Fri, 26 Dec 2008
Sutra Links
So I'll be away for a week chanting "om mani padme hum" with thirty other Buddhist fanatics. Until I return you can entertain yourself by reading the Buddhist sutras. There will be a quiz when I return.
Thu, 25 Dec 2008
Test Drive
As I've mentioned, I'll be doing a week long retreat starting Saturday. We've been asked to wear robes for the retreat. I dislike playing dress up, but gave in and bought a maroon wrap around skirt (they called it a chuba in the catalog) and a maroon shawl. I put them on today and did a short meditation, sort of a test drive. I looked like a Christmas present wrapped in red polyester. Otherwise my day was spent translating one of my web scripts, Boger's Card Repertory, into my new and yet unpublished Web framework. Eventually I will convert all my software, including this blog over to the new framework. What I have now is sort of an archeologist's dig, constructed of different layers.
Enough chit chat. I often go back to my notes from Khenpo Karthar's mahamudra teaching in Crestone. The plan is to eventually produce a book from these teachings, but until then I will rely on my notes. Here's what he had to say on shamatha practice in mahamudra.
There are three parameters or characteristics of resting the mind properly. The first is absence of distraction. You do not allow your mind to wander to outer or inner objects. You keep your mind in freshness, the direct experience of the present. While undistracted you must not tie the mind up or bind it. You do this by not exerting too much tension in body, speech, or mind. So the second point is effortlessness. You let your mind come to rest freely. The third point is that while engaging the faculty of mindfulness, one does not treat the practice as a remedy to distraction. You simply remain aware of your thoughts. The recollection does not oppose the thoughts. So the third point is that you rest the mind in a state that is aware of itself. There is no duality of thoughts and mindfulness. These points are summarized as resting undistractedly, resting freely, and resting in self aware mindfulness. Another description of the practice is no distraction, no meditation, and no alteration. These correspond to the three gates of liberation. The first gate is not to prolong the past. One of the things we tend to do is prolong the past by thinking about it. When you do not, the mind enters the gate of absence of characteristics. The second gate of liberation is not thinking about the present, which is attempting to alter or control it. When you abstain from this and don't try to limit it or change it, you enter the gate of emptiness. The third thing we do is beckoning the future. This includes speculation about progress in the practice. This is the hope or fear that the practice is or is not working. The freedom from these is the gate of absence of aspiration (wishlessness.) So all these are descriptions of the same thing. It is allowing the mind to rest without the pollution of the past, present, or future.
Wed, 24 Dec 2008
Year's End
Though it's the night before Christmas, it feels like year's end to me. Today was my last day at work this year. The place was empty, which meant I could work undisturbed. But five minuts before I was going to leave, someone comes in and tells me our web site had crashed. And I'm the only one there who could deal with it. Fortunately, I was familiar with the problem because it was code that I had written. So it's patched for now, but that was a nasty thing to have happen as I'm going out the door for a week.
I'll be going away on a meditation retreat next week, so there will be no posts after Friday. They are doing a Thousand Armed Chenrezig retreat in honor of Drubwang Rinpoche's death a year ago.
Sun, 21 Dec 2008
Study Versus Practice
There's been a discussion on the Kagu mailing list about the relationship between study and practice in Buddhism. It was started before I joined the list, so I didn't join the discussion there. Here are my thoughts on the topic.
Study and practice are related like a map and going on a trip. Studying a map is useless if you don't plan to take the trip, but useful if you do. Similarly study of Buddhism is useful for a practitioner, but useless for a person who doesn't practice Buddhism. There are many analogies for this in Buddhism: an accountantant counting a rich man's monet, a person carried along by a flood but dying of thirst, and so on.
But for a person who does practice, study is very useful, just like a map is useful to a traveller. And the purpose is the same, to avoid getting lost. All religions that practice meditation practice similarly. And from similar causes arise similar results. What distinguishes Buddhism from other religions is the view. It is the combination of view and practice that leads to the realization of emptiness. To practice without the proper view is to fall into fixation.
Fri, 19 Dec 2008
Karmapa's Middle Way
I've been sick the past several days. Something is going around our office, because several others have caught it too. Unfortunately, my domain name expired at the same time. I was quick to fix it, but my domain gone for most of a day. I used to wonder how people could be so sloppy, but then the same problem bit me. The weather's been bad, but tolerable here. Up north the problems have been worse. Unless you like ice and snow storms.
The Karmapa's web site has been keeping a detailed journal of his activities. It's almost a blog, except that it's not written by the Karmapa. Recently he's been visting the Tergar monastery in Bodhgaya, where he's been lecturing on the Madhyamika. The journal summarizes his teaching. It's interesting stuff becuase he isn't simply repeating what he's been taught. He compares Chinese and Tibetan texts are tries to reconcile them.
