Kalachakra 2011: Day 6. Preliminary Teachings

Teachings on Acharya Kamalashila's Stages of Meditation (Gomrim Barpa), Gyalse Ngulchu Thogme's Thirty-seven Practices of a Bodhisattva (Lagden Sodunma), and Geshe Langri Thangpa's The Eight Verses of Mind Traininng. Day 3

The afternoon began with the recitation of sutras in Japanese and Vietnamese.



[What follows is my incomplete and probably incorrect interpretation]

As was noted on the first day of teaching, internal essence (“self”) has no beginning and no end. Similarly, external phenomena have no beginning or end either. For example, there is no reason to think that there was only one big bang, it stands to reason that there were and there will be an infinite number of big bangs.

Liberation from suffering

One has to look beyond appearances and recognize reality. Appearances are illusions; once this is understood the attachment/clinging/grasping, as well as resulting negative emotions (anger, fear, jealousy, etc.) are dispelled.

The liberation from suffering is possible because the basic nature of the mind is pure. Practically, to effect this change, one has to:

1. avert acts of destruction;
2. let go of grasping to your identity;
3. let go of clinging to external things.

As was noted yesterday, there are two kinds of suffering. Avoiding 10 non-virtues, which is common to all great religions, is to free yourself from the first kind of suffering. This avoiding de-merit, avoiding negative actions can be achieved by modifying your behavior.

On wisdom

The main obstacle to liberation though is distorted ignorance (“mis-knowing”). All negative emotions are caused by it, i.e., by self-clinging, self-attachment. To overcome that, one needs to dispel distorted ignorance, i.e., one needs wisdom.

There are three levels of wisdom:

1. sensory-based;
2. reason-based; and
3. internalized.

Wisdom is achieved through meditation. To achieve concentration, one needs quietness, noiselessness (which is difficult to find in a big city). The meditation should be single-pointed, which implies introspection, mindfulness, and concentrating on an object. Mind has to be sharp but relaxed. Meditation skill allows us to perform self-observation, to check whether our actions are right.

samadhi (meditation) = morality + meditation + wisdom

This is common to all three Buddhist traditions. The differences are contextual, they are only distinction of emphasis.

On the role of Tantric tradition in Buddhism

HH then addressed the issues that are sometimes being raised related to “legitimacy” of the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions. Some question whether Mahayana was taught by the Buddha. Others say that if the Buddha came to Tibet and observed the Tantric tradition he wouldn't recognize his own teaching.

Mahayana tradition is based on Theravada, and developed it further using the notion of infinite altruism (Bodhicitta). As far as Vajrayana is concerned, there is a source and foundation of the Tantric principle in the Sanskrit tradition. The contribution of the Tantric tradition is the notion of subtle energy. Without that notion it is difficult to explain the nature of achieving Buddhahood. The important consideration here is not to be bound by the conventional notion of time: the historic Buddha may not have taught Tantra directly but Buddha is eternal. The whole point of Buddhism is that the physical death of the historical Buddha was not the end. (Here HH relayed a story about a Theravada monk who had a visual experience of the Buddha.)

On altruism

Thus one of the main precepts of Mahayana and Vajrayana is altruism.
One has to practice selflessness, which can be of two kinds:

1. intuitive altruism; and
2. recognition of interdependent existence.
   

(An aside: In Buddhism there are no absolutes. Even an absolute devotion to god may become a hindrance on the path of liberation.)

Altruism is not hard to understand but difficult to experience. There are two methods of practicing altruism:

1. treat others like people we love;
2. eliminate self-centeredness, recognize that there is no “I”

The second method will banish anger, hatred, jelousy, and rid you of fear. It will fill you with self-confidence and bring you more friends. Egoism make one stiff.

As soon as selfishness is gone there is no hypocrisy, and all moral principles, like 10 Commandments are observed willingly, and not out of fear.

On strength of keeping your mind calm

Stanza (14). If your enemy has succeeded in provoking your anger, if he has made you lose your temper then the enemy has defeated you. But if your mind remains calm then the enemy has failed. (Here HH relayed a story from his childhood about an old Tibetan official who was famous for his humility: the angrier his adversary was the more serene he became. And then he struck back, at the right moment. That's a sign of strength.) Keep your mind peaceful; then it is not impossible that your worst enemy will become your best friend.

Remaining stanzas of The Thirty-seven practices

Stanzas (18–19). When one goes through the hard period on is in danger of losing optimism/hope. If one's life is very successful then he is in danger of becoming arrogant/conceited.

Stanza (22). Meditation on emptiness.

Stanzas (23–24). In the after-meditation state one has to cultivate awareness of illusion.

Stanza (25). Practice of six perfections, beginning with generosity.

Stanza (31). You have to continually examine your own confusion, check whether we follow the right path. That requires self-discipline and involves watching over verbal, physical, and mental actions.

That was the end of exegesis on The Thirty-seven practices of a Bodhisattva by Gyalse Ngulchu Thogme.


The Eight Verses of Mind Training

HH then turned to The Eight Verses of Mind Training by Geshe Langri Thangpa (p.53) that he has known by heart since childhood. (He said that he doesn't get frustrated when there are flight delays: he occupies his mind with these verses.)

