anisonam

The Purpose of This Life: His Holiness Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok

by

The following is an excerpt from a public talk given by His Holiness Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok:

The Buddha taught that true happiness and peace can never be found through material gain, and the only way that one can truly be satisfied is to realize this point. Therefore it is very important for all of you to consider decreasing your attachment to the objects of this world, to all apparent phenomena, and to understand that more important than spending most of one’s time pursuing the material world and thinking that happiness can be found in this way, we should try to practice pure Dharma.  Not only that. To be too attached to friends, family members, even our children and our spouses, those whom we cherish, thinking that it is only through our relationships with them that we can have happiness, is only going to bring us more suffering.  This is also a source of suffering, since we will be distracted having to figure out how we can bring food to the table and get clothing for our offspring and all of the other necessities that one has to completely fill one’s mind with.  The details of survival for family and friends will completely distract one from the benefits of purely practicing Dharma.

Regarding the wish for fame and glory: Those who don’t have it suffer because they don’t. Those who are poor and those who have no position at all are always having some expectation that somehow and in some way they may be able to rise above this circumstance and achieve a position of fame and glory.  Those who are already in positions of fame, glory and leadership are always suffering from the fear that they are going to lose their positions.  So in both cases the suffering is more or less equal.  On this point I would like to say that probably here in this place there are those who are very, very poor and there are those who are very, very wealthy and in high positions, and there is quite a big space between them.  I was thinking that those who are in the high positions are probably suffering even more than those who are poor.  The reason for that is because those who are poor—except for the fact that they are always having some kind of an expectation that someday they may become wealthy or in a better position—probably have enough to survive, are getting along sort of all right. And the mental suffering that they endure is not too extreme, except for that expectation or wish. But those who are in high positions are probably suffering much more because they are always fearful that they are going to lose their positions, that they will fall down to a lower place. So their minds are filled with doubt and paranoia and anxiety.  In this way they suffer more than the poor people.

The nature of suffering is twofold: Suffering is caused by delusion and by karmic propensities.  When we speak of delusion, it refers to three root conflicting emotions: desire-attachment, anger or aggression, and delusion itself, stupidity.  Let’s look at desire-attachment first.  Now this conflicting emotion fixates itself upon objects, objective appearances, such as material things, fame, status or other human beings or individuals.  Wherever it fixates, then if one allows oneself to become controlled by that emotion, then the only result will be unceasing suffering or discontent.

Anger or aggression is a conflicting emotion which causes one to feel that one actually wishes that others will suffer.  That which brings up this conflicting emotion of aggression is due to the desire-attachment that we have for ourself and those that we are already attached to because if anyone else tries to harm them, then those other people who are trying to harm our loved ones or friends are termed enemies, and we feel aggression towards them and wish that harm would come to them.  As soon as we enter into this type of emotional battle, the only result is unceasing suffering.

That which is termed delusion or stupidity is the inability to understand or recognize what should be accepted, what should be rejected, what should be accomplished and what should be abandoned.  Inner divisions of delusion include misunderstanding and incorrect understanding.  The first of these inner divisions of delusion, misunderstanding, could also be interpreted as misunderstanding, or misusing, the ultimate purpose of this life. The way that that would qualify is that one would have to be born as a human being anywhere in this world who never really understands the difference between that which is wholesome and that which is unwholesome, never having any real kind of ability to discern what should be accepted in order to produce true, positive results and what should be rejected—basically just spending one’s life aimlessly living like a cow or a horse which can graze and eat grass and just kind of survive.  The difference between a cow or a horse and a person who is just kind of aimlessly surviving is maybe the person is able to put on clothes and other kinds of comfort. But really the point that is being made is that this person who misunderstands the purpose of life is wasting his or her opportunity because they dwell in this state of delusion, the delusion of misunderstanding what should be done with life.

