5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden

Cultivating a true self-confidence: Abiding in a pure land right now

Kadampa Ryan 5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden, Cultivating a true self-confidence

During the first several posts under this series, we looked at how to meditate on self-confidence by constructing a reliable basis for confidence.  In this post we will explore how to actually practice self-confidence by looking at (1) What it means to wholeheartedly accept others just the way they are, (2) how we can wholeheartedly accept others just the way they are, and (3) some special considerations on practicing within our capacity.

What it means to wholeheartedly accept others just the way they are

To accept wholeheartedly means to welcome.  Right now we have a problem with everything.  There are certain people or situations which we would rather avoid and we push them away or resist them.  We live in samsara.  We resist these things because we think they cause us suffering.  If we can instead learn to use all of these situations, then we wouldn’t need to resist them but we could accept them wholeheartedly.  As our ability to use difficult people to accomplish our spiritual goals increases, so too does our confidence because difficult situations no longer pose a problem for us.  We will fear nothing.

So what does it mean in practice to wholeheardly accept others just the way they are?  It means to abandon attachment to others changing.  We have attachment to others changing when we feel that our happiness depends on others changing.  In reality, if you think that others are anything other than perfect just the way they are, you are wrong.  This is worth repeating like a mantra.  Normally we try change others, even sometimes motivated by concern for their interests, but we cannot change others – only they can change themselves.   We can help them change in the way they want to, but we shouldn’t try change them the way we want them to.  When we accept someone as they are, we create the space for them to change.  When we don’t accept others, they become defensive and self-justifying and this blocks all change.

It means to respect 100% their freedom to choose their own actions.  Normally we ask ourselves how much freedom we should give others, but the reality is they already have all the freedom.  Our job is to respect that and give them the information they need to use their freedom wisely.  It means we push nothing away and resist nothing. We accept the situation as it is without resistance, and then deal with it.  It does no good to live in denial of how things are   We do not resist the situation or others because we don’t need to.  We can use everything.  This doesn’t mean we don’t do what needs to be done, but we just accept reality as it is.  Like a cancer patient who accepts their cancer and then deals with it.  It means we create around ourselves a zone of total acceptance without any judgement.  We don’t judge others, but accept them as perfect just the way they are.

How can we wholeheartedly accept others just the way they are?

There are several different things we can do that will enable us to do this:  First, we need to learn to accept ourself without judgement.  A very senior teacher explained to me once that the way we treat ourselves determines how we treat others.  If we are hard on ourselves, we will be hard on others.  If we accept ourselves, we will accept others.  A strong influence of how we treat ourselves is how our parents treated us.  Usually people motivate and chastise themselves as their parents did to them.  So we need to check this.  To accept ourselves is to accept that we will have delusions.  Just as a body farts, an ordinary mind has delusions.  We accept this as it is, without judgement.  It is just the nature of things.  We don’t expect it to be any different.    When we accept ourselves without judgement, then we create the space for ourselves to change.  I am sick, time to get better.

We can consider everyone to be an emanation of your spiritual guide who has come to teach you different spiritual lessons.   We can accept others because they are so useful for our practice.  So it depends upon our ability to transform whatever others do into an opportunity for us to practice.  We can view ourselves as being on solitary retreat right now, inside our heart, and everything is emanated by your spiritual guide.  We can view these as opportunities to purify.  Problems are the ripening of our negative karma.  If we happily accept them as purification it purifies our negative karma.  We can view it as a lesson in karma – we need to avoid negative actions and engage in virtuous.  We can view it as a lesson in renunciation – samsara is the nature of suffering, so let go of any expectation that it be any different.  Use the fact that by nature broken to make the decision to ‘get out of this dump.’  We can use it as a lesson in cherishing others – all problems come from cherishing ourself, all happiness comes from cherishing others.  Lesson in compassion, bodhichitta and emptiness.

We need to learn to accept and indeed cherish others faults.   We need to accept that they are deluded.  We usually have anger wishing that they were different.  We don’t want to deal with their delusions.  The belief that they are anything other than perfect is a delusion.  We will talk more next post about how to respond to others being deluded.  The greatest quality others have is their faults because these are the most useful thing for us as Dharma practitioners.  If we see their faults of others as qualities, they are no longer faults!  We can practice pure view with respect to their faults.  Pure view does not say what the other person is doing is perfect, rather is asks ourselves the question, “how can I receive perfect benefit from what this person is in fact doing?”  When we receive perfect benefit, then we can honestly think perhaps this person is a Buddha with just very skilful means.

We should rejoice in whatever others do do, and ignore the rest.  Rejoicing in others should be our main practice.  The world you pay attention to is the world you experience.  If you pay attention to others’ faults, you will live in a faulty world; if you pay attention to others’ good qualities, you will live in a pure world.  Whatever you relate to, you draw out.  If you relate to people’s faults, you will draw them out; and if you relate to their good qualities, you will draw them out.  So this is a real act of compassion.  Rejoicing creates the cause to acquire whatever good quality you are rejoicing in.  Criticizing creates the causes to acquire the faults that you criticize.  Rejoicing is the root of the Mahayana path.  Enlightenment depends upon bodhichitta, which depends upon compassion, which depends upon cherishing others, which depends upon finding others precious, which depends upon our finding them attractive/useful.

How does this mind of acceptance enable us to be in a pure land right now?  A pure land is a place where there is no manifest suffering and everything leads us to enlightenment.  Through the mind of acceptance, we can use everything, so nothing is a problem for us – just an opportunity to grow.  In this way there is no manifest suffering.  Everything functions to push us out of samsara.  Everything confirms the Dharma and propels us further on our path, so all energy put into the system gets channeled into pushing us out.  So it is just like a pure land.  We can then be like the Buddhas who are able to remain in samsara and joyfully use everything to help beings get out.

Capacity considerations for engaging in this practice

Here are some considerations for being able to practice this:  First, we should know when we should practice it.  We practice it on unavoidable suffering.  If we can deal with some situation through normal means, we do so; but for the unavoidable stuff, we practice patient acceptance.  Geshe-la gives the example of a headache:  take an asprin and practice acceptance until it kicks in.  Second, we need to be aware of our capacity of what we can transform and what we cant.  The test is not whether a situation is difficult, but rather whether remaining in it destroys our capacity to practice.  Third, we need to find a middle way between being a doormat and being a jerk.  This is done by learning how to establish clear, fair limits.  We don’t set limits for others, we set limits for ourself.  “I am incapable of being in a relationship where you are going off with somebody else, etc.”  We then respect completely the freedom of the other person to decide.  Our limits should not be aimed at having the other person change, but on our own ability to change and what is best for our practice.  Fourth, we need to accept our mistakes.  We will make many mistakes, but we need to accept them (in other words, use them).  It’s normal that we will make mistakes, so we accept this without guilt.  We then learn from our mistakes and try do better next time.

 

Center as home, home as center

Kadampa Ryan 5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden

I had a dream recently in which I was visiting my old center.  I was having a conversation with the teacher there.  I was explaining to him how the absolute most important thing is to create a feeling of family among the Sangha.  If our center turns itself into a war zone, where the teachers, administration and students are struggling against one another, we have no center, even if all the physical infrastructure is there.  When I awoke from the dream, I realized that the responsibility of each member of any center (whether they are teachers, administrators or students) is to actively make our centers home and make our homes our centers.

