Mirror of Freedom
Number 8
Practice Questions: Part One
Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche
May all beings find liberations in the vast expanse of the mirror of
freedom.
These questions were asked of Chagdud Rinpoche by sangha members of
Ghagdud Gonpa Odsal Ling in the fall of 1992. Rinpoche's responses were
translated by Richard Barron.
This set of questions came to Mount Kailas BBS in support of Chagdud
Tulku Rinpoche's visit to Boston, October 16 - 18 , 1994. The Mirror of
freedom series is produced three times a year. Inquiries concerning
subscriptions to Mirror of Freedom and purchase of other copies can be
directed to Chagdud Gonpa Foundation.
Ghagdud Gonpa Foundation
P.O.Box 279
Junction City, CA 96048-0279
(916)623-2714
MAY ALL BEINGS BENEFIT!
Copyright 1993 - Chagdud Gonpa/Padma Publishing
MIRROR OF FREEDOM
Question: You have taught, time and time again, that the difference
between practitioners and nonpractitioners is that nonpractitioners
perceive the phenomenal world as if looking through a window, whereas
practitioners do so as if looking in a mirror. Could you say more about
this, since it is so important for our practice ?
Response: If we want to help others eliminate flaws and develop positive
qualities, we have to ensure first that we ourselves are free of flaws
and endowed with positive qualities. Even if we are not completely
flawless, even if we have not fully revealed all of our positive
qualities, we should at least have purified our mindstream enough to help
others rather than simply criticize them.
That is why it is important to examine our own minds. When we have a
negative thought, or even a neutral one - one that isn't particularly
non-virtuous - we must try to transform it into a virtuous one. The more
we redirect the mind, the more its outer expression in speech and actions
becomes virtuous. The root of all phenomena in samsara and nirvana is the
mind. Virtuous and nonvirtuous states of mind are responsible for the
karma that leads to suffering or happiness.
If we repeatedly examine our thoughts, words and actions, and tame our
own minds, our shortcomings will begin to diminish and our positive
qualities grow. The more our flaws are reduced, the more those around us
will benefit. The more our positive qualities are enhanced, the more we
will be capable of helping others cultivate those qualities themselves.
Question: Of the Three Jewels - the Buddha, dharma and sangha - the
qualities of the precious sangha are sometimes the most difficult to see.
It is often hard to maintain pure view about our peers. How does
establishing a good relationship with fellow practitioners benefit our
practice? How can we give rise to pure view and appreciate the positive
qualities of sangha members?
Response: If we consider the infinite number of beings in the six realms
of samsara proportionately, we could say that the number of beings in the
hell realms is like the number of dust particles in a huge country. The
number of pretas, or hungry ghosts, is equivalent to the grains of sand
in the river Ganges and the number of animals, to the number of grains in
a large bowl of swollen mash used to ferment beer. The demigods are equal
in number to the snowflakes in a blizzard or raindrops in a storm. The
number of gods and humans is like the number of grains of sand that could
fit on your fingernail.
So, to begin with, human existence is very rare, for human beings are
far less numerous than other beings. Further, although many countries are
populated by hundreds of millions of human beings, how many of those
people are actively pursuing a path of virtue and benefit for others
through their thoughts, words and actions? How many are trying to avoid
harming others and acting in nonvirtuous ways? The number of such people
can be likened to the number of stars one can see in the daytime - very
few indeed.
The Tibetan word for the Sanskrit sangha is gedun, which means someone
who yearns for, or is motivated by, virtue. If people have that quality
of seeking virtue, even though they may not be flawless, their motivation
and personal commitment make them very special. Members of the Mahayana
sangha vow not only to free themselves from cyclic existence, but to free
others as well. How could we not see that commitment as the best of all
qualities? We mustn't ignore it and focus instead on more temporary and
personal shortcomings. Those with whom we associate in the sangha are our
companions until we attain enlightenment. By viewing them with respect
and appreciation, we are benefiting ourselves because this increases our
merit. It purifies our negative habits and the effects of negative karma.
So there is a direct relationship between our attitude of respect for the
sangha and the benefit that we as individual practitioners gain.
Question: Perhaps our biggest obstacle on the path is the fact that
we're fickle, that our diligence in practice vacillates. Would you please
speak about how a beginning practitioner can develop his or her
enthusiasm in order to practice steadily?
Response: In order to develop diligence, we need to think again and
again about the precious opportunity that human existence provides - to
recall the freedom and opportunity that we have to pursue spiritual
development and to remind ourselves that spiritual practice is the only
way to discover the essence of being human. We should further understand
that we must use this precious opportunity well, for we have no idea when
we will die. We only know that we will die. Once we have died, the only
thing that will make any difference is our positive and negative karma.
Positive karma will lead to temporary and ultimate happiness, and
negative karma to further suffering. This understanding should be based
on a firm belief in the infallibility of karma, not just on an abstract
notion.
