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His Holiness begins his day with a period
of meditation, followed by breakfast. He then receives instruction
in transmission and debating. From 11:00 a.m. to 12 noon each day,
he holds a special audience for those who are very ill, who have
previous travel schedules, who wish to receive special instruction
or advice regarding practice, who have special questions such as
refuge vows, or who are unable to receive his blessings during the
public audience.
Wednesday and Saturday at 2:30 p.m., after his
lunch break, he holds a public audience where he bestows transmission
of the Six Syllable Mantra, the 'Mani Lung', and offers a teaching.
All are welcome to receive His Holiness' blessing and teaching.
Afternoons are dedicated to receiving empowerments,
writing, and summarizing the day's studies. In the early evening
His Holiness engages in the supplication and propitiation of the
Protector Mahakala.
| 07/03/09 |
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July 2, Dharamshala / Gyuto
Former Union Minister and one of the most prominent supporters of Tibetan cause, Mr George Fernandes met His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa at his residence at Gyuto. Mr Fernandes is accompanied by Ajay Singh, former deputy union minister along with his wife.
Earlier on June 23rd a group of visiting Nepali Parliamentary members comprises six MPs, including two women and Siddharth Gautam,( President of Lumbini Foundation for Development & Peace) met His Holiness at Gyuto.
According to Gautam, the Nepali Member of Parliaments (MP) are currently visiting Dharamsala to have “a deeper understanding of Tibetan issue and situation, and to pave ways to bridge closer relations between the two communities” in the long run.
Gautam said his foundation had also been working to realize a “visit by His Holiness Karmapa” to Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha in Nepal.
Tseten Norbu, a member of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile based in Nepal, has coordinated the MPs' visit to Dharamsala.
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| 07/02/09 |
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His Holiness Karmapa talks on the preservation of wildlife
TCV/ Dharamsala.
His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa gave a talk on the preservation of wildlife at upper TCV (Tibetan Children’s Village School) students on Monday, June 29th- an awareness event co-organized by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and Care for the Wild International (CWI).
“Animals are not our enemies. We are all interdependent; every animal has a role to play in the ecology by being a part of the food chain. If you remove one layer, the entire chain is affected. Even while talking in the interest of human beings, by saving wildlife, you are ultimately helping yourself,” His Holiness said.
The event was a part of the Tibetan Conservation Awareness Campaign (TCAC), a WTI-CWI project aimed at spreading conservation awareness among Tibetans. The campaign was launched by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on April 6, 2005 to address the involvement of Tibetans in wildlife crimes and the use of wildlife articles in Tibetan medicines and traditional dresses.
Vouching farther support to the Dalai Lama’s previous appeal, the Karmapa added: “From the Buddhist viewpoint, we say every sentient being has been our mother in past lives. We believe in bringing no harm to all the sentient beings where animals are also included, but the ground reality is that this is being neglected. Some may believe that the environment is so huge that it cannot be affected by the action of one person. However, individuals can make lots of differences; the kind of difference, whether positive or negative, depends on the character and belief of humans.”
“We have observed a visible increase in awareness levels within the Tibetan community, but obviously our work is far from complete. The words of His Holiness Karmapa will help fortify our campaign and benefit the cause by leaving a lingering message in the minds of young Tibetans and adults alike,” Mr. Ashok Kumar Vice Chairman of WTI added at the conclusion of the event.
His Holiness was felicitated with Wildlife Trust of India award.
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| 06/27/09 |
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His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa’s 25th birthday celebrations.
The celebration began from early morning with Drupon Rinpoche offering Khata to His Holiness at the beginning of prayers.
Khen-Rinpoche the head of Gyuto Ramoche Monastery led the prayers and offered Mandala to His Holiness followed by the Tenshug offering.
The main shrine hall of Gyuto was crowded with a huge number of international devotees who have gathered to wish His Holiness happy birthday. Many venerable Rinpoches had also gathered.
His Eminence Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche led the second session of prayers continuing the Mandala and followed by the Tenshug offerings. Many venerable Rinpoches, representatives of Tibetan Government in Exile offered Mandala and Tenshug to His Holiness. Mr. Gonpo Phuntsok, the Secretary to the Department of Religion and culture wished His Holiness, on behalf of Kashag(the governing council of Tibetan govt. in exile) a happy birthday as well.
Mr. Sonam Damdul, a Kagyu Member of Parliament, Justice Commissioner, Mr. Anyetsang Thubten Tashi, Mr. Khorlatsang Sonam Tobgyal, Secretary of the Financial Department, Mrs. Nangsa Choedon, Secretary to the Public Service Commission, Mr. Tsering Phuntsok, Representative Officer of Dharamsala, were among the dignitaries present from the Tibetan Government in Exile.
Later at around 5pm, His Holiness cut the birthday cake. Thousand of international devotees sang the birthday song and wished His Holiness a very Happy 25th birthday.
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| 06/24/09 |
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The Hong Kong dharma centers, sponsors and Tsurphu Labrang offered Tenshug to His Holiness marking end of the eight-day long Tsedup puja, which was from June 17-24.
His Eminence Gyaltsab Rinpoche led the tenshug prayer.
On the request of devotees His Holiness gave a short teaching afterwards of the Tehshug prayers.
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| 06/20/09 |
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His Holiness attended the morning session on the third day of the Tsedup Puja, which is being performed at at Gyuto. There were 160 retreat Monks and Nuns from different monasteries and nunneries attending this puja. His Eminence Gyaltsab Rinpoche led the Tsedup prayer performed from June 17th-24th, especially for the 25th obstacle year of His Holiness, many other Rinpoches also attended the prayers.
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| 06/05/09 |
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Gyalwang Karmapa Celebrates World Environment Day at Gyuto
With day-time temperatures soaring to more than 100 F, His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa waited until the early evening, before taking part in a tree planting ceremony in the grounds of Gyuto Tantric University, his temporary home near Dharamsala.
Accompanied by the Abbot of Gyuto and other senior Gyuto monks, Gyalwang Karmapa supervised the planting of ten saplings, various shrubs and a multitude of flowers.
The ceremony began with the recitation by monks from Gyuto of prayers for world peace. Then Gyalwang Karmapa placed the first sapling, an Ashoka tree, in the ground. He gently scooped up earth to cover the roots of the tree, and then watered it. The Abbot followed by planting a pine tree sapling.
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| 05/31/09 |
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Dharamsala, India. The 15th Gyalyum Chenmo Memorial Gold Cup Football Tournament kicked off today with an elaborate ceremonial opening at the Tibetan Children Village School.
His Holiness Karmapa graced the occasion as the chief guest. Ven Tsering Phuntsok, minister for religion, and Mr. Chope Paljor Tsering, minister of health, justice Thupten Tashi Anyertsang from the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission, and Atul Fulzile, the Superintendent of police, Kangra, were also present among other guests.
His Holiness gave the inaugural speech, in which he pointed out that all of the participating teams have come from different places of Tibetan settlements and that this is a wonderful stage to show the power of one-ness, which is very important for the Tibetan community. He concluded by wishing success to every team. Later he felicitated each team with a gift and took group pictures with them.
A symbolic “Thank you India” match was played between TCV United and Kangra district police before the opening game of the tournament.
His Holiness left for Gyuto after the tournament.
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| 05/26/09 |
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His Holiness Karmapa attended the prayer session where the blessing pills are prepared through the ritual of Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig) puja at the Tsuglag-Khang in Dharamsala, marking the beginning of Buddhist holy month of Saka Dawa, the annual festival that represents the three most important events of the life of Lord Buddha - his birth, enlightenment and parinirvana. Tibetan Buddhists believe during Saka Dawa, the fourth month of the Tibetan Lunar calendar, the karmic results of virtuous and non-virtuous actions are magnified.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama presided over the prayer session at Tsuglag-Khang.
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| 05/25/09 |
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Kyabje Dorlob Tenga Rinpoche has arrived at Gyuto , Rinpoche is offering instructions on Tantric Rituals to His Holiness commencing this morning.
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| 04/22/09 |
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A Message from the Gyalwang Karmapa
I am happy to release the 108 Things You Can Do today on Earth Day (April 22nd) and hope that this auspicious act has far-reaching benefits for the Earth.
Our world is facing an environmental crisis which is complex, overwhelming and affects us all, but it is difficult to know where to begin and what we can do. It is very important for all of us to change our behavior ─ we need to start taking practical steps. These 108 Things You Can Do are a path that everyone can follow in order to make a difference.
This list of 108 Things You Can Do was produced during the First Kagyu Conference on Environmental Protection held in Saranath, Varanasi in March 2009. These practical solutions were developed under the leadership of His Holiness with the help of the representatives from the participating monasteries and nunneries.
108 Things You Can Do
to Help the Environment |
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English version
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Tibetan version
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| 04/20/09 |
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His Holiness gave instructions about environmental consciousness. Gyuto / Dharamsala
His Holiness called an audience with all the staff of the Tsurphu Labrang who are working at Gyuto at 2:30 pm. He gave brief introduction about environment consciousness and the problems caused by humans to the natural balance of the environment.
His Holiness explained many ways in which the environment can be protected. One simple conduct is by being mindfulness about the products that we use in our daily lives. By tracing out how it was made, starting from the raw material and how much energy it has consumed to get it on our table is a technique that can make us more aware of the environment that we live in. Also mindfulness of the fact that we have a choice and using those products that are eco-friendly is one of the many methods that he has introduced.
His Holiness explained that the protection of environment is truly a Buddhist act as it benefits the whole ecosystem.
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| 04/12/09 |
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His Holiness Karmapa study science
April 11, 2009. Dharamsala His Holiness is studying science from Daniel Goleman. He will study two-hour science class for four days at Gyuto.
Richard Gere joinedthe first day of the science class.
Daniel Goleman is an internationally known psychologist who lectures frequently to professional groups, business audiences, and on college campuses. Working as a science journalist, Goleman reported on the brain and behavioral sciences for The New York Times for many years. His 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence (Bantam Books) was on The New York Times bestseller.
He is one of the advisors of the “Mind and Life” conference and have been participating from 3rd “Mind and Life” conference which was held in 1990.
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| 04/11/09 |
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His Holiness Karmapa attended the “Mind and Life” Conference.
Dharamsala, April 6-10.
His Holiness the Karmapa attended the “Mind and Life” conference, which was took place at His Holiness Dalai Lama's residence.
Prominent western scientists and renowned academics have gathered for five days of presentation and dialogues as part of a “Mind and Life” conference series, including Buddhist scholar-practitioners.
The conference themed: “Attention, Memory and Mind: A synergy of Psychological, Neuroscientific and Contemplative Perspectives” started with an inaugural talk by the Dalai Lama.
This is the 18th Mind and Life Meet. The first meeting took place in 1987.
The Mind and Life Dialogues, more generally termed “Dialogues between Buddhism and the sciences”, were initially started to experiment whether a rigorous exchange could occur between leading modern scientists and the Dalai Lama.
Mind and Life18th aims the primary focus on the subjective phenomenology, information-processing operations, and neural mechanisms of attention, memory and conscious awareness from both scientific and Buddhist perspectives.
A number of scientific research programs collaborated with contemplatives to conduct scientific investigation and one of the primary pursuits of Mind and Life scientists is to study the effects of contemplative practices like meditation and mental training have on brain and behavior, and the translation of this data into effective tools to benefit people.
Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, Hollywood Buddhist star, Richard Gere and, Robert Thurman, Buddhist scholar and author are among others taking part in the ongoing conference.
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| 04/06/09 |
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His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa was conferred the India Splendor Award 2009 for his "contribution to world peace." Dharmsala, India.
His Holiness Dalai Lama and Gyalwang Karmapa joined by eminent religious leaders from various religious faiths for a conference on Sunday at the Dhukhor temple, Tsuklakhang.
The Gyalwang Karmapa was conferred with the India Splendor Award 2009 for his contributions to World Peace.
The second conference on 'the Indian view for global peace' is themed “Reciprocity: Base for universal Interconnectedness”.
The participants of the conference included among others His Holiness Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Divyanand Teerthji Maharaj of Bhanpura Peeth, His Holiness Chidanand Saraswati, Jain Muni Acharya Sri Roopchandra ji, Rev. D S Uchida and His Holiness Swami Parmanand Saraswati.
Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Modi of India Splendor, which organized the event, presided over the conference. Dr. Modi, an Indian industrialist, is also one of the patrons of Mahabodhi Society of India.
Dr Modi, on behalf of the peace conference, appealed to the Dalai Lama to accept the Indian citizenship and to help lead the global movement for peace from India.
The event was sponsored by Purna Holistic Center, Indian Council of Religious Leaders, Mahabodhi Society of India, Sri Jwalamukhi Mandir Trust, Ekal Vidyalaya, Vaish Federation, Parmarth Niketan, Himalayan Buddhist Cultural Association and Jyotimarth avantar Bhanpura Peeth.
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| 03/31/09 |
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Commemorating 50 years of exile
Dharamsala, March 31, 2009
Tibetans celebrated an official function in Dharamsala, to mark the occasion called “Thank you India”.
In Dharamsala, the function showcasing Tibetan cultural songs and dances by school children was attended by senior officials from the Tibet’s government-in exile and representatives from the Indian community.
At the request of Tibetan Welfare Office, His Holiness Karmapa chaired the function and presented souvenir to the Chief Guest of the event Mr Kishan Kapoor, transport minister, the Government of Himachal Pradesh.
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| 03/29/09 |
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His Holiness spoke at a lecture event on ‘world peace and youth'
March 29, IIC, New Delhi.
His Holiness expressed his deep gratitude to the Indian government and the people of India for providing refuge to the Tibetans for fifty years and said that the Tibetans owe a great deal to India for being able to preserve the rich Tibetan culture and practice one’s own religion in India. The popularity of Tibetan Buddhism in the world, he said, was largely because of its strong base in India.
The India International Centre (IIC), the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) of the Central Tibetan Administration and Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi are jointly organizing the festival of 50 years in Exile: Tibet Experience. The festival was focused on the lives of Tibetan in exile and their rebuilding and preserving the fabric of a community away from their homelands.
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| 03/27/09 |
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Vajra Vidhya Institue.
His Holiness performed the Lama Gyang Boe and Nedhon Chag Choe prayer in the morning, Kyabje Khenchen Yongzin Thrangu Rinpoche attended the prayer at the main shrine hall.
His Holiness will be leaving for Delhi in the afternoon and will be at Gyuto Dharamsala on March 30.
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| 03/25/09 |
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His Holiness presided over Säng Puja at Vajra Vidhya Institute, Sarnath.