Modalities of perception of the world

There are two kinds of awakening mind, conventional and ultimate. As far as ultimate awakening mind is concerned, one can distinguish three kinds.

1. Non-conceptual (sensory). This one is non-selective, immediate: it engages with whatever is in the field of vision.
2. Conceptual (reasoning). This one is selective — does not engage with the object directly.
3. Highly selective. This one operates on the mental level and chooses its objects. However, it tends to conflate time, e.g., “Is this the same thing I saw yesterday?”

On meditation

HH then spoke about meditation. Normally attainment of shamata (calmness) precedes vipassana (insight); however, in higher Tantras there are practices to meditate on both:

• union of bliss an emptiness (Gelug);
• union of samsara and nirvana (Sakya).

Coming back to Kamalashila's The Stages of Meditation (p 44, column 1, last paragraph), HH stressed the importance of the correct posture and said that breathing meditation can be helpful if your mind is distracted or agitated.

The object you concentrate on should be in your mind's eye. Visualize it. The image will become bright. Then you visualize yourself as a deity (Vajrayana) or as a chakra (Mahayana). Do not think about past or future. You should feel empty, no external stimuli or internal feelings.

Perception is not mirroring, it is taking one aspect of an object and constructing “knowing,” or understanding. There are different views on the nature of perception: is it a unitary moment or a multi-aspect/multi-stage process?

When we stop thinking of past and future this is a moment of nothingness. Prolong that and experience luminosity, the ultimate reality of the mind. Concentrate on that for as long as you can. Then take *that* and investigate; meditate on what is mind.

Your own breathing is a useful object of meditation. Concentrate on breathing. (Here HH engaged the audience in a breathing exercise.)

Chanting is a form of mediation too. One can visualize each word and continue doing so for many hours. This can train and discipline your mind, so that then you go to a subtler objects.

[This last day teaching felt special: HH talked about both rather abstract and rather personal matters.]


Evening dharma talk: Buddhism, Empowerments, and Everyday Life

The venerable Thubten Chodron gave a talk on Buddhism, Empowerments, and Everyday Life. She made several really great points. For example, when you realize that clinging to your constructed or imposed identities really makes your life unnecessarily difficult renouncing those identities can be truly liberating and can make your life much easier. Imagining yourself as a deity, e.g., Kalachakra, makes you free of fear so that you can aspire to act and think as an enlightened being would.

Kalachakra 2011: Day 5. Preliminary Teachings

Teachings on Acharya Kamalashila's Stages of Meditation (Gomrim Barpa) and Gyalse Ngulchu Thogme's Thirty-seven Practices of a Bodhisattva (Lagden Sodunma). Day 2

The afternoon began with the recitation of a Sanskrit tradition sutra in Chinese.



[What follows is my incomplete and probably incorrect interpretation]

Morality is more relevant that ever

HH contrasted two groups of people: those for whom inner values/moral principles/ ethics are of paramount importance and those for whom reaching money or power are of primary concern. Whether believers or not, the first group, in the long run, is happier because they can act transparently, sincerely, and confidently. The second group can gain a temporary benefit but often their ways lead to fear and hypocrisy, and, as a consequence, they have no self-confidence, no inner strength, and feelings of insecurity.

Societal problems are not caused by the lack of religious faith; rather, they are caused by the lack of ethics: too much greed and selfishness, lack of concern for (compassion to) the others lead to such issues as the polarization between the rich and poor, global warming, etc. Thus, at this day and age, morality is more relevant than ever. When HH speaks about religions he refers to the ethical essence of such teachings, and not to the rituals involved.

On misconceptions about Tibetan Buddhism

He than addressed some misconceptions about Buddhism in general and Tibetan Buddhism in particular. All Buddhist traditions are based on the recognition of the Four Noble Truths. Characterization of Tibetan Buddhism as “lamaism” is incorrect, it is a sign of ignorance. But, partially, the lamas themselves are at fault: HH criticized the situation when the institution of Tulku has become a sign of social status and relayed a story of a high lama who left a monastery and became a helper to a poor family in a remote village. The lama, HH said, should be judged not by the height of his seat or, to quote and old Tibetan saying, by a number of horses he has. Nor (on a lighter note) by the color of his hat: yellow, black, … (Gelug, Kagyu, …) Touching his red visor (shielding his eyes from the harsh stage lights), HH said, “One day, I may introduce a green hat, to remind lamas to take better care of the environment like the monks in Burma and Thailand already do. And remember: the historical Buddha had no hat at all :)”

Distorted sense of reality (mis-knowing) as the cause of suffering

“Blind faith is outdated,” he said,  and we should gain full knowledge of what Buddhism actually is. There are three goals of Buddha dharma:

1. short-term: to transform our mind through intelligence and training;
2. long-term: to purify our mind;
3. ultimately: to achieve Buddhahood (nirvana/moksha)

The methods to achieve these goals are based on Buddhist principles of interdependence and cause & effect (karma).