If our mind follows our negative karmic patterns, we will be propelled
into states of rebirth where there is only suffering - whether the
intense heat and cold of the hells; the relentless hunger and thirst of
the hungry ghost realms; the suffering due to stupidity and the struggle
for survival among animals; birth, old age, sickness, death and other
sufferings of the human condition; the suffering due to quarreling,
jealousy and strife in the demigod realms; or the suffering due to the
fall from the god realms.
Understanding these four thoughts - precious human birth,
impermanence, karma and suffering - contemplating them, calling them
repeatedly to mind and, finally, meditating on them is the most excellent
way to develop unswerving diligence.
Question: Sometimes emotions like anger, desire or romantic love arise
so strongly in the mind they seem to have their own power and we can
become obsessed with them. As much as we might try to change these habit
patterns, no matter how much energy or effort we expend, we often can't
overcome them. Where does this power of the emotions come from? What
antidote, technique or method can we use to deal with them?
Response: Whether we are experiencing attachment or aversion, the object
of our emotion, the person or thing toward which we feel anger or desire,
is not permanent, or singular, or autonomous. Quite the opposite. All of
the objects of our emotions are impermanent, composed of many different
parts and subject to external influences, with no self-power or autonomy.
Once we understand this, we need to contemplate it again and again. It's
not enough to recognize this to be true and then forget about it. We must
think about it repeatedly so that we gradually come to the realization
that the objects of our attachment and aversion do not really exist, but
are like images in a dream. This is the primary antidote to strong
emotions.
Another approach involves using an emotion like anger to antidote
itself: the mode of anger is employed skillfully to tame the ordinary,
confused aspect of anger. For example, in certain wrathful Vajrayana
practices, we may utilize the imagery of the slaying of enemies. However,
this involves no externalized aggression, for we recognize that the enemy
we experience as outside of us is not what is preventing us from
achieving liberation: the real obstacle is our anger toward the enemy. So
we focus not on defeating an external enemy, but on liberating the
internal enemy, the true enemy: our own hatred and anger, which, if acted
upon, cause us to create negative karma. In these practices, we liberate
this inner enemy in the context of the four immeasurable qualities of
love, compassion, joy and equanimity and from the perspective of wisdom,
the realization that neither the self nor phenomena have true self-
nature.
We can use a similar approach with desire. For example, sexual
attraction involves the object of one's desire, oneself as the one who
desires and the sexual activity or interactions between oneself and
the object of our attraction. In Vajrayana these are referred to as the
"three spheres" of subject, object and the activity between them. From
the point of view of its essential nature, neither the object of desire,
oneself as the desiring subject nor any activity based on that desire
could ever be established to have its own true existence. Each is empty
of self-nature. Yet the inherent dynamic energy of emptiness manifests
unceasingly. This is the display of pristine awareness as phenomena.
So we can engage in activity based on desire from a higher
perspective. If we understand it from the point of view of its essential
nature rather than in terms of what takes place when we feel it and act
on it, we can experience the ordinary pleasure of sexual activity
nondually as the union of bliss and emptiness. In this way, we use the
mode of desire skillfully to tame ordinary, confused desire. Without
this view of its essential nature, however, our activity will be based on
ordinary desire and we will accumulate karma.
Even though we may embark on this path and rely on such meditation, we
won' t immediately transform our perceptions, for we are dealing with
very strong habitual patterns. But with consistent, stable practice, our
negativities will gradually diminish and all that is positive, virtuous
and supportive of enlightenment will grow. Regardless of the particular
means we use, the important thing is to apply them over and over again,
without becoming discouraged, remembering that the process takes time.
Question: There is a child in the sangha whose kitten broke its leg. The
child prayed to Tara for help. At first, the kitten improved, but
eventually died. Very disappointed, the child decided there is no benefit
to doing Tara practice. In another case, a healthy young woman who
practiced Vajrasattva meditation for one year felt protected by the
blessings of that deity. Then she got cancer and developed wrong views
about the dharma. She felt that her practice had been a waste of time.
How realistic is it to place hope on immediate benefit from our practice?
Response: To explain it in a way that the child could understand, we
might use the example of an excellent car mechanic. If you have a car
that isn't running well, how realistic is it to expect a very skilled
mechanic to fix it? In the majority of cases, one could expect the
mechanic to fix the car. But no matter how skilled the mechanic, if the
car is worn out, it cannot be fixed.
What happens to a living being, whether a human or a kitten, depends
on karma, as well as the incidental and immediate circumstances of life.
If we have the karma to sustain this particular body, we will live. But
if the power to sustain our existence dissipates, there is no way anyone
can bring it back. Although the child's prayers didn't seem to have an
immediate effect, this doesn't mean that the practice done on behalf of
the kitten was wrong or useless; it will benefit that being in a future
lifetime.
People can sometimes overcome enormous obstacles through their
practice, even in this lifetime, when three factors come together: faith,
karma that allows for the obstacles to be overcome, and the blessings and
compassion of one's object of prayer.
Question: What is the origin of mantras? What is their function? Is it
just that by using them our mind becomes stable or one-pointed, or are
there other benefits?
