Archive Result

77

20140406GRAAETB46

0:00:00.0

Welcome everybody this morning. You have been listening to me, coming here or listening, about Tibetan Buddhism. I was trying to give you my thoughts on it. I would like to settle some themes and that also I am not so sure what is really suitable. So I have been beating around the bush in a manner of speaking, but hopefully it has been helpful.

0:01:16.2

While beating around the bush I also wanted to make sure that you get the important points of Tibetan Buddhism and what you really need is the practical individual points of view. However, if we don’t give you a little bit of structure, then the practical will be simply informational, and though no doubt useful, not necessarily be that organized. I don’t know.

0:02:31.8

I thought about it and today I have to tell you that basically, when you look into Buddhism in general you need that too. When you talk to anybody who claims to be Buddhist other than Tibetans, they will ask you whether you are Mahayana or Hinayana. Many will say Theravada instead of Hinayana. That is becoming a genuine questions. Tibetans, as far as I know, when I was in Tibet or among Tibetans, you don’t raise that question, because in Tibet, for the last 1000 years, it is only Mahayana. They don’t claim to be Hinayana. They claim to be Mahayana. I am sure there are a few Theravada practitioners, but the majority of practitioners are Mahayanayin.

0:04:41.4

When you get out of Tibet and mix with the world, the question of whether you are Mahayana or Hinayana it becomes very important and relevant for them to know. So we say we are Mahayana. But what does that mean? What is the difference between Mahayana and Theravada? Normally Theravada is known as Hinayana. Hina means small and yana means vehicle. So it is the smaller vehicle. Maha means big, so Mahayana is the bigger vehicle. The Theravadans don’t like to be called Hinayana. So they chose to call themselves “Self-liberators” or something else, like the “Elders Way”. I don’t think American Buddhists have settled on a suitable name yet.

0:06:32.2

So if you keep on hearing “Self-liberators” or “Elders Way” or “Ancient Way”, most probably they are talking about the Hinayana people. During the Buddha’s period – this is an interest point – Buddha clearly talked about Hinayana and Mahayana with the usage of this very language. However, a lot of Theravadan or Hinayana principles do believe that Mahayana is not Buddha’s words. There is a very strong group of people. That is not new. That’s old. As I was a younger kid, when I learned a little bit about Buddhist literature and history, I was told that after Buddha died, the Mahayana teachings died out in India. The Indians were not ready at that time for Mahayana, so the nagas took the teachings. The nagas belong in the spirit category and remain in the water. That’s how they talk about them. They are very powerful, little spirits. As a kid in Tibet I learned that there are samsaric gods that are supposed to be up in the sky and there are powerful nagas who are supposed to be in the water down there.

0:10:17.0

That’s how we look up and down for these two. In other words, they are sort of underground gods, not necessarily bad ones. There are many good ones. Some of the Mahayana texts were taken to the pure lands of gods and the nagas have taken them down with them.

0:10:55.9

Buddha himself prophesied, “After me there will be two important people. One will come 400 years after me and the other 600 years after me. They are Asanga and Nagarjuna.” We consider them to be the two Buddhist banner holders. Next to Buddha we have Maitreya and Manjushri and right next to these, Asanga and Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna holds the banner of Buddha’s teaching of wisdom and Asanga holds the banner of Buddha’s teaching of compassion.

0:12:07.4

So Nagarjuna is named Nagarjuna because he contacted the nagas and brought back Buddha’s teachings that the nagas have kept for those hundreds of years. Nagarjuna and Asanga are known as the forerunners of the Mahayana path. Both are coming from that. Nagarjuna is supposed to have revealed the teachings kept by the nagas in the naga land. That is not the Nagaland in India. That’s a beautiful area of eastern India, near Assam, which the Chinese claim today as part of China and India is managing it as a full Indian state of Nagaland. It used to be a little council in the area, but now it is a full state. It has its own governor and chief minister and government and cabinet and everything.

0:13:43.5

So it is treated as one of the Indian states. But I am not talking about that Nagaland. I am talking about the real naga land. Nagarjuna is supposed to have revealed that. Asanga was looking for a deeper understanding of compassion and was reading certain words and was not getting the explanations properly or was not understanding it. So Asanga decided he needed to see Maitreya himself. Maitreya is the Buddha of Love. The metta meditations are based on Maitreya. He is supposed to be the Buddha of Love.