What do I understand this to mean?  We need to take what it means to be a good home and cultivate that within a center.  And we need to take what it means to be a good center and cultivate that within our home.  Our ability to do this depends upon making the work and members of our home (spiritual or traditional) objects of refuge instead of objects of delusion.

So what makes a good home?    A good home is a place where we can take refuge from the world.  It is the place where we can rest, recharge our batteries, clean ourselves up, and then prepare ourselves to rengage with the world.  It should be clean, it should be welcoming, it should be well-provisioned.  It should be easy to get to, yet still somewhat away from it all.   Most sigificantly, home is where our family lives.  What distinguishes family from friends is no matter what happens our family always remains our family.  Friends can change, but our family never ceases to be our family.  We may fight with our family, but we know we must work through our differences not cease to be family over them.  Within a good home, everyone is more or less free to do as they wish as long as they first meet their responsibilities.  A good home is a place where those who live within it are able to grow up, both in terms of maturity and in terms of becoming increasingly capable to successfully engage the world.  Home does not necessarily need to be in one physical place – it can move all of the time as long as it takes its culture and characteristics with it.  One of the most vital ingredients of a good home is it is a place where those who live within it can have a good-hearted laugh at the absurdity of ourselves, others and the world.  Having a good laugh is the key to cutting the drama, heaviness and seriousness with which most of us labor through life.  It should be a place people long to return to, and that depends entirely upon whether there is a culture of love within it.  A culture of love means we are delighted to see those who live with us, we value their happiness as something important to us and we stand ready to do anything to unconditionally help and support each other in their respective projects.  Everybody is responsible for cultivating and maintaining this culture of love, but the primary responsibility falls on the parents to create it through their own example and encouraging its development.

So what makes a good center?  A good spiritual center is a place where people can learn how to become a better person and they have the opportunity to practice doing so.  A good center is a place where people can learn how to apply ancient, timeless wisdom to our modern lives.  A good center is singular in its tradition, but universal in its application of that tradition.  A good center never criticises other traditions or ways of doing things, but respects them all as different paths for different people.  A good center NEVER abuses its power to try manipulate and control others to get them to do something.  The focus of a good center is on rejoicing in what people are doing right, not judging them for what they are doing less than perfectly.  In a good center people feel free to make mistakes without judgement or censure, because it is only when we are free to make mistakes that we dare try to do things differently.  A good center has a clear purpose that everyone understands and has voluntarily aligned themselves with, yet at the same time it creates the space for people to align themselves with this purpose in their own time.  A good center exists to serve the community it finds itself within.  This service primarily takes the form of gaining the wisdom that community needs to transform the life within that community into the quick, joyful path to enlightenment.  There is endless work to do within a center, but nobody feels obliged to do any of it – they do so because they view such work as the very means by which they can improve themselves and joyfully serve others.  Just as the most important ingredient of a home is a culture of love, the most important ingredient of a center is a culture of joy.  The essential purpose of a Dharma center is to gain Dharma realizations.  This depends upon effort, and effort depends upon (and is in fact defined as) taking delight in virtuous actions.  Just as if there is no love there is no home, so too if there is no joy there is no center.  While it is the responsibility of everyone within the center to cultivate this culture of joy, the responsibility for this falls primarily upon the teachers and administrators.  This depends upon ourselves enjoying our work in the center, even though sometimes it is exhausting.  This depends upon us always leaving the members of the center free to say no when we ask them to do something.  It depends upon us explaining how work for the center gives the students an opportunity to develop within themselves the skills, realizations and abilities that they seek.  We should never guilt-trip or emotionally (or worse spiritually) blackmail people into working for the center, because even if they do the work there will be no joy (in fact, there will be resentment), and thus no actual Dharma progress.

The key to bringing the home into the center and the center into the home is transforming the work and the people within the center and home into objects of refuge instead of objects of delusion.  An object of refuge is one that protects us, either in a simple way, through direct protection, or in a special way, through giving us an opportunity to cultivate within ourselves greater spiritual qualities.    Others may push us and provoke our delusions, but whether they become an object of refuge or an object of delusion when they do so depends entirely upon us. 

We can honestly examine our centers and ask ourselves, “does the center feel like home for people?”  If not, identify why and work on improving those aspects.  Likewise, we can honestly examine our homes and ask ourselves, “does my home feel like a good center?”  If not, we can identify why and work on improving those aspects.  If we work in this way on improving both our home and our center, the two will gradually merge in our mind until they become one, where each embodies the best of both.  By extension, Manjushri center is Venerable Geshe-la’s home, and he makes it all of our home – the home of the global Kadampa Sangha.  By learning how to be a good member of one home we learn how to be a better head of another home.  By learning how to be a good head of one home we learn how to be a better member of another home.  In this way, we can likewise merge Manjushri with our local KMCs, our local centers and our local homes.  How wonderful!

OM VAJRA WIKI WITRANA SOHA!

My Kadampa understanding of the Bible: The story of John and Revelation

Kadampa Ryan 5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden, My Kadampa understanding of the Bible

Some time had passed and all of Jesus’ apostles had died except John.  John was hiding in a prison on an island, sending out letters to all of the Churches under a false name to hide his identity.  The Roman emperor declared himself a God and demanded that all Christians in the Empire take him as their sole god or die.  The son of a Roman general who was acting as a spy in a Christian village heard rumors that John was still alive, so he went to his father in Rome to tell the Emperor the news.  The Emperor installed the general as governor of the area where the Christians were with orders to kill John and all of the Christians.  The general then sent his son under cover as a prisoner to the same prison John was hiding at.  While there, John impressed the son and eventually won him over.  During this time John received a series of visions about how Jesus’ story ends.  He was transported to heaven, shown the four horsemen of the apocalypse, but with Jesus eventually prevailing over all evil forever.  They then try a prison break for John before they all are to be killed, and in the process the general’s son becomes a believer in Jesus and stops the Roman commander who was about to kill John.  Then, the general arrived, said that the Emperor was assassinated and that the new Emperor declared an amnesty for all Christians.  John then went back to the mainland and preached for a few years before he died.  So just as John was the last to stay with Jesus when he died, so too he was the last to live to spread the word of Jesus.

As a Kadampa, what does this story teach me?

  1. It was very hard to be a Christian in the early days, but because they never lost their faith despite their persecution their religion flourished.  There is something inspiring about somebody who is willing to sacrifice everything for their faith, especially when that faith seems to teach only love.  While believers will be persecuted, those who watch the persecution will be won over, and ultimately the persecutors as well will change their hearts.  As Kadampa’s we can admire and rejoice in such faith, and we can develop gratitude for those who suffered and died to keep the Kadampa lineage alive in this world.  In particular, Jangchub O.
  2. John was shown the end so that the followers of Christ would not lose hope and faith.  In Revelation, after horrific sufferings of war and fire, Jesus emerged triumphant, love emerged triumphant and in the end all were saved in the silence of heaven.  This is not unlike the story of Buddha’s enlightenment where all of the maras attacked him but he overcame them all with love.  The Christians were shown that love conquerors all evil through revelation, and knowing this gives them faith to follow the path of love all the way until the end.

