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Morning session Saturday

Heart Sutra - sazhi pökyi - sangye chö dang tsog gyi tsog nam la

Please do kindly generate as pure motivation as described in the normal teaching traditions, such as lam rim. In short, for the benefit of all mother sentient beings, I would like to obtain the ultimate buddha stage, for which I would like to this teachings and do the practice.

We haven't done vajrayana weekends for quite a long time. We used to do them earlier, many years ago. We also used to do lam rim teachings on weekends like this. In those days we didn't have the electronic facilities of contacting people (1:11:17) So everybody used to drive to Ann Arbor from Chicago, Cleveland and even from New York many people came many times. We were unable to do this for a long time, whatever the reason was.

This time per video webcast there are 10 people in Cleveland, 8 in Chicago, 14 in New York, 8 in Nebraska and 3 in Philadelpia. Here in Ann Arbor there are 60.

[[[[Altogether 103, taking into account that the next day some different people came who couldn't make it for the first day, there might be 115 people involved with attending this weekend - the transcriber[[[[

The teaching I want to do is based for the first part on the 1st Panchen Lama's text about the presentation of Buddhism in general and then on a text by Yanchen Gawai Lodrö on the four tantras.

General Buddhist Explanation

I did not get an oral transmission of the text by the 1st Panchen Lama (Panchen Lozang Chökyen) , so there is no point for me to read the text right from the beginning. He is making a very traditional - I don't want to say orthodox - statement here. He says

Buddha's teaching is the only one that can lead people to liberation.

That is the first outline. The second outlines is: how to enter into this path.

The first statement is quite important. In one way Buddhism is the only path leading to liberation and enlightenment. From today's stand point that is a very orthodox statement. Many people will say, 'What about other traditions who are not following Buddhism, what is going to happen to them? Are they going to go to hell?' But in my opinion here we are talking only about Buddhism. The idea of liberation as nirvana - freedom on the ordinary level and buddhahood on the ultimate level liberation is only a Buddhist idea. If you look in any other tradition there is no one who will tell you that nirvana is to be obtained. In Christianity or Judaism they are not teaching you how to go into nirvana. They don't teach you how to become a buddha. That is not their goal at all. In that way it is not necessarily an orthodox statement, but a statement within its own tradition. This shows people that the purpose and goal of spiritual practice is to maintain that liberation. Buddhism is the only path that leads to that particular liberation.

The Panchen Lama goes on to say and I quote [0.20.01 Tibetan[ . I have to paraphrase the translation and apologize, because my English is the worst of anybody ever in existence and my Tibetan is also going now, so I have to paraphrase everything. The Panchen Lama gives a quote from a "Praise to Buddha". In that they talk about the ocean of samsara which has no bottom. It is so deep that you can't reach the bottom and so wide that you can't reach the end. In that ocean different creatures are eating you up. These creatures are obsession, etc. When you have such fear and difficulty, to whom can you take refuge? From whom can you get help?

Who can help? You need someone from whom you will never get false advice, who has all the qualities, a person who gives you no difficulties. If you have straight mind, if you are not crazy or under the influence of a spell or something, then who else can you take refuge to except one who will not give you any trouble and who has all the qualities. Therefore it is fit to praise and respect Buddha and it is a good path for us to remain with Buddha's teaching. That is the reason why the Panchen Lama gave that first outline.

How to enter into this path

For whoever is seeking liberation Buddha's path is the only one. It will lead you to total liberation. We here today have already entered into Buddha's path. But still, we have to know.

General explanation of vehicles or yanas

Particular explanation of the mahayana

These are the vehicles carrying people to liberation.

1. General explanation of vehicles

There are 3 yanas. Officially, there are:

Sravaka yana

Pratyeka yana

Buddha yana (or Mahayana)

Sravaka yana are those who have obtained liberation by listening to Buddha's teaching.

Pratyeka yana are those who have achieved self-liberation

In the west, though everybody will talk about the 2 vehicles in terms of

Hinayana

Mahayana

Vajrayana

This is commonly known. I have talked many times on that. I don't object to that division. From the individual's point of view that may be okay, but theoretically and according to the documented way in the treatises, Hinayana has two division: Sravaka and Pratyeka yanas.

