the middle. The yolk is carried by the ocean waves. The tortoise
has no eye to look for the piece of wood and the piece of wood has no mind to
look for the tortoise. Every 100 year, the tortoise comes out to the surface
for just a very short moment. The chance that the tortoise's head will meet
the hole of the yolk is very rare. However, it is even more difficult to be
born with the precious human life. There are countless sentient beings in the
world, human and non-human. How many are studying and practicing the Dharma
sincerely and with great devotion? Very, very rare."
So we should rejoice and appreciate the precious human life that we have. We
must have done something good in our past life to be born as human and to meet
the Dharma teachings. Dharma comes to the west for only the last 20 to 30 years.
Before that, there is not much Dharma to study. Rejoice and cherish such opportunity.
Remind and uplift yourself to study and practice the Dharma diligently. With
all the opportunities that we can purify our delusion and to free ourselves
from suffering. We cannot stay arrogantly because this life can be easily lost.
We can die any day. Life is so fragile like a bubble in the water.
2. Impermanence
The nature of all phenomena is impermanence. Death is a certainty for all who
are born. Death can descend any time like a drop of morning dew on a blade of
grass. Quick! It is time to make effort for the essence of Dharma.
All phenomena, outer phenomena like oceans, mountains, rivers, sun and moon
and all inner phenomena that lie within all sentient beings are impermanent.
They change from moment to moment. The Rocky Mountains looks very solid but
they are constantly changing. When earthquake comes, mountain collapses. When
volcano erupts, the whole mountain is destroyed. All the rocks are dissolved
into the fire. See how fragile everything is. When the fire becomes so strong,
no matter how powerful rocks and metal are, they all dissolved into the fire
like water. Everything is impermanent. Likewise, death is a certainty for all
who are born. This is not being negative, but rather it gives us an opportunity
to see what reality really is. Just look at ourselves, do we have the choice
of not dying? Whether you believe in death or not, you will die anyway. That
is why it is crucial to see the reality. We do not want to hear that because
it is unpleasant and there is lots of suffering relating to that. If death is
wonderful and pleasant, we would like to talk about that, won't we? At the time
of death, we want peace and happiness. To obtain that, we need to prepare our
mind already now. At this moment, we are sacrificing our time and energy for
tomorrow's happiness. So, why not sacrifice our time and energy for the happiness
and peace at the time of death.
To prepare our mind at the time of death, it is very important to know more
about death or the experience of death. When we sit down and meditate, take
a deep breath and contemplate this way:
Some day I will die. It is definite. But I do not know when. It could be tomorrow.
At that time, do I have the confidence of dying peacefully and joyfully? When
death comes, nobody can help. My best friends and relatives cannot help. My
family members have always been so kind and loving to me. They do everything
for me. At the time of my death, they too cannot do anything for me. I have
to go through that all by myself. What kind of confidence do I have at that
time? My body becomes corpse. My body, which I cherish so much, would be taken
out from the house. No matter how important I used to be in the family, they
cannot keep the body even for one day. No matter how dear those people around
me are, they cannot keep me with them for one day. They will cry and scream.
That is all they can do.
Just contemplate on that. That is why I have to practice the Dharma. The precious
Dharma teachings can help us at that time. If we can study and practice the
Dharma well, from the experiences and realizations from our practices, we can
die peacefully and joyfully. Reflecting on impermanence this way inspired us
to study and practice the Dharma, on a day-to-day basis, without delay.
This was what Milarepa did. He studied and practiced the Dharma every moment.
He had no procession except just a clay pot which he used to cook his food (nettle).
One day, he traveled from one place to another and he happened to fall down
on the ground. The pot broke right a way. Just that moment reminded him so strongly
of impermanence. He was so grateful to receive such a strong and fresh teaching.
Normally, if we do not aware of impermanence, when the pot breaks, we would
feel so sad and negative. "The only pot that I have is now broken. Oh!
I am the unluckiest person in this world. Now I have to get another pot."
We are not grateful to the fresh and strong teaching of impermanence. All phenomena
are composite, especially this human life, depending on causes and conditions.
We are living our lives moment to moment and we are moving closer and closer
to death. The purpose of reflecting on impermanence is to release our attachment,
hatred and anger. Everything is of momentary nature, why should I attach so
much or hate that person so much? I am going to die and that person is also
going to die. So what is the use of hatred? What benefit does that bring? Nothing!
Just suffering! This is a very effective practice if we know how to apply it
in the right way. If we hold on to our attachment, resentment and hatred in
our mind, when we hear about impermanence, it is depressing. We would like to
hold on to that. For example, we like the house very much. When the house is
damaged by fire, flood or earthquake, we get very depressed. The reason is because
we do not realize the nature of impermanence.
Milarepa possessed nothing living in the cave. One day, his sister, who was
also very poor, came to see him after many years of separation. She was very
depressed and said, "Brother, there is nothing in this place. You have
no food to eat and no clothes to wear. I am your sister feeling ashamed seeing
you like this. You can go and beg for food. We are the worst people that exist
in this world. Can you do something better than this?" She tried to encourage
him to go down to the village to make a better living. Milarepa said, "Sister,
please do not worry about me. I am practicing the Dharma. Life is impermanence
and my teacher told me to do this way. Right now, you feel that I am not successful
in life, but in reality, I am the most successful person in this world. I met
the best teacher and received the most profound teachings. I am fully dedicated
in the practice. No doubt in the future, I will achieve the best result that
you cannot imagine." Still, she could not accept that. "You are saying
so nice things but practically, you have no food." Milarepa said, "It
does not matter, I can live this way. I dedicate my life this way to purify
my negative karma. Life is so impermanence and I have no time to waste, no time
to go and wander around. Every minute is so important and precious. If you look
at my place, it looks crazy because there is nothing. Even enemies come will
have sympathy. But when Buddha sees my mind, Buddha feels so happy and rejoice."
Milarepa practiced so joyfully. He felt himself as being the most fortunate
and successful person. He had that kind of mental power. That is why he could
sustain that.
It is important to reflect on impermanence in our daily life. See how quickly
the cars passing by the highways. See how the watch is moving every second.
Every moment is impermanent. Look at our mind, it moves so fast from thoughts
to thoughts, never stops. See how impermanent all phenomena are. From there,
we release all our attachment. Look at how fresh the flower is today; one day,
it will dry out and fade away. That means that it is fading every moment. Look
at people who are dying. I too will die one day. What should I do during that
time? Everything is of illusory nature. So release all our negative thoughts
to bring forth peace and calmness in the mind. Generate loving kindness and
compassion and to inspire myself to study and practice these precious teachings.
This is the purpose of contemplating on death.
Death can descend any time like a drop of morning dew on the blade of grass.
In the morning, when you look at the grass, there are many drops of dew on the
grass and as soon as the sunshine comes, they all fall down on the ground and
evaporate. See how we are breathing in and out every moment. If you just breathe
out and not breathe in, our lives will finish. I cannot prove that I am healthy
and young. People may die at the time of birth. Some die young while some die
when they are old. Eventually everyone goes. At that time, no matter how much
we cry, how much we say, "I love you. Please do not go." All just
finish like a dream. Look at the impermanent nature and mediate on that and
develop positive thoughts.
It is time to make effort for the essence of Dharma. It is time because we have
the precious human life and we have received the Dharma teachings and we understand
them. Now is the time to study and practice in order to bring the teachings
to the mind and to apply them. There was a great master who was so inspired
to practice the Dharma teachings especially on impermanence. The master lived
in a cave and there was a thorny bush at the door step which gave him a hard
time to get in and out of the cave. His clothes were torn by the thorn every
time he passed by. He thought, "May be I should clear this bush. But now
that I got in the cave, I may not have time to get out. So what is the use to
clear the bush? If I am dead inside the cave, there is no benefit to cut the
bush. Forget it." He went on with his meditation practice. Then when he
got out, the thorn again made it difficult for him to get out. So he thought,
"May be I should cut this bush. Now that I am out, I may not have time
to get in again. So what is the use of cutting this bush?" He was meditating
like that all the time. When he achieved enlightenment, the bush was still there.
Other people may think that he was so lazy because he did not cut the bush.
But for him, it reminded him so much of impermanence. He was so inspired and
so devoted. He was doing more important great things than just small causal
thing. Contemplate on impermanence is very effective. We are living in the state
of impermanence whether we believe it or not. Since impermanence is so close
to us, we can reflect on it easily. It is so helpful and so useful to us.
3. Karma cause and effect
The fruit of one's positive karma is happiness. Suffering is the fruit of negative
karma. The inexorable karmic causation is the mode of abiding of all Dharma.
Henceforth, practice the Dharam by distinguishing between what should be practiced
and what should be given up.
Karma is not a belief system. Sometimes, we say that we believe in karma or
we do not believe in karma. If you do not believe in the karma, does it mean
that there is no karma? Karma, in Sanskrit, means action. When you put action
physically and mentally, that becomes a cause to bring the result. That is karma.
In reality if we study carefully, karma is not just a belief system. Everything
in this universe is constituted in the dimension of cause and result. We are
creating cause every moment and we are experiencing result of our past actions.
If it exists only within the belief system, which means that, if one belief
in it, there is karma cause and karma result; if one do not belief in it, there
is no karma cause and result. In that case, it is better not to believe it.
Why worry about it at all since we are creating more negative karma than positive
karma. It is better not believe in the karma. Just forget it and relax. Since
this is not the case, karma is the cause that brings the result. In fact, we
are experiencing the result and creating the karma cause at the same time. We
do not know what will happen this afternoon or tomorrow because we do not know
all the causes that we have created to bring the result that we are going to
experience.
Knowing karma helps us to become more responsible and conscious of our own actions.
We better not make any karma to be born in the hell realm or the hungry ghost
realm because sentient beings suffer terribly there. Even in human lives, we
cannot bear even a small physical suffering, so how can we bear and tolerate
the suffering in the hell or hungry ghost realm? We should make every effort
not to make any negative karma. Positive karma brings happiness and it is a
result of virtuous actions, while negative karma brings suffering and it is
a result of non-virtuous actions. So all the beings in the lower realms - hell,
hungry ghost and animal realm are suffering because of the non-virtues that
they have created. To be a human being like us, we must done virtuous actions.
Now that we are born with a precious human life with all the good opportunities,
we should make every effort to progress further. Individually, we have to take
responsibility. Happiness and suffering are all created by ourselves. The inexorable
karma causation is the mode of abiding of all Dharmas, means that the whole
universe is constituted within this law of cause and result.
Henceforth, we should practice the Dharma by distinguishing between what should
be practiced and what should be given up. Therefore, the ten virtues are the
objects of our practice and the ten non-virtues are the are the objects for
us to get rid of from our mind and our actions. When something goes wrong, instead
of fear or worry, we should see it as opportunity to correct it and to apply
the Dharma practice. See the impermanent nature of all phenomena. If I can fix
the problem, I should try my best to fix it. If I cannot fix it, there is no
use to worry about it. It is gone. This is the way to inspire and remind ourselves
to keep doing virtuous actions and having virtuous thoughts. On the other hand,
if we are not aware of impermanence, when something, which is not supposed to
happen happens, we worry so much. We blame somebody else. When we do that, all
the argument and negative thoughts arise from there. It creates such a negative
environment.
When we are in samsara, we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Samsara
has no absolute peace. Suffering is bound to come. I do not want all these suffering
but I have no ability to free myself from suffering. Therefore, I am depending
on Buddha, Dharma and Sangha to show me the path how to free us from the suffering
of samsara. That is what taking refuge means.
4. Suffering of samsara
In the three lower realms and even in the three higher ones, there is not an
instant of absolute happiness. I will avoid the root cause of samsaric existence
and practice the excellent path of peace to enlightenment.
The beings in the hell realm suffer constantly from extreme heat or extreme
cold. Some beings stay alive inside a volcano. Under such hot temperature, even
rocks and metals melt in the fire. So, you can imagine how much suffering those
beings have. This is called the hot hell realm. They do not die because of the
karma they have created. It shows the power of such karma cause. There are beings
who live in snow mountains. Sometimes we see on the television how frogs freeze
with the water during the winter and remain inactive until spring comes. Then
when snow slowly melts away, the frogs shake their bodies and move again. Can
you imagine staying frozen the whole winter, not able to move or eat? This is
called the cold hell realm. Actually, the hell realm does not necessarily exist
in a particular place. It can be anywhere.
There are lots of flies flying above the water but cannot land on the ground.
They fly very close to the ground up and down the whole day. They want to drink
the water because of the thirst, but they feel that somebody is preventing them
to drink water. So they stay up and down like that the whole day. There are
animals living in the middle of the dessert and cannot get any water for many
days. They suffer from the lack of food and drink. This is called the hungry
ghost realm.
