Sat, 27 Jun 2009
Vajrayogini Blues
Lama Phurbu Tashi said I should start practicing the Vajrayogini sadhana. This is not so surprising, as it's traditional to follow ngondro practice with Vajrayogini and I finished ngondro last year. And that's the way it's done (or used to be done) in Shambhala. But I'm having trouble getting a copy of the sadhana. I tried to order a copy from Kagyu Droden Kunchab in San Francisco May 7th. First they sent me the wrong sadhana (Vajrakilaya) and now they say that they don't have it, even though it's listed on their site with a price. So I just wasted two months and twelve dollars pursuing the issue with them when I could have been looking for the sadhana elsewhere. And I'm left with the feeling that they're being less than candid with me when they say they don't have it. The funny think is, I can download the Vajrayogini Sadhana for free, with no restrictions. But it's Tibetan only. Makes me wish I paid more attention to my Tibetan studies.
Fri, 26 Jun 2009
Tendrel
Today they're celebrating the Seventeenth Karmapa's birthday. So far I've had little contact with the Karmapa. I've only seen him once, at the Medicine Buddha empowerment in New Jersey. But there's a term in Tibetan, tendrel, that stands for the many subtle connections between phenomena that exist between phenomena. And I believe that the Seventeenth Karmapa's blessing has worked in many subtle ways in my life. I first met Michael in a Tibetan language class. He gave me some pills that had been blessed by the Karmapa from his trip to Tibet. I asked Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche what to do with them and he told me to wear them in an amulet around my neck. The Tibetan class ended when our teacher left for New York. I heard little from Michael, who lives in Annapolis, until we talked during Lama Gursam's visit. At that time he told me about Lama Phurbu Tashi. So I believe the Karmapa crated a connection that brought me together with my teacher.
Thu, 25 Jun 2009
Farmer and Scholar
Lama Phurbu Tashi told a another story Wednesday night while explaining the mind training slogans on ultimate bodhicitta. And since I like stories, here it is.
Once in India there was a famous Buddhist scholar with more than a thousand students who regarded him as their teacher. One day he was traveling and saw a farmer cultivating his fields with a hoe. He told the farmer that if he cultivated the practice of meditation with the same effort that he put into cultivating his fields, he would soon be enlightened. The farmer asked the scholar how to meditate. The scholar said, while you cultivate your fields, think of the earth as your mind basis and think of the hoe as your mindful awareness of it. And so, the farmer practiced meditation this way while cultivating his fields until after many years he was enlightened. After he became enlightened he used his power of siddhi to find where the scholar was as and travel swiftly to him. He thanked the scholar for his instruction. But the scholar, who was now an old man, did not remember their conversation and asked who he was. The farmer explained how they met and how by following his instruction he was now enlightened. The scholar confessed that he was not yet enlightened, in spite of studying and practicing all his life. So the farmer gave him some instruction in meditation and soon the scholar was enlightened as well.
And, Lama added, if you practice one day you will be teaching me. Which seems unlikely, but really it shouldn't be, and really it's a shame to say so. If Buddhism is not going to degenerate, the student should be greater than the teacher and it's no disrespect to your teacher to aim for this.
My cell phone took an unexpected plung into the toilet Monday. I thought it was dead, but I dried it off as best I could and plugged it into the recharger. Early Wednesday morning it chirped and showed other signs of life. Now it seems completely better, except the battery life seems shorter. I hope that's not so, because replacement batteries are expensive. Not as bad as buying a new phone, but still a chunk of money.
Mon, 22 Jun 2009
Reply to a Skeptic
A skeptic posted a criticism of Buddhism a week ago. Often I don't respond to these arguments, but today I will even though I'm a week late. Here's a small part of her post, I don't have the time to respond to the whole thing.
Worse yet, what is the outcome of suppressing desire, Buddhism's ultimate goal? It's the fate of the Miranda settlers in Serenity, the fate of any conscious being that gazes obsessively at its navel with the belief that reality is but an illusion.
