The Gyalwang Karmapa’s
teachings on Nagarjuna’s Letter to a friend
December
21,
2009, Tergar Monastery, report by Jo Gibson, Michele Martin, photos taken by
Karma Lekcho, Karma Norbu
Day Two: AM
report by Jo Gibson
The following
summary of the morning’s teachings is based on Ringu Trulku
Rinpoche’s translation from Tibetan into English.
Gyalwang Karmapa began
by reviewing yesterday’s discussion on ethical discipline,
emphasising that practising ethical discipline was important for the
world in terms of transforming society. Behaving ethically meant
abandoning the ten non-virtuous actions. For householders who hold
the lay vows, adopting ethical behaviour can also be very helpful
on an individual level; a couple who quarrel can create a harmonious
relationship instead, for instance.
The Gyalwang Karmapa continued his teaching with an exposition of
verse six. He explained that the previous verses had been applicable
to both householders and those holding monastic vows, but the sixth
verse is addressed specifically to laypeople.
Stanza Six
Possessions are
ephemeral and essence less—
Know this and give them
generously to monks,
To Brahmins, to the
poor, and to your friends:
Beyond there is no
greater friend than gift.
Stanza four had
mentioned the six paramitas, one of which is generosity. Three
things needed to be considered with reference to generosity: the
objects, the reasons, and the benefits. This verse explains the
importance of generosity and who best deserves to receive it. There
are two types of object: the higher ones, those who are a field of
good qualities, which includes Brahmins, monks and nuns, and those
who are a field of benefit such as one’s parents. The second group
includes the poor and disadvantaged. The reason for giving is that
wealth is impermanent and unstable – as we can see from the present
economic crisis – so the most effective way of using our wealth is
to share it, even though we may have limited resources.
The benefit of giving
is that , even if you give only a little it establishes
predispositions for future lives and ensures rebirth in a good
migration with good resources.
Stanza Seven
Keep your vows
unbroken, undegraded,
Uncorrupted, and quite
free of stain.
Just as the earth’s the
base for all that’s still or moves,
On discipline, it’s
said, is founded all that’s good.
This verse is an instruction for monks and nuns. Monastics have
taken vows of ethical discipline and it’s important not to allow
them to degenerate. One needs to give up all harming of others. The
actions to be abandoned are the seven of body and speech, and the
three mental actions that are the cause of the former. Hence, one
trains in abandoning these by hearing, thinking and meditating.
Ethical discipline should be uncorrupted meaning that it is
not kept only because of concern for this life. It must be quite
free of stain meaning that ethical discipline should
not be solely for the purpose of future lives either. The basis of
one’s virtuous actions should be the goal of attaining liberation
and omniscience. The three precepts are ethics, concentration and
wisdom, and ethical discipline is the basis on which we realise the
latter. His Holiness observed that if we cannot control body and
speech, we cannot control our minds. Even for hearing, thinking and
meditating one needs one-pointedness of mind, and this too is
difficult to develop without a base of ethical discipline.
Stanza Eight
Generosity and
discipline, patience and diligence,
Concentration and the
wisdom of thusness-
Those measureless
perfections, make them grow,
And be a Mighty
Conqueror, who’s crossed samsara’s sea.
This verse gives more detailed instructions for monks and nuns and
lists the six perfections.
As it is said in the
Madhyamika-avatara, if ethical discipline exists, the other five
perfections grow and increase, but, without it, it is very difficult
for the other five to develop. To become a bodhisattva is not easy.
A bodhisattva has to have great skill, real compassion and wisdom,
and training in all six perfections in order to attain this.
Nagarjuna’s detailed
instruction for householders, which follows, has nine parts, the
first of which is to respect one’s parents.
Stanza Nine
Those who show their
parents great respect
With Brahma or a Master
will be linked;
By venerating them
they’ll win repute,
In future they’ll
attain the higher realms.