Animals, as we can see, suffer so much from their stupidity. There is suffering
the three higher realms too. Human beings are supposed to have much better lives
and more opportunities, but still we suffer quite a lot. We suffer from sickness,
aging and death. We suffer from not getting what we want and getting what we
do not want. Even if we have good food to eat, good place to live, we still
suffer. Suffering is bound to come. Seeing that nature, we must make effort
to free ourselves from this cycle. Now that we have Dharma teachings and have
lots of opportunities, we have to apply the teachings. When we suffer, we should
understand that the causes of suffering we created by ourselves. Being depressed
or sad does not help us to get out of that. We should renounce the cause of
suffering and practice the Dharma sincerely. Dharma is the most precious thing
we have in life.
The root cause of suffering in samsara is the ten non-virtues. We should avoid
and renounce them. When we avoid all the nonvirtues, there is peace. For example,
not taking life, when we respect our lives and protect other lives, we can live
peacefully. Small bugs runs away from us in fear that their lives are endangered.
If we can extend our protection to them, they too can live peacefully. When
we harm other lives, it is like harming our own lives. The result of our actions
will prevent our mind from having mental peace. Our mind is dominated by fear
and suffering. When we protect other lives, we are protecting our lives as well.
For example, when we do not pollute the environment, we are protecting the lives
of all other animals as well as our lives. If we destroy the environment for
some selfish reason, we have to experience the result of that too. Nonvirtue
is not something that Buddha made up intellectually, but rather Buddha clearly
see the consequences to both parties - for the one who does that and for the
receiver and for both. When we do not engage in non-virtues, peace and harmony
will come. When you see someone on the road and say, "Hi!" to that
person, that person then smiles and say, "Hi!" back to you. Since
that person get some benefit and he or she response back to you and as a result,
you get some benefit back. This is how we can build a good environment, how
the response goes back and forth. On the other hand, when someone comes by and
you show an angry face, that person would probably not like it and response
in an uncomfortable way. Thus, the environment becomes tense and uneasy. So
this is about cause and result, virtue and non-virtue. It is simple, isn't it?
Buddha clearly knew and saw that the suffering nature in samsara. Therefore,
he gave us guidance and teachings that deal mainly with how to heal our mind.
When the mind is healed, our body is healed. When we know how to relax the mind,
it relaxes the body. When we know how to build the strength of the mind, we
know how to build our strength physically. When our mind is in the wrong place,
very fragile and full of negative thoughts, that ruins our health too. So we
have to heal the mind, build the strength of the mind, bring clarity and peace
to the mind. In that way, our body would be in good condition. When you are
angry and aggressive, the whole body becomes tense and uneasy, even our facial
expression changes. When we suffer mentally, our physical body suffers too.
This is called causes and effect. It happens from moment to moment. Like walking,
the first step is the cause of the second step. Without the first step, there
is no second step. The second step is the cause to the third step. Without the
second step, there is no third step. This is what cause and effect is. The first
moment you sit down and meditate, it bring peace in the mind to the second moment,
then the third moment and so on, continue in the mind. The moment we have aggressive
thoughts, they become a cause to bring suffering in the mind. Suffering continues
until those thoughts disappear. All the mental formation are formed in this
way whether in a peaceful or negative.
Chenrezig is one of the greatest and most popular Sanghas. Most people know
his mantra OM MANI PADMI HUNG. Why do we take refuge in Chenrezig? If you study
the life story of Chenrezig, you learn that he was a great Boddhisattva. Even
though he is enlightened, he manifests as bodhisattvas life after life for the
benefit of all sentient beings until all sentient beings are free from suffering.
Therefore, we put Chenrezig on the refuge tree as part of the Sangha. When we
visualize Sangha, we place Chenrezig in the center.
In the beginning, Chenrezig was, like us, an ordinary person who was aware of
the suffering nature of samsara and was inspired to free from samsara. He took
refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. He studied and practiced the Dharma
teachings. His compassion developed more and more. Especially, when he saw the
suffering all sentient beings, he was overwhelmed. He developed such great compassion
that he promised to stay in the samsara to help all sentient beings until all
are free from suffering. Like that, he practiced and cultivated bodhicitta in
front of many buddhas, for hundred thousands of buddhas and especially in front
of Buddha Amitabha. Chenrezig said, "I would not attain enlightenment until
all sentient beings are free from samsara!" In this way, he benefited sentient
beings. One time, he checked to see if sentient beings suffered less. When he
saw that sentient beings' suffering was immense and that the number of sentient
beings who suffer did not decrease, he was so overwhelmed that tears came to
his eyes. The tears from the right eye transformed into Green Tara and the left
transformed into wrathful Tara. Then Tara said to him, "You do not worry.
We will help you to help all sentient beings in the samsara. Any one who need
help, we will help them." Tara was called the daughter of Chenrezig. Tara
inspired and encouraged Chenrezig. Chenrezig continued to benefit sentient beings
one life after another. Then he cultivated such strong bodhicitta in front of
Buddha Amitabha by saying, "If I ever only think of myself and my own peace,
may my face racks into many pieces!" In another word, if his bodhicitta
declined, may his head and face crack into many pieces. He created such strong
commitment in practicing bodhicitta. Then after a long time, Chenrezig continued
benefiting sentient beings, but suffering never decrease. Then one day, he thought,
"I have worked so much and suffering is not getting less. It looks like
it is not possible. May be I should just have peace for myself." As soon
as he thought that, because of the precious powerful commitment he made, his
face cracked into many pieces and immediately Buddha Amitabha appeared and said,
"You do not think like that. I am here all the time to help you."
So through meditation, Buddha Amitabha skillfully transformed his face into
ten heads. On the top is Buddha Amitabha's head. Buddha Amitabha said, "I
am here all the time with you. Not only that, you have one thousand hands and
in each hand, there is an eye. Altogether, thousand eyes and thousand hands."
Through Buddha Amitabha's blessing and Chenrezig's skill, Chenrezig could manifest
thousand kinds of manifestations in one instance to help and benefit sentient
beings. Like that, Chenrezig progressed and his bodhicitta grew stronger and
stronger. Still rightl now, Chenrezig continues his activities. He has vowed,
"I will not attain enlightenment until all sentient beings are free from
suffering in the samsara!" Therefore, we take refuge in Chenrezig. We are
inspired by his motivation and the strength in his mind. Chenrezig cultivates
his great compassionate mind for all the sentient beings. Therefore, if we take
refuge in great bodhisattvas, study and practice the Dharma, their blessings
are always within us. We take refuge in the Sangha to cultivate our bodhicitta
just like them and follow the path step by step just like they did.
Great bodhisattvas do suffer when they train themselves to cultivate bodhicitta
for the benefit of all sentient beings. Gampopa, for example, was an historical
being who lived on this planet in Tibet around the 11th century. He was the
foremost disciple of Milarepa. Gampopa studied medicine and became a very famous
doctor. He was a very important figure in the medical history. He was married
and then after some time, due to some contagious disease, his wife and two children
died. Because of that, he saw the suffering nature of samsara, he promised himself
to study and practice the Dharma. He dedicated a third of his wealth to offer
to monks, nuns and lamas everywhere. The rest he kept for his meditation practice.
He went to monastery to become a monk studying and practicing the Dharma. That
monastery belonged to the Atisha, Kadampa school. There, he studied lots of
sutras. He took all the ordination and monks' vows. He studied during the day
and meditated at night. He became such a great Dharma practitioner. All the
teachers, monks and nuns in the school had high hope that he would become a
great teacher. He studied all the vinaya, sutra system and vajrayana teachings.
In addition, he received all the empowerments. He could meditate for days without
eating food. He could breathe just once a day because his mind is so calm and
peaceful. Everyone respected him. One day in the late afternoon, when he was
in his retreat inside a cave, three beggars came. It was getting late and they
were preparing a very simple dinner while discussing. "I wish we had a
nice delicious dinner to prepare. Unfortunately, we do not have that."
Another person said, "If you would like to make a wish, you should wish
for something better than that. You can wish that you would be the King of Tibet
who has the authority and power to rule over the whole country." Yet another
person said, "That is also samsara. Being a king is impermanent. You should
wish for something even better than that. You should wish to be like Milarepa,
that is, to attain enlightenment in one lifetime. Then, like Milarepa, sometimes,
you do not have to eat. You can fly and can manifest into many different forms.
You should wish to be like that kind of person."
Gampopa, as soon as he heard the name, Milarepa, his mind and body were unsettled,
trembling. He prayed and meditated the whole night. The next morning, he invited
those three beggars to his meditation cave and he prepared a very nice meal
as they wished. While they were enjoying the meal, Gampopa asked, "Yesterday,
you talked about Milarepa, which I have not heard before. Where can I see him?"
The man replied, "I have no idea where he is. I heard that he lives way
up in the western Tibet. I also heard that many people go to see him."
Gampopa asked, "Can you help me?" The man replied, "No, I cannot
help you. I am not going there." Another man said, "I will help you.
I am going in that direction, but I am not going to see him. You can go with
me." Gampopa made all preparation. He went to all his teachers and asked
for permission to leave. Some teachers said, "We do not really want you
to go because we all have high hope and expectation that you would be a great
teacher and we know that you will do a good job for the school and monastery.
But we have no choice. You just go." He got permission from all the teachers
and he set out for the journey.
Milarepa was eighty years old. He was giving teachings to all his disciples.
Some disciples asked him, "Now that you are getting old, if you have to
pass away, are there some special students that you can rely on, hold your throne
and your lineage, as well as answer our Dharma questions?" Milarepa said,
"I am a yogi. I do not expect that I have a special lineage. I have no
throne and no monastery. But I will see tomorrow morning who will receive all
my teachings." Everyone came the next morning. They looked to see who that
person could be. Milarepa said, "From the center of Tibet, a great teacher
is coming to receive all my teachings. He will take all the teachings and benefit
all the sentient beings. He will promote Buddhas' teachings. He is coming."
Gampopa was on the road. After some time, the beggar said, "I have to go
this way. You go that way. If you do not know the road, you may ask people along
the road to help you." Gampopa went on and on, he began to feel sick. He
had no company walking in an unknown place. He was tired after traveling for
so many days with his travel bag. He got sick and felt down on the road, fainted.
When he woke up, a monk was looking at him. He said, "You look sick."
Gampopa said, "I am not feeling well. May be I will die. Would you please
give me some water?" Gampopa felt much better after he drank. During that
time, Milarepa was giving teachings to all his monks. While he was giving teachings,
he stopped, kept quiet for a while and then smiled. All the students wondered
what he was doing. One of the monks stood up, did prostrations to him and asked,
"Why did you smile like that? Something happened to the Sangha members?
Maybe some negative thoughts that you saw?" Milarepa said, "I see
none of these here. The great teacher from the center of Tibet I mentioned got
sick on the road. He felt down. Then the monk came, gave him water and he felt
much better. This was what I saw." Gampopa arrived. Milarepa welcomed him.
Milarepa was sitting on a piece of rock. Two disciples, Rechungpa on the right
and Charwura on the left, supported Milarepa. Milarepa welcomed Gampopa. Milarepa
gave special welcome instructions to Gampopa and Gampopa offered his offerings.
Milarepa said, "If you want to receive teachings and want to practice,
you have to live like me. You have to follow my way." Like that, Gampopa
stayed for three years with Milarepa receiving teachings during the day and
meditated in the cave during night. During those times, there were lots of experiences.
Sometimes, Gampopa saw the seven medicine buddhas, thousand buddhas. He went
to Milarepa to tell him what he saw and asked what he should do. Milarepa said,
"Oh! This is nothing important. If you see medicine buddha, it is fine.
Just continue your practice. If you see a thousand buddhas, that is fine. Just
continue your practice." Then one time, Gampopa saw Chakrasamvara's whole
mandala vividly in front of him with all the deities. Again, Milarepa told him
that that was not important. So he went back to continue his practice. Gampopa
said, "Even though my lama said that it was not important. I felt good!"
Gampopa stayed with him for another three years and received the complete teachings
and meditation practice. One day, Milarepa said, "You saw buddha in nirmanakaya
form with thousand buddhas. You saw buddha in sambogakaya form. Soon you will
see buddha in dharmakaya form. That means that you will achieve enlightenment."
Milarepa gave all the instructions to Gampopa and said, "You go to the
mountain and meditate. Do not wander in the town. Do not talk too much with
the people. Just stay by yourself and practice. After some time, you will see
directly buddha dharmakaya. At that time, you will see me as a buddha, not like
this old poor man. You will have a special devotion and then you can start helping
sentient beings and start giving teachings." Gampopa left and he continued
to do his meditation practices for some time. He actualized directly dharmakaya
within his own mind, he revealed completely his buddha nature, directly and
vividly. He made a special song at that time. He wanted to continue his meditation
and he made promise and commitment to do another twelve-year retreat. At that
time, a dakini appeared to him, "Instead of doing a twelve-year retreat,
you better give teachings." Gampopa established his monastery there and
started giving teachings. Thousands of students came to receive teachings. Since
he had such great skills in teachings, many disciples benefited greatly from
the teachings.
