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The Transmission of Dharma in the Modern World

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The Transmission of Dharma in the Modern World From Warm Heart to Warm Heart: The Transmission of Dharma in the Modern World Interviews from Mandala, 1982–2017 A Mandala Ebook © 2017 Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system or technologies now known or developed, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover: His Holiness the Dalai Lama being greeted by Jim Blumenthal, Portland, Oregon, US, May 2013; photo by Marc Sakamoto. Blue sky photo by Outside the Fray, Flickr Creative Commons attribution. Mandala/FPMT, Inc., 1632 SE 11th Avenue, Portland, OR 97214, US; fpmt.org Table of Contents Editor’s Introduction Foreword by Lama Zopa Rinpoche: Some Thoughts on the Future of Buddhism, 2004 1. Lama Yeshe: Taking the Essence, 1982, Mandala July–December 2016 2. Geshe Lhundub Sopa: Transmitting ‘Gold’, Mandala November 1996 3. Yangsi Rinpoche: Lamrim in the West, Mandala December 2003–January 2004 4. Ven. Antonio Satta: Mindfulness-Awareness Meditation, Mandala October–November 2006 5. Dr. Robert Thurman: Engaged Realism, Mandala October–November 2006 6. Rob Preece: Psychology—The Bridge Between Buddhism and the West, Mandala July–September 2013 7. Dr. John Dunne: On Mindfulness, Mandala Online January–March 2014 8. Ven. Thubten Chodron: Buddhism’s Common Ground, Mandala October–December 2014 9. Dr. Jeffrey Hopkins: Transmitting Honesty, Mandala Online January 2015 10. Rasmus Hougaard: Bringing Dharma into the Corporate World, Mandala Online March 2015 11. Dr. Anne Carolyn Klein: The Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism to the West, Mandala Online July–December 2015 12. Dr. Elijah Ary: The Significance of Biography, Mandala July–December 2015 13. Geshe Thupten Jinpa: Secularizing Compassion, Mandala Online December 2015 14. Dr. Georges Dreyfus and Ven. Tenzin Namjong: Debate in Tibetan Buddhist Education, Mandala September–November 2003 & Mandala Online December 2016 15. Dr. Roger Jackson: Teaching Buddhism, Spreading Dharma, Mandala Online January–June 2017 16. Jacob Sky Lindsley: Mindfulness and Madhyamaka, Mandala Online March 2017 About FPMT Editor’s Introduction It was Yangsi Rinpoche who, when describing how Dharma is transmitted, coined the phrase “from warm heart to warm heart.” Even though he is a lharampa geshe, Rinpoche did not emphasize study, debate, or even meditation as the true key to transmission, but relationship. The Dharma goes beyond words, and it seems that we take it in most whole-heartedly from those with whom we have a deep connection. Is it not true that our studies progress when we open our hearts to our teachers, and that our practice flourishes in a context of caring, support, and friendship? To quote Dr. Anne Carolyn Klein in this volume, “transmission is about love.” In reading over the interviews published here, it is the caring, sincerity, and altruism of the interviewees that seem to stand out—their heartfelt wish to help others by playing their part in the dissemination of the Buddha’s teachings. And the “given” behind all the aspects of transmission that they discuss is relationship: between teachers and students, among Dharma friends, and within Buddhist communities. On the basis of warm human relationships, they make clear, the Dharma will take root and grow. The interviews in this volume concern the transmission of Dharma and all originally appeared in Mandala, in print or online. This anthology aims at fostering not only Dharma knowledge and practice, but also relationship among all who respect and implement the Buddha’s teachings. We at Mandala wish you enjoyment and benefit from reading it. Donna Lynn Brown Associate Editor, Mandala Foreword by Lama Zopa Rinpoche: Some Thoughts on the Future of Buddhism An excerpt from an article written by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for The Path of the Buddha by Renuka Singh (Penguin, 2004) In order to hazard a guess at the future of Buddhism in the world, we need to look at how it has survived and spread since our precious founder, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, first turned the wheel of Dharma 2,500 years ago. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha revealed the path to enlightenment so that all sentient beings would be happy and free from suffering. Having experienced the bliss of liberation and enlightenment himself, he realized that all beings had the seed of enlightenment within their minds and could attain that ultimate goal by following the same path that he had. Therefore, starting with the four noble truths, he began to give teachings according to the various levels of mind of those who came to him for instruction. Under his guidance, his disciples began to practice, and many were able to gain the same realizations that he had, proving that others could attain the enlightenment he himself had attained. As his students became teachers, their own disciples gained realizations of the