Sravakas

In Tibetan they are known as nyen tö - those who have listened. They are Buddha's direct disciples who listened when Buddha taught the mahayana. They didn't practice, but heard it and delivered the message. The Sravaka disciples said to Buddha, "Great leader, today we became the Sravakas. We can talk about buddhahood and ultimate enlightenment, we can deliver the message." Their ultimate goal is freedom from samsara - nothing beyond that. We call that achievement "arhat".

Pratyekas

They come in the period between two official buddhas. 0:30:19. We are in a fortunate eon, because we are going to have 1000 official Buddhas and giving teachings. Our Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, happens to be the fourth. There are many buddhas, even among ourselves today there could be buddhas and we don't know. But when we are talking about the official Buddhas, they are the ones who are officially declared to come and are born and develop in a certain way, become Buddha and give teachings, perform activities and then pass away. Their teaching will remain for a number of years' period. We are in a period of the Buddha Shakyamuni, who was born in India as a prince of the Shakya caste. Shakya - muni. Muni means in Tibetan thu pa. That means somebody who has control over something. It is often translated as "conqueror". Actually he has control over the negativities and delusions and the imprint of the delusions. That's why the mantra goes "OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNIYE SOHA". Lochö Rimpoche told us to say "...MAHA MUNAYE SOHA", which is according to how Kunu Lama Tenzin Gyatso taught it. In Tibetan this is thu pa thu pa thu pa chen po. It is one who has won victory over the delusion and their imprints.

There is a period in between official buddhas. For example the Third Buddha was Amithaba Buddha. His teaching period slowly went down and until Shakyamuni's teaching period picked up there was a little gap. These gaps are called "Dark Ages". This is almost Buddhist theology. During the dark ages, mostly these Pratyeka Buddhas will come. Somebody will be meditating somewhere, another person somewhere else. They liberate themselves. They don't achieve total enlightenment but the arhat level. At the time when the next official Budddha is about to come the Pratyeka Buddhas will die. They want to pass away and not continue to live. Between Amithaba Buddha's time and before Shakyamuni Buddha came many of them flew in the air and then just dropped themselves. That was in the Varanasi area where Shakyamuni Buddha have his first teaching. That was called tran sung lhung wa ri dag ki ngak. That is "Deer Park, where the soothsayers fell down." They flew in the air and dropped themselves down. I think it is because the period had to change. We have a saying in Tibetan, up a le sung tsang po su zhig - 'The central Tibet people have come in, so you the Tsang people, move away!' That's why the Pratyeka Buddhas normally don't stay in the period of the official buddhas. But some few here and there do.

It is me and me only, not Buddhism or Tibetan Buddhism, but just me - I have a very funny feeling. During the previous Buddha's time, Amithaba's time, Maitreya Buddha, who will be the future Buddha, was monk. The same Maitreya, appeared during the Shakyamuni Buddha's period, as a Bodhisattva, not as a monk. Now, when you look into areas of Chinese Buddhism - not all - you are going to find Maitreya Buddha in monk's form. They now call him "Laughing Buddha". It must have been "Loving Buddha" and that became "Laughing Buddha" as the years and periods went by. There could be a little overlap in certain corners of the world of certain portions of Amithaba Buddha's teaching. They might not have completely gone away. Shakyamuni's teachings have then come and overlapped that and both have been maintained. That is very possible. In Shakyamuni Buddha's period, wherever you look, in India, south of India, like Thailand, Cambodia or to the north, Tibet, Mongolia, Japan - Maitreya Buddha is in the Bodhisattva form, with jewel decorations and all that. In South East Asia in some little corners and even in some places in China, in little corners, Maitreya has remained as a monk, a little hefty monk with a big bag in monk's dress, called "Laughing Buddha".

The text book author of the Drepung Loseling and Ganden Shartse monasteries, Panchen Sonam Drakpa, said,

ngön dze ge long jam pa zhi dra zhi

da ta jang chub sem pa jam pa ngö

ma ung sang gye jam pa seng song wa

sa sum wö kyi gen la chag tsal lo

Earlier, known as Maitreya the monk,

today known as Bodhisattva Maitreya,

in future known as Buddha Maitreya,

I bow to you who will radiate light into the three layers of the world.

When it says "three layers" in Tibetan, that means hell, heaven and earth. 0:40:50

Literally, it means under the ground, on the ground and above the ground, meaning hell, heaven and earth. Possibly that is what happened.