That is why we take refuge in Gampopa. By looking at his qualities and how he
practiced the Dharma teachings, we are inspired to follow his path. Taking refuge
in the Sangha means taking example in the Sangha. We follow their path in the
study and practice of the Dharma. Since Sanghas like Milarepa, Gampopa were
historical persons who study and practice the Dharma successfully and achieve
high realizations, we can also do the same. We should be inspired, encouraged
to develop and build such qualities.
Tara was like Chenrezig. Countless eons ago, there was a king, who was very
devoted to Buddha and his disciples. The king has a princess who, like his father,
was a devotee to Buddha and his disciples. For thousands of years, she did great
service and cultivated her mind to achieve enlightenment by taking refuge in
the Buddha , Dharma and Sangha. Because of her great deeds, some monks said
to her, "In your life, you are in woman form. Next time, you should pray
to be born as a man." The princess said, "Man and woman form are just
illusory in nature. It does not matter. There are a few Buddhas who come in
woman's form. I will cultivate boddhicitta in woman's form. I will practice
Dharma and achieve buddhahood in woman's form. I will manifest all the activities
in woman's form." Then she practiced Dharma and received teachings for
thousands of years and kalpas. When she achieved high realization and saw the
suffering of all sentient beings, her compassion and commitment was so powerful
that she made promises, "If I do not benefit that many sentient beings,
I will not eat breakfast. If I do not benefit that many sentient beings, I will
not eat lunch." Like that, she dedicated her life to study and practice
the Dharma. Lots of demons and maras were so afraid of her because she was so
powerful. She got the name Tara, the liberator, who liberate all sentient beings
from suffering. Dromla means she gave hard time to demons and maras. They were
so afraid of her. She was a strong woman. She helped Chenrezig when he had a
hard time helping sentient beings. She said to Chenrezig, "I will help
you. You do not worry. If you need me, just call me and I will be there."
Tara was known in the vajrayana system but not i Triyana system because of her
bodhicitta practice was not emphasised i Triyana system. Of course, she was
very popular i vajrayana system in Tibet and India.
Atisha was a great teacher in India in the 10th century. He is one of the prominent
teachers at the Nalanda University in India. At that time, the university was
the biggest in the whole world. Thousands of monks and great scholars were working
there and Atisha was one of them. While he was in charge of the university,
he had the opportunity to see Tara face to face and talked to Tara. When he
went to Indonesia to receive bodhicitta teaching, he traveled by ship for thirteen
months. On the sea, sometimes tornadoes arrived and all the ship went upside
down and at that time, he prayed to Tara, "Please help me!" He composed
some prayers and said them strongly. After he said those prayers, all the tornadoes
were pacified. He became very successful and went to Indonesia. Indonesia was
at that time a very big buddhist country. Suvarnadvipa Dharmakirti was the great
master of bodhicitta who gave the teachings. Atisha went there to receive all
the teachings of bodhicitta. The lineage came from Asanga. He came back to India.
Then he wanted to go to Tibet. Many great teachers at the Nalanda University
asked him not to go because they needed him to teach there. Some said that he
should go. Atisha asked Tara what he should do. Tara said, "You should
go because you will benefit so many sentient beings. Even though your life will
be a little shorten if you go." So Atisha followed Tara's advice. So Tara
was popular in India among all vajrayana practitioners. Because of that, she
became popular in Tibet. There were many great teachers who saw Tara face to
face and received teachings to free from obstacles in the meditation practices.
Tara was a great bodhisattva. Therefore, we take refuge in Tara as a Sangha.
There are Green Tara, White Tara, Red Tara, in peaceful form as well as in wrathful
form.
It is important to understand that we take refuge from where we are. Do not
think that something magical will happen. There is no magical thing. We look
at our weaknesses and use the Dharma teachings that we received to purify all
our weaknesses. We purify all our negative thoughts and suffering without expectation.
Just bring the Dharma to the heart and study with confidence. We follow enlightened
people's life and examples. We should feel fortunate to have such precious opportunity.
We bring peace to our mind, to our family and our work place, and be a good
example. In that way, we can help many sentient beings. We should do this without
expectation. If people appreciate it, it is wonderful. They understand the meaning
of what you are doing. If they do not respect you and do not understand, that
is fine too. It does not matter so long as your mind is peaceful. That is most
important. We do not have to change other's mind. If they ask for help, we try
our best to share our knowledge, methods, skills and wisdom sincerely without
expectation. This is the best way to practice.
As we have already discussed, buddha nature is the primary cause to attain enlightenment,
to free from samsara. To awake the mind, we first have to attain a spiritual
master and Sangha who provide a good environment to study and practice the Dharma
teachings. Then we get interested in the Dharma teachings. It is crucial to
have Dharma connection from our previous lives. If you do not have such a seed
to get interested in the Dharma, no matter how much you give good Dharma teachings
to that person, he or she feels that the teachings do not make much sense. Then
you may wonder why? That is because that person has no connection from other
lifetimes. That is why it is so precious that we have interest in the Dharma
teachings. Our mind will not die and this kind of interest has to come from
within. We must have aspiration and motivation from previous lives, like this,
"May I be born as a human being and may I meet the Dharma teachings. May
I make such a connection to free from samsara to attain enlightenment."
That kind of strong aspiration prayers we made. In addition, we have done good
things in this life to avoid all the unfavorable causes, and put together all
the favorable conditions. We are not here without any causes and conditions.
So we see that and acknowledge such great opportunity that we have. Dharma is
good because it not just tell us what to do and avoid, but it also points out
directly to us the universal law, the reason why and how we should do things.
Dharma gives so much descriptions, so many reasons to why and how. That gives
us wisdom to follow on the path.
There are three faiths or three confidences in the Dharma.
1. Trusting faith or confidence
It means that one has faith in the universal law of karma causes and effects.
One understands that positive karma will bring all the peace and harmony to
lives and the negative causes will bring suffering. We see that through delusion,
non-virtues is the cause that bring suffering in the lower realms while virtues
is the cause to be born as human being and in the god realm. Follow the meditation
path, we can achieve enlightenment, free from suffering of samsara. See that
nature, investigate and understand that thoroughly. Faith and trust develop
in this way. This is the faith of trusting. This is crucial because without
knowing some sense of causes and conditions, causes and result, we do not have
foundatation to study and practice the Dharma teachings. Everything depends
on the cause, and that cause will bring the result. This is called trusting
faith or confidence.
2. Clear faith or confidence
Seeing Buddha, Dharma and Sangha how much enlightened qualities they have -
wisdom, compassion, skills, methods. Seeing the nature of their mind is so profound
and vast, one develop clear confidence and faith in taking refuge in them.
3. Longing faith or confidence
One yearns to free from all negative thoughts and non-virtuous actions. One
longs to actualize the good qualities of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha - loving
kindness and compassion.
These faiths and confidences are very important in order that we study and practice
the Dharma successfully.
We look at the highly achieved Sangha, great bodhisattvas, like Chenrezig, Manjushri
and Tara. See what kind of qualities they have, what kind of realizations they
have. They have the realization of knowing all sentient beings. The buddha nature
that we have is free from all obscuration. For example, when the sun is covered
by clouds, the cloud does not mix with the sun. The sun itself is never obscured
no matter how thick the cloud is. But the clouds obstruct us from seeing the
sun. Like that, our buddha nature itself is not obscured by any means. When
the strong wind blows away the cloud, the sun appears. Likewise, through meditation
practices, we clear up all the temporary obscuration. When temporary obscuration
goes away, compassion and clarity manifest. That is why when we meditate. When
the mind is calm and peaceful, good qualities will come up in the mind. When
our mind is obscured by negative thoughts and delusions, we do not feel those
good qualities. Great bodhisattvas have the ability to see that all sentient
beings have buddha nature. They have very, clear, sharp mind and awareness.
Their mind is free from obscurations and afflicting emotions like attachment.
When you have attachment, mind gets so stuck and it does not go beyond that.
When I am attached to this bell, all my attention focuses on the bell. Great
bodhisattvas' mind is free from such kind of gross obscurations. Their mind
is free from subtle obscuration. When all the subtle obscuration is purified,
their mind is so precise that they can see each and every individual's mind
clearly free from all karmic obscurations. They know all different nature of
karma. Great bodhisattvas, who have the quality of such clear mind, have achieved
the eighth bhumis. Efter the tenth bhumis going on to the eleventh bhumis, they
become buddha. Great bodhisattvas do not have all the complete qualities like
buddha has, but they have such good qualities with great critical insight and
awareness and are free from obscurations. Therefore, we are taking refuge in
the Sangha who have those qualities.
When we practice the Dharma, we are called Sangha members. We support each other,
help to inspire each other. If we make mistake, we acknowledge our own mistake
and limitation. If you acknowledge it, all the confusion dissolves. If you do
not acknowledge that and show our arrogance, more conflicts will come and problem
will arise. If we respect and support each other, we all can get much benefit
from our practices. Being a good example is much more powerful than saying thousand
words. You can say so much, but people do not pay too much attention. But if
you set good example, people know what you are talking about. This is called
Dharma practices. It is not just chanting mantra and closing eyes and meditating,
we have to practice and purify our weaknesses every day.
Buddha is like a physician, a medical doctor. Dharma is like medicine and Sangha
is like a nurse. The doctor needs to have good qualities to diagnosis the problem.
If the doctor is confused, he cannot diagnosis correctly. If the doctor is qualified,
any patient comes, the doctor can see clearly the problem. Buddha completely
perceived and realized all the qualities of enlightenment and the nature of
samsara. He described all the details about samsara. So the patient takes refuge
in the doctor and follow the instructions given by the doctor. When we are sick,
we take refuge in the medicine and the doctor. The doctor diagnoses the problem
and subscribes the medicine. We are taking refuge in the doctor and the medicine.
We take the medicine. In the hospital, there are nurses who give medicine to
the patients. We follow their instructions and take the medicine accordingly.
So buddha is like the doctor. Dharma is the medicine and Sangha is like nurses.
Taking the medicine resembles the actual practices. Buddha describes all the
outer causes of suffering. We have this kind of suffering because we have this
kind of negative karma and obscuration. To free from that, buddha, like a medical
doctor, taught all the Dharma teachings, ten virtues and non-virtues, loving
kindness and compassion as well as bodhicitta. These are like medicine. Then
Sangha members, inspire each other, are like nurses. Practicing Dharma is like
actual taking the medicine. Practices like chanting mantra, meditating with
mindfulness will reduce our limitation. Doing purification practices and other
Dharma practices is called practicing the actual refuge.
We called Buddha, Dharma and Sangha as three jewels. In Sanskrit, the three
jewels are called three ratna. These three jewels are most precious, not like
ordinary jewels. Historically, there was a powerful jewel called the wish-granting
jewel, that is, if one gets that jewel, it grants all things that we desire
for. So some great bodhisattvas went to the ocean and talked to the nagas (nagas
are servants who lived under the ocean) and gave teachings to them. The nagas,
having received such great Dharma teachings, offered such a precious jewel called
the wish-fulfilling jewel. When the wish-fulfilling jewel was brought on shore,
within thousands of miles from there, people received whatever they wish for.
So that wish-fulfilling jewel had such great power.
The wish-fulfilling jewel has the following characteristics.
1. It is very difficult to find
2. It is very pure.
3. It has the ability to grant whatever one desires.
4. It is the ornament of the whole world.
5. It is superior to an ordinary jewel.
6. Its supreme qualities never change.
Likewise, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is like the
wish-fulfilling jewel.
1. If we do not have enough virtue, we cannot hear about Buddha, Dharma and
Sangha. We have accumulated much merit to have the opportunity to receive the
precious Dharma teachings. That opportunity is rare and not everybody has that.
There are some planets for many kalpas have no name of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
2. Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are free from all obscuration - obscuration of
the gross like afflicting emotions and all the obscurations of the knowledge.
Therefore they are very pure.
3. Ordinary jewel can only give us wealth, but Buddha, Dharma and Sangha give
us the qualities and the ability to completely free from samsara and attain
enlightenment. This is what one can wish for.
4. Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are the cause of the altruistic thoughts. By studying
and practicing the Dharma, we can expand our mind as limitless as space. Since
it has such great qualities, it is the ornament of the world.
5. Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are supreme to all sentient beings both in samsara
and nirvana. Wherever there is Dharma teachings, there is light and hope to
free us completely from delusion and obscuration. That is why they are superior
to any other thing.
6. The supreme qualities of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha never change.
This concludes the teachings on Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Dedication
May all sentient beings gain the flavor of supreme victory and ride on omniscience;
never turning back;
May all sentient beings gain the flavor of entry into the truth of the nondifference
of all Buddhas,
and be able to distinguish all faculties;
May all sentient beings attain increase of the savor of the teaching
and always be able to fulfill the Buddhhas' teaching of nonobstruction.
