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20040712GRSR3

Joyful Summer Retreat 2004

Kyabje Gehlek Rimpoche

July 12 evening teaching on refuge

Thank you, and welcome back for the evening session. Where we left off this morning was refuge in Guru, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. I mentioned very specifically the negativities that we purify for guru, but I didn’t mention Buddha, Dharma or Sangha. Basically I should say something because whatever I cover we should be able to cover well.

When you are taking refuge to Buddha and you are focusing on Buddha Vajradhara, all the yidams and all the Buddhas are there. What you especially try to purify is negativity in general, and particularly what the Buddhist tradition talks about; drawing blood from Buddha. It’s not really drawing blood, because you cannot kill Buddha. Thinking, ‘I should kill that person,’ that is what is called drawing blood. That one is quite an important one. It is also destroying images and stupas, and all of those specifically.

And then Dharma, when you are taking refuge in Dharma, what you purify is your focus on the Dharma books and all of that. Especially you are giving, ‘Your Dharma is good, my Dharma is good, yours is bad, Mahayana good, Hinayana bad, Vajrayana good, non-Vajrayana bad, Vajrayana bad, non-Vajrayana [good]’; those types of mental decisions you are making are very specifically purification while you are taking refuge in Dharma. That’s what happens very often. ‘My Dharma’s good, yours is not good, and blah blah blah. People do that. Particularly, people get misunderstanding. In Vajrayana or Mahayana, one of those downfalls is if you remain with the Hinayana people seven days or something. It is a downfall. So people can figure out, and try to find some[thing] faulty in there. Actually, it is called, ‘giving up Dharma.’

Buddha has said,

Insults on the Dharma, and certain specific Dharmas are [such] heavy negativities. If you go and destroy all the stupas and images that exist in the world, giving up Dharma is considered more heavy. If you killed as many Arhats [as you’d find] on the Bengal River Ganges; the Ganga River or the Ganges, ‘Giving up Dharma’ is considered [to cause] more negativities.

That’s a very important point to be remembered here. Now the second thing I’d like [to say in accordance with] this Dharma thing, Refuge thing is not only are you not only not giving up Dharma, but the representation of the Dharma has to be equally respected [i.e., how the Buddha represented it]. As much as you [pay] respect to the Buddha image, that much you have to [pay] respect to the Dharma representations. That [means] Dharma books, your notes, your Dharma teachings, your texts, your prayerbooks, your prayer, that little thing; all of them have to be treated as equal to a Buddha image. You don’t want to sit on or jump over a Buddha image where you’re sitting and all those. So this is [why] I request not to have nesting. That’s because [we have] the books, the notes [around our seat] and we pay no attention.

You know I’m really very proud of the Jewel Heart people, [because of ] their knowledge, their capacity, their understanding in Buddhism and all this. If you go to any other Dharma center, there’s no comparison. No equivalent. However, whether you know anything or not, there are a lot of them who have Dharma books, and they take care of them. They do all that, and we just jump over. So we have to specifically remember [that].

Then in the Sangha, one of the negativities that you purify is ‘creating schisms’ within the Sangha. You know, like ‘We are the important [ones], we are better, you are base.’ Creating any [kind of] division within the Sangha from any excuse, for example, ‘You are the Cleveland people. Not important. We are the Ann Arbor people. More important.’ And that vice versa, you know. ‘We are the Chicago people and we are the middle of…whatever it is.’ You know? ‘You are the corner people, so [you aren’t] that important.’ Vice versa New York. Particularly New York. (Big laugh from audience.) You know this is negativity, and when you don’t realize [it], you’re creating huge negativity to the individuals. That’s why this book is specifically making(??) and all the Lam Rims particularly tell you that from any reasons; just disharmony, a little bit of uneasiness is enough to develop these negativities. They are considered more [negative] than killing all the Arhats in the world. So that’s that heavy. There are Five Limitless Negativities, and creating a schism within the Sangha is one of them. It is equal to killing a Buddha, equal to killing your own parents, equal to drawing the blood from the Buddha. [Creating a schism is an even greater negativity] than giving up Dharma. Without realizing sometimes we do this. If you do this, that’s what you are getting. You don’t realize what good karma we build, but we do realize that sort of negativity that we create. This is so important.

Then selling the Dharma books, selling the Buddha images [is another of the Five Limitless Negativities?] What we do in the Jewel Heart store is perfectly this one. We sell the Buddha image, we sell the Dharma books. All the ritual objects don’t have that problem. At a lot of centers, there are a lot of people who try not to sell the images and thangkas and the Dharma books. On the other hand, if you don’t, you don’t get good ones. It was really a good idea when we established it to do a service to the sangha community. It’s making sure you get the best possible available to the community. It is the best quality, the cheapest you can get.

