Director’s Message True Meaning of Life: Confidence in the Face of Challenges and Unconditional Love If you wish for happiness and joy, embrace an affectionate smile. Don’t restrain it everShine forth this smile of unconditional love towards everyone leaving none aside. Even the poorest have a smile from their hearts to give you. What greater gift can you expect even from the richest person than this most beautiful smile coming from heart. It is so immaculate, truly rich, so precious. Wisdom – seeing all things as mirage-like – provides you with peace and confidence in all situations. Drink this nectar of wisdom yourself. Share the same with all sentient beings. Rescue them from the turbulence of fierce samsara, caused by our own failure to realize that Geshe Dorji Damdul Director things are all dream-like. Let’s walk the path together to this oasis of wisdom nectar, pervaded by the soothing sunshine of unconditional love and tenderly blossoming with the fresh beautiful flowers of sentient beings. Forever you will be free and in peace. May this wisdom of dependent origination soon be born in you. May this sunshine of infinite compassion soon be poured forth upon you. Geshe Dorji Damdul Director Appointment of New Deputy Director Dear All, Tibet House would like to joyfully announce that Mr. Tenzin Sherab la has been appointed Deputy Director by the Office of H.H. the Dalai Lama as of April 2012. Centered in the heart of New Delhi, Tibet House has the need for more effectual governance and coordination to respond to changing challenges posed by growing public interest in Tibetan culture, especially, the wisdom of Nalanda University, as foreseen by H.H. the Dalai Lama. Mr. Tenzin Sherab Deputy Director With his years of experience in various Tibetan public offices within the Exile Tibetan Administrative setup based in Dharamsala, India, and his scholarly background, I personally anticipate greater success in Tibet House’s activities with Tenzin Sherab la joining us as Deputy Director. Despite the relatively heavy load of administrative responsibilities, I am confident that Tenzin Sherab la will shoulder the responsibility with dexterity. As always, I appreciate your moral support for him and Tibet House. In profound prayers Geshe Dorji Damdul Director Contents Director’s Message........ 2 Emotions – A Presentation........ 20 Appointment of New Deputy Director........ 2 Environment and Waste Managament – Arya Nagarjuna’s View of Ultimate Reality........ 3 A 3-Day Workshop........ 21 Ceremony of Bodhi Awakening........ 7 Long Life Initiation of Arya Tara and Ceremony of Remembrance........ 18 the Three Principal Paths – Dharma Discourse........ 22 Conceptual Similarities in Buddhism, Science and Happenings........ 23 Neuroscience – A Discussion........ 19 How to Donate to Tibet House........... 28 Tibet House Bulletin 2012 2 Arya Nagarjuna’s View of Ultimate Reality The Final Panacea to All Our Miseries Geshe Dorji Damdul While this writing may be a little technical for the lay audience, I suggest to the readers, however lay you might be, to bear with the technicalities for a while. Reading this twice will instill in you a profound admiration in the view of Arya Nagarjuna, the missing of which will deprive us of the final light of hope of freedom from the vicious cycle of samsara. This has two parts. The second part will serve as a commentary for the readers to understand the first part. Please don’t miss the second part, although the two might seem very alike at some points. The Four Noble Truths is the common locus for both the advocates of objective existence and those negating objective existence who debate rigorously to see if objective existence is feasible or not. In the opening stanzas of the Chapter 24, Arya Nagarjuna began by stating the opponents’ view and the absurdities that seem to follow for those who reject objective existence; The adherents of objective existence believe that with no objective existence, everything has to exist through mere subjective thoughts, in which case the value of existence of things will turn out to be not more than non-existence, like a castle in the air. They further push the Madhyamikas to the absurdity of having to reject the ‘arising’ and ‘disintegration’ of things in general if one denies objective existence. If this were the case, the Four Noble Truths is undermined as well, for the phenomena of arising and On top of denigrating the Three Jewels, all disintegration mark the underlying fabric of the concept conventionalities would be undermined, along with of the Four Noble Truths. deprecating the distinction of what is virtuous and what is non-virtuous. The arising of the first truth from the second truth highlights our samsaric nature, while the elimination of the second Arya Nagarjuna’s Response: truth, thus giving rise to the third truth, through training In response, Arya Nagarjuna summarized his rebuttal in the fourth truth, delineates the hope of