July 26th 2010 · Read More · Comments Off
(From a teaching given by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche at Kunzang Palchen Ling in May 2010. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso, transcribed by Alan McCoy, edited by Basia Coulter. Copyright 2010 Bardor Tulku Rinpoche and Peter O’Hearn. All rights reserved. Please do not reprint without permission.)
The fundamental significance of the vow of refuge in the Buddhist tradition is that it is the necessary starting point and foundation for all other consciously adopted forms of moral discipline. It is said that there are vows for everyone, but not for those who have not taken the vow of refuge. The reason for the presentation of vows in Buddhism—the conscious adoption of moral discipline—is that, in his omniscience, the Buddha recognized that the only cause of higher rebirth is consciously adopted moral disciple.
In order to enable disciples to achieve continued higher rebirth and to continue to pursue the path, he therefore presented the vow of refuge and all the other vows that ensue upon it. To understand the context in which the Buddha presented these things, we have to look at the broad context of his teaching, which is what we call the four noble truths: The truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of cessation, and the truth of the path. We must start with the acknowledgement of our suffering. Anyone who was born in any of the six realms (or states) of samsara suffers. No one can say that they do not suffer at all. The claim that a being living in samsara is free of suffering simply goes against all of our valid experience. But suffering does not arise without a context, without a cause. And suffering depends upon the accumulation of karma. If you accumulate karma, you will suffer. If you do not accumulate karma, you will not suffer. This is what the Buddha was pointing to when he presented the first noble truth—the truth of suffering—in his words, “Recognize suffering.”
The first step is for us to recognize and admit our suffering because if we fail to do that, we will have no inspiration to escape from (or transcend) samsara. But other than recognizing suffering, we cannot simply try to get rid of it. We have to get rid of its cause. Therefore the Buddha went on and presented the second noble truth—the truth of the cause of suffering—by saying, “Abandon its cause.” What is the cause of suffering? Fundamentally it is kleshas—mental afflictions. Through the presence of kleshas within us, we accumulate karma. Negative karma causes us to suffer. Positive karma causes us to experience states of afflicted (or imperfect) happiness. All of this is of the nature of suffering and results from the certain cause of kleshas and karma.
How do we abandon the cause of suffering? We do that by the achievement of cessation. Therefore the Buddha taught the third noble truth—the truth of cessation—when he said, “Achieve cessation.” That is to say, you achieve the cessation of suffering by achieving the cessation of its cause, the cessation of kleshas and karma.
To some extent we could say that all spiritual traditions are concerned with the transcendence of suffering, and there are many varieties of spirituality in this world, some more sophisticated than others. But the Buddha, having perfected the two accumulations and achieved the dharmakaya for his own benefit and the rupakaya for the benefit of others, and having therefore turned the three dharmachakras, taught a precise path leading to the cessation of suffering and the causes of suffering, a path leading to non-abiding nirvana. He first mentioned this path by proclaiming the fourth noble truth—the truth of the path—when he said, “Rely upon the path.” The path the Buddha presented conforms to the needs and dispositions of the individual. It can be therefore divided into the path of the shravaka, the path of the pratyekabuddha, and the path of a bodhisattva. And each of these paths leads to liberation.
The reason why the Buddha began by saying, “Recognize suffering,” is that as long as we are in denial of suffering, we are like small children who will touch fire because they are too young or too naïve to know that it will burn them. Small children have to be kept away from fire by their parents, but when a child matures to the point where they know that fire will burn them if they touch it, they no longer have to be protected from it, and they are mature enough to be able to choose not to touch fire. In instructing us to recognize suffering, the Buddha was instructing us to gain an analogous type of maturity to recognize what will cause suffering and how to avoid it. In that way, the Buddha began his presentation of all of his buddhadharma with the four noble truths, and among them, what we actually practice is the fourth—the truth of the path.