This is the 29th day of the Tibetan Lunar calendar, and is also the time when the Earth-Water elements coincide according to Tibetan tradition. The Säng Duë Tse Trin Phung puja is usually performed on right conditions such as these to spread lasting peace. His Holiness presided over the Säng puja at 7 am where Kyabje Khenchen Yongzin Thrangu Rinpoche and all the participants of the Environmental Protection Conference were present. The members of Kagyu committee also attended the Säng puja.
After the conclusion of the puja, His Holiness planted white sandalwood tree on the lawn of Vajra Vidhya Institute to mark the successful completion of 1st Environmental Protection Conference for Kagyu Monasteries.
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| 03/22/09 |
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Teachings on Milarepa'sCorrectly Expressing the Middle Way
On March 22 and 23, His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa offered teachings on Milarepa's Correctly Expressing the Middle Way, at the request of the Kagyu Relief and Protection Committee of Central University for Tibetan Studies at Sarnath. Along with the members of the Kagyu committee, the teachings were attended by students and teachers from the Central University for Higher Tibetan Studies from other lineages as well.
His Holiness began the first day with a presentation of the history of the Kagyu lineages, emphasizing their interconnectedness. His Holiness pointed out that all that is left of many of these once thriving lineages are ruins in Tibet, and expressed his ongoing concern to establish vibrant monasteries in India and elsewhere, to ensure the availability of the teachings in the future.
Building on the introduction to Mahamudra according to the sutra path he had conferred at Vajra Vidya Institute the previous week, His Holiness presented the Mahamudra view in the context of the tantric path, and delineated the differences in the contexts and purposes served by the Middle Way view and the Other-Empty view of Mahamudra. After conferring the oral transmission of the text, His Holiness commenced his commentary on the text. On the second afternoon, His Holiness arrived to deliver the teachings straight from a full days' attendance at the 1st Annual Conference on World Environment, taking place at Vajra Vidya at the same time. To an increasingly packed audience, His Holiness delved directly into some of the most complex issues raised in Middle Way philosophy. Outlining the Consequentialist Middle Way stance formulated by Chandrakirti, His Holiness explored its mode of arguing from the perspective of others, while eschewing the claim to have a thesis of its own.
Despite his initial suggestion that his remarks be taken as just casual conversation, during the course of the two afternoons His Holiness presented a virtual tour de force of commentary on the Middle Way view.
In conclusion, Khenpo Sogyal expressed thanks and praised HH in a concluding speech that was clearly as heartfelt as it was extensive.Studies at Sarnath. Along with the members of the Kagyu committee, the teachings were attended by students and teachers from the Central University for Higher Tibetan Studies from other lineages as well.
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| 03/21/09 |
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His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa chaired the First conference on the Environmental protection for Kagyu monasteries held at the Vajra Vidhya Institute at Saranath on March 21-25
Representatives of 26 monasteries from India, Nepal and Bhutan attended the conference. Deki Chungyalpa was the conference facilitator.
His Holiness was presented with the painting, which is on the cover of the Environmental guideline magazine. After that, His Holiness addressed explaining the importance and the goals of the conference, and the relation between environment and Buddhism. Followed by Khenchen Yongzin Thrangu Rinpoche.
The main goals of the conference are:
• To train senior monks from Kagyu monasteries on environmental issues in the Himalayan and the Tibetan plateau.
• To develop environmental activities addressing these issues that monasteries could implement.
• To develop preliminary work-plan for these projects and set up a process.
The main goals of the conference are:
-To train senior monks from Kagyu monasteries on environmental issues in the Himalayan and the Tibetan plateau.
-To develop environmental activities addressing these issues that monasteries could implement.
-To develop preliminary work-plan for these projects and set up a process.
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| 03/19/09 |
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His Holiness is receiving oral transmission and instructions of Dul-wa-dho-tsa-wa ( Vinaya Mulya Sutra) composed by Lob-pon Youn-ten Yoe, from Khenchen Yongzin Thrangu Rinpoche. The oral transmission started on March 17th and is held at Kyabje Thrangu Rinpoche’s residence from 7-8 am.
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| 03/16/09 |
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His Holiness shared his experiences on Mahamudra practice.
The students who have recently finished Khenche Yongzin Thrangu Rinpoche’s Mahamudra course, requested His Holiness to teaach them. His Holiness accepted, and gav e a teaching the day after his arrival from Delhi.
His Holiness began with some question and answers, after carefully answering the questions he decided to share some of his experiences for the benefit of the students who are practicing Mahamudra.
Before concluding his teaching, students requested him to continue the teaching the following day.
So His Holiness decided to pick some suggestions and then give teachings on Mahamudra according to text for the next two days.
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| 03/14/09 |
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His Holiness gave teachings on the Eight Versus for Training the Mind composed by Geshe Lang Thangpa, followed by a Medicine Buddha initiation.
The teaching was requested and organized by the Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It was held at the Indian Habitat center in New Delhi.
His Holiness left for Saranath on March 15th.
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| 03/13/09 |
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His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa gave a talk to the students of Tibetan Youth Hostel in New Delhi.
Many students from all around Delhi gathered to attend this talk. He first gave the reading transmission of the common short supplication of Manjushri and Seven Line prayer of Guru Rinpoche.
His Holiness began his talk with wishing good health and success for everyone.
Then His Holiness went on to say: "This year marks the 50 years of exile in India and it is a very long period. We have demonstrated and had rallies for Tibet. If we do not have a Tibetan spirit then we are merely following the society or just copying others. The new generation should take more interest in our tradition, culture and religion, that our elders have preserved. We have to study and understand the fundamental of our Buddhist religion that is love and compassion. Learning the basics of our culture and tradition and develop respect and affinity towards it. I think that is how to gradually develop a Tibetan spirit . I think education and Tibetan ambiance are two very important factors for building up a Tibetan spirit. "
His Holiness concluded the talk with some question and answers with the students.
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| 03/12/09 |
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His Holiness arrived in New Delhi on March 12, from Dharamsala.
Students welcomed His Holiness as he arrived at the Youth Hostel; this is the first time of His Holiness is stay in the Tibetan Youth Hostel in New Delhi.
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| 03/07/09 |
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Torma documentary is currently in the works with the permission and oversight of His Holiness, the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje. This film carefully documents the butter sculptures created for the 26th Kagyu Monlam in Bodhgaya and will be the first full-length documentary about the sacred ritual art of tormas, their complex history, symbolism, and function in the practice of Tibetan Buddhism.
Please click here to view a film clip, some photos and learn more about this project.
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| 03/06/09 |
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March 6,
The 10th Dharma Religious Conference
His Holiness inaugurated the 10th Religious Conference of Tibetan Buddhism at Thekchen Choling in Dharamsala. The heads of all the major Tibetan Buddhism sects including the Bon participated in the conference.
The Religion and Cultural department of the Tibetan Government in exile requested His Holiness to inaugurate and to lead the conference.
The reason for the conference is to discuss religious issues where all the senior abbots from different schools attend.
The conference started at 8am and concluded at 5pm.
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| 02/24/09 |
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Nun’s Education and Conduct in Modern Times
On October 18th, 2008, His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa was invited to preside over the second all-night debate session of the fourteenth Jamyang Guncho for nuns, which was held at Jamyang Choling Institute in Dharamsala. Over two hundred nuns from seven different nunneries were present. The following presents the main points of the remarks which His Holiness gave on that occasion.
These days many friends from abroad with a modern viewpoint are giving help and direction to Tibetan nuns and laywomen and I would like to thank them for their help. But I think we need to begin from within our own Tibetan society to find a particular Tibetan way of being modern. The reason for this is that other viewpoints and Tibetan culture are sometimes incompatible, and as Tibetan culture is already endangered, insisting too strongly on imposing other ways of doing things could very well weaken what we are working hard to preserve.
There are quotations in the scriptures and treatises which say that ordaining women as nuns will make the Buddhist teachings disappear five hundred years earlier than otherwise. Some people cite these passages to scare you. Others try to explain them away, saying they should not be taken literally. In any case, I don’t think it is necessary to do either. The reason is that the Buddha himself not only decided to ordain women, he also granted women all the vows in the vinaya. If people cannot accept this, they should go and complain directly to the Buddha. Our responsibility is to keep the vows we have taken purely and to practice listening, contemplation, and meditation to the best of our ability. If we do so, there is no need to worry that being a nun will bring any harm to the Buddhist teachings. For men who take ordination as well, there is no better way to serve the teachings than to maintain their vows and to study and practice.
Indeed it was the Buddha’s wish that the members of the sangha coexist in harmony and joy without any discord. To explain the Buddha’s teachings with one-pointed concentration and speaking together with one voice like milk and water mixed together is to pay true respect and devotion to the Buddha. This is what the Buddha’s own aunt Mahaprajapati said.
These days many people say that Tibetan Buddhism does not give Tibetan nuns all the rights they are due, that there is no equality between the sexes in Tibetan society, and other such things. When they say this, they are looking outside themselves. When we look outward, we blame society for our own failures and are at each other’s throats the moment a conversation begins. Actually, because we lack courage and self-confidence, we hold ourselves back, and that is what brings us harm. It is not a question of a lack of external conditions and opportunities.
Once after the Lord Buddha had attained enlightenment, he returned to his homeland and taught the dharma to his father King Shuddhodana and the other Shakyans. The Shakyan Mahanama who was so delighted after hearing the teachings that when he returned home, his wife asked him, “What happened?”
“Today the Buddha taught the Dharma to many hundreds of people,” he said. “From hearing these teachings, thousands of beings will develop amazing, excellent realization!”
His wife replied, “It’s true that the appearance of the Buddha is meaningful, but it helps you, not us. The Buddha came into the world for men’s sake, not women’s.”
Mahanama responded, “That’s not how it is. The Buddha loves and wants to benefit all sentient beings. You should go and listen to the teachings.” Because he encouraged them, his wife and all the Shakyan women gained the opportunity to receive dharma teachings. As this story shows, if women lack courage and are too shy, it will be difficult for them even to receive teachings from the Buddha unless others help them, so we must increase our courage and self-confidence if we are to do great things.
This is why now is not a time to argue and protest; it is a time to improve ourselves. When I say that we should improve ourselves, you might think I’m putting pressure on you and you might sigh in despair. But if you look at the whole picture, the situation is different.
When you go on a journey, the goal may seem to be a long way off even when you have traveled a long time. Only when you look back can you see how far you’ve come. Twenty years ago there was only one nunnery in Dharamsala and most of the nuns were older women. Now there are several nunneries, and many enthusiastic young nuns have joined them. They are studying hard and making great progress in their education. You are the first generation of nuns to study the great texts; for this reason you must be totally committed—you are paving the way for future generations.
You should not let your study and good conduct diverge from each other. The way any monastic, whether male or female, carries themselves and speaks has a great influence on the teachings for good or ill. Nowadays many people are taking especial interest in nuns, so many people are watching you study. Therefore you nuns should have high expectations for yourselves and take care to value yourselves highly. You are not simply students, but must be dignified and give a good example to show what a nun really is.
The word geshe is a contraction of the Tibetan word for spiritual friend. If you have all the qualities of a spiritual friend, you automatically become one. The tradition of giving the title geshe developed in Tibet. When you have completed your education, it is up to His Holiness the Dalai Lama whether to grant the geshe degree, so you should not lose sleep worrying about whether you will be a geshe.
In the Vinaya, the bhikshunis’ teacher is considered important, so we need to take interest in the quality of instructors. It is not appropriate to regard instructing nuns as a lower status or pointless job. If the instructors are dedicated, their students will achieve good results. The Jamyang Guncho is a sign of this. I don’t think that nuns would have even dreamt of such an event in the past.
The Vinaya tells that when the bhikshuni Mahaprajapati passed into nirvana, Nanda, Aniruddha, Ananda, and Rahula carried her body to the cremation ground, the Lord Buddha himself supporting it with his right hand. I think that the Buddha’s compassionate hand always supports you nuns, never letting you down, so all of you should go joyfully and at ease down the path to liberation and bring great benefit to wandering beings.
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| 02/23/09 |
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Today is the 29th day of final month according to the Tibetan Lunar calendar. The resident monks have been performing Mahakala puja, text composed by 6th Karmapa Thongwa Dönden for past two days. Today on the third day His Holiness presided over the puja for whole day.
This puja is performed specially before New Year to remove obstacles and bring peace to the world.
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| 01/29/09 |
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| His Holiness arrived back at Gyuto Dharamsala at afternoon, he has completed his winter leg of tour. His Holiness will resume his daily activities at Gyuto.
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| 01/25/09 |
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January 25,
His Holiness presided over the Hë-Vajra (Gye-pa Dorji ) puja.
His Holiness presided over the ongoing Hë-Vajra puja today at 8 am; the puja was initiated on January 21 and will be held until January 27 at Vajra Vidhya.
Tulku Dhamchoe and the head monks of Vajra Vidhya Institute offered Mandala to His Holiness.
During the karma Kagyu Conference of 2002 His Holiness assigned each of Karma Kamtsang Monasteries a different Tantra to study and practice so that all major Tantras of the Kagyu Lineage would be preserved. The Vajra Vidhya was assigned the Hë-Vajra puja and has held the annual Hë-Vajra puja ever since.
The morning session of the puja concluded at 10 am.
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| 01/23/09 |
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January 23,
His Holiness visits the Center Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies of Varanasi.
His Holiness arrived at 10:40 am; the Director of the University Geshe Ngawang Samten offered khata and welcomed His Holiness inside the main hall.
Three girls from the University presented a wonderful song of Shë-Chöe in Sanskrit to His Holiness.
Director Geshe Ngawang Samten said; on behalf of all the faculty members and students we are very grateful that His Holiness has accepted the invitation to give us a talk.
His Holiness began his talk mentioning the importance of this University and its great role for the preservation of Tibetan identity in this modern time as in tradition, cultural and religion. Those who got the opportunity to receive education in this University will be the future pioneers and have to serve the society at their best.
He emphasized on the importance of taking modern education parallel to traditional education and being responsible member of this 21st century.
he concluded the talk by wishing every one good health and progress in their education.
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| 01/22/09 |
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January 22,
His Holiness visits the Mulagandha Kuty Temple which has the relic of Lord Buddha at 9:30 am. The in charge of Temple Ven Sumedha-Thero welcomed him at the Temple gate and escorted inside, where he made short prayer. Ven Thero presented an image of Buddha to His Holiness.
After visiting the temple, His Holiness spends some time at the nearby Archeological Museum of Saranath where he observed the Archaeology, art and architecture. The head of the museum Mr. Ajay gave details to most of the Buddhist antiquarian remains. This museum consists of significant Indian monuments such as its National emblem.
Saranath is the place where Lord Buddha preached his First Sermon and laid the foundation of his Sangha.
His Holiness appreciated the introduction of the Archeology and returned back to Vajra Vidhya monastery.
