Archive Result

17

Soundfile 20081118GRAANL

Speaker Gehlek Rimpoche

Location Ann Arbor

Topic Nyur Lam

Transcriber Barb Ferrari

Date 1/07/2009

Do kindly generate for the benefit of all beings, one would like to obtain enlightenment for which I would like to listen to this teaching of a road map to the Buddha hood know as Lam Rim. That is also Nyur Lam or the quick path. Basically, it is the lineage tradition and conforming stages, actually leading individuals on the path.

That part is actually three parts: Common with the lower, common with the middle and the Mahayana part.

First, common with the lower level, that also has root of all development: Guru devotional practice and there after, developing the individual.

Root of all development/Guru devotional practice also has two parts: actual session and in between session.

Actual session has three parts: beginning, actual and conclusion.

Beginning of the actual session also has six activities known as six pre-requisites know as: cleaning the place where you are meditating and laying out the altar. The second is offerings are free of wrong accumulations such as divisive collections or “what is the Yo and Gu?” To seed dishonestly collected any material is not suitable for the offerings. Free of deceived and dishonestly goods collected are not very good offerings.

Next is sitting on the cushion comfortably, either you have six or seven, even sometimes eight Buddhavarochana style of sitting or comfortable and generating special virtuous thoughts and generating refuge, compassion, or bodhimind and four immesurables, all that is over.

Then generating field of merit, that is also over. Then the essence of accumulation of merit and purification; the seven limb practice. That is sixth out of which the first prostration, that also we talked about; body, mind, speech prostrations in according to The King of Prayer, which many of you would have got out of Thubten Chodron’s website.

Body, speech and mind Prostration is over; the offering. We talked about equivalent and no equivalent offerings together. Talk is one thing, when you say those things and meditate is another thing. If you don’t meditate it is not going to have any effect for you at all. What we talk is giving you material to think, so really you have to recognize that and try to utilize it. Otherwise talk becomes talk and walk becomes walk and that is no use. The talks are the subject of meditation, that is very important to be utilized, those of you who do the sadana, you know. When we teach the sadana, we talk, but when you say the sadana, you have to think and that is meditation. Just like that, for the Lam Rim, you have to, otherwise you will be nowhere. That is important.

We also talked about prostrations in accordance to the lineage masters. Because of this Nyur Lam they have all the lineage names. Finally, (13:06 Tibetan) the first and totally focused to the great spiritual master Thubten Guru Lama Dorje Chang, collection of all three refuges which is Lama Dorje Chang. In order to suit for different people, different physical form, it appears as master in different physical forms. The giver of the ultimate, common and uncommon obtainment or achievement, the kind master I prostrate to you. That is the sort of general conclusion at the end, to all the masters. Buddha, the peerless master; Dharma, the peerless protector; Sangha, the peerless helper, I prostrate to you three refuges or three jewels. Three most precious and rare (15:14 Tibetan) dkon is the most rare. Mchog , that is best. The most rare and best three jewels.

The last verse (15:40 Tibetan) those that are fit to be prostrated to. I not only prostrate in physical form, mental, or speech, I manifest myself in the million different physical forms, million different sound producing, million different minds. I prostrate to you all. That is the conclusion of prostrations.

