LAM RIM TEACHINGS VOLUME I FOUNDATIONS of the PATH Thoroughly Revised Edition

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LAM RIM TEACHINGS VOLUME I FOUNDATIONS OF THE PATH thoroughly revised edition

Gehlek Rimpoche teachings 1987 - 1991

Jewel Heart Transcripts 2005

Jewel Heart First edition 1993; revised 2005

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This is the transcription of the Lam Rim teachings given in the United States from 1987 up to 1991 by Ngawang Gehlek Rimpoche, the spiritual leader of the Jewel-Heart Centers in the United States, the Nether- lands, Malaysia and Singapore. It were the first two rounds of Lamrim Teachings given on a weekly basis, starting above the garage in Rimpoche’s first house in Ann Arbor, USA. Twice a guest teacher took part in the project: Dagyab Rimpoche taught on the bodhimind and Geshe Yeshi Thabkye on wisdom. We are very grateful to Rimpoche for being so kind not only to teach all this but to also allow the teachings to be put on tape and be transcribed. We are also grateful for the continuous recording of the teachings and the provision of the necessary material.

This second edition is thoroughly revised: The teachings have been more edited: previously spread-out information has been put together, the language has been grammatically adjusted; clarifications are put between [ ]. Questions and answers during the teachings as well as some discussions have been put in a separate chapter. The notes and glosses are updated and extended. The list of literature has been updated. The index has been refined. The outlines have been revised, by which the Lamrim structure has become more clear. Illustrations are added. Encouraged by the late Allen Ginsberg the illustrations are drawn from the Ti- betan Buddhist tradition as well as from the Western cultural and spiritual heritage. As a result the accessibility of Rimpoche’s teachings has improved.

Having the option that this work of Rimpoche belongs to the basic material for learning, thinking and meditating, not only on a personal basis but also in study and meditation groups, we have inserted whatever ‘tools’ may be of use for Lamrim-students. Therefore, additional literature is to be found at each subject. Root texts that are often referred to or are basic material, are to be found in the Appendices. Verses of the Lamrim Dudon have been used as a brief introduction to a topic. A glossary is provided. The list of literature contains, amongst other things, all translations we could find of the well-known Tibetan/Sanskrit works in relation to the Lamrim. Furthermore, English literature (and in The Netherlands also a list of Dutch literature) is added. The index (in each volume) carries entrances of ‘examples’, ‘stories’, ‘quotations’, ‘charts’, and ‘root texts’.

The language check was done by Inge Eijkhout. The illustrations of Buddha, Atisha, Tsongkhapa and Manjushri are drawn by Marian van der Horst. The lay-out has been taken care of by Piet Soeters. Any mistakes are to be blamed to the transcriber, who enjoyed very, very much transcribing this rewarding work. If you find any mistakes, please e-mail to: [email protected]

Nijmegen, August 2005. Marianne Soeters

CONTENTS

THE PRELIMINARY TEACHINGS AND ACTIVITIES

I Introduction into Lam Rim 5

II The qualities of the Source; the Lineage of the Teachings 25

III The Qualities of the Teachings 37

IV How to Listen to and How to Teach the Dharma 61

V Preparing for Meditation: The Six Preliminaries 65

THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE PATH

VI Guru Devotion: Whole-Hearted Commitment to a Spiritual Guide 81

VII Lamrim Meditation 103

APPENDICES

The Practice of the Ganden Lha Gyema 113

Questions and Answers 137

Outlines 141

Charts 144 - Chart 1: Historical Overview - Chart 2: Basis, Path and Result

Root texts 147 - A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment – by Atisha

Kyabje Ling Rinpoche 155

Jewel Heart 157

GLOSSARY 159

INDEX 177

Buddha Sakyamuni

I INTRODUCTION INTO LAM RIM

Do kindly generate a pure thought, the thought of the bodhimind For the benefit of all the sentient beings, I would like to obtain the stage of a buddha, within the time of a short life like this. For that I would like to learn, listen, and practice. Generate such a bodhimind so that every moment, whatever we do, becomes a good practice. In such a way do kindly go through and study this. Lamrim is: how we give a mental training to our mind and uplift our spiritual standard from the ordinary everyday level to the extra-ordinary level of enlightenment. Lam is path, Rim is stage, so Lamrim means: stages of the path. Many of you have heard of the Three Principles of the Path and also of the Foundation of All Perfections.1 These are shorter versions of the Lamrim. However, if you have had teachings on those two or either one of them you will not be able to say that you had a full Lamrim training.

Ways of training. The Lamrim has three or four different ways of training.2 The best way is: the student is given a teaching on one outline and he/she has to meditate on that completely until a realization of that point is obtained. Only then does the student move on to the next step or outline. That is called experien- tial teaching.3 You let the individual student experience the subject and realize the point; after that you move to the next point. If it is not realized the same point is held onto and you don’t give the next teachings at all. That is considered the best teaching, because when the teaching ends, the spiritual standard of the individual will be equal to where the teaching level has got to. That is not going to be possible for us, because it requires complete individual attention. Then the second category: the teachings will be given and the individual person is required to meditate on the subject four times a day. The explanation will also be given four times. The teacher will keep on repeating and the individual is expected to meditate by himself on the subject four times. If you can do that, it is very good.4 Traditionally in Tibet, when both teacher and students had time, Lamrim teachings used to be set up for two or three months. Every day the teachings would start at twelve in the afternoon and end at eight or nine in the evening and that would continue for two or three months. The people would meditate on the received teachings in the morning. The teachings were given in four rounds: they would be repeated three times during that day and the next day a shorted version would be given.5 Here it is not going to be like that. Today we are starting and we are not touching a Lamrim subject at all. We will be at the preliminary level. On the essential teachings I suggest you meditate twice a day, spend some time on it early in the morning and before you go to sleep in the evening. If you can do it four times a day, great! But if you can’t do that, do it twice a day. Whatever teaching has been given, you overview it twice a day until the next teaching comes. During the next teaching you pick up the new subject as well. Then you concentrate on that and on what you went through before. What you have focused on be-

1 Root texts to be found in volume II. 2 See Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 25 or Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 41. 3 For the four ways of teaching, see note 38 on page 23. 4 This method was used several times by Gehlek Rimpoche in Vajrayana retreats. 5 First round: extensive teachings; second round: brief repetition and filling in some new details; third round: essence only, often presented in a verse; fourth round: short outline overview the next morning. Rimpoche still gives the Vajrayana teachings that way. 6 Lam Rim Teachings fore, will go shorter. You will notice that day by day it will take less and less time. Then again when the next teachings come, you can start focusing more on that subject and you focus less on what we have done earlier. If you do it that way, it will be helpful. By concentrating strongly on the new points twice every day and concentrating shorter on the points you went through before – continuously while these Lamrim teachings are going on – you will probably gain quite a good ground. The whole idea of it is to try to change the individual’s way of thinking, our way of looking, and our way of relating to our normal life. In other words, we will try to influence the individual so that our habitual patterns will change and we will pick up positive patterns as our habit. That way every effort, every work we are doing, will become positive, creating good karma and avoiding bad karma, and building a solid foundation within the individual.

Up to now we have given you enough opportunity to come in and go out and touch on subjects here and there. We have done so for six months and six months is enough to make up one’s mind. Unless you do this constantly, it is not going to have much effect on you. So, for the people who are here, if you like it I will expect you to come here continuously from now on.6 Normal Lamrim teachings are started with a very long preliminary prayer.7 In one way the preliminary prayers don’t seem to have so much of a point, but in another way it has a lot of important points. Why? If your preparation is good, your actual practice will be good; if your preparation is not great, your actual practice is also not going to be that great. As preliminary practice I chose to do the guru-devotional practice based on Tsongkhapa, the guru yoga called Ganden Lha Gyema8.

Basis, path and result The basis: our precious human life

Human life, found but this one time More precious than the wish-fulfilling gem, So hard to regain and so easily lost, Is brief as a flash of lightning. Seeing this, discard worldly activity like the husk of a grain And strife day and night to take life’s essence. I, a yogi, did that myself; You, O liberation seeker, should do likewise. Je Tsongkhapa, Song of the Stages in Spiritual Practice [Lamrim Dudon] 9, vs. 10

The great Tsongkhapa is trying to tell us: the body that we have today as a perfect human being, is the fundamental basis on which we can work on the spiritual path. It is the best basis. There are many reasons why Tsongkhapa says it is the best basis. In samsara, the circle of existence, there are a number of different beings. Human beings are not necessarily the most superior beings. The samsaric gods and the jealous gods are superior to humans. However, the life of a human being is the most suitable one to gain a perfect practice to reach enlightenment. What we are really seeking through the Lamrim practice is nothing but ultimate enlightenment, the liberated stage of buddhahood. The stage of buddhahood is the ultimate goal. In order to produce our perfect future buddha, the best basis is the human body. The human body has a lot of special qualities. Of course we all know that, but there are additional qualities that these particular bodies of us enjoy and others cannot enjoy. Buddha himself stated that this body in this life has eighteen different qualities: the eight leisures and ten endowments.

6 Rimpoche here addresses a group of people in Ann Arbor, who have been coming in regularly for open dharma talks, and now start the Lamrim teachings. This is also applicable to study and meditation groups. 7 See Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 249-270 or Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 765-87. 8 For text and commentary, see page 113. Alternative: Odyssey to Freedom prayers. 9 Translation Glenn Mullin. Alternative translation: Lines of Experience by Robert Thurman and Lamrim von Je Tsongkhapa by Panglung Rinpoche in volume II.

Introduction into Lamrim 7

Leisures. Leisure normally means that you have time to do something. Here it refers to having the opportunity and the time to do spiritual practice. There are eight such leisures. The eight other life possibilities in the circle of existence, samsara, each have their own ‘lazinesses’. We are out of them. That is why they are called leisures. In brief, there are six realms: three higher and three lower ones. The three higher realms are: the gods' realm, the realm of the jealous gods and the human realm. The three lower realms are: the hell realm, the hungry-ghosts realm and the animal realm. Each one of these has its own difficulties, its own sufferings and its own problems, which keeps the individual very busy. In the hot and cold hells the beings are absolutely busy trying to get some kind of relief from their pain. Therefore they don’t have any leisure to do a spiritual practice and develop themselves. So they have a kind of laziness. In western language you might not call it laziness; you might say they are overwhelmed by the pains, but from the spiritual point of view it is laziness, because you don’t put time into the spiritual practice. That is what happens in the lower realms. In the higher realms the beings also have their own problems. In the samsaric-gods level the pleasure is truly high and the time for consuming this pleasure is extremely high. Therefore they can’t spend any time on developing themselves spiritually. They are overwhelmed by pleasure, so they don’t have the opportunity, they don’t have the time to practice. So do the jealous gods. They are always busy being jealous of the samsaric gods, “Why are they better than we, why are we worse than they?” With those sort of questions they keep themselves busy, so they don’t have the opportunity to practice either. Among all categories of beings, human beings are the best. However, human beings are totally busy with creating pleasure, security and comfort. Everybody is busy doing something we consider to be creating pleasure, creating comfort. We are completely occupied by creating pleasure and harmony. We are ob- sessed with this. From the spiritual point of view we don’t have any opportunity. We don’t put any efforts towards spiritual development, because we are completely occupied with what we call success in life and after that we wait for death. We very nicely call it retirement. In fact, those who cannot contribute much to success, because of not being busy producing things, those who get in our way, we separate, we push into senior citizen homes. I am not criticizing that, please, but I am trying to point out something. When they are put in there, they have practically nothing else to do but wait to die. You can make some excuses here and there, provide a little entertainment here and there, but in true reality you put them in a corner somewhere to wait for death. So, when you are young you are too busy to make success in life, measuring in terms of money, wealth, comfort, whatever. And when you are old, you are getting in the way, so you are pushed aside, made to wait for death. Either way you don’t have the opportunity, you can’t have a good practice. That way you don’t have leisure. These are some types of busy-ness which take away the leisure. Although we are human beings, we are fortunately not in those categories at this moment. We have been able to put aside at least certain hours, we take the trouble of coming here and listening, we take the trouble of meditating, we take the trouble of reading some spiritual books and we put effort into it. There- fore we have the quality of leisure. I won’t go into detail of all the leisures, because this will come later in the Lamrim.10

Endowments. We also have ten endowments. They are a great gift. There are five self-gifts and five gifts from the point of view of the time in which we have taken rebirth as a human being. The five gifts from the point of view of the time we are in: A great buddha has appeared in the world. Not only is it a time in which a buddha appeared; the teachings of the Buddha, which are based on the experience of the Buddha, are there and were constantly shared by Buddha’s followers and the lineage. Therefore they are still alive. That is a gift of the time we are in: Buddha has appeared and the teachings are still alive, not as information but as practice, as a living tradition.

10 The leisures and endowments are taught in detail in chapter VIII.

8 Lam Rim Teachings

Also, Buddha taught the dharma. If Buddha had appeared, yet had not shared his experience, then it would still be useless. But not only did Buddha teach; the tradition is still living, the practice is a living practice. Not only is the practice a living tradition, you still have companions, the sangha community, those who are interested and who want to practice. So we do have following practitioners. There are kind persons who like to share the information and knowledge with you.

Then we also have five self-qualities: We are humans. We are born in the center. We have all senses working (we are not crazy). We are not completely closed-minded, believing in the material world and technology only and not in anything spiritual. We have a sense of understanding of karma and buddhadharma and are at least open-minded about that.

In other words, if we look at ourselves we can see that we are very rich. Our lives are tremendously valuable, valuable in the sense of timing, valuable in the sense of leisure, valuable in the sense of qualities. All of this make us superior. That is why Tsongkhapa chose to call this working basis superior to a wish- granting gem. A wishfulfilling jewel – if there is such a thing – can give us comfort in life, extra food and clothes and so forth, but it can never give us the wisdom which enables us to clear the ignorance. It will never be able to give us a method, which will guarantee us a better future life. A wishfulfilling gem will never be able to give us a method which will lead us on the stages towards buddhahood, it can never give us a path towards becoming a buddha. The working basis of our life of today can do that. Therefore it is very precious. Yet it is not lasting, not at all. It can disappear like lightning in the sky. It can go, you can lose it any minute. That is also true. This very valuable life with great opportunities and with the eighteen qualities can be lost any minute.

When we talk about the eighteen qualities, a lot of people think the eighteen qualities are the human beings’ qualities. No, they are not. They are the qualities of the individual practitioners who are interested in developing themselves spiritually, who are interested in following the path of the Buddha and in building themselves as buddhas. These people have the eighteen qualities, others don’t. These qualities are totally based on those of us who are having the opportunity plus the interest and open-mindedness. Those who have closed their minds completely, don’t have these eighteen qualities at all, because they have shut down their opportunities. They are simply not interested, they don’t care. What they do care about is perhaps material development, perhaps scientific development, perhaps becoming famous of whatever their interest may be, whatever they are concerned about individually. They have no interest in developing themselves, they have no interest in looking for a better state beyond this life. Therefore, although they are human beings, they are not human beings with the eighteen qualities. That is what Tsongkhapa means when he says: I, a yogi, did that myself; You, O liberation seeker, should do likewise.11 I’m not trying to tell you who Tsongkhapa is, I am not trying to bore you by giving you some Tibetan lama whose name you don’t even know, who passed away five hundred years ago. I am trying to introduce Tsongkhapa as a role-model with which I try to practice. Though I am failing all the time, I keep that as a role-model and try to find out what Tsongkhapa has done; on that basis I work in my path, as all my great teachers have done. I try to follow that and I also try to tell you that you should look at him as a role- model. Tsongkhapa’s way of teaching is in his Lamrim, in which is said, The great masters have practiced this way. May I be blessed to be able to practice that way.

11 Je Tsongkhapa, Lines of Experience [Tib. Lamrim Dudon].

Introduction into Lamrim 9

The tradition of this teaching changed the words “I, the yogi have practiced this way; you who are the followers should follow.” into the above words. The lineage tradition will tell you to do it that way.12 In other words, the way to practice and the way of gaining experience of the teaching tradition has to be your role- model. You may think, “I have to look at Tsongkhapa as a role-model, but I don’t even know who that guy is, what he looks like, how he behaves.” Doesn’t matter. That is not the point. The point is how he thought, how he practiced, how he gained experience. That should be our role-model and that should be looked at. Do you get it? I hope so.

The result or goal: three scopes for one’s practice One should be able to gain some kind of essence in this life before the precious opportunity of that superior life gets lost. The essence of life here doesn’t mean something like ginseng essence; it means to gain something solid within you. What kind of solid gain do you need? What does solid gain mean? There are three categories.

1) Within your lifetime, before you die, you try to become a buddha. That is the superior essence, the essential significance, the top-significant development: to try to become a buddha before you die. That is the essence you can take out of life and that is our spiritual goal.

2) If you can’t do that, the second aim is to become free from the circle of existence. The circle of existence here means: birth, living, death, bardo, birth, living, death, bardo, continuing one after the other. Reaching up to this level is also very difficult for us. We Asians have an advantage. Somehow we understand or believe in reincarnation, so for us it is very easy to gain the idea of the continuation of birth, life, death, bardo, rebirth. For westerners it is difficult to get to that level, because many think that when they die they are finished. Forget about reaching the achievement of gaining control, gaining freedom; even for the existence of rebirth you have to work in order to gain it. Anyway, the second aim is to gain total freedom from the circle of death and rebirth, not being forced by other things, but having control yourself. What is happening to us just now? We are being pushed, we have no control, we have no freedom over when to die and where and when and how to be reborn. We have no control at all. If we had control, all of us would have been children of the Rockefellers. Since we have no control some became Rockefeller children, but many became children of homeless people. That is a clear indication that we don’t have the freedom to choose where to be reborn. Also we don’t have freedom of living. When death strikes, no matter how much we yell and scream, no matter if we are hooked onto the machine, how we are pulled and pushed, how we are given injections or shocks, we can’t hold on to life, we have to go. That is another sign that we don’t have freedom of living. We have to go. So we don’t have freedom and we are controlled by other things, which are delusions and karma. Our karma and delusions control all our movements, therefore we are not free. When we are not free, we are not in happiness and we are suffering. But not only that. We have not gained the essence of spiritual development. If you have gained the essence of spiritual development, there will be some kind of control within yourself. This is the second level of essence that one can take out of life, the second level of what one can achieve.

3) If we can’t do that, we need at least some karmic guarantee that our next life will not be a suffering lower rebirth, such as that of a cockroach, a scorpion or a skunk. That much guarantee we should have to carry with us when we die. That is the least, the third-class achievement.

If you do not achieve any of these, then according to the Buddha you have wasted your life. You got the opportunity; you had a life superior to that of your colleagues and companions, but you have totally wasted this superior life. No matter what you may have achieved, you may have achieved to be able to walk through fire, you may have achieved to be able to remain under water, when you die it is all gone. So the essence of this life, the opportunity of this life, has been wasted, you have nothing to carry.

12 That means, although each verse of Tsongkhapa’s shortest Lamrim [Tib. Lamrim Dudon] says, “I, the yogi…” etc., when you use this text for your practice, you say “You, the great masters…” etc.

10 Lam Rim Teachings

Flying through the air is nothing to be surprised of; the birds fly in the air all the time and we have flown a number of times as a bird. Remaining under water is nothing to be surprised of; all fish remain under water, and we did live under water a number of times. Remaining under the ground is nothing to be surprised of; all the worms live underground and we also have done so a number of times. What we have not done is taken the essence out of life. If we have curiosity enough, we should be able to explore that and try to achieve this. If we are adventurous, we should look into that direction and try to achieve that. And if we are explorers, we should explore in the direction we never went before and try to achieve something, otherwise our life will be wasted. If death comes before we did one of these, we are lost. So there is time pressure. We are travelers traveling towards death; death is coming running towards us. We are spiritual practitioners, whose goal is not coming towards us; we have to go and achieve it. So there is a time pressure: which one will first, death or the achievement of our goal? We have to achieve something before we die, otherwise our great life has been wasted.

The path or method: Sutrayana and Vajrayana13 Now the question comes: how do we achieve our goal, or any of these goals? These goals have been achieved by the Buddha and by the disciples who followed the path that the Buddha shared. So if we follow the same path, we are probably going to achieve it, too. We can achieve it, we are eligible to achieve it, and we have the best opportunity. We can do it, as long as we don’t put ourselves into what we call the ninth laziness14. The eight non-leisures are described in the books, but we have an additional laziness which is: making ourselves busy for nothing. That is being lazy in terms of spiritual development. Do you hear me? If we make ourselves additionally busy, even though we may be free of the eight lazinesses Bud- dha mentioned, we put ourselves in the ninth laziness: making ourselves busy for nothing. Then we make ourselves not to have the opportunity. Unless we go into that laziness, we can do it. There is no reason why we cannot do it. We have the time to do it and we have the path, which, all the way from Buddha and his disciples up to here, has been practiced and people have obtained development on. It is all there in black and white; one can read it, one can listen to it, one can take the tradition in a living sense, one can practice and one can gain it. So you can definitely do it. Then the question is: How should we do that? When you package the Buddha’s teachings there are in general two main packages: the sutra and the tantra packages.

Sutrayana. Sutra is cause-oriented practice, the practice to create the causes for a better future life and for dealing with our delusions. The sutra path is much simpler than the tantra path. The sutra path gives us straightforward, simple solutions to deal with our basic problems of ignorance and certain delusions. It is a straightforward and simple way for dealing with those, but it requires a tremendous amount of effort: a tremendous amount of time, energy, awareness, vigilance, discipline, purification and accumulation of merit – all together in a combined sort of way. It is a simple way without too many tricks and techniques. At the beginning level it works better too, because it deals with the individual’s problems and brings in awareness. It also introduces us to the basis of our problems and what the solutions are. In the pure sutra teachings, like the Mahayana sutra, you will be told that you can become a buddha and you will become a buddha, but it will take a couple of eons. Not lives but eons. It is said it will take three countless eons. In the traditional Tibetan teachings it is said: Our great Buddha first generated the bodhimind, the motivation to serve and help all beings. In between, in the middle state, he accumulated merit for three countless eons. Ultimately he became a buddha and started helping other beings. For three countless eons you have to accumulate merit and you have to purify your non-virtues. And you are still fortunate; at least buddhahood is introduced as an aim. If you look into the Theravadin or Hi- nayana teachings, buddhahood is not introduced as a goal at all. It is beyond their scope. Their goal is only

13 Also called Tantrayana or Mantrayana. 14 Also called Ninth non-leisure. See chapter VIII (volume II).

Introduction into Lamrim 11 to become an arhat, to get liberated from the circle of existence, which means: to be free from death, bardo and rebirth. In that teaching tradition only the second point of achievement will be introduced as the ultimate achievement.

Vajrayana or tantra. Once we put buddhahood as our aim, the method we need is not an ordinary method. We need an extra-ordinary method. If our goal is some small thing, then we can have a small practice and just wait and see what happens. That is not the case here. Our goal is an extra-ordinary goal, so the method we need is also extra-ordinary. The extra-ordinary method is the practice of Vajrayana. The Vajrayana practice is extra-ordinary; it is quick, it is powerful and it is dangerous, very exciting. Especially if one would like to become a buddha before one dies, there is no other way besides the Vajrayana practice. That makes Vajrayana extra-ordinary. And not just extra-ordinary, but it also makes it very quick. Quick in the sense that they try to complete the work that normally takes three countless eons, within one lifetime. The Vajrayana method will show you how to complete it within the short sphere of this life, within a few years. So the ultimate practice will be the Vajrayana practice.

Vajrayana is very ambitious. In Vajrayana people begin to deal with all problems together instead of dealing with them one by one. You try to handle everything within a very short period and with a lot of techniques and tricks. It is a sort of high-tech way of dealing with problems. Really. It is transforming rather than getting rid of. Rather than to wait until you are a fully enlightened being, from the beginning level of the practice you begin to deal with the result level. That is why it is called result-oriented practice. In other words, in the Vajrayana techniques you visualize from the beginning that you have already become a buddha and all your activities you visualize from the perspective of a buddha: as though a buddha is working rather than you as an individual. [You do so] at least for external service, for the benefit of others. For internal service, for the benefit of the individual, you also have to deal with your own personal problems. However, it tries to deal with them at a ‘high-tech’ buddha-type of level. This is the very basic way of explaining the difference between sutra and tantra. Vajrayana is a combination of very high techniques and a very short period. I will give you one little example. Certain practices will cover seven bhumis or stages. This type of very quick and high-tech way you find in Vajrayana, makes it very important and absolutely valuable; you cannot manage without it. But you need to know exactly what it is, what you are doing and how to handle it. Otherwise it will be like letting a three-year-old kid manage a very high-tech, sophisticated machine. It is very similar to that. To be able to manage Vajrayana you need at least familiarity. If you don’t have that, you probably will not know at all what to do with it. Not at all! Not only that; there is also a danger that it will work against you. Therefore it is very important to have a sutra foundation. If you don’t have a sutra foundation, the high-tech Vajrayana will not be useful but dangerous, and it will work against you. Even when you might be able to use it for one little purpose, you can’t make full use of it. So although we made the division of Vajrayana and Sutrayana, they are very much interlinked. Not only interlinked, Vajrayana couldn’t even function without Sutrayana and vice versa. For example: if the person doesn’t have a good foundation of sutra and goes into Vajrayana straight away, instead of developing love-compassion first, there is a danger of developing anger-hatred. Instead of becoming totally dedicated and beneficial to all sentient beings, there is a danger of becoming a powerful devil or ghost. Because these high-tech techniques work either the positive or the negative way. That is why Vajrayana is very great, very quick. However, without a sutra foundation it is very dangerous and not very good. So it becomes absolutely necessary to have the sutra path. You don’t need all the sutra things; you need the absolutely necessary prerequisites for the Vajrayana practice, which are together combined as a package called Lamrim. It is as simple as that. There is Vajrayana Lamrim too. What we are calling Lamrim and what you hear in the west is only the sutra part of the Lamrim. The Vajrayana part is very similar and is called Nagrim. Nag is mantra and rim is path, so the stages of the mantra path or mantrayana. That is basically what we are looking at.

So, the Vajrayana practice is not possible for an individual, unless this individual has a properly established, basic, fundamental spiritual foundation. Unless you have that properly established, the Vajrayana will not work within you. Vajrayana may work within the individual to gain some kind of ordinary siddhis

12 Lam Rim Teachings or accomplishments, like the power to heal somebody or the power to fly in the air or the power to levitate yourself from the ground. Some accomplishments like that may come, which is again a waste of your life. Therefore: the Vajrayana practice is the real method to achieve buddhahood and in order to do it a fundamental spiritual basis has to be worked out within the individual.

In short, our fundamental spiritual basis consists of three scopes: common with the lower level, common with the medium level, and the Mahayana scope. These three scopes have to be established. That is com- monly accepted by all the Vajrayana traditions, whether they be the Tibetan, the Chinese or the Mongolian Vajrayana tradition. That foundation has to be worked out perfectly. The way to establish this foundation differs from tradition to tradition. Some traditions will give you the [four great] preliminary practices, called ngöndro: prostrations, mandala offerings, purifications and guru yoga; one hundred thousand of each. You do these practices to establish the individual fundamental basis you need for the Vajrayana path. In the tradition of Tsongkhapa, the Lamrim has been very much emphasized as ngöndro. Tsongkhapa says, I am not interested whether you do a hundred thousand of this or that; I am not interested in numbers, I am interested in whether the individual’s mind gets ripened. Like fruit ripens, the mind should become ripe. If the mind remains like unripe fruit, then it is useless; you can’t eat it, you can’t do anything with it. The ngöndro has to ripen the mind. For that purpose the tradition of Tsongkhapa does not emphasize to do a number of this or that practice, but it very much emphasizes the sutra part of the Lamrim practice (not the tantra part of it, called Nagrim). In Tsongkhapa’s way of practice the best way to take the essence out of life is the three scopes we mentioned. These contain the essence of all Buddha’s teachings. Buddha’s teachings, if you combine them like in the Buddhist canon, cover a hundred and twenty-five volumes. Each of Buddha’s teachings serves the actual development of one individual towards enlightenment. The essence of it are the three scopes: the lower level, the medium level and the Mahayana level. The Mahayana level is divided into two: the Maha- yana sutra and the Mahayana tantra. These are the three levels for training of the mind.

The outlines or steps and how to use them When you do this, it is very important to have outlines or stages. In other words, each subject will be introduced in outlines; each outline will be equal to one step. So the outlines are very important. In each one of the outlines you may find many divisions. One has to follow them very carefully; otherwise there will be steps missing. It is very interesting: if you meditate and look into it, you see it is very logically built up: each step will push you to the next step. If you miss one step you cannot reach the next step, because it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t connect. One step will push you to the next and you have to meditate on each step, as said before. That starts when we begin to cover the actual steps.15

What meditation is.16 Meditation means getting your mind used to it. The whole purpose is that the particular step becomes your habitual way of acting. When it becomes a habitual way of acting, it becomes effortless. Until it becomes habitual practice, we have to put efforts into it. When it has become a habitual pattern, you don’t need any effort any more, you do it automatically. So meditation here really means: getting your mind towards the subject or object and putting your mind in a certain habitual pattern. If it is concentration meditation, then we change our mind from the busy thinking, busy moving, into sticking to the point and concentrating on it. The habit of jumping and moving changes into a habit of concentrating and sticking to something. That is another way of working on habitual patterns. When it is analytical meditation, it is again the mental habit, which is changed from the way we normally think into more conducive patterns. An accountant who is used to it, can see immediately, “If I make this much money, I can do this, this and this.” The analytical meditation will work similarly. When some-

15 From chapter VII onwards. 16 Kathleen McDonald, How to Meditate, p. 13-41. Suggestion for meditations during the first chapters of the Lamrim, when analytical meditations are not yet given: Kathleen McDonald, How to Meditate, p. 44-53 [meditations on the mind].

Introduction into Lamrim 13 thing has become a habitual way, it becomes automatic in our mind, it will come like a finger snap. So, when you’ve done good analytical meditations, then when the delusions come, the antidotes will automatically come up, without any effort. And even better: when the delusions come up, they will be weak delusions. When such is not our habit, we say, “Oh, I know, it comes and takes me over, it is overwhelming, but what can I do? It is so hard, so difficult.” That is because counteracting hasn’t become habitual. When it has become habitual enough, the delusions cannot come. Some people will say, “I know it, but it comes after me and I can’t help it, it is overwhelming.” Some people will say, “Well, I lost control, somehow it lingered round and went in that way.” All of these are possible because our mind couldn’t really stick to it, because it wasn’t worked out from the root. To work out the problems from their roots, you should build up the right habitual patterns.

Analytical and concentration meditation combined. To build up the right habitual patterns you need two ways: analytical meditation and concentration meditation. Analysis alone will not do it, concentration is needed too; concentration alone will not do it, analytical investigation is needed too. It looks like they contradict each other; the one wants to concentrate and the other one wants to think about it. It looks like a contradiction, but it isn’t. When you work with the combination, you’ll find they are complementary to each other. The analytical meditation will give you the basis on which you can concentrate. Let me give you an example. Earlier I said our life is so precious and I gave you a little bit of the different qualities, why we have leisure, how we have a gift of time and so on. On what I talked to you, you may begin to think, “Oh, it may be…” Otherwise, when I just say, “Life is precious” you probably say, “Oh yeah, life is precious, yes” and that is it. When I go into detail about how this leisure is here and how other people don’t have the opportunity you will think more on it, and it will start to make sense. The points that I talk about are providing you with the material for the analytical meditation method. By doing this, the possibilities begin to show; you begin to find, “Yes, there really is leisure and life is really precious.” You don’t have those possibilities yet, but you begin to see that it may be so. The analytical meditation gives you the basis. When you analyze your point and through your analysis you convince yourself that it is true, then you have found the base on which you can concentrate. When you concentrate on that base, it becomes your habit. That is how one develops the mind. If you just sit here and do nothing or just concentrate a little bit on the breath maybe, you are not going to develop. It may make your mind calm and cool and relaxed, but that is the end of it. That is not our purpose. That is not going to lead you to freedom. That is not going to lead you to enlightenment. That is going to make your mind somewhat usable, but that is all. Just now our mind is not usable, it is like a wild monkey. It is worse than a wild monkey; it is a wild elephant, difficult to catch and even dangerous if you try to catch it. Concentration will soften your mind a little bit, smoothen it, relax it a little. That is what concentration alone can do, only that much. Analytical meditation is the one that really does the job. A lot of people are interested in the wisdom of emptiness, but they have no idea how this wisdom is gained. Wisdom is gained through analytical meditation; wisdom is never gained through concentration meditation. When by analytical meditation wisdom is gained and you concentrate on it, it cuts the ignorance. Concentration alone will never give you wisdom; the analytical meditation will give you the wisdom. So the combination of analytical and concentration meditation is the method.

The outlines. Before you analyze, you need a point to analyze. Right? You can’t just sit there thinking, “I’m going to analyze.” Then you analyze what? Anything that comes up in your head? That would be useless. Following the path of the Buddha means following Buddha’s way of meditating. Buddha told us which steps they are, so we take those steps. We learn about a certain step, we think about it, we analyze it, we gain a true understanding of it and then we concentrate on it. The steps are the basis on which to work. Otherwise what would we analyze? We would be analyzing in the air and that wouldn’t work. The basis on which we do analysis and concentration, will be introduced here as steps or outlines. The steps are very logically worked out, one definitely pushes the other one. If you miss one, you cannot be pushed forward. It is like a watch. Inside it the cog-wheels go around, one pushes the other and you see the result in the frame and you can tell the time. That is possible because certain wheels and things inside are

14 Lam Rim Teachings moving and pushing one another. Similarly, these steps are very strongly connected. One pushes the other and ultimately, when you gain experience, you can use it. Like you can use a watch and tell the time, very similarly you can ask yourself on what level you are spiritually and you can say it straight away. To make that possible, you have to have the machinery working within you, one wheel has to push the other. In order to have the one push the other, you can’t miss a part and you can’t have the wrong part in the wrong place. If you have the wrong part in the wrong place, instead of clockwise you may go anti-clockwise. You have to have the right thing at the right point without missing a part. That is why I insist that people come all the time! Then you’ll have all the information available and you have the tradition, the lineage, available. Information alone you can pick up from books, from tapes, from anything, but the living tradition of the lineage cannot be picked up from tapes or books. You have to have it. It is not necessary to have detailed teachings like we do here, but you need what covers the points.17 So the outlines are going to be extremely important. Not only do you have to know the outlines; you have to understand them. On each one of these outlines you have to see: this is the point. One has to find out the point. If I don’t introduce you into what the point is, you’ll have no idea. When I tell you, “this is the point” and you buy my words, it doesn’t help you. What you have to do is: ponder on it and find that this is the point. Once you find that point by yourself, you can concentratedly meditate on it after which it becomes part of your life, it becomes your habit. Did you get that? Good.

How to learn. How to analyze each point? You may say, “Oh, during the teachings Rimpoche said this and that and the books say this and that on this point.” You can’t read everything and try to put everything in, that won’t work. Then you will destroy your basis. You concentrate on particular points, collect all the information related to it and then you try to logically make sense of it. You do so on the basis of the teachings, by remembering the teachings, the quotations, the examples and the stories. We’ll give you all sorts of stories, we’ll give you all sorts of examples, some will be very interesting, some will be very boring, some will be funny, some won’t make any sense, but all this will help you to remember and to bring the information together. Then if there are special techniques and tricks, we will also tell you those. So you remember all of them. Then – easy in the west – you can take notes, you can listen to the tapes and so on. When we used to learn, when we were practicing, we didn’t take notes. A few would take notes but had to hide them completely and make sure nobody would see them. I used to have a little notebook hidden. That was the old Tibetan system. In the west it is totally different, people take notes, people read, and think about it. And to confirm what you heard, you can listen to the tapes as well. Those are additional advantages, but just as much they can be disadvantages too. The disadvantage will be that you think, “If I don’t remember it, it is okay. I have taken notes, I can ask so and so who has taken notes, if necessary I can listen to the tapes.” That is what we call ‘the idea is left in the book’. If the book is not there the ideas have gone. When the ideas have gone, when you don’t have the ideas, you become like a robot. Robots have no mind; whatever is programmed in it will function, and what is not programmed will not function. If you leave your ideas in the notebook, it functions only when the notebook is there. If the notebook is not there, it doesn’t. When the delusions come and we have to run for our notebook, then it doesn’t work. An advantage is that you can easily refer to it, a disadvantage is that when you rely on it too much, then when the delusions come, you have to look for your notebook. And while you are searching for the right page, you will already be overtaken and you will have to go through the after-effects of the delusions. Then our purpose will be defeated. Therefore you may take notes, but don’t rely on them only, try to get it into your head.

The way to get it into your head is: after the teachings you sit down and you review everything in meditation. The trick is, in the evening you try to remember as much as possible of the teaching given. When you don’t remember it, look into your notebook and try to remember it. You do that once and you repeat it the next morning. The next day you repeat it once in the morning and once in the evening. If you repeat those

17 Since 1998, Rimpoche has taught a less detailed Lamrim, the Odyssey to Freedom, in which the steps are laid out in a more simple manner.

Introduction into Lamrim 15 points like that for a couple of days, you’ll have the essence. Do that for about a week. Then you don’t have to repeat it every day any more. Occasionally you remind yourself a little bit, and that makes it remain in your head. When the point comes, you will be reminded. Whenever I try to remind myself of a point, quotations come up in my head; that is because of that. In the west they don’t do that and they say to us, “You have an incredible memory.” It is not our memory, it is the habit. Our mind was trained in that way; we had to remember the important points. We trained it this way: whatever you hear today, you go over at night; the next morning you go over the essential points, the next evening too and then the next morning again. Like that you go for a couple of days and after that you don’t have to do it every day any more, just occasionally. When you leave it, the time will eat up the memory. This is only to get it into your head. This is not the work to be done to overcome the delusions! To overcome the delusions, you have to think on whatever you have in your head, you have to put it into your habitual patterns. That is how it works.

So the outlines are important. And not only are the outlines important, the outlines should also be in the right order. If the order is mixed, then it is like putting the wrong parts of the watch in the wrong place and it won’t work. There are a lot of Lamrim outlines. Tsongkhapa has written a big Lamrim, called Lamrim Chenmo, which has its own outlines.18 His medium Lamrim has its own outlines and so has his shortest Lamrim. This time we are going to follow the outlines of the Second Panchen Lama’s Lamrim called The Quick Path with a few additions here and there. On that a great many teachers have practiced, they have gained realizations and it is also a little easy.

Teaching systems. How does the teaching go? There are two systems, brought from India into Tibet: the Nalanda system and the Vikramashila system. Nalanda and Vikramashila were the two outstanding monastic universities of the Mahayana path in traditional India before the tenth century. The Nalanda system goes into the purity: the teacher’s speech should be pure, the student’s mind should be pure, the dharma taught should be pure.19 The Vikramashila system talks about: the quality of the teaching lineage, the quality of the teaching or the dharma practice itself, and how to listen and how to teach. Our lineage follows the Vikramashila system. On this basis the Lamrim practice is introduced to you and its fundamental outlines will be four: 1) Qualities of the source. In order to proof the authenticity of these teaching we will talk about lineages and their qualities. 2) Qualities of the teachings. In order to gain respect for the practice we will talk about the quality of the practice or of the dharma itself. 3) How to listen and how to teach. 4) Actual practice. How the actual practice will lead the individual through the stages.

Four features or basic qualities of Lamrim Lamrim is: The sublime Mahayana teaching, the complete dharma system that leads the fortunate to enlightenment. It is re-opened and reconfirmed by the great maha-pandits Nagarjuna and Asanga. It is a profound teaching containing the essence of the wisdom of the great Atisha and the Dharma king of the three worlds, Je Tsongkhapa. In this the eighty-four thousand teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha without exception have been concentrated into a graduate practice that enables any individual to achieve enlightenment. This is the one path all the buddhas have taught.

18 Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo. 19 Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, p. 3.

16 Lam Rim Teachings

Lamrim is the sublime Mahayana teaching, the complete dharma system that leads the fortunate to enlightenment When we say that it is a complete system, what does that mean? There are a lot of dharma systems; there are a lot of spiritual paths. I am not the person to say, “This spiritual path is good, and that one is bad,” They are all spiritual paths. The path we are using here is a perfect and a complete spiritual path. Why do we call it complete? Because it gives you the stages from this ordinary level where we are on today as ordinary human beings – we may be great persons as human being but we are ordinary too – not only up to an extra-ordinary level, but also up to the highest level. Every stage is complete and there is no stage missing. In other words, this is not a system which will lead you onto one stage only. Suppose you take concentration meditation. Concentration meditation is part of this system; it will come a little later. Concentra- tion meditation will lead you to a stage where you have tremendous harmony and pleasure on body and mind both, where you can really have control over the mind and the body. Then that is it, finished; it is a system which leads you to that level and which is then complete. There are other systems that will lead you to being able to read somebody else’s mind. If you follow that system, it will lead you to the level where you can do that; nothing more. These are all called spiritual paths. However, the Lamrim system is not only that: it leads you to total enlightenment. There is nothing beyond that, it is ultimate. In plain Christian language, you can almost become a God; it is almost that. Whatever steps you have to take – one after another from this level to buddhahood –, they are all in this system. This is the reason why we call it a complete system.

Ways of learning and practice. The Lamrim practice leads the individual to the stage of enlightenment. Where does that come from? It comes from the experience of the Buddha himself. Later on it was elaborated a little more by the great Indian masters Nagarjuna and Asanga. And the Lamrim is said to be the profound teaching that contains the essence of the wisdom of Atisha and Tsongkhapa. Atisha is mentioned here because it is Atisha who brought these teachings from the earlier great Indian universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila to Tibet. The style of those two universities is learning the teachings of the Buddha and also putting them into individual practice. There are three different ways to study and practice. One is learning in a detailed way, the philosophical way. The second is not so much philosophical, but it’s a practical way too, it’s practice combined with learning. Then there is also a third way, which is not so much of teaching and not so much of learning, but simply sitting and meditating. Out of these three different styles, the style recommended for intelligent persons like you people is the combination. For people unable to analyze there is the shorter way of devotion and praying, like the Ganden Lha Gyema, in which each verse has one little point. If you do not have the capability of judging yourself, then if you are lead by someone who can do it properly, you are lucky; if you are lead the wrong way, you are unfortunate. The academic way is maybe too much for us. Recommended for us is the combination; not going too much into academic details, yet not following blindly. Nalanda and Vikramashila both had these three different styles. Tsongkhapa really goes much into details, but his Lamrim is not that detailed. It just gives you the capacity and room to use your intelligence, to study for yourself and to learn and find out for yourself. And at the same time it does not go into it too deeply.

It is the path reopened or reconfirmed by the great philosophers Nagarjuna and Asanga If you look into the history of Buddhism, you’ll see that Buddha taught all teachings, but almost the whole of the Mahayana, the higher teachings, disappeared from the surface in India. The foremost reason was a lack of practitioners. The Mahayana teachings were kept very confidential and at a high level, almost like the Vajrayana teachings. The Vajrayana went to China and became the emperor’s court religion. In China it was considered to be a treasure to utilize Vajrayana. Only the royal family and some of the greatest gen- erals were allowed to be exposed to it, nobody else was. So when the emperor’s family collapsed, the Va- jrayana also subsided. Similarly, the Mahayana was a very precious teaching, not made public in India at all. Particularly when the great Indian emperor Ashoka20 came to power, Mahayana was kept inside. Ashoka introduced

20 264-232 BC.

Introduction into Lamrim 17 and developed the missionary system in Buddhism. He was the first Buddhist missionary ever. Whenever Buddha gave teachings, the people came to know it and started to come rather then it being necessary to advertise, but it was the emperor Ashoka who raised the missionary system of spreading the teachings. When he did so, he did not send the Mahayana teachings out. Not at all. Mahayana was kept inside as something precious. He sent the lower-level teachings, called Hinayana or Theravadayana, out. That is why in Ceylon, Thailand, Burma and so forth these teachings are available. In the meantime, great wars were going on in India, Hindu Muslim wars and a Hindu-Buddhist war. That is the main reason that the Mahayana teachings disappeared in India. The traditional Hindu-Buddhist myth tells you that these teachings had gone into the land of the nagas21, deep in the ocean. It is told that it was Nagarjuna who got those texts back and that is why he is called Naga-arjuna, i.e conqueror of the nagas. I don’t buy that, but on the other hand, Mahayana was not very clear before that. Other people say that Mahayana was not there at all, that is was not from Buddha’s period, but was invented in the period of Nagarjuna and Asanga. I don’t buy that either. Even the Hinayana or Theravadin sutras, the Tripitakas22, mention the Mahayana and those teachings were available during that earlier period, which means they were there. But whatever happened, Mahayana was definitively elaborated during the period of Nagarjuna and Asanga.

The lineages of wisdom and method. Let me tell you the story of how it happened. The essence of the Ma- hayana is divided into two: sutra and tantra. Tantra is also called Vajrayana; it is a separate portion. The sutra part of the Mahayana, which is non-tantric, has been divided into two: the wisdom part of it and the method part. Method is the love-compassion-oriented attitude; that means every teaching and practice is geared towards that direction. Wisdom is the wisdom part of it. There are two lineages in Mahayana. One is the wisdom lineage: Nagarjuna, Manjushri and so forth. The other one is the method lineage, or the lineage of the widespread activities: Maitreya, Asanga and so on. How did these lineages come about? The myth says that Buddha himself, before he died, had prophe- sized that two persons would come and would revive the prajnaparamita teachings, the transcendental wisdom teachings. He had foretold that four hundred years after the death of the Buddha, Nagarjuna would come. There are different confusing statements about who Nagarjuna was; there is a six hundred-year gap.23 And the other one would be Asanga, six hundred years later. As to the wisdom path, Nagarjuna began to see the necessity for a greater teaching than the ones available in India at that time, the Tripitakas. He went searching for a greater understanding. Whatever teachings were left, Nagarjuna was digging into. The myth goes that one day he went over the ocean and the nagas invited him. Nagas are beings who always appear in the form of a snake. They took him down to their place and finally offered him twelve volumes of the Prajnaparamita texts.24 That is the transcendental-wisdom text, which has three divisions: there is a Prajnaparamita text in twelve volumes. The essence of that you will find in a text of six volumes. The essence of that you will find in a text of one volume. The most condensed essence is what is called the Heart Sutra25. The wisdom part was elaborated by Nagar- juna, but it was taught by Manjushri. That is why Manjushri is considered important for wisdom. The other part is the transcendental path of method, which is love-compassion. We call it the method path, I don’t know why; it has a lot of other things, too. Asanga needed that and he went and searched for it and finally he had no other alternative than to go into retreat. After twelve years of meditation and a lot of sacrifices, including cutting a piece of flesh from his own thigh, Asanga was finally able to see Mai- treya, face to face.26 Maitreya is understood to be the future buddha, who lives in a pure land called Tu- shita. Tushita is a galaxy of its own, supposedly directly above our galaxy. Part of Tushita is the Tushita Pure Land, Ganden Yigu Tshödsin. The prayer we usually recite before the teachings, the Ganden Lha

21 Mythical dragon-like beings. See also Glossary. 22 Skt. literally: ‘The three baskets’. These are the three collections of Buddha’s teachings: of discipline, of method and wisdom, and of metaphysics. See also Glossary. 23 See Glossary: Nagarjuna. 24 For this story, see Obermiller transl., The History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, by Buston, p. 123-124; Robert Thurman, The Speech of Gold, p. 23-24; J. Hopkins, Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism, p. 58-59. 25 Often recited before the teachings and to be found in the Jewel Heart prayer books. 26 For the full story of Asanga see chapter XVIII (volume IV).

18 Lam Rim Teachings

Gyema, is related to it. Maitreya took Asanga to Tushita Pure Land and gave him the method part of the Prajnaparamita, which he brought down. Those two combined are the essence of the Mahayana sutra: the transcendental-wisdom path and the transcendental-method path. That is behind what is said with the words, Lamrim is the profound teaching which contains the essence of the wisdom which was expounded by the great masters Nagarjuna and Asanga. It is customary to repeat this in every Lamrim teaching. Why? It will give you the message that these two, Nagarjuna and Asanga, are the ultimate sources of the Mahayana essence. Beyond them it goes to Manju- shri and Maitreya. Although the Mahayana teaching was taught by the Buddha, it was somehow not available in the human land; it had disappeared. That is the reason why we emphasize the reconfirmation or re- opening of the Mahayana path by these two. They are known as ‘the Openers’.

It is the essence of the heart practice of Je Tsongkhapa and Atisha Then these teachings were brought to Tibet by Atisha and later much more elaborated by Tsongkhapa. That is why it is stated: Lamrim is the profound teaching, which contains the essence of infinite knowledge of the magnificent unequalled great Atisha and the dharma king of the three worlds, Tsongkhapa. The style in which the teachings were brought (not the essence but the way in which the teachings are organized) was introduced to Tibet by Atisha. In one of the letters which Tsongkhapa wrote to one of his teachers, it says, I have practiced and developed this and this, but when I try to teach people, particularly people who want to do a combined intellectual and a shorter version, I find Atisha’s style most suitable and perfect. When I am helping other people, leading them on the path, I am following Atisha’s style. The Lamrim style was actually introduced into Tibet by Atisha who brought it from the university of Vik- ramashila.

There are a lot of practices people do, but similar to the heart being the most important part in the human body, Lamrim is the most important practice Tsongkhapa and Atisha have shown to the Tibetan people. A Kadampa lama once said to a practitioner, Well, you are doing prostrations: wonderful. However, I wish you’d practice dharma. You are listening to teachings: wonderful, but I wish you’d practice dharma. You are meditating: wonderful, but I wish you’d practice dharma. Also the great Kadampa lamas have said, There is nobody who has not a deity to meditate, There is nobody who has not some mantras to say, But the problem is that there is no one who has a dharma to think. They are not ruling out that meditating on deities and the recitation of mantras are dharma practice; they are, no doubt. But this is not the essence of dharma practice. The essence of dharma practice is what a perfect path gives you. That is the reason we say that Tsongkhapa and Atisha have shown the real essence of the practice; that is why we call it the heart practice. There are a lot of important practices but among them the essence is this.

It contains the essence of all eighty-four thousand teachings of the Buddha and is laid out in order for one individual to follow it easily It is stated: In Lamrim the eighty-four thousand teachings of guru Sakyamuni Buddha without exception have been concentrated into a graduated path that enables any individual to achieve enlightenment. This is the one path all buddhas have traveled.

Introduction into Lamrim 19

The three baskets of teachings. Buddha taught so many things. The collective teachings of the Buddha run into eighty-four thousand elephant loads. A bundle one elephant can carry is called one load. Traditionally they say that Buddha’s words come to that much. Buddha never wrote a book; the collected works of the Buddha are not written by the Buddha, for sure, no question about it. Whatever he talked in his teachings, was remembered by his disciples. The teachings of the Buddha were later repeated and written down by the disciples. That is the way the Tripitakas came about, the three types of scriptural collections of the Buddha’s teachings, based on the three higher trainings. Tripitaka literally means ‘the three baskets’. What are they? Vinaya, the collection of teachings on discipline; abhidharma, the collection of teachings on metaphysics, and sutra, the collection of scriptures on transcendence, the transcendental method and transcendental wisdom both.

The three councils or collections of teachings of the Buddha.27 There were three gatherings after Buddha died. I think the first was just after the death of the Buddha and the second was, according to the Tibetan sources, one hundred and ten years after the death of the Buddha. The third one came four hundred years later at the time of the emperor Ashoka. At the first collection of the teachings three outstanding disciples of the Buddha, Ananda, Kashyapa and Upali, repeated whatever Buddha had said. They repeated everything in the presence of everybody and refreshed their memory. That is what is called the first collection of Buddha’s words, or the first council. During the second council there was an arhat whose group had re-motivated the discipline part a little. They had adjusted rules like: monks cannot eat in the afternoon. They said, “Well you cannot eat in the afternoon, but if you put your two fingers in a certain position and draw some lines on the food, then you can eat it.” They had made ten such official excuses; for each one of them they had found some trick. At the big gathering of all Buddha’s disciples, it was said they were wrong and the Vinaya rules were reinstalled. Actually, at that time there were not really any teachings collected. It was a conference, a big gathering, where everybody discussed whatever they knew and where they found these ten excuses no longer acceptable. The third collection of Buddha’s words, or the third council. I must first tell you a story. Long before Sakyamuni Buddha, some king had had a funny dream. The essence of the dream was: eighteen different people were heavily fighting over one piece of cloth. It finally ended up that each one of them carried off with one complete piece, same size, same quality. It was a very funny dream that king had. There were a lot of other long dreams too, but I won’t go into detail. That king went to the buddha of that time and asked him about that funny dream. That buddha said, “This has nothing to do with you, neither does it have anything to do with us. In the future there will be a buddha called Sakyamuni Buddha and during that period, after the death of this Sakyamuni Buddha, a lot of debate will come and eighteen different views will come up. Each one of these views is perfect and correct and can be accepted.” Now, at that third meeting there were about seventeen thousand heads, bodhisattvas, arhats and pandits. They settled the matter and all eighteen different views were accepted. Each one of the explanations, although there were eighteen different viewpoints, were accepted as perfect. That was how the dream of that king had come true. They had different ways of doing, but all of them were capable of delivering the goods, and Buddha had taught each one of them. This gathering was the first time they started to write things down. All the teachings were put in writing at that time and it came to eighty-four thousand, traditionally said, perfect elephant’s loads.

Buddha’s teachings in Tibet. If you would have to read all of those elephant loads of teachings of the Bud- dha it would not be possible; they are not even all available. The Tibetans have not been able to carry all of them, only a little bit. And even that little bit runs into a hundred and twenty-five volumes, which actually compared with the total teachings of the Buddha, is nothing. That is called the Kanjur. That is what is available now in written form. A few texts in Pali do not exist in Tibetan; some texts are available in India in Sanskrit. What we have is the Tibetan Kanjur.

27 Obermiller transl., The History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, by Buston, p. 73-101.

20 Lam Rim Teachings

With respect to essence, whatever the Buddha taught is always one-pointed – Buddha is what we call a single-minded person – pointing in the direction of enlightenment, either in the direction of the arhat level (which is ordinary enlightenment28) or to the extra-ordinary enlightenment level, which is buddhahood. Wherever Buddha talks, whatever he says in sutra or tantra, Mahayana or Hinayana; although he may use different words to suit different people, it is always focused in that direction. But, Buddha’s teachings are not lined up like: this is first, this is second, then this is third etc., because Buddha had the extra-ordinary quality to help the people directly. Whenever the time was suitable, he was throwing it in the face of the people. In other words, his teachings are not in a set order, not organized. In the Lamrim the essence of all his teachings was collected and organized to benefit an individual, to lead him or her to ultimate enlightenment. Do you understand? For an individual, for me, for you, for anybody. In other words, all Buddha’s eighty-four thousand loads of teachings29 have been channelized or categorized to make it easy to follow for an individual. We don’t collect every teaching of the Buddha in this, because then it might lead you only to the level of an extra-ordinary person [Skt. arya], or it might only lead you to the arhat level. This has been organized to lead you to the goal of ultimate enlightenment. And whatever is necessary, the minimum, and whatever is possible for the individual is in it, and it is easy to follow. Why do we use the word ‘easy’? Because it is sort of ready-made; it is almost like an instant TV-dinner; almost everything is prepared. You don’t have to go and search what is what and combine it; it has already been laid out totally. These are the qualities of these teachings you are listening to; they have everything in them.

Lamrim. In the Lamrim nothing is left out. Although not all eighty-four thousand teachings are written down, the essence has been concentrated in this Lamrim. We say, Lamrim is the graduate practice that enables one individual to achieve enlightenment. This is the path which the buddhas have followed and they have achieved their aim. If we take those steps, even if we are not very intelligent and can’t make our own decision about what is right or wrong, it will not lead us into the wrong way. This is important, because although we are definitely intelligent, we may not be so intelligent to think we really can make a decision. If something is an external study it does not matter, even if you make a mistake it is okay. But if it is an internal study which leads our practice, which links up to our development, we cannot afford to do the wrong thing. Our life is not that limitless and development takes time. Therefore we have to be sure that what we do is the right thing. That is why it is said that all buddhas have practiced and shared their experience and the disciples also. The continuation of that is really what is called Lamrim. The word Lamrim means the stages of the path, which are based on the Buddha’s experiences. Tsongkhapa wrote a book, which he named Lamrim. Subsequently, however, he denied that he was the real author. He said, “I’m the author, alright, but all I wrote is based on Buddha’s words.” That is how the name Lamrim came into use. The manner in which the stages of the path are organized, was done by At- isha. To get Atisha to come to Tibet, the king of Tibet had to go through a tremendous amount of difficulties, even losing his life. His nephew became king after him and his first request to Atisha was: We are not interested in magic or flying saucers, we are interested in something which helps the individual to lead them solidly towards whatever is the essence of the great Indian saints and scholars, who are the sources of whatever your essence of practice is. Could you give us that? Atisha then gave a short version of the Lamrim. It is called: Lam Don, which means The Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment30. Atisha’s work is the real source of the Lamrim. That is why Je Tsongkhapa and Atisha are especially mentioned in these four basic qualities of the Lamrim. Tsongkhapa wrote three Lamrims. The long one is known as The Great Stages of the Path to Enlight- enment [Tib. Lam-rim chen-mo]. The medium-long one is known as The Middle Stages of the Path to Enlightenment [Tib. Lam-rim chung-ba]. The shortest one is known as The Small Stages of the Path to Enlightenment [Tib. Lam-rim du-don], sometimes called Lines of Experience or Song of the Stages in

28 Also called the level of freedom from samsara, or nirvana. 29 For the traditional measurement, see Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, p. 21, note 50. 30 Literature: Geshe Sonam Rinchen, Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment.

Introduction into Lamrim 21

Spiritual Practice. There are other things, too. The Three Principles of the Path [Tib. Lam gyi tso wo nam sum] and The Foundation of All Perfections [Tib. Yön-ten zhi gyur-ma], both written by Tsongkhapa, also have the essence of Lamrim, but they are not named as such. That is why we say there are three Lamrims written by Tsongkhapa. Then he was followed by many other great Gelugpa teachers who wrote Lamrims. The First Panchen Lama wrote The Easy Path [Tib. Lam-rim De-lam]. The Second Panchen Lama wrote The Quick Path [Tib. Myur Lam] [Tib. Lam-rim Myur-lam]; the Fifth Dalai Lama wrote The Sacred Words of Manjushri [Tib. Lam-rim Jam-pel Zha lung].31 In the Kagyu tradition, Gampopa wrote The Jewel Ornament of Liberation. There are tremendous amounts of Lamrims, also by the Sakya and Nyingma. Although they are not called Lamrim, the essence of all of them is the Lamrim. The Sakya Lamrim is called Lam Dre, which means The Path and its Fruits. The Nyingma have The Oral Precepts of Guru Samantabhadra.

The outlines again. Lamrim means: the stages you follow. Lam is the path, Rim is the stage. You go through steps: what is the next step, then what, and where do you reach the next step? You follow step by step. The style in which we are going to present it here, is practice-oriented rather then study-oriented. There is room for study, for using your intellectual capacities, but even when that is not there, you can achieve; it is practice-oriented. In order to do that you need the outlines. The outlines are the steps that you take. Each step has a lot of points to elaborate on, so you can go very detailed. When you collect them back, you have something very short and solid to think about, to meditate on and to hold on to. You can go into a big detailed meditation, but you must have something solid to collect it back into. That is the way. The technique is to be able to open it and to go out, yet to be able to collect it back into something very small. That is why we call this the outlines. The commentary on the graduated path has four major divisions, the four basic outlines. The way you go about it is this. From the basis you go out into the branches and from there you come back again to the basis. That is the technique which you have to use. Again, the ultimate aim is to achieve buddhahood. But how to achieve buddhahood? By following the stages. What are these stages? That will come as Lamrim. How do we do this? We have the base. On some bases you may not need to meditate, but when the meditations come it is very important not to lose the foundation, the base. One basic outline will become two, two become eight or sixteen branch outlines, then sixteen you will be able to dissolve into eight, eight into four, four into two, two into one. You have one little thing to hold and to meditate on. That is how this technique works. If you lose that, then you lose the fundamental basis. [Aura’s explanation on how the outline system works]: There are some parts you have to meditate on and there are some points of the outlines you don’t have to meditate on. Some points of the outlines are just information points, which help you to understand a topic. The things which you need to meditate on are things which are areas of questions and desired realizations. The places you want to meditate are the places where some internal or inner opening, understanding, development is desired. One helps the other; the informational part of it helps you move into the other and the other then helps you to move back out. They help each other out, but you don’t necessarily need to meditate on each of those.

The four main or basic outlines of the Lamrim The comment on the graduate path has four major divisions:

I. The qualities of the source and lineage of the teachings: presentation of the outstanding development of the Lamrim masters, in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of this teaching tradition32 This refers to the lineage transmission: where the teachings came from. Why is it necessary to talk about the quality of the source? It is necessary to show its authenticity. In other words, to show that it is not somebody’s delusion that is worked out as a path. It is an authentic path which the Buddha himself fol-

31 For a full overview of the eight great Lamrims see note 61 on page 34. 32 Elaborated in chapter II.

22 Lam Rim Teachings lowed and by means of which he obtained buddhahood. From the ordinary life of a prince he went and followed these steps and obtained buddhahood. He related his own experiences which were followed by a great many other people thereafter. So, it proofs the authenticity. The system is that in this outline we try to tell you the life-stories of the lineage masters in order to build up inspiration. It also demonstrates how effective this is going to be, how it does change one’s life. The whole historical part has no other purpose than to show you how effective it is. So you don’t have to meditate on this part; it is only information. In the book Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand you will find in short the whole life story of Atisha33, without too much detail. This book is the transcript of Pabongka Rinpoche’s teachings34 of which Trijang Rinpoche took notes.

II. The qualities of the teachings: the presentation of the exceptional qualities of the Lamrim teachings in order to generate appreciation35 The message, what it really tries to tell you, is this: These and these people had this practice and they changed their lives like this. What practice? This practice has this significance, that practice has that significance, this quality, that quality. They tell you this so that you get inspiration from it. Why are they talking about the qualities of this particular practice? Just to give the individual good inspiration; that is the only reason. What happens? When you begin the practice, like today, it is nice; it’s very nice. Everybody is looking for inspiration and hears something that he/she can do; all wonderful. But after you keep on doing it for some time, it may seem that nothing is happening, nothing is coming, nothing is changing; you don’t recognize the changes and then you don’t know any more whether it is right or wrong. Of course you have to review very often. If you don’t review, it is a mistake. On the other hand, you cannot expect something to happen immediately. It takes a long, long time to change. And when you see no change (or there is a change but you don’t see it), you may begin to create a problem. At that time it will help you to think about the qualities of the teachings. Not only that, but when you begin to change in your life, you become afraid. At first by not having a change you may lose interest. Secondly, you begin to be afraid of your change, of your way of thinking and your way of functioning. You and your friends or family may be afraid and think, “Hey, what is going on? You changed the person, you are becoming different.” Then you are afraid and that will become an obstacle. On all of this you can help yourself from this outline. The practice is designed to help you to function independently. When you have properly learned and practiced, you have all the things to handle yourself. All your problems you’ll be able to handle by yourself, independently. When you have these problems mentioned, you bring up this outline and try to work out your problem. Problem one is: not seeing that you develop anything and wanting to give up. Problem two: when you see the change, you become afraid, scared, and you tend to withdraw. A lot of people have that. That is the expression of the fear and then the fear will take over and somehow you cannot pull through. That is what is happening. These are the qualities of the teaching, which really should be able to help you.

III. The way of listening to and teaching the dharma: the manner in which the instructional transmission is presented and received36 This point will tell you about: how to listen, how to teach, what this transmission is, what the necessity of it is. All these things are important. In order to complete the transmission, you have to make sure you are not missing our teaching periods. By listening to tapes and reading the transcription, the informational part of it will come, but the transmission will not come. Why? You have to hear it from a human mouth. That is what is called the oral transmission. It needs the sound from a human mouth, from a teacher who already has this transmission, otherwise it will break. It has to go through the same lineage, otherwise it breaks.

33 For the life-story of Atisha, see note 39 on p 25. Also look in the Index. 34 There are two editions: a) Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, in one volume, translated by Michael Ri- chards, with some notes and a detailed index; b) Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, in three volumes, translated by Geshe Lobsang Tharchin and very well documented, the advisable edition for those who facilitate Lamrim groups. 35 Elaborated in chapter III. 36 Elaborated in chapter IV.

Introduction into Lamrim 23

The lineage is the backbone of the practice, that is why it is important. When the person is there, the lineage is there, everything is there. That is why it works. A tape doesn’t carry that. There is a big difference. From the people that are here today, it cannot be expected that everyone can be here every teaching day. You try to be here as much as possible, and when someone cannot make it, somebody should take notes for them. I recommend someone in the group should keep a list of the people and of the subjects that we covered on the basis of the outlines. Then for someone who has not come that day, other people may be able to fill in the gap of the missing portion. It is very important for each individual to notice, “I am not missing any points on that day.” Somebody will maintain a note of what was covered on which day, so that by the time we get through the Lamrim teachings, everybody will get through. Even in the senior Lamrim group we haven’t done a lot of oral transmission [Tib. lung] yet; we’ll read the lung one day.

There are reasons why we chose the words ‘instructional transmission’ in this outline. We want to emphasize: 1) that the teachings are instructional, 2) that this is a transmission. Transmission and instruction are coming together, combined; they have to be. You have to recognize that this is an oral instruction as well as a transmission, both combined. That is important.

IV. How to practice; actual methods for spiritual development: the way in which this practice will progressively lead the practitioners to enlightenment That is the major portion of the Lamrim. On all subdivisions which come under the fourth outline, there will be meditations. Before the fourth outline it is mainly the informational part. There are some preliminary practices too37. Customary in Tibet is to meditate at the beginning of each Lamrim instruction; then you meditate on the subject that very evening, the next morning and so forth; you repeat it four times. There are different styles of teaching, which you find in the book Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand38. What we do here, in a teaching retreat or teaching weekends, is: we give the instruction, we repeat it four times and you meditate on it at least four times. In the time between the teachings you at least meditate once a day.

37 For the preliminary practices to the teachings and your meditation, see chapter V. 38 Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 25. Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 41.

Nagarjuna wisdom lineage

Asanga method lineage

II THE QUALITIES OF THE SOURCE AND LINEAGE OF THE TEACHINGS39

In order to tune in to this teaching, first and foremost it is important to generate a pure thought. If you generate a pure thought, then all your efforts will become a direct cause for enlightenment. Otherwise they may go in all different directions. Please, generate a thought as to why you are doing this. You have to give yourself a little message, stating your purpose and motivation for doing this. Our motivation should not be, “I would like to find out what is there, let me see what is going on.” Things like that will not do. The motivation is: I would like to become of benefit to all sentient beings. I would like to help all beings. In order to do that I need the capability. The highest capability lies at the buddha level. So in order to help them I would like to become a buddha. In order to become a buddha, I would like to know how to become a buddha, and to practice that. So I will listen to these Lamrim teachings and practice. With such a motivation please listen to this tradition of the teachings.

The teaching that you are going to listen to is a Mahayana teaching which will prepare you for Vajra- yana practice. It is a Mahayana teaching, which means that it is able to lead fortunate people, like yourself, to the enlightened state, the buddha state. So it is the dharma of the great Mahayana tradition which leads fortunate people towards buddhahood.

39 Literature: Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, p. 27-65; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 42- 79; Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, An Anthology of Well-Spoken Advice, p. 5-21; Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, p. 5-16; Geshe Wagyal, The Door of Liberation, chapter I: The lineage of the teaching, p. 16-39. Biographies of the great masters: Buddha Sakyamuni [ca. 500 BC]: Lalitavistara Sutra, The Voice of the Buddha; Stephen Batchelor, Alone with Others; Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom, p. 78-89; John Landaw, Prince Siddharta; Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds. Stories of Buddha’s past lives are to be found in the Jatakas and Avadanas. See the chapter on Literature in the Appendices to this work. The masters of India: Robert Thurman, The Speech of Gold, p. 22-47 (Nagarjuna, Asanga, Aryadeva, Buddhapalita, Bha- vaviveka, Chandrakirti, Vasubandhu, Dignaga, Sthiramati, Dharmakirti); E. Obermiller, The History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, p. 122-165 (Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Chandragomin, Chandrakirti, Asanga, Dharmakirti, Shantideva); J. Hopkins, Compassion in Tibetan Buddhism, p. 57-62 (Nagarjuna). Atisha [982-1054]: Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo, vol. I, p. 35-43; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, p. 31-57; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 45-71; Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, An Anthology of Well-Spoken Advice, p. 8-21; Doboom Tulku, Atisha and Buddhism in Tibet; Dagyab Rinpoche, Atisha, from the series Aus dem Leben der alten Kadam-Meister. Tilopa [988-1069]: Keith Dowman, Masters of Mahamudra, p. 151-155. Naropa [1016-1100]: H. Guenther, The Life and Teaching of Naropa; Keith Dowman, Masters of Mahamudra, p. 142-147. The masters of Tibet: Atisha [982-1054] see above. Marpa [1012-1092]: Nalanda Translation Committee, The Life of Marpa the Translator. Milarepa [1040-1123]: Evan Wentz, Tibet’s Great Yogi Milarepa; Lhalungpa, The Life of Milarepa. Kadampa masters: Dagyab Rinpoche, from the series Aus dem Leben der Alten Kadam-Meister (Atisha, Dromtönpa [1004-1065], Lotsawa Loden Sherap [1059-1109], Geshe Gönpawa [1016-1082], Geshe Beng, Langri Tangpa [1054-1123]). Tsongkhapa [1357-1419]: Robert Thurman, Life and Teachings of Tsongkhapa; Robert Thurman, The Speech of Gold, p. 63-89. Pabongka [1878-1941]: Memoir by Ribur Rinpoche in the preface to Pabongka Rinpoche’s, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand; Foreword to Tsongkapa’s, The Principal Teachings of Buddhism. 26 Lam Rim Teachings

Also, this practice has been confirmed by the great Indian pandits Nagarjuna and Asanga, who were both scholar and saint, pandit and siddha combined. Not only did Nagarjuna and Asanga confirm the path leading to the buddha stage, but it is the essence of the practice of the great Indian saint and scholar Atisha and it is the essence of what Tsongkhapa practiced. It has all the ultimate meanings of all the teachings of the Buddha shown as steps for the individual to follow. This is done through the tradition of combining meditation and explanation. This is what you are going to do.