The starting point of our practice of the path is the cultivation of moral discipline, and this is because in order to continue to pursue the path, we need continued higher rebirth. The only cause of higher rebirth is moral discipline. Is higher rebirth our final goal? No. All six realms involve suffering, but three of these realms—what are called the three higher realms or three higher states—have much less suffering than the states that are called the three lower realms. Through the conscious adoption of moral discipline, we can achieve these higher rebirths: As a human, as a deva, or as an asura. In these three states we still suffer, but we suffer so much less than those in the lower states, that we can continue to pursue the path. And the only way to gain this necessary resource of a higher rebirth is moral discipline. Nevertheless moral discipline alone will not lead to liberation. It leads to a higher rebirth that is a container (or basis) for pursuing the path, but that higher rebirth itself, because it is still an afflicted state, is not a state of liberation. Devas suffer from death and downfall; humans from birth, aging, sickness, and death; and asuras from warfare and disputation. So we cannot stop there. We cannot stop merely with the practice of moral discipline and the achievement of higher rebirth; we have to go further. Starting with moral discipline, the substance (or body) of the path is the gathering of the two accumulations—of merit and wisdom. And by means of these—the combination of moral discipline and the gathering of the accumulations—not only do we achieve a higher rebirth avoiding the three lower realms, but we also progress along the path.
The starting point of this process is taking the vow of refuge. Taking the vow of refuge is what opens the door to all of the eight varieties of what are called pratimoksha or individual liberation. These are the vows of a male or female monastic, a male or female novice, a male or female upasaka (or lay disciple), the temporary 24–hour vow, and the eight lifelong vows. You can therefore think of the refuge vow as the only doorway into the buddhadharma or you can think of it as the first step on the path that culminates in liberation and awaking. But in either case, whatever analogy or metaphor you use, the taking of the vow of refuge is the starting process of the path that consists of gathering the two accumulations and that culminates in buddhahood.
In whom do we take refuge? We take refuge in the Buddha, the Awakened One; in the dharma, his teaching; and in the sangha, the community (or society) of those who follow the Buddha. Why are there three sources of refuge? That is because there are basically three types of people who engage in spiritual practice. Corresponding to these three types of people, the Buddha taught three vehicles, and as gateways into these vehicles he taught three sources of refuge. Some people are of the shravaka type. Shravakas (originally the term referred to the Buddha’s direct disciples) are those who practice in a group as a society, because the emphasis in their practice is on moral discipline itself and this is maintained in reliance upon and in relation to others—they principally take refuge in the sangha (or community). An individual of the shravaka type primarily takes refuge in the sangha, and for them there is the refuge vow, “I take refuge in the sangha, supreme among assemblies.” The sangha is unique among assemblies, organizations, or societies. There are many organizations, many societies in this world, but the sangha is a society that is specifically dedicated to the mutual support of the pursuit of liberation, and especially the pursuit of moral discipline, so therefore the sangha is the principal source of refuge for a shravaka type of person who therefore practices the shravakayana or shravaka vehicle.
The second type of practitioner is called the pratyekabuddha type. Pratyekabuddha is someone who seeks and achieves the realization of a solitary realized one. The pratyekabuddha type of person principally takes refuge in the dharma. This is because pratyekabuddha type people are very intelligent; they also usually take birth in what is called an aeon of darkness—a time in human history when no buddha or teaching of a buddha are present. Nevertheless, in spite of the dark age in which they have taken birth, through their intelligence and their previous dispositions, they realize the meaning of dharma. They recognize the twelve links of interdependence through the analysis of phenomena and therefore, since essentially they discover the dharma for themselves, they principally take refuge in the dharma. Therefore, for the pratyekabuddha type of person who practices the pratyekabuddhayana, there is the refuge vow, “I take refuge in the dharma, supreme among all that is free of attachment.”
The third type of practitioner is the bodhisattva type who will therefore practice the bodhisattvayana or mahayana. Such an individual principally takes refuge in the Buddha himself. The reason for this is that unlike the other two types, the bodhisattva actually seeks the achievement not merely of liberation but of full buddhahood. Therefore principally their practice consists of conscious emulation of the Buddha. Since they seek perfect buddhahood and since the essence of their practice is following the Buddha’s example, they principally take refuge in the Buddha. Therefore for the bodhisattva type of person there is the refuge vow, “I take refuge in the Buddha, supreme among all who walk on two feet.” So we have three sources of refuge to correspond to three types of people who therefore practice three distinct vehicles.
I need to make something clear about this distinction between the three jewels, and this clarification is especially needed in a culture such as western culture where buddhadharma is relatively new. Because we take refuge in the Buddha, dharma, and sangha, when we are new to buddhadharma, we generally have the attitude that all three must be perfect. We therefore expect that any member of the sangha must be perfect, and then as soon as we discover—as we eventually must—that members of the sangha have problems, then we decide that the whole thing must be a lie. We are disillusioned about the sangha. This causes us to distrust the dharma and lose faith all together. This, however, can be easily prevented by gaining an understanding of the attributes of the three jewels as explained by the Buddha. If you understand the distinctions the Buddha made among the attributes of the three jewels, this disillusionment and rejection of dharma—this disappointment—need not occur.