Because of Nagarjuna's importance in establishing the Middle Way school of Buddhist philosophy Gyalwang Karmapa began with an overview of Nagarjuna's life. Accounts of his life exist in both Chinese and Tibetan sources. The earliest Chinese source, written approximately one hundred years after Nagarjuna's death, predates Tibetan sources. It seems he was born in South India into a Brahmin family, and studied Buddhism in South India. After many years of practice he reached an understanding of emptiness. There are also references to prophecies about Nagarjuna, but there is a need to exercise caution when citing prophecies, because the true intention and meaning of a prophetic text can only be disclosed by its author.
Tue, 16 Dec 2008
In Their Own Words
There's been a big controversy in the small world of Karma Kagyu Buddhism since Byron Coulter was fired by Tenzin Chonyi as manager of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra. Curiously, the firing happened the very weekend I was visiting KTD, although I was unaware of it at the time. I have nothing useful to say about the controversy myself, but several documents were posted to the files section of the Kagyu mailing list which shed some light on the controversy. And since the files are only accessible to list members, I thought I would quote excerpts from them here.
First, Tenzin says in his letter to the sangha, "Over the years, at times Byron and I had different thoughts about how things should be handled at KTD and this led to conflicts between Byron, in his staff position, and me, as the KTD President appointed by His Holiness Karmapa and the other KTD Trustees. There is no need to go into a lot of examples of these conflicts except to say that I know of the many times I felt disrespected by Byron, when I felt he went against actions I request or suggested. I expect that many times Byron also felt that I was wrong in what I wanted done I disrespected him - this is unfortunate. I do not dislike Byron and over the years there were times when Byron resigned and then asked to return and I accepted his request for the best of KTD and also because I admired his service. Unfortunately our situation went on for a very long time and although we both tried to avoid it, this reached a point where Byron's staff position needed to be changed."
Bardor Rinpoche was unhappy with the situation and resigned as trustee of Karma Triyana and wrote this letter to the sangha explaining his action: "Byron Coulter was fired by KTD President Tenzin Chonyi on October 17, 2008. When I heard about it, I called Byron and asked him to stay at home until O returned and all three Trusees (Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, President Chonyi, and I had a chance to meet. On October 23, I brought Byron's offer to the Trustees' meeting and President Chonyi rejected it. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche spoke saying although there are many people willing to say yes and take a job, there are only a few who can actually do it. He, therefore, asked if we could bring Byron back. President Chonyi did not want to hear of this. Thus, Byron's firing was not done as a result of the unanimous decision of all three trustees. It was a decision made by President Conyi, a demonstration of power in which he subdued the rest of us. I was appointed as the KTD Treasurer by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa. Now, without competent help, I saw no choice but resign from that position. I submitted my resignation on October 27, 2008."
Drupon Rinpoche, the General Secretary of the Karma Kagyu, will send an emissary to evaluate the situation: "His Holiness informed all participants of the November meeting at KTD that he would be sending an emissary to address the current issues under discussion. I am writing to confirm that, pursuant to the guidance and instruction of His Holiness, the General Secretary or the Deputy General Secretary will arrive at KTD after the New Year. His Holiness suggested that you may bring your concerns concerns, suggestions, and feedback to his emissary, who will respond to your concerns pursuant to His Holiness's command."
Mon, 15 Dec 2008
Two More Blogs
Continuing my hunt throughh the Internet, I stumbled across two more blogs. Kagyu Samten Choling is the blog of a woman doing a three year retreat with Lama Norlha. I didn't know retreatants were allowed to have blogs, but I'm grateful it's there. Posts are sporadic, but there was a flurry of posts recently. Here's an excerpt from one:
In my solitary room practice, every time I finish counting 108 prayer beads, I start again. Every time I finish a thousand, or ten thousand, I start another. But each repetition is subtly different, just as I'm not exactly the same person from day to day in my routines and interactions. If I practice sincerely and diligently, gradual awakening is happening, even though it may not be evident in the short term. Three years is a generous amount of time to devote to this process. I feel very fortunate.
Mike Cross helped translate Dogen's Shobogenzo into English along with Gudo Nishijima. These days he's turned his attention to Sanskrit and is translating from Ashvaghos's writings. Each post is a little Sanskrit lesson. I find Sanskrit a fascinating alnguage, so these posts are very enjoyable. Ashvaghosa is easy to understand and requires little explanation. But where Mike Cross does provide explanation, it's not entirely reliable. So read it for the Sanskrit and not for the dharma.
