Archive Result

Transcript Name: 20050503GRNL3P02

Transcriber’s Name: Sally Boyer

Start Date: 05-04-2020

Finish Date: 06-05-2020

So the most important thing I have still talk one more about Tsongkhapa’s life, Tsongkhapa is also considered there are a lot of quotations here saying that Tsongkhapa is also the same person as Guru Padmasambhava and that is not just a simple statement, it is teaching given by, I mean the quotations are stated in the lives of Guru Padmasambhava and it clearly made the statement one will go to Central Tibet, one will go to the Eastern Tibet, one will go to India, one will go to Nepal and all of those. So the conclusion over here is Guru Padmasambhava as well as Atisha and Tsongkhapa considered one person and because of that the first Panchen Lama has written a number of places saying the first Buddha and then comes Guru Padmasambhava, Atisha and Tsongkhapa. So you know even the smoke puja that’s written by the first Panchen Lama clearly stated that, you know the smoke puja, you know you put smoke on the mountaintop. Also, in the first Panchen Lama”s Mahamudra when you look in there it says there are so many ways of talking (quoting in Tibet) saying they give you so many of great mahamudra this and that, and this tradition and that tradition and you know like so many things but experienced person will look and they all become same and one and that’s what is the statement and all of them are on the basis of this you know so in reality there is no contradiction between Tsongkhapa and Padmasambhava, it is one individual who appeared during the different time with the different level and even Atisha and all this. And in together I think from that time onwards it is counted I think seventeen incarnations of Tsongkhapa in between the you know when they give Buddha the crystal mala till counted about seventeen different incarnations and many of them came out to be great maha pundits and some are not so great maha pundits also, so there are out of seventeen of them have been counted, I mean is counted and acknowledged and stated about seventeen different lives. It is not like reincarnation like we do today the Dalai Lama or the Panchen Lama all those incarnations but it is seventeen of them different here and there have been counted. And also people may say, “There are so many Losang Drakpas.” And it’s true, there are many Losang Drakpas you know, Losang Drakpa is a Tibetan name, it can be John Smith, can be a lot of John Smiths no doubt about it but the prophecy where it is gong to be born, what monastery to be built, what tradition will set up it’s not so easy to fit any other Losang Drakpas..Then another question is I also said the 11th buddha and Gyelwa Sengye Aro, the Lion’s Roar and the 11th Buddha is not counted as Sengye Aro, the 11th Buddha is known as Geleg, one with good eye so that’s sound contradicting but it might not be contradiction, there are a lot of reasons for being too. Okay. Also, one little thing here. Sakya Pandita has said, “The learned people are recognized by the learned ones, and when we don’t know how can we recognize the person is learned.” Learned in the sense here in the West people will understand people who are well educated but then the Tibetan tradition the learned here really means person who has a lot of great qualities. So, the knowledge and the quality both combined together and that he said, ”The learned ones are shown their qualities among the learned ones and those of us not so learned, how can they make judgment of learned ones?” That’s what Sakya Pandita said and it’s correct. And Tsongkhapa’s qualities are also known by his teachings and by his writings and by his expressions rather than through, I don’t know, through ceremonies or titles or retinues or trumpet blowing things and it’s really through his teachings and qualities and particularly teachings on the sutra and tantra and that also on the wisdom aspect of it, it is fantastic as we all know. Tsongkhapa’s teachings, Tsongkhapa’s presentations are also known, you know, Tsongkhapa is not so easily accepted by the Tibetan scholars as well as same during his period just like Buddha has not been accepted by so many as Buddha during his lifetime as we all know especially you know Buddha’s cousin always been challenging Buddha and all that and so just like that Tsongkhapa also not really sort of you know not like today when we say Je Tsongkhapa Chenpo, great Tsongkhapa, you know, people don’t accept that at the time at that moment and there are so many challenges been also issued to Tsongkhapa by many scholars and particularly Taktsang Losawa. Taktsang Losawa wrote to Tsongkhapa and saying the 18 he being loads of contradiction to Tsongkhapa, you know Taktsang Losawa wrote that and there are so many at that time particularly not knowing exactly what Tsonghkapa is saying and they read and they think that’s what he was saying and they did it and later when they came to know it was Taktsang Losawa wrote praise to Tsongkhapa afterwards and even after writing 18 every load of contradictions, finally Taktsang Losawa wrote a great praise for Tsongkhapa. I like to give you a few poems of what Taktsang Losawa wrote not