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Gyalwang Karmapa Teaches on Compassion

Compassion is not just about kind acts; actually it is about being aware of the suffering of other sentient beings from the view of the actual nature of things.

Garchen Rinpoche on Tonglen

The main practice I did in prison was tong-len. Khenpo Munsel gave me many special oral instructions on tong-len that weren't in the text. In tong-len, generally, we say that we are sending happiness out to others and taking others' suffering in. But for the actual meaning of tong-len, you have to understand the inseparability of self and other. The ground of our minds is the same. We understand this from the View. In this context, even if there are many different types of suffering, there is really only one thing called "suffering". There is only one suffering, he taught. If there is really only one suffering, then at this time when you, yourself, have great suffering, you should think, "The minds of the sentient beings of the three realms and my mind have the same ground." However, the essence of the suffering of the sentient beings of the three realms and the essence of our own suffering is the same. If you see them to be the same, if you see them as being non-dual, and then meditate on that suffering, in the mind's natural state, that suffering goes away. At that moment, you have been able to lessen the suffering of all sentient beings of the three realms, all at once. The "len" of tong-len means "taking." First, take in this way. "Tong" means "giving." If you understand your mind's nature, then you recognize the essence of whatever suffering and afflictive emotions there may be to be emptiness. When suffering does not harm you anymore, the mind has great bliss. If at that time, you meditate, making self and others inseparable, then that bliss can diminish the self-grasping of all sentient beings. It can lessen the self-grasping. The happiness that is being given is the bliss that comes from the practice of giving and taking. This is how you should practice. This is very special. Others don't explain it this way.

Teachings On The Pure Realms - Dewachen (17th Gyalwang Karmapa)

Link:

GYALWANG KARMAPA'S TEACHINGS ON THE PURE REALMS TO THE EAST AND WEST

The 29th Kagyu Monlam: Day Three – Gyalwang Karmapa’s Teachings on the Pure Realms to the East and West

Teaching on Seven Lines Prayer

If one can concentrate on practicing the (seven lines prayer) in this life, when you die you will dissolve into the mind of Guru Rinpoche. Guru Rinpoche is the ultimate nature of the embodiment of all Buddhas. In Guru Rinpoche’s termas, it is written that in the degenerated times, Guru Rinpoche’s compassionate blessings are swifter than that of other Buddhas. In this life, if you wish your body to be free from sickness or pain, pray to Guru Rinpoche and you will receive his protection. If you seek for wealth, longevity or wish to clear your obstacles, just by praying, all wishes can be fulfilled. Some people think that to practice Guru Rinpoche for wealth is of no use, but this is not correct. Just by relying upon Guru Rinpoche, all wishes can be achieved.

Guru Rinpoche once said, “Accomplishing me is the same as accomplishing all Buddhas; seeing me is the same as seeing all Buddhas.” In any case, Buddha Shakyamuni, Amitabha, Chenrezig , the Eight Vidhydharas, the Eight Mahasiddhas are no different from Guru Rinpoche. Therefore, if one wishes for attainments, then the sole method is Guru Yoga. There is no other way. Therefore, at all times, focus on the Seven Lines Prayer and supplicate Guru Rinpoche. This will have infinite benefits for this and future lives, there is no doubt about it.

If one cannot practice other methods, just practicing the seven-lines prayer is the same as a panacea that can cure all kinds of sicknesses. But if one is merely mouthing the prayers, it is not enough, one should have great faith and devotion to Guru Rinpoche and supplicate one-pointedly, then you are sure to receive Guru Rinpoche’s blessings and accomplishments. In the past up till the present, many great masters and practitioners have seen Guru Rinpoche directly. These are the best signs. The middling signs are to have good experiences arising. The lesser signs are to meet Guru Rinpoche in dreams and to receive prophecies and blessings from Guru Rinpoche. Just listening and contemplating the Dharma is not enough to attain liberation. Besides that, one has to practice. The three (listening, contemplation, practice) must be combined. When we are practicing, we should rely on one deity. It is just like in the past, Nagarjuna and Shantideva had yidams they relied upon. In this manner, single-mindedly praying to Guru Rinpoche and merge your mind with Guru Rinpoche’s wisdom mind. This way of progressing on the path to liberation has less difficulties and obstacles. With total confidence and faith in Guru Rinpoche, not just with faith and sincerity, but believing that in any moment, Guru Rinpoche will never deceive or let us down. We must have the faith that Guru Rinpoche and our root teacher is inseparable and no different. Rely on this faith to practice.