freedom from against the Essentialists, the adherents of objective suffering altogether. existence, as follows: Without the Four Truths, the associated practices would All their former criticisms against Madhyamakas are due make no sense, and the four fruits – fruit of Stream Enterer, to their own lack of understanding: 1) the purpose of Once Returner, No-more Returner, and Arahats – as a result realizing emptiness, 2) the meaning of emptiness, 3) and of the practice would be undermined. Without the fruits, the nature of emptiness. the abiders and the enterers into the fruits could not possibly exist. The Sangha would make no sense if these In explaining the above three points, Arya Nagarjuna points eight persons are non-existent. Without the teaching of to dependent origination as the meaning of emptiness. the Four Noble Truths, the Jewel of the Dharma would In so doing, he convinces them that the repudiation of not be possible. In the absence of Dharma and Sangha, emptiness in a way is rejecting dependent origination. how could the Buddha come into being? By so doing, the opponents reject the phenomena of Tibet House Bulletin 2012 3 infallible arising and disintegration, the hallmark of The very purpose for the appearance of Buddha existence. Without the phenomenon of “arising” existing, Shakyamuni on this earth is to benefit others, to liberate the first and the third truth among the Four Noble Truths all beings from suffering. From the concept of the Four are undermined. These two truths only make sense as Noble Truths, it is clear that He is not only pointing to the existent if there is the phenomenon of “arising” as they First Truth, the truth of suffering, but also to the Second arise from the second and the fourth truth respectively. Truth, the truth of the cause of suffering. It is only through By denigrating the Four Noble Truths, the Jewel of the uprooting the cause of suffering that the former can be Dharma cannot be posited. Without Dharma the eight eliminated altogether. Sangha members and the Buddha cannot be posited. The opponents of Madhyamika thus reject the existence While in search of the cause of suffering, He points to of the Three Jewels. This not only leads to the consequence ignorance as the final cause. of repudiating the Three Jewels, but they also undermine the causation which governs the entire web of What is that ignorance? Ignorance is the demonic mind conventionalities. which views the self as truly existent and so obstructs us from seeing the reality accurately. This traps us in the Arya Nagarjuna thus drew the conclusion that all the above vicious pain of samsara. contradictions will be resolved with ease if one understands: Buddha discovered that all suffering is triggered by this ignorance. To know what this ignorance is, one has to 1. That the purpose of realizing emptiness is to uproot understand what the reality is which this ignorance distorts. the subtlest of the mental stains of negative emotions; Given that the ignorance causes one to misconceive the 2. That dependent origination, instead of nothingness, is reality, without knowing what the reality is, we cannot know the meaning of emptiness; how the ignorance is obscuring the mind from having the vision of this reality. What constitutes the ultimate reality? 3. That emptiness is the subtlest form of reality After achieving Buddhahood, the Buddha remained silent characterized by the five natures – not known through for forty-nine days. On the forty-ninth day, the kings of the others words, peaceful, devoid of elaborations, Devas – Indra and Brahma – descended to the earth with transcending conceptualization, and free of duality. great veneration to the Buddha. They made prostrations to Him and asked: The More Detailed Explanation: “Oh Enlightened One! You have achieved Buddhahood for The Dhammapada says: the benefit of all sentient beings. And yet you are not All phenomena are of the nature of mind; benefiting beings now; you are not giving teachings. The Mind is their chief and precedes them all; way by which you could benefit the beings the most If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts; efficiently is by teaching. You are not doing that. Why is Suffering follows him like the cart that follows the horse. this so? For the sake of the suffering beings, please turn the Wheel of Dharma.” All phenomena are of the nature of mind; Mind is their chief and precedes them all; The Buddha replied: “You are right. I am not teaching If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts; because I don’t see anyone around me who has the ability Happiness follows him like the shadow that follows the to understand the profound ultimate reality which I have person. discovered.” Here we clearly see that the Buddha is pointing to our The Buddha’s gesture of not teaching immediately indicates minds as finally being responsible for our happiness or that the ultimate reality is very profound and has suffering.