After Sravakas and Pratyekas, the third is Mahayana. Why is the dharma divided in that way? There is a group of people who would like to obtain just peace or nirvana. You are free from samsara's bothers and suffering. Then there is a group of people who would like to help all living beings and for that person it is necessary to become a buddha. Your desire, your goal, your purpose cannot be fulfilled unless you become a fully enlightened buddha. Nirvana in Tibetan is nyang nge le de pa. nyang is suffering and de means to go beyond. So you are going beyond the sufferings of samsara. That is called "Peace" in Buddha's teachings. So for the two different types of people you need two different vehicles. That's why there is the thek pa men pa and the thek pa chen po (skt: hina - yana and maha - yana) the small vehicle and the bigger vehicle. hina mens small and maha is big. For these two categories of people Buddha gave lots of teachings. They have been collected into baskets. So there is the "hinayana teaching basket" and the "mahayana teaching basket".

The (tek pa chen po) do de gyen says (Maitreya's work - Skt: Mahayanasutralamakara - Ornament of Mahayana Ssutras) that this statement is correct because Maitreya Buddha said:

de nö da nu sung ma ni nga rung....

As for the basket teachings

you can talk about three or about two. Both are okay.

You may say, "I heard about the teachings of the three baskets, but never about two baskets. Who said so?" So the Panchen Lama quotes from the do de gyen that Maitreya Buddha said so.

The collection into two vehicles according to him is okay because you may want the best results or you may just want the result of ordinary peace. Whether you divide that into three, sravaka, pratyeka and mahayana or two: hinayana and mahayana, doesn't matter.

The individual intelligence and the result of peace or nirvana of the Sravakra and Pratyekas may slightly differ. They may have a slightly different nirvana, but the path they practice is almost the same. The 1st Panchen Lama says:

"I didn't say that. It is in the sa yi ngül zhi."

The sa yi ngül zhi is Pakpa Thog me's work. That is Asanga, one of the two forerunners of Buddhism. The other is Nagarjuna.

Then the Panchen Lama continues: "While that is true, both Sravakas and Pratyekas cut the root of samsara by using selflessness."

Their emptiness is based on selflessness. Emptiness is divided into two: emptiness of phenomena and emptiness of persons. The Sravakas and Pratyekas use the selflessness of persons, rather than the selflessness of phenomena. 0:50:29

All the 4 schools use selflessness, but when you talk about what the self is less of, then there will a difference. We have gone through a number of teachings on wisdom in the last 2 years. We had the teachings on interdependence by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lochö Rimpoche. We had a teaching on the Four Schools by Geshe Yeshe Thapke. We specifically gave different titles, so the teachers would teach. But all subjects fall in one. Everything is attacking the point of emptiness from all corners. If you look back at the last 2 years: You have studied the basis of meditation 3 years ago. Then we began to attack on the wisdom level. All these years we have put efforts into that.

Now the Panchen Lama says that the Chettramawa (Vaibasikas, Great Exposition) and Do de pa (Sautantrika, Sutra School, Realists), Sem tsam pa (Chittamatra, Mind Only, Idealists) and "some u ma pas (Madhyamaka, Middle Way, Centrists) hold that selflessness is to be free of a self-standing substance (kangsar rang gi tru pai dze yi gi tong pa kang sar gi dag me). It is a lack of a self standing substance. That is all external. All these three schools of Buddhist treatises say that both Sravakas and Pratyekas don't have a more subtle selflessness than that. The two Hinayana schools also say that even the Mahayanists don't have a more subtle selflessness than that.

In accordance to the Buddhist treatises of the Vaibasikas, Sautrantikas, Chittamatrins and half of the Madhyamaka schools think that emptiness means to be free of a self standing substance. Those of you who have heard this before know what I am talking about. Those who don't know head or tail means you haven't done your basic back ground homework.

This is one of the principles of Buddhism. There are three, right? view, meditation and action (ta wa, gom, chö pa). So it is view, behavior and meditation. The view is wisdom, then meditation and then behavior is morality. So this here is the wisdom level. If you don't know what you are talking about then you have a problem. During His Holiness' teaching in Michigan - or maybe it was in Wisconsin - it sounded like somebody hit a stick on your head and it sounded woooo-woooo - numb and he said: that is the problem. The principle of Buddhism really lies in these three and this is the wisdom aspect.

The Panchen Lama continues: Few of the madhyamaka rang gyu pas (Svatantrika Madhyamaka, Autonomy School) - that means those following Bhavaviveka - (Lob pön Leg den she) say that the Sravaka yana followerss understand the selflessness of the person, that Pratyeka yana followers understand freedom from external identification. External existence is no longer accepted. Both, the object that is perceived and the perceiver, the mind, are free of self existence. They say that for mahayanists, every existence, including all phenomena, are free of true existence.