As our present root teacher has a very close connection to us, we are able to see our root teachers frequently. Therefore, their blessings enter our minds very swiftly. In the past, there was a Khamtrul Rinpoche. In his practice experience, he came to Guru Rinpoche’s pureland where many Dakas and Dakinis welcomed him and escorted him to see Guru Rinpoche. At that time, he wondered how Guru Rinpoche would look like. But when he came to the celestial palace, sitting on the throne was his own root master. The Dakas and Dakinis told him that the person sitting on the throne was Guru Rinpoche. This shows that Guru Rinpoche is no different from our root master. I hope everyone would be able to practice the Dharma correctly.

~ Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche

LINK: http://bodhiactivity.wordpress.com/2014/02/15/teaching-on-seven-lines-prayer-namkhai-nyingpo-rinpoche/

Watching a Movie

His Holiness the Karmapa presented the Buddhist notion of non-attachment with a simple yet profound metaphor - that we all live our lives as if we are in a movie. The characters, including ourselves, are fabricated beings. We give them names and identities according to their family, education, socioeconomic location, surrounding culture and media, etc. We then attach ourselves to these characters. We cry, we laugh, we feel rage and elation, or attachment and aversion. We allow ourselves to get overwhelmed and discouraged by the suffering we experience or the changes we undergo. But non-attachment is a realizing that it is all just a movie. It's a recognition that our thoughts and visions have been clouded with the many fabrications, projections, and illusions inside the movie and that we actually have a second "I" watching. This second "I" can see from all angles and can therefore respond with greater awareness and compassion. So what if we were able to step back from particularly overwhelming moments of life and respond to it as if we were watching a movie?

(From “Sustainable Compassion: A College Course with the 17th Karmapa”, May 2011, Gyuto; http://karmapaconversations.blogspot.com/)

Bodhicitta, Deity, Mantra by Garchen Rinpoche

What is the cause of liberation? It is bodhicitta, or the altruistic mind. If you give rise to bodhicitta, you do not think of yourself and thus, self-grasping diminishes. What we need to become free from, what we need to become liberated from is actually the grasping at a self. Self-grasping is the very cause of suffering. The altruistic mind is the cause of happiness.

***

What is most important is the foundation of faith, bodhicitta-- the altruistic mind. If you have the altruistic mind, the power of your Buddha-nature will naturally unfold; it is like an ice-block melting into water and the water can then be used naturally. If you do not possess the altruistic mind as a foundation, all the other practices, mantra recitation and so forth will not be so powerful. In The Ocean of Samadhi, a text, it is said, “If you do not have bodhicitta, if you lack bodhicitta, you will not attain Enlightenment.” It is just like a body without its life-force; someone without life cannot perform any function. The life-force of all practices is bodhicitta and if you only have bodhicitta, everything based on that will become very, very vast and very beneficial. Any virtuous activity will become very extensive. Therefore bodhicitta, the altruistic mind is the very root or foundation of all practices

***

It is the mind of a Bodhisattva, only caring about others is bodhichitta. This mind is the essence of all deities. If you practice any deity with this mind, you will be very close to the deity and receive blessings. What we call blessings is actually nothing but love. The mind that is free of selfishness and only cares about others is a bodhisattvas mind, such limitless love is relative bodhichitta. A Buddha has not only perfected relative bodhichitta but also ultimate bodhichitta, i.e. a Buddha mind has fully realized that all duality is delusion and that in fact there are no self and others. There are different levels of bodhisattvas, there are ten stages or bhumis a bodhisattva progresses through on the path. The enlightened mind is beyond all paths, there is no more training, it is complete awakening.

***

The love of the Buddhas is ever unceasing, always there and pervasive; whether we access it or not depends on the power of our own trust. When we supplicate to and think about the Buddhas and deities, they are actually there, like the Buddha Shakyamuni is actually here when we think about the Buddha. From a conventional perspective, this is due to the great love the Buddhas have for all beings. From the ultimate perspective, they are always there because they are already connected primordially to our own Buddha-nature. They are continuously connected to our own mind-stream.