If the Buddha had said, “I take refuge in the sangha, supreme among all that is free of attachment,” then our disillusionment would be justifiable. If the Buddha had claimed that the sangha was free of attachment, then as soon as we detected a dharma teacher or member of the sangha demonstrating attachment, such as attachment to food or sex or pleasure of some kind, disillusionment would be justifiable. But the Buddha never said that. The Buddha did not say, “Take refuge in the sangha because they are free of attachment. He said, “Take refuge in the sangha, the best society, supreme among assemblies.” Now what does it mean? As human beings, we are involved in societies, groups, and organizations of all kinds. Many of these are inherently negative. Many of them are neutral. But among all of the societies in which we may take part, the sangha is unique because it is dedicated to mutual support in the pursuit of awakening. So the Buddha never claimed that we should expect the sangha to be perfect. But we should understand the sangha to be the best society.
He did, on the other hand, assert the perfection of dharma. He said, “I take refuge in the dharma, supreme among all that is free of attachment.” And there is a reason for this. Just as the Buddha did not claim that the sangha is free of attachment, he did claim that dharma is free of attachment. Dharma has two aspects: The dharma of tradition and the dharma of realization. The dharma of tradition refers to the Buddha’s teachings and the commentaries upon them. These exist as books. Books are inanimate objects. Books, the words in books, the ideas communicated by those words, as inanimate things cannot possibly have kleshas. You can never mistrust the message found in these books on the basis of assuming that it might have a klesha. It cannot. The other aspect of dharma is realization. This realization dharma is the achievement of the fruition (or result) of the path—the achievement of nirvana—whether it is the nirvana of a shravaka; the nirvana of a pratyekabuddha; or the great non-abiding nirvana of a buddha—the wisdom which knows what there is and the nature of all that there is, the culmination of the bodhisattva path. Whether it is the one-sided nirvana of a shravaka or pratyekabuddha, or the great nirvana of a buddha, which transcends both samsara and nirvana, realization refers to the transcendence of samsara and therefore all kleshas. When someone achieves realization dharma, they cannot and do not have kleshas. Therefore neither the dharma of tradition nor the dharma of realization can possess attachment or any other kleshas. Therefore it was correct and important for the Buddha to make that assertion. If you understand the difference between the dharma and the sangha, then you will not be surprised and disillusioned when you see flaws in dharma teachers or other members of the sangha. You will recognize that as members of the sangha they deserve your support in the mutual achievement of liberation.
In this way an understanding of the attributes of the three jewels not only inspires confidence in them, but it enables us to understand correctly the differences between them. And this understanding will enable us when we observe the imperfections of members of the sangha not to become angry at them, but to feel compassion for them. We will recognize that the other members of the sangha are attempting to follow the correct path, but that they have not yet completed it—they have not yet achieved the state of buddhahood—and therefore they still have kleshas. Recognizing that, we will not be surprised or shocked; we will feel compassion. This brings two benefits. The first, most obvious benefit, is that we will feel supportive compassion for other members of the sangha rather than aggression or anger. The other benefit is that we will not commit the downfall of abandonment of dharma. The abandonment of the dharma is said to be a more serious problem than even the five actions of immediate consequence. So by recognizing the difference between the dharma and the sangha, we will feel compassion and not anger toward the sangha, and we will ourselves be free from the abandonment of dharma. However we may act as members of the sangha, if we can remember that the buddhadharma itself is flawless, then we will avoid the problems of losing faith, losing heart, and these benefits will accrue. In the Uttaratantra Shastra by Lord Maitreya there is a very detailed and precise presentation of the attributes of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—a concise presentation, a detailed presentation, and then a very detailed presentation. So as the Uttaratantra Shastra has been translated along with some of its commentaries, you would be well advised to study it and learn more about the three jewels. Based on The Words of My Perfect Teacher as a source text, what has been described up to this point is what are called the outer three jewels of the causal vehicle—the Buddha, dharma, and sangha.