***********************************************************************************************
Meditation
by Venerable Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche
August 21, 1997
Ratnashri Meditation Center, Stockholm, Sweden
There are many different understandings of the subject meditation. Some people
think that to meditate is simply to close the eyes, think of nothing and totally
empty the mind in order to have some mental relief from their problems. Of course,
unless one is totally enlightened, everybody, even the most successful businessman
or politician has some problems or negative thoughts in the mind. Buddhist meditation
practice is a special technique to eliminate negative thoughts or confusion
in the mind -- not just a temporary relief. Meditation practice needs not to
be religious, nor to be confined to sitting meditation. In fact, you can meditate
anywhere, any time, or all the time. The great yogi Milarepa said, "I meditate
while I am walking, I meditate while I am eating, I mediate while I am sitting,
I wish every sentient being can do this." Meditation means to be here and
now with your mind. Most of the energies or thoughts are spent on what we have
done in the past and what we shall do in the future. As a result, we cannot
concentrate on whatever we are doing at that single moment, whether reading
a book or saying prayers.
When we meditate, be here with our mind. Body should be where the seat is and
mind should be where the body is. The mind should be relaxed. Relax means to
be here at this moment. When the mind is in the present moment, it is very effective.
No matter whether we are reading or planning, we will be able to understand
or organize everything very precisely. In Buddhist philosophy, the ultimate
goal of meditation is to totally free ourselves from the suffering of samsara
and to attain enlightenment. Great mental capacity and confidence are needed
in order to achieve that. Analytical meditation and mind-stabilizing meditation
(samatha meditation) are two very fundamental and helpful meditation methods
that can be practiced by anybody.
To do analytical meditation is to analyze and to investigate how things function
universally. First, meditate on the precious human life. It is precious because
it has every possibility and opportunity to transcend and purify all the negative
thoughts, delusion and to attain the complete quality of enlightenment. There
are individuals who feel so depressed and hopeless that they cannot do anything.
Depression creates great obstacles for our well being and happiness. In order
to overcome that we look at the supreme qualities and possibilities of the human
brain and human life. The presence of the Buddha nature and the seed of enlightenment
pervade every single sentient being, in particular human beings. Since this
seed of great quality is within us, if we make enough effort, have great dedication
and patience, we can definitely be able to totally free ourselves from the suffering
of samsara and attain enlightenment. It is just a matter of time. So rejoice
and appreciate such an opportunity. The precious human life is the vehicle,
the primary cause for attaining Buddhahood. The contributory cause to achieve
this excellent quality is having the spiritual master to help us to understand
and guide us along the path.
Second, meditate on the impermanent nature of all phenomena. We need to make
great effort ourselves. Revealing from within us, the impermanent, transitory
and momentary nature of all phenomena. On the one hand, it may seem depressing
since we are constantly aging. When we are especially attached to something,
we do not want it to change, but things change anyway without our choice, so
it seems depressing. On the other hand, it provides such a great positive opportunity.
Just because everything can be changed, every negative thought can be purified,
every bad habit can be removed. When we are depressed, we feel that things are
so concrete and cannot be changed so there is not much hope left. At this moment,
just think of impermanence, things are subject to change. It is just a matter
of time. We are all living within impermanence whether we are aware of it or
not. Therefore, do not attach to the past, or anticipate the future. Past is
past, everything is transitory and momentary in nature. Grasping and craving
for the past would not bring benefit at this moment. Similarly, future has not
come yet so there is no need to anticipate. Here, right at this moment, work
as sincerely and diligently as we can. Whether we are experiencing happiness
or suffering, it is just at this moment. At the next moment, it becomes just
a recollection of the past or a memory. The clock is ticking every moment, and
even our grasping and attachment to the past itself are also passing away. Not
a single moment can stay in one single moment so just see that nature and meditate
in this way.
Milarepa, a great Tibetan yogi, always meditated on impermanence. This great
yogi had to often move from place to place and at that time his only food was
nettles. Since he needed a clay pot to cook the nettle, he carried a clay pot
with him wherever he went. One day, he walked from one place to another and
on the way, he tripped over a rock and the pot broke. He was then totally awoken
by the power of impermanence. The pot was the only thing he had and it broke
there. It symbolizes that every composite phenomenon is transitory in nature
and anything can happen at any moment. He related particularly to this precious
human life which is so fragile. The life force of sentient beings is impermanent
like a bubble. No one knows when one will die. So he said to himself, "If
I work for meaningless worldly things or activities for this lifetime, I will
be unable to pass beyond the causes for suffering. Now I must make greater effort
to practice the Dharma." The breaking of the pot gave him such a powerful
teaching and reinforced his practice on impermanence greatly.
There was once a great master who did his meditation in a cave. In front of
the cave grew a big bush that caused him great difficulty to walk in and out
of the cave. "It is so difficult to get out, maybe I should cut the bush,"
he thought. "But I am already out so why cut the brush? After all, I may
not have time to get in, so what is the use of cutting the bush?" When
he came into the cave, he said to himself, "This bush caused me great difficulty
to get in, may be I should cut the bush. But now I am already in, I may not
have time to go out so what is the use of cutting the bush?" So he meditated
in this way. By the time when he achieved enlightenment, the bush was still
there. Other people may think that he was so lazy, he could not take care of
the bush which caused him great difficulty, but for him the bush provided him
great opportunity to practice mindfulness and impermanence.
Third, meditate on the interdependent nature of every phenomenon. Everything
is constituted as a result of causes and conditions. Because of that, every
phenomenon arises in the relative state, conventional state. Let us look into
our mind and see how we perceive a person. When you have a wonderful friend,
even if he / she makes a substantial mistake, you do not mind. You would say,
"That is okay. It happens to everybody." You still think that that
person is wonderful. However, suppose you have changed the perception and he
/she becomes your enemy, now no matter what that person does, you would not
like it at all. Even if that person does wonderful things, you would still not
accept it. The relative or conventional state of an outer phenomenon does not
exist independently. Rather it is just the projection of our mind. Everything
is momentary, insubstantial with no essence. Thus believing that the outside
object is something real and concrete, and attaching to it lead us to suffering.
In fact, it is just a label that we put on it in order to relate to it conveniently.
There is nothing to attach to or hate. Since everything is in a relative and
interdependent state, friend or enemy arises when certain causes and conditions
are present. Therefore, there is no absolute friend or absolute enemy. The projections
of our mind, the habitual attachment to such projections arise as the reactions
(or the ripening of the fruits) of whatever actions we have done previously.
Therefore, in order to free ourselves from suffering and break the streams of
continuity of our habitual patterns, it is very important to eliminate all non-virtuous
actions and perform as much virtuous actions as we can. On the basis of that,
in order to purify the delusion of our mind and to bring out the seed of enlightenment,
meditating on loving kindness and compassion to every sentient being, including
small insects, is helpful. The altruistic thought, thought of enlightenment,
the desire to attain complete enlightenment for the benefit of every sentient
being is such a precious marvelous thought that it transcends every negative
thought into the golden path of enlightenment. Gradually, we would see everyone
as our friend or our close relative. Thus the causes of suffering due to anger
and hatred would be reduced and are replaced by peace, joy and harmony.
Fourth, meditate on loving kindness and compassion. The meaning of practicing
loving kindness and compassion to every other sentient being is the special
thought, the mind that has the desire for everyone to have happiness and the
causes of happiness. Just examine how we treat our best friend or our own child.
We naturally would like them to have all the happiness. Therefore, we create
the causes for bringing happiness to them. We would like to support them as
much as we can. Just like parents send their children to school wanting them
to have a good education and a good future. In the same way, look at all other
sentient beings, they also desire to have happiness and the causes of happiness.
There is no difference. Meditate on compassion means cultivating the genuine
desire for every sentient being to be free from suffering and the causes of
suffering. Examine how we treat our close friend. When that person suffers,
we do everything to try to free that person from suffering. When that person
is free from suffering, we feel so happy. In the same way, consider all other
sentient beings, everyone would like to be free from suffering and the causes
of suffering. So cultivate loving kindness and compassion to all sentient beings
in this way. Some people think that love and compassion mean that we have to
give away something immediately or we have to sacrifice yourself to every individual.
It is not necessary. We can cultivate that in our mind wherever we are, at home
or in the office. The moment we develop such thought, peace and harmony arise.
So for your own benefit, that mind is crucial. In contrast, when we have hatred
or anger, there is no peace, no harmony. At that time, forcefully cultivate
loving kindness and compassion to the person who makes us miserable or who irritates
us so much, and genuinely wish that person to have all the happiness and be
free from all suffering. This is an effective method of uprooting our ignorance
due to hatred or anger. Just change our attitude: instead of thinking that the
person should have all bad things, wish that person to have all the happiness
and be free from all suffering. The moment when we meditate sincerely in this
way, there is great peace and joy. We can achieve this in our mind, it has nothing
to do with Buddhist or non-Buddhist. There are many life stories of great masters
who used this meditation method to transform all negative thoughts into positive
thoughts. It is very precious. It is a source of wisdom, peace, happiness and
confidence that arise within us. We may say that we cannot cultivate loving
kindness, compassion to that person because we hate that person, however, there
is no benefit of hating at all. Hating will not give any happiness and peace,
rather, it destroys our appetite, health and well being. Therefore, until we
can achieve this effortlessly, we have to make effort.
Another type of meditation is the calm-abiding, stabilizing meditation or the
Shamata meditation. There are many ways of doing the calm-abiding meditation.
One easy and effective way to calm the mind is to watch the breath. Sit on a
cushion or chair, relax and breathe normally. It is easy because we have to
breathe anyway so we just need to be aware of it. Our breath and mind become
inseparable. When the mind is somewhere else, just simply bring it back to the
breath and meditate. There is no need to push, chase or feel upset. It is important
to relax and do it without expectations and worries. When we have high expectations
wanting to achieve all the good qualities in one session, at the end of that
session, we may feel depressed. There is nothing to achieve. There is no need
to achieve anything. Just be yourself, relax and sit for half an hour or so.
It is just a method to train to be with our mind. When thought arises, just
look at it, let it go, and not attach to it. Thinking that you have no thought
is itself a thought. Thought is something very subtle and can come at any time
from any direction. So there is no need to cling to it or chase it. Just be
aware of it. Place our mind, without consciously adopting or abandoning, in
a fluid, natural state of being here and now. Be mindful in the ever-present
moment and not to wander at all from this state. When we have a sinking mind
during meditation, we need to uplift ourselves by, for example, moving the head
more forward instead of downward, turn on some bright light or do some walking
meditation. Shamata or the calm-abiding meditation is the cause as well as the
result of analytical and insightful (vipasyana) meditation. It is so because
without a calm mind, no matter how much we investigate, it may not do much.
However, without careful investigation, doubt would arise and thus difficult
to establish a peaceful mind. After practicing shamata and analytical meditation
for some time, doubt or hesitation reduces. Certainty and confidence are important
in order to stabilize the mind in the equipoise, meditative state during the
vipasyana meditation. Without such clarity, peaceful and calm mind, there is
no possibility of having a direct, intuitive realization of the nature of the
mind and to enhance that realization.
On the basis of calm-abiding and analytical meditation, we expand our investigation.
Gradually, our awareness increases. However, if one would like to purify all
delusion, transform and purify all negative thoughts and to uproot our ignorance,
it is necessary to train the mind more vigorously. In particular, we can engage
in some Vajrajana Buddhist meditation practices, such as the preliminary practices
(ngöndro) under the guidance of a well-qualified spiritual master and to
receive empowerment (transformation) from the master. Such training helps us
to purify our gross and subtle obstacles and accumulate some merit so that we
will have less hindrances and more chance of success. Only through exerting
the right effort can we achieve effortlessness, the natural nature, the uncontrived
state. Right now, we do not know how to exert effort in the right way, therefore
we will feel exhausted easily. Vipasyana meditation (insight meditation) is
a special method to uplift the mind. Special insight is needed in order to penetrate
into the nature of your mind, to penetrate into the nature of the body self
and the phenomenon self. Such direct insight can purify and eliminate the delusion
and ignorance in our mind. The actualization and realization of special insight
bring us to the first bhumi. From that point, there are ten levels of bhumis.
After reaching the ten levels of bhumis, one becomes a Buddha, with the maximum
ability to benefit others. The all prevailing mind, the uncontrived state cannot
be perceived without meditation. It is inexpressible like the taste of honey.
