MORNING SESSION
Compassion is the Essence of the Path
Report by Michele Martin
In Bodh Gaya, where the Buddha has walked the land, moving along
his way to the Bodhi Tree and full awakening, the 17th Karmapa,
Ogyen Trinley Dorje, has presided over the Kagyu Monlam since
2004 and given teachings to his disciples. This year he has
built a vast stage for Dharma teachings and cultural
performances. Above it are monumental arches covered with azure
blue cloth, and in its middle is a golden canopy, floating like
the sun in empty space. Aligned underneath is a statue of the
Buddha, framed in a shell of radiant light, and then a statue of
the first Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa, who is so life-like that many
people think the Karmapa has come early and is meditating on his
throne. Next, just after the circle of a brilliant sun cascades
down the steps, is the Karmapa’s throne, surrounded by generous
bouquets of flowers. Seen from the end of the pavilions that
host thousands of guests, the perspective of the central aisle
gives a brilliant and spacious image of the lineage, descending
from the Buddha to the first Karmapa and coming down to the
present 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.
It is he who will start teaching today on the great Indian
scholar, Jowo Atisha’s famous Lamp for the Path to
Enlightenment. Beforehand, the sound of the lay and ordained
sangha chanting the mantra “Karmapa Khyenno” (Karmapa, you are
the one who knows) fills the early morning with its gentle,
peaceful sound. Soon the high-pitched jalings pierce the air
with their rising tones to announce His Holiness’s arrival down
the central aisle to his throne in front of Dusum Khyenpa and
the Buddha. He makes three reverential bows to them, and settles
on his throne as the early morning sunlight shines on his face.
After several chants, including the Tashi Prayer for auspicious
beginnings, he is given the traditional offerings for a long
life, which are presented by Gyaltsap Rinpoche, (one of the four
main Kagyu tulkus), Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, (the Karmapa’s
teacher), Mingyur Rinpoche (the abbot of Tergar Monastery),
Bagyod Rinpoche (owner of the statue of Dusum Khyenpa that will
travel the world this year), and Lama Chodrak, the main
organizer of the Kagyu Monlam.
After the Karmapa is asked to turn the wheel of Dharma, he makes
his own prayers, ending with his hands together in a deep bow of
great respect to the Buddha and the lineage.
Opening the teachings, the Karmapa first traced the history of
his teachings here in Bodh Gaya, where they began in a small
hall of the Mahayana Hotel. When it became too small, they were
moved to the Taiwanese temple and then again to Tergar
Monastery’s shrine hall, and finally this large site where
thousands can be accommodated. Atisha can be linked to the Kagyu
through Gampopa who first studied in the Kadampa lineage before
meeting Milarepa and receiving his mahamudra (Great Seal)
teachings. After Gampopa combined these two streams, this river
has become one of the main currents of practices done by the
Kagyu Lineage.
I would like to mention here that if there is something good and
positive in what I am saying, please take this in and try to
practice it. My main audience for these teachings is people from
the Himalayan region and also for general public so please take
this into account as you listen.
Shantideva has written that a human life is difficult to obtain
and if we do not use it well, we may not find one again. This,
of course, relates to the first of the four thoughts that turn
the mind: the precious human birth. It is not enough, however,
to understand this intellectually: we must take it into our
hearts. A precious human birth is difficult to attain because it
requires so many different causes. We might think that there is
a problem of overpopulation in the world, so how could it be so
difficult to get a human birth? But we are talking about a
precious human rebirth, and this is special, requiring many
positive deeds in the past. Think how difficult it is to do one
positive act, and then think how much more difficult it is to do
this all the time.
Human beings have an intelligence that allows them to make
distinctions between what they should take up and what they
should give up. We should extend this intelligence to encompass
all beings vast as space and understand what helps or harms
them. And this should not be just a mental act: we should try to
help on a practical level. Otherwise, our intelligence can be
more dangerous than the most ferocious tiger. In sum, we need to
think carefully and on a vast scale.
If we are true Dharma practitioners, devotion is not enough. The
starting point of Dharma is to appreciate the preciousness of
human beings and the benefit and harm that we do. In order to
become enlightened as Vajradhara, we first need to become a good
human being and understand our mind. Otherwise, we are just
imitating others.