Maybe afterwards we can do, because we have shorter lineage master’s prayer, during the Lam Rim teachings we use them so maybe it is the next subject, making supplications, maybe at that level we should do that. It is important that you know the lineage, if you don’t then it becomes the authenticity in the spiritual path that becomes difficult because there is no lineage. Sometimes, our mind is such or our western culture is such that authenticity may not be required. What really is required is what I can think and how I can make a difference or not, whether it is authentic or not authentic, some people may think that. Many people may think that and in a way it is true, too. However, in the spiritual path, authenticity is extremely important because when you talk about quality of the Lam Rim teaching itself, we emphasize so much that the teaching is coming from Buddha. Buddha’s teaching is not only been tested by a number of earlier great masters, but they have achieved results and that has been confirmed by the four banners, for front-runners such as Nagarjuna and Asanga earlier Indian masters, which continuously practiced by Atisha and Jampalaya Tsongkapa, all those tried to prove the authenticity and if you can not prove the authenticity then anything can be fine, but in the spiritual path I don’t think anything is fine. Even in our western tradition, everything is not fine, as you know, when you look in the great Christian traditions everything they don’t accept and similarly in Buddhism, it is true. Anyone can say anything, can do anything. That does not necessarily give people the result which you hope to get. If you don’t get the result, efforts are wasted. Time is wasted, efforts are wasted, lives are wasted. It becomes important, that is why we have to pay very close attention, making sure it is historically correct. Again, around about this time the Pabonka is giving teaching at this level, maybe a little below and Pabonka quotes on day 10, if you look Pabonka quotes (21:26 Tibetan) It is the teaching that great forerunners of the Buddha’s teaching accepted, not somebody else’s just made up stories. Does anybody have a copy of Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand? It is difficult for me to try to think in Tibetan and then paraphrase. Day 10.

Hartmut: “This is not false, invented Dharma because it is the pith of authentic oral teaching. This is not foolish talk because it comes from classical texts by the great champions. This is not a shimmering mirage because saintly scholars and adepts have experienced it. This is not a perilous cliff because it is the highway to highest enlightenment.”

Rinpoche: What is the subject that Pabonka is talking about that day? Day 10 right?

Hartmut: Yes.

Rinpoche: It indicates the practice, whatever you pick up, make sure it is authentic. The authenticity is extremely important. If it is not authentic, we are totally wasting our time, life, energy, money, everything. That is important. In order to prove the authenticity, we talk about lineages. If you really look carefully, each one of them are a student of somebody else, it is continuing, there is no gap in between. It is a living tradition. A living person giving teaching to another living person. It is not in the middle of somewhere and somebody goes into a trance and says hey, “I am the reincarnation of Dr. Joseph from the 16th century in Sussex England,” and then talk about it. That is not accepted in this tradition. That is fine, no objection. Like if you look at Edgar Casey for example, the people are not telling lies however the Tibetan Buddhism will not object to Edgar Casey, but do we take that as traditional, authentic, continual lineage teaching? No, we don’t because the person Edgar Casey claims to be in the 16th or 14th, there is a 2 to 300 hundred year gap between that person and Edgar Casey, so it is not one human being to another human being. There is nothing wrong with it, but we don’t take that as a continuation of teachings.

Having said that, it is also true that we do have hidden treasures found here and there you find them, but most important, the solid piece is the practice. Like in the sutra the Lam Rim is the most important. It is important in the beginning, it is important in the middle, and it is important at the end. It is the solid, solid, really important, huge teaching of Buddha. That is in the case of the Lam Rim, in the case of the sutra, in the case of Nyur Lam, in the case of the Nyur Lam in Vajrayana, it is very similar. All the Vajrayana teachings are somehow in the essence of the Nyur Lam teachings. These are not somebody that has gone into a trance and talked about it. We don’t accept that. Particularly, in Jampalaya Tsongkapa’s order certainly not, it has to be a living tradition. A living master taught to another living person it is continued. That is the very grounded lineage tradition which really tells you the background. It is the solid, no mirage “shimmering mirage,” it is very clear. “Shimmering mirage” refers to like when I am half awake, half asleep early in the morning, so and so appeared to me and said this and that. All of them are included in one sentence called “shimmering mirage.” It is solid teaching, not shimmering mirage, what is and what is not.

Hartmut: “This is not a shimmering mirage because saintly scholars and adepts have experienced it.”

Rinpoche: Right. Can you go back to the first one?

Hartmut: “This is not false, invented Dharma because it is the pith of authentic oral teachings.”