the whole thing but a few points. Taktsang Losawa said in Tibet there are very few people who really know the teaching words of Buddha and even less who know what Buddha meant and that’s almost impossible some one who have both together and who actually practice is absolutely rare, I praise you by having those three together. In other words, words of the Buddha, the real meaning and message of the Buddha and that also into practice and all three together so I praise you for that. Second verse: Taktsang Losawa is: Some people hold the quotations and there is not logical proof behind; some people only go only by logic thing and no experience statement of enlightenment are not behind so you are holding the words, quotations as well as logical things all together, I praise you for that. And that’s what Taktsang Losawa said. And also he wrote the third verse what he wrote: Some people who are so much on the discipline side, the Vinaya side of the discipline and totally ignore the Vajrayana. Some people follow so much of the Vajrayana especially visualizations and imaginations and and imageries but they ignore the Vinaya and the discipline and morality aspect of it and you are one who is holding together both so I praise you for this. Interesting, the next verse: Some people who think the teacings and words, the explanations are so important and not so much for meditations and practices but some think meditations and practices are so important not so much for learning, in other words, they insult each other. One says, “Well, if you really want to know a lot of details and things like that this is good but if you really want make a difference to your practice then this is good.” They make that division. This is what Taktsang Losawa saying. And Tsongkhapa is the one he said, “Both are important. Not only both are important essence of the real practice is the explanations and the teachings you have. Teachings and explanations’ essence is the practice what you have.” So he said. This is a wonderful thing what happened during that period. That’s what Losawa thought. Then the next verse says: Some people are so important to have wisdom and ignore the morality, some people think morality is so important but not the wisdom, it’s not important but you who understand and showed us the essence of the morality is the wisdom and essence of the wisdom becomes morality. Then the next verse says: Some people will consider the teachings did I say that earlier, right? Teachings and explanations are more important than the meditation and practice, I already said that. Then what’s missing here is this then: Some people consider the dialectical and the debate system and the understanding through that is not important but the vajrayana practice is much more important and some people the other way around, you are the one who showed the dialectical point is the key to open the real wisdom of both sutra and tantra. It’s wonderful. One more thing, and not only that Taktsang Losawa still goes on, “You have not only explain both sutra and tantra and especially in tantra and within the tantra not only you have explained all the different parts of different tantras but especially the essence of the highest yoga tantra, maha anu yoga tantra. Out of that maha anu yoga tantra essence, both stages and the especially you have explained stage of development of the illusion body.” So that sort of tells you and it is also very applicable today, today also you know we do that, we say, ”Well the learning is not so important but you really need to meditate.” And then some say,” Well, meditation is important, but you have to learn, if you don’t learn what you are going to meditate.” So this very contradiction which we faced earlier is also relevant today and especially in the West it is very much alive and functioning actually very well so at this moment what we have to learn is what Tsongkhapa has shown earlier the real essence is both together, both together, it is also true if you don’t learn what do you meditate, it’s also true if you don’t meditate what you learning for, you are not professor so what learning for? They are all true but that shows us we to have to combine together especially when I say learning I don’t mean you have to be expert, you have to be professor but at least you need to know what you are going to do and what you want to do, if you don’t know you are going to do and then we simply follow a publicity, if you simply follow a publicity you know publicities are bought by money as you all know, as we all know it is thirty second sound bite what we get on the media that is what publicity is all about, so it is bought by money so you are relying your spiritual path is propaganda and that’s not right, you know it’s not right. I know it and we all know it’s not right. So therefore we have to have some kind of knowledge that what you are going to do, what your base is, what your path is what your result is and when you don’t have foundation base, when you don’t have a path, when you don’t have the result what you are going to do and then it is just…I hate to say but just is “hoobla hooblee” you know that type of thing so that is not worth to waste our life, our