I. Quality of the Source: presentation of the outstanding development of the Lamrim masters, in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of this teaching tradition In this outline we try to prove the authenticity of the teaching and its effectiveness. We look back into the history to see what Buddha and the great disciples did. Sometimes when we teach Lamrim we talk about this, and sometimes we skip it. I find both advantage and disadvantage in skipping this part. The advantage is that we’ll be able to cover much more of the actual teaching rather than spending a lot of time talking about historical facts and biographical stuff. The disadvantage is that when you go further, you’ll find it very difficult to find role-models as well as sources of inspiration; you may find a shortage of inspiration. As the advantage is not having to spend time on this and as Pabongka’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand is available and covers this topic quite well (particularly Atisha’s biography), let’s refer to that.

If you go through this outline in detail, you see here: Buddha’s life story, then the period from Buddha to Atisha, then the whole of the different lineages.

Scholars and saints [Skt. pandits and siddhas]. Traditionally in India it is emphasized that in order to have a perfect practice, to make sure that the practitioner will be led onto the path that Buddha followed, the most fundamental requirement is that the statements come from Buddha himself. Otherwise we would lose the foundation. Not only do the statements have to come from Buddha, it should also have been confirmed by the earlier great Indian saints and scholars. Or else, Buddha came two thousand five hundred years ago, who knows what he said? Anything can happen and people can easily say that this is Buddha’s word or that is Buddha’s word, and maybe some words are and some are not. So, in order to further prove the source, it needs confirmation from the great Indian saints and scholars, preferably in this case by ‘the six ornaments and two excellences’40, particularly the two greatest ones, Nagarjuna and Asanga. They are considered the top Indian saints and scholars of the Buddhist-traditional practice. Why am I using the words ‘saint’ and ‘scholar’? There are two things. What we need is correct information and in order to gain that proper information, we have to learn. We need the quality of information. However, information alone will not do, you also need experience. In Tibetan we say: kedrub. Ke means: learned; drub means: one who gained experience, one who developed. Learning alone is no good in the spiritual path. You can learn, learn, learn, but if you don’t practice you gain nothing. You can be very learned and produce a lot of books, but then that is it. That neither completes your personal purpose nor other people’s purposes. In addition to that you could even be doing disservice to others, because you could definitely be giving wrong information, or it might be the right information given at the wrong time. If the information is correct but given at the wrong time, it is harmful rather than helpful and will do disservice rather than service. When you gain the development, you know what information is to be given at what level and at what time. Wrong information and information given at the wrong time can be very much of disservice to the people. That is why these two points are so important: learning and gaining development. From the learning point of view we need the confirmation by the great Indian scholars. From the expe- riential point of view we also need the confirmation of what the scholars say from the siddhas, from those who have meditated and gained experience. So the scholars have the information, the siddhas have the experience and you need to combine the two. And not just combine them, but make sure the right information

40 These are important figures in the transmission of Buddha’s teachings. See next page.

The Qualities of the Source and Lineage of the Teachings 27 is used at the right point. And even when the information is right, it will still be harmful if it is applied at the wrong point; it will do disservice rather than service. If we don’t have the information it will be a blind path, because from our point of view we don’t have that much understanding. Also if the dharma we practice doesn’t have quality, and if our efforts are insuf- ficient, we won’t get good results. If the dharma itself is a little bit shaky, the way we are doing will also be shaky. And if our efforts are shaky, they will have a shaky result. Therefore it is so important to make sure that the dharma we are going to practice is perfect: that the statements were made by Buddha, confirmed by the learned Indian pandits, and confirmed by the siddhas’ experiences. The combination of that has to be your fundamental basis. Otherwise thoughts like “this is very profound, it is whispered from one ear to another, it is very secret and very sacred” will possibly lead you to very strange points. In order to avoid all this, the statement must come from Buddha, it needs to have been confirmed by the learned Indian scholars and it should further have been confirmed by the experience of the saints. That combination makes it a perfect path.

The six ornaments and two excellences. After Buddha’s death the Mahayana people explained the Prajna- paramita text. The Prajnaparamita [Perfection of Wisdom] is the principle Mahayana sutra. According to the Mahayanayen, it was lost in India because of the Moslem war, and it had disappeared from the human land. It was taken by nagas [dragons] to somewhere in the Naga’s Land – a mythological world. (The pictures drawn in that the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, small little person with a big head, is the very version of how the Tibetan’s describe nagas.) Nagarjuna went into the Naga’s Land, rediscovered the Prajnaparamita text and thereafter the Mahayana teachings have flourished in India. That is why Nagar- juna is considered one of the forerunners of the Indian early saints and scholars. You will find Nagarjuna’s biography in Masters of Mahamudra, Songs and Histories of the Eighty-Four Buddhist Siddhas.41 So, when the teachings had disappeared because the human beings were so busy fighting, non-human living beings took them and preserved them: the nagas took them to Naga’s Land and the non-samsaric gods took them to their pure lands. Asanga re-discovered the prajnaparamita teachings from Tushita, the pure land of Maitreya Buddha42. He spent twelve years in a cave trying to see Maitreya, giving up every three years, yet continuing because of one or another incident and finally he met Maitreya because of a little dog43. Nagarjuna and Asanga are considered the two fore-runners. Together with Aryadeva, Dignaga, Dharmakirti and Vasubandhu (a nephew of Asanga) they are called the ‘six ornaments of the world’. Vasubandhu is the one of a the metaphysical texts [Skt. Abhidharmakosha] that are available in Buddhist tradition, and that includes Buddhist psychology. Asanga and Vasubandhu are called the ornaments of higher learning. Dharmakirti is the one of all the logical studies in Buddhism [Skt. Pramanavartika]. He introduced analytical meditation, which Buddha emphasized so much. So studying within ourselves, think about the subjects of the spiritual path and overcoming negative emotions, those logics have been introduced by Dharmakirti and his teacher, Dignaga. They are called the ornaments of epistemology. Aryadeva and Nagarjuna are called the ornaments of The Middle Way [Skt. Madhyamika]. Then there are the ‘two excellences’. They, Gunaprabha and Sakyaprabha, are the examples of ethics and moral discipline [Skt. vinaya]. They are like banners holding the principles of morality.

A. Buddha 1. Qualities of a Buddha Namo Guru Manjughosha Ya! Je Tsongkhapa, Song of the Stages in Spiritual Practice [Lamrim Dudon] In order to go onto the path, it is necessary and very important to first talk about the qualities of the Bud- dha. When we want to inspire ourselves to become a buddha, we need to know what a buddha really is, otherwise we are inspiring ourselves with something without even knowing what is so inspiring about it. That really wouldn’t make much sense.

41 Normally one will find reference to eighty Indian maha-siddhas, but they added four Tibetan maha-siddhas, which is why you have eighty-four maha-siddhas. For more biographies, see note 39 on p. 25. 42 Buddha Maitreya is the embodiment of love. He is also the next buddha to come. 43 The story is to be found in chapter XVIII (volume IV).

28 Lam Rim Teachings

Tonight I’ll start with a very brief statement, based on three qualities: information, love-compassion and capability.

Knowledge or information. [Tib. kyen-pa44]. Buddha is normally referred to as all-knowing. That means that anything that exists, either relatively or absolutely, is seen and experienced by Buddha. The quality of the knowledge of Buddha is like the western idea of God: God knows everything, you can’t hide anything from him, he is all-knowing. Similarly if you become a buddha, you will know everything, nobody can hide anything from you. If something is not known to Buddha, then it does not exist. That is the quality of a buddha’s knowledge. Do you get it? You cannot go beyond that, it is ‘gone beyond’ completely, there is no further to go. It is the ultimate, the peak level of information, the peak level from the knowledge point of view. Also, the information is perfect. Perfect information here means: the buddhas don’t have any wrong information because if something goes wrong, it is not perfect. So not only having all the information, but also having correct information. A buddha doesn’t only have all the correct information, but also all information is there all the time. When we want to pick up information, we have to think on something and when while doing this, we forget the other information (or the other information cannot be seen). The extra-ordinary quality of a buddha, however, is to be able to see effortlessly. Buddhas don’t have to put in any effort; all the information is there without getting mixed up, without going wrong. There is no mixing up past, present and future. Be- ing able to see all and everything perfectly and simultaneously is the knowledge-quality of a buddha.

Love-compassion [Tib. tse-wa45] The love of Buddha for all sentient beings is so sincere, so intense and so powerful that our love for ourselves doesn’t even measure one percent of Buddha’s love for all beings. In other words, my love for myself cannot even compare to one percent of Buddha’s love for all beings. Buddha does not make a separation in beings, creatures, caste or color. He equally shares his love with all creatures. You may be a human being, you may be horrible or you may be beautiful; whatever you are, Buddha shares his intense love-compassion with all beings. I am not talking about the historical Buddha but rather of the qualities of a buddha in general. If you want to love all beings and you become a buddha, you will have that quality. If you don’t have that quality, you didn’t become a buddha.

Capability Tib. nub-wa46]. Capability is also effortless for Buddha. Buddha is able to effortlessly help countless sentient beings at the same time, in a matter of a second, like a finger-snap, everywhere, in every path. Buddha has the ability to manifest in millions and millions of different forms, and is able to help, assist, and guide, in any form, anywhere, wherever the need arises. Buddhas also have the capability of manifesting and helping millions of beings simultaneously.

These are the qualities of a buddha, I hope it will inspire you to look for them. If we want to be extraordinary (and we all have that desire hiding within us; we all want to be good), then these are the qualities to look for.

2. The Life of Sakyamuni Buddha47 Homage to Buddha, Prince of the Sakya Clan, Whose body is born from a million virtues and good deeds, Whose speech satisfied the hopes of infinite beings, And whose mind sees all things as they are. Je Tsongkhapa, Song of the Stages in Spiritual Practice [Lamrim Dudon], vs. 1

44 Transliteration: mkhyen pa 45 Transliteration: brtse ba 46 Transliteration: nus pa 47 Literature: Lalitavistara Sutra, The Voice of the Buddha, ch. 7 [about birth], ch. 8-12 [about education], ch. 13-15 [about the rides outside the palace, the thinking and departure].

The Qualities of the Source and Lineage of the Teachings 29

In Pabongka’s Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, Buddha’s life is not discussed much. I am not going to talk much about that here either. It is available in English in different texts. Reliable stories are the Principle Events of Buddha’s Life, the Jataka Tales and the Avadana. That is authentic literature.48

Buddha’s life story. There is a lot of myth mixed into Buddha’s life story. In the Twelve Principle Events of Buddha’s Life49 they tell you Buddha was born from his mother’s side. There is also the story that immediately after birth Buddha took seven steps, saying, “I am the greatest in the world.” I was told by one of my teachers that whatever I did or didn’t want to believe, the seven steps are really true, though I don’t know what happened. The story also says that at every step a lotus grew; I don’t think that is literally true. The seven steps are definitely true; whether they were steps or not, it may have happened that the body of the Buddha touched the ground seven times. That is considered important; it is indicating that he was an extra-ordinary person.50 Then the soothsayers told the parents, “This will be one of the greatest kings of the earth, provided you can keep him. But there is a danger of losing him.” So the family had the idea they couldn’t afford to lose this baby, because he was definitely different. They knew that he was someone very important and they did not want to lose him under any circumstances. So they decided that he should not see anything that could make him feel bad and spoiled the child completely. Whatever he wanted, he would get. There were no problems or miseries to be faced and he was fully protected. Somehow he was limited, however. There were certain areas especially for his entertainment and beyond those he wasn’t allowed to go. Natu- rally he was anxious to see what was outside that. So he was always looking and trying to find out what was outside. One day he took an attendant and started driving outside of the palace. Then he saw all these sufferings: death, illness, ageing. And finally he saw a saddhu, a monk, sitting silently and meditating peacefully. Wherever he went he would ask his attendant, “What is this?” The attendant would say, “This is known as illness.” He would ask, “Am I also subject to that? Am I going to get that? Is that possible for me as well??” Then the attendant would say, “Yes, sure, you too.” And he would say “Oh, let us go back.” He would be very unhappy and go back. One day he met old people on the road, something quite different from the young beautiful people he normally saw around. He asked, “What is that?” The driver said, “This is called old age.” “Where does that come from?” “Well, all people become old over time.” “Will I become like this?” “Yes, you’ll be like that.” “Oh, let’s go back!” Then another day he went to another place and saw people carrying a dead body. He asked, “What is going on, what is that?” The attendant said, “This is called death.” He asked, “How does that happen?” The attendant replied, “When a man dies, you will see him no longer, he is no longer around, he is gone.” Then he asked, “Am I subject to that?” “Yes sure, you are also subject to that!” He didn’t like it and wanted to go home. The same thing happened when they encountered an old man leaning on a stick. That is how Gautama saw the aging, sickness and death. Then he saw the peaceful person again who was in smooth meditation, and he asked, “Who is that?” “Well that is a person who is spiritual.” He asked, “Can I be like that?” The attendant said, “No, you can’t.” “Why not?” “You are not somebody who goes into the forest. You are a prince and a ruler.” That is how he developed an interest. Then he started thinking on all of those sufferings, on illness and death and

48 Literature: Lalitavistara Sutra, The Voice of the Buddha (all but the last event [death] are covered in this); Geshe Ngawang Dhar- gyey, Tibetan Tradition of Mental Development, p. 13-19; Obermiller transl., The History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, by Buston, p. 7-72; Aryasura, Marvelous Companion: Life Stories of the Buddha; Bodhisattva Avadana Kalpalata (Wish-granting Vine of Bodhisattva Narratives); translation of a number of avadanas in Dreloma, Drepung Loseling Magazine. 49 They are listed in the Glossary. 50 Lalitavistara Sutra, The Voice of the Buddha, p. 131-134: “Like a fearless lion, the Bodhisattva recalled the thought of good- ness which is free from longing, free from fear and terror. Knowing the thoughts and the conduct of all beings, the Bodhi- sattva took seven steps towards the east, unsupported by anyone and said: ‘I will walk at the head of all the dharmas which have virtue as their root.’ Above him as he walked floated a great white parasol and two royal fans; beneath him lotuses sprang up wherever he set foot. The Bodhisattva took seven steps to the south and stated: ‘I will be worthy of the offerings of both gods and men.’ Taking seven steps to the west, like a lion well-satisfied, he pronounced these words: ‘I am the finest in the world, for this is my final birth; I shall put an end to birth, old age, sickness and death!’ He took seven steps to the north and said: ‘I will be unequalled among all beings!’ Taking seven more steps, he faced below and stated: ‘I will destroy Mara and his army, I will extinguish the fires of hell with rain from the great cloud of Dharma, filling beings in the hell realm with joy!’ Taking seven final steps, he faced upward and stated: ‘It is on high that I shall be visible to all beings!’”

30 Lam Rim Teachings ageing. His question was, “Am I subject to that? Am I going to be like that?” And he decided, “Yes, I will be subject to that one day.” It is so important that when we look at the problems and sufferings and pains, we do not look at them as external things, but we ask ourselves internally: will I be subject to this? That is what Buddha showed us and it is very important to see. We are not interested in whether the Buddha was able to fly through the air, or stay under the ground. We are interested in how Buddha took his life and how Buddha personalized what he came across. That is important. What we have to learn from the life-stories of the Buddha, Atisha, Tsongkhapa and all the teachers, is the way to personalize our lives, “Will I experience that condition? What should I do? If I am in that category, what will I do?” Whenever you see good things, also try to see, “How can I be in that position?” And whenever you see problems and difficulties, “Will I experience this?” If you see the cause, try to avoid it. If you see the way to avoid sufferings, rejoice. That is how you take the historical points and personalize them. There is a Tibetan saying, which even children say: The earlier Buddha’s life story is the future disciple’s practice. Do you get it? The life story of Buddha can be made into dharma; it is the practice for future persons. What do we practice? We practice those things. Out of Buddha’s life story, you can see how he personalized it. The rest of Buddha’s life story you can find everywhere, so I will not go into further detail.

B. The lineages from Buddha to Atisha 1. The Indian Masters Homage to Maitreya and Manjushri, Highest sons of the peerless Master, Bodhisattvas carrying the load of Buddha’s works By magically sending forth countless emanations. Homage to the exalted Nagarjuna and Asanga, Who are famed throughout the three worlds, Ornaments among Indian sages to write commentaries Fathoming precisely the Mother of Buddhas so difficult to penetrate. Je Tsongkhapa, Song of the Stages in Spiritual Practice [Lamrim Dudon], vs. 2-3 The lineage comes continually from the Buddha, through Manjushri and Maitreya, to Nagarjuna and Asanga respectively, and then to Atisha. The lineages, who taught to whom, are very interesting. People have different lineages, because sometimes A taught B, and B taught to C. Sometimes A taught to B, C, and D, and then C to E and F, and B taught G or something. Or it may go: B, G, J. There are a lot of ways. For example, when you turn around, start to give teachings and help others, for the individual that you teach, the lineage will be from Buddha to me and then to you. Then each one of you has a different group of people and there the picture changes. It is not that there is no other lineage available, there are others available. But in particular we trace here what we received. After the Buddha there may have been hundreds of different lineages, but these happen to come through Maitreya and Manjushri. Then all of those [Mahayana] teachings that were missing, were collected again, combined, and then went into three, four or six different directions again. Atisha collected all different ways again. Then Atisha’s practices were again separated into different Kadampa lineages and Tsongkhapa collected them back together. Tsongkhapa collected some of the lineages of Atisha’s disciples back into one, but still there are other traditions that have gone out. For example, Gampopa’s Jewel Orna- ment of Liberation came from Atisha’s tradition, but was not collected in Tsongkhapa’s lineage. Lineages are like that. That doesn’t mean that one is right and the other is wrong. Different lineages may go here and there, but that doesn’t matter; nobody is wrong.

2. Atisha’s life story51

51 Also see volume IV, index entry: ‘Atisha – lifestory’

The Qualities of the Source and Lineage of the Teachings 31

Homage to Dipamkara Atisha, a mine of oral precepts, He who faultlessly fused all the main teachings Of the paths of profound view and vast deeds: The sublime lineages of both Nagarjuna and Asanga. Je Tsongkhapa, Song of the Stages in Spiritual Practice [Lamrim Dudon], vs. 4

Atisha’s life story52 is very important, more important than those of the Indian masters, because this teaching tradition was brought to Tibet and made available to the Tibetans by Atisha. If you look into Pabongka’s Lib- eration in the Palm of Your Hand, you see that Atisha’s story is discussed in a rather esoteric way; there is more emphasis on the life story of Atisha than on that of any other master. a. Where and how Atisha was born I want to mention Atisha’s birth into a noble family. This recounting is influenced by the Indian caste system. When you look into this teaching, the cultural rubbish comes up, but also the essence needed. The caste system was strong in Indian culture at that time. If Atisha belonged to a lower caste, he would never have been acceptable as a teacher. They had to emphasize that he was born in a high caste (in the brahman caste) in order to demonstrate that he was a suitable teacher. I am not saying that there is something wrong with that. What I am saying is that when you bring this tradition, this practice, into the twentieth century west, you don’t have to emphasize that, you can leave these stories about higher caste or noble family out. At that time, they had to emphasize it because they had to sell the idea of Atisha as being very valuable. In order to sell that idea, he had to be someone acceptable. If he had come from a lower caste, they would not have been able to sell him; but coming from a king or brahmin family was good, it was a noble family plus a high caste. It happened a thousand years ago in India and although the caste system didn’t exist in Tibet, the message was brought to Tibet very faithfully. So, his birth, his taking rebirth, is important. Not because he was a prince (although to be born as a prince was important at that time), but if he had not been a prince, he would not have been that effective, because people pay a lot of attention to a prince. But that is not the most important thing. The more important thing is that he was there at that time and at that place, at the right time and place for what needed to be done. That is important. b. The qualities that Atisha developed during his lifetime The biography doesn’t say how large a retinue he had, how high his throne was, how many banners they had, how high they blew their trumpets. We don’t talk about that. We talk about how Atisha developed the qualities. That is important. That is what we need, that is what everybody needs, right? If you find the Ti- betan word yönten (which means qualities here) translated as education or knowledge, it is a mistake. It is quality. If you look back into the Sanskrit, it is guna: the quality that an individual develops. So the outline means what sort of quality Atisha developed. c. After developing those qualities what service Atisha gave This tells you Atisha’s activities to the people, to benefit others, to benefit the buddhadharma and the people. In his service there are two divisions: i. His activities in India ii. His activities in Tibet This is a very important way of dividing Atisha’s life, actually, otherwise you could cut it anywhere. There are reasons for this choice of outlines: his important rebirth, the kind of qualities Atisha developed, and how Atisha helped others through those qualities. After developing the quality within the individual, what does that individual do with that quality? How does it help others? This is important because it is how we can turn such a life story into a role-model for us to practice, to function. And it demonstrates how the practice of the Lamrim helps to develop qualities and what they do after they are developed. So this way of

52 See note 39 on p. 25 for literature on Atisha and the Index for where to find details in this transcript.

32 Lam Rim Teachings breaking is very important. You can divide a biography up in all sorts of ways, like into earlier age, middle age and the end. For Atisha they didn’t do that. The way they divided it up, is: the important rebirth, how he developed his qualities, and how he helped. It is really important to pay attention to this. We are not going to talk about those outlines in detail; you can read all this in the books. It is very good to read his life story: how he looked for his different masters, especially how Atisha went to Serling, Indonesia, and met the great teacher Serlingpa, how he was there and tried to get all the teachings on the bodhimind, the altruistic love-compassion practice. All this is very, very inspiring. And then when Atisha came to Tibet, how the Tibetan people invited him. It was not easy for him; it was very, very difficult. It was with very, very great difficulties that they were able to get Atisha to Tibet. 53 It is a little bit orthodox but very interesting, so just read that, and then you can compare it, personalize it.

C. The Lamrim lineage And homage to all the light-spreading spiritual masters Who with skilful means born from profound compassion Reveal the eye to see through all the vast teachings, The supreme gate for the meritorious who would cross over to freedom. Je Tsongkhapa, Song of the Stages in Spiritual Practice [Lamrim Dudon], vs. 5

1. The lives of the Kadampa masters From Atisha the Lamrim lineage goes to the Kadampa lamas. The Kadampa tradition was the period between Atisha and Tsongkhapa. Pabongka’s book Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand talks very briefly and quite well about how in the tradition the teachings from Atisha were divided into three different lineages54. Atisha didn’t divide it himself, but when he talked and gave the presentation, individuals picked it up according to their capability and ability, and it went into three different directions. One direction became very detailed, more academic, went much deeper scientifically. Don’t think of our normal word ‘science’, which has to do with working with substances; it is not that. The Tibetan tradition of Buddhism talks a lot about science, but the word science doesn’t mean the western word science here. It means logic-based, systematically based, one pushes the other. Really, Lamrim is very nicely worked out that way. Thurman translates it as ‘inner science’. Why it is called Kadam? The direct translation of ka is order, the indirect translation of it is teachings, teachings of the Buddha. For the word dampa I have not seen a perfect translation in English so far, nor do I know one. It expresses the fact that every teaching of the Buddha can bring enlightenment to some individual. Pa means person. So Kadampa really means: every word that Buddha has mentioned anywhere is meant as something that you, the individual, can collect as benefit for yourself. Whatever level you may be on, it can always push you some steps forward. The Kadampas knew how to handle that, they were specialized in it. That is the reason that they are called Kadampa. In the books you can read everything the Buddha has said, and everyone can say, “Oh this is talking about this, and that is talking about that…” But I believe that the Buddha’s teachings don’t work that way. There are so many interpretations, so many ways in which you can use them, you can take them on every level. That is why the eighteen different pieces of cloth became of the same size.55 The Kadampa lamas had a special technique: any word of the Buddha that comes in, you will be able to interpret and take at whatever level you are. Any quotation they could prove, but also use in their practice. In other words they said: every single sound of the Buddha, any word that is written down, even every black dot has meaning, inspiration, and is a technique to uplift one’s spiritual development. The Kadampas could do that and that’s why they are even called the great Kadampa lamas. Looking into the Kadampa talks you see that they are not very poetic not very eloquent, and sometimes very sarcastic. The remarks of the Kadampas are very polite yet very sarcastic. I’ll give you a few examples.

53 About how Atisha came to Tibet, see pg. 83-84. 54 The three Kadampa lineages: the classical lineage of Potowa, the instruction lineage of Chen Ngawa and the Lamrim lineage of Gampopa. See Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 57-59, and the complete lineages at p. 243-244; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 71-73 and the complete lineages on p. 760-761. 55 See page 19.

The Qualities of the Source and Lineage of the Teachings 33

Geshe Beng. One of the Kadampa lamas, Beng Kungyel from Pembo (usually called Geshe Beng) happened to be a farmer who had a big piece of land, just enough for himself. In those days the Tibetans didn’t measure their land in acres but in how much seed you could sow it with. They measured the size of their land with grain. One standard measurement, a khal, was equal to one side of the load of a donkey, so one donkey load was equal to two khal. In the old system, a donkey, a mule, a horse or even a yak would carry the same load; for sheep and goats there was a smaller measurement. There was corruption too, because of the tax the people had to pay to the landlord. Don’t think Tibet was a wonderful Shangri-La, it was definitely not. Before he developed into that famous person, that Kadampa master had some acres of land where he grew food, and he was also a thief and a robber. Finally he gave that up, started meditating, developed and became a very respectful person. And then, as he said: Earlier I had some acres of land where I could grow food. In the daytime I went on the mountain tops and robbed the travelers, during the night I went into town, broke into people’s homes and stole. On my body I carried bow and arrow, knife and spear; my equipment. My work was growing the food on my four acres of land, robbing the people on the mountain passes and stealing at night. With all that I couldn’t even feed my one mouth and all the universe around me was my enemy. Now I practice dharma, the food can’t find my mouth56. And all the people around have become my friends! Do you get me? Rich people would give the geshe food and clothes, running around to search him out. He said, “Earlier I had to grow this much food, steal and rob, do all this, and even then I was searching for food and clothes and couldn’t find them. Now I am sitting and meditating and they can’t find my mouth. They can’t get through.” Kadampa lamas talk like that.

Another example is what Drom Rinpoche [or Dromtönpa] used to say. His disciples would ask him, “Should I meditate?” “Yes, that is good, but I wish you would do dharma practice.” “Should I teach?” “Yes, that is good, but I wish you would do dharma practice.” Another disciple asked, “Should I sometimes meditate and sometimes teach, would that be good?” “Yes, that is very good, but I wish you would rather do dharma practice” “Or should I study and meditate and teach?” “Yes, that is good, but I wish you would do a little more dharma practice.” That is what Kadampa lamas always do, that is their style.

The Kadampas are really interesting, they are completely different. They talk very short and to the point, but the information is given in a sarcastic way. I don’t know why, but that is what I find. The same Ka- dampa master, Geshe Beng, said: I have got a spear and I am waiting for my enemy to come. I am waiting at the door of my delusions. I am waiting there to put my spear [the antidote]. If he, the delusion, will be more diligent, I will be more diligent. If he gets more relaxed, I will get more relaxed. I am holding a spear at the door of my delusions. Whenever one comes out, I shall stab him!

2. The life of Je Tsongkhapa After Atisha, we have the life story of Tsongkhapa, but it is not possible to spend our whole time on the life-stories of the great masters. It should be here, but we don’t have that much time. In the six preliminaries, you will find praises, each one of which is for one of the lineage masters. All of their names are in there.57 There is a two-volume work in Tibetan by Yeshe Gyeltsen [1713-?]: Lives of the Lamrim Teach- ers. He was the teacher of the Eighth Dalai Lama, so it should go up to the eighteenth century.58

56 Meaning: Now I practice dharma, I am never short of food. 57 Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, p. 260-265. Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand: with explanation p. 235-243; text only p. 779-783. 58 Tsechog Ling Yongzin Yeshe Gyeltsen, Jang chub lam gyi rim pa etc., reprinted as Lives of the Teachers of the Lamrim Pre- cepts. New Delhi, Ngawang Gelek Demo (in Tibetan). The series Aus dem Leben des alten Kadam-Meister by L.S. Dagyab Kyabgön Rinpoche is based on this book. Up to 2001 three booklets were published.

34 Lam Rim Teachings

There is a short biography of Tsongkhapa taught by Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey in Dharamsala in the Tibetan Library, based on Khedrup Je’s Heaven of Faith, forty pages. You will also find a short biography of Tsongkhapa in R. Thurman’s, Life and Teachings of Tsongkhapa. Try to read that, because if I keep on talking about the life of each teacher, we’ll probably still be talking about the same thing by the same time next year. Very briefly, in this book you will find the basic importance of Tsongkhapa’s life and work. The most important biography of Tsongkhapa is his Lines of Experience. If you want the mystical part of it, you will find in the same book: Songs of Mystic Experience of Lama Je Rinpoche by lama Tashi Palden, the founder of Drepung Monastery. Tsongkhapa himself said in his song Destiny Fulfilled: First I have learned, I have been completely open-minded, and I learned. Secondly, whatever I learned, I thought over. I thought it over and studied. Then at the end I practiced it day and night.59 First learning, secondly analyzing and thinking, and thirdly practicing day and night. –That is really Tsongkhapa’s shortest biography. Tsongkhapa is our role-model, so: first learn; then think, analyze, find some meaning in it, find the essence of it; then mediate and practice it. Learning, thinking and meditating. What is practice really for us? Learning is practice, thinking is practice, meditating is practice. The purpose of doing this is trying to influence the thinking of the individual. We all have our own way of thinking, which happens automatically; we call it our habitual patterns of thinking. By meditating, analyzing and convincing ourselves, the individual will be influenced. Then the way that the individual will think and react will be different, and when that becomes different, the practice becomes something meaningful and worthy. Otherwise it does not effect the individual’s mind at all. You keep on saying mantras or keep on doing this and that, the individual is on one side and what you say and do is on another side, and, as the Ka- dampa lamas say, “in between that the horse can ride.” When the horse can be in between the practice and the individual, it is not a good practice. If on the one side you say mantras, sit nicely, burn incense, feel wonderful, but then on the other side nothing is happening, there is no effect on the individual at all. That means you disconnect the individual person of the twenty-four-hour everyday life from the individual who sits in the meditation room or temple and acts nicely; you act like two different people. In other words, in the right practice there should not be a gap between the individual who tries to say mantras or sit and the individual who runs in the streets and is doing all sorts of things. It should be one. Sitting here and saying mantras, meditating on love and compassion is trying to influence the mind, so that when you run outside in the streets you will act with love-and-compassion-oriented actions. That is the whole purpose. So learning is practice, thinking is practice, meditating is practice, concentration is practice; anything you do to try and influence the mind (which is completely rough just now), is practice. A rough mind means: in itself it is automatically functioning the undesirable way. We want it to be moving into a more smooth way, a peaceful way. Changing anything into that way is practice leading towards enlightenment. It is all practice; it doesn’t have to be only sitting and saying mantras. As a matter of fact, if sitting and saying mantras doesn’t connect with the individual, instead of being an advantage it could even turn out to be a disadvantage. I told you more than once how a great tantric practitioner became a ghost.60 That happens because of that and it is very much possible.

3. The Lamrim lineage masters from Je Tsongkhapa onwards From Tsongkhapa the lineage goes to all of those teachers. I mentioned to you the persons who wrote the different Lamrims.61 There are eight famous Lamrim commentaries in the tradition of Je Tsongkhapa plus

59 See Robert Thurman, Life and Teachings of Tsongkhapa, p. 40: “First, I sought out often extensive learning. Then all teachings dawned as trainings. Finally, I practiced all day and all night, completely dedicated to spread the Teaching!” 60 This story is told in volume IV. Index entry: stories – bodhimind – Yamantaka practioners 61 See page 20. Basis of the Lamrim: Atisha [982-1055], The Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment [Skt. Bodhipathapradipa, Tib. Lam don]. The eight great Lamrim commentaries: 1) Tsongkhapa [1357-1419], The Great Stages of the Path to Enlighten- ment [Tib. Lamrim Chenmo]. 2) Tsongkhapa [1357-1419], The Middle Stages of the Path to Enlightenment [Tib. Lamrim Chungba]. 3) Tsongkhapa [1357-1419], The Small Stages of the Path to Enlightenment [Tib. Lamrim Dudon]. 4) Dalai Lama III [1543-1588], Essence of Refined Gold [Tib. Lamrim Gser zhunma]. 5) Panchen Lama I [1569-1662] Lozang Choekyi Gyeltsen, The Easy [or Smooth] Path [Tib. Lamrim Delam]. 6) Dalai Lama V [1617-1682], Sacred Words of Manjushri [Tib.

The Qualities of the Source and Lineage of the Teachings 35 the Three Principles of the Path. The teachings have been continuously transmitted in unbroken lineages to Pabongka, whose teaching is in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. Pabongka’s teachings were published from the notes of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, who was my late master. A great master! He was the junior tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I have taken teachings from both Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and also from Kyabje Ling Rin- poche. Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand is from the notes taken by Trijang Rinpoche, which he compared with other people’s notes, and later had produced in book form. He gave his first teachings in a big monastery in Lhasa, just at the back of my family’s house, at the other side of the street. When Kyabje Tri- jang Rinpoche gave teachings at that time, I was able to obtain them, so you have the unbroken continuation, the lineage. How to study Lamrim. When I was taking teachings from Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche it was on nine Lam- rims combined together. Though we are not going to do that here, if you could read other Lamrims, it would be very useful. You don’t have to read everything from top to bottom. You take the outlines and then from each outline you read each different Lamrim. Don’t read those works from top to bottom but rather keep to your outline. Some of the Lamrims may have different outlines, that doesn’t matter either. Keep your own outlines and start to read them through in that order. You can also read Gampopa’s Jewel Ornament of Liberation, which will be almost the same. Then read Geshe Rabten’s Essential Nectar62 on the same outline. Then Tibetan Tradition of Mental Development by Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey.63 Read all of those from the order of your own outlines. Then your division of that point will become richer and much more informative. I am not very interested in how fast you read or in how much you read. But I will be interested in how you enrich your outlines by collecting information. If you look into the life-stories of the great masters, you’ll find how they were just like any ordinary human being, just like us, full of ignorance, full of delusions, anger, hatred, and you’ll see how they were able to change themselves. Nobody has come here as an extra-ordinary being, landed down from the sky. Everybody was born and brought up, became a complete human being. These individuals reformed their lives and became great beings. That is the main purpose and the way you have to look at it as an example for your own practice. This outline has no specific meditation point. You can rejoice, you can read about the activities of the great teachers and rejoice. And if you want to, you can say: Great master,, whatever way you have gained your own development, Whatever way you have helped others May I and all beings be able to follow that. May I and all beings be able to be like you. If you rejoice and pray like that, it serves the purpose. There is no other meditation on this part.

Lamrim Jampel zahlung], which has a southern and a central lineage. 7) Panchen Lama II [1663-1737] Lozang Yeshe, The Quick [or Swift] Path [Tib. Lamrim Myurlam]. 8) Dagpo Ngawang Dragpa [19th century], Quintessence of Excellent Speech. As extra one is counted: 9) Tsongkhapa [1357-1419], The Three Principles of the Path to Highest Enlightenment. Then of course here the following is very important: 10) Pabongka Rinpoche [1878-1941], Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand [Tib. Lamrim Namgrol], written down from Pabongka’s oral discourse by Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, teacher of Gehlek Rimpoche. Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands. Same oral discourse by Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, by a different translator, published in three well-annotated volumes. [Atisha’s Lamp on the Path and Tsongkhapa’s Small Stages of the Path (translated as Song of the Stages) and Tsongkhapa’s Three Principles of the Path are to be found in the Appendices to this work. For what parts of these Lamrims are translated into English or German, see literature. 62 Which has also many Lamrim topics. 63 Nowadays there are many more commentaries in English. See the note on literature at the beginning of each chapter.

36 Lam Rim Teachings

Jowo Atisha Acharya Dipamkara Shrijnana

III THE QUALITIES OF THE TEACHINGS64

Generate a pure thought, the thought that: For the benefit of all sentient beings I would like to obtain the ultimate stage, the buddha stage, within this short lifetime. By obtaining the stage of a buddha I render myself to helping all mother sentient beings. In order to achieve that I would like to listen, study, practice and develop these stages, that were laid out by the Buddha and the disciples, based on their own experience. With this attitude do kindly listen to this part of the teaching.

There are many different Lamrim outlines, but to make it short and precise and nothing missing, we do have certain outlines worked out.65 It is absolutely necessary to know what points you have to go and you have to understand the points. Lamrim has a systematic order. You have to think on each outline. You have to understand properly its points – its explanations, some quotations, stories and examples, and the resolutions – otherwise it will be disorganized. Do kindly try to have some outline-points.

II. The presentation of the exceptional qualities of the Lamrim teachings in order to generate appreciation From Nagarjuna and Asanga, Banners unto all mankind, Ornaments amongst the world’s sages, Comes the sublime Lam Rim Lineage. Fulfilling all hope of practitioners, It is a wish fulfilling gem; Combining the streams of a thousand teachings, It is an ocean of excellent guidance.

(Through it) one perceives all doctrines as non contradictory, All teachings arise as personal advice, The intent of Buddha is easily found And one is protected from the cliff of the greatest evil. Therefore the wise and fortunate of India and Tibet Have relied thoroughly upon this excellent legacy (Known as) the stages of the path of the three spiritual beings; Who of powerful mind would not be intrigued by it? Je Tsongkhapa, Song of the Stages in Spiritual Practice [Lamrim Dudon], vs. 6-7

64 Literature: Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, par. 7-14; L.S. Dagyab Rinpoche, Achtsamkeit und Versenkung, p. 26-28;Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo, vol.I, p. 45-54; Geshe Rabten, The Essential Nectar, p. 17-20; Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, An Anthology of Well-Spoken Advice, par. 5-14; Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, par. 10-14; Dalai Lama III, Essence of Refined Gold, p. 51-58; Ge- she Thubten Loden, Path to Enlightenment, p. 62-69; Dalai Lama, The Way to Freedom, ch. 1. 65 For the overview of outlines see Appendices. 38 Lam Rim Teachings

This outline talks about the qualities that you will gain when you study and meditate Lamrim. It also tells you what other extra-ordinary qualities it brings besides the stages to enlightenment. The Lamrim teaching has exceptional qualities. We know that the spiritual path is something important. We also know that the Tibetan tradition carries something unique. And somehow we force ourselves, “We have to do it, because there is something to gain.” We don’t really know what exactly is in there, but there is an interest, there is a certain amount of force, you want to push yourself. And some people will go through, some people will in the middle of it get tired and drop out, some people get burned out and some people will think, “Oh, this may be better than that” and leave – all these things will happen.

Lamrim and habitual patterns. Spiritual practice means fighting our delusions and change our habitual pattern. If we succeed, when we can function effortlessly in the right way, so that every action we do will create good karma, and because of that we will always have good karmic results, with which we can increase our disposal of good karmic results, so that we don’t get bad karmic results. That is how we want to change. That also has to function automatically rather than that you have to tell yourself, “I have to do this” or somebody has to tell you, “Hey, you have to do that!” These habitual patterns should function automatically. Some people say, by nature people do this and that. It is not by nature; we have built up that habit. If you have built up a habit, you don’t have to be pushed by somebody. Until you have built up that habit, you need to be pushed. In the Zen tradition they bring this long stick and hit you from the back, which may hurt or not hurt. That is a nice way of doing. In the traditional Tibetan system, if you don’t behave, they tell you and when you don’t listen they beat you. Not just a little pang on the back…. And when they beat you, you learn. When I was a little kid, from eight up to fifteen I really had a lot of beatings. I remember, when I was about eleven, once I had to go to a spiritual ceremonial thing where you were supposed to ride a horse. I couldn’t. I had to stand up on the horse most of the time, because I had been beaten up and had cuts and wounds on the lower part of the body. I also got that habit. When I was sixteen or seventeen I had some students and I was very easy to hit with my mala “pow!” without any hesitation. I would tell them three times, or four times at the most, and then I would hit. I was not angry or anything, just hitting thirteen or fourteen-year-old ones. I did that. And later on when I came to India I met those people, who had become senior geshes, and I felt very embarrassed. Also I noticed that I had picked up that habit. I can exactly tell you when I noticed it. Around 1970 I had a little brownish dog. One day I noticed that I was beating the dog with a mala and saying, “Dog, I told you! Why don’t you listen to me, why didn’t you understand?” I was so stupid. Then I realized that I had picked up that old-style habit that I had been through in my childhood. So I said, “Okay, I have to change it.” Since then I don’t do it. That is how you develop those habitual patterns. So habitual patterns are very important. We have to develop certain habitual patterns. In picking up habits the companionship of spiritual friends also becomes very important. Because you intend to pick up from others. If you are not a smoker and you have a chimney-type of friend, smoking all the time, there is more chance for you of becoming a smoker, too. Similarly, if you have a spiritual friend or a spiritual guide or teacher who behaves badly, you also have the tendency of picking up a bad habit. That is why it is important to have a good spiritual friend rather than a bad one. The most important one in developing the right patterns is you yourself. We know how to behave ourselves and if we don’t know, we can learn it. And we can remind ourselves of how to behave, in whatever way: if you have to write a note to yourself, do it; if you have to put some kind of sign that reminds you of it, hang it on the wall or stick it onto your forehead; whatever you have to do, do it. And get yourself constantly reminded, so that we pick up the habit of a good way of thinking and functioning. It doesn’t matter how you’re dressed up, it doesn’t matter how you sit or sleep it doesn’t matter how you sleep, the most important thing is how you think and how you act. Body, mind and speech are the three ways of creating karma. The thinking mind is the most important, because the mind makes the body and the speech to function. The key is on the mental stage. So, if you keep on correcting your mental attitude, the result of that will be that the functioning of the body and the speech automatically will be corrected, without putting efforts in. The Lamrim is one of the best keys to putting the mind in the correct manner. That is the most important quality of the Lamrim teachings. If you realize that, you will definitely appreciate it. If you don’t realize

The Qualities of the Teachings 39 that, then you have to force your interest, to drag yourself in and how long can that last? You’re bound to be losing. That is how ninety percent of the spiritual practitioners who had interest, yet did not develop appreciation, after some time drop out. When you don’t have any appreciation from your own side within you, you won’t have the drive and the energy that you need.

What is the essence of Lamrim? Lamrim helps you to change your mental attitude, to change your way of dealing with things. It is the key. It affects the individual. Each one of you. When you start to look back, you will begin to see that. Not in two months, not in three months, but if you look back over a longer time, say a year, you’ll see it. Lamrim has that much effect, without realizing. It will make you solid. It teaches you how solid one can become if one really opens and develops. It builds up a solid foundation within the individual. That is a quality of Lamrim we can relate to.

A. Four main qualities of Lamrim 1. All the teachings are realized to be free of contradiction How to understand this first quality? If you develop the stages of the Lamrim within you, then you can use any great spiritual teaching – if it is a good teaching, influenced by love-compassion, based on experience and oriented towards one’s own experience. All great teachings, no matter wherever you look, you will be able to put together. That means that any information you get, will not be contradicting and not be creating confusion, but will be contributing to a better understanding and moving one’s own stage up. There stages that you go through, steps to take. They are very logical. Lamrim will push you from one step to the next. It will make you walk up like that, really very logical. The steps just push you that way. So any teaching can be able to push you even better. That’s why I even can recommend to read Ram Dass’ books, Joseph Goldstein’s books. Trungpa Rinpoche’s books are very good. All of them will help you.66 If you read the Lamrim, please, don’t read just out of intellectual curiosity, “What does this one say and how is that there?” Read it as, “What can I take out of this?” and then add up whatever helps you.

Get grounded. The first thing what you do is grounding yourself. If you cannot ground yourself now, you cannot go. Really you have to be grounded! Be at present! That is very, very important! Unless and until the individual is grounded, there is no way that you can develop. No matter how much you have learned, no matter how much information you collected, no matter whatever you do, you will not be able to develop. And once you’re not able to develop, the years go by and you die one day and then you have wasted a total life, such a valuable life. Really. And if at that time you have nothing to carry, then it is really a waste. So the first thing to do is grounding yourself. Many of you are grounded, but many of you are not. Ground yourself. Once you have grounded yourself, you move up. If you are not grounded and you move up, you’ll have a tremendous problem. So, the first and foremost point here is grounding yourself.

Atisha and Lamrim Here we are not supposed to mention only the qualities of the Lamrim, but to also the qualities of the dharma teaching itself. The word dharma is in Tibetan chö, which means: correction. That is, correcting the individual way of functioning and creating better karma all the time. Actually it is correcting our wrong behaviors we have due to the delusions. Somehow we are able to correct it. During the teaching period of the Buddha, nobody called his teachings Lamrim. That word came up only when Atisha came to Tibet. The pure teaching of the Buddha first came into Tibet in the seventh century, during the period of king Songtsen Gampo and guru Padmasambhava. Gradually it got influenced by a lot of mystic, and magic, so much that the essence of the actual practice became shaky and weak. No one bothered about the four noble truths. A sort of magical competition had become so powerful, that the essence of the Buddhist teaching got really lost in Tibet. Responsible for that were a number of Indian teachers such as Blue Skirt Pandit. They had mixed the teachings with the traditional Tibetan pre-Buddhist shamanistic religion, called the Bön.

66 Ram Dass, How can I help? Josph Goldstein, Seeking the Heart of Wisdom; Chögyam Trungpa, Cutting through Spiritual Ma- terialism and The Myth of Freedom, The Heart of the Buddha.

40 Lam Rim Teachings

In the 1100’s the ruler of Tibet at that time got very much concerned about it and wanted the quality of the buddhadharma to be an individual upliftment rather than a show of healing, magical, mantra or mystical powers only. Those powers can, of course, be the result of individual development, but you can also do things by mantra-power and by magical-power alone. As that kind of practices had become of primary importance and the actual important points had become secondary, they thought improvement was absolutely needed. They looked and found a suitable teacher in India, the source of all dharma. That was Atisha. This is how Atisha was invited. You can find all that in Atisha’s biography67. When Atisha reached Tibet, the Tibetan ruler at that time, said to Atisha: I’m not interested in something magical and mystical. I am interested in something that affects the individual mind and is able to lead the person from there to the stage Buddha has obtained. Whatever your essence practice may be, kindly give us a short and easy one. We don’t know much details, we are a sort of backward, people we are not intellectual, we need something that is the very essence and short to practice. As a reply to that Atisha wrote a very short text, called Lam don, A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment68. In that he wrote, “At the request of the good disciple Jangchub Ö69.” He referred to the ruler of Tibet. It is very often emphasized in the teachings why Atisha called him ‘good disciple’. Not because the person happened to be the ruler, but because his request was to the point: not interested in mystical and magical things, but in a pure, clean, solid, real essence practice. The word lam means path. Lam don means lamp on the path. Lam Rim means the stages of the path. If you read the Buddhist canon, the [instructions for development] are scattered everywhere. Even if you read Maitreya’s transcendental teachings, [the instructions] are scattered everywhere. The practice is everywhere, but you have to pick up this point from here and that point from there and you have to combine them together. Atisha combined them together and made a sort of TV-dinner, ready for us to eat. That is why At- isha’s teachings are the real basis on which the whole of Lamrim has been worked out. Not only the Lam- rim of the Gelugpa tradition, but also those of the other Tibetan traditions70. Though they have different names for it, they are all based on the essence Atisha worked out in his Lam Don.

Why is the Lam Don important? 1) It is a short practice, yet it has the essence of both the sutra and the tantra path. We need a little explanation on that. The sutra practice is cause-oriented and tantra is result-oriented; that is why Sutrayana is known as the causal vehicle and Tantrayana is known as the result vehicle. In Tantrayana, or Vajrayana, you try with imaginative activities to practice at the result-level now. That is why it is called a result- practice. Usually when you hear of Mahayana it is sutra-oriented. The Lam Don covers the essence of both sutra and tantra. That is why this work is chosen as a basic foundation. 2) The second reason lies in the way the Lam Don was presented. It is focused on dealing with the mind. It is training of the mind rather than philosophical or metaphysical explanation. It has training as a major principle, training the mind in the proper direction. This is an important point. Also it is made very easy for an individual to practice. 3) The third reason is that there are more techniques given. The third reason is not that important, but the first and second are.

Meditation and Lamrim71 What does teaching mean here? In the sutras, the words of the Buddha, it says: Introduce those who are seeking the ultimate enlightenment of the buddha stage into what is to be known, what is to be given up, what to understand, what to meditate, and what to practice. You need to meditate. In order to meditate you need to know what to meditate on. Otherwise you could

67 See note 39 on p 25. 68 Skt. Bodhipathapradipa, Tib. byang chub lam gyi sgron ma. 69 The opening verse of Atisha’s The Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment. 70 See page 21. 71 Also see chapter VIII.

The Qualities of the Teachings 41 meditate on your girlfriend’s face; that is meditation, too. I made the meditation sound very cheap, but that is meditation, why not? Meditation is a technique. In the West you make meditation very special; just by calling it meditation you make it look very sacred and leave it over there; you don’t mix yourself with it. In reality meditation is nothing but getting your mind used to something by concentrating; you bring up at a certain point and making yourself to get acquainted with that point, almost becoming the point within you. For a meditation to become a good meditation, you have to know on what points you have to meditate. Sitting and concentrating is the technique of how you do the meditation. Once you have the technique, you put it on the focal point. That is important: being able to link up the object you are meditating on and the technique of concentrated meditation that you have. These combined together make the individual better. Or worse. Really, it can be used both ways. Sitting idle, just sitting and thinking nothing, may be able to cool you down and slow you down a little bit, but beyond that what can it do? Not much. If you sit too long that way, if you do it the extreme way, there is even a danger of becoming dull. You have to balance it: slow down, concentrate and stabilize. In the Tibetan tradition the slowing down is not much emphasized, because by virtue of our birth- right we were born in a society which already had a stable level. So we didn’t need it. It is not that we don’t have it, it is there, but it is not that much emphasized. On the other hand, you do find that emphasis in the Zen traditions. They make you sit and sit and sit! Sitting is to bring you down, to not go and fly in the air. That is great! That will bring you down. Those of us who fly in the air, I strongly recommend to do that! It will help you to bring you down. Really. Once you will be able to concentrate and you’re stabilized, on what do you focus? Then the Lamrim will come into the picture. My main point now is: to know what to focus on. That is very important!

Buddha’s diversity of teachings and non-contradiction Our interest is to develop the stage of a buddha. In order to develop the buddha stage we have to give up a certain way of functioning and we have to develop certain qualities. We need to know what qualities we should develop and we need to know what habits we have to throw out, otherwise it will be a guessing game. Buddha was not something fantastic that suddenly dropped from the sky to show the way. No. Bud- dha built up his own experience and shared the experience of his own development. Also the lineage teachers shared their personal experience. And from now onwards, because of dealing with the Western mind, we’ll have more experience, so it is going to be richer than before. Or? I don’t know. Buddha’s teachings are very important. Every single word of Buddha’s teachings has a meaning, has a purpose relevant to me, the individual. I am not talking about me, Gehlek Rimpoche, I am talking about me, the individual, I. Point the finger to your own nose. It always has a purpose and a point. Buddha is so great. He has what we call a skilful way of doing. Buddha tries not to disappoint people all the time. If anybody says or does something, somehow Buddha will try to make it right and pleasant. When it suits people, Buddha will say, “Yes, the world is flat” and to suit other people Buddha will say, “The world is round.” When you read the Kalachakra tantra, the world is said to be round. But if you read any other sutra, the world is said to be flat. So somebody did ask Buddha, “You said the world is flat and now you are saying it is round; what were you talking about? Are you crazy?” And he said, “No. If I would say the world is round, these people would all think I am crazy. That is why I have to go according to them.” The point is that Buddha doesn’t talk overhead. He can do that, but he doesn’t. Buddha talks on the level of the people, so that it serves the purpose. But he never said anything wrong. “You can eat meat” and “You can’t eat meat” are contradicting statements. So what is that? It is true for some people to eat meat and it is true for some other people not to eat meat. The teachers have given here the example of when you have a certain illness and the doctor treats you on some points. In the ayurvedic treatment tradition, which comes from India and also from the Buddhist tradition, they tell you that in certain illnesses you cannot eat meat and at a certain time you have to eat meat; no question. That was given as an example. Sometimes you have to eat meat for health reasons. So it looks contradictory, but it is not a contradiction. Another example. Let us take attachment. In one place you’ll go to the extent of saying that attachment is the glue to samsaric life. Buddha said so. It makes you stick to it, it makes you unable to get out of it, you’re stuck in it. In the Sutrayana practice it is true. In the Vajrayana practice attachment can be used in the path to development; transformation of attachment can become part of it. It is one word, that gets

42 Lam Rim Teachings both yes and no by Buddha, and yet it is not contradicting. If the individual knows how to handle it, it can help. Ignorance is somehow the only delusion you cannot transform; you have to get rid of it. Pride can be transformed into a path, attachment, anger, but ignorance never! Not even in Vajrayana. No. That is called the non-contradictory nature of the teachings. If you have a good Lamrim background, you may find not only Buddha’s teachings but also other good teachings. Anything that is going against ignorance, that is hitting ignorance, no matter whether Buddha or someone else taught it, you may be able to knit together to one practice for the individual. That is the quality of this teaching we give you.

Many times we’ll give you strong examples. Say you have a store in your house, where you keep your tea, sugar and salt in separate pots. Then when you find some additional something anywhere, you can dump it in the right pot. If you find a handful of sugar, you can put it in the sugar-pot; if you find some salt, you mix it with your salt. If you have that basis worked out, you’ll know what to do. If not, then though you may find a handful of salt or sugar, you can’t do anything; you can’t mix it with other things, that is a problem. What the Lamrim does is provide this basis for the individual: a structure to be able to absorb anything you get. Almost any point you find, can become a Buddhist thing to work with, because of this basis within the individual. All of the teachings can without contradiction be taken by one individual to develop oneself to the buddha-stage. Some of them become like a principle of the path, some become like a branch of the path, some of them are not that important, but somehow it will all help the individual to move upwards. Did you get it?

The different paths Let us say we are bodhisattvas. What is the activity of the bodhisattva? The essence of the desire of the bodhisattvas is: in order to help and serve other sentient beings, one needs to obtain buddhahood. That is why we always say, “For the benefit of all sentient beings…” The reason for bringing that on our lips is not for it to become a lip-service. Buddhahood is to serve all other beings, really, therefore the essence of the bodhisattvas is to help others. Right? You find a variety of different people. Some people are simply into a state of just wanting to obtain liberation and that is it. Some people are only interested to become a bodhisattva, Some people have interest to practice Vajrayana and become a buddha very quickly. So there are several categories. Some people are even not interested, in which case you can’t help much. Those who are open and interested, probably are of three different categories. If you are a bodhisattva and you want to serve, to help to the three-different-categories’ interest, you need to know the three different purposes, the three different ways, the three different points, otherwise you can only help the Maha- yana ones and you will not be able to help the Hinayana ones; you will only be able to help the Sutrayana ones and you will not be able to help the Vajrayana ones. In order to serve the three categories, it is absolutely necessary to know the principle ways. That is the bodhisattva’s job, otherwise the bodhisattva will not be able to help. Like Dharmakirti has said, If the method is not known to you, how can you present it? If the bodhisattva wants to help all other beings and lead them, it is necessary for the bodhisattva to pick up the methods; learn them, practice them, gain experience and then present them. Maitreya’s Abhisamayalankara says that the bodhisattva’s path is known as lam shes, the buddhas’ path is known as nam mkyen and our basic path is known as gzhi shes. In short: zhi, lam, de, meaning: the foundation or basis, the path and the result.72 The bodhisattva level is the path. So knowing the path is the bodhisattva’s job. If you don’t know the path, how can you lead? How can you become a guide when you don’t know where to go? If you have no idea what highway to take to get to Luxembourg, how can you lead your caravan to Luxembourg? No way. So knowing is important.

72 In the context of Mahayana the basis is the common paths (common with the lower and common with the medium level), the path in Mahayana is the paths of (1) accumulation, (2) preparation or action, (3) seeing and (4) meditation, and the result (5) is the fifth ‘path’, the path of no more learning, which is buddhahood. Literature: Gehlek Rimpoche, The Perfection of Wisdom Mantra.

The Qualities of the Teachings 43

Bodhisattvas have to learn three things: 1) the path of the sravakas, the hearers or listeners to the Mahayana doctrine, 2) the path of the pratyeka-buddhas, the solitary realizers, 3) the path of the bodhisattvas. These are the three paths in Buddhism.73 Two of them lead to liberation [and are called Hinayana paths], one leads to enlightenment [and is called Mahayana path]. Why is the first category, those Hinayana followers, called listeners? They listened to Buddha’s teachings a number of times and they said, “Today I hear you teaching Mahayana, I cannot practice that, this is not my path, but I’ll carry your message and pass it on.” So they listen and repeat it, but they don’t practice the Mahayana path, the path that you hear here. They have their own practice, the Theravadin practice. Listening is the highest job they do for the Mahayana path.

Hinayana [or Theravada] and Mahayana. If you are on the Bodhisattva path, you not only need to know the Bodhisattva principles, but in order to build up the Bodhisattva principles, you need the Hinayana principles, too. Nowadays they choose to call it Theravada, i.d. the tradition of the Elders, because the Hi- nayana people get offended, saying, “We are not smaller and you are not bigger.” It is not the point of smaller or bigger74. [Therefore] If you don’t have the principles of Hinayana you cannot build Mahayana. An Indian professor, a very old friend of mine, used to come to the three large Tibetan monasteries, Sera, Drepung, Ganden in India and have a meeting with the teachers. Once he gave a talk there and said, “I know that very few Indian Buddhist scholars will know what Mahayana really is; unfortunately I am one of them who knows. And I would also like to urge you people to not ignore the Hinayana part. Your Himalayas are very high, but how high they are you cannot measure unless you know where the ground is.” That is what he said at that time and I think that is a really good talk he gave. Immediately after that I said, “What the professor over there said is very true.” I acknowledged that. It is really true. Therefore, “Hinayana is not for me” is okay, but you can not ignore it. There are certain basic principles in it that one has to take, otherwise your path will be incomplete. In the Hinayana the self-importance is emphasized: self-liberation, how to get oneself liberated. Mahayana is total dedication to the service of others. If you don’t build up the Hinayana principle, the point of self-importance, and you go and jump on to the Mahayana principle of total dedication straightaway, what will happen? Some people may say, “Yes, self-importance is good for me, but with that will I not be taking advantage of others?” I get that question very often. If the self-importance is not built up properly, problems can come up and as a result it can even become self-sacrificing. We don’t want that. Self-importance is the basic principle in Buddha’s teachings of Hinayana. Mahayana gives equal importance to serving others, but not at the expense of self- sacrifice!

Balance between self-service and service to others. When you ignore self-service, problems will come up. Service to the others is absolutely important; self-development is equally important. These are the non- contradiction points you have to look in. Otherwise you will say, “Yes that is very good, but I will be taking advantage of other people.” You don’t want to hurt yourself in order to help! The point I noticed, especially with Americans, is that you don’t know where to draw the line: how far you can go and where you have to stop. It is very hard to know where to draw the line. If you don’t build up self-importance and you jump straightaway on servicing others, you’ll lose the balance completely and that won’t help you to become a buddha. If you simply think, “I want to become a buddha, I want to become a buddha” and you do not think of others, you loose the balance the other way round, and you are not going to become a buddha either. The point is: build up properly the Hinayana point of the teachings of self-importance, like: how life is important, how valuable it is, how a great opportunity it is, how tangible an opportunity you have, but how fragile it is. These are very systematically worked out in Lamrim, and that is to build up self- importance, to fulfill one’s self-purpose. Once that is properly established, then you build up how the oth-

73 See chart 2 on p. 145 and chart 7 in volume IV. 74 Hinayana is literally ‘small yana’ and Mahayana ‘great yana’, because of the number of sentient beings is to carry to freedom/enlightenment, respectively one and all.

44 Lam Rim Teachings ers are equally important, how you have to serve them and how you can help them without losing the balance. If you lost the balance you are gone, you are crazy, spiritually at least. Balancing is the point. Really. At every point you have to know where you have to balance. During your spiritual development you may move the balancing point up. Like when you get more and more fat your balancing point becomes higher and when you get thinner it gets down, similarly when your spiritual status goes up your balancing point may change. However balancing is absolutely necessary. If you are off the balance you are gone, you’ll be crazy. That is it.

Basis, path and result. Our basis or foundation is the present basis, whatever it is75. The result is the buddha-stage, or – if not – the second stage, i.e. the liberation stage, the Theravadin no-more-learning stage, called arhat-stage. To get over there is the path-stage, which is basically divided into three. It says, To know the path means to know the two Hinayana paths and the Mahayana path. So when you talk about Mahayana, you cannot ignore the Hinayana path! That is very important. Espe- cially the attitude: “Don’t waste your time going through the Theravadin path, we are Mahayana, we are better” is totally wrong. Not only it is blocking [your development] it is harmful to others. One has to be very careful about this!

Clarification of some divisions Divisions of the paths. Traditionally there are three categories: 1) The path of the sravakas, i.e. hearers or listeners, 2) The path of the pratyeka-buddhas, i.e. solitary realizers, self-liberating or self-evolving ones. Pra- tyeka-buddhas don’t have external aids, no teachings; they will appear in a certain period when the teachings are not available or might not even be necessary for those few who do their own self- liberation 3) The path of the bodhisattvas. That is Mahayana. The first two are divisions within Hinayana. The third one is Mahayana. So, when we say path leading to liberation – without counting Vajrayana – we count as the three yanas: two Hinayanas and the one Maha- yana. In the West they’ve overrun that and count the three yanas as: Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Theoretically speaking that is wrong. Why? There are two reasons: 1) Hinayana has a division of two. 2) Vajrayana and Mahayana you cannot separate. Vajrayana is definitely part of Mahayana. There is no Va- jrayana without Mahayana, so you cannot count Mahayana as one block and separate Vajrayana from it. In Mahayana we have two categories: Mahayana with the touch of Vajrayana techniques and Mahayana without Vajrayana techniques. Mahayana without Vajrayana-techniques is called sutra-Mahayana or Su- trayana and Mahayana with Vajrayana techniques is referred to as Vajrayana or Tantrayana. When the prajnaparamita or transcendental teachings are given and they talk about the three yanas or the three paths, you have to remember that it is referring to two Hinayanas and the Mahayana.76

Common and uncommon paths. In order to go the Mahayana path, you need common and uncommon paths. The common Mahayana path is the Hinayana path. That means, there are certain important points of the Hinayana path that you have to pick up. You don’t have to do everything totally. The parts of Hinayana absolutely necessary for Mahayana practitioners are normally known as ‘common with the Hinayana path’77. In the Lamrim you are going to hear about the importance of life, impermanence and sufferings. These are categorized as non-Mahayana paths, but they are absolutely necessary basic practice; without that you cannot build up your development. Up to renunciation, also called determination to be free, Lam-

75 Depending on where one is now. 76 From the point of view of the stages the individual practitioner goes through, the division hinayana, mahayana, vajrayana, introduced by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, is very useful and has become very common. 77 In the Lamrim called ‘common with the lower level’ and ‘common with the medium level’.

The Qualities of the Teachings 45 rim has the principles of the Hinayana path, necessary for Mahayana and Vajrayana practitioners to go through and to develop, otherwise you lose your foundation. These are called common paths. People very often have the idea that the Hinayana path is meant for the simple, straightforward not- so-intelligent ones and the Mahayana for those of greater intelligence, so that they are superior. If you build up that sort of understanding, it becomes a disservice to yourself as well as to others; it will harm your spiritual development rather than help it. When you see that all the teachings are non-contradictory, you also have to clearly establish it in this point. Buddha has given every teaching, there is one Buddha, one teaching, it is the path to develop any individual; that is important to be recognized. So, you can’t look down on Hinayana. Some people may think, “Alright, on the path to develop buddhahood the Mahayana-sutra way, certain Hinayana teachings are necessary, but for Vajrayana it might not be necessary.” Earlier doubts, misunderstandings and wrong conclusions were drawn on this by a lot of people. They said that if you practice Vajrayana, no discipline is needed, nor do you have to put in much effort, everything is okay because you can use everything – all these sort of things. A lot of people had that misunderstanding. Tsongkhapa emphasizes so much that that is really wrong! The uncommon Mahayana path is what is called the ‘transcendental path’. What is that really? The essence of the transcendental path depends on two things: the thought must be bodhimind [Skt. bodhicitta] and the action must be transcendental action [Skt. paramita]. The paramitas are: generosity, morality, patience, enthusiastic perseverance, meditation, wisdom. The word transcendental or gone beyond means: the mind transcends the self-interest and the action transcends the obstacles. The mind or mental stage of a bodhisattva is going beyond self-interest, beyond selfish thoughts. That is bodhimind: being totally dedicated to others’ benefit, yet seeking enlightenment for yourself. That is transcending the ordinary mental functioning. Right? Ordinarily we will say, “I want it”, the I will definitely be in our mind. People like to deny that, but if you look deep enough it is me [who wants everything]. When you transcend that, go beyond that, you balance the too much of self-interest, you also give service to others, work for others’ benefit. You not only give service, service is done at the Hinayana level also, but you go beyond that in order to be totally dedicated. The balance has been moved towards that more than before. That is transcending from the viewpoint of the mental stage. Then the action stage of a bodhisattva. Our usual habit is to be miser, saying, “No, I don’t have it.” Transcending beyond that is [practicing the six paramitas:] Going beyond miserliness and picking up generosity. Going beyond our narrowly projected discipline, and gain the own developed morality. Going beyond getting angry and getting into the development of strong patience. Going beyond laziness and have a powerful enthusiasm or diligence. Going beyond a wandering mind and have strong concentrated actions. Going beyond the influence of ignorance and get the influence of wisdom. These are the actions of the bodhisattva, or transcendental actions. When you become a bodhisattva you commit yourself to that. One of the tantras, called the Vajra Peak Tantra, even says, Bodhisattvas will not give up the bodhimind, not even for the sake of life, of basic survival. If you have to choose between giving up life or giving up the bodhimind, the bodhisattva will rather choose to die than having to live without the bodhimind.

By clearing all misunderstandings of the path out, what are you going to build up? You are building up a proper understanding of taking the essence of the teachings. Wherever the teachings come from, if they help you on the point where you need it, you take them into that point. That is very important. The teachings of the Buddha are based on Buddha’s experience, so whatever you get, you’ll be able to take properly and use for your benefit. Whatever you can use now, you use. Whatever you cannot understand now and you cannot use, you may leave there and think, “It is not the right thing for me to do now, however there will be a time I’ll be able to use it. I may accumulate merit to be able to use that, I try to purify my non-virtues so that I can be able to use this. At least I can pray.” When you look into Buddha’s [previous-]life stories [Jatakas], you see how the bodhisattva gave his life to feed the tigress. Bodhisattvas have no hesitation for whatsoever. If you compare it with us, we have hesitation to give a piece of green vegetable out of our fridge and the bodhisattvas have lesser hesitation to

46 Lam Rim Teachings give their life to feed a tiger-family.78 Such things are not possible for us, but still we can use it as a prayer, “May I be able to do that.” If you do that, it can become possible. No matter whether you think something is completely beyond your imagination, completely out of your scope, if you keep on working on it, it can become within your scope and you can fully develop it. That is definitely true. The more you come close to it and you can comprehend it, the more it can become a part of your practice. Gradually, without realizing you may reach it, not because the action has become easier, but because the capacity of the individual’s mind has become better. That is what it is all about. Dagpo Lama Rinpoche, the teacher of Pabongka Rinpoche, says, If you pull one corner from a square carpet, the whole carpet comes with it, nothing falls apart. Likewise, if you understand the path properly, then no matter wherever you begin to deal with it, the whole thing is going to come, nothing will be left out, nothing will contradict anything.

Criteria for a teaching to be right or wrong If we try to conclude whatever we have been talking now, what do we have? Different levels, different practices, different ways, different methods have been introduced. When I tried to tell here that every teaching is great etcetera, you may think that everything is great. That is not right, there are good teachings and bad teachings. One has to have the intelligence of being able to understand, to see whether it is good or bad, otherwise you spend a lot of time and energy on the wrong thing. If you do that, it is a great waste of one’s life, too. From the Buddhist point of view looking into what teaching is right and what is wrong, we normally judge from: whether or not it goes well with the experience that Buddha has shared; whether it is a complete path or has a single purpose. If a teaching is for one little single development only, like how to fly in the air, it is from the Buddhist background a wrong teaching. Why? Because our purpose is not to fly in the air, our ultimate purpose is to obtain the highest level that we can achieve. Therefore one single thing shown as a path is indicating that it is not suitable for us and you should see to it that you don’t waste time on it. It is not necessarily wrong, but it is not meant for me. A path should be complete, which means able to lead to the enlightenment level. Also when you practice that something should happen to you. If there are certain points that you practice and nothing happens, there is no effect at all, it means, again, there is something wrong, because the purpose of your practice is to develop. Whether the problem is with the teaching or with the practice of the individual, you have to find out by reviewing your practice, checking it, otherwise a hell of time can go without effect. This is important.

