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20040718GRSR14 Amitayus Initiation

0:00:05.8 We are here for this last session of this summer retreat here. We always do a longevity initiation and most of the time we do it through White Tara. I think one time we did the longevity initiation through Tsongkhapa. Today, this longevity initiation is done through Amitayus Buddha. This initiation is a combination of two, almost three together. No. 1 is Amitayus Buddha. He is the Buddha of Longevity, the Buddha of Infinite Life, combined with the Buddha of Infinite Light and Hayagriva plus Guru Padmasambhava, the great Indian mahasiddha who introduced Vajrayana practice in Tibet. It is sort of a combination of this.

0:01:55.2 This one has a lot of explanations. Maybe I do it a little briefly here. It says that the teachings the Buddha has given are tremendous, all of them. If you conclude, they will all fall into Hinayana or Mahayana. This one belongs to the Mahayana. That also has the causal or Prajnaparamitayana and the result Vajrayana. This belongs to the result Vajrayana. That also has the older, Nyingma Vajrayana and the new Kadampa Vajrayana and this is part of the older Nyingma Vajrayana. That also has vast teachings, close, hidden, profound and secret teachings. This belongs to the hidden teachings. It is a combination of vision and hidden teachings discovered combined together.

0:03:29.1 In order to receive this the Vajra peak tantra says:

Min pa da ne tro wa la

Sang gye jang chub den pai chog

To ripen the individual’s mind and obtain enlightenment,

For both longevity is needed.

There are many ways of doing it, but especially, the great Mahasiddha Thangton Gyalpo, the first Tibetan mahasiddha, is very interesting. I don’t have pictures of him but he looks like almost an Indian saddhu, with white beard. The drawings always show him to be very brown. He is considered to be special for clearing obstacles and longevity. Back in Tibet, either the monasteries or individual families or when they move house, they carry a picture or image of Thantong when they first move, because it clears all obstacles. So when you don’t get a Thantong you get those funny drawings and all of those.

0:05:25.0 This great Thangtong received this from Guru Padmasambhava. Guru Padmasambhava put this teaching into the hidden treasure and later again Thangtong recovered it. We have all this type of thing coming in

0:05:57.6

Zhi wa thug je chen po tang

Drak po thu je tam drin nyi

Yi me chi du tru ba le

Ku yi cha lo zhi ma tu

Do mo tri zhen mä wai kyen

Nang gyu de chen rig dze che

Nang nye chö pa na tso kyong

Nang da yang tsen dön pa jung

So zhi wa thug je chen po tang… the confirmation of Thangton’s coming was translated from a Sanskrit text. Buddha was supposed to have said: Peaceful Avalokitesvara, wrathful Hayagriva, combined together manifested and the person looks like half-angry, half peaceful, very brown in color, who has always beautiful smell and has some moles on his face and he is very nice and kind and soft gentleman, yet extremely intelligent and very witty. He behaves so funny in many ways. These are outer signs and of the inner signs there will be many others.

That’s what is somehow quoted from tantra. It also says in the tantra:

0:07:52.6

ö kyi cha wö zhin don du

tsön dru zhi gyen min jen jung

te ne nga yi tuk ju yin

In a place called Ö, there is a person named Tsöndru

(Thangton’s name begins with Tsöndru and there are many names)

a mind manifestation

Whatever it maybe, not only once, but many times it was confirmed and along with him Thangton Gyalpo had five dakinis. In short, the very well known great mahasiddha Thangton Gyalpo received this initiation from Padmasambhava in a vision in the pure land of Odiyana. In a dream Thangton himself traveled to the great copper-colored mountain, met Guru Padmasambhava in the form of Heruka. He received so many teachings of the Drukpa Kagyu and many of those deities has visions and many other initiations including the dzog chen, which has some kind of 600,000 verses. All of them were received by Thangton at that time from Guru Padmasambhava in a vision in the Pure Land.