Rinpoche: It is the teaching that is coming from Buddha based on Buddha’s experience. Buddha taught to his disciples and they are continued. It is not a good idea of somebody who, included in this, we have to have something, so you include everything. We all do, in a sense, say so and so brought that wisdom from this and that and put them together and make it look like something very nice and that is what is invented Dharma. Then (32:14 Tibetan) whether this translation is doing justification or not, originally the Tibetans say (32:26 Tibetan) The essence of the Buddha’s teaching and Buddha’s disciples teachings; Gaden, Ga referring to the (32:40) den referring to (32:41) so when they say Gaden it means the collected works of the Buddha and the collected works of the disciples of the Buddha. There are a little over 300 or some volumes that we have been keeping in the back here. That is referring to this Gaden.

Tsema, the word tsema refers to one who doesn’t cheat (33:13 Tibetan) The translation of tsema would be valid and reliable. The definition of valid would be one that doesn’t cheat, one who doesn’t tell you stories. That is what the word tsema stands for. So it is the essence of Buddha and Buddha’s disciples valid teachings not false, invented, someone taught very good idea somewhere. It is beautiful so put them together here, a lot of people do, particularly in America a lot of those traditions so many things collected. Now you know, compassion, love out of Buddha is very good so every tradition, every religion, particularly the new ones, everybody accepted that into it. Still we say it is better to have inclusion rather that exclusion so include everything in that so it becomes invented because it is not a solid thing. Sometimes solid things are very good, sometimes solid things are so boring, not very good, make you sleep and sometimes they are so confusing too you have no idea what we are talking about. The most important thing is that is has got to be solid otherwise we will depend our life on it. It is not just showbiz; it is not one evening show that we are practicing for. It is life and life after life that depends on it and that is why it is so important to have it. (36:01 Tibetan)

Hartmut: “This is not foolish talk because it comes from classical text by the great champions.”

Rinpoche: Classical text of great champions they call it, but they are really referring to Nagarjuna and Asanga. These two great masters of early Indian tradition, one holds whole teachings of wisdom; the other holds all the teachings of compassion. Not only do they hold it in their life, they continuously passed it to their great students. There are even professed or pronounced by Buddha himself 400 years before they were ever born, Buddha himself said such and such a person will come since I died 400 years later or 600 years later such and such person will come and do this and that. It is already professed by Buddha and as professed by Buddha, they came and they purified all of the teachings and the wrong ones were disqualified, dishonored and the correct ones are more emphasized and made easier for us, less confusing and that is why they are called forerunners, Nagarjuna and Asanga. Six ornaments and two excellences now His Holiness the Dali Lama talks about 17 great masters of Nalanda. So all of those who had explained had written huge books, huge not in the sense of volume, but in the sense of meaning. Covering perfect, complete path from the beginning to the end level and that is called big, huge teachings. Not necessarily huge because of so many pages, but some of them have hundreds and hundreds of pages and some of them only have a few pages. It is called huge because it not only covers what I mentioned, but what’s right has been praised and what is wrong has been disgraced and explained clearly and that is why they call it the great teachings.

(39:43 Tibetan)

Hartmut: “This is not a shimmering mirage because saintly scholars and adepts have experienced it.”

Rinpoche: Not only the great learned pundit or the masters have confirmed as they said, scholars as they learn and try to practice, they gain the development and become adepts. By developing the result what they learn they meditate, what they meditate they learn, by meditating they gain so that is why it is authentic and that is why it is reality rather than shimmering mirage or somebody’s good idea. (41:18 Tibetan)

Hartmut: “This is not a periless cliff because it is the highway to highest enlightenment.”

Rinpoche: So the part which you are following, where you are going to reach is just like that road that you keep driving on, where are you going to get to? Some of them you keep driving and driving and then you come to a cliff and you fall off, if you got the wrong path you get the cliff and fall down. This one they say you are not going to fall down because it is the highway to enlightenment. That is why I said road map to total enlightenment. When you are traveling on this you find all kinds of things, some are very positive and a good thing for you, some are negative, terrible, hostile for you. You will find that, for sure, because everything is there. When you are following the road map then you get it, good cities, good towns, bad cities, bad towns, hostile ones, and difficult ones, all of them. That is why this authenticity, in order to prove the authenticity, if someone has a grant and is doing research you are going to find each one of those lineages you are not going to find any gap at all from one living human being to another living human being. It will continue until today. That is the authenticity of the teaching. So that is why the lineage is important.