We should speak a little about the author of this text. Jowo
Palden Atisha was born in Bengal, and became a highly realized
being. His most inspiring action was coming to Tibet and turning
the wheel of Dharma in Tibet, giving deep and vast teachings
including the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. All the
teaching on the stages of the path stem from this text. It has
been said that if Atisha had not come to Tibet, Tibetans would
have been blind.
In general, this teaching is important because it is profound
and non-sectarian. At his university, Vikramashila, all the
schools were present and asked Atisha to become their leader.
Atisha knew and respected all different schools and vehicles,
including the deep teachings of Nagarjuna and the vast teachings
of Asanga, which he understood to be in harmony with each other.
How then should we listen to these teachings? As if our throat
were parched and we desperately needed a drink of water. Some
people think they already know the Dharma, so their minds are
filled with pride and they cannot hear. We should not be like
this. There are many different ways to teach, but I think it’s
important to teach what goes into our hearts and what inspires
us. I do not want to look learned, but give you what is useful
to you. All the Buddha’s teachings are about how to transform
yourself. And you should not just listen to me: you have to
think for yourself so that you can transform yourself.
We are trying to become enlightened, searching for wisdom that
will free us of our ignorance. And we are not talking here about
religions or schools, but any wise teaching that is useful and
established as good. We should not throw this away like tossing
grass in front of a carnivorous animal.
One of the Karmapas has said that our samsara is a small samsara,
and the Buddha’s samsara is a big samsara. How to understand
this? We are focused on the limited samsara of our life while
the Buddha is constantly in samsara to help living beings and
there is no end to this. Samsara is the office of the Buddha,
his field of work, and he never leaves that space.
Bodhisattvas help everyone, even someone who is only interested
in this life. And, actually, this is the first type of the three
types of people discussed in Atisha’s text. The second type
relates to those who wish to be free of samsara. And the third
is those who work for the benefit of others. We should reflect
upon which one applies to us. It has been said that there is no
difference in the depth of Dharma but the difference is in the
depth of our mind. We need to know our minds well enough to know
the right time for a practice. If we try to walk a high wire
from the very beginning, we may well pay a visit to Yamaraja,
(the Lord of Death).
For great beings, everything is done through compassion. The
wish to eliminate the suffering of all living beings is the
mahayana motivation. In addition, the vajrayana brings a sense
of urgency to our wish to free living beings from suffering, and
this gives a special feeling to the practice. If you are in a
burning fire, you would not complacently sit there, but exit in
great haste. In the same way, when you see living beings’
suffering, is no time to relax. Mahayana translates as “the
Great Vehicle” and it is great because of great compassion. How
much responsibility can you take? For one person? For many? If
you are able to take responsibility for others, whether you call
yourself a mahayana follower or not, you are one.
We need to reflect upon compassion from many different angles,
and not just through thoughts but from our heart and bones. Once
bodhicitta (the wish to become enlightened for the sake of
others), arises in us, then we are bodhisattvas. But if we let
go of one living being, if we give up on just one person, then
we lose that bodhicitta.
People ask why there are so few Buddhists. The reason is that
being a Buddhist is difficult: we have to study and practice.
Most people want something that is easy–you just stretch out
your hand, and you have it. It is through study and practice
that Buddhists seek the two benefits: temporary and ultimate.
The temporary one protects us from lower births and suffering in
this realm; the ultimate one is full awakening. We need to
understand what the benefits are and have the motivation to
attain them.
The root of bodhicitta is both love and compassion, but
compassion is more important. We can develop these by thinking
of ourselves and our own body. We can experience how much we
wish to avoid suffering and how we also wish for increasing
freedom. Then we can extend this and understand that all beings
resemble us in these wishes. It is not that we are over here and
other living beings are at a distance over there. If we see
someone in pain, we ask ourselves, “What would it be like to
have that discomfort?” We feel ourselves into their situation.
There are many diverse religions, cultures, histories, and
civilizations but all of us live under one sun and moon and on
one earth, and we breathe the same oxygen, so we are like one
family. We must feel the suffering and happiness of others: we
carry all the suffering together and share the happiness. There
is a famous quote: If I have happiness, may it be shared by
everyone; if others have suffering, may I carry it all.