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| 01/20/09 |
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January 20
8:10 am on a rather chilly but windy morning, His Holiness arrived at the Damekh Stupa. Before presiding over the prayer, he took a walk of the outer circle of the Stupa complex. Over there he fed vegetables to Deer.
Later, His Holiness sat, wrapped up against the cold, under a white gazebo in front of Damekh Stupa field and made prayer for half an hour and left back to Vajra Vidhya monastery.
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| 01/18/09 |
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January 18th
His Holiness left Bodh Gaya for Saranath in Varanasi (U.P), at afternoon.
For a week His Holiness will reside at Kyabje Yongzin Thrangu Rinpoche's monastery Vajra Vidhya Institute at Saranath.
In the afternoon, all the monks of Vajra Vidhya monastery are preparing with their serbang dresses and rehearsing to welcome His Holiness.
At 4:40 pm siren rings, His Holiness came after Pilot and Escorts of Police. He was graciously welcomed by huge number of monks in serbang. Many monks, nuns, international devotees and Tibetan were lining on road side to have a glimpse of His Holiness.
After taking his seat in the main shrine hall he was offered Mandala, twelve deeds and dedication puja was made. Concluded the ceremony with sweet rice and tea for everyone.
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| 01/16/09 |
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January 16, 2009
In the morning at 8:30 am His Holiness consecrated two acres of land, adjacent to Tergar Monastery, which was bought in October 2008 for the new Kagyu Monlam Centre. The centre, designed by Taiwanese engineer, Choekyi Gyatso, will provide accommodation and offices for Kagyu Monlam staff.
Half of the land was generously donated by the Ven. Yonge Mingyur Rinpoche.
Gyalwang Karmapa recited The Twelve Deeds of the Buddha, made a tea offering to Mahakala and the dharma protectors, and concluded the ceremony with the Prayer of the Eight Auspiciousnesses and a prayer for the Buddha’s teachings to flourish.
Later that day His Holiness visited the Vietnam Temple, he blessed the temple and had a Vietnam tea.
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| 01/15/09 |
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His Holiness teaching on Living the Dharma, this is the first teaching in India directed specifically at Westerners.
His Holiness was scheduled to start teaching at 9.00am and 3.00pm, and the final quarter of an hour before each teaching began was designated as “silent meditation”.
Day One
Practicing Dharma is more than performing rituals which require a special place or a special time, or special equipment. At a deeper level, the Dharma is something that transforms our minds, an ongoing process whereby we examine our minds, checking the afflictive emotions and the three mind poisons, and slowly try to become less angry, less attached and so forth. The practice of Dharma leads to a slow change in body, speech and mind from within, hence, it could be done anywhere, even while you are at work; it doesn’t require a special time. Indeed, the kind of dharma practice where you reflect on your aspirations, your way of thinking, how you relate to other people, and how you react and connect with other people is very important. Drawing on experience, Karmapa said that his own life seemed to be getting busier and busier, so that he felt that the time he had to work for the benefit of others and the time to meditate was shrinking. Thus his dharma practice these days involved trying to help the many people who he came across daily, being very aware of his thought processes, and attempting to live his life with the intention to benefit sentient beings. His priority was the happiness of others, and he examined his actions, what he said, and his mind to check the fit. That in essence was his practice. When he was young he had had time for formal prayers and recitation, about an hour each morning and evening. These days, with little time for formal prayers, he kept all the people whom he met in his thoughts, whether he was working, eating or sleeping. This seemed to be a very live, real and practical form of dharma practice.
It was an important foundation for practice, keeping other sentient beings in the forefront of our minds, as if they were there before our eyes in a real and very present way, otherwise we might lose contact with the people we wanted to benefit, and become lazy in our efforts.
Another important support for practice was to use others to reduce our own self-interest, by thinking deeply about their suffering and happiness, which would lead us to develop a feeling of responsible concern for their welfare. This would not only help counterbalance our self-cherishing attitude, it would also mean that our constant preoccupation with our own welfare would diminish, and we would feel more inclined to transform ourselves.
This led to the next important aspect of practice: transforming ourselves by working on our negative mental and emotional states. It was often difficult to truly see the negative aspects of these mental and emotional states, but when you did, it was as clear as daylight that you had to do something about them. It was like falling in love. People have many different relationships, but there may not be a great commitment or there might be some confusion. Then one day you fall in love. All the earlier relationships fade into insignificance, and there’s never any question about it. You are in love with this one person and you want to spend your life with them. It’s as clear and simple as that.
The experience of Bodhichitta was also like this – a wish-fulfilling gem. When we develop bodhichitta our hearts fill with joy but until we find that wish-fulfilling gem in our hearts it can be difficult; afterwards dharma practice becomes easy and the purpose of life becomes clear.
There were many parallels between life and dharma practice. In everyday life if our goals are unclear or confused, we do not achieve what we want to achieve. Similarly, dharma practice needed a clear objective too. Thinking too much about it was not beneficial and only produced more conceptual thoughts! The crux was to work for the benefit of beings!
People often asked His Holiness what they should practice and he usually suggested the Chenresig or Tara Saddhanas, but then if they asked,
“How many arms?” or “Which colour?” it showed they’d missed the point completely, failing to comprehend the core meaning of these practices which is meditation on loving kindness and compassion in order to transform our minds. Without this understanding, any practice becomes blind faith not living dharma. Therefore when we practice dharma it has to be strongly related with our minds; it has to become one with our life.
His Holiness then suggested a different tack, which beginners might find more useful, which was to start instead from the point of our lives, look at the difficulties we are experiencing, and see if the Dharma could shed some light on them. This would certainly be less disruptive and less disturbing to our families than suddenly bringing home vajras, damarus, bells etc. and doing strange things! If we lived with the intention of being useful and helpful to other people, the dharma in our lives would become stronger, and our lives would become dharma practice.
But in order to transform our minds through dharma practice we needed to receive the pith instructions, and we needed to receive them from a genuine lama. This was someone who had realized the Dharma in their lives, someone who was a genuine refuge. There were also people at a lower level of realization with whom it was possible to study. It was said that anything that appears can be a lama - and His Holiness illustrated how the seasons could be our teacher. On a superficial level, winter meant cold weather and warm clothes, but it was also a paradigm for impermanence. If we used our eyes, there was a lot to be learned about the Dharma in life itself.
His Holiness concluded the morning session by launching the booklet he had produced on protecting the environment: Environmental Guidelines for Karma Kagyu Buddhist Monasteries, Centers and Community.
In the afternoon session, Gyalwang Karmapa clarified the advice on integrating Dharma into daily life he had given in the morning session. He had not meant that formal practice or retreat were unimportant, but wanted to show how it was also not absolutely necessary to do formal practice, in the context of the many Westerners who came to see him who had so much work to do and very little time for meditation. It would also be wrong, he added, to give the impression that those engaged in formal practice, retreat and meditation were the ‘real thing’.
He then went on to discuss how to integrate formal practice into daily life.
Generally speaking dharma practice was not restricted to the temple, monastery or retreat, or the shrine room at home. It can be done anywhere, on a picnic, in the office, in prison; some great masters had said we could even practice dharma in our sleep, if we knew how to do it, which was useful as life was half-awake and half-sleeping. If possible, we need to set some time aside each day, in the morning, for formal practice, and then the day can become worthwhile.
Then at work, if we make the commitment that our work will be useful and beneficial for society then the work we do can become a form of giving – and hence the practice of generosity. When we finish work and return home, if we can bring up our children in a way that will be beneficial to the world that is also a dharma practice. If we reflect on the love we have for our partner or for our family, it is possible to transfer that loving kindness to other sentient beings. His Holiness gave the example of someone who is in love – even when they water the plants; there is a loving quality to the action.
In the hectic schedule of our day-to-day lives we needed to create a time and space in which we could rest our minds, otherwise they became too turbulent and disturbed. This was the role of meditation. Through meditation we could develop a peaceful, calm, and joyous mind.
Gyalwang Karmapa returned to a theme he had introduced during the pre-Monlam teachings, that of building a home for our minds, a place to come back to, where our minds could rest and de-stress. These days he himself had limited time for formal practice, but when he did practice, he did it one-pointedly. Nothing else was allowed to intrude. Mahamudra practice describes a state free of conceptual thoughts, and it was important to aspire to this.
Too much clinging and attachment to things was a great obstacle to finding peace of mind, because it was impossible to separate the mind when we were attached. Anger is present sometimes but not all the time, whereas attachment is there all the time, making it very difficult to separate ourselves from it. As the Tibetan saying goes: If we hold it, it burns our hand. If we don’t hold it, it breaks.
Gyalwang Karmapa then explained how attachment arises and the difficulties it causes.
The first problem was that when we were attached to something we only saw the positive never the negative. Something that we are attached to appears very good, and the object of our attachment is seen as something desirable. Attachment deprives us of our freedom. We see something we want, for instance, and feel compelled to buy it. In a way we are overpowered by the object that we are attached to. We are trapped by it. His Holiness described how, as a child, he was taken to shops in Beijing which stocked the most amazing toys. At that point he understood why people might steal. What we see as desirable or undesirable is the product of our own minds, perhaps sometimes through cultural conditioning, and we often overvalue something, like someone being fooled by a fake diamond, thinking that it is 100% desirable when it is worthless.
Could compassion be viewed as a form of attachment? His Holiness agreed that it could be similar but the difference was that we had a choice whether to be compassionate or not. Furthermore, the grounds for compassion were genuine- not to abandon sentient beings, whereas with attachment it was “I want”.
Gyalwang Karmapa told a story to illustrate how attachment led to suffering.
There is a rule that monks cannot touch women. So, one day two monks came to a river, and there they met a pretty young woman who asked for help because the water was so deep. The younger of the two protested, “No,no! We are monks. We can’t touch you.” But the older monk just picked her up and carried her across. The young monk was quite outraged by the older monk’s behavior, and after a while, he challenged him about his action.
The old monk replied, “I carried her across the river only, but you are still carrying her.”
Returning to the question of the role of formal practice, His Holiness warned about some pitfalls to avoid. Particularly, going into retreat required correct attitude and motivation. The purpose of retreat was to pacify body, speech and mind, but some people seemed to regard retreat as a tradition or something that had to be done saying, “Oh, I have to do a three year retreat.” In which case, there would be little benefit.
Finally, the principal thing in the Dharma is the union of wisdom and compassion. These two should also go together in our lives. We needed to know what the sources of suffering were, and what would bring true happiness, so that we could understand what was to be abandoned and what to be adopted.
Day Two
Gyalwang Karmapa dedicated the first part of the morning session to discussing his concerns over the environment. Many of those present had bought copies of his booklet, Environmental Guidelines for Karma Kagyu Buddhist Monasteries, Centres and Community.
He spoke of the need to preserve forests, the danger of glaciers in the Himalayan region shrinking, pollution of the rivers, protection of wildlife from fur-hunting, the need to be vegetarian or at least reduce the quantity of meat that we eat, and the crisis of climate change. Monasteries did not have a training or culture in waste management so he intended to provide training for them, in the hope that they could become examples to the community. If we were really committed to working for the happiness of sentient beings, we had a responsibility to protect the environment and all the limitless sentient beings therein.
A question and answer session followed.
During this session Gyalwang Karmapa elaborated further on how to combat the afflictive emotions. He explained how the Buddha Dharma exists to clear all the impurities in the mind – there is nothing which is not a direct antidote to the negative emotions. Different practices work on different mind poisons. In fact there are different practices and methods for different purposes and for practitioners of different capacities and different levels.
Usually, beginners try to evade confronting the mind poisons. Then the second stage is to challenge them. The third stage, when you are stronger, is to use skillful means
His Holiness then began a more extensive answer.
The signature of attachment was feelings such as, “I must have it” and “No one else should have it” and this was how it created suffering.
His Holiness gave the example of a couple in love,. His wife sees her husband talking to a beautiful woman. What does the wife think? That is attachment. Because it focuses on feelings such as “This is mine,” attachment is closed and restricts freedom. Genuine love means wanting joy and happiness for others – wanting what the person you love wants. Of course , even with attachment, you want to give them everything, but love also gives freedom. Attachment cannot be the basis for a happy relationship because authentic love is open not closed.
As to aggression or anger, this was far easier to recognize because our speech becomes rough, our face changes, and our whole demeanour changes. The antidote to anger was patience. Often it was difficult to tackle anger because of the mistaken view that our anger was justified, foe example after someone has been very abusive towards us. One way to defuse anger was to focus our attention elsewhere, either we could bring our Lama to mind, or we could remember certain teachings which had inspired us. If we focused on a particular incident the anger would grow stronger and stronger so it was important to break that cycle, even if it meant thinking instead about all the things we are angry about. His Holiness illustrated the point.
Once, there was a nomad trying to herd lots of frisky sheep, but they wouldn’t obey him and were leaping and gamboling all over the place. He got so angry he started hitting one of them. That didn’t help, so he hit another one, and another one, and another one…and after he had hit sixty or seventy of them he was so tired and his arm ached so much that he couldn’t continue. Then he understood how ridiculous his actions had been, his anger evaporated, and he burst into laughter.
Responding to a question on the two truths, ultimate and relative, His Holiness talked about dependent arising, and the relativity of everything. What is short only exists, he explained, because something longer exists. East exists because there’s a west. Nothing can be established without it having a relationship to something else. Take the example of a vase - we think of a vase as an independent object , but if we put water in it, it becomes a water bowl, if we put tea in it, it becomes a tea bowl. Talking about emptiness is also talking about dependent arising. The nature of things is emptiness. Emptiness has to be understood in terms of relativity – as the moon reflected in water. There is nothing that exists independently. A good example of our mistaken view was poisonous plants. We classify them as poisonous because we do not consider the relative nature of things – we think things are constant - but some animals eat these so-called poisonous
plants and thrive. Everything is relative.
There had been so many questions submitted by the audience that His Holiness chose to answer more questions in the afternoon session. The first question he answered concerned explaining reincarnation to people who do not have a Buddhist background.
His Holiness began by suggesting that belief in something continuing to exist after a person dies is a common experience of humanity. It was also beyond proof either for or against, although it could be doubted. Further, people exist who remember past lives, not just in the countries where belief in reincarnation is widespread or part of the culture, so then this also cannot be satisfactorily explained away or dismissed. It too falls into the category of things open to doubt.
>From the Buddhist point of view there was also a logical argument. When a new born baby takes its first breath there is definitely an awareness or consciousness operating, but this has to be the product of causes and conditions, and causes and conditions have these to be of a similar nature to the effect. Hence, the baby’s consciousness has to be produced by similar conditions, a previous moment of consciousness. Observation showed that awareness or consciousness cannot be created by matter, so the only possible cause is another consciousness. Matter has a continuum, if it could turn into consciousness, then all matter should produce consciousness but it doesn’t. The nature of consciousness is awareness and knowing. So, generally speaking, the main point is that the matter continuum and the consciousness continuum are separate.