If you have no experience of the taste of honey at all, when you hear others
talk about how sweet and delicious honey is, you would think that honey is something
wonderful. When a spoon of honey is finally placed on your tongue then you can
directly realize what honey is. Similarly, we can only perceive the pure mind
through shamata and vipasyana meditation. Therefore, until we are free from
all delusion, we have to make effort to practice and apply the practice diligently
to our everyday lives. Since the habit of our laziness and delusion is so powerful,
we must make extra effort to eliminate all non-virtuous actions, to increase
all virtuous actions and to cultivate the enlightened mind, Boddhicitta, based
on wisdom and compassion. Thank you and good evening.
Dedication
May all sentient beings attain the flowers of concentration of the Buddhas,
able to cause the teachings to bloom;
May all sentient beings become as pleasing and endlessly delightful to all they
meet, as the Buddhas are;
May all sentient beings be satisfied by what they see,
and be free from disturbance and agitation;
May all sentient beings fully carry out far-reaching pure works;
May all sentient beings always remember good associates, their minds unchanging;
May all sentient beings be like all-curing medicine, able to remove the toxins
of all afflictions.
***********************************************************************************************
Shunyata
Teaching by Lama Zasep Tulku Rinpoche
September 1998, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Tonight we will discuss the concept of shunyata wisdom, and we will also discuss
meditation on shunyata.
First I would like to lead meditation on shunyata, or emptiness. When we meditate
on shunyata, first it is very important to meditate on the emptiness or shunyata
of person. Shunyata of person, or emptiness of person, or no-self. So according
to tradition it is always suggested that one should do meditation on shunyata
and start the meditation with analytical mind. So first we ask question to ourself,
"Who am I?" We should ask question, "Who am I?" So I'd like
you at this point to ask question to yourself, "Who am I?" and find
out what kind of answer you can find, or is there answer or no. So please ask
this question, "Who am I?" [Meditate.]
We ask this question to ourselves, "Who am I?" So perhaps you find
many answers: "I am man. I am human being. I am a Canadian. I am a teacher.
I am a photographer. I am a writer. I am a singer. I am a musician. I am a cook.
I am a driver. And I am a nice person, and so on and so forth. You can label,
you can find lots of words, "I am this, I am this, I am this, I am that."
What does that mean? Why do I say, "I am a photographer" and what
does that mean? So this is a label, this is a word. This is a concept. We include
this label. It is not much different than saying, "This is a table. This
is a book. This is a watch. This is a bell. This is a teacup." It is all
labels. And so when I say, "I'm a photographer," o.k., what does that
mean?
O.k., I'm a photographer, but what makes me a photographer? Now where is the
photographer? I can't become a photographer without having camera, and I have
to have a camera. Camera itself alone can't become a photographer. I alone without
a camera can't be a photographer. And so, me having a camera alone doesn't make
me a photographer. I have to go take photos, shoot pictures and produce photo
and then I'm called photographer. So there's so much involved there: photo and
taking photo and act of making photo and so on and so forth. These are all activities.
But what is photographer?
Or when we say, "I am a man," or "I am a woman." So where
is the woman? We need to search and we need to go through. Look and look and
look on ourselves, try to find where is me -- me or self or I. Those are different
concepts -- me, self or I. All those concepts are different concepts. Then you
practice, you do analytical meditation. Where is me?
The photographer, individually -- like, I look at the photo, the camera -- that's
not a photographer. This body -- that's not the photographer, body alone. What
about the mind -- mind alone is not the photographer. If you look, you meditate
step by step, one by one, dividing me and part of me, then you look. You cannot
find, you can't find, me or self. Except this concept of me or I, this person,
human being, man or woman, or photographer or writer. Whatever you're called
-- a concept. And this concept, this label and all these different parts. Other
than that, you can't find one self, or what we call independent self. Person
is, we call empty of substantial and autonomous existence.
Person is empty of substantial and autonomous existence. Because when we look,
when we meditate on this way, we cannot find. So that vacuum, that emptiness,
is called "emptiness of person" or personality. That is called shunyata
or that is called no-self. So that is important. That is an important realization.
When you realize that, then you realize emptiness. You realize also, then one
will realize egolessness, egolessness. No ego. No self. So therefore, ego-grasping
and self-grasping will diminish, will dissolve, because one realizes, one got
realization: "There is no self. There is no me."
So when you realize there is no me, no self, no inherent existent self, no independent
existent self, that realization is called the wisdom of no-self. And that wisdom
is called, in Tibetan, "ne lug tog pen sherub." (??) "Ne lug"
means "the true nature." The true nature, the true nature of self.
"Tog pen sherub" means the wisdom of realizing the true nature of
self. The true nature of self is empty. No inherent existence, no independent
existence. And this realization is very important.
Lama Tsong Khapa said, "If you do not have the wisdom, that wisdom that
understands the way things exist…" This is the way things exist. Everything
exists this way. Like I, myself, do not exist inherently or independently. Likewise,
others. And likewise, all phenomena. This realization is important. If you do
not have this wisdom, you cannot eradicate the root of existence. This means
one cannot eradicate the root of samsara. One cannot get rid of the root of
all the defilements. One cannot get rid of ego-grasping. We cannot get rid of,
eradicate, self-cherishing mind and one cannot get rid of self-grasping. One
cannot eradicate attachment and anger, jealousy, envy, and so on and so on.
And therefore, one cannot eradicate karma. If one cannot eradicate karma, unwholesome
karma, then one cannot eradicate the cyclic existence, like the death and birth
and old age, sickness and all the suffering of samsara.
Lama Tsong Khapa said, "Despite your acquaintance (?) with renunciation
and bodhicitta, thus work hard at the means to realize the interdependence of
things." Despite you may have realization of renunciation, you may have
realization of the bodhicitta and you may have profound realization of renunciation.
You may have these strong feelings of renunciation, you know. You realize the
life, you realize the human life, the essence of the human life, the value of
life or life in general has no really meaning, no greater meaning than temporary
benefit, creating temporary happiness, solving temporary suffering, and so on
and so forth. And there's not great meaning. Therefore, one realizes that Dharma
realization is most important, most beneficial. So you have this strong feeling,
feeling of yearning to be liberated from samsara, from cyclic existence. Wish
to be free, free. So this realization is called renunciation.
You could have that realization and you have this strong desire to practice
meditation and Dharma day and night, day and night. And when someone has a very
deep renunciation, realization of renunciation, he or she sometimes forgets
so many things, forgets worldly things. The worldly activities are no longer
important. Sometimes they meditate and forget about food, like dinner, and just
keep practicing, meditating, meditating. It happens so easily.
For example, when you love gardening, when you have so much passion for gardening,
you are out there in the garden digging and planting flowers, herbs, and taking
out weeds and landscaping, and you forget how the time went so fast. You forget
the time. All of a sudden you realize you spent six hours in the garden. You
forgot lunch. When you have so much love and passion. Similarly, when you are
hiking or doing whatever -- fishing, painting, singing or dance, whatever you
do. Likewise, when you have so much love or kind of like passion toward nirvana
and free oneself from samsara, one gets into this kinds of state of mind. You
even forget about eating lunch, and all these mundane things are not important.
So one can have all these kinds of realizations.
Also one can have strong realization of bodhicitta, loving kindness, love toward
all sentient beings, unconditioned love, impartial love. So much compassion
and love you dedicate your life and your time and energy for the sake of others.
One can have those realizations. But if one does not have the realization of
shunyata, emptiness, then it is not possible to cut the root of samsara. You
cannot eradicate the root of cyclic existence, as I mentioned.
So there's still self-grasping and self-cherishing, self-grasping and even now
the self-grasping, the grasping of personality, will arise. So the realization
of shunyata is considered very important, and the realization of shunyata --
once you have a taste of shunyata, a glimpse of realization of shunyata, or
emptiness -- that realization is very powerful. And it will eradicate all kinds
of defilements.
And one of the famous Buddhist Mahayana scriptures called the 400 Verses by
Aryadeva, it says, "Even those with few merits have no doubt about this
Dharma. Even those who still have their doubt will tear existence to tatters."
So it means those people who have little merit and does not have doubts about
shunyata, doubt does not arise, in other words question does not arise. This
means in order to have some question or understanding or arising question, you
ask question, "What is shunyata? What is no-self? What is the doctrine
of no-self? I'd like to find out about this question of emptiness." But
in order to have that kind of question arise, be able to have that kind of question
arise, one must have some merit, some virtuous mind, because this question is
a very profound question.
And once you have that question, "I want to know what is emptiness? What
does that mean? What does shunyata mean? Is shunyata and emptiness are the same
thing, or different? What does that mean?" If you have questions -- if
you're questioning, if you're questioning and analyzing, doing some sort of
analytical meditation, read, think and discuss and debate, having doubt -- that
in itself is very meaningful. He said because of that mind will make samsara,
the power of that mind makes samsara become -- how shall I say? English word
tatters -- like you have a piece of cloth, you chop it down, make it become
pieces. Or chopping vegetables, become small pieces. Chop a brick, make little
bricks. Crashing rocks, become little rocks. Like that. When you have doubts
about shunyata, this is good doubt. Doubt is good and actually there are different
kinds of doubt. This kind of doubt is questioning doubt.
Normally we don't even have doubt because we are so caught up with worldly things
and worldly existence. And we have this thick kind of mind, you know, black
and white mind, good/bad, absolute good and absolute bad, right and wrong, and
so on and so forth. When you arise questions, when you ask questions, "What
is right? What is wrong? Is there right or wrong, and what does that mean?"
Anyway, questioning about shunyata is very powerful. It says it is very meaningful.
It is worthwhile to investigate, spend time on studying and meditating.
So it is not easy to understand. Sometimes we think, "Why do we make such
a big deal about this shunyata, this so-called emptiness? If it's all emptiness,
why bother?" We do know everything's impermanent. At some point everything
disappears, everything falls apart, deteriorates, degenerates, or gone. Everything
becomes history -- life, society, and wealth, possessions, family and one's
own body, and so forth. Everything becomes history, we know. We know intellectually,
but knowing intellectually is different than knowing what you feel.
So we ask this question, "What is this emptiness? Why is it so important?
What is the big deal?" So we ask questions, but it's difficult to understand.
That's why there are so many interpretations about shunyata according to different
schools of thought, schools of Buddhism. And according to Buddhist history there
are two main Mahayana schools and two main Hinayana schools and they all have
different interpretations about shunyata. And within those two Mahayana schools,
they also have slightly different interpretations of what is shunyata. And then
within Tibetan tradition, we have four different lineages or sects, and each
lineage or sect has a little bit different interpretations of shunyata. Within
one sect, also, there are also a different interpretation according to different
lamas or different philosophers.
So why are there so many different interpretations? Because this topic is very
difficult to understand, and therefore, according to teaching, according to
lineage, suggests that one should study this teaching very carefully. One should
study first intellectually, find the right kind of text and commentary. Read
and read, over and over, and then ask some explanation on these topics. And
one should take teachings and commentary from a qualified master or teacher.
And then one can have some intellectual understanding about shunyata.
And intellectual understanding alone is not enough. One has to experience. Conceptual
understanding alone is not enough. One has to experience. Therefore, it is necessary
to practice the preliminary practice. It is necessary to do preliminary meditation.
It suggests that one should do foundation practice, such as Vajrasattva practice,
prostration, and so forth. Also one should rely on guru and yiddam -- the deities.
One should make request and ask them to, when you need help, to purify our mind.
And we need to accumulate merit, accumulate virtue.
So it is necessary to do those practices and then meditate on it. Meditate on
emptiness. According to teaching, first one should first do meditation on emptiness
of self, as I mentioned before, like the meditation that we did.
So you meditate and ask the question, "Where is me?" or "Where
is I?" So you go through and let's say you look at yourself, look at your
body, slowly go through from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet.
And where is I, where is me? You look at your face, your body, your skin, your
hands, your arms, your stomach, your shoulder, your chest, your thigh, your
knee, your feet, your toes. Is this me? Is this so? This is body. This is my
body. This is only body. This is skin, this is human skin, this is flesh and
bone. This is not me. Otherwise, there's too many self, too many "I"
because we have so many parts. Our body has so many parts.
The human body is very complicated. There's so many things in the body, the
way the body is made. It takes so long to study, to know about human body. You
have to go to school and study. Then especially if you want to study about the
brain and it takes so long to understand, perhaps you never understand how it
works. Similarly, the heart and organs and so forth. So if this body is me,
there would be so many me's so many self, so many I's, that's not possible.
There's only one self, one "I", one so-called "I". So this
body, it can't be me. I don't think this is me. This is not me.
So when you find out the body is not me, then what about feelings or perception,
or the mind? So you break down, and you study intellectually and analyze logically.
You study each individual skandas are not self, not me.
