meditation – Karmapa Center 16

The Heart of Sharing – 37 Practices – Session 9

During this week’s Meditation for All, we were joined by Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen. A dear friend of our resident teacher, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering, Lama Tenpa was a member of the first class of Rumtek Monastery’s Shri Nalanda Institute in Sikkim, India, as was our advisor, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. Chancellor of Nalandabodhi and a great teacher and meditation guide, Acharya Lama Tenpa kindly accepted Acharya Lhakpa’s request to teach us about the eleventh verse of The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva.

Being Lucky: Paying Homage to His Holiness the 16th Karmapa

Following our opening chants and śamatha practice, with an emphasis on our physical posture and giving rise to bodhicitta, Acharya Lama Tenpa began by paying homage to the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje.

Wishing everyone tashi delek, he expressed how honored and happy he was to lead the session, not just because of this particular session and topic but also because it was another way of recollecting the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa. In fact, he said, he felt very fortunate and blessed to have met His Holiness. Likewise, Lama Tenpa shared how everyone present was lucky for having a connection with KC16 and, therefore, also with the Sixteenth Karmapa.

Turning to our topic and the eleventh verse of Tokmé Zangpo’s text, The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, Acharya Lama Tenpa stressed how his guru, Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, always told his students to recite and practice this text. Furthermore, Khenpo Rinpoche told him to teach this text again and again since it is a very important and powerful practice.

The Importance and Benefits of Bodhicitta

The first thing to note, Acharya Lama Tenpa said, is the importance of bodhicitta or the heart of enlightenment, not only for our spiritual path but also for our daily lives. “In order to have a healthy spiritual path, you need bodhicitta,” he said. “In order to have a good life, you need bodhicitta. In order to have a good community, you need bodhicitta. So, bodhicitta is very, very important.”

For this reason, the Buddha taught bodhicitta to be like water or breath, and the great Indian master Śāntideva opens his important text, The Way of the Bodhisattva, with a long chapter about the benefits of bodhicitta. “What we need,” Lama Tenpa said, “is only bodhicitta. Both in our spiritual life and our mundane life. We need bodhicitta.”

How to Cultivate Bodhicitta? Three Main Methods

Knowing the importance of bodhicitta, the next question to ask is: How do we cultivate or generate the heart of awakening? While there are many ways, Lama Tenpa taught there are three main methods:

Tracking down the cause: What is the cause of bodhicitta? Contemplating this, we will find that compassion is the near cause and stands in a chain of causality that goes back to love and connection.
Equalizing self and other: Just as we want to be happy and free of suffering, all beings want to be happy and free of suffering. We are equal in this regard.
Exchanging self and other: We give our own happiness and well-being to others, and take from them their pain, suffering, and confusion.

Lama Tenpa pointed out that the third method, exchanging self and other, is taught by Tokmé Zangpo in the eleventh verse that reads:

All suffering, without exception, arises from the desire for one’s own happiness.
Perfect buddhas are born from benefiting others.
Therefore, to perfectly exchange one’s own happiness
For others’ suffering is the practice of a bodhisattva. (11)
(Quoted from A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg)

Mistaken About the Cause: Wanting Happiness, Receiving Suffering

The “perfect buddhas,” Acharya Lama Tenpa taught, can be understood to mean “happiness.” Regardless of who you ask and no matter their background, he said, this is something everyone agrees about: We all want happiness. For how long? We might not say this out loud, but deep down, we want to be happy all the time. However, what do we get? Confusion, pain, and suffering. The question we need to ask: Why?

To contemplate this, Lama Tenpa shared an example. Imagine you want to lose weight but also keep eating chocolate all the time. You go to a specialist for help, who points to books and provides various exercises; you receive many methods. However, you don’t give up eating chocolate. You may be surprised, but since you are not giving up the cause, the chocolate, you will not lose weight.

Similarly, our guest teacher pointed out, we want to be perfect buddhas, but we experience suffering. This is because we are mistaken about the cause of happiness. Given our ego-clinging, view of self, or self-centered way of thinking–the cause of suffering–we do not get happiness but experience saṃsāra instead.

