Gyalwang Karmapa
concludes his teaching on The Life of Milarepa
December
28,
2009,
Mahabodhi Temple,
Bodhgaya, report by
Jo Gibson, photos taken by
Karma Norbu, Pema Orser Dorje
The
second session of the Monlam, saw the successful completion of
Gyalwang Karmapa’s four year reading transmission of and commentary
on The Life of Milarepa.
His
Holiness read the concluding part of Chapter Nine which describes
the miraculous and auspicious signs witnessed during the time
between Milarepa’s death and the conclusion of the funeral rites,
a testimony to his attainment of the supreme liberation, and his
having passed into the crystal clarity of the Dharmakaya. Milarepa
had completed his activities. Rechung declares: He caused the
teachings of the Buddha to blaze forth like bright sunshine.
Furthermore: He will serve sentient beings till the end of
samsara throughout cosmic space
In
his commentary on the text, Gyalwang Karmapa lauded Jetsun
Milarepa as one of the greatest, yogis of Tibet, an exemplary dharma
practitioner whom we should follow. His Holiness then referred to
the Milarepa Ganachakra to be offered the following day, mentioning
especially the pendants participants would receive. Each contained
a sacred relic of Milarepa – a small piece of his white robe.
Gyalwang Karmapa explained that Rechung had entrusted this precious
cloth to Gampopa, and it was said that anyone who had this cloth
would be spared rebirth in the lower realms for seven lifetimes.
Only those people, ordained or lay, who had completed the Kagyu
ngondro would be allowed to participate because as members of the
practice lineage we had to hold to the root and that meant
completing the Kagyu ngondro.
The
assembly then sang Milarepa’s Song of the Six Essential
Principles, Milarepa’s last set of instructions, sung to
Rechung from within the cremation cell, and one of the miraculous
occurrences at the time of the funeral rites.
Listen Rechung, dearest
to my heart, to this song of My Last Will of Instructions.
In the ocean of three
samsaric levels
The illusory body is
the great culprit,
Striving toward
fulfillment of material aims
With little time to
renounce worldly efforts,
Rechung, renounce
worldly endeavour.
In the city of the
illusory body the illusory mind is the great culprit.
Enslaved by the flesh
and blood of the body,
With little time to
realise the ultimate reality
O Rechung discern the
true nature of mind.
On the border between
mind and matter inner consciousness is the great culprit.
Drawn into the realm of
conditioned perceptions
With little time to
realise the uncreated nature of reality.
O Rechung, capture the
fortress of unborn emptiness.
On the border between
this world and the next consciousness in the intermediate state
of the Bardo is the
great culprit.
Seeking a body even
though deprived of body,
With little time to
realise ultimate reality.
O Rechung work your way
towards that realisation.
In the deceptive city
of the six classes of being
There is a gr4eat
accumulation of defilements and evil karma following impulses of
desire and hatred.
With little time to
perceive the all-encompassing emptiness.
O Rechung abandon
desire and hatred.
In the invisible realm
of the heavens,
There is a Buddha who
skillfully uses falsehoods,
Guiding sentient beings
towards relative truth.
Little time hav ethey
to realise ultimate truth.
O Rechung abandon
concepts.
Lama, yidam and dakinis,
three united in one—
Invoke them!
Perfect seeing,
contemplation and practice, three united in one―
Mqster them!
This life, the next,
and the intermediate―
Unify them!
This is my final
instruction and my very last will.
O Rechung there is
nothing more to say,
My son, devote yourself
to this instruction.
This
concluded the section of His Holiness’ teaching on The Life of
Milarepa.
Gyalwang Karmapa now began a short teaching on developing compassion
and bodhicitta, using the sevenfold training. He started by
emphasising that view, meditation and action cannot be separated;
all three must be practised to gather. View and meditation are
inner qualities and action is their external manifestation. The
afflictions are the basis from which we perform the actions which
harm others. Hence we need to train our minds in bodhicitta, but
this also has to be transformed into compassionate action.