I have learned a tremendous amount by considering each of the stories of the Bible through the lens of the Kadampa teachings.  We need to make a very clear distinction between mixing religions and appreciating all religions while following our own purely without mixing.  One extreme is sectarianism thinking that we alone have a monopoly on the truth and that only the Kadampa is correct.  This extreme is wrong because Buddhas reveal themselves in different ways to Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike.  The other extreme is mixing together all religions into a hodge podge of our own creation.  This transforms our ordinary self into our own spiritual guide thinking that we are somehow qualified to put together a spiritual path that is superior to the ones laid out by the holiest beings to have walked this earth.  The middle way is to follow one’s own tradition purely without mixing while appreciating all other traditions as valid for those who follow them.

There are close to 2 billion people on this earth who are Christians.  In particular, Modern Kadampa Buddhism has initially emerged in a Western, Christian cultural context.  Therefore, if we are to learn how to transmit the essential meaning of Kadampa Buddhism in such a cultural context, we must strive to possess the wisdom that can realize how the Kadampa path is revealed through the stories of the Bible.  These stories have shaped this civilization.  If we can see the Dharma in these stories, we will be able to see the Dharma in this civilization, and as such be much more capable of transmitting this wisdom perfectly.  It is with that intention that I have engaged in this project.  It is part of my appreciating other religions, but my appreciation arises out of how they reveal the truth of the Kadampa path or how the Kadampa path explains these stories and this religion.  Realizing this appreciation of the Judeo-Christian world through the lens of the Kadampa helps us eliminate the grasping at any tension between the cultural context we inhabit and the teachings of the Kadampa.  Therefore it helps us accomplish our mission of achieving the union of modern life and Kadampa Buddhism.    Just as it is not mixing to derive Kadampa lessons from the stories of our everyday life, so too it is not mixing to derive Kadampa lessons from what so many consider “the greatest stories ever told.”

I dedicate any merit I may have collected by doing this series of posts so that Dorje Shugden will bless the minds of all those who read these words and bestow upon them correct Kadampa understandings regardless of whether what I wrote was correct or non-sense.  Sometimes reading non-sense helps us realize wisdom, and so may whatever mistakes I have made ripen only as pure wisdom in the minds of those who read these posts.  May all Kadampas unite seamlessly their modern lives with Kadampa Buddhism in such a way that, like a magic crystal,it  functions to transform this ordinary impure world into a pure land in which all beings are free forevermore.

My Kadampa understanding of the bible: The story of Esther

Kadampa Ryan 5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden, My Kadampa understanding of the Bible

The Persian empire conquered Judea, and the Jews were taken to Babylon.  Over time, while there, they prospered and rose to high positions.  Esther was an orphaned Jewish girl taken in and raised, like a daughter, by her cousin Mordecai.  In a drunken state, the Persian king Ahasuerus (also known as Xerxes) ordered his queen to appear before the court so that he could show her off as his most precious possession.  Not wanting to be considered an object she refused.  The king then banished her for disobeying a direct command of the king.  To find a new wife, he ordered all of the virgins be rounded up for him.  Mordecai told Esther to hide that she was Jewish so she could get better treatment.  Due to her courage, integrity and beauty, the king fell in love with Esther and made her his new Queen.  Mordecai overheard two conspirators who wanted to kill the king, and so he told Esther who told the king.  The king felt gratitude for Mordecai saving his life.  Later, Haman, a prominent prince in the area, became the king’s Chamberlain (much like a Prime Minister).  Mordecai refused to bow to Haman, viewing him as corrupt, and this infuriated Haman.  He then told the king that there is a group of people within the realm who refused to acknowledge the supremacy of Persian law and that they were a threat, and so therefore should be exterminated completely.  Haman did not say it was the Jews, just some random tribe in the empire.  The king agreed, and Haman set in motion his plans declaring that on a given day all Jews in the empire would be killed.  When Mordecai informed Esther of this, she understood why God had elevated her to be Queen of Persia.  She then went to the king, told him that it was the Jews who were to be killed, which included both herself and Mordecai, and the king was furious at Haman and had him hung.  But the king could not undo the royal decree established by Haman that all the Jews were to be killed.  The king then made Mordecai the Chamberlain and asked Mordecai and Esther to come up with a solution.  The solution they came to was granting the Jews the right to defend themselves by force.  When the day came, many died, but the Jews succeeded in defending themselves and as such were saved from extermination.  To remember this, Jews now celebrate every year a special holiday called Purim.  Some of the Jews decided to leave Babylon to go back to Jerusalem where they could be safe.  They were led by Ezra, who had the temple of Solomon rebuilt and became their spiritual leader.

As a Kadampa, what does this story mean to me?

  1. Very often on the Kadampa path we will be put into certain circumstances that at first seem very bad but later we come to realize there is a deeper purpose.  What started out as severe misfortune, is later understood to be our greatest blessing.  Esther was initially kidnapped, but then became the Queen.  Mordecai was to be hung, but later became Chamberlain.  The Jews were to be exterminated, but were saved and became respected within the empire.  In the same way, if we rely upon Dorje Shugden there will be various times in our life where it seems like we are experiencing great misfortune and we don’t understand what is going on.  At such times, like the Jews did, we can feel that the holy beings have abandoned us.  But if we maintain our faith and reliance, then over time it will be revealed to us how what seemed like misfortune was in fact our greatest blessing.  It may not always be a great blessing from an external worldly perspective, but it always will be from an internal, spiritual perspective.
  2. If there is no harm to it, we need to sometimes act in accordance with local convention.  It may be true that Haman did not merit being bowed down to, but unnecessarily provoking him prompted him to want to kill all the Jews.  I understand that Jews are to bow down only to God, but bowing in this context is not declaring Haman a God (as would have been the case with Joseph and the Pharaoh), rather it is just recognizing his position within society and respecting local conventions.  As Kadampas, we are to act in accordance with local conventions and to not engage in extreme behavior.  Of course we should never abandon our refuge, even at the cost of our life, but refuge is an internal thing and sometimes we need to be skillful in how we express externally our convictions.  Esther, for example, hid the fact that she was Jewish and respected local customs.  As a result, she rose to be Queen and actually did more to break down the stereotypes because all were able to appreciate her good qualities without getting bogged down with religious labels.  Sometimes this is also necessary for us Kadampas, though in general we should not hide things because we are not doing anything wrong.  But there is a difference between not hiding and being intentionally provocative or flaunting our beliefs when we know it could upset others.  We need to be skillful.
  3. Wherever the Jews go, they thrive on the merit of their actions.  There is something about Jewish culture that causes them to thrive in all domains, political, economic, social and spiritual.  They are usually a minority religious community wherever they are, but absent persecution, they generally thrive.  The Mormans are similar.  I think as Kadampas we can learn from these two communities and emulate their merit based success in all that they do.  Nothing is ever given to them, but through the force of their own efforts and merit, they rise.  We should be the same, learning to be successful in all aspects of life.  We do so not because we seek worldly success, but because we seek excellence in all that we do, and all of our actions are motivated by wisdom, compassion and faith.  Since our actions are good, it is natural that we will come to enjoy great success in all endeavors.  But we must be careful with this success to not provoke persecution against us.  One of the reasons why the Jews are so often persecuted is precisely because they are such a small minority yet still manage to be so influential and successful.  If as Kadampas we gain in power and influence, we need to be vigilant to always use our power and influence for the good of others and we should make an effort to integrate fully into the societies we find ourselves.  This will help protect against unnecessary persecution.
  4. Some Jews decide to stay where they are a minority, others choose to go to Israel, their homeland, where they can be the majority.  This notion of a promised land is a big part of the Judeo-Christian narrative.  Within Kadampa Buddhism, we have no such notions.  Some people confuse the political cause of Tibet with the narrative of the promised land within the Judeo-Christian world.  But this is a false analogy.  According to Kadampa Buddhism, the Dharma is like a yoke on the surface of the ocean that goes from place to place depending upon the karma at the time.  It has no fixed geographical location.  Confusing the political cause of occupying and controlling certain geographical locations with the spiritual path of Buddhism, some people are willing to sacrifice the Dharma for the sake of the political cause of Tibet.  As Kadampa Buddhists, we never do this.  Of course we wish Tibetans to be free, as we wish this for all peoples, but there is no particular spiritual significance to worldly lands in and of themselves.  In any case, we would never sacrifice our spiritual beliefs for political purposes.

