Fri, 30 Oct 2009
Contradiction or Not?
I got the following email pointing out a seeming contadiction in Buddhism:
Now, for any person to follow Buddhism he should first have the desire to follow the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Path. The Third great Noble Truth says that desire should be removed. Once you remove desire, how can we follow the Fourth Noble truth i.e. follow the Eight Fold Path unless we have a desire to follow the Eight Fold Path. In short desire can only be removed by having a desire to follow the Eight Fold Path. If you do not follow the Eight Fold Path, desire cannot be removed. It is self contradicting as well as self-defeating to say that desire will only be removed by continuously having a desire.
This is a common criticism, or misunderstanding of the Four Noble Truths, so I thought I should say something about it. The term "desire" in the Four Noble Truths is both too narrow and too brad. It's too narrow because what is meant is that suffering arises through afflictive emotions. It's said that there are 84,000 afflictive emotions, but usually they are classified as five: desire, anger, bewilderment, envy, and pride. Desire is mentioned in the four noble truths, because it is both constant and obvious. Bewilderment is also constantly with us, but it is not obvious and anger, pride, and envy are obvious, but they are not constantly present. But desire is also too broad a term because not everything that is a desire is an afflictive emotions. One approximate way to distinguish between afflicted and unafflicted desires is that afflicted desires are strengthened when their object is achieved and unafflicted desires are satisfied when their object is achieved. If one desires fame, or wealth, or the approval of others, there is no definite limit on the desire, it is limitless. However, if I desire to go home from work, the desire is satisfied when I get there and is thought of no more. It's easy to see that desires of the first sort are suffering, they're like a fire that can't be extinguished. But desires of the second sort aren't a problem unless one is aiming at a result that itself is suffering. If there is a good goal and one will be satisfied when one achieves it, then what could be wrong with that? It's easy to see that the desire for enlightenment is unafflicted and thus not a problem. So the contradiction in the Four Noble Truths is based on a misunderstanding.
I'm shortly going to be attending a weekend meditation retreat at the Tibetan Meditation Center. Time has been short and I have had many commitments, which is why I have not been posting so often. I should have more free time in two weeks so I will be posting more often. I will be abandoning my previous intentions to blog on the Ganges Mahamudra and Atisha's Lamp for the Path. Neither has worked out as I originally intended.
I read in the papers that an American boy of Tibetan parents has been recognized as the tulku of a great Tibetan teacher, Lorepa. This is unusual because so far there has been no lineage for this teacher and thus a seven hundred year gap between the lives of the former lama and this kid. The news is almost a year old, but was recently printed in the Indian papers and has spread from there. The best account of the new incarnation of Lorepa that I found is on this Taiwanese site. Lorepa was a great lama and is quoted often in the Ocean of Certainty (Ngedon Gyamtso). But I can't repeat the quotes here, as it's a restricted text.
Thu, 22 Oct 2009
Nothing to Ask
Here's an interesting story about an encounter beween teacher and student in Tibet. I'm guessing that the lama mentioned here is Akong Tulku.
A lama in England once told me about his one and only interaction with a famous and somewhat controversial teach in Tibet, Khenpo Gangshar. This lama had heard much about Khenpo Gangshar and yearned to study with him. Khenpo Gangshar came for a two-week visit to the monastery at which the lama was staying. The lama submitted a formal request for a meeting. When no reply, not even an acknowledgement, came back, he resubmitted his request. He hesitated to make a third request, but so deep was his yearning that he did so anyway. Again, no reply.. Khenpo Gangshar was due to leave the next morning.
That night, the lama sat in his room wondering what to do. He desperately wanted to see Khenpo Gangshar, but he was hesitant to violate monastic protocols. He was so agitated that he couldn't sleep. A knock sounded on his door. He opened it, curious to see who would come to see him so late at night. One of Khenpo Gangshar's attendants told him to come. Elated, he followed the attendant and was shown into Khenpo Gangshar's room.
Khenpo Gangshar was busy in a conversation with another monk, so he sat down and waited. Eventually the monk left. Protocol demanded that Khenpo Gangshar initiate any conversation, so the lama waited for leave to speak. Khenpo Gangshar just looked at him but said nothing. The lama couldn't ask any of the quuestions that were burning in his heart.
