A Pure Life: How to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts

Kadampa Ryan Precept Days

This is part four of a 12-part series on how to skillfully train in the Eight Mahayana Precepts.  The 15th of every month is Precepts Day, when Kadampa practitioners around the world typically take and observe the Precepts.

In this post I will explain how to actually take the Eight Mahayana Precepts using the sadhana called A Pure Life.  If we have not yet received the Eight Mahayana Precepts, we first need to receive them directly from a preceptor. Once we have done so, we can take them again on our own anytime we wish. Typically, Kadampa practitioners around the world retake the Eight Mahayana Precepts the 15th of every month. This is not that difficult to do nor is it a particularly onerous moral commitment. But through training gradually month after month, year after year, eventually our behavior begins to change, and we naturally start to live a pure life.

How do we receive them directly from a preceptor? The easiest way of doing so is to request the resident teacher at the closest Kadampa center to us to grant them. Since most Kadampa centers engage in this practice once a month, it should be very easy for them to grant you the precepts formally. If we are unable to make it to a Kadampa center to take the precepts, it might also be possible to do so online through zoom or a similar service. I would recommend simply asking if this is possible. I imagine if your intention is sincere, your closest resident teacher will find a way to make it happen.

The way of taking the precepts for the first time and the way of retaking them every month is almost identical.  We typically take the precepts at dawn. But if this is not possible, it is OK to take them first thing in the morning. Again, we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

When it comes time to take the precepts, we should first recall that we have accumulated a nearly infinite amount of negative karma associated with violating the eight precepts. This karma remains on our mind, and if we do not purify it, we will eventually suffer its bitter consequence. One of the most effective methods for purifying our past transgression of the eight precepts is by retaking them. When we do so, we can purify all of our past transgressions and renew afresh the commitments upon our mind.

We then should imagine that our spiritual guide in the aspect of Buddha Shakyamuni appears clearly in the space in front of us. He is delighted that we have decided to engage in the precepts practice. When we actually take the precepts, we are not promising our spiritual guide that we will keep them, rather we are promising to ourselves that we will keep this moral discipline and our spiritual guide in the space in front of us is a witness to our commitment. He is honored to be such a witness.  With this mind fearing the karmic consequences of our past negative behavior, strong faith in the value of moral discipline practice, and remembering our spiritual guide as a witness, we can then engage in the refuge prayers of the sadhana while contemplating deeply upon their meaning.

Once we have done so, we can then recall our bodhichitta motivation for engaging in the practice of the Eight Mahayana Precepts.  How our practice of the precepts helps us attain enlightenment was explained in the previous post of this series. The short version is to attain enlightenment we need to purify our very subtle mind of the two obstructions.  To do that, we need to realize the emptiness of our very subtle mind, which requires a powerful mind of concentration. The mind of concentration in turn depends upon the practice of moral discipline. Moral discipline is a special wisdom that recognizes delusions and negative behavior are deceptive and is therefore not tempted by them. This wisdom then enables our concentration to be stronger, which then strengthens our meditation on emptiness, enabling us to purify our very subtle mind. Recalling this, we then recite the bodhichitta prayers.

We then purify our environment, arrange beautiful offerings, invite the field for accumulating merit, and engage in the practice of the prayer of the seven limbs and the mandala as outlined in the sadhana. We have all received commentary to these practices many times. What is unique in this context is we should recall and connect all of these trainings into the broader specific narrative of us retaking the Eight Mahayana Precepts.

After we offer the mandala, we then stand and make three prostrations to the visualized field of merit. We then kneel with our right knee on the floor and place our palms together at our heart. If we have bad knees and it is too painful to actually kneel while taking the precepts, we can simply do so seated in whatever physical posture is comfortable while mentally imagining that we are kneeling in front of our spiritual guide. We then once again recall our bodhichitta motivation for taking the Mahayana precepts. In the sadhana, in the italics, Geshe-la provides a contemplation we can engage in. What matters is we generate a qualified and personal bodhicitta motivation for taking the precepts.

If we are taking the precepts in front of a preceptor, we then recite three time the line “O preceptor, please listen to me.” But if we are taking them on our own, we can recite three times, “All buddhas who abide in the ten directions, and all bodhisattvas, please listen to me.”  Once we have completed this request, we then repeat the statement outlined in the sadana. The essential meaning of this statement is just as all the previous holy beings gained the ability to help all living beings through practicing the Eight Mahayana Precepts, so too will we now take the precepts and practice them throughout the day.

We then recite the prayer of the precepts by following the words in the sadhana. As we do so, We should mentally make the firm personal promise that we will observe these precepts for the next 24 hours.  After reciting the precept prayer, we then recite the mantra of pure moral discipline seven, twenty-one, or as many times as we wish strongly believing that we are requesting the wisdom blessings necessary to joyfully engage in the practice of moral discipline in general, and the Eight Mahayana Precepts in particular. It is a good idea to memorize this mantra and use it anytime we feel tempted to break some moral discipline we have taken on. If we recite this mantra with faith, we will receive powerful wisdom blessings which cut the power of our delusions tempting us to break our moral discipline. Again, the practice of moral discipline is not one of willpower but rather having the wisdom to no longer want to engage in negativity and to no longer want to follow our delusions. After reciting the mantra, we can then engage in the prayer of moral discipline and dedication.

Our practice after taking the precepts is to then observe them throughout the day. As we do so, we should recall again and again the dangers of not following them and the advantages of following them. Through training and familiarizing our mind with this wisdom, we will gradually loosen the hold of our delusions over our behavior. We will build up strength within our mind to not want to engage in impure behavior. This wisdom and these mental habits will help us engage in pure behavior not just on precepts day but throughout the month, and indeed throughout our life.

Sometimes, it will not be possible for us to actually engage in the sadhana A Pure Life on precepts day. If this is the case, it is enough for us to recall our bodhichitta motivation for wanting to keep the precepts, to then mentally make a promise to observe them throughout the day, and then recite the mantra of pure moral discipline strongly believing that we have renewed our precepts. Then we practice throughout the day in exactly the same way. Ideally, we would engage in this sadhana on the 15th of every month. But again, if this proves too difficult, it is better to do this short version of taking the precepts then not doing so at all. The danger, though, is we just engage in the short method and never fully engage in the whole sadhana. Our practice of the Eight Mahayana Precepts then becomes rather superficial, and the transformative effects on our mind are limited. Therefore, we should try our honest best to engage in this practice as Geshe-la presents it.

Modern Bodhisattva’s Way of Life: Don’t Get Discouraged Studying Emptiness

Kadampa Ryan 2. Modern Bodhisattva's Way of Life

(9.141ab) Through these various lines of reasoning,
We have established that production does not occur without a cause,

I am not entirely clear why Shantideva once again explained how there is no such thing as production without cause. Perhaps this was his way of giving the reader a breather from all of the extremely intense logical arguments. We all understand relatively easily that there is no such thing as production with no cause.  Perhaps he is trying to just remind us of something that we already understand so we do not get discouraged by the other more difficult arguments. I do not know if that is true or not, but it is one way of understanding why he repeats himself on this point. I am sure there are other reasons we could think of, but I do not think it matters.

In Joyful Path and other texts, Geshe-la explains the patience of definitely thinking about Dharma. The point is this, realizing emptiness and other Dharma subjects can be difficult. At first it makes absolutely no sense because it goes exactly contrary to everything we have come to understand about the world. Dharma is exactly opposite to our normal way of understanding things, so it is normal that when we first encounter it, we struggle to understand its meaning and may easily develop misconceptions.