My Kadampa understanding of the Bible: The story of Samson and Delilah

Kadampa Ryan 5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden, My Kadampa understanding of the Bible

The story of Samson takes place at a time when God is punishing the Israelites for not following God’s laws.  They are living under occupation by the Philistines.  The Israelites long to be free, but nobody is strong enough to lead a rebellion.  God then came to a couple that was too old to conceive and said that they would have a child who would free the Israelites – he would have superhuman strength, but should not drink alcohol or cut his hair.  He was born and grew up without any further signs.  Everyone knew he was strong and they wanted him to lead a revolt, but Samson knew if he did so they would just all die.  At one point, a Philistine patrol attacked his quasi-girlfriend and he defeated them.  At another point, he wrestled a lion and won. His myth grew and so the Philistines feared him, so they tried to capture him.  But he killed them all with a bone.  Seeing that his people did not help them, he gave up on them and went out wandering.  He came upon a kind Philistine family, fell in love with the daughter and wanted to marry her.  Samson’s mother thought this was terrible because she was not an Israelite, but Samson married her anyways.  At the party after the wedding, the Philistine army pressured the father of the bride to ask his daughter for the answer to the riddle that Samson posed to everyone.  Under pressure she did so, and when the army captain solved the riddle Samson realized what had happened, became enraged and killed all of the Philistine soldiers who were there. Later the Philistines killed his wife, and then Samson started a Rambo-like solitary war against the Philistines.  The Philistines didn’t know how to stop him through force, but they identified his weakness was beautiful women.  So they sent a princess, Delilah, to him.  She tricked him into falling in love with her, and she got him to reveal that his strength depended upon his hair not being cut.  She then cut his hair, he lost his strength and was captured and blinded.  The Philistines then proceeded to crush the Israelite rebellion.  Samson then went to work as a slave in the Philistine iron mines, where he labored and regained his strength.  At a party celebrating the Philistine victory, they brought Samson and tied him to some pillars to show off as a prize of war.  Samson, though blind, requested God’s blessings for strength again and he tore the pillars down causing the entire temple to collapse, killing all of the Philistine noble court.  This then turned the tide of the war and the Israelites were free of the Philistine occupation.

As a Kadampa, what does this story teach me about the Dharma?

  1. When we are confronting suffering, it is good to draw the connection between our suffering and our own past wrong deeds.  The Israelites felt that the suffering of the Philistine occupation was God punishing them for their wrong deeds. The conclusion of this view is to accept the suffering as atonement and to redouble one’s efforts to follow moral discipline.  While in Kadampa terms we would never say that Buddha’s punish us for our wrong deeds, we would say that our past wrong deeds are the cause of all of our own present suffering.  This brings us to the same conclusion of the need to purify and redouble our efforts at moral discipline.
  2. Holy beings have the power to transform even our own uncontrolled delusions into something useful if we never abandon our reliance.  This is actually a very profound point which can easily be misunderstood.  Samson had three main minds:  faith in God, lust for women and a burning desire for revenge.  The latter two are obviously deluded minds.  But because he had faith, and the people of Israel had faith in him and God, God was able to channel Samson’s uncontrolled deluded actions skilfully towards a higher good of freeing the Israelites from oppression.  Thus, God was able to take even the impure and contaminated and use it for good because the power of faith of all those involved was greater than the delusions.  In exactly the same way, we are still deluded beings.  Even if we are still highly deluded beings, uncontrolledly forced to follow their deceptive advice, if we rely sincerely upon Dorje Shugden he can transform even our negative karma and delusions into our spiritual path – such is his power!  Our negative karma may ripen, but our faith opens our mind to view our suffering with wisdom and therefore learn spiritual lessons.  Our delusions may push us to engage in all sorts of stupid, deluded actions, but through our reliance on Dorje Shugden the mess that emerges from our wrong actions will still be what is perfect for our own and other’s swiftest possible enlightenment.  Disasters may strike us due to our own deluded and negative actions, but through the power of the Wisdom Buddha Dorje Shugden, he can transform these disasters into a perfect condition for our enlightenment.  We may not realize how at first, but over time it will become revealed to us how our past disasters were in fact our greatest blessings.  It will be revealed to us how our own past mistakes are our greatest teachers.  This does not mean delusions and negativities are good and are not to be abandoned, rather it means even if we are still deluded and negative, if we nonetheless maintain our faith the holy beings have the power to keep us moving forward on the path.  Such is their power.
  3. The Israelites always believed in a messiah, somebody who could come and deliver them from their suffering and oppression.  They believed this while under Philistine occupation, they believed Samson was sent to deliver them.  They believed that with Jesus as well.  As a Kadampa, how can we understand this?  We can understand this through faith in the laws of karma.  If you believe in a messiah, then you realize he will only come if you merit him coming through your atoning for your wrong deeds and by training in virtuous deeds.  By purifying and practicing moral discipline in this way, you create the karmic causes for a higher rebirth free from oppression and gross forms of suffering.  Higher rebirth does not just happen when one dies and is reborn, but it can happen many times even within a single human life.  So by believing in a messiah and acting accordingly, you create causes for the situation to change and for you to become more free.  Sometimes this may take many generations as the society as a whole accumulates the collective karma for their situation to change, but if people perservere with this course it is just a question of time before the “messiah” will come (will karmically appear).  The messiah might not always be a person and the messiah may not always liberate us in the way we think, but the effect will definitely be accomplished.  This is true due to the infallibility of the laws of karma.  Understanding this, when we find ourselves in a very difficult or unfree situation, if we strongly believe in the “messiah” of pure deeds, we will be delivered from bondage.  It is guaranteed!