These days people are more materialistic so it can be difficult to demonstrate the mind continuum though there might be methods – meditation is one. In meditation, gross consciousness becomes more subtle and then you can remember your past lives. You can experience certain memories of the past.
The next question concerned the meaning of “giving the victory to others” Gyalwang Karmapa suggested there were two aspects to this. The first was to actually implement it – to act it out. The second was training the mind so through meditation experience – such as tonglen, which involves taking on the negativities of others, and then exchanging them for our own merit.
His Holiness explained the visualization to use. Imagining our self-interest and selfishness as a fire or light burning in our hearts, we take in the suffering of others which is envisaged as darkness, so that the fire of self-cherishing is extinguished by the darkness. This powerful visualisation slowly changes our attitude. The second part involves giving our own merit away freely to others, because we really want to give it. In reality, we are neither taking on their suffering nor actually losing our merit, but training the mind.
There were instances when such generosity had a practical application too, such as offering a kidney for a kidney transplant, but we had to have a clear understanding, having examined the situation fully. If we were able to give the person a kidney and thereby save their life, such an act would make us very happy. Another example would be when two people were competing for the same job. Should you let the other person have it? Only if you could do so from your heart, rather than because you felt forced to do it or you were supposed to do it.
The next question concerned how to live in a city without feeling lonely.
Drawing on his experiences during his American tour, Gyalwang Karmapa discussed the feelings of dislocation and isolation that modern life brings. He wryly remarked that in New York there was no need to consult the calendar if you wanted to know whether it was the weekend or a weekday, because on Saturday and Sunday you could see people talking to each other on the street. The rest of the week they were too busy to interact.
It seemed that life was getting faster and faster. In America, it felt as if you’d only just started your journey and you’d arrived. His first day in America in New York at the Waldorf Astoria, he had looked out of the window and he couldn’t see the ground, it was so far below. That felt very strange.
His Holiness suggested that in the busy-ness of modern living, we had to find time to rest our minds. He himself was increasingly busy but he managed to maintain a relaxed and peaceful mind. We had to learn to pace ourselves. He gave the example of a horse. A horse can run faster than a man, but, if the man trots along at a steady pace, eventually the horse will tire and the man will catch up with it. If we were unable to stay mindfully aware we could be overwhelmed. For instance, if someone fell in the river and panicked, they could drown. If, on the other hand, they kept their heads and stayed calm, they could reach the river bank and survive. Maintaining mindfulness could reduce stress.
The next question was about the Chenresig Practice for new dharma practitioners. His Holiness said it was important to receive the empowerment ( Tib. wang) first before beginning any Vajrayana practice. Then it would be helpful to receive some instructions and clarification of the teachings behind the practice. He thought that if the person didn’t get either the empowerment or the instructions, to practice Chenresig might not be so useful.
Many of the questions focused on issues arising from everyday life in the West. His Holiness was asked for advice on how to deal with other people’s attachment and self-interest in the workplace.
He responded by describing how the presence of a Buddha pacifies the disturbing emotions of those around, because the Buddha has completely done away with negative emotions and is totally aware. Sravakas make an aspiration prayer that nobody gets disturbed by their presence, so people are not so affected by negative emotions around them
We take time on our appearance so that people find us attractive; it is just as important to present our positive mental qualities, our loving kindness and caring for others, so that our presence does not arouse their negative emotions. We can also set an example by our behaviour, which might have an influence on the people we work with.
Laughter echoed round the hall at the next question - why do people look the way they do?
His Holiness told how Tibetans say people with big ears had them pulled by their teacher when they were young. Chinese Buddha images have big ears, because they are meant to be very graceful. But whether you have big ears or little ears will depend on several things, your race, and the environment, and also karma, which affects the three aspects of body, speech and mind.
Generally, it is taught that the karma of body and speech create the conditions for a better looking body. That is why Chenresig is always smiling , because he has done so many virtuous actions of body and speech. His Holiness paused. “It is said that I don’t smile much, so I’m worried about what I will look like in future!” he joked.
The next question was about the meaning of Buddha claiming the earth as witness to his enlightenment. Gyalwang Karmapa explained that Buddha said that the earth is the basis of all beings. The earth is also totally neutral, like the mother of everybody. The Buddha attained enlightenment, touched the earth, and the earth shook six ways.
Finally, there was a question about one of the prayers which included the request to be born as a male! Did this not conflict with Tara’s aspiration to attain enlightenment in female form?
His Holiness first pointed out that the prayer in question reflected what people desired, and that wishing to be born male was a relic from the days when women had very low status and little control over their lives. Thus they desired to be reborn as a man. We could pray for whatever we wanted, and in the case in point it was important to distinguish between actual Buddhist thinking and people’s wishes. He suggested that, if we wanted to, we could pray for all men to be reborn as women, which provoked much laughter, so long as there was a good reason for the aspiration and it was based on the wish to benefit others.
Thus the second day concluded.
Day Three
His Holiness began the last day of the teachings for foreign students by announcing that he would bestow Refuge, the lung of the Preliminary Practice text that he composed last year, and also bestow Bodhisattva Vows, but first he decided to devote the entire morning session to questions and answers.
The first question concerned the profound meaning of reciting ‘Karmapa Khyeno’. His Holiness began his answer by explaining the meaning of ‘karma’: activity, or action, and ‘pa’: one who performs that activity.
He told how 100,000 Dakinis wove the black hat from their hair, consecrated it, and offered it to the first Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa. He was the one who performed all the activities of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the three times and ten directions. His Holiness also said that it does not need to be one particular individual who is called ‘Karmapa’, but that it can be a general name for all Vajra Masters who do the activities of the Buddha. It can be regarded as a title for all genuine masters. The Buddha had prophesied that when the Dharma is nearing extinction, he would come in the form of Vajra Masters to perform his Buddha activity.
The activity of the Buddhas is the activity that brings out the white, or positive, side of people, and that brings out the Buddha nature of all beings. So, when we recite ‘Karmapa Khyeno’, the purpose is to bring out the white or light side of our nature.
‘Khyeno’ has the meaning of entreating, ‘please think of me’. The purpose of this entreaty is also to remember the positive qualities of the lama again and again and to pray to the lama to remember us. It is not necessary to recite aloud, but from the heart. Milarepa said: ‘When I am alone, I call to my lama from my heart’.
This answer was followed by a couple of questions that His Holiness said he would answer at a later time, and then there was a question about how people who are non-Buddhist can be helped when they are coming close to the time of their death. His Holiness replied by saying that whether one has entered the Buddhist Path or not, everyone has the opportunity to be reborn in a positive state. It is not necessary to practice Buddhism to take a positive rebirth. The most important thing is the state of the mind at the time of death. So, for those around the dying person, it is very good to create the circumstances for the dying person to have a positive state of mind. Even if the person has not practiced extensively during their lifetime, if they have a positive state of mind at their time of death, this can make a great difference and is very helpful. His Holiness told the story of a butcher who killed many animals during his life, but when nearing his death,
he heard about the Buddha and was so inspired that he passed away with one hand in the prostration mudra. When he was reborn, he took the form of a piglet, but that piglet had one human hand. He was taken to a monastery to live, and his life was saved. His Holiness emphasized that this was a true story and that he had seen a photograph of the small pig with the human hand.
A couple more questions were shelved by His Holiness, and then he bestowed the lung for the Preliminary Practices. He said that the students have come from many faraway places and need to take back with them something so they can continue to practice. Many people are starting to do their Ngondro practices now, so he planned to teach Vajrasattva and Guru Yoga in the afternoon session. Last time His Holiness taught the Ngondro, he said he had not permitted video or recording of his teachings on Guru Yoga, so this time, he would teach in such a way that it could be recorded.
Finally, His Holiness gave Refuge Vows to the assembly, explaining first the purpose of going for refuge. He explained that Refuge means that we can find support and safety, like the refuge that our mothers or parents who love us very much show to us. By taking refuge, we feel encouraged, and we receive a new hope, assurance and courage. These days, the world is passing through many crises, and people feel they can have no confidence or security, and nothing they can depend on. Through finding a true refuge, new hope and new confidence can be generated.
To go for refuge is similar to a small child running to his/her mother, and spontaneously calling ‘Ma’, when something undesirable happens. In the same way, when we face the sufferings and difficulties of samsara and the great problems of the world, and we feel there is no refuge or protection, we need to find not just an external refuge, but an internal, spiritual refuge, to give us inner strength and protection.
Buddha Shakyamuni passed away more than 2,500 years ago, and so today we cannot find him, but the power of his teachings remains. His radiance and his representations exist today. When we practice, it is not enough that the teachings of the Buddha are here; it is necessary to practice loving kindness and compassion. We need to use it, rely on it, and study with genuine masters. If we do this, there is no difference between that and meeting the Buddha himself. If we can do this, we will find protection and confidence within ourselves.
His Holiness made a comparison about the three Refuges. He said that the human brain has advanced a great deal and that three reasons can be posited for this development. Firstly, the experiences of past generations have been transmitted to us; we have learnt from previous generations. Secondly, we have not just copied, but we have used our own intellects and found new ways of doing things through our own wisdom. Lastly, life in this world is full of ups and downs, sufferings and positive experiences. We rely on friends and companions to share our tough and good times together, and for our support and progress. So, in the same way, we need the experiences of the Buddhas of the past to give us the knowledge of how to free ourselves from suffering and pain and to find lasting peace and happiness. This is the first refuge. The second refuge is the Dharma, the teachings that help us work with ourselves to find happiness. Then the friends with whom we can
work together, with whom we can share support on the Path, represent the third refuge. So with these three refuges, we are on the Dharma Path; we are practicing a spiritual Path. We should feel that the Buddha is the Teacher, the Dharma is the Path and the Sangha is the spiritual friend with whom we go together.
His Holiness advised those taking refuge to carefully observe the Refuge Vows, to carefully follow what is prescribed and to avoid what is proscribed. He then completed the morning session by saying that the stones that had been brought from all over the world to form the stone altar that has stood beneath the Bodhi Tree during the Kagyu Monlam, have been imbued with blessings. He would distribute each stone to the participants at the end of the afternoon session so that they can take those stones out all over the world to carry each of our prayers and to spread the blessings of peace.
In the afternoon session, His Holiness first gave the Bodhisattva Vows, preceding this with a teaching on bodhicitta. He said there are many different liturgies for bestowing the Bodhisattva Vows, but that found in the Bodhicaryavatara is the easiest and best. He began by explaining how to generate bodhicitta in our hearts. To do this, it is important first to understand the Seven-Point Cause and Effect, and that all sentient beings have been our kind mothers. We should understand the great kindness of the mother, and feel gratitude for that, and also feel the equality of self and others and understand the importance of exchanging self with others. We need to generate strong compassion to arouse the wish to eliminate all the sufferings of beings. There are two stages to accomplish this: first to liberate oneself, and then to work to liberate others. A strong aspiration must be generated at the beginning.
His Holiness said that as we think primarily for the benefit of all suffering sentient beings, we also have to think about the container for sentient beings – this world in which all the sentient beings live. It has the capacity to provide all the necessities for sentient beings. We must be aware of the environment, and know about the destruction of the environment. He described how the forests are being destroyed in very terrible ways without any compassion or understanding, and how with wrong understanding, we were ignorant of what to get rid of and what to keep. We must know what we need to do for the benefit of others.
If we give rise to the aspiration to work for others, that is good, but we need more than that. We need to complete that aspiration by making a commitment to work for sentient beings. We should train and act in the Six Paramitas. This is what is meant by action, so we must do that according to our level, and according to the strength of our minds.
His Holiness explained that it is good to generate bodhicitta and to take the Bodhisattva Vows, but if we do not know how to work at our own level, it is not very useful. If we feel we have to do something that is beyond us, we will not be able to accomplish it, so we need to work out what is our own capacity. We are in a way inviting all sentient beings as guests, so it is therefore very important not to give up on our promise for them. We need to work step by step, otherwise, if we give up, it is like deceiving sentient beings. His Holiness emphasized that we must work and train step by step without giving up.
Generally, if we truly generate bodhicitta, it is said that if that bodhicitta had form, it would not be able to be contained within the whole of space, and that even if we are sleeping and not doing anything, great benefit is always occurring. His Holiness said that this description of the purpose and benefit of bodhicitta is not mere words, but has a very deep meaning. It means that wherever there is space, there are sentient beings, and wherever there are sentient beings there is karma, kleshas and there is suffering, so it is essential to have compassion and kindness. Bodhicitta covers all the places where there are sentient beings, and sentient beings are wherever there is space, so bodhicitta is everywhere.
His Holiness talked about pre-1959 Tibet, and said that most people there did not know about the world, but they did have an understanding that wherever there is space, there are sentient beings who need to be loved, who need to be freed from their suffering, who need to be covered by compassion and kindness. Therefore, when we generate this mind of enlightenment, the love covers wherever space covers, so it is understandable to say that when we generate bodhicitta, the merit is as vast as space. It is right to say that. His Holiness said that there was nothing more to say, our lives are full of talk, so let’s just do it, do it. He said that he would recite the verses for taking the Bodhisattva Vow first three times in Tibetan because of his ‘ego’ [he said this in English], as he is not so good at reciting in English, and then once in English, to make the meaning clear.
After bestowing the Bodhisattva Vows, His Holiness said we have been very fortunate to receive the bodhisattva attitude, and we should rejoice as if we have received a great treasure. If small negative things occur, our possessing the Bodhisattva Vows should make it easier to let go and deal with such small things, so we should value it and rejoice. We should feel that now we will really do something concrete.
His Holiness then turned to the short Preliminary Practice Text that he composed, based on the 5th Sharmapa’s Ngondro text, and began to teach the Vajrasattva practice. He explained that, basically the purpose of Vajrasattva practice is to purify negative deeds and obscurations. If we rely on the four antidotes or powers, our practice becomes more strong and effective:
1. The power of the support
2. The power of relying on the antidote
3. The power of repenting the negative deeds
4. The power of resolving not to repeat the negative deeds
The first power of the support refers to the Triple Gem in which we take refuge. We should briefly take refuge before starting Vajrasattva practice.
The second power of relying on the antidote is the actual visualization and recitation of the mantra of Vajrasattva. This practice is outlined in the text. We should feel the presence of Vajrasattva above the crown of our heads, as the union of compassion and emptiness. His Holiness stressed the importance of feeling that Vajrasattva is really there. We should feel that our negative deeds are purified through our strong request, after which nectar flows through the big toe of Vajrasattva, enters our Brahma aperture, and fills our body. We should feel that all obscurations are completely purified and that our body is clear like a bottle. In particular, His Holiness said, if we have committed some very serious negative action, or have broken vows and samayas, we should think of them, feel they are purified and feel there is really an effect.