The
first step of the seven-fold training is to recognise that at some
point in time all sentient beings have been our mothers, and in this
life we do not know what our previous connections to other sentient
beings may have been. His Holiness referred to a famous illustration
of this:
“Your father was reborn as the fish you are eating. Your mother was
reborn as the dog you are beating. Your enemy is the newly-born
child in your lap.”
At
this point, Gyalwang Karmapa, detoured briefly to explore the
Buddhist argument for the existence of previous lives. If people
required evidence, then the fact that some people could clearly
remember their previous lives, should cast some doubt on the claims
of those who did not believe in rebirth, he argued. Also, from the
point of logic, the consciousness of a newly conceived child must be
dependent on the existence of a previous moment of consciousness.
His Holiness explained that in today’s scientific, materialistic
world, it was important to have logical arguments and evidence.
The
second step in the sevenfold training is to remember the kindness
of our mothers. Gyalwang Karmapa reminded us of how our mothers
underwent the difficulties of pregnancy and birth, and once we were
born, fed us, clothed us, taught us to walk and talk, and nurtured
us “from a size as small as part of a finger in the womb to the
size of a yak!” Sometimes a mother was even forced to commit
non-virtue such as killing or stealing in order to protect and
nourish her children.
In
short, as infants and young children, we were totally dependent on
our mothers. Consequently, we owe our mothers a great debt of
gratitude and should wish to repay them, the third step. His
Holiness explored this idea further, extending the field of
gratitude. Though we only have one mother in this life, because of
the interdependent nature of our existence, there are many other
people who are like our mothers, working by their millions in fields
or factories to produce the things we need to eat, to wear, and to
use in our daily lives.
His
Holiness reminded everyone of a saying: “A good person given a
night’s lodging will be grateful for the rest of their life. A bad
person, even though you save their life, will not be grateful.”
Having gratitude to our mother and all these mother-like sentient
beings, and the wish to repay their great kindness, it would be
shameful if we felt no compassion for them, if we were to be
governed only by a selfish motivation. Unbearable compassion should
rise within us when we see the suffering of our mothers. This is the
fourth step. The fifth step follows naturally from this, that we
should also want the best for them, which is an expression of
loving-kindness.
His
Holiness reminded everybody of the power of compassion and loving
kindness: under the bodhi tree, Lord Buddha had vanquished the Maras
with loving-kindness and compassion.
Step
six is developing the altruistic intention to alleviate the
sufferings of all our mother sentient beings.
Gyalwang Karmapa observed that in meditation we start with the
mother of this life, however, if anyone had difficulties because of
their relationship with their mother of this life, they should think
instead of an alternative mother-figure, someone who has shown them
kindness and nurtured them. He told the story of a Geshe who was
orphaned and raised by an aunt, so he. would visualise his aunt
during the sevenfold meditation.
The
final stage is generating bodhichitta, the wish to become
enlightened for the benefit of all sentient beings, which cannot be
generated without first developing strong compassion, the type of
active compassion that bodhisattvas display when they work
selflessly for kalpas or are prepared to go to the hell realms to
help one sentient being.
At
this point His Holiness drew attention to the need to protect the
environment for the sake of ourselves and all sentient beings, and
to consider the hundreds of thousands of innocent people dying in
conflict worldwide because of lack of compassion. “We must wear the
armour of bodhichitta, ” he proclaimed. “Even though it may seem at
times that the world is so full of negative people that there is
little point in having a good heart, we are dharma practitioners and
we have to take a positive attitude. If we become a positive person,
at least that is one less negative person in the world!”
Finally, as the session moved to the dedication prayers, Gyalwang
Karmapa reminded everyone of the importance of sealing all we do
with the dedication of our merit.
This year’s Monlam theme is gratitude, and His Holiness has
especially highlighted the debt of gratitude that members of the
Practice Lineage – the Kagyupa- owe to Milarepa. In commemoration
of the conclusion of the transmission, there will be three more
activities related specifically to Milarepa. On Thursday 29th
His Holiness will bestow a Milarepa Empowerment, followed in the
evening by a Milarepa Ganachakra.
Finally, on January 1st in the evening there will be the
premiere of Gyalwang Karmapa’s first musical drama, based on the
Milarepa’s life.