 

Descend With the View While Ascending With the Conduct: from Dakini Teachings

by

The following is an excerpt from Dakini Teachings: A Collection of Padmasambava’s Advice to the Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal 

Master Padma said: Some people call themselves tantric practitioners and engage in crude behavior, but that is not the actions of a tantrika.
Mahayana means to cherish all sentient beings with impartial compassion.
It will not suffice to claim oneself a trantric practitioner and then refrain from adopting what is virtuous and not avoiding or shunning evil deeds. It is essential for all tantric practitioners to cultivate great compassion in their being.
Without giving rise to compassion in your being you will turn into a non-Buddhist with wrong views, even though you may claim to be a practitioner of Secret Mantra.
Master Padma said: Secret Mantra is Mahayana.  Mahayana means to benefit others.
In order to benefit others you must attain the three kayas of fruition. In order to attain the three kayas you must gather the two accumulations. In order to gather the two accumulations you must train in bodhicitta. You must practice the paths of development and completion as a unity.
In any case, a trantrika who lacks bodhicitta is totally unsuited and does not practice Mahayana.
Master Padma said: Secret Mantra and the philosophical vehicle (Mantrayana) are spoken of as two, but ultimately are one. If you lack the view or the conduct you will stray into be a shravaka. So descend with the view while ascending with the conduct. It is most essential to practice these two as a unity. This is my oral instruction.
SAMAYA

Recycling in Worldly Existence

by

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by His Holiness Penor Rinpoche on Meditation, reprinted here with permission from Palyul Ling International:

In this world, as we were born as human beings, we need to have something beneficial that we can do. In general, we have some kind of activity by which to earn our livelihood, just to have something to eat and drink. Of course, not only human beings, but also animals know how to live their lives in this way. As we were born human, we can talk and understand language and meaning. That is the specific characteristic of a human being. So based on that we need to have some ultimate benefit that we can achieve within this lifetime.

Generally speaking, two main activity categories we can engage in: our normal worldly activities and then the Dharma activities. But the majority of the world’s people become very busy with worldly activities rather than following some kind of spiritual practice. These worldly works or activities are based on one’s capabilities and power and skill, and of these there are many different levels – some have more or better and some have less.

However, whatever worldly activities that we complete, whether or not they are good or meaningful, they will only endure for a few months or years. There is not anything within these activities that we can ultimately rely on. For example, from young childhood we pursue educational training, from first grade until graduation. For almost fifteen or twenty years we work very hard and study so that we can get a specific job. Then if through one’s job one becomes more successful, then possibly in twenty or thirty years we consider that we have a better or happier life. And if during all that time, if we have a very pure and sincere mind in all these works, then of course there is some benefit which is known as virtuous action. But there are also those that have the qualifications to do these activities but who have so much ego or arrogance or pride that their works, even if completed, are not really beneficial in this lifetime.

So many human beings consider the benefit for their individual selves as the most important thing. The result is we are all re-cycled over and over in what is called Samsara or the cyclic existence.

We cannot really establish or find out how long we have been drifting about in Samsara or cyclic existence. No one can know for certain how many lives we have taken in this world – one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, perhaps one million lifetimes. We cannot calculate the countless aeons of times we have been reborn in this world, in this Samsara.

Sometimes we were able to fulfill some of our wishes and sometimes we could not. For this life, from the time we have taken birth from our mother’s womb until now, whatever our ages, we have been constantly thinking about our own benefit and how we can be more happy people. All of our education and financial developments are all just for one’s own benefit. There is not anything left out that one has not thought of for one’s own benefit.

However, whatever we do, fulfill or complete in this lifetime is mainly based on our Karma, the action, of what we have done in our many past lifetimes. One cannot complete one’s every wish immediately because of the Law of Karma. Because have never developed their spiritual side, they mainly have deluded minds. So they are not able to understand the causes and conditions based on the Law of Karma. They can only think of what is happening today, and have no idea what is really going on. They don’t have a deeper level of understanding of these spiritual practices and so they don’t understand what is involved in past lifetimes and future lifetimes. It is because of their obscurations or ignorance that they don’t have any clear understanding about the causes and conditions. They really don’t know anything about the Law of Karma.