When the refuge vow is given as the gateway into the path, it is usually conferred according to the causal vehicle and especially according to what is called the common vehicle. In that case, there are three particular attributes to the vow of refuge that identify it as the refuge vow of the common vehicle. The first is that the Buddha is identified as supreme among all who walk on two feet. The Buddha is perceived as the best of all bipeds, humans, and devas. But other than that, his unique attributes are not clearly specified. The second thing is the duration of the vow. When one takes the refuge vow according to the common vehicle, it is taken for the duration of this life, so you will say during the ceremony, “Preceptor, from this moment onward and for the duration of my life..,” meaning this life. The third thing that makes the refuge vow of the common vehicle is the intention with which the vow is taken. According to the common vehicle, one takes the vow of refuge because one recognizes the sufferings of samsara and seeks liberation from them. So one’s intention is primarily to acquire the means to achieve one’s own liberation. In that way, the attitude toward the sources of refuge, the duration of the vow, and the intention with which the vow is taken, specify that form of refuge vow as the refuge vow of the common vehicle.
The other type of external refuge is the outer refuge of the greater vehicle (or mahayana). What distinguishes this from the refuge of the common vehicle is the same attributes as previously mentioned but in reverse. In the case of the mahayana vow of refuge, the Buddha is not understood merely as the best of bipeds, but as the complete trikaya, the three bodies of buddhahood. And the duration of the vow is not simply the duration of this life, but until one achieves buddhahood. And the intention of the vow is not simply the achievement of one’s own liberation from samsara, but the achievement of perfect buddhahood, so that one may bring about the liberation and awakening of all other beings. These two varieties—the refuge vow of the common vehicle and the refuge vow of the mahayana—make up what is called the external vow of refuge.
The internal refuge is taking refuge in the three roots. These are the gurus who are the root of blessing; the yidams who are the roots of attainment; and the dakinis and dharmapalas who are the roots of activity. Essentially the inner vow of refuge is achieved through the realization of these three roots.
The third aspect of the refuge vow is the ultimate refuge. The ultimate refuge is the manifest trikaya—the manifest dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya. As a source of refuge this refers to your root guru who is recognized to be the embodiment of the three kayas (or three bodies) of perfect buddhahood. The way that this is actually practiced, that the inner and ultimate sources of refuge or vows of refuge are implemented in practice, is essentially that through the practice and achievement of the three roots—the gurus, yidams, and dakinis and dharmapalas—you achieve (or manifest) the trikaya yourself. That means that your mind and the mind of your root guru, who has already achieved the trikaya, are mixed inseparably. In that way, the vow of refuge has the outer aspect consisting of the common vehicle and the mahayana vows of refuge; the inner aspect, consisting of the vajrayana sources of refuge—the three roots; and the ultimate aspect, which is the achievement and manifestation of the trikaya in which your mind and the mind of your guru are inseparable.
The vow of refuge opens the door to all buddhadharma, but it is faith that opens the door to the vow of refuge. And by faith we mean three things: Awe or wonderment; desire or aspiration; and trust or belief. The need for this type of threefold faith is great. It is said, “Just as the seed that has been burnt in a fire cannot possibly grow into a sprout, a person without faith cannot possibly develop any virtue.” Especially if one is going to generate bodhichitta and practice the vajrayana, we need the vow of refuge that comes from the inspiration of threefold faith.
The first of the three aspects or types of faith is awe or wonderment, and awe refers to the feeling of inspiration we have when we see images of the Buddha, books of dharma that are receptacles of his speech, stupas—receptacles of his mind, temples, and so on. The feeling of inspiration we have when we see those things is awe or wonderment, the first aspect of faith. The second aspect of faith is desire or aspiration, and this means the desire to be protected by the three jewels, the aspiration to achieve nirvana. The faith of desire is [expressed], for example, when we say, “Please protect me from samsara and lower states.” And the third aspect, trust or belief, is the attitude, “I know that you are infallible and if I take refuge in you, you can protect me.” In that way, the starting point of taking refuge is developing the threefold faith of wonderment, aspiration, and belief.
June 27th 2010 · Read More · Comments Off
(From a teaching given by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche in Arizona in January 2010. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso, transcribed by Liz Summers, edited by Basia Coulter. Copyright 2010 Bardor Tulku Rinpoche and Peter O’Hearn. All rights reserved. Please do not reprint without permission.)