My Kadampa understanding of the bible: The story of Solomon

Kadampa Ryan 5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden, My Kadampa understanding of the Bible

Solomon was David’s son who God said would build God’s temple and home.  Prior to David’s death, fulfilling the prophecy again of evil rising up in his own house, one of David’s other sons plotted to become King instead of David’s wish that it be Solomon.  After thwarting the coup, David said he would spare his other son who plotted the coup since he did not want to kill his own son.  But he said that Solomon would have to decide what to do.  On David’s death bed, he told Solomon that if the other son plotted again to take the crown after David died that Solomon should kill him.  After David died, the other son plotted again, but failed.  Fearing for his life, he took refuge in front of the Arc of the Covenant.  Solomon had him killed anyway as a show of his strength and seeing it as David’s will.  After Solomon became king, God said he would grant him one gift.  Solomon asked for the wisdom to rule over his people justly.  God granted him wisdom and Solomon was to build the temple for God.  To do so, Solomon had to have high taxes and use forced labor, but the people accepted this because they understood the purpose was good, namely to build the temple.  Foreign architects and engineers were brought in to oversee construction, but eventually they were trained and replaced with Israelites managed by Jeriboham.  Solomon eventually completed the temple and the people were very happy.  But then Solomon felt like his life had no purpose, he was adrift.  He then wandered out into the desert, and God spoke to him saying if Solomon remained true to the one true God then God would remain with him for the rest of his days, but if he started mixing with other Gods then God would take his kingdom away.  News of Solomon’s wisdom and activities spread far and wide, and the Queen of Sheeba came to Jerusalem.  David fell madly in love with her, and got her to agree to stay and be his queen.  She became pregnant and Solomon said that this child would be his heir.  After the child was born and Solomon announced his plans, the priests said it was against the law for somebody born of a non-Israelite to become king.  Jeriboham counselled him that if he goes against the priests he will provoke a revolution since the people would never follow.  So the Queen of Sheeba proposed that Solomon’s son go with her back to her land in Africa and become king of her people.  Solomon agreed and sent learned people and lots of gold with her.  The people resented that their taxes were going to fund the Queen of Sheeba’s kingdom.  After she left, David fell into a deep depression.  He then went out amongst some foreigners who were in Israel and began worshiping other gods.  The priests warned Solomon not to continue, Jeriboham warned him not to continue, but Solomon continued anyways.  It eventually got so bad that Jeriboham resigned in protest.  On his way back to his tribe, Jeriboham was met by a prophet of God who told him that when Solomon died, God would give Solomon’s son one chance, but if he did not use it well then God would take the kingdom away and give 11 of the tribes to Jeriboham.  The tribe of Judea would remain loyal to Solomon’s son.  When Solomon heard of this, he ordered Jeriboham killed.  Jeriboham fled to Egypt until he heard of Solomon’s passing.  He then returned and demanded that Solomon’s son end the forced labor and reduce the taxes.  Not wanting to look weak, Solomon’s son said he would raise the taxes and use even more forced labor.  Jeriboham then asked the people who they would follow, and all but the tribe of Judea chose to follow Jeriboham.

As Kadampa’s, what can we learn from this story:

  1. If you receive an extremely difficult task from your spiritual guide (internally or externally), if you rely sincerely you will accomplish the task you have been given.  Solomon was asked to build a temple, and in those days that took an entire nation to do.  But through his reliance, Solomon succeeded.    Ancient Israel had a temple project.   We have the International Temples Project.  Venerable Geshe-la wants us to bring the Kadam Dharma to the whole world and build a temple in every major city of the world.  This is the external project he has given us, and like Solomon if we rely upon our Spiritual Guide, we will be led to complete his vision for Kadampa temples in this world.  He also wants Kadampa schools all over the world.  Until this vision is accomplished, like Solomon we should dedicate ourselves to the project of building these temples.
  2. After we complete major tasks, our job remains to serve the divine.  After the temple was completed, Solomon’s job was to rule wisely over the kingdom.  In the same way, at various points in our spiritual path we will be called on to complete certain external tasks, such as build up a Dharma center or even build a temple at a KMC.  Once these physical tasks are complete, our job is to to then manage the spiritual community we have built wisely in accordance with the teachings of our tradition.
  3. Societies are best ruled by wisdom, not force.  Everybody knows wisdom when they hear it, and the renown of wise communities spreads naturally.  Those who have administrative power should be very mindful to use their power with wisdom, and to not try bring about outcomes through the force of their position.  Instead, they should take the time to explain the wisdom of their decisions to those in the community so that the people of the community can come to appreciate the wisdom and assent to the decision as wise.  With the assent of the community, force is never necessary.  If we are an Administrative Director or Resident Teacher of a center, we can ask ourselves whether or not we use the force of our position to get our way?  Sometimes this may be necessary in small doses on important issues that there is simply not time for everyone in the community to come to understand, but it is rare that this happens.  At certain existential times, Venerable Geshe-la has had to be wrathful to make it clear to those in the tradition that sometimes we just need to go along with his wishes even if we don’t immediately understand why.  But this happens only rarely and we accept it only because for all other times we are governed by seeing the wisdom of the rules we abide by.
  4. One of the most difficult parts of “ruling wisely” is managing the relationship with other traditions.  Israel was a trading nation, so Solomon allowed foreigners to worship their Gods in Israel.  But from his side, he only followed his own.  This was a perfect example, he followed one tradition purely without mixing, but he respected all other traditions as valid for others.  But in his depression at the departure of the Queen of Sheeba, he started to mix religions together, practicing several different ones simultaneously.  He did this because he thought it was a deeper form of wisdom and a higher form of spiritual tolerance.  But because he did so, it triggered sectarianism and fundamentalist attitudes within the Israelites, and they started no longer tolerating other religions in Israel.  Then, because he continued to do so even more after this, he lost the love and support of his people and lost his kingdom.  If we check, this is exactly the story of the Dalai Lama/Dorje Shugden issue.  In the old days, everybody followed their own tradition purely without mixing while respecting all of the other traditions.  After the Tibetans were kicked out of Tibet, the Dalai Lama tried to mix together all of the different traditions, practicing from each and calling all those who did not follow his way as being intolerant.  This provoked sectarian attitudes amongst some of his followers who then persecuted those who did not follow his new way.  As a result, he engaged in all sorts of harmful actions and wound up creating a schism in the Sangha.  The correct way of approaching the relationship with other traditions is to in our own practice follow one tradition purely without mixing while respecting all other paths as being valid for those who follow them.  This is a fundamental point within our tradition, and one that often gives rise to much confusion.  It is beyond the scope of this blog post to discuss this topic in detail, so instead I include a link to a document I once wrote explaining the rationale for why we follow one tradition purely without mixing while respecting all other traditions.  Following one tradition purely without mixing.
  5. Attachment can blind us to what is important and even cause us to abandon the path.  Solomon was extremely attached to the Queen of Sheeba.  The depression that followed her departure made him lose his path and he started mixing many different traditions together, even though he received some clear warnings directly from his priests, his closest advisor Jeriboham and even God himself.  There are many many examples across all sorts of spiritual traditions where sexual attachment causes even the highest spiritual leaders to fall.  Within our own tradition, we too have several very high profile examples of this.  Gen-la Dekyong said at the Summer Festival last year that it looks like within our tradition that there is positive discrimination towards women since women occupy all of the most important posts within the tradition.  She asked rhetorically, “what happened to all of the guys?  Come on guys, you can do it.”  Now she was trying to make a joke, and everybody did laugh, but for those who know the history this was a joke with double meaning.  Sexual attachment kills more spiritual lives than probably any other delusion, or at least it does so in the most dramatic of ways.

