Tue, 18 Jul 2006
Phowa
While I was at the retreat at KTD, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche suggested that I go to Toronto to do a week long Phowa retreat in Toronto with Thrangu Rinpoche. Not only did I promise to do it, I promised in front of a hundred people. So there's no backing out. That means saving up my pennies for the trip and also completing 100,000 repititions of Amitabha's mantra. The only way I'll complete that is to do a retreat. So I went visiting the Tibetan Meditation Center last Sunday asking for permission to do a retreat there. Khenpo was glad to let me do a retreat there, because he'll be in Gaithersberg taking an English language course. They've been having problems with vandalism at TMC. Someone wrote "Jesus Saves" on their white board in permanent marker and spread loaves of bread around on the parking lot. The latter strikes me as slightly crazy. I wonder if the person is mentally unballanced. So I've got to get evrything lined up to do the retreat. It's embarrassing, but I don't have the Amitabha sadhana, because it's not part of my regular practice. So I ordered it from Namse Bangdzo and asked that they send it by Priority Mail. I hope I get it by the end of the week.
Khenpo Tsultrim gave a short talk on courage and bodhicitta while I was visiting, and I've included my notes below. I also heard that Khenchen Kpnchog Gyaltsen is now back in Tibet, teaching at a monastery there. So no more teachings at TMC for a while.
Mahayana is the great path or transportation. But the path is not going to make us great, we have to make it great. The greatness is the motivation. If you have bodhicitta your motivation is good. You think I want to become liberated for the sake of all sentient beings. That is the motivation of bodhicitta.
It's not an easy job. Bodhisattvas need courage. Without courage bodhisattvas sometimes lose their bodhicitta. People here have heard the stories about Shariputra. Someone asked him for his right arm and he cut it off. The other person refused to accept it when it was offered with Shariputra's left arm. In India offerings made with the left hand are considered insulting. So he lost his path of bodhicitta because he thought I couldn't even make one sentient being happy, so how can I make all sentient beings happy. The other story is how Shariputra offered an eye to a person who squished it saying I like hearing the sound. And this caused him to lose his motivation. One great Buddhist scholar debated a non-Buddhist scholar. When the non-Buddhist was losing the debate, he burnt him with fire. This caused him to consider losing the bodhisattva motivation. He threw rock up in the air and said I will renounce bodhicitta if it falls. It didn't and he looked up and Manjushri was holding the rock. We are Mahayana Buddhists. In Tibet they don't have choice. 80-90% in Tibet are religious. Here when people practice they run into obstacles they think, I should give Buddhism up. That's just your karma. So when you practice you need courage. If you didn't have the karma others couldn't harm you. Shantideva said if someone hits you with a stick, the fault is ego. If you didn't have a body, you wouldn't be able to be harmed. Similarly, the karma and the person who is harming are both working. Shantideva said sentient beings as kind to us as Buddhas in helping us to practice the path to enlightenment. The path is neither fast nor slow. Too slow is lazy and fast means a big effort then you lose interest.
How do you cultivate bodhicitta? Usually it's through considering the kindness of all our mothers in previous lives. There are five mothers, the one who gives you birth, the one who feeds and raises you, the one who teaches you, and so forth, The main point is to consider who has been kindest to you in your life. Then you should think of repaying their kindness. You should wish that that person will be happy. That is called love.
Every sentient being suffers, from the President to a street sweeper. Poor people think they will be happy if they have money. Rich people think that they will be happy if their competition is eliminated. A rich businessman in India invited Chetsang Rinpoche's family to visit. He had a many limousines and a big mansion. At first he talked about how happy he was, then he talked about his worries about his children. So deep down everyone has suffering.
The next practice is exchanging self and other. It seems easy, but sometimes there's the danger this practice can destroy your motivation. So you need strong courage. Some people say I do thong len and I take others sickness. But if you ask them if you can have their car, they wouldn't do it. If you don't have strong love and compassion, you can't have strong bodhicitta. One person became very angry and someone asked him what was wrong. He said, someone's destroying my practice of patience and that's making me angry. We think love and compassion always give you suffering. But that's not love it's grasping to what is ours. It's the grasping that gives suffering. So to have love and compassion you must have equanimity. If you have equanimity, love and compassion will only lead to joy. Otherwise love and compassion will only lead to attachment and suffering. We are in samsara because we are attached. The main cause of attachment is grasping at a self.
You cannot build love and compassion on the basis of seeking benefit for a single life. In Tibet when people are sick they do a lot of practice, but when they get well they don't. You cannot completely eliminate your karma by practices. In Tibet they sometimes blame the teacher and sometimes the practice. They never blame their karma. If people practice for the sake of this or the next life, the practice will cease when you get the result. But if your motivation is enlightenment, the practice and its benefits will continue until you reach the goal. So motivation and dedication to full enlightenment makes the merit indestructible.