In a general sense we can say that there are two parts to the Barom Kagyu lineage: the long oral lineage and the short lineage of profound vision. The long lineage is what was originally received by the dharma lord Sonam Zangpo. Sonam Zangpo was one of the two major disciples of his master, the holder of the Barom Kagyu who was called Marmo Sonam Dondrup and who founded the original monastic establishment at Kyodrak Utse. Marmo Sonam Dondrup had two main disciples who were called his disciples like the sun and the moon. Those were the dharma lord Sonam Zangpo, who spent his life in practice at Kyodrak monastery, and the dharma lord Trungmase Lodro Rinchen who founded Surmang monastery. So in a sense both of these very important Kagyu monasteries are a result of the long oral lineage of the Barom Kagyu. These monasteries were founded 700-800 years ago and since that time they have continued in their traditions enriched by the visions of Barway Dorje.
The teachings of the Barom Kagyu, like the teachings of all four primary and eight secondary divisions of the Kagyu, are the teachings of mahamudra given by Lord Gampopa. All of these teachings originally come from Lord Gampopa, we can therefore regard the four primary and eight secondary divisions as being like the four children and eight grandchildren of one family. Each of these lineages has continued down to the present day and many of them are very well known. The Barom Kagyu still exists; all four of the primary subdivisions still exist; and the eight subdivisions do as well. Among these, many are well known to you. The Karma Kagyu is one of the four primary divisions; the Drikung Kagyu and Drukpa Kagyu are the two of the eight secondary divisions that are best known worldwide. All of them are fundamentally the same in that what they are focused on, what they transmit, is the mahamudra of Lord Gampopa. This was taught by Vajradhara and so on, and in the case of the Barom Kagyu, it was passed from Vajradhara down, through the Kagyu tradition, to Marmo Sonam Dondrup and so forth. Countless siddhas have been born through these practices of mahamudra taught by Lord Gampopa.
The two volumes of visionary teachings found in the collected works of Barway Dorje are concerned with the lineage of mahamudra. The nine volumes of terma (or treasure) teachings are concerned with the other great tradition—the great perfection (or dzogchen). In these nine volumes there are many different practices, which have been used and continue to be used by practitioners to achieve the supreme attainment. Barway Dorje transmitted these teachings to his disciples who requested them, and as they practiced those teachings, many of them showed manifest signs of attainment. For example, when Kagyu Tashi of Kyodrak monastery practiced the White Khechari (or White Vajrayogini) sadhana to perfection, in the perception of others his body began to physically change into that of Vajrayogini. The standard of practice, which has been maintained in the lineage of Barway Dorje at Raktrul monastery, is recognized widely to be among the highest. There are two retreat masters currently in residence at Raktrul monastery and they and their peers are recognized throughout Tibet as having one of the best trainings possible.
The Buddha taught that his teachings consisted of two things and two things alone—the doctrine of transmission and the doctrine of realization. He said that they comprised the entirety of his teachings and they were maintained through study and practice respectively. Of these two, the aspect of the buddhadharma that actually brings its final and intended result is what we call the dharma of realization, the actual practice. It has its roots in study of the scriptures—and this is important and significant—but the point of study is to prepare the mind for practice, so that through practice one can reveal to oneself the nature of one’s own mind. By doing so one achieves liberation and subsequently liberates others through compassion. In other words, for someone to be able to bring others to liberation it is necessary that they have already achieved that liberation themselves. Once someone has recognized and fully revealed the nature of their mind then they can spark that realization in others; they can transmit it to others because they have it to transmit.
There are two traditional analogies for this. One is of a candle flame being passed from a lit candle to an unlit one. For this to happen first of all the first candle has to be already lit or it cannot light the second candle. Also when the flame is passed to the second candle, the first one stays lit; it does not lose its flame. The second analogy is that of a mold which one uses to make clay tsa-tsas (or images). If the mold is perfect and correctly made then no matter how many tsa-tsas you make with that single mold, they will all be good; they will all be perfect. But if the mold is lousy, then every single tsa-tsa that comes out of it is going to be lousy.
In the same way, one first has to liberate one’s own mind through realization of its nature and then through compassion bring others to liberation. So while both aspects—the buddhadharma of transmission and of realization—are important, it is the dharma of realization that brings the final result.
