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Heart Sutra - Lineage Prayer - sazhi pokyi - sang gye cho dang tsog kyi chog nam la...

Do kindly generate a pure motivation to obtain ultimate enlightenment: for the benefit of all living beings one would like to obtain ultimate enlightenment. For this one would like to listen to this teaching of lam rim which is rich through the 4 special qualities and special significances, etc. This is the usual motivation described in the lam rim tradition. At least, one should think that for the benefit of all beings one would like to obtain ultimate enlightenment and therefore listen to this teaching.

Today is the last day of teaching for about a month or so. I would like to look back at the outlines. We started with the lineage and the confirmation of the stages. After understanding that comes the development of oneself. We briefly covered the lineage by talking about Buddha, Atisha and Jamgön Lama Tsongkhapa, pointing out that the teaching is coming from Buddha. The compassion aspects of his teachings are then coming through Maitreya Buddha, Asanga, etc. The wisdom aspects are coming through Manjushri, Nagarjuna, Shantideva, etc. The blessing lineage is coming through the Buddha Vajradhara and the great mahasiddhas. Continuing from that, it was brought into Tibet by Atisha, the famous 11th century great Bengalian teacher. After living in Tibet for 18 years he passed away there. He started the Kadam tradition. He had zillions of disciples, but the most outstanding was Drom Rimpoche and then Geshe Potowa, Chekawa and all the Kadam Chungpapa, Kadam Mengapa, Kadam Lam Rim pa, all these 3 lineages came from Atisha and finally all of these came to Tsongkhapa through Lhobrak Drubchen Lekye Dorje. Thus the Kadam Sarma - the new Kadam tradition, also known as Gelug pa, began. From Tsongkhapa the lineage continued unbroken, one after another, up to Pabongka Jampa Tendzin Trinle Gyatso, who lived in the early 1900s. All the outstanding masters in the Gelugpa tradition after that were disciples of Pabongka's, including both, the senior and junior masters of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche and Kyabje Ling Rimpoche as well as my own father and also Geshe Yungdung Rimpoche, from whom I learnt my first lam rim meditation at the age of 3 or 4. All these were outstanding disciples of Pabongka, particularly Kyabje Trijang Rimpoche, the greatest inner disciple. Gen Yungdung Rimpoche was one of the "Four Pillars of Lam Rim" of Pabongka.

The lineage has been a tremendously important and profound, living tradition until now. Whatever I am doing now is catching up to them. I am nowhere near there. But that is now this great profound living tradition has come.

The essence of teaching through this lineage is two:

In sutra it is lam rim and lo jong. In the tantra it is Heruka Yab Yum.

This is the real essence of teaching through this lineage. From the lineage point of view it is alive and well and functioning. But from the practitioner's point of view it is going haywire. But we are very fortunate to be able to hold at least the end of the rope. Let's put it that way. So we are there.

After completing that, there are two outlines:

developing the root of all development, guru devotion and after that how to develop oneself.

In the guru devotional practice we have talked about the benefits and the disadvantages of not having a guru and the disadvantage of having wrong relations with the guru.

After guru devotional practice: how to develop oneself

That also has two:

1. Reminding us of the importance of this great precious, human life with 18 qualities.

2. Thereafter, how does one develop

The first outline includes recognizing the qualities of this life, the importance of this life and the difficulty to find such a life. We have completed all of them. We talked about the 18 qualities and we talked about the importance from the point of view of the physical base, the time, the field, the vows and so on. There are 5 qualities that show us how important our life really is.

But you have to think about it. If you just hear about it and then forget thereafter, it has no value. (0:24:35)

You have heard or read that this lam rim said this and that lam rim said that. That also has no value. If you want to become an information storage then that maybe enough. But the knowledge is separated from you. It would be like being in an exhibition. We had Doris' pictures hanging here for the last few weeks. We look at the pictures and don't really know what they are and it is something disconnected from the individual. If we do that in our practice, who is the loser? Not the pictures, but the individual. We didn't even know what the pictures were, we didn't even appreciate them and didn't even know they were for sale and the proceeds from the sale was going to benefit Jewel Heart. Most of us anyway. At the end I don't know if people bought any. I think one or two did. So if you are disconnected that's what happens. So don't separate what these teachings tell you from yourself. Don't make an exhibition of it. That doesn't do any good. That is no better than reading a lam rim book. The essence of the bottom line information you have to bring to the heart and think and analyze, find if it is true or not, reject or accept. If you reject it, why? If you accept it, why? When you do that it will influence you. The influence of the life of 18 qualities and it's importance makes the individual very happy and very appreciative of themselves, and very proud of being who you are. You do need this. If you don't have it, thereafter we are going to meditate on suffering, on impermanence and all that. That is bound to drag you down. That's why you need to uplift yourself and be grateful and be proud of it. All that is necessary.