His Holiness Pema Norbu Rinpoche

The Logic of the Buddha’s Teaching: Examine It For Yourself

by

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Keeping Heart Samaya”

The Buddha has taught us some main points. These main points necessarily pervade all other levels of Buddhist doctrine or Buddhist philosophy or Buddhist teaching. They are the foundational thoughts that you have to use to think through the logic of the Buddhadharma. Without these fundamental thoughts, nothing that we accomplish in Dharma will make any sense or have any real weight. We are encouraged as Dharma students not to have some kind of blind faith based on no recognition of cause and effect relationships, but instead to have a faith that is based, yes, on heart, but also on logic, on reasonableness.

Lord Buddha himself taught that you should examine the teachings. If, having learned these foundational thoughts, they do not seem reasonable to you, if it doesn’t seem thoughtful and reasonable and intelligent to continue on in the way the Buddha has prescribed, then you shouldn’t do it.

The Buddha has taught that the Dharma should be logical and reasonable. And the way that the Buddha laid it out, it is. It is. For myself (some of you know my story), I was not born in the Tibetan monastery. I was found here, in America. I was born in Brooklyn of half-Jewish, half-Italian heritage, a little Catholic, a little lox and bagels. When my teacher found me, I was 38 years old, so I was already established in whatever habits I had, probably most of them bad. We have a lot of bad habits by the time we are 38, don’t we? By the time I found my teacher, I was quite established in a certain way, but I have found that in that meeting with my teacher a certain communication about the Buddha’s teaching has come to me that is logical and reasonable. There is a certain way to follow through the teaching that even appeals to a hard-headed, Brooklyn-born, half-Jewish, half-Italian gal like me. Now, I am a very practical person, a very practical person. So when I view the Buddha’s teachings, I want to know that they make sense to me. I want to know that they are reasonable. I, myself, would have difficulty following something that did not seem reasonable to me in some way.

Taking into account that sentient beings cannot actually gather all the necessary data by which to evaluate this logical Buddhist teaching, we have to rely to some degree – to a large degree actually – on the Buddha’s perception. For instance, all sentient beings do not have the capacity to actually evaluate samsara or the wheel of death and rebirth, conditioned life, realistically. In the same way, if we had no TV cameras and no satellite communication, none of our modern tools, we wouldn’t know for sure, let’s say, that there are people in China. We could hear about it. We could even hear Chinese people in America tell us that it exists, but for ourselves, unless we had gone there, we would never know. Not really, not for sure. But today we have TV and news reporters and newspaper pictures and satellites that broadcast information, and we can see China with our own eyes, even though it is on the other side of the world. So in a way, the Buddha acts like that for us.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

[google72e18ae637cd3487.html]

What Makes Buddhism Different?

by

An excerpt from a teaching called “The Importance of Shakyamuni”

Without the teachings of Lord Buddha, there would be no perfect path by which to achieve supreme enlightenment.  There have been and still are paths on this planet by which one can move forward spiritually.  There are many ways in which one can accumulate merit.  There are many ways in which it is possible to make some kind of spiritual progress.  But the kind of spiritual progress that produces supreme enlightenment is quite different.

Lord Buddha said that all beings are suffering, and he didn’t say that to be negative.  He said that because he looked around and saw that even those beings that were most happy, most beautiful, and most productive would still get old, sicken, and ultimately die.  Each being of the six realms of cyclic existence ultimately gets old, gets sick, and dies.