Spiritual materialism There were very big problems on that in Tibet around the ninth and tenth century. When Buddhism first came over to Tibet, it came as very nice, pure, natural Buddhism. But then the Tibetans were much more fascinated by finding more attractive things like clairvoyance or some magical power here and there, trying to get ‘messages’ as we have in the United States very much: a voice telling you what to do, a light guiding you, coins giving signs, trying to read cards, all this type of things. I’m not against all of them, however if you try to lead your life on it, it is a big problem, to tell you the truth. I’ve been trying to say these things very gently for a long time to a lot of people. If we look into our life, first of all we are very much confused; we are totally confused in everyday life. In addition to our confusion, we add up too many spiritual paths, which often are pseudo-spiritual paths. We do all sort of things. First of all, because of lack of information. And also, a lot of people are very hungry for a spiritual path. They really can’t find anything reliable, solid and effective and they need it, so they are very hungry. On top of that, there are a lot of people who show you all sorts of things. All of them together add up to our confusion. In addition to that, a spiritual path is something we know very little about, particularly in the West. And people who have really good experience, will not share it. They will not blow their own trumpet, they keep very quiet. If you look among the Tibetans – I am not saying only

78 For the story, see Stanley Frye, Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish, chapter 2.

The Qualities of the Teachings 47 the Tibetans have it – many of the great developed persons behave as if they do not know a single word. They behave in a completely innocent, naive style and say no word. Those who try to share things here and there usually say very limited things. On top of that we have the spiritual materialism, which has become very attractive to a lot of people. People blindly put faith in a lot of things. This morning I asked one of you to pick up this vase water [from an initiation] and offer it to everybody. I was watching and saw everybody without questioning drink that drop of water, without even asking what it is and what for. In a way it may mean that you are very polite. In a way it shows that people put a lot of faith in things. If it were a poison, what then? It is very important to have intelligence. We as human beings have got very good brains and I think we have to use them. There is no question that we use our brain for the development of the material world and we use it tremendously well, so why can’t we use it for our spiritual path, too? You want to achieve spiritual development; if so, you have to use your intelligence on the spiritual path. [As I told you], earlier in Tibet people put the solid spiritual development aside and were carried away by all sorts of spiritual materialism, such as passing on messages or guidance by voices, dreams, visions and so on. If you try to make a big deal out of it, as a result what happens? A tremendous amount of people will put a tremendous amount of energy into a result which is probably of no benefit for that individual and also has very little benefit for the large amount of other people. I mean, it has a certain usefulness, but in reality it wastes a tremendous amount of time. So, in Tibet these spiritual materialistic activities began to take refuge under Vajrayana, because Va- jrayana has a lot of rituals. People began to pick up misunderstanding, creating a big gap between Vajra- yana and the pure Sutrayana. They almost became a contradiction to each other, like hot and cold. And so it had become a tremendous disadvantage for a lot of future people. Therefore it became necessary for the great teachers during these periods to make it non-contradictory, to explain it properly, and to see what is spiritual materialism and what is really a proper spiritual achievement. Spiritual materialism also causes a tremendous amount of confusion because the powers that people get through that are mostly karmic powers or simply activities of certain spirits around, like a kind of dragon spirits [Skt. nagas] and hungry ghosts [Skt. pretas]. Those spirits have a tremendous amount of power compared with us, human beings. They can read people’s past and future a little bit and all this sort of things. So you have a tremendous problem.

The story of sitting on a grass leaf. I give you a little example. In Tibet was a guy who used to take his domestic milk-giving animals to a mountain-side for grazing and stayed there to protect them against wild animals. There was a little water source, where the guy used to go with the animals. Near that spring there was a very nice, smooth and calm atmosphere, because it was a nice place and there were certain spirits around that help people to feel calm. The shepherd liked that place a lot and he used to milk one of the animals and offer a little milk to the spring. This became a daily ritual for him; in Western language, it became his ‘religion’. One day the naga living there, said he was really grateful for that and he would like to help with whatever he could. As a result this naga gradually started overtaking that human being completely, sort of remaining within him. The man then sat cross-legged on just one single, long blade of grass, and started talking. A lot of people got attracted, because he was sitting on a single blade of grass. Now there happened to be a great person who had been practicing a lot, and he began to wonder what this fellow was saying and what was going on. He went over there to listen and what he heard was nothing but total spiritual rubbish. So he said, “It is necessary for me to do something, but how do I start?” He decided to do three prostrations in front of this fellow. He said, “I prostrate to Buddha” and did one prostration, and that blade bent slightly. And he did it a second time, “I prostrate to Dharma” and the fellow fell off the grass. And when he did a third time, “I prostrate to Sangha,” the fellow became a real ordinary human being again; the naga had run away. Then a group of spiritual developed people revealed what this fellow had done for the last couple of years. Over a hundred volumes of all sorts of funny things were found. A few practices had some healing power and were useful for sick people, especially for those sick with naga-problems. A few things were selected and the rest was burned.

48 Lam Rim Teachings

Then the people began to see the contradiction. That way it became necessary for the people of that time to say and explain that all true teachings of the Buddha are non-contradictory. And now it has become a part of the baggage in talking the qualities of the Lamrim. This is one example I gave, there are lots of them.

Whether to look at some practice as spiritual materialism or as an actual spiritual practice, is a big question. I don’t think anybody has an easy answer for it. It depends on the goal of the individual. If the goal of the individual is to have some kind of power to be able to impress other people through various ways, such as reading their mind, reading their past, present and future, reading their aura, interpreting their guiding lights, listening to a guiding voice or reading Akasha records, whatever it might be, if the purpose is the individual’s desire, then it has limited benefit. Mark my word: limited benefit. In America today people who are interested in a spiritual path, normally do not have much selfish interest. They always have a desire to help others, they like to be of service. And they very stubbornly carry out righteous viewpoints, “This is right; this is not right.” Most of them have the tendency of helping others, but that does not cover not to be a spiritual materialist. That helping is limited. It can help as well as [develop the attitude], “I’m good at it. I am good at reading their future, I’m good at this and that.” That sort of mind keeps one away from the tremendous benefit of establishing a spiritual foundation within oneself, liberating oneself completely from the suffering, and helping others to eliminate their total suffering. When you don’t have those sort of aims, but individually pick up a few things, I intent to count it in the field of spiritual materialism. On the other hand, I’m not objecting to people who do astrological work and all this. I’m simply saying that with the limited capability that we have and with our confusion on ourselves – as we know we have – we sit there and still say, “Well, I feel… blah blah blah.” These sort of things are sometimes useful; I don’t have objection to the people who are doing it. However, if we spend our life-long efforts to achieve some little thing and leave a great opportunity aside, maybe it is a tremendous waste in our life. That is what I think. I’m sorry if I offended anybody, I don’t mean to offend, but it has become a part of my duty to point it out. If I don’t say it, it might not be right. I don’t want people to be misled nor to misunderstand. There- fore it has become necessary to mention this point.

How to judge, the wisdom to discriminate. The Lamrim definitely avoids those spiritual-materialism activities. And I think it is very difficult for anyone to judge whether the individual is spiritual materialistic or is sincerely spiritually developed. I don’t think we are able to judge the other person. Buddha himself repeatedly told, In order to judge other people a person has to be like me. Persons should be of the buddha-stage to be able to judge others. But that doesn’t mean that when you practice you cannot judge yourself. When you practice, you can. Your mind is not hidden to you. It is known to you. You know your own capacity. You know your own limit. You know your own motivation. So according to that you make your own judgment on yourself and then it will not become spiritual materialism. When you are able to do that, you are not cheating yourself, you’re not misguiding yourself and that is important. When you are judging on spiritual materialism, don’t judge others. Whatever they do: fly in the air, walk on the fire, sit under the water or jump from the roof, don’t judge others; judge yourself. The purpose is to help ourselves, Remember, Buddha recommended not to judge others unless you are a buddha. That is also what this first quality is about. It is important for ourselves to decide what we practice, where we spend energy and time at. Because we don’t have much time, because of our life-structure. Whatever time we can afford, we should put into something solid, something which makes me, the individual, grounded, something which I, the individual, can grasp, something solid which will definitely benefit me at the time of my death. Of all these spiritual-materialism things nothing will be able to benefit you by the time you die. Noth- ing! You may think, “But I have helped a tremendous amount of people.” Yes, you may have. At the same time, through various ways and means, people got convinced of that spiritual materialism too,. So if you think you have something to carry, I really put a big question. Keep that in mind. Please, don’t judge others, judge yourself. Okay?

The Qualities of the Teachings 49

I’ll tell you one more thing. When you are judging yourself, find out: The spiritual practice what you do, does it make your head bigger or smaller? You know what I mean? Your head bigger, “I’m somebody, wow!” Judge on that. If it is making your head bigger, it is going in the wrong direction. What does that practice do to your delusions? Does it cut your delusions down or does it increase them? If it is cutting down on your delusions you are going in the right direction; if they are increasing, you are going in the wrong direction. For example, if the practice makes you more angry, to other people or to yourself, then it is going in the wrong direction. If it is making you less angry, then it is going in the right direction. But, by knowing that, thinking, “Oh, getting more angry is bad, I should not! I’m showing temper, that’s not right, it is wrong! I’m a spiritual person, if I’m showing temper, people misunderstand me. Oh, no, no, no!” and immediately you change your tone… Then it becomes worse. These are a few signs you can use within yourself. If you sincerely want to catch your mistake and change it, it is different. But just for the sake of not showing, give a good image of yourself, “See, I caught my wrong behavior within me individually and I changed it immediately,” that doesn’t work. Then the changing is not because anger is bad, but because it hurts my image. Do you see the difference? If the purpose is to save your face, it becomes spiritual materialism. If you just caught the anger for saving your image, “Oh, anger is bad, really I’m so sorry I got angry,” it is terrible. If it is real regret from the bottom of your heart, then it is a good thing. The good thing and the bad thing are very close. Very close. What it is, is only known to yourself, not to other people. Only you know, so only you can help yourself. That is what is meant. Your mind, your motivation, everything is only known to you, to nobody else. That means that only you can help yourself. If you do the Lamrim very nicely, carefully, it helps you on that.

2. All the teachings are recognized as personal instruction The purpose of the teachings is to fulfill our spiritual needs. And the spiritual result we aim at is either ordinary or extra-ordinary, depending on whether we want temporary or ultimate happiness. In order to get that properly and soundly established, we need to know the practice properly. It is a sort of unknown path.

Buddha’s experience as practice. Buddha’s experience, that he has shared, is so vast and so huge; it is very hard for one to pick it up completely. As we cannot understand his vast experience, as we cannot get close to it by ourselves, any method or key that helps to comprehend it, is considered important. It helps to go deeper into the experience Buddha has shared, his ways and means, and that helps to develop ourselves. If the method one picks up does not help the individual to comprehend what Buddha’s presentation really is, or if by practicing a method you go away from the experience that he shared, then it is an indication that you are going wrong. Not necessarily every practice gives you liberation. Take for example the Angulimala practice79. For that guy it was practice, but if you practice it, instead of going closer to development, you are getting far away from it. So, to be able to make a proper selection, to be able to know the value of the various spiritual methods and disciplines is part of this point.

How to select. People give you a lot of methods. Some say, “Just say this mantra, you don’t have to do anything else.” There are a lot of things, but what is really right and what is wrong? And how much time can I spend on knowing whether something is leading me down? We only have a certain amount of years, say sixty to eighty, out of which forty are gone, so we are left with not much. It becomes important for us to have something good and solid, something that we can rely on and that we can practice. How can I judge on that? Every single thing has been taught by some or another great person. The message-carrier is somehow always a very good person. So what is really right? Which is the one I should follow, which is the one I should not follow? How am I going to know? How can I check it?

The story of seven-day enlightenment. In the middle-ages in Tibet a guy called Chadun Sangye told people, “If you spend seven days and nights with me, you will be liberated.” In Lhasa, near Potala is a big hill with

79 See volume II, chapter XII. For the full story of Angulimala, see Stanley Frye, Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish, ch. 37: Angulimala or Finger-Necklace.

50 Lam Rim Teachings very deep holes. This fellow, nicknamed ‘Seven-day buddha’, sat there and said, “I have a great secret method, which will lead you to the total liberation of enlightenment within seven days. In order to make full use of it, you must renounce all your property, for which I have made arrangements. After that you come here and meditate for seven days.” That fellow then put the person near that hole, giving him neither food nor drinks, so of course the person became weak. At the end of the seventh night he came with a big cake, which with a “Here you go!” he threw in the hole. That was called ‘seven-day enlightenment’. Natu- rally they died, nobody came back. Naturally family members could say, “Our so-and-so has become a buddha in seven days.”

How do I know whether that is the right or the wrong thing to do? How do I check it? If I ask other people, some will say, “Great,” some will say, “Terrible.” That is unreliable. How do you know? You discriminate. If we trust ourselves to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and especially Buddha, then with whatever teaching comes in, we look whether it coordinates with Buddha’s teachings, the experience he shared? How much does it go against delusions? How much does it cut the ignorance? How much does it develop spirituality? That is how you judge whether something is a proper or a wrong advice. Everyone is good in giving advices, no one is good at taking advices. Straightaway, without asking, people will give you advice, always. How do we know whether it is good or bad? We compare it. Take advices as much as you want to, doesn’t matter, but don’t put them into practice until you know if it is the right thing to do. Take advices from as many people you want, but finally make up your own mind yourself and then act. If you follow every advice, you are going to be nowhere. Take the advices, no objection for whatsoever, compare them with Buddha’s teachings, think, see, and then follow. That is how you check a teaching, an advice or a instruction.

Lamrim and the wisdom of discrimination. Some people think that a great practice is something very se- cretly talked somewhere else. They think that the major words of the Buddha and the teachings of the great Indian and Tibetan masters, like the five great subjects80, have no relevance. They say, “Oh these are philosophical things, that has nothing to do with the practice.” Even the Americans have that tendency. The moment the word ‘secret’ I used, or especially it ‘secret’ plus ‘sacred’, you get a different feeling. It makes people think, “Wow, that is going to hit me…!” That is what we look for, don’t we? People do have that problem of just wiping off all studies and searching for something else. That is clearly indicating that one is unable to take all the teachings as a perfect point of practice. Whatever Buddha’s experience is, has been totally shared and is to be found in volumes and volumes of sutras. If you leave that aside and you try to find something else, unwritten, relayed through whispering and said to be secret, there is a danger of being lead in the wrong way. It is our tendency to value something ‘secret’ over the great works. If you rely too much on the combination of sacred and secret, there is a danger of ‘seven-day enlightenment’. When you go off the highway leading you the better way, when you choose for teachings that have not been taught by Buddha, a secret little side-path, then you’ll lose rather than be benefited. Moreover, thinking the great texts are very good for teaching, explanation and debate, but not for meditation and practice, is wrong, because if there is something that can be presented well and discussed, it means there is substance. If a whispered secret is great to meditate on, but it cannot stand on the point of being discussed, there is something wrong. This is a very important point. Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo says, By learning and thinking all misunderstandings have to be cut out. The way to cut misunderstandings out is: if your presentation is pure, then it should be able to stand against contradictions and against anything that brings you wrong. If you are right, it should be able to stand and you should be able to proof it to be right. If you cannot, if you have to hide under, “Don’t talk too much, don’t think too much, don’t discuss too much, just meditate in that manner” then probably

80 The Tibetan equivalent or division of the Tripitaka are ‘the five great buddhist meanings’: 1) vinaya or monastic discipline; 2) abhidharma or phenomenology or metaphysics; (3) pramana or logic, (4) prajnaparamita or general doctrine [in this section the method part of the Prajnaparamita Sutra is dealt with] (5) madhyamika or the philosophy of the middle way; [in this section the wisdom part of the Prajnaparamita Sutra is dealt with].

The Qualities of the Teachings 51 something is wrong. Judge yourself. I am not trying to say that what we are telling is the best. I am trying to say, how with the limited knowledge and background we have, we can discriminate. On the other hand, for people that are not that much intellect-oriented, there are certain points on which you can say, “Just do this” and people can follow it. There is nothing wrong with that. But also that should be able to stand, if brought in as a subject of discussion or debate to proof its authenticity. If it cannot stand that way, it becomes a ‘great-secret’-business and it might not necessarily be right. An example. I tell you, “Go down in the city, sit naked in the rain, pick up three pebbles, go round ten times and you will be liberated. Don’t tell it to anybody else, it is secret.” Then what? How do you know if that is alright? First you may think I am joking. Then, if I have been able to convince you I’m not joking, some may even do it. What you do is, try to think, ‘Sitting naked in the rain down there in the city at daytime – forget about the social thing, but spiritually what benefit will I get?’ Think about it! Don’t take it blindly. Think about it and probably you will find as answer, ‘Practically nothing except embarrassment.’ You may think, ‘This embarrassment is meant for my purification.’ We always have that supporting mental attitude coming up, ‘Oh, it may be for my purification….’ So some people may even try it. If I personally am told to do that, I will probably think, ‘What benefit will I get? What is it meant for?’ or, ‘That lama may have gone crazy, I’d rather not do it.’ I will draw a conclusion that way and I will not do it. I will not do it, because I do not see any benefit in it. You may ask me, ‘What benefits will I have?’ If I have anything to tell you, I will say, ‘Alright, this and this benefit is there.’ On that you think again. If I am not able to tell you anything, I may say, ‘Well you’ll learn later’ or, ‘That is a secret.’ If I tell you it is a secret, you lose the value, it doesn’t make you think anymore. How can you discriminate? Buddha never said to stand naked in the rain in public. On the contrary. Buddha said, ‘You cannot wash away your non-virtuous actions by water.’81 So to be able to discriminate becomes very important! I think it is time for Western Buddhist practitioners to wake up now. Wake up. It is important. In our sangha there is, I think, there’s not so much blind faith. I hope so. Yet, on the other hand, sincere devotion has developed and that is great; that is different from blind faith. For people that blindly take things it is time to wake up, otherwise you will be the loser; that is what I am afraid of. Especially when you come to listen to the Lamrim teachings, you will hear long and boring talks. All of them definitely try to present you a practice. If you are coming and you think, ‘I go there and listen to Lamrim, but for practice I go to someone else and get whispered things’, again the same thing is happening. If you go and practice what is whispered in your ear, it means that you leave the highway and look for some small bumping passage where you may or may not be able to get through. This is the major point I wanted to talk to you about.

Practice. Buddha’s main teachings have been combined and the different traditions have a different way of presenting it. I am not saying only Lamrim is the great way. No. All these teachings try to throw out a practice to you. Out of this, what do you have to pick up? If you find anything useful in it, anything that helps you, anything that brings your level up, anything that hits your ego, anything that hits your anger, anything that you don’t like to hear, anything that you want to hide, you have to take that one out of the teaching. That is poking my dirty nose in your secret corner, wherever you have kept your secrets. Pick up those points. These are the points that really will help you, that are pinpointing your problems. This is the practice you are getting out of it. Taking all the teachings as perfect point of practice, does not necessarily mean doing a little prayer or Ganden Lha Gyema. It means: being able to take the essence of whatever you hear or see, putting pin- pointedly into your practice. Those essences you are going to find more and more, more detailed and more profound. That is what you do, rather than getting some secret thing whispered in your ear, which is not going to lead you anywhere. Figure out, ‘Is it going to help me, will it bring me closer to the enlightenment-level

81 Buddhas never wash sins away with water, Nor remove beings’ sufferings with their hands, Nor transfer their realizations to others; beings are freed through the teachings of the truth, the nature of things.

52 Lam Rim Teachings and is it manageable?’ or is it going against the experience shared by Buddha? If so, the best thing is to say goodbye, otherwise you may get caught into it, waste a tremendous amount of time and energy, and after some time you’ll find yourself the same old mole: going under the ground for six months and coming out the same old mole. If after some time you look back and find a difference within you, then you are reaching somewhere, you are moving.

So, under this point two things are covered: You have to take every teaching as a perfect point of practice; that is absolutely important. Also you have to have the wisdom to discriminate, the capability to see whether a certain practice is something that you want to do or not; not to criticize any teaching or any practice, but to know what is meant for you, what you can do, what is relevant to you. That is very important.

3. The Conqueror’s underlying thought is easily comprehended All the teachings of the Buddha, the disciples of the Buddha and the lineage masters, have something or another to contribute. It all has some purpose and carries some very important message. And to get that message straight, is difficult. When we say we have obstacles, blocks and all this, what’s the first thing we block? Getting the real message. Spiritual development is mental development. The inner quality is communicated to other persons through words. Words however have a limited capacity of bearing the real message. And when translated into different languages, pulled up and down according to the translators’ flavor, it becomes even more difficult.

Spiritual texts translated. Originally the teachings were in different languages, Sanskrit, Pali and local languages, and they have been translated into Indian, Tibetan and Chinese. At the first translation, the message already got deluded quite a lot. If you do a word-by-word translation, [you have the difficulty that] the words have different meanings, and besides that it just doesn’t work. You know that very well. That is why a lot of scholars complain that if you really translate literally, it doesn’t make any sense. That is a true problem. To make it make sense, the translator tries, as much as is within his capacity, to absorb the message and then expresses it in the different language. Whatever absorption he or she got, is manifested out. Get the real message. Lamrim is a little easy, but when you go to other Buddhist texts, it is very complicated. You may read it thirty different times, and you will probably have thirty different understandings. You go to thirty different teachers, and they give you thirty different explanations. You read thirty different commentaries, and they will give you thirty different points. I really mean, it is very, very difficult to absorb that language. A person who spends ten or fifteen years trying to absorb it, will only get 10% or 15% out of it. Then, on the basis of that information what one has been able to absorb, it is expressed again. And that’s how we get it. So, you see, is very hard to get the real message.

What happens is this. Firstly, if you as an individual have been able to build up a quite good solid base, and you read a text, you sometimes may get more information than the translator himself. That depends on how solidly that individual has been able to build up [his or her practice of learning, thinking and meditating]. Secondly, it also needs a little bit of purification as well as a little good luck. Spiritual texts are unlike other texts. When the translator speaks out certain words, even the translator may be limited and individuals may be able to go beyond those words and get the real message. The foundation you need for that can be built up by this Lamrim. That is this quality: to be able to find the real message! Whatever best one could express by words, has been expressed. But what the words say is not necessarily what is meant. The meaning is much beyond that. So, what does Lamrim do? It will help you understand the teachings further and better. Every teaching of the Buddha, every word of it, has a direct, an indirect and a hidden meaning. Not necessarily the direct meaning is true, not necessarily the indirect meaning is true. In order to understand that, Lamrim helps.

The Qualities of the Teachings 53

4. Harmful behaviors will stop This quality of Lamrim is that misbehaviors, wrong things that you do, you will automatically stop. Why you stop them? Because you want benefit. Who wants bad things happening to oneself? Nobody. By knowing Lamrim, you’ll know what is right and what is wrong. Once you know what is right and what is wrong – unless you are blind – you don’t want to choose the wrong thing to do. Wrong behaviors will bring negative forces and negative forces will bring suffering. So, you stop your own sufferings. That means: through Lamrim you will really begin to understand what is a problem and what is not a problem. If you don’t leave the information in your notebook or on the tape, then it helps the individual in daily life, in your daily functioning. For example, “I should not be doing this, it creates a type of karma which I don’t want”; without being overtaken by righteousness. These are benefits that one can look for. Lamrim has them. We did notice its benefits and its effects to a number of people. Not to all. We notice a difference in individuals, which really is something very important. At our last winter-retreat people told me, as well as acknowledged themselves, that there is a tremendous amount of improvement to a lot of people. It makes me feel a little bit happy that whatever effort we put in the last couple of years, has not totally been wasted. That benefit is individual benefit, and only the individuals know. It needs the individual’s contribution, otherwise we can’t do much.

Study versus practice. Some people say, “Well, if you really want to be a scholar, you may do this, but you’re not going to be a great practitioner or meditator.” Other people say, “If you really want to be a meditator you can’t be a scholar.” This is total bullshit. There is no contradiction between scholarship and practice; there is none for whatsoever. As a matter of fact they complement each other. If you do not have the scholarship of knowing what you are supposed to do, then it becomes a handicap for the practitioner rather than an advantage. Some people do have a problem. They only learn and their learning becomes only information and the individual cannot take it [within]. Then it becomes a problem. That’s why I said from the beginning that if you leave the information in the notebooks or on the tapes, it is a problem. Because when you really need it and if you misplace your notebook you cannot find what you need and you are finished. You need to put the information within you. You don’t have to remember everything that has been said, but the basic structure you do need. When you have that, then practice and scholarship are definitely complementing each other. Do not misunderstand that. Limited information is limited practice. Okay? But in order to become a spiritual practitioner, you don’t have to become a scholar. You don’t have to, but if you are, it is better. This is important to know. Some people give you the idea of, “If you want to be a learned scholar, then read this and this, and if you just want to be a practitioner, you don’t have to, you just sit down and meditate, that’s enough.” People say that. But the question rises: if you do not know what to meditate on, then it is equally bad.

Meditation. Meditation is a technique that you apply for a purpose, whatever the purpose may be. If you want to use the meditation for just having a calm, quiet, relaxed life, you can definitely do it; it is a very good technique. If you want to use the meditation to become a brilliant computer-programmer, you can do that; it is a very good technique. If you want to use the meditation to gain a very strong concentration power so you’ll be able to bend an iron beam, go ahead; also for that meditation is a very good technique. If you want to use the meditation for spiritual achievement, you can do that. If you want to use the meditation to cut your delusions, you can do that. If you want to use the meditation to achieve the liberation out of samsara and eliminate suffering totally, you can do that. So, you see, it is a technique. It is like computer; anybody can use it for any purpose.

Check what you get. If you don’t have the information to apply when you meditate, you will use the technique on your personal things or on whatever you think is right. That might not be beneficial. Therefore information and also the correct information is very important. The information also has to be cross- checked. Don’t believe it because somebody told you. Don’t believe something because Rimpoche told you. Don’t! Use your own brain and check it. Even Buddha said,

54 Lam Rim Teachings

Monks and scholars should well analyze my words, Like gold [to be tested through] melting, cutting and polishing, And then adopt them, but not for the sake of showing me respect. Just taking something because somebody, especially somebody with a big name and a title, told you and you think, “Oh, yes this has to be right, because it is said by so-and-so” and then you quote what he wrote, that is not right. Use your intelligence. The Lamrim tells you to use your intelligence on your spiritual path. Because this is important; this is the method with which you are gambling, at least for a couple of life-times. If you want to buy a car, what do you do? You check the car. You look, argue and finally choose one, you take that car to another person which you believe to be an expert, ask his opinion, let the expert look and then finally you will buy it, i.e. you pay a little amount of money. That is what we do. Right? On the one hand it is a huge amount, on the other it is limited, compared with one’s life.

Obstacles on the spiritual path. From one point of view the spiritual path is a big gamble. If you go the wrong spiritual path, you gamble a number of lives. If you go the right spiritual path, you can benefit from it, maybe forever, maybe for a number of life-times. For a spiritually really benefited one a lot of obstacles will come up. Why? Number one, because we have a tremendous amount of bad karma in our storage. Number two, whether you believe it or not, though some people say, “Evil is not there, it is only me.” Evil is definitely there; it obstructs as much as possible, it manifests in karmic forms. The easiest way obstacles manifest to us is dislike, boredom, difficulty, cannot, no reason, negative ways of doing etc., even to the extent of a cold and so and forth. Obstacles are bound to be there. If not there, something is wrong with that path, definitely. Then it might not be that beneficial for the individual. As I very often tell you, the spiritual path is a struggle between the positive and negative forces. They are gambling on you, the individual. You are the subject. The negative side will definitely not let you go at all under any circumstances, they have to hold you back, that’s their job and they are good at it. The positive side will pick you up, provided all the conditions are right. That’s what they do. We have that big struggle to do. The conditions have to be right and there are all sort of big obstacles. So, to know what you are doing, is very important, though [up to now] you have very limited information and a limited way of judging. Still, use your intelligence a little bit and try to check. Don’t overcheck. Sometimes you overcheck, then it becomes difficult.

Sakya Pandita and the Chinese Emperor. Earlier, one of the Sakya lamas, Sakya Pandita, was invited by the Chinese emperor to be his personal guru. (That is what the Tibetan documents tell us; the Chinese documents tells us something else.) When he reached the emperor’s palace, the emperor told him, “I need to check you.” So he was kept there for twelve years without having to give any single teaching. After twelve years, the emperor said, “I have checked you and I’m satisfied with you. Fine. Now you are fit to be a guru of the emperor of China.” This lama turned around and said, “Well, you have checked me twelve years, now I have to check you, whether you are fit to be a disciple or not, and I need twelve years to check.” In between that he died. So don’t overcheck, but also don’t undercheck. That’s what you have to do.

How to look at other traditions – not holding sectarian views. If you understand Lamrim properly, then all the teachings of the Buddha will become one. It has one purpose: to help all beings, to eradicate all sufferings of all beings. So you can’t say this is good and this is bad. We have very much the habit of saying ours is good and theirs is bad. Particularly, among the Western Tibetan dharma followers there are tremendous sectarian feelings. We don’t have that among the Tibetans. But that doesn’t mean you have to do everything. You know what I mean? What you follow you follow, but don’t say the others are wrong. What- ever you follow, you follow; no objection, who cares? They all give you right teachings, they give you the right direction. But whatever you are doing, try to do it properly. That is important. Trying to do half here half there, might not do any good at all. Holding a sectarian view is supposed to be a very heavy non-virtue. Buddha himself was asked, “What is the most non-virtuous, giving up the Dharma or keeping a sectarian viewpoint?”

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Don’t ask that question, if I have to answer this everybody will be scared, including the gods. About talking about your own quality Chandrakirti, Nagarjuna’s disciple, has said, When you are explaining your own view, proving it by means of logic or quotations, presenting your own view and its authenticity by the right points, and if it contradicts others’ view, that doesn’t mean it is a sectarian viewpoint. Chandrakirti has clearly said that such an explanation has no faults at all. If you don’t explain your own quality, who is going to talk about it? That doesn’t mean that you are saying that the others are wrong, you shouldn’t misunderstand. Especially when I talk about Tsongkhapa’s special qualities, I will be telling that he has given this extra-ordinary quality, that extra-ordinary quality and so forth. That does neither mean that the others are wrong, nor that the others don’t have it. Whatever we say that you find here – be happy and stop there. So, this point tells you: Fine, you can be the best system, but don’t say the other systems are wrong. No matter what tradition you are, Gelugpa, Kagyu or whatever, you are teaching Tibetan Buddhism. You are teaching the dharma that the Buddha taught. That’s what this point is directly talking about. Indirectly it is talking about our ignorance.

Cutting ignorance. Ignorance! A lot of us will think, “Ah, the teachings on wisdom will come. When the teachings on wisdom come, there is some kind of illumination which will clear the darkness, boom!” Peo- ple look for that. It is not. Teachings on wisdom begin when the teacher opens his mouth. When you are introducing the suffering, the teachings on wisdom begin. And there is no such a thing which illuminates just like that. No. A lot of people do think it is there; that is another misunderstanding. Lamrim teachings in particular cut down the ignorance tremendously. And when they start to cut down the ignorance, the opposite of the ignorance will be [come out], the wisdom. At least you’ll know the karmic system: what karma means, how it works. All of this will get clarified and that is wisdom. That is not the only wisdom, it is part of the wisdom. When at the end the whole picture comes up together, you will see it clearly. Until then, it is all built up gradually and there is no such thing like this [sudden] illumination. So cutting harmful behaviors – which is non-virtuous karma – will gradually begin. The moment we sit down and start talking, it starts functioning, cutting down the faults. By cutting the faults, the action of the faults gets cut down. By cutting the action of the faults, you cut down the bad karma. And that is automatically effecting the individual. Automatically. The effect on the individual you see particularly over a longer period. Try to look back sometime and then you see the difference, you see whether it has affected you or not. You don’t see it now. When you look at what you were thinking yesterday and what you are thinking today, you’ll see the same reflexes, so you see nothing. Then you get disappointed, you get worried about it, then you call me, and you cry on the telephone. People do that. That won’t work. But if you look over a long period, you’ll see the effect. That is how I interpret the fourth quality.

B. Three additional qualities of Lamrim82 1) It is the essence of all the Buddha’s teachings, with nothing left out 2) Lamrim is laid out in such a way that it is easy to practice 3) It brings together all the Buddhist traditions

What is our aim and can Lam Rim help? The most important point is: the practice you do has to be a perfect one. Why? Because the result that you want to achieve out of this is perfect: buddhahood. Now this is a big question. I would like to make something very clear. Our generation of Tibetans, has been unquestioningly accepting that buddhahood is something ultimately, something to achieve, the only thing that is worth working for. For us you can say, “Your aim is buddhahood and in order to achieve buddhahood you have to have a perfect path, otherwise you

82 See Gehlek Rimpoche, Odyssey to Freedom.

56 Lam Rim Teachings will not get a perfect result.” But for the Western dharma-friends like you, when you say, “Buddhahood is your aim; it is great,” you will say, “So what?” Then probably we say “Well, that is your aim” and you will say, “Why should I have to become a buddha, especially if Buddha is [like] God?” A very good friend told me something interesting on that. I was giving a talk somewhere, trying to say that for a Buddhist Buddha – not necessarily Sakyamuni buddha, but in general Buddha – is not so much different from God. A little later she told me, “Well, I heard all the things you said, but if the Buddha is God, I’m not particularly interested to become God.” So it is worth to spend time on this point. If you want to do the Lamrim very carefully, not only the study but the practice of it, I think it has to be very clear why you need to practice Lamrim and why you shouldn’t have spiritual materialism. It is only possible to make it clear if the individual is willing to cooperate.

Our situation. What do we want? The unquestionable answer of everybody is, “I don’t want sufferings.” To be free from sufferings is an answer acceptable to all, provided you know what suffering is. The moment I say ‘suffering’, what picture do you get in your head? Probably you think of homeless people, child-abuse or women-abuse and so on. By getting that sort of picture, you dissociate yourself from the suffering. Dissociate means, “It is happening over there, not to me. I’m the helper, I’m there to help. I want to help.” Helping is not a problem, you can help, but dissociating is a problem. Definitely. You are the better person coming over there to help, you’re dissociating yourself from the category of suffering. You are not the one who is suffering, they are the ones who are suffering. That is a problem. That is what we call: not recognizing suffering. When you look carefully in your mind, you always want to help. Everybody is ready to be a helper, but no one likes to associate himself with the suffering. A lot of people dissociate and take the position of helper or problem-solver. So what you do is, watch your mind and recognize, “I’m suffering.” Suffering is very hard for us to accept unless we are sick. Sickness is something easy to accept, we can associate with that. All other sufferings we immediately start to dissociate from. And that might be our problem. That is what I call: we don’t recognize suffering. Maybe suffering is a too strong word for the Western society. Maybe you need some different luke- warm word, which you may be able to put your feet in. But you are already in it; there is no question. Look at abuses, everyone of us has been subject to abuse. Though physically nobody has abused us, mentally a lot of people have abused us. And, I noticed, we abuse ourselves all the time. Everybody. Under the pretext of righteousness or any other pretext, people do abuse themselves a lot. And to keep on thinking on it all the time makes you sick, unable to sleep, etc. There are few people who can really sleep comfortably. These are the excesses of the pain on the mind, which are normally created by ourselves. I call that: we abuse ourselves. We really do. I’m sorry, I’m not a psychologist, however, whether you like it or not, you really do it. Sometimes people even punish themselves. People’s mind is such a crazy thing. Under the pretext of purification or under the pretext of working out karma, we do rather extreme sacrifices, we do all sorts of things to ourselves. So we are subject to abuse, by ourselves, every day. We are suffering. When you say suffering you don’t have to look for something in the streets of New York. You really don’t have to. Sometimes the poor, dirty, homeless person sleeping in the park, may be happier than the person in a Park-Avenue apartment. Really. They are suffering, they have difficulties, no doubt, but they also quite enjoy life, actually. Allen Ginsberg took me to a public park near his house, where homeless people are living. When you go near there, they will not let you in. Somebody at the gate said, “You can’t go in there! Get out!” Then Allen said, “This is Allen Ginsberg, I’m going to see somebody.” “Oh, are you sure you are the right person? Let me come and look at you. Okay go.” Then you go inside. They are sitting there, there are chairs around, they burn a fire, they are drinking, smoking and chit-chatting, yelling, all this sort of thing. It is cold but they have blankets on. Mentally some of them are not that upset at all. They are talking about the war, whether Bush83 or Saddam Houssein is right or wrong. They are having this same conversation over there, with a fire burning. This type of usual life is there, too. Under a different condition, but that is not bad.

83 George Bush sr.! These are teachings from around 1990.

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As a refugee, I myself have been worse than that and I have seen people worse than that. Like the coolies in India, they are worse off, you have no idea. AIDS is another one. We don’t have an immune system and all of us can also be subject. So you cannot really dissociate yourself from the pain, no matter whatever it is.

Everybody tries to work for happiness. Everybody. Nobody is not working for happiness. The material people will say, “Alright, if you don’t want suffering, you need money. If you have money, you can have a house, you can have a car, you can have this and that, you can get off your suffering.” We think that is the answer and we go for it and it eliminates suffering to a certain extent as well as it creates suffering. It only solves temporary sufferings. Why do people work? Why are you looking for money? Because people think it can solve the problem. The tantric monks had a nick-name for money, kunkatundu: ‘everybody likes it and it fulfils your wish’.

Aim to choose. Buddha’s answer for this is different. Instead of saying: if you have money, you can do this and this and that, Buddha says, All this [suffering] is the result of certain things that we have done. We are responsible for it. If you want to eliminate the suffering, you can’t eliminate it at the result point. That will only be treating the symptom. Why don’t you look into the cause and try to cut the cause? Then it doesn’t come up any more. It’s like a water dam. If you have a reservoir of suffering here, then if you want to eliminate that, instead of taking the water out, why don’t you stop the river from coming into it? Then it will automatically go. That is what the Buddha says, “I looked and I did not find the answer in the ways we are usually doing it, I found the answer in cutting the cause.” That was Buddha’s message. That’s how the Four Noble Truths work. Similarly, if we want to stop the suffering, let us stop the cause, rather than try to stop the result. You get me? Then what kind of cause we will work on? Buddha says, “Let’s look for the root cause, rather than for the temporary cause.” That’s the thing. That is the introduction of our aim.

How Lamrim helps. What does the Lamrim really do? It channels all your efforts, it solidly puts them together to achieve a certain goal. Let’s say our goal is at least to eradicate sufferings by eradicating the cause of suffering. Then the question comes: Does this practice, that we are going to learn over here, have the capability of doing that? Is this practice capable of delivering that? The answer for this is, “Yes, it is capable, because through this practice all the Buddhas have achieved their result, all the bodhisattvas have achieved their result and the arhats have achieved their result. If, by looking at those people who have achieved it, I do the same thing, I can also achieve it.” We act like that on a lot of things normally in life, don’t we? When somebody did something, and it worked, we just follow. For that we call it: it works. Let’s look at the sangha. I don’t believe that sanghas are suffering-free. We don’t have an immune system. The membership does not immunize you. You have to think of a sangha as group of people who do have all kinds of problems, a group of people who are also intelligent enough – I’m not joking – to see that money doesn’t solve all the problems, and that there are other ways and means, and that there is a group. Number one, I think a sangha is very much aware of the pains. Pains and problems are not ignored or superficially wandered over. A sangha is very much aware of them. Awareness will have a problem of its own plus the opportunity of solving it together. We have been saying how, looking back, somehow a number of people have found being helped, and a number of people look as if they are much more grounded than before. Really, you can see a tremendous improvement within the sangha. I think that itself is a sort of sign that it may – I don’t say it is true – help. But there is no guarantee. There is no money which will be refunded, if it doesn’t work. (That is a sort of joke). Anyway. We’ve set the aim, the goal. You have to have some aim. Let this be the aim, let us not jump straightaway after becoming a buddha. Ultimately we will introduce that, for sure. When you read the Lamrim, you find that the ultimate goal is enlightenment or buddhahood. That is not the immediate goal. The immediate goal is eradication of suffering. Maybe elimination or eradication is also too much. Better to say: reducing our suffering.

58 Lam Rim Teachings

Can this practice help to this? That is what we have been talking and what we have seen. For what we don’t see, we will rely on the reliable words of the enlightened beings. Because we cannot see anything behind death, we cannot look that far. And even if we’ll see it then, at the time we experience it, we cannot communicate it to the others, because something called death is in between. On what we can judge, on what we can see, we use our intelligence and make a decision. And where we cannot use our intelligence, we’ll rely on the reliable words, hopefully. That’s how Buddhism introduces this to people. You know, if we can see the object, whatever it is, then we rely on ourselves. And when we go beyond our limit, then we rely on the words of the Buddha or someone like that. Buddha says to use your intelligence and so forth, but when you talk about something beyond human comprehension, e.g. about karma, then Buddha goes to the extent of saying: The sun and the moon can fall on the earth, The waters can dry and the earth underneath the water can rise up, The mountains can go under the water, However, Buddha will never tell lies when he is talking about karma. King of Samadhi Sutra [Samadhi Raja Sutra] He goes to the point of making that statement, to get at least the benefit of the doubt. I don’t want to sell faith, but I do want to sell to give things that we can’t comprehend the benefit of the doubt. I raised the question to Allen Ginsberg, “Do you really think there is any future life?” He gave a straightforward answer: I don’t know. I don’t think I buy that. However, I’m doing my work and I work very hard, because in case it is true, I will rather be prepared than get suffering and regret at that time. After all I have the opportunity. Many of us will probably say, “Oh yes there is.” Are you sure, how do you know? “Well the book says so, Buddha says so, Rimpoche says so… blah blah blah.” That’s worse than what Allen said. Allen gave a straightforward answer: Well, if there is, why not prepare? There are a lot of indications that there is future life and we are intelligent enough to observe those. When you look at the people here, you see that everybody has a different character. Why? That itself is an answer. Even if you are a twin, look the same, work the same, you have a different character; where does that come from? Each one of the people has a different character. Really, if you keep on tracing that, it is endless. The indication of the endless traces are the different behaviors the people have. Nobody taught them, even taught by same parents, the same way, same time, same school, same teacher, seen the same movies, gone to the same restaurants, they have a different way of approach, a different behavior. Where does that come from? It is the previous thing. We accept that when people you become older you will behave different [from each other], because at childhood you had different experiences. We accept that, don’t we? So when children behave different, you have to accept they have had different experiences beyond death.84 To conclude, Lamrim can definitely help. People can improve through it and that has happened. You really can see that it benefits tremendously. People who practice it, can tell you more about how much it can help and how much it cannot help. We have interesting examples within our sangha. I’m not going to name them, but there is a good improvement. You can see it Read the books and read your outlines-point, see wherever contributes. Until we touch fourth main outline, the main teaching, we can have new people coming in. After that we can’t, because then it will be really practice-oriented. Until then I like to call it information-oriented, but still you have to try to personalize it, that is very important. Whatever we have mentioned earlier, kindly try to turn it into practice, try to materialize it. When you meditate and practice, spiritual-development steps will be developed within the individual. Then it is becoming a living tradition.

84 Discussion in the Chapter ‘Questions and Answers’ in the Appendices.

Dromtönpa – Drom Rimpoche

IV HOW TO LISTEN TO AND HOW TO TEACH THE DHARMA85

One session of hearing or teaching This tradition embodying the essence of all Buddha’s words, Collects waves of merit equivalent To hearing or teaching all Buddhadharma. Je Tsongkhapa, Song of the Stages in Spiritual Practice [Lamrim Dudon], vs. 8

III. How to listen to and how to teach the dharma that has these two qualities [of source and teaching]

A. How to listen to the dharma Let me put it this way: How to practice? Before you practice, you need to know what you practice. If you don’t know what you have to practice, you can’t practice. True. In order to know how to practice, you have to learn it, either through reading or through listening. As a matter of fact it is absolutely necessary to have both. You have to have reading, because by listening alone you have very limited information brought in, because of our time. That’s why reading becomes absolutely necessary. But listening is also absolutely necessary, because a book cannot be a spiritual guide; no way. There are a number of reasons why. The most important reason is that the spiritual teaching tradition, the lineage, carries a tremendous backbone. The unbroken continuation of the lineage practice is the backbone. That backbone cannot be provided by reading. Even video tapes or any audiovisual equipment can’t provide that. So listening to the teachings is absolutely necessary.

1. Thinking of the benefits of listening to and studying the dharma86 Buddha said, Learning is like a light which clears the darkness within ourselves. It is your best wealth which nobody can steal from you. It is your best weapon through which you can destroy the enemy of ignorance. It is your best friend, who will not let you down when you are in trouble.87

85 Literature: Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chen mo, vol. I, p. 55-67; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 83-112; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, par. 16-38; L.S. Dagyab Rinpoche, Achtsamkeit und Versenkung, p. 64-92; Geshe Rabten, The Essential Nectar, p. 23-27; Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, An Anthology of Well-Spoken Advice, par. 15-27; Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, par. 15-36. 86 This point was not taught by Rimpoche. See literature mentioned in note 85. 87 Full quotation from Aryashura’s Jatakamala: Learning is a lamp dispelling the darkness of ignorance, A supreme wealth never stolen by thieves or others, A weapon which overcomes the enemy of ignorance, And the best friend who teaches proper ways. An unchanging friend even for someone fallen into misfortune A gentle medicine for grieves’ pain, An army which crushes the power of grave faults. It is also fame, glory and the greatest of treasures. When meeting the noble it’s an excellent gift; In assemblies it is pleasing to the wise. 62 Lam Rim Teachings

2. Generating respect for the dharma and the dharma teacher There are systems of how you should respect the teachings. You have to respect the person who teaches. Why? Because the person who teaches is at least carrying the message of the buddhas and the bodhisattvas. That person is representing them and if you don’t have respect for that person, it becomes an insult to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. An example of traditional old Tibet is given. If one village is sending a representative to the other village and they don’t receive the representative with respect or don’t receive the representative in accordance with what is expected, it becomes an insult to the other village. Right? In the old society it functioned that way. But even today, if we send a representative to Iraq and they don’t respect him, it hurts us all. That is not because you love James Baker but because you are American. How to respect? There are rules. The system says: that if the students are sitting the teacher should not teach standing, like it is done in western schools. Dharma should not be taught in that manner. If the students are sleeping, lying down, you can’t even give the teaching sitting. That’s why I’ll say, “Don’t lie down, don’t sleep. I don’t mind if you stretch your legs, but don’t lie down.” You are not supposed to teach dharma to persons lying down in that manner. Also you don’t teach a person who is wearing a hat. These are traditional rules of being respectful. The most important thing is the mental part of it, having a clean mental attitude, being a clean utensil. [Rimpoche tells the story of a teacher of his, Kyabje Lhatsun Rinpoche, saying things wrongly and opposite all the time when teaching, and Kyabje Ling Rinpoche – who was not warned before – giggling]. Then Kyabje Lhatsun Rinpoche said, “Well, I’m an old person, I say the wrong things and you can correct me when I do that.” He started reading and read the opposite things. So Kyabje Ling Rinpoche starting correcting. For a couple of times he acknowledged it and after some time he picked up the book, and started reading, “Two of you have come here to find my faults; in that case you’d better not stay here…” The idea is: you should not be here to find faults. If you are looking for faults and problems, then you don’t have to be here listening to Lamrim, you have enough other problems outside. When I say: the utensil has to be totally clean, here it means all of these should not be there. That’s what it is.

3. Avoiding the three faults of listening and studying Whether you are reading or listening, in order to be a good vessel, three things have to be cleared or avoided:

Being like an upside-down vessel. That is a very important one. When you listen, you really have listen carefully and pay attention, because otherwise you are not going to learn. Then you are like an upside- down glass. You can’t pour water into it, because it is upside down. As simple as that.

Being like a leaky vessel. It means: you must not forget. If you have a glass with a hole in it, no matter how much water you pour into the glass, the water will go out. It can never get filled. This means, you just sit there and don’t even listen. Or you may listen, but it goes in through the right ear and out through the left. There is no use in that. This point was a big deal for the Tibetans before. It is not a big deal in the west now, because you can have all your information from books. You take very good notes or you can put it on a tape. Well, I don’t know if it can really be filled up by books and tapes. Most likely not. You know why? At the times when you need it, the books won’t be there, the tape won’t be there. (Just making a joke.) But you may write things down in your notebook or record them on your tape recorder, but then you never read the notes and never listen to the tape. There is no use in that either.

Being like a filthy vessel. Now the most important thing: you must not be like a dirty glass. If there is a piece of shit in the glass, you cannot use it. No matter how much nectar you pour in, you cannot use it. That is when you have the wrong motivation. If you have a wrong motivation, it won’t work, your purpose cannot be fulfilled. It becomes useless. Even if you don’t have a wrong motivation, but you are angry, it is a problem, because the anger will affect the listening. If you are frustrated with something, again it will af-

How to Listen to and how to Teach the Dharma 63 fect your listening. If your being here is just for a totally different reason, for attraction or something, then again there is a piece of shit in the glass. All of these will not serve the purpose. So when we say as the first thing, “Please generate a pure motivation”, it means you have to watch that. Simply saying, “For the benefit of all sentient beings” is not sufficient at all. It is the right thing to do, but not sufficient. You have to see that your mind is clear. If you come here with a preconceived idea of the answers that you want to get, it is another problem. Then what will happen is: if it suits your mind, you’ll acknowledge it and you will say it is right; if it doesn’t suit your mind, you will say that it is not right. A preconceived idea doesn’t work, because – you ought to remember – the whole purpose of the Lamrim is to correct our mind, to smoothen our mind and to develop ourselves. So for that, it doesn’t work. For listening it doesn’t work, for practice it doesn’t work, for meditation it doesn’t work. So don’t have preconceived ideas, don’t have frustrated ideas, don’t have attraction. In other words: the hatred, the jealousy, the attachment have to go. If those have gone, the ignorance will be affected. If those have not gone, the ignorance will be protected and you won’t benefit. So with the idea of avoiding those three you have to listen.

4. Cultivating the six helpful attitudes88 1) Think of yourself as a sick person. 2) Think of the dharma as medicine. 3) Think of your spiritual teacher as a skilled physician. 4) Think that diligent practice is like the cure. 5) Think that your spiritual guide is as holy as the Tathagata. 6) Wish that the dharma might remain for a long time.

B. How to teach the dharma 1). Thinking of the benefits of giving the teachings89 2). Being respectful to the Master [Buddha] and the dharma 3). Developing proper thoughts and actions Being humble. Whenever you are teaching you have to think that you are not great; you think you are terrible. When you begin to think, “I am a great person; everyone is listening to me and looking up to me”, you know what happens? You really are in the soup. If you make one mistake, you’ll mislead all these people. Buddha used to say, Any animal stuck in the mud is easy to pull out, but an elephant stuck in the mud is very hard to get out. That is your position. Whether you like it or not, they will look at you. You are really responsible. Whatever you say becomes a guideline for the people. And it’s not only what you say that matters, but also what you do! You are really in the ‘hot seat’. If you receive criticism that’s fine, in fact it’s a great help, but when you don’t receive criticism, then it’s a big problem, because they’ll follow you.

Motivation. A teacher should not be preparing himself, saying, “How can I teach in the best way to be very impressive? How can I make myself very presentable?” That motivation should not be there. If you want to work out the best way to affect the people, fine, but if you want to teach in a way that makes yourself impressive, it is wrong. That is again a piece of dirt inside the utensil, now from the teacher’s point of view. You should not do that.

88 This point was not taught by Rimpoche. See literature mentioned in note 85. 89 Twenty benefits are given in a sutra. See Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 105; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 118-119. This point was not taught by Rimpoche. See literature mentioned in note 85.

64 Lam Rim Teachings

Knowledge. You always have to think of only sharing things that you know; you don’t talk about things you don’t know. Not knowing is the most horrible thing, actually. You create confusion among people. Because you are confused, you are going to confuse everybody else. That is very important.

Practice. You try to share the things you know not only as knowledge, but you also try to share the things that you have practiced yourself and have a little bit of inside. On that base you may add a few scholarly things here and there, but it has to be based on what you know. That’s why in the tradition you don’t find prepared lessons, like in a classroom. You shouldn’t do that either. Then there might be a tendency that your own personal knowledge, your own insights and personal touch, are a taken over by the preparations. You know what I mean? You read a couple of books here and there and prepare a very nice thing. It will look very presentable, nice, wonderfully timed and complete. But the effect on the individual practitioner will be very little. It will become not very effective.

Representative. Also you have to think that you are carrying the message of the Buddha, dharma and sangha, the buddhas and bodhisattvas, for the benefit of all those people. Every single thing you use is not to get the student impressed by you. No. It is not for that purpose. You have to see what is the best way to communicate it. So you have to speak the language in which it can be communicated. I don’t mean the ‘language-language’, but being able to communicate it. Even Nagarjuna has said a number of times, “If you do not speak the language, you cannot communicate.” He doesn’t mean that ‘language-language’, but he means the communication. If that doesn’t make sense, if you cannot reach the people the way they should be reached, then it cannot be of use. So you have to look for the best way to communicate to the people with the language that they speak.

Attitude. No personal agenda. One should not be looking for, “What am I going to get out of this, what am I going to gain from that?” That should be no consideration whatsoever! Whether you are going to get ten dollars or a hundred dollars, a penny or nothing should not be of consideration. Or, “Am I going to get sat- isfaction from it?” None of these should matter at all. When I say not to impress, it includes not trying to gain respect, or thinking, “If I say that, they are going to like me, they are going to care for me.” No. Who cares whether you care for me or not? Right? When I am sick, I’ll be sick. Nobody else can be sick for me. When I die, I’ll die alone. That is what it is. So, who cares? The attitude you need is the attitude of helpfulness: what is the best way?

Dedication. If you become a teacher, if you start to teach dharma, it will become your duty to go to the extent needed to reach the people. Total dedication, at least as far as your motivation is concerned. You have to go beyond the limits. You have to do whatever you can. Whatever way you can use to reach them, you should use. That is how it is.

These are the precepts for when you teach. These are uncompromisable. One has to have quality! Then, during the teaching you may visualize occasionally that it is not you, the person, who is doing the teaching, but it is the whole lineage, particularly your own root master.

4. Knowing whom to teach and whom not to teach In general, it is improper to teach dharma without having been requested to do so.90

90 Further requirements of the student: “The disciple must be honest enough to recognize his/her own faults, so that he can use the teachings to eliminate them and develop good qualities. (...) In addition, the student needs intelligence, and a genuine longing to receive the Dharma.” [Geshe Rabten, The Essential Nectar, p. 25] “A learned disciple without a warm, kind heart is as useless as a chopped-down tree thrown in a river; it gives no fruit.” [Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, An Anthology of Well-Spoken Advice, p. 35] Further literature on this point in note 85.

V PREPARING FOR MEDITATION: THE SIX PRELIMINARIES91

Every Lamrim session has: a) preliminary activities or preparations, b) actual meditation and c) conclusion. The preliminaries are the six preliminary activities. Out of that I will throw at you what I know and what I think will fit the western mind. i. Creating the environment You create the environment to meditate, to practice. There is an external environment and an internal environment. First we deal with the external environment: the sort of place where you can meditate and what is needed. The recommended place is a nice environment: quiet, very quiet, no disturbance, nice air, high up in the mountains, rivers running nearby, a lot of trees, birds in the trees, in the background a solid mountain and in front of you a very open view on the valley with not too much threat of wild animals like tigers. So, as little disturbance as possible and the necessary things like food, clothes, a doctor and medicines available; that is the recommended external environment for beginning people. The place where you are meditating should be a place where you can feel good. Such a place should be properly kept clean. Neatness is absolutely necessary for beginning people. As a beginning practitioner you cannot sit in a disorganized, messy, dirty environment. After some time the external environment does not affect the mental level so much any more, so by that time it doesn’t matter any longer.

1) Cleaning the place Cleaning your own place, the place where you are meditating, is very essential, because if you are in a clean environment, you will feel good. It helps to provide space for the practice. And not only that. You are going to invite the supreme field of merit and as you don’t even want your friends to come into a dirty home, you definitely need a very clean place here. You definitely need it, because you are inviting all enlightened beings. The least you need is a clean environment. But not only that. Cleaning is purification too. You have to realize that: cleaning is purification!

The sweeping story. Earlier, during Buddha’s lifetime, there was a very wealthy brahmin benefactor family. Whenever they had a child, the child did not survive, it died. Then one of the soothsayers said, “I have a method. The next time you get a child, let me know, I have a method.” They had another child, called the soothsayer and asked him what to do. The soothsayer put a little piece of butter in its mouth and said, “Let this child be taken onto the street by the maid-servant and any teacher that comes by, she should ask to pray for the survival of the kid.” This maid-servant went and stood with the child on a big road and to anybody passing through she said, “This kid seeks your help to be able to survive.” So every teacher that passed by prayed for the kid, “May this child live long, become very intelligent, join my order, and ulti-

91 Literature on the six preliminaries: Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo, vol. I, p. 93-99; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, p. 113-235; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 131-247; L.S. Dagyab Rinpoche, Achtsamkeit und Versenkung, p. 45-63; Geshe Rabten, The Essential Nectar, p. 175- 189, p. 31-54; Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, An Anthology of Well-Spoken Advice, par. 31-37; Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, p. 44-88; Kathleen McDonald, How to Meditate, p. 31-41. For the six preliminaries in prayer form, see Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Universal Compassion, p. 24-30. 66 Lam Rim Teachings mately achieve the ultimate result.” A lot of teachers passed by and all said the same thing. Finally Buddha passed by, said the same thing and went on. And the soothsayer had said, “If by sunset the kid is still alive, then bring it home. If it is not alive, take the butter out of its mouth and throw it away.” By sunset the child was still alive and they brought it back home. So he survived because they took him to the roadside. There- fore he was called Lam Chen, ‘Great Road’. Then another child was born, a younger brother, and they did the same thing. But the woman that was carrying that child around happened to be lazy. Instead of taking a big road, she just took him down the street and waited there. Nobody passed by. Finally Buddha came. The quality of Buddha is being of compassionate nature and all-knowing; wherever the needs arise and the opportunity is, Buddha appears. So Buddha came by. The maid took up the child, went to Buddha and said, “This child seeks your help to live.” Buddha said, “May the child live, may he survive, join my order and achieve ultimate enlightenment.” And he left. Nobody prayed that the child be intelligent, including Buddha. The child got named Lam Chun, ‘Small Road’. The earlier brother was so intelligent; he went to different schools, he mastered all the arts very quickly, finally joined Buddha’s ashram, became a follower of the Buddha and became an arhat. The younger brother was also sent to the same school, but instead of mastering the arts, every school kicked him out because he was so stupid. He was kicked out everywhere and finally landed at Buddha’s place where is brother was. The brother kept him and tried to help him, but no way. After a little while the brother thought, “What can I do for him now? Can I help him by being loving, compassionate and caring or can I help him better by being more ruthless?” He was an arhat, so he meditated and got the answer that it was better to beat. So instead of being kind to him, he got hold of him, beat him up and abused him, saying, “You stupid fool, you are a disgrace to the family, you this, you that…” He said every bad thing he could say, beat him up and threw him physically out of the ashram. Small Road was outside on the road. At a small passage he sat against a small wall of stones. He was upset and cried that he was so hopeless and useless. He felt completely low. Then Buddha walked by. Bud- dha asked, “What are you doing?” He said, “Don’t you see what I am doing? I am crying.” “Why are you crying?” “I am not crying because I am happy, right?” Buddha said, “Come with me.” He said, “No, I am not coming with you.” “Why not?” “You are going to kick me out.” “No, no”, Buddha said. He said, “Eve- rybody kicks me out, even my own brother kicked me out, so you are definitely going to kick me out. I am not coming.” Then Buddha said, “Your brother is an arhat, I am a buddha; there is a big difference. You’d better come with me.” He said, “No!” But finally he said, “If you promise, if you give me your word of honor you’re not going to kick me out, then I’ll come.” And Buddha said, “Okay, I won’t kick you out.” Then he said, “What will I have to do?” “Just cleaning up.” “Oh, well, that is something I may be able to do. Okay.” So he followed Buddha. The first job Buddha gave him, was cleaning everybody’s shoes. Buddha said, “Your first cleaning will be cleaning every sangha member’s shoes.” In Buddha’s place there was a temple with a small courtyard where everybody had a little room, and everybody used to leave his door open all the time; that was sangha rule. They used to leave their shoes outside and meditate inside. Buddha had given instruction to everybody, “Whenever he comes round to clean the shoes, everybody has to say, ‘clear the dust, clear the dirt’.” Buddha tried to teach him this ‘clear the dust, clear the dirt’, but he could not remember that at all. He was so stupid. When he had memorized ‘clear the dirt’ he had forgotten the dust, and when he remembered ‘clear the dust’ he had forgotten the rest. All the sanghas had received the order that whenever he would come to clean their shoes, they had to say nothing but ‘clear the dust, clear the dirt; clear the dust, clear the dirt’, so that he would be hearing it all the time. Wherever he went, everybody was saying that. After some time he learned how to say it. And naturally he ran to Buddha and said, “Look, I know how to say it now: ‘clear the dust, clear the dirt’!” “Oh”, Buddha said, “Very good. Now you don’t have to clean the shoes any more. You can sweep the floor of the temple and outside.” He started to sweep the temple. But when he cleaned this way, a lot of dust was coming from that way. According to Buddhist tradition it is said that Buddha blessed it to be that way. And when he cleaned that way, the dust came this way. So he had a hard time. But he worked honestly and with enthusiasm; he kept on cleaning very well. He was using a small broom of kusha grass, not a broom with a long stick like in the west. You have to bow down. So he went on, “Clear the dust, clear the dirt, clear the dust, clear the dirt.” And one day he thought, “What am I saying this for? What does it mean?” He suddenly said, “This dirt is the dirt of attachment!”

Preparing for Meditation: the Six Preliminaries 67

This dust is not ordinary dust, it is the dust of attachment. And if you are intelligent, you should be able to remove that from you. This dirt is not ordinary dirt; this is the dirt of anger. And if you are intelligent you should be able to remove that from you. That is how he got realizations. And his whole practice was nothing but sweeping the floor. So cleaning is one of the best ways of purification. Buddha recommended it as the most important practice for purification. That is why you should clean the place. You don’t only gain the positive feelings of a good environment, but you also have the benefit of clearing your delusions. It is one of the best ways. And not only cleaning your own place, but also cleaning the place where the sangha meets, where the teachings are given, the temple or any sacred place, gives tremendous benefit. And also the individual is recommended to clean himself.

2) Setting up the altar You should have some altar. The altar is important. It is not for worshipping purposes, as the western mind reads it, but it is to remember the kindness and compassion of all buddhas and bodhisattvas. It represents your supreme field of merit, that is why the altar is important. It does not have to be a big, show-off altar. You can hide it or you can make a big show out of it, whatever suits you best. If your show-off altar does not create any problems with your companion or the people around you, you can make it; no problem. If you have a problem, make a small hidden one. [Rim- poche tells how he had his altar more or less hidden, high up in a cupboard.] What should be on the altar? The order of the statues or pictures is: The Guru [Tib. lama]. This is Tibetan Buddhism, so the Lama occupies the first line. That includes Buddha Sakyamuni, the present buddha. The deities [Tib. yidams]. The deities are only enlightened deities; the word we use for that is yidams. The buddhas. These are all the buddhas, except Buddha Sakyamuni. Like the Medicine Buddha, the past buddha, the future buddha, the buddhas of the ten directions, the thirty-five purification buddhas, etc. The bodhisattvas, Dakas and dakinis. The dakas and dakinis are the sangha of Vajrayana; Arhats. They are the sangha of Sutrayana. Dharma protectors [Dharmapala]. They are the lowest category on your altar. Here the word ‘protector’ is not used like in when we say that Buddha, dharma and sangha are protectors – they are guardian protectors. You include only non-samsaric dharma protectors, like Mahakala [Tib. Nagpo Chenpo], Kalarupa [Tib. Dharma King Chögyal] and Kali Deva [Tib. Palden Lhamo]92. That is the normal order. You can put them from high in the back to low in the front or however you think it is most respectful. It is important not to include any spirits or ghosts in there. These type of things are not to be included! Underline three times: not, not, not to be included! Why? Because, number one: the spirits (elemental spirits as well as the ghost type of beings) may not be able to help you much. Number two: even if they would be able to help you a little bit here and there, spiritually they may do more harm than good; therefore they should not be included. The samsaric dharma protectors, even though they are dharma protectors, should not be included. You can make something separate for them if you want to, but they should not be in the general order. You don’t have to have all these categories on your altar. If you have all of them, fine; if you don’t, also fine. If you want a picture of the supreme field of merit, that’s fine too. In Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, you will find a detailed picture. The altar should also be slightly higher and it should be a respectable altar place, not the place on which you empty your pockets, or where you put your necklaces and earrings and jewelry; it is not a dumping ground. This is the place where you are going to collect your own attainments [Skt. siddhis]. There is a linkage, so it should have a little value and respect. It should not be the worst corner of the

92 These dharma-protectors are wrathful manifestations of the deities Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri and Tara respectively.

68 Lam Rim Teachings room, where you dump everything, nor should it be low, covered with dust, scarves remaining forever, malas or books lying around. If you don’t have a big, fancy altar, that is fine; you can also have a traveling altar. You don’t need a real altar. Recommended is a picture of Buddha Sakyamuni or Tsongkhapa or your own spiritual teacher and when you have a deity practice, the deity that you practice. That itself is enough, one little piece is enough.

This is the place where you are supposed to communicate with the enlightened beings, so it should be a nice, clean and good environment. Through cleaning the environment and laying out the altar, through all these different things that make you feel good, you can do the practice better. If you feel dirty and stinky, the practice will be dirty and stinky. If you have a clean, clear, nice and looking-forward-to preparation, your practice will be clean and clear, nice and looking-forward. As much as the preliminaries shape it, that much the actual practice will be. ii. Preparing the offerings 1) Laying out the offerings If you have an altar, you should have offerings there. You should at least offer a clean glass of water, a fresh one every morning. If you want more, you put down seven glasses of water. The most important thing is that it is clean. When you make an offering you ought to make a clean one. The offering of water every day is recommended. There are eight qualities in the water93. Atisha says you get that many benefits, because there are that many qualities in there. I am not going into that in detail. Make sure it is not dirty water, not contaminated water; that is important. Contaminated water offerings cause more disadvantages than advantages. If you use seven water bowls, it is recommended not to leave empty bowls on the altar. It is said to decrease your luck. Also do not fill up the bowls before. You first lay things out nicely, with greatest respect, ‘as though you make an offering to the king of kings’. Then you fill the bowls; you don’t put too little nor do you make them overflow. It there are big gaps between the bowls, there is a problem; also the bowls should not touch each other, that creates another problem. You can’t leave the water over the week- end: it will decrease in quality, which is really bad. What else can you offer? A lot of people have the habit of offering flowers for decoration, or incense for the smell. Incense provides an atmosphere. It is not only an offering to the enlightened beings, but it also provides us with a tremendous atmosphere. It makes you feel different and helps you to build up the mood for what you are going to do. Our moods are really bad, so anything that provides the right mood, you might as well use; any help is useful. In addition to that you can have: a candle representing light for the eye, food for the tongue, scented water for the touch, to cool the skin. That is a custom from the hot countries, where they sprinkle scented water to cool you down.94 You can also have music.

Offer sincerely. Whatever you offer, you should offer sincerely. It should not have some kind of funny motivation like, “If I decorate it well, people will come in and see it, so I’ll make it nice-looking.” That is not good. Doctors or therapists may put on music, burn incense and make it look nice to make people feel comfortable or to impress them, I don’t know. But we don’t do that in dharma practice. You lay out offerings because you want to offer. Also it helps you to tune in. That is why you do all this. Not to impress; that is a bad way of doing.

The story of Geshe Beng. There was a Kadampa teacher, called Geshe Beng Kungyel. At the time he was meditating and developing quite well, a benefactor was supporting him. One day that benefactor was going to come to his place, so he cleaned up everything much better than usual and laid out extra-ordinary offerings. He looked round and thought it looked very nice and he felt good about it. Then he sat down and

93 The eight qualities of the water are: cool, delicious, light, smooth, clear, with good smell (due to wholesome saffran put in), easy to digest and soothing the throat. Explanation of the meaning: Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 146; Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, p. 50. 94 Traditionally you put down: (1) water for the mouth, (2) water for the feet, (3) flowers, (4) incense, (5) light, (6) scented water, (7) food and (8) music.

Preparing for Meditation: the Six Preliminaries 69 started to meditate. When he sat there he thought, “Well, my offerings are not good today. Why? Because I did all this to show off. I wanted to look good because my benefactor is coming, I wanted to impress my benefactor!” The Tibetans have a funny system. There is no garbage bag, nothing. When you sweep the floor, you sweep the dust right behind the door and leave it there for a few days or a even months. That is the culture. So immediately he got up from where he was sitting, went behind the door, took a handful of dust that he had swept up and threw it everywhere, on top of every offering he had made, on the altar, everywhere. The whole place became full of dust and he himself was completely dusty too. Then he sat back down. That was seen through some mental capacity by another Kadampa teacher, who was teaching in another part of the country. He couldn’t help laughing and someone asked, “Why are you laughing?” He said, “Well this Geshe Beng made one of the best offerings today.” “Why the best offering?” “He was able to throw the dust in the mouth of the eight worldly dharmas!” What are the eight worldly dharmas? When somebody praises you, you like it; if somebody says bad things about you, you dislike it. Like that there are eight95. He had been able to throw the dust into the mouth of the eight worldly dharmas. Kadampa lama stories are all like that. Again there are no books written by Kadampa lamas, none. There are some short versions of mind trainings, like Geshe Chekawa’s Seven-Point Mind Training96, but no thick books in literary style.

So one should have a good motivation, not the motivation to impress other people. The offering has to be without faults, without a funny motivation. Don’t pretend, “I am sincere, I am honorable and genuine, I don’t care whether it looks nice or not, it does not matter.” People also do that and that is also not acceptable.