AFTERNOON SESSION
Discord will Ultimately Lead to the Destruction of the Dharma
Report by Jo Gibson
The sun had moved across the sky when the Gyalwang Karmapa
returned at 3.00pm to resume his discourse. The parasol which
had shaded him during the morning session was no longer
necessary. He prostrated before ascending the teaching throne,
then began.
The following is an edited account of the teaching not a
transcription, and is derived from the English translation, not
the original Tibetan.
The teachings of Lord Buddha do not contain contradictions but
are skillful means for reaching different people at different
stages on the path to enlightenment. The Tibetan tradition of
Buddha’s teachings contains both the Tripitaka and the Four
Tantras. The teachings exist alongside experience, and, when the
profound meaning is understood, though there might be different
ways of explaining words, and the level might differ, there is
no contradiction. If you correctly understand the profound
meanings of the teachings, you will comprehend how all the
teachings of the Buddha, the treatises by the Indian masters,
and so forth, all contribute as the method on the path to
enlightenment. Those scholars who express doubts of authenticity
because of contradictions, are concentrating on semantics and
not the profoundest levels of meaning. For instance, when Lord
Buddha sometimes says that the self (Skt atman) exists, and then
sometimes says the self does not exist (Skt. anatman), it is not
that he is contradicting himself but that, through his
compassion, he is using skillful means to benefit people by
teaching according to their needs
Further, the profound meaning of the Dharma is not contained in
external appearances such as statues or monasteries. The
different schools of Tibetan Buddhism are rather like a
salesman’s pitch, focusing on the special qualities of his
goods, because it is geared to the individual needs and tastes
of the clients. People, however, become confused and cannot see
beneath these externalities, mistakenly adopting the view that
their school is correct or better and that others are wrong. The
Dharma is not such superficial appearances but the teachings
combined with experience.
.
The first important aspect when considering Jowo Atisha’s
Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment is that it provides a
complete teaching on the path to enlightenment, from the very
beginning to the ultimate realizations. Such a comprehensive
overview helps us understand the teachings and realize that
there are no contradictions.
(The teaching was interrupted at this point by the Tea Offering
which took the form of an offering to Atisha.)
The second important aspect of the text is that it contains all
the Buddha’s instructions and hence the name Kadampa (ed. note
:the Tibetan Buddhist tradition founded by Jowo Atisha’s
disciple Dromtön Gyelway Jungnay). In this two-syllable word,
the first part ka refers to the Buddha’s speech, and the second
part dam refers to instructions. Thus all the Buddha’s
instructions help somebody to progress along the path to
enlightenment, and all the words in the Tripitakas and in the
Four Tantras are instructions. The Lamp for the Path is a
teaching which can be practised in a day—incorporating the main
path, branch teachings, all the methods, and all the
instructions necessary for someone to attain
enlightenment—written in an easily accessible way.
First must come contemplation of this precious human life. We
should continue this practice until we fully understand and
appreciate its meaning, even if it takes a whole lifetime. Some
practitioners seem to think a practice can be done and finished
in a certain amount of time, and then request a new one,
sometimes going from one Lama to the next, in search of new
practices, saying, “I’ve been practising Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara).What
shall I practise now? Drolma? “
as if a practice lasted a fixed time and now the time has
expired!
We need to appreciate that all the teachings that the Buddha
gave contribute to enlightenment, in the same way that a skilled
doctor tries different methods, medicines, diets etc. in order
to cure the patient. One instruction may be more useful to you,
but every instruction is beneficial.
These days there has been a development of more extensive study
programmes in Kagyu monasteries and nunneries but this is not in
conflict with the notion of the Kagyu as the Practice Lineage.
We need to appreciate that all the study texts and treatises are
not simply for study but are practice manuals too. Study and
practice go together. Buddhist practice should not just be based
on faith, but on understanding. Hence many of the Karmapas
produced scholarly works and many of the great meditation
masters also recommended study, because if you don’t understand
how to practice, all the empowerments, reading volumes of texts
on Mahamudra and so forth, and even the presence of the Great
Vajradhara himself, won’t help you.