Sometimes when we see all of these complicated debates we can easily become discouraged thinking we will never understand emptiness and we certainly don’t understand why Shantideva and Chandrakirti go back and forth with so many seemingly intricate and almost meaningless philosophical distinctions. We wish we could go back to studying subjects that warm our heart like love, compassion, and our precious human life. This is normal, and we should not expect it to be any different. It is not a failure on our part that we sometimes get discouraged.

But it is not enough to say it is normal to get discouraged, we must find a way of overcoming our discouragement. In Oral Instructions of Mahamudra, in the section on the great preparation of purification, Geshe-la spends almost all of his commentary talking about the need to purify the negative karma that gives rise to our wrong views. Since we have been thinking in samsaric ways since time without beginning, we have accumulated a tremendous amount of tendencies similar to the cause that think in non-Dharma ways. This is the fundamental reason why we find it difficult to understand Dharma. If we want to reverse this situation, we need to purify this negative karma and, through the force of our effort, gradually build up new tendencies similar to the cause that are consistent with the Dharma. Then later it will become easy and effortless for us to realize Dharma things, and difficult for us to believe non-Dharma things.

In the meantime, we simply need to be patient with the process. We should not be discouraged but be more like a child that play doing something that is possibly beyond their capacity, but they are excited to try because they know that they are growing up by doing so.

Happy Tsog Day: Training in the Initial Scope of Lamrim

Kadampa Ryan Tsog Days

In order to remember and mark our tsog days, holy days on the Kadampa calendar, I am sharing my understanding of the practice of Offering to the Spiritual Guide with tsog.  This is part 27 of a 44-part series.

How to rely upon our spiritual guide, the root of spiritual paths

Through the force of my making offerings and respectful requests
To the venerable spiritual guide, the holy, supreme Field of Merit,
I seek your blessings, O Protector, the root of all goodness and joy,
So that you will gladly take me into your loving care.

In truth, the entire practice of Offering to the Spiritual Guide explains how to rely upon our spiritual guide. The main point is to develop conviction that our spiritual guide is indeed a Buddha and the source of all good in our lives. To develop conviction in the former, we need to understand the emptiness of the spiritual guide. Sometimes when we hear teachings explaining that the spiritual guide is a Buddha, we misunderstand this to me we are to try view him as inherently a Buddha. But obviously that is not correct since nothing is inherently existent. Instead, we need to understand that by viewing him as a Buddha, Buddha will enter into him and we will receive Buddha’s blessings through him.

More profoundly, viewing our spiritual guide as a Buddha does not mean viewing him as a Buddha from his own side, rather it is a special way of relating to everything the spiritual guide does so that it functions to provide us with pure Dharma teachings. So even if our spiritual guide, or any living being for that matter, engages in manifestly negative or destructive actions, we can nonetheless view all these as powerful teachings of our spiritual guide. Nothing is pure from its own side, rather things become pure by viewing and relating to them in a pure way. Pure view does not exist on the side of the object, rather it exists on the side of the subject mind viewing things. Thus, if we want to generate pure view of our spiritual guide, regarding him as a Buddha, it suffices to relate to everything that he does as something confirming or revealing the truth of Dharma. We can apply this same logic to any living being, and therefore view anyone as an emanation of our spiritual guide. But we begin by first doing it with the person in our life who is so manifestly engaging in the actions of a Buddha, namely our spiritual guide. Once we can do it with our spiritual guide, it becomes easier to do it with other living beings.

To gain conviction in the latter, that the spiritual guide is the source of all good, it suffices to recall the teachings on karma that all happiness comes from virtuous actions. Then we look honestly into our mind and realize that all the habits that we have effortlessly move in a negative direction, and it takes effort for us to engage in virtuous actions. This shows that the current of our mind is moving in a negative direction. If this is true even once we have found the Dharma, it is obviously true for all our past lives. Thus, it is safe to say that the only time we engaged in any virtuous action was when we received the blessings of a Buddha to encourage us to do so. Thus, any happiness we enjoy comes from our past virtue, which comes from receiving the blessings of Buddha.

Developing the aspiration to take the essence of our human life

Realizing that this freedom and endowment, found only once,
Are difficult to attain, and yet decay so quickly,
I seek your blessings to seize their essential meaning,
Undistracted by the meaningless activities of this life.

It is important to make a distinction between having a human life and having a precious human life. To have a precious human life means to have a human life plus also have an interest in Dharma and an opportunity to meet pure teachings. It is exceedingly rare for us to attain a precious human life. For me, the most powerful analogy is likening the odds of a precious human rebirth to the odds of a blind turtle surfacing only once every 100 years putting its head through a golden yoke floating on an ocean the size of this world. The earth’s surface is 149 trillion square meters, so we can say we have a one in 149 trillion chance of attaining a precious human rebirth. Amongst humans, very few have an interest in practicing the Dharma and have found a pure path that they can practice. Thus, objectively speaking we can say it is almost impossible to attain a precious human rebirth. Yet we have attained one. That is undeniable. The question we all face is what do we do with the opportunity we have been given?

The actual method for gaining the happiness of higher states in future lives

Fearing the blazing fires of the sufferings of bad migrations,
From the depths of my heart I go for refuge to the Three Jewels,
And seek your blessings to strive sincerely
To abandon non-virtue and practise the entire collection of virtue.

When you look at the population of just this world, we can see that animals and insects far outnumber humans, probably by a factor of at least a million to one. Some scientists estimate much much higher than that. If we assume the same proportions into the hungry ghost and the hell realms, we can see that the overwhelming majority of living beings in samsara are in the lower realms. When we take rebirth in the lower realms, we engage in almost exclusively negative actions. This means that virtually all the karma on our mind is negative. To attain a human rebirth, positive karma needs to ripen. That is exceedingly rare simply because such karma is exceedingly rare. Whether we take a human or a lower rebirth in our next life depends upon the quality of mind we have at the time of death. If we die with a negative mind, it will activate negative karma throwing us into the lower realms. If we die with a positive mind, it will activate positive karma throwing us into the upper realms. If we die with a pure mind, it will activate pure karma enabling us to escape from samsara and take rebirth in a pure land. Typically, when we encounter adverse circumstances, we react with a negative deluded mind. We can observe this in our daily behavior. There is no experience more adverse than death. If we respond to even minor inconveniences with negativity, it goes without question that we are most likely to respond to our death with a negative mind. This means unless we thoroughly train our mind, it is almost certain we will fall into the lower realms.

The truth of the matter is samsara is almost entirely the lower realms. The upper realms are like a tiny island surrounded by an ocean of fire. The island we stand on is sinking into the fire. This is not a metaphor, this is our actual karmic situation. We tend to think it is highly unlikely we will take lower rebirth, but the reality is the exact opposite. We need to let this truth touch our heart and frankly become terrified at the prospect of our almost certain lower rebirth. Virtually everybody we know and everybody we see will all fall into the lower realms. We are all bound for hell. Hell is our natural home in samsara.

Sometimes we reject these teachings because we think it is a religious institution trying to manipulate us. While of course we need to check to see if this is the case, we also need to check to see if this is in fact our samsaric situation. There are many valid reasons establishing the existence of past and future lives. It is also a manifest truth that we very rarely engage in virtuous actions despite having found the Dharma. So how often do we create the karma to attain another rebirth compared to how often in our countless past lives we have created the causes for lower rebirth? Do the math. The truth is inescapable. The only question is whether we allow this truth to touch our heart and then become extremely motivated to engage in purification practice.