The Barom Kagyu is not well known in the West but this does not mean that it is not still widespread in Tibet. Traditionally, the Barom Kagyu has focused primarily on the intensive practice of meditation. In Eastern Tibet there have been nine three-year retreats for the Barom Kagyu teachings associated with the Kyodrak monastery alone. Five of them are for men and four for women. A tenth one—a new one for women—has just been opened. The new retreat for women focuses specifically on the White Khenchari (or White Vajrayogini) practice system. An eleventh retreat is also being created now in association with the Kyodrak monastery at the Kyodrak Peak (Kyodrak Utse). It is designed to be what we would call a postgraduate three-year retreat. To enter into that retreat the candidates must have done at least two or more three-year retreats and achieved the status of a retreat master. Thirteen such individuals will be selected and they will undertake this postgraduate retreat. The number is based upon the thirteen accomplished disciples of the dharma lord Sonam Zangpo who did retreat in the cave at Kyodrak Utse and for the sake of that auspicious connection, these thirteen postgraduate retreat masters will be in the eleventh retreat. All those retreats are connected with one monastery, the Kyodrak monastery. Also the original monastery of Lord Gampopa now has a Barom Kagyu three-year retreat, as does the original seat of the Barom Kagyu in northern Tibet. At both locations five sessions of the retreat have now been completed. Each of those three-year retreats has produced between forty and fifty graduates. There is also a growing connection between the Barom Kagyu practice system and the sacred site of the tower of Milarepa (the tower built by Milarepa for Marpa’s son, Tarma Dode). There is a practice facility for the Barom Kagyu at that site as well. In addition, there are thirty-five other branch monasteries, which are a part of the Barom Kagyu. Most of them also have a three-year retreat facility and all of them practice the Barom Kagyu tradition according to the visionary lineage of Terchen Barway Dorje. So if, as the Buddha said, we are supposed to achieve realization through practice, the Barom Kagyu is not doing too badly; we are not the worst of the Buddha’s followers.
But this obviously begs to question why nobody in the West has ever heard of the Barom Kagyu up to this point. And this is where I have to say that the buck stops here, because if you ask whose fault it is that nobody has ever heard of the Barom Kagyu, I would have to say that it is my fault. Why is it my fault? It is my fault, because I am the source of the Barom Kagyu, and therefore it is my responsibility. So it is my fault that nobody has heard of it.
You might wonder why I have never talked about the Barom Kagyu. My root guru was the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, and because of great devotion for him and great faith in him for more than thirty-six years I thought only of the service to his teachings, service to his activity, and service to his particular lineage. Out of devotion for my root guru I never mentioned the Barom Kagyu even by name. It is not that I did not care about the Barom Kagyu or that I did not know about the Barom Kagyu. It is just that first and foremost must always come our devotion for our root guru. For example, a prayer that I wrote says that I would willingly cast away even my aorta on which my life depends as heedlessly as I would a blade of grass in the service of my root guru. That is how I felt when I wrote that and that is how I feel today. My devotion for my root guru, the Gyalwang Karmapa, is unchanged. I mention this because some people might say that Bardor Rinpoche has separated from his root guru; he has gone off on his own now. This is untrue. The depth of my relationship with the Gyalwang Karmpa, and especially with the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, will be evident to you when you read the Light of Dawn, the biography of the 2nd Barway Dorje, which will be eventually translated. In that text are recorded actual conversations between the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa and the 2nd Barway Dorje. During one of them the 16th Karmapa, Ranjung Rigpe Dorge, said to the 2nd Barway Dorje, “From now on your mind and my mind are always and forever inseparable and indivisible.” This is not a misquotation; it is an attested and verified quotation. And when His Holiness said this to my predecessor he was being very sincere. In a conversation with the 16th Karmapa myself, when he asked, “What shall our relationship be in the future?” I said to him, “For eleven generations my family has depended only on you as our guru for prayers at difficult times, for prayers for the deceased, and so. As well in my previous life, as you well remember, I depended totally on you and you alone. Therefore I will continue in this and future lives to depend only on you. I do not need anyone else. There is no one better. I need no one better. I need no other guru.” I had no doubt about this. I understand my own path and I understand my own destiny. I have no worries about my relationship with my root guru but I mention this because nowadays there are lots of rumors and gossip flying about. People say all sorts of things. I advise you, if you want to practice dharma purely and sincerely, do not listen to gossip and rumors. All you need is a clean, straightforward samaya and a relationship with your own particular root guru. If you recognize your root guru as Vajardhara, then you will receive, through your root guru, Vajradhara’s blessing. If you recognize your root guru as the embodiment of all buddhas of the past, present, and future, you will receive the blessing of all the buddhas of the past, present, and future. If you recognize your root guru as the embodiment of all buddhas and bodhisattvas and all the yidams, you will receive all their blessings and siddhis. There is no question that through such devotion, through such trust, you will achieve for your own benefit the dharmakaya. But if you doubt, if you are swayed by gossip and rumor, then obstacles will arise for you in your life and your practice. Your degree of faith, your degree of devotion does not particularly affect your root guru, but it will affect you. What happens to the guru is a function of his or her own deeds.