How the offerings should be. All these offerings should be pure. They should not be impure either in terms of the material or of the source. Impure material is the dirt. Impure source means that it came from a wrong livelihood or a source which created sufferings for a lot of other beings. That is why people keep on objecting to materials from South Africa. I don’t know whether it is right or wrong from a dharma point of view, but somehow people have a natural instinct for feeling there is something wrong with this and you should not do it. So any type of things that create sufferings for people are unfit to be offered. If you make for example a lot of money out of defense contacts, it might not be suitable for making offerings. Then of course stolen things are not good, but that we normally know. There’s a saying, “You cannot in the name of generosity kill the fish and feed the dog.” You know what I mean? Not only should you have a good, pure offering, but the offering should also look nice. It should be very presentable. All the offerings are to create merit. In order to create merit, you need the art of presenting it. Also there should be plenty of quality and quantity. You should not try to make one tiny little thing. In Delhi I saw westerners making very poor offerings, a big plate with biscuits laid out broadly, not even piled up. That is terrible. Then you should rather take a smaller plate and pile it up. That is my personal feeling. So, pretending it is alright, is not enough. It should be a little decorated, nice and elegant, like art. The Japa- nese have that; that is the Buddhist background they bring in. Saying, “This is nice and genuine so here you are” doesn’t do. You need style. The altar and the offerings are the examples reflecting your own character. When you begin to correct there, with enthusiasm, it will affect all other things in your life. It should also affect putting things in your life in order, becoming disciplined.

2) Blessing the offerings It is very important that the offerings are blessed. You should not give non-blessed offerings. (Particularly for Vajrayana practitioners non-blessed offerings are impure offerings, no matter how clean they may be.)

95 The eight worldly dharmas (or the eight worldly concerns or eight childish attitudes) are: (1) gain, finding, obtaining, profit, acquirement; (2) loss, not-finding, disappointment, disprofit, damage; (3) fame, glory, celebrity, reputation; (4) dishonour, disgrace, infamy, disrepute; (5) praise, laud, commendation, renown; (6) blame, abuse, reproach, reproof, censure, reviling, degradation; 7) well-being, happiness, prosperity, pleasure [Skt. sukha]; (8) misery, pain, distress, trouble [Skt. dukha]. 96 Texts in the Appendices of this work: Atisha [982-1055], The Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment [Skt. Bodhipathapradipa; Tib. Lam don]; Langri Tanpa [1054-1123], Mind Training in Eight Verses (Lojong Tsigyema); Geshe Chekhawa [1102-1176], The Seven-Point Mind Training. For commentaries, see Gehlek Rimpoche, Lojong Training of the Mind in Seven Points and Gehlek Rimpoche, Training of the Mind in Eight Verses.

70 Lam Rim Teachings

How do you bless? Everyone can bless by: OM AH HUM. And also while saying so, you can sprinkle a little water over the offerings, which is the old brahmin system. Traditionally, you pour the water in the bowls and after that, by using a clean piece of kusha grass, you take a little drop of water from somewhere else, throw it up and say OM AH HUM, OM AH HUM, OM AH HUM. This is Indian culture. Kusha grass is used in brooms in India, to sweep the floor. In every ritual you do, kusha grass is used because it is a cleansing material. I don’t know whether kusha really has extra power to clean or not but that’s the cultural linkage. You know in India, the brahmins do not allow lower- caste people to enter a brahmin’s house, but they do allow them to do all the dirty jobs: sweeping the floor, washing their toilets, etc. If any food or utensil has been touched by somebody of a lower caste, the brahmins think they have been dirtied. So they run away from home to a field where kusha grass grows and sleep there for three days or at least one night. Then they think they are purified and come back to their house. Buddhism came from India and so this kusha grass gesture was brought with them. I noticed not many people do that in America. So maybe American Buddhism will be free of kusha grass blessing. Whatever it may be, the real power lies in the mantra, OM AH HUM.

OM AH HUM is very important. In blessing with this mantra, three things come together: ting dzin, ngak, chak gye – concentration, mantra and mudra97. What do these words mean? Ting dzin is meditation, visualization or imagination with disciplined thoughts put on it. Ngak is mantra, in this case OM AH HUM. Chak gye is mudra; it’s not the hands moving – people think that way – but the way of doing. You pick up a little water, throw it on top of the offering and say OM AH HUM. It’s just a small symbolic gesture, you don’t have to wet the whole altar. OM AH HUM is necessary because you don’t offer anything that has not been blessed. If it’s not blessed, it’s not pure, it’s not good. iii. Correcting the motivation You are going to meditate where you feel comfortable, warm and cozy, without going to sleep. That is what you need. If we sit in the middle of disturbance and try to meditate, we are going to be rather shaky. It would be like putting a candlelight in a current of air; it would be blown out in a minute.

1) Taking a comfortable meditation seat You need a comfortable cushion. Take a hard cushion, that is quite good. The way you make a cushion comfortable is making it slightly higher at the back, slightly lower in the front; that is recommended. How and on what you sit doesn’t really matter so much; what does matter is that you sit comfortably so that you can sit longer. If the cushion is not good, you can’t sit long, you will have to get up and you will get unnecessary pains here and there.

2) Taking a comfortable meditation posture Then of course there is the eight-featured posture of sitting, the Vairochana style98: 1) Legs. Sit cross-legged. 2) Arms. About four inches below your navel, put one hand on top of the other, palms upwards. If you have a very strong attachment, put your left hand below and your right hand up; if you have strong anger put your right hand down and your left hand up. The thumbs are joined together. 3) Spine. Keep the spine straight. Keeping your backbone straight is particularly important in the completion stage of Vajrayana, not for achieving shamatha [Tib. zhinay]. 4) Teeth, lips and tongue. Relax the teeth, lips and tongue. Keep your tongue against the gum. When you sit a little longer you won’t get thirsty [and you produce less saliva]. You can find all that in the books99. 5) Head. Keep your head down a little bit, so you don’t feel proud.

97 In the tsoh offering we say ting dzin, ngak dang, chak gye chin lap pei. 98 The eightfold meditation posture has the seven-fold body posture of buddha Vairochana plus counting a number of breaths (e.g. 7 or 21). 99 The Vairochana posture that is usually recommended can be found in: Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 133-135; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 148-150; Kathleen McDonald, How to Meditate, p. 34-36.

Preparing for Meditation: the Six Preliminaries 71

6) Eyes. It is recommended not to close the eyes, because when you close your eyes, it looks very clear for a little moment but on the long run it is bad. Therefore it is important to keep the eyes slightly open. 7) Shoulders. Keep your shoulders straight. 8) Breath. Count the breath. You can really sit loose and relax. The Lamrim says, “You follow the posture of sitting or whatever is convenient.” During the teaching or when you’re saying prayers you cannot lie down. You can stretch your legs, but you can’t lie down, not even sideways. I want everybody to carefully read the preparations for the meditation.

3) Creating mental space The most important thing is: you have to deal with your mind. You created the outer atmosphere, now you have to create the inner atmosphere. That is: creating a positive dharma thought. That is what you need. When you are doing your practice, when you are doing your meditation, you try to generate a mind that is as clear as possible, as calm as possible. Look forward to doing the practice, rather than looking at it as something you have to do and you don’t want to. Do it with a smiling face. That is what you have to create; that is what I call inner space. For the outer space you create the right atmosphere, make offerings, burn incense, lay flowers, anything that helps. Some people are helped by music, some like to use the meditation bell, people in the west like that. Whatever you can do that helps, is okay. If you like to blow a trumpet, blow a trumpet. Do anything that helps you to create a clear and clean mind, which looks forward [to the meditation]. If you are busy and your mind is not settled, you may do a breathing meditation first. Follow your breath and catch your thoughts.

How to meditate. For us in the west I find it really very nice and useful if you go and sit for a long period of time and try to catch your mind, as Allen Ginsberg says in his Do the Meditation Rock.100 Whether you make the superpower sit down and meditate or not, you can definitely do it yourself. Actually catching

100 Do the Meditation Rock. Tune: I fought the Dharma, and the Dharma won If you want to learn how to meditate Laurel Hardy Uncle Don Charlie Chaplin Uncle Don I’ll tell you now ’cause it’s never too late you don’t have to drop your nuclear bomb I’ll tell you how ’cause it can’t wait If you see a vision come say Hello Goodbye it’s just that great that it’s never too late play it dumb with an empty eye If you are an old fraud like me if you want a holocaust you can recall your mind or a lama who lives in Eternity it just went past with the Western wind The first thing you do when you meditate Do the meditation Do the meditation is keep your spine your backbone straight Learn a little Patience & Generosity Sit yourself down on a pillow on the ground If you see Apocalypse in a long red car or sit in a chair if the ground isn’t there or a flying saucer sit where you are Do the meditation Do the meditation If you feel a little bliss don’t worry about that Learn a little Patience and Generosity give your wife a kiss when your tire goes flat Follow your breath out open your eyes If you can’t think straight & you don’t know who to call and sit there steady & sit there wise it’s never too late to do nothing at all Follow your breath right outta your nose Do the meditation follow your breath follow it out as far as it goes so your body & mind get together for a rest Follow your breath but don’t hang on Do the meditation Do the meditation to the thought of yr death in old Saigon Learn a little Patience and Generosity Follow your breath when thought forms rise If you sit for an hour or a minute every day Whatever you think it’s a big surprise you can tell the Superpower to sit the same way Do the meditation Do the meditation you can tell the Superpower to watch and wait Learn a little Patience and Generosity & to stop & meditate ’cause it’s never too late Generosity Generosity Generosity & Generosity Do the meditation Do the meditation All you got to do is to imitate Learn a little Patience and Generosity your sitting meditating and you’re never too late Generosity Generosity Generosity & Generos- when thoughts catch up but your breath goes on ity forget what you thought about Uncle Don St.Mark’s Place, Xmas 1981 Allen Ginsberg, White Shroud, Poems p. 20

72 Lam Rim Teachings thoughts is important to spend time on. When I am saying this I am presuming you have the time. When you don’t have the time, you have to adjust it accordingly; you have to know that. The Tibetans have a saying: If you don’t know how to adjust your practice, you don’t know how to do it. The practice is such a thing. If you have time it may go on for eight hours and if you don’t have time, maybe you can finish it in ten minutes. You should be able to adjust it yourself. This is important. I am going to talk as though you have all the time in the world. What you do is, you sit down there and catch your thoughts. Catching your thoughts is very important, catching your thoughts and peeling them off. Observe them and let go, don’t get caught in it. The moment you are caught in it, you are not meditating. So don’t get caught in it; recognize and let go. Don’t sit there and think, “Oh my god, I have forgotten to do some work in the office.” You say to yourself, “Okay, I forgot, I’ll do it later” and let that thought go. Don’t keep on thinking, “How can I do it? What should I say? What I am going to write? How much will I do? Whom should I call?” Don’t do this. If you do this, you’re caught in that thought. Think, “I forgot about that, alright, but I am not going to think about it just now.” I’ll give you a bad example. We, Tibetan teachers, always have examples about lamas as well as about the Tibetan nobility. We make jokes on the nobility all the time. A noble one, who liked to do a lot of practice and prayers, used to tell his servant, “When I go and meditate, don’t forget to put a piece of paper and a pencil on my table.” That was his instruction. You know why? The moment he sat down and started watching his thoughts, he remembered all the things he had forgotten, so he started writing down, “I have to collect something from so and so, I have to collect this much from there, I have to pay so and so…” He would produce all his ‘give-and-take’ materials and he would write them down when meditating. This is an example of a bad way of meditating, because you get caught in the thoughts; rather than letting it go, you went through it. The thoughts will come. After all you are a human being, you are alive, your brain is not dead, so the thoughts will come up. Let the thoughts go, don’t get caught in them, but let them go. That is what it is. You’ll see many more thoughts; it will be as though you have more thoughts, but that’s not the case. The thoughts were already there, but you didn’t have time to look at them. When you relax you begin to see all of them. That’s what it is. It’s not new thoughts growing. Some people tell me, “The more I meditate the more the thinking comes up.” No, it is not, the thoughts were already there, but you simply have to recognize them. That is what it is. So don’t get caught in them! Because if you do, you might as well go to the office rather than sitting on the cushion and meditating. Let go. Relax. Sit down, relax and change your mind properly. Dissociate yourself from the busy-laziness activities of life. Really, our very busy life is laziness in terms of the dharma. That is what I said: busy-lazy. So dissociate yourself completely from that. For that you can use the nine-round breathing meditation101 or just simply sit for a while, just have a simple blank sitting, do a concentration meditation or anything that dissociates your mind from the very active activities of the busy-laziness of everyday life out there. That provides the atmosphere for whatever you want to do. After that comes the actual practice.

4) Generating the right motivation When you calm down, when you think your mind is ready, you should generate a very special virtuous thought, which will be your motivation, “Why am I doing this? Why do I want to do this? I want to do this because I want help, help for myself as well as for everybody else.” Instead of the normal saying, “For the benefit of all sentient beings, blah blah blah…”, you meditate: Why I am doing this? I am doing this because I want to help myself and I want to help all others. This is the method I have. Fortunately, by great chance, by sheer luck, I have come across this method, so I would like to use that. I’d like to use that to help myself as well as everybody else. Creating a mental space will be creating a virtuous thought. When you have a good virtuous thought, a clean environment and a good way of sitting, then you are eligible to do something. Then you should

101 The nine-round breathing meditation is to be found in Geshe Rabten, Treasury of Dharma, p. 21-24.

Preparing for Meditation: the Six Preliminaries 73 meditate. To put in a Buddhist flavor, you take refuge. To put in a Mahayana flavor, you generate the bodhimind and practice the four immeasurables.102

5) Visualizing the objects of refuge and taking refuge By developing the motivation mentioned, as a Buddhist you take refuge. You take refuge to Buddha, dharma and sangha. I am not going to talk about refuge in detail, because refuge is a subject that will come later. But still, when I say ‘to take refuge’, you need to have some idea. It is necessary to visualize the supreme, ultimate refuge, here the Buddha. Buddha is inseparable from your own spiritual master as well as from all the buddhas, all the enlightened beings, including your own future buddha. You generate a pure thought and take refuge to Buddha, dharma and sangha. If you want to you can visualize a refuge tree.103

6) Generating the bodhimind [Skt. bodhicitta] Then generate the bodhimind. Briefly you think, Whatever I am doing here I am doing for the benefit of all sentient beings. It is necessary for me to develop the ultimate capability to serve and to help all other beings for which I would like to seek the stage of buddhahood. For that reason I would like to do this practice.

7) Enhancing the bodhimind by the four immeasurables It is not enough to generate the bodhimind, you also have to generate the four immeasurables. That is the earmark that the practice is going to be a Mahayana practice. The four immeasurables are: 1) wishing all sentient beings to be happy and with the cause of happiness, 2) wishing everybody to be free of suffering and the cause of suffering, 3) wishing that they never be parted from the joy that has no sufferings, 4) and wishing all sentient beings to remain in equanimity.

Equanimity has to begin with yourself. I tend to overlook that, because we take these things for granted. In the west they don’t. People want equanimity for everybody else and they forget themselves. If you yourself are in big trouble and you try to generate equanimity for others, forget it! No way! Charity begins at home, equanimity begins with yourself. If there are ‘certain parts of me I hate and certain parts of me I can tolerate’, it is a clear sign that you don’t have equanimity within yourself. Start from there. iv. Creating the Supreme Field of Merit You may be confused and say, “I had the Buddha before and took refuge and visualized and all that”, but that was the refuge tree. Now you generate a new supreme field of merit, the Lamrim supreme field of merit.104 In a traditional Lamrim teaching, at this point you are supposed to talk about the different lineages. I am sure it is described very clearly in the Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand105. Read that and get a little understanding. If you can manage it, jolly good; if you cannot, forget about it and have one simple supreme field of merit like Tsongkhapa representing all enlightened beings or Buddha representing all enlightened beings. Generating the refuge tree is part of the third preliminary. Recommended for refuge is Buddha. He is called the Supreme Field of Refuge. Generating the Lamrim tree with the guru is the fourth preliminary. Recommended in this case is Tsongkhapa as the Supreme Field of Merit.

102 In our daily practice Rimpoche recommends at this point to go to the practice of Ganden Lha Gyema, combined with taking refuge and generating the bodhimind. See Appendices. 103 Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 142. 104 Very clearly shown on the big Lama Chöpa merit field thangka that Marian van der Horst has drawn for Rimpoche. The merit field is a ‘bountiful field for spiritual growth’. Ref. Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, An Anthology of Well-spoken Advice, p. 74. 105 See Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 172-185; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 186-198; Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, p. 66-68.

74 Lam Rim Teachings

The central figure In the middle [on top of a wish-granting tree, on a throne with a lotus, sun and moon cushion] you have Lama Tsongkhapa, at his heart Buddha Sakyamuni, at his heart Buddha Vajradhara. That is called Lama Lozang Tubwang Dorje Chang. That’s the Lamrim Supreme Field of Merit. Lama Lozang Tubwang Dorje Chang is Buddha inseparable from your own spiritual master and inseparable from Lama Tsongkhapa. Lama refers to your root guru. Lozang is Tsongkhapa’s personal [or ordination] name106. At his heart level you visualize the Buddha [Tib. Tubwang], at the Buddha’s heart level you have buddha Vajradhara [Tib. Dorje Chang]. Buddha Vajradhara means the tantric part of the Buddha. Buddha Vajradhara is normally pictured blue. It can differ, sometimes he’s yellow, so don’t take the color for granted.

Tubwang Dorje Chang. Tub means ‘one who managed, conquered, overpowered’. What? The negative emotions. Wang means ‘the leader of all importance; the one who really managed very well’. That is the Buddha. And then Dorje Chang is the Tibetan name for the Sanskrit Vajradhara, which is the technical name for Buddha from the Vajrayana point of view. The Tibetan word dorje is in Sanskrit called vajra, which means ‘indestructible’ or ‘diamond-like’. What is indestructible? The mind that has really gained everything. To represent that, Buddha Vajradhara holds a vajra in his hand, which is the signal that ‘I completely gained everything my mind has to gain. Such a mind cannot be destroyed; it’s strong like a diamond. The vajra represents the male part [in this case, the mind itself]. Buddha Vajradhara has also a bell in his hand; that represents the wisdom, the female part. Vajra and bell are held in union, signifying: the ultimate gain of the wisdom of the mind and the mind itself – a full-fledged mind. We all have a mind. Our mind is not completely developed, so we do develop our mind to the level we can gain. That’s why we have Western education. We can educate people to bring the mind level up. It shows you that the mind can be trained – we call it learning – and you can become an expert of this or that subject. What did Buddha do? Train the mind completely. That’s why buddhahood is called the all- knowing, awakened level – the mind fully developed, fully controlled, having all wisdom. Buddha Sakyamuni and Buddha Vajradhara are not two different beings. It is the Buddha; that is why he is called Buddha Vajradhara. People may think, “Oh, Vajradhara is one of the Buddhas, a Buddha.” It’s not. It is all Buddhas. All Buddhas are one. Actually, at that level, the mental, physical and emotional functioning are totally different; not like us. No limitations. You can do a zillion different things together, simultaneously, with one thought. At that level one thought is a zillion thoughts, the zillion thoughts are one thought. It is beyond our normal comprehension. I used to think, “Boy, I don’t want to be a buddha, because a zillion things going on together, what am I going to do? I’ll turn out to be crazy.” But the thing is, it doesn’t. One is a zillion and a zillion is one at that level. It’s very funny. If we pay attention to one thing, we cannot pay attention to an other one. That is our limitation, but at the buddha level we don’t have that. People talk about being free of dualism – that happens there. Until one becomes a buddha, no matter whatever we do, we have the dualism, always. But at the buddha level it disappears. Then one is a zillion, a zillion is one. That’s the reason why they say that at that level there’s effortless functioning, all qualities developed. That’s I think what we are seeking when we are seeking buddhahood. We are not simply seeking freedom. We are seeking that capability.

The monk’s robes. Tsongkhapa wears saffron-colored monk’s robes, which represents the discipline part [Skt. vinaya] of Buddha’s teaching. It is [originally] the sign to remember, “I have vows and commitments different from other persons, so I can’t do this and that.” It is not that the robe is something special, a privi- lege or something; it is not. With the robes you look different from other people, so you are reminded of having more commitments than others. Later, in the south Asian tradition, the robe became very expensive. That’s very unfortunate. Particularly in Tibet it was expensive, you have no idea how much robes would cost there. And then among them they went for better quality; some of the robes would cost thousands and thousands of dollars, really. His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave up all these fancy robes completely and started to wear cotton; that is a great quality he has shown. And when the Dalai Lama at the top

106 Dalai Lama: The Union of Bliss and Emptiness, p. 73: “Such a being is called Lama because in reality he is your guru, Lozang because he has the appearance of lama Tsongkhapa...” etc.

Preparing for Meditation: the Six Preliminaries 75 started to wear cotton, everybody had to throw the expensive costumes out. There was no question, you know. He really revolutionized some part of the Tibetans in this way. And most of them, particularly the two great teachers Ling Rinpoche and Trijang Rinpoche, immediately followed the Dalai Lama. They started wearing simple robes, which everybody makes. I also had a nice brocade robe, and I threw it away, you know. Somebody bought me a robe for twenty-five rupees. I was happy to get that, I was a monk at that time. So it had become simple. Before you got the most expensive brocade and put different brocades in. You know what we looked for? Old Russian, czar period or old Japanese material. We wanted old material, but not used much; good quality and in a very, very good condition. That was so expensive. These are unfortunate incidents. When Buddha during his period introduced those rules for the monks, he said, “How are we going to remember [our commitments], how are we going to make sure?” As it was bad in traditional India that time to shave your head – even the saddhus always kept long hair – Buddha recommended the monks to shave their heads, so that they would look different, and to wear a robe. Originally the robe was not supposed to be stitched. You would just wear a bolted cloth, to keep you warm and to keep things hidden in. However, when people had a good quality piece of cloth, they started to develop attachment to it. Some monks went to Buddha and told him that so and so had nice quality cloth and was proud of that. Then Buddha said, “Cut it.” And they asked, “How to cut it?” Buddha said, “Look at those people in the west of the kingdom, how they are growing their fields (they had terraced fields); take that as an example and cut it.” So they started cutting the cloth here and there – forcefully cutting attachment by the scissors. So the robe represents discipline.

Three-tiered being. The outside, Lama Lozang Tubwang Dorje Chang in the aspect of a saffron-robed monk, represents the Hinayana scope, common with the lower and common with the medium level, the scope of self-liberation, the scope where you deal with your emotional delusions. Inside that, in his heart, you have the Buddha, the all-knowing, the ultimate aim of what you can get, the pure state, which is the result of love-compassion based on the bodhimind. Buddha, the ultimate achievement, representing the Mahayana scope. And then within that you have Buddha Vajradhara. That state (which will be developed through the high-tech Vajrayana), the Vajrayana scope, is represented by Buddha Vajradhara. That’s why this supreme field of merit has three figures in one: Lama Lozang – Tubwang – Dorje Chang. And that also not in a simple ordinary way, like making a stupa, where you cut a hole in the center and put another image in. Not like that. You could think of the example of a hologram. They are inseparable: there are three different aspects, yet it is one individual. That’s how you look at it. Okay? A better explanation of Lama Lozang Tubwang Dorje Chang you can probably find in the commentary of His Holiness on the Lama Chöpa, called The Union of Bliss and Emptiness.107 In there the Vajra- yana qualities will be mentioned. These are normally not mentioned in Lamrim, because Lamrim is supposed to be a pure sutra path. But if you read that portion, that will add the Vajrayana flavor.

If you can visualize Tsongkhapa with at his heart Buddha Sakyamuni and at his heart level Buddha Vajra- dhara, that is great. If you want to do that, If you can’t do that, if that is too complicated, then you can do the creation of the Field of Merit of the Ganden Lha Gyema: Tsongkhapa and the two disciples.108 Out of that most of the time we also cut the two disciples. Then you have a single, solitary supreme field of merit. I am sure that can serve the purpose too.

The retinue The right and the left side, the back and the front of the merit tree I am not going to discuss in detail. Briefly: at the right hand [of the central figure] there is Buddha Maitreya and all the lineage masters of the wide-spread activities, called ‘vast like the ocean’. That group represents all the lineages which came through Maitreya and Asanga and mostly taught the method part. On the left side there are Manjushri and

107 Page 62-91. Also see Gehlek Rimpoche, Guru Devotion, How to Integrate the Primordial Enlightened Mind, ch. III; Geshe Kel- sang Gyatso, Great Treasury of Merit, p. 75-114. 108 See p. 118.

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Nagarjuna and so on, the wisdom part of the lineage. So you have the method part of the lineage and the wisdom part of the lineage. Then behind is Atisha, surrounded by the Kadampa lamas, who also have three divisions.109 Right in the front is your root master surrounded by any other teachers from which you have taken teachings. That’s briefly about the lineage tree. I am not going to discuss it in detail, please read Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand110.

The invitation In the traditional style of doing a ritual, there is invocation and offering here. All these rituals are built up or knitted in that way. To do offerings here is fine; you have another offering below. Traditionally, in Ti- betan rituals, whenever you invoke or generate a buddha, at every point of the invocation there is an offering. Even in a little practice like this you may have offerings repeated fifteen or twenty times. It has its value, it has its purpose. It has had its own time. I don’t think we can do that in the year 2000. Nobody will have time to do that, so we try to make it a little shorter. That is the generation or envisioning of the supreme field.

The connection. The supreme field is the connection with your own spiritual guide. Spiritual masters die, they don’t live forever, but the connection between ourselves and the spiritual master never dies, it goes on, it continues. Also, a great many teachers have said that when you are meditating guru-devotional practice, i.e. guru yoga, your connection with your guru is the guru that is in front of you, the guru that is on your palm, or the guru on your head, or on your brow, or on your nostril, or wherever you meditate your guru. You think that is funny? It is not strange if you have listened to the completion stage teachings; it works on the tip of your nostril. That’s the relationship, and that never dies; as long as you are there, they are there. The supreme field is the connection between the enlightened beings and ourselves. This is the path, this is the way. This is the supreme field, in Buddha form or in whatever form it may be. People were asking yesterday, “Can we have Tara?” Sure you can. If you are doing White Tara practice, yes, of course it is Tara, but in the case of Lamrim I recommend, and recommend strongly, as the tradition has done, to try and use the Buddha Sakyamuni form. If you really can’t do it that way, then you may do something else; that’s okay.

Traditionally, all the gurus are in the supreme field of merit, all the yidams are there, everybody that comes from either Buddhist sutra or Buddhist tantra is included; that’s why the field of merit is so big traditionally. For us, who are living such busy lives with many responsibilities and very limited time, when we try to practice, it is extremely difficult if we have those complicated merit fields. That’s why we try to justify one Buddha figure, which in absolute reality is Buddha, dharma, sangha, lama, yidam, bodhisattvas, dharma protectors, dakas and dakinis, all of them in one. v. The practice of the Seven Limbs and the Mandala offering After creating the Supreme Field of Merit, we have the seven-limb practice, together with the mandala offering. The seven limbs are very, very important. It is the essence of all the practice, of purification and accumulation of merit. It is said, The buddhas had a conference for one eon about what easiest way they could help all beings. And their conclusion is the seven limbs.111

109 Behind are five colums of the lineage of the Divinely inspired practice. One of them is the Kadampa Lineage of the Sixteen drops, starting with Atisha [Dipamkara Srijnana]. See Liberation in our Hands, p. 242, 243 and 246. Then there are three divisions or lineages of the Kadampa: Lamrim followers, Treatise followers and Kadampa Instruction followers. On the thangka they are depicted right and left under Maitreya and Manjushri. Not completely clear what Rimpoche refers to, probably both of them. 110 Chart and names in: Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 242ff. Also see note 105 on p. 73. 111 Quotation not yet found.

Preparing for Meditation: the Six Preliminaries 77

The essence of the seven-limb practice is in the Ganden Lha Gyema. So after creating the Supreme Field of Merit112, you start the [actual] Ganden Lha Gyema, “From the heart…” And then you can go verse after verse for the seven-limb practice.113 [In the Odyssey to Freedom prayers you will find a very short invocation and seven-limb practice.114] vi. Supplication to the Merit Field for instruction At the end of the seven-limb practice, there is praying, requesting and seeking instruction. For that you will really have no other focus than this, what we say in the Lama Chöpa: You are the Lama, you are the Yidam, You are the Dakini and Dharma Protector; From now until I attain enlightenment, I shall seek no refuge other than you. In this life, in the bardo, and until enlightenment, Hold me in the hook of your compassion, Free me from the fears of samsara and nirvana, grant all attainments, Be my constant companion, and protect me from all obstacles.115 Or when we say, pa kyo kyi Ku den da gyi lu, pa kyo kyi Sung den da gyi ngag pa kyo kyi Thug den da ji yi dön yer mee jig tu jin gyi lob Your Body and my body, Your Speech and my speech, Your Mind and my mind, Bless them to be inseparably one.116 They are all the same thing. That is really what the sixth preliminary is, making the lama inseparable from Buddha and from guru Tsongkhapa, and concentrate completely. Then say the Migtsema. Along with that you can visualize light and liquid coming from the body of guru Tsongkhapa to your body, purifying yourself, purifying all non-virtues in general and particularly the obstacles to developing all your practice, in particular the obstacles to the guru-devotional practice. All obstacles are completely washed out of our system and purified. That is our usual meditation: first purifying and after that the blessings of the buddhas, bodhisattvas etc. come. In the case of using Buddha Sakyamuni as your central figure – the focus made in the books117 – you say Buddha Sakyamuni’s mantra: OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNAYE SOHA. Then you can say the Lineage prayer, you can do an overviewing meditation of the stages of the path, e.g. The Foundation of All Perfections, or the Seeking Inspiration to Realize the Stages of the Lamrim from the Lama Chöpa.118 You pray to Lama Lozang Tubwang Dorje Chang, the embodiment of the four kayas119:

112 In the practice of the Ganden Lha Gyema you create the Ganden Lha Gyema Field of Merit. See page 116. 113 See page 120ff. 114 See Gehlek Rimpoche, Odyssey to Freedom, step 5-11. 115 From the Lama Chöpa. Commentaries: Gehlek Rimpoche, Guru Devotion: How to Integrate the Primordial Enlightened Mind; Dalai Lama, The Union of Bliss and Emptiness, p. 131-132; Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Great Treasury of Merit, p. 192-193. 116 Last verse of the Mahamudra lineage prayer. Instead of ‘Pa kyo kyi’ sometimes the words ‘Je la me’ are used. 117 See Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 172-185; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 186-198. In there, the Lama Chöpa field of merit is chosen. In Geshe Rabten, Essential Nectar, p. 45, and in Geshe Wangchen, Awakening the Mind of Enlightement, Buddha Sakyamuni is used as the central figure of the merit field. In this case, the merit field looks like the refuge field, like the one described in Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 142-148, and Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 157-162. Also see Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, p. 66-68. 118 For different possibilities at this point, see Gehlek Rimpoche, Odyssey to Freedom, day three, step 12. 119 Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, p. 557: “When we become fully enlightened, we attain the four bodies [four kayas] of a buddha. A buddha’s main body is the truth body [dharmakaya] which is of two kinds: the wisdom truth

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O Guru Buddha, in nature the wisdom dharmakaya, Synthesis of all spiritual guides, please bestow your inspiration. O Guru Buddha, in nature the sambhogakaya, Synthesis of all Buddha Jewels, please bestow your inspiration. O Guru Buddha, in nature the compassion dharmakaya, Synthesis of all Dharma Jewels, please bestow your inspiration O Guru Buddha, in nature the supreme emanation [nirmanakaya], Synthesis of all Sangha Jewels, please bestow your inspiration.120 So you say, You are the dharmakaya, you are the sambhogakaya, you are the nirmanakaya, you are all the gurus, you are all the deities [Tib. yidams]. Whatever there is, is inseparable from you. In other words, Lama Lozang Tubwang Dorje Chang is a symbol of all: the Buddha, the dharma, the sangha, the guru, the yidam, the protector, dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, nirmanakaya – all these different things we talked about are focused into one. That is what it is: looking at that as ultimately inseparable; looking at Buddha, the guru and all of them as one. So whatever you may find, whatever you may talk about, great this and great that – it is inseparable from the spiritual master. That is how it goes. There are a lot of reasons for this. The reason is: ultimately, when you develop, you will become inseparable from your own spiritual master’s mind, inseparable from Buddha’s mind, inseparable from all enlightened beings’ mind. The way you go is through the spiritual master. That is the reason why you do all this. That is the essence of instruction. Maybe it is a little too early for you people to hear all this. I hope it doesn’t do any harm.

In Vajrayana, we Gelugpas have some special practices, like for example those with Vajrayogini or Citta- mani Tara. The minute you hear about things like that, you get a little excited, but that’s not right. The real excitement, the real help is here, in the Lamrim. Even whether your Vajrayana practice is going to be right or wrong, perfect or okay, what level it’s going to reach totally depends on this. In the other traditions they talk about ngöndro, i.e. preliminary practices [for Vajrayana]. In the Gelugpa tradition the usual ngöndro of 100,000 prostrations, 100,000 Vajra- sattva recitations, 100,000 Guru-yoga [with the Migtsema], and [100,000] mandala offerings, is actually done if you are going to do a three-year retreat of some particular yidam. Otherwise, the whole Lamrim is your ngöndro, because you are preparing yourself to be able to get to that point. So it should be done very carefully; it is the most important thing for us to do. There are a lot more instructions we can give you, there are endless practices on that, but if we start doing that we’ll probably take a whole year on it.

The preliminaries are important. Why? If the preliminary preparations are not good, the actual practice will also not be good. The actual Lamrim preliminary is a long prayer, called A Necklace for the Fortunate, something like forty pages121. We stick to the Ganden Lha Gyema122 [or the Odyssey to Freedom prayers.123]

body, the omniscient mind of a buddha [jnanakaya], and the entity truth body [svabavikakaya], the ultimate nature of a buddha’s mind, which is free from the two obstructions [the obstructions to liberation and the obstructions to omniscience]. The other two bodies of a buddha, the enjoyment body [sambhogakaya] and the emanation body [nirmanakaya], together consti- tute the form body [rupakaya]. Of these two, the enjoyment body is the more subtle.” Also see Glossary. Literature: Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, Tibetan Tradition of Mental Development, p. 206-208; Maitreya/Asanga, Uttaratantra Sastra. 120 Translation taken from: Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, p. 87. 121 See Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 249-270; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 765-787; Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, p. 88 and 565-574. 122 The Ganden Lha Gyema with commentary is to be found in the Appendices. 123 See Gehlek Rimpoche, Odyssey to Freedom.

Preparing for Meditation: the Six Preliminaries 79

Je Tsongkhapa

VI GURU DEVOTION: WHOLE-HEARTED COMMITMENT TO A SPIRITUAL GUIDE124

The root of all causes producing Happiness here and hereafter, is the practice Of relying in thought and action Upon the sacred friend who reveals the path. Seeing this, follow him at any cost And please him with the offering of practice. I, a yogi, did that myself; You, O liberation seeker, should do likewise. Je Tsongkhapa, Song of the Stages in Spiritual Practice [Lamrim Dudon], vs. 9 Outlines125 Here the actual practice starts. The actual Lamrim begins here. All topics have: a) the preliminary activities: that is the six preliminaries we discussed already. b) the actual practice c) the conclusion. Do not misunderstand and think practice is something you only do when you sit in a certain place and do something like saying mantras. That is wrong! Practice is part of your life! In the beginning I said Lamrim is the only path through which all enlightened beings have achieved. So any practice is the same. Wherever you look, whether you name it or not, all paths of the Tibetan traditions, though they may have slightly different names, are the same, are the path. Even Vajrayana and dzog chen are Lamrim-based practices.

A. The root of the path – following a spiritual master Yönten küngyi zhirgyur drinchenje Tsülzhin denpa lamgyi tzawaru Lekpar thongne bepa dumayi Güpa chenpö tenpar chingyi lob Following a kind master, foundation of all perfections Is the very root and basis of the path. Empower me to see this clearly And make every effort to follow well. Je Tsongkhapa, Foundation of All Perfections

124 Literature: Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo, p. 69-92; Tsongkhapa, The Fulfillment of All Hopes: Guru Devotion in Tibetan Buddhism; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. II, p. 1-60; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 251-297; L.S. Dagyab Rinpoche, Acht- samkeit und Versenkung, p. 64-92; Geshe Rabten, The Essential Nectar, p. 190-195, p. 57-66; Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, An Anthology of Well-Spoken Advice, par. 38-58; Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, par. 47-84; Geshe Nga- wang Dhargyey, Tibetan Tradition of Mental Development, p. 223-230; Geshe Thubten Loden, Path to Enlightenment, p. 93- 131; Asvaghosa, Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion. With commentary in: Alex Berzin, Mahamudra: Eliminating the Darkness of Ignorance, p. 157-187; Lama Yeshe, Introduction to Tantra, p. 95-110; Chögyam Trungpa, Cutting Through Spiritual Mate- rialism, p. 31-50; Chögyam Trungpa, The Heart of the Buddha, p. 59-82. Alexander Berzin, Relating to a Spiritual Teacher. 125 More details on the outlines for each topic on p. 109. 82 Lam Rim Teachings

The first word you have in Tibetan is yönten. The equivalent in our English translation is ‘perfection’. What it really means here is ‘quality’. In a lot of places you will find it translated as ‘knowledge’ or ‘education’, but what you really look for here is ‘quality’. The next word is kün, which means ‘all’. It is the plural. Then zhir means ‘foundation’; gyur means ‘becoming it’ or ‘being it’. Now drinchenje. Drin is kind, chin is the ‘one with’, so ‘the one with kindness’. Je is leader, lord or master. In earlier translations you see ‘Lord Buddha’ and we say ‘Je Tsongkhapa’. It is an indication for being honorable, respectable. So, the first line Yönten küngyi zhirgyur drinchenje means, ‘My great master, who is kind and compassionate, is the fundamental basis to develop my qualities’. Where am I going to develop my qualities? The spiritual qualities depend on the spiritual support I am getting through the enlightened beings in general and through the lineage masters in particular, which all depends on the spiritual master. You get it? That is why the spiritual master is the foundation of all spiritual qualities. The next lines. Tsülzhin means ‘in accordance with the rules’, or ‘the actual way’. Denpa is ‘practice’. So, tsülzhin denpa is ‘in accordance to the actual way of practice’. In our translation it is translated as ‘following properly’. Lamgyi tzawaro: lam is ‘path’ and tza is ‘root’. Lekpar is ‘properly’, thong is ‘seeing’. So: ‘May I be able to see that properly’. Tenpar is ‘efforts’, chenpo is ‘great’. So: ‘with all efforts (may I be able to follow)’. Güpa is ‘with respect’. Chingyilob is ‘inspire me thus’. This verse covers the guru devotion. Look at it word by word, get the meaning and try to figure out what it is really trying to tell you.

The foundation of all qualities depends on the guru-devotional practice, guru yoga. All the spiritual development through Lamrim [has this as foundation]. When people say, “I am not reaching anything, I am not getting anywhere”, the problem lies here. Because the foundation of all is the guru-devotional practice. You have to be very strong on that. What does it mean to make every effort to follow well? How to follow? That is the question. Now please remember, this is material for meditation. It is not just words, it is really material for mediation. Ask yourself: What does it mean to follow well? How do I follow well? What do I have to do?

Need for a spiritual master First you ask: do we really need a spiritual guide? Each individual has to answer that question him- or herself. Do I really need a spiritual master? Some people will say, “I don’t need a spiritual master. I can trust my internal intuition.” And some will say, “I can read all the different books and bring things together.” Others will say, “I am good in figuring things out myself, so I don’t need a spiritual guide.” Buddha has very strongly recommended having a spiritual master. As an example he gave that even in learning ordinary work, in carpentry, in drawing, in growing food or anything, it is always much easier if somebody shows you how it works. Here we have the spiritual path, of which we can make head nor tail, so without a guide it is very difficult, almost impossible. Therefore Buddha recommended having a spiritual master. What kind of spiritual master should you have? This is going to be a little complicated. How do I know? Where am I going to get a spiritual guide? You have to search yourself and you have to find one yourself. You may think, “If I am right it is going to appear on my doorstep.” A lot of people think that, using as a reason, “Buddhas and bodhisattvas are totally committed; when I need them, they will appear at my door.” Forget it. It is not going to be that way. Why? Buddhas and bodhisattvas are all out there to help and guide all sentient beings, but unless you put your own efforts into it, they are not going to come to your door and wake you up. Somebody told me, “There was knocking at my door. I went downstairs and opened the door and I saw all these buddhas and bodhisattvas standing there.” That must have been a delusion. That guy was not lying, but it was a funny delusion. They are not going to appear that way at all. We have to put efforts into it. Unless we do so, they are not going to come in. True. Everybody had to make a lot of effort. There has not been one single enlightened being who has not put efforts into finding a great spiritual teacher for him- or herself. Nobody. It is not going to be easy either.

Guru Devotion: Whole-Hearted Commitment to a Spiritual Guide 83

How Atisha came to Tibet. Look how the Tibetans found Atisha. It was very complicated. At that time, the Tibetans needed a great teacher to correct Buddhism in Tibet. Buddhism had come to Tibet in the seventh century, with the great maha-pandit Shantarakshita and Guru Padmasambhava. But afterwards a lot of obstacles had come in. (I am going to tell it in the traditional Tibetan way, so adjust yourself a little bit, as it may sound a little funny sometimes.) After Buddhism developed during the period of Shantarakshita and Guru Padmasambhava, problems came in through the great Chinese Mahayana teacher called Hvashang,126 who had come over to Tibet and introduced slightly different teachings. So, the teachings needed to be corrected and turned back into the pure teachings of Buddha’s experience. So, then the Tibetans started to look for additional teachings in In- dia. A teacher called Blue Skirt Pandit and others came and introduced a lot of magic into Tibet. The magic may have helped a few individuals here and there, but on the whole it did not contribute to the general, genuine spiritual development. Here I am using the word His Holiness uses, ‘genuine’; in Tibetan denpa127, the absolute. That is what genuine really means here. So, the teachings needed to get purified to become authentic Buddhism again. Then the Tibetans sent twenty-one young, intelligent guys, selected from throughout Tibet, to India to learn and to bring the pure path over to Tibet. Out of the twenty-one all but two died. The two who survived told all sorts of horror stories about how they got to India. They had to go across the Himalayas, which was not easy; there were no roads, nothing, and they easily got lost. On the way they had found dead bodies, like big trees that had fallen down. Later on they said, “Even now, after forty years, I remember it and it is still shaking my heart and intestines.” There is a big climatical difference between Tibet and India, so they couldn’t survive. Only two (the great translators Legden Sherab and Rinchen Zangpo) made it, all others died. Finally in a meeting with the king they came out with, “For the benefit of the Tibetans, we should get one Indian great pandit (scholar and saint) to come to Tibet, a very good one who is not too old.” Weather- wise and facility-wise Tibet is a very hard place to live in. An older person wouldn’t be able to survive, therefore they needed a young, good and great teacher. Looking around they found Atisha to be the best. Atisha was almost the top in both universities: Vikramashila128 as well as Nalanda, and young. But when they tried to get Atisha, of course, the Indian monasteries, for who Atisha was the future hope, were not going to let him go. However, the Tibetans had to get him, so there was a struggle which went on and on for a long, long time. To prevent the Tibetans from taking the great teachers to Tibet, the Indian people used the method of saying, “Alright, you bring us gold and then we give you the teacher.” The Tibetans went searching for gold. They searched everywhere and whatever gold they could collect they brought to India to try and get the teacher. But no matter how much gold they gave, it was never enough. They always said, “Alright, next time you bring this much more.” It was never enough. Finally, the following happened. The ruler of Tibet himself, king Yeshe Ö, put together a mission. He himself went on search for gold, landed in different territories and also in somebody else’s kingdom. Now that guy, a khan from somewhere close to Afghanistan, was anti-dharma and the king who was in search of gold, got arrested. Now his nephew, Jangchub Ö, became the ruler. He went and tried to get his uncle back. He negotiated with the khan, who said, “Alright, bring me an amount of gold that equals the weight of your king whom I have arrested. Then I will let him go.” The nephew collected gold equal to the weight of his uncle’s body, took that to that khan and said, “This is the weight of gold equal to the king’s body. Please, take the gold and let him go.” They weighed the king and they weighed the gold and said, “Okay, you got enough gold for the bodyweight, but I want additional gold equal to the weight of his head.” By that time the nephew said, “Can I talk to him?” They said, “Alright, you can talk to him.” The king was in jail, somewhere downstairs from the palace of that khan. You could only look through the cracks in the door. The nephew started shouting to his uncle from outside the door and said, “After you got arrested I took over and if I would collect all our soldiers and weapons, we could easily defeat this little barbarian king.

126 David Snellgrove, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, p. 433-436. A. Wayman, Ethics of Tibet, p. 14 and p. 89-90. 127 Transliteration: brtan.pa. 128 Atisha studied at Nalanda university, and later became a famous teacher at Vakramashila university. At Naropa’s time Atisha was master of discipline at Nalanda University.

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However, we are working for the development of the dharma and if we have to do a lot of killing, in the long run it may work against the development of the buddhadharma. I decided not to attack him, not to challenge him through force. Instead I negotiated and as a result of the negotiations he demanded an amount of gold equal to your body. I found that and came to give it to him, but he wants an additional amount of gold equal to the weight of your head. I will find it soon and then I’ll come to collect you.” The king replied, “I thought you were a spoiled little guy, but I am so glad you are thinking in that direction. I am happy you are not spoiled. Your way of thinking of not challenging the king by force is a great decision. However, even if I get out of here alive, I will have no more than ten years to live. If for ten years of my life we waste an amount of gold equal to my body’s weight, then the enlightened beings won’t be satisfied with me. Let me die here. I can relax. You are thinking in the right direction, you are doing the right thing. Take all the gold, but don’t waste it here, but give it to the Indian people and ask them to send a teacher, particularly Atisha. To the ear of Atisha (which means tell Atisha) say on my behalf, ‘I am happy to let the khan have my life. Be a little compassionate on me. Make your decision and come over to Tibet to purify the buddhadharma teachings.’” This was his last message from the prison. The nephew said he looked through the crack of the door and saw the king was very weak; his power of talking had become much weaker and he looked terrible. The nephew didn’t give any gold to that ruler. All the gold was again sent to Vikramashila in India. The king died in the khan’s prison. The king’s message was delivered to the abbot of the monastery and to Atisha himself, both. The abbot of the monastery said, “Atisha is the future of this monastery. Forget it. Nothing can be done. Get out of here.” Then they went to Atisha himself and Atisha said, “Well, the Tibetans have wasted a lot of gold for me and, moreover, this king must be a great bodhisattva. If I don’t go to Tibet, it may now be a little embarrassing. I’ll ask the deity Tara and within a couple of days I’ll let you know.” Atisha asked Tara for advice. Tara said, “You should go to Tibet. If you go to Tibet your life will be shortened by eighteen years, but there will be tremendous benefit. The choice is yours.” Atisha chose that, saying, “It is worth to shorten my life.” And so Atisha finally came to Tibet. That is the hardship the Tibetans had in getting their proper spiritual teacher. It is just one example. There are a lot of them. Read the biography of Marpa129, read the biography of Milarepa130, read all these different stories and you will know.

Authenticity of the teacher and the student It is important for you to search. I don’t believe good teachers will ever advertise. Today you open any journal or newspaper and you find advertisements. I don’t know whether it is good or bad. It is not the traditional style at all. You really have to put efforts into looking for a good teacher. You are not going to get a great teacher nowadays. No way. If we had been fortunate enough, we would have seen Buddha, we would have lived during that period. We haven’t come on time, we are too late. And if Buddha would appear in front of us today, we would probably run away because he would look completely different. We don’t have the fortune of seeing Buddha, but the great teachings of Buddha are still alive, as a living tradition. You have to have a spiritual master who is connected to that, who is in the living tradition. Otherwise somebody can cook up something and develop some kind of religion by himself. You know what I mean? For example, Mahatma Gandhi was no doubt a great teacher and a great politician. He is not a founder of a traditional dharma or something, but nevertheless nowadays a religion called ‘Gan- dhiism’ is coming up. And another thing that has come up these days is ‘Baba Ambedkarism’. There was a great Indian lawyer, the author of the Indian constitution, who needed to work out something against the caste system, which is very bad indeed. He looked around, found that Buddhism doesn’t have a caste system, and said he was becoming a Buddhist. Then he had about four million people becoming Buddhists together on one day. They call themselves ‘newer Buddhists’ and have their headquarters in Nagpur. After that lawyer died a lot of people started saying, “We take refuge to Buddha, refuge to the dharma, refuge to the sangha and refuge to Ambedkara.” They insisted his name would be included in it. The Buddhists said this is not a great way to do and rejected it. Then they founded their new religion: Buddha-Ambedkara-

129 Nalanda Translation Committee, The Life of Marpa the Translator. 130 Evan Wentz, Tibet’s Great Yogi Milarepa. Lhalungpa, The Life of Milarepa.

Guru Devotion: Whole-Hearted Commitment to a Spiritual Guide 85 ism. And to mark themselves they greet each other on the road with “Namo Buddhaya.” So a new ‘ism’ has come up. Things like that are not going to give any good results for the individual. Not at all. Real authentic, genuine teachings like Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity or Islam are necessary. Au- thenticity is really necessary. With something in between you create funny things and you get funny results, too. It is very important when you look for a spiritual teacher, to look for an authentic teacher. That is what you need. An authentic teacher means: one who has the spiritual backing, who has the spiritual connection, and an unbroken lineage that ultimately leads to one of those great beings. Tibetans say: If you want to drink pure water, the water must come from the snow mountains. Similarly if you want a perfect teaching tradition, the lineage should be able to be traced back to the Buddha. The teacher you look for and the teachings you look for, are interconnected. If you have a great teacher but the teaching is not that great, again, it is not going to serve the purpose. But if the teaching is great and you have a so-so teacher, you’re going to get so-so results. This is important and it is dangerous, too. The teacher [and the relationship with the teacher] is a very fundamental basis for spiritual development. That is why it is said that the foundation of all qualities lies on that. Both teaching and teacher should be pure. The great earlier Buddhist teachers say, “Buddha is perfect, because his teaching is perfect.” The proof for the teacher being perfect is only the teachings; not the look or the behavior or anything. The teaching is the proof. Buddha is perfect, because Buddha’s teaching is perfect. Do you get it? This is one of the great Buddhist things: To proof that Buddha is perfect: what Buddha taught is perfect, because if affects other people, because it helps other people. It helps all the way through ’till you become an enlightened one, a buddha. That is why it is perfect. In short, when you look for a teacher, you also have to look for the teaching. If the teaching is great and the teacher is good, you are fortunate. If the teaching is not great, but the teacher is perfect, it will be useless. If the teaching is great, but the teacher is so-so, it will be difficult. That is how you look. You have to put in a lot of effort. Ninety percent of the advertisements today, I were not going to follow if I had to – truly speaking. Fortunately I don’t have to. Really, that is a thing that I am very fortunate in. If I were born in the west, like you, I would not follow ninety percent of what is offered in publicity.

Qualities of the teacher Qualities of a Hinayana teacher Basically, for any teacher there are two qualities: 1) Stability. The teacher must be very stable. I do not mean stable in the sense of not being a crazy person, but stable in the sense that they have been in the practice, in that tradition’s practice, for at least ten years. That is called stable. 2) Knowledge. The person must know what he or she is saying. There are a lot of teachers who say things of which they don’t know what it is. When you don’t know what it is, you have a great excuse. The great excuse is: it is something you can feel, but not express, there are no words enough to cover it. You should not only know what you are saying; you should also practice what you say. That is necessary. If you practice something and you preach something else, that is wrong. You practice what you preach. Right? That is the second point. So the first point is stableness and the second is reaching up to the knowledge. Knowledge [here] is not only knowledge as academic knowledge, but the spiritual quality reaching to it. Reaching the spiritual quality is what you really need. These are the basic fundamental qualities for a teacher.

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Qualities of a Mahayana teacher In addition to the qualities of a Hinayana master131: 1) Moral discipline. The teacher must be well-behaved. He or she must really behave well. 2) Concentration practice. The teacher must have overpowered the delusions. 3) Wisdom practice. Also the imprints of the delusions must have been overpowered. 4) Knowledge. The teacher must be more learned than you are, otherwise what are you going to learn from that person? 5) Enthusiasm. He must be diligent enough, otherwise the laziness will delay. 6) Richness in sources. If not, the teacher is limited. If the teacher only knows one thing you are stuck with only one thing. There is a variety of people who have different feelings, different attitudes, different wants. Some people will be interested in Vajrayana, some may not be. Some are only interested in love-compassion, some only in self-liberation. All these varieties are there. Anything that comes out should come from a rich source, otherwise you have to make up stories. So he or she should be rich in sources. 7) Understanding. It should be one who understands what he or she is teaching.132 8) Art of presentation. Not only should he understand what he is teaching, but he should be able to present it well. If wrongly presented, you will not help people at all. A good teacher has to have skilful means. You can’t be stubborn, you have to be able to adjust. You can’t reject people, that will be shutting the door. You should be able to adjust somehow. That means the art of presenting should be known. 9) Compassion and love. The person should be very compassionate, otherwise it is a big problem. 10) Endurance. The person should be able to take a little hardship too. If the person can’t take hardships, then it is another problem [for teaching and helping disciples]. These are the ten qualities. You can give fifty percent discount on it, that is allowed. But on being compassionate, on knowing more than you do and on knowing what they are talking about133, I don’t think you can give discount. But on hardship you can give some discount. These are the ten basic Mahayana teacher’s qualities. When you look for a teacher, these are the qualities to look for.

Qualities of a Vajrayana teacher A Vajrayana teacher has to have an additional ten qualities again, in which these ten Mahayana qualities are counted as one. But that may not be relevant to us just now.

You have to look for a teacher and you have to look for that sort of teacher. Without spiritual guidance I don’t think one can obtain enlightenment. Everybody can read through books and get the information, but I don’t think that works. Why it does not work? There is no continuation of the lineage, there is no lineage support, there is no tradition. Tradition is not a big deal, but the lineage is a very big deal and that makes a hell of a difference. People cannot just create something. You know, people do that these days, create some kind of spiritual path or write a nice new ritual, all these sort of things I don’t think are going to be great. It may work in exciting a lot of people for a little while… Don’t think I’m criticizing new age, well, more or less maybe I am. But really, that is what it is. I do not criticize the new age as new age, but authenticity is necessary. Maybe that is enough.134

131 See Tsongkhapa’s The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo, vol. I, p. 70-75. Maitreya’s Ornament to the Sutras [Skt. Mahayana Sutralamkara Karika] says: “Rely on a Mahayana teacher who is disciplined, serene, thoroughly pacified; / Has good qualities surpassing those of the students; is energetic; has a wealth of scriptural knowledge; / Possesses loving concern; has thorough knowledge of reality and skill in instructing disciples; And has abandoned dispirited- ness.” 132 All traditional Lamrims mention at this point realization of emptiness, meaning: to have gained an understanding of the correct view, according to the Madhyamika Prasangika school, through wisdom born from listening. See Pabongka Rinpoche, Libera- tion in Our Hands, vol. II, p. 27 and Tsongkhapa’s The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo, vol. I, p. 72. 133 Here Rimpoche refers to point 9, 4 and 7. 134 Literature: Gehlek Rimpoche, Guru Devotion.

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Qualities of the student [Aryadeva says in his Four Hundred Verses [Skt. Catuh-sataka]: It is said that one who is non-partisan, intelligent and diligent Is a vessel for listening to the teachings. The good qualities of the instructor do not appear otherwise Nor do those of fellow listeners. The student needs: 1) An impartial and unbiased mind, meaning to be neither attached to your own views nor averse to the views of others. 2) Discriminate wisdom to make distinctions between good and bad [regarding oneself as well as regarding the teachings]. 3) Feeling attracted to the dharma, yearning for spirituality. 4) Listening with an attentive mind, having a sound motivation. 5) Having faith and respect for the teacher and the dharma.]135

Proper relationship– guru yoga The student and the teacher have to have a very good relation, they have to interrelate. You have to look for a teacher and if you find one, then proper devotion is demanded. If you have a proper devotional practice, it becomes guru yoga. You don’t have to have a separate yoga for that.136

Three different attitudes. In guru devotion there are different attitudes you can have, according to the different levels: the lower level, the Mahayana level and the Vajrayana level. 1) At the lower [Hinayana] level you are told to look at the spiritual master – it is actually referring to the root master – as being like an enlightened being [so as an ordinary being having qualities similar to those of a buddha]. 2) In Mahayana you are told to look at him or her as being equal to an enlightened being. 3) In Vajrayana you will be told to look at him or her as really being an enlightened being.137

The living connection. No matter if the guru is good or bad, to me, my guru represents the totally enlightened beings. My living connection to enlightenment is through my guru. That is why he is absolutely important to me. (I am talking about myself, what my guru means to me.) Not only do I see my gurus as rep- resentatives of the enlightened beings, but I see my gurus as real, enlightened beings. I have different practices, I do have, for example, the Yamantaka practice, I do have the Vajrayogini and Heruka practice, I have different practices here and there, you name it, but I do not see them as a shortcut to bypass my guru. I do not say, “Well, this is my guru, but I have contact with Yamantaka.” That does not work. Thinking, “Well, leave the guru aside, I can deal directly with the enlightened beings” doesn’t work at all! When I was young, I used to think that way and I am sure a lot of people in the west still think this way, “I like to make a deal with the Buddha, leave the guru aside.” That does not work. That is why guru devotion is called the root of all development.

Obstacles. In his Lamrim Chenmo Tsongkhapa mentions three obstacles in guru devotion138: not developing proper devotion or misunderstanding, doubt, not giving respect.

135 Ref: Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo, vol. I, p. 75-80; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. II, p. 29; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 273-274; Ge- she Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune, p. 97. 136 For a ‘pure relationship’, also see Gehlek Rimpoche, Odyssey to Freedom, step 16. 137 Also see L.S. Dagyab Rinpoche, Achtsamkeit und Versenkung, p. 65. 138 Reference not yet found as obstacles, but found as the counterparts of the points ‘how to rely in thought’: a) the attitude needed to rely on the teacher, b) training in faith and c) remembering the teacher’s kindness and being respectful. Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo, vol. I, p. 78.

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When you clear the obstacles, the opposite, the positive attitude will automatically develop. Talking from my own experience, guru devotion is very difficult. Particularly when you have a number of different spiritual masters and everybody is leading you, it sometimes becomes difficult. Although there is no doubt that all of them are great, some spiritual masters have a very funny character, like in my case, and it is sometimes very difficult for you to adjust. It is easier with those well-known ones, the ones you do not see very often and when you see them you see them at a distance on a nice throne with their retinue around. To develop guru devotion on them is very easy. It is much more difficult to develop it with somebody living with you for twenty-four hours a day, when you see how angry, how jealous, how ignorant he or she is. That I see as a misunderstanding. But sometimes the biggest problem is that the one teacher doesn’t agree with the other. These are my personal experiences that I share. It is very difficult but still it is very important. That is why from the beginning I try to guide you to use Tsongkhapa as a guru; that is why I try to throw in Tsongkhapa as a picture. It makes it much easier. You may use Buddha, you may use Tsongkhapa, you may use Guru Rinpoche139, it doesn’t matter. Trying to use such a picture makes it much easier. It is already complicated and we don’t need additional complications. I don’t claim to have any spiritual development, however I can claim I have a very strong guru devotion. It makes you open, you know.

Root of all development. Guru-devotional practice is the root of all development. If you are stuck there, you don’t get anything else. It is the doorway. Whether you make it or don’t make it, depends on that. When you look at spiritual masters around here, you can see how much they have their guru devotion worked out. Look for example at Ram Dass, he is sound, not hanging in the air, with his two feet on the ground, solid on guru-devotional practice. When in future you try to teach other people, help other people – whether you are going to be effective and helpful or not depends on this: how grounded you are in your guru-devotional practice. If you are not grounded in this, you may become a learned person, but you will not be very effective. When Tsongkhapa at his last age became very helpful and very effective all over Tibet, a number of people asked him, “What mantra is good to practice in order to get a lot of people around and help a lot of people?” Tsongkhapa gave the answer, “I never practiced any mantra for this. I have a sound guru- devotional practice.” That is what it is. That really opens you.

Inseparability. Guru yoga is your backbone practice. Guru yoga really gives you that any deity [Skt. yidam] is the manifestation of the guru. There is no separation at all, they are all inseparable. You need not necessarily see the guru as one individual person. It is a person created for you, at your presence and for your benefit, by the enlightened beings to be there all the time you need it.

The story of Marpa. That reminds me of the story of Marpa. Marpa’s teacher was Naropa. Early in the morning Naropa manifested an incredible mandala up in the sky. Then he called Marpa, “Get up, get up! Look in the sky, your yidam Hevajra and all his supporting mandala is standing right in front of you! Get up!” When Marpa looked up to the sky, Naropa gave him the choice of prostrating to the mandala or prostrating to his guru. Marpa, thinking that seeing a mandala is a very rare and extraordinary thing to happen and his teacher would always be there, chose to prostrate for the mandala. Then Naropa told him he was wrong, because: There where there is no Guru Not even the name of Buddha is heard. The buddhas of a thousand eons Depend on the Guru for their appearance.140 Aura: Naropa is making a very clear statement. It is not, “You can go into the mandala and have your yidam and get enlightened or you can go with me”; that is very clear. The benefit of proper guru yoga is seeing the inseparability of your spiritual master with all the enlightened beings. We need to know that. What makes it possible for us to enter the mandala, is the spiritual master in the form of a yidam; that initiates

139 Guru Padmasambhava. 140 Herbert V. Guenther, The Life and Teaching of Naropa, p. 107.

Guru Devotion: Whole-Hearted Commitment to a Spiritual Guide 89 you in the mandala and it is nothing other than that. Within that context all the buddhas and bodhisattvas and all the enlightened beings energize and empower that situation – it is through the vehicle of the living master that it happens. The inseparability is a one-way inseparability, it is not a two-way inseparability; there is not a choice like: it is inseparable, so you can take door number A or door number B. Rimpoche: I think that is a good point. It is a Vajrayana example, but the whole idea of this story is this. Naropa is giving a test to Marpa, to see how strong Marpa’s devotion has developed. In the test Marpa failed. Why did he fail? Because he thought the yidam in the mandala and his guru were two separate things. Do you get it now?

Pure relationship. When I came to the west, in the beginning I didn’t talk about guru-devotional practice. I have a lot of reservations and hesitations on that. Why? It is foreign to this country. It is overused or mis- used by the former guru trips, so there is bound to be a lot of misunderstanding. That is the reason. Even when I finally introduced it, I tried to introduce Tsongkhapa, who lived from 1357 to 1419, rather than somebody living in the twentieth century, so that the people will have no misunderstanding and no fears and things like that. Many people have a lot of misunderstanding about guru devotion. Some people may say, “Everything is the guru, nothing else, so you just surrender,” surrender meaning: you think nothing, you do nothing, you let the guru decide everything that has to be decided. When I was in India some time ago somebody told me a very funny story about a plane full of western practitioners traveling with a Hindu master, not a great one. In the plane the people were asked to meditate, so they meditated. Then after that they were asked to meditate naked, because there is nothing to hide. Everybody did. Ultimately they were asked to put all their jewelry in a bag and it would be taken care of at the customs. That is definitely a total misuse of guru-devotional practice. We are not looking for that at all. Also it is not a surrender here, not at all. In the Buddhist tradition, including the Vajrayana tradition, people are definitely encouraged to use their intelligence and their common sense rather than blindly following what somebody tells you, like, “You have to do that.” I don’t think that is guru devotion at all. I can’t be diplomatic here: if you do that, you’re acting slightly stupid. Let me be very frank. What do I do? I look to all my dharma teachers as enlightened beings. There’s no question in my mind about that. I look at them as buddhas. Do I see faults? Yes, I see a lot of different faults in different people. Does that bother me? In the beginning yes; later on no. I learned to look the other way. It is not that I don’t want to see it but when I do see it, I just think, “Well, he is doing it for a purpose, let it be.” When a teacher tells me something, do I follow it exactly? No. I follow it to the extent I can. To the extent I cannot, I try to explain that I cannot and I give the reasons. To some of them – the junior ones, not the senior ones, the senior ones I’m a little more scared of – I even said sometimes, “That is stupid” and gave various reasons and arguments, sometimes going to the point where irritation almost started to come up. But I never, never had a lack of faith and respect. Sometimes I didn’t agree at all and gave my strongest reasons ever possible and they gave their strongest reasons ever possible. Some would accept, some would get a little irritated for a few days, but by the next time they had forgotten and I had forgotten. That is how it worked. Challenging, debating and questioning your guru is not disrespectful; not at all. You have to challenge, you have to argue, you have to debate; if you can you should. That helps to pick up better, to understand better. It is not that so and so said it and therefore you have to do it. No. That is definitely not true. If you try to do that, it shows a little blind faith, which I personally discourage. That does not mean you should look at the person as faulty. No. If you look at the person as being faulty, it stands in the way of your development. I have been talking very frankly, dealing with my personal experience. In cultivating a pure relationship people had (and sometimes still have) difficulties. But there’s nothing wrong in encountering your spiritual master and trying to explain [your objections]. You can hear whether he or she has an explanation or valid reason to give you. But if they tell you “It’s for your own good, I know what I’m doing”, then that is not an acceptable answer. If you get that answer, that means there is something fishy going on. Sometimes it is better for your own personal benefit to look the other way, but for the benefit of others – if you have the Mahayana attitude – it can be necessary to stop the person and encounter them. Because even though you have an encounter with the person, that doesn’t mean

90 Lam Rim Teachings you spoil the relationship. You can talk to the person with a sincere desire, not giving that person reason for embarrassment or making him or her pay for it, but just to let the person understand and to make sure he or she doesn’t repeat things, you know. What has already been done is done, but make sure it doesn’t get repeated. By sincerely doing that I don’t think it spoils the pure relationship at all, if both people understand. Cutting out artificial gestures like bowing down, having a sincere appreciation for the individual and an understanding of the practice, putting in efforts for years and it making a difference in your life – I think these are the bases for a pure relationship. It’s not that you smile at him or her and the person smiles back at you. The pure relationship [depends on] the effect the individual gets, the knowledge the individual gains as a result of analyzing and thinking, the change in the individual’s life and whether it affects their negative emotions, as to duration or strength. Appreciation of that, along with respect for the teacher, is the pure relationship. The physical gesture is then supposed to be the expression of this inner appreciation. When you have that, the bowing down becomes a real thing; until that point it is artificial stuff. It’s okay in the old Tibetan culture, it’s okay for the Asian culture (whether it is Chinese or Japanese), but I do raise the question whether it is a good idea for western culture, because it creates a distance between yourself and your spiritual master. It gives it a different label, a funny hierarchic distance. That may be not that great. However, from the point of view of the relationship with the spiritual masters, if you have some hierarchy, some distance, it’s easier to maintain [the relationship]. Tibetans have a saying, Enjoy the warmth of the lama and the sun from a distance. The idea is: when you want to enjoy the sunshine, you don’t go to the sun but sit at a distance from the sun and enjoy the warmth. When you want to be close to the lama you do the same thing, be a little distant, so that misunderstanding does not arise. During the teachings it is emphasized that for a pure relationship you have to be very careful with those spiritual masters who are common with you, who eat with you, stay with you, sit on the same cushion, make jokes with you, etc. Sakya Pandita was asked by someone, “If I want to take a teaching from somebody but I don’t want to treat the person as my teacher or guru, what should I do?” Sakya Pandita said, Once you learn even one line, if you do not consider that teacher your guru you will take rebirth as a dog for a hundred lifetimes and then go to hell. So this is very important and complicated for the individual. Guru devotion is the root of all spiritual development. On the other hand it is very controversial and it is a point where you can really get stuck, where you can really get burned out, where you sometimes cannot go through, where you are reversed. So be very careful. Select carefully and do not to have too many [teachers]; a smaller number is always better. But then, you can also learn from a person not in the set-up of taking a teaching, but in a discussion, in a conversation, in a symposium, in a question-and-answer session or in a seminar. You can take advantage of those [opportunities]. Most of the teachings I do, I do more or less in lecture form rather than in teaching form, with the exception of some Lamrim teaching retreats. As far as the winter retreat is concerned, there’s no question; we do that in the teaching form, because they are Vajrayana subjects. In short, who is the guru, the spiritual guide? It is: the person from whom you take these teachings, the person who shows you this path, the person who guides you on the path, the person who walks with you on the path, the vehicle who delivers you at the ultimate goal. The guru is important and I want to emphasize here that it is not the information alone, it is the connection.141

141 Here the subject of the general guru devotion teaching ends. The next part of this chapter is vajrayana-based, due to the fact that in Tibet, those that came to listen to the Lamrim teachings, in general were acquainted with vajrayana and entering vajrayana one day was no question to them. For us, in the West, the situation is different. Therefore, studying and especially meditating the remainder of this chapter (especially from the outline ‘Why we should regard our spiritual master as an enlightened being’ onwards), could well be moved to a later time, say to the second year of group Lamrim study or to the medium level.

Guru Devotion: Whole-Hearted Commitment to a Spiritual Guide 91 i. The benefits of relying on a spiritual guide If you have a proper devotion there are eight benefits. If you don’t have a good teacher, there are also eight disadvantages. Also if you have a teacher and your devotional practice is wrong, there are again eight disadvantages. You have to look for eight advantages of having and eight disadvantages of not having a teacher, and the third one is the disadvantage of not having a proper guru-devotional practice. All these are mentioned in detail in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hands. Also the Joyful Path of Good Fortune and The Essential Nectar should have it. If you look in the right books, you’ll find it. The benefits are: 1) It brings us closer to enlightenment. 2) The enlightened ones are pleased. 3) You get protection from anti-spiritual friends and spirits/demons. 4) Harmful behaviors will stop. 5) Your insight and realization of the paths and stages will increase. 6) Life after life you will be guided and protected. 7) You will not fall into the lower realms. 8) All your temporary (future lives) and permanent aims (enlightenment) will be achieved. ii. The disadvantages of not or relying on or improperly following a spiritual guide The disadvantages of not relying on are exactly the opposite of the benefits of working with a spiritual guide, so ‘you get further from enlightenment’ etc.