We have had quite detailed teachings on this and the transcripts are available. That was Geshe Yeshe Thapke's teachings.

The Panchen Lama goes on and talks about what is supposed to be the best school of Madhyamaka, Buddhapalita, Shantideva and Chandrakirti, etc;

Unless and until the individual really sees that every phenomenon is free of self existence you have not seen selflessness properly. You may have the understanding that the person is free of a self standing substance, or is free of permanent one-ness. But in order to cut the root of samsara, it is absolutely necessary to see the subtle impermanence [should be subtle emptiness[ of phenomena. That Madhyamaka, the Prasangika Madhyamika (Tib: u ma tal gyur wa) , does accept that even the Theravadans have the subtle impermanence [should be subtle emptiness of selflessness[ that is based on phenomena. 1:02:12.8

There are 8 special qualities of the Prasangika Madhyamaka. One of them says that the Hinayana has understanding of subtle emptiness.

The 1st Panchen Lama says,

This is the actual faultless intention of Nagarjuna and can be established by 100 different logics.

Now we have established emptiness. It is the emptiness that the Prasangika Madhyamaka of Buddhapalita, Chandrakirti, etc say is the true intention of Nagarjuna.

The Panchen Lama says

Jamgön Lama Tsongkhapa says that the emptiness of the lower hinayana schools, the emptiness of the mahayana, the emptiness of the vajrayana, are all one emptiness. That is much subtler than being free of an independent self standing substance. That is not strong enough. That clarifies the basis of the Buddhist view.

Now the Panchen Lama continues with the basis of Buddhist activities.

Maitreya Buddha said that the definition of bodhimind is: for the benefit of others oneself seeks total enlightenment.

To serve all living beings your own mind is seeking the ultimate buddha stage. That means generating the bodhimind and then carrying on the activities of the six paramitas. Sometimes we talk about 10 paramitas, six for helping oneself and 4 to serve others. The 4 to serve others are mostly dealing with the art of presentation and the art of dealing with the individuals and things like that. That is the general explanation of the mahayana. But if you want to enter into the general mahayana you have to have this.

The Panchen Lama:

If you want to enter into vajrayana you have to have those. This is repeatedly said in various tantras so many times. Generally, explaining about sutra aspects of Buddhism is about this much and that is good enough. Sometimes you find divisions of madhyamaka and chittamatra. (Chitta is heart or mind. So we call that the "Mind Only School". Madhayamaka is the "Middle Path".) From the wisdom point of view we may divide the schools into two, madhyamaka and mind only. But because of that we don't make separate yanas.

He is saying that the different viewpoints of wisdom don't make different yanas.

PL:According to traditional Buddhist orthodox statements the madhyamakans are the most important disciples of the mahayana and the chittamatrins are less important disciples of the mahayana. But if you have the madhayamaka wisdom view doesn't make you a mahayananin. Both the aryas of the sravakayayana and the pratyekayana have ultimate wisdom. Therefore, having the wisdom of that level doesn't qualify you to be mahayana.

Within the mahayana wisdom level we divided that into 2 schools and one we call the good one and the other one we make "so-so one" but having the perfect view doesn't make you mahayana.

PL:Within the 4 schools some are called sravaka, the listeners, and pratyeka. Both, these and the sravaka and pratyeka arhats[ carry the same name but it is a totally different meaning. Sravakayana buddhas and followers of the sravakayana schools are two different things.

These are the Buddhist things one has to quite clearly know. 1:12:40

PL: The first of the 4 schools, the Vaibasika, has 18 different sub-groups. All of them do not accept that the mahayana sutras are given by Buddha.

So if today some buddhologists tell you that the mahayana is not Buddhism, that it came much later and that it should be known as "Buddhist Canon" and so on, that is not a big surprise. These 18 different sub-schools of Vaibasika don't accept mahayana. But according to Buddha all these 18 have a perfect Buddhism.

After Buddha passed away there were three "collections". During Buddha's time his teachings were not written down. They didn't have a writing system. The first collection was known as ka du tang po. The teachings were then divided into three pitakas [provided[ by three different people. Each one of them repeated what they had heard. That is why the all the sutras begin with "Thus I have heard, once...." So these 3 people repeated what they had heard from Buddha. That was the first collection.