The third power is to actually having strong repentance for the negative deeds we have committed. His Holiness emphasized the importance of this part of the practice, and drew the comparison of having a serious illness and undergoing surgery or treatment to remove it. In the same way, the negative deeds must really be taken out and eradicated.
Making a commitment not to repeat the negative action again in the future is the fourth power, and His Holiness said that if that intention is not present, however much we purify, the purification process is not complete. This fourth power is the way to totally remove the negative deeds. He said that undertaking not to repeat the action is a very difficult thing to do, but in order to truly resolve not to repeat the negative action, we must see the negative aspect of the deed, have revulsion for it, and strongly resolve not to repeat it. This is the basis of true purification.
The practice of Vajrasattva is used to purify all negative deeds, but it is especially important and relevant for the purification of broken vows and samayas. The samayas are the basis of our realizations, and it is of utmost importance to abide in the samayas and commitments, and not to overlook our breaches, but purify them immediately. In Vinaya, if we are keeping the Vinaya vows, we may not obtain a high level of attainment such as Stream Enterer in this life, but in the next life we will attain such a level. This is clear from the life story of Shariputra. He heard one word of Dharma and immediately attained the Path of Seeing. In the Vajrayana also, if we keep our samayas, even if we do not meditate or practice much, in eight or sixteen lives we will attain the Path of Seeing.
His Holiness stressed that the main point in Vajrasattva practice is not visualizing the colours or mudras, but the attitude of repentance and the resolve not to repeat the negative action. In Vajrayana practice, it is important to have clear visualization, but here in Vajrasattva practice, if the four powers are not there, it is not true purification practice. He explained that the main long mantra in the Vajrasattva practice is the one to be accumulated, while the short mantra should just be recited a few times at the end of the session. He also said that prostrations seem to be very difficult for some foreigners, so if they are really a problem, at least 1,000 prostrations should be completed. He cautioned, however, that if possible 100,000 prostrations should be completed, and only commuted to 1,000 if there is real physical difficulty.
At this point in the teaching, His Holiness said that people had also asked for teachings on Guru Yoga, but that time had run out. He jokingly said, ‘OM STOP SVAHA’. But, after loud persuasive cries from the audience, he began again to teach.
His Holiness said that there is the Uncommon Guru Yoga which is part of the Six Yogas of Naropa, and the Common Guru Yoga, which is the fourth practice of the Preliminary Practices. Vajrayana is a short cut, the quick path, and its main essence is devotion. Sometimes it is said that it is more effective to visualize the Lama as he is now, in living form, without transforming him into a Buddha, but here in the Preliminary Practices the Lama is visualized as Dorje Chang. We visualize the Lama as Dorje Chang so we do not see him as an ordinary being. His Holiness explained that in Vajrayana, we transform our ordinary way of seeing things, and so we also visualize ourselves as a yidam. In the Karma Kamtsang tradition, Vajravarahi is the principal yidam. The correct way to visualize is to hold the view of the union of emptiness and appearance simultaneously – wisdom and skillful means together. If they are separated, there is not much good effect.
Then, visualizing the Lama on top of the head as Dorje Chang, we should recite the Seven Branch Practice as an offering to the Lama.
When we practice the Vajrayana and visualize the yidam, the practice has to be imbued with the view of the union of wisdom and skillful means. We should see all as emptiness, and even if we have not a full understanding of what that means, we should think of it as much as possible. Because of that view, the right way of understanding, then that clarity, that consciousness transforms into the deity. The one consciousness performs two activities at the same time: the activities of skillful means and wisdom.
The deity has the qualities of the result – the enlightened being. Those qualities appear as the deity. This is the very special characteristic of Vajrayana. This is its speciality, to use the result at the beginning. In Sutrayana, we talk of the inseparability of wisdom and compassion, but the cause being the result is not elaborated upon.
His Holiness emphasized that bodhicitta has to be there too. We generate ourselves as the yidam with clarity and divine pride. We visualize the Lama on our head; maybe the pride becomes less, he said, but the clarity must be very strong. At this point we offer the Seven Branches to the Lama. We should see the Lama as the embodiment of the Four Kayas, but if we don’t know how to see this well, we should think of any positive qualities the Lama possesses and concentrate on those, and then make prayers from our heart. From the three places of the Lama, light comes and enters into our three places.
His Holiness then abruptly stopped and said there would be no time to distribute the stones, and then he would have to throw the stones at everyone! He told how the stones have come from 101 countries and that has made him very happy.
He said that what he actually says is not so important, but that the main thing is to see and meet everyone and be in the same place. He expressed his happiness at seeing everyone with his two eyes. His Holiness said he enjoyed that we all shared these three days of teachings together, and that he feels he has made a connection with every one of the participants, especially by reading and answering the questions. He thanked everyone for their questions and said even if he had no time to answer them all, he has read them all. He expressed his wish that he will see everyone again and again, and that perhaps everyone will return to the next Kagyu Monlam.
His Holiness said that the assembly should make prayers and dedicate the goodness that has been accumulated. He said that during the Kagyu Monlam, when everyone performed the aspirations and prayers, he hoped that they were not just words but that those words would take form in golden letters that emanate out from our hearts and spread throughout the whole world and give blessings and benefit.
Concerning the stones, His Holiness said that when he distributes the stones to each person, and wherever we bring those stones, carrying them with us to other countries, there will also spread the message of love and loving kindness in all corners of the world.
His Holiness said that in his heart he feels our presence, and it is his hope that we will become like a great light that shines in the darkness so that he can see all of us wherever we are, like stars in the sky, and that the shimmering of those stars will clear away the darkness of the world, and remove all the suffering and sorrow in the world.
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| 01/14/09 |
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January 12-13-14
Tsurphu Labrang has organized three days puja for His Holiness coming obstacle year. The prayer was sited under the Bodhi tree where all the monks who attended Kagyu Monlam Chenmo were present.
On the first day of the puja Kangyur and Dolma Bumtsar puja was made, Gonpo Tsog-bum was on second day and on the third day Säng puja and Tsurphu Labrang offered Ten-shug (Long live) and Mandala to His Holiness. His Holiness attended for a short period on the third day, Ten-shug offering was led by General Secretary Drupon Rinpoche followed by Chamsing La and others. After finishing the Tenshug His Holiness return back to Tergar and continued the teaching.
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| 01/11/09 |
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January 11th
The Last Day of the 26th Kagyu Monlam. His Holiness gave the Sojong Vows and precepts in the morning, the assembly recited the Twenty Branch Monlam. The second session concluded with the annual alms procession.
The Alms procession is from the Mahabodhi Stupa to the Deer Park it was instituted by His Holiness Karmapa five years ago to follow the traditional alms walk that the monastic of some Buddhist traditions make in their daily lives to receive their food. His Holiness also wanted for eight days to recreate, along with some other original Vinaya practices, the alms walk that ordained monastic undertook daily at the time of the Buddha.
The lay people and other monks and nuns gathered along the route of the procession eagerly waiting with their offerings of sweets, fruits, biscuits, nuts and dried fruits and snacks.
His Eminence Gyaltsab Rinpoche led the procession, carrying the traditional monk’s staff. Behind him, and also carrying staffs, came Zurmang Garwang Rinpoche, Mingyur Rinpoche and Khenpo Lodro Donyo Rinpoche. Then the most senior gelongs began to assemble and slowly made their way with the begging bowl in their two hands. They slowly and carefully walked, following the instructions in mindfulness of physical deportment and thoughts that His Holiness had given the evening before.
At the main entrance to the Mahabodhi Stupa, His Holiness Karmapa stood with Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche and Kalu Rinpoche, watching the procession make its way through the entrance gates and out towards the Stupa courtyard.
Finally, as the monastics entered the Deer Park, they emptied their bowls for the last time and wait silently until all were assembled. His Holiness Karmapa and other lamas had already arrived from the Mahabodhi Stupa and observed the procession arrive and be seated. He then walked along between the rows of monastics, watching as the food was served out.
After chanting the food offering prayers and mantras, the begging bowls were raised, the food was eaten, and at the end of the meal final dedication prayers were recited. His Holiness left the Deer Park to return to Tergar Monastery.
In the afternoon His Holiness formally thanked all the sponsors, all those who had come, and those who had worked for the Kagyu Monlam, and gave his concluding remarks. Reviewing the results of the past year, he remarked that many of the monasteries had made their assemblies free from meat; and regarding the environment, ‘people are making attempts to do projects’.
‘There are changes in the environment’, he noted, ‘even in Tibet the ice is melting. This concerns people throughout the world. It’s about the life and death of the globe. This year I brought out a booklet on guidelines to protect the environment, to be spread everywhere.
Secondly, we are the practice lineage. Our main practice is meditation. There should be teachings on meditation in each monastery. The Lamas should make a program to meditate.
The practice lineage is not just a name. It means we have to do some meditation. We should encourage and train young monks and give emphasis to education. Let monks use their intelligence.
Buddha dharma is very much relied on the Sangha, not on individual Rinpoche or Tulku so it is very important to have a good discipline monastic system.
The evening of Marme-Monlam.
Gyalwang Karmapa take his place in front of the bodhi tree, at the head of the congregation, alongside H.E. Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, H.E. Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche, Zurmang Garwang Rinpoche, Mingyur Rinpoche and many other Rinpoches.
The evening began with the Short Chenresig Puja, All-Pervading Benefit of Beings which has the concluding aspiration.
The Refuge Prayer in Sanskrit and other Sanskrit verses followed.
After that small groups gathered on the steps below the red gate to offer prayers in their own language and musical style. This year a Chinese group came first, then Koreans, Vietnamese, and, lastly, English. The English group sang the prayer “One World, written by His Holiness himself, to a musical accompaniment on guitar and violin.
His Holiness beat a small gong three times. This was the signal for everyone to light their lamps for the Mar-me Monlam. The gelong and gelongma had lotus-shaped lamps; all-in-all there were more than 500 of these. In addition there were 2500 electric candles.
Next came Atisha’s Lamp Prayer. The Gyalwang Karmapa read the first part in Tibetan, Chinese, and English, and everyone repeated the lines after him. The other verses were sung.
May the bowl of this lamp become equal to the outer ring of this world realm of the great Three Thousands. May its stem be the size of the King of Mountains, Mt. Meru. May its oil fill the surrounding oceans. In number, may a hundred million appear before each and every buddha. May its light dispel all the darkness of ignorance from the Peak of Existence to the Incessant Hell and illumine all the Pure Realms of the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions so they are clearly seen.
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| 01/10/09 |
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January 10
Kangyur (the Tibetan name for the Buddhist sutras) procession is one of important ceremony of Monlam
At the head of the procession came the incense bearer and four monks playing gyalin. They were followed by Khenpo Hye-Neung, of Karma Jang Chub Dzong, Korea, Ven. Mingyur Rinpoche, Ven. Kalu Rinpoche, Ven. Dhoenyo Rinpoche, H.E. Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche and H.E. Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche. Then came the ninety-nine gelong and four gelongma, each bearing a volume of the Kangyur, balanced respectfully on their left shoulders, steadied and supported by both hands. They walked at a steady, dignified pace along the pre-planned route, which took them along the side of the Mahabodhi Stupa, before climbing the stairs to the outer circuit. They completed one circuit and then returned to the Mahabodhi Stupa. Everything went very smoothly, perhaps because the Gyalwang Karmapa himself had directed and supervised the rehearsals for the event.
The route around the outer circuit of the temple was lined with sangha and laypeople showing respect by offering lotuses and other flowers.
Reading the Kangyur
After the procession had completed its circuit, the texts were distributed between the different monasteries and nunneries for the second part of the ritual, when they are read or rather recited aloud. This year one of the most difficult sections to read – difficult because it contains many complicated Sanskrit mantras transliterated into Tibetan- was allocated to the nuns. This shows a growing confidence in their academic achievement, now that many nuns have access to a study program similar to the ones that monks have enjoyed for centuries.
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| 01/10/09 |
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January 10th
The Akshobhya Saddhana was recited for two afternoons on 9th and 10th January, and on the evening of the 10th His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa completed the Akshobhya Ritual with a fire puja.This began at 8.30pm, His Holiness with the sixteen retreatants who completed the fifteen-day Akshobhya retreat, gathered in the main assembly hall of Tergar Monastery to bless the deceased. In addition to the names proffered by individuals, the list included those killed in the Burmese typhoon, those killed in the Sichuan earthquake, those killed in the earthquake in Tibet, those killed in the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks, and those killed in the floods in Bihar. The ritual took three hours and concluded close to midnight.
At the end of the ritual Gyalwang Karmapa and the other monks, carrying a container of the names of the dead, came outside to the fire which had been burning for some time. The people who had been waiting quietly outside gathered around them. His Holiness gathered a handful of name lists from the container, paused to bless them, and then threw them into the fire until the list was finished.
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| 01/09/09 |
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Living The Dharma
A teaching by His Holiness Karmapa
Live on the Web Jan 12-14
Following the 26th Kagyu Monlam, the organizers of the Kagyu Monlam will organize a special teaching by the Gyalwang Karmapa primarily for students from Western countries. The topic will be: "The Gyalwang Karmapa shares his experiences: Living the Dharma."
This teaching will be broadcasted live over the Internet from Pal Tergar Dhargye Ling Monastery in Bodh Gaya, India.
Broadcast Date: January 12th to 14th, 2009
Broadcast Time: 9:00-11:00 AM & 3:00-5:00 PM（India Time = GMT + 5 1/2 hours）
Morning Teaching Session:
3:30 AM to 5:30 AM GMT
10:30 PM to 12:30 AM EST
11:30AM to 1:30PM Taipei Time
Afternoon Teaching Session:
9:30 AM to 11:30 AM GMT
4:30 AM to 6:30 AM EST
5:30PM to 7:30PM Taipei Time
Link to live broadcast
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| 01/08/09 |
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January 08, 2009,
His Holiness said that regarding tomorrow’s White Tara empowerment, He will give preparation Tara teaching practice today.
The image of Tara can be seen in many monasteries and stupas in India. No monastery in Tibet is without Tara.
Tara is one of the most popular yidams in the Buddhist world and is part of Vajrayana practice. Generally, secret mantra should not be taught to those who are not suitable vessels for Vajrayana, mantra meaning mind (man) and protection (tra). Vajrayana is part of the Mahayana Tantra of outer actions and inner yoga (kryiya). When Vajrayana prevailed in China the outer kriya was more prevalent as lower tantras were more emphasised at that time. The main place for translation was Samye Monastery in Tibet and unless permission was obtained from Samye, higher yogas were not allowed.