Of course there is much additional meaning, but these are the main conclusions that I draw from the story.

My Kadampa understanding of the Bible: The story of Abraham

Kadampa Ryan 5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden, My Kadampa understanding of the Bible

The story of Abraham is by far one of the most important stories in the Bible.  Three of the world’s major religions emerge from Abraham’s family, Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  From a spiritual point of view, he is the father of these three great civilizations.  How he and his family responded to the challenges they faced set the pattern for how all the Abrahamic religions respond to the challenges they face.  Given what all has evolved over the millenia from his original example, it is worthwhile to appreciate his story.  As Kadampas, understanding his story will profoundly help us in understanding the spiritual edifice upon which Western and Islamic civilization was built.  Understanding his story from a Kadampa point of view, therefore, will help us transform the life of somebody within Western and Islamic civilization into the Kadampa path.  We do not do so to convert others to Kadampa Buddhism, but rather to help those Kadampas who have found themselves reborn in such civilizations to transform more thoroughly their new reality into the Kadampa path.

For those unfamiliar with the story of Abraham, here is a brief account of the main points (according to my understanding):  Abraham lived about 4,000 years ago.  He was supposedly a descendent of Noah.  He lived at a time in which the people worshipped all sorts of worldly gods (gods which granted worldly favors, such as wealth and greater fertility).  His wife was barren, which in those days was a big problem since everything you had passed to your first born son.  Abraham himself was the first son of a modestly successful shepparding tribe.  They were badly mistreated by the local king who demanded too much in taxes/tribute.  None of the worldly gods “spoke” to him, and one day he smashed all of his brother’s statues of these worldly gods declaring them all false and lies.  Later, a “new God”, one understood as “the God most high” spoke to him and told him to leave his family and he would be led to the promised land.  This experience so marked Abraham that he left his family with his wife, personal servants and livestock and allowed himself to be guided by his new god.  Abraham was the first to commune with this God and this marked the beginning of monotheism.  This god led him to Canan, modern day Israel, and said this is his promised land to be held by his descendents forever.  (This helps explain the importance of this area of the world for Chirstians, Jews and Muslims.  All are children of Abraham, but they still struggle to learn how to share the land freely and harmoniously as his children.)  But the Canans were already there, and while he could have waged war to seize the land he did not want to do things that way, so they left and were guided to Egypt.  In Egypt, his wife was kidnapped by the Pharoh to be one of his wives.  The Pharoh and the other Egyptians got some disease which they took to be a curse from Abraham’s God, and the Pharoh set the wife free on condition that Abraham leave Egypt.  He did so, went back to Canan, and reached an agreement with the Canans on sharing the land and allying with one another.  Then God said he would give Abraham “a son of his own flesh.”  Abraham’s wife then proposed that an Egyptian servant girl bear the child, but be born on Abraham’s wife’s lap (which according to their customs made the child Abraham’s wife).  After becoming pregnant, the servant girl felt herself to be the mother and started asserting more rights.  These rights were denied per the customs of Abraham’s family, she then ran away while pregnant.  One of God’s angels, who I presume to be Gabriel, came to her, told her to go back, submit to Abraham’s wife and that her son would be the father of a great nation and he should be named Ishmael.  She then went back, had Ishmael, who then grew up to be a strong and natural leader.  Later God told Abraham that he would have a son with his barren wife (which was biologically impossible becasue she was too old at the time) and that he would be the father of nations (plural).  God said the son would be called Isaac.  After Isaac was born, Abraham, who was getting older, invested all of his time in training Isaac to be able to take over the tribe.  Ishmael’s biological mother grew jealous and Abraham’s wife feared she would plot to have Ishmael take over the tribe, so she encouraged Abraham to expel Ishmael from the family.  Abraham felt that the reason why he had this problem was because he had not had sufficient faith in God when God said he would have a son of his own flesh and that was why he agreed to have a child with the servant girl.  He decided to follow his wife’s advice, but prayed that God always be with Ishmael and Ishmael set off with his biological mother.  Again, the Angel appeared and told Ishamel’s mother that Ishmael would be the founder of a great nation and led them on their way.  Ishmael became understood as the father of Islamic civilization with the Prophet Mohammed being one of his descendents.  Later, in a test of Abraham’s faith, God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son (normally, they sacrificed lambs).  This was devastating for Abraham, but not wanting to repeat his mistake of a lack of faith in God he agreed and took Isaac up to the mountain to be sacrificed.  Just as Abraham was about to do it, an Angel appeared and said it was basically a test, Abraham had passed and the Angel provided a lamb.  This event was the culmination of the story of Abraham and what he is often most known for.  It is by analogy with this story that we can understand why Jesus is sometimes called “the lamb of God,” his only son, who he sacrificed for the sake his people.  Some say Jesus was himself a descendent of Isaac, and generally the Judeo-Christian world is understood to descend from Isaac.  Throughout the story, there were also various points where God would lead other groups to join Abraham, usually just in time when Abraham needed it most.  Abraham then lived out the rest of his days training Isaac and guiding his tribe as a humble shepparding tribe.

As a Kadampa how do I understand this story and what lessons do I take from it?  How does this story reveal the truth of the Kadam Dharma to me?