0:10:04.7 So now they give a date and all that. It is the earth dragon year in the first summer month on the 10th. That’s when Thangton brought that to the Tibetans and in Tibet itself Thangton built many monasteries, particularly built many bridges. Thangton was known for building iron suspension bridges in the 1300s in Tibet. There are a lot of them left, still left over. So much useful anymore. When I was a kid you could see a lot of them between rocks, some left over between little island and people are saying they are Thangton’s bridges. They are suspension bridges and many of them are not really bridges, but iron ropes and you have to move on top of them.

0:11:26.4 They put a little saddle on the top and then you push and pull. It is funny what they do, anyway. I am sure it was done here too before all this civilization came up. People had to cross those rivers. So Thangton built many monasteries and we can see them even now and many of those broken iron ropes between the mountains and over rivers are there. They are not maintained. They were built in the 1300s, so naturally if you don’t maintain them they are not going to work now. So that’s what happened.

0:12:38.9 Anyway, Thangton Gyalpo himself is supposed to have lived for over 100 years. He had disciples that lived over 130 and 125. There are 13 or 14 listed there. If I read them to you it doesn’t matter, but there are Tsok po lama chig log da, den chu nyi….there are all sorts of names, all Tibetan, so anyway, why do they say this? Because this is something special.

For this there are two activities:

The lama who gives you the initiation

The disciple who follows this initiation

The lama who gives this initiation has to have received it, and practiced and also needs to do today’s preparation. This preparation is quite long, it took me a little over an hour. So it is quite long preparation. Basically I did it in the morning. Then there is the generation of the vase, the pills and nectar and that was done now, here. Anyway, the preparations are completed.

0:14:34.1 I have given this initiation many times, but I think it is the first time I did it in Jewel Heart, if I remember correctly. Some people may be wondering why I am doing this one coming from the Nyingma tradition and all this? Particularly if they are staunch Gelugpas. It is interesting. You cannot find a more staunch, conservative Gelugpa lama than Kyabje Zong Rinpoche. Yet I received this from Zong Rinpoche and he even gave me this book too. It is obvious, Zong Rinpoche will give you the book and his attendant will chase you, saying, “We don’t have another copy”, so he wanted to take it back. Finally I xeroxed it and gave the original back.

0:16:05.9 Also this was done by Pabongkha and many other great Gelugpa lamas too. However, also, when you divided between Gelug and Nyingma, this almost comes from the Nyingma side and was brought into the Gelugpa tradition by the 5th Dalai Lama. He made this very elaborate among the Gelugpa tradition. There are two different texts. The text that Zong Rinpoche gave me is this one and there is another text, written by Ngulchu Dharmabadra, a very famous Gelugpa lama and it was hand-written by Ribur Rinpoche and he gave me a copy. When I was looking at that last night it was so elaborate. I admire Rinpoche’s patience of writing this by hand, page after page. If we are going to follow this particular book Ribur Rinpoche gave me it is going to take the whole day today, it is more detail than that. The one Zong Rinpoche gave me is much shorter and easier.

0:17:49.8 So I am going to follow this. So the activities of the lama who gives this has been done. Now for the preparation for the initiation there are:

Preliminary

Actual

Conclusion

Preliminary: Mandala offering, making requests

For the mandala offering visualize the lama not as ordinary person like me, but as Lama Buddha Amitayus, red in color. Actually, if you want a bigger picture, look at that tangka over here, with the three longevity deities. The central, red colored Buddha is Buddha Amitayus.

0:19:24.5 So the lama from whom you receive this longevity initiation is in the form of Buddha Amitayus. Do kindly make a mandala offering

0:19:43.9 Students do sa zhi pö kyi….with 2 additional verses as per JH prayer book

0:26:02.8 So now, for the benefit of all mother sentient beings one would like to listen to the teachings and receive the initiation, etc, so kindly generate the bodhimind as we have already talked, from the beginning of the path, guru devotional practice to the ultimate wisdom level of the sutra path.

Of the ultimate wisdom level we have left a little bit here, as though it was just introduction, but somehow, though it is an introduction and we may not be able to reason and convince ourselves very correctly at this moment, but if you keep on thinking: I myself, my physical identity, my environment, the place, the mountains, lakes, houses, homes, etc, everything in samsara are existing on the collectiveness – nothing really exists from its own nature. Not even a single little atom of dust. That also exists collectively. Remember, we talked about the four parts, up down, even that last, most subtle part of an atom that we as human beings cannot even see with ordinary eyes, but even beyond that, no matter as it is form there are directions, so they are dividable.