The disadvantages of improperly following a spiritual guide are: 1) By insulting your guru, you insult the enlightened ones. 2) If the relationship has been damaged through anger it destroys eons of virtue. 3) Even with Vajrayana practice you can’t achieve anything. 4) Even with the most intensive Vajrayana practice you simply create the cause for rebirth in the hell. 5) Your prior spiritual development will decrease. 6) You will experience mental misery (though material achievements are still possible.) 7) You go towards a future in the lower realms. 8) Life after life you will never meet a spiritual guide. iii. How to treat the spiritual guide through the mind How does guru-devotional practice work within the individual? Tsongkhapa made two points:142 The root of all development is profound and intelligent faith. Remembering the kindness of the guru and offering reverence.

1) The root practice of cultivating faith Profound faith is necessary, although that is not the same as blind faith. There is a big difference between blind faith and intelligent faith. Earlier in the west people had blind faith. Blind faith really made them follow a lot of different people. If you do that, when you encounter certain difficulties you will be shocked, then accusations will follow and that way you create scandals. But what really happens is not that you are accusing anyone, not that you’re building up a scandal; in actuality you are cutting yourself loose from your own foundation. Blind faith is very easy to develop, and is also easy to get knocked down. When someone tells you that this person is “great, great, great!”, you will say, “Great, great, great!” But when someone else says he is “terrible, terrible, terrible!”, you will think, “Oh, perhaps he is terrible!” That’s what happens. We have a saying: When three people agree, the brahmin’s goat can become a dog.

142 Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo, vol. I, p. 78-84.

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The brahmin and the goat. An ancient story. In India the high caste is called the brahmin caste. Brahmins do not deal with dogs, because dogs are considered very low, but they do deal with goats. A brahmin had a goat and three thieves wanted to steal the brahmin’s goat, slaughter it, and sell the meat. They thought of a way to get this brahmin’s goat and decided to make him give it to them by telling him some story. So they decided to sit by the side of the road, and when the brahmin would pass they would pretend that his goat was a dog. The brahmin walked by with his goat and the first person said, “Wow, look at this funny brahmin, he takes a dog with him!” The brahmin thought, “What a stupid person! He cannot even figure out whether this is a dog or a goat.” After a little while another person said, “Look at that brahmin, he has a dog with him! Look at this funny brahmin!” So, he thought, “What?” He looked very carefully at his goat and thought: this is a goat, this is not a dog, what is the matter with these people? So he walked on. But after a little while the third person said, “Oh, look at this brahmin, he has a dog with him!” And by that time the brahmin thought: maybe I am confused, maybe this is a dog. “Get out of here!” And he chased the goat away and so the thieves got the goat. That is how it works, and the saying is: when three people agree, a brahmin’s goat can become a dog. Of course, in reality the goat has not become a dog, but in the mind of the brahmin it has.

Intelligent faith. So when you have blind faith, this is a problem. Your reason for taking a person as your guru is that so and so said so. You think, “I read about them in the paper, I read their publicity”, and this is what you build upon. Then when you read the opposite, you see it contradicted, and the goat becomes a dog. This is why I tell you that you must have intelligent faith. That does not only go for your guru, but for your whole practice. For everything you do, for everything you stand for and for your own principles you need intelligent faith. Intelligent faith does not mean stubbornness. Blind faith and stubbornness are the worst problems to be faced at the beginning of the spiritual practice. Get it? When a person presents the spiritual path, he has to give the spiritual path along with the problems that people will face. If you do not introduce the problems, if you only introduce the positive side then, again, it is like demanding blind faith. It is a lack of presentation. Intelligent faith is necessary. Why? Because it is like a mother. Without a mother you cannot have any children. No matter how great the father may be, without a mother he cannot produce a baby at all. We can see that, right? It is like the ground, like Mother Earth. Without the earth you cannot grow anything. When there is no earth there is no vegetation. So intelligent faith is like Mother Earth. Because it is intelligent, no slogan or accusation will shake your ground. If shaken, it is not a simple thought that is affected, but your spiritual foundation! That is why intelligent faith is important. So step number one is observation. Observe as much as you can, and once you made your decision, follow well! That is how you should act. a) Why we should regard our spiritual master as a Buddha It is very important for us to develop faith and to look at the spiritual master, especially your root master, as an enlightened being. Why? Whether any development of a path or bhumi grows within you or not totally depends on your faith in the spiritual master. Faith or reliance is like a seed. If the seed is rotten nothing can grow and if the seed is okay it can grow. Faith is like a mother: it is the first one to make all the developments grow. Drom Rinpoche asked Atisha: In Tibet we find so many people who are doing meditation, but very few people, I noticed, have developed like traditionally in India [people developed]. What is the reason? Atisha replied: All the Mahayana benefits, and whether the spiritual development grows big or small, depends on the spiritual master. You Tibetans think the spiritual masters are like ordinary human beings equal to yourself. So, how can you expect to develop anything? That was Atisha’s reply. Atisha gave a further example: Whether a tree has branches and leaves depends on the root of the tree. If the root of the tree is good then the branches and leaves can definitely grow.

Guru Devotion: Whole-Hearted Commitment to a Spiritual Guide 93

From the appreciation of life up to ultimate enlightenment, whether all this is going to be good or not, depends on the root: guru-devotional practice. Out of all spiritual paths, from today’s ordinary level to the enlightenment level, the most difficult to develop is the root of faith! During the development of the bodhisattva mind, the altruistic mind, most difficult is the recognition of all sentient beings as mother beings. These are the two most difficult ones! That is where you take the most time, that is where you have the most problems, that is where you have a lot of complications. Even your ordinary life will have a lot of problems when you go through the spiritual development, because it interlinks with obstacles. Whenever you are trying to do something better, you always have a lot of obstacles. This is normal. It is said: Wherever people try to do something better the evils are more active. If you are not active in your own spiritual development, the evils are also not active. They are relaxed; there is no threat, they really don’t care. They think you are under their spell and they can take you over, no problem. The moment you start working on the spiritual path and try to do something, the moment you are seriously going in the right direction, you will get a lot of obstacles to face. I am sorry to say that, but it is true, you really have a lot of obstacles to overcome. It is natural. Obstacles, disorders, everything will come. That is why a lot of people don’t go into a spiritual path. And if they do come halfway, they may get disheartened and run away. It is very difficult. If you are doing something good for a permanent result, the evils will try to pull you down with all the strength they have. That is why you have those obstacles. The obstacles will come in various forms: emotions or disorder in life, as well as doubts, illnesses and fi- nancial problems; all these are there. But for each one of them there are protectors to protect you. However, some problems you have to go through. The more or the harder the problems you have, the better development you will have. If you don’t have many problems and you go on quite smoothly, then the development will also be only ‘quite smooth’. You have to face those problems. Among the doubts and things like that there is the block at the heart. This is one of the hardest things for you to really break through. In The Essential Nectar it says: Whether you are going to have a big or small, strong or weak spiritual development, depends on the root of faith in your spiritual master. The spiritual master is the root of all siddhihood. Think always about the advantages, the benefits and the qualities of the spiritual master; don’t see the faults and the wrong doings. Such should be held as a total practice and such a commitment should be prayed for to be able to complete it without any obstacles. You may think, “This is how they brainwash people.” I do not know whether they brainwash the people or not, but it definitely works. As far as I am concerned it definitely worked. Until you have a strong development at the heart, you cannot expect anything to grow. I do not believe it is brainwashing. Just now it looks like brainwashing, but when it comes down to how you manage [the guru-devotional practice, you’ll find out.] All these things will come a little later. We want benefit, we don’t want disadvantages. When we want advantages, we have to take them in whatever manner we can get them. Whether in reality the spiritual master is an enlightened being or not is not your problem. Not at all! That is his or her own problem. You understand? What we want is the benefits of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas and all the enlightened beings that are working, giving guidance etc. That is what we want [and the spiritual master is the channel for those enlightened powers to be transmitted to us]. You understand? This is the reason [for seeing the spiritual master as an enlightened being]. As we want advantages, we take it as an advantage, and whatever he or she is, is his or her problem.

Devadatta. If in reality your spiritual master is, maybe, an enlightened being, but you cannot see him or her as an enlightened being, you are like Devadatta during Buddha’s lifetime. That cousin had the habit of competing with Buddha all the time. Throughout his life he could never see Buddha as an enlightened being. He rather saw him as some funny fellow who was trying to cheat everybody and take advantage of

94 Lam Rim Teachings others. So he tried to push him down all the time. Though born in Buddha’s family as his cousin, and as a family member able to take all the advantages possible, Devadatta could never do so because he could not look at Buddha as an enlightened being. He always took it for granted that this fellow was taking advantage of him and was trying to be more powerful than himself. He had competitions with the Buddha, in arrow shooting, in everything! Wherever he was, he always got defeated, but he found excuses for the reasons why he got defeated, “I did this and then he did that and that was the only reason I lost.” It was always like that. As he could not overpower Buddha in the material way, like becoming a king or ruler, he tried to take the spiritual path. He said, “When I vowed to defeat Gautama on the material things he switched over to the spiritual path; when I tried to defeat him on the spiritual path he went beyond.” Devadatta was thinking Buddha had a grudge against him and therefore he was trying to push him down. In reality it may not have been that way. I read in a number of places that Devadatta is an enlightened being, but that this was shown to us to see how our mind can lead us to funny things. So, if that person is an enlightened being and you look at him or her as an enlightened being, that is great. Even if he or she is not an enlightened being, but you look at him or her as an enlightened being, you get all the blessings of [seeing him as] an enlightened being.

The story of Buddha’s tooth. There was a Tibetan business chap who went to India all the time to do business. He had an old mother and he asked her all the time, “Mother, what do you want from India, I’ll bring it for you.” The mother kept on saying, “No, nothing son, I need nothing.” One day the mother said, “I have a request for you, would you please do it for me?” He said, “Mother, anything.” “I want a tooth of the Buddha.” He said, “Sure, no problem.” He went to India and forgot about it. And every time when he came back to Lhasa and was going to see his mother, he remembered the promised tooth and gave a lot of excuses why he did not bring it. The last time his excuse was, “Mother, I ordered it, I paid the money already, it has not come yet, but next time when I come it will definitely be there.” With this promise his mother was happy. Again he went to India and forgot about it altogether. And when he was about to reach Lhasa he suddenly remembered. Now he did not know what to do. He had given all possible excuses, he had even said he had already paid the money and he would definitely bring it. So he looked around and he found a dead dog, a corpse. He got down from his horse, cut a tooth from the dead dog and rubbed it with a smooth stone. He made it into a very nice tooth, very smooth, rolled it into a five-colored scarf, made a nice box and carried Buddha’s tooth now. Poor mother! When he was arriving, the mother was expecting the Buddha’s tooth. She had sent somebody to meet him at a little distance and find out whether he had the Buddha’s tooth or not. He said, “Yes, yes, I have it.” Then the mother told the messenger, “If he has the Buddha’s tooth, please ask him not to come home straightaway.” So he had to wait one extra day, nearby. And she painted the house, cleaned the house, laid white scarves, burned incense and finally he was led into the house, with incense. She made a big ceremonial thing and received Buddha’s tooth. I mean, she kept on thinking it was the Buddha’s tooth and he did not dare to say it was not. So she received it as a great thing and put it right in the center of her altar. Every day without fail she prostrated, made offerings and prayers and everything. What happened? It started giving little white relics of Buddha’s bones. Even today when the Indians do excavations and find Buddha relics they find these white little relic pills out of bone. Even when today you go to the national museum, they say, “Last year there were about seven or eight and now there are twenty- one or twenty-two little pills.” They multiply. Wherever Buddha’s bones are found you will find the little relics. That is natural, it goes with buddhas. Now, this mother had been praying for that years together and relics started dropping out of that tooth. So she was the more convinced: this is really a tooth of the Buddha! She really had no doubt, that is why it happened. And she started calling everybody and everybody came looking, visiting, paying homage and they all saw the relics. People even started collecting them. When the son came back from another trip and they told him about the relics, he was shocked, you know. He knew it was a dog’s tooth. The people that were praying there with his mother also got relics. But for him no relic came! Why? Though it was a dog’s tooth, she had total faith in it being Buddha’s tooth and she was praying deeply. And the enlightened beings are there! There is no place where there are no enlightened beings

Guru Devotion: Whole-Hearted Commitment to a Spiritual Guide 95 around. Enlightened beings are wherever they can do something, wherever they can help, wherever they can give possible guidance. That is why. The mother believed it was Buddha’s tooth. And what can Buddha’s tooth do? Not bite her. The maximum what it can do is give relics. It started giving relics out of the dog’s tooth, because the enlightened beings were there, blessed it and cared.

Conclusion. Out of the activities of the enlightened beings the best activity is the speech activity, because through speech you can show the path, you can guide people on the path. This is the best thing they can do. So, if you look at a spiritual master, who on behalf of the enlightened beings is showing a path, as an enlightened being, then as a practitioner you get the benefit of having an enlightened being as a spiritual master. Like the dog’s tooth could substitute Buddha’s tooth. That is the reason. And, whether the individual is enlightened or not, is none of my business. Because I want the benefit and don’t want disadvantages. I want the maximum advantage, therefore I can take it. Is it clear now? Okay. b) Why it is possible to regard our spiritual master as a Buddha You may say, “Alright, I have to see my spiritual master as an enlightened being, but how can I look at him as an enlightened being? Because he or she is full of anger, he or she is full of jealousy, he or she is full of all sorts of things.” You have to think on that. This is material I am giving you for meditation. Generally, if you have a mind which sees the qualities of a person, you will see that person as wonderful and even if you see a few disqualifications, the qualities will overpower the disqualifications. Similarly, if you look at the disqualifications of the people, if you look from that point of view all the time, you will see faults and faults and faults, and after some time you will only see faults; the mind which sees the qualities will be overpowered by seeing the faults. Right or wrong?

Perception. Let me give you an example which is very common to us. When you find a girlfriend or boy- friend for the first time, you see how wonderful he or she is: she is beautiful, you have thoughts about the measurements, you think body-wise, face-wise, hair-wise, quality-wise, heart-wise, thought-wise, behavior-wise and you add up: wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. You will see everything as wonderful and you don’t see any faults at all. And even if you see a few faults here and there, you will say, “Well, who else does not have faults?” and blah blah blah. So the person becomes Mr. or Miss Wonderful. But after some time you enter the trouble. You will slightly start to see problems, and you will say, “Oh, this is bad. I thought he was wonderful but he is not, I did not realize he or she is so mean” and so on. And after some time you see the person as totally black. This is our own perception, as we can see. From the beginning Mr. or Miss Wonderful did not have the quality of being wonderful at all, but your mind projected that and made the person wonderful. At the end when there is trouble, that Mr. or Miss is not black at all but your mind projected it black and then you say, “Oh, I don’t even want to talk about it. I don’t even want to hear the name, I don’t want to see the person any more.” All this will come because you projected it so black. This is how our mind works. Likewise, if you say, “Hey, in reality my spiritual master is not an enlightened being, how can I look at him that way?”, and if you keep that thought in some corner of your mind, then whatever reasons you try to give, however hard you try to meditate, it will not work! Why? Because in some corner of your mind you are holding on to that view. You could call that a blockage. But if you are not holding on to such a view and you look at your spiritual master from the quality point of view, everything will work. This is the reason you can see the spiritual master as an enlightened being. Why do you need to see it [that way]? Because you want the maximum benefit. Can you see it? Yes, because our mind is such that whatever way you look, you will find [a result accordingly].

Attachment and hatred as examples. How does our attachment develop? How does our hatred develop? The way spirituality develops and the way attachment develops are the same. The direction is opposite, but the way it develops is exactly the same. Let’s look more closely into it and take an example we can easily understand. Things that we can understand make good examples for things we don’t understand. Attachment. When you look for example at things of beauty, you give various reasons for thinking it is beautiful. When this beautiful and wonderful thing is building up in your mind stronger and stronger, even when you see a little bit of disadvantages and bad qualities, you intend to overlook them, because the

96 Lam Rim Teachings mind seeing the qualities will overpower seeing the disqualifications. And after some time when a lot of things are added up you will decide, “Yes!” And then when you look at your mind, not only do you have the attraction, but you also have the desire. And not only do you have the desire, you also have the fear of separation. And not only do you have the fear of separation, you also have a desire to hold it permanently. And it is so strong, it can not be shaken. This is the perfect example for developing attachment. Anger. Anger develops in the same way. You get irritated by somebody and you start seeing how bad this fellow is, “I treated him so nicely; when he was sick I gave him soup, I looked after him, I gave him a blanket, I went out of my way to look after him and now this is what he is giving me!” You become more and more angry and then you give yourself reasons like, “This is an ungrateful person.” Then he becomes a horrible person. You give more reasons and more, and after some time you really look at him as almost a devil. And then you say, “Oh, he is terrible, I don’t want to see him and blah blah blah.” Finally you will develop an unshakable anger. And you don’t want to hear about the good things this person did. If anybody tries to talk to you, you will say, “Look, I don’t want to hear it!” This is how you build it up. Attachment in the spiritual path. Similarly you build up attachment in the spiritual path, but just in the opposite direction. Whether you face this way or that way, it develops in the same manner. Take the line ‘seeing the spiritual master as an enlightened being’. The same thing will come up. A lot of obstacles will have to be gone through by the mind, because obstacles will come. Then you have to use arguments to convince yourself. Finally you are convinced strongly. And after being convinced strongly you have to concentrate on that, like when you realize: this is the most beautiful and then you want to hold it. It is just like that. You have to concentrate. When I tell you, “Your spiritual master is an enlightened being” you understand it, you have heard it. Then somebody else may come and say something else. But, when you have an understanding of your own, no matter how much somebody tells you that you are wrong, you’re not easily going to get doubt. When you concentrate on something, you develop spiritual development on that.

Sign of development. How does it develop? I’ll tell you what happened to me. When you really try to concentrate well and you look at every one of your spiritual masters, you will externally see their skin but internally really a buddha. No matter who you look at, high or low, friend or no friend, a person you see from time to time or a person you see every day, you look at him or her and there is no difference: the outer skin is like the [mask of the] person and the inside you will really see as a buddha. That has to go for all the spiritual masters; not one, but all. When you get that, you have got the sign of development of that point. It is very hard, very hard. All following reasons I am going to give, are just to benefit the development of this. c) How to regard our spiritual master as a Buddha i) Vajradhara affirmed that my spiritual master is a Buddha You may say, “Hey, don’t tell lies, where did the Buddha say that? Your spiritual master as an enlightened being. How did he know? Buddha came two thousand five hundred years ago, your spiritual master is now, so how can that be possible?” Buddha did not say that mister so and so is an enlightened being. Bud- dha Vajradhara, said in the Hevajra tantra: Later, later in the degenerated age, I myself will appear in the form of spiritual guides. At that time recognize them and pay them respect. So, Buddha said, “I will appear in the degenerated age to help all the sentient beings.” Now you have to think and find several reasons: Definitely it must be true that he appears in the degenerated age, because the degenerated age is the most problematic age. When the enlightened beings are not helping in the degenerated age, then when will they help all sentient beings? So they are definitely helping. If the enlightened ones are helping today, it has to be in the form of one of our spiritual guides. Though enlightened beings may be able to help a little bit from time to time in the form of water, a bridge or something, that is not sufficient. Here now we have an opportunity, we have a path, we

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are able to do things, so at this time a spiritual master is a little more help. He will be able to guide us on the path. Buddha Vajradhara is definitely helping all the sentient beings and I am quite sure he has not left me out. It is not that he is helping all sentient beings except me; I don’t accept that at all. If he is there to help me, then he has to be among my spiritual masters, because that is the best help I can get in the spiritual path. I may doubt and say, “Among the spiritual masters, yes, there must be an enlightened being, but that does not mean my spiritual master is an enlightened being.” Why not? Among my spiritual masters there is definitely an enlightened being, because Buddha will not leave me out, so there must be one. But I cannot say, “A is and B is not.” I cannot make a distinction between them: the one being a buddha and the other one among my spiritual masters not being a buddha. Therefore I look at all my spiritual masters as enlightened beings. Again because: I want advantages and I don’t want disadvantages. I want maximum advantage, so I’ll take whatever I can get. Not only that. Buddha himself has said, “The moon and the stars can fall on the ground, but Bud- dha Vajradhara will not tell lies when he gives prophesies.” When he says he will appear as one of the spiritual masters to help all the sentient beings, he will definitely have come to help me. Therefore, among my spiritual masters there has to be an enlightened being. For me to make the distinction is not right; therefore I look at all my spiritual masters as enlightened beings. That is the way I can be benefited. If you think this way, you know how you can look. That is what was meant when Buddha said, “Spiritual masters are enlightened beings.” ii) The spiritual master is the agent for all Buddhas’ activities This point has to be gained only by argument, by debate. If you don’t have a spiritual master, there is no way the enlightened beings can help you. If you don’t have a spiritual master, how can they guide you? You have very limited information, you have a very limited understanding. How? Like everybody you think your ultimate aim of life is: a good job, several cars, two airplanes, a house with a swimming pool, enough bank balance, being busy, being a good yuppie. Or the other way round: not interested in yuppie business. Judge yourself, see what you look for. What we really value is known to ourselves, not to others. Some people have some knowledge and some information and want to use that for a certain direction, but without much thinking they go into another direction. That is dangerous, I tell you! That is more dangerous then having no information. What we think happiness is – money, food and clothes – even the animals can collect. Look at the bees, they would have stored enough food to last for the winter if the human beings would not take the honey away. So even the animals can achieve that much. If that would be the only value of our lives, it would be worthless. Yet ninety percent of the people in the world will consider this as the value of life, because they have no information, no guide, nothing. Even though all enlightened beings are here to show the path, there’s no way for them to do that. They cannot go on sharing magic powers all the time. They might be able to guide the people on the spiritual path a little bit by using psychic powers, but that is very limited. In that way the enlightened beings cannot help the people as much as they should. Why? Because they have not been given the opportunity, people have not opened up. We, however, have collected the information, we question it, we argue, we debate and we think about it, so we do have the opportunity. In that sense we are different. That way we can have more activity of the enlightened beings coming towards us. And it can only come through the spiritual master. Sakya Pandita has said:

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No matter how strong the sun rays may be, unless there is a magnifying glass in between, there is no way the tinder will catch fire. Similarly the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions may have tremendous blessings, however if there is no spiritual master it cannot get into us. One of the disciples further clarified what Sakya Pandita had said: When there is no shadow, either above or under the magnifying glass, the power of the sun will through the help of this glass be able to catch on the dry grass. Similarly when we have our obstacles removed, the blessings of the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions will now be led onto the mind of the disciples through the help of the lama, the spiritual master. The blessings of the buddhas and bodhisattvas are there. The most important blessing is to be able to clear the obstacles, to develop the mind, to control the mind, to have a spiritual development. This they can only do through the spiritual master. No matter how powerful magic can be, it cannot guide you on the spiritual path; not at all. We don’t have the luck to meet Buddha as a buddha. We are too late. Even if Buddha would appear in front of us saying, “Hey, I am a buddha, I am here, can’t you see me?”, we wouldn’t be able to see him. The only thing we have, is somebody who is equal to us, someone who I can talk to and share with, who I can ask questions, who I can agree, disagree and argue with. That is the only opportunity I have. Even in case Buddha would appear as stupid as us, we couldn’t do anything. It is great that somebody equal to us is available. That is the method available for the enlightened beings. The spiritual master is the doorway. It is a two-way door: the doorway that leads us to the enlightenment and the doorway through which the enlightened beings can communicate, pull us and help us. So it is the doorway. That is important. There are more arguments, but I will not go into them. You might say, “It may be a doorway, but that does not mean the person is an enlightened being.” Let’s deal with that. When the enlightened beings carry out activities to help non-enlightened beings, how do they do this? Would they depend on a non-enlightened being to carry out their activities? If a buddha has to depend on somebody who is not an enlightened being to carry out his activity, it is: poor Buddha! Actually, [this reasoning] depends mostly on the dharmakaya, which is only available among the enlightened beings.143 This point will not only convince you that the spiritual master will work as an in-between, like the magnifying glass; the convincing reasoning is that enlightened beings will not depend on non-enlightened beings. So their activities will definitely be carried out by one of the enlightened beings. I am glad I did not drop this argument out. iii) Buddhas and bodhisattvas are still working for the sake of all sentient beings If you accept that the buddhas and bodhisattvas that appeared before are carrying out their activities today, it has to be through the spiritual masters. There are no other persons who can carry out their activities. It does not have to be a Buddhist spiritual master; a spiritual master is a spiritual master, whoever it may be. Think carefully. From the beginning the buddhas have generated bodhicitta for the sake of the sentient beings. The buddhas have carried out purifications and have developed throughout their lives for the sake of the sentient beings. Finally they even obtained the total enlightened stage, also for the sake of all sentient beings. And having obtained that, they cannot relax. They did not obtain enlightenment to go to sleep. Not only do they want to do something; they do it for the benefit of all sentient beings. Not only for all sentient beings, but for me as well – I am included. I am definitely not the person who should be excluded, so I am included. For every sentient being, one of the manifestations of the Buddha appeared, working for that person. Definitely. As they are working for me, they choose the best way to help me. What is the best way to help me? To show me the path.

143 One moon in the sky can cast a separate reflection of itself upon the water in many separate vessels. Similarly the primal wisdom of the minds of all buddhas is of one taste with the dharmadhatu [sphere of truth] and appears in various aspects to the disciples. See Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 36 or Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 278-79.

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The enlightened beings can show us the path and guide us, but it is entirely in our own hands whether we follow it or not. They can’t take us by the hand and pull us all the time, no. They show us the path, saying, “This is here, these opportunities are here.” What can they do? Buddhas neither wash sins away with water, Nor remove beings’ sufferings with their hands, Nor transfer their realizations to others; Beings are freed through the teachings of the truth, the nature of things.144 So, what do they do? They try to clarify the disadvantages of samsara and the causes of samsara. Even one single point they to develop within me, whatever is possible for me, they show me. Of the countless activities of the infinite buddhas, whatever is suitable is shown and given to me in the best possible way, when and wherever possible. Sometimes what is suitable for Miss A is not necessarily suitable for Mr. B or Mrs. C. The best way for me has to be my spiritual master, because there is definitely no other person that can guide me better. iv) Our perceptions are unreliable You may think, “Well, if the spiritual master is an enlightened being, I should see it, but I don’t.” Though you know halfway through, you are still not convinced they are. You know enlightened beings are there to help you, but you are still not convinced it is the spiritual master. The Essential Nectar says: While I’m not free of this cover of negative karma, Even if all Buddhas come and stand right before me I’ve no chance of seeing their supreme Bodies adorned With the Marks and Signs, any more than I see them now. Therefore, however they may appear to me, In fact they are free in fault and perfect in virtues, Identical with the Conquerors, without exceptions Of all the infinite realms, combined in one.145 Until our blockages are a little bit lighter, though all the buddhas may appear in front of you, you can only see whatever you see with doubts and questions; you have no luck to see Buddha with all thirty-two and eighty signs of major and minor developments. Until our blockages, our bad karma and our delusions are cleared, there are many things you cannot see clear at all. When you see it halfway through, still you have to understand it. As I was saying here: even if a buddha appears in front of you, you will not be able to see him with all major and minor signs. No way. If you do see this, you will think it is a ghost and you will run away. And, if by chance you see somebody who looks like a buddha, he does not necessarily have to be a true buddha.

The example of the glass. In Chandrakirti’s Guide to the Middle Way [Skt. Madhyamakavatara], you will find a very important example. Look at three people around a glass of water: a samsaric god, an ordinary human being and a hungry ghost. If these three people together gaze at a glass of water, that very glass of water will be seen as nectar by the samsaric god, as ordinary water by a human being and as a mixture of blood and puss by the hungry ghost, so they can’t drink it and solve their problem of thirst; they cannot use it. So, whatever we see does not necessarily have to be true.

The story of the goiter. If you travel in south-east Asia and Tibet you will find a lot of places were some king or minister or monk used to live who has now become a ghost. We don’t see those persons, but they do live there. On the way down to India near the Tzang area there is a place called Sharidrag tzan, an area where a lot of funny things happened. One night a certain fellow slept in this place. He made his offerings to the local protector and went to sleep. That night the spirit Sharidrag had to make a food distribution at a hungry-ghost gathering, so he needed some flesh to distribute. Actually he was going to take the life of that man who had gone to sleep there, but as that man had made offerings that day, he fell a bit embarrassed to

144 Dalai Lama XIV, The Buddhism of Tibet. 145 Geshe Rabten, The Essential Nectar, vs. 121, 123.

100 Lam Rim Teachings take his life. He looked around and saw the man had a goiter, so he took that goiter and distributed it. The next morning when the man got up, he discovered his goiter had gone. So the man told his friend, “I went to Sharidrag and prayed and slept the night and next morning my goiter was gone.” This fellow, who had a goiter too, also went there, prayed and stayed there hoping that his goiter would go too. That night again there was a distribution. Though it was not Sharidrag’s turn everybody said to him, “Whatever you gave us last time was terrible, you can’t eat it” and they returned it. And somebody said, “Let that sleeping man have it.” So then the man, instead of getting rid of his goiter, got two! Both happened within a period of a month, about sixty years ago. So Sharidrag is definitely there but we don’t see him. Similarly there are other ghosts; there are all sorts of spirits around.

2) Developing respect for the spiritual master by remembering his kindness146 a) Remember the spiritual master is kinder than all the Buddhas You think: The spiritual master is more important, because I can see him from person to person and so I’m able to learn the path. He provides me with the opportunity to become a buddha myself. Countless Bud- dha’s came, but I was left out, I am such a hardheaded one, a difficult one. And such people like you are giving me the path. Like it says in the Lama Chöpa, verse 40: You precisely teach the good path of the Blissful To the untamable beings of this degenerate age Unreformed by the Buddhas of the past. Oh compassionate Refuge Protector, from my heart I pray! b) Remember his kindness of teaching dharma You think: He gives me teachings, make me understand, make me hear it, think, let me meditate, so that I can achieve something. c) Remember his kindness in blessing your mindstream What Tilopa has done to Naropa, Atisha has done to Drom, Marpa has done to Milarepa – all of those show how the blessing of the spiritual masters make a difference. Recall the same for yourself: the first step was building interest in the Dharma. Then you developed some intelligent faith. That way it continues. d) Remember his kindness in attracting you into his circle iv. How to treat the spiritual guide through action147 1) Offering material things 2) Showing honor and respect 3) Following the instructions exactly. Maitreya’s Ornament to the Sutras [Skt. Mahayanasutralamkara] says, Rely on a spiritual guide by making him gifts, through service, and through your practice.

Sign of development of guru devotion The sign of development of the guru-devotional practice is seeing all your spiritual master as inseparable from the enlightened Buddha, almost like water mixed with water. That is the sign, which is very far away.148

B. How to train the mind from the basis of relying on a spiritual guide149

146 See literature mentioned. 147 Very specific literature on devoting oneself to a spiritual teacher: Asvaghosa, Fifty Stanzas on the Guru [Skt. Gurupancasika]. Commentaries: Tsongkhapa, The Fulfillment of All Hopes; Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, Fifty Stanzas of Guru-Devotion in: Alex Berzin, Mahamudra, p. 157-187. Also see literature mentioned in note 124. 148 Also see page 96. 149 This outline covers the total stages of Lamrim, as you can see in the Basic Outlines in the Appendices of this volume.

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Pabongka Rinpoche

Yongdzin Ling Rinpoche Yongzin Trijang Rinpoche

VII LAMRIM MEDITATION150

Do kindly generate a pure thought, a thought that is influenced by the bodhimind, the mind of a bodhisattva. This is recommended to be the best motivation. If you don’t know the detailed motivation generate at least: For the benefit of all the living beings I would like to obtain ultimate enlightenment. The path that reaches to the enlightened stage I would like to listen to, study, practice and then obtain the various stages. Then, by observing the normal rules and regulations of listening to the teachings, do kindly listen.

Lamrim, the teaching you’re listening to, the practice you are learning: 1) Is the sublime Mahayana teaching, the complete dharma system that leads the fortunate person to enlightenment. 2) It is the path re-opened and reconfirmed by the great maha-pandits Nagarjuna and Asanga. 3) It is the essence of the heart practice of the great Tsongkhapa and Atisha. 4) It contains the essence of all eighty-four thousand teachings of the Buddha and is laid out in order for one individual to follow easily.

If you look into the Buddha’s work there are one hundred and twenty-five volumes with various different ways and means. There are absolute teachings [Tib. döndam] and relative teachings [Tib. kundzob]. All of them are interpreted and lined up properly here as a guideline for an individual to obtain enlightenment. Lamrim is the essence of the teachings of the Buddha and the essence of the thoughts and practice of At- isha and Tsongkhapa. It is the path traveled by all the buddhas of past, present and future.

Motivation The wider scope. I’d like to remind you once again: what we are working on here is a path to enlightenment, total enlightenment as an ultimate goal to be achieved. How to travel and how to reach that level, that is what we are working on. Ultimate enlightenment as an ultimate achievement is only accepted in the Mahayana. Those of the Theravada or Hinayana level – like the Buddhists in Ceylon, Burma and other areas there – do not think ultimate enlightenment is something which ordinary persons like us can reach. They think it is beyond our comprehension and only accessible to arhats. Here in the Mahayana tradition we must remember that we are all working for the aim of ultimate enlightenment or buddhahood, of which we say that it is accessible to us. We try to reach that level from the ordinary level of today, which is not possible without depending on the Mahayana path. Even though we depend on the Mahayana path, it is also not possible to reach it in this lifetime, if we depend on the sutra path alone. The Mahayana sutra path alone does lead you to enlightenment, but it takes a number of eons, a lot of long, long years and a lot of lifetimes.

150 Literature: Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo, vol. I, p. 109-116; Geshe Thubten Loden, Path to Enlightenment, p. 187-195; Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, JoyfulPath of Good Fortune, p. 89-94; Ge- she Ngawang Dhargyey, An Anthology of Well-spoken Advice, p. 88-95; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I, p. 232-235; Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, par. 245-247. 104 Lam Rim Teachings

If you depend on the practice of the Vajrayana, the tantric practice, you can obtain total enlightenment within the short sphere of our lifetime, or at the time of our death, or at least in the next future life. These are extraordinary qualities which the Vajrayana path has. We try to achieve that, we aim to be a Vajrayana mandala.

In order to achieve that we have to have a fundamental, solid base of the Mahayana buddha-mind, called bodhimind or bodhicitta. In order to develop the buddha-mind we have to develop the root, great compassion. In order to develop compassion on all sentient beings, we have to develop compassion to ourselves. In order to develop compassion to ourselves we have to know our own true nature, our situation, good and bad, advantages and disadvantages, up to developing renunciation, also called the wish for freedom. Com- passion to ourselves is necessary, otherwise there is no way to develop compassion for others. This is interlinked with what we are working for, Mahayana. Not only are we working for the Mahayana, we are working for Vajrayana too. Right now we are not talking about Mahayana, we are not talking about Vajrayana, we are introducing the steps needed to be taken to get there as quickly as possible. That is what we are doing. Please remember that. We are not just talking empty talk, we are doing something serious here. In order to get that really serious, you have to spend some time on this by putting a good thought into it and also trying to practice.

Meditate on the thoughts analytically, and finally whatever you have, whatever convincing reason you find, try to hold onto it and try to concentrate on it. That is how you get the spiritual development within the person. Just remember that. Although the material may be good, these talks may not be so very interesting, However, this is a solid activity, not a public popular talk, where you half entertain people and half pour a little dharma information. It is not in that style at all. This material you should really take very seriously. Taking it seriously means: not only listening, but thinking, spending time and thought on it, and trying to practice it. And if you do that solidly, it is impossible it will have no effect on you. Impossible. It is also impossible not to gain any spiritual development. You’ll definitely gain it.

How to meditate on Lamrim If you are going to follow the Lamrim properly, you have to meditate. In the proper Lamrim style [of receiving teachings] you have to meditate four times a day on the subject. Not sitting meditation, but meditation on the subjects. You do the overall view [Tib. shargom] from the guru devotion to enlightenment, and you meditate on the particular points four times. That means that when you had the teaching, that evening you must meditate, the next day you must meditate, the day after that you must meditate again, and the day after that you must meditate on it once more. At least four times you should meditate on the point that was covered in a particular teaching. And four days before the next teaching starts you also meditate on the same thing. In between that period you can do only the overall view. If you want to achieve the result, then you have to spend time in a retreat on the point. If you keep on meditating on a point, you will achieve the result. When I say achieving result, you probably have no idea what I am talking about. It is too early to explain it now. Let us do the following. Four times after this teaching you meditate on what we discussed today. That means: sit down and think about it, go over it, review your notes and think about it, try to analyze them down and try to consolidate them and get the point. For four days. And just before the next teaching you do that again. And every day you do the overall view, for which you can use the Foundation of All Perfections [or the Odyssey to Freedom bookmark]. Read the first lines and think about what we discussed today and then do it. Read the next verse, think about it, and so forth. If you want to achieve results, you have to do that. If you don’t want any result, that is fine. You can just listen and go home, have a party and forget about it. Next time open your book and see what happens. That is one way of doing it. You are not going to get any results, you are not going to get anywhere, but maybe you will learn something in due time. In short, whatever we mention here, do kindly try to fit it into a proper practice.

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The type of meditations you need151 Analytical meditation [Tib. chegom] What we are talking here, will give you background, pushing, material and all this. What you really have to do is, find on every point a little synopsis for yourself. Do analytical thinking on it: whether what you heard is right or wrong, whether it is contradictory with others. If you find a contradiction, you have to discuss it. Bring it back here and we’ll discuss it and think about it. And then you keep on thinking about it and in the end you may sometimes even modify your own little conclusion a little bit. Then whatever thinking or concentration you do on that, will become analytical; automatically it will become analytical meditation after some time. When you get a final resolution, you concentrate on it, and that brings spiritual development. That is how it works. It is so important that the information doesn’t get left in the notebooks. You must get it. You may take a lot of notes, listen to tapes, that is very important, it can help you, boost you, clear your doubts, all this. But what you really have to do is to get the essence out of this by yourself. You have to find it yourself. We are almost telling you, “This is this, this is that.” Almost. But finally we’re not really saying, “this is it, get it”, because if you do this you’ll never be able to develop, you will simply follow my words. You have to find it yourself and then think and concentrate on that.

Concentration meditation [Tib. jokgom] Actual spiritual development will only come by concentration on each point. It only goes step by step. You can’t really jump to the highest steps straightaway at all, you must go step by step. But you don’t throw that higher practice out, you overview the entire path all the time and wherever your concentration level is, i.e. whatever point you are trying to familiarize yourself with, there you spend more time to concentrate. Whatever you gained, your development, and whatever you are yet to gain, all of this you overview. Then it becomes a constant stream, almost a part of your life, automatically. That is what you have to do. On every point you have to find yourself a small short conclusion of your own. You need that on every point. You have to find it. I cannot find it for you. Whatever you find and what we are discussing here may differ. I am talking on the basis of the teachings and the experience of the different masters. I don’t say the experience of me, but of the masters. When you find something different, it is quite certain there is something wrong, and you will have to find out where and why it is wrong. On the other hand, when you find a conclusion the same way, you can’t just take it for granted. You may just have accepted my word. In order not to just accept my words, you must find your own conclusion. On these talks and on every point you must find a little conclusion of your own. And that will stay in your mind. You go over it again and again like saying a mantra. Only, the conclusion here mustn’t come out of your mouth; it has to come out of the mind, it has to be mixed with your thinking. When you do this, your mind becomes mixed with your own conclusions. And when those get mixed with your mind it is like putting butter on powder. When you put butter on wheat or barley flour, the flour gets soaked, right? It will no longer be ordinary flour. That is what will happen to your mind and from then on it will be totally different. You’ll notice that yourself.

Overviewing meditation [Tib. shargom] Overviewing the outlines is important, because they are the steps to be developed within you. Take for example the benefits of remembering impermanence and death; out of these six the first one: why it is important. You have to have a little conclusion of your own. Then the second: powerful. Why? Then the importance of the three periods: beginning, in-between and the end stage. Why important? On each of those you have to have a little brief thought or conclusion of your own. That is what I call overviewing meditation. You may not really go deeply into why it is important, but think that it is important, that there are benefits like that. Just look over it. When you do this looking over, you may start from the importance of life. If some people find it difficult to start with the guru devotion, they can start from there. But you cannot delay beyond this. Then you can overview all these ‘breakdowns’ from here to enlightenment: this will come, this will follow this, next will be this, this is this level and ultimately now this is the enlightenment level.

151 Also see chapter I.

106 Lam Rim Teachings

All this you overview. This is a sort of flashing meditation; you just review the steps up to enlightenment, just go over it.152

How to do the meditation 1) When you meditate on each of the outlines, your spiritual master, inseparable from and in the form of Lama Buddha Sakyamuni, is sitting in front of you as your supreme field of merit. 2) Then you say the seven-limb prayer. During the meditation you keep Lama Buddha Sakyamuni in front of you looking at you, or sitting on your head as a guide, as a protector, whatever is easier for you. 3) Then you can say Buddha Sakyamuni’s mantra: OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNA YE SOHA. Say it a number of times. Whatever development or imprint you have, whatever effect you can get on your mind, you have to thank Lama Buddha Sakyamuni.153 4) Then you recite the first verse of the Foundation of all Perfections. You think of relying on the spiritual guide, remembering his kindness and gaining respect, the mental and the physical way. The guru- devotional practice, though it is the root of all development, is very difficult to grow within the individual, most difficult. Most of us spend years and years and years on this point, because the biggest obstacle, the biggest struggle is here. You don’t have to wait to gain that before moving to the next step, because some people can get stuck there completely. So simultaneously you do this step as well as doing the next one. The guru-devotional practice will ultimately lead you to the enlightenment, not through that way, it itself is the path. But that is very, very far away, a very long way. Before you have put in all your efforts. To seek support on top of that, you are calling on the Supreme Field of Merit: Empower me to see this clearly and to make every effort to follow well. You visualize light and liquid coming from the body of the supreme field of merit. By the touch of the light and liquid coming into the body, the impurities of all non-virtues in general and the obstacles of this particular subject in particular, get completely washed away, going out of your body in the form of dirt, animals you don’t like or any color you associate with dirt. And you receive all blessings to be able to develop the point. And you think that this particular development has grown within you. Then continue the Foundation of all Perfections as an overviewing meditation. 5) After that you conclude the practice by dedication.

Sometimes you can’t concentrate. When you try to concentrate but you cannot, when you try to memorize but you cannot, when you try to remember but you cannot, then the technique is not to do anything, but just to pray to Lama Buddha Sakyamuni.

If you gain spiritual development, don’t think, “It is I who did it, I am the one who did it.” That is ego- boosting. You say, “It is because of Lama Buddha Sakyamuni that I am able to change my mind a little bit, I am happy about it and I pray that further development may continue.” That is how a spiritual practitioner should think. Not I did everything, I learned everything, everything is because of me. No! “Because of them, because of him, because of the sentient beings, because of all others except me I am able to do that.” That is the real attitude of a spiritually developed person.

How to use the outlines In our gatherings here we are doing a brief, little solid teaching on the stages. What you as individual practitioners actually have to do is, to become familiar with the different stages, the different divisions and order and outlines. In every outline there are detailed teachings, quotations, examples, stories and brief meditations. Make yourself familiar with it; that is quite important. If you could do that, the benefit you get is

152 You can do so by using the Odyssey to Freedom bookmark, by a short text like The Foundation of all Perfections, by the outlines to the Lamrim or by your self-made overview of ‘essences’. 153 For number 1, 2 and 3 one can also use the Ganden Lhya Gyema.

Lamrim Meditation 107 not only that you’ll be led to the ultimate enlightenment, but any spiritual teaching that you see, hear, read or know about, can be brought into use wherever it belongs; very useful.

The example of tea, butter and sugar. Do you remember the example given here? Suppose a person has a storage where you can store butter, salt, sugar and tea. When you go outside and you find loose butter, sugar or tea or something, you can collect it, bring it back home, put it in the individual container and then you can use it. If you do not have that, then you go outside, you see all these things, you bring them back and then you don’t know what to do with them. Maybe you only need sugar and don’t use the tea, or you only need the salt and don’t use the other things. What the Lamrim does, is: you can bring in any thing from any spiritual path and you’ll know where to use it. You will see where it can help you in a certain direction, how you can use it for a certain purpose. If you don’t have the complete stages of the path, then when you find something, you can only make use of that part and that may be leading you to limited achievements, not to total enlightenment. That is why the Lamrim, the stages of development, is so important. It would be very nice if someone could build up these outlines like a family tree154, but then upwards instead of downwards. That would be very useful. Some people are able to remember everything, some are not. I believe it is so important that the outlines do not break, because this is the stages you really go. It is the staircase! If there is one step missing it is very hard to continue. If one step is missing then you’re stuck.

The spiritual development I’m talking about here, according to the Buddhist teachings and the Lamrim stages of development, means: these are the steps that you take and these steps you get within your mind. When you get that mixed with your mind and when you gain realizations on that, then you are on that stage. That is how you climb up. I don’t mean this is the only path. I don’t say that. But I can say: This is a right path. This is a right path, because hundreds of thousands of different buddhas of the past, present and future have traveled it. And so many great masters have developed and have obtained results through it. It is definitely a right path. For sure. However, whether it is going to be right to us or not, depends on how we take it. Unless we take it in, unless we ourselves put efforts in it, the stage is not going to come to us. Gungtang Jampelyang has mentioned, We have to put efforts in it and try to modify our thought and behavior, and develop ourselves. Without doing that, if we sit here and look at it and hope that stage will come to us, it is extremely lazy and greedy. There are three stages: common with the lower level, common with the medium level and Mahayana practice. Notice that immediately, at common with the lower level, there is no thinking about this life at all. Im- mediately, from the beginning, the thinking has to be changed into thinking of the future life. It is said, If you have attachment and hold on to this life, You are not a dharma practitioner. If you have attachment and hold on to samsara, You are not seeking liberation.155 Common with the lower level is: the development of the desire for a better future life and the method for gaining a better future life, or rather next life156. Developing desire for a better next life will automatically cut off your desire for this life.

Normally Lamrim teachings in Tibet are more elaborated. When I was a student I probably attended the Lamrim teachings more than thirty times. If I remember correctly, on what we actually really count as a Lamrim teaching, we had teachings for about a month and a half. Normally we started around twelve. From twelve to three it went on, at three o’clock we had a break, then came back, had some puja and some

154 A useful structure is to be found in Geshe Rabten, Essential nectar, p. 268-270. 155 Reference not yet found. 156 Tib. tshe phyima.

108 Lam Rim Teachings tea was served for sure, and then we went on till six, seven, eight, sometimes maybe nine, every day except Sunday for a month and a half. That was a normal teaching, not a detailed teaching. If you count all the hours of the teaching, I don’t know to how much that would come to. We don’t really have that time at all, so we’ve been skipping all the stories. I was fortunate enough to have a great teacher, who was a disciple of the late Pabongka. He was a great master, especially on Lamrim, and he was my personal teacher. In childhood, at about the age of four, I was taught this and made to meditate. My teacher taught me how to read ka-k’a-ga, that is ABC, and also a little bit of Lamrim and I had to meditate. Till I gained some kind of solid thing to hold, he would not move to the next stage at all. That is a very rare case; I have been very fortunate. Here we are not going to have that time at all.

Be a bit careful with the outlines, because if you mix them up, then the stages of development get mixed up too. In the teaching tradition of the Lamrim there are several Lamrims, each with their own outlines. They are all the same in content, though. The one on which you take teachings first, you hold as your own practical path. When you have other Lamrim teachings, the outlines will change, but the stages of the spiritual development – like the importance of life is followed by impermanence – will not change. So, you don’t try remember all the different outlines of all the Lamrims, but the ones you are practicing you have to remember. What we are doing here is the combination of all eight and in addition to that the notes of the great Pabongkapa’s experiences. We are doing all these nine combined together, which is the teaching His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche gave for the first time in Lhasa in 1957.157 On that basis we are working. Really carefully remember those outlines and follow them. Don’t just learn them, but get the very rough outlines first, and then individually you may fill it up later. It will be much better if you write your own thing by yourself and look over it, so you won’t forget it.

How to study in a study group You know, during the dharma teachings, during the dharma discussions, you should not be politically minded. I mean, even if you say somebody is wrong, one doesn’t get hurt about that. If you get that you are not in dharma practice. It has to be an open thing. Especially if someone is wrong you have to point out he or she is wrong. Why? If you don’t point out “You are wrong”, it doesn’t help. When you say, “Every- body is beautiful, how nice, wonderful, clap, clap”, that doesn’t help at all. If it is wrong, you have to point out the wrong to each other. Nothing personal, because it is not personal. Just point it out: wrong. Having pointed out the wrong thing, you can correct it. Correcting benefits everybody, both sides. It is nothing personal. It does not really have to be polite; it can be polite, there is no objection, but you should point out the wrong. That is the duty of a sangha community.

A sangha community is to support each other, and to boost each other’s spiritual development, to help each other, to point out the faults. When somebody is doing something wrong we have to say, “Hey, do you think you are doing this correctly?” and if he still goes on saying, “Yes, I think I am doing it right”, make sure he or she understands what you are pointing out. And if it is clear and he or she still says, “I am doing it right” then you may not insist. Otherwise it is the duty of the sangha community to point out wherever it is wrong. That is helping. And it is nothing personal, nothing! You never should feel bad, like: “He is insulting me.” It is not an insult. It is good to point it out.

And also whatever is pointed out should be left at the door, shouldn’t be taken outside the door. That is what it is. Really, these are the rules of the sangha. You don’t say, “When we were gathering together so and so has pointed out to so and so…” as though to indicate so and so doesn’t know that much and so and so remembers much better. That should not be projected. Never! That is why it should be left at the door. Or particularly, “I pointed out and so and so is wrong.” That should never be done, you know. Instead of helping that is ego-boosting. That should not be there.

157 Also see p. 35. For the eight great Lamrims see note 61 on p. 34.

Lamrim Meditation 109

Topic outlines From here onwards you have two additional outlines on each topic158:

1 The practice during the meditation sessions a. Preliminary activities. Whether the actual practice is going to be effective, totally depends on how well you do the preliminaries. If possible you have to do the six preliminaries.159 But since we are all in such a busy world where we don’t even have time for a cup of tea, we skip that and we substitute it by doing a short little practice prayer. We do the Ganden Lha Gyema, a short guru yoga practice, which has the seven-limb prayer and some mantras to say160. The Ganden Lha Gyema also has a detailed meditation but you need to have separate teachings for that.161 Here at our teaching sessions we do the Ganden Lha Gyema for two purposes: a) as a preliminary practice, and b) to give you a little idea about this practice. You can also use the Odyssey to Freedom prayers, which are even shorter. [Added to both practices is a complete overview of the path by means of Je Tsongkhapa’s Founda- tion of All Perfections.] b. Actual sitting or actual session.162 [You do the overviewing meditation up to the point where you are. Then you spend your main meditation time on your topic and after that continue the overviewing meditation.] c. Conclusion: dedication163.

2. The practice in between the sessions, during the breaks164 a. Consolidation: [Remain mindful of the object of meditation and its subjective aspects. Observe moral discipline. Accumulate the collections or merit and wisdom. b Conditions for concentration and insight to develop: Protect the six doors. Eat and sleep in moderation.]

158 This can be seen very clearly in the Lamrim Delam by Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyeltsen. 159 Literature: see chapter IV. 160 Text and commentary: p. 113. 161 Literature: Gehlek Rimpoche, Ganden Lha Gyema. 162 Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo, p. 99-100. 163 Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo, p. 100. Geshe Thubten Loden, Path to Enlightenment, p. 188-189, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, JoyfulPath of Good Fortune, p. 89-94. Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, An Anthology of Well-spoken Advice, p. 88-95. 164 Tsongkhapa, The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lamrim Chenmo, vol. I, p. 100-108.

APPENDICES

The Practice of the Ganden Lha Gyema 113

Questions and Answers - Chapter II: The Qualities of the Source 137 - Chapter III: The Qualities of the Teachings 137 - Chapter V: Preparing for Meditation 139 - Chapter VI: Guru Devotion 139

Outlines - Basic Lamrim Outlines 140 - Detailed Lamrim Outline 141

Charts Chart 1: Historical Overview 144 Chart 2: Basis, Path and Result 145

Root Texts - A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment – Lam Don 147

Je Tsongkhapa and his two disciples Gyeltsab Je (right) and Kedrub Je (left) Above the Pure land Tushita with Buddha Maitreya Tsongkhapa (right) and Atisha (left)

THE PRACTICE OF GANDEN LHA GYEMA

The Ganden Lha Gyema we are doing here165 is given for you to meditate. It is a method for the accumulation of merit and it is a method for preparing yourself for practice. For these purposes we are doing it. It is important to know what we are saying. Except for the mantras, it is not the words themselves that count. The purpose is to visualize and to meditate on that. The meditation is important. You can do it in English or whatever language you have. I have no objection whatsoever, provided you develop a rhythm in it. Reading it without rhythm as fast as you can, is worse [than not-understood Tibetan]. The Ganden Lha Gyema is very important. We put emphasis on really doing it and by saying it you really have to visualize something, otherwise it serves no purpose. I will give you a very, very brief explanation – something to think about and something to meditate.166

Preliminary practices Taking Refuge I take refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha… The refuge you are taking is important; it is the doorway to Buddhist practice. Taking refuge means seeking protection. You seek the ultimate protection from the ultimate refuge, which is your own [future] buddha, and dharma and sangha. The visualized Buddha in front of you is not a picture, like a drawing on paper or a thangka is a piece of cloth. Buddha is a fully enlightened being, created in front of you by your own imagination from the true nature of emptiness. He or she is in the nature of light, all-knowing, with countless and limitless capabilities, similar to the idea of God – that is what you visualize in front of you. That way it makes sense for western people. His body is Sangha, his speech is Dharma and his mind is Buddha. Buddha, Dharma and Sangha all together in one solid being we call the Jewel Collection. Take refuge to that. It doesn’t matter which words you use. Whether you want to use English, Ti- betan, Dutch or Chinese, that is fine. Even when you don’t say anything, but sit and think about it, that’s also fine. Taking refuge is marking the Buddhist practice. That is why you take refuge.

Namo Gurubhya, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya, Namo Sanghaya. I take refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha Sang-gye chö-dang tsog-kyi chog-nam-la Until I obtain enlightenment. Jang-chub bar-du dag-ni kyab-su chi By practicing generosity and the other perfections Dag-gi jin-sog gyi-pe sö-nam kyi May I be able to obtain enlightenment, Dro-la pän-chir sang-gye drub-par shog. for the benefit of all sentient beings. Kön-chog sum-la kyab-su-chio I go for refuge to the Triple Gem. Dem-chen tam-che dag-gi-dröl I shall liberate all sentient beings.

165 At the Lamrim Teachings in Ann Arbor 1987-1990, on Thursday nights, this practice was used at the beginning of the evening. It is strongly adviced as a personal practice for every Lamrim student. At the open Tuesday night teachings (broadcasted in The Netherlands every Wednesday night) Rimpoche uses a shorter practice, the Tuesday Night Prayers, i.e. the Odyssey to Freedom prayer. 166 A much more detailed explanation, to be found in Gehlek Rimpoche, Ganden Lha Gyema, is meant for those wanting to engage in the practice of 100,000 Migtsemas as a preparation for Vajrayana. 114 Lam Rim Teachings

Jang-chub ne-la gö-par-gyi To lead them to an enlightened state Jang-chub sem-ni yang-dag-kye. I generate purely an enlightened motive.

La-ma Tön-pa Chom-den-de Guru, Founder, Blessed One, de-zhin che-pa dra-chom-pa Tathagata and Arhat, yang-dag-par dzog-pe sang-gye Completely Perfect Buddha, pel gyel-wa Sa-kya thub-pa-la Great Victor, Sakyamuni, Lord, chag-tsel ching kyab-su chi-wo To you we bow, go for refuge and offer gifts. dhö-do jin-gyi lab-tu-söl. O please bless us.

Causal refuge and result-oriented refuge. Both causal and result refuge we can take with the visualization of the Jewel Collection. Causal refuge is the refuge to the historical Buddha. The easy way of thinking is: the body of the historical Buddha is the sangha; the speech of the historical Buddha is the dharma – the result of his spiritual development, his experience that he has been sharing – and his mind is Buddha, i.e. awakened. For the result-oriented refuge you look for your own future buddha. It is similar. Your mind as future buddha, your spiritual development as future dharma and your pure body as future sangha.

Mahayana refuge … until I obtain enlightenment. These words indicate the Mahayana refuge. It is slightly different from the ordinary refuge. Ordinary refuge is seeking help for just now, “I need help, particularly for this.” Here you say, “I do not only need help now, but I need help till I obtain enlightenment.” Till I become a buddha – the stage where I won’t need any help any more – till then I seek help. That is Mahayana refuge. The Mahayana refuge also needs to be compassion-oriented. Why? Because I say, “till I become enlightened.” What is the need for me to become enlightened? If I am simply seeking freedom from the suffering, I don’t have to become a buddha. Right? I need to become a buddha, because I have to help other beings. I need the capability, the achievement. Buddhahood is the best achievement, therefore I would like to become a buddha. To help other beings buddhahood has become my goal. The moment you say “until I become enlightened”, automatically you are switching to Mahayana.

Generating bodhicitta or bodhimind, the altruistic mind By practicing generosity and the other perfections, May I be able to obtain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. That is the second part of the verse. If you are going to become an enlightened being, you need the six perfections [Skt. paramitas]. The way to become a buddha is practicing generosity, morality, patience, enthusiasm, concentration and wisdom – all six. They become a way of functioning. By doing those you will be able to achieve the ultimate achievement, buddhahood. By doing these positive things you gain their positivity. In Tibetan the word is sonam, translated as luck, fortune, positivity, merit, virtuous activity, positive karma, positive energy. It is non-wisdom activity. Out of the six paramitas five are non-wisdom [Tib. sonam] and the sixth is the wisdom [Tib. yeshe]. So those two lines mean: because of those, may I be able to achieve buddhahood. That is the thought you generate. This whole part is: correcting your motivation. The purpose of this particular part of the practice you are doing here is motivation: taking refuge is getting the Buddhist flavor in your food and generating bodhimind gives the Mahayana flavor.

When you take refuge, you visualize the Buddha in front of you and say those words; by that you take refuge and generate the bodhimind. After that you absorb the Buddha into yourself. And you yourself become a buddha. Light radiates from your body and reaches the people around you, reaches everybody. Beyond the building, beyond the place, beyond the city, beyond this universe, everywhere. Just by the touch of the light from your body all the inhabitants become pure, the environment becomes pure, the in-

Appendices: Ganden Lha Gyema 115 habitants become enlightened beings. That means you have done your work. Then the light will gradually withdraw and dissolve into yourself. Actually, this is not really a good generation of the bodhimind or altruistic mind, but still it will serve the purpose. That is briefly what you do when you says the words.

What we do here is a practice that you will be able to take home, and that you will be able to practice every day, when you get up in the morning. All of them we are doing a little detailed, so that when you say the words in the morning in your home, you’ll have a certain way to think rather than just reading it. In this practice you read the words and you have an internal thing coming out corresponding to the words. Do you get it?

Guided meditation167 Preparation First you sit properly and comfortably.168 If you have a problem sitting cross-legged, sit in whatever position is comfortable for you. All unwanted energy you blow out from the nose. Then take three very soft breathings. Concentrate at your heart level. When you are concentrated at your heart level, you watch your thoughts. At any thought that comes up, which is influenced by your day’s activities or something bothering you, just try to change the focus back to your heart. Just relax. Let the mind be empty, totally. Let it be free of any different thoughts. And relax again. Relax. Now generate a pure motivation: I would like to obtain the ultimate development: buddhahood. Not for my sake, but for the benefit of all living beings. For that I would like to practice and meditate this great path.

Refuge and generating the bodhimind Visualize in front of you Buddha Sakyamuni, the refuge buddha. Visualize around you all sentient beings, filling up all the open lands. I take refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha – the causal Buddha. The body of the Buddha is Sangha. The spiritual development of the Buddha is Dharma. The mind of the Buddha is Buddha. I take refuge. I seek help. I seek protection. I seek the stage of a buddha itself. Therefore, until I obtain enlightenment, until I obtain the buddha stage, I seek refuge. By practicing generosity and every other activity that I indulge in, I accumulate merit, particularly by listening, learning, meditating and practicing this path. I would like to obtain buddhahood, therefore I do this. I take refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha Until I obtain enlightenment. By practicing generosity and the other perfections May I be able to obtain enlightenment, for the benefit of all sentient beings. (3x) Buddha dissolves into me. I become a buddha.

167 Meditation guidance and explanations alternate. By ‘jumping’ from indented paragraph to indented paragraph one will find a complete guided meditation for one’s practice. 168 See chapter V.

116 Lam Rim Teachings

Light radiates from my heart, fills my body completely. The inside of my body is full of light. Then light goes out from my body, shines out, radiating a huge aura. The light fills up the room, the city, the country, the universe and all other multi-galaxies; millions and millions of them are filled up by the light coming from my heart. Wherever the light reaches it wishes all beings happiness and purity. Just by the touch of the light, every environment becomes pure. Just by the touch of the light all inhabitants get transformed, everyone becomes a buddha. The light gradually dissolves back into this universe, then back to the country, to the city, to the building and finally into my body. It dissolves back into my heart level.

Generating the four immeasurables Generating the bodhimind is not enough. I also want to generate the four immeasurables, the earmark for my practice to be a Mahayana practice. The cause for sadness, suffering, and even for ordinary joy, is closeness and distance, attachment and hatred. My emotional ups and downs are caused by those. I wish all beings to be totally free from the cause of those. May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering May all sentient beings never be parted from freedom’s true joy May all sentient beings dwell in equanimity, free from attachment and aversion. May they be completely free from attachment and hatred, remain peaceful and in equanimity forever. May all sentient beings remain in happiness which has no pain, no sadness, no sorrow at all, may they remain in that happiness and its causes. I also wish them to be separated from the pain and the causes of the pain. May they remain in joyfulness. If you just wish separation from the pain and the causes of pain, it will be compassion. If you say, “may all sentient beings be separated from their pain and the cause of the pain”, it becomes immeasurable compassion, because the object is all sentient beings – not one or two or a limited number in particular, but all. Remaining in joyfulness is wishing everyone well, which is generating love. Not only are we wishing them well, but we wish them to remain in joyfulness and the causes of joyfulness. The four immeasurables can be in different orders; that doesn’t matter.

Creation and invocation of the Supreme Field of Merit Here the actual Ganden Lha Gyema starts. What you meditate here is the pure land of Tushita. Out of all pure lands Tushita is a specifically mentioned pure land. Actually, you invite all enlightened beings, in your guide master’s form, from there or from wherever their pure land is. Though they are there all the time, you have to visualize that they are invited. When we talk about the qualities of a buddha, we say Buddha’s knowledge or mind is equal to the body; wherever the body is there is the mind, wherever the mind is there is the body. However, because this is a practice and we have a lot of doubts, to make it clear to ourselves we invite the enlightened beings. We may say sometimes, “Hey, this is only what I am imagining, nobody has come.” In order to avoid that, we have the invitation. You really visualize that the totality of enlightened beings is invited in the form of your guide master. A question rises here. To make it straightforward: it means you really visualize your master’s form. This is the normal guru-devotional practice. But ‘your master’ doesn’t necessarily mean the person who is talking to you. Sometimes it means that, yes. But, what you are recommended to do here, is to visualize your guru in the form of Je Tsongkhapa, in the form of Guru Padmasambhava, in the form of Buddha Sakyamuni or in whatever form is convenient for you.

Explanation of the visualization. I will explain the visualization a little in detail, because this is the basis.

Appendices: Ganden Lha Gyema 117

You are sitting here and in front of you, you visualize Tsongkhapa169 with his two disciples170. We call that the Supreme Field of Merit. Here in the room you are surrounded by pictures of Tsongkhapa and so and forth, so it is no problem to visualize them. The idea of putting the pictures around is not for decoration but to help your visualization; that is the purpose. Even if you can not picture the disciples, it is okay. In the extensive form it is pictured as a merit-tree. What we did earlier with the visualization of the Buddha, was the refuge. I introduced just the refuge object, the Buddha, not the refuge tree. For that there have to be a lot of other things in it and I don’t think we are capable of doing that yet. If you have the time and opportunity to read Pabongka’s book, you’ll find in there a refuge tree and a supreme field of merit tree with a key to the figures171, American style. Just now instead of a merit-tree we visualize Tsongkhapa with his two disciples. Then above that we visualize the pure land of Tushita172. That is Maitreya’s land. Tushita is also a stepping stone for the official buddhas to appear in Jampudvipa, the land of the human beings in this universe. Buddha Sakyamuni is the present official buddha; the next official buddha will be Maitreya [Tib. Jampa], the buddha of love. At present Maitreya is holding the office in the pure land of Tushita; he is the head of that, he is the buddha in charge of Tushita [and therefore called ‘the Protector of the hundreds of deities…’]. From there he will come and appear as an official buddha in this human land. The qualities of a pure land are that there is nothing impure there. What does pure mean here? Not created as an ordinary karmic result. If something is created as an ordinary karmic result, there are always faults. A pure land is not created by ordinary karma but by extraordinary karma. The wisdom or the spiritual development of the inhabitants of that universe or environment has produced it. Therefore nothing is impure. The ground is pure, the water is pure, the inhabitants are pure, even the fish are pure. There are several ways of visualizing your Supreme Field. The most easy way and my personal practice is the ‘Jewel Collection’. No matter who you visualize, in reality it is the Buddha, it is the dharma, it is the sangha – it is everything in one single, solid form. So you visualize one person in a solid form (e.g. Tsongkhapa in monk’s look) to hold on to in order to find your Field of Merit. Do not take the form of a living person. Not only do you visualize this; on your invitation the wisdom beings actually come and dissolve into whatever figure you have visualized and they become inseparable. That is what you have to meditate, concentrate on and convince yourself of. I don’t want to say funny words, I don’t want to say, ‘to hypno- tize yourself’, but to convince yourself you almost go to that point. Then you have actually found your object of refuge or merit. Until you have found something to hold on to, you didn’t find it.

How to grow merit. This is providing you with a Field of Merit. We need to develop merit and in order to develop merit we need a good field, like you need a good field to grow good crops. That is why we are doing all this. We are just preparing the ground to grow the merit. If you don’t have merit you are also not going to see the truth. To see the truth you need a tremendous amount of luck, you have to be a lucky fellow. If you are not lucky, you are not going to see the truth, for sure. So, sonam – merit, luck, positive energy, virtue, positive karma – is definitely necessary. We have very little efforts to put in. Look into our activities: we are interested in the dharma, but the time we put into it is very limited. We live in a mundane world with a lot of activities which are not dharma. We only have twenty-four hours a day, there is no extra time. If you divide that up, first you take out eight hours for sleep, another eight hours for work, then four or more hours for idle gossip, which includes reading the newspaper, watching television, walking, swimming, exercising, listening to music, whatever, then two hours for eating. Now you are left with two hours. So, what we really put in out of twenty-four hours, is very little. I am not even sure whether anybody puts in two hours or not; that is ques- tionable. Do we put that in? Hardly. We don’t. It means we have very limited time. We really need a big trick to apply, otherwise we won’t have enough time. So we seek a very good field to be able to grow

169 The text says ‘Lozang Dragpa’, which is Tsongkhapa’s personal ordination name. 170 Picture on p. 113. 171 Pabongka Rinpoche, Liberation in Our Hands, vol. I: Refuge-tree opposite p. 142; Merit-tree in back cover; key to the Merit- tree, p. 242. Also see the big Merit-field thangka drawn by Marian van der Horst. 172 Sanskrit; Tib.: Ganden; English: ‘Land of Joy’.

118 Lam Rim Teachings merit, a field on which we can grow crops twelve times a year. There is no better field than something that represents the enlightened beings that we can connect to. That is the reason of this whole business. Not only do we generate a picture. We invite the wisdom beings to satisfy our rational mind, that it is not only our projection. An invocation is done and the real being comes from a pure land through the ufo cloud and merges into what I have pictured.

Visualization and invocation of the Supreme Field of Merit In the space directly in front of you is a throne held up by snow lions. On top of that is an open lotus and on top of that a moon cushion. You visualize on either side of the throne – not very clearly – two smaller thrones with Gyeltsab Je at the right and Kedrub Je at the left.173 Then you start visualizing Tsongkhapa: his feet, his knees, his body with the monk’s robes, his hands in the teaching mudra, up his shoulders and the face, and then the big, yellow pointed hat. Over his left shoulder a flower with a book and over his right shoulder a flower with a sword. You build up one [detail] at the time and try to get a general impression of the whole thing. Think of his body as being made of light and being clear before you. You see Tsongkhapa inseparable from your own spiritual masters. No matter how many spiritual masters you have, all of them become one, in the shape of Tsongkhapa. That is your Supreme Field of Merit in front of you. Visualize slightly above, at a little distance from us but within our visual reach, the pure land of Tushita, the land where Buddha Maitreya, the buddha of love, resides. It is a very happy place with all the qualities of a pure land. The environment is pure, the ground is perfect, the mountains, the hills are wonderful, the rivers are beautiful, the lakes are great, the trees are good, the grasses and the flowers bloom, everything is pure. Everything is a manifestation of the enlightened beings over there, even the birds. You hear the birds giving a teaching of dharma. All that happens because it is a pure land. In that pure land are a lot of enlightened beings and a lot of activities are going on. Some enlightened beings are going out of their pure land to carry out some activities. Some have completely finished their work and are returning. Some are doing things there. In other words, it is not completely quiet and dull. Multiple activities are going on, yet it is very peaceful. It is wonderful. Now you see over there the most important deity, Buddha Maitreya, giving teachings in the gar- den. On his right is Atisha, on his left Je Tsongkhapa. And when you begin to look at the heart of the Buddha Maitreya, inside there you can see an endless knot. Buddha Maitreya looks down and sees you making this visualization. Then, from the endless knot in Buddha Maitreya’s heart, the wisdom being, the great Tsongkhapa is manifested along with his two disciples. (If you can not visualize the disciples, it is okay, you can visualize Tsongkhapa.) Then from all the different pure lands and particularly from the pure land of Tushita, Tsongkhapa with his two disciples, coming from the heart of Buddha Maitreya, arrive on the tip of a very nice white cloud in front of you and dissolve into your mentally created Tsongkhapa with the two disciples. [All this happens while you recite the verse:] From the heart of the Protector of the hundreds of deities of the Land of Joy Comes a cloud that resembles a mass of fresh white curd. Omniscient Lozang Dragpa, King of the Dharma, together with your sons, I request you to come here on its tip. From the pure land of Tushita, from the heart of Buddha Maitreya, the buddha of love and compassion, Tsongkhapa has emerged and has come in front of me as my Supreme Field of Merit, inseparable from my spiritual masters.