Realizing and remembering the importance helps you not to waste your time. Particularly, not on laziness. There is the laziness of not doing anything and the laziness of doing too much. We have to balance between doing nothing and doing too much. Put yourself in the middle path and make things right for you. That is very important.

When you are finding the "difficult to find" that will prevent you from wasting a lot of time. We waste a lot of time on unnecessary things. There is so much entertainment. We entertain ourselves as though we cannot manage to pass the time through a variety of ways. That includes taking intoxicants, trying to be high, using substances like alcohol and all kinds of things, sitting in that mood for a long time. You may think you are sitting there just for an hour or something, but if you do that every day, that's 7 hours a week. That's if it is true that you are just sitting there an hour. But once you are sitting there for an hour, I am sure it easily becomes 2 hours, with or without realizing. That is a huge waste of time. If you realize how important your life is, how difficult it is to get, how fragile it is, you cannot do this lounging business. You will cut that down tremendously. That is where our major waste of time is.

At the beginning level these are difficulties we face. At the end you don't have these difficulties. When you reach the level where your voice becomes mantra and they become oneness, then every sound you produce becomes mantra and you don't waste time. Khedrub je praises Tsongkhapa:

gon po chö je zhal kye u tsam yang

ta ta dro la mem pai gyur jong na

tsok nyi chö pa shen da mö je tsa

sa sum ji go nyi la söl wa deb

Even when you take your breath in and out

it is for the benefit of all living beings.

For all other activities you do,

there is no question.

So later you get to that level and then it is easy. All the difficulties are at the beginning. That's why Buddha put idle gossip into the category of non-virtues, so that people may not engage in it much. That is one of the major points of losing the opportunity. (34:33)

It may not be non-virtuous by nature, but the consequences of it will become non-virtuous. AT every point we meditate we have to meditate the 6 prerequisites. You always divide the practice into two:

1. Actual session

2. In between sessions

1. Actual session is divided into 3:

1) pre

2) actual

3) conclusion

Pre - that is the 6 prerequisites. They are all included, including the 7 limbs and creating the filed of merit, dissolving the field of merit, creating Thubwang Dorje Chang, dissolving Thubwang Dorje Chang and creating Lama Lhak pai Lha. You are looking at Lama Lhak pai Lha as the collection of all Gurus, Buddhas, Yidams, Dharma, Sangha, including sutrayana sangha and vajrayana sangha (dakas and dakinis).

At the end you say:

kyab ne kun du la ma lhak pai lha

thub wang dor je chang la söl wa deb

To you, Lama Lhak pai Lha, the collection of all refuges of refuge,

Thubwang Dorje Chang, I make supplications.

That is always with you, wherever you do, whatever you do. It is the idea that you live with this. You get up with this and you go to bed with this. You die with that. That is your object of refuge, mentally fabricated, representing total enlightenment with you, your own. Finally, that is your own protector, your own leader, the leader of the helpless and hopeless, the person who won't let you down under any financial, economical, political circumstances. It is something you can rely on, the collection of all refuges.

The seven limbs is the simplest way of purification and accumulation of merit together. Even in our Jewel Heart prayer we do the seven limbs. We sing and nicely say it once. But if you meditate the lam rim, then in every session you are doing the 7 limbs almost 7 times - in every sitting. So you can't say: I just did it, why should I do it again? When it is an important dharma practice you do it 100 times.

When it is important you make sure it is done right.

When it is dharma practice we repeat 100 times.

This is the Tibetan tradition.