Changing the Habit of Thinking

In this verse, Tokmé Zangpo says that the “desire for one’s own happiness” is the root of all problems. The result of this self-centered way of thinking, the preoccupation with “me,” “my,” and “mine,” is suffering. We consider our own happiness to be the most important, but it is this very desire for our own happiness that leads to the opposite, suffering.

Once we recognize this, Acharya Lama Tenpa commented, we need to change. Reminding us of the example of wishing to lose weight, what we really need to do (in that case) is change our diet and stop eating chocolate all the time. Similarly, if we want to change the quality of our lives, we need to change our habits of thought. Instead of our usual self-centered way of thinking, we need to expand our mind and benefit others. This is the mindset of a bodhisattva.

Exchange Self and Other

While there are many ways of changing our habitual self-fixation, the eleventh verse offers us one particular method: exchanging self and others. What this means, Acharya Lama Tenpa commented, is that we give away our happiness and well-being to others. In return, we take their suffering and pain.

Lama Tenpa illustrated this practice by drawing a distinction between the type of mind of ordinary beings compared to that of a bodhisattva. The former continuously thinks, “I want this and that, give me such and such.” This, he taught, is just another function of self-centered thinking and a very narrow, limited mind. The type of mind of a bodhisattva stands in contrast to this, thinking: “I am here to give, to offer, to share.”

Expanding our minds in this way is what is called cultivating bodhicitta. This, Lama Tenpa concluded, is what the text teaches us: “Perfect buddhas are born from benefiting others.” This is the heart of giving, offering, and caring. Rather than thinking, “I want happiness,” we start to think, “I want you to be happy.” This is the practice of a bodhisattva.

Intermezzo: Contemplating Karma and Saṃsāra

Settling into a formal meditation posture for our practice of śamatha (calm-abiding meditation) after our opening chants, we emphasized a key point of this particular meditation technique: to ensure our body is comfortable yet awake, and is a support to look at the state of our mind.

What is the State of My Mind?

Atiśa Dīpaṅkaraśrījñāna, the great Indian master who is renowned in the history of Tibetan Buddhism and considered the founder of the Kadampa tradition, is said to have emphasized asking ourselves: What is the state of my mind? We often ask ourselves how we are doing and reply with an answer relating to our physical well-being. However, the more important question to ask, according to Atiśa, is about our mental state: What is the state of my mind in this moment?

When looking at the state of our mind, following the instructions of Acharya Lhakpa Tshering, we can do so without judgement. Instead, we can approach this practice with curiosity and openness. We don’t need to force the mind to be in a particular state or have certain thoughts or not. Rather, we look with awareness and simply notice: What is the state of my mind, right now?

Some Instructions for Contemplative Meditation Practice

In the wake of our śamatha practice, we moved into two contemplative meditations. Whenever we step into such practice, we can keep a few instructions in mind:

Sit in a formal meditation posture (like with śamatha practice);
Feel grounded and connect with a sense of calmness and openness;
Contemplate questions or statements with wonder;
Don’t apply a strong force to reasoning or thinking nor think you need to find an answer right away;
See how you respond physically, emotionally, and mentally without judgement;
Notice how it impacts you, in this moment.

At the end of our contemplative practice, we can make a brief mental note to ourselves with a sense of joy and appreciation for the experience, and possibly having gained a new or deeper understanding, or particular insight. And then we simply let go and practice śamatha again for a brief moment.

Obtaining Stable Trust in Karma, Cause and Effect

In his commentary on the eighth verse, Acharya Lhakpa noted various times that we do not need to seek the lower realms, or any realm, somewhere “out there.” We can just look at our present world and the state of our mind. His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, says something along the same lines:

“The lower realms have been described as deep underneath us or far away from the earth. But we can find smaller versions of these realms in this very world, right before our eyes. It is not necessary to look below the earth or anywhere else, because war and famine are happening right now, and they are exactly what has been described as the misery of the lower realms.”