0:14:54.4

Asanga decided that he had to make sure everything was right by encountering Maitreya Buddha. Asanga did everything he could understand intellectually. But he didn’t succeed. Finally, he decided to go into retreat and meditate. So he went to a completely remote area where there was nobody and he started practicing and meditating to be able to see Maitreya Buddha face to face. Three years went by and nothing happened. So he got fed up and left. When he was walking down the mountain there was an old Indian guy who sat there and was rubbing a very soft cotton cloth against a big steel pillar, like if he was polishing shoes. Asanga kept looking at him and asked him, “What are you doing?” The guy said, “I want to make needles out of this pillar.” Asanga said, “Is that really possible?” The guy said, “Yes,yes, I already made so many.” And he showed him a bunch of needles he already made. He said, “It takes time but I am patient, so I am going to make it.”

0:17:19.1

Asanga thought, “I am a great Maha Pandit, most learned and this guy is just a farmer. If the farmer can put that much effort in and I the great Pandit can’t, that’s not right. So I will go back.”

0:17:41.3

So he went back for another three years. Still, nothing happened. He came out and started looking at his cave. Maybe I am wrong with the order of these events, but anyway, he started looking and in those caves, the birds would go in and out and their feathers would touch the rock and over time make the rock smooth and make a dent in it. He thought about it, “Even birds can do that much. I don’t have enough patience.” So he went back into retreat for another three years. So it went on for a total of 12 years.

0:18:41.1

To cut a long story short, at the end of 12 years, suddenly he saw a dog in his cave. It was very much alive, but the upper part of the body was very weak and almost dragging the lower part of body along. The lower part of the body was completely wounded and worm-infested. The upper legs dragged the body along. He felt so sad about that dog and he thought, “I have to remove those worms.” So he had this dilemma that if he removed the worms the worms would die. If he didn’t do that, the dog would die. So what to do? Finally he decided to keep the worms alive and he saw no alternative but to cut a piece of his own flesh out of his own thigh and he kept that in one hand and then he was going to pick up the worms with his fingers and put them on the meat one by one. But then he thought, “If I touch the worms I may smash them and they may die.” So the gentlest way he could do it was to lick the worms with his tongue and transfer them to the meat.

0:21:07.7

He decided to do that, but he was afraid of looking. So he closed his eyes and went down, trying to lick the worms. But no matter how far he went, he couldn’t reach them. So he opened his eyes and suddenly saw Maitreya Buddha standing there, without any doubt. So of course, the first he said to him was, “How unkind and uncompassionate you are. [I have been trying to see you for 12 years and now you show up]. Maitreya Buddha said, “The very first day you came in here, I was here. Since then I have been here with you all the time, but you didn’t see me. You threw your dry boogers and they hit me here and there.” Maitreya Buddha had to show him many things.

0:22:26.3

Then, finally Asanga decided that everybody should see Maitreya. Asanga was a very well known and most respected master in the area. So he took Maitreya on his neck, like you carry a baby – and although Maitreya objected, he ran around town shouting, “I brought Maitreya Buddha. Look, look, look.” Nobody saw anything, except a little old lady saw that he was carrying a dead dog on his shoulders shouting there was Maitreya Buddha.

0:23:20.6

The whole town said, “Our great master has gone crazy”. They considered him a completely crazy guy thereafter. Then, finally, Maitreya said, “What do you want?” Asanga said, “I need to know the compassion completely, as Buddha described and as he developed and as you developed.” Maitreya said, “Then you have to go to the pure land of Tushita with me. I take you. Close your eyes and hold on to my clothes. But don’t open your eyes.” So Asanga as Maitreya said and went to the pure land of Tushita.

0:24:59.3

Maitreya Buddha is based in Tushita. I don’t know whether it is history or a story. We are supposed to receive 1000 official buddhas. That means not only the person has the capacity and capability of the Buddha but is officially declared as the Buddha.