His Holiness commented
that we all come from many different backgrounds and life
situations. He himself had been able to meet a wide range of
people, many of whom had love and respect for their parents, but
some of whom had great difficulty doing this, so it was necessary to
explore ways in which we could relate to this verse. He himself had
no problems loving and respecting his mother and father. His only
problem was having little opportunity to do this. He suggested that
perhaps he was not the right person to give instructions to those
who did have problems doing so. However, there are many teachings in
Buddhist texts on cultivating patience, kindness and compassion, and
how to regard all beings as attractive. Perhaps those who have
difficulty loving and respecting their parents, he advised, could
use these trainings, so that they abandoned feelings of anger and
hatred, and practiced patience. In that way they could rid
themselves of negative feelings towards their parents. As we as
Buddhists must practice equanimity and show loving kindness and
compassion towards all sentient beings, whether they are relatives
and friends or not, if there were difficulties, perhaps we could
include our parents in the latter group. Moreover, we need to
reflect on our past history, learn to forgive ourselves and others,
and let go of any painful or negative feelings we may still
harbour.
Stanzas Ten and Eleven
Eschew all harm, don’t
steal, make love, or lie,
Abstain from drink,
untimely greed for food,
Indulging in high beds,
and singing too,
Refrain from dancing,
all adornments shun.
For men and women who
keep this eight-branched vow
And emulate the vows
the Arhats took,
Their wish to nurture
and to cleanse will grant
Them handsome bodies as
celestial gods.
This second and third
verses of detailed instructions to householders encourage them to
take the eight Mahayana sojong precepts, which can be divided into
4 root precepts , and 4 branches and are taken for twenty-four
hours. During Buddha’s time, the Buddha instructed his followers to
observe the sojong precepts on the 8th, 15th
and so forth of the month. It is said that those who had done so,
when they heard one word of instruction from the Buddha, became
Arhats. By observing these precepts, His Holiness said, there will
be great benefits in the next life.
He then introduced
Verse 12, which lists actions and attitudes to be avoided by
householders.
Stanza Twelve
Stinginess and cunning,
greed and sloth
And arrogance,
attachment, hate, and pride
(“I’ve breeding, good
looks, learning, youth, and power”)—
Such traits are seen as
enemies of good.
Question and answer
session
Q.When I have a
negative emotion like attachment and look into it, the emotion
becomes stronger. What should I do?
His Holiness advised that there are many different ways to work on
negative emotions. He suggested that sometimes when you dislike a
particular person, something has happened or they have done
something to you, it can help to change your focus, moving your
mind away from that person or situation, in order to defuse the
anger. This can help.
Q. Is it
permissible to support ourselves by selling dharma articles with
the intention of benefitting others? Westerners need Dharma
articles.
His Holiness suggested that there were several things to be
considered. If the motivation were more than just a business, it
might be permissible, but one needed to consider how and to whom
they were sold. For instance, there was the danger of selling them
to people who would not respect them.
Q. Monks and
lamas eat meat in Tibet, especially during Losar. Is this not a
wrong thing to do?
His Holiness commented that the questioner seemed to know Tibetan
custom! He then explained how, historically, because of the
geography, climate and situation, there used to be little choice of
food in Tibet, and it was very difficult to get vegetables and so
forth. Nowadays things had changed. New fruits and vegetables had
arrived in Tibet, particularly from China, and it was his hope that
this would lead to a change in the Tibetan diet, so that monks and
lamas eating meat would no longer be an issue.
Q. When there
are too many mosquitoes, I kill them. I’m sorry. I don’t want to do
it, but how can I stop it?
His Holiness commented that this was a difficult dilemma. The right
conditions in terms of room, screens, nets, repellant and so forth
could help. However, it was essential for us to understand that
although an elephant is very large and a mosquito is very small,
the difference is in size not value, both are living beings. Thus,
although a mosquito may seem small and insignificant it has life and
it is probably wrong to take that life. Instead we should use our
skills and resourcefulness to find a solution which does not harm
them. Talking from personal experience he said that a few days ago
he had noticed that the anti-mosquito device that many people use
here seemed to be killing the mosquitoes, so he didn’t turn it on
and tried driving them away instead. That didn’t work and they
continued to bite him in spite of everything. Then he developed a
genuine feeling of giving.
“So at least I was giving my blood freely; they benefit from
receiving it and I have the positive benefit of giving. I’m trying
this, I’m not saying that everyone has to do this, but this is my
current thinking.”
Q. Would His
Holiness please give the refuge vows. How can we take His Holiness
as root guru.