Happy Tara Day: How to ignite Tara’s fierce and raging fire in our life

Kadampa Ryan How to Rely Upon Tara, Tara Days

This is the fourth installment of the 12-part series sharing my understanding of the practice Liberation from Sorrow.

Praising Tara by her destroying opponents

Homage to you who by saying TRÄ and PHAT
Completely destroy the obstructions of enemies.
You suppress with your right leg drawn in and your left extended,
And blaze with a fierce and raging fire.

I think there are two ways we can understand this.  First, her wisdom blessings act like a fierce and raging fire that radiate out in all directions like a protection circle, dispelling all obstructions of enemies, keeping them at bay.  Second, because she is a Buddha she has universal compassion even for those who would oppose the Dharma.  To destroy the obstructions of enemies means she has the power to destroy the delusion obstructions and the obstructions to omniscience of her would-be enemies.  Geshe-la once famously said in Toronto that “Love is the real nuclear bomb that destroys all enemies.”  In the same way, Tara completely destroys opponents by destroying the obstructions to enlightenment on their minds.  This shows her skill in loving living beings while directing wrathful energy against their delusions.

Praising Tara by her purifying demons and the two obstructions

Homage to TURE, extremely fearsome one,
Who completely destroy the chief of demons.
With the wrathful expression on your lotus face
You vanquish all foes without exception.

Where do demons come from?  They are mere karmic appearances to mind, ripening from our negative karma.  The way to actually destroy all demons is to purify the negative karma that sees or appears anybody as a demon.  Nobody is a demon from their own side, they only become such when we view them with a deluded, contaminated mind.  This is how she purifies all demons.  It also says she vanquishes all foes without exception.  In Buddhism, there are no outer enemies, only inner enemies.  To vanquish all foes without exception, therefore, refers to her ability to vanquish the inner enemies of the two obstructions – delusions and their imprints.

Praising Tara by the objects she holds in her right and left hands

Homage to you whose fingers perfectly adorn your heart
With the mudra symbolizing the Three Precious Jewels.
Adorned with a wheel of all directions
Whose radiant light outshines all.

Buddhas hold different implements in their hands to symbolize their inner qualities and abilities.  Her hand in the mudra symbolizing the Three Precious Jewels indicates that she is the synthesis of all three jewels, and that she also performs the function of all three jewels.  She blesses our mind like a Buddha, she teaches and protects the Kadam Dharma, and she helps us like loving Sangha.  I’m assuming the wheel here refers to the Wheel of Dharma which outshines all because it enables us to escape from samsara.

Praising Tara by her crown ornament and the sound of her laughter

Homage to you whose very joyful and shining crown ornament
Radiates a garland of light;
Who, with your mirthful laughter of TUTTARE,
Subdue the demons and worldly gods.

Here, we can imagine that infinite light rays radiate out from Tara’s crown ornament, bestowing blessings and peace on all living beings.  We can then rejoice in her enlightened actions, wishing to gain the ability to do the same ourselves.  Mirthful laughter means a merry or amused laugh.  We should never underestimate the power of laughter.  More often than not, we take everything too seriously.  This makes us tight and our grasping stronger.  But when we can laugh at the absurdity of samsara, then it takes the sting out of it.  Samsara makes me laugh!  In particular, it is important to be able to laugh at ourselves and our delusions.  This is one of the most powerful ways of cutting the power of our delusions over us because we are able to view them from a distance and laugh at how ridiculous they are.  Being able to laugh at others in a way that also enables them to stop taking themselves or their samsara too seriously is a whole other level of skill at mirthful laughter.  Normally, people can take it wrong that we are laughing at them or their plight, and they can become quickly offended.  But Tara has the ability to use skillful mirthful laughter to even subdue demons and worldly gods, disarming their ill intent or pretension. 

Praising Tara by her accomplishing divine actions through the ten directional guardians

Homage to you who are able to summon
All the directional guardians and their retinues.
Frowning and shaking, with the letter HUM,
You rescue all from their misfortune.

In the Tsog offerings, we invite the directional guardians, evil spirits, zombies, givers of harm, smell-eaters and other such beings from the charnel grounds, offer them Torma and Tsog offerings, bless their mind, and effectively “enlist them” to help Dharma practitioners and flourish the Dharma instead of oppose them.  From a deeper point of view, we imagine that all of these beings are actually emanations of the principal deity sent into the realms of samsara to help the beings in every terrifying corner of the six realms.  From the letter HUM at the heart of the principal deity, light rays radiate out and invite these beings to come before the deity to then work on the deity’s behalf.  When we recite this verse, we can imagine Tara does the same, inviting all such beings from the charnel grounds who come before her, and then commit to working on her behalf to rescue all beings from their misfortune.  In this way, she also rescues these beings themselves from their misfortune by inspiring them to engage in virtuous actions of protecting practitioners.

Praising Tara by her crown ornament

Homage to you with a crescent moon adorning your crown,
And all your ornaments shining brightly;
With Amitabha in your top-knot
Eternally radiating light.

Here we can imagine different details of Tara’s form, recognizing them all as manifestations of her inner realizations.  Buddhas have the ability to manifest their mind as form.  When we engage in checking meditations of different deities, we focus on different aspects of their form recalling the inner realization it represents.  A moon in Buddhism symbolizes the realization of emptiness.  The ornaments of a Buddha’s body typically symbolize their inner realizations of the six perfections.  Amitabha in her top-knot indicates Amitabha is her spiritual guide.  Amitabha is the Vajra Speech of all the Buddhas, and is the same nature as Geshe Langri Tangpa, the author of Eight Verses of Training the Mind, our root text for Lojong practice.  Recalling this, we can generate faith that through our reliance on Tara we will be able to realize emptiness, complete the six perfections, and train in transforming adverse conditions into the path.

Praising Tara by her wrathful posture

Homage to you who dwell amidst a garland of flames
Like the fire at the end of the aeon.
With your right leg extended and left drawn in,
You destroy the hosts of obstructions of those who delight in the Dharma Wheel.

Buddhas engage in four types of enlightened action – pacifying, increasing, controlling, and wrathful actions.  Wrathful actions are forceful actions that skillfully differentiate between the person and their delusions or faults.  They are able to be ruthless with delusions while being loving with the person.  They are like a wisdom anger against the inner objects to be abandoned along the path.  If we fail to make the distinction between the person and their delusions, our wrathful actions are just ordinary anger and usually wind up harming living beings.  Pacifying and increasing actions are relatively easy to do without delusions, controlling actions can be done if we are free from attachment to the other person doing what we want, and wrathful actions can only be performed with compassionate wisdom differentiating clearly the person from their faults.  They also typically require the other person to have faith in us to receive well our wrathful actions, but this isn’t always necessary.  Buddhas are often surrounded by blazing wisdom fires indicating their ability to burn through negativities and protect others with great power.  When we recite this version, we imagine Tara radiates such powerful energy around her like the fire at the end of the aeon.  Her right leg extended symbolizes her ability to swiftly come to the aid of living beings.  Because she is the completely purified wind element, she can move as fast as mind to any object.  If we think of the moon, our mind is instantly there.  But how does it get there?  By being mounted upon winds.  Tara is the wind all virtue is mounted upon.  Her right leg extended shows her swift ability.