0:25:36.3

Like Shakyamuni Buddha is considered the fourth one. So officially he was declared as Buddha and functioned as Buddha. Finally he passed away as Buddha. There are supposed to be 1000 buddhas appearing in this fortunate eon. Every time, whenever an official buddha comes to our world, the next person will go to the Pure Land of Tushita. They occupy that position over there and from there they will come to our land and become the official buddha. So Maitreya is supposed to be the next official buddha. So his base is in the pure land of Tushita.

0:26:56.7

So Tushita is supposed to be pure land closer to us than any other pure land, because it is very much interconnected with our world. Particularly Buddha had come from there. He was known as Son of God, with a white crown. He was known as Lha yi pu tam pa tok kar po. That was before he became Buddha here. Maitreya Buddha is in the person in charge in Tushita, before he will become Buddha here officially. So he will be the 5th Buddha out of the 1000.

0:28:04.6

Shakyamuni Buddha was the 4th Buddha and we are still in the tenure of Shakyamuni Buddha. When we refer to “Buddha”, we are referring to the historical Buddha that came in India, as an Indian prince and had all the 12 important events of a Buddha’s life in his life story. That was declared as official Buddha.

So Maitreya took Asanga to Tushita, but the time there is different. Our time is much shorter, their time is much longer. For us, the sun goes round once a day, whether you are in America, China or wherever. But Tushita is a different galaxy. The time there is different. According to Asanga, he spent one morning in Tushita. When he returned to this world, 50 years had gone by. So their one day may be equal to our 100 years or something. That’s a nice, lengthy one, if you can get one.

0:30:25.0

When Asanga came back he presented 5 volumes to the world and he labelled them “Maitreya’s Dharma”. One of them is the abisamayalankara, which is the total explanation of Buddha’s compassion teachings from the prajnaparamita texts. It explains the prajnaparamita more form an easy, more practical level rather than the philosophical level. So there are Asanga’s 5 Maitreya Dharmas as well as Nagarjuna’s 6 wisdom books, one of which is called Root of Wisdom, another one Jewel Ornament and so on. These 6 of Nagarjuna’s and 5 of Asanga’s are the very root of Buddha’s Mahayana teaching explanation.

0:32:52.3

These 11 texts are not part of Buddha’s Collected Works or kangyur. They are part of the ten gyur, in Sanskrit that is shastras. The shastras are the commentaries, explaining what it is. Shastras are equally important as the Collected Works of the Buddha. Sometimes they are even more useful. If you look back at Tibetan Buddhism of the last 1000 years, the Tibetans have studied the shastras more than the Collected Works of Buddha. The Collected Works of Buddha are totally interpretable, according to the Tibetan teachers.

0:34:20.6

That’s because Buddha did not sit down and compose books. He was asked questions on the way, up there, down here, and he answered according to incidents that were taking place where Buddh was. So mostly, if you read the kangyur they are always conversational. There are conversations between Shariputra and Buddha or Ram jor and Buddha or Ananda and Buddha and so on. They will ask questions and Buddha will say something.

0:35:25.4

Later, after Buddha had passed away, they repeated the words from their memory and that was heard by others and they repeated them again for generations. There were three collections of Buddha’s works. The writing began only after the third collection. That’s why Buddhologists will never say that Buddha’s works are his Collected Works. They will call it “Buddhist Canon”. That’s because Buddha didn’t sit down and write them. These are repeated words out of somebody’s memory, saying, “At this time, Buddha was sitting in such and such a place and I and so many others were there. What I recall is this………” Even the Heart Sutra begins like that.

0:37:09.4

Tibetans consider the Canon words as absolutely true, however they are interpretable. For example, one of them says “Father and mother should be killed. Destroy your country and retinue and then you will be a great king.” Of course that doesn’t mean you should kill your father and mother. It doesn’t mean to destroy your country and retinue. That’s what we call ‘interpretable’. When you interpret, it becomes guess work. What was Buddha thinking? So the explanations will say, “Buddha was thinking about ignorance, when he said the father should be killed. So it means ‘kill ignorance’.