Buddhism doesn't talk about supressing desire, it talks about eliminating it, though this is obviously a distant goal. So what is the problem with desire? The object of desire is always in the future, if it were here in the present, there would be no need for it; there would be enjoyment, but no desire. A desire unfulfilled is a state of frustration and since the object of desire is in the future, to live in a state of desire is to live in perpetual frustration. If desire were extinguished when its object was achieved, it might have some point in stengthening the will to achieve. But almost always a desire is increased by its fulfillment. Understanding this, we should recognize that desire is a fault and not a virtue, as it is the cause of perpetual restlessness and unease.
So if desire is eliminated will we lapse into a catatonic state? Hardly, as the body prods us to care for it in myriad way: to eat when we're hungry, drink when we're thirsty, and shift position when our muscles cramp. But the body's needs are simple and easy to meet, unlike the shifting, contradictory, and impossible to achieve desires that our minds set for us. Beyond fulfilling our body's needs, there are our ideals. I'm convinced that everything great in the world comes out of love. Not from desire for fame or for wealth, but love. If your work is not driven by love, it is second class. So not everthing in the world is driven by desire.
Meditation is mind looking at mind, with the object of understanding the mind. This is the "navel gazing" the author criticizes. Obviously, to understand the mind you must first observe it. Meditation is turning our mind inwards so we observe it. The value of the practice of meditation can be seen in the lives of those who practice it seriously, there is no need for any other justification than that.
Sat, 20 Jun 2009
Healing Meditation
During the Spring Retreat Drupon Thinley Nyingpo described a simple healing meditation during a talk on tanta. Here are a few words of explanation. The sven pointed posture of Vairochana is the usual meditation position you see in pictures of Buddhist monks. Any seated position where you hold your back straight is fine. And Jigten Sumgon is the founder of the Drikung tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. You can substitute any teacher in your own tradition or Shakyamuni Buddha instead, or even, I suppose, Jesus Christ.
To begin the practice, sit in the seven pointed posture of Vairochana if you can. Feel your body is completely hollow like a balloon. Lord Jigten Sumgon said even if you have been sick for a year, through this practice you can remove it in a month, and if you have been sick for a month, you can remove it in a day. Keep your mind clear and undistracted. The illness is gathered together at a point below the navel and becomes very very small. The nature of illness is visualized as a black substance which is transformed into a white substance which is the essence of medicine. Visualize it then transforming into Lord Jigten Sumgon, who is in essence your root guru. Radiant light or nectar expands from this point filling your body and pushing out any negativity.
Fri, 19 Jun 2009
Three Kinds of Faith
Lama Phurbhu Tashi quizzed me Tuesday about the three types of faith. Fortunately, I had heard Khenpo Tsultrim talk on the subject during the Spring Retreat so I was able to give the answer: longing faith, clear faith, and trusting faith. Here are my notes on what Khenpo Tsultrim said about faith during the Spring Retreat:,/p>
Through pondering the dharma we develop unshakable faith in the dharma. Otherwise, one will abandon it when our life turns bad. One monk said if I didn't understand the benefits of the dharma, I would abandon my vows. Wisdom is more beneficial than faith and devotion. They are like closing your eyes and holding the hand of another. Longing faith requires knowledge. You must understand the defects of samsara and the qualities of enlightenment. We have a small understanding of suffering but don't understand it like an enlightened person does. It's said that an arhat experiences suffering like a hair in the eye, while an ordinary person experiences it like a hair in the palm of the hand. Suffering arises from the afflictive emotions. And these arise from self-grasping. But self-grasping is not the same as caring for yourself. With self-grasping we feel envious of the happiness of others. The purpose of practicing the dharma is to escape from samsara. I'm not sure if it will make you rich or famous, but it will lead to liberation.
Clear faith is the nonconceptual joy you feel when you are in a holy place or meet a holy person. But this is only an experience and not realization. It is not permanent. Understanding is said to be like a patch and experience is like a cloud. Realization is like a mountain. That is the reason for going on pilgrimage, to gain some clear faith.