Sun, 14 Dec 2008
Samadhi and Samapatti
Today we were practicing a short guru yoga recently written by Khenchen Konchgo Gyaltsen. The practice mentions the ten strengths of an enlighened being and the appendix lists what these ten strengths are. One of the strengths is "the strength of knowing the completely pure and totally afflicted (sides) of entering dhyana of definite release, samadhi, and samapatti." So we wondered about the distinction between the terms samadhi and samapatti. It seems these two terms are defined differently in Hinduism and Buddhism. You'll find a good explanation of samapatti in Hinduism here, but there's no good explanation of the use of these terms in Buddhism that I could find. So I went looking in the Abhidharmakosha, and found the explanation there.
Samadhi has two meanings in Buddhism. The first is a mental factor, which is the mental faculty which keeps the mind fixed on object without wavering. It is the perfection of the practice of shamatha, which aims at producing one pointedness. The mental factor of samadhi is present in the four dhyanas of pure form and the four formless dhyanas. The second meaning of samadhi is a specific meditation. The Abhidharmakosha mentions the samadhis of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. Other samdhis are mentioned in other sutras, most famously in the Heart Sutra. These samdhis seem to be vipashyana practice, as opposed to the dhyanas, which are shamatha practice.
So what is samapatti? The Abhidharmakosha explains that each level of dhyana is twofold, both a state of existence and a mental absorption. Samapatti is dhyana as a mental absorption. Going back to the original phrase, a samadhi or samapatti is afflicted if practice by an ordinary person, that is, someone who has not yet reached the path of seeing. It is pure if practiced by a noble one, that is, someone who has already reached the path of seeing. So the phrase is saying that a buddha understands all states of meditation, in both their unenlightened and enlightened form.
Fri, 12 Dec 2008
Circumambulations
I found a couple of interesting items while circumambulating the Internet. First, during Shamar Rinpoche's visit to America last fall, he recognized the two year old son of one of his students as a tulku and held a traditional entrhonement ceremony.
Yeshe Dorje delighted the fifty or so people who had come to the initiation. He was dressed in a beautiful orange silk robe, and before the ceremony he playfully roamed about the brightly painted, sunlit meditation hall. During the ceremony, Shamar Rinpoche and other lamas including Lama Yeshe Drolma, the resident lama of the Martha's Vineyard Center, recited Buddhist prayers and made offerings to the young lama. The boy sat in a specially arranged chair placed directly across from Shamar Rinpoche and the two bodhisattva lamas enjoyed the traditional tea and rice together with the rest of the community of practioners.
I've got mixed feelings about publicly recognizing Westerners as tulkus. One the one hand, it inspires American students. On the other hand, it doesn't seem to benefit the poor kid who gets recognized as a tulku. The whole institution of tulkus made sense in Tibet where it helped preserve the independence of the monasteries. I think in the West it makes more sense to follow the way Zen Buddhists do things, that is, have the teacher make their most promising student their successor and not worry about who is the reincarnation of whom.
Susan Law has an intersting blog post about Thomas Merton's meditation practice. The information comes from a letter he wrote to a Sufi master. It's worth reading the whole thing and not just this excerpt.
There is in my heart this great thirst to recognize totally the nothingness of all that is not God. My prayer is then a kind of praise rising up out of the center of Nothing and Silence. If I am still present 'myself' this I recognize as an obstacle. If He wills He can then make the Nothingness into a total clarity. If He does not will, then the Nothingness actually seems to itself be an object and remains an obstacle. Such is my ordinary way of prayer, or meditation.
This is a form of objectless meditation and close to the practice of mahamudra. Reading this makes me think the distance between the mystical traditions in all religions is not so great and we should be supporting each other.
Wed, 10 Dec 2008
What Makes a Buddhist
Here's some more from Khenpo Tsultrim's teaching last Sunday. This is from his afternoon talk, which was an introduction to Buddhism.
So how does one become a Buddhist? There are two ways, either by conduct or by view. A person who has faith in the Three Jewels is a Buddhist by conduct. Buddhism starts by faith. There are three kinds of faith. The first is clear faith. It means to be inspired by great persons or holy places. The second is longing faith. This means that when you see or hear a holy person, you want to become like that. The third is trusting faith. This is devotion, which is either by faith or by knowledge. Devotion by knowledge is more stable than devotion by faith. Having faith like this in the Three Jewels is taking refuge.
Buddhism by view is believing the four seals: all composite phenomena are impermanent, all afflictive emotions are unsatisfactory, all dharmas are devoid of self, and nirvana is peace. Anyone who believes these is a Buddhist. For a high practitioner view is more important than conduct. One monk was a gentle restrained practitioner. After he had high realization, he abandoned his robes and practiced as a Tantric yogi. This might seem like misconduct from the outside.