Seeing the lower realms in this way and to bring it closer, we can consider the following:

When did we contribute, in some way or another, to the suffering of ourselves and/or others? We can bring to mind any moment, no matter how small or big, when we were a contributing factor to harm or pain.
What were the various causes and conditions that led to this moment? Understand that there is never a single cause nor might we have the full picture of everything involved. Yet, we can connect with the fact that cause and effect is at play.
Consider how negative states of mind, harmful speech, or unwholesome actions of body, only lead to suffering. Likewise, how positive states of mind, kind speech, and wholesome actions of body, can bring happiness.

As a way to conclude this contemplation, reflect on the following words of Atiśa:

“What is truly profound is none other than karma, [cause] and result. Obtaining stable trust in karma, cause and effect, is more supreme than seeing the face of the yidam deity.”
Quoted from A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg

Leaving the Swamp of Saṃsāra

The previous session, Acharya Lhakpa suggested we think of the higher realms, be it the demigods, gods, form realms or formless realms, as living in a high-end neigborhood. Putting aside any prejudices we might have towards such a place, we can think of it as a place of peace and joy, then visualize and consider the following:

Imagine a happy and peaceful neighborhood that is safe, clean, spacious, and full of flowers and trees.
Visualize everything that would make your high-end neighborhood as lovely as possible, be it with parks, fountains, particular shops, a house you really would like to live in, whatever might be the source of your happiness.
Consider that these outer objects are all conditioned phenomena: dependent on the gathering of causes and conditions and, thus, impermanent. See in front of you how this high-end neighborhood slowly, but surely, starts to deteriorate and all things fall apart.
Apply the same impermanence to your own body: day-by-day, the body becomes older, we are affected by sickness, and, at some point, sooner or later, this life will come to an end. Just like we can not stay in a high-end neighbourhood indefinitely, we will need to let go of this body too, and not quite know where we will end up next.
Connect with the fact that such a neighbourhood and life in this world cannot offer lasting happiness. Therefore, determine clearly that there is no point in being attached to this kind of happiness and make sure to seek out liberation.

As a way to conclude this second contemplation, that relates to the ninth verse, we can reflect on the following words of Atiśa:

“Friends, this swamp of samsara is without happiness; go to the dry land of liberation.”
Quoted from A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg

Progressing Along the Path in Our Own Dialectic Manner

Contemplative meditations like the above offer a way to make a personal connection with the instructions of Ngulchu Tokmé and the explanations of Acharya Lhakpa. In our context, it can help us see and feel how verse 8, 9, and 10 indeed show a progression on the heroic path of a bodhisattva.

As we consider this progression, it will help us to do so without any judgment about where we should be on the path or how things should be. What is most important is to understand our own personal path and practice. This is something that can change moment-to-moment, day-by-day, and week-by-week.

In other words, rather than thinking of this progress in a linear way, moving up, we can think of it as a dialectical process. Today we may strongly connect with karma, thinking “Oh, I should really avoid negative actions.” Tomorrow, we may connect more with the absence of lasting happiness, thinking “Oh, I thought this was a source of happiness but I see it is not…” And at other times we may really connect with an altruistic intention when we help someone. In this way, we connect with and strengthen all three capabilities. Bringing all three together in this way can support our practice and help us progress along our own paths.

With that final remark and thanking everyone for joining this practice, we concluded with the dedication of merit and the wish for all beings to be well and attain enlightenment.

Cultivating an Expansive Mind and Boundless Heart on the Spiritual Path – 37 Practices – Session 8

Acharya Lhakpa Tshering welcomed everyone onsite and online and led us in the practice of śamatha (calm-abiding meditation). Reminding us of some key points during this practice, our resident teacher emphasized the importance of openness and relaxation. In particular, he gave instructions on how to relate to our breathing during meditation, saying:

“If your breathing is shallow, let it be shallow. If your breathing is deep, let it be deep. Don’t try to alter your breathing because you are doing meditation.”