  1. Monotheism.  Abraham renounced reliance upon worldly gods for worldly purposes and instead came to rely upon the God most high, a single all-powerful God.  As Kadampa’s, we too need to renounce our worldly gods (who we may not diefy, but we still follow – wealth, reputation, praise, worldly pleasures, etc.).  While there are many different Tantric deities, we are to understand them all to be the same nature, the Dharmakaya, the eternal definitive Spiritual Guide.  We view the different tantric deities as manifestations or facets of a single source.  Sometimes Buddhists are understood to be polytheists, but we Kadampas understand ourselves as monotheists who understand their ultimate object of refuge to have the ability to assume many conventional forms according to the different needs of living beings.  Some Buddhists fall into the extreme of thinking the Dharmakaya is just a state of nature and not a being so they de-deify the ultimate.  As Kadampas, we understand the Dharmakaya to be being, whose omniscient mind of great bliss is at one with a realization of how things truly are (empty), and that this Dharmkaya assumes the aspect of infinite forms according to the needs and dispositions of living beings.  These aspects or emanations are simply the shape the underlying Dharmakaya assumes, but are not separate from it (like waves are not separate from the ocean).  As Kadampas, I believe we can understand Abraham’s God as how the Dharmakaya revealed itself to Abraham according to the karmic dispositions of the beings at that time and for all those who descended from him and the nations he spawned.
  2. Total faith and reliance.  Abraham was considered one of the first prophets, namely somebody who had the ability to communicate directly with God.  As Kadampas, this is also an ability we can and need to cultivate – the ability to receive perfectly reliable inner guidance from the ultimate, the definitive Spiritual Guide, the Dharmakaya.  Venerable Geshe-la explains that to do so we need to first align our motivation perfectly with that of the definitive Spiritual Guide, then generate indestructible faith, and then on that basis make our ordinary mind completely silent and still.  In this stillness, with a perfectly aligned motivation and faith, we then request guidance and hold our pure wish for such guidance with a still, well-motivated faithful mind.  If we do so, gradually a vision, insight or plan will be revealed to us.  This will be our message.  The more we align our motivation, deepen our faith and make still our ordinary mind the more reliably and clearly we will receive guidance.  We see this in the story of Abraham – he would receive visions and messages, follow them, they would seem crazy at first but later be revealed as reliable in unforseen ways, and then he would receive a new, deeper, more vast vision with even more demanding tests of his faith.  This process culminated in the ultimate test of all, his willingness to sacrifice his only son and heir in the name of his faith.  By no means is this to mean we should sacrifice our children for the Buddhas!  But we can nonetheless be inspired by a mind that is willing to sacrifice that which is held most dear for the sake of their faith, and that by doing so, no matter how crazy it may seem, in the end ultimate sources of refuge are perfectly reliable and will never lead us astray.  Venerable Tharchin said in his 30+ years with Venerable Geshe-la, there has almost never been a time when Venerable Geshe-la would propose some crazy course of action and Venerable Tharchin would not think Geshe-la is nuts!  But he would follow and over time it became clear that Geshe-la was right all along but in ways unforseeable.  When this happens to us again and again, our faith and reliance grows and we are gradually led along the path until we eventually complete it.
  3. “The Lord shall provide.”  There were many points in the story where God would lead Abraham to do things that made no sense from a worldly point of view, requiring them to leave behind what was good from a worldly point of view for the sake of their faith.  Each time they would do so things would get much worse and they would be at the point of total desperation, face doubts about whether they had done the right thing to follow, then just as things were at their darkest they would have some final test of faith where they would perservere with their faith and then something miraculous would happen where they were provided for.  For Kadampas, this too happens all of the time.  Disaster may strike our life, we may feel we have been abandoned, our faith gets tested, we perservere and eventually we come to realize how what we thought was a disaster was in fact the best thing that ever happened to us, always spiritually but sometimes even externally.  The Dharma Protector, Dorje Shugden, accomplishes this function for us.  By surrendering our karma completely to him, we can have total faith that no matter what happens to us it is what is best for us.  By holding onto this faith, no matter how bleak and dark things may seem, we will eventually come to realize how this is so.  It begins with small things and small tests of faith, but gradually grows into larger and larger things with more and more challenging tests of faith, but each time we take a leap of faith we are always caught and carried to a higher plane.  Externally, we should not be extreme about this doing completely crazy things, but if we work gradually and comfortably within the karma that is ripening, we will eventually be led in similar ways.  From this experience comes a fearlessness with which we follow the path – a mind of fearless spiritual adventure.
  4. There is nothing more important than passing on the lineage.  Once Isaac was born, Abraham dropped almost everything and poured himself into training his son to carry on the lineage.  It is not enough to have the lineage written down, it needs to be fully realized by subsequent generations to continue on.  There is much that Kadampas do to serve the world, but no activity we do is more important than forming new teachers to carry on the lineage.  If we have the karma to be a teacher, we should pour every ounce of our being into becoming a qualified one that has personal experience of the truth and reliability of the teachings.  If we do not have the karma to be a teacher, we should use our karma to support those who do have such karma as our way of contributing to the carrying on of the lineage.  Ultimately, Venerable Geshe-la said we are all lineage holders just in different ways.  So really, we should all do both of these – become as personally qualified as we can and support others doing the same as much as we can.  Just one last note, Abraham’s insistence of passing the lineage on to his biological son simply reflected how legitimacy was culturally bestowed at that time.  Nowadays, legitimacy is bestowed through democratic legitimacy (peopel freely choosing to follow and rely) and individual merit (realizations and deeds).  Different cultures will have different methods of bestowing legitimacy and these methods should not be confused as being spiritually written in stone – rather they are merely cultural.  What matters is a legitimate passing of a qualified lineage.

There is much, much more to be said about this story.  Feel free to include comments on your own contemplations and reflections of what Kadampa truths this story reveals to you.

 

Ultimate stages of the path: Completion Stage

Kadampa Ryan 1. Reflections on doing this website/blog, 2. Modern Bodhisattva's Way of Life, 5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden

According to Modern Buddhism, “Generation stage is like drawing the basic outline of a picture and completion stage is like completing the picture.”  Completion stage itself is “defined as an inner realization of learning developed in dependence upon the inner winds entering, abiding and dissolving within the central channel through the force of meditation.  The objects of these meditations are the central channel, the indestructible drop, and the indestructible wind and mind.”

So how does this work?  By using exactly the same logic of generation stage, but with respect to the deities subtle and very subtle bodies.  What makes completion stage particularly powerful is we use our own subtle body (channels, drops and winds) as the basis of our completion stage meditations.  We do so as follows:  first we realize the emptiness of the subtle body that we normally see.  This is a true cessation, and our completely purified subtle body.  We then imagine that this cessation, or the emptiness of the mind realizing the true cessation, appears in the aspect of the deity’s completely purified subtle body.  So first we generate the subtle body of the deity and then we identify with it as our own understanding it is arising from the cessation of the subtle body that we normally see.

In completion stage as defined here, the main objects of these meditations are the central channel, the indestructible drop and the indestructible wind and mind.   Through the above meditations, we feel as if we are inside our central channel, inside our indestructible drop, and inside our indestructible wind and mind.  One of the amazing things about the power of the mind is the mind is located at the object.  So if the object is in the pure land, the mind actually goes there.  If the object of mind is the inside of our central channel, indestructible drop and indestructible wind and mind, then our mind actually goes there.  And wherever our mind goes, our winds inextricably go as well.

Since the entire universe is nothing more than a projection of our root mind, by centering our mind entirely within our root mind we cause all of our inner winds to gather, dissolve and abide inside our root mind (represented by these three objects).  When this happens, all of the appearances that all of our gross minds support likwise begin to dissolve into increasingly subtle levels of appearance.  This is where the eight dissolutions come in – each appearance is what the universe looks like when the previous wind had been gathered inside our central channel.  When no winds are dissolved, we see samsara.  When the earth element dissolves, we get the mirage like appearance.  When the water element wind we get the smoke-like appearance.  When the fire element wind dissolves we get the sparkling fireflies like appearance.  When the wind element wind dissolves we get the candle flame like appearance.  When that dissolves, we get the mind of white appearance.  When that dissolves, we get the mind of red increase.  When that dissolves, we get the mind of black near attainment.  And when that dissolves, we get the mind of clear light.  This is our very subtle mind of great bliss.  All appearances have naturally been dissolved and it is very easy for us to realize the emptiness of all phenomena, including the emptiness of the mind of great bliss realizing the emptiness of all phenomena.  There is no deeper mind than this.  This is the definitive deity, the Dharmakaya.  Milarepa said everything is the nature of mind and the mind is the nature of emptiness.  So we recognize everyhing is the nature of our very subtle mind of great bliss, and we realize the emptiness of this very subtle mind.  When we say my mind of bliss and emptiness in the aspect of something, what we really mean is the emptiness of my mind of great bliss in the aspect of something.

This realization of clear light functions to purify our consciousness of all contaminated karma and their imprints.  When all of these have been purified, we become a Buddha.

