A FACILITATOR’S GUIDE TO When the Iron Bird Flies chronicles the unlikely advent of Tibetan Buddhism into America and its capacity to influence and offer effective methods for dealing with life's challenges, whatever the background. This is an important documentary that emphasizes Buddhism's ability to adapt to cultural environment while maintaining its basic integrity. Tibetan Buddhism has now expanded into so many countries and wherever it lands, it remains relevant, applying itself as a potent medicine to the condition of suffering which as a human family we all experience. ~Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo Facilitator’s Guide written by: Helen Berliner, M.A. in Buddhist Studies, meditation instructor since 1975, and author of Enlightened by Design, she is currently a senior teacher at the Mindrolling Lotus Garden retreat center in Stanley, VA. With additional material by: Gavin Kilty lived fourteen years in Dharamsala, India and studied at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics. He works full time as a Tibetan translator and language teacher. He currently coordinates the social network of ‘Old Dharamsala Wallahs,’ a grouP for Westerners who lived in Dharamsala in the seventies and eighties. © Copyright 2013 Chariot Productions & PundariKa Foundation 2 WHEN THE IRON BIRD FLIES STUDY GUIDE Table of Contents I. What the Buddha Taught [Four Noble Truths] .......................................page 3 II. How Buddhism Came to Tibet................................................................page 5 III. The Three Yanas ....................................................................................page 7 IV. The History of Buddhism in the West, Essay by Gavin Kilty ....................page 9 V. Four Reminders ...................................................................................page 12 VI. Topics for ContemPlation & Discussion ................................................page 14 VII. Simple Instruction for Sitting Meditation .............................................page 18 VIII. Glossary of Tibetan Buddhist Terms.....................................................page 19 IX. Teachers APPearing in the Film............................................................page 24 X. International Sangha Websites and Resources.....................................page 25 XI. BibliograPhy.........................................................................................page 28 XII. Audio/Visual Resources & Dharma Archives ........................................page 30 XIII. TranscriPt of the Film...........................................................................page 31 3 I. WHAT THE BUDDHA TAUGHT [FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS] The Buddha was not a “Buddhist.” He was born into a royal family in India some 2,500 years ago and named Prince Siddhartha. After his first encounters with birth, old age, sickness and death, he became dissatisfied with Palace life and set out to find an answer to the question of suffering. He sought sPiritual teachers and took uP various contemPlative Practices; on the shores of the Nairanjana River he practiced various forms of asceticism. Not satisfied with the results, he finally sat down under a tree— now known as the Bodhi Tree—in Bodh Gaya, until the answer dawned. It was then that he became free from suffering; and it was then that he became known as the Buddha, or “Awakened One.” Enlightenment has to start somewhere; it starts with the natural tendency to move toward happiness and away from suffering. ~ Dungse JamPal Norbu Having attained enlightenment, or liberation from suffering, the Buddha sought a way to communicate this exPerience to others. He realized that this was best done in terms of one’s own exPerience. He understood that fundamentally all sentient beings desire happiness and freedom from suffering. Yet without exception, all human beings exPerience four basic challenges: birth, old age, sickness, and death. Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering, association with unpleasantness is suffering; dissociation from what is pleasant is suffering; getting what you don’t want and not getting what you do want is suffering. In brief, the five aggregates subject to grasping are suffering. ~ The Buddha Faced with these basic facts of life, the Buddha first taught Four Noble Truths: 1. Suffering: All human beings exPerience suffering—not just obvious or extreme suffering, but a subtle quality of discontentment in every moment. Rich or Poor, young or old, in sickness or good health—this is something we all share. 