What is important is to simply feel and be aware of our breath as it comes in and goes out. This practice helps bring the mind to the present moment and allows us to stay with present awareness.

Three Beings or Capabilities: How to Make Progress on the Path?

During our previous Meditation for All session we spoke about the eighth verse from the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, written by the great Tibetan master, Ngulchu Tokmé. This verse, Acharya Lhakpa reminded us, speaks about those beings who fear the sufferings of the lower realms and seek to maintain the happiness of the realms of humans or gods. As a sidenote, he mentioned that we can think of gods as beings who live, perhaps, in a high-end neighbourhood but still remain in the cycle of saṃsāra, falling down into lower states when their merit is exhausted.

Acharya stressed that while beings who pursue the comforts of the higher realms are described as “lesser” or “inferior,” this has little to do with looking down on or criticizing them. It is more about the capability of a person engaging in practice. The next two verses describe the path of the middling and supreme beings, respectively, illuminating how to make progress.

The Middling Being or Capacity: Seeking Personal Liberation

The ninth verse shows the practice of the middling beings or those with a middling capacity:

“The pleasures of the three realms, like dewdrops on a blade of grass, Are objects that perish in an instant.
To strive for the supreme state of liberation
That is never changing is the practice of a bodhisattva.”

–Quoted from A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg

The person with this middling ability understands that the happiness of all three realms is like a dewdrop on a blade of grass: without essence, impermanent, and ever-changing. This includes the form and formless realms.

This is similar to what Acharya taught during previous sessions about the lower realms reflecting our mental afflictions; the form and formless realms also do not point to some kind of place “out there.” They refer, instead, to a state of mind that is accomplished through meditation practice. In this case, while these states of mind may be free from attachments and material desires, they are still within saṃsāra. Clearly seeing this, middling beings strive for the never-changing state of liberation.

Leading us in an analytical meditation practice, Acharya Lhakpa helped us to understand how the happiness in our human lives is indeed like a dewdrop on a blade of grass. While the beings with lesser ability are content with the comforts of human life and/or the higher realms, those with middling capacity realize samsaric happiness to be like a dewdrop during a serene early morning–beautiful, perhaps, but disappearing with the slightest vibration or sunlight. Because they want to get out of this trouble only for themselves, this is known as the path of the middling beings.

The Path of the Mahāyāna: Connecting with Other Beings

The next verse from our root text concerns the third and highest capacity, and was translated by Christopher Stagg as follows:

“From beginningless time, my mothers have loved me.
If they suffer, how can I worry about my own happiness?
Therefore, in order to liberate sentient beings, which are boundless,
To engender bodhicitta is the practice of a bodhisattva.”

The way of thinking taught in this verse, Achara Lhakpa explained, is that we have taken birth again and again since time without beginning. This being so, all beings have been our mother at some point and kindly have taken care of us. Therefore, with a feeling of gratitude and understanding of the equal importance of all beings, we seek complete enlightenment for the benefit of everyone and not narrowly limit ourselves to personal liberation.

If we find it difficult to relate to this notion of beginningless time, rebirth, and/or considering all beings as our mother, Acharya pointed out that the key point is about making a connection. Seeing someone as a caring mother is like an example. We could also think in the following way: Yesterday was our past life, today is the present, and tomorrow will be a new one. Contemplating our existence in this way allows us to realize how our well-being depends on countless others. Without them, we wouldn’t even be able to survive.

To connect with other sentient beings, we can bring to mind someone–a brother, sister, uncle, aunt, anyone we feel close to–and cultivate a feeling of an intimate relationship. Taking this approach, we practice loving-kindness and compassion. This is the foundation of the Mahāyāna. “Without this practice, there would be no path of Mahāyāna,” Acharya said.

Bodhicitta as Supreme Ability: Boundless Compassion

Slowly we begin to understand the equal importance of all sentient beings. Generally, Acharya Lhakpa shared, we have the habitual tendency to think in limited ways and are oftentimes not able to practice loving-kindness and compassion for a certain individual or group of beings. We might even have the desire to benefit others, but only to a certain degree. “I want to be kind to all sentient beings, except that uncle. Something like that,” he said.

