H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

The Motivation of a Bodhisattva

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As long as space endures, and as long as sentient beings exist.
May I, too, remain, to dispel the misery of the world.  -Shantideva

The following is respectfully quoted from the Preface of “Enlightened Courage” by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche:

Bodhisattvas are those who seek enlightenment for the sake of all other beings. Their path is the way of selflessness whereby the mind is trained to go beyond its ordinary self-centered preoccupations and anxieties and learns, by gradual degrees, to place others at the focus of its interest and concern. This altruistic attitude forms the basis and heart of all the Buddha’s teaching of Mahayana, or Great Vehicle…

 

Working with Anger and Ingratitude: Commentary by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

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The following is respectfully quoted from “Enlightened Courage” a commentary by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche:

No evil is similar to anger,
No austerity to be compared to patience.

Never give way to anger, therefore. Be patient–and, moreover, be grateful to someone who humiliates you, as they give you a precious opportunity to strengthen your understanding and practice of bodhicitta. The great Jigme Lingpa said:

Ill treatment by opponents
Is a catalyst for meditation;
Insulting reproaches you don’t deserve
Spur your practice onward;
Those who do you harm are teachers
Challenging your attachment and aversion–
How could you ever repay their kindness?

Indeed, you are unlikely to make much spiritual progress if you lack the courage to face you own hidden faults. Any person or situation that helps you to see those faults, however uncomfortable and humiliating it may be, is doing you a great service. As Lord Atisha says,

The best spiritual friend is one who attacks your hidden faults.
The best instructions are the ones that hit your hidden faults.
The best incentives are enemies, obstacles, and sufferings of illness.

and the Kadampa master Shawopa used to warn his disciples as they came to see him, saying, “I only show people their hidden defects. If you can avoid getting annoyed, stay; but if not, go away!”

Of the eight ordinary concerns, therefore, even from the relative point of view there are many ways of eliminating the distinction between the good an bad, those you want to happen and those you do not. From the point of view of absolute truth, there is not the slightest difference between gain and loss, pleasure and pain, fame and disgrace, praise and disparagement. They are all equal, all empty by nature. As Shantideva says:

Thus, with things devoid of true existence,
What is there to gain, and what to lose?
Who is there to pay me court and honors,
And who is there to scorn and revile me?

Pain and pleasure–whence do they arise?
And what is there to give me joy and sorrow?

b. Using on the path the two things that are difficult to bear.
The two things that are difficult to bear are (i) being wronged in return for kindness and (ii) humiliation.

i. How to use on the path being wronged in return for kindness

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Even if one I’ve lovingly cared for like my own child
Regards me as an enemy,
To love him even more,
As a mother loves a sick child, is the practice of a bodhisattva.

If you do something good for others, it is a mistake to expect anything in return, or to hope that people will admire you for being a bodhisattva. All such attitudes are a long way from the true motivation of bodhicitta. Not only should you expect nothing in return; you should not be disturbed in the slightest when people respond ungratefully. Someone for whom you have risked your very life may return your kindness with resentment, hatred, or harm. But just love him all the more. A mother with an only child is full of love for him no matter what he does. While she is suckling him, he may bite her nipple and badly wound it, but she will never get angry or love him any less. Whatever happens, she will continue to care for him as best she can.

Many people do not have the good fortune that you enjoy of having met a spiritual teacher, and thus cannot find their way out of delusion. They need your help and your compassion more than anyone else, no matter how badly they may behave. Always remember that people who harm you are simply the victims of their own emotions. Think how good it would be if they could be free of those emotions. When a thoughtless child wrongs a thoughtful adult, the adult will not feel resentment, but will try with great love to help the child improve.

To meet someone who really hurts you is to meet a rare and precious treasure. Hold that person in high esteem, and make full use of the opportunity to eradicate your defects and make progress on the path. If you cannot yet feel love and compassion for those who treat you badly, it is a sign that your mind has not been fully transformed and that you need to keep working on it with increased application.