So we have prostration, offering and purification. Purification, there is no one, no matter how much we try to be right and righteous, we can be absolutely right, that is true, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be right so let it be wrong, that is not right. If we try our best, on the other hand we can’t be to righteous or we get into different difficulties. Many of our very conservative people are not bad people, but they try to be too righteous so they get into these difficulties. We see and even they see, but even then they can not correct it because it has become their principle, as we see today. Politically, economically, spiritually, as we see, everywhere.

However, one good thing in Buddhism, Buddha says no matter how bad you have been , you can be purified, you can be perfect, you can be pure. For example, the sky can be clean, clear, sunshine and wonderful or it is completely covered with clouds and gray like our Michigan winter weather. It can be anything, but the pure part of the sky, sun, moon, and stars is not damaged, does not do anything wrong, it is just there. The clouds come in the clouds go out, but it remains. Likewise, human beings can remain pure all of the time if you want to, but we are bound to have faults here and there, definitely, but we can become pure again.

As a matter of fact in Buddha’s teaching this is sort of spiritual practitioners’ right to be pure. We do all have the legitimate right to be pure, although we create a tremendous amount of negativities. I was just looking at the general compassion here it goes on to say: I in all my lives, from the beginingless beginning until now have been under the power of negative emotions, obsession, hatred and ego, have committed the ten negativities by my body, speech and mind. I have committed five major and minor heinous crimes. I have broken my self liberation vows, my bodhisattva vows, my Vajrayana vows. I have been disrespectful to my parents, abbot, ordained masters, companions. I have done harmful actions to the three jewels and living beings, abandoned dharma, disparaged the Sanghas, and so on. So we do that, we do. Even such a person can be purified by purification. There is a traditional Indian story. There was a guy named Ungulimala, unguli is either thumb or finger, whatever it is a Sanskrit word. I keep thinking it is a thumb, but some Sanskrit scholars tell me it is not thumb it is finger. Whatever it is, there was a wrong master. The guy was totally dedicated, who wanted to be perfect, who wanted to be liberated, unfortunately he got the wrong teacher. He goes to the wrong master and asks “master will you liberate me?” The master said, “sure, can you kill one thousand human beings in one week?” He said, “if that is what is the requirement, than I shall do so.” He said, “all right go ahead take a big knife” they don’t have poisons, they don’t have things like we have today, today it is easy to kill one thousand people by any means.

You know those Japanese guys did that by putting some poison under the subway and everybody couldn’t get out. I saw the story on CNN, I heard it before, but when I saw it, the documentary, it was horrifying. That can kill many people together just by forcing them, although some are willing taking that.

Spiritual party is certainly an easy way to lead the wrong way. I mean, 9/11 people that are doing the destruction, we saw them, they are just like you and me. Just like our next door neighbor’s kids, educated and intelligent college kids. Somehow they believed in certain religions tradition that tells them if you can do this you have done some great service to Allah the god. You will not only be liberated, but you will have seventy-two virgins waiting for you the moment you take your next birth. With that belief and trust they went against their normal sense of human understanding, caring, compassion, love and even against their own life and they went to that destructiveness. That is just because of religion, if it not religion if you get those people and say here is 10 million dollars, will you do it. Maybe one or two will do it, but not all 19 people will do it. We all know that, but the religion is such that makes it very easy for the people to confuse and believe because of faith.

Faith makes them and that is why authenticity is extremely important. Again I say it because the authentic religions will not tell you the wrong way.