We have completed the pre-points [of guru yoga and precious human life[ and have reached the actual practice, which has three:

common with the lower

common with the medium

mahayana

I just mention these three outlines today. I will back on May 12th. That is a month. That is four Tuesdays, where people will be reviewing this and that will be very helpful. The feedback I am getting is that reviews are helpful, because during my talks people are taking notes and all kinds of things. In reviews you are probably not taking notes but visualize. So that will be helpful. But I have to urge you again: during these teachings, please meditate every day, whether you are coming in to Jewel Heart or not that day. But then do it in your home. I always urge you: do meditate every day. Today I want to give you the opportunity to ask questions. It is almost getting to 8.30 pm. (0:41:42)

Are there any questions? During the teachings I was pushing through and did not give you the opportunity to ask. So here you are. If there are no questions, I have something else to talk to you. People who are listening in on-line can type in their questions from Chicago, Nebraska, Cleveland, Philadelphia. Individuals can't type in questions yet.

Audience: Are dharma protectors considered part of the sangha in the merit field?

Rimpoche: Dharma protectors are divided into 2 categories: non-samsaric dharma protectors and samsaric ones. The Dharma King, Palden Lhamo, Vaisravana and the protectors in that category are in the merit field, and their images are drawn by true traditional drawings. A lot of artists like to draw their own little favorite ones on the side somewhere, but these happen to be in some practices. Other than that, only the non-samsaric ones are in the merit field, particularly Mahakala, Vaisravana and Dharma King.

kye bo sum gyi lam kyi sum me tsoh

ngön tse gön dang nam tse le zhin tsoh

te som tham che gya tso tu thob kyi

lo sang gyal wai tam pai gye gyur chig

kye bo sum gyi lam kyi sum me tsoh.....

The most important dharma protectors of the 3 scopes, common with the lower, common with the medium and mahayana, are Mahakala, Dharma King and Vaisravana. Then there are the 4 kings of the East, West, North and South, the Buddha's protectors. All these are non-samsaric protectors and are part of the field of merit.

There are a number of samsaric protectors. No matter how important they may be, they may be important for the individual and for their own field, but they are not necessarily considered to fit into the field of merit. That includes the Tibetan government protector Dorje Drakden or the controversial protector, Dorje Shugden. All of them are not. Even our protector Setrabchen is considered as non-samsaric(????) , so all of those are not in the field of merit. But they are dharma protectors. Individual views are individual views. That's how it works.

Audience: (Nebraska) What is the connection between asking our teachers to stay forever and what Rimpoche had referred to as the "dying Tibetan culture"?

Rimpoche: I was referring to the Tibetan culture and Tibetan Buddhism together. The essence of Tibetan culture really is Tibetan Buddhism. I think it is a dying culture. Asking the teachers to stay forever is more or less for the purpose of the individual, rather than the culture. Did I answer that question right? Because the 1st Dalai Lama said,

de shar götso so ne par la

le nu gu tong wa tön ri kyong

When you have a ghost knocking on your eastern door,

trying to do the exorcism at the western door will be absolutely useless.

Maybe I am doing the same thing. You are asking some question and I am answering something else. I hope not.

Audience: (Cleveland) When we make the 3 great requests to the Supreme Field of Merit to eliminate negative ways of thinking, to create positive ways of thinking and to eliminate outer and inner obstacles, what are the outer and inner obstacles and how do the inner obstacles differ from negativities or delusions?

Rimpoche: They may not differ, but it is an important thing to be pointed out and to be repeated. It doesn't have to differ. (51:10) To clear all obstacles includes outer, inner and secret. It comes under "all".

Audience: I have a two-fold question. Is it possible to do this nyur lam meditation through the lama chöpa practice? And if so, it seems that you dissolve the merit field and bring it to your crown, but then, when you bring in the vajrayana practices and say: Light comes from the merit field, especially (name of deity), then there would be a little problem.

Rimpoche: We have a saying in Tibetan: you try to cut the lion's head and put it on the dog's tail.

Probably what you do is to have the field of merit just like lama chöpa, do the seven limbs and the single pointed request, up to that level, then do the vajrayana practice, if you want to do it there, then you have a duplicate lama come and dissolve to you, you have the four initiations, then after that you begin with these lam rim stages in the blessing stages at the long prayer that begins with zhing chog dam pa.