173 Right and left are always indicated from your object, in this case Je Tsongkhapa.

Appendices: Ganden Lha Gyema 119

He is a living person, not a picture but a human being in front of me.

Concentration meditation. You have a tremendous object of meditation here! I do not know whether you people realize that or not. Just visualizing Tsongkhapa alone is going to give you a hell of a lot of meditation problems. To say ‘visualize’ is very simple, but practically trying to do it, is going to give a hell of a lot of problems. You probably have Tsongkhapa headless, feetless and so on. Why? Because you are not used to it. Here you have to do analytical and concentration meditation both. Analytically you produce the object of meditation, Tsongkhapa, before inviting him. For daily practice you may just produce some kind of image and you may be satisfied with that, but if you want to do a deeper meditation, you can meditate and try to build it up completely, instead of doing a counting-the-breath meditation. (I don’t mean to insult the breathing meditation, but concentrating on this is of much more value for the individual than counting the breath.) Visualization is to me nothing but a mental picture drawn by the mind. Pictures we hang at the wall will help, but by looking at them you only train your eyes, you do not train your mind. In order to train our mind, we need a mental picture. Making the visualization clear will take a hell of a lot of time. So do it bit by bit, don’t wait until it becomes absolutely clear. Keep on building it up, improving it day by day and one day you will have a clear Tsongkhapa picture. Once you’ve got a clear Tsongkhapa picture, you have taken the first step of concentration meditation [Skt. shamatha; Tib. zhinay]. The true meditation begins there; until then we pretend to. It gives you relaxation, it gives you a lot. What does zhinay mean? Like the Sanskrit shamatha it means mental abiding, single-pointed meditative concentration. The first part of the word, zhi, means peaceful, pacify. What do you pacify? You pacify the delusions within your mind, particularly the gross delusions. You solve the internal struggles, emotions and problems that you have. By pacifying the delusions – either not letting them come around or at least not coming under their control – you develop a great joy, a pleasure within the mind as well as within the body. Once that happens, you will be able to remain on that point of meditation. The second part of the word, nay, means remaining, ground, base, being stable, being there. So zhinay is: remaining in the state of peace, mental equipoise, calm abiding. Just not thinking helps a little to calm down. Really fully staying focused will pacify the delusions within you, like anger, attachment, hatred, all emotional problems. The pacifying is done by staying on one object, which can be anything. By staying on the object you develop both mental and physical pleasure, definitely better than the pleasure you get out of ordinary sex. That is the meditative state you can get. Mind you, I did not use the word ‘cutting out’, I did not use the word ‘getting rid of’. I did use the word ‘not getting under their control’. Temporarily the delusions can completely disappear within you. I use the word temporarily because zhinay is not an absolute solution. It is an aspirin, not a treatment. Along with that you need lhagtong [Tib.; Skt. vipasyana, special insight]. The lhagtong cuts the delusions out completely. Here you can meditate on Tsongkhapa. Analytically you bring all the parts of the body together and try to make it clear. Don’t overspend time on it, then you’ll get a problem. You keep on doing a little bit here and there and in three or four years you may be able to develop the base. If you keep on thinking of getting the base in three or four months, forget it! You will get tired, fed up, think nothing is going to happen – all those kind of things will happen because your goal is so short. Over the years you’ll be able to develop the base and then you’ll become able to stay on it. The longer you can stay on it, the better you develop the pleasure.

So, when you raise here Tsongkhapa in your mind, you are given ample opportunity to meditate. If you don’t do it, then that is it. You can either choose to just say the words and run, or just say the words and go along with them, or you can sit down and meditate. The choice is yours. Since we are putting in only two out of every twenty-four hours towards the spiritual practice, it is better to take at least one hour in a peaceful environment, where nobody knocks on your door, where no telephone is ringing, where you can withdraw. That is useful. If not daily then do it at least once a week. The other six days you may just drive around and say your commitments, but at least once a week do it the long way. Okay?

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The Seven-limb practice174 The Seven-limb prayer is the most important practice.

1. Request to remain You have visualized that the wisdom beings came and now you request them to stay. Normally in the seven-limb prayer, the request to stay comes a little later175, but here it is put first, with reason. When you invite somebody, you say, “Please come in and sit down.” It may be American style to let a person stay outside at the door and talk, but in the Asian style you invite the person in, ask him to sit down and have him something to eat or drink, relax and then talk. Since this has come from Asia, let it be the Asian style – ask them to come in and sit down. If you can’t visualize the sun and the moon disc and the throne, it doesn’t matter. Just picture your Supreme Field, concentrate, and make a strong request. The moment you invite them you say, Please be seated. Please remain as long as I have pure thoughts, as long as I have a pure mind to purify, as long as I have a pure mind to accumulate merit as well as long as I have the desire to obtain the fully awakened mind. Until then, please be seated, don’t go away, don’t separate, don’t leave me, be with me all the time to help me, to support me in helping all other sentient beings. In other words: “Hey, I know you got tremendous powers, you can run away, but I don’t want you to run away, please be with me!” O venerable Gurus with white smiles of delight,

174 The seven-limb practice is to be found in the Avatamsaka Sutra. See Thomas Cleary, The Flower Ornament Sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra, p. 1511-1513 or Thomas Cleary, Entry into the Realm of Reality, Gandavyuha Sutra, p. 387-389. Also in: Atisha, A Lamp for the Path and Commentary, translation by Sherburne, p. 25-27 and in Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment with commentary by Geshe Sonam Rinchen. A Seven-limb prayer, drawn from the second and third chapter of Shantideva’s Bodhisattvacharyavatara follows here: Offer salutations To Buddhas of the past, the present, and all future time, And to the Doctrine and Sublime Assembly, With bodies as many as the grains of dust Upon the ground, I will prostrate and bow down. Present symbolic and boundless imagined offerings I offer every fruit and flower And every kind of healing medicine: And all the precious things the world affords, With all pure waters of refreshment; Every mountain, rich and filled with jewels; All sweet and lonely forest groves; The trees of heaven, garlanded with blossom, And branches heavy, laden with their fruit; The perfumed fragrance of the realms of gods and men; All incense, wishing trees, and trees of gems; All crops that grow without the tiller’s care And every sumptuous object worthy to be offered. Lakes and merges adorned with lotuses; All plaintive with the sweet-voiced cries of water birds And lovely to the eyes, and all things wild and free, Stretching to the boundless limits of the sky; I hold them all before my mind, and to the supreme Buddha And to his heirs will make a perfect gift of them. O, think of me with love, Compassionate Lord; Sacred object of my prayers, accept these offerings. Purify all that is negative From beginningless time I have done, and made others do And been happy about countless bad deeds and negative actions. With regret I confess in your presence, Compassionate One, And I vow in the future never to do them again. Rejoice in all that is positive The intention, ocean of great good, That seeks to place all beings in the state of bliss, And every action for the benefit of all: Such is my delight and all my joy. Seek guidance And so I join my hands and pray To the Buddhas who reside in every quarter: Kindle now the Dharma’s light For those who grope, bewildered, in the dark of suffering! Request to remain I join my hands, beseeching the Enlightened Ones Who wish to pass beyond the bonds of sorrow: Do not leave us in our ignorance; Remain among us for unnumbered ages! Dedicate effort And through these actions now performed, By the virtue I have just amassed, May all the pain of every living being Be wholly scattered and destroyed! 175 See Odyssey to Freedom prayer.

Appendices: Ganden Lha Gyema 121

Seated on lion thrones, lotus and moon in the space before me, I request you to remain for hundreds of eons In order to spread the teachings And be the Supreme Field of Merit for my mind of faith. Not only did you come and are you with me, but I request you to remain here as long as I need it, to be my Supreme Field of Merit. Please, remain here until my purpose has been fulfilled. By making this request from the bottom of my heart, they not only accepted my request but they are happy to remain with me forever. Visualize and imagine that strongly.

2. Praise When you get some guests, you don’t only welcome them, ask them to come in and sit, but you say, “You are looking great”; you praise them a little bit. You don’t say, “You look horrible, get out of here.” You throw your butter, “Hey, you are great, you are kind, you are handsome, you are wonderful, I admire you. I want to become like you. How can I become like you?” That is what it is; it is not really buttering. Why do you mention the qualities? To admire: “This is something that I want to get, this is something that I look for, this is something that I can establish.” By admiring the qualities you use the Supreme Field as a role-model. We do have role-models, don’t we? “I should look like that person, I should act like that person, I should dress like that person, I should talk like that person, I should smell like that person.” That’s what we do. Similarly here, we admire their qualities: “Hey, you have this quality, that quality, how great you are. How can I become like you? I really want to! This quality I want, that quality I want!” If you have attachment, you should have this type of attachment. This is good attachment. Such an attachment can be transformed and become a pure path later. You may not call it attachment, it is a desire to be like that. It is seeking a role-model. By praising their qualities, you create a tremendous amount of merit. You praise the body with its qualities, you praise the speech with its qualities, you praise the mind with its qualities. You admire the qualities and you express, “I would also like to have that quality.” We know how to do that; we normally are quite an expert on it. Your minds have the intellect That comprehends the full extent of what can be known, Your speech, with its excellent explanations, Becomes the ear ornament for those of good fortune, Your bodies are radiantly handsome with glory renowned. I prostrate to you whom to behold, hear or recall is worthwhile. I praise the Supreme Field of Merit by their qualities: the qualities of body, mind and speech. And also I prostrate, meaning: I acknowledge your qualities and I bow. I admire those qualities. At the same time I also seek those qualities for myself. Not only would I like to develop your quality of body, mind and speech, but also just seeing it is very purposeful and helps to get liberated; just hearing about it helps to get liberated and also just remembering it helps tremendously. So, “I admire those qualities and seek them from you!” Remember, there are two things involved here: it’s not only praising but also asking for the qualities they have. The Tibetan word chag-tsel, translated as ‘prostate’, means, ‘I acknowledge it and also I admire it and seek that for me’. A special quality here is: seeing it makes it worthwhile, hearing about it makes it worthwhile, remembering it helps us. The word ‘handsome’ here doesn’t mean looking handsome; here it means: “You have the quality of the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks on your body, which indicates you are an enlightened being.” “Your speech is an ear ornament for the fortunate ones” does not mean earrings, but it means: “Your speech can relay [what is needed] to a fortunate being like me.” Why do we call ourselves fortunate here? We generated the bodhimind. You very often see in Tibetan texts: “I am a fortunate one.” Fortunate always refers to the bodhisattvas. So: “I am fortunate to be able to develop that.”

122 Lam Rim Teachings

3. Offering You get the guest in, you say a few nice things and then you offer something. Right? It is a Tibetan tradition to put up seven bowls of water on your altar, as a minimum. You can lay out a hundred bowls, it doesn’t matter. And then flowers, incense, light etc., anything that is fit to be offered, you offer. The offerings also have to be pure, you do not offer anything impure. The offering is not limited. If you are poor you don’t have to say, “I am poor, I have nothing to offer”, you don’t have to worry. In this universe there is a lot that is not owned by anybody – it’s mentioned in the Bodhisattvacharyavatara.176 There are a tremendous amount of things that are not owned by individuals, like flowers, trees, bird’s songs etc. And you have the right to offer that because it is the creation of our collective karma. The whole universe is the result of the karma to which every one of us has contributed. You have your part there, so you can offer it. But don’t offer something which is owned by somebody else, otherwise you get into trouble. The verse talks about anything actually given and anything mentally created. This is a mental exercise with which you can give tremendous amounts. Your visualization here should be in the Samantabhadra style. The bodhisattva Samantabhadra multiplies everything. He himself gets multiplied a million times, each one of his bodies has a million heads, each one of the million heads has a million tongues and when you say one praise, multi-million praises are going on together. Likewise, when you make an offering you should not visualize the one thing you put on the little table, whatever you have gets multiplied completely and your offering fills up the whole universe. For example: the moment you say ‘flower’, flowers fill up all the open space completely and we offer them. So, you don’t visualize one small little bowl filled up with water, no! Multi-billion bowls fill up all space and the universe looks small compared with your offerings: your offerings may look like a horse and the universe like a little tick on his back. That much you mentally create. Mentally you can make a hell of an offering!

Here you can do two things: the outer material offering and the inner practice offering. Practice offering means: all my practices, any taking refuge, any Lamrim meditations, any efforts to cut my delusions, any practice of the six perfections, all that together becomes a universe filled up with all sorts of offerings of the best quality available, including your body, mind and speech.

Not only do you make the offerings, you also visualize that they gladly accept the offerings you give. And you also think that they enjoy them. You have to think that! It builds up extra merit. It is an extra ‘trick’ you apply – or rather skilful means. Also I would like to make offerings, offerings of flowers, incense etc. In short, the whole universe that I and others are in, the whole universe occupied or unoccupied and my body, my speech and my mind, I would like offer to my Supreme Field of Merit. And particularly all my good work, my virtues, all my accumulated merit of past and present that I have, I offer. And especially I offer my practice. Pleasing water offerings, various flowers, Fragrant incense, light, and scented water, This ocean of such cloud-like offerings, Both actually arranged and mentally created, I present to you, O Supreme Field of Merit. Not only did I make offerings, but my offerings are very happily accepted.

Offering and the sangha. Offering is important, because we are always short of money, we always have difficulties. We have been looking for land to be able to establish a Jewel Heart retreat area. We didn’t find it yet. We looked everywhere, yet we never found it. I have been observing it and then when I had

176 Shantideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, ch. 2, vs. 1-6. Transl. Stephen Batchelor. Commentary: Gehlek Rim- poche, Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, ch. 2.

Appendices: Ganden Lha Gyema 123

Denma Lochö Rinpoche here to check things for Jewel Heart in general, I was looking for an answer to that: Jewel Heart didn’t make distribution of money or things for monks and monasteries from the beginning; I didn’t pay attention. I was thinking and then I began to realize we are not really a Jewel Heart sangha yet. I am sorry to say that, but that is the clear answer to why we haven’t been fortunate enough to have found the land. We need more merit. What can you do individually? Besides offerings to the monks and things like that, you do a better practice and share the dharma. Dharma work especially is dharma activity is dharma practice. That is very important to notice. It helps the mental development, it helps to build up the backbone of your spiritual development and all this. Offering is the one which makes the merit. Offering is generosity; generosity brings wealth. Offerings are recommended and here you have a tremendous object for generosity. You Supreme Field of Merit is not an ordinary object. Giving to the needy is one thing; it is definitely great and for sure you have to help the needy. But on the other hand, if the object to whom you give is special, your merit will build up accordingly, according to the Buddhist tradition. That’s why it becomes sometimes bad [not to do so]. I didn’t want to say these things and I tried to avoid it many times, but it is. If you look to South-east Asia, to the Chinese tradition and everywhere, you find that people are giving without any hesitation tremendous amounts to the monks, really, thousands of dollars. No hesitation for whatsoever. But to an organization they won’t give. That’s their mentality. The object is different, that’s why. To accumulate merit, generosity is needed, and giving to the Supreme Field of Merit is, I think, the best way to build up generosity. The paramita of generosity will develop out of that. It’s not only material; whatever help or service you can give, is included in it.

Sangha. Also we need to organize a little better social gatherings, getting together. I noticed that one of our biggest problems here is: we have these teachings and everybody will come to the teachings, but when it is over I go and you people also go home and we don’t see each other, we don’t even know each other. Ex- cept for some individuals here and there, we don’t have much personal relations; that is weak. We need to build the sangha community. Not necessarily everybody has to deal with me. I am sitting here, I am talking to all of you, not one by one personally, and that is it. When that is over, because of the busy life we separate completely and we don’t have the interlinkage. And when you don’t interlink, then the inter-sangha- connection is not there. When there is no inter-sangha-connection then the group dynamism; the sangha value is not there. When the sangha value is not there, the effect is not there. This is exactly what is happening. So if you could build that up, it would help tremendously. OM-cafe benefit helps to few people to go there together.177 Similar type of things you can create, sometimes a picnic, sometimes a party, organizing events, anything.

4. Purification Each one of the seven limbs is important, we cannot miss any one. The purification also is very important and I should mention here: there is no non-virtue which cannot be purified. Do you remember the Angulimala story? He was misguided and almost killed one thousand human beings in one week, and even that could be purified. That gives you the message: if you have blind faith you can be misguided. So you have to use your intellectual powers. When you are over-doubtful, you have a misfortune, too. There is a story. Sakya Pandita178 was invited by the Chinese emperor179 to be his spiritual master. They observed him for twelve years and at the end of the twelve years the emperor issued a statement saying, “We have carefully observed you and you are fit to be the guru of the emperor of China.” Sakya Pan- dita issued another statement saying, “You have observed me for twelve years, now I have to observe you for twelve years, whether you are going to be fit to be my disciple.” According to the Sakyapa stories, in

177 OM-cafe was a project the Jewel Heart sangha US: Sunday morning breakfast served by Jewel Heart members, and the pro- ceeds go to Jewel Heart. 178 Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyeltsen, 4th of the 5 patriarchs of the Sakyapa tradition, 1182-1251. 179 At that time Godan Khan, the grandson of Chingis Khan.

124 Lam Rim Teachings that observation period Sakya Pandita died and another lama180 became the Chinese emperor’s guru immediately, without any observation.

The four powers of purification – the four R’s. No matter how high the crime may be, how much non- virtuous karma you may have, there is nothing which cannot be purified. If you want to, every single thing can be purified. Really. The only thing you need is the four powers, the four R’s: the power of the base or Recognition; the power of Regret, the power of non-Repetition, and the power of Re-direction or the antidote action. The power of the base or Recognition. There are a lot of different explanations on the power of the base. Important here is to recognize the base on which you commit the non-virtue. If you hit a being and that being gets hurt, whether it is an animal or a human being, you create non-virtuous karma. Every action causes karma. If you are angry to a being, it creates a non-virtuous karma. If you are angry to a rock, I don’t know whether you create bad karma. Probably you do because you are angry, a delusion of mind. But if you hit the rock, as long as you don’t hurt yourself, the karma of hitting is not there. Anyway. If we accumulated non-virtue because we harmed somebody, that somebody is the base on which we created non-virtuous karma. We need to compensate that. The compensation depends on what kind of being it is. If it is an enlightened being, like Buddha, you can’t say, “Oh poor chap, I did hit him.” That is not suitable. The suitable compensation for an enlightened being will be taking refuge. To non-enlightened beings we cannot take refuge. They can’t help you; it becomes a burden for them and it is not good for you. Therefore to non-enlightened beings you generate love-compassion. The person is either enlightened or non-enlightened, there is no third possibility. Taking refuge fulfills the power of enlightened beings’ base and meditating love-compassion fulfills the power of the non-enlightened beings’ base. As you don’t know who is who, you do both. We don’t have the ‘Who is who’ book. When I studied the modern history of Tibet I found that a Brit wrote a book called Who is who in Tibet? It was limited, published in London by the British foreign service in the 1930s and for internal circulation only. It talked about: who is this person, what is that person’s background, who are their family, who is related to whom, how much is that person’s influence, how wealthy is this person, how much public respect does he get, all this was mentioned in that. Since we don’t have the ‘Who is who’ book, we compensate both by taking refuge and generating love-compassion. In this case, we have already taken refuge earlier and we have generated the four immeasurables, so love-compassion is definitely generated. Therefore the power of the base is automatically done and you don’t have to redo it here at this point. The power of Regret. Yes, you definitely need regret. If you don’t regret what you did wrong, then you enjoy doing it, and if you enjoy doing it you will repeat it, and that is not good. A neutral feeling is possible, but a neutral feeling will not help you, so you need regret. I would like to mention something here. It is totally personal, but as all of us are interested in dharma, spiritual practice, it might not be out of place mention it here. It is completely alright to welcome the troops back really.181 You feel happy that the troops are coming back, great. However, you have to be very careful about the bombardment. You don’t have to say they are wrong, if you don’t want to say that, but I don’t think you should rejoice in it. If you keep on rejoicing in the killing of hundreds of thousands of human beings, you will have an equal share in it. Try to avoid that. Welcome the troops, fine. Fellow citizens coming back home, great! It is wonderful, but do not rejoice in the bombardment. You’ll get unnecessary non-virtue. This is not support for Saddam Houssein, believe me, but we should protect ourselves. We rejoice in the people coming back, but we don’t rejoice in the war. You get it? Karmically it will be very heavy, so be careful with that. You have to be able to make that distinction; that is in our personal benefit. The power of non-Repetition or promise. If you have regret, the intent for non-repetition will automatically follow. If you don’t like what you did, you are not going to do it again. Even if somebody forces you to do it, you will hesitate to do it, because you didn’t like what you did earlier. So one follows the other.

180 His nephew [Drogon Chögyal] Pagpa. 13th century. 181 This teaching was given in the 1980s, when the US bombarded Iraq in the Saddam Houssein period.

Appendices: Ganden Lha Gyema 125

The power of Re-directing or the antidote action. You also already have the power of antidote action, because you are saying this practice. Antidote actions will be saying mantras, saving lives, generosity, prostrations, mandala offerings, reading books, meditating, helping other people, servicing other people; all of that. If you apply the four powers, no matter how heavy the non-virtue might be, it can definitely be purified. Definitely. Except for broken vows, which cannot be purified in that way. Broken vows have their own system of rejuvenating, which you have to follow. The three vows are the vow of self-liberation, the bodhisattva vow and the Vajrayana vows.

So, applying the four powers purifies. But, how strong your application works depends on how much purification is there. If it is very strong then it is totally purified, if it is medium then it is medium purified, if so-so it is so-so purified. That is how it works. Anyway, you’re offered a chance here. You don’t have to purify only one thing you did. Everything you did from the limitless beginning you can purify here. Also in the presence of my Supreme Field of Merit, I and all sentient beings would like to take this opportunity here to purify whatever bad karma we have accumulated from the limitless beginning. Buddha has promised: if one purifies with the four powers, no matter how heavy the non-virtue may be, it can be purified. And as a buddha doesn’t cheat his followers, I am here to remind you, Supreme Field of Merit, to help us to purify all the non-virtuous karmas that I and all mother- sentient beings have created. I would like to purify all the non-virtuous actions that I and the mother-sentient beings have committed. In particular the bad things that I remember as well as the things that I do not remember but might have created, I regret very strongly. I’ll try not to repeat them. You, the Supreme Field of Merit, and my efforts combined together complete here the four powers. Whatever non-virtues of body, speech and mind I have accumulated from beginningless time, And especially any transgressions of my three vows, I confess over and again with fervent regret from my heart. This is an opportunity for me to purify. I purify all the wrong, negative karma that I have collected from the limitless beginning, the actions that I know of and the actions I don’t know of. I purify by applying the four powers. Power one I have already established, because here I have taken refuge and generated love- compassion to all beings. Power two: I seek to correct all these non-virtues very strongly, very strongly. I know it will bring a negative result and therefore here is an opportunity for me to purify. I take the opportunity, I regret that I did wrong. I regret it almost to the extent of having taken poison182, that strongly. Power three: I regret, I will not repeat it. Power four: I do have an action of practicing that will be the antidote action. By establishing these four powers with strong regret, I and the mother-sentient beings have been purified and I have become pure now. I am pure. I am pure and free of all non-virtuous karmas. I am pure.

5. Rejoicing Another skilful means of developing good merit is rejoicing. Rejoice to make a good profit. It is a business advice. You make a good dharma business, you make good profit if you rejoice instead of getting jealous. We get jealous. Right? We don’t rejoice. If somebody does something we say, “Hey, it is his act, but…” If instead of that you rejoice, you get an equal amount of benefit. If you rejoice in the buddhas’ en bodhi-

182 If by accident I had eaten poisoned food and I came to know it, I certainly would regret to have eaten that food.

126 Lam Rim Teachings sattvas’ activities you get half their benefit. What else do you want? It is good business profit without making any investment. Somebody else does the dirty work and you just sit there and rejoice and you get all the benefit. When you people tried to build up this center and start selling your underwear183, I sat there and rejoiced. You worked hard and sold things and I sat there and rejoiced. So you worked hard and I got benefited. You also got benefited – I didn’t take it away from you. If you are jealous of somebody, you lose your merit; if you rejoice – whether that person is genuine or not – you gain merit. That is what the buddhas and bodhisattvas teach you about how to behave: instead of getting jealous, rejoice and you will benefit. Rejoice. From the depths of our hearts we rejoice, O Protectors, In the great waves of your deeds, You who strove to learn and practice in this degenerate age And who made your fully endowed life worthwhile By abandoning the eight worldly feelings. Just being pure will not be sufficient to develop the great mind and to obtain buddhahood. I would like to accumulate merit. One of the best methods the buddhas and bodhisattvas recommended to accumulate merit is rejoice. I would like to rejoice in the great activities done by all great people that have come and appeared from time to time; particularly the great work of my Supreme Field of Merit. I rejoice. I learned that getting jealous of someone else is negative, brings a negative result. Instead I rejoice in others’ good work. Whether it is genuine or not genuine, whatever it might be, it is good work, so I rejoice in it. And particularly I rejoice in the great work done by the great enlightened beings. I really rejoice in that from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate it. I rejoice. By rejoicing I accumulate a tremendous merit. I am taking that opportunity here and rejoice in all the good works done by everybody, particularly by the enlightened beings.

6. Request for guidance You, the great Masters, may your sky of Dharmakaya Develop the clouds of love and compassion; And shower the profound and deep teachings, As suitable, on the ground of your disciples. I also request the Supreme Field of Merit to give teachings, to be my guidance, to be my friend, to be my spiritual friend, to be my spiritual guru, to be with me, to guide and help me.

7. Dedication I dedicate whatever virtues I have ever collected For the sake of the teaching and of all sentient beings, And in particular for the essential teachings Of Venerable Lozang Dragpa to shine forever. I would like to dedicate all the virtues which I have created here by doing this practice and all my other virtues to the best that the enlightened beings recommend, that is for me and all mother- sentient beings to obtain the ultimate spiritual development. Also I dedicate my virtues for this path to remain forever. I dedicate all my good works, all my virtues, to make everybody obtain enlightenment.

183 Refers to the very beginning time of Jewel Heart, when Aura and Sandy, Rimpoche’s first students, sold some of their clothes at a fair in order to raise money.

Appendices: Ganden Lha Gyema 127

Dedication is so important. Why? It protects all the good works not to get destroyed. If you don’t dedicate and you get angry all your virtues are swept away. When we apply the four powers all the non-virtues get purified, vice versa the anger can sweep away all the virtues, all the efforts you put in. You know, virtue and non-virtue, positive and negative, have equal power to eat each other. It is not always that virtue is powerful and non-virtue is less powerful. No, definitely not, there is an equal power there. So the anger eats all the virtues you have but if you dedicate it, the merit is saved. Since karma is definite184, if dedicated, you will get the virtues. Until you get the result, nobody can destroy it, it is saved. That is why dedication is important. By doing this seven-branch practice my Supreme Field of Merit is very happy with my activity. So are the buddhas and bodhisattvas all over. They are happy with whatever I am trying to do.

Optional: Mandala offering185 By directing to the Fields of Buddhas this offering of a mandala, Built on a Base resplendent with flowers, saffron water and incense, Adorned with Mount Meru and the four Continents, As well as with the Sun and the Moon May all sentient beings be led to these Fields. IDAM GURU RATNA MANDALAKAM NIRYATAYAMI.

Praying and requesting Invitation At the next verse you visualize that a little duplicate image of Tsongkhapa – or whatever physical form you visualized – comes from the Supreme Field of Merit before you and sits on your crown, facing the way you face. You request him to remain there until you obtain enlightenment. By this time I make a request to my spiritual guidance to remain on my crown and give me the strength, the force and the power to carry out all the works that I would like to do. O glorious and precious root Guru, Come take your Lotus and Moon seat placed here on my head. And keep me safe in your great kindness. Bestow on me please the powerful attainments Of your body, speech and mind. Having made this request my Supreme Field of Merit comes and sits on my crown, facing the way I face. It is not absolutely necessary to have the duplicate Tsongkhapa come to your crown. If you can manage easier from the front, it is also okay. If you want it to be on the crown, that provision has been given. The whole reason for inviting him on your crown is that if you want to do purification or increase of life through light and nectar, it is easier for the nectar to come down when somebody is straight on the crown.

Saying the Migtsema mantra MIG-ME TZE-WE TER-CHEN CHEN-RE-ZIG DRI-ME KYEN-PE WANG-PO JAM-PEL-YANG DÜ-PUNG MA-LÜ JOM-DZE SANG-WE-DAG GANG-CHEN KE-PE TZUG-GYEN TSONG KHA-PA LO-ZANG DRAG-PE ZHAB-LA SÖL-WA DEB

184 For the meaning of ‘karma is definite’, see chapter XII. 185 Literature on the mandala-offering: Gehlek Rimpoche, Guru Devotion: How to integrate the primordial mind, chapter IV; Ge- she Namgyal Wangchen, Awakening the Mind of Enlightenment, p. 62-68; Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, A Commentary on Guru Yoga and Offering of the Mandala, p. 61-83; Kathleen McDonald, How to Meditate, p. 154-155.

128 Lam Rim Teachings

You are Avalokiteshvara, great treasure of compassion, not aimed at true existence, And Manjushri, master of flawless wisdom, As well as Vajrapani, destroyer of hordes of demons without exception. O Tsongkhapa, crown jewel of the sages of the land of snows, Lozang Dragpa, I make requests at your feet. May I become like you!

Explanation of the mantra. The first line says Tsongkhapa is the embodiment of Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of compassion. The second line says Tsongkhapa is also the embodiment of Manjushri, the embodiment of wisdom which is inseparable from compassion. In reality Tsongkhapa is the embodiment of wisdom and the embodiment of compassion. The third line says Tsongkhapa is also the embodiment of Vajrapani, having the power to defeat all the enemies, the internal enemies like the self-cherishing attitude and also the external negative influences. Lo-zang Drag-pe zhab-la söl-wa deb. Lozang Dragpa, the ordination name of Je Tsongkhapa, we are using, because I belong to this lineage. So I say this. You can say anything you want. Söl-wa-deb is: praying, seeking the same qualities. These are the qualities, in other words the activities of the enlightened beings. If you look at them there are multiple activities, but if you conclude it, if you make a package, if you compartmentalize, they will only go into three activities. Compartment one is the love-compassion, compartment two is the wisdom, compartment three is the capability of delivering it. There is nothing else in the activities of buddhas and bodhisattvas. That is why it is sometimes called the three-in-one family. For us it is easy to put it into three categories: love-compassion, wisdom and capability of delivering it. When one is missing, then it is not an enlightened activity. If the love-compassion-oriented activity is missing then it is clearly indicated that it is not an activity of enlightened beings, but something else. When there is no wisdom, it may be a good thought and a pure motivation and meant well, however there is no good judgment on how to do it; so wisdom is missing and therefore it is not an enlightened beings’ activity. That is also clearly mentioned. And when one is not capable of delivering it, then you may have a good idea and good compassion, but you do not know what to do with it. All three together combined is an enlightened activity and if you look into it, you will not find anything else outside that. There are billions of different activities, but if you really analyze them and put them in categories, you are not going to find a fourth utensil where you can put them in. (Remember the example of salt, tea, sugar.)186 Why do we use Tsongkhapa? Because of a lot of reasons. We are not trying to use some guy from Ti- bet who lived five hundred years ago and of whom you don’t even know how to say the name. We try to use him as a role-model for our spiritual development. So don’t think of some guy of five hundred years ago.

The visualization I give you here on the Migtsema, is a very short one: thinking of the qualities of love- compassion or altruistic attitude, wisdom and capability. Among the buddhas there are the buddha of compassion, the buddha of wisdom, the buddha of capability. That is the three-tiered family. We use the word embodiment, which means: all the love of the buddhas has been collected and is shown in a physical form. For compassion they created Avalokitesh- vara, male and female. The male part is Avalokiteshvara, the female part is Tara. Manjushri is the embodiment of the wisdom. Vajrapani is the embodiment of power and capability. The embodiment is symbolic. It is like a logo: it indicates something, it gives you the picture behind it, the idea behind it, what it is standing for. So when you see Avalokiteshvara, symbolically it is giving you the picture of love and compassion, the altruistic attitude. And when you gain the picture of Manju- shri, it is the symbol of wisdom. And when you are given the picture of Vajrapani, it is the symbol of capability or power. Vajrapani even has the power of destruction too. If anything comes in his way, it can be destroyed. The inner enemy or outer enemy or whatever can be destroyed. So those names are given to those different physical beings symbolically.

1. Three successive ways of contemplating

186 See page 42.

Appendices: Ganden Lha Gyema 129

a. Being like. Your compassion is ultimate compassion and equals that of Avalokiteshvara, the buddha of compassion. And your knowledge is equal to the knowledge of Manjushri, the embodiment of the wisdom-knowledge. And your power is equal to the power of Vajrapani, who is the embodiment of all the power of the enlightened ones. In other words: you are like Avalokitesh- vara, you are like Manjushri, you are like Vajrapani. Mig-me… b. Having the same capabilities. Not only are you like Avalokiteshvara etc., you are equal to Avalokiteshvara, you are equal to Manjushri, you are equal to Vajrapani, you have the same qualities, the same capabilities. As much as Avalokiteshvara has compassion, you, my Supreme Field of Merit, have compassion. As much as Manjushri has wisdom, you have it. As much as Vajrapani has power, you have it. Mig-me… c. Inseparability. Actually, you are Avalokiteshvara, you are Manjushri, you are Vajrapani. There is no separation between you and those. Mig-me… Not only do they have the capability, your Supreme Field of Merit is also inseparable from Manjushri, inseparable from Avalokiteshvara, inseparable from Vajrapani, meaning: the love-compassion-oriented or altruism-oriented being is this one, the wisdom-oriented being is this one, the capability-oriented being is this one, my Supreme Field of Merit. So whatever Supreme Field of Merit I have produced here, is in reality all the buddhas. It is all the love-compassion- or altruism-fully-developed being, it is the wisdom-fully- developed being, it is the capability-fully-developed being. In other words: if you become enlightened, you become this. And when you become this, you are fully enlightened. That is what it is. You get it? I acknowledge that. After acknowledging I seek help. I seek help not only for me, but for all the sentient beings surrounding me. Mig-me… With each of these lines in turn I focus more on the love-compassion part, I focus more on the wisdom part, I focus more on the capability part. Mig-me…

2. Three ways of receiving the nectar You can visualize any of the following three. While visualizing you keep on saying the Migtsema. Help and blessing comes in the form of light and liquid from for the body of Tsongkhapa on my crown. Or the light comes from the Supreme Field of Merit in front of me. Three tubes of light come out, join in a T-bone and come [as one stream of light] to my crown. The liquid or nectar follows in there in different colors: white is for purification and peace, yellow is for prosperity, red is for power, dark blue is for wrathful activities. So all this light and nectar comes from my crown to my body and purifies me. Like me to all other sentient beings around me the same thing happens simultaneously. a. Light and nectar are going through my body, washing it from the top pushing completely down and washing away from my body all unwanted energy, all negative karma. Everything is going completely away from my body and I get purified. I become a pure being. b. Powerful light and liquid comes in like filling a bottle, a dirty bottle. The powerful light and liquid [comes in via the crown], lands in the lower part of the body, all my unwanted energies are lifted up and come out of my nose, ears, mouth, or whatever, completely, are washed out and it overflows so that it won’t get stuck at the outside of the body. And I become pure. c. All my unwanted energies, especially the ignorant ones, are collected like darkness at my heart level. The moment the light comes from the body of the Supreme Field of Merit, just by the touch of the light inside me, all the darkness disappears, like when in a dark room you turn on the light. The darkness is gone, disappears in that manner.

130 Lam Rim Teachings

3. Meditating the four activities a. Purification. While I make the request white light and liquid comes, strong tremendous powerful light and the light is followed by and filled up with the liquid. And it is so strong as though a whole ocean is falling on my head. I am leading all sentient beings here and my Supreme Field of Merit throws light and liquid in a tremendous amount on me and all other sentient beings. It fills up my body completely, sort of washes away all my non-virtuous works, all unwanted karmas, sicknesses, diseases, unwanted things, all. Very powerful nectar and light combined comes from my crown and goes down through the eyes, nose, throat, chest as well as through the back. Not only inside but also outside: in- and outside it washes my body completely, even from the back, the lower portion of the back to the legs and the toes. To the tip of the toes everything completely goes away, inside as well as outside, all the unwanted non-virtuous, bad karmas, miseries and all this. With this we say seven Migtsemas: MIG-ME TZE-WE TER-CHEN CHEN-RE-ZIG… As I have been visualizing all the non-virtuous things, cause and result have both been totally washed away, pushed away, cleared away from our body and mind both, I have become pure. My body is filled up with light and liquid and I have become pure, clean and clear.

b. Increasing life energy. I make a continuous request to my Supreme Field of Merit to rebuild and build my life, energy and strength and spiritual prosperity, all, while saying the Migtsema again 7x.. You visualize the same light and liquid, nectar, but this time in a yellow color. Yellow is the essence of the earth and the color of gold, therefore it represents the strength, energy and essence of the elements. The yellow light and nectar fills up my body from the toes to the crown, completely. I receive light, energy, strength, and prosperity. And I and all mother-sentient beings will not only be pure but full of strength and all this. MIG-ME TZE-WE TER-CHEN CHEN-RE-ZIG…

c. Increasing wisdom power and capability. Not only does it rebuild our strength, energy and longevity, but it builds our wisdom: the wisdom of clarity, of depth, and of quickness. Visualize red colored light and red nectar coming to you and filling up your body. MIG-ME TZE-WE TER-CHEN CHEN-RE-ZIG… The wisdom of clarity clears off the ignorance; the quick wisdom overpowers the forgetfulness; the depth wisdom will make us understand things deeper. All three qualities of wisdom have been developed.

d. Wrathful activities. Not only did we develop this wisdom power, longevity, prosperity, strength and energy, we also develop power as well as the wrathful activities and other activities, to be able to utilize them if needed. Visualize dark blue light and nectar coming to you and filling up your body. MIG-ME TZE-WE TER-CHEN CHEN-RE-ZIG…

Other mantras Mantra of the perfection of wisdom We say the mantra of emptiness, the mantra of the true reality, the true nature of existence, which protects

Appendices: Ganden Lha Gyema 131 you from disturbing obstacles.187 TAYATHA GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA

Mantra of Buddha Sakyamuni Now again visualize the Supreme Field of Merit in front of you as they are. And you are not only by yourself alone, but surrounded by all mother-sentient beings. Your Supreme Field of Merit is inseparable from Buddha Sakyamuni who has been the greatest buddha for us in this eon, because Buddha Sakyamuni is the one who has been showing us all these different paths. We say the Buddha’s mantra here by making the same request, the same prayer: not for me but for all mother-sentient beings I would like to obtain buddhahood. In other words: I would like to become a buddha like you, for which I will say this mantra and meditate; it is not for my sake, but in order to help all other sentient beings. Your Supreme Field of Merit is inseparable from Buddha, is in the form of Buddha Sakyamuni. By making this request Buddha multiplies and every sentient being has a buddha sitting on their crown. And light and liquid in nectar form carries out purification, rebuilding of the energy etc. Like before it is going on, carried out on all sentient beings including myself. As usual we say that twenty-one times here. TAYATA OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNA YE SOHA Explanation of the mantra. What is muni? The Sanskrit scholars will say: sage. What does sage mean? One who has conquered or gained victory over the evils, the delusions and the imprints of the delusions. This mantra can be correctly called the mantra of the Buddha. It is the mantra of all buddhas’, not necessarily Sakyamuni’s. (Sakyamuni’s name is Gautama.188) The meaning of this profound mantra is: Victory, Victory, Greater Victory, Soha. The first muni, ‘victory’, indicates that the Buddha has gained control over the rough mental blocks, the rough delusions, kleshavarana, which are the obstructions to liberation. In fact anyone who succeeds in giving up these rough delusions attains a very high level of accomplishment. Anyone who stops anger, attachment, hatred, desire or ignorance, attains liberation from suffering, which is called nirvana. But this is not sufficient. The imprints of these delusions still remain to be removed in order to achieve the next victory and attain the highest enlightenment, which is called buddhahood. This is signi- fied by the repetition of the word muni in the mantra. The second muni indicates that Buddha has not only gained victory over the rough mental blocks, but he has also completely conquered the subtle mental blocks, jneyavarana, which are the obstructions to omniscience. By overcoming the latter he has gained ultimate enlightenment. The words maha muni underline the fact that the Buddha has overcome the two obstructions: both the rough and subtle mental blocks, i.e. the delusions and their imprints. These two victories combined are the ‘great victory’. There are many ways the word soha can be interpreted. However, in this context it means laying the foundation: may the foundation of their body, mind and speech qualities be laid within our body, mind and speech. By repeating the mantra: Om muni muni maha muna ye soha we request the one who has obtained the great victory over the rough and the subtle mental blocks and has become a buddha, to lay the foundation for our enlightened body, speech and mind through his enlightened body, speech and mind. The letter Om (Aom) signifies: body (A), speech (O) and mind (M) of an enlightened person.189

A A becomes O O becomes OM OM in Roman character

187 The mantra of the Heart Sutra. Literature on this mantra: Gehlek Rimpoche, The Perfection of Wisdom Mantra. 188 Buddha’s birth name was Siddharta Gautama. After his enlightenment he was called ‘the sage of the Sakyas’. 189 A is the basis of all sound. In Tibetan writing the A is made into an O by putting something on top. The M is represented by the zero on top and makes this ‘syllable’ into OM. Rimpoche: “Everywhere M is MA, which is mother and represents the source of being; therefore M, represented by a zero, is the symbol of reality.” Ref. Tara Healing and Self-Healing, ch. 3.

132 Lam Rim Teachings

Mantra of Avalokiteshvara, embodiment of love-compassion Your Supreme Field of Merit who is not only in the form of the guru Tsongkhapa, but also in the form of Buddha Sakyamuni, is also inseparable from the buddha of love and compassion: Avalo- kiteshvara. We make a strong request to Avalokiteshvara: to develop love, compassion and the extra-ordinary altruistic mind within me and all mother-sentient beings. OM MANI PADME HUM

Explanation of the mantra. This mantra is actually the path; from the ordinary level of today to the enlightenment, including the Vajrayana practice, everything is included. Okay, everything is included! There are a lot of ways of explaining. Om is the beginning of the mantra. It is a compilation of three sounds: A, O, M, meaning body, speech and mind: body, speech and mind of Avalokiteshvara and body, speech and mind of myself. So there is a sameness between the body, speech and mind of myself over here – the ordinary body, speech and mind – and the body, speech and mind of the extraordinary beings, the enlightened beings, over there. Mani is jewel. What is jewel? Method. What is method? Compassion. Where is compassion coming from? Compassion is developed out of knowing the suffering of other people. How do you know the suffering of other people? By knowing your own suffering. So this is actually saying the path from the ordinary level tot the total bodhicitta development. And that is the method. Padme is lotus. Lotus is a sign of pureness. The pure lotus is born out of the mud, but there is no fault of mud. Similarly the emptiness is born out of existence, but there is no fault of existence. Therefore the lotus represents the emptiness. So the method and the emptiness combined is the mani padme. Hum represents the union: the union of the body, speech and mind of the enlightened beings and the body, speech and mind of us ordinary beings, as well as the union of method and wisdom, which is mani and padme. So it is the combination of the method and the wisdom. That means: the total practice from here to buddhahood is involved in that. That is the meaning of Om mani padme hum.

Mantra of Tara, embodiment of the activities of all enlightened ones Your Supreme Field of Merit is also inseparable from Tara, the love and compassion of the buddhas in female form. She who has the proper method and the love to take us away from the circle of existence, samsara. She who protects us from all fears. We make a strong request to Tara to protect us, especially from the fears of our delusions, like attachment, hatred and so on. OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA190

Explanation of the mantra. Om: the three letters: A, O, M, represent body, speech and mind again. Tare: she who will protect us, she who has the proper method and the love to take us away from the circle of existence, samsara. That means: she has the power to help us to get away from the unbroken chain of life after life by the forceful power of karma rather than by our own force. The circle of existence is a circle we cannot break; one [chain] brings another. With the help of Tara and by truly practicing we have a chance, it will be possible to break that chain – in other words to get out of samsara, which is full of suffering, miseries, pain. Getting free from the circle of existence really means breaking the chain. So the first tare means: she who is able to break the chain reaction of life after life forced by karma and delusions. Tuttare: [Who eliminates all fears.] Not only does Tara have capability and is able to help us to break the chain, but also while we are in the chain, we can be protected from the illnesses etcetera. If you are a very fearful person, Tara, the female buddha, the female enlightened deity, is one of the best to hold on to as a helper, as a protector, as a guide, as a supporter. She is the one that one could really look for as protection from all fears. There are a lot of fears, particularly the eight powerful fears, like the fear of pride, the fear of ignorance, the fear of wrong views [the fear of attachment, the fear of anger, the fear of jealousy, the fear of miserliness, the fear of doubt]. She can protect from them. There are no fears which do not

190 Also see Kathleen McDonald, How to Meditate, p. 175-177.

Appendices: Ganden Lha Gyema 133 really become part of these eight.191 Ture: [Who grants all success.] She is also freeing or healing one from the illnesses. We have two kinds of illnesses: the physical illnesses and the mental illnesses, after which the emotional illnesses come. The mental illnesses are all our delusions; the physical illnesses is whatever sickness you have, from a cold to addictions, whatever. Buddha described four hundred thousand different kinds of illnesses, including the illnesses of delusions and so and forth. The causes of the illnesses, the conditions of the illnesses and the result of the illnesses, all these can be freed by Tara. Soha is again: lay the foundation. If we say the mantra with this idea and understanding, it is meaningful and helpful.

One is all. Some of you may think, “Hey, what is going on?” When you reach the mantra Mig-me tze-we ter-chen Chen-re-zig you’re praying to Je Tsongkhapa. And then you say Om muni muni maha muna ye soha for Sakyamuni Buddha. And then you say the mantra for Avalokiteshvara, the love-and-compassion buddha. You look as though you are seeing or visualizing three different persons coming in, one after another. It looks like you are praying to Tsongkhapa, then to Buddha, then you have Avalokiteshvara coming in and you’re praying to him… What it is really telling you, is this: you may have those different manifestations there, but to whatever is comfortable to you, you adjust and then you look at every manifestation as [being] one [with the others]. One represents all. All in one. There is no separation. Okay? You have to see every one of them as inseparable when you say the prayer. It is too early to talk to you on this line just now. However, since you are saying these things, it is better you have some idea. You don’t think of all different figures: Buddha comes out here, Tara comes there, Avalokiteshvara comes there and Tsongkhapa comes there and zig-zag-zig- zag. You don’t need that. [Use] whatever is comfortable. One represents all, all represent one. All in one, one is all. Even your practice you will adjust, because what you are really practicing in meditation and practice, what you are really trying to do is: you try to obtain that stage. Whether it is the Buddha stage, the Avalo- kiteshvara stage, the Tsongkhapa stage, whatever the stage may be, you are seeking a total enlightenment stage. And when that is that [quality you want], you are looking and aiming at this one [that represents that quality]. This is important. Otherwise one may think, “What is this, so many figures coming?” and then you may have discomfort. Some people may even have problems with figures totally. And if you have that, that is also fine. You can have it figure-less. But it should not be nothing! Even the emptiness is full. So it should not be nothing, but you don’t necessarily need a figure. Whatever is comfortable to you, you have to adjust to accordingly. But [whatever you visualize] you have to project as a total enlightened being. We call it being, but that does not necessarily mean a separate being from you.

191 The eight fears are described in a praise to Tara on the protection from the eight fears, written by the First Dalai Lama. Martin Wilson, In Praise of Tara, p. 301-306, vs. 20-27: He dwells between the mountains of wrong views Of selfhood [jigta], puffed up with holding himself superior, With long claws of contempt for other beings, The lion of pride – please save us from this fear! Untamed by sharp hooks of mindfulness and awareness, And dulled by the maddening liquor of sensual pleasures, He enters wrong paths and shows his tusks of harming, Delusion’s [ignorance] elephant – save us from this fear! Driven by the wind of wrong attention, Amidst a tumult of smoke-clouds of misconduct, It has the power to burn down forests of merits, The fire of anger – save us from this fear! Attached to its dark hole of ignorance It cannot bear seeing the wealth and excellence of others, But quickly fills them with its vicious poison, The snake of envy – save us from this fear! Roaming the fearful wild of inferior practice And ghastly desert plains of the two extremes [eternality and annihilation], they sack the towns and retreats of ease and bliss, The thieves of wrong views – save us from this fear! In the unbearable prison of samsara It binds embodied beings, with no freedom, Clasped by the lock of craving, hard to open The chain of avarice – save us from this fear. It sweeps us towards the stream of becoming, so hard To cross, and, conditioned by karma’s stormy blast, Waves of birth, age, sickness and death convulse it, Attachment’s flood – please save us from this fear! They wander in space of darkest ignorance, Sorely tormenting those who strive for truth, Of lethal danger to liberation, the fell Demons of doubt – please save us from this fear!

134 Lam Rim Teachings

Mantra and meditation. Now please relax for a minute. This is an important thing I would like to talk to you here. The combination of saying mantras and meditation together serves two purposes. If you meditate and say mantras separately then it takes two times. So the important technique is to utilize the power of the mantra and meditate at the same time. By that, concentration power, watching the mind, purifying, all these mental activities will carry on while you are saying the mantra. This is the Vajrayana special technique. If you look anywhere else they will tell you: meditate means separately you sit and think. And say mantras and chanting is just keep on shouting the words. But the combination, the putting together is not only a time-saver, it will help and make your meditation more powerful, make your mantra more powerful and the meditation becomes more effective; one supports the other. So to learn this is very important. Then gradually I will put to you the meaning of Om mani padme hum so that you can have more meditation done while saying the mantra. This is important.

Now whatever we did today we did quite well. I might as well share it with you here. One of the highly developed spiritual persons that I rely on, in India, recently informed me that: how much the steps of the spiritual development are going to grow into you people, depends on how strong I pray as well as on how well you take it. That was the answer I got. As far as I am concerned, I have prayed very strongly, as much as I could, all the time. And mind you, it is my character, somehow I always cooperate with everybody that comes in contact with me, especially more close and constant; for all those I pray all the time, they are always included and in things like this we pray more specially together. And how well you take it, depends on you. I can’t do anything there, right? The methods that we are giving you are the techniques of how to do it.

The Migtsema has very special techniques, particularly good to develop wisdom. And if you have a problem of losing memory, the Migtsema is very, very good too; it helps to rebuild memories tremendously. It is specially recommended for developing wisdom and memory. Through the Migtsema you can do a million different activities; for anything you want to there are techniques. You’ll pick them up gradually.

Extra requests I actually like to put two more verses in between here. May the wisdom Which follows learning, thinking and meditation, increase; And may the wisdom of teaching, debate and composing increase. May I achieve ordinary and extra-ordinary accomplishments. Bless me to quickly become like you. If you want to contemplate, to start practicing, you have to begin with learning. If you have not learned how to meditate, you would not know how to do it. You look around and may be able to imitate others’ physical actions, but you cannot copy their mental processes. And in meditation the mental part is far more important than the physical part! So learning is the first step. The second step is thinking. What you have learned has to be neatly filed and organized. If it is not put under proper control, it will scatter all over. The organizing part is the thinking, which in actual fact is the analytical meditation. You analyze to achieve understanding and you are one step above the initial step of learning when you feel, “Ah, that is what it is.” Then meditation: you concentrate on your new-found understanding until it becomes part of you. You actualized the experience; you personalized the teaching. The whole process is encompassed in the wisdom of learning, thinking and meditating. May the simultaneously born great bliss shine immediately And the delusion shadow of inherent existence be cleared. Cut the net of doubts of the true nature of mind. Bless me to quickly become like you.

May the simultaneously born great bliss shine immediately. Bliss is often referred to in Vajrayana; it represents the ultimate joyous state and is far superior to chemical or sexual bliss. It is rightly called ‘great bliss’. ‘Simultaneously born’ indicates it is a natural sort of bliss, which arises together with the onset of wisdom.

Appendices: Ganden Lha Gyema 135

May the delusion shadow of inherent existence be cleared. Most of our delusions are the result of our actions. They are our own creations, the product of our faulty thoughts. Problems arise because of our collection of faulty thoughts, and these form the delusion shadow or the black shade concealing our true nature. In other words, the faulty thoughts of our ego give rise to delusions and delusions give rise to non- virtuous actions. The shadow of inherent existence is the result of ignorance; not the ignorance of not knowing but the ignorance of wrong knowing. This wrong perception gives birth to the concept of ego, which really doesn’t exist at all except in our projection. We promote it, protect it, cherish it and it makes us miserable. The ‘inherent existing I’ is nothing but ego reinforcing itself. This produces a whole chain effect: I produces mine, mine produces my friend and my enemy on which follows my attachment to my friend and my hatred for my enemy. Delusions begin with the little I just like a little drop of rain produces a universe. Since we are talking of the living Manjushri [embodied in Tsongkhapa], we should take this great opportunity to confront our ego and cut off ignorance. Cut the net of doubts of the true nature of mind. That is not a problem right now; that problem arises when you look into the true nature of existence and you perceive a difference between appearances and the actual reality. However, as these problems are bound to arise later, it is incorporated in the prayers.

Overviewing the Path: Foundation of all perfections If you do the Lamrim overview meditation, you do it here. For that you can use the Foundation of All Per- fections or any other short Lamrim text.192

Dissolving the Merit Field My Supreme Field of Merit is all enlightened beings in one single solid shape [of Tsongkhapa] with his two disciples. The disciples dissolve into the two shoulders of the central figure, Tsongkhapa. My Supreme Field of Merit has become very happy with the work I did and I am really happy I am able to do this practice. I am grateful to you, you are happy with me, I like to dissolve myself into you, you like to dissolve yourself into me. I am jumping up and my Supreme Field of Merit is jumping down and finally my Supreme Field of Merit, of light nature, becomes very small, yet has the thrones and everything, and comes sitting on my crown facing the same way I face.193 O glorious and precious root Guru, come take your Lotus and moon seat at my heart And keep me safe in your great kindness. Bestow on me please the powerful attainments of your body speech and mind. At this first dissolving verse the throne goes down through the central channel of your body, which opens in the middle of your crown like a trumpet. The throne goes down through the crown chakra, through the throat chakra and finally lands at your heart chakra. The heart chakra should be open, like an eight-petalled lotus. O glorious and precious root Guru, come take your Lotus and moon seat at my heart And keep me safe in your great kindness. Help me to achieve ordinary and extraordinary accomplishments. The lotus and the moon seat land on the lotus in your heart. O glorious and precious root Guru, come take your Lotus and moon seat placed at my heart. And keep me safe in your great kindness. Remain steadfast until I achieve buddhahood.

192 Je Tsongkhapa’s The Three Principles of the Path, Je Tsongkhapa’s Song of the Stages [Tib. Lamrim Dudon] or Gehlek Rim- poche’s Odyssey to Freedom bookmark. 193 If you have invited a duplicate of your Supreme Field of Merit on your crown before, they merge together. See page 127.

136 Lam Rim Teachings

Now Tsongkhapa himself, very small, the size of a bird’s egg, and of light nature, comes down through your central channel and settles at your heart level. The heart petals close. And your Supreme Field of Merit will remain there till the end of life. The cloud remains connected with the pure land of Tushita. Your Supreme Field of Merit will remain there, not till the end of obtaining enlightenment, but till the end of life. At the time you die, your consciousness will leave the body and at that time the heart chakra opens; until then it remains closed. You do this as a practice every day [and it will become stronger and stronger]. And also, you remember, the cloud that came from Tushita is a good and interesting omen. If you keep thinking that the cloud is continuously connected with the pure land of Tushita, your connection with the pure land of Tushita builds up. That makes it easier at the time of death to transfer one’s mind to the pure land. It makes it easier for one’s being to be moved to the pure land. These are some kind of ‘techniques’ that can be applied on this. When you have dissolved the Supreme Field of Merit into your heart, then all the activities that you do are done through the influence of your great Supreme Field of Merit. Helping, particularly helping others, should be done through that. If you want to heal somebody you do it with the Migtsema. Then at the end you say the words from the Bodhisattvacharyavatara: May all who are sick and ill, quickly be freed from their illness, And may every disease in the world, never occur again.194

Dedication You can do the long dedication from Je Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo195or the short dedication: By this merit may I quickly attain the state of a guru buddha And may I lead unto that state every being without exception. I think that is quite good for today. From the next meeting onwards, please do meditate, don’t just say the words. Think. When you say the words you have to think together, but you don’t break in between. Every word you are saying you visualize, think and meditate. That is that. So, if you visualize that, you are doing a great meditation and great work. And whatever we talk here will help you much better than doing it without thinking. Practice. I do recommend everybody to do the Ganden Lha Gyema every day, because it has the seven limbs in it and the Migtsema mantra is very, very important. You don’t have any real teachings on the Migtsema yet; you have half the meaning of the Ganden Lha Gyema now, you can visualize it and the more the Lamrim goes down the more you will get. This is your fundamental practice! The Lamrim, whatever we talk, is meditation to think; the Ganden Lha Gyema is your fundamental practice. So we reinforced your fundamental practice today. That is a very good omen. Preparation for Vajrayana. In the senior groups I insist that people should have a hundred thousand Migtsemas done before they do any Vajrayana practice. Most of them have done that, with ten thousand sort of straightaway and then adding up to a hundred thousand. We do not recommend that to the beginning people. You have to understand what you are saying when we give a huge number like that, otherwise you may get fed up or burned out.196 But it is advisable for everybody in the Lamrim group to practice it, even if you don’t yet understand everything.

194 Shantideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, ch. 10, vs. 21. 195 See prayer books. 196 More detailed meditation and visualization practices in Gehlek Rimpoche, Ganden Lha Gyema: The hundreds of deities of the Land of Joy.

Appendices: Ganden Lha Gyema 137

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Chapter II: The Qualities of the Source, the Lineage of the Teachings Discussion on dharma practice Rimpoche: What does practice mean? Audience: What you have learned and meditated upon, really integrate into yourself, so that it becomes your nature and no longer requires special effort to be mindful of your way of doing or your way of acting. Rimpoche: Do you agree or disagree with him? Audience: That sounds to me as the result of practice. Practice, to me, is more the process of trying to change my mind to get to that state, to move my mind into more positive enlightened, mental state. Audience: I would say practice is your inner development. Rimpoche: If you don’t have inner development, you don’t have practice? Audience: If you don’t have inner development, you don’t change your habitual patters. Audience: I would say practice is taking what you have learned, thinking about it, then you put it into practice so that… Rimpoche: We are asking that question: What is practice? Audience: Listening to what the teachings are about and thinking about it. That is my practice. Rimpoche: And? What do you get out of it? Audience: Hopefully I get some development after some time; first get some understanding and then slowly turning into development. Audience: In a broad sense I think you could say that everything is practice, but more specifically – for example you want to attain the altruistic mind – you are given instructions, so you have to sit and spend time to meditate about it, make it real into your life, develop a direct connection with it and then being able to take whatever conclusion you have drawn from those meditations. It seems the real practice part is after you have had some kind of direct realizations as to what these teachings mean, then you can go out and practice bodhimind by trying to help others and increase your own freedom. Audience: It involves, learning, thinking and analyzing it. And then, practicing it seems more applying it. Audience: To me there is practice also in coming here and getting teachings and also where I am I can practice every day, every second, trying to be more awakened, more aware, more compassionate, more loving. Audience: Things you do alone, like thinking and meditating, can you call that also practice? Rimpoche: Yes, meditating and thinking is also practice.

Chapter III: The Qualities of the [Lamrim] Teachings How Lamrim helps Audience: discussion pro and contra reincarnation: about children having many uncontrollable experiences that help to build their character, about pre-verbal experiences as an infant, about experiences and influences in the womb, all this not being a solid proof for reincarnation. Rimpoche: I think here in this room, nobody will deny reincarnation for a hundred percent in terms of it being total bullshit. If you do so, I think that is a problem and you have to work on that first. Dharma can work without working for future life, for sure; it has its own scope. However, I think that question has to be sorted out. You know why? Because – this is my funny way of thinking – if we know there is no future

138 Lam Rim Teachings life or anything, what should we have to worry about? Why don’t we do everything that we like to do? Why do we have to restrict ourselves for doing certain things? Audience: In this country there is very strongly the eternalist’s viewpoint: that you have one life, but then you go on to an eternal heaven or hell. Rimpoche: When you go in eternal heaven or hell, you know that your dead body won’t go. So that is future life too. What I’m trying to say is: if you don’t have to worry about the future, you can do anything you want to. Why not? Audience: Some things cause you immediate suffering if you do anything that you want. If you kill someone in anger, afterwards you will regret it. Then it is too late. It would be a total anarchistic society if you did that. Audience; You can’t believe in karma without believing in reincarnation. Rimpoche: I don’t think there can be a true one hundred percent saying that there is no reincarnation. If scientifically it gets really proved that there is no future life, I don’t think any sensible spiritual person will hesitate to accept that, unless you are stupid, hard-headed, stubborn. I will not hesitate a minute to accept it. I think His Holiness also said that somewhere. And as long as we can not prove or disprove it, we have room to play. Audience: I had a shock when I first met Rimpoche and Tibetans, who would be so concerned over the future life-time, when everybody in the scene I was in, only talked about the previous lives And it took me a while to realize that they were deadly serious. Rimpoche: It is really serious, it is a serious business, not a joke. Karma is shaping our future; that is for sure. Audience: It makes one’s pathological pettiness about your own parents completely disappear, when you realize that you are responsible while you thought your parents gave you problems. Rimpoche: On the other hand, it is also not true that there is no relation with the parents. They have some relations too. It is all multiple you know, it is dependent arising: everything contributes to everything. Defi- nitely. That is relativity; that is the relative truth: every single thing has contributed to every single thing. Childhood abuses contribute to the behavior of the later age, the parent’s behavior contributes to the children’s behavior; all these are definitely contributions. Especially if a child picks up a role-model, they will definitely contribute to the behavior of that person, because you like to be like that, you want to be in that way and with or without realizing, you do all this. The major contribution is our own karma, and the minor contribution comes from everything whatever is happening around you. These are the things which create the conditions for the future steps. One of the Tibetan earlier lama’s gave an example on this. You know, we weave these carpets. The major threads go vertical [the warp] and the other threads go across [the weft]. Your own karma is like the major thread of the cloth, the warp. All the events taking place, the things that cross within your lifetime, are the threads going across, the weft. That is how our life is shaped. We have gone a little bit beyond our topic. What we are looking for is: elimination of suffering. How can we eliminate the suffering? By eliminating the cause. By eliminating the cause, you can, but by eliminating the side-things, you may not completely be able to eradicate suffering, because the warp will still stand. If the warp is not standing there, the weft cannot function; even if it goes, it doesn’t stick. That is, I believe, how it works. When you eliminate, you eliminate the warp, not the weft. The weft is a side-track for us. So Lamrim can definitely help. I’m not talking about earlier historical points. I’m talking about how people can improve today. You really can see that it benefits, it benefits tremendously. People who practice it, can tell you more about how much it can help and how much it can not help. We have interesting examples within our sangha. I’m not going to name them, but there is a good improvement. You can see it, I don’t have to really say it. Audience: Dharmakirti said that if you don’t create the conditions, then the karma cannot arise. So if I don’t like that carpet woven, I don’t create the conditions, then the karma doesn’t have the opportunity to become a result. Rimpoche: You are absolutely right. If you don’t have the conditions, you can not produce the fabric, but the causes will still remain there. Audience: Can’t I contribute to change by watching the conditions and not permitting the conditions to become effective? Rimpoche: How much you can watch? You can’t watch that much, so probably that may not be the answer. It is a good thought, really, but it may not work, you know.

Appendices: Questions and Answers 139

Chapter V: Preparing for Meditation: the Six Preliminaries Audience: (about being Buddhist and eating meat) Rimpoche: Well, the Tibetans have a problem with that all the time. Tibetans do eat meat and like it a lot. Some Buddhist centers here are totally vegetarian and a lama or rinpoche that comes, does eat meat. This is our problem. It is not good. People give excuses Some will say that if Tibetans don’t eat meat, they won’t have anything to eat. That is total bullshit. They have a lot of vegetables, all sorts of cabbages, pota- toes, onions, spinach, reddish, mustard seed, rice, barley, wheat, a lot of fruit too, whatever. I think it is a Tibetan habit to eat meat. The arguments were very shaky arguments: if the animal was not slaughtered for you, you wouldn’t have the non-virtue of killing. You might not kill directly, but indirectly you contributed to the killing, for sure. To be involved in direct killing is definitely what should be avoided. Take for example the great Pabongka, the teacher of my teacher Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche. During his lifetime Pabongka had a lot of trouble throughout Tibet, especially in Kham area. He had created animosity among a lot of people. One of the reasons was that he strictly objected to serving meat at the monastery gatherings. Some of the monasteries, particularly in north and eastern Tibet had month after month certain feasts. In order to provide meat at that feast they would have to kill twenty or thirty yaks. One of the major things Pabongka did was objecting to that at each and every monastery. He almost changed all the yak-killing business into a vegetarian type of offerings. He substituted the meat by dry fruits. He made a big deal out of that and a lot of people got very angry with him. He was followed by Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche. After coming to India Kyabje Rinpoche visited the key monastery of the northern Indian state, which also had this feast-business. Kyabje Rinpoche made a lot of appeals, cut the meat-eating completely out after his teachings and changed it into a vegetarian meal. Even in his own autobiography he has mentioned: ‘In my lifetime I do not know what I have done, but I am certainly very happy I could change that into a vegetarian service’. On the other hand Kyabje Rinpoche did not object to buy meat out of the market and serve it. That is how the Tibetan practitioners have taken their standard on that: it is not good to eat meat outside the market; though food bought from the market will indirectly contribute to killing animals, what has been avoided is the direct karma of killing an animal for your purpose. It looks like we are holding on the indirectly, maybe we cannot avoid that habitual pattern of eating meat.

Chapter VI: Guru Devotion: Whole-hearted Commitment to a Spiritual Guide Audience: If I were to pick a guru that is dead, like Tsongkhapa or someone like that, I cannot get reaction from that person about my personal obstacles so easily. Is it possible to have a really strong guru- devotional practice if the person no longer lives? Audience: My experience was that I was making no progress at all in the practice until I began visualizing a living teacher in the form of Tsongkhapa. Audience: In my mind there is no separation between Tsongkhapa and the living embodiment of Tsongkhapa. And the sense is that all gurus are one guru. Whether you visualize buddha Sakyamuni or Tsongkhapa or whoever it turns out to be, it is all one. And it is recommended that one does not take – in terms of the visualization for the practice – some known living person, because there is so much stuff that in a flash is connected with your relationship to the living guru. Therefore it is sometimes easier to take Tsongkhapa as representation of that. Tsongkhapa is really Tsongkhapa, but he is also all the other gurus, all the other masters, everyone from whom you have taken teachings and the living teacher from whom you take teachings. He is simultaneously all that into one and there is not any separation. Rimpoche: As was mentioned, there is no separation at all, it is inseparable. Actually the guru-yoga is the backbone practice. The guru yoga really gives you that the Buddha, Tara or whatever deity it is, is the manifestation of the one guru, whom you not necessarily look at as one individual person. It is a person created for you, at your presence and for your benefit by the enlightened beings, to be there all the time you need it.

BASIC LAMRIM OUTLINES

Lamrim is: the complete Mahayana dharma system that leads the fortunate person to enlightenment the path re-opened and reconfirmed by the great masters Nagarjuna and Asanga the essence of the heart practice of the great Atisha and Tsongkhapa the container of the essence of all teachings of the Buddha, laid out in order and easy to follow

I. Quality of the source II. Quality of the teachings III. How to listen and how to teach IV. How to practice: actual methods for spiritual development A. The root of all development [foundation of the path]: WHOLEHEARTED COMMITMENT TO A SPIRITUAL GUIDE B. How to train the mind from that development basis: 1. Taking the essence out of life: PRECIOUS HUMAN LIFE: EMBRACING OUR LIFE 2. How to take the essence out of life: a. Training common with the lower level: seeking happiness for the future life How to develop the motivation CONTEMPLATING DEATH CONTEMPLATING THE SUFFERINGS OF THE LOWER REALMS Actual method to obtain happiness in future life: TAKING REFUGE TO BUDDHA, DHARMA AND SANGHA DEVELOPING FAITH IN THE LAW OF KARMA b. Training common with the medium level: seeking liberation How to develop the motivation CONTEMPLATING THE SUFFERINGS OF SAMSARA Actual method to get liberated SEEING THE CREATION OF SAMSARA: KARMA AND DELUSIONS WALKING THE PATH TO LIBERATION c. Training on the Mahayana path, highest level: aspiration to enlightenment How to develop the motivation DEVELOPING THE AWAKENING MIND [bodhicitta] Actual method to become enlightened: TRAINING IN THE PARAMITAS THE UNBIASED OUTLOOK ON REALITY [shunyata]

DETAILED LAM RIM OUTLINES

Lamrim is: The sublime Mahayana teaching, the complete dharma system that leads the fortunate to enlightenment. It is re-opened and reconfirmed by the great maha-pandits Nagarjuna and Asanga. It is a profound teaching containing the essence of the wisdom of the great Atisha and the Dharma king of the three worlds, Je Tsongkhapa. In this the eighty-four thousand teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha without exception have been concentrated into a graduate practice that enables any individual to achieve enlightenment. This is the one path all the buddhas have taught. ***

I. Quality of the source: presentation of the outstanding development of the Lamrim masters, in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of this teaching tradition A. Buddha 1. Qualities of a Buddha 2. The Life of Sakyamuni Buddha B. The lineages from Buddha to Atisha 1. The Indian Masters 2. Atisha’s life story a. Where and how Atisha was born b. The qualities that Atisha developed during his lifetime c. After developing those qualities what service Atisha gave i. in India ii. in Tibet C. The Lamrim lineage 1. The lives of the Kadampa masters 2 The life of Je Tsongkhapa 3. The Lamrim lineage masters from Tsongkhapa onwards via Pabongka Rinpoche, Kyabje Trijang and Kyabje Ling Rinpoche to Kyabje Gehlek Rimpoche.