The second collection was set up because some kind of funny school came up in between. There was the arhat Drakpa and others who said, "It is true that Buddha said you cannot eat in the afternoon if you are a monk, because it will make you fat and being fat you will become lazy. But if you take your two fingers and scratch the food and then eat it, then it is okay." Another thing they said is: "Buddha said you can't eat in the afternoon, and you shouldn't make noise when slurping your soup. But if do make that noise then you can eat in the afternoon." In other words, if Buddha said you can't make noise while eating, then if you do make noise, that means you can eat in the afternoon. There were 10 such issues. So 700 arhats were called together and they declared these views to be wrong.

The third collection came because somebody in the time of Amithaba Buddha, the previous official Buddha, had a funny dream. The dream was about two monkeys, two buffalos, all kinds of funny different dreams, continuing for 18 days. 18 different people were fighting for one piece of cloth. At the end each one had a complete set of this cloth and went home. The guy who had that dream went to Buddha Amithaba and told him about that dream. Amithaba Buddha said, "That dream has nothing to do with us, you or me and or anybody here. This is in future, when Buddha Shakyamuni comes, in his time there will be 18 groups or schools fighting if their views were right and in the end all 18 are going to be correct.

PL: And this is exactly what happened 400 years after Buddha's death. That was in the time of the Indian king Kanika. All these 18 groups had debates and arguments. For example, you know the monks' robes have a little decoration path on the shoulder. Some said that had to be a lotus, others that it had to be a chakra, yet others said it had to be a jewel. The arguments were all about the vinayana rules. In the end bodhisattvas, arhats and ordinary pundits - 17000 people all got together and settled the dispute. The outcome was that all 18 groups had the perfect view. Nothing was wrong.

So everyone ended up being right. But was every one of them the best? No, but they didn't ask that question.

PL: These schools didn't accept the mahayana as Buddha's word. They didn't enter the mahayana path, trying to obtain buddhahood. They accept the theravadan teachings as Buddha's word and follow that. That's why this school is called nyen tö - listener or hearers.

If you divide the mahayana into how fast or slow they can travel on the path, there are five divisions:

1. like a buffalo

2. like an elephant

3. like a horse cart

4. like the sun and moon

5. like through magical powers

We can have these 5 divisions, but they are not commonly talked about. This is said in the sutra of mudras.

You may say: if that is so, then the sravaka and pratyeka path are not leading me to total enlightenment. So will that be an obstacle for me? It is not an obstacle. The Manjushri nama sangit says (Rimpoche: also the Sambuta tantra, but I won't quote it here)

The renunciation of the 3 yanas will lead to the result of one yana.

Renunciation is actually generating compassion to yourself. The three yanas talk about generating compassion for yourself in three different ways. But that will lead all to the result of one yana.

Since you are learning Buddhism in general you may have to know this: Buddhism can also be divided into 2 other categories:

The first accepts that: all schools are their own ultimate vehicle

The second accepts that: there is only one ultimate vehicle - that means they give you their specific results, but ultimately they lead you to the one final result.

I remember this very clearly. When I was working at the University of Michigan as Adjunct Lecturer 1:25: 43 in the Buddhist Department, Don Lopez came for his "job talk" - interview for professorship. Luis Gomez was quoting this particular verse form the Manjushri nama sangit:

thek pa sum gyi ngen gyur la

thek pa chig gi dre bu ne

He actually quoted that in Sanskrit or Pali first. I think Lopez had a little difficulty getting the Sanskrit at that time. Then Gomez wrote it in Chinese, Japanese and then in Tibetan. When he saw the Tibetan, Lopez knew.

So one school accepts that there is only one ultimate yana with one ultimate result - Buddha. The other schools accept that all three, sravaka- pratyeka - and mahayana are ultimate yanas. So when you reach the 5th path of no more leaning of any of them, that is its ultimate goal. You have reached the goal, nothing more to do. That's why no more learning. That's how they look at it. The mahayana says: the sravakas and pratyekas will follow their school, reach the path of no more learning of that vehicle, become arhat, but then they have a picnic for a while, but then the buddhas and bodhisattvas will wake them up and tell them that it is time to help. Then they will join the mahayana at the 3rd path of the mahayana path. They would already have gone through the equivalent of the first and second path. That is called a "helicopter ride" to the 3rd path.