His Holiness began his reply by saying that this question of the
‘root guru’ was something which had been bothering him for some
time. He explained that usually when we use the term ‘root guru’ it
is in the context of Vajrayana practice. The ‘root guru’ is the one
from whom we receive an empowerment, the reading transmission and
the root instructions. It is also possible, however, to have a
‘spiritual friend’. This is the person who shows us the right way,
and instructs us in what is to be adopted and what is to be
abandoned.
Gyalwang Karmapa explained that from his personal point of view he
felt he did not have the qualities to be a root guru yet, although
he was working hard to develop them, and it was his aspiration to
gather all the genuine qualities that are necessary. However, many
people has placed their hopes, wishes and confidence in him, so, in
order to encourage them, he accepted the role of root guru. He
thought that he, the individual Ogyen Trinley, did not have the
qualities to be a root guru, but through his connection with the
Karmapa lineage, there might be some benefit to people. Thus,
whenever he agreed to take someone as a student or to be their root
guru, he visualised the great masters and took inspiration from
them. It was important to understand that the focus should not be on
him personally but on the lineage and the teachings of the lineage.
Even someone with hundreds of negative qualities was worth listening
to if they gave one positive instruction. His Holiness reminded
everyone that one of the four reliances instructs us to rely on the
teaching(Dharma) and not on the person. “It’s the teaching that is
great, not me,” he maintained, and advised everyone to take the
teachings as the main guru and regard him as a spiritual friend;
then there wouldn’t be any problems.
Gyalwang Karmapa concluded the morning session with two reading
transmissions: Thogme Sangpo’s The Thirty Seven Practices of a
Bodhisattva and the dedication prayer from Shantideva’s Way
of the Bodhisattva.
Day Two: PM
report by
Michele Martin
Today we will begin with discussing mistaken attitudes, or
literally, “what is turned around the wrong way.” Verse 12 reads:
Stinginess and cunning, greed and sloth,
And
arrogance, attachment, hate, and pride
(“I’ve breeding, good looks, learning, youth, and power”)—
Such
traits are seen as enemies of good.
When
people are stingy, they’re unable to give to others. They can’t
give either the Dharma or material things, but must keep everything
to themselves.
The
next mistaken attitude is translated as “cunning” but actually it’s
made up of two words. g.Yo means that you conceal your
faults and sgyu means that you pretend to have qualities that
you do not, so there are two ways of being cunning. “Sloth” refers
to allowing ourselves to be carried away by laziness.
With
pride, we think we’re something very special. We are puffed up,
inflated with ourselves. We are one hundred percent certain that
you are a wonderful person, even if we actually don’t have so many
positive qualities. We are so stuffed with the idea of our self that
there’s no space for anything else. Our mind is obese. We think that
we are some high ranking VIP. Or we think we’re special because we
have tons of money or years of learning. No matter what positive
qualities we may have, it’s important not to come under the sway of
pride.
Of
the three poisons, attachment comes in two kinds: attachment to
people and to material things. Then, even though we may have all
that we need and more, we still have aversion and feel the need to
compete with others. None of these mistaken attitudes are good for
this life or the next. They steal away our positive qualities and
so they are seen as “enemies of good.” None of them allow us to make
good connections with others, which is another reason why we should
discard them.
It’s
a tradition in India and Tibet that great masters are very humble.
They say things like, “I really don’t know very much.” “I haven’t
studied a lot.” “I have no realization.” Now that the Dharma is
spreading to the East and West, many masters are traveling and they
still follow this tradition of humility. However, some people
assume that the masters are actually telling the truth and take what
they say at face value: “Well, if he doesn’t know, then there’s no
need to take teaching from him.” They have not yet learned that this
is an expression of humility. It is possible that someone could have
false humility and harbor pride deep within. Such a person is not a
true practitioner. So students have to understand this tradition of
humility. When the teacher and students are of one mind, then
something good can happen.
Real
humility is felt deep inside. Even if we have many positive
qualities, we understand how much more we have to learn. When we
compare ourselves with others, we can see that what we know is like
a drop of water in the ocean. We feel a natural humility when we
see the great qualities we have yet to attain.