Tue, 09 Dec 2008
Twelve Divisions
One point tht Khenpo touched on during his teaching last Sunday was the twelve divisions of Buddhist scripture. This is a somewhat obscure point, so for lovers of Buddhist trvia everywhere, I thought I'd post it here. This list mostly follows the desciption in the SGI Dictionary of Buddhism. The twelve divisions are:
- sutra or prose teachings
- geya or teachings restated in verse
- vyakarana or prophecies concerning the Buddha's disciples
- gatha or verse teachings
- udana or spontaneous teachings
- nidana or introductions
- avadana or lives of persons other than the Buddha
- itivrittaka or teachings prefaced by "Thus the Buddha said"
- jataka or stories of the Buddha's previous births
- vaipulya or extensive teachings
- adbhutadharma or descriptions of miraculous events
- upadesha or explanations and commentary
Mon, 08 Dec 2008
Special Refuge
Here's a refuge prayer that was composed by Garchen Rinpoche and sent to me by Lama Gursam:
I take refuge in the Dharmakaya, which is like space.
I take refuge in the Sambhogakaya, which is like the clouds.
I take refuge in the Nirmanakaya, which is like the rain.
I take refuge in the Gelugpas, who are like the tree trunk.
I take refuge in the Sakyapas, who are like the tree branches.
I take refuge in the Nyingmapas, who are like the flower.
I take refuge in the Kagyupas, who are like the fruit.
I take refuge in all mother sentient beings, who are like the ground.
The visualization which accompanies the refuge prayer is done this way:
Visualize the Dharmakaya as space.
Out of this, the Sambhogakaya manifests as clouds.
Out of this, the Nirmanakaya manifests as rain.
The Nirmanakaya rain falls on the ground of sentient beings,
Causing the tree of the Four Traditions to grow and bloom.
At the same time, the ice covering the ground melts.
And all sentient beings are liberated.
They manifest as clouds and dissolve back into the Dharmakaya as space.
Sun, 07 Dec 2008
News from the Mountaintop
Today our meditation group made a trip to the Tibetan Meditation Center in Fredrick. We took part in their usual Sunday teaching and practice and got a special teaching after lunch. First, the important stuff, gossip. Khenpo Tsultrim is learning to play the violin. And Lama Gyaltsen is having visa problems. His visa runs out in 45 days and unless something is done, he'll have to go back to India.
Here's an extract from my notes from the morning teaching. Khenpo is teaching from Atisha's Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment.
Before one can liberate all beings one must first give rise to bodhicitta. There are two types of bodhicitta, aspiration and action bodhicitta. Aspiration is like the desire to travel somewhere and action is travelling there. So now we are discussing action bodhicitta. To take the bodhisattva vow one must have first taken lay or monastic vows. The key point of Vinaya is to protect against non-virtuous activities. Shantideva said that unless you stop non-virtuous avtivities you cannot help others. Otherwise, it's like giving medicine and poison at the same time.
So how can the bodhisattva vow be taken? Either from a spiritual master or by oneself. A spiritual master should have taken the bodhisattva vow, have not abandoned it through commiting downfalls, have a knowledge of the Mahayana, and have compassion and patience. If it is impossible to meet with such a person, one can take the bodhisattva vows alone. Taking the bodhisattva vows is a great responsibility. Just as a host takes responsibility for their guests, so a bodhisattva must take responsibility for all beings.
There are three moralities of a bodhisattva: abstaining from unvirtue, cultivating virtue, and acting for the benefit of sentient beings. So one vows not to harbor non-virtuous thoughts, as when one harbors them, one cannot help anyone. And one vows to cultivate virtue, and to remain in samsara as long as a single being needs liberation. Here we see the strong courage of a bodhisattva. There are three practices: the practice of morality, the practice of samadhi, and the practice of wisdom. When one has trained well in the three moralities, one's respect for morality grows. And one's practice thrives as the three doors of body, speech, and mind are purified. When one practices morality one gains the collection of merit neccessary to become a Buddha. If one practices the first five perfections, one will gain the sixth, the perfection of wisdom. But otherwise, one will not. Enlightenment is freedom from confusion. You don't have to change anything else to become enlightened. If one gains the two collections, one will gain enlightenment, even if one doesn't wish to.
Fri, 05 Dec 2008
So Much Suffering
Suffering comes in three kinds. The first kind is manifest suffering. For example: illness, injury, or grief. The second kind is the suffering of change. Even when life is good, the good times can't last, because everything is impermanent. So both the loss and the anxiety about impending loss are suffering. The third kind of suffering is all pervasive suffering. This is a very subtle form of suffering implicit in our ignorance of things as they are. It's a suffering born from our limited illusory view.
Obviously there is joy in life as well as suffering. Most of our suffering comes from our afflictive emotions of greed, anger, envy, and pride. The more we cultivate their opposites: generosity, patience, love, and humility, the happier we will be.
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