0:28:48.6 Collectively it exist, there is nothing existing independently or of its own. Naturally it does not exist. So there is no inherent existence. By understanding that and meditating on that empty space look like and the aftermath and all of those, if you keep on continuously doing it, then just like what we talked about in the 5th paramita, the zhi ne level, here you also bring the physical and mental joy, which you are almost unable to bear.

0:29:50.4. When you continuously focus on that, that is the time you develop the lhak tong or viapasyana. Without that joy it is not considered vipasyana. With joy and with the understanding, you are seeing it. There is also direct seeing and indirect seeing. Direct seeing is not easy for us, but indirect seeing is seeing through reasoning. Through reasoning and convincing your mind grasps and thinks it is and what you think it is does not contradict the perfect teachings and statements of those who have encountered [emptiness directly].

0:30:48.8 There is no direct contradiction no matter whatever. The direct contradiction here means you physically see it, hear it, feel it or understand that it is obvious. If you are going against the obvious. And the scientific things. That is direct establishment, although everything the scientists say is not necessarily complete, but more or less it is established properly. That’s the reason why even His Holiness the Dalai Lama says: if science can really establish there is no previous, present and future lives he will be happy to accept that. He will be the first person to accept that.

0:31:51.5 It is really true, because the basic principle in Buddhism is the truth, whatever the truth is, however we establish, it doesn’t matter, as long as it is true. Then you have to accept that. So here they give you the ultimate truth as nothing that really exists from it’s own nature. It is collectively existent. A vivid example is the year. Take the months out and where is the year gone? There is no year separate from the collection of the months. There is not something called year. There is nothing that says: this is the first month, this is the 12th month and this is the year, like there is another thing you can point at: this is the year.

0:32:49.4 You don’t have it. So within those 12 months, from the first day of the first month to the last day of the last month, that is the year. But then you can’t say there is no year. This is the year, as the collection of all this. It just gives you a little example. Anyway, this is all analyzed by your mind and meditated and purified and prayed.

0:33:32.3 Remember, the preliminary for this particular thing in the beginning you have to have three things:

Purification

Collection of merit

Learning/thinking/meditating

Combined together it has established this. Fourth, the conclusion is as usual.

In between the sessions you have to read about the books regarding this particular teaching and meditate and also, as we told you, do the other things, like accumulation of merit, purification, etc.

0:34:18.2 So that is basically the wisdom part of it. Now what I like to talk to you about is that like in every initiation we give you the preliminaries. From the point of initiation it is a preliminary and that is everything from the guru devotional practice to the wisdom. That is preliminary.

There are people who have a lot of time, are brilliant and who can read, analyze, think, talk and meditate. There are people who can do limited things, because of every circumstances.

0:35:18.8 Whatever it may be, simply based on something, either the Foundation of All Perfections or the Lama Chöpa Lam Rim stages or Tsongkhapa’s Lines of Experience or the nyur lam or de lam, very simple ones. On that basis you can meditate. If you don’t base yourself on certain texts, if you think you know everything you are bound to miss certain steps. To avoid that, it is very important to base it on something. The Tibetans have a very special gift. All these texts written by those great masters give you the essence of all visualizations and steps. They just really provide that. When you memorize or read them, one follows the other.

0:36:32.8 Take advantage of that. It is not very well known in this country. In this country, when you say “meditate” you have to do lizard meditation. But now, you should take advantage of saying the text, even loudly, without disturbing others and visualize and have the thoughts following it. If you do this it is very worthwhile. When you are meditating, when you are beginning, everywhere you are meditating, like on guru devotional practice you would like to go to the upper one. Always desire to promote yourself to the upper, higher stages. And the desire to promote yourself should grow more and more. And when you are doing that you also have to look back: did I do the first steps okay? The first and foremost is to revisit guru-devotional practice and if you see and notice that you are getting weaker on that point, then you are losing the root. So therefore, go back and re-emphasize on the devotional practice.