II. Quality of the teachings: the presentation of the exceptional qualities of the Lamrim teachings in order to generate appreciation A. Four main qualities of Lamrim 1. All the teachings are realized to be free of contradiction 2. All the teachings are recognized as personal instruction 3. The Conqueror's underlying thought is easily comprehended 4. Harmful behaviors will stop B. Three additional qualities of Lamrim 1. It is the essence of all the Buddha’s teachings, with nothing left out 2. Lamrim is laid out in such a way that it is easy to practice 3. It brings together all the Buddhist traditions

III. How to listen to and how to teach the dharma, that has these two qualities [of source and teaching] A. How to listen to the dharma 1. Thinking of the benefits of listening to and studying the dharma 2. Generating respect for the dharma and the dharma teacher 3. Avoiding the three faults of listening and studying 4. Cultivating the six helpful attitudes B. How to teach the dharma 1. Thinking of the benefits of giving the teachings 2. Being respectful to the Master and the dharma 3. Developing proper thoughts and actions 4. Knowing whom to teach and whom not to teach 142 Lam Rim Teachings

IV. How to practice; actual methods for spiritual development A. The root of the path – wholehearted commitment to a spiritual guide 1. What to do during meditation periods a. Preliminary activities: the six preliminaries i. Creating the environment 1) Cleaning the place 2) Stetting up the altar ii. Preparing the offerings 1) Laying out the offerings 2) Blessing the offerings iii. Correcting the motivation 1) Taking a comfortable meditation seat 2) Taking a comfortable meditation posture 3) Creating mental space 4) Generating the right motivation 5) Visualizing the objects of refuge and taking refuge 6) Generating the bodhimind [bodhicitta] 7) Enhancing the bodhimind by the four immeasurables iv. Creating the Supreme Field of Merit v. The practice of the seven limbs and mandala-offering vi. Supplication tot the Field of Merit for instruction b. Actual session: meditation on the subject - Need for a spiritual master - Qualities of the teacher: Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana - Qualities of the student - Proper relationship i. The benefits of relying on a spiritual guide 1) It brings us closer to enlightenment. 2) The enlightened ones are pleased. 3) You get protection from anti-spiritual friends and spirits/demons. 4) Harmful behaviors will stop. 5) Your insight and realization of the paths and stages will increase. 6) Life after life you will be guided and protected. 7) You will not fall into the lower realms. 8) All your temporary (future lives) and permanent aims (enlightenment) will be achieved. ii. The disadvantages of not nor relying on or improperly following a spiritual guide 1) By insulting your guru, you insult the enlightened ones. 2) If the relationship has been damaged through anger it destroys eons of virtue. 3) Even with Vajrayana practice you can’t achieve anything. 4) Even with the most intensive Vajrayana practice you are simply creating the cause for rebirth in the hell. 5) Your prior spiritual development will decrease. 6) You will experience mental misery 7) You go towards a future in the lower realms. 8) Life after life you will never meet a spiritual guide. iii. How to treat the spiritual guide through the mind 1) The root practice of cultivating faith a) Why we should regard our spiritual master as a Buddha b) Why it is possible to regard our spiritual master as a Buddha c) How to regard our spiritual master as a Buddha i) Vajradhara affirmed that my spiritual master is a Buddha ii) The spiritual master is the agent for all Buddhas’activities iii Even nowadays Buddhas and bodhisattvas are acting on behalf of all sentient beings iv) Our perceptions are unreliable 2) Developing respect for the spiritual master by remembering his kindness a) Remember the spiritual master is kinder than all the Buddhas b) Remember his kindness of teaching dharma

Appendices: Outlines 143

c) Remember his kindness in blessing our mindstream d) Remember his kindness in attracting us into his circle iv. How to treat the spiritual guide through action 1) Offering material things 2) Showing honor and respect 3) Following the instructions exactly c. Conclusion: dedication 2. What to do between meditation periods a. Consolidation b. Conditions for concentration and insight to develop B. How to train the mind from the basis of relying on a spiritual guide

I. A. 1. a. i. 1) a) i) (1) (a) (i)

144 Lam Rim Teachings CHART 1 Historical Overview History HINAYANA M A H A Y A N A India Tibet elsewhere -500 Buddha -400 1st council Theravadins -300 2nd council 18 Schools Ashoka

3rd council Tripitaka -100 Prajnaparamita sutras 0 Christ 100 Buddhism to China Nagarjuna Aryadeva

200 Lankavatara sutra Vimalakirti-nirdesa sutra 300 Prajnaparamita sutra Avatamsaka sutra 400 Buddhism to Korea B. to Java/Sum. Asanga 500 B. to Japan, Birma Buddhapalita start Vajrayana 600 Chandrakirti First spread Buddhism China: Buddhism to Tibet Dharmakirti King Songtsen Gampo Hua-Yen B. to Thailand Shantideva start Vajrayana Pure Land 700 Guru Padmasambhava Ch'an

Nyingma 800 Santarakshita Japan: Kegon 900 degeneration Buddhism

1000 Atisha 980 Second spread Buddhism Atisha 1039 in Tibet Tilopa Dromtönpa Naropa Kadampa Marpa Kagyu 1100 Milarepa Sakya Pandita Sakya 1200 Buddhism in India comes Japan: Zen to an end 1300 Je Tsongkhapa 1400 Gelugpa = New Kadampa

First Dalai Lama 1500 Buddhism to Mongolia 1600

1900 Buddhism to the West India: Theosophy 1959 Dalai Lama leaves Tibet. England: Tibetan Buddhism Buddh. Soc. goes West

Appendices: Charts 145

CHART 2 Basis, Path and Result in Lamrim Basis Path or Vehicle Result Miscellaneous or Foun- main sub- vehicle trad- started dation division division type stages texts itions as vows teacher precious (A) (1) human life state of Thera- tradi- prati- spiritual Hina- Sravaka- Causal Sutras an arhat vada- tion mok- teacher endowed yana yana Vehicle = yana of sha with Sutra Words source eighteen vehicle nirvana monks vow small yana of of qualities of the = = vehicle hearers one cre- the teachings ates the Buddha liberation = help inspi- can causes = tra- ration lead for Skt.moksha vow of (2) Lam exoteric dition one Tib. tharpa individual Pratyeka- = of the person rim liberation buddha- public to liberation Elders liberation yana from vehicle = samsara

of the solitary realizers bodhicitta (B) / (3) paramitayana Stages Prajna- state of a Maha- lay bodhi- spiritual of vehicle of the para- buddha yana move- sattva friend the Maha- the perfections mita ment. vow determination yana Path = Skt. to = sutra enligh- kalyana- achieve = large tenment mitra enlightenment Bodhi- vow of for vehicle = sattva- Skt. bodhi liberating every yana all sentient being Tib. jang- sutrayana chub beings bodhicitta able to (C) result Nag Tantras = tan- spiritual take aspiration all beings Vajra- vehicle rim liberation tric master to taught to yana of all vow enlightenment one = by Skt. guru, liberation diamond problems takes Stages Buddha Tib. lama, & vehicle Vajra- and or the of seeing the realisation emptiness enlighten- = result the dhara spiritual of all Skt. shunyata ment mantrayana as Mantra master Tib. tong pa secret mantra, the [path] esoteric qualities as nyid tantrayana, path = a = buddha the correct the quick path hidden view Vajrayana The three yanas Traditional counting – from Prajnaparamita: three separate paths, each consisting of five paths. 1. Sravaka-yana. 2. Pratyekabuddha-yana. 3. Bodhisattva-yana, of which vajrayana is part. ‘Newer’ and practical division that developed in the west a.o. by the talks of Trungpa Rinpoche: A. Hinayana. B. Mahayana. C. Vajrayana That is de sequence of paths a ‘mahayanist’ walks on his road to quick enlightenment: first a number of steps common with hinayana, in de Lamrim called: ‘common with the lower level’ en ‘common with the medium level’, then moving on to the Mahayana level, eventually speeding up through vajrayana. Remark: The ‘lower level’: a fortunate rebirth is a sub-goal, not an ultimate goal. Basis, path and result in general Basis: the Two Truths: absolute and relative truth Path the Two Paths: wisdom and method / wisdom and compassion Result: the Two Kayas: mental and physical aspects of a buddha: dharmakaya and rupakaya

ROOT TEXTS

A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment – Lam Don by Atisha Dipamkara Shrijnana (982-1054)

Homage to the bodhisattva, the youthful Manjushri.

1. I pay homage with great respect To the conquerors of the three times, To their teaching and to those who aspire to virtue. Urged by the good disciple Jangchub Ö I shall illuminate the lamp For the path to enlightenment.

2. Understand that there are three kinds of persons Because of their small, middling and supreme capacities. I shall write clearly distinguishing Their individual characteristics.

3. Know that those who by whatever means Seek for themselves no more Than the pleasures of cyclic existence Are persons of the least capacity.

4. Those who seek peace for themselves alone, Turning away from worldly pleasures And avoiding destructive actions Are said to be of middling capacity.

5. Those who, through their personal suffering, Truly want to end completely All the suffering of others Are persons of supreme capacity.

6. For those excellent living beings, Who desire supreme enlightenment, I shall explain the perfect methods Taught by the spiritual teachers.

7. Facing paintings, statues and so forth Of the completely enlightened one, Reliquaries and the excellent teaching, Offer flowers, incense — whatever you have. 148 Lam Rim Teachings

8. With the seven-part offering From the [Prayer of]Noble Conduct, With the thought never to turn back Till you gain ultimate enlightenment,

9. And with strong faith in the Three Jewels, Kneeling with one knee on the ground And your hands pressed together, First of all take refuge three times.

10. Next, beginning with an attitude Of love for all living creatures, Consider beings, excluding none, Suffering in the three bad rebirths, Suffering birth, death and so forth.

11. Then, since you want to free these beings From the suffering of pain, From suffering and the cause of suffering, Arouse immutably the resolve To attain enlightenment.

12. The qualities of developing Such an aspiration are Fully explained by Maitreya In the Array of Trunks Sutra.

13. Having learned about the infinite benefits Of the intention to gain full enlightenment By reading this sutra or listening to a teacher, Arouse it repeatedly to make it steadfast.

14 The Sutra Requested by Viradatta Fully explains the merit therein. At this point, in summary, I will cite just three verses.

15. If it possessed physical form, The merit of the altruistic intention Would completely fill the whole of space And exceed even that.

16. If someone were to fill with jewels As many buddha fields as there are grains Of sand in the Ganges To offer to the Protector of the World,

17. This would be surpassed by The gift of folding one's hands And inclining one's mind to enlightenment, For such is limitless.

Appendices: Root Texts 149

18. Having developed the aspiration for enlightenment, Constantly enhance it through concerted effort. To remember it in this and also in other lives, Keep the precepts properly as explained.

19. Without the vow of the engaged intention, Perfect aspiration will not grow. Make effort definitely to take it, Since you want the wish for enlightenment to grow.

20. Those who maintain any of the seven kinds Of individual liberation vow Have the ideal [prerequisite] for The bodhisattva vow, not others.

21. The Tathagata spoke of seven kinds Of individual liberation vow. The best of these is glorious pure conduct, Said to be the vow of a fully ordained person.

22. According to the ritual described in The chapter on discipline in the Bodhisattva Stages, Take the vow from a good And well-qualified spiritual teacher.

23. Understand that a good spiritual teacher Is one skilled in the vow ceremony, Who lives by the vow and has The confidence and compassion to bestow it.

24. However, in case you try but cannot Find such a spiritual teacher, I shall explain another Correct procedure for taking the vow.

25. I shall write here very clearly, as explained In the Ornament of Manjushri's Buddha Land Sutra, How, long ago, when Manjushri was Ambaraja, He aroused the intention to become enlightened.

26. “In the presence of the protectors, I arouse the intention to gain full enlightenment. I invite all beings as my guests And shall free them from cyclic existence.

27. From this moment onwards Until I attain enlightenment, I shall not harbor harmful thoughts, Anger, avarice or envy.

28. I shall cultivate pure conduct, Give up wrong-doing and desire

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And with joy in the vow of discipline Train myself to follow the buddhas.

29. I shall not be eager to reach Enlightenment in the quickest way, But shall stay behind till the very end, For the sake of a single being.

30. I shall purify limitless Inconceivable lands And remain in the ten directions For all those who call my name.

31. I shall purify all my bodily And verbal forms of activity. My mental activities, too, I shall purify And do nothing that is non-virtuous.”

32. When those observing the vow Of the active altruistic intention have trained well In the three forms of discipline, their respect For these three forms of discipline grows, Which causes purity of body, speech and mind.

33. Therefore, through effort in the vow made by Bodhisattvas for pure, full enlightenment, The collections for complete enlightenment Will be thoroughly accomplished.

34. All buddhas say the cause for the completion Of the collections, whose nature is Merit and exalted wisdom, Is the development of higher perception.

35. Just as a bird with undeveloped Wings cannot fly in the sky, Those without the power of higher perception Cannot work for the good of living beings.

36. The merit gained in a single day By one who possesses higher perception Cannot be gained even in a hundred lifetimes By one without such higher perception.

37. Those who want swiftly to complete The collections for full enlightenment Will accomplish higher perception Through effort, not through laziness.

38. Without the attainment of calm abiding, Higher perception will not occur. Therefore make repeated effort Top accomplish calm abiding

Appendices: Root Texts 151

39. While the conditions for calm abiding Are incomplete, meditative stabilization Will not be accomplished, even if one meditates Strenuously for thousands of years.

40. Thus maintaining well the conditions mentioned In the Collection for Meditative Stabilization Chapter, Place the mind on any one Virtuous focal object.

41. When the practitioner has gained calm abiding, Higher perception will also be gained, But without practice of the perfection of wisdom, The obstructions will not come to an end.

42. Thus, to eliminate all obstructions To liberation and omniscience, The practitioner should continually cultivate The perfection of wisdom with skillful means.

43. Wisdom without skillful means And skillful means, too, without wisdom Are referred to as bondage. Therefore do not give up either.

44. To eliminate doubts concerning What is called wisdom and what skillful means, I shall make clear the difference Between skillful means and wisdom.

45. Apart from the perfection of wisdom, All virtuous practices such as The perfection of giving are described As skillful means by the Victorious Ones.

46. Whoever, under the influence of familiarity With skillful means, cultivates wisdom Will quickly attain enlightenment Not just by meditating on selflessness.

47. Understanding emptiness of inherent existence Through realizing that the aggregates, constituents And sources are not produced Is described as wisdom.

48. Something existent cannot be produced, Nor something non-existent, like a sky flower. These errors are both absurd and thus Both of the two will not occur either.

49. A thing is not produced from itself, Nor from another, also not from both, Nor causelessy either, thus it does not Exist inherently by way of its own entity.

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50. Moreover, when all phenomena are examined As to whether they are one or many, They are not seen to exist by way of their own entity, And thus are ascertained as not inherently existent.

51. The reasoning of the Seventy Stanzas on Emptiness, The Treatise on the Middle Way and so forth Explain that the nature of all things Is established as emptiness.

52. Since there are a great many passages, I have not cited them here, But have explained just their conclusions For the purpose of meditation.

53. Thus, whatever is meditation On selflessness, in that it does not observe An inherent nature in phenomena, Is the cultivation of wisdom.

54. Just as wisdom does not see An inherent nature in phenomena, Having analyzed wisdom itself by reasoning, Non-conceptually meditate on that.

55. The nature of this worldly existence, Which has come from conceptualization, Is conceptuality. Thus the elimination of Conceptuality is the highest state of nirvana.

56. The great ignorance of conceptuality Makes us fall into the ocean of cyclic existence. Resting in non-conceptual stabilization, Space-like non-conceptuality manifests clearly.

57. When bodhisattvas non-conceptually contemplate This excellent teaching, they will transcend Conceptuality, so hard to overcome, And eventually reach the non-conceptual state.

58. Having ascertained through scripture And through reasoning that phenomena Are not produced nor inherently existent, Meditate without conceptuality.

59. Having thus meditated on suchness, Eventually, after reaching ‘heat’ and so forth, The ‘very joyful’ and the others are attained And, before long, the enlightened state of buddhahood.

60. If you wish to create with ease The collections for enlightenment

Appendices: Root Texts 153

Through activities of pacification, Increase and so forth, gained by the power of mantra,

61. And also through the force of the eight And other great attainments like the ‘good pot’ If you want to practice secret mantra, As explained in the action and performance tantras,

62. Then, to receive the preceptor initiation, You must please an excellent spiritual teacher Through service, valuable gifts and the like As well as through obedience.

63. Through the full bestowing of the preceptor initiation, By a spiritual teacher who is pleased, You are purified of all wrong-doing And become fit to gain powerful attainments.

64. Because the Great Tantra of the Primordial Buddha Forbids it emphatically, Those observing pure conduct should not Take the secret and wisdom initiations.

65. If those observing the austere practice of pure conduct Were to hold these initiations, Their vow of austerity would be impaired Through doing that which is proscribed.

66. This creates transgressions that are a defeat For those observing discipline. Since they are certain to fall to a bad rebirth, They will never gain accomplishments.

67. There is no fault if one who has received The preceptor initiation and has knowledge Of suchness listens to or explains the tantras And performs burnt offering rituals, Or makes offering of gifts and so forth.

68. I, the Elder Dipamkara shri, having seen it Explained in sutra and in other teachings, Have made this concise explanation At the request of Jangchub Ö.

COLOPHON This concludes A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, by the Acharya Dipamkara Shri- jnana. It was translated, revised and finalized by the eminent Indian abbot himself and by the great reviser, translator and fully ordained monk Geway Lodrö. This teaching was written in the temple of Tholing in Zhang Zhung. Translated by Ruth Sonam, Dharamsala, January 1997.

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KYABJE LING RINPOCHE

There is no shortage of books; there is only shortage of practice His Holiness Ling Rinpoche, senior guru of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and 97th holder of the throne of Je Tsongkhapa was born in 1903 near Lhasa. At the time of his birth many prophecies had been made to discover the reincarnation of the previous Ling Rinpoche. Many well respected lamas and oracles confirmed the young boy to be the reincarnation of the late Ling Rinpoche, Lobsang Lungtok Tenzin Trinley. Further the late Dalai Lama confirmed him to be the reincarnation of his spiritual master and named and ordained him: Thubten Lungtok Namgyal Trinley. He was then brought to Lhasa and from his eight year onwards he started to memorize texts as the Abhisamayalamkara, the Madhyamakavatara etcetera. When he was ten years old he was admitted to the Loseling College of Drepung monastery which carried the title of ‘the largest and best monastery in the world’, with around ten thousand monks. At the age of eleven he was ordained as a novice-monk and involved himself in the study and practice of basic morality, the higher training of meditation, [samadhi] and analysis of wisdom, all based on the presentation of the Buddha and the commentaries of the great Indian masters and saints. As he says in his autobiography: ‘It is very important to hear the teachings on the sutras [the words of the Buddha] and shastras [the later commentaries] many times.’ In the following years Ling Rinpoche was instructed in the various disciples of Tibetan Buddhism in accordance with the finest traditions of Tibetan monastic scholarship: memorizing, taking teachings and explanations on the teachings, concentrating, thinking, gaining understanding, what again was tested by debating to gain further understanding. At the age of twenty Ling Rinpoche took his full monk ordination from the late Dalai Lama. One year later he obtained his geshe-degree. At the age 22, during the Mönlam [New Year] festival he performed theoretical examinations for his Lharampa geshe degree and debated in front of specially selected examiners -including the two abbots of Drepung monastery- and an audience of thousands of monks as well as lay-people. The test included questions on difficult points of the major texts. On this point he presented his own understanding which is proved to be true by quoting accepted scholar quotations [lung] and is further proved by analytical logical reasoning [rigpa]. He then earned the Lharampa geshe degree [equivalent to a Ph.D. in the West], the highest degree given in Tibet for sutra studies. In order to study the four classes of tantra, Ling Rinpoche then entered the Upper Tantric College. He was 24 years old when he passed his examinations. At the time he was in the tantric college as an ordinary monk, it was tradition that the geshe members performed the famous chagkar [wrathful rites]. When Ling Rinpoche's turn came to be the leader of the performance, an extra-ordinary double fire broke out, what was a special sign showing he was the true incarnation of Ra Lotzawa, the translator and powerful saint who is known for his exceptional command of magical powers. In general, when studying, it is the Gelugpa tradition that no matter how high an incarnate lama you may be, you will be treated equal to ordinary monks and undergo many hardships. As Tibetans say: ‘Your cushion is the cold ground, your pillow is the cold stone.’ All the time that Ling Rinpoche was studying and also after passing his examinations, he took great pains to study and gain the lineages of the unbroken traditions of both sutra and tantra. He studied under many outstanding masters, like Pabongkha Dechen Nyingpo, Khangsar Rinpoche, Tagdak Rinpoche from Central Tibet [the last regent of Tibet], Geshe Loyag Rinpoche [Eastern Tibet, Kham], Chöne Lama Rinpoche, Sogpo Paldan Sangpo Rinpoche [Amdo and Mongol area] and many others. Even after obtaining the highest position in the spiritual field he continued his studies with contemporary masters such as 156 Lam Rim Teachings

Lhatsun Rinpoche and Trijang Rinpoche, to achieve the lineages of the different initiations, to ripen the seed to gain liberation. [Initiation and empowerment is to ripen the seed; the commentary is to develop it and the lung or oral transmission to back it up]. At the age of 34, in 1936, Kyabje Rinpoche became the head-lama of Upper Tantric College and shortly afterwards, abbot. In this function he was the successor of the previous incarnation of Gehlek Rin- poche. Later he was appointed Tsenchab, one of the seven assistant personal teachers of His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama. In 1941, 39 years old he became junior guru, Yongzin Chungba. In 1949 he was appointed Sharpa Chosje, one of the two second highest positions of the Gelugpa order. In 1953 Kyabje Ling Rinpoche became Yongzin Cheba, senior guru of the Dalai Lama and offered extensive teachings to His Holiness of sutra and tantra. In 1954 after the present Dalai Lama had taken political responsibility of Tibet, Ling Rinpoche accompanied him on a visit to China and later, in 1956, to India. At another occasion when visiting the Jadong area on the Indo-Tibetan border where the Dalai Lama was giving an initiation -probably this was the first initiation he gave to a public audience- the Dalai Lama, when saying the auspicious words and throwing flowers, lost his vajra, it disappeared. Finally it was found inside Ling Rinpoche’s pocket. The vajra didn’t hit him but afterwards he had the feeling of something cold touching his chest and he found the vajra inside his pocket. That was very auspicious, because not only this Ling Rinpoche is the teacher of the Dalai Lama but also the previous Ling Rinpoche was the teacher of the previous Dalai Lama. It shows that they have many unbroken commitments to assist each other. Their commitment is not broken, it has not changed, it is strong as a thunderbolt. In 1959 Ling Rinpoche fled Tibet, together with the Dalai Lama. Upon reaching India he settled in Dharamsala and continued his activities. At that time the 96th Ganden Tripa passed away in Tibet and the Dalai Lama and the community of monks and lay requested Ling Rinpoche to take over as the 97th Gan- den Tripa, the 97th chairman of the Gelugpa order. From 1968 onwards Kyabje Rinpoche started to visit and also teach in the West, in the Tibetan set- tlements in Switzerland, Germany, England and France. Returning to India he gave teachings all over In- dia to monks and lay-people, Tibetans and an increasing group of westerners. There is another remarkable event which is worthwhile mentioning here: When the Tibetans came to Delhi to their settlement in Majnu Tila, every year quite a few people got knocked down by speeding trucks. At the time when they built the old monastery, Ling Rinpoche was requested to say protection- prayers. He asked the campleader to tell him what the worst area was. Then he told Gehlek Rinpoche, who was driving the car, to drive to the centre of it. When they reached the place Ling Rinpoche put just one foot out of the car, said the Yamantaka mantra very strongly and threw rice. Since then until today not one single human being has been knocked down. Gehlek Rinpoche told of that occasion: ‘When he put his left foot back into the car he turned and said to me: ‘To do such funny things is a big lie.’ I was too scared to say anything but in my heart I thought: Lama Yamantaka performing protection, if this is a lie, then what is true?’

This obituary was written based on the autobiography of Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, as it was published in The Tibet Journal no. 3, autumn 1983 and in Dreloma 1978 till 1981 and based on interviews with Gelek Rinpoche.

JEWEL HEART

How did Jewel Heart come about in The Netherlands? I had a very nice friend, who had been studying with me in India. She was in Dharamsala when I met her. That was late Hélène van Hoorn197. She was studying before with Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, who was the senior teacher of the Dalai Lama. I think Ky- abje Ling Rinpoche had told her to go and study with me. That is how I came in contact with Hélène. She was studying under great difficulties in India; there was tremendous heat. She had learned quite okay and so I suggested her to go back to Holland, her own land. Whatever she had put efforts in, could benefit the people of Holland. With a strong persistent request and some pressure she was ready to leave, which was very hard because she didn’t want to. Then she wanted me to visit here. So I came in l985. At that time a group began to develop. We did not plan to make a group. That point is very important. Some people decide to have an organisation, saying: ‘We get together, organise, this is our aim, this is our object, these are our rules...’ etc. Jewel Heart did not do that. In the beginning there were Hélène, Len, Marian, Piet and Marianne and a few others. Even today I don’t really think we have a planned, organised organisation with aims, objects, rules etc. But we do have one object: to benefit the people who come in contact with Jewel Heart, even if only briefly. [We want to] bring them peace of mind and to uplift them, to bring the individual closer to enlightenment or whatever. This is an important point we insist on. Our aim is helping individuals, whatever it may take. And if we are not doing that, the institution is not important any longer and we have to close. This is a very important. Apart from that, we function in family style: sometimes we are happy, sometimes we quarrel. I am sure we do. It is alright, it really does not matter. But what does matter is: the moment you know it] is not helpful, you have to shut, no matter how painful it might be to some people. The moment the organisation is not serving the purpose, you have to close. That is what we keep as principle of Jewel Heart throughout the world. One more thing I like to say on this. We have another principle: When somebody likes to quit Jewel Heart, the door remains always open, always open. If somebody just stays away without saying anything, the person may get one phonecall to find out whether he or she is okay or not; that is all. Nobody will be chased. That we keep as important too.

The name. As we want to serve the western people, we searched for a name that the western mind can identify with. A jewel represents the internal purity of a human being. That is why the word ‘jewel’ came up in my head at that time. And one of our older friends, Sandy, said ‘heart’, because the heart is the warmth of the human basis. That is why we chose this name Jewel Heart.

The logo. The logo has in the middle something like a yin-yang, but there are three parts instead of two. It is a combination of three jewels, which represents three things. In our ordinary live, everyday’s life it represents birth, death and bardo; that is our base. In the practice it is Buddha, dharma and sangha. At the result stage it is the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya, three [enlightened] manifestations. Then you see a lotus underneath. The lotus is grown out of mud, but has no fault of mud. Our life is like that. We grow in samsara, which is a result of suffering; we are filled with suffering, but we can come out of it as a pure being.

197 Hélène passed away January 1991. 158 Lam Rim Teachings

The lotus also the represents love-compassion. A lotus is very attractive, people like it; it makes people feel happy; that is why it represents love. By making people happy it relieves the suffering; that is why it represents compassion. So you have love and compassion. The fire around is the fire of wisdom. Wisdom-fire has the power of burning the ignorance and thus it burns the delusions. In short, the path given by Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is able to transform our ordinary death, bardo and rebirth in the extra-ordinary dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya. And that is done through the path of love-compassion and wisdom. It also indicates that what we do, transforming our ordinary death, bardo and rebirth into the extra-ordinary dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya, is not only working on a Mahayana path but on the Vajrayana path too. That is what this logo is. So when you look at the logo, you have to get this information. And when you get that, you get a big message. Nijmegen, February 1992

GLOSSARY

Abhidharma As one of the branches of the Buddhist canon, the Tripitaka, abhidharma corresponds to the discipline of wisdom, whereas the sutras correspond to the discipline of meditation and the vinaya to the discipline of morality. The systematized philosophical and psychological analysis of existence that is the basis for the Buddhist systems of tenets and of mind-training. Abhidharmakosha or Treasure of Metaphysics An important work written by Vasubandhu, probably in the fourth century C.E., as a critical compendium of the Abhidharmic science. Abhisamayalankara or Ornament of Clear Realization by Maitreya. It is the central Mahayana text on the stages of the path and their fruition for both the Hinayana and Mahayana. Whereas the Madhayamaka literature presents the explicit meaning of the Prajnaparamita sutras, the subject matter of the Abhisamayalankara is the hidden or implied meaning, the various stages of the paths of bodhisattvas, shravakas and pratyekabuddhas. The work is traditionally summarized in a fine way in seventy points or more generally in eight chapters: 1) knowledge of all aspects, 2) knowledge of the path, 3) knowledge of the bases, 4) complete training in all aspects, 5) culminating training, 6) gradual training, 7) momentary training, 8) dharma body. Acharya [Skt.] Title meaning teacher. Accumulation of merit See: Merit. Aggregates [Skt. skandha; Tib. pungpo] See: Five skandhas. Ajatashatru Son of king Bimbisara of Magadha, living during Buddha’s lifetime. Known as one of the four that committed a terrible non-virtue of killing his father, who was an arhat, but was still able to purify it and develop up to becoming an arhat. The others were Nanda, who was dominated by lust, Angulimala who killed nine hundred and ninety-nine people, and Shankara, who killed his own mother. Akanishta The highest heaven of the form-world, where a buddha always receives the anointment of the ultimate wisdom, reaching there mentally from his seat of enlightenment under the bodhi-tree. AmitabhaThe buddha of infinite light who presides over the Western Paradise, Sukhavati. He is one of the five Tathagatas or Dhyani buddhas. He is associated with infinite compassion and is the teacher of Arya Avalokitesh- vara. See: Buddha family. Analytical meditation Also called contemplation. See: Meditation. Ananda A major disciple of the Buddha; his personal attendant. The other two famous disciples are Shariputra and Maudgalyayana [mostly called Maudgalputra, by Rimpoche]. Animal All forms of visible life other than man: e.g. insects, fish, birds, mammals etc. Symbolically the animal represents the short-sightedness of man. Arhat [Skt.; Tib. drachompa] ‘Enemy destroyer’ or ‘foe destroyer’. One who has overcome the forces of karma and delusion and attained liberation from cyclic existence and thus has obtained arhatship, the spiritual ideal of Hinayana Buddhism. It is the culmination of the four stages of perfection: in succession one becomes stream- enterer, once-returner, non-returner, arhat. Sravakas (hearers) and prateyka buddhas (solitary realizers) attain arhatship when they reach the fifth of the five paths, the path of no-more-learning [Tib. mi-slob-lam]. The arhat has achieved nirvana, but not buddhahood, because he does not return out of compassion to teach others as the mahayana bodhisattva does. Also see: Hearer. Arya [Skt.; Tib. pakpa] Title meaning ‘noble one’. It indicates one who has attained the third of the five paths, the path of insight or seeing [Tib. thong-lam] and so through an understanding of emptiness, has gone above the world. Aryadeva (about the second or third century C.E.) One of the great masters of Indian Buddhism. The main disciple of Nagarjuna. He wrote numerous important works of Madhyamika philosophy. Most famous is his debate with the great non-Buddhist scholar Matricheta. Aryasura (Tib. Lodon Pawo) (2nd century) Author of Jatakamala, stories of the previous’ lives of the Buddha. Asanga (c. 395-470) Extender of the cittamatra or ‘mind-only’ school of tenets. From Maitreya, the bodhisattva of love, the lineage of extensive deeds or widespread activities (method) was transmitted to him. He brought back from Tushita the Five works of Maitreya. The lineage goes from Maitreya to Asanga, via a.o. Vasubandhu, Haribhadra, Atisha, to Tsongkhapa. His brother is Vasubandhu. 160 Lam Rim Teachings

Ashoka Mauryan (Indian) emperor during or shortly after Buddha’s lifetime. He provided a favourable climate for the acceptance of Buddhist ideas. Ashvaghosha [Tib. (Ta Yang) (10th century) Author of the Gurupancashatika – Fifty Stanzas on the Guru. Asura Demi-god or jealous god or titan. Inhabitant of one of the six realms. Rebirth as demi-god belongs to the higher rebirths. Also see: Gods. Atisha Dipamkara Sri Jnana or Jowo Palden Atisha [982-1055] A great Indian pandit, perhaps the last of the universally acclaimed masters of Indian Buddhism. He spent the last seventeen years of his life in Tibet, bringing many important teachings. Well-known is his short treatise Light on the Path to Enlightenment [Skt. Bodhipatha- pradipa; Tib. Lam Don] which points out in a concise manner the path to enlightenment. This work became the foundation for what was to become the Lamrim literature. The followers of Atisha became known as the Kadampa school. Avalokiteshvara [Tib. Chenrezig] The great bodhisattva of compassion, chief disciple of Amithaba. Of great importance in Tibet as special protector of the religious life of the country. The Dalai Lama is considered to be a incarnation of Avalokiteshvara. In China he is (in combination with his female counterpart Tara; see: Tara) known in female form as Kwan Yin, protectress of women, children and animals, in Vietnam as Quan Am and in Japan as Kannon. Avatamsaka Sutra This vast mahayana scripture deals with the miraculous side of the mahayana. Its final book, the Gandavyuha Sutra, describes the development of enlightenment through tales of a pilgrimage of the central character Suddhana. The whole sutra is translated into English in [one or] three large volumes. Avici Hell The lowest hell. See: Realms. Awakening See: Enlightenment. Bardo [Tib.; Skt. anubhava] Intermediate state. The state of consciousness between death and rebirth. It begins the moment the consciousness leaves the body and ceases the moment the consciousness enters the body of the next life. One remains in that state anywhere from a moment to forty-nine days. Bardowa A being in the intermediate state. Beng Kungyel, Geshe [twelfth century] Geshe Beng was a famous Kadampa geshe; he was a disciple of Padampa Sengye who died in 1117. Bikshu [Skt.; Tib. gelong] Buddhist mendicant monk. Bikshuni is the female counterpart. Bimbisara, king King living in Buddha’s lifetime, Father of Ajatashatru. Bhumi [Skt.] See: Ten bodhisattva stages. Bliss An extremely pleasurable feeling; in highest yoga tantra (part of Vajrayana) the very subtle clear light mind experiencing great bliss is focused on emptiness. Bodhgaya The place in Northern India (modern Bihar state) where Sakyamuni Buddha manifested enlightenment under the bodhi tree in the early sixth century B.C. Bodhi [Skt.; Tib. jangchub] See: Enlightenment. Bodhi tree The tree under which Buddha manifested enlightenment at Bodhgaya, popularly called the Pipal Tree. An offshoot of that same tree is still in existence in Bodhgaya, where it is visited by pilgrims from the whole world. Bodhicitta [Skt.; Tib. jangchub gyi sem] See: Bodhimind. Bodhimind [Skt. bodhicitta] ‘The awakened mind’, ‘the awakening mind’ or ‘the mind aspiring enlightenment’. Bodhimind or bodhicitta is the altruistic motivation of a bodhisattva: a mind that is directed towards the attainment of buddhahood, for the sake of all living beings; the fully open and dedicated heart. Once one has generated the bodhimind, one enters the first of the bodhisattva paths, the accumulation path [Tib. tshogs-lam]. The bodhimind is of two main types: relative or conventional and absolute or ultimate. The former is also of two types: that which aspires to highest enlightenment as a means of benefitting the world, and that which engages in the practice leading to enlightenment. Ultimate bodhimind is the latter of these placed within an understanding of emptiness. Also see: Twenty-two bodhicittas. Bodhisattva [Skt.; Tib. jangchub sempa] Also referred to as ‘child of the Buddha’, ‘spiritual hero’, or ‘fortunate one’. A bodhisattva is a living being who has produced the spirit of enlightenment in himself and whose constant dedication, lifetime after lifetime, is to attain the unexcelled, perfect enlightenment of buddhahood for the sake of all living beings. The term bodhisattva refers to those at many levels: from those who have generated aspiration to enlightenment for the first time to those who have actually entered the bodhisattva path, which is developed through the ten stages [Skt. bhumis] and culminates in enlightenment, the attainment of buddhahood. Those who have embarked on the path but have not yet gained direct perception of the meaning of emptiness are called ordinary bodhisattvas; those who have attained the path of seeing and can in meditation directly perceive emptiness are called extra-ordinary or superior bodhisattvas or arya bodhisattvas. Also see: Ten bodhisattva stages. Bodhisattva stages See: Ten bodhisattva stages. Bodhisattva vows Eighteen root vows and forty-six branch vows, which are taken in order to develop bodhicitta. Bodies of a buddha See: Kaya.

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Brahma Creator-lord of a universe, there beings as many as there are universes, whose number is incalculable. Hence, in Buddhist belief, a title of a deity who has attained supremacy in a particular universe, rather than a personal name. A king of the gods who dwells in the form Realm. At the time of Buddha Sakyamuni, Indra and Brahma requested Buddha to turn the wheel of dharma for the sake of all sentient beings. Buddha [Skt.; Tib. sanggye] Lit.: ‘awakened one’. Title of one who has attained the highest attainment for a living being. It refers to one who has completely purified (sang) all the defilements, the two obscurations, and completely expanded (gye) or perfected his mind to encompass all excellences and knowledges. A fully enlightened being is perfect in omniscience and compassion. Every being has the potential to become a completely enlightened buddha. There are countless buddhas. This eon is to have one thousand buddhas. Sakyamuni Buddha is the fourth buddha in this eon. The first three were Krakuchchanda, Kanakamuni and Kashyapa. The fifth buddha will be Maitreya, the eleventh buddha is predicted to be Je Tsongkhapa and as the last one of the thousand of this eon Roca is mentioned. Also see: Sakyamuni. Buddha family/families There are five main buddha families or casts, the families of Vairocana, Ratnasambhava, Amithaba, Amoghasiddhi and Akshobya. They are also called the five Dhyana buddhas or the five Thathagatas. They represent the five purified aggregates or skandhas, the aggregate of form, feeling, discrimination, formative elements or volition and consciousness respectively. And the five exalted wisdoms: the mirror-like wisdom, wisdom of equality, wisdom of individuality, wisdom of accomplishing activities, wisdom of dharmadhatu or true nature. Buddha nature Our potential to attain full enlightenment. Specifically, it is the ultimate nature of the mind. Every living being has buddha nature. Buddha nature and buddha seed are synonyms. Rimpoche does not speak about it in this Lamrim, but often speaks about it in public talks. See: Gehlek Rimpoche Love and compassion, chapter: In the moment from habit to awareness and Gehlek Rimpoche, Transforming negativity into positive living, the first few talks. Buddhahood See: Enlightenment. Buddhapalita [circa. 470-550 C.E.] A great Madhyamika master. His great achievement was the elucidation of a main work of Nagarjuna. Because of this work he was later regarded as the founder of the Prasangika sub-school. Buddhist cosmology The oldest Buddhist cosmology is found in the Abhidharmakosha. There the universe is represented in terms of a single circular world system, called chakravala. The world/universe is viewed as a disk ringed with a series of seven circular, golden mountain ranges. The mountain ranges are arranged concentrically with Mount Meru at the center and a wall of iron at the perimeter. Proceeding outward from the center, the mountains are known as Meru, Yugandhara, Isadhara, Khadirika, Sudarsana, Asvakarna, Vinataka, Nimindhara and Chakravala. Each of the mountains is one-half of the height of the preceding range. All of the mountains except the chakravala ring are composed of golden earth. The chakravala ring is made of iron. The waters of the various seas fill the regions between the mountain ranges. The seas posses the following eight qualities: cold, clear, swiftly flowing, pleasant to the taste, fresh, inoffensive in smell, offensive to neither the throat nor the stomach. The inhabited land masses are situated in the great ocean which flows about the seventh mountain range. The four land masses located at the points of the compass are spoken of as islands or continents. In addition to the four main islands, there are eight intermediate islands. All of this rests on a layer of golden earth. The golden earth rests in turn on a layer of water. A layer of wind supports the water and that in turn rests on empty space. The four islands are distinguished from each other in a number of ways; particularly to the seize, shape and duration of life of their inhabitants. Uttarakuru, the northern continent, is square, crops grow naturally there and life has a duration of 1000 years. Godaniya, the western continent is shaped like a full-moon, it has a cow which gives an endless supply of gold and life there is equal to 500 years. Purvavideha, the eastern continent, has the shape of a half-moon, there is a mountain of jewels and the duration of life is 250 years. Jambudvipa, the Southern Continent, also called Rose- apple Island, our ‘world’, is said to be shaped like a chariot, it has a wish-fulfilling tree called Jambu, but life has no unchanging duration: at the beginning of the kalpa or eon it is incalculable, but it diminishes to only ten years by the end of the kalpa. The inhabitants of Jampudvipa are particularly aware of the workings of karma. It is only in Jampudvipa during a time of declining life that a buddha will appear. Moving north in Jampudvipa one encounters three mountains in the shape of ant-hills, then three more, a third set of three and finally Mt. Himavat. Beyond that is lake Anavatapta whence issue four great rivers. The waters of this lake are also endowed with the eight qualities, and where only men possessed of the miraculous powers are able to go. Near the lake is the Jambu tree. In the middle of Jambudvipa is a ‘diamond throne’, where the bodhisattva sits in order to become arhat and Buddha. Beneath Jampudvipa the eighteen hells – 8 hot hells, 8 cold hells and 2 nearby-hells – are situated. In the vertical dimensions of this world system we find a series of heavens one upon another beginning at the level of Mount Meru. See: Realms. Chandragomin [seventh century] Belonged to the Cittamatra school of tenets, the Mind-Only school or the Idealists. He had a long-lasting famous debate with Chandrakirti representing the Madhyamaka, the Middle Way philosophy of Nagarjuna.

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Chandrakirti [approx. sixth-seventh century C.E.] The most important madhyamika philosopher after Nagarjuna and Aryadeva. He is regarded the ‘ultimate’ disciple of Nagarjuna as he is the elucidator of the essence of Nagarjuna’s message. He wrote famous commentaries on Nagarjuna’s work. So he is considered one of the highest authorities on the subject of the profound nature of reality. He had a long-lasting famous debate with Chandragomin. Chakra [Skt.; Tib. tsa kor] Energy-wheel; a focal point of energy along the central channel upon which one’s concentration is directed, especially during the completion stage of annutara yoga tantra. Channels [Skt. nadi; Tib. tse] In the body there are three main channels: the central channel [Skt. avadhuti, shushumma; Tib. uma], the major energy channel of the vajra body; the right channel [Tib. roma] and the left channel [Tib. kyangma]. The central channel is described to be visualised as pale blue. From the tip of the sex organ up to the top of the head it is very straight, but from there it bends down in an arch and terminates between the two eyebrows. It is located exactly midway between the right and left halves of the body but it is closer to the back than to the front. Immediately to either side of the central channel are the right and left channels. The right channel is visualised red and the left one white. chöd a vajrayana practice of forcefully cutting attachment and cutting through the ego. Cittamatra The Cittamatra or Mind-only school is one of the two mahayana schools of Buddhist tenets, the other being the Madhyamika School. Cittamatra means ‘mind only’. The cittamatra, also known as Yogacara, is a mahayana system of tenets developed by Asanga and his brother Vasubandhu. According to this school all phenomena are the same nature as the mind that apprehends them. Dependent phenomena are truly existent but they do not exist external to the mind. Clear light [Tib. ösel] The subtlest level of mind, which becomes manifest only when all the gross minds have ceased their active functions. This state is experienced by ordinary beings naturally at the time of death, although it may not be and cannot be recognized by those not trained to do so. With the mind of clear light – and the pure illusory body – the full awakening of buddhahood can be achieved. The clear light is potentially with everyone; its full development in order to sustain the spiritual path is aimed at in highest tantra yoga practice. Collective karma See: Karma. Commitments [Skt. samaya; Tib. dam tshig] Pledges taken at tantric initiations. Compassion [Skt. karuna] The wish to free others from their suffering. Also see: Great compassion. Completion Stage [Tib. zo-rim] The last one of the two main stages of the highest yoga tantra, the other one being the generation stage, during which control is gained over the vajra body. Concentration [Skt. samadhi; Tib. ting ’dzin] The ability to focus the mind single-pointedly on any chosen object of meditation and keep it there. Concentration meditation is one of the two main forms of meditation, the other one being analytical meditation. See also: Meditation. Conqueror [Skt. jina] A title of a buddha. Contaminated phenomenon A contaminated phenomenon is any phenomenon that gives rise to delusions or that causes them to increase. Cyclic existence See: Samsara. Dakas and dakinis [Skt.; Tib. kadro and kadroma] Male and female ‘sky-goers’; beings who help arouse blissful energy in a qualified tantric practitioner. Dalai Lama Spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, recognized as the human embodiment of Avalokiteshvara, the buddha of compassion. The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was born in 1935 and is the fourteenth of his line. The first Dalai Lama lived in the fifteenth century. The name ‘Dalai Lama’ first came up at the time of the Third Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Sonam Gyatso, by whose learnedness and spirituality the Mongol Khan was so impressed that he called him ‘Dalai’, Mongolian for ocean. So the name means: ocean of wisdom. Dedication Refers to the bodhisattva’s constant mindfulness of the fact that all his actions of whatever form contribute to his purpose of attaining enlightenment for the sake of himself and others, i.e. his conscious dedicating, offering, giving away of the merit that comes from any virtuous actions as he eschews immediate reward in favour of ultimate enlightenment. Degenerated age [Skt. kali-yuga] That period when the traditions of Buddha’s teachings are no longer pure and the world situation makes it difficult to properly practice the dharma. The five degenerations are: degeneration of time, of sentient beings, of delusions, of life-span, of view. The degenerated age is opposite to the golden age. Delusion [Skt. klesha; Tib. nyong mongs] A thought, emotion or impulse that is pervaded by ignorance, disturbs the mind and initiates actions (karma) which keep one bound within cyclic existence. That which makes the mind impure. Delusions are mental factors. The three root delusions or the three poisons are: ignorance, attachment and hatred; from these many others arise. Lamrim distinguishes six root delusions and twenty-two secondary delusions. Other words used for delusion: afflictive emotions, disturbing attitudes, defilements, emotional obscrurations, fettering passions, poisons. Rimpoche sometimes calles them neuroses. Destruction of the delusions and their imprints bestows nirvana. Buddha expounded 84,000 teachings to counteract our 84,000 delusions.Also see: Five passions.

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Demon [Skt. mara] A demon is anything that obstructs the attainment of liberation or enlightenment. There are four principal types of demon: the demon of the delusions [Skt. kleshamara], the demon of the contaminated aggregates [Skt. skandhamara], the demon of death [Skt. mrtyumara] and the heavenly demons [Skt. devaputramara]. Of these, only the last are actual sentient beings. The principal Devaputra demon is wrathful Ishvara, the highest of the desire-realm gods who inhabits the Land Controlling Others’ Emanations. Buddha is called a ‘conqueror’ because he has conquered all four types of demon. Also see: Ishvara and: Mara. Dependent arising or dependent existence or interdependent origination or inderdependent relationship [Skt. pratityasamutpada; Tib. ten drel] A dependent-related phenomenon is any phenomenon that exists in dependence upon other phenomena. All phenomena are dependent-related because all phenomena depend upon their parts. Sometimes dependent-related is distinguished from dependent-arising, with the latter meaning arising in dependence upon causes and conditions. However, the two terms are often used interchangeably. Dependent origination is pictured in the twelve links of the Wheel of Life, and described in The Rice Seedling Sutra. Desire Can be either negative, like in the meaning of attachment to wordly pleasures, or positive, in the meaning of striving for enlightenment. Desire Realm See: Realms. Determination to be free The attitude of wishing to leave behind the sufferings of samsara and their cause and to attain instead the peace of nirvana or the full enlightenment of buddhahood. Also referred to as: Renunciation. Devadatta A cousin of Buddha Sakyamuni who was his persistent antagonist throughout all his lifetimes. Dharma [Skt.; Tib. chö] Buddha’s teachings and the realizations that are attained in dependence on them. One’s spiritual development. ‘That which holds one back from suffering.’ Also, any object of knowledge. Dharmadhatu [Skt.] Realm of true reality. The ultimate reality underlying phenomena; that is, their non-existence as intrinsic natures, or emptiness. Dharmakaya [Skt.] Truth Body. The mind of a fully enlightened being, free of all coverings, remaining meditatively absorbed in the direct perception of emptiness while simultaneously cognizing all phenomena. See: Kaya. Dharmakirti There are two Dharmakirtis. One is Suvarnadvipa [Sumatra, Indonesia] Serlingpa, around 1020, the teacher of Atisha. The other one is a famous philosopher of the beginning of the seventh century, who wrote an important work on logic [pramana], the Pramanavartika. Dharma protectors, non-samsaric Manifestations of a buddha or a bodhisattva whose main function is to eliminate obstacles and create conducive conditions for pure dharma practitioners. Dhyana [Skt.; Tib. san tän] An advanced form of concentration meditation, which one can practice after passing through the nine stages of mental abiding and realising shamatha, the state of calm abiding or mental quietude. Four form dhyanas and four formless dhyanas are distinguished. Also see: Realms. Dhyani Buddhas See: Buddha family. Dignaga The Indian Buddhist philosopher and logician Gignaga (A.D. 480-540), a disciple of Vasubandhu, laid the foundations for the Buddhist teachings on cognition theory and logic. Dignaga’s Pramanasamuccaya (Compendium of the Means of True Knowledge) is one of the greatest works on Buddhist logic. He is one of the Six Ornaments. Divine pride A vajrayana practice whereby the practitioner, having generated him- or herself as a deity, identifies strongly as being that deity. It is the antidote to ordinary conception. Drepung Monastery One of the three main monasteries of the Gelugpa tradition. The monastery in which the early Dalai Lamas were educated. Tibet’s largest monastery; at the time of the Chinese invasion in the 1950’s it housed more than ten thousand monks. It is the monastery where Gehlek Rimpoche lived; he belonged to Drepung Loseling. The two other main monasteries are Ganden and Sera. Drom Rinpoche or Dromtönpa [1004-1064] Main disciple of Atisha, lay person, founder of the Kadampa lineage. Dualistic view Ignorant view characteristic of the unenlightened mind in which all things are falsely conceived to have concrete self-existence. To such a view the appearance of an object is mixed with the false image of its being independent or self-existent, thereby leading to further dualistic views concerning subject and object, self and other, this and that, etc. Dullness Heaviness and unserviceability of body and mind, also called depression or a sinking mind. Ego See: I. Eightfold path Right view, right thought, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. Eight worldly dharmas Eight wordly concerns or eight childish attitudes: 1) gain, finding, obtaining, profit, acquirement. 2) loss, not-finding, disappointment, disprofit, damage. 3) fame, glory, celebrity, reputation. 4) dishonour, disgrace, infamy, disrepute, 5) praise, laud, commendation, renown. 6) blame, abuse, reproach, reproof, censure, reviling, degradation.

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7) well-being, happiness, prosperity, pleasure. [Skt. sukha] 8) misery, pain, distress, trouble [Skt. dukha]. Emanation body See: Sambhogakaya. Empowerment See: Initiation. Emptiness [Skt. shunyata; Tib. tong pa nyi] The absence of the illusion of the inherent existence of people and things, upon realizing which one understands ultimate truth. Voidness, specifically the emptiness of absolute substance, of truth, of identity, of intrinsic reality, of self or inherent existence of all persons and things in the relative world. Enjoyment Body See: Kaya. Enlightenment [Skt. bodhi; Tib. jangchub] Jang refers to the total purification of the two obscurations; chub refers to the expansion of wisdom to the encompassment of the two levels of truth. Buddhahood. The goal of mahayana practice, whereas the goal of hinayana practice is liberation. Also see: Liberation. Eon [Skt. kalpa] A large period of time, described as the time it takes a dove to exhaust a mountain of grain the size of the Mount Everest by removing one grain every thousand years. Equanimity [Skt. upeksha; Tib. tangnyom] As the basis for compassion and love, an unbiased state of mind affected by neither attachment nor aversion towards others. In meditation a balanced state of mind upset by neither excitement nor sinking. Eternalism Belief in an unchanging ego or self-nature in either persons or phenomena. One of the two extremes to be avoided; the opposite of nihilism. Also see: Nihilism. Excellences See: Six ornaments and two excellences. Field of merit In general a field of merit is any basis on which one can collect merit, like a field of earth is the basis on which you can grow crops, the crops depending on the field. A supreme field for accumulating merit are the holy beings, to which we can offer the seven limbs of our practice. The holy beings act as a field in which we plant and nourish our seeds of virtue. Five aggregates See: Five skandhas. Five basic precepts These are binding on all Buddhists, monks and laymen alike: not to kill, not to steal, not to engage in sexual misconduct, not to lie, not to use intoxicants. Also see: ten non-virtues. Five limitless non-virtues Lit.: ‘sins of immediate retribution [after death]’. Also called ‘five heinous crimes’. These five, all of which cause immediate rebirth in hell, are: killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, breaking up the sangha, and causing – with evil intent – the Tathagata to bleed (as buddhas cannot be killed). Five great subjects Logic [Skt. pramana], general doctrine [Skt. prajnaparamita], the philosophy of the middle way [Skt. madhyamika], phenomenology [Skt. abhidharma] and monastic discipline [Skt. vinaya]. Five main philosophical texts Studied in the monastic universities of the gelug tradition: Maitreya’s Abhisamayalamkara, Ornament for Clear Realization, Chandrakirti’s Madhyamakavatara, Guide to the Middle Way, Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakosa, or Treasure of Metaphysics or Treasure of Phenomenology, Dharmakirti’s Pramanavarttika or Commentary to Valid Cognition and Gunaprabha’s Source of discourses on Discipline. Five passions [Skt. kleshas] In the tantras the following five delusions correspond to the five Tathagata families: pride, envy or jealousy, desire or attachment, hatred, and folly or confusion or ignorance. There are other divisions of three, six, twenty. Five paths According to dharma a path is necessarily an internal path. There are mundane and supramundane paths. A supramundane path is any path leading to liberation or enlightenment, for example, the realizations of renunciation, bodhicitta and the correct view of emptiness. Strictly speaking only superior beings, aryas, posses supramundane paths. The Tibetan word for these paths is salam, meaning ‘earth paths’. They are called ‘earth’ because each stage is a foundation of wisdom which gives support to all further growth of insight. They are called ‘paths’ because these internal paths can lead us to our ultimate destination, full enlightenment. The five paths are: 1) path of merit or path of accumulation [Tib. tsog-lam], 2) path of preparation [Tib. jor-lam], 3) path of seeing or path of insight [Tib. tong-lam], 4) path of meditation [Tib. gom-lam], 5) path of no-more-learning. The first two paths are the paths of ordinary bodhisattvas, the following two paths are the paths of arya bodhisattvas or superior bodhisattvas, on the fifth path the bodhisattva has become a buddha. The paths in hinayana carry the same name but differ in the practice. Five skandhas [Skt.; Tib. phungbo] Aggregates. The literal meaning is ‘pile’ or ‘heap’, which has the connotation of an utter lack of internal structure. The body-mind organism is made up of innumerable elementary constituents, called ‘dharmas’, which are grouped into five. The five compulsive aggregates are the five basic constituents of psycho-physical existence, of great importance as a scheme for introspective meditation in the abhidharma. They are: 1) matter or form [Skt. rupa], 2) feeling or sensation [Skt. vedana], 3) perception or discernment or discrimination or intellect (in the sense of verbal, conceptual intelligence) [Skt. samnja], 4) volition, motivation, habits, compositional factors, formative elements or conditioned activities [Skt. samskara] and 5) consciousness or primary mind or pure awareness [Skt. vijnana]. Associated together they make up most living beings.

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Five sciences Grammar, logic, medicine, arts and crafts, religious philosophy. Five wisdoms See: Buddha family. Foe destroyer See: Arhat. Form realm See: Realms. Formless realm See: Realms. Four anti-dote powers Four practices of purification used to counteract the karmic imprint of negative actions: 1) power of the base: if it concernes an enlightened being then take refuge; if it concernes a non-enlightened being then meditate love-compassion; 2) power of action: generally any virtuous [anti-dote] action; 3) power of regret; 4) power of promise not to repeat. Four Buddhist seals: a) all products are impermanent b) all contaminated things are miserable c) all phenomena are empty and selfless d) nirvana is peace. Four classes of tantra Kriya, which uses many external rituals such as washing etc. Charya, which balances outer methods with inner ones; Yoga, which emphasizes internal methods; maha-anuttara yoga or highest yoga tantra, which exclusively relies upon internal methods. Four continents See: Buddhist cosmology. Four doors of production of downfalls Not knowing right from wrong, recklessness, having strong delusions in one’s mind, lack of respect for the instructions. Four immeasurables Immeasurable equanimity, immeasurable love, immeasurable compassion, immeasurable joy. These are called immeasurables because we practice them by taking as our observed object all living beings whose number is immeasurable. Four mindfulnesses [Skt. smrti] 1) Mindfulness of the body, 2) mindfulness of feelings [sensations], 3) mindfulness of the mind or awareness, 4) mindfulness of phenomena [contents of thoughts]. Four Noble Truths [Skt. catuh-arya-satya; Tib. pakpa’i denpa zhi] The truth of suffering, the truth of the causes of suffering, the truth of the cessation of suffering, the truth of the path to the cessation of suffering. They are called noble truths because they are the truths as the ‘noble ones’ or aryas can see them. Four reliances [from Maitreya’s Mahayanasutralamkara] 1) One should not rely on the person of the teacher, but on the tenets/ doctrines that he teaches [Skt. dharma, Tib. chos]. 2) One should not merely rely on his words, but on their meaning [ Skt. artha, Tib. don]. 3) With respect to the meaning, one should not rely on those teachings that require interpretation. One should rely rather on the teachings that have definite meaning, which do not require interpretation [ Skt. nithartha, Tib. nges don]. 4) With respect to the definite meaning, one should not rely on a dualistic consciousness, but on a non-conceptual wisdom [Skt. jnana, Tib. yeshe]. [Lit. Dalai Lama/Hopkins, The Buddhism of Tibet, p. 55, Geshe Wangyal, The Jewelled Staircase, ch. III, R. Turman, The Central Philosophy of Tibet, p. 111-130.] Four schools of tenets Four philosophical views taught by Buddha according to the inclinations and dispositions of his disciples. They are the Vaibhasika, Sautantrika, Cittamatra and Madhyamika tenets. They are studied in sequence, the lower tenets being the means by which the higher tenets are understood. The first two are hinayana tenets and the second two are mahayana tenets. Four ways of birth Spontaneous birth, birth from moisture, birth from an egg, birth from a womb. Four ways of ripening others mind or four ways of attraction Showing generosity, speaking in a kind and loving manner, working for the benefit of others, practicing what one preaches. Gampopa [1079-1153] Disciple of Milarepa. He combined the esoteric tradition of Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa and Milarepa with the monastic tradition of the Kadampa founded by Atisha and Dromtönpa. Together with Marpa he is regarded as the founder of the Kagyu order. His major work is a Lamrim text called Jewel Ornament of Liberation. Ganden Lha Gyema A short guru-yoga practice. Ganden means: the land of joy (Tushita); lha means: deities; gyema is hundreds or many. Ganden Land of Joy. See: Tushita. Garuda A large mystical bird like an eagle, the enemy of the snake of hatred. Gelugpa The tradition of Tibetan Buddhism established by Je Tsongkhapa as a fusion of older sects, and also known as the New Kadam, also sometimes named Ganden Kagyu. The name Gelug means: ‘wholesome way’ or ‘virtuous tradition’. The three great Gelug monasteries are Ganden, Drepung and Sera. The other main traditions of Tibetan Buddhism are the Nyingma (who go back to Guru Padmasambhava, also called Guru Rinpoche), Sakya (going back to Sakya Pandita) and the Kagyu (going back to Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa). Generation stage [Tib. skyes rim] Also called development stage. The first of the two main stages of the highest yoga tantra during which one cultivates the clear appearance and divine pride of one’s chosen meditational deity. The second stage is called the completion stage.

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Geshe Lit.: ‘virtuous friend’. In the Gelug order of Tibetan Buddhism a degree of doctrinal learning by a monk who has mastered the five principal treatises of logic [Skt. pramana], general doctrine [Skt. prajnaparamita], madhyamika philosophy [Skt. madhyamaka], phenomenology [Skt. abhidharma] and monastic discipline [Skt. vinaya]. Ghandharvas Lit.: ‘smell eaters’. Heavenly musicians. Gods [Skt. deva; Tib. lha] Samsaric beings dwelling for the moment in the heavenly states, the highest states of samsara or cyclic existence. There are gods in all three realms – the desire realm, the form realm and the formless realm. There are six god-levels in the desire realm, seventeen in the form realm and four in the formless realm. The highest gods abide in the Peak of Cyclic Existence. Gods of the form realm suffer from attachment to their own inner peace, but this attachment is more subtle than the attachment of the desire realm gods. Longevity gods are a type of form realm god. Also see: Realms. Golden age A time when sentient beings have abundant merit and when dharma activities flourish. Contrast with the degenerate age. Great compassion [Skt. mahakaruna; Tib. nyingje chenpo] The firm and spontaneous resolve to separate all sentient beings without exception from the suffering of cyclic existence. It refers to one of the two central qualities of a buddha or a high bodhisattva: his feeling born of the wish for all living beings to be free of suffering and to attain the supreme happiness. This great compassion has nothing to do with any sentimental emotions such as “Oh, the poor creatures, how they are suffering.” On the contrary: great compassion is accompanied by the clear awareness that ultimately there are no such things as living beings, sufferings etc. Thus it is an unlimited sensitivity that does not entertain any dualistic notion of subject and object. Great love [Skt. mahamaitri; Tib. jampa chenpo] The firm and spontaneous resolve to endow all sentient beings without exception with the real, lasting happiness that knows no suffering. Guhyasamaja A male meditational deity of the highest yoga tantra. It is a father tantra. Guhyasamaya is called ‘The King of tantras’. It is one of the the three major Gelugpa yidams: Guhyasamaja, Heruka Chakrasamvara/Vajra- yogini and Yamantaka. Gungtang Jampelyang (1762-1823) Also known under his ordination name of Gungtangba Konchog Tenpay Dronme. Well-known for his eloquent spiritual poetry and philosophical work. Guru yoga The practice of guru devotion, meditation on the guru and his qualities. Examples: Ganden Lha Gyema and Lama Chöpa. Guru [Skt.; Tib. lama] See: Spiritual guide. Gyeltsab Je, Gyeltsab Dharma Rinchen (1364-1432) The elder one of the two main disciples of Tsongkhapa. Hearer [Skt. sravaka; Tib. tsuddo] Lit.: ‘those who listen to the teachings’. Hearers are disciples in hinayana. Their goal is nirvana, liberation or arhatship to be reached along the five paths of a hearer. They are of eight types according to the level of delusions they have abandoned: approaching the state of a stream-enterer, abiding in it; approaching the state of a once-returner, abiding in it, approaching the state of a never-returner, abiding in it, approaching the state of a foe-destroyer, abiding in it. A stream-enterer is on the path of seeing and will never again be reborn in the three lower realms; a once-returner will return to the desire realm only once more, and a never-returner will never again return to the desire realm. Also see: Realms. Heart Sutra The essence of wisdom sutra. Of the several perfection of wisdom sutras a very condensed and famous one. Also see: Prajnaparamita Sutra. Hells See Realms. Heruka Chakrasamvara a male meditational deity of highest yoga tantra, wrathful manifestation of compassion; a mother tantra. Heruka Chakrasamvara is one of the the three major Gelugpa yidams: Guhyasamaja, Heruka Chakrasamvara/Vajrayogini and Yamantaka. High State Fortunate rebirth. Highest yoga tantra [Skt. maha-anuttara yoga tantra] The fourth and supreme division of tantric practice, consisting of generation and completion stages, capable of leading the practitioner to full enlightenment within one lifetime. Hinayana The ‘small vehicle’ of Buddhism, taught by the Buddha for those unable immediately to conceive the spirit of enlightenment, as a means for them to attain personal liberation. It includes the sravaka-yana (the hearer or disciple vehicle), and pratyeka-buddha-yana (the solitary-realizer vehicle). It is a contrast to the mahayana or ‘great vehicle’ or bodhisattva-yana, which is taught as a means for living beings of an altruistic aspiration, to attain the liberation of self and others through simultaneous perfection of wisdom and compassion, that is called buddhahood. The names ‘hinayana’ and ‘theravada’ are not quite interchangeable, but are very much used so. Also see: Theravada. Hungry ghosts [Skt. preta] Lit.: ‘departed’. There are 500 kinds of hungry ghosts, including demonic ones that cause certain types of accidents, spirits of the departed, spirits that enter and take possession of human bodies, and overpowering ghost kings that cause certain forms of madness. Hungry ghosts, normally invisible to human beings, are one of the six classes of samsaric beings. See: Realms. Also see: Chart III, p. 730.

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I or Self or Ego [Skt. atman; Tib. nga] Buddhism does not accept the existence of an independent, self-existent, unchanging ego or self, because if such were to exist, a person would be unchanging and would be unable to purify himself of fettering passions and attain buddhahood. Rimpoche often refers to this one as ‘I rinpoche’, ‘the Big Boss inside’, ‘Dictator I’. There is acceptance of a relative, impermanent, changeable, conscious-entity, which is the continuation of life, linking one’s former life to this life, and this life to future lives. Ignorance [Skt. avidya; Tib. marigpa] The root cause of cyclic existence; not knowing the way things actually are and misconstruing them to be permanent, satisfactory and inherently existent. The delusions that gives rise to all other delusions and the karma they motivate. Ignorance can be eradicated by the wisdom of emptiness. Illusory body [Skt. maya-kaya; Tib. gyu lu] A subtle bodily form generated through the practice of the completion stage of highest yoga tantra. Immeasurables See: Four immeasurables. Imprint There are two main types of imprint: karmic imprints and imprints of delusions. A karmic imprint is an imprint left in the mind by an action. It is a potentiality for a future experience. The imprints of the delusions are the imprints left in the mind after the delusion has been abandoned. They are a residual contamination that prevent direct cognition of all phenomena. Thus they are called ‘obstructions to knowing’ or ‘obstructions to omniscience’. They are abandoned on the last three grounds or bhumis of the mahayana path of meditation. Indestructible drop The most subtle drop. It is formed from the very subtle red and white drops received from the parents at conception and is located at the heart chakra. At death the red and white drops separate and the very subtle mind and its mounting wind or most subtle energy are freed to travel to the next life. Also see: Bodhimind. Indra A desire-realm god who abides in the Land of the Thirty-Three Heavens. At the time of Buddha Sakyamuni, Indra and Brahma requested Buddha to turn the wheel of dharma for the sake of all sentient beings. Inherent existence [Skt. svabhava-siddhi; Tib. rangshin gyi druppa] The illusion that people and things exist by virtue of their own essential characteristics alone, independently of any conditioning factors. Ignorantly assenting to this illusion is the basis for cyclic existence; wisely dispelling it, the basis for enlightenment and liberation. Inherently existent, truly existent, existence from its own side or existent from its own true nature are interchangeable terms. Also see: Self-existence and: Emptiness. Insight meditation [Skt. vipasyana; Tib. lhagtong] See: Lhagtong. Initiation or empowerment [Tib. wang] Transmission received from a tantric master allowing a disciple to engage in the practices of a particular meditational deity. Intermediate state [Tib. bardo] See: Bardo. Ishvara A god who abides in the highest level of the desire realm. He has limited, contaminated miracle powers which make him more powerful than other beings in the desire realm. He bestows limited benefit, such as increased wealth upon those who follow him, but he is an enemy of those seeking liberation. For this reason he is said to be a Devaputra demon. Also see: Demon. Jambudvipa Our own human world. See: Buddhist cosmology. Jamgon See: Tsongkhapa. Jangchub See: Enlightenment. Jealous gods [Skt. asura; Tib. lha mayin] Also called demi-gods or titan, a class of samsaric beings who lives within sight of the realm of the gods of desire. Also see: Realms. Kadampa masters Lit.: ‘the Word-Instructed’. The Kadampa lineage was founded in the eleventh century by the teacher Dromtönpa, Atisha’s chief disciple. The Kadampa masters carry the lineage of Atisha’s teaching; before Tsongkhapa the tradition is called ‘old Kadam, after that time the tradition is known as ‘new Kadam’. The teachings on trianing the mind, lojong, are the main teachings of the Kadam tradition. Kagyu One of the main Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the other ones being Gelugpa, Nyingma and Sakya. In the lineage of the Kagyu are well-known Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa and Chögyam Trungpa. There are four main Kagyu traditions. a.o. Karma Kagyu. Kalachakra [Skt.; Tib. Dukor] Lit.: ‘cycle of time’. Male meditational deity of highest yoga tantra whose practice contains instructions in medicine, astronomy etc. as well as the path to enlightenment. Kanjur Lit.: ‘translation of (Buddha’s) words’. The Tibetan collection of the Tripitaka: the sutras, the vinaya, and the abhidharma, in one hundred and eight volumes. The collection of commentaries is called Tanjur. Karma [Skt.; Tib. le] Generally it means ‘work’ or ‘action’. Specifically those actions of the body speech and mind, both wholesome and unwholesome, which are motivated by delusion and perpetuate the condition of cyclic existence through the process of moral causation. In other words, karma is an important concept about the cumulative force of previous actions, which determines present experience and will determine future existences. By the infallible ripening of karma (like seeds) beings experience misery, happiness etc. Collective karma or environmental karma is the karma we create when we act in association with others. Those who create the karma together also experience the effects together.