ZHING CHOH DHAM PA JE TSÜN LA MA LA

CHÖ CHING GÜ PEY SÖL WA TAP PEY THÜ

DHE LEK TSA WA GÖN PO KHYÖ NYI KYI

GYE ZHIN JE SU DZIN PAR JIN GYI LOP

Precious Lama, supreme field of good fortune,

Root of all goodness and joy, my Protector,

By the power of my offerings, respect, and prayers,

Gladly bless me with your care.

So there you begin with the guru-devotional practice. The next verse is about the precious human life, and so forth.

LEN CHIK TSAM ZHIK NYE PEI DEL JOR DHI

NYE KA NYUR DU JIG PEI TSÜL TOK NAY

DHON MEY TSE DI JA WAY MI YEENG WAR

DHON DHEN NYING PO LEN PAR JIN GYI LOP

Knowing that life’s liberties and opportunities

Are found but once and quickly lost,

Inspire me to grasp life’s essential meaning

And not be distracted by pointless activities.

If you do that in the lama chöpa, you do the same thing as with the nyur lam field. You have the Field of Merit in general and Lama Lhak pai Lha on your crown and then light and liquid comes in the form of blessings and at every verse you have in the last line .......chin ji lob - that means "bless me." Unfortunately, in the translation the "bless me" comes first. In the Tibetan it comes right at the end. I tried to push the "bless me" to the end in the English translation, but everyone told me, "That's because you don't know English." So every translator is trying to push it up.

But when you try to give a statement like ZHING CHOH DHAM PA JE TSÜN LA MA LA, meaning "The field of merit, the most outstanding great master" - and then CHÖ CHING GÜ PEY SÖL WA TAP PEY THÜ - making offerings and respecting and making supplications - and then DHE LEK TSA WA GÖN PO KHYÖ NYI KYI - he is the root of all joy, fortune and happiness and GYE ZHIN JE SU DZIN PAR JIN GYI LOP - I may be held by you and blessed to be able to do that

then after that statement you visualize that light and liquid are coming and that thing happens. It works very well with the meditation. But they told me that language-wise that's wrong. So the choice is having the right language and adjust your visualization or keep the wrong language, which however goes straight with your visualization. Each verse goes like that. Let me paraphrase the next one:

LEN CHIK TSAM ZHIK NYE PEI DEL JOR DHI

NYE KA NYUR DU JIG PEI TSÜL TOK NAY

DHON MEY TSE DI JA WAY MI YEENG WAR

DHON DHEN NYING PO LEN PAR JIN GYI LOP

the wonderful life of 18 qualitis,

found but once and quickly lost,

do not waste it with unnecessary mundane activities

to satisfy this very life's demands. May I have a purposeful life.

If you meditate that way, then light and liquid come, purify negativities in general and in particular this very obstacle.

NGEN SONG DHU NGEL BAR WEI MEY JIK NAY

NYING NAY KON CHOH SUM LA KYAP DRO ZHING

DIK PONG GE TSOH THAH DAG DRUP PA LA

TSÖN PA LHUR LEN JE PAR JIN GYI LOP

Aghast at the searing blaze of suffering in the lower realms,

I take heartfelt refuge in the Three Jewels.

Inspire me to intensify my efforts

To practice virtue and abandon vice.

This is very much according to the lam rim order. It is lam rim. So if you do it this way, it exactly works and is fine.

Audience: If we are using the lama chöpa, then in what form does the Lama Lhak pai Lha appear?

Rimpoche: He is appearing in his usual form on your crown. You don't have to dissolve the field. You have to leave it there; it only dissolves at the end. So you get a duplicate Thubwang Dorje Chang, which becomes the Lama Lhak pai Lha who sits on your crown.

In the Ganden Lha Gye ma, when you have done the Seven Limbs, Tsongkhapa dissolves and Lama Lhak pai Lha comes on your crown at the point where you say: "Precious root guru, come sit on my crown". Just like that, in the lama chopa there is no verse that goes with that but in your visualization you can provide the room.

Audience: will that be Lama Lobsang Thubwang Dorje Chang then?