In contrast, those with the supreme capacity are able to open their hearts for all sentient beings. Not thinking in terms of “mine” and “yours,” or any other kind of limitation, their compassion is beyond measure. The Four Immeasurables that we usually recite at the beginning of our session relate to this. Making our minds as vast as the sky and opening our hearts in this way, is known as giving rise to bodhicitta–the heart of awakening.

Beings with middling capacity share the same wisdom. They see that all samsaric happiness is like a dewdrop on a blade of grass. However, they lack the methods of loving-kindness and compassion for all sentient beings. Therefore, those who bring method and wisdom together, are known as supreme beings who practice the way or vehicle of the bodhisattvas.

A Guide on the Path

Summarizing verse eight, nine, and ten, Acharya shared his own understanding of these verses. Rather than thinking in terms of classes or categories of different beings, Ngulchu Tokmé teaches us about our motivation for our practice and offers a guide to progress on the path.

First, we contemplate the suffering of the lower realms and strive for the happiness of the higher ones. Second, we develop the insight that this happiness is only temporary and impermanent. Thus, we strive for unchanging liberation, which means that we will not fall back into the world of suffering. Seeing the narrow or limited quality of this individual liberation, we open the heart of compassion and strive for complete enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.

“The intention of the author here is not to describe three different beings but rather how one can develop on the path through practicing step-by-step, and making progress to attain complete enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.”

With this note, Acharya Lhakpa concluded our session and expressed his gratitude to everyone onsite and online for joining. Next Sunday we will continue our meditation practice and contemplate this further. After dedicating the merit, Acharya wished everyone a wonderful day.

Seizing the opportunity: Embrace life’s meaning: 37 Practices – session 2

At the beginning of our second Meditation for All: Thirty-Seven Practice of a Bodhisattva session, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering kindly requested everyone to give rise to the heart of awakening – bodhicitta – and sit in śamatha (calm-abiding) meditation.

The Foundation: A Genuine Heart of Compassion

Following the practice of śamatha and before continuing our discussion of Ngulchu Tokmé’s text The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, our resident teacher reminded us that this text outlines the Mahāyāna path. Engaging in this practice means seeking full awakening or complete buddhahood to liberate ourselves and all sentient beings.

As Buddha Shakyamuni taught in the Sūtras, the only method leading to this state is through loving-kindness and compassion. These form the sole foundation before practicing anything else. What is the genuine heart of compassion? Acharya referred to his teacher, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, who says “it is a genuine concern and willingness to give anything of ourselves that is necessary to alleviate the sufferings of sentient beings.” (Quoted from: https://www.shambhala.com/snowlion_articles/entering-the-trainings-in-compassion/)

This altruistic heart is indispensable foundation for those on the bodhisattva path. Following the two opening verses discussed last week, we turned to the verse that expresses the first practice: seizing the opportunity offered by a precious human existence.

Precious human life: A rare opportunity

The verse that points out the first practice of a bodhisattva is about our precious human birth as a rare opportunity, as indicated by the first two lines:

“Now we have this great vessel of freedoms and resources, so difficult to obtain.
So that we may liberate ourselves and others from the ocean of samsara.”
– from: A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg)

Acharya Lhakpa explained that just being born as a human being, according to this text, is not fully considered to be precious. It becomes precious when it offers the potential or abilility to free oneself and many other sentient beings from the ocean of samsara. This relates to the ‘freedoms and resources’ mentioned in the text which Gampopa has extensively taught in Ornament of Precious Liberation. For now, Acharya said we can understand this as an opportunity to practice the Dharma — not only to cross the ocean of samsara ourselves but also, as indicated by the example of a ‘great vessel,’ to accommodate many others.

Understanding our precious human life as an opportunity to free ourselves and many others from sufferin means that we must seize it. Why? Because this opportunity is difficult to obtain and easy to lose. Who knows when we might have it again? So, for someone with a genuine heart of compassion —bodhicitta— the question now becomes: How do we seize this opportunity?