Happy NKT Day: Why we are encouraged to follow one tradition purely without mixing

Kadampa Ryan 7. Kadampa meaning of special days

The first Saturday of every April is New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) day.  Normally, on this day we generate a mind cherishing our tradition.  I’m sure there are many other people who will write about all of the different reasons why they cherish this tradition, and I rejoice in all of that.  But here, I am going to intentionally stir the hornet’s nest a bit by talking about a particular type of cherishing of the NKT, namely generating the mind that wishes to follow one tradition purely without mixing. 

One of the core principles of the NKT is while respecting all other traditions, to follow one tradition purely without mixing.  This is an extremely vast subject.  Venerable Geshe-la (VGL) explains in Ocean of Nectar that we need to be careful when introducing the subject of emptiness to those who are not ready because doing so can lead to great confusion.  I would say even more so, we need to be careful when introducting the subject of following one tradition purely without mixing, as this is a special spiritual instruction that can easily give rise to much confusion and doubt, including thinking that such an approach is closed-minded, anti-intellectual, and sectarian.  To many, this instruction can seem very strange, even cultish.  Many people might even wind up rejecting the NKT precisely because this is something taught within the NKT. 

This post (and the linked, more extensive document) attempts to explain the rationale behind this instruction so that people can be happy with putting it into practice.

What is the advice?

This is probably best summarized in Understanding the Mind, where Geshe-la says:

“We must be careful not to misunderstand the effort of non-satisfaction. Practising this effort does not mean that we should become dissatisfied with our tradition or with our main practice, and try to follow many different traditions or mix together many different practices. Every Teacher and every tradition has a slightly different approach and employs different methods. The practices taught by one Teacher will differ from those taught by another, and if we try to combine them we shall become confused, develop doubts, and lose direction. If we try to create a synthesis of different traditions we shall destroy the special power of each and be left only with a mishmash of our own making that will be a source of confusion and doubt. Having chosen our tradition and our daily practices we should rely upon them single-pointedly, never allowing dissatisfaction to arise. At the same time as cherishing our own tradition we should respect all other traditions and the right of each individual to follow the tradition of their choosing. This approach leads to harmony and tolerance. It is mixing different religious traditions that causes sectarianism. This is why it is said that studying non-religious subjects is less of an obstacle to our spiritual progress than studying religions of different traditions.”

Geshe-la also elaborated during the Dorje Shugden empowerment in 1995 when he said:

“Sincere practitioners of the Kadampa Buddhism of Je Tsongkhapa’s doctrine should understake as their heart commitment to cherish the Kadam Dharma, the doctrine of Je Tsongkhapa, and to practice and teach this to others without mixing it with other traditions.  We must take some responsibility to enable pure Buddhadharma to flourish throughout the world.  If we make the commitment to accomplish this aim, then this is called our heart commitment.  Keeping this heart commitment is the basic foundation for receiving Dorje Shugdan’s protection, blessings and special care continually.  Because Dorje Shugden is an enlightened being, he has compassion for all beings and is ready to to give his protection, blessings, and special care, but from our side we also need some necessary conditions.  These are to cherish Kadam Dharma, to practice Kadam Dharma purely without mixing it with other traditions, to teach Kadam Dharma without mixing it with other traditions and to take some responsibility to help pure Dharma flourish throughout the world.  Doing this as our commitment is the best method for receiving Dorje Shugden’s protection, blessings and special care continually.”

Following one tradition purely is spiritual advice, not a rule

Throughout all of VGL’s books, he gives countless pieces of advice about how to transform our mind into the enlightened state.  This instruction on following one tradition purely without mixing is likewise spiritual advice given to us by our Spiritual Guide.  Like all instructions, we are free to follow it or not.  It is our choice.  VGL explains in Transform Your Life that if we do not at present understand a given instruction, or do not see its utility, we should avoid various extremes.  To put the instruction into practice when we do not understand it or when we disagree with it would be one extreme (leading to a wide variety of problems).  To reject the instruction would be another extreme.  The middle way he teaches is to not reject it outright, but to put it aside for later when it does seem to be important or useful for our spiritual practice.  Once we see the instruction as something that is important, if we still have doubts we should follow his advice in Clear Light of Bliss when he quotes Buddha Shakyamuni as saying ‘do not believe me because I am called Buddha, instead verify for yourself.’  We should examine all the arguments with an open mind, contemplating deeply their meaning without any preconceptions or attachments to our view, and then only decide to put this instruction into practice when we ‘want to’ and we ‘see its value’ for our spiritual development.  This approach should likewise be used when it comes to the spiritual advice to follow one tradition purely without mixing. 

If we relate to this instruction like a rule imposed upon us from the outside, but we do not ‘want’ to follow it, then the result will be we generate resentment towards the rule and towards those who make it.  This then undermines our faith, we can generate all sorts of negative minds, and eventually this can destroy our spiritual practice. 

So, in short, when should this instruction be practiced ?  When we want to put it into practice.  Who does it apply to ?  Only those who wish to apply it to themselves.  All moral discipline is self-imposed.  We apply it to ourseleves because we see the benefit of doing so and the harm of not doing so.  We take refuge vows because we wish to center ourselves within Buddha’s teachings.  We take Bodhisattva vows because we wish to center ourselves within the Mahayana.  We take Tantric vows, because we wish to center ourselves within the part of the Mahayana that is the Vajrayana.  Specifically, our Tantric vows entail a commitment as to whom is our Spiritual Guide, our teacher.  We do all of these things from our own side because we want to and see the value of doing so.  We place limits on the sources of our spiritual understanding and practice (Buddha’s Hinayana teachings for those who have taken refuge and Pratimoksha vows ; Mahayana teachings for those who have taken Bodhisattva vows ; our Spiritual Guide’s teachings for those who have taken Tantric vows). 

VGL has added a fourth layer of vows for those who wish to be NKT teachers and officers, namely the internal rules of the NKT, which he has correctly labeled as A Moral Discipline Guide.  VGL said that for us, these vows are more important than even our Tantric vows.  It is our choice whether we wish to assume these guidelines as part of our moral discipline or not.  Nobody can force us to do so, nobody is requiring us to do so.  We do so because we wish to.  If we wish to do so, then we are authorized by VGL to teach NKT Dharma and be an officer in an NKT center.  If we do not wish to do so, then we are not authorized by VGL to do these things.  We may still consider him our Spiritual Guide, appreciate his good qualities, put his teachings into practice, etc., but we do not have these special authorizations to teach or be an officer.  The internal rules have many layers of meaning.  It is not up to anybody outside of us to say whether we have the intention of keeping the moral discipline of the internal rules.  Only we can say.  So if internally we wish to take on the internal rules as part of our moral discipline, unless there is a gross violation of these rules that requires action, it is up to us to use our own wisdom to decide how to put these instructions into practice.

What is mixing traditions? 

In order to understand this instruction, we must understand what it means (and what it does not mean) to mix traditions.  To understand this, we must first understand what it means to mix in general.  To mix means to combine two or more things in some way. 

What does it mean to mix our mind with teachings in general ?  To mix our mind with teachings means to familiarize our mind with the meaning of a teaching.  It is to gain an intellectual understanding of the meaning of a teaching and to believe (or appreciate) that meaning to be true for your mind and practice.  In Understanding the Mind, VGL states :  “Basically Dharma practice is quite simple because all we need to do is to receive correct Dharma teachings by listening to qualified Teachers or by reading authentic books, and then mix our mind with these teachings by meditating on them.”  In Joyful Path, VGL explains that we mix our mind with teachings (meditate upon them) in three different ways :  through listening to (or reading) Dharma instructions, through contemplating their meaning (analytical meditation) and through placement meditation on them. 