What about mind, then? Maybe mind is me. The mind who says, "Me" is
me, must be me. Again, mind is even more complicated than the body. So many
types of mind: positive mind, virtuous mind, non-virtuous mind, according to
Buddhist philosophy there are fifty-one secondary minds and ten virtuous minds,
twenty non-virtuous minds and so on and so forth. So many different mental events,
mental factors. We have six major, what we call basic defilements or delusions,
like ignorance, attachments, anger, jealousy, and doubt and wrong view and so
forth. Like that, so many types of mind. So if the mind is me, or self, there
will be so many again me and self. And that's not possible. So mind is also
not me.
So then, where is me? And finally you can only say, "There is not really
me. I'm not absolutely sure there is no me, but I can only say there is not
me, because I can't find me. I don't know what happened to me. [Laughter.] I
always believed, I always felt there is me since I was a little child. Begin
to talk about, begin to say Mommy, Daddy, puppy, cat, and then me, me, me. Since
then I always say me, and I, and self, and I always thought there was self,
there's a me. But now I find out there is no real me, no real me. Me is only
concept. I realize something now." So why do we call me then? If there
is no me, why do we fool ourselves? Why do we call ourselves me, me, or you?
Why?
We have to because we have to communicate on a conventional level. We have to
put labels on so many things, labels like table and watch and clock and teacup
and book and so on and so forth. We have to put those labels in order to live
and function, to survive, and so putting labels on things -- she, me, you, he,
and five people, three people. Like, I heard, according to Australian Aborigine,
certain tribal people, they don't have many numbers. After five, then there's
no numbers. So, "one person, three people, five people," then after
that, "many people." "Many people." So I guess they don't
need to count ten people, twenty people, fifty people. They didn't need to count
people. And numbers are not so important. Just say, "Many people or few
people. Some people." So it's a concept. So we put this label of "self",
"me", but when we meditate on self, there is no self.
Then we meditate on others the same way. If I meditate on certain person, likewise
the same way I meditate on myself, I turn around, meditate on, "There is
no real he or she inherently existent." So then what is different between
I and you, she and me, he and me? On a relative level we are different -- we
are different persons, different beings, different human beings -- but what
is really different? We have separate bodies; otherwise, what is different?
Likewise, all things are like that.
Then after we meditate on emptiness of personality, and when you go up the realization,
some realization of emptiness of personality, or emptiness of person or emptiness
of self, then you meditate on emptiness of other things, other than person.
One should meditate on emptiness of other phenomena. You will find it the same
way. Then you could also meditate on emptiness. What about emptiness itself?
Does emptiness exist inherently or not? Then you find emptiness does not exist
inherently. Emptiness is also empty. There's a book I think I saw called, "The
Emptiness of Emptiness."
So then, ultimately, everything is one energy, one essence. At the same time,
on a relative level, there are many. So when we meditate on emptiness, shunyata,
we need to ask questions. Emptiness does not mean nothingness. Shunyata does
not mean nothingness. So now we have a lot of confusions about this thing. Like,
many people understand intellectually. Many people have a good understanding
about shunyata. Many people have a sort of, how should I say, intuitive understanding
about shunyata, or emptiness, but they don't have intellectual understanding.
They don't know how to express. They don't know how to express. A lot of times
we do have deep, inner, or what we call innate understanding, sort of intuitive
understanding of emptiness. We don't know how to communicate or how to say.
Sometimes we don't find the words, right kind of term. When we find some kind
of term, when we try to say it, then it becomes funny. And then it's confused,
confusing. Then you feel it's better not to say anything, just experience, just
feel.
And some people have so much intellectual understanding, but no feeling inside,
no intuitive understanding. Doesn't really have much deep feeling. So some people
have a glimpse of understanding, some people have no clue, no understanding
at all, and no foggiest idea. And some people are completely wrong. So there
are so many questions.
That's why it's suggested one should do analytical meditation, and that's why
it's suggested one should debate, so here I'd like to talk about debating a
little bit, according to Tibetan tradition. You have seen videotapes of lamas
debating. You have seen those monks who came to Vancouver and did tour, chanting
tour, and at some point those monks are debating. One monk sitting on the floor
and three monks jumping on this one monk and clapping their hands and laughing
and shouting and you don't know what they're talking about. You've seen these
pictures. You saw, right? You have seen, some of you. And some of you have been
to India, went to the monasteries and saw monks and nuns are debating in Dharamsala,
and you have seen, perhaps in Tibet, too, in Sera Monastery and Ganden Monastery.
And so we don't know what they're discussing.
We have a funny -- I'd like to tell you a funny story. Most Tibetan people,
lay people, who haven't really studied Dharma, they don't even know what these
monks are debating, what they're talking about. And because they're using philosophical
terms, they're not using ordinary words. They do use sometimes, use ordinary
words, but its meaning is different. So one nomad man, fellow, came visited
Sera Monastery. He went there and he saw these two young monks debating and
arguing, very seriously arguing, for hours and hours, sitting on the rock and
in hot sun, summer day, you know. And they are sweating and debating. So he
overheard they're talking about, they're arguing about "vase". We
call "Bumpa" in Tibetan.
So one monk is asking, "What is emptiness of vase?"
And the other answers, "This is emptiness of vase."
"Tell me what is the definition of vase according to the Parasangyimika
Madhyamika school?"
And so on. They were just debating. So this man thought, "Why are these
two young monks arguing about this vase? What a waste of time! Strange. I thought
all the monks sitting, meditating, chanting, praying, sitting like very holy
man instead of arguing, yelling and jumping around and clapping their hands.
It looks like they're swearing to the Buddha and looks very, sort of uncivilized
and aggressive sometimes, even aggressive." So he was kind of sad. He was
a little disappointed. He didn't know what was going on. So he went back to
Lhasa.
The next day he came back again, the same two monks debating about vase. So
then he thought, "This is not good. They should stop arguing. Not right.
They should go in temple, prayer in front of shrine."
So he went up to the monks and said, "Excuse me. Yesterday I came here
and you two were arguing about the vase. Today I came and you two argue about
the vase. Yesterday you argued for four hours. Today you've been arguing for
four hours. I feel very sad. Please don't argue. Tonight I'm going back to Lhasa.
And tomorrow I'll buy each of you a vase! Stop arguing about vase. Forget about
vase!" [Laughter.]
Now about debating at a monastery. Debating is maybe the right term, maybe is
not always the right term. They are not always debating. I think the style of
debating is different than I think the style of debating in the west. Actually
according to tradition, when you debate there is no loser; there is no winner.
It is also not really a competition. You are not competing. And there's no loser
or winner; there is no good guy or bad guy.
And it is more like sharing the knowledge, sharing understanding. What I have
studied, what I know, I'd like to share with you. What you have learned you
share with me. We discuss. And find out differences. Maybe you learn something
different. You have studied more about certain philosophical point of view.
Maybe you have studied about interpretation of shunyata according to a particular
Madhyamika school, like Parasangyimika. Then I study a different school a different
school of Madhyamika, or you have studied a commentary on shunyata and a certain
lama according to the Gelugpa tradition, and I study different. Or maybe you
studied Kargyu tradition. I studied Sakyapa traditon, so here we sharing the
differences. And certain things are not different. We share that as well. Sharing
and trying to exchange views, now, and sharing knowledge and trying to help
each other. Help each other so you will not forget. See, after debating, it
helps you not to forget. You always remember.
And now, when you do formal debating, very formal, for example examination,
and when you are receiving a degree, like a what we call Geshe degree, or there
are many degrees. One can receive degree or recognition or like certificate,
a certain degree. And then there is a formal debate. So there is a judge, there
is a witness, like the abbots and the higher lamas or philosophers. They are
the judge, and they will judge you -- the way you debate and the way you answer
and the way you question. So then they will decide who has the best understanding,
who gave the best answer, who asked the best question. Then according to the
abbot or the judges of the monastery will give degree to certain monks, like
first degree, second degree, third degree. But that's sort of like recognition,
it's not a competition.
But most of the time when we're debating in a debating class, you share what
you have learned. See, before you actually debate a topic, what you're going
to debate, according to tradition you have to memorize the text. Necessary you
have to memorize the root text, maybe fifteen page, twenty page, thirty page,
certain kind of text, or maybe 100 page long. You have to memorize the root
text. Then you have to memorize certain outlines. So there's a lot of memorizing.
You have to memorize. When you debate, you're not allowed to bring a text and
read, or when you ask questions, you cannot read a text. And when you answer
the questions, you cannot read the text. Because anyone can read text. You have
to memorize, then you have to say, "Nargajuna said, according to text called
Madhyamika Mulamademika Karika, in verse 15, chapter 2, 'Dada dada…'"
You have to repeat or recite those verses and then you give a commentary. And
you ask commentary.
Let's say I am the debater. I am a person who is asking questions, let's say
to Cyndy. So I already memorized the verses, one or two verses, whatever, and
before you go debate, that day or the day before. Maybe could be long ago, maybe
I memorized the whole text. So I recite several verses or one paragraph. I recite,
then I say, "Could you please give commentary. I would like you to give
a commentary." So then if you don't know the commentary, if you're not
prepared, not sure, then you can say, "I cannot give you commentary on
this." So then I have to move on. I have to recite another verse or another
paragraph. "What about, maybe you can give me commentary on this."
If you know, or are not sure, you can kind of guess. "Well, I'm not sure,
but o.k., I'll try." And, "O.k., what did you say? O.k." And
then you give a commentary.
So this way I'm listening. I learn something from you, the way you give a commentary.
You may have more understanding than me, and so I learn something from you.
So now, also, you will find something more than when you try to give your own
commentary, your own interpretation. That is different than what you read. That
will be different than commentary written by certain lama, even a great scholar.
It's your own commentary, it's different, right? I learn something from you.
So if we both agree that you are not sure, your commentary is not clear and
not completely accurate, then I will try to help you. Say, "This part of
your commentary is good, but this part is not very correct. I would like to
give a commentary." I could be also wrong while I give the commentary to
you. So then, at that point, another monk jumps in and says, "No, you're
wrong. You both are wrong, and that's not the way it is. This is how I think.
This is what a certain teacher like Nagarjuna said," and you give another
commentary.
So the dialogue goes on and on. So that is the style of debating, certain style
of debating. There's many things you can debate about. In other words, it's
a discussion. And then I could also ask question, definition. This is a very
important one. "Could you give me definition of shunyata?" or "Let's
change the subject. Let's talk about generosity. According to Dharma it says
there are three types of generosity: generosity of Dharma, generosity of material
aid, generosity of fearlessness or generosity of protection. There are three
types of generosity. So I would like to ask you, what are those three generosities?
So I would like to ask you to give me commentary, or first I would like to ask
you to give me a very precise definition of what is generosity of Dharma? Then
you tell me what is definition of generosity of material aid and what is definition
of generosity of protection." So you tell, you explain the definition.
You don't have to know exactly, you can just say what you think.
And then another topic is you ask divisions. First you discuss definition, then
divisions. Ok, how many are there? Are there different types of generosity of
Dharma, or not? And how many divisions? How many types of generosity are there
generally, divisions. So like that. It's discussion, lots of discussion, and
then division and then subdivision. Then subdivision of subdivision. And sometimes
you count with mala, fifteen different types of this, ten different types of
this. Sometimes they are not very exciting. They are kind of tiring, boring.
At some point you don't have the energy for clapping hands and jumping around,
decide to sit down and start counting using pebbles and rocks. [Laughter.] And
using mala. I even, one time I saw a monk with an abacus keep counting -- fifteen
different types of mind, three types of delusions, like an accountant, counting.
There's all kinds of ways of debating.
And also literal meaning, you can debate about literal meaning, meaning of certain
things, certain Dharma. And also the real meaning. There's different kinds of
literal meaning, real meaning. And interpreting and un-interpreting teachings.
Certain teachings cannot be interpreted, has to be followed literally. Some
teachings, sutras, has to be interpreted. One must not follow it literally.
I should actually ask question to you, or let you ask question. I think it's
important we should have discussion. So if you have any questions regarding
style of debating, or shunyata, most welcome.
***********************************************************************************************
Melody of the Eight Types of Nonduality
By Gyalwa Götsangpa
Namo Guru!
The precious Lord embodies enlightenment's five dimensions.
I prostrate to and praise this Precious One
Who dispels the darkness of wanderers' suffering
With nondual, great, everlasting bliss.
Wonderful visions of yidam deities and
Fearsome apparitions of obstructing demons are
Not separable within the pure expanse-
So! How joyful! How happy! Sudden Victory!
Obtaining high rebirth or liberation and
Falling into the three unhappy destinations are
Not separable within the pure expanse-
So! How joyful! How happy! Sudden Victory!
The mind busy with perceived and perceiver and
The peaceful state of nonconceptuality are
Not separable within the pure expanse-
So! How joyful! How happy! Sudden Victory!
Complete happiness and comfort and
Overwhelming pain and suffering are
Not separable within the pure expanse-
So! How joyful! How happy! Sudden Victory!
Being well-respected and worshipfully served and
Being derisively laughed at and beaten are
Not separable within the pure expanse-
So! How joyful! How happy! Sudden Victory!