Seizing or Missing the Opportunity

Acharya Lhakpa explained that the two last lines of this verse show us how to seize this rare opportunity to free ourselves and all beings from the ocean of samsara:

“Day and night, without distraction,
To listen, contemplate, and meditate is the practice of a bodhisattva.”
– from: A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg

In his comments, our resident teacher shared that ‘without distraction’ refers to a form of samsaric laziness. While this could indicate doing nothing, it could also mean getting attached to nonvirtuous actions of body, speech, and mind. When making this samsaric distraction a habit, we risk falling into the lower realms or miserable states of being. If we do fall into those states, we will remain there for a very long time without being able to obtain the freedoms and resources that constitute a precious human existence. “That means,” Acharya said, “the opportunity knocked only once and we missed the opportunity.”

The text says to practice without distraction ‘day and night.’ Does this mean we don’t rest at all? Acharya shared that he thought it probably doesn’t mean that; instead, it suggest that we should make a continuous effort.

So, to fulfill our intention to liberate ourselves and other sentient beings from the ocean of samsara, what should a bodhisattva do? Ngulchu Tokmé teaches us clealry in this text that we need to listen, contemplate, and meditate. This, Acharya emphasized, is very important.

First of all, we listen or study the teachings of the Buddha as taught in the Sūtras, together with the commentaries and treatises of the great masters, enabling us to eliminate the darkness of not knowing. Yet, we don’t just leave it with that. As taught by Buddha Shakyamuni, we analyze the teachings like a goldsmith accepts gold as true only through heating, cutting, and rubbing. Through contemplating and thoroughly investigating the teachings, we dispel any doubts and things that were not yet clear to us.

Finally, we practice meditation. Acharya shared that we often hear that it is important to meditate. While this is true, it is essential to understand the main point of meditation: to bring whatever we understand through hearing and contemplating into practice. “To internalize whatever we have studied or practiced, that is meditation.”

In sum, Acharya commented that to liberate ourselves and others from the ocean of samsara—a great responsibility—we need to engage in listening, contemplation, and meditation to fulfill it. This is the practice of a bodhisattva.

Embrace life’s meaning

Sometimes we ask questions about the meaning or purpose of life. This verse, Acharya Lhakpa said, offers an answer to such questions. Rather than asking ‘what is the meaning of life?’ or ‘what is its purpose?,’ we could ask ‘How to make life meaningful and give it a purpose?’. This is the question answered by this verse: Through listen, contemplate, and meditate upon the teachings of the Dharma and engage in the practice of the bodhisattvas—the path of the Mahāyāna.

The freedom and resources mentioned earlier refer to the eight freedoms and ten resources. These include references to various types of rebirth in the desire realm, from the hell beings up to the devas. [include a footnote to mention all of them] While we have identified planets like Mars and Saturn, we haven’t found any hell realms, hungry ghost realm, et cetera. Consequently, many people have ask Acharya where these realms, if they indeed exist.

The Ornament of Precious Liberation and Abdhidharmakosa teach in great detail where these realms are located. However, Acharya said, trying to find these as physical realms somewhere would be missing the point. These texts all say that we are born in a particular realm due to particular kleśa (afflictive emotions/mental disturbances). Due to strong anger, for example, we fall into one of the hell realms. “We don’t have to be born in the hell realm to understand it. Whenever we encounter this kind of kleśa like strong anger, the hell realm is right there, within ourselves.” Not only will this burn ourselves, so to speak, but also others; thus, we need not look elsewhere for these realms—they exist within our own experiences.

Acharya Lhakpa continued his commentary on this by stressing that we must understand that the teaching of the Buddha is to tame and train our mind. This means that we should not be looking for a hell realm, hungry spirit realm, and so forth, outside. If we carefully consider this notion of the various realms, it is about working with our afflictive emotions or disturbed states of mind. All the teachings about this are methods to tame and train our mind. That is the most important, essential point.