0:38:37.3 Likewise, if the desire to build your spiritual path is getting weaker, then again that is a lack of the appreciation of life, it’s importance and the difficulty to find it. Lacking that, revisit that point and re-emphasize. Revisiting you do every day, but re-emphasize those points. Then if you are finding that you are breaking your vows, hurting sentient beings through lying, cheating and all this, without paying much attention, then you are losing the karmic part. So it is important to emphasize karma and its consequences and the sufferings in the lower realms.

0:39:45.7 Then, if [instead of ] desire for liberation, the desire for pressing matters like paying bills and making ends meet and having luxury stuff, if that is coming so much, then our spiritual path that is seeking liberation from samsara becomes just words. Those are words that even a parrot can say if you give it some nice, little nuts. So you have to make yourself different from the parrot. Revisit karma and its results, the stories, what has happened before and whatever happened previously to whomsoever. That is our guidance for the future.

0:41:00.0 Then, if we are lacking love and compassion for others, then we are losing the root of the Mahayana path. So revisit and re-emphasize the development of bodhimind, either through the seven-stage development or the exchange stages of development and the lojong, etc. So then take the bodhisattva vows and practice the bodhisattva path and if you feel your ego very strongly, re-emphasize how impermanent it is. Subtle impermanence can lead you to a continuation of existence. That can lead you to emptiness. For example, it is the joined time: yesterday, today, tomorrow, weeks, years, etc, are joined together. Each one of them separate, but joined together. The togetherness has received a mala. The mala is a collection of beads. But one bead is not a mala. So it is the collection of the beads.

0:43:07.1 That is impermanent. In subtle impermanence there is minute by minute change, which really can lead you to [emptiness], either through four points or the king of logic, dependent arising. However, that subtle impermanence can also lead you to space-like meditation or the illusion-like aftermath. So then, if you are not focusing, if you are thinking something and you are really completely somewhere else, then you emphasize on the concentrated meditation.

0:43:53.7 So whatever we share with you, try to make it worthwhile for your life and helpful for you and thus try to help others as well.

Now, I am going to follow this conclusion here, in order to practice the first and most important is learning. But if you consider learning important only then you ignore the meditation. Learning, learning, learning only brings no practice and then it doesn’t affect those negative emotions. Because of the negative emotions negative karma is created that leads you to lower realms. The most important Dharma practice is helping your mind, make yourself kinder, gentler, that is the most important.

0:45:37.5 Also, be worried about ignorance and ego and have meditation done on that. Then you do meditation but if you are not paying attention to any of your ethical activities, protecting your vows, then again that is a problem. In short, remember Lochö Rinpoche came to Jewel Heart on Thursday night and gave a talk which we called ta gom chö sum, Activities, Meditation and Functioning. From Tsongkhapa’s tradition, Gungthang Tenpai Drönme has said

Ta wa nam dag tag chha tha la drol

Gom pa nam dag jing mug mun pa sang

Cho pa nam dag gyal wai ka zhin drub

Lo zang gyal wai tan pa gya gyur chig

His pure view free of eternity or destruction;

His pure meditation cleansed of dark fading and fog;

His pure conduct practiced according to conquerors' orders:

May the conqueror Losang's teachings flourish!

Ta wa nam dag tag chha tha la dröl – perfect view that is free of the two extremes: existential and nihistic points – being free of that is perfect view. That is vipasyana we have been talking about.

Gom pa nam dag jing mug mun pa sang – perfect meditation, free of laxity and attraction and ignorance, particularly depression, etc, that is perfect meditation.

Chö pa nam dag gyal wai ka zhin drub – like Buddha will admire you. Meaning you are doing good, you are helping yourself, you are helping others. That is the perfect behavior we are talking about. We are not talking about whether you walk straight or sideways, or whether you are jumping or not. It is slightly different than certain Buddhist traditions you see.