path, showing that Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings were indeed transmissible and thus beginning the oral tradition that survives to this day. For fifteen hundred years, Buddhism flourished in India and spread from there in all directions, to South-East Asia; Sri Lanka; China, Japan, and Korea; countries to the west; and Nepal and Tibet. Around 650 CE, the king of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo, married Buddhist women from Nepal and China and, under their influence, began to introduce Buddhism to Tibet. One hundred years later, the king Trisong Detsen invited the great Indian monk-scholar Shantarakshita and the tantric yogi Padmasambhava to firmly establish Buddhism in Tibet. Shantarakshita, the “Great Abbot Bodhisattva,” introduced the monastic tradition to Tibet, ordained the first five Tibetan monks and inspired the construction of Tibet’s first monastery, Samyé. Padmasambhava, “Guru Rinpoche,” pacified hindrances to the establishment of Buddhism and introduced the practice of Vajrayana to Tibet. Over the next century, the practice of Buddhism spread gradually throughout Tibet, until the anti- Buddhist king Langdarma ascended to the throne and began a violent campaign to destroy Buddhism in Tibet. Within a few years, the Dharma had all but disappeared from Central Tibet, but survived to a certain extent far to the east and west. Thus fragmented, the practice of Dharma began to degenerate, and many corrupt practices and ideas were introduced to Tibet. Despairing at the situation, the king of Gugé, in Western Tibet, invited the renowned Indian pandit Atisha to Tibet to re-introduce the pure practice of Dharma. I can’t talk much about Atisha’s life here, but a detailed description is given in Pabongka Rinpoche’s book, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. Here we see how, like Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, Atisha was born into a royal family but abandoned his inheritance in favor of Dharma practice. He studied with many teachers and realized the central importance of the loving, compassionate bodhichitta in the practice of Dharma. In order to further his study and practice of bodhichitta, Atisha undertook a long and dangerous sea voyage to Indonesia, to meet Serlingpa, the pre-eminent teacher of bodhichitta of the time. When he went to Tibet in 1042, Atisha carried with him the two crucial Dharma lineages of method and wisdom, and when we talk even now about the survival of Buddhism in the world, we have to talk in terms of these two lineages. The wisdom lineage passed from Guru Shakyamuni Buddha to Manjushri and then down on through great masters such as Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti to Atisha. The method lineage passed from the Buddha to Maitreya and then down on through Asanga, Vasubandhu, Haribhadra and, of course, Lama Serlingpa, also to Atisha. Thus, combined in the holy mind of the great Atisha, the two lineages of method and wisdom arrived in Tibet. In Tibet, Lama Atisha wrote a very short text entitled A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, which for the first time presented all the teachings of the Buddha in an organized, step-like path, making it very easy for the individual practitioner to get an overview of the entire path and to understand what practice might be relevant to her or him. Of course, the benefits of Atisha’s coming to Tibet are infinite, beyond measure, but even if the only thing he’d done was to write this text, that would have made it worthwhile. Atisha’s work was the original lamrim (steps of the path) text, and over the subsequent centuries, many lamas from all Tibetan traditions wrote commentaries on Atisha’s Lamp, and the lamrim genre is one of the hallmarks of Tibetan Buddhism. Perhaps the most famous of all lamrim commentaries is Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo (The Great Treatise on the Steps of the Path to Enlightenment). Lama Tsongkhapa was a great yogi and scholar who wrote many profound texts on all aspects of sutra and tantra, including several lamrim commentaries of varying length, but his Great Treatise is a work of unparalleled genius. Lama Tsongkhapa also founded the Gelug tradition, one of the four great schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He and his disciples also founded some of the greatest monasteries in Tibet, including the three near Lhasa—Ganden, which he founded himself, and Drepung, Sera—and Tashilhunpo, Kumbum, and Labrang, in other parts of the country—which were founded by various of his disciples and were like small towns, housing tens of thousands of monks. In the Gelug monasteries, the monks followed a rigorous schedule of memorization, study, debate, and practice. Often they would forego sleep in order to debate all night. One of my teachers, Geshe Rabten, has written in detail about life in the monasteries (Life of a Tibetan Monk), and his book is well worth reading to find out what an impressive and intensive schedule the monks followed.
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