Wandering alone in mountain retreats and
Traveling the countries of the world are
Not separable within the pure expanse-
So! How joyful! How happy! Sudden Victory!
Having the finest food and drink and
Living in hunger without nourishment are
Not separable within the pure expanse-
So! How joyful! How happy! Sudden Victory!
Not crashing the ground with your skull and
Taking birth again and again are
Not separable within the pure expanse-
So! How joyful! How happy! Sudden Victory!
This is the melody of the eight types of nonduality;
I have but a mere understanding of what true union is;
Not falling into confusion is very important.
Under the guidance of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamptso Rinpoche, translated by Tony
Duff in January 1996, and edited by Ari Goldfield, June 18, 1997.
**************************************************************************************************************
Right attitude for practice
Lama Gendun Rinpoche
Practice, in a sense, is the same as any kind of work. If we really want to
succeed at something, then we have to put effort into it day after day. And
if we want to reach the goal of the Dharma, then we must also apply ourselves
to it day after day.
Our practice should not weaken but on the contrary develop further and further
as time goes by. If our practice is careless, then there is no blessing really
transmitted, because when we are practising, our mind is already distracted
and thinking about other things. Even when drinking tea, we are not really enjoying
the tea but thinking of what we plan to do, rather than being really mindful
and concentrated on the fact that we are drinking. This kind of attitude gives
rise to many desires and feelings related to the future, as well as a lot of
frustration, because we are constantly projecting ourselves into a future which
is as yet unclear, only creating a lot of desires about something that often
doesn't even happen. Concerned about the future, our mind is continually occupied
by our plans and projects and there is no room to think of our present practice.
We get carried away more and more by carelessness.
A lot of defects start to develop without our noticing it. We forget about the
practice we are doing, our mind is not concentrated, it just jumps from one
thought to the next. We then lose our enthusiasm and aspiration for Dharma practice.
As our meditation is not developing well, we feel more frustrated than before
and we have more negative feelings of anger, pride and jealousy. We forget to
be aware, to remind ourselves constantly of the need to practise with diligence
without expecting any result. We should see how this kind of careless attitude
only serves to bring even more hope and fear in its wake.
We must reflect very carefully on this because this is the biggest defect that
a practitioner can experience. Basically it comes from pride. Because we have
practised for some years and done this and that practice, we think that we have
become someone very special, a person with invaluable experience and knowledge
about the Dharma. We are sure that we are much better than before. In fact,
the less we practise and develop spiritually, the more we think we are someone
very good and important. We feel really pure, and see that others are not so
pure, that they are unskilful, that they are wrong while we are right. We develop
the feeling that we have a really good understanding of the Dharma and genuine
realisation. In the end, we think we know better than the lama himself. He is
very kind, but does not really see what we see, he is not really aware like
we are. We think that we are now enlightened, a Buddha, and that the lama doesn't
understand us. This is how our pride gets bigger and bigger, until we get totally
carried away by it. We are convinced that we are right and others wrong, but
we don't notice that we are becoming more and more unstable, getting more and
more into trouble, our mind more and more disturbed by the angry feelings we
have towards others and even towards the teacher and Dharma practice itself.
This is not really rare, it is a very common situation among practitioners,
because pride is always there so the danger is always there as well. It is a
great risk for the practitioner.
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Shamar Rimpoche
Meditation in the Theravada and Mahayana Traditions
(Edited) - Published in Buddhism Today, Volume 7, 2000
Once you connect genuinely with meditation practice,
you will develop a true passion for it and your practice will begin to mature.
If you do not understand the essence of meditation, it is because you have not
properly experienced it. Only when you experience its essence does meditation
really become interesting.
Mind is not used to being in balance. Rather, we are much more used to the state
of constantly arising thoughts, uninterrupted streams of thought. We are distracted,
confused, and restless. We are comfortable with this habitual state of mind.
Because our mind is addicted to being restless, constantly in motion, meditation
feels unnatural. Meditation runs contrary to our familiar experience. Therefore
we must put effort into the meditation. It requires more than just having a
spontaneous or momentary interest in it. What we need is diligence and patience.
To make progress, diligence is especially required, along with the knowledge
of how to meditate. This combination will bring results. But the path can be
misunderstood. Meditation brings one-pointedness, a mind that is stable and
clear, not distracted or confused. It is not about entering into a special state
where you have visions, see lights, or experience fantastic things. Some people
might think so. They take LSD or play music and they are just manipulating their
experience. This has nothing to do with meditation, since mind is still distracted
and confused. The 8th Karmapa meditation is often misunderstood in this way,
because one visualizes different Dakinis flying through the sky. Many people
in the early seventies asked for explanation of the 8th Karmapa meditation,
then they took LSD and meditated on the 8th Karmapa. This is not what I want
to pass on to you.
So what is meditation, really? It enables us to experience the mind as it is,
in its original nature. What happens in our mind now is that thoughts occur
uninterruptedly, hindering us from experiencing mind's true nature. You can
distinguish two levels of thoughts: outer and inner. Sensory experience is one
such outer level. Mind continuously orients itself towards outer experiences,
such as smells, forms, sounds and so on. Mind keeps itself constantly busy experiencing
outer objects, thus creating the outer world. It feels like it is beyond our
control to keep the mind resting in itself. Why? Because the mind is absorbed
in its inner experiences - the second level that underlies our perception at
each moment. Since our mind inwardly constantly follows its thoughts, we are
also not able to control the sense impressions when the mind focuses outward.
When we manage to control our inner thoughts, the outer level will no longer
be a problem. When the inner distraction disappears there is no way to be disturbed
when experiencing sense impressions. So meditation is about getting control
over the constant stream of thoughts, practicing concentration in order to keep
the mind focused. Winning this kind of concentration, you can get deeper into
much more calm states of awareness. At that point, the mind is quite vast and
rests in itself. It is as if you have opened a gate, a gate that in turn opens
many other gates to go further and ever deeper. One develops a profound appreciation
for the actual quality of mind.
For this reason, in the Theravada tradition, practitioners sleep only six to
seven hours and meditate all day long. People meditate this way to achieve inner
calm in a short period of time. Furthermore, they do not eat anything after
lunch. They are allowed to drink only beverages that do not have any real nutrition,
like water or tea. This benefits meditation in that the mind is clearer and
less sleepy. Everybody who practices intensive meditation should do this.
It is also the custom to go to bed early, at about nine or ten, and then get
up early, at about five in the morning. One's life is focused completely on
meditation. Today a schedule like this may not be practical. The reason people
adopted this meditation schedule during the time of the Buddha is that the Buddha
taught that samsara is suffering, and that one cannot accomplish anything while
trapped within it. Therefore, complete retreat from samsara to focus exclusively
on meditation has become the special focus of the Theravada tradition. However,
the motivation of the Theravadans is not particularly for the benefit of others.
Of course they are not opposed to others who try to benefit all beings, but
this is not their goal. Their goal is solely to concentrate on meditation in
order to reach liberation as quickly as possible. But we are Bodhisattvas. We
eat in the afternoon and in the evening. Since Bodhisattvas do not think so
much of themselves, they are not in such a hurry to reach their own goal. Bodhisattvas
are not afraid to be reborn again and again; they are willing to keep coming
back. This is why they do not practice a form of meditation that simply cuts
off the world, as do the Theravadans. Following the Theravada path, even if
you wanted to, you would not be able to be reborn anymore.
Through the concentration states the Theravadans reach in their meditation,
they can analyze their state of mind. Whatever disturbing emotions arise such
as anger, attachment, jealousy, or envy, based on their ability to concentrate,
they are able to analyze the nature of their emotions in subtle detail. This
can be compared to a dream where after you wake up, you find that your dream
was not real; it was not actually happening. Similarly, practitioners who have
accomplished the Theravada path can see that their disturbing emotions are not
truly existent. They understand the true nature of emotions and then, on the
basis of this understanding, they remove the basis or cause that otherwise would
automatically lead to a rebirth in samsara. After they have removed the cause
of rebirth in samsara, they will not be able to be reborn again. This is the
logical consequence of this form of meditation. The usual word in Tibetan for
meditation is gom. There are other very precise terms in Tibetan, such as tingdzin
which is a translation of the Sanskrit word samadhi. Ting means depth, as in
experiencing the calm depth of mind. Dzin means to hold, as in to hold the unwavering
quality of mind. Tingdzin also has other meanings. The Tibetan term samten is
another word for meditation. Samten means stable, to experience a stable state
of mind. Again there are several different stages of samten. In the Theravada
tradition you progress through these stages: first the stages of samten, of
concentration meditation, and then the stages of tingdzin. Similarly, Bodhisattvas
proceed through stages in their meditation. When a Bodhisattva has reached a
stage of samadhi or deep insight, he has the ability to use this inner calm
to help beings. Here the stages or bhumis are primarily based on the increasing
ability to benefit beings, while in the Theravada tradition they are entirely
focused on reaching the state of liberation quickly.
It is very powerful to apply analytical meditation to our experience. The point
is to carefully analyze every movement of mind. Through recognizing thoughts
as such, you will reach an understanding concerning the true nature of mind.
Therefore you will not be distracted by thinking, but will recognize thoughts
as they are to see the inherent inner stability of mind. Analyzing thought reveals
the nature of mind. Gradually, you develop certainty regarding what is otherwise
hidden within the ongoing stream of thoughts. Analyzing thoughts brings about
the ability to experience their nature, which is of course the nature of mind
itself. Buddhism precisely describes negative disturbing emotions like anger
and jealousy. Analyzed as products of our mind they are like all the other mental
contents, simply thoughts and feelings. They are negative in the sense that
they trigger negative consequences. Thoughts have different karmic propensities.
For example, if you notice the carpet and think, "this carpet is blue;"
this type of thought is neutral. It does not create a positive or negative result.
Thoughts like anger, or jealousy, originate in the mind in the same way. However,
they differ in that they bring about strong negative results. So through analytical
meditation, we first recognize all kinds of mental activity, and then through
this method learn to avoid their negative results. There are two benefits to
this kind of meditation. The first is the control of mind by recognizing mental
processes and then slowly uprooting negative emotions to uncover the nature
of mind. The second benefit of this practice is a reduction in attachment and
clinging to sense impressions. To develop concentration, it is helpful to refrain
from excessive sensory input. If you are strongly outwardly oriented and also
project great expectations onto the world, it will be difficult to calmly concentrate
the mind on itself. Automatically clinging to outer sense impressions creates
useless distraction. Conversely, when the mind observes itself, you experience
a calm and peaceful mind. At this stage meditation becomes effortless. This
is because all the neurotic movement of mind, which used to be the subject of
analytical meditation, has been so greatly reduced.
Quite possibly the meditator could become attached to this state of total inner
peace and start clinging again. This attachment hinders us from progressing
to more profound experiences. At this point, one again needs further insight.
The antidote here is, as before, an analytical form of meditation with the focus
on this attachment to peace. Analytical meditation on subtle feelings of attachment
is the key that opens the door to further development.
These are the phases of the development of concentration. Meditative experience
is difficult to describe, because of the limits of human language. Good practitioners
of the past have coined terms to describe their actual experience. They were
probably able to communicate very well, however, in our case it is not so easy,
since we do not experience what stands behind those terms. It is essential to
experience for oneself what is meant in order to understand realized states
of mind. The Buddha once taught the Samadhiraja Sutra in which different stages
of meditation are described. Nowadays, who can actually understand the descriptions?
But why then did the Buddha teach them? One can be sure that at the time of
the Buddha, he had disciples who had all those different experiences and thus
understood what the Buddha was talking about. Today we still have this sutra
so we also have the opportunity to come to that point where we can understand
the meaning. So how should we proceed? We must work with what we have as human
beings to understand the meaning of these precious teachings. Bodhisattvas progress
through different stages of developing concentration and at the same time preserve
a certain attachment to the human form, the physical form to be able to be reborn
in samsara. So on the one hand, one proceeds as the Theravadans in attaining
levels of concentration, and on the other hand, one uses inner peace to create
a cause to be reborn in samsara for the benefit of beings. These two qualities
define a Bodhisattva: the combination of courage to be reborn in samsara, and
the ability to control the illusion of samsara. These two aspects must be combined
for the benefit of others.
Madhyamaka philosophy explains how the whole world and all beings are an illusion.
Everything stands in the context of cause and effect and exists only in reciprocal
dependency. Since everything is interdependent, things do not have independent
reality. Things are not truly existent in and of themselves, because they are
dependent on each other. Bodhisattvas understand this very precisely. They see
the illusory nature of the world, so they can see illusion and can work with
it. In this way, Bodhisattvas skillfully work for the benefit of beings entangled
in samsara.