It is important for us to understand what it means to abandon
the Dharma. This is one of the worst misdeeds. The principal
reason for the degeneration of the Dharma in our time is discord
in the Buddhist community, as was predicted. It was said that
Buddha Shakyamuni’s teachings would come to an end because of
such disharmony. The illustration given was that even when a
lion dies, the other animals in the jungle are still too afraid
to eat the carcass. How then does it come about that the body is
destroyed? By small insects that eat it from within. In the same
way, that’s how Buddhism will be destroyed.
Abandoning the Dharma includes divisive speech. We should
abandon criticism and negative remarks not just concerning our
own Buddhist school, but other Buddhist schools, and other
religions. The original Sangha split first into four and then
eventually into eighteen schools. Often our priorities are
wrong. We concentrate on the survival of our own Dharma lineage
when the survival of the Buddha’s teachings is the important
thing. There was once a Lama who was asked to write an
aspiration for the flourishing of the dharma and made the point
that the whole Dharma should remain, not just that of the school
he belonged to. In addition, we need to recognize that there are
different Buddhist Dharmas, Mahayana, Theravada, Vajrayana, and
many non-Buddhist Dharmas, including Christianity, Islam,
Judaism and so forth.
There is an important place for honest debate and exchange of
ideas but not for pointless negative criticism; it is wrong to
look down on or disregard other schools. Much of the damage
which is contributing to the destruction of the Dharma is
fuelled by attachment to one’s own school. Especially here in
Bodh Gaya, everyone should make sure that they are not harming
the Dharma in any way.
Great compassion arises from contemplating one’s own suffering
in samsara, under the sway of negative emotions. An example from
my own experience is when people come to see me, I am often
saddened because I feel unable to help them, but this makes me
more determined to practice. And that’s the crux of the matter,
we have to practice. It seems to me that renunciation and
compassion are like a two-way mirror—look inwards and it becomes
renunciation, look outwards and it becomes compassion.
In order to generate bodhicitta we have to realize that wherever
we are in samsara, there is suffering, and extend the wish to be
free of suffering to all. The Mahayana cannot exist without
bodhicitta, and this has to be complemented by an understanding
of emptiness and selflessness.
All of these come together in Vajrayana. This is why we say that
the preliminary is deeper than the actual practice. First we
accumulate merit and purify ourselves so we need to take refuge
and practice the Seven Branch Practice. In the text, Jowo Atisha
describes three capacities of beings, but it is important to
understand that all three levels are related.
In Vajrayana, the Lama is very important. Therefore, you need to
know how to relate to the Lama, and how to receive empowerments
and ripen yourself. You must understand and practice samaya and
the Vajrayana precepts. It is very important not to break the
samayas, so you especially have to understand the root samayas.
As you go higher on the Vajrayana path, the negative
consequences of breaking the samayas or precepts grow
increasingly greater and greater.
The Lamp for the Path contains five sections: first
refuge, second aspiration bodhicitta and action bodhicitta,
third calm-abiding meditation, so that you can help others,
fourth the skillful means, and fifth the union of wisdom and
compassion. From beginning to end this text is for practice
today The commentary used will be the one written by the Fourth
Gyaltsap Rinpoche which accords with Kadampa Geshe Sharawa.
The text opens with homage to the Three Jewels
I pay homage with great respect
To all the Victorious Ones of the three times,
To their teaching and to those who aspire to virtue…
and respect to people who have more qualities than we have.
Urged by the good disciple Jangchup Wö…
Atisha wrote this book at the request of Jangchup Wö, the King
of Ngari.
I shall illuminate the lamp
For the path to enlightenment.
If you have a lamp you can see the path at night and won’t get
lost—this book is the lamp to help travelers on the path to
enlightenment.
Verse two introduces the three capacities of beings:
Understand there are three kinds of persons
Because of their small, middling and supreme capacities.
I shall write clearly distinguishing
Their individual characteristics.
and verses three, four and five define each capacity.
Know that those who by whatever means
Seek for themselves no more
Than the pleasures of cyclic existence
Are persons of the least capacity.
Those who seek peace for themselves alone,
Turning away from worldly pleasures
And avoiding destructive actions,
Are said to be of middling capacity.
Those who through personal suffering,
Truly want to end completely
All the suffering of others
Are persons of supreme capacity.
At this point, the teachings broke for lunch.
.