To mix spiritual traditions, therefore, means to do this process of mixing our mind with teachings in general with the teachings from more than one spiritual tradition.  If one is an NKT practitioner, to mix traditions would mean to mix one’s mind with teachings from the NKT and from a tradition other than the NKT.  The internal rules of the NKT state that the NKT will always be an entirely independent spiritual organization.  What distinguishes the NKT from other traditions is its three study programmes.  In the definition of the three study programmes, all three programmes state clearly that their content is derived exclusively from the teachings and commentaries of VGL.  Therefore, any teaching that does not come from VGL (either directly from him or indirectly through an authorized NKT teacher) would be considered as belonging to another tradition.  A clear test as to whether something is part of the NKT or not is whether it has been published by Tharpa Publications.  Any book or source published by something other than Tharpa Publications is necessarily from another tradition.   Any teaching received by a spiritual teacher other than one who is an authorized NKT teacher would necessarily be a teaching from another tradition. 

Mixing is not a black or white thing, but actually has many many levels of subtlety.  Just as there are many different levels of ignorance, so too there are many different levels of mixing.  It is impossible for us to be completely free from any mixing until we are a Buddha, so the question is not whether something ‘is’ mixing or not, the question is whether somebody has within their mind the intention and the desire to go in the direction of completely abandoning every last trace of mixing within their spiritual understanding and practice.  If one has this intention, then over time we gradually gain a deeper and deeper understanding of what it means to mix, and in this way we can gradually improve the purity with which we practice.  Wanting to do this is part of cherishing the NKT.

In short, the nature of the inputs into our spiritual understanding determines the nature of the outputs of that spiritual understanding (unless we have perfect discriminating wisdom, which none of us have, or at least I do not).  If we have only NKT inputs, then it guarrantees we will have only NKT outputs (internal realizations, teachings, etc.).  If we have NKT and non-NKT inputs, then our spiritual understanding will be a mix of multiple sources, which will result in a mixed output (or at least a great danger of this).  Therefore, unless we can claim we have a perfect discriminating wisdom and experience of NKT teachings, even if we do not want to mix, we will not be able to not mix on some subtle level if we read other tradition’s teachings.  This is especially true for those spiritual teachings that are quite similar to NKT teachings.  There seems less risk of mixing by reading Christian books than there is in reading books on Tibetan Buddhism, especially those books written by diciples of Trijang Rinpoche, even if they are also Dorje Shugden practitioners.

If we understand that the way in which we attain enlightenment is by mixing our mind inseparably with that of our Spiritual Guide, it is clear that if we mix our mind with the teachings of a different Spiritual Guide we will be mixing.  Our mind will be a ‘mishmash’ (as VGL calls it) of our Spiritual Guide’s teachings, of the other Spiritual Guide’s teachings and of our own thinking of how to combine these two.  It is possible for us to take VGL as our Spiritual Guide and continue to mix his teachings with those of similar (or dissimilar) traditions, especially when we are at the beginning of our practice and our discriminating wisdom and experience are undeveloped.  However, he still advises us against doing this.  But there are many pieces of advice he has given us that we are not yet ready to put into practice and he encourages us to put those aside for later.  The instruction on following one tradition purely without mixing is no exception.  However, there definitely comes a time in our practice where we want to start leaving these other sources behind and instead mix our mind completely and exclusively with the teachings of our Spiritual Guide.  By doing so, we can mix our mind more thoroughly with his mind, draw closer to him and his blessings, and eventually attain enlightenment.  It is clear that we cannot fully mix our mind with his if we are still partially mixing our mind with teachings from other traditions. 

I understand this is challenging for some

I understand that this instruction is challenging for many people because it seems contrary to our normal way of thinking about things.  My first teacher told me, “The things we find the most difficult at first later wind up being the teachings that bring about the greatest transformations in our mind.”  So I encourage everyone to investigate for themselves with an open mind.  In the early 2000s, I wrote the attached document in answer to questions some of my students were asking about this topic.  I try address every angle of the question.  If you still have some doubts or hesitations about this topic, I encourage you to look through the arguments presented, in particular work through the answers to the objections that arise.  If you still have questions about it, I’m happy to try provide my thoughts. 

Here is the table of contents of what is contained in the larger document.

This document is organized as follows :

  1. References within VGL’s teachings on this advice
    1. On following one tradition purely without mixing
      • From Understanding the Mind
      • From Great Treasury of Merit
      • From Meaningful to Behold
      • From the Commentary to the Dorje Shugden empowerment, Spring Festival 1995
      • From the NKT internal rules
  2. On sectarianism
    • From Joyful Path
    • From Clear Light of Bliss
  1. The mind with which we examine this question
  2. How to understand this instruction
    • Following one tradition purely is spiritual advice, not a rule
    • What is mixing traditions ?
    • What are the causes of mixing ?  Why do people mix ?
  3. Rationale for the spiritual advice to follow one tradition purely without mixing
    1. Considering valid reasons
      • Advantages of not mixing
      • Disadvantages of mixing
      • Disadvantages of even slight mixing.
    2. Contemplating useful analogies
      • Analogy of the burning room
      • Analogy of climbing a mountain
      • Analogy of a Formula 1 racing car
      • Analogy of commitment to a partner
      • Analogy of specialization
  4. Refutation of objections to not mixing
  • Objection 1.  We can gain a better understanding of a subject when explored from multiple perspectives
  • Objection 2:  We can gain a higher and deeper understanding of universal truth through synthesizing multiple systems of thought.
  • Objection 3 :  All religions say the same thing, just with different metaphors and means.  So what is the problem with me studying and reading other traditions.  Does that not also take me in the direction of enlightenment ?
  • Objection 4:  OK, I agree we should not mix traditions.  I am 100% committed to VGL, I know what we are all about and I don’t want to mix.  So what is the problem with me reading other sources ?
  • Objection 5:  But I do not have freedom because I cannot be an NKT teacher or officer of an NKT center if I still want to go to other things.  So I am not free to choose.
  • Objection 6:  But it can be argued that just because one is in a relationship with somebody else does not mean that they cease to be friends with other people and other women.  In the same way, it is not mixing or violating my commitment to my spiritual path by reading other books, etc., as long as I am clear as to who is my Spiritual Guide.
  • Objection 7: But we are Buddhist, so everything depends upon the mind.  Reading other sources is not from its own side mixing, it depends upon the mind with which we do it. 
  • Objection 8:  Come on !  Certainly you are exaggerating to say it is a fault to even read or be exposed to teachings from other traditions.  Don’t be so paranoid !
  • Objection 9:  It still seems very closed-minded to be so categorical in shunning anything that is non-NKT.
  • Objection 10:  OK, even if I agree with all of the above, certainly it is more skilful to say nothing, since people will misunderstand and leave the Dharma as a result of this misunderstanding.
  • Objection 11:  OK, I agree, something needs to be said.  But why do you have to do it in such a foreceful way. 
  • Objection 12:  OK, point taken.  But what makes an action skilful is whether the action does not undermine the faith of the other person when you engage in it.
  • Objection 13:  OK, fine !  Just tell me what I can and cannot do.
  • Objection 14:  If that is the case, then why do different teachers have different policies and standards on this one ?
  • Objection 15:  But how does your standard compare to that of the NKT as a whole ?  Are you more strict ?
  • Objection 16:  Wait a minute !  I can understand why there would be an issue with Tibetan Buddhism in general, but certainly it is not a problem with Mt. Pellerin.  After all, their teacher was also a student of Trijang Rinpoche, he is friends with VGL, and they are Dorje Shugden practitioners.  Are they not basically a Tibetan version of us, and we are a Western version of them ?  So their teachings can help improve our understanding of VGL’s teachings.  We are all talking about the same thing, so there is no mixing going on.  So it should be OK.  It seems we should at least make an exception with them.
  • Question 17:  OK, I understand all of this and it makes sense.  How practically then are we to implement all of this at the center given the sensitivities involved ?
  • Conclusion

Dedication

I dedicate any merit I may have accumulated from writing this that all beings may find the spiritual tradition that speaks to their heart, and that all beings may joyfully follow one tradition purely without mixing, regardless of what tradiction speaks to them.  I pray that those reading this do so with an open mind and understand that advice such as this is offered by Geshe-la out of his infinite compassion for us understanding what is spiritually the most effective way of progressing along the path.