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The Authentic Dharma
- in the words of Dzogchen Ranyak Patrul Rinpoche -
Authentic dharma. What is 'authentic dharma'? It is the remedy for the afflictions
in our mindstream. Why is it that we need a remedy for them? Because they are
the cause of our suffering and they are the suffering itself.
For example, when strong afflictions arise in the mind, the body as well as
the mind will experience pain and discomfort. The only relief we can find is
in the authentic dharma. If we place our hopes in other things, like alcohol
or tobacco, entertainment or routine, or even in our friends and associates,
they will never really be able to help us. They can only give us slight relief
that lasts but for a short time, and then our suffering will surely come back.
They can never get to the root of the problem for us.
If, on the other hand, we rely on the authentic dharma, it means that we are
really applying the very best remedy to the afflictions. And if we do this,
we will find that the pain and discomfort we experience in body and mind will
decrease. This is because of the very skilful means of the authentic dharma
What does 'authentic dharma' mean? It is the union of wisdom and loving kindness,
compassion. Wisdom understands the cause of the suffering and loving kindness,
compassion, eliminates it. The result is the true nature of mind. What does
'true nature' mean? It is peaceful and blissful, without any suffering, completely
pure, self-existing and primordially spontaneously present. It is the essence
of mind and the essence of each and every phenomenon.
For example, if we take two glasses of water, one dirty and one clean, the true
nature of each glass of water is the same, and because it is the same, the dirty
water can be purified and drunk. If the essence of both the clean and the dirty
water were not the same, then the dirty water could never become clean. It is
only because the essence of the water itself is the same that it can be made
dirty or clean.
The true nature of the ground, which is the true nature of mind, and the realisation
of the true nature of the ground, are not one and the same. Why not? It is because
one is realised and the other is not. This is like the difference between gold
that has not yet been refined and gold that has been fashioned into a piece
of jewellery. The basic gold of each is the same, but their qualities are different.
Once mind has realised the true nature of mind, then delusion and impurity are
banished forever. This is the state beyond suffering, and in particular, it
is the appearance of primordial wisdom.
All mind appearances, the sufferings of the ocean of cyclic existence, are transformed
into true nature, the vast space of wisdom appearances. This is a state of perfect
ease, of complete relaxation and of great spaciousness. We must all realise
appearances like these, as well as the bliss that accompanies them, the bliss
that is beyond all pain and discomfort. It is attained through our own mind
and not given to us by anyone else. Neither is it realised anywhere else but
in our own mind.
Guru Rinpoche said: 'Look at your mind. Look at your mind. Again and again,
look at your mind.'. If we continually look at our mind, we will find true nature,
the mind of enlightenment. Apart from the mind of enlightenment, there is no
truth; there is no bliss; there is no buddha. If we realise the mind of enlightenment,
we have found truth, bliss and buddhahood. It is in the palm of our hand.
Whatever physical, verbal or mental virtue we accomplish brings us closer to
the realisation of the mind of enlightenment; so, whatever physical, verbal
or mental activity we do accomplish must be enhanced with the mind of enlightenment.
If there is one supreme practice, then it is the mind of enlightenment. For
me, a miserable pauper, who accomplishes neither the dharma nor worldly activity,
it is the one and only practice.
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The Manifestation of Compassionate Activity
By the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa
Tibetan Dharma is based on Mahayana Buddhism and in Tibet there is a special
Mahayana tradition. Centuries ago, Indian Mahasiddhas collected the essence
of the Buddha's teachings which were subsequently brought to Tibet. Down to
this present day, it is still possible to study these same teachings at an educational
institution. In addition, you can actually come to experience the effect of
what you have practiced. I have confidence that you all are capable of experiencing
this fruition of Buddhahood.
The heart of Mahayana teaching is the practice of experiencing Bodhicitta, or
the enlightened mind. Bodhicitta can be seen from two aspects - the aspiration
to benefit oneself and to benefit others - but when you are truly doing the
practice then you generate Bodhicitta that includes both yourself and ALL other
beings. As accomplishing some task, if you do it with the intention of benefiting
others and with the understanding of cause and effect, then you generate trust
in people and they can have complete confidence in what you do.
The skillfull means of Bodhicitta allow you to be effective in helping others.
Bodhisattva activities activities are divided into four kinds:
- Generosity
- Pleasant speech
- Beneficial conduct
- Consistency of word and deed.
In practicing generosity, a Bodhisattva may see someone who is poor , spontaneously
they would give food, clothing or whatever may be needed. Bodhisattvas also
know that people will not listen well to words spoken in anger.They are sensitive
to each person's situation and understanding this, they speak without abruptness,
smoothly and calmly so that the other person feels comfortable. Bodhisattva
conduct allows a Bodhisattva to adapt the Dharma to many different situations.
If you consider Eastern and Western religions, you can see that the faith in
religion can be the same even though the religions themselves are different.
If you consider philosophy, however, you will see that there is a difference.
In Western countries, therefore, teachers must speak according to Western thought
patterns so that the seed of Dharma can fully enter into the experience of Western
people. This is the way in which the lamas speak.
Because we are in a fortunate time, America, Canada, Europe, the whole world
receives the light of the Buddha's compassion. People now want to do practice
and it gives them much joy. But in order to do the practice, you have to meet
with the right situation and this meeting itself is the extraordinary blessing
of the Dharma. Once having received this wonderful blessing, it is the responsibility
of the Dharma practitioner to pass the teachings on to those who are ready for
them.
The root of the Dharma is precious Bodhicitta.
As I said in the beginning of this talk, the root of the Dharma is precious
Bodhicitta, and Bodhicitta is compassion for others. This is the essential meaning
of everything I have spoken of today.
Some people think it is very difficult to receive this teaching. Further, they
to receive this teaching. Further, they believe that even though they have received
the teachings, they are extremely difficult and take an inordinately long time
to realize. Perhaps this is true. For example, as in this world it is difficult
to get what you want, so it is not easy to achieve the profound, secret teaching
of Mahayana Dharma. Through practicing Mahayana, it is not easy to achieve the
state of bliss or enlightenment. But all this depends on your mind. Actually,
you should follow the Dharma, practice and keep precisely in mind the workings
of cause and effect. If you do this steadfastly and confidently, perhaps realization
might not take a long time, nor be difficult. It is said in the secret Mahayana
:
In a moment, something becomes special;
In a moment, Enlightenment is attained.
Nevertheless, whether there are Dharma practitioners or not, this era is a hectic
one, filled with distracting activity. During such a time, what kind of practice
should we be doing? As an example, we can take the situation of our own needs
- whatever we might need, so will others. With this benefiting others - that
is the core of Dharma practice.
We ground ourselves in this thought of benefiting others. If we have confidence
in the workings of cause and effect, whatever work we do will have an excellent
result. To take another example: IN this world we say "these are my parents,
this is my country, this is my property," etc. But from a Dharmic standpoint,
we look on all beings and deeply wish that they be relieved of their suffering
and achieve Buddhahood. Generating Bodhicitta in this way, we practice benefiting
others. This thought is absolutely essential not only for Dharma activity, but
for any activity in our lives.
If we maintain the thought of benefiting others and recite only one 'Om Ma Ni
Pad Me Hung' that will help liberate them from suffering and help raise them
to the level of Buddhahood. I would like to extend to you thoughts and blessings
in whatever you may do and offer many wishes for your long life.
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Two Facs of the Mind
To develop love and compassion, we first need to understand our current situation.
In order to develop authentic love and compassion, it is necessary to look at
our emotional processes, and at the disturbances that arise in our mind. We
should take our time in becoming aware of that which occupies the mind. In Tibetan,
the word for "disturbing emotions" points to a mind that is continuously
disturbed. It is not a question of having only one emotion in one moment, but
of all the emotions with all their effects and consequences.
The disturbing emotions
The disturbing emotions are : jealousy, attachment, anger and all the different
states in which we find ourselves. We have these emotions, but we would like
to get rid of them. When they come up, we fight against them. We do not want
to be disturbed. However, we need to understand that emotions are not completely
negative. If they disturb us, it is because we do not know how they function
or what to make of them. Nevertheless, the emotions are an integral part of
the dynamic processes of life.
Mind has two aspects : yeshe and namshe, in Tibetan. Yeshe is a dimension of
wisdom, of clear thinking which recognizes itself and which recognizes the emotions
as being a part of itself.
Namshe/Yeshe
Namshé is a consciousness that is limited, separated or disconnected.
We are now in this consciousness which is full of confusion and disturbances.
But yeshe and namshe, wisdom and confusion, are two aspects of the mind. Therefore,
even if we wanted to, we could not get rid of the emotions, we can neither stop
them, nor give them up.
What is relevant, however, is to understand how the emotions function, how they
come up and from where they come. For example, when jealousy arises, we need
to see it, to be aware of it. Try to see its cause and its effect. Not only
do we need to see the aspect of emotions that affects us internally, (that is
to say, how it is in our mind/consciousness, how it makes us feel) but also,
we need to be aware of what it makes us do, the actions that are motivated and
initiated by jealousy, for example.
If we look carefully in the moment when jealousy arises, we will see that we
choose a side, and obviously our side is always the best. It is the others that
are on the wrong side. It is a little like the football matches in France :
before the match starts, we have already chosen "our" team. We know
it is the team we will root for while watching the game on television. But if
we are travelling and find ourselves for instance in Asia or Latin America watching
a football match on television, we cannot grasp very much at the beginning.
There are the two teams, their shirts are different in color. But very quickly,
without even realizing it, we will choose a color and a team. We will then cheer
on our chosen team and criticize the other.
This holds true not just for football ; this same process applies in very many
situations, taking sides, encouraging one and criticizing the other. Most of
the time we carry this posture of judgement : "He is wrong, his attitude
is erroneous. It is obvious that he cannot be right, I am right." We are
constantly talking to ourselves like this and we are absorbed in duality. We
always choose the best aspect and the best side; and the best team is obviously
our team. We have to be right. We are like judges ever presiding over who is
wrong and who is right. We act like the high magistrate of our existence.
Often, we cannot look at ourselves, because it is
too painful to do so, or because we are unceasingly judging ourselves. Rather
than saying, "I cannot accept that", or denying the situation in which
we find ourselves, we really need to look and see, to be aware of what is happening.
Be aware
Being able to see or be aware of our emotions does not mean that we will be
able to live the emotions in a right way from day to day. We should not expect
immediate result, neither should we make the mistake of thinking like this :
"I am jealous, I know it well, and I will never be any good !" It
is not a question of culpability by admitting that we are bad. Guilt or culpability
has no place in consciousness or in vigilance. Rather, it is a question of seeing
who we are and what is right. If we are aware, our thinking becomes clearer,
then it is possible to see the emotions in the instant they arise. As a result,
our mind will be increasingly free. We release the mind of any obstacles. This
fruit or result will not come up directly because we cannot liberate ourselves
immediately of all obstacles. Just because we have resolved to see the emotions
does not mean that we can see them. Nevertheless, little by little, we will
come to recognize the true balance that is within us. We will recognize who
we really are. We will in turn realize that others are in the same situation
as we are, that they have the same emotions and experience the same confusion.
Take the example of a baby who suddenly cries because we have left him on his
own. We are not angry about it. We might be a little irritated, but no hatred
is aimed towards the baby. We excuse the baby for crying because he is too young
to understand.
On the other hand, when faced with an adult with the same reaction, immediately
we would form an opinion about him. We will directly reduce him to our vision
of things and our perception. If only we can get pass our subjectivity, if only
we can manage to be more and more aware of what is happening within ourselves,
then, instead of seeing the defects of others, we will pacify our own minds.
We will be much more at ease and peaceful. Given any situation, we experience
it not from the point of view of the defects of others, but from the perspective
of seeking a possible solution that is positive. Instead of being judgmental,
we think: "How can I help him find a solution to the situation that is
positive both for him and for me?" Gradually, we will soften from within
- from the harshness of the ego we arrive at the softness of compassion.
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Towards the Supreme Illumination
(Song of the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa)
Remain within this profoundity, undistracted
No need to discipline body or voice,
All will come spontaneously.
There is nothing in This to realise:
Understand that whatever is apparent is
without own-being.
All phenomena are egoless
and Dharmadhatu, the mind realm,
is completely free of thought.
The great transcending knowledge beyond duality
is the Holy Spirit in which all is sameness.
As the Great River flows on
Whatever meditation sitting you do silently
there is virtue in it.
THIS then is always the Buddha's nature -
Enlightenment.
The word just isn't there
and all us the great Bliss.
All Dharmas, every single thing,
is void in essence,
and being void
cannot be grasped by the mind.
so automatically
we are cleansed of attachment.
Beyond intellect
within the mind nothing arises.
This is the Path of all the Buddhas,
Enlightened ones.
Composed by His Holiness Gyalwa Karmapa in the
Monastery Wreathed in a Thousand Rays of Rainbow
Ligth, Runtek, The Dharma Centre of Sikkim,
August 1974.