Anyways, Ungulimala picked up the sword and started killing everybody he saw. That is not very strange, I saw it myself in Deli, I forgot the year ’75 or something, someone there, the Imam of (57:22) is one of the biggest Muslim temples in old Deli it is square, with steps up to a square building up there. Every four directions you can go down through a gate, it has all steps and builds up like a pyramid. It builds up quite high and then it meets up there. So this Imam wanted to have a cabinet position, they said they were going to give it to him, they were not going to give it and that went on so many months like that. It think he builds up tension and then one day they officially declared that he is not going to be getting the position. They go to pray on Friday up there and below the steps they have a courtyard and in the courtyard they have a bizarre, open market where all people come and bring all kinds of things and put a table and umbrella out and they sell everything there. Hindu’s and Muslim’s, all together next to each other. The Muslim’s have to go up to pray and they ask their Hindu friends to look after their shop. These people are friends, they do the whole thing. Then this crazy guy up there declared the black flag or something which means they give them a spear or some kind of weapon and their duty is to kill anybody they see that is not Muslim and that is in God’s service. So what happened was these people came down and their Hindu friends said “Yeah I sold something” then boom they were all being killed. In 15 minutes 500 hundred people got killed, right there. Somehow, somebody in the government wasn’t sure if this guy was going to do it and it took 15 minutes to bring the army to put it down. So in that 15 minutes 500 people were killed. These things happen sometimes. That is what I saw.

Also people get hurt themselves, the Shiites in (1:03) take off their shirts in the cold weather and get all this metal and beat themselves until blood is dripping and they are walking through the streets beating themselves in the name of purification.

These are violent activities; you don’t purify your negativities by using violence. Buddha says you can purify everything, no matter what, like Ungulimala who killed 999 human beings within the week. He couldn’t get the last thumb. No one would go near him, they were all scared away. Don’t ask where the police were because this was 2,600 years ago in an Indian village. There may have not been 1,000 people, 999 is a lot of people. Finally, only the mother, his own mother, couldn’t run away. His mother cared for him, she was scared and only showed her face and then would run away because she wanted to help him, but she was afraid. He also had hesitation in killing his own mother, he wanted somebody else. Then suddenly Buddha appeared; now he was happy, he didn’t have to kill his mom. Buddha walked slowly and he ran but couldn’t catch him. After a while he was getting tired and he said “Wait.” Buddha said, “I am waiting, you have to come faster.” But he couldn’t reach him, so that is how they broke the ice and started a conversation, he couldn’t reach the Buddha to kill him, but the conversation was going on. Finally, the Buddha convinced him that he was doing the wrong thing. That is not liberation, this is the wrong thing. He became an Arhat in the Buddhist order and he is known as Ungulimala. Even such a person, who killed 999 human beings in a week, can become perfect.

What have we done? Nothing in compared to that so we can definitely become perfect and pure. That is because everything is impermanent, it is changeable. Everything is impermanent, if it is permanent you can’t change it but if it is impermanent, you can change it. Your negativities are impermanent, even your positives are impermanent, so it will change. Some people will say “I did a year, so great” then it goes down, zoom. That is because it is impermanent, even the virtuous positives are changing. It is impermanent, so negatives and positives both are changing. Through that way and through the foundation of interdependence, nature of existence, everything can become purified.

You need four powers, we call it power of base, power of regret, power of non repeatable, and antidote action.

Power of base is taking refuge to the three refuges, generating bodhimind, and meditating on compassion, love that provides the base.

Regret, whatever you did if you want to purify you must regret. If you didn’t regret then why should you. Even if you regret and then keep repeating, what is the use of purifying? What are you going to do to convince it, what are you going to do right it. Like killing, you are not going to bring the life back. You have to have some actions, some four powers. Today, I don’t think I can talk about these four powers, but what I am going to do is this. What did we cover today, we revisited the prostration, offering and we began to touch on the purification. For your meditation, the refuge of the supreme field, taking refuge, generating bodhimind like “I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha until I obtain enlightenment. I generate bodhimind by practicing generosity, ect.” Action bodhimind and then you think about prostrations according to this. Then think about offerings. Then think that everything is purified, every negativity is purified. Likewise, every positive deeds can disappear too. So purify them. Think that for purification you just think that you need four powers. Just basically think about that. That is it for tonight and that is what you meditate till next week. Do kindly practice what ever we talk about. Goodnight.