The Fifth Session of Gyalwang Karmapa’s Teaching on Madhyamika

December 19, 2008, report by Jo Gibson

Gyalwang Karmapa continued reading from the 9th Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje’s text The Lion’s Roar which Destroys Confusion. He focused on the section concerning the five criticisms that later Tibetan scholars directed at the Consequentialist School, and led his audience through the stages of logical argument which the 9th Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje used to refute them.

Gyalwang Karmapa then went on to speak about the essential qualities of those who teach the buddhadharma. Citing a verse from Je Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Monlam – The Aspiration to the Stages of the Path:

Motivated by intense affection, may I dispel
The darkness of beings’ minds by skillfully explaining
The points of the path that I have correctly realized.
May I uphold the buddhadharma for a long time.

He explained that Dharma teachers needed to be very careful and should only teach what they knew clearly and well. They should be motivated by compassion and the wish to benefit people. Dharma teachers also need intelligence and skilful means, otherwise they might teach people at an inappropriate level. An example would be teaching emptiness to people who were not at a stage to be able to understand, in which case there was a danger of turning them away from the Dharma. But without compassion it was possible to fool ourselves into thinking that we were using skillful means.

When studying topics in the texts, it was vital to connect them with our own experience, as, for example, when dealing with death and impermanence. In addition, it was essential to consider the true nature of the Dharma. As dharma practitioners, we should avoid criticism of other religions and sects because they also teach altruism. Instead, we should cultivate a mindset which rejoices in all virtuous acts, all goodness.

His Holiness told the story of King Ajatashatru to illustrate the combination of intelligence and compassion.

Under the influence of the Buddha’s cousin, the wicked Devadatta, King Ajatashatru imprisoned his own father, King Bimbisara, who consequently died. King Ajatashatru was so overcome by remorse and wracked by regret, that Lord Buddha, out of his compassion, sent Manjushri to him.

Manjushri told him:
“You should kill your father and mother..” ( a phrase usually interpreted as to destroy ego-clinging [the father] and to end the accumulation of more karma [the mother] ).

However, in his grief, King Ajashatru interpreted it literally and felt some relief for a few days. Then the Buddha himself came and made it clear to him that his action had been nistaken, (“You messed up there, “ in the words of Gyalwang Karmapa), but that there was still a chance to ameliorate the situation.

His Holiness explained that if Lord Buddha had immediately gone to castigate the King, the latter might well have committed suicide , so deep was his remorse and despair. Instead Lord Buddha sent Manjushri first, out of his compassion and employing skillful means.