Modern Bodhisattva’s Way of Life: Emptiness of Unicorns and Mermaids

Kadampa Ryan 2. Modern Bodhisattva's Way of Life

(9.138) (Other schools) “According to you Madhyamikas, valid cognizers are not truly existent, and so they must be false,
In which case the objects established by them must also be false.
If this is so, then the emptiness you assert is false,
And meditating on it serves no purpose.”

This is a very clever argument by the other schools, and something that we ourselves may generate doubts about. The Prasangikas say that conventional truths are mistaken appearances. We then grasp at these mistaken appearances, assenting to them as existing in the way that they appear, and therefore generating mistaken conceptions. If this is the case, then how is it possible for a non-Buddha to have any valid cognizers at all if all of the conventional objects realized by that mind are mistaken? If they cannot have any valid cognizers, then how can they ever generate any realizations? If the conventional truths that they meditate on are mistaken, how can they produce an unmistaken result of enlightenment? Only something true can create a true effect, and a mistaken cause can never produce an unmistaken effect.

(9.139) Without first correctly identifying the object to be negated, true existence,
You cannot apprehend its negation, or non-existence, emptiness.
The negation of true existence, emptiness,
Clearly has no true existence itself.

(9.140) For example, if a mother dreams her child has died,
The thought that the child no longer exists
Removes the thought of the child’s existence,
Even though neither thought is truly existent.

The Prasangika’s answer to this objection is quite helpful in not only answering the doubt, but showing how a being can go from being in samsara to attaining a state beyond samsara.

As explained before, emptiness is the mere lack of inherent existence. It is a non-affirming negative phenomena, which means it is realized by negating something specific, namely inherent existence. Practically speaking, when we meditate on emptiness, we first identify the object of negation within our own mind and realize how we are grasping at it, and then we apply the reasonings provided by the instructions to dismantle this wrong view. If we do not correctly identify the object of negation, it is impossible to find the emptiness or lack of that object.  We have already established previously that there is no enlightenment outside of realizing the emptiness of true existence. So we first have to identify a mistaken view clearly within our mind, and then apply valid reasons to dismantle that view to produce the effect of a realization of emptiness within our mind. We do not say that the mistaken appearance and the mistaken conceptions are causes of enlightenment, they are the objects to be negated by the valid reasons establishing emptiness.

Prasangikas agree that only unmistaken causes can create an unmistaken effect. Identifying inherent existence within our mind is a precondition for applying the valid reasons establishing emptiness. It is the valid reasons establishing emptiness that take us to enlightenment, not grasping at the true existence of the object of negation or the mistaken appearance.

A doubt may arise but aren’t our reasons establishing emptiness also conventional truths, and therefore likewise mistaken?  Here, we need to understand that there are many different levels and degrees of mistaken appearance and conception. For example, unicorns and mermaids can be conceived by mind as being truly existent. Indeed, there are many people who believe in such things even in this world. Conventionally, though, such beings have never been found. If we looked around the world, we would never find a unicorn or a mermaid.  Unicorns and mermaids do not exist conventionally.  They also do not exist ultimately in the sense of being truly existent, even though there are many people who believe that they do. Thus, unicorns and mermaids are mistaken both with respect to conventional truth and ultimate truth. In contrast, horses and dolphins do exist conventionally, but they do not truly exist ultimately.  In this sense, unicorns, mermaids, horses, and dolphins are all equally non-existent ultimately, but horses and dolphins do exist conventionally. This shows there are different degrees of mistaken awareness and conception.

Using this analogy, we can understand that the valid reasons establishing emptiness can also have different degrees of mistaken-ness within our mind. The generic image of the valid reason establishing emptiness is conventionally more true than the valid reasons establishing the object of negation. The object of negation is like a unicorn or a mermaid, Whereas the valid reasons establishing emptiness are like horses and dolphins. They do exist and function conventionally, even though all of these things do not exist truly in the sense of being inherently existent.

And even among conventional valid reasons establishing emptiness, there can be different degrees to which we understand the reasons themselves are also empty of inherent existence. If we have a partial understanding of the emptiness of the valid reasons establishing emptiness, then those reasons are conventionally speaking more valid than a valid reason establishing emptiness that we think truly exists. So first we apply conventionally valid reasons, then we later realize the emptiness of these valid reasons, and are gradually lead to a state in which we realize the emptiness of everything, including the valid reasons establishing emptiness.

This is not that difficult to understand. For example, if we had a very dirty countertop and a very dirty sponge, we might not be able to clean much at all. But if we rinse out the sponge partially, it will be able to soak up some of the grime on the countertop, making it more clean. If we rinse out the sponge completely, then we can soak up even more grime on the countertop. The very dirty sponge is like trying to use invalid reasons to establish a valid conclusion. That is impossible. The partially clean sponge is like using a valid reason to establish a valid conclusion. The completely clean sponge is like using a perfectly pure reason to establish a yoga direct perceiver, which is even deeper than valid cognizers are.

Easter for a Kadampa – Becoming the Way:

Kadampa Ryan 7. Kadampa meaning of special days, My Kadampa understanding of the Bible

For Christians, Easter is about Jesus conquering death himself and becoming the way out for all of his followers. Buddha had his Bodhi Tree. Jesus had his cross and resurrection. As Kadampa Highest Yoga Tantra practitioners, we have the Oral Instructions of Mahamudra.

Jesus had his stations of the cross. For Kadampas, there are multiple stations en our route to the clear light. We need to center ourselves peacefully in each, gradually building this way out within our mind – both for ourself and for others.

The first would be refuge in the three jewels. Then, moving inward, would be the charnel grounds. Then, inside Keajra’s protection circle. Then, inside the celestial mansion and mandala as our gross deity body. Then, inside the principal father and mother of the body mandala. Then, inside the crystal palace of our indestructible drop. Then, inside the indestructible wind and mind in the aspect of the nada.

Then, progressively through the appearances of the eight dissolutions; and finally through the Black Gate (of near attainment) into the infinite blissful expanse of the clear light emptiness.

Once inside the clear light, through mahamudra meditations on the emptiness of our very subtle mind, we then need to gradually purify it of our seeds of delusions (karmic tendencies, delusion obstructions) and finally the imprints from all our past deluded actions (obstructions to omniscience).

Once we attain the five omniscient wisdoms, we spontaneously appear in whatever forms are appropriate to lead all beings along the same path we just traveled. In this way, we conquer uncontrolled death and ourselves become the main gateway for those seeking liberation and enlightenment.

Happy Easter!