There are different kinds of practice in Buddhism and different teachings for different people according to their level and experience. Those who are beginners at the first level are taught how to evade negative emotions. Those at a little higher level have paramita teachings, to face negative emotions and fight against them. At a higher level they are taught to consider negative emotions as enemies but to catch them and make friends with them.
Anything which is not an antidote to mind poisons must be given up, for example trying to get rid of circumstances through which we have attachment. Mahayana Bodhisattvas have power to transform attachment into loving kindness and compassion. We need to work against anger and hatred and there are different ways to do this, such as wrathful deities and transformation of whole appearances. The main thing is to transform appearance, to see the impure nature of appearance.
There are five wisdoms, for example mirror like wisdom, which is an antidote to ignorance (marikpa). There are different ways to generate wisdom and rikpa if we practice at that level, but if we are not ready for that practice it doesn’t work and can be a little dangerous.
It is said that if you practice Vajrayana you will be liberated in this lifetime, or eight or sixteen lifetimes. The main cause is the two accumulations together. To attain enlightened Dharmakaya, His Holiness gave two recommendations – positive deeds and respect for the Lama, to welcome him on his arrival and on his departure saying goodbye! These will contribute to the attainment of rupakaya.
Sometimes we talk about karma that is free from negative emotions. When you have completely cleared and purified subtle negative karma you will gain the wisdom body, but it’s difficult to have this.
In order to attain the two rupakayas you have to accumulate the reason or cause right now.
Shamata and vipassana practices directly lead to completing the form Buddha’s thirty two qualities. This is explained only in Vajrayana. There is a special method to lead to attainment, for example when we meditate as the yidam and through rays we purify, heal and transform other beings. So practice now, practice with skilful means. If you do this, there will be less difficulties to attain the result, cause and result must be similar. It is said that Maitreya Buddha, in a simple way of practicing, became enlightened. If we are skilful, directly working on the result of the two accumulations on the path, we don’t have to go through hardships. It is imperative to work on that – through Vajrayana we can swiftly attain Buddhahood.
Attain wisdom and compassion inseparably. You can’t have a result from a totally different seed. A result can only happen with causes, without causes nothing happens. The method is wisdom and compassion as inseparable and of the same nature.
Subtlest mind is clear light, always there from the beginning. Body, speech and mind are inseparable but at our level, we see these three aspects as something “out there”. Mind sees something separate. When you practice Vajrayana, wisdom and compassion together, understand that what you see isn’t separate.
Samsara is beginningless and even scientists are confused about this. They talk about the “Big Bang”, but what comes before that? They don’t know and in the same way we have the same problem. Look at my life. It is a continuation of my last life. After the last and this life, there was clear light, which happens at the time of death. There is white light, dark red light, more and more subtle then becoming natural state of mind, the essence of consciousness which we call clear light. Some people experience that, some don’t. Even though it arises, people don’t see it. Experience and emptiness are inseparable. If you can see it as clear light then death is no problem. At the time of Bardo we can become liberated. We must work on this and practice for the point after death.
We must understand the real meaning of Vajrayana, not just as ritual. It is more difficult to find that the Buddhas. There are thousands of Buddhas, but only Shakyamuni Buddha taught Vajrayana and we have met these teachings. There are three main specialties of Vajrayana. If you extract the essence of Vajrayana this is very good, but if you are only involved in mantra, rituals etc then this is not so good. You must understand the method. Lamas are extremely important. In Tibet they understood the importance of Lamas. Then the statues of Lamas were made and put in the main shrines so maybe you didn’t see Buddha Shakyamuni. That could be why it became known as Lamaism. We must not do what we did in Tibet because now we are connected with others. Practice in secret in our hearts, not to show off. Go according to what is appropriate to you. For example emptiness is important and if misunderstood can become nihilism, which is very bad and dangerous. It’s the same with Vajrayana. If you meet a true teacher of Vajrayana this will be very good and useful to you.
When we do the empowerment we do not talk much, but you must understand it as well.
Meditate on emptiness. You might be apprehensive, emptiness maybe becomes a dark place. When I was young and had not studied much I had to meditate on emptiness. While examining everything disappeared. There was a kind of darkness, a strong fear in my mind. It was like a television going off. I was too afraid to sit and needed to go out for a walk. My teacher said yes, go for a walk. He had a white beard and I am afraid of him even now. Sometimes in contemplating emptiness people have sat down, gone mad and even vomited blood! For me it was a strong experience. Some say it’s good. Fear means you have thought about emptiness. I thought that this was maybe leading to nihilism.
When you analyze interdependence, there is a danger that it will go into nihilism. It is said that for beginners, it’s best to analyze from negation because if you look from the positive side you will find something. It’s like giving money to someone to buy something, he will find something to buy. From the negative side, every concept is negated then slowly you will understand emptiness.
Understanding emptiness as nothingness is wrong, understanding emptiness through interdependence, relativity, is good. If you analyze emptiness through interdependence then nothing can go wrong. For example there is long and short. Long and short are relative to each other. Nothing is long or short within itself. There is nothing that is not relative to anything else.
Everything arises out of causes and conditions and there is nothing that does not have a cause and condition. The emptiness of a vase relies on the vase. Tashi is Tibetan. If there is no Tibet then there can’t be Tashi. If we meditate like this we can understand more clearly. Whatever you see in front of you look at it as emptiness. Everything is dependant of and relative to each other. Poison is poison and it can kill, but some animals eat poison and don’t die. Some do. Poison is poison to some, medicine to others. It is not a poison on its own. If it were poison on its own then it would not be beneficial to anyone.
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| 01/07/09 |
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26th Kagyu Monlam in a glance;
Aspiration
A drop of water which falls into a great ocean will neither be
exhausted nor cease to exist until the end of the universe.
Likewise, a virtuous root dedicated toward attaining enlightenment
will neither be exhausted nor cease to exist until you reach perfect enlightenment.
The Sutra spoken by Noble Inexhaustible Intelligence
The International Kagyu Monlam is an eight day Buddhist prayer festival held annually in Bodhgaya, the place of Buddha’s enlightenment. His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, head of the Karma Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, presides over the festival, supported by many leading Rinpoches from the Kagyu tradition, including H.E. Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, H.E. Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche, Ven. Zurmang Garwang Rinpoche, Ven. Kalu Rinpoche, Ven. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche and Ven. Mingyur Rinpoche.
In the words of His Holiness:
Kagyu Monlam is an avenue whereby we can spread, at times of great need, the genuine spirit of love and compassion to all the people of the world, like a great ripple, first in Bodhgaya, then in Bihar, and so on. As we continuously offer these prayers for world peace, it is our intention and our wish that peace and happiness extend to all.
This year’s Monlam has several special features which reflect His Holiness’ concern to develop peace, harmony and understanding between different peoples and religions, making it a truly international festival.
THE MONLAM PRAYER BOOK IN EIGHT LANGUAGES
This has now been translated from the original Tibetan and published in Hindi, Chinese, English, French, German, Korean and Spanish.
A MANDALA CONTAINING STONES FROM 101 COUNTRIES
A specially constructed mandala shaped altar, with Mt. Meru at the centre, has been filled with pebbles from all five continents of the world and 101 different countries, symbolizing the earth and all her peoples. Bringing the pebbles together symbolizes bringing together their minds and wishes. The collection also includes two meteorites. There will be a special blessing ceremony to bring peace and happiness and well-being to all corners of the globe. The mandala will then be dismantled , the stones packed into special individual boxes, and the boxes distributed to foreigners attending the Monlam, who will take them back to their countries. So the stones will once more be dispersed to all five continents, carrying the blessings with them.
THE MAIN ENTRANCE GATE
This year’s entrance gate is constructed from wood and covered in colored cloth. The five colors of the cloth – white, green, yellow, blue and red - are known as the ‘wisdom’ colors. Each represents one of the five Buddha families. Suspended from the gate are banners of the mantra: Om Pemo Uni Kha Bema Le Hung Phat. This mantra has powers of purification so that all who pass through the gate during the Monlam festival will receive some spiritual benefit.
ASPIRATION PRAYER BANNERS
These have been hung along the stone palisade near the back gate. They show aspirations from all over the world: in Tibetan, Chinese, English, French, German, Spanish and Korean. His Holiness’ intention is to raise awareness of how people of different cultures have different concerns, hopes and aspirations.
ASPIRATION PRAYER GATE
The rear entrance to the Monlam enclosure is through a Japanese style red Tori gate, hung with aspiration prayers from around the world, in different languages.
BUTTER SCULPTURES REPRESENTING ALL TRADITIONS OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM
The butter sculptures on the right show the great Kagyu founders, Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa, but this year , the ones on the left show the great masters of other Tibetan Buddhist lineages – the Nyingmapa, Sakyapa and Gadenpa (Geluk) traditions. This symbolizes the essential unity of Tibetan Buddhism and the interrelationship between the different schools.
TEACHINGS FOR EAST AND WEST
The growing international importance of Kagyu Monlam is highlighted by the inclusion of more Buddhist teachings this year. Last year Gyalwang Karmapa gave teachings to foreigners only over three evenings. This year he has extended his teaching schedule. Before the Monlam, His Holiness accepted a request from the Taiwanese Hwa-Yue Foundation to give three days of teaching on Teachings of the Lineage Masters. More than 1500 people attended these teachings. After the Prayer Festival His Holiness will give a further three days of teaching, entitled Living the Dharma, this time to a predominantly Western audience. More than 1500 people are expected to attend.
FOOD OFFERINGS FROM EIGHT COUNTRIES
The tsog this year comes from different countries: a cane sugar, milk and nut sweet from India; potato chips from the USA; milk toffees from Germany; croissant from France; ginseng tea from Korea; tsampa from Tibet; mochi rice cake from Taiwan; dried fruit and nuts from Spain. Ten thousand special bags of tsog have been prepared for distribution at the end of the Monlam.
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| 01/07/09 |
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January 07, 2009
His Holiness drew several lessons from Milarepa’s story to illustrate how we should practice. The first concerned our commitment or rather lack of it, and our inability to tolerate hardship.
Like all the great masters in the lineage, Milarepa renounced the world, expressed his disgust with samsara, and had a fierce determination to practice the Dharma. He knew that this was the only way to bring benefit both to him and to others, including his dead parents. We, on the other hand, relax and enjoy good food.
The great translator, Marpa Lotsawa, endured many difficulties on his journey to India. He had to trudge across the never-ending Indian plains, and yet he translated all those texts! These days we get tired when we travel by train or plane!
Milarepa demonstrated immense commitment. Marpa set him to build four houses – not small but big ones - and then he had to take them down again, stone by stone. He was even made to build a house with nine storeys, which His Holiness had had chance to visit. His Holiness commented that the house looked like it had been built by one person – the pillars were unfinished wood and the construction generally was very rough. When Marpa threw him out of teachings or beat him, Milarepa still persevered.
Gampopa too had to face great hardships. He was a householder with a wife and two children, until an epidemic killed first his children and then his wife. When his wife was on her deathbed it seems she was worried that he might remarry, but he reassured her that his only attachment was to the Dharma.
The First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa, also had an interesting background. It is said that something happened when he was fifteen that changed his life. There are two explanations given, either he murdered his father’s enemy, or he murdered the man who ran off with his girlfriend. However as Dusum Khyenpa was quite ugly and looked like a monkey, perhaps his girlfriend had left him. Whatever happened, he became very sad and out of this experience came his decision to commit his life to practising Dharma. Gyalwang Karmapa grinned, “Because he was ugly, Dusum Khyenpa made a special prayer that in future all Karmapas should be handsome!”
According to His Holiness it seemed that when things were going smoothly we forgot about Dharma. This showed lack of commitment. It was essential to have determination and an aspiration that we put into practice. This applied not only to monks and nuns, but to householders too. If someone has never begun to do something, there was no problem, but if they had already made a commitment, they had no choice – they had to follow through to the end. A good person should never give up the Dharma.
His Holiness told a story about a pork butcher who killed a pig a day, and a total of 360 pigs a year. He was well aware of what he was doing, that his life was stained with blood, but excused himself, “It’s the only livelihood I’ve got. It’s not that I want to kill pigs, but that society wants pork.”
In this way, he transferred the blame and responsibility from his own shoulders to the larger community. But that is not how it is. Whether you are a Buddhist or not, it is of benefit to you to do something positive with body, speech and mind. If you are a Buddhist, you have promised to give up the ten non-virtuous actions and you have taken vows. If you disrespect these commitments and engage in negative actions, the result will not be good.
Next, His Holiness returned to the subject of breaking samaya. He explained that if you were unable to keep every detail of samaya, you might not be breaking the samaya, but, on the other hand, if you became careless or showed disrespect, you would be breaking the samaya, especially monks and nuns. You would be like someone who enlists, puts on armor, goes to the battlefield and then runs away. Continuing the analogy, His Holiness likened Rinpoches and Lamas to the generals, and the monks and nuns were like warriors. The enemy was the three poisons and the afflictive mental and emotional states. If you just give in when the enemy of afflictive emotions attacks, it is very shameful. You have surrendered to your enemy and become his slave. That is not the behavior of a warrior.
His Holiness pointed out that each of the 84,000 teachings of the Buddha were designed to work on one of the poisons. Every one of those teachings was like a sharp weapon against the poisons and afflictive emotions. All the commitments were about conquering them.
Sometimes people misunderstood the meaning of samaya. “Do you have a book called ‘Samaya’, please?” he joked. But, in essence, both samaya and tsultrim [ethical behavior] meant working on our negative emotions. We had to see the mind poisons very clearly as something really negative and undesirable. Then we had to work to overcome them, otherwise they would lead to suffering for ourselves and others, and to rebirth in the lower realms.
His Holiness used anger as an example. Sometimes, if he became a little angry, he confessed, he became aggressive. Some people considered anger and aggression to be helpful, but they were fooling themselves. “We are practising patience not kung-fu,” he quipped. If someone told us, “Kyakpa za!” [a common form of mild abuse in Tibetan meaning “Eat shit!”] Our response was usually “You eat shit!” but perhaps it would be better to think along the lines, “I wonder what it tastes like? Perhaps it’s sweet.”
When we realized the need to rid ourselves of these mind poisons, practice became an ornament not a burden.
His Holiness gave another example. If people who wanted to work for world peace failed to understand the negativity of the mind poisons, in spite of a fine aspiration, they could not succeed because all their endeavors would become mixed with pride, arrogance or other mind poisons, which infiltrated their good intentions. In a similar way, when someone wanting to work for the Dharma failed to understand the afflictive emotions the result could be like good food mixed with poison. If, for example, the person has the poisons of aversion and attraction, this could lead to sectarianism, so that even if they were trying to preserve the Dharma, because of the intrusion of their negative emotions, they would end up harming it.