A true bodhisattva never hopes for a reward. He responds to the needs of others spontaneously, out of his natural compassion. Cause and effect are unfailing, so his actions to benefit others are sure to bear fruit–but he never counts on it. He certainly never thinks that people are not showing enough gratitude, or that they ought to treat him better. But if someone who has done him harm later changes his behavior, is set on the path, and achieves liberation, that is something that will make a bodhisattva rejoice wholeheartedly and be totally satisfied.

 

Relative Bodhicitta: HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

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His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse

The following is respectfully quoted from “Enlightened Courage” by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche:

If I do not give away
My happiness for others’ pain,
Buddhahood will never be attained.
And even in samsara, joy will fly from me.

Enlightenment will be ours when we are able to care for others as much as we now care for ourselves, and ignore ourselves to the same extent we now ignore others. Even if we had to remain in samsara, we should be free from sorrow. For as I have said, when the great Bodhisattvas gave away their heads and limbs, they felt no sadness at the loss of them.

Once, in one of his previous lifetimes, the Buddha was a universal monarch whose custom it was to give away his wealth without regret. He refused nothing to those who came to beg from him, and his fame spread far and wide. One day, a wicked brahmin beggar came before the king and addressed him, saying, “Great king, I am ugly to look upon, while you are very handsome; please give me your head.” And the king agreed. Now his queens and ministers had been afraid that he might do this, and making hundreds of heads out of gold, silver, and precious stones, they offered them to the beggar.

“Take these heads,” they pleaded. “Do not ask the king for his.”

“Heads made of jewels are of no use to me,” the beggar replied. “I want a human head.” And he refused to take them.

Eventually they could no longer deter him from seeing the king.

The king said to him, “I have sons and daughters, queens, and a kingdom, but no attachment do I have for any of them. I will give you my head at the foot of the tsambaka tree in the garden. If I can give you my head today, I shall have completed the Bodhisattva act of giving my head for the thousandth time.”

And so, at the foot of the tree, the king took off his clothes, tied his hair to a branch, and cut off his head. At that moment, darkness covered the earth, and from the sky came the sound of the gods weeping and lamenting so loudly that even human beings could hear them. The queens, princes, and ministers all fell speechless to the ground. Then Indra, the lord of the gods, appeared and said, “O king, you are a Bodhisattva and have even given away your head, but here I have the life restoring ambrosia of the gods. Let me anoint you with it and bring you back to life.”

Now, the king was indeed a Bodhisattva, and even though his head had been cut off and sent away, his mind was still present, and he replied that he had no need of Indra’s life-restoring ambrosia, for he could replace his head simply by the force of his own prayers.

Indra begged him to do so, and the king said: “If in all those thousand acts of giving my head away beneath the tsambaka tree there was nothing but the aim of benefiting others, unstained by any trace of self seeking–if I was without resentment or regret, then may my head be once again restored. But if regrets there were, or evil thoughts, or intentions not purely for the sake of others, then may my head remain cut off.” No sooner had the king said this than there appeared on his shoulders a new head identical to the first, which had been taken away by the brahmin. Then all the queens, princes, and ministers rejoiced and administered the kingdom in accordance with the Dharma.

For those who can practice generosity like this, there is no suffering at all. Enlightened teachers, Bodhisattvas, come into the world to accomplish the welfare of beings, and even when they are ignored by people in the grip of desire, anger, and ignorance, who stir up obstacles and difficulties, the thought of giving up never occurs to them and they are totally without anger or resentment. As it is said:

To free yourself from harm
And others from their sufferings,
Give away yourself for others;
Guard others as you would protect yourself.