0:38:27.8

These interpretations were done by those great early Indian masters, particularly Nagarjuna and Asanga, because Buddha himself prophesied them, saying, “These are the two right persons, who will appear at the right time and interpret my teachings the right way.” So when we talk about Mahayana Buddhism from the root text – point of view, from the basis – point of view, this is how we trace it.

0:39:18.5

Also, the important thing is this: these two, Nagarjuna and Asanga, are known as shing de söl je – the forerunners. Mahayana Buddhism died in the land of India and they reopened it. Actually, not only Mahayana Buddhism died out in India, but even the Theravadan Buddhism. It completely died there too during the Mogul period. All the Theravadan teachings that were available in India went south to Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) and Thailand and so on. The Northern Buddhism went into the Himalayas and beyond that to Tibet, Mongolia and China. The actual land of Buddha didn’t have Buddhism at all anymore.

Even the Bodhi-tree did not remain in India. [Off shouts were brought to Ceylon] and later they were brought back to India. The monks were brought back from Ceylon to India too. Then the Mahabodhi society was formed in India by bringing the monks from Ceylon in the 1900s. This is how Buddhism went.

0:42:03.4

You people are putting in efforts and energy into the spiritual path and particularly Tibetan Buddhism. So you have to know the background. It is Mahayana Buddhism. So that’s what we are talking about. Two great early Indian masters, Asanga and Nagarjuna, directly learnt from Maitreya, the Buddha of Compassion and Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom. Normally, in public in India they would say that one went to the heavens and the other into the water and brought back the teachings. But the reality is that one picked it up from Manjushri and one from Maitreya.

0:43:16.2

So most of the wisdom lineages trace back from Manjushri to Nagarjuna and so on. The compassion lineage trace back from Maitreya to Asanga and so on. Between those there is a huge gap. A historian who goes back year by year and traces that will find that huge gap between Manjushri and Nagarjuna and Maitreya and Asanga. But in that time, in India, there were a lot of Indian adepts or mahasiddhas, like Luipa, Ganthapa, Lalitavajra, Amogavarja, Tilopa, Naropa and all of them came in between. So chronologically we can’t really trace the years.

0:44:47.4

I was thinking an absolutely silly thought last night. I saw a little bit of the moon and wasn’t sure which the date is today. I thought maybe the 6th or 7th of April The moon also looked like the 7th or 6th lunar day. I didn’t have my phone or a calendar and I was sitting on the throne, thinking maybe it was the 7th. So I thought that the lunar calendar people go really by the lunar movements and how the stars move and wherever the sun is and that’s how they set up the lunar calendar. Our western solar calendar is literally counting day by day, doesn’t matter what the moon does. The 1st January comes wherever it comes. Then, to make the years round, instead of 30 days, we have 31 days and if there are too many of these, that will be too much. So they decided to drop a day here and there in some months. So you only have 30 days in September, April, June and November. So on top of that February has to be different. So this is very practical. So I really thought, it has nothing to do with the lunar movements, the stars and sun movements. Yet it is absolutely practical, just counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and it doesn’t matter where the first number comes in, whether summer or winter, it’s the first day of the new year.

0:47:34.2

People with the lunar calendar have a lot of gaps, even historically there are huge gaps, like between Maitreya and Asanga. But then, if you fit Tilopa, Naropa, Luipa, Dhombipa, etc, we don’t know where and how it goes. It is completely out of question to trace them exactly.

0:48:17.7

So that’s why some belief system comes in. After a while, your mind cannot trace, counting cannot trace, so then a little of belief and relying on written words came in and we left history like that. We just took it from here. So that’s how it is and here we are. That’s what it is.

0:48:52.9

So I thought I would talk this to you today, so you know exactly what you are looking at. But then, historically we not be able to count back. Everybody sort of presumes it is this and left it there. But the development of the individuals are total reality. It is not anything made up or fictitious. It is really reality. So that’s how our practice goes. When we want to improve ourselves, that’s what it is. The material really works.

0:50:06.0

These people have developed and they are “well-travelled”. One of the names for Buddha in Tibetans is de zhin shek pa, well-travelled. That means they have gone well. It doesn’t refer to their death, but that everything went exactly as it was supposed to be. They gained everything. So we say de zhin shek pa. So this is reality.

0:50:51.0 end