It
is important for us to practice love and compassion, to the point
that they become inexhaustible. From our heart we wish that living
beings be free of suffering and find real happiness. We want to
extinguish all the suffering of living beings and be their servant.
To be able to do this well, we have to work on reducing our pride.
But we should not do this by putting ourselves down. The Supreme
Continuum (Uttaratantra shastra) by Maitreya gives
reasons why the Buddha taught about Buddha nature, (tathatagarbha).
If we know that this essential nature of ours, (and that of all
living beings), is basic goodness, the potential for full awakening,
then we will not be discouraged or plagued by a sense of
worthlessness. We should definitely not seek to diminish our pride
by putting ourselves down because that will just make us feel
hopeless. Instead, we can just think that there are many more
qualities that we could attain and that now we are a small pond
compared to the vast ocean of what is possible. This humble mind is
what we need to develop.
Verse 13 concerns with being careful or conscientious.
Carefulness is the way to deathlessness,
While carelessness is death, the Buddha taught.
And
thus, so that your virtuous deeds may grow,
Be
careful, constantly and with respect.
We
may have the name of a practitioner or call ourselves Buddhist but
we may not really practice, so we are merely assuming these names.
What we should do, however, is examine ourselves to see what is
positive and negative. In this way, we should be the witness for
ourselves. As it states in The Seven Points of Mind Training:
“Of the two judges, rely on the first.” And the first is we
ourselves.
This
verse compares being careful and attentive to nectar. The word for
nectar, or amrita, in Tibetan is made up of two syllables: Dud
(Tib. bdud) refers to maras or demons, which actually refer
to obstacles of various kinds, such as old age and sickness or the
four traditional maras of the afflictions, fear of death, the
aggregates, and worldly pleasures. And tsi (Tib. rTsi)
here means “to get rid of.” So the word means that those who are
able to recall the nectar of carefulness are able to eliminate
obstacles. Such a person is a true Dharma practitioner. To avoid
negative actions of body and speech, we look very carefully at our
minds to make sure that a mara does not slip in, whether it is
during or after a session of meditation.
This
careful attentiveness is actually necessary for any kind of
practice. When following the Vinaya, we need this carefulness and
mindfulness, for example, in observing the five virtuous acts. In
the Mahayana the mind is much more important than body and speech.
We need to be aware and evaluate what is going on in our mind. This
is even more true in the Vajrayana.
Verse 14 continues to speak of carefulness:
Those who formerly were careless
But
then took heed are beautiful and fair,
As
is the moon emerging from clouds,
Like
Nanda, Angulimala, Darshaka, Udayana.
Here
Nagarjuna speaks of first being corrupted by misdeeds and then
purifying ourselves of them. This process is likened to the moon
escaping from behind the clouds. It tells us that change is
possible. The examples given are Ananda, who had strong attachment;
Angulimala who killed hundreds; Darshaka who killed his mother, and
Udayana who committed many negative actions.
So
it is possible to purify even extremely negative actions, and this
process happens through stages of purification. First we regret
what we have done and see it as a real mistake. We make a
confession in front of the Three Jewels or a lama; we vow not to do
it again, and then we practice to purify it through reciting, for
example, Vajrasattva’s mantra. What is most important is that we
see what we have done as wrong. Fearing suffering, some people
might still harbor some hesitation deep down inside and this will
subvert the purification. So it is important to confess from our
very depths. When we can do this, it brings us true joy and
happiness.
We
should not think, however, that we are all black inside. This would
be an obstacle to our path of practice. If we reflect on our
present and past lives, the fact that we have made mistakes is not
at all surprising. From our numerous past lives, we are not arriving
here perfectly white; there are faults that we have not discarded;
it is due to our karma and our afflictions, we have taken our
present birth. What we have done wrong in past lives might be huge
compared to this life.
So it’s good to recognize what we have done wrong, but we should not
feel totally discouraged and think that there’s nothing to be done.
We can change by recognizing our faults and then confessing. And
when we do this, it should be complete; we shouldn’t leave behind
anything inside us. Confessing is like splitting an apple in half;
we totally cut ourselves off from what is wrong. For example,
Milarepa worked very hard on building the towers to purify killing
so many people. We can look at this from two sides: from one side
he was purifying his negative action, and from another side he was
creating great joy.