His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: Revealed Treasures

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The following is respectfully quoted from “Journey to Enlightenment” by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche:

Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö asked Khyentse Rinpoche to go to Amdo province and give the Treasury of Rediscovered Teachings. Here is Rinpoche’s wife’s account of the journey:

Rinpoche traveled to Rekong, in Amdo, near Lake Kokonor. One very cold day, some herdsmen invited Rinpoche to their tent and offered them and his party a large quantity of butter, dried meat, and sweet cheese for the journey. Rinpoche usually warned one of his attendants to look after the horses carefully. When the time came to leave, the attendant rushed in exclaiming that the horses had disappeared; he had left them for a while and they must have been stolen. Fortunately, the herdsmen had many yaks and gave some to Rinpoche, who reached Rekong after a month’s journey.

In Rekong, Rinpoche gave the empowerments of the Treasury of Rediscovered Teachings over four months to 1,900 yogis. When Rinpoche’s hosts heard from his monks about the theft of his horses, they were quite upset; but Rinpoche told them that he had arrived safely and so it was now of no concern. However, some of the Rekong yogis, known for their magic power, said they could not just leave the matter like that. Two weeks after Rinpoche started teaching, the robbers arrived with all the stolen horses and begged Rinpoche to take them back. Rinpoche replied that he no longer needed the horses and they could keep them, but the robbers refused to listen. After the theft of the horses, they said, everything had gone wrong for them. When they milked their cows, they got not milk but blood. One boy had been attacked by vultures–something quite unheard of–and many of the clan had fallen ill. Finally, they just left the horses near the monastery and rode away.

Rinpoche stayed at Rekong monastery for a year, and gave teachings at a beautiful hilltop site where the famous nineteenth-century yogi Shabkar Tsogdruk Rangdrol had lived. There was a large rock, with a tree behind it, on which Shabkar use to sit and sing his famous spiritual songs. The local people offered this seat to Rinpoche, and when he improvised songs there, rainbows appeared and snowflakes fell gently, like flowers. Everyone said that he must be a reincarnation of Shabkar.

Rinpoche had an attendant, a ritual master called Achog, whom he often had to reprimand. One night Achog ran away, leaving a piece of cloth as an offering and a note saying that he felt unable to serve Rinpoche properly and had therefore decided to leave. After walking for a month, he reached a herdsmen’s camp in Golok, and in one of the black yak-hair tents a mother and daughter asked him to perform some ceremonies in exchange for food and lodging. It was freezing cold and he had nowhere else to go, so he agreed. By then he had fallen quite ill.

One day the mother called out to Achog that a stranger, a tall lama on a big horse, was approaching the tent. Achog looked through the door and saw Khyentse Rinpoche with an attendant riding straight up to the tent. Rinpoche dismounted, came in, and asked: “Achog, how are you?” Achog was so astounded that he began to cry. Rinpoche told him there was no need to cry and that he had better come back with them. The old mother offered Rinpoche tea, milk, and curd. In answer to Achog’s questions, Rinpoche’s attendant said that no one had told them where to find him; nor had they met anyone in the snow-covered landscape to give them directions to the camp. Rinpoche said it was time to go, and all three came back home together. In those days, people use to say Rinpoche had incredible clairvoyance.

On their travels they stopped at many pilgrimage sites and monasteries. Khyentse Rinpoche writes of one such occasion when he revealed one of his main spiritual treasures (terma), the  Pema’s Heart Essence of Longevity cycle, which encompasses the whole spiritual path:

Stopping at Ladrö Monastery along the way, we went to the Gyamgyal Crystal Lotus Mountain, a pacifying holy site of the vajra family and one of the twenty-five important sacred places in Dokham. There we went to the Infant Milk Lake in front of Dothi Gangkar, where I made offerings to the local deities and performed the feast offering of Dharmakaya Master Amitayus from The Heart Practice Dispelling All Obstacles for a few days and even wrote a guidebook to the sacred place. There were many pilgrims at the light blue lake, and as the waves were stirred by the wind, a vivid pattern of a peaceful mandala complete with doors appeared on the lake, along with other auspicious signs. I also saw the Black Lake at Gyam and performed a feast offering. That night in a dream, I saw a text of The Nine Deities of Infinite Life in Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo’s handwriting. This appeared to me as a mind treasure, Pema’s Heart Essence of Longevity, which I wrote down.