His Holiness reminded everybody, “It is said that the Buddha Dharma is the source of all benefits, but that depends on being a good Dharma practitioner too.”
We needed to make the aspiration to be good Dharma practitioners, otherwise we would be selling the Dharma short, like selling something for 100 rupees when it was worth 10, 000.
His Holiness concluded by reasserting that the Dharma was the path to true and lasting happiness for ourselves and others. As to our own happiness, we had the choice to practice or not, but if we chose to work for the Dharma, more than our own welfare was at stake. We had committed ourselves to working for the benefit of all sentient beings, and that meant it should never be mixed up with envy, jealousy and pride. Sectarianism was particularly dangerous to the Dharma. Our work for others had to be based on compassion and the realization that other sentient beings are just like us in that they want happiness and they do not want suffering. We should view all the beings of the six realms as like our mothers.
His Holiness then led a short meditation on the Lord Buddha, when he was meditating in the area around Bodhgaya for six years, practicing asceticism.
His Holiness reflected on how we ourselves were like hungry ghosts, chasing after food, wealth, fame, and all the attractions of this life, never considering the next life, whereas the Buddha renounced the world in order to bring benefit to limitless sentient beings as vast as space. We were a disgrace to his name.
Later that day;
Approximately five hundred members gathered in the assembly hall at Tergar Monastery, waiting expectantly for His Holiness. Seated quietly in rows, the array of races and nationalities truly illustrated the international nature of the Kagyu Monlam, and the bond of friendship through the Dharma which has united people from all five continents.
His Holiness arrived, walking briskly and energetically, he smiled and bowed his head before sitting down in an armchair specially placed below the dais.
Having recited a blessing, His Holiness gave a short speech, in which he compared the growth of Kagyu Monlam to the growth of a fruit tree. The seed had been planted twenty-six years ago, with the inception of the Kagyu Monlam in India, and now the tree had grown to maturity, its branches had spread and were fruit-bearing. Continuing the analogy, fruit trees needed the right conditions in order to grow, and His Holiness acknowledged the support and generosity of the Kagyu Monlam Members which had provided the conditions for the growth of Kagyu Monlam. Others were now benefiting from the fruit and it was His Holiness’ aspiration that these auspicious conditions would continue to ripen, and that those of us who lived on this earth would leave behind a good imprint. Kagyu Monlam was the foundation for creating an imprint of virtue, well-being and harmony for the future. It was a mandala which attracted goodness.
His Holiness then showed everybody a postcard-sized print of one of his own drawings, a White Tara, which he wanted to share with them. He apologized that it had not turned out as he would have liked, but assured everyone that he had drawn it with one-pointed concentration. It was a symbol of the one-pointed concentration with which he regarded all his followers, and was linked with the Tara empowerment he would give on Friday. Finally his hope was that by the merit accumulated from participating and supporting Kagyu Monlam, all those present would be absorbed into the Tara mandala of longevity.
Settling down with the prints on a table in front of him, His Holiness joked that he’d brought a lot of pens with him in order to sign the prints. Members then came forward, one-by-one, to present their khatags, and each received a freshly-signed print, the ink still wet, directly from the hand of the Gyalwang Karmapa.
Clutching their prints, the members moved reluctantly away from His Holiness and left the hall with radiant faces. Many had tears in their eyes. Through the power and grace of His Holiness, this had been an extraordinarily precious experience for everyone, a moment of transcendence, out of time and the ordinary dimensions in which we live our lives. It would be a memory to treasure when they returned home, a source of strength in the future, and a reassurance that the Gyalwang Karmapa sincerely holds every one of his disciples in his heart and mind.
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| 01/06/09 |
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January 06, 2009,
His Holiness continued the story of Milarepa;
The relationship between Marpa and Milarepa was unlike an ordinary lama-student relationship. Some lamas threatened their students that if they didn’t follow through instructions they would be breaking samaya, and so would go to a hell realm. In contrast, Marpa treated Milarepa like a son. Nor was he motivated by gain. A lama should skillfully nurture his students and always be compassionate.
His Holiness went on to discuss tsultrim – ethical conduct. He explained that rules of good conduct such as not stealing or not killing should be understood not as a codex, a set of laws to be observed, but rather as a description of the behavior which was necessary if we wanted to be happy. Ethical conduct was also essential for the well-being of the society in which we live. He reminded everyone once more of the interdependent nature of our existence. Throughout life we are dependent on others. We were born because of the love our parents had for each other. They cared for us and did their best for us. At every stage of our life, when we were born, as a baby, at school, when looking for work, when we were ill, we relied on others to help us. It was impossible to live completely independently. Given this interdependence, we should never ever look down on other people or show them disrespect. We should never intentionally harm others. It was very difficult to live in a society where people disrespected and harmed each other.
His Holiness cited two reasons for engaging in ethical behavior.
The first was our responsibility to transform the society in which we lived because we were dependent on all the other members of that society. If it were full of negativity, non-virtuous actions and a general lack of compassion, there would be so much suffering and so many difficulties that we would find it very hard to live in a peaceful and positive way.
The second was that if we did not guard our own values, we might be ousted from society. Therefore we had to maintain ethical discipline, which meant practising the ten virtues of body, speech and mind. [The three related to the body are to abstain from killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct; the four related to speech are to abstain from lying, from slander, from harsh speech, and from gossip or meaningless talk; the three related to the mind to be avoided are covetousness, malice and wrong view. ] However, His Holiness commented, it was self-evident that a good person would not kill or rape. When society had to make laws to control behavior it was as a last resort.
Living by these ten virtues we could transform both our own lives and society. As a matter of fact, we didn’t have much choice in the matter, because positive deeds produced positive results. Those people who do great things for the good of others – such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama – are highly respected by other people and seen as indispensable to society. On the other hand, those who always engaged in negative actions were not respected, were viewed as bad people to be avoided, and ostracized. By engaging in good behavior we could bring peace and smiles to the faces of other people.
Many people had a tendency towards negative actions. People were often very selfish and believed that through negative actions they would fulfill their wishes very quickly. In contrast, those who did positive deeds were considering the well-being of lots of people; they were concerned for the welfare of the world and society. As dharma practitioners we should want to bring peace and well-being to all sentient beings. If things weren’t going well, we should remember the first line of the four immeasurable: “May all sentient beings be happy and have the causes of happiness”
This was not just a great aspiration, it was also something which was achievable. But we had to take action. In which case, what should we do? Basically we had to practice virtue, work on transforming our minds, and change our behavior. There were many types of virtuous actions described in the Dharma, but some were culturally dependent or archaic. The baseline was to be somebody who refrained from non-virtuous actions.
His Holiness went on to say that he thought people who committed suicide sometimes did so because, without help and support and with no one to love us, it was too difficult to live in such a gloomy world. He expressed some amazement that in some countries there are now self-help books on committing suicide. This was indicative of society’s failure. In the past, life used to be viewed as the most precious thing, but now knowing how to commit suicide had become a necessity.
Our responsibility, however, remained the same. Even if the whole world was filled with negative people and actions, still we had to do good. We had to make the aspiration to live truthfully and act ethically, showing love and respect to all other sentient beings. These days society was very difficult and full of falsehood, but without good people the world would lose all hope. Whether we were male or female, lay or ordained, we needed courage, sincerity and the commitment to be a good person. It wouldn’t be easy. Yet, however dark the world might be, we had to be a small lamp in that dark. From now, everybody had to take on that responsibility from today.
After singing another doha His Holiness instructed everybody in a short meditation focused on rooting out the three poisons. When you practiced Dharma, he told everyone, it was important to aim the arrow in the direction you wanted to go, and reminded the assembly that they were the lineage holders of Panchen Naropa and should not disgrace his name. If you did nothing about the three poisons, he advised, your dharma practice would not be Dharma. These three poisons could not be destroyed in one go; you had to work on them day by day. He gave the following visualization of the three poisons.
At the navel is a blue pool or lake which represents attachment, because it is as if we drown in it. At the heart is a red fire representing hatred and aggression. At the forehead is blackness and darkness in the form of smoke or a cloud. This represents ignorance.
In the sky above is Buddha Shakyamuni or your own root guru. You request blessings from his body that all 3 mind poisons be eliminated. From his forehead a pure white light radiates, from his heart centre a red light radiates, and from his navel a blue light. Visualise the blue light entering your navel, the red light entering your heart, and the white light entering your forehead, thus eliminating all three poisons.
So once more, in front of the bodhi tree, in the shadow of the Mahabodhi temple, the Gyalwang Karmapa led the Kagyu Monlam assembly in five minutes of meditation, before concluding the morning session with The Great Aspiration Prayer.
Consecration ceremony at the Bangladeshi Buddhist Monastery
After attending the morning session of Kagyu Monlam at the Mahabodhi Temple, and giving a teaching on The Songs of Milarepa, His Holiness went on to the Bangladeshi Buddhist Monastery. There he lit candles and at the shrine to bless the shrine room, and chanted prayers with the resident monks, who belong to the Theravadin tradition. He then consecrated a new Buddha statue in the monastery grounds.
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| 01/05/09 |
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January 05, 2009
His Holiness Karmapa then gave a short commentary;
The Lord Buddha said that two things were essential: study and practice. Gampopa advised people to study first. The Kagyu is known as the practice lineage, and meditation plays a central role; it is the lineage of experience and realization. Like Milarepa, we had to receive the instructions, and then put them into practice. This involved hardship and effort.
Some Kagyu masters had studied extensively and then practiced, but others had had little formal study. Milarepa had not studied widely, but he had great devotion. He received the instructions, the direct understanding of how to practice, and then he practiced.
A Nyingma lama once said that when we were really suffering and our minds were deeply disturbed, the only things which helped were Shantideva’s Way of the Bodhisattva, and The Songs of Milarepa. Correct meditation depends on correct view, and the correct view is emptiness. The lama, who has direct experience of the nature of the mind, gives instructions to the devoted student who must study, analyze, gain a conceptual understanding and practice it. His Holiness commented that although Kagyu say they are the practice lineage, when we study the biographies of great masters it can make us feel ashamed. As the saying goes, “The great master practiced this way, and I disgraced him.” We should be grateful to the great masters and take them as our model. We look at Milarepa and say, “This was an extraordinary person, but it’s not possible to do what he did”, rather than take him as an example to follow.
We also need to be aware of interdependence. The environment supports us, all the plants and trees that grow, and yet we mindlessly destroy it. We cut down the forests, and claim every bit of land we can, without a thought for the environment and the other sentient beings with whom we share it. We forget that all the basic necessities which we need to live are provided by myriad beings - even a cup of tea. There’s a tea-bush, and the tea-picker, and then we need milk or butter, and the person who made the tea – so many people are involved in order to sustain our lives, we should remember them with gratitude. Instead we just gulp the tea down and never consider the kindness of others. This is not what Mahayana Buddhism teaches. A Mahayana Buddhist has to understand interdependence and appreciate the kindness of other sentient being with deep gratitude.
This is one of the themes of Kagyu Monlam – to be grateful.
Mao Tse Dung said that religion was poison to society. Indeed, Gampopa said that if you do not practice dharma in the correct way it can lead to rebirth in the lower realms. So we really have to understand the dharma and practice it properly.
At this point, the chant masters led the singing of Milarepa’s doha, on how to see the face of the deity.
Gyalwang Karmapa urged everyone to work to develop equanimity, rather than swinging between aversion and attraction. Aversion and attraction operated in religion too. Sectarianism was very bad, and not what the Buddha taught. The Buddha practiced equanimity as evidenced by the equal treatment he gave to his cousin and antagonist, Devadatta, and his own son, Rahula.
Then His Holiness taught a meditation visualizing the Lord Buddha at the moment of his enlightenment – smiling, eyes filled with love, and a radiant golden glow, and, for five minutes, everyone sat silently on meditation.
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| 01/04/09 |
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The 26th Kagyu Monlam, lead by His Holiness Karmapa started on January 4th in Bodhgaya, India.
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| 01/03/09 |
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The Third day of Gyalwang Karmapa’s Lineage Practice Teachings
January 02, 2009,
On the last morning of the teachings Gyalwang Karmapa conferred the Bodhisattva Vow and spoke about developing bodhichitta.
He began by detailing the necessary conditions when taking the Bodhisattva Vow.
First came motivation and then there needed to be a support - either a human, a deity or a god. The vow could be taken in front of a Lama, a spiritual friend or a support such as a picture. The maximum support was someone who held the eight Pratimoksha vows, the minimum support was someone with the refuge vows.
Third was the ritual. His Holiness chose to use three verses from Shantideva’s “ The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life”, which contained all three possible forms of the vow, the aspirational, the engaged, and both.
When taking the vow we needed the intention to benefit all sentient beings, who were our mothers as limitless as space. The best way to prepare our minds and to accumulate merit, which would develop and increase the power of the vow, was to recite the Seven Branch Prayer.
For beginners there would be more obstructions, difficulties and less supporting conditions, so His Holiness explained how reciting the Seven Branch Prayer functioned as an antidote. Prostration was the antidote to pride. Making offerings was the antidote to miserliness, and developed generosity. Confession was the antidote to all our negative deeds. Rejoicing was the antidote to jealousy and envy. Requesting the buddhas to turn the wheel of dharma served as an antidote to ignorance and karmic obstacles arising from abandoning the dharma. Requesting the Buddhas to remain was the antidote to karmic obstacles preventing us from meeting our gurus. Finally, the branch of dedication was the antidote for not believing in karma cause and effect, and not believing in the results of our own actions.
After accumulating merit we needed to develop good motivation. There were several methods we could use to do this: through exchanging self and others, or through contemplating the chain of cause and effect. In the latter we remember how all sentient beings have been our mothers, or our friends and supporters. Then we recall their suffering and generate the motivation, the pure wish to free all of these beings from their suffering. First we had to recognize that all sentient beings had been our mothers – our parents gave us our bodies and usually showed us affection, especially our mothers. Although they may not have done a good job sometimes, we needed to concentrate on what our parents did to help us, and more than anything they gave us life and a body, the greatest gift we can be given. There may have been differences in the love and affection given, but the gift of a life and a body were an incomparable kindness.
Similarly, all sentient beings in the world were interdependent; indeed there is no sentient being with whom we do not have a connection. Consider clothing, the materials come from animals or plants, and we depend on an infinite number of beings for our clothing. Even fame is dependent on the recognition of others. The global village means that these days we are also connected through business, politics etc. When we consider interconnectedness we usually think of the benefit we received from other sentient beings. Logically we could also consider the converse – the harm they have done to us – but to do so would be neither beneficial nor helpful.