energy and even our money to an extent, that is not worth, you know it and we all know it so it is important for us when we claim to be spiritual practitioner, spiritually interested so we really have to see this. What Tsongkhapa’s life story has shown exactly what had happened in Tibet you know when Buddhism transitioned from India to Tibet, so about two, three hundred years, couple of hundred years and this is exactly what we are facing today in the West and you know the time runs faster in modern days so it didn’t take two, three hundred years, it’s taken two, three decades and within two, three decades we are facing the same problems the Tibetans had faced in two, three hundred years after the Buddha’s teaching had been transitioned from one culture into another. We are facing the same thing in the West, it took only ten years, one zero less, ten twenty years so we are having the same problem and what Buddha repeatedly said, “What had happened before, history is lesson for future and it is guidance for future where we made mistake, where we got it right, history will show you can make a judgment in that level, that is common sense.” But only Buddha said it, but it’s common sense. Our common sense will tell us this so it is the time is again today so it is important to know you have to have all of them together. Also, Tsongkhapa had stated so many profound texts and so many great teachers, if I try to explain this, it would not make much sense to you and we would taking a lot of time but not only the five subjects that ‘s been used as principle study in the Gelupa the famous monasteries but also on top of that Bodhisattvacharyaratara etc., today we call it five famous subjects but when Tsongkhapa studied it was seventeen famous subjects so at that moment in Tibet it was seventeen famous points. Not only he had to study each point whatever he learned he had to meditate and practice and share with his followers and that’s why we have eighteen volumes of Tsongkhapa’s collected work today. Each and every teaching is important but especially what is useful for us in practical way today and especially in the West is the book all three different Lamrims, that is the big Lamrim, medium Lamrim and Lines of experience and in addition the Foundation of Perfection and The Three Principle Aspects of the Path and they are all extremely important and useful in the sutra path. In the tantra path, you have the sadhana and explanations of all important deities in general and particularly that of development of illusion body, Guhyasamaja, development of clear light, the Heruka, combination of it and particularly protecting from the obstacles , the Yamantaka and many other and in short it’s called the Ngnarim, it’s just like Lamrim in the tantra aspect. So all of them are extremely useful and important for us today. Okay, and these are the study aspects of it but then the practice and achievement aspect. I’m going to read a little bit out of this. Achievement aspect is, you know they study and all these professors I probably jump like a couple of, a lot of pages here so you know so I point out a couple. But now you know, Tsongkhapa did not satisfy simple meditation and like you know development of what we call zhine or the meditation power which I’m very happy to see this gom here and it really came out or came and sometimes I forget so the word zhine though correct zhine but I would have really use nay or a with om la so it really gives you the idea of remaining in peaceful though it is correct, zhine is correct but I would have used a with om la or ay. So anyway, zhine, zhi and ne, zhi is peace and you know what the Indian call shanti, you know it’s very familiar with those of us with om shanti shanti shanti, that shanti is zhi and ne means it remains in that shanti. So zhine and so though these teachings which the transcripts made available always and the Jewel Heart Netherland and particularly Marianne and Marianne and all this what they are doing and this is also based on Tsongkhapa’s teaching of the zhine chapter and with the little photograph of diagrams which is…I saw this diagram by so many people at so many levels, a number of them the explanation does not really relate so I got this diagram this one does not have, the diagram this one with Tibetan writing printed in Lhasa. This one is actually done by Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and he developed that and so during that period and it was printed in block and I found one block print available in upstate New York, Trungpa Geshe Rinpoche’s collection so we borrowed from there and we used it. I was hoping that we’ll read this Tsongkhapa’s practice a little bit, may be we can come back and do it and what Tsongkhapa did not satisfy is this. The development out of zhine,, calm, quiet and further developed, clairvoyant and furthermore developed and within your body you can do all kinds of things and sometimes you even see some enlightened beings and Tsongkhapa did not satisfy those things, going gone beyond that. So we will talk to you , how did he go beyond that in afternoon. Okay, I believe we have to stop here.

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