His spouse, Khandro Lhamo, added to this:

Once, at the monastery called Karma Monastery, the seat of the first eight Karmapas, there was a very precious dharmaphala temple, which contained an image of Palden Lhamo and the protector Bernakchen in union. When the door of the room was opened, Khyentse Rinpoche saw Mahakala as if in reality and was given a yellow scroll–many people saw the scroll emerging from Palden Lhamo’s sleeve. The scroll contained dakini script for the Kilaya cycle according to Nyak Jnana Kumara’s tradition, which is one of Khyentse Rinpoche’s main spiritual treasures. Another time, Rinpoche went to Crystal Lotus Mountain, where he had a vision of Guru Padmasambhava in the form of Amitayus, the Buddha of Eternal Life, and received the mind treasure of Pema’s Heart Essence of Longevity. He received many termas in similar ways.

When recognizing a tulku, generally more than one Lama recognizes the tulku. In the case of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo, His Holiness Penor Rinpoche confirmed her recognition with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, who was, at that time the Supreme Head of the Nyingma Tradition, and Second Dzongnang Jampal Lodro Rinpoche. Jetsunma received teachings from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche when visiting Nepal in 1987.

Guru Yoga: From “Excellent Path to Enlightenment” by H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

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GuruRinpocheThankgaJAL-M

The following is respectfully quoted from “Excellent Path to Enlightenment” by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche:

In the so-called preliminary or foundation practice, the most extraordinary section is Guru Yoga, or “union with the Guru’s nature.” It is through this practice that primordial wisdom can arise instantly in one’s being.

Guru Yoga is the way to pray to an authentic teacher and express our deep and unchanging devotion. Through devotion, our minds and the Guru’s mind become one. Why is this practice necessary? Because there is not a single Buddha in the past, present, or future who has achieved or will achieve enlightenment without relying on a spiritual teacher. Whichever of the nine vehicles of the Buddhist teachings we practice, we have to rely on a spiritual teacher, receive his or her teaching and practice according to his or her instructions. There is no other way.

Even if we have met a teacher and received his instructions, however, we will never be able to receive his blessings if we do not have fervent devotion and complete confidence in him and his teachings. And without his blessings we will not progress along the path. First of all, therefore, we need to generate devotion.

Devotion rarely comes spontaneously in the beginning. We have to generate and nurture it. First, for example, when we hear about the teacher and his life, we think about his marvelous enlightened qualities. Then, when we meet him, we see that those qualities are authentic, and our confidence and faith grow stronger and stronger. Our prayers become more and more profound, and his blessings begin to penetrate us more and more deeply.

All accomplishments are due to the Guru’s blessings. We are not referring here to minor accomplishments like obtaining good health, long life, or wealth, but to the supreme realization of the Guru’s enlightened nature, which is none other than our own Buddha-nature.

THE VISUALIZATION

As an aid to generating devotion, the text contains the following verse:

Before me in the sky, in an expanse of rainbow light,
Is my root teacher, Pema Thötrengtsal,
Surrounded by the ocean of Knowledge Holders of the three transmissions.
He is the union of all objects of refuge.

Renunciation: Poem by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

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The following is respectfully quoted from “Journey to Enlightenment” by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche:

Though you perfected the qualities of the three kayas,
In order to liberate beings of the impure realms
You manifested as a supreme renunciate;
Lord Pema Vijaya, I miss you from the depth of my heart.

The feeling that this precious support, a free and blessed human body,
Will be lost to the enemy, the bandit Lord of Death,
Overwhelms my mind with anguish,
Like a frightened little bird falling to the ground.