Rimpoche: Yes, that or Lama Lhak pai Lha, that's fine. Lama Lobsang Thubwang Dorje Chang maybe easier in the lama chopa, because you have generated him, rather than Thubwang Dorje Chang or Lama Lhak pai Lha. But, if the nyur lam is effecting your life more, then you should keept that verse:

kyab ne kun du lama lhak pai lha

thubwang dorje chang la sol wa deb

Wether it is Thubwang Dorje Chang or Lama Lobssang Thubwang Dorje Chang, the kyab ne kun du lama lhak pai lhai always remains. (1:00:38)

Audience: You keep repeating that phrase, I don't know what that is about.

Rimpoche: One night you were not there and that's where we talked about that.

All the lamas become the collection of lama:

lama kun du lama lhak pai lha

thubwang dorje chang la sol wa deb

Then you have the collection of all the yidams into the lama. Remember the

ku zhi dag nyi lama lhak pai lha

thubwang dorje chang la sol wa deb

That is how that is created. The nature of the four kayas, Thubwang Dorje Chang...

Then it goes: all the collections of yidams is you, Thubwang Dorje Chang

Then the kandros and genduns (sanghas) and all of those, including dharma protectors.

All dissolve into one, Thubwang Dorje Chang. So at the end comes that verse:

kyab ne kun du lama lhak pai lha

thubwang dorje chang la sol wa deb

The collection of all refuges, Lama Lhak pai Lha,

Thubwang Dorje Chang, I supplicate you.

At every meditative point then you focus on that: kyab ne kundu lama lhak pai lha...

Lhak pai Lha, if you translate it, means "special god", but it really refers to Thubwang Dorje Chang. The last line of the verse says it directly. So "lhak pai lha" is something like "the special one". The way I transliterate it is:

kyab nä kun dü la ma lhag pa'i lha

thub wang dor je chang la söl 'deb

There is something in the lineage prayer that I think sometimes but always forget.

KYEI WA KUN TU YANG DAK LA MA DANG

DREL MEI CHO KYI PEL LA LONG CHO CHING

SA DANG LAM GYI YON TEN RAB DZOK NEI

DORJE CHANG GI GO PANG NYUR TOP SHOK

That really needs to be corrected. I used to do this, but then I was criticized and I completely stopped doing it and that's how we got all these wrong ones. Even Dagyab Rimpoche called me the other day and said, "In your long life prayer you should change all that 'shi'." In Tibetan that means 'dead'. So it should be changed. But that's not important. Next time I will point it out. 1:06:13

I would like to thank you all so much for your practice. I appreciate that you want to help yourself. You really want to make your life worthwhile. That is great and wonderful. It is not easy. It seems as if nothing works and everything is slow, very much anti-culture, you are not used to it, it is very different. We are trying to make is as culturally acceptable as possible, cutting away the Asian culture clips as much as possible and make it culturally accessible. Even then it is difficult.

We had a group of people here last month and some of them are so surprised when others told them, "This is very different than other dharma center. It is not traditional at all, are you kidding?" Everybody was so shocked. They said, "So this is not conservative, traditional?" "What are the others doing?" So we are trying to be as open as possible and even then it is diffiuclt. With that difficulty you put your efforts in and try to help yourself. I really appreciate that and thank you. Whatever I can help by sharing my knowledge and understanding, I will do. That is what Jewel Heart is all about.

We have been doing that for 20 years, since 1987. We worked very personally and you can see many senior students or whatever you may call them - instructors or facilitators. That is a clear sign that people are capable of working with others. That is not limited to Ann Arbor only. They are everywhere. You can find a lot of them in Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia, Nebraska and everywhere else. We have also a lot of Solitary Heroes and Heroines, very quietly doing their own little practice and they can be very helpful. You help yourself and then you know how to help others. When you don't help yourself you don't know how to help others.