Trusting faith really needs wisdom. Without wisdom, it will be difficult. Naropa followed Tilopa because he understood the benefits of the dharma. So we need wisdom and not just blind faith. One hundred percent blind faith could have the same benefit, but that is difficult to have. If Naropa hadn't jumped, we wouldn't have this lineage. With trusting faith one does not contravene the dharma. One of Buddha's disciples went off to meditate in the mountains and thought he became an arhat. But we he returned to the town and begged for food he saw that his afflictive emotions were still there. So if your trusting faith is strong, you will not abandon the dharma. The Tibetan king who invited Atisha to Tibet was taken prisoner by a Muslim king. He said he would release the king if he became a Muslim, but he refused to do so. If one has faith in the dharma, one will generate bodhicitta, and become a son of the buddhas. Bodhisattvas are called some of buddhas. This is because one day they will become enlightened. Faith enables us to transcend suffering and leads us on the path to enlightenment.
Sometimes we think we have strong faith in the teachings. But if we only practice what we like and not what we dislike, that's not faith. If you have strong faith in the dharma, you are like a yak eating grass, you always want more. By having faith in the sangha, you will become a non-returner. Since even worldly results are not achieved without faith and confidence, what can be said about spiritual goals?
Faith is a dirty word to a lot of Buddhists, who love to quote the Kalama Sutta. But it's pretty simple: you need faith because the results from Buddhist practice do not show up right away. Meditation is a difficult skill to master and it takes years to get it right. It's as if someone handed you some seeds and said they were marijuana seeds. You would have to plant the seeds, water them, clear away the weeds, and it would take a while before you were sure it was marijuana and even longer before you could smoke it. So you would have to have faith in the person who gave you the seeds and for the same reason practicing Buddhism requires faith.
Thu, 18 Jun 2009
Mind Training Class
Lama Phurbu Tashi has started teaching a class on the Seven Points of Mind Training, a well known text from the Kadampa tradition. I've put my short notes from Tuesday night's class below. I've also promised to take over running the Gampopa Center web site from Karen, who confesses she is web challenged. So sooner or later most of this stuff will go there, but for now it's going on this blog. Wednesday we had a good turnout for the meditation, six people, to show you how ridiculously small the group is. After Wednesday's meeting I decided to give up caffeine and now the withdrawal headache is kicking in, so I think I'll cut this short and go to bed.
Dromtonpa had several disciples from Kham. After receiving teachings they returned to Kham. One day a pilgrimage from Kham visited Dromtonpa.
Dromtonpa asked, "How is my first disciple doing?"
The pilgrim replied, "He's teaching many disciples."
Dromtonpa said, "That's wonderful. Then Dromtonpa asked, "How's my second disciple doing?"
"He's building many monasteries and stupas."
Dromtopa replied, "that's also wonderful. And how is my third disciple doing?"
The pilgrim replied, "He's gone into solitary retreat."
Dromtonpa replied, "That's wonderful too. So, how's my fourth disciple doing?"
The pilgrim replied, "He has problems. He cries all day long with his robe over his head."
Dromptonpa exclaimed, "That's extraordinary!" He was crying out of compassion for sentient beings.
The Seven Points of Mind Training comes from the Kadampa tradition, but is practiced by all traditions. We are studying from Jamgon Kongtul's commentary. Jamgon Kongtrul was a great Ris med master. The seven points are not taken directly from Buddha's teaching. It comes from Atisha, who condensed the essence of the Buddha's teaching into Mind Training. Geshe Chekawa composed the seven points of mind training. The first point concerns the preliminary practices. Guru yoga is explained as a preliminary practice to each period of pactice. I have explained the importance of devotion before. Absolute truth is beyond conception and only can be realized through devotion and the blessing of the masters. Visualize the form of Chenrezig, who is in essence this is all the gurus of the lineage. Repeat the lineage prayer, the Dorje Chng Chungma. Recite the short prayer to the guru many times, then see the guru dissolving through your crown and passing into your heart.