2. The Cause of Suffering: The Buddha realized that the cause of suffering is habitual grasping and fixation based on a notion of a solid self. Continuing to live our lives in these habitual ways creates a cycle of suffering known as samsara. Samsara means “to sPin”; it is the PerPetual sPinning of suffering depicted in the Tibetan Wheel of Life. 3. The Cessation of Suffering: Understanding its cause, we see that suffering ends when we let go of attachment to ego and its habitual tendencies. 4 4. The Path: The actual Path, or “way,” to liberate oneself and others from suffering takes the form of various methods used to train the body, sPeech, and mind out of selfishness, the root cause of suffering. In this way, we naturally go beyond “my suffering” to the liberation of others as well. The Four Noble Truths are the foundation of a genuine understanding of the Dharma and Buddhist Path of Practice. 5 II. HOW BUDDHISM CAME TO TIBET The Buddha’s teachings, known as “Buddhadharma,” have never been limited by cultural or geograPhic boundaries, evidenced by today’s study and Practice of Buddhism in the West. To the extent that thoughts go on occurring to beings, There is no limit to the yanas or approaches of Dharma. ~Lankavatara Sutra From its beginnings in India, Buddhadharma (the teachings of the Buddha) sPread throughout Asia. At the same time it suffered a decline in India. This Process was caPPed by the 12th and 13th century Muslim invasions of India, which eradicated Buddhist centers of learning and practice, particularly in northern India. Meanwhile, however, the teachings had traveled to Southeast Asia; to the North through the daunting Himalayas; and to the far-eastern lands of China, Korea, and JaPan. Along the way they entered Tibet, the Land of Snows. Three great kings shaPed Buddhism in Tibet: Songtsen GamPo (c. 617-698), Trisong Detsen (c. 790-844), and the 9th century king, Tri RalPachen. From a visionary perspective, these three kings were seen to be emanations of three aspects of the Buddha, namely Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, and VajraPani; and their efforts to establish Buddhadharma in Tibet were viewed as the Buddha’s enlightened activity. Thus they were known as the three great “Dharma Kings.” Songtsen Gampo, the 33rd king of Tibet, along with his two Buddhist wives, the NePalese princess Bhrikuti and the Chinese Princess Wencheng—built the earliest temples and brought the first representations of the Buddha to Tibet. Songtsen Gampo mandated the creation of the first Tibetan alPhabet and the translation of many teachings from Sanskrit into Tibetan. It was during his reign that the Buddha’s “Ten Virtuous Actions” became a kind of constitution, or ethical guide, for the people of Tibet. The second great king was Trisong Detsen, the 38th king of Tibet. Said to be an emanation of Manjushri, he invited great Buddhist scholars and translators, such as Vimalamitra, to the Land of Snows. The monk Shantarakshita, Abbot of Nalanda University, was invited to establish the first monastery there. And when Shantarakshita, the “Protector of Peace,” met with insurmountable obstacles while constructing the monastery Samyé, he in turn asked the king to invite the Indian tantric yogi Padmasambhava to Tibet, to subdue obstructing local sPirits and to securely Plant the Buddhadharma there. So in the 8th century—over 1,000 years after the death, or paranirvana, of the Buddha— Padmasambhava brought the Buddha’s teachings from India into the vast and 6 challenging land of Tibet. Known in Tibet as Guru Rinpoche, Padmasambhava, the “lotus born,” famously tamed the local spirits and won the minds and hearts of the people through his teachings and manifestations of realization. King Trisong Detsen and his wife, Yeshe Tsogyal, became foremost disciPles of Padmasambhava. The third great Buddhist king, Tri RalPachen, was a grandson of King Trisong Detsen. Said to be an emanation of Vajrapani, he ruled Tibet from 815 to 838, when forces threatened by the sPread of the Dharma assassinated him. He is known for having built one thousand temPles, and for inviting many Buddhist scholars and translators to Tibet. However his reign also ushered in a Period of Persecution of Buddhist teachings. With the assassination of Tri RalPachen, the study and Practice of Buddhism in Tibet fell into disarray—but in the 10th century renewal came. Due to the efforts of teachers, practitioners, scholars, translators, three major (the Kagyu, Gelug and Sakya) and many minor schools of Tibetan Buddhism evolved in addition to the original Ancient, or Nyingma, school. 7 III. THE THREE YANAS The flowering of sPiritual realization in Tibetan Buddhism was, from earliest times until present, a three-stage Process of training the mind. The first stage is based uPon the foundation teachings on the Four Noble Truths, which enable one to liberate oneself from suffering by understanding its cause and cessation. Even a driven, dissatisfied, and/or unhapPy mind has the Potential to attain