***

If you cultivate faith in the Buddha Amitābha single-pointedly, the Buddha will hear us and feel us. It is just as if the Buddhas and deities are the mother and we are their child. When the child is suffering—for example, when the child is sick, the mother experiences an overwhelming, unbearable feeling and will go to help the child very quickly. The mind is just like light or electricity, so when sentient beings give rise to faith, in just an instant, very quickly, the Buddhas will feel this and will come and help beings with love.

***

We must also understand the mantra to be an offering. When we have faith in the deities that abide in the pure lands and recite the mantra, each of these mantras becomes an offering to the deities there. At the same time, it purifies the obscurations of sentient beings in the impure fields, in particular, the sentient beings living in the three lower realms. The mantra then becomes the protector of sentient beings; it protects those without protection. The mantra is an offering and also purifies obscurations.

***

The mantra is also a blessing. When we recite the mantra, we purify negative karmas and negative imprints from the mind-stream through the power of the wisdom deity. This is a quality of the wisdom deity. When we talk about the blessings of the wisdom deities, the blessing is nothing other than love and compassion. If we recite the mantra of the wisdom deity, we will destroy the negative imprints and karmas that we have accumulated since beginning-less time and come closer and closer to approaching Enlightenment.

***

With regard to the benefits of mantra recitation and the mantra itself, the Buddha himself had also said in the Liberation by Seeing mantra for example, that by only seeing a certain mantra, one will purify obscurations accumulated in three-hundred million aeons.

***

There are three types of uninterrupted-ness when we recite the mantra. There are uninterrupted offerings to the Buddhas; uninterrupted purification of obscurations of sentient beings, and uninterrupted attainment of siddhis or attainments. The siddhi is basically the increase of love and compassion; if love and compassion increase, wisdom increases and one attains Enlightenment. Due to compassion, one temporarily experiences the seven qualities of the higher realms*, the happiness of the higher realms and many other benefits that come from mantra recitation. 

***

Any virtue you practice, even if it is just a single Mani mantra, you should think that it is for the sake of all mother sentient beings. If you have this intention, the virtue will become very vast and very powerful and it will have two benefits: the temporary benefit of birth in the higher realms and the ultimate benefit of attaining Enlightenment.

***

Even though you have received many empowerments, if you understand the nature of the deity, you understand that it is sufficient to only practice a single deity. By practicing a single deity genuinely, you are accomplishing the essence of all deities. In fact, it is better to focus on the practice of just one deity, because then it will be easier to habituate to the deity to the point where you will not forget about the deity. To accomplish the deity means to never forget about the deity, it means that the deity always remains in your mind, it never separates from you. As it is always in your mind, you become the deity. If you never separate from the deity, you will also remember the deity in the Bardo after death, upon which you will attain enlightenment into the samboghakaya form of the deity. Sometimes people worry about receiving too many empowerments because they think that they cannot keep all the samayas. Actually if you practice the root samaya of love, compassion and mindfulness, you are keeping all samayas of all deities, even if you only recite the mantra of one deity. In order to understand this you must understand the essence of the deity. If you think that the deities are all separate, there will be a conflict. Actually the power of one wisdom deity is contained within all deities. Various deities appear in order to suit the various thoughts and inclinations of sentient beings, but actually their nature is one and the same. The nature of all deities is bodhichitta. Therefore, if you practice bodhichitta and mindfulness, and only recite the mantra of one deity, you are keeping all your samayas. If you do not practice bodhichitta and mindfulness, no matter how many different mantras you recite, you are not keeping your samayas. That is because bodhichitta is the very life-energy of the deity. Without bodhichitta the deity is like a dead body. However, it is necessary to practice at least one deity on a daily basis. In the various empowerment texts it is mentioned in the section of repeating the samaya that one must recite the mantra of that deity, but this must be mentioned in each sadhana because in old days the masters would only receive this one empowerment and then practice this for the rest of their lives. For this reason it must be mentioned in each empowerment text. But for us, since we receive so many empowerments nowadays, it is crucial to understand the meaning and essence of the empowerment: It is said: "In the expanse of primordial wisdom, all the Buddhas are one."