His Holiness then extended the concept of interconnectedness to include not just this world but the galaxy we live in. The world was formed out of the karmic perceptions of all sentient beings, of all sentient beings in the galaxy. We may not be able to go everywhere in the universe but we say ‘limitless beings as vast as space’. In addition, there was interconnectedness evident in the plant and animal world. We depended on plants – the forests that made oxygen for us to breathe. We depended on the insects who pollinated our plants and fertilised them so that they bore fruit which we could eat. Without pollinating insects there would be no delicious fruit.
So all these sentient beings who are kind to us, want happiness, but they only heap suffering on themselves. If we focused on this idea until we felt unbearable compassion – then we would be able to develop the wish to free them from suffering, from impurities and obscurations. Then we could develop our bodhichitta.
His Holiness then gave the Bodhisattva Vow in Tibetan, Chinese and English.
Finally he reminded everybody that Bodhgaya was the place where the Buddha defeated the four maras, so they were no longer present here, and it was a blessed place. This was the place where the Buddha awakened so virtue was increased a thousand fold, and the ground itself was a support. The place itself was like a mandala; we should be happy, excited and courageous. Having taken the Bodhisattva Vow we were now a child of the Buddhas, a member of their family.
Gyalwang Karmapa concluded the morning session by presenting each member of the audience with a small New Year’s gift.
In the afternoon session, Gyalwang Karmapa again spoke on the theme of combining life and practice. Continuing the idea of creating a ‘home’, a place of rest and peace, for our minds, he explained how our practice should be an antidote to afflictive mental states; we needed to know how to meditate and how to use that meditation.
It often happens that students made lots of mistakes in their practice but these mistakes and obstacles should be used as part of the path and could be seen as rungs on a ladder. They could be used as the basis for further practise.
Chili can be very hot and spicy but if you eat it on the side with other food, you don’t experience the entire heat of the chili. But if you eat a chili on it’s own you really get to know how hot it is! In the same way, it is often difficult to identify the true nature of the problems which arise from afflictive mental states. For example if someone is usually bad-tempered, it could be difficult for them to identify the affliction of anger. However, if there were to be an incident when they became very angry, and then, overwhelmed by this anger hit someone, perhaps even wounding them, and, as a consequence got arrested and had to go to court, the consequences of their anger became clear and because it was such an extreme example of the affliction they were able to recognize it.
Having recognized the nature of the afflictive mental state we then needed to know how to get rid of it. We needed to examine how it affects our perception, and then develop the antidote. In this case , anger, the antidote is patience, but we may not have much patience, so we have to use whatever we have. It’s like repairing a broken watch – it’s very small, you need to use a magnifying glass to work on it – it’s not something you can use a sledgehammer on – our minds are like the watch; we need to repair them and make them functional, gradually.
The afflictions and the three poisons are evident in our lives. When anger is present, we have no thought of love, and our actions and words exhibit this. But we have difficulty identifying the affliction as a fault. Faults are like a heap, we have to get to the bottom of the heap. We tfind ways to convince ourselves that it’s a small problem or normal: everyone gets angry sometimes, we have to get angry sometimes. This is denying that it’s a fault, and, until we can perceive these afflictions as faults, it will be difficult to clear them.
When we can see the afflictive mental states as a fault, we can’t wait to get rid of them. It’s like smelling something foul which makes you want to vomit. You know that you have to rid yourself of them as clearly as you know when you have to go to the toilet.
Unfortunately, when we see these afflictions as a mass of faults we are often in two minds about them: part of us doesn’t want to give up the afflictions and another part wants to get rid of them. It’s obvious that you can’t go backwards and forwards simultaneously. In the case of a team, if there is disunity, you call the teamleader. Our mind is the same. What do we want to accomplish? What is compatible with how things are? If you are undecided, nothing will be achieved. So we need a teamleader in our mind. Where do we find it?
Basically our character is good. If you draw a horse that deosn’t look like a horse, it can’t be a horse. Anger, pride or jealousy are not essential to life, but without goodness, knowledge and wisdom it is difficult to live. Our nature is inherently good and kindhearted. Without that we would be unable to live, so it is important and necessary to distinguish between what we need and what we want. Some things we don’t want are beneficial such as medicine. Sometimes we neglect the things we need and focus instead on getting the things we want, giving them power over us.
If we know that the afflictive emotions are a fault, we can give the power to the part that sees the afflictions as a fault, and then the antidote will be effective. Meditation was the tool for getting to the root of the afflictive mental states.
His Holiness then gave instructions on how to meditate.
First he explained the correct vajra or half vajra posture, joking about how difficult this could be for Westerners, whereas Tibetan children had vajra posture competitions! The focus for one-pointed meditation could be any object, such as a flower, but the most powerful focus was an image of the Buddha.
His Holiness then led the audience in a meditation on the Lord Buddha at the point of enlightenment, golden in colour because of his radiance, his eyes full of love.
His Holiness advised that it was important not to let the mind wander away from that form. Generally, the rule for beginners, was to meditate for short periods but often. This did not mean getting on and off your meditation seat but rather staying put and having several short sessions consecutively. It was important to use our awareness, recognizing when the mind was distracted and then using that awareness to bring it back to focus again. In daily life every one was so busy that it was important to find time for resting the mind and body.
His Holiness gave an example of how that should feel. Once upon a time in India, there was a king who had to move from his old palace to a new one, but he didn’t trust anyone so he asked one of his ministers to help him. The king promised him a new house, and enough food and money to live on for the rest of his life so the minister agreed and then spent the whole day going backwards and forwards, without resting, but by the end, he had completed the task. Thankfully, he went to the new home the king had given him and sat down: Ahh! That, said His Holiness, is what resting your mind feels like.
It was also important to be focused on the present and not distracted by thoughts about the past or the future.
Another story illustrated the dangers of this. Once upon a time a beggar, who had nothing, managed to accumulate some grain. He sold it, made a profit, and was able to buy more grain. Suddenly his future looked bright. Walking across a bridge, carrying the grain atop his head, he began to daydream. If he sold this grain, he could buy more, make an even bigger profit, get a wife, and then he would have children. His life would be transformed. He would be so happy going home every night to his wife and children. They would greet him…The beggar was concentrating so much on this daydream of the future that he dropped the grain. It fell into the water and was ruined. Once again, he had nothing.
The teaching was finished. In his concluding remarks the Gyawlang Karmapa observed that the teaching had been like a family reunion. The ‘family’ had chanted together, studied the Dharma, smiled together. His Holiness was certain that the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions had witnessed the uncontrived smiles of the people gathered at Tergar for the teaching. He thanked the Hwa-Yue Foundation for sponsoring the teaching and the hard work its members had put in to make it all possible. He then dedicated the merit.
He concluded, “When I am in Dharamsala, I hope to be like a lamp or a star in the sky at night – a place for your hope. We can be lamps for each other.”
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| 01/02/09 |
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The Second day of Gyalwang Karmapa’s Lineage Practice Teachings
TThe morning session was devoted to the Refuge Vow, which was given in Tibetan, Chinese and Korean. His Holiness began by explaining the meaning of refuge and why we needed a refuge. First he pointed out that from the time of our birth until our death we were dependent on others. The very nature of our lives meant we had to rely on other people. These people, including family and friends, who protected and cared for us were a form of refuge. Also, everyone wished to be happy, as witnessed by the many people who wrote to him or sought audiences to ask for help – failing businesses, illnesses, and other unhappiness.
It seemed we were unable to free ourselves from suffering and problems. Thus, we needed to look for a way to free ourselves completely. We needed to find the ultimate refuge. Someone like a doctor might be able to help us temporarily but in the end we still suffered sickness, ageing and death – and we had to experience these lifetime after lifetime.
So what would an ultimate refuge be? It had to be one which could help us rid ourselves of the root causes of suffering, and this could only be done by someone who had already accomplished this. Prince Siddhartha had grown up in sheltered luxury but when he left his palace and encountered the four sufferings, he abandoned his comfortable life and the son he loved very much, in order to find liberation. He renounced palace life, practised austerities, and finally attained enlightenment. Thus the Lord Buddha has the qualifications to give us refuge.
The other two jewels are the teachings of Lord Buddha and the sangha.
Lord Buddha had taught all the external causes that could free us from samsara, not for his own benefit, but for the benefit of all suffering sentient beings.
The noble sangha were the people who were practicing the path the Lord Buddha taught. The extended sangha could include our dharma friends and those we practised with, the people who supported us in our practice.
With faith in the Three Jewels and practice we had everything we needed in order to liberate ourselves from samsara. Taking the Refuge Vow was to take the first steps on the path, and involved making a commitment to keep the precepts. His Holiness advised people that if they felt daunted by the responsibility of taking the Vow, they should think how marvelous it was to take refuge in the place where the Buddha had achieved enlightenment.
Having taken the Vow, three things had to be abandoned. The first was trusting in worldly gods. Going for refuge meant we had chosen to follow a genuine path in order to free ourselves, something which would bring us to ultimate, stable happiness.
The second thing to be abandoned was harming sentient beings. This meant harming them with the intention to harm them. Sometimes the very nature of our lives meant that we might harm others unintentionally. We harmed sentient beings intentionally because of attachment and afflictive mental and emotional states, so we had the responsibility to train our minds in order to tame them, to stop the causes which made us harm others.
The third thing to be abandoned was harmful and evil friends. These were the people who could influence us negatively and lead us away from the path. We needed to cultivate good friends from the sangha; in this context all our dharma friends are our sangha. His Holiness explained that because he had so many students, it was often impossible to give individual help and advice, so it was very important for his disciples to help and support each other.
Having taken the Vow, three things had to be respected: all Buddha images, every single syllable of Dharma, and every piece of yellow robe. It wasn’t the robe itself but it represented the noble ones who wore it. There were also the common precepts: reciting the refuge three times daily (His Holiness admitted that the recitation in the middle of the night was a little difficult these days)!; offering the first portion of food in remembrance of the kindness of Buddha and of the Three Jewels; helping anyone who wished to take refuge; never trivialising the Three Jewels.
The afternoon session focused on a question from the audience: how could lay practitioners combine busy lives with dharma practice.
His Holiness began by saying that this was a frequently asked question. People wanted to make progress in their practice, yet work often drained them of physical and mental energy. Practising in the shrine room was not enough; often we left our practice behind there! A new way was needed which brought work and practice together as complementary. People suffered from internal and external pressures, which could place them under such severe stress that they felt they were going crazy or they became sick or even committed suicide. It was important to be able to distance ourselves from such emotional pressure, so the question was how to use our practice to achieve this.
The word ‘practice’ (the Tibetan word is nyamlen) means a ‘feeling in the mind’, but it is more than a feeling; it has also to manifest through body and speech. Practice means to transform our minds and hence change our conduct and our speech. In this way we can also change the environment around us and our relationships with our families and friends. If we pray for world peace we need the impetus to work for world peace.
We all need a home; if someone is under a lot of pressure at work, returning home to a loving family, where they can relax, have a cup of tea, talk with the family, makes them feel relaxed and at ease. We also need a home for our minds: a place of contentment and rest. We have to build this for ourselves.
If we fail to give our minds a place to stay, they become like a street child – neglected, troubled, sad and getting into trouble. The nature of mind is clear and knowing, not ignorance, and we use these characteristics of the mind – its luminosity – to recognize its inner peace. When we die we lose all our possessions but we are not separated from the nature of the mind. When we look at our minds, we often just see discord and forget that the true nature of our mind is virtuous and good. In order to develop peace of mind we have to practice, but there are some mistaken views about what practice is.
First of all practice isn’t like a job. Usually when we have a job there are fixed working hours. If we treat practice like a job we go to the shrine room, do our practice, but there is no habituation, no transference into our lives beyond the shrine room. To get rid of large obscurations we needed to start removing small ones, step by step, every day, all day The Tibetan word for ‘meditation’ is related to the word which means ‘to become accustomed to’, or making something a habit. If we don’t train ourselves in compassion, how can we sit in the shrine room and say, “May all sentient beings be happy.”?
Secondly, practice isn’t like homework set by the lama for his students. An example of this is the Ngondro (preliminaries). Some people become very expert at prostrations. They use a smooth board and they prostrate really fast, as if they’re doing physical exercise. What’s the point of doing it like that? Practice is about transforming our minds not completing 100,000 prostrations. In the end some people look back and say, “All I did was count!” Nor is practice something to show to the lama, like showing the teacher your work. We have to own the practice. We are doing it for ourselves and not for someone else. Some people go to their lama and say, “I’ve done my Ngondro.” And when the lama says, “OK. Now you can practise a yidam deity” they mistakenly view it in the same way as if a teacher was giving them a good grade.
The third fault is treating practice as ritual – reciting mantras, visualizing the meditation deity, making the mudras etc. The point of practice is to transform our minds, so we need to constantly check if this is happening. We often miss the profounder meanings, for example, in the four-armed Chenresig, his four arms represent the four immeasureables.
We can extend our practice beyond the shrine room by observing and reflecting on the world around us. Consider the four seasons. At one level wintertime might just mean time to put on warm clothes. But when we practise we can see the changes as a manifestation of impermanence. In summertime there are wonderful flowers, but they die, so, reflecting on this, we can really begin to understand that everything changes and everything is destructible.
Work could become part of our practice too. Many people work in manufacturing companies, in which case they could think: we make high quality products that will benefit the world. This becomes a form of generosity because generosity is not just giving things away (when the Buddha completed the paramita of generosity there were still plenty of beggars) but rather a mindset which wants to give. Thus dedication could also be a form of generosity.
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| 01/01/09 |
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New Year’s Day: Gyalwang Karmapa Attends Interfaith Prayer Meeting for World Peace
His Holiness made a surprise visit to the Mahabodhi Stupa as guest-of-honor at an inter-faith prayer meeting, under the bodhi tree, where a small crowd was gathered, mainly Indian sangha, local schoolchildren, and representatives of the faith communities in Bodh Gaya. A few Tibetans and Westerners were also evident.
His Holiness first visited the main shrine hall and paid respect to Buddha image, later attended the meeting.
The meeting, organized by the International Buddhist Council of India, Bodh Gaya and Gaya branch, the Mahabodhi Management Committee and the local interfaith organisation, was held partly in memory of those who had died in the November Mumbai bombings, partly as an opportunity to pray for world peace and harmony on New Year’s Day.
There were chants and prayers for world peace, led by representatives of the Tibetan Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Jain, Sikh and Muslim communities.
The meeting concluded with a reading from Shantideva’s “Way of the Bodhisattva”, beginning with the verse:
May I be a guard for those who are protectorless,
A guide for those who journey on the road,
For those who wish to go across the water
May I be a boat, a raft, a bridge.
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