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Kaya [Skt.; Tib. sku] ‘Body’ or aspect of a buddha. There are several divisions: in two, three, four or five kayas. Three kayas: 1) dharmakaya or truth-body or ultimate body, 2) sambhogakaya or enjoyment-body or beatific body, 3) nirmanakaya or emanation-body or incarnational body. The last two ones together are called form-body or rupakaya. There are also other divisions: Two kayas: 1) truth-body or dharmakaya and 2) form-body or rupakaya. Four kayas: truth-body divided into 1) svabhavikakaya or nature-body and 2) jnanakaya or wisdom-body; the form- body divided into 3) sambhogakaya or enjoyment-body and 4) nirmanakaya or emanation-body. Five kayas: 1) dharmakaya or truth-body divided into 2) svabhavikakaya or nature-body and 3) jnanakaya or wisdom-body, 4) sambhogakaya or enjoyment-body and 5) nirmanakaya or emanation-body. The nirmanakaya, the person or personality of a buddha, is of three kinds: a supreme manifestation like Buddha Sakyamuni; a manifestation in the form of a master craftsman like e.g. Buddha teaching as a musician; the manifestation as host in the gods realms like e.g. Maitreya in Tushita now. Kedrub Je (1385-1438) The younger one of the two heart disciples of Tsongkhapa. The other heart-disciple is Gyeltsab Je. (1364-1432). Also see: Tsongkhapa. Klesha See: Delusion. Lamrim Lit.: ‘stages on the path’. Stages on the spiritual path to enlightenment in sutrayana. In tantrayana the stages of the path are called Nagrim. A general name for the form of buddhism brought to Tibet in 1042 by Atisha. This tradition has been integrated into all the new sects of Tibetan buddhism, though it is a speciality of the Gelugpa. Lama [Tib.; Skt. guru] See: Spiritual guide. Lama Chöpa A tantric guru-yoga practice. Lhagtong [Tib.; Skt. vipasyana] Special or penetrative insight. The meditative understanding of impermanence, selflessness and emptiness that overcomes ignorance and leads to liberation. Lhasa The capital city of Tibet. Liberation [Skt. moksha; Tib. tharpa] Release from the bondage of samsara (cyclic existence). Freedom from compulsive karmic patterns and the mental and para-mental obscurations. Ling Rinpoche [1903-1983] One of the two main tutors of His Holiness Dalai Lama XIV and one of the main teachers of Gehlek Rimpoche. 97th Throne holder of Tsongkhapa. Abbot of the Upper Tantric College. In this capacity he was the successor of the previous incarnation of Gehlek Rimpoche. Disciple of Pabongka Rinpoche. Longevity god See: Gods. Love [Skt. maitri; Tib. jampa] The wish for others to be happy. The buddha of love is the buddha to come, Maitreya. Lower ralms [Skt. durgati; Tib. ngandro] Out of the six realms of samsaric existence the realms of animals, hungry ghosts [Skt. pretas] and hell beings. See: Samsara. Lung See: Transmission, oral. Madhyamika [Tib. Umapa] See: Middle way. Mahamudra [Skt.; Tib. phyag-rgya-chen-po] Lit.: ‘great seal’. It refers to the nature of all phenomena. (…) It also refers to sophisticated Buddhist systems of meditation and practice to realize this great sealing nature. The distinctive characteristic of these techniques [in sutra and tantra] is to see these nature by focusing on mind itself and discovering the relationship between mind and reality. (Dalai Lama, The Gelug/Kagyü tradition of Mahamudra, p. 19). Mahasiddha A highly accomplished yogi (practitioner). Mahayana [Skt.; Tib. tegchen] The ‘great vehicle’; called ‘great’ because it carries all living beings to enlightenment or buddhahood. It is distinguished from hinayana, which only carries each person who rides on it to their own personal liberation. It is the vehicle in which refuge is taken in the scriptures revealed after Buddha’s death (and propagated by masters such as Nagarjuna, Asanga, etc.), as well as in the earlier scriptures accepted by hinayana. Also, unlike the hinayana, whose basis is renunciation, the basis of the mahayana is great compassion; and its aim, rather than personal nirvana, is fully omniscient buddhahood. The practices of a bodhisattva. Mahayana includes both the vehicle of perfections [Skt. paramitayana] and vajrayana. Maitreya [Tib. Jampa] The embodiment of the loving-kindness [Skt. maitri] of all the buddhas. At the time of Buddha Sakyamuni he manifested as a bodhisattva disciple. Predicted by Buddha Sakyamuni to be the next buddha. He presently resides over Tushita heaven. Maitreya received from Buddha Sakyamuni the teachings of compassion, the lineage of extensive deeds, which lineage he transmitted to Asanga. Mala Rosary, prayer beads. Mandala Circle. In particular it is a symbolic offering of the entire universe to one’s Guru and the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, as described in the Buddhist scriptures. See: Buddhist cosmology. More generally a mandala it is a symbolic representation of a deity’s realm of existence. A symbol of the innate harmony and perfection of Being. Manjushri [Tib. Jampelyang] Male meditational deity. The eternally youthful crown prince, the embodiment of the wisdom of all enlightened beings. From Manjushri the lineage of the profound view of emptiness was handed down

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to Nagarjuna. Manjushri incarnated in human form is called Manjunatha [Tib. ’Jam mgon], an epithet for Tsongkhapa. Mantra [Skt.] Lit.: ‘protection of the mind’. (Sanskrit) syllables recited in conjunction with the practice of a particular meditational deity and embodying the qualities of that deity. Mantrayana The vehicle of mantras; a synonym for vajrayana. Mara The devil or evil one, who leads the forces of the gods of the desire-world in seeking to tempt and seduce the Buddha and his disciples. But according to Vimalakirti he is actually a bodhisattva who dwells in the inconceivable liberation and displays evil activities in order to strengthen and consolidate the high resolve of all bodhisattvas, hence the tempter. Also see: Demon. Marpa [1012-1092] A great Tibetan yogi of the eleventh and twelfth century, disciple of Naropa and teacher of Milarepa. Founder of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan buddhism. Meditation [Skt. bhavana; Tib. gom] Lit.: ‘getting used to’. The process of controlling, training and transforming the mind that leads one to liberation and enlightenment. The process of becoming thoroughly familiar with beneficial states of mind through both analytical investigation and single-pointed concentration. Meditational deity [Tib. yidam] See: Yidam. Mental factor or mental faculty [Skt. caitta; Tib. semjung] A specific function of a primary mind. Mental factors function to cognize the particular aspects of objects. There are fifty-one specific mental factors distinguished. Mental quiescence [Skt. shamatha; Tib. zhinay] See: Zhinay. Merit [Skt. punya; Tib. sonam] The wholesome tendencies or energy implanted in the mind as a result of committing skilful actions. It has the power to create happiness and good qualities. It is the source of well-being in samsara and it accumulation is a necessary element in the pursuit of nirvana. Besides ‘merit’ it means ‘virtue’and ‘spiritual power’. Rimpoche also sometimes translates it as luck. Meru In Buddhist cosmology Mount Meru or Sumeru is the king of mountains, a giant mountain at the centre of the world or universe (axis mundi). It is the home of the two lowest classes of gods of the desire realm. See: Realms and: Buddhist cosmology. Method [Skt. upaya] Skilful means or liberative technique. This is the expression of the actions of the great compassion of the Buddha and the bodhisattvas, physical, verbal and mental. One empathetically aware of the troubles of living beings would use the most potent and efficacious techniques possible to remove those troubles. And the troubles of living beings are removed effectively only when they reach liberation. Wisdom and method need always go together as the two wings of a bird crossing the ocean of samsara. Middle Way [Skt. Madhyamika; Tib. Umapa] The Middle Way School. One of the two main schools of mahayana tenets (the other one being the Cittamatra or Mind-only school). The madhyamika view was taught by Buddha in the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra [Skt. prajnaparamita sutra] during the second turning of the wheel of dharma and was subsequently elucidated by Nagarjuna and his followers. The view is that all phenomena are dependent arisings, thereby avoiding the mistaken extremes of self-existence and non-existence, or eternalism and nihilism. Madhyamika has two divisions: madhyamika-svatantrika and madhyamika-prasangika, of which the latter is Buddha’s final view. Migtsema Originally a hymn on Rendawa made by Tsongkhapa. Rendawa (1349-1412), one of the most important teachers of Tsongkhapa belonged to the Sakya school. Rendawa reversed the praise into a hymn on Tsongkhapa. The relation between Tsongkhapa and Rendawa existed over many generations and on a personal footing in which the teacher also learnt from his student. Also see: Tsongkhapa. Milarepa, Jetsun (1040-1123) A Tibetan yogi who achieved buddhahood in one lifetime. He was the foremost disciple of Marpa, famous for his intense practice, devotion to his guru attainment of enlightenment and his many songs of spiritual realization. His biography is a favourite example of hardship undertaken in order to attain enlightenment. Mindfulness See: Four mindfulnesses. Mindstream [Tib. gyu] Personal continuum. Mudra Hand gesture. Nadi See: Channels. Naga [Tib. klu] Mythical dragon-like beings who inhibit and have influence over the waters of the world. In Buddha’s time they listened to the teachings and took them to their own world, where they preserved them. Also see: Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna [Tib. klu-sgrub] (c. 150-250) Saint, scholar and mystic of Buddhist India, born about four hundred years after the Buddha. Discoverer of the mahayana scriptures, the lineage of wisdom, according to the myth handed over to him by the nagas. He is author of the fundamental Madhyamika work and founder of the Madhyamika or Middle Way School of tenets. The lineage of the Profound View goes from Manjughosa (emanation of Manjushri) Nagarjuna via Aryadeva, Buddhapalita, Chandrakirti, Shantideva and Atisha to Tsongkhapa. He is said to have lived five hundred and sixty years due to his alchemical ability. Some scholars nowadays discriminate three

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Nagarjunas: one who lived in the first century BCE., the ‘philosopher’ who lived in the second century CE and another who lived in the eight of ninth century CE. Prof. Thurman says about this, “Be this as it may, I will render the legendary account, since the mythic Nagarjuna is the one Tsongkhapa has in mind when he refers to him as ‘Champion’, ‘Holy Father’, ‘Saviour’ or ‘Great Master’, one whose philosophical profundity is integrated indivisibly with his religious sanctity, and even with the magical prowess [skill] of his enlightened compassion.” Nalanda North Indian monastic university; one of the major sources of the tantric lineages that spread to Tibet. The other famous university was Vikramalashila. Naropa Eleventh-century Indian mahasiddha who transmitted many profound tantric lineages, including those of Heruka Chakrasamvara and Vajrayogini. Disciple of Tilopa and guru of Marpa. Nectar [Skt. amrita, Tib. dü-tsi or (in longevity blessings) tse-chu] Transcendental substance emanated by enlightened deities, which confers such benefits as purification, realizations, long life etc. according to the type. Blessings. Ngondro See: Preliminary practices. Nihilism Belief that phenomena are completely non-existent. One of the extremes to be avoided; the opposite is eternalism. Also see: Middle way and: Eternalism. Nine mental abidings The nine stages of the development of shamatha or zhinay. These are called: 1) setting the mind, 2) continuous setting, 3) resetting, 4) close setting, 5) disciplining, 6) pacifying, 7) thorough pacifying, 8) making one-pointed, 9) setting in equipose or fixed absorption. Nirmanakaya [Skt.; Tib. tulku] Emanation body. Form in which the enlightened mind appears in order to benefit ordinary beings. See: Kaya. Nirvana [Skt.; Tib. nyangde] The unconditional peace that is realized through becoming liberated from cyclic existence. Generally refers to the hinayana attainment of arhatship, or personal liberation from samsara, but can also include full buddhahood. In the case of arhatship, delusions and their instincts are destroyed, giving freedom from cyclic compulsions; in the case of full buddhahood, the innate tendency of the mind to grasp at inherent existence is destroyed as well, granting omniscience. Non-virtue Action that results in suffering. Nyingma The ‘old sects’ of Tibetan buddhism, the orders that adhere to the scriptural translations made prior to the eleventh century. They go back to Guru Padmasambhava. Nyong mongs: See: Delusion. Obscurations Two classes of obscurations are generally distinguished, which obstructs one’s attainment of liberation from cyclic existence [Skt. klesha-varana], and obstructions to omniscience, which must be removed to gain omniscience or buddhahood [Skt. jnana-varana]. A mahayana practitioner destroys both; a hinayana practioner destroys only the former. Omniscience This refers to the gnosis of the Buddha, with which there is nothing he does not know. However, ‘everything’ here is specifically everything about the source of the predicament of wordly life and the way of transcendence of that world through liberation. ‘Everything’ does not refer to any sort of ultimate totality, since a totality can only be relative, i.e. a totality within a particular frame of reference. Thus, as Dharmakirti has remarked, “It is not a question of the buddhas knowing the number of fish in the ocean.” The Buddha’s omniscience, rather, knows how to develop and liberate any fish in any ocean, as well as all other living beings. Oral transmission See: Transmission. Ornaments See: Six ornaments and two excellences. Pabongka (Je Pabong Khapa Vajradhara Dechen Pael Zangpa or Pabongka Rinpoche Jampa Tenzin Trinley Gyatso) [1878-1941] He was an emanation of the great scholar Chankya Rolpai Dorje [1717-1786] and is regarded the most influential Gelugpa teacher of this century. He was the root-guru of both the Senior and Junior Tutors [Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Kyabje Ling Rinpoche] of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and holder of many sutra and secret mantra lineages. A course of twenty-four days or oral teaching of Lamrim, transcribed and edited by Trijang Rinpoche came to be known as his lam rim nam grol. Padmasambhava Also called Guru Rinpoche. Great Indian acarya who brought tantric teachings to Tibet in the eighth century. He founded the tantric lineage of the Nyingma sect. Pandit Scholar. Maha-pandit means great scholar. The word is here normally used for the earlier Buddhist scholars in India, like Nagarjuna, Asanga and so and forth. Paramita [Skt.; Tib.pha rol tu phyin pa] See: Six paramitas. Parinirvana A more emphatic term for nirvana, when it is used in reference to the apparent passing away of a physical body of a buddha. Paths See: Five paths. Perfections See: Six paramitas. Phowa See: Transference of consciousness.

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Prajnaparamita Perfection of wisdom. Transcendental wisdom, being the profound non-dual understanding of the ultimate reality, or the voidness, or relativity, of all things. Personified as a goddess, she is worshipped as the ‘Mother of all buddhas’ [Skt. Sarvajinamata]. Prajnaparamita Sutra [Tib. phar phyin] Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. The scripture with those teachings of Sakyamuni buddha in which the transcendental wisdom, the wisdom of emptiness and the path of the bodhisattva are set forth. There are nineteen versions of different lengths, ranging from the Heart Scripture of a few pages to the Hundred Thousand. Prasangika The sub-school of the madhyamika philosophical school founded by Buddhapalita and further developed by Chandrakirti. Pratimoksha The code of precepts for Buddhist monks in the discipline section of the scripture, the vinaya. Pratyeka buddha See: Solitary realizer. Preliminary practices [Tib. ngöndro] The meditations designed to remove hindrances and accumulate a store of meritorious energy so that a disciple will have success in the practice. In several Tibetan traditions people practice ngondros in preparation for the vajrayana practice: 100,000 prostrations, 100,000 Vajrasattva purifications, 100,000 mandala offerings, 100,000 guru-yoga practices. In the tradition of Tsongkhapa the main ngondro for the practice of tantra is lamrim. Preta See: Hungry ghost. Primary Mind Any one of the six primary consciousnesses; the eye-, the ear-, the nose-, the tongue-, the body consciousness, and the mental consciousness. Primary minds function to cognize the general aspect of an object. Protector See: Dharma protector. Puja [Skt.] Offering, worship, veneration. Pure Land An environment free from true sufferings which appears to a pure mind. A state of existence outside samsara in which all conditions are favourable for becoming fully enlightened. Examples include: Tushita or Joyful land, the pure land of Maitreya; Sukhavati or Blissful Land, the pure land of Amithaba; Dakiniland, the pure land of Heruka and Vajrayogini. Realms In samsara three main realms are distinguished: the desire realm, the form realm and the formless realm. They are also known as the three worlds. See chart 3 in volume II. I. Realm of desire [Skt. kama-dhatu]. The environment, land or sphere of hell-beings (eight hot hells, eight cold hells, two nearby hells), hungry ghosts [Skt. pretas], animals, humans and demi-gods or jealous gods [Skt. asuras] are all included in the desire realm, because beings in this realm have very strong desirous attachment. The environments of gods exist in all three realms. The realms of (the first six classes) of gods in the realm of desire are [upwards] in sequence: 1) Land of the four great royal lineages, 2) Land of the thirty-three heavens or thirty-three gods [1 and 2 both on Mount Meru] 3) Land without combat [Tib. tap-te], 4) Land of Joy (Tushita), 5) Land of enjoying emanations and of performing miraculous power. 6. Land of those controlling others’ emanations. II. Realm of form [Skt. rupa-dhatu]. Inhabited by the seventeen classes of gods, divided into the four meditation- levels, called the four concentrations or the four dhyanas. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd dhyana each are divided into three; the fourth dhyana has eight levels. The highest level of the fourth dhyana – the seventeenth stage – is called Akanishta. III. Realm of Non-form or Formless Realm [Skt. arupa-dhatu]. Inhibited by the top four classes of gods. Divided into four stages: 1) Infinite space, 2) Infinite consciousness, 3) Nothingness, and the highest: 4) Neither consciousness nor not-consciousness or ‘Peak of cyclic existence’. Sometimes in a gross division of nine levels the desire realm is called the first level, then four form levels and four formless levels. Rebirth The entrance of consciousness into a new state of existence after death and the intermediate state. Refuge Taking refuge is turning one’s mind towards a valid source of protection from the sufferings of samsara. In buddhism this involves entrusting oneself to the three jewels of Buddha, dharma, and sangha. Renunciation [Tib. ngejung] The realization of detachment from all of samsara, having understood its faults. Also called: determination to be free or the wish to freedom. Rimpoche also refers to it as level of love-compassion for yourself. Root guru See: Spiritual guide. Rose-Apple Island See: Buddhist cosmology. Sadhana Lit.: ‘practice’. The step-by-step instructions in vajrayana for practicing the meditations related to a particular meditational deity. Sakya The tradition of Tibetan buddhism founded in the mid-eleventh century under Drog-mi the translator, and later propagated by the line of Sakya Pandita. Sakya Pandita [1182-1251] Fourth of the five patriarchs of the Sakya tradition. Sakyamuni ‘Sage of the Sakyas’, name of the buddha of our era, who lived in India 563-483 BC. He was a prince from the Sakya clan. He taught the sutra and tantra path to liberation; founder of what came to be known as

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Buddhism. His mundane name was Siddharta Gautama. Buddha Sakyamuni is the fourth of one thousand buddhas that are to appear in this world age. Also see: Buddha. Samadhi [Tib. ting nge 'dzin] Meditative power of mind. As a mental faculty, samadhi is the ability to concentrate one-pointedly. In meditation, samadhi becomes the ability to totally absorb the mind in an object of concentration. It is a state of deep meditative absorption; single-pointed concentration on the actual nature of things, free from discursive thought and dualistic conceptions. Samantabhadra A bodhisattva known for his heroic aspiration and extensive offerings. Sambhogakaya [Skt.] Enjoyment body. One of the form bodies of a buddha. The body of Buddha as it exists in the Buddha fields or paradises and upper realms; form in which the enlightened mind teaches the highly realized bodhisattvas who are at that stage. This body is fully adorned with the unique physical characteristics of a buddha. It can only be seen by those who have attained the highly realized stage of an arya. See: Kaya. Samsara [Skt.] Life as experienced by living beings under the influence of ignorance. The unliberated condition in which one is propelled from one state of birth to the next through the forces of karma and delusion. There are six states of birth within cyclic existence: as a god, a titan or demi-god or jealous god, a human being, an animal, a hungry ghost, or a hell-being. Also see: Realms. Samsaric gods Samsaric gods are samsaric beings dwelling for the moment in a heavenly state. Sangha [Skt.] As object of refuge it is the community of arya beings or saints, those who have achieved spiritual aims – have attained a direct realization of emptiness – and are able to help. According to the vinaya any community of four or more fully ordained monks is also a sangha. Any being, lay or ordained, who has taken bodhisattva vows is also a sangha. In daily life we regard the community of those on the spiritual path as a sangha. Ordinary monks, nuns and lay people are the relative sangha. Aryas are the absolute sangha: anyone who has realized the ultimate nature of his or her mind and has therefore transcended ego. Seed syllable A visualized letter from which a deity is generated in the generation stage of tantric practice. For example, Avalokiteshvara is generated from the seed syllable hrih. Self See: I. Self-cherishing The self-centred attitude of considering one’s own happiness to be more important than everyone else’s. The main obstacle to be overcome in the development of bodhicitta. Self-grasping A conceptual mind apprehending inherent existence that arises from ignorance of the true nature of phenomena. It gives rise to all other delusions and is the root of all suffering. Self-existence The mistaken conception that things exist independently from their own side rather than being dependent upon causes, conditions, parts and the process of conceptual imputation. The wisdom of emptiness is the understanding that all things lack, or are empty of, even an atom of such self-existence. Also see: Inherent existence. Sentient being [Skt. sattva; Tib. semchen] Any being trapped within the six realms of cyclic existence (celestial, titan, human, animal, hungry ghost and hell realms) through the forces of karma and delusions. Any being who is not a buddha is a sentient being. Shamatha [Skt.; Tib. zhinay] See: Zhinay. Shantideva (687-763) A great Indian Buddhist teacher, meditator and scholar, most famous for his masterpiece, Bodhisattvacharyavatara, Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Shastras [Skt.; Tib. tan chö] Commentaries on the words of the Buddha. The Buddhist teachings consist of words of the Buddha (the sutras) and the commentaries of others on his words (shastras). Sherab Senge (d 1445) One of the five main disciples of Tsongkhapa. Shunyata See: Emptiness. Siddha Accomplished practitioner. Siddhi Achievement, attainment. Six paramitas [Skt.; Tib pha rol tu phyin pa’] The six perfections or transcending practices of the bodhisattva’s way of life: generosity or giving [Skt. dana], morality or ethical discipline [Skt. sila], tolerance or patience or forbearance [Skt. ksanti], diligence, joyous perseverance or enthusiasm [Skt. virya], meditation or concentration [Skt. dhyana] and wisdom [Skt. prajna], based upon the altruistic aspiration to attain buddhahood as a tool to benefit the world. The ten transcendences are the six ones to ripen one’s own mind and in addition to help ripen others’ mind: skill in liberative technique or method [Skt. upayakausalya], prayer or commitment [Skt. pranidhana], power [Skt. bala] and sublime wisdom or gnosis [Skt. jnana]. Six Realms See: Realms. Six Ornaments and Two Excellences These are important figures in the transmission of Buddha’s teachings. The six ornaments of Buddhism or the six jewels of India are the great pandits: Nagarjuna, Asanga, Aryadeva, Vasubandhu, Dignaga and Dharmakirti. The two excellences or the two supreme ones are the vinaya masters Gunaprabha and Shakyaprabha. Six root delusions [Skt. kleshas] Attachment, anger, pride, ignorance, doubt, wrong view. There are other divisions of three, five, twenty. Also see: Delusions

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Skandhas [Skt.; Tib. phungbo] See: Five skandhas. Solitary realizer [Skt. pratyeka buddha] The higher of the two types of arhats of the hinayana. The hinayana practitioner who attains nirvana by following his personal path and living in solitude, but who lacks the complete realization of a buddha so cannot benefit limitless beings as a buddha can. He is contrasted to the sravaka arhat who attains nirvana largely by listening to teachings and living in groups. Southern continent See: Buddhist cosmology. Special insight [Skt. vipasyana; Tib. lhagtong] See: Lhagtong. Spiritual friend [Skt. kalyanamitra] See: Spiritual guide. Spiritual master or spiritual guide [Skt. guru; Tib. lama] ‘Lama’ literally means ‘He with no ceiling’ or ‘He with no equal’ or ‘The one without superior’, ‘The highest one’. The spiritual teacher. The lama’s principal quality is that of leading disciples from the beginning of their quest all the way to the attainment of buddhahood. Before leaving the earth Buddha said that he would appear in the form of lamas for those who would in the future desire to follow his teachings. A direct guru is any spiritual guide from whom we have received teachings in this life, a lineage guru is any spiritual guide who has passed on the lineage of teaching received by our own direct gurus. One’s principal spiritual guide is also known as one’s root guru. There are different levels of looking at the lama. In the hinayana level one sees the lama as teacher. In the mahayana-level one sees the spiritual teacher as a spiritual friend. In tantric practice one sees him as an enlightened being; the guru’s body is seen as the sangha, his speech as the dharma, and his mind as the Buddha. Sravaka See: Hearer. Stages See: Ten bodhisattva stages. Stupa [Skt.; Tib. chorten] A spiritual monument, representing the Buddha’s body, his speech and his mind, but most especially his mind. A stupa contains relics of the Buddha or great bodhisattvas. When a great teacher passes away, to indicate that his mind is dwelling forever in an unchanging way in the dharmakaya, one will erect a stupa as a symbol of the mind of the buddhas. Sugata [Skt.] An epithet of Sakyamuni buddha. ‘Blissfully gone’. Superknowledges The five (or six) extra-sensory perceptions or powers arising from the practice of calm abiding [Tib. zhi nay]: 1) clairvoyance, 2) clairaudience, 3) knowledge of others’ thoughts, 4) recollection of previous lives, 5) miraculous powers, 6) knowledge of having overcome obscurations. All are achievements to be used for the good of others. Supreme field of merit See: Field of merit. Sutra [Skt.; Tib. do] The (exoteric) teachings of Buddha, the spiritual text and the teachings they contain. Sutras are of two kinds: hinayana and mahayana. The esoteric teachings are called tantras. Sutrayana The pre-tantric vehicle or path of Buddhism, leading to the attainment of full enlightenment over three countess eons through the practice of the six perfections; hence also called the perfection vehicle [Skt. paramitayana]. Tantra [Skt.; Tib. gyu] Lit.: ‘thread’ or ‘steam’ or ‘continuity’; the ‘stream’ or ‘tread’ of innate wisdom embracing all experience. Another name is: ‘secret mantra’, the texts of the secret-mantra teachings of buddhism. The esoteric teaching of Buddha. Specialized discourse, attributed to the historical Buddha, often in the form of a tantric divinity, to a select audience of mahayana followers in which secret doctrines and practices were taught, leading to the swift attainment of full enlightenment. The essential practice of tantra that distinguishes it from sutra is bringing the result into the path. The practice involves identification of oneself with a fully enlightened deity. There are four classes of tantras: kriya tantra, charya tantra, yoga tantra and the maha-annutara yoga tantra. The fourth is the highest and often called highest yoga tantra. The tantric stages of the path are called nag rim. Also see: Four classes of tantra. Tantrayana The post-sutra vehicle of Buddhism, capable of leading to the attainment of full enlightenment within one lifetime; hence also called the lightning vehicle. Synonyms: vajrayana; mantrayana. Tara [Tib. Dolma] Female meditational deity. ‘She who can free us’. Compassionate saviour goddess. She was born from a tear of Avalokiteshvara and vowed to help him to liberate all beings from samsara. Referred to as the mother of the buddhas of the past, present and future. She is Atisha’s patroness and subsequently became a favourite goddess in Tibet because of Atisha’s devotion. There are twenty-one Tara forms. Tathagata An epithet of Buddha: ‘One who has thus gone’. Ten bodhisattva stages or bhumis Lit.: ‘ground’. The ten bhumis, grounds or bodhisattva stages are the realizations of superior or arya bodhisattvas. The stages [beginning at the seeing path, the third out of the five paths] are: very joyful, stainless, luminous, radiant, difficult to overcome, approaching, gone afar, immovable, good intelligence, cloud of dharma. They are realizations on the mahayana paths of seeing [bhumi one] and the path of meditation [bhumi two to ten] and correspond each with one of the ten paramitas. Ten directions These consist of the eight points of the compass, straight up [zenith] and straight down [nadir]. As a conventional formula it means ‘all directions’ or ‘everywhere’.

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Ten non-virtues Killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, slandering, speaking harshly, speaking senselessly, coveting, bearing ill will and holding wrong views. Ten paramitas See: Six paramitas. Ten virtues These are the opposites of the ten von-virtues. Theravada ‘Vehicle of the Elders’. Tradition of buddhism following its earlier style of practice and understanding of scripture. Sometimes called hinayana. Its final goal is arhatship. Thirty-seven practices The thirty-seven buddha dharmas, or the thirty-seven realizations conducive to enlightenment. There are seven groups: four close placements of mindfulness (four mindfulnesses); four perfect abandonments; four limbs of miracles; five powers; five forces, seven limbs of enlightenment; eight noble paths. These are explained in the Perfection of Wisdom [Skt. Prajnaparamita] sutras. Three bodies of a buddha [Skt. trikaya] See: Kaya. Three higher trainings Ethical discipline or morality, concentration, and wisdom. These are the principle themes of the Tripitaka, the three baskets of scriptures, and they are the very substance of the hinayana path. Three Jewels [Skt. triratna; Tib. könchok sum] The three objects of spiritual support as viewed within a Buddhist framework: Buddha, dharma and sangha. In the Tibetan tradition, the guru or lama, is also mentioned, but rather than being a fourth object of refuge, he is the ‘three-in-one’. Three poisons Desire [Skt. kama-raga], hatred [Skt. dvesa] and folly [Skt. moha], the three basic passions that cause the suffering of the world. There are other divisions of five, six and twenty. Three principle aspects of the path Determination to be free, bodhicitta, emptiness. Three realms [Skt. tri-dhatu] The desire realm, the form realm and the formless realm. They are also known as the ‘three worlds’. See: Realms. Three times Past, present and future. Transference of consciousness A practice for transferring the consciousness to a pure land at the time of death. Transmission, oral [Tib. lung] The passing of a pure, unbroken oral lineage. All the root texts and their commentaries have been passed in a pure, unbroken lineage from teachers to disciples from the time of Buddha down to the present day. It is customary at the end of a teaching for the teacher to recite all the words of the text, just as he heard them from his own teacher. A disciple is not considered to have received a teaching until he or she has heard all the words from the mouth of a qualified spiritual guide. A teaching that has been received in this way is completely pure and it carries the blessings of all the lineage gurus who transmitted the same teaching in the past. Tripitaka [Skt.; Tib. sde sgnod gsum] Lit.: ‘the three baskets’. These are the collections of the Buddha’s teachings, the three scriptural collections corresponding to the three higher trainings: vinaya, the collection of teachings on the discipline of morality; sutra, the collection of scriptures on transcendental method and transcendental wisdom both, corresponding to the higher training of meditation, and abhidharma, the collection of teachings on metaphysics, corresponding to the training of wisdom. Trijang Rinpoche (Yong-dzin Trijang Dorje Chang, Losang Yeshe) (1901-1981) Junior tutor to His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and holder of the many lineages in sutra and secret mantra. Disciple of Pabongka Rinpoche. The senior tutor to the Dalai Lama was Yong-dzin Ling Dorje-Chang (1903-c.1984), Thubten Lungtog, ninety- seventh holder of the throne of Ganden. Both Trijang Rinpoche and Ling Rinpoche were teachers of Gehlek Rimpoche. Truth body [Skt. dharmakaya] See: Kaya. Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) Lit.: ‘the man from the onion land (Tsong)’. Je Tsongkhapa was a great fourteenth-century scholar and teacher who reforming the Kadampa tradition and restored the purity of buddhadharma in Tibet, thus founding the Gelug tradition. His many treatises finalized the work begun by Atisha, of clarification and synthesis of the vast body of Indian scriptures and schools of practice into a unified exposition of sutrayana and tantrayana paths. He wrote several Lamrims, the most well-known being the Great exposition on the Stages of the Path, Lamrim Chenmo. On the stages in tantra he wrote the Great exposition of Secret Mantra, Nagrim chenmo. He is regarded a full enlightened being and along with Long-chen Rab-jam-pa (1308-1363) and the Sakya Pandita (1182- 1251) an emanation of Manjushri. That is why he is called Jamgon, literally ‘gentle lord’, indicating that he and the deity Manjughosa – form of Manjushri – are of one essence. He is regarded as the synthesis of Manjushri, Avalo- kiteshvara and Vajrapani and is therefore seen as the embodiment of the wisdom, compassion and power of all the buddhas. Tushita [Tib. Ganden] The Heaven of Joy. The pure land of Tushita is resided over by Maitreya, the future buddha. It is the place where bodhisattvas wait to become a buddha. Famous teachers such as Tsongkhapa and Atisha are residing there. Tushita pure land is situated in a ‘corner’ of the six abodes of the desire-realm gods. See: Realms. Twelve principle events or the twelve enlightening deeds of a buddha 1) Taking birth in a joyful realm prior to descending to a rose-apple island. 2) Descending from a joyful realm after having transferred his throne to the next complete spiritual leader for the eon. 3) Entering his mother’s womb and taking birth. 4) Becoming skilled and learned in the arts. 5) Delighting in the company of his wife. 6) Taking the robes of a spiritual seeker who has

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renounced family life with the determination to be free from all problems. 7) Undergoing difficult ascetic practices. 8) Proceeding to a tree of purified growth. 9) Overcoming all demonic forces. 10) Manifesting the highest state of purified growth. 11) Setting flow rounds of transmission of preventive measures. 12) Demonstrating a final release from all troubles by passing away. Twenty-two bodhicittas These are 22 similes or aspects of the bodhimind. “A mind that seeks to become enlightened for the sake of others is a mind of enlightenment. Like the mighty earth a foundation of all that is good, like gold never changing, like the waxing moon growing in purity, like a raging fire burning away all hindrance to the true perfection of wisdom, like a never-ending treasure satisfying all, like a jewel mine the source of many a precious quality, like the mighty ocean untroubled by misfortune, like the vajra it will not crack, it will not split, like the mountain never moved by distraction, like powerful medicine curing the ills of delusion, like a true guru never forsaking any living being, like the wish-fulfilling jewel fulfilling all desire, like the sun ripening our minds, like the sweetest song filling hearts with inspiration, like a king supremely powerful in helping others, like a treasure house holding great stores of virtue, like a great highway travelled by all great beings, like good horse moving effortlessly between the ditches of samsara and nirvana, like an eternal spring holding all teachings heard and unheard, like music to the ears of those who seek freedom, like an ever flowing river ceaselessly working for others, like a rain cloud whose rain of teaching falls everywhere, this is the mind of enlightenment.” From Haribhadra’s commentary to Asanga’s Ornament of Clear Realization. Also see: Bodhimind. Two accumulations Also called the two collections. The accumulation or store of merit and of wisdom. All deeds of bodhisattvas contribute to their accumulation of these two stores, which ultimately culminate in the two bodies of a buddha, the body of form or rupakaya and the ultimate body or dharmakaya, or said differently: the accumulation of merit will result in a buddha’s body and the accumulation of wisdom in a buddha’s mind. Two selflesnesses Selflessness of persons and selflessness of phenomena, both being descriptions of the ultimate reality, which is the absence of the two ‘selves’, the realization of what is called ‘transcendental wisdom’ or prajnaparamita. Two stages of vajrayana In the three lower classes of tantra this term refers to the ‘yoga with images [or signs]’ and the ‘yoga without images [or signs]’. In highest tantra it refers to the generation and completion phases. The generation stage is largely concerned with the generation of the vision of the world as mandala, sound as mantra and thoughts as innate wisdom of bliss and voidness. The completion stage mostly deals with completion of this process by the practice of channelling all the vital energies to the heart, producing the illusory body, realizing the two types of clear light, and attaining the state of great union. Two truths All objects of cognition have two modes of existence, called ‘truths’. The truth of appearance or relative truth or conventional truth [Skt. samvrtisattya] is the aspect of existence according to worldly convention and expression. And the absolute truth or ultimate truth [Skt. paramarthasatya] is the voidness of all phenomena, the mere absence of inherent existence, the reality of existence. So, the absolute or ultimate truth is emptiness; all other levels belong to the relative or conventional truth. Upasaka [Tib. genyen] Male lay Buddhist who vowed to uphold any or all of the five vows: not to kill, steal, lie, commit sexual misconduct or use intoxicants. The female form is called upasika. Ushnisha Crown-protrusion, one of the 32 major marks of a buddha. Vajra [Tib. dorje] Diamond sceptre; indestructible like a diamond and powerful like a thunderbolt. In the context of tantra it means the indivisibility of method and wisdom. Vajra master Teacher who is qualified to perform the task of a tantric guru. Vajradhara [Skt.; Tib. Dorje Chang] Holder of the diamond sceptre. Conqueror Vajradhara is the source of all secret mantra. He is the same nature as Buddha Sakyamuni but displays a different aspect. Buddha Sakyamuni appears in the aspect of an emanation body [Skt. nirmanakaya], and Conqueror Vajradhara appears in the aspect of an enjoyment body [Skt. sambhogakaya]. He symbolizes the attainment of enlightenment through the union of simultaneous great bliss and emptiness. Vajrapani [Tib. Sangwedag] An important bodhisattva whose compassion is to manifest in a terrific form to protect the practitioners of the dharma from harmful influences. Vajrasattva [Tib. Dorje Sempa] Diamond Being. Male meditational deity; a major tantric purification practice for removing obstacles created by negative karma and the breaking of one’s vows. Vajrayana Secret mantra vehicle. Advanced means to quickly achieve buddhahood – within one lifetime – for the sake of all sentient beings. Its method is bringing the result into the path. It is also called tantrayana. It is part of the mahayana, which is divided into sutrayana and tantrayana. Vajrayogini Female meditational deity of the highest yoga tantra, associated with Heruka Chakrasamvara. It is a mother tantra. One of the the three major Gelugpa yidams: Guhyasamaja, Heruka Chakrasamvara/Vajrayogini and Yamantaka. Vasubandhu (4th or 5th century) Younger brother of Asanga. He wrote the Treasury of Abhidharma [Skt. Abhi- dharmakosha] and commentaries on work of Maitreya and Asanga. Abbot of Nalanda university.

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Vikramashila One of the famous Buddhist universities in India. Atisha headed this monastery before going to Tibet. Vinaya The first of the three major collections of scriptures or ‘baskets’ of the Buddhist canon, the tripitaka. It contains the narratives of how the Buddha established the monastic life and rules. It also refers to the code of behavior contained in this vinaya basket, followed by those who have taken the vows of the Buddhist order. Also see: Tripitakas. Vipasyana [Skt.] See: Lhagtong. Virtue Positive potential, merit. Imprints on the mindstream of positive actions, leading to future happiness. Also see: Merit. Visualization The use of creative imagination in meditation. Despite the term used it is not limited to vision, but involves the full creative sphere of one’s imaging abilities. Voidness See: Emptiness. Wind [Skt. prana] Also called ‘air’ or ‘energy’. In vajrayana the energy serves as the mount for the various gross and subtle states of consciousness. Wisdom [Skt. prajna; Tib. sherab] The sixth of the six transcendences or paramitas. The unmistaken understanding of things; specifically the insight into emptiness: the actual way in which things exist. Wisdom is the antidote to ignorance. It is symbolized by Manjushri. Wisdom beings [Skt. jnana-sattva; Tib. yeshes-sempa] The enlightened beings that are invited in ones practice to really occupy one’s self-created image of them. Yaksha Harmful or mischievous deities. Yama [Tib. Sinje] The Lord of Death. Personification of uncontrolled death. Although he is not actually a sentient being he is depicted as a being and known as a lord because death has dominion over our lives. In the diagram of the wheel of life he is depicted clutching the six realms of cyclic existence. Yamantaka A male meditational deity of the highest yoga tantra, wrathful manifestation of Manjushri, to overcome hindrances. It is a father tantra. One of the the three major Gelugpa yidams: Guhyasamaja, Heruka Chakra- samvara/Vajrayogini and Yamantaka. Yana Vehicle; the means whereby a practitioner is led to his or her desired spiritual attainment [Skt. sutrayana, tantrayana]. Yidam Meditational deity. A male or female figure embodying a particular aspect of the fully enlightened experience and used as the focus of concentration and identification in vajrayana or tantra. Yoga [Tib. neljor] Endeavour, application, practice. Yogi or Yogini Male or female practitioner, resp.. Yongdzin: a title meaning ‘tutor to a Dalai Lama’. Zhinay [Tib., Skt. shamatha] Mental quiescence or meditative equipoise. The tranquil, single-pointed settling of the mind on an object of meditation for a sustained period of time. A degree of concentration characterized by mental and physical ecstasy. The nine stages leading to shamatha are degrees of concentration.

For the glossary we made use of: Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Joyful Path of Good Fortune; Geshe Rabten, The Essential Nectar, meditations on the buddhist path; Geshe Rabten, Treasury of Dharma, a Tibetan buddhist meditation course; Glenn Mullin, Selected Works of the Dalai Lama III; Robert A.F. Thurman, The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti, a mahayana scripture; Geshe Wangyal, The Door of liberation Lama Yeshe, Introduction to Tantra; Randolph Kloetzli, Buddhist Cosmology.

INDEX g refers to the Glossary in this volume lit refers to the Literature in volume II

and Lamrim, 39–40 bikshu. g and Serlingpa, 32 Bimbisara. g A and Tara, 84 birth. See rebirth. abhidharma, 19, g biography, 25 blessing(s) Abhidharmakosha (Vasubandhu), how he came to Tibet, 83–84 offerings, 69–70 27, g, lit in merit field, 76, 118 OM AH HUM, 70 Abhisamayalankara (Maitreya), 42, Lamp for the Path, 20 receiving, 106, 129 g, lit Lamrim heart-practice, 18 bliss. g absolute and relative lifestory, 31–32 Blue Skirt Pandit, 39, 83 teaching, 103 quoted, 20 Bodhgaya. g truth, 145 on spiritual master, 92 bodhi tree. g acharya. g top of universities, 83 bodhicitta, 145, g, See bodhimind. action. See karma. attachment, 95 bodhimind, 5, 10, 32, 45, 114, g afflictive emotions. See delusions. and monks robes, 75 developing, 104 aggregates. g glue to samsara, 41 bodhisattva, 42, 84, g Ajatashatru, king. g how it develops, 95 action stage, 45 Akanishta. g in spiritual path, 96 and the different paths, 43–44 altar set up, 67–68 to this or future lives, 107 Buddha as, 45 Ambedkarism, 84 used in Vajrayana, 41 mental stage, 45 Amitabha. g authenticity on altar, 67 analytical meditation. See of the teacher, 84–85 rejoice in, 126 meditation. of the teachings, 26–36 stages. g Ananda, 19, g subject to proof, 51 vows. g anger Avadana, 29 Bodhisattvabhumi (Asanga). lit and guru devotion, 91 Avalokiteshvara, 128, 133, g Bodhisattvacharyavatara and listening to teachings, 62 male and female, 128 (Shantideva). lit and spiritual practice, 49 mantra, 132 dedication, 136 destroys virtue, 127 Avalokiteshvara,, 129 offering, 122 how it develops, 96 Avatamsaka sutra, 120, 144, g, lit Seven Limbs, 120 Angulimala, 49 Avici hell. g Bön, 39 animal. g awakening. g Brahma. g realm, 7 breathing meditation. See slaughtered for you, 139 B meditation. arhat, 11, g buddha arya. g backbone of the practice families. g Aryadeva, 27, 144, g guru yoga, 88, 139 four bodies of a, 77 quoted, 87 lineage, 23 knowledge of a, 28 Aryashura, 61, 159 balance self and others, 43 qualities of a, 27–28 Asanga, 24, 27, 144, g bardo. g see spiritual master as, 92–93, 95, and Lamrim, 16–18 bardowa. g 96–97 and Maitreya, 17 basis path result, 6–12, 42, 44, 145 Buddha. g, Also see quotations. and prajnaparamita, 27 chart, 145 body speech mind, 113 biography, 25 behavior his experience as practice, 49 in merit-field, 75 and spiritual development, 107 jewel collection, 113 scholar and saint, 26 Beng Kungyel. g, See Beng, Geshe non-contradicting teachings, 39– teaching lineage, 17 Beng, Geshe, 33, g 49 Ashoka, emperor, 16, g and eight wordly dharmas, 68 not lying, 58 Ashvaghosha, 160 biography, 33 outstanding disciples, 19 asura. g quoted, 33 quoted, 63 Atisha, 18, g bhumi. g not lying, 58 178 Lam Rim Teachings

sectarian views, 54 creating space, 71–73 emptiness. g testing teachings, 53 enlightened beings, 76 visualization, 113 enlightenment. g words of D and mahayana, 103 direct, indirect, hidden Dagpo Lama Rinpoche and spiritual guidance, 86 meaning, 52 quoted, 46 eon. g buddha nature. g dakas en dakinis. g equanimity, 73, g Buddha Sakyamuni, 4, 77, 115 Dalai Lama. g Essential Nectar, 93, 99 and Buddha Vajradhara, 74 Fifth, 21 eternalism. g in merit field, 67, 74 Dass, Ram, 39 examples lifestory, 28–30 dedication, 126, 136, g dharma practice mantra of, 131 Mahayana, 43 I wish you’d…, 33 buddhadharma, 40, 61 protecting virtue, 127 guru devotion Buddhapalita, 144, g teaching dharma, 64 root, 92 buddhist cosmology. g degenerated age, 96, g karma delusions, 9, 10, g, g warp and woof, 138 C and analytical meditation, 13 learning, 61 and Geshe Beng, 33 outlines capability, 28 and spiritual practice, 38 tea butter sugar, 107 Catuhsataka (Aryadeva). See Four and teacher, 86 perception Hunderd Verses down or up, 49 glass of water, 99 chag-tsel, 121 dependent arising, 138, g chakras. g desire. g F Chandragomin. g determination to be free. g Chandrakirti, 144, g Devadatta, 93–94, g faith. Also see stories. biography, 25 dharma cultivating, 91–100 quoted, 55 cause/result oriented, 11 intelligent, 92 Changeless Nature (Maitreya). lit cause-oriented/result-oriented, 10 Field of Merit. g channels. g listening to, 61–63 dissolving, 135 charts meaning of the word, 39 generating, 73–76, 116–18 1 Historical Overview, 144 respect, 62 five basic precepts. g 2 Basis, Path and Result, 145 teaching, 63–64 five great subjects, 50, g 3 Desire Realms. vol. II Dharma. g five limitless non-virtues. g 4 Form- and Formless Realms. dharma practice five main philosophical texts. g vol. II what it means, 137 five paths. g 5 Twelve Links of dharma protector. g five skandhas. g Interdependent Originiation. dharmadhatu. g five wisdoms, 165 vol. III dharmakaya, 98, g foe destroyer. See arhat. 6 Bodhisattva Paths and Stages. Dharmakirti, 27, 138, 144, g Foundation of All Perfections vol. IV quoted, 42 (Tsongkhapa), 21, 81, 104, 106, 7 Bodhisattva Paths, Stages and dhyana. g 135, lit Practices. vol. IV Dignaga, 27, g four activities, 130 Chekawa, Geshe, 69 discipline, 19, 86 four antidote powers. g Chinese emperor Drepung, 34, g four buddhist seals. g and Sakya Pandita, 54 Drom Rinpoche, 33, 60, 144, g four classes of tantra. g chöd. g quoted, 92 four continents. g Cittamatra. g Dromtönpa. See Drom Rinpoche. four features of Lamrim, 15–21, 25 cleaning dualistic view. g Four Hundred Verses (Aryadeva), preliminary practice, 65 dullness. g 87, lit purification, 65–67 four immeasurables, 73, 116, g clear light. g four kayas, 77 commitments. g E four main outlines Lamrim, 21–24 compassion. g, See love- Easy Path, 21 four mindfulnesses. g compassion. ego, 51, 135 four Noble Truths. g to ourselves, 104 boosting, 106, 108 four purification powers, 124–25 completion stage. g eight fears, 132 four qualities of Lamrim, 39–55 concentration. g eight qualities of water, 68 four reliances. g mantra and mudra, 70 eight worldly dharmas, 69, g four schools of tenets. g meditation, 105, 119 eighteen qualities of the precious four ways of birth. g object, 119 human life, 6, 8 four ways of ripening others’ mind. power, 53 eighteen views, 19 g Conqueror. g eightfold path. g four ways of teaching, 5 contaminated. g eighty-four thousand loads of future life. See next life. council. See three councils. teachings, 20

Index 179 G guru yoga, 76, 82, g three ways of creating, 38 backbone practice, 88, 139 kaya. g Gampopa, 21, 30, 32, g Gyeltsab Je, 118, g kedrub, 26 Ganden Lha Gyema, 6, 113–36, g, Kedrub Je, 118, g lit killing and Tushita, 18 H and eating meat, 139 field of merit, 116–19 habitual patterns, 6 King of Samadhi sutra, 58 Migtsema, 127–30 and Lamrim, 38–39 kleshavarana, 131 refuge meditation, 115–16 and meditation, 12 knowledge, 28 seven limbs, 120–27 happiness, 81, 97 kusha grass, 70 Ganden Yigu Tshödsin, 17 hatred, 95 Gandhi, 84 hearers, 43, 145, g L GATE GATE…, 131 Heart Sutra, 17, g Gelugpa, 40, 78, g Hélène van Hoorn, 157 Lalitavistara sutra, 29 generation stage. g Hevajra tantra:, 96 Lam Don (Atisha). See Lamp for the geshe. g higher learning, 27 Path to Enlightenment ghandharvas. g Hinayana, 10, 43, 44, 75, g Lam Dre, 21 ghosts, 47, 67, 99 teacher, 85 Lama Chöpa. g and vajrayana, 34 historical overview Lama Lozang Tubwang Dorje Ginsberg, Allen, 56 chart, 144 Chang, 74–75 on future life, 58 human life. See precious human life. Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment gods. g humbleness, 63 (Atisha), 40, 147–53, lit jealous, 6, 7 hungry ghost. g why important, 40 samsaric, 6 Hvashang, 83 Lamrim. g Goldstein, Joseph, 39 and Atisha, 39–40 Gom Rim (Kamalashila). See Stages and Gelugpa, 21 of Meditation I and habitual patterns, 38–39 gone beyond, 28, 45 I. g and meditation, 40–41 Great Treatise on the Stages of the ignorance, 13, 42, 61, g and spiritual materialism, 46–49 Path to Enlightenment cutting, 55 and wisdom of discrimination, (Tsongkhapa). See Lamrim illusory body. g 50–51 Chenmo imprint. g, Also see delusions. eight great Lamrims, 34 grounding, 39 indestructible drop. g essence of, 39 Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Indra. g four features, 15–21 Life (Shantideva). See inherent existence, 135, g four main outlines, 21–24 Bodhisattvacharyavatara initiation. g free of contradiction, 39–49 Guide to the Middle Way inseparability, 77, 78, 139 great Lamrims, 20 (Chandrakirti), 99, lit guru, 88 harmful behaviors will stop, 53– Gunaprabha, 27 Ishvara. g 55 Gungtang Jampelyang. g how it can help, 55–58, 137–38 quoted, 107 how to meditate on, 104 guru, 74, 90, Also see spiritual J how to study, 35 master, teacher. Jambudvipa. g includes any spiritual teaching, agent enlightened beings, 97–98 Jatakamala, 61 106 and yidam, 88 Jatakas, 29, 45 Kagyu, Sakya, Nyingma, 21 inseparability, 77, 89 jewel collection, 113, 117 lineage, 32–36 inseparable from, 100 Jewel Heart, 157–58 masters, 25 living connection, 87 Jewel Ornament of Liberation purpose, 63 no bypass, 87 (Gampopa), 21, 30, lit qualities of, 39–55 pure relationship, 89–90 jneyavarana, 131 structure, 42 root, 74 take as personal instruction, 49– see as buddha, 92–93, 95, 96–97 52 who is it, 90 K underlying thought easily guru devotion, 139, Also see stories. comprehended, 52 Kadampa masters, 32–33, g and anger, 91 ways of training, 5 biographies, 25 benefits, 91 what it means, 5 in merit field, 76 cultivating faith, 91–100 Lamrim Chenmo (Tsongkhapa), 50, quoted, 18 need of spiritual master, 82–84 87, lit three lineages, 32, 76 obstacles, 87–88 Lamrim Dudon (Tsongkhapa). lit Kagyu. g proper relationship, 87–88 Also see Song of the Stages or Kalarupa, 67 root of all development, 88 Lines of Experience Kanjur, 19, g root of the path, 81–82 Large Sutra of Perfect Wisdom. See karma, 6, 9, 127, 133, g sign of development, 96, 100 Prajnaparamita sutra and conditions, 138 three different attitudes, 87 laziness, 7 Tsongkhapa as guru, 88 habitual patterns, 38

180 Lam Rim Teachings

busy lazy, 10, 72 and Naropa, 88–89 teaching lineage, 17 learning, 14, 26 biography, 25 Nagrim, 11 metaphors, 61 meditation, 53, g Nalanda, 15, 16, 83, g three different ways, 16 analytical and concentration, 12– Naropa. g ways of training, 5 13, 105–6 and Marpa, 88–89 learning thinking meditating, 34, 52 and delusions, 12 biography, 25 Legden Sherab, 83 and Lamrim, 40–41 quoted, 88 leisures, 7 and mantra, 134 nectar. g ninth non-leisure, 10 and outlines, 12–15 next life. Also see rebirth, Letter to a Friend (Nagarjuna). lit breathing meditation, 71 reincarnation. lhagtong, 119, g concentration, 119 ngondro. g Lhatsun Rinpoche, 62 creating mental space, 71–73 ngöndro. See preliminary practices liberation. g Do the Meditation Rock, 71 nihilism. g life energy increase, 130 how to do, 71–72, 106–8 nine Lamrims, 35, 108 life-stories great masters, 35 insight meditation. g nine mental abidings. g lineage, 7, 15, 21, 22, 25 Lamrim, 104 ninth laziness, 10 backbone, 61 nine rounds breathing, 72 nirmanakaya. g Buddha – Atisha, 30–32 overviewing, 105 nirvana, 131, g in merit field, 75 posture, 70 non-contradiction, 39–49 Lamrim, 32–36, 37 anger and attachment, 70 non-virtue. g unbroken, 85 seat, 70 Nyingma. g wisdom and method, 17 six preliminaries, 65–78 Ling Rinpoche, 35, 75, 102, 155–56, meditation guided 157, g Field of Merit, 118 Ö listening to the Dharma, 61–63 Ganden Lha Gyema, 115–36 Ö, Jangchub, 40, 83 three faults, 62–63 refuge, 115 Ö, Yeshe, 83 Literature. See vol. II mental abiding. See zhinay. living tradition, 7 mental space, 71–73 longevity, 130 merit, 114, g O love, 168 how to grow, 117 obscurations. g love-compassion, 17, 28 merit field. See Field of Merit. obstacles Lozang Dragpa, 128 Meru. g guru devotion, 87–88 lung, 23, g method. g on spiritual path, 54, 93 path, 17 washing away, 106 M Middle Way. g obstructions to liberation, 131 Migtsema, 78, 134, g offering Madhyamakavatara (Chandrakirti). 100,000, 136 and sangha, 122 See Guide to the Middle Way and purifying, 77 offerings, 122 Mahakala, 67 explanation of the mantra, 128 blessing, 69–70 mahamudra. g four activities, 130 Geshe Beng, 68 mahasiddha. g ways of contemplating, 129 how they should be, 69 Mahayana, 12, 16, 43, g ways of receiving nectar, 129 laying out, 68–69 divided, 12 Milarepa, 144, g offer sincerely, 68 path(s), 44–45 biography, 25 practice, 122 monk’s robes, 74 qualities of a teacher of, 86 OM, 131 motivation teachings disappeared, 16, 27 OM AH HUM, 70 bodhicitta, 73 Maitreya, 30, 118, g OM MANI PADME HUM, 132 correction, 72 and Asanga, 18 OM MUNI MUNI…, 131 teaching, 63 and Tushita, 18, 117 OM TARE TUTTARE…, 132 buddha of love, 117 wider scope, 103–4 omniscience. g future buddha, 17 mudra. g One is all, 133 in merit field, 75 Muni mantra, 131 outlines teaching lineage, 17 how to use, 12–15, 21, 106 mandala, 88, 104, g N overview, 140, 141–43 mandala offering, 78 topic, 109 Manjushri, 30, 128, g naga, 17, g in merit field, 75 Nagarjuna, 27, 144, g teaching lineage, 17 and Asanga, 26 P wisdom teachings, 17 and Lamrim, 16–18 Pabongka, 22, 35, 102, 108, g mantra. g and the nagas, 17 cut meat eating, 139 and meditation, 134 biography, 25 Padmasambhava, 39, 83, 144, g Mara. g cholar and saint, 26 Pagpa, Drogon Chögyal, 124 Marpa, 144, g finding wisdom texts, 17 Palden Lhamo, 67 an mandala offering, 88 in merit-field, 76 Panchen Lama

Index 181 First, 21 not lying, 58 S Second, 15, 21 not wash sins…, 99 pandit. g why perfect, 85 Sacred Words of Manjushri, 21 paramitas or perfections, 45 delusions, Geshe Beng, 33 Sakya. g paramitayana, 145 dharma Sakya Pandita, 123, 144, g path(s), 42 I wish you’d.., 18 Chinese Emperor, 54 basis path and result, 6–12 guru, 99 quoted, 90, 97 basis path result, 6–12 magnifying glass, 97 Sakyamuni. g, See Buddha. bodhisattva, 43–44 rebirth, 90 samadhi. g common/uncommon, 44–45 Vajradhara, 96 Samantabhadra. g complete, 46 guru devotion, 88, 90, 97 sambhogakaya. g divisions, 44–46 Lamrim, 20 samsara, 6, g Hinayana and Mahayana, 43 84,000 teachings, 18 and attachment, 41, 107 Sutrayana and Vajrayana, 10 like a carpet, 46 higher and lower realms, 7 transcendental, 45 purification Sangha, 123, g wisdom and method, 17–18 dust and dirt, 66 point out, 108 perception, 95 student, 87 support development, 108 person teachings, 85 vajrayana, 67 extra-ordinary, 20 elephant in mud, 63 scholar and saint, 26–27 practice. See spiritual practice. to be tested like gold, 53 sectarian views, 54 praise, 121 water from snow mountains, self-cherishing. g prajnaparamita, 27, g 85 self-development, 43 method part, 18 Tsongkhapa self-existence. g teachings, 17, 44 biography, 34 self-grasping. g prajnaparamita, 144 view, 55 self-importance, 43 Prajnaparamita sutra, 27, 144, g, lit self-liberation, 43, 44, 75, 86 Prasangika. g vow, 125 pratimoksha. g R sentient being. g pratyeka buddha. See solitary Ratnavali (Nagarjuna). See Precious Serlingpa, 32 realizer Garland Seven Limbs, 76, 120–27 pratyekabuddha-yana, 145 realms. g Seven Point Mind Training prayer, 17, 46, 106 rebirth. g (Chekawa). lit Precious Garland (Nagarjuna). lit as human being, 7 Shakyaprabha, 27 precious human life, 6–9 in hell, 91 shamatha, 119, g basis for practice, 6 refuge. g, Also see stories. Shantarakshita, 83 endowments, 7 causal and result, 114 Shantideva, 144, g, Also see leisures, 7 doorway, 113 Bodhisattvacharyavatara. preliminaries, 113 mahayana, 114 biography, 25 for Vajrayana, 78 tree, 73 shastra. g six preliminaries, 65–78 ultimate, 113 Sherab Senge. g preliminary practices regret, 49, 124 shunyata, 140 for Vajrayana, 12 reincarnation, 137 siddha. g previous life. See reincarnation. rejoice, 126 siddhi. g protectors renunciation, 104, g sign of development non-samsaric, 67 respect guru devotion, 96, 100 samsaric, 67 Dharma, teacher, 62 six helpful attitudes, 63 pure land, 117, 118, 136, g Rinchen Zangpo, 83 six ornaments, 27 purification, 130, Also see stories. root texts six paramitas. g four powers, 124–25 Foundation of All Perfections. vol. six preliminaries, 65–78 purity II six realms, 7 teaching and teacher, 15 Guide to the Middle Way. vol. IV skandhas. g Lamp for the Path to Solitary realizer. g Q Enlightenment, 147–53 Song of the Stages, 6, 27, 28, 30, 31, Lamrim - Kurzfassung für die 32, 37, 61, 81 qualities Praxis. vol. II Songtsen Gampo, 39 Buddha, 27–28 Lines of Experience. vol. II spiritual development, 9, 23, 82 Lamrim, 39–55, 55 Odyssey to Freedom. vol. II spiritual guide. See spiritual master, student, 87 Rice Seedling Sutra. vol. III guru, teacher. teacher, 85–86, 86 Seeking Inspiration to Realize the spiritual master, 145, g Quick Path, 21 Stages of the Lamrim. vol. II authenticity, 84–85 quotations Seven Point Mind Training. vol. IV connection, 76 attachment, 107 Thought Transformation in Eight cultivating faith, 91–100 Buddha Stanzas. vol. IV doorway, 98 how to become, 10 Three Principles of the Path. vol. II example magnifying glass, 97 inseparable from, 74, 88, 100

182 Lam Rim Teachings

levels of looking at, 87 Tashi Palden teachings, 44 need of, 82–84 lama, 34 wisdom, 17 remembering kindness, 100 Tathagata. g translations, 52 see as enlightened, 92–97 teacher, 63–64, Also see guru, translators, 83 spiritual materialism, 46–49 spiritual master. transmission wisdom to discriminate, 48–49 authenticity of, 84–85 and instruction, 23 spiritual practice, 51 motivation, 63 lineage, 21 and anger, 49 qualities, 85–86 oral, 22 and prayer, 51 Hinayana teacher, 85 Treasury of Metaphisics Buddha's experience, 49 Mahayana teacher, 86 (Vasubandhu). See fighting delusions, 38 Vajrayana teacher, 86 Abhidharmakosha how to judge, 49 respect, 62 Trijang Rinpoche, 22, 35, 75, 102, g obstacles, 54, 93 teaching(s) nine Lamrims, 108 sravaka. g absolute and relative, 103 Tripitaka, 19, g sravaka-yana, 145 authenticity of, 26–36 Trungpa Rinpoche, 39 Stages of Meditation (Kamalashila). criteria, 46 Tsongkhapa, 144, g lit Dharma, 63–64 biography, 25, 33–34 stories eighteen views, 19 embodiment of, 128 doubt how to behave, 71 heart-practice, 18 Chinese Emperor, 123 how to learn, 14–15 inseparable from, 118 faith purity, 85 jewel collection, 117 brahmin and goat, 92 qualities, 37–58 object of meditation, 119 dog’s tooth, 94–95 free of contradiction, 39–55 quoted, 34, 50 guru devotion harmful behaviors stop, 53–55 Atisha, 18 Devadatta, 93–94 personal instruction, 49–52 shortest biography, 34 Sakya Pandita, 54 underlying thought easily three Lamrims, 20 Marpa and Naropa, 88–89 comprehended, 52 three-tiered being, 75 offering rules, 62 Tubwang Dorje Chang, 74 Geshe Beng, 68 three councils, 19 Tushita, 27, 116, 117, g purification tradition, 26 and Ganden Lha Gyema, 17 clear the dust, 65–67 two systems of, 15 twelve principle events, 29, g refuge wisdom to discriminate, 48–49 twenty-two bodhicittas. g goiter, 99 ten bodhisattva stages. g two accumulations. g spiritual materialism ten directions. g two excellences, 27 7-days enlightenment, 49 ten endowments, 7 two fore-runners, 27 sitting on grass leaf, 47 ten non-virtues. g two kayas, 145 teachings ten qualities of a Mahayana teacher, two obstructions, 131 eighteen views, 19 86 two paths, 145 student, 15 Theravada, 43, g two selflesses. g in teaching, 62 thirty-seven practices. g two truths, 145, g qualities of, 87 three baskets, 19 ways of training, 5 three buddha qualities, 27–28 study three councils, 19, 144 U how to learn, 14–15 three faults of listening, 62–63 Union of Bliss and Emptiness, 75 how to study in a group, 108 three higher trainings. g ushnisha. g Lamrim, 35 Three Jewels. g Uttara Tantra (Maitreya). See versus practice, 21, 33, 53 three poisons. g Changeless Nature stupa. g Three Principles of the Path Suhrllekha (Nagarjuna). See Letter (Tsongkhapa). lit to a Friend Three Principles of the Path V sutra. g Tsongkhapa), 21 Vairochana Sutra of the White Lotus. lit three realms. g sitting posture, 70 Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish. lit three scopes, 9–10 vajra. g sutrayana, 10, 145 three ways of creating karma, 38 Vajra Peak Tantra, 45 Sutrayana. g three ways of receiving nectar, 129 Vajradhara, 74, g three yanas, 44 in merit field, 74 T and Vajrayana, 44 said guru is buddha, 96 three-tiered being, 75 vajra-master. g tantra. g Tibet Vajrapani, 128, g tantrayana. g how Buddhism came, 83–84 Vajrasattva. g Tara, 76, 78, 128, 132, g Tilopa Vajrayana, 11–12, 44, 81, 145, g and Atisha, 84 biography, 25 and attachment, 41 eight fears, 133 transcendental, 45 and China, 16 mantra of, 132 method, 17 and ghost, 34 method and wisdom, 19

Index 183

and spiritual materialism, 47 broken, 125 wrathful activities, 130 and three yanas, 44 anger danger, 11 foundation for, 12 W Y part of Mahayana, 44 water yaksha. g result-oriented, 11 eight qualities of, 68 Yama. g teacher, 86 Wheel of Sharp Weapons Yamantaka. g two stages. g (Dharmarakshita). lit yanas, 145 Vajrayogini, 78, g wisdom. g yidam. g Vasubandhu, 27, g and method, 17–18 yoga. g vegetarian, 139 discriminative, 48–49 yongdzin. g Vikramashila, 15, 16, 18, 83, g increase of, 130 yönten, 31, 82 Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra. lit of discrimination, 50–51 vinaya, 19, g path, 17–18 vipasyana, 119 wisdom being, 117, 118, 120, g Z visualization, 119, g worldly dharmas. See eight worldly zhinay, 119, g vows dharmas

GEHLEK RIMPOCHE

Born in Lhasa, Tibet, Kyabje Gehlek Rimpoche was recognized as an incarnate lama at the age of four. Carefully tutored by Tibet’s greatest living masters, he received specialized individual teaching at Dre- pung Monastery, the nation’s largest monastery. In 1959, Gehlek Rimpoche was among those forced into exile, fleeing the Communist Chinese who had occupied Tibet since 1951. While in India, Rimpoche as a member of a group of sixteen monks, was chosen to continue specific studies with the great masters who had escaped Tibet, including the Dalai Lama’s personal tutors. At the age of twenty-five, Rimpoche gave up monastic life. In the mid-70’s, Gehlek Rimpoche was encouraged by his teachers to begin teaching in English. Since that time he has gained a large following throughout the world. Coming to the U.S. in the mid- 80’s, Rimpoche later moved to Ann Arbor, MI and in 1987 founded Jewel Heart, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Tibetan culture and Buddhism. Today, Jewel Heart has chapters throughout the U.S. and in Malaysia, Singapore and the Netherlands. A member of the last generation of lamas to be born and fully educated in Tibet, Gehlek Rimpoche is particularly distinguished for his understanding of contemporary society and his skill as a teacher of Bud- dhism in the West. He is now an American citizen. Gehlek Rimpoche’s first book, the national bestseller, Good Life, Good Death, was published in 2001.

186

JEWEL HEART

Jewel Heart is an educational and cultural center whose doors are open to all. Its purpose is to transmit the essence of Tibetan Bud- dhism in an authentic and accessible form. Jewel Heart provides guidance and practical methods to anyone interested in spiritual development, as well as to those who wish to follow the traditional Buddhist path.

The name Jewel Heart was chosen to represent the organization because the heart is the essence of the human being, and the jewel something of great value – considered precious. Through embracing the preciousness of our life and developing our qualities, inner peace will grow, and our actions will be influenced by compassionate concern for others. It is to this end that Jewel Heart dedicated its efforts.

The Jewel heart logo contains three graphic elements: the spinning jewel wheel, the lotus, and the flame. The central wheel symbolizes the three jewels of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. The Buddha represents our potential for enlightenment. The Dharma is the spiritual development within each individual. The Sangha is the community of those individuals, who have developed wisdom, act as guides. In nature, the lotus rises from the mud, yet remains pure. Similarly, we are capable of rising above ordinary conceptions and putting love and compassion into action in daily life. The flame that surrounds the jewel wheel represents the fire of wisdom, consuming all obstacles and bringing insight.

JEWEL HEART Head Office: 207 East Washington Street, Ann Arbor MI 48104, USA. Tel. (1) 313 994 3387 Fax: (1) 313 994 5577. Homepage: jewelheart.org

JEWEL HEART Chapters are to be found: • In USA in Ann Arbor, Chicago, Cleveland OH, Lincoln NE, New York, and San Francisco. • In The Netherlands in Nijmegen, Den Bosch, Tilburg, Arnhem and Utrecht. • In Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, Gerik and Panang, and in Muar. • In Singapore.

JEWEL HEART P.O BOX 7933 ANN ARBOR, MI 48107 www.jewelheart.org