Tantric Fractals – Living Life at Different Levels of Purity:

Kadampa Ryan 3. Tantra

Gen Rabten once said our Tantric training is like fractals. Fractals are patterns that repeat themselves at different levels. Fundamentally, Tantric practice is about learning to meditate on Lamrim at increasingly subtle levels of mind. The fractal pattern is always Lamrim, but it appears in different ways at increasingly subtle levels of mind.

Our starting point is the world of our grossest levels of mind, the world we normally see or perceive. Here, we train in Lamrim of our daily life, go to Dharma centers, attend teachings, etc.

The next level is the world of our guru yoga practice, from going for refuge up to dissolving the guru into our heart. Here we are no longer in the world we normally see, but not yet in the pure land. I like to think this takes place in the charnel grounds, which is like a way station en route for Keajra.

The next level is gross generation stage. According to New Essence of Vajrayana, we can view this as our gross deity body is the celestial mansion, Mount Meru, the four continents and elements, and so forth.

The next level is the body mandala. This is like a half-way point between gross generation stage and completion stage. Our completely purified channels and drops appear as the deities of the body mandala.

The next level is the mantras. The mantras are by nature our completely purified inner winds. Since all minds are mounted on inner winds, we can almost say the flow of mantras is like the body mandala meditation of our body mandala meditations. In other words, just as the body mandala is our channels and drops appearing as their completely purified nature in the aspect of the deities of the body mandala, the deities of the body mandala appear in their completely purified nature in the aspect of the mantras.

The next level is the seed letter of the guru deity at our heart, the principal object of our completion stage meditation. This is the completely purified nature of the mantras and thus everything that came before them. It is by nature our very subtle wind and mind, our continuously residing wind and mind.

The next level is inside that we find the clear light Dharmakaya of our Mahamudra meditations. Just as all rivers empty into the ocean, all Dharma minds empty into the ocean of the Dharmakaya.

Inside that we find the union of appearance and emptiness, or full enlightenment.

The more time we spend at each of these levels, the more they start to feel like actual places – actual lands or worlds within our mind – each inside the other like Kadampa Russian dolls with increasing levels of subtlety and purity. In the beginning, we spend most of our mental time at the grossest levels, but with training we move more and more into the subtler and subtler levels of mind.

I think we can say when we reach the world of gross generation stage we have attained outer Keajra. Keajra itself has many layers up to the inner pure land of the Dharmakaya and finally definitive Keajra or the mind of full enlightenment.

When I do my three year retreat, I plan on spending a certain number of months in each of these worlds. The first six months will be mostly in the gross deity body. The next six months will be mostly in the body mandala. The next six months will be mostly in the mantras. The next six months will be at the level of seed letter. The next six months after that will be at the level of the Dharmakaya of Vajrayana Mahamudra, and the next six months after that will emphasize the union of appearance and emptiness. All throughout, I will try to integrate the full Lamrim into each world, so while what appears will be the different appearances of that world, what is understood is the full Kadam Lamrim.

In this way, we can gain lived experience in these different worlds, at these increasingly subtle levels of purity. In effect, we are forging our path within our mind from the world we normally see to the enligthened worlds, with all the stops in between. By training in this way, when we die, the path is made and we follow it to the pure land and beyond. It may take several lifetimes of doing this, but eventually we will have built the entire path within our mind.

Heruka Tantra is sometimes called “the main gateway for those seeking liberation.” I think quite literally Guru Heruka is not just the final result, but the entire path from where we start to the final destination. When we train in this way, we not only build our own pathway to enlightenment, we create an infrastructure that other beings can likewise travel on to the same destination. If we check, this is what Venerable Geshe-la has done for us, now we can do it for others.

How wonderful!

Modern Bodhisattva’s Way of Life: Emptiness of Time

Kadampa Ryan 2. Modern Bodhisattva's Way of Life

The Samkhyas say that effects are the nature of their causes, but that both are still somehow inherently existent. We saw this with the example of the acorn and the Oak tree.  Now Shantideva refutes this possibility.

(9.135) Although you do not want to assert that a manifest phenomenon that did not previously exist is produced anew,
In reality this is what you are saying.
If the effect exists as the same nature as its cause,
Then eating food is the same as eating the excrement it produces!

(9.136) So instead of spending your money on clothes of woven cotton,
You might as well purchase cotton seeds to wear!

If the cause still exists at the time of the effect then we would have to say that the causes and their effects are in fact one in the same thing, at which point food is excrement. For something to come into existence, the effect, the cause needs to cease completely. Cause and effect necessarily implies a relationship in time, where cause proceeds effect. How can something be a cause of something if the effect already exists? That would imply that the cause is not necessary and the effect already exists and therefore there is no difference between cause and effect. They are one in the same thing. If the effect already exists at the time of the cause, then what need is there for the cause itself? And can we say one thing caused another if that other thing already exists at the time of the cause?

The acorn ceases entirely at the time of the Oak tree. If we look at the Oak tree, we cannot find the acorn that gave rise to it anywhere.

(Samkhya) “Worldly people do not see the effect at the time of the cause because of their confusion.”

The Samkhyas here are saying that worldly people only see the present and not the inevitable effect in the future and so therefore do not realize that the effect and the cause are both existing at the same time.  Again, this seems quite a reasonable view.

Well, what about your teacher, Kapila? He must know because you say he is omniscient;

(9.137) And since you teach his view to worldly people,
Why can they not see the effect at the time of the cause?
(Samkhya) “Because worldly people do not see things with valid cognizers.”
Then the manifest phenomena that they see clearly must also not be true!

The essential point here is the Samkhyas assert that normally living beings are seeing things correctly. The definition of truly existent is things exist in the way that they appear. Things appear to exist from their own side, independent of our mind, on the side of the object. The Samkhyas agree with this and say things do indeed exist in this way. They are seeing things truly. But here, Shantideva points out a contradiction. If living beings have valid cognizers about how things exist, then how can you say worldly beings do not see things with valid cognizers when it comes to cause and effect? Either they are seeing things correctly or they are not. If their view is mistaken, which the Prasangikas say it is, then things are not truly existent. If their view is correct, which the Samkhyas say it is, then they should be able to see effects existing at the time of the cause (if such a thing existed).

This discussion reveals the emptiness of time, which is explain in more detail in Ocean of Nectar. But for here, there are three main reflections that flow from these teachings that establish the emptiness of time.

First, time is established as conventionally existent through the relationship between cause and effect – cause comes before effect, and effect comes after cause. So a relationship in time is established as dependently existent.

Second, the Samkhyas are close when they say that the effect exists at the same time as the cause, but not quite correct. In the present moment, when the cause exists, the inevitable effect exists as a future thing. It does not exist at the same time as the cause, but the “future of the thing” exists at the time of its cause. In other words, the oak tree exists as a future effect in the present moment. When we think about our future, we are doing so in the present moment. The future we imagine is an object of the present that exists at the same time as the present, but its mode of existence is as a “future thing.” The future itself does not exist in the present moment, but the “future effect” exists as an imagined idea in the present. Likewise, our past exists in the present moment as a “past event.” Even though the past itself has completely ceased, in the present moment we have a memory of our past. The memory of our past exists in the present moment. So we can’t say that the past exists in the present, but we can say that the memory of our past exists in the present moment, and other than this memory, there is no past at all remaining. There is no past out there still existing, it has ceased completely, but within the present moment the “past of a thing” exists. So in the present moment we have three things – “the thing,” “the past of a thing,” and “the future of a thing.” We do not, however, have the past, present, and future all existing at the same time as the Samkhyas are asserting.