0:48:25.5 Some tradition will emphasize that you don’t move around and just walk straight and everything is bowing, bowing, bowing. You even bow to the telephone. They really do. If you don’t believe me there are eyewitnesses that can confirm it. You know, the telephone rings and you stop whatever you are doing. Even if you carry your food, drop it. (laughs). Then acknowledge: the telephone is ringing.

0:49:03.6 Tell yourself: the telephone is ringing. Turn to the telephone. Bow to the telephone. Then think, “I am now going to pick up the phone”. You walk towards the telephone, “Mr. Telephone, I am going to pick you up” – I am just joking. They are great, nothing to criticize, but that maybe a little too much.

0:49:41.7 Sometimes they look at everybody bowing to everybody and all this is great and wonderful, but what you really have to do is make sure that it doesn’t just become show biz. If you bow, bow from the heart. The great monasteries are great, they tell you that you are bowing, but from your mind you still think, “I will get you!” If you do that is not really bowing, although you look like you are bowing, but you are not. Thinking “How can I get you?” that is more appropriate here.

0:50:38.3 Whether we can be perfect or not, we should look in that direction. Your perception of reality is the view. Your life, the way you live is the activity. And putting efforts into meditation, the combination of these – and that is what the conclusion of this one is.

With this, when the common practice is perfected, from my, the single sentient being’s point of view, in one way freedom from suffering for me is fine. In another way I am totally dedicated. For the sake of one single sentient being I can remain in the hell realms for an eon. That is also fine, however the needs of living beings are such that I need to obtain total enlightenment and obtaining it a minute earlier is far better than a minute later, so that I can liberate and help people.

0:52:11.0 So I really need to obtain enlightenment right now and then you enter into Vajrayana. Without Vajrayana, no matter what practice you do, like the Theravada tradition tells you: Buddha first generated bodhimind, then accumulated merit for three countless eons and then finally obtained enlightenment. So we don’t have three countless eons. We don’t even have countless lives. We can’t wait even for a life or two. We need it now. So the Vajrayana is the answer for this and we enter into the Vajrayana path.

0:53:14.1 I share one thing with you. It just came up in my head. In the 7th yoga of the Vajrayogini practice, even if you detailedly meditate, how long will that take? Three, four minutes? By constantly, continuously doing that every day, that is supposed to substitute three eons of purification and accumulation of merit. That is how Vajrayana works. So one should not be afraid of Vajrayana. If you are afraid, if you are worried about it, you are really depriving yourself of a great opportunity for yourself.

0:54:15.7 You have to have the American attitude: do it, no matter whatever, whether you make a hell of a mess out of it and you become a great whatever it maybe, but just do it, because you have the opportunity. That should be there and that is the best way. After obtaining Vajrayana initiation then still the lam rim practice will be your major practice. On top of that you have the combination of Shamata and vipasyana and the combination of sutra and tantra and that is how you transform death, bardo and rebirth into extraordinary dharmakaya, sambogakaya and nirmanakaya. That leads the individual to clear light, which brings the illusion body and brings you back to the ultimate clear light and that brings you back to the total union and body and mind and the union of absolute and relative and the union of wisdom and compassion. And that is what ultimately you are looking for.

0:55:49.8 Thus I have completed the lam rim teaching here and in order to do such a thing, bringing the complete lam rim practice, the complete Vajrayana practice, combined them together, for which you need time. And for that you need longevity; not only the time of living but you also need a healthy life. There are many ways of doing it and the most commonly known is through a deity practice and there are many deities, particularly White Tara, etc. which is outstanding.

0:56:45.3 However, today we are doing it with Buddha Amitayus. Actually, Amitayus is the guru of Tara. That’s why Amitabha/Amitayus combined is at the crown of Tara. He is the guru of Tara. Tara’s pure land, the Turquoise land, is at the side of the Potala Pure land, which is within the Western Paradise. So it’s all together. So we are doing this with Amitayus today, for which there are the activities of the Lama who gives the initiation and the disciple who receives.

0:57:27.3 And as for the disciples who receive you have the activities of prostration, mandala offering, etc. and most of them are done. So now you have to make a request.

0:57:45.5 End of file