I care very much about all of you and that means, among other things, that I hope that everything will go very well for all of you in every way; that all of you will achieve final liberation from samsara; that all of you will attain the state of realization exemplified by the Kagyu siddhas of the past. And it is this attitude—this intention—that I learned from my guru, because it was and is his as well. So I urge you—this being my intention, this being why I care so much—I urge you not to be misled. Dharma itself is pure. It is pure in all its forms. That means not just the dharma of the Karma Kagyu, but the dharma of the Barom Kagyu, and other traditions as well. But while dharma itself is pure and unchanging, nevertheless we live amongst the dregs of time.
We live in a spiritually dark age. One of the symptoms of this is that the dharma is misused by unenlightened people. Those who misuse it cannot change the dharma itself but they can distort its presentation. Dharma itself is, of course, not a person; it is the truth. And a truth is what is true; that is not going to change. For example, the Buddha taught how he traveled the path and achieved awakening. Based on his own awakening, he gave a map leading from where we start [the path] to the state of perfect awakening. However, in reinterpreting that map, repackaging that map, some have falsified it; some have created misleading maps that keep people dependent on them by leading them in potentially endless circles. Nevertheless if we have true faith and pure samaya we will still find our way. On the other hand, if we lack faith, even if we meet an authentic spiritual master and receive an authentic map, we will not be able to follow it. Someone without faith is like a burnt seed. If you plant a burnt seed, even in the most fertile soil it is not going to grow. We need to mature. We need to lessen our kleshas. We need to achieve liberation. This is our intention; this is why we have entered the path. We share this intention with all authentic gurus. Their intention is the same—that we mature, that our kleshas diminish, and that we achieve liberation. It is important for us periodically to remind ourselves of why we are doing this, of what it is that we are really trying to do.
May 9th 2010 · Read More · Comments Off
(From a teaching given by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche in Arizona in January 2010. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso, transcribed by Liz Summers, edited by Basia Coulter. Copyright 2010 Bardor Tulku Rinpoche and Peter O’Hearn. All rights reserved. Please do not reprint without permission.)
As you know, what we now call Tibetan Buddhism, was initiated in the 8th century by the Abbot Shantarakshita; the Master Guru Rinpoche (or Padmashambava); and the dharma King Trisong Detsen. Guru Rinpoche empowered twenty-five people who constituted the first gathering or first assembly of his disciples. Among those twenty-five disciples was my predecessor Nupchen Sangye Yeshe later reborn as the dharma lord Sonam Zangpo, who was in turn reborn in the 19th century as Terchen Barway Dorje.
The collective writings of Terchen Barway Dorje consist of nine volumes of treasure (terma); three volumes of oral and composed teachings (kama); and two volumes of visionary teachings (daknang). If these fourteen volumes of dharma comprising the essence of the treasure, oral, and visionary lineages simply existed in written form and had no effect on anyone, then there would not really be anything very remarkable about them at all. But that is not the case. To understand their significance, we need to go back a little bit and look at the history of the Barom Kagyu in particular and of the various other lineages in general during the 19th century.
After the parinirvana of the dharma lord Sonam Zangpo, the secret teachings of the Barom Kagyu seemed to have disappeared. The Barom Kagyu itself continued to exist, but by the 19th century it had become greatly diminished. In the 19th century an extraordinary being appeared who, as predicted by the Buddha, would revive all of the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism in general and especially preserve those lineages that were in danger of dying out. That person was the first Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche (Jamgon Lodro Thaye). The Buddha’s prediction regarding Jamgon Lodro Thaye can be found in the sutras in which he said, “I predict the coming of one who will be called Boundless Intelligence [which is the name Lodro Thaye] who will revive the teachings.” Jamgon Lodro Thaye, like Terchen Barway Dorje, was a rebirth of one of the twenty-five disciples [of Guru Rinpoche]. He was the rebirth of the great translator Vairochana who, having been trained as a translator, was sent by King Trisong Detsen to India to study with various Indian masters including some of the teachers of Guru Rinpoche. Vairochana remained in India for many years receiving teachings until his masters assured him that he had reached the same state of realization as theirs. With that assurance he returned to Tibet and for several years caused the vast dissemination of the teachings that he had received while in India. Eventually, because of the jealously of others, he was banished from Tibet to a southern area called Gyalmo’i Tsawarong and lived there for several years spreading the dharma until eventually he was allowed to return to Tibet. If you want to know more about the life of Vairochana, his biography has been translated into English and it is available as a book under the title the Vajra Garland and the Lotus Garden.