Meditate on the four common preliminaries until they become a part of your being The common preliminary practices are the same in chagchen, dzogchen, and lam rim. They are precious human birth,impermanence, karma and its result, and the suffering of samsara. Many people want to practice all the high practices and don't think much of the basics. But the main practice of the Kadampa masters was the seven branch prayer, which comes from Samantabhadra's aspiration prayer.
The benefits of mind training can be seen right away. It can be practiced all the time, on the job, travelling, or whenever.
Mon, 15 Jun 2009
Meditating on Impermanence
Here's another remark Lama Phurbu Tashi made during Sunday's talk. Meditating on impermanence is imprtant for all stages of the path. At the beginning, meditating on impermanence creates a sense of renunciation and leads us to the Dharma. In the middle, meditating on impermanence creates a sense of urgency in our practice and spurs us on. And at the end, meditating on subtle impermanence is identical with meditating on emptiness which is the core of the Middle Way, Mahamudra and Dzogchen.
Sun, 14 Jun 2009
Chekawa Yeshe
Lama Phurbu Tashi has started teaching on the Seven Points of Mind Training, a famous Tibetan text on developing bodhicitta. He's teaching from the commentary by Jamgon Kongtrul, which is not so surprising, since he's from the Karma Kagyu lineage. The text was written by Chekawa Yeshe. Here is his biography, as Lama told it. Chekawa Yeshe saw a brief saying written by a Kadampa master which said, "All gain and victory for others, all loss and defeat for myself." He was very impressed and thought this saying expressed the essence of bodhicitta. So he decided to travel to Central Tibet to study with the author of this saying. When he arrived at his monastery, he found the Kadampa master had died and his two chief students were arguing about who should take his position. But instead of arguing for themselves, each was arguing that the other should take the position. Still, Chekawa was not pleased and went looking for another of the late master's students. He found a third student lecturing on the dharma and sat in the back of the hall to listen. The lama saw the new student at the back of the lecture and afterwards asked him why he came. He told him of the saying he had read and the lama explained that he did not teach about this in public, because the teaching would not be understood. So Chekawa Yeshe asked to receive these teachings and studied with him for six years. After that, he wrote the Seven Points of Mind Training as a summary of the teaching.
Sat, 13 Jun 2009
Mahamudra and the Intellect
So here's a point that vexes some people: the relationship between mahamudra and intellectual study, or more generally the relationship between enlightenment and intellectual study. Sometimes the two are contrasted, the "mere scholar" versus the "authentic practitioner." This is not entirely wrong, as one of the eight faults of mahamudra (yes, another one of those Buddhist lists) is to mistake intellectual understanding for realization. But the distinction ignores the very real help that intellectual understanding provides to the practice of meditation. It's like picking up someone at the airport that you've never met before, a good description of the person is helpful even though no description is the same as seeing the person. Buddhism talks about the three prajnas of hearing, contemplating, and meditating. Realization only comes from the last, but it builds upon the previous two. Lama Phurbu Tashi mentioned that there were two groups of monks in his three year retreat. The first had attended shedra and studied Buddhist philosophy and the second had memorized the sadhanas and all the points of Buddhist rituals. The first group had some trouble learning how to perform the sadhanas, but the second group had more trouble during the mahamudra section of the retreat. They had a hard time comprehending the instruction on mahamudra, because it was explained in terms of emptiness and the middle way philosophy.