Third, when we examine the nature of both memories and future imaginings, they are quite clearly both mere mental projections of mind. Besides these mental projections, there is no past and no future at all – there is only the present moment. So we can see clearly how both past and future are mere projections of mind. Since the present moment doesn’t abide even for an instant, there is no inherently existent present either. The present moment is like the aggregate of the same unfolding process of transformation, seen as cessation from one angle and production from another angle, but in fact it is the same thing – just looked at from two different angles. So within the “present” we have the “past of things,” the “future of things,” “cessation,” and “production.”

Further, both our memories and our future imaginings are not fixed, but can be reimagined. For example, all of us have experience of having had some trauma in the past but when we look back on it now, we see it as the best thing that ever happened to us. I had a boss once who went blind when he was in grad school. He told me, “I thank God every day for having made me blind, because without that, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.” He went on to say, “and since we know this is possible, the secret to life is to live our life from this perspective, knowing we will look back on our present troubles and say it was exactly what we needed to become the person we have become, so why not view it that way now?” Such wisdom! Similarly, when we think about the future, we can imagine and reimagine our future in countless different ways. Indeed, this is the essence of the entire Tantric path. Our spiritual guide has presented us with a vision of who we will become – a Heruka or Vajrayogini. We never even knew such a thing existed, much less imagined it as our future. But now we can, and indeed he invites us to bring that future result into the present. Which we can do because time is empty, the future is empty, the present is empty.

Understanding the emptiness of time, which flows from this seemingly esoteric debate with the Samkhyas about effects existing at the time of their cause, is one of the most liberating emptinesses to realize. As Nagarjuna said, “when emptiness is possible, everything is possible.”

Happy Protector Day: Viewing Our life as a Training Ground

Kadampa Ryan Protector Days, Reliance upon Dorje Shugden

The 29th of every month is Protector Day.  This is part 3 of a 12-part series aimed at helping us remember our Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden and increase our faith in him on these special days.

We are continuing with our discussion of how to rely upon Dorje Shugden during the meditation break.  In the last post we discussed how we can take personal responsibility for removing the faults we perceive in others.  In this post we will discuss how to view our life as a training ground for becoming the Buddha we need to become.

How can we understand this?  Dorje Shugden knows who we have karma with to be their Spiritual Guide.  We each have the karma to be the spiritual guide of certain beings.  Dorje Shugden knows this and he knows what karma we have with them.  If we ask him to do so, Dorje Shugden can manage our karma in such a way that he forges us into the Buddha we need to become.  Primarily Dorje Shugden provides us with favorable conditions and arranges everything to be perfect for our practice. 

But he is so powerful, he is also able to ‘use’ our negative karma and ‘transform’ it into the spiritual path.  We can adopt the wisdom view that he “gives” us now the problems that our future students will have so that we can learn how to use the Dharma to overcome these problems.  We have the negative karma on our mind to experience anything and everything.  Dorje Shugden is able to manage the flow of the ripening of our negative karma so that the negative karma which does ripen is that of our future students and it ripens in a context where we will be able to transform it into the path.

What are the benefits of relying upon Dorje Shugden in this way?  It will create indestructible karmic links between ourselves and our future students that will ripen in the form of us being their spiritual guide in the future.  We will gain the realizations we need to be able to help the beings with whom we have the closest spiritual karmic connections.  It will enable us to find great meaning in all of our inevitable difficulties in life.  Life will still be difficult, but these difficulties will be part of a larger project to forge us into the Buddha we need to become. 

Practically speaking, how do we view our life in this way?  The key lies in viewing everyone as an emanation of Dorje Shugden for our practice.  The view we adopt of others determines the qualities we draw out.  This is so because view itself is a creative action, it is not a passive observation.  We do not view others in a particular way because they ‘are’ that way (they are not any way), rather we view others in a particular way because it is most beneficial to them for us to do so.

The view we adopt is to view others as emanations of the Spiritual Guide.  We can maintain pure view of others.  We consider them to be Buddhas appearing in the aspect of ordinary beings so we can act normally with them.  By acting normally with them, we gain the realizations we need to attain enlightenment.  We can maintain pure view of their actions by considering all of their actions to be the supremely skillful actions of a Buddha.  For example, if they make some big mistake, we can view it as they make mistakes to teach us things.  If we assent to the appearance of others as being ordinary, engaging in ordinary actions, we will simply plant the karma which will give rise to the appearance of ordinary beings engaging in ordinary actions.   In this way, we re-imprison others into contaminated aggregates engaging in non-Dharma actions and us into a world of ordinary appearances.

If instead we imagine that others are by nature emanations of Dorje Shugden engaging in supremely skillful actions to lead us to our swiftest possible enlightenment we plant karma which will give rise to the appearance of others as emanations engaging in the actions of a Buddha.  In this way, we free others from contaminated aggregates and we create the causes for them to engage in the actions necessary to lead themselves to enlightenment. 

But how do we do this, especially when we see others acting in deluded and unskillful ways.  There are two key questions we can ask ourselves to be able to maintain this view:  First, what do their actions teach me?  Second, what do their actions give me in terms of an opportunity to practice?  Our answers to these questions point us to the wisdom that is able to receive perfectly reliable Dharma instructions and opportunities to practice from whatever others do. 

We can even do this same practice with our own body and mind.  If we assent to ourselves as being an ordinary being engaging in ordinary actions, it will creates the karma for the recreation of that appearance.  But if we view our ordinary body and mind as emanated for us to practice overcoming in order to forge us into the Buddha we need to become, it will plant the karma for that appearance to arise in the future.  For example, if we get sick, it is for us to practice with.  If we have a delusion, it is for giving us an opportunity to practice the opponents, and so forth.

This view is extremely beneficial for both ourselves and for others.  We are able to transform whatever happens to us into the path to enlightenment and we are able to receive the blessings of the spiritual guide through everyone.  It also karmically reconstructs others and ourselves into pure being.  By imagining that they are Buddhas engaging in a Buddha’s actions, it karmically reconstructs them so that they will later actually engage in enlightened actions and become a Buddha. 

In sum, the practice of Dorje Shugden can be reduced down into four simple ideas:

  1. Renew our spiritual motivation, that what matters to us is creating good causes for spiritual progress.
  2. Request with infinite faith that whatever happens to us (or others) is perfect for our swiftest possible enlightenment.
  3. Accept with infinite faith whatever subsequently arises as the perfect conditions we requested.
  4. In those perfect conditions, practice to the best of our ability.  To practice means to try to send our mind in the direction of enlightenment by striving to abandon our delusions and by cultivating virtuous minds.  It does not matter whether we succeed in actually doing so, what matters is that we try.  If we try, we create good causes which will ripen in the future in our ability to do it. 

We can use our reliance on Dorje Shugden to overcome all our delusions.  This practice was explained to me by the great Gen Togden many years ago.  He said we can overcome our anger through relying on Dorje Shugden by considering that anger wishes things to be other than they are.  When we rely on Dorje Shugden, we know they are perfect, so there is no basis for wishing they are otherwise, thus there is no basis for anger.  He also said we can overcome our attachment through relying on Dorje Shugden.  We think we need something for our happiness, but we do not know.  So we make requests to Dorje Shugden that if this is what is best, then please arrange it; if not, then we request him to please sabotage it.  Finally, he explained we can overcome our ignorance through relying on Dorje Shugden.  Dorje Shugden is a wisdom Buddha, so we can request him to bestow his blessings so we will always know what to do in all situations.