That was the quote from the Manjushri nama sangit about the 3 renunciations. Actually renunciation is compassion - compassion focused on oneself. In English the word 'renunciation' seems to say that you should throw away everything. Anyway, ultimately they all lead to one path.

Now we have reached the mahayana path.

The Panchen Lama: there is the general mahahayana and in particular there is vajrayana. Shantipa, an early great Indiam pundit said: in order to enter into the maha anu yoga tantra one has to enter the bodhisattva path. That has two: the path based on the bhumis and the tathagathas on the one hand and the result vajrayana on the other hand.

In other words there is the mahayana sutra and the mahayana tantra path. Why sutra? The Buddha's words are called sutra. But it also means a path that tells you what stage or level you are on. In the sutra mahayana therefore there are 10 different levels. In Tibetan they are sa - lands. Then there are the 6 paramitas - gone beyond ordinary states. They are the sutra aspects of mahayana. In order to make it clear to ourselves we can say: the mahayana has two parts: the non-vajrayana part and the vajrayana part.

PL: vajrayana, secret vehicle, result vehicle, mantra vehicle, method vehicle, attachment vehicle - all these are synonymous. Likewise the sutra-yana is known as: free of attachment vehicle, causal vehicle. These are synonymous. Vajrayana is also known as rig dzin gi thek pa. (sang nga rig pa dzin pa)

Dudjom Rimpoche's attendant, who was known as Lama Tharchin had a center in California. That is called Rigdzin Center. It means literally "touch - reg pa".

PL: why is vajrayana called 'secret mantrayana'? It is hidden from those who are not fit to listen and individual practitioners don't make their practice public, but keep it quiet and treasure it. 1:38:03 The meaning of nga is mantra. All these mantras like the yamaraja, or shri tri or kara kara or whatever, are all nga. The meaning of nga in Sanskrit is 'mantra'. Hereby 'man' means mind and 'tra' (taraya) means protection.

We don't have an English name, so we are borrowing the Sanskrit.

PL: Why is it called yana - or 'vehicle'? Because it delivers you. Where does it deliver you?

There are two: someone that really moves you, that is the causal yana and somewhere you reach - the result yana. Why is it called 'result-yana'? Because at your result, the buddha level, you have the four purities. The essence of the ultimate yana, the maha anu yoga tantra, says these are: pure body, pure environment, pure activities, pure materials.

Just like on the actual result level you can already utilize these now, as if you had already reached that result level. That's why it is called 'result yana'.

It is the same thing we said earlier: the words are from the tantras.

PL: why is it called vajra-yana? Method and wisdom cannot be separated. It is the yoga of Vajrasattva. It is called 'vehicle', because you can use this yoga to deliver you to the ultimate result.

Vajra means 'indestructible'. That means 'inseparable. What is not separable? Wisdom and compassion. We should actually use the term: wisdom and method.

PL: what I stated here is right, because in the Buddha's tantra it says: all mahayana can be seen in terms of the six paramitas. All six paramitas you can include into wisdom and method. Both are joined together like one taste, that is bodhimind. That is the concentration of Vajasattva. That is vajra. This is also a vehicle. Therefore it is called 'vajrayana'. If you divide the mahayana, then you have cause - and result yanas.

There is a little more debate, but we may not need to get into that. This morning we very briefly talked about Buddhism in general, the vehicles, the hinayana, mahayana and now we reached to the vajrayana path. We looked at them from the viewpoint of the schools, from the viewpoint of wisdom, morality and compassion. We talked about the 3 baskets and the 3 vehicles.

You have studied Buddhism a lot and this should give you a very good background. Without this background, if you just think, "I am going to meditate", that is not going to become Buddhism at all - unfortunately.

A lot of people think, "If I just sit down and say my mantras and prayers, that is Buddhism", that is not right. This study doesn't make you a master of Buddhism but it gives you a basic idea of what Buddhism is all about. It shows how Buddhism can accept different things, like the 18 different groups and they all carry Buddha's teaching. How open it is! At the same time, how narrow it is! As it says: only Buddhism can deliver you to the liberation. You have to have a lot of open-ness as well, when you reach important points, make sure you never lose your principle. If you lose your principles, nor is it going to be good for you nor for anybody else. 1:50:22

It needs to be open and acceptable for all but then at the same time you have to stand on your principles. That is Buddhism at a general explanation. We will start back at 2 pm and go into the vajrayana level

sa zhi pökyi ......