The two sat in silence for about fifteen minutes. Then Khenpo Gangshar motioned for him to leave. He was devastated. He left and returned to his room, where he sobbed with grief and raged with anger. Eventually, totally exhausted, he fell asleep. When he awoke the next day, he started his morning meditation practice and found that his meditation had changed completely. To this day, he regards Khenpo Gangshar as one of his most important teachers, even though he had only this one meeting and they never exchanged a word
Ultimately there's nothing to ask, because the question itself is a misdirection, a pointing away from what needs to be seen. When we remain suspended in the space before the question, we see what the question conceals.
Mon, 12 Oct 2009
Good Advice
Tonight I going to point at some good advice I found on other blogs. The first is advice from a Hindu Tantric. I liked his whole post, but especially this part. It's advice I very much need to take seriously.
The difference between successful sadhaks and those who are always griping about how "that didn't work" etc., is the the good sadhak takes things to heart and dives into them one hundred percent. Take a teaching like "turn the awareness around and investigate the nature of the "I"" This is a classic advaita meditation, but what do you do with it. One type says, "yes,yes, one looks for the "I" thought and it is not present...I've heard this before, what else you got". The other type turns the attention fully on this and will investigate (and not stop) until they rip apart the fabric of space/time itself. Take the teaching on unconditional love and compassion. One type will say, "yes, yes, we should all love unconditionally and have compassion, this is a very beautiful sentiment...you know I am very loving." The other type will meditate on it so much that they become love itself and shine like the sun. So while everybody is waiting around for that "secret" teaching or most powerful mantra, the true sadhaks are living the secrets by taking up fully what is already available.
The second is some advice from Khandro Rinpoche, quoted by my friend Luther, on the resposibilities of experienced practitioners.
Seeing the nature as is should allow you to become more free in embracing everything. Having a glimpse of shunyata (emptiness/fullness) mind and then forcing non-reaction to appearances doesn't sound correct. (having an understanding of) "All appearances are mind" should give more freedom to all appearances. This is a freedom to be involved, a flexibility with which you do not grasp to that moments' expression. Rather than force abiding in shunyata, (one should) always bring about a supple way of freeing everything from your grasping, since you realize there is nothing to discriminate. Non-conceptual compassion is about this. You know things are a projection of your mind, but you take a bug outside.
Sun, 04 Oct 2009
Four Mudras
I've been reading Khenpo Karthar's teaching on Moutain Dharma, and he provides a clear explanation of the four mudras. I thought I'd summarize what he said, but in reverse order, as that seems a more natural progression. Mahamudra is the practice of seeing your own mind as the buddha. It straddles the border between sutra and tantra, or could be seen as the essence of both. Of course, it is what the Ganges Mahamudra is all about. Having gained confidence that one's own mind is buddha, one is fit to practice Jnanamudra, where one visualizes oneself in the form of a deity. This is the practice of the generation stage of deity meditation. When one can clealy viualize one's body as the body of the deity, one is fit to practice Samayamudra, which is the yogic practice of chandali (tummo), where one masters the inner winds, channels, and drops. And when one has fully masterd chandali has complete control over these three, one can practice Karmamudra, where one practices sexual union with a consort. It's this practice which has made tantra notorious, even though only a very few are qualified to do it. Through the practice of the four mudras, one can attain complete enlightenment in a single life and it is these practice that make Vajrayana the unexcelled path of practice.
Fri, 02 Oct 2009
Untouched by Evil
Today's verse from Ganges Mahamudra is easily misunderstood:
For example, space transcends color and form. It is immutable and without a tinge of black or white. Similarly, the mind itself, beyond color and form, is untainted by the white and black phenomena of virtue and evil.
Here's another analogy to explain the analogy. Suppose a jeweler was carrying a sack of diamonds and dropped the sack so that half the diamonds fell out and were covered by mud. He wouldn't think the diamonds covered with mud had any less value than the diamonds that were clean. But, before he sold the diamonds, he would make sure he had cleaned off every last speck of the mud. The point of the analogy is that we all are buddhas. When we are bad, we are buddhas behaving badly and when we are good, we are buddhas behaving well. From one perspective there is a big difference, from another, none at all. When you see your mind from the perspective that sees no difference, you will see that there is nothing to do or accomplish. But, paradoxically, you are motivated to do it anyway.
Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen is visiting Malysia and has a short interview in a paper there.