The cheapest is not so important, you know? Of course you know [spending the most that you can afford] creates the most virtue for you. I don’t mean for Uggen-la to raise the price, but…(laughs) Uggen-la is not here, so that’s good. It’s a good thing he’s not here (more laughs). You don’t want a funny image. We used to have it here – you know, all the junkpot (?) junks we call it. In India it’s known as junkpot junks. At all these antique stores everywhere you can get junkpot junks; you know some images, you know, some funny things?

Once I remember, we had a couple of Vajrayogini thangkas, some very nice ones; not very nice ones. I got one and I hung it in one of the rooms in my house, and I won’t name it. One lady slept there. Tomorrow morning she’s crying. I said, “What happened? Look at that image.” So when you really look at the image, that’s such a junk thangka, probably kids drew it, no doubt about it. But probably they drew that image for Yamantaka, male deity with the huge thing. Then they realized it had to be Vajrayogini. They covered up; you know, it looks like they’re wearing underwear on top. So, that sort of thangka is no good.

So having a good quality [is important]. At least, taking care of the artwork, just like the usual Nepal stuff, you get all these sixteen-year-old kids drawing a thangka, each overnight, and then putting it up on the smoke stupa for a few days, and coming out as an antique. At least those things are not there. At least it has the description of the deities and implements size is all correct. If you’re looking as a service, from that point it’s OK. Otherwise, these are the downfalls, against refuge. That’s what these are. So I like to mention these things.

Another one is, we don’t have the problem much in the United States and in Dharma centers, but very often in old Tibet, what happens is those officials who are working, and they apply corruptions on the monastery incomes. If you do that, it’s considered very heavy, because it’s meant for the sangha to go into their mouth. So then someone is cutting the corners there. It is considered as a downfall against the sangha..

Well, having said that, I should conclude this. I’d like to conclude with the words,

Sang gye cho dang tsog kyi chog nam la

Jang chub bar du dag ni kyab su chi

I take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha

until total enlightenment.

When you say that, at that moment, you visualize not only specifically from Buddha, not specifically from Guru, not specifically from anyone, but from all of the Refuge Tree, light and liquid [are]coming, purifying all negativities in general, and particularly negativities that we created based on the Three Jewels. And our body becomes completely light natured, pure. Your life, your knowledge, your spiritual development, your learning, and all of them have been developed. So the blessings of the Three Jewels have been received by me and all sentient beings. And we all become under the protection of the Three Jewels.

So that word, sang gye cho dang, ‘I take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha until I become totally enlightened,’ that is that. That other half of those words, ‘By practicing generosity and other activities, may I obtain enlightenment.’ I say in Tibetan, so how does it go? I’d like to send somebody here to say it.

Audience: By practicing generosity and the other perfections may I obtain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.

At that moment, the visualization is the generation of bodhi mind. What we are really seeing is, that the virtues that I have accumulated by practicing generosity, obtaining morality, learning, thinking, meditating, all good ones. Because of that, may I quickly, quickly become a fully enlightened Buddha. When you say that, at that moment, you are actually praying to become a Buddha, so that bodhi mind, what you are developing there, is called prayerful (word?) bodhi mind. I would like to obtain the state of the Buddha as quickly as possible. For that purpose I would like to practice the six perfections and the four other activities, which is in short the ten activities of the Bodhisattvas. At that moment, it is action bodhi mind. So this particular short verse has both prayer and action, both together. OK?

So that is generating the bodhi mind and finally you visualize from the Lama Buddha, a duplicate Buddha, who comes and dissolves to ourselves, and we are, just by dissolving that, ‘I the practitioner’ who became a Buddha. That is very important. Not only do you have to think you have become a Buddha, you have to try and develop a little pride of being a Buddha also.

So even if this is Lam Rim, you see the Vajrayana mixed completely. Even at the refuge level, you have that. It is important. You just cannot escape, because it is so precious, and such a wonderful part. So no matter how great the teachers may be, it just comes out anyway. So, that’s what it is.

So, if you are meditating and developing zhi-ne, or shamatha, you don’t even have to wait to go and practice the six paramitas. Even at this level, you can use that you yourself are in the form of the Buddha. Or, within that, your consciousness or your mind, whatever you use, you can try to develop zhi-ne, which is appropriate to do here.

Then, finally, you yourself in the form of a Buddha radiate light from your body, that reaches all sentient beings who, just by the touch of the light from your body become a Buddha. So, that is the conclusion of refuge and generating bodhi mind all together. Those who are doing the refuge retreat can utilize this as their practice. That is important. If you want the details, they are available in the Lam Rim teachings and transcripts and everywhere. This is at least the short [presentation].

I’m giving you this out of the preliminaries, not out of actual practice. Remember, there are six preliminaries and we are on the third, right? In a comfortable seat, sit comfortably and generate the good mind, take refuge and say the Four Immeasurables.