Taken all together, the tantric path proceeds as follows.  First we generate the intention to train in our tantric vows and commitments.  Then we establish ourselves inside the gross deity body through generation stage.  We then train in the body mandala meditations, which is in effect a self-generation of our subtle body.  We then train in the completion stage meditations of the central channel, indestructible drop and indestructible wind and mind.  This then causes our inner winds to gather.  We continue to realize the emptiness of the entire universe in the aspect of the eight appearances of the eight dissolutions until finally we realize the clear light, first through a generic image and then directly.  This final direct realization of clear light vaporizes countless aeons worth of contaminated karma in an instant.  We continue meditating on this meaning clear light again and again until we have finally, once and for all, purified our mind completely of all delusions and their imprints.  We will have become a Buddha!

Through this series of posts, I have tried to clarify (and share) my own understanding of how to practice each of the stages of the path from the point of view of emptiness.  We looked at how emptiness is the definitive reason establishing the validity of each of the stages of the path and how by combining these stages with an understanding of emptiness we can engage in the practice at an extremely profound level.  We did this for the lamrim, the training in the six perfections, and the practices of vows and commitments, generation stage and completion stage.  The final result being our full enlightenment.

All of the above posts should be understood as nothing more than my own ramblings about the Dharma.  None of it should be considered definitive Dharma.  For that, only Venerable Geshe-la’s books can suffice.  I have written these posts to help clarify my own understandings of these subjects.  Different people have different learning styles, and for me putting things in writing forces me to make very clear my own understanding (especially when I know I have such an enlightened audience as all of you!).  For me, this project has proven to be extremely beneficial for me.  I feel like I understand things much better.  If others reading through these posts also gain some insights or benefit, then all the better!

I dedicate all of the merit I have gained from doing this project so that Dorje Shugden will bless the minds of all those who read these posts (including myself) and reveal to all a correct understanding of the Dharma (be it through my words being a similitude of correct or through realizing that my words are totally wrong).  In this way, no matter whether what I have written is correct or not, anybody who reads this will gain correct understandings.  Such is the power of prayer!  Don’t get me started on the emptiness of prayer!!!  hee hee

 

 

Our three requests to Dorje Shugden

Kadampa Ryan 4. Practicing in Daily Life, 5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden

Dorje Shugden’s function is to arrange all of the outer, inner and secret conditions necessary for our swiftest possible enlightenment.  We can invoke his function for the sake of ourselves and for the sake of others.  The power and effectiveness of our requests to him are dependent upon the strength of our faith, the purity and scope of our motivation, and the extent to which we realize the emptiness of ourselves, Dorje Shugden and what we are requesting.  If our faith is unshakable, our motivation bodhichitta and our realization of emptiness all encompassing, there is literally no limit to what Dorje Shugden can do.  From a practical point of view, I rely on him for everything I do.

There are three main requests I make to him.

  1. Please arrange all of the (outer, inner and secret) conditions necessary so that everything is perfect for the swiftest possible enlightenment for everyone, including myself.
  2. Please bless me with the wisdom to see clearly how everything that has happened, is happening and will happen is perfect for everyone, including myself.
  3. Please arrange the conditions and bestow upon me the skilful means necessary so that I can share my perspective of how things are perfect with others when they are ready and in a way that they can accept and put into practice.

In general, a condition is perfect if it enables us to identify clearly our delusions, train in overcoming them, or it reveals to us in some way the truth of Dharma.

I believe that through relying upon Dorje Shugden in this way we can accomplish all of our spiritual wishes.

Your turn:  Describe a situation where initially you thought something was a problem, but later you realized it was actually exactly what you needed for your practice.

A Kadampa view on the tragedy in the U.S.

Kadampa Ryan 5. Reliance upon Dorje Shugden

As everyone is now aware, a gunman went on a rampage at a school in the U.S., killing more than 20 and mentally scarring a nation and a world.  The question then becomes how are we, as Kadampas, able to relate to this in a positive way.

The difficulty with events such as these is it just seems wrong to maintain pure view saying that it is all emanated.  If we are not careful, we wind up sounding like that one Senate candidate that said a rape is God’s will, so therefore God is a rapist.  Of course there are other forces at play – delusions – and this is what they lead to.  Delusions drove the gunman and delusions drive the angry response.  Events like this are a powerful reminder of where delusions lead.  Seeing where the path of delusions lead we realize the folly of even going down them a little bit in our own life.

As Kadampas we make a distinction between the person and their delusions.  Just as those children were the victim of the gunman, so too the gunman was a victim of his delusions.  Our normal reaction is we do not want to generate compassion for the gunman so we resist this.  But we need to check our own behavior, and if we do so honestly we will have to admit that the more our mind is overrun by our delusions, the more we lose control over our actions.  How many times have we all gotten angry, said or done something hurtful, and then later regretted it?  How many times have we been seized by attachment to somebody we find attractive and found ourselves engaging in all sorts of stupid behavior even though we know it just creates more problems?  What will now follow in the press is a debate about whether the gunman was insane or not.  I’m sorry, the answer is obvious, only an insane person would do something like this.

Saying somebody is the victim of their delusions does not, however, absolve them of the personal responsibility for their actions.  In each moment we have a choice to follow our delusions or to not.  Sometimes the choice is a very hard one to make, such as maintaining one’s commitment to never smoke again, but we do have this choice.  So we are responsible for our actions, no doubt.  But if we have never learned that it is even possible to say no to our delusions and we have never learned methods for how to do so and we have no history or habit built up of doing so, it is not difficult to see how our delusions can overwhelm us.  Look at Gen-la Samden.  Here is somebody who clearly knew the Dharma, was a very sincere practitioner, very close to enlightenment no doubt, yet he too was overwhelmed by the trickery of delusions.  So there is no contradiction between acknowledging delusions render us uncontrolled and maintaining that we must each assume personal responsibility for the continuum of our actions.

On this basis, a Kadampa response to events such as these begins with compassion for the victims, the families and the community.  But it also extends to the gunman and to those who now want revenge on him.  The gunman is no doubt in hell now.  Rejoicing in this only guarantees that we will soon join him.  A Kadampa wants noone in hell and wants all in a pure land.

So the question then arises, how can we maintain pure view of events such as this.  We can do so only internally, not externally.  Pure view is a personal thing informed by an accumulated wisdom of knowing how to look at tragedy in a beneficial way.  From a conventional point of view, this is horrible, plain and simple.  Conventionally, we must acknowledge that.  But horrible things contain within them powerful lessons about why it is better to be pure and good.  Pure view does not mean that we say horrible appearances are perfect  from their own side, rather it means we know how to internally receive perfect benefit from whatever appears.  We know how to learn something pure and perfect from even the most horrible appearances.

Nothing is emanated from its own side, but it becomes “emanated” depending upon our view.  With faith and wisdom we can derive spiritual lessons from tragedies and therefore use them as powerful motors pushing us along our path to the final solution of enlightenment for all.  We may feel “guilty” about receiving benefit from something so bad, but this is not correct.  In fact, we can say the only way to truly honor the dead and make their loss have meaning is if we use it for something good.  If we don’t, then it is only tragedy.