Response: The power and effectiveness of mantra are due, first, to the
fact that the sounds and forms of the mantra syllables are in essence not
beyond emptiness or dharmakaya, and are therefore established by the true
nature of reality itself. Second, the particular form that mantras
take - the combination of certain syllables and their sound - is self-
arising from the innate compassion of buddhas and bodhisattvas. This is
the establishment of their inherent power on the phenomenal level. Third,
mantras have been used by great practitioners who have proved their
value, consecrated them and imbued them with their own prayers and
aspirations. This is called establishment through blessing. Finally, if
people with faith in their effectiveness recite mantras repeatedly, they
will purify their obscurations and karma and gain both ordinary and
sublime siddhis, or spiritual accomplishments. This is called
establishment through the power and energy of mantra. In our practice,
both the mantras we use and the deities associated with them are endowed
with these four kinds of establishment.
Question: Many people, and in fact many practitioners, doubt whether
wisdom deities exist. Some believe that the deity is a higher form of
sentient being who can guide us on the path or protect us. Others say the
deity is a symbol or an expression of the true nature of our own mind.
Ultimately, what is the nature of what we call "deity"?
Response: The term "deity" refers to both dharmakaya and rupakayas, or
form manifestations. When we say the "dharmakaya of buddha," we are
referring to a flawless state endowed with all positive qualities in
which the fundamental nature of all phenomena is completely evident, free
of all conceptual elaboration. The radiance of dharmakaya manifests
unceasingly as the rupakayas: as the sambhogakaya in the perception of
those with purified karma, and as the nirmanakaya to those with ordinary,
unpurified karma.
At present, because we are temporarily, superficially subject to
confusion, we experience reality in a dualistic way, with hope and fear,
as self and other, high and low. Although superficial stains and
distortions in our mindstream have not been purified, our essential
nature is pure. The difference between the deity and ourselves is that
the deity embodies a twofold purity - that of mind's essential nature and
that due to the purification of obscurations - whereas we are essentially
pure, but not yet pure on the temporary, superficial level. Because of
that, we perceive the deity as separate from us. Once the habit of
perceiving things as distinct from us has been purified and our
obscurations thus removed, we will recognize that there is no deity other
than the self-manifesting appearances of the deity and pureland, beyond
concepts of separate or identical.
Question: Do Western students have obstacles to their dharma practice
that people in other countries don't have? Many Western practitioners
maintain an outer dharmic conduct, and may be familiar with the names of
many deities or hold sectarian views about different teaching lineages,
but it would be difficult to say that we are true practitioners, that we
have revealed love, compassion and wisdom from deep within the
mindstream. Also, do people in the West enjoy specific advantages that
will aid their practice?
Response: Many Westerners are intelligent, able to assess what different
traditions have to offer and to make good decisions concerning what is
important based upon that intelligent examination. But Western dharma
students have a lack of information, simply because the Buddhist
teachings have not been available for very long in the West. Also, as new
dharma students, Westerners are sometimes not able to discern whether
teachings are being presented in a biased or prejudiced manner. This
doesn't happen often - most lamas teach in a nonsectarian and good-
hearted way - but when it does and students are too inexperienced to
recognize the distortion of genuine dharma, it can be a serious obstacle.
Other than that, I don't see any particular problem unique to them.
Western practitioners find it easy to change outer deportment, habits and
so forth, but also realize that the inner transformation through practice
is more important.
In a greater sense, we are all dealing with habitual patterns and
negative karma that have been reinforced through time without beginning.
Most Westerners must deal further with the fact that during the first
part of their lives, they had no exposure to the teachings of dharma, and
therefore had no opportunity to become familiar with practice, much
less to spend the amount of time in practice that is necessary for inner
transformation. They're starting fresh.
It's naive to assume that new practitioners will immediately eliminate
all their shortcomings and develop all the positive qualities of
practice. But if, having entered the door of dharma at whatever stage
of life, they continue to practice then love, compassion and wisdom will
grow. If people practice, they can improve. There is no difference here
between Easterners and Westerners. If, when we first encounter the
dharma, we think we are going to be perfect from the very beginning and
that if that doesn't happen there is no point in practicing, we will be
turning away from the only means we have to become perfect, to become
true practitioners. First we must be exposed to the teachings and then we
must practice so that over time, step by step, we will become true
embodiments of the dharma.
***********************************************************************
Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, a highly-realized meditation master, artist and
Tibetan physician, was born in Eastern Tibet in 1930. Recognized at an
early age as an incarnation of the Abbot of Chagdud Gonpa monastery,
he was thoroughly trained by many of Tibet's greatest lamas in the
philosophy and meditation practices of Vajrayana Buddhism. He fled Tibet
at the time of the Chinese occupation in 1959 and, at the request of H.
H. Dudjom Rinpoche, helped establish and administer several refugee camps
in both India and Nepal.
At the request of several American students, he came to the U. S. in
1979. Since then, through the Chagdud Gonpa Foundation, he has
established centers for the study and practice of Vajrayana Buddhism
throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Brazil.
Chagdud Tulku's primary residence is in Junction City, in the Trinity
Alps region of Northern California.