Suffering comes from clinging/grasping/attachment. Often suffering exists not because someone directly inflicts it; rather the cause of suffering is ignorance. There are two kinds of ignorance:

1. simply not knowing, like not knowing an alphabet;
2. active mis-knowing, like saying A is B, and B is C. This is a symptom of distorted state of mind.

The second kind, distorted sense of reality, is more serious than the first: it causes all destructive emotions—anger, hatred, attachment, and, consequently, their effect, the negative karma. The antidote to that kind of ignorance is awareness, learning to differentiate between appearance and reality. The way to dispel this illusion is logic, and not merely a prayer or a ritual.

The distinction between illusion and truth, the constructs of our mind and the reality goes far back: it is made in pre-Buddhist Sanskrit texts, as well as in older Buddhist scriptures, and that understanding is what all schools of Buddhism have in common.

The nature of reality; reason and its limits

HH then mentioned that the differences among the four [Mahayana] Buddhist schools of thought [Madhyamaka, Yogacara, Tathagatagarbha, and Buddhist Logic (?)] are due to different understanding of the nature of reality. Furthermore, the Middle Way school [Madhyamaka (?)] has two main strands [Prasangika and Svātantrika (?)] whose views on degree of objectivity, nominalism, etc., diverge.

The principle of dependent origination is the most precious gift of Buddhism.

This is all rather theoretical but what is a practitioner to do? HH then returned to explicating Kamalashila's The stages of meditation (p.39) There are three levels of reality:

1. obvious;
2. slightly obscure; and
3. extremely opaque/hidden.

1. This one we can perceive by sensory experience.
2. This one we can recognize via reasoning, inference, and critical inquiry. For example, the fact that nothing is permanent or that there is no fixed “self” are not immediately obvious but eventually we can arrive to these conclusions through logic.
3. To perceive these facts we have to move beyond the level of our cognitive ability, we have to transcend our conceptual framework. For example, we know what our birth date is because we trust our mother's word. Of course, this has to be someone you can rely on, who wouldn't lie to you, and who has no cognitive impairments.

In the Mahayana tradition, some scriptures are definitive and can be taken literally and others are not. With the latter, you have to use critical thinking.
One of the means of overcoming suffering is compassion. How to practice it? One has to realize what suffering is:

1. Physical pain;
2. Suffering of change;
3. Destructive emotions. This is the level Buddhism is most concerned about.
The cause of suffering is ignorance (mis-knowing); once it is eliminated, the suffering is banished.

On unbiased compassion

There are two levels of compassion:

1. natural empathy;
2. unbiased compassion, e.g., warmheartedness without attachment. This develops through reasoning and training.

One has to cultivate true renunciation on yourself before practicing compassion to others. The approach has to be gradual. The text (p. 40) mentions equanimity: you start with yourself, you achieve a degree of liberation yourself, and then you can achieve compassion for others. That includes all sentient beings, likable and unlikable, and not just those you care about (p. 41, penultimate paragraph).

On levels of understanding

HH then turned to The Thirty-seven Practices of a Bodhisattva by Gyalse Ngulchu Thogme (p.34). There are three levels of understanding:

1. learning (verbal, word-based);
2. contemplation (based on the strength of conviction, absence of doubt in the truth);
3. meditation (transforming your mind, attainment of samadhi).

HH then expounded upon the four laws/principles of nature and on the basic and derivative elements.

Relying on your senses only makes your mind dull

Stressing the importance of the inner values over superficial stimuli he gave an example of rich tourists that travel from place to place not so much to satisfy their curiosity but rather to stave off their boredom. People who rely on sensory experience only are pitiful: if the external input stops (there is nothing to see, hear, taste, smell or touch) they instantly feel bored and miserable. However, deeper satisfaction comes from mental activity. Without it, your mind becomes dull. We must pay attention to the inner world. HH, for example, doesn't watch TV: he considers it a waste of mental energy. He prefers to listen to the radio (BBC) and then keep thinking and analyzing information. [Interestingly, I do the same :)]

Stanza (4) (p.34) concerns meditation on impermanence. Illusion of permanence is a waste of our energy/life.

It's your responsibility to put a guru to the test

HH then talked about importance of avoiding negative companionship and finding a mentor/spiritual teacher. In Mahayana, 10 qualities are required of the guru. In the Vajrayana, there are even more. At one time, someone came to HH and said that there were a proliferation of fake lamas seeking power, sex, etc., and that he must do something about it. HH responded that he couldn't: it is a student's responsibility to examine a teacher before accepting him as a guru. You must examine whether he meets the criteria set forth in the Buddhist texts, and that may take time.

How to purify our mind?

Mind is like water: no matter how muddy it is, the essence (clear mind) still remains. Awareness is the seed of enlightenment. There are different levels of mind: it is present in dreams, deep sleep, and death. As was explained in the yesterday's teaching, clear mind has no beginning and no end, it is the deepest level of our consciousness, and it is the basis for reaching the Buddhahood.

To prevent accumulating negative karma, one has to avoid 10 non-virtues:

[
• Killing
• Stealing
• Sexual misconduct
• Lying
• Harsh words
• Slander
• Gossip
• Coveting
• Cruelty
• Wrong view
]

The evening concluded with the Tsog — ceremonial offering.