So Vairochana was reborn in the 19th century as Jamgon Kongtrul the Great (or Jamgon Lodro Thaye). His purpose in taking that rebirth was to protect and disseminate the Kagyu teachings and indeed the teachings of all lineages. By the time of Jamgon Kongtrul’s birth it was evident that there were going to occur cataclysm events that would cause the extinction of the teachings unless something was done that had never been done before. What Jamgon Lodro Thaye did that had never been done before was to assiduously receive and collect the teachings of all lineages. He compiled vast collections of literature of all of those teachings: the empowerment texts, the texts necessary for transmission and all of the guidance, instruction, and commentary texts. He made sure he received all of those teachings himself. He composed whatever texts were needed to supplement them and he collected all of them into what we now call The Five Great Treasuries. The significance of this is that if The Five Great Treasuries did not exist, then during the 20th century most of the teachings of the major lineages of Tibetan Buddhism would have been severely threatened by the events subsequent to the communist invasion and the Cultural Revolution. The Five Great Treasuries are: The Treasury of Precious Revelations, which includes within it many of the treasures (or terma) discovered up to the time of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great, that is before the 19th century; The Treasury of Precious Instructions, which contains the fundamental teachings of the oral lineages of the eight original practice lineages of Tibetan Buddhism; The Treasury of Kagyu Tantra, which includes within it the complete teachings and empowerments that come from Marpa the Translator; The Treasury of Vast Exposition, which consists of Jamgon Lodro Thaye’s collected writings; and finally The Treasury of All-Pervasive Knowledge, nowadays usually called The Treasury of Knowledge, which was a treatise composed by Jamgon Lodro Thaye at the request of the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal to serve as a fundamental guidebook to the view, meditation, and conduct of all forms of Tibetan Buddhism.
While Jamgon Kongtrul was composing these works, he also traveled all over Central, Eastern, and Western Tibet in order to receive every existing lineage. He mostly walked from place to place carrying whatever he had with him in a backpack. In some cases, when he visited the only person who held a minor lineage, he actually had to teach the person to read first, so that the person could give him the empowerment. While doing all this, Jamgon Lodro Thaye became aware that among the various Kagyu traditions, the Barom Kagyu was threatened with practical extinction. He, therefore, repeatedly exhorted people like Kagyu Tashi, and especially Terchen Barway Dorje who was known to be the rebirth of the dharma lord Sonam Zangpo, to do whatever could be done to preserve the Barom Kagyu.
Because of such repeated exhortation, which he had received not only from Jamgon Lodro Thaye but also from Kagyu Tashi, Terchen Barway Dorje remained in retreat for more that three years in the practice cave of dharma lord Sonam Zangpo, which is called Kyodrak Utse. While he was in that retreat, he received the previously dormant teachings of the Barom Kagyu from the dakini Yogini of Space—the wisdom body of the dakini Atroma, the consort of the dharma lord Sonam Zangpo. He recorded those teachings in their completeness in the two volumes of visionary teachings.
Since the time of Terchen Barway Dorje, these teachings have been practiced, and through their practice in many Barom Kagyu retreat facilities many practitioners have been able to pass out of this existence without leaving their bodies behind; others have achieved the rainbow body; others have come close to the achievement of the rainbow body; many—as hidden yogis—have lived their lives secretly in the mountains like those described by Jetsun Milarepa, living as children of the mountains, wearing the mountain mists as cloths, living a life of which Jetsun Milarepa himself said, “My vow is to meditate until death and to die alone in my cave of practice, so no one will mourn me.” In that way the teachings of the Barom Kagyu, which were revived through the visionary dispensation of Terchen Barway Dorje, have become very important.