That is why Lord Buddha said that there is no comfort and no happiness in cyclic existence.  He wasn’t denying the possibility of achieving some sort of momentary happiness or fleeting joy.  Everyone knows we feel really good when we can eat a piece of chocolate cake or watch our favorite TV program or go swimming or have some friendly conversation or something like that.  But the kind of joy that Buddha wished for all sentient beings was long lasting, one that ultimately did not betray us.  The kind of joy that is available in cyclic existence has a beginning and therefore an end.

When Lord Buddha saw that, he wished in his great kindness and great compassion to present a way by which we could overcome cyclic existence, not merely make progress. That really is the difference between the teachings of Lord Buddha and other spiritual teachings.  The teachings of Lord Buddha have one goal and one goal only: supreme realization – ultimate liberation from samsaric existence and the final overcoming of the mind of duality that produces the conditions of samsara.  This is the path that Lord Buddha created.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.  All rights reserved

The Choice

by

The following is an excerpt from a teaching by Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo called “Bringing Virtue Into Life”

Whether you are contemplating teachings, offering, practicing, praying, meditating, whatever it is that you are doing, you’re doing it because you must.  You are preparing for your next rebirth.  I’m not a dope.  I’m preparing for my next rebirth.  Are you a dope?  You have to prepare for your next rebirth.  If I have to prepare, so do you.

That’s what is beautiful about your human existence right now.  You have the capacity to prepare for your next rebirth.  Other life forms cannot do that, but you can.  So I am asking you please, at whatever level you practice, whether you are just sniffing around, kind of interested, whether you’re really getting with the program and you’re starting to practice, or whether you’re an old-time practitioner, the thoughts that turn the mind—those beginning thoughts that are in the beginning of your Ngondro practice—there is never a day in your life when you don’t need to practice them, because the day that you don’t practice those thoughts, the day that you don’t think about those thoughts is the day you’re going to start deluding yourself again, and basically drinking the alcohol or the drug of samsara which dupes you and tells you that there is no connection between cause and effect, and, in fact, you are not getting older every day, and your life is going to go for a very long time—these deluding thoughts.

Don’t wait until a life challenging catastrophe, to you or someone close to you, teaches you this hard lesson.  Please don’t wait for that, because it will happen.  Some day you’re going to find out that you’re dying, or someday you’re going to find out that someone near and dear to you is dying or has died.  That is a life changing experience, and it will teach you Dharma.  It will teach you to prepare for your next rebirth, if you’re listening at all.

On the other hand, there are even those that are so deluded—and this has happened to students of mine—that they have been diagnosed as terminal, have been at death’s door and have decided they didn’t want to spend their last months practicing Dharma.  They wanted to spend their last months having fun.  This is the kind of delusion that is within our hearts and our minds now. And if you don’t think that you have that in your mind, listen to your thoughts.  Engage in some self-honesty and listen to how you think.  This is what we’re doing every day, tossing it back, tossing it back—the drink of samsara.  Keep it numb.  Keep it numb, because when we’re numb we don’t have to face it.

There is another way, you see.  You can be the kind of person that wants to keep it numb.  You keep all the lights in your house off and try to walk around in there (if you can), and what is ultimately going to happen is you are going to hurt yourself.  You’re going to fall over stuff.  You’re going to trip and you’re going to bang into walls.  You’re going to burn yourself.  All kinds of things are going to happen if you try to live with the lights off.  But on the other hand, if you go through the effort—and this is like practicing Dharma—if you go through the effort of getting the big picture and you switch on the lights, even though it’s effortful to go through the regimen of doing this and pay attention, and learn where the things are in your house, at least you know how it stands.  And you can negotiate around in your house without bumping into walls and falling over the furniture.  Our lives are like that.  We have a choice.

We can live our lives as the walking dead, and then die, unprepared, like going to a continent filled with precious jewels and coming back empty-handed.  Or, we can switch on the lights, face facts and do what it takes to negotiate the shoals of samsara as painlessly as possible.

Copyright © Jetsunma Ahkon Norbu Lhamo.  All rights reserved

WP2Social Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com