I used to joke with Ram Dass? I said, "Why do you write a book called 'How can I help you?' If you know how to help yourself, that's what you do." That was a joke, because Ram Dass is a fantastic person, very wonderful and totally devoted to his guru Nim Karoli Baba. He has a perfect guru-devotional practice. Wonderful. You can see he has that development just the moment he opens his mouth. So I was just joking, but that's actually how it is. And that's why I am thanking you. Not because you show up here, but because you are working to help yourself. I may say diplomatically, "Thank you for coming here", but that is lip service, an "above the neck" statement. 1:12:01

In Jewel Heart we need some help. Of course we have a lot of devoted people and they work and they help, they support, but sometimes there is some difficulty of working by yourself. We worked out 17 different points where we need help and where individual people can plug in. We are hoping that this will be handled by making a plan by yourself. You don't have to go for every point to the office and ask either Debbie or Kathy or Hartmut, "What am I supposed to do?" For that matter you don't have to ask Jonas or Colleen Retherford. Simply do it. You don't have to get the Sangha Council's approval either. We are really hoping that people can work independently. Ultimately we have to pull together. Somebody has to go through and accept or not accept. But you can write it up yourself.

Let me go through the list:

1. Book publishing/transcripts/newsletter/magazine

2. Budget Shortfalls

3. Endowments

4. Grants

5. Roof

6. Green Building/lighting/solar panels/main hall ceiling

7. JH store software

7. Kitchen renovations and appliances

8. On line courses

9. Orphanage - you know we are supporting the Jatson Chuming orphanage in Tibet. I need to remind you we have been doing this for the last 10 years continuously giving them lunch. For the last 3 or 4 years we didn't have money from Jewel Heart in the United States, but Jewel Heart Netherlands has been doing it. They are collecting money and giving it to them. At the same time we also try to sell their handicraft through the Jewel Heart store. Fran was very determined to do that.

10. Parking lot repair

11. Paying down the Jewel Heart mortgage

12. Public relations

13. Review of archive and delivery system of the teachings

Colleen and Jonas are doing that with Hartmut

14. Scholarships

15. Website

16. Young Lama Fund

These are the 17 activities - maybe one is missing. I talked about that last Thursday in New York. Amy Hertz volunteered to do the first one:

Book publishing/transcripts/newsletter/magazine.

So I hope it will materialize. Jonathan Rose volunteered for working on the green building, that is lighting, solar panels. I don't think he was going to touch the main hall ceiling.

So these are the 2 areas where people have volunteered. So anybody who would like to do something, please contact me through the Jewel Heart e mail, maybe through Kathy. But Kathy is not controlling the project. The individual will do it independently, research and study and produce the plan. Then we will look through and talk to you. I think this is quite important. We have to make people do this independently. That is what we are looking for.

Audience: Will that project plan be on the website?

Rimpoche: I think it is better to have it on the website, so that anybody who would like to volunteer, can respond easily.

That's what I wanted to say and while I am away for one month, don't forget to meditate every day. When you are waking up from your sleep, don't think, "Where am I? What a headache I have!" But rather think, "It is wonderful that I am alive in this precious human life. It is still with me and I am still in control. I would not like to waste the rest of my life and particularly today. I may be blessed by Lama Lhak pai Lha not to waste today." Then get up and do whatever you have to do. Take a shower. When you do that, don't just think you have to wash so that you become awake, but think that the shower head is Dorje Nampar Jomma with a little vase, pouring water. You may say the mantra:

NAME TSENDE MENDE DROLE HULU HULU DIRE DIRE

WELE MENE HANA HANA AMRITE HUM PHAT

I was told by Kate to do this and I even tried to do it today, you know the same thing, so much so that sometimes you don't see the shower head. You see the vase coming out. So that is the purification aspect of it. Then do your motivation and do your morning practice in the morning. Whether you do it loudly, quietly or whatever - even if you do it in bed it is better than not doing it, okay! It is not right, but better than not doing it.

In the end, when you go to bed, before you go to sleep, dedicate: For the benefit of all beings one would like to obtain enlightenment, for which I dedicate all my virtues, particularly whatever I have created today. If you remember good things you did today, then you can also rejoice. Then you get double benefit. These are the little techniques that spiritual pracitioners can use. Most important is the motivation. Remember: one of the reasons why this life is so important is because of the power of the mind. The best is bodhimind. For the benefit of countless people you are doing that and that makes the difference. So don't just simply learn this, but use it. Make a difference to your life. It comes as information. It is in the transcripts, it is on tape, it has been said, but that won't help. Pick that up and use it. Good Luck and thank you. sazhi pökyi - dedication verses from "Prayers for Nyur lam teachings".