The abyss of the lower realms is hard to fathom, and
This present comfort and happiness in the higher realms
Is like a rainbow in the sky that’s about to vanish;
Remember the spreading, dense rain clouds of wrongdoing!

A delightful palace may be magnificent,
But it can’t guard against fear of the Lord of Death!
All food and drink may taste delicious,
But they might become the cause of drinking melted copper!

No matter how much I cherish this body covered in soft clothes,
It’s uncertain when it will start to smell like a rotten corpse,
A handsome, youthful body may gladden my heart, but
When the eyes dissolve into the skull, it’s useless.

My shiny jewelry may be a charming object,
But it can’t seduce the wrathful grimacing Lord of Death;
Though my fame may pervade the whole country,
It won’t help me when body and mind separate!

Though prestige and power may frighten everyone,
They won’t protect me when going alone;
A powerful rank and status may be impressive,
But it’s impossible to avoid the Lord of Death’s court of law!

Large crowds of people are the cause of likes and dislikes;
By the time I go to the bardo I’ll be alone.
Remaining far away from the affairs of this life,
I’ll stay alone in a secluded, rocky shelter!

Living like a wounded deer,
My heart’s desire is to watch the snow of mind within;
All past siddhas stayed in remote rocky mountains too,
Capturing the kingdom of experience and realization.

Remembering the life story of Milarepa,
When I’m hungry I’ll eat the food of samadhi,
When I’m cold I’ll wear cloth of mystic inner heat;
In the company of birds and wild animals,
I’m going to cloudy, mist-shrouded mountains!

In a cave that’s not altered by people,
Nourished by leaves that need no cultivation,
Drinking the clear and cool water from rocks,
My heart’s wish is to just be with mountain birds.

In the cool shade of excellent trees,
In a relaxed and carefree state of mind,
With the cool shelter of a fresh breeze, my health will be good;
All by myself, my activities will be in accord with the Dharma!

On the summit of high rock in the immense sky,
Developing strength in realization of aware emptiness within,
When rays of the smiling sun and moon above reach my heart,
I enter the inner space of the six lamps of space and awareness.

Sometimes clouds and mist appear,
Thunder and red lightening flash like a playful dance,
Roaring wind swirls around black clouds,
Reflecting the sounds, lights, and rays in the threatening bardo.

In the pure meadow, around gently moving water,
My companions, young wild sheep, play and climb the rocks;
Sweetly singing, shiny blackbirds develop strength in flying,
And white vultures circle around at leisure.

Except for the mother dakinis that gather here,
Wicked people never pass by;
The vast expanse of a blue lake full to the brim
Indicates the four modes of freely resting awareness within.

The company of small swans,
Sweetly singing and training their wings,
Reminds me of practicing the different types of loving-kindness;
In my estate of this empty valley,
Relying on the pure, cool water from snow mountains,
I’m going to capture the kingdom of experience and realization!

I decided that from now on I don’t need anything;
The countless joys and sorrows of this life,
Whatever I experienced in the past, are like drawing on water.

Except for accumulating habitual tendencies for samsara’s depth,
Look at this present body to see if there was any benefit or not!

With hope and fear of making a living for the future,
Life runs out with a stock of karmic activity;
The very moment one is captured by the foe, Yama’s rope,
Reflect on whether it is any use when you exhale your final breath!

Though I am naive and immature,
As my father, the Dharma lord Lama Gyaltsap,
Let his blessings enter my heart, I conceived the urge to escape
And see activities for this life as confusion.

Unable to bear that all-consuming thought, the urge to escape,
I wrote it down as it slipped from my mouth;
Though thoughts in an ordinary person’s mind are impermanent,
Bless me to be free of adversity and obstacles.

With the root of all Dharma, renunciation,
Steadfast like an engraved rock,
May I become like the protector Pema Vijaya,
The master of nonaction, yogi of the sky!

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