Fri, 12 Jun 2009
Mahamudra and Devotion
What distinguishes mahamudra from other similar Buddhist paths is that mahamudra centers on devotion to the teacher through the practice of guru yoga. I know that the concept of devotion puts many people off because it has a cultish flavor. But devotion is simply the sincere admiration for the good qualities your teacher and the aspiration to develop the same qualities in yourself. I say sincere admiration because often admiration is only egotism in disguise: I am great because I have such a great teacher. The value of devotion is, first, that it's a virtuous frame of mind, and second that it encourages practice. According to abhidharma virtuous and unvirtuous mentl factors cannot exist in the same mental frame, so by cultivating devotion we temporarily subdue our mental afflictions. And devotion is easier to cultivate than impartial love or unselfish charity or other profound virtuous states. So devotion and the practice of mahamudra are the swift path to realization.
Thu, 11 Jun 2009
Lama's Biography
The Gampoa Center's web site is slowly getting more information about Lama Phurbu Tasi and now has two photographs and a biography by his Swiss patron, who supported Lama while he was studying and practicing in India. The biograaphy is a little flowery, but I can attest to what it says in the last paragraph:
When he begins to teach or speak about the Dharma, this robust-looking native of Kham suddenly changes in appearance, becoming luminous and pure like a diamond.
When Lama teaches he's lit by an inner radiance and his joy in and devotion to the dharma are evident. I'm very impressed by him and have asked him to be my teacher.
Tuesday night he did a question and answer for a small audience. He was asked what the definition of lama was and he answered that the term had different meanings in the different Tibetan traditions. In the Gelug and Sakya schools the term is reserved for incarnate lamas, but in the Kagyu tradition it's used for someone who has completed the three year, three month retreat. After the question and answer he showed sections of a DVD that a French student had made while she was visiting Nepal with Lama in 2005.
On Wednesday I was the only attendee, so Lama gave a simple teaching on mahamudra. One thing Lama said is that the sign of progress in mahamudra is not the development of siddhis, but the decrease in negative emotions and increase in compassion. Since I was the only one there, I had to drive Lama home after the teaching and he told me the unusual circumstances of how his mother died. She was circumambukating a stupa and sat down to rest on a bench. While sitting there, she suddenly died, presumably of a heart attack. There is no good death, but this sounds like it was an auspicious one.
There's an interesting new blog on the life of Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, called Remembering the Masters, which commemorates the upcoming fiftieth aniversary of his death.
Sun, 07 Jun 2009
Saga Dawa Celebration
Today is Saga Dawa, the day Tibetan Buddhists celebrate Buddha's enlightenment and death. It's one of four major holidays in the Tibetan calendar. Dates in the Tibetan calendar are tied to the lunar cycle, so they vary according to the Western calendar. Saga Dawa usually corresponds to the full moon in the zodiac sign of Gemini.
Today was the last day of the Spring Retreat and they finished with a long life practice for Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen. It was fun, but I'm glad I won't have to do that drive again next weekend. I saw more Tibetans at the center than I usually ee, evidently well wishers for Khenchen. Khenchen has a new long life prayer, composed by Chetsang Rinpoche, the head of the Drikung lineage. I'll close with one verse from the prayer.
You have the view-realization of Nagarjuna and Maitripa
The meditation experience of Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, and Lord Mila
The conduct of correct acceptance and rejection of
Gampopa, Phagmodrupa and Kyobpa Jigten Sumgon
May you, holder of treasury of view, meditation, and conduct live long!
Sat, 06 Jun 2009
Heavy Lifting
The dharma taxi made another stop in Frederick today. It's the last days of the Spring Retreat and they're ending it with a three day practice of Amitayus, a long life practice done in honor of Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen. I'm always glad for the opportunity to practice in a group. All the Lamas were there, including Lama Sonam from Boston and Khenchen in the afternoon. During the afternoon break they asked for help to move four heavy granite slabs in front of the stupa. The slabs will be used for doing prostrations. Obviously great devotion or heavy padding will be a requirement. I helped a bit with the move, which was accomplished without injury to anyone. During lunch I helped Lance hang some prayer flags he had bought near the stupa. Once again showing that tying a square knot is the most useful skill I learned in childhood. It was quite a pleasnt day, the weather was good, the people at the center were mellow, and the meditation went well. It's hard to convey that in a post, but I thought it should be mentioned.
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