By way of conclusion, Acharya mentioned again that the verse of this second session is about the precious human birth. How to make this life meaningful? Through listening, contemplating, and meditating the Dharma. As taught by Gampopa, this is not something we do stage by stage, while that is also good, but in an integrated matter. We constantly move back and forth between these three practices of a bodhisattva.

Acharya then led us in our dedication of merit: whatever merit or virtue we have gained through this practice and session, we dedicate it to all sentient beings.

The Heroic Path of Compassion: Meditation for All – 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva – session 1

“The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva presents an alternative way of thinking, of relating to the outer and inner worlds of everyday living. It is a refreshing, revolutionary, and radical approach to a life that is worth living.” — Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Foreword to A Guide to The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, translated by Christopher Stagg.

Warmly welcoming everyone onsite and online to Karmapa Center 16’s Meditation for All, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering, briefly shared about the history and purpose of KC16. Our vast aspiration is to establish a place for pilgrimage, meditation, retreat, study, and refuge, in honor of His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, who passed into parinirvāṇa in Zion, Illinois. Since the location of the passing into parinirvāṇa is considered sacred and full of blessings, Karmapa Center 16 was established in Wadsworth, Illinois.

Śamatha (calm-abiding) meditation

Before starting his commentary on The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, the text that Acharya Lhakpa will be teaching about in this new series of Meditation for All, he guided us in a brief śamatha (calm-abiding) meditation session. Acharya emphasized the importance of simply being aware.

**The Author of The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva: Gyalse Ngulchu Tokmé**

Following our practice of śamatha meditation together, Acharya began his teaching on The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva by introducing the author of the root text, a great scholar and practitioner, Ngulchu Tokmé (ca. 1295 – ca. 1369).

There are many stories, Acharya shared, that speak about Ngulchu Tokmé being very compassionate at a very young age. For example, one time, during Losar (Tibetan New Year), a special occasion in Tibet, Tokmé was dressed up and his mother sent him out to play with other kids. After some time, he returned without clothes. His mother asked him: “Where are your clothes?” The young boy replied that he had used his garment to cover an ant colony to protect them from the cold.

After studying, contemplating, and practicing the teachings of the Buddha, Ngulchu Tokmé came to be called and widely known as Gyalse Tokmé. The name “Gyalse” (in Tibetan: རྒྱལ་སྲས།) means “son (or child) of the Victorious Ones,” referring to the Buddhas.

The Text: The Heroic Path of Compassion

The previous weekend, Acharya shared a litte bit about the paths of the śrāvakas (hearers) and pratyekabuddhas (solitary realizers) in comparison to the way of the bodhisattvas (literally “awakening hero”), the Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna, respectively. Whereas the Hīnayāna teachings emphasize individual liberation, the Mahāyāna teachings stress practicing in order to liberate all sentient beings. The latter is therefore said to be the great vehicle.

From this traditional framework of the Mahāyāna, our root text encapsulates the heroic path of compassion in 37 key practices. Compassion, Acharya pointed out, is like a seed at the beginning; in the middle, it is like water providing moisture for that seed to grow. At the end of our practice, it culminates in the attainment of awakening and benefiting other beings. To be a practitioner of the Mahāyāna means to practice compassion. This is the heroic path—the path of a bodhisattva.

Two Opening Verses: Homage and Statement of Purpose

Before explaining how to follow the heroic path of the bodhisattvas verse by verse, Ngulchu Tokmé begins his text with two opening verses: the homage or verse of offering and his statement of purpose or intention behind this text.

Acharya first read the homage as translated by our dear dharma friend, Christopher Stagg, who is dearly remembered, in A Guide to the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva:

Namo Guru Lokeśvara
Although he sees that all phenomena are free of coming and going,
He strives only for the benefit of beings.
To the protector Avalokiteśvara and the supreme guru
I continually pay homage with my three gates. (A)

Two truths

The key point expressed in Ngulchu Tokmé’s homage is twofold. The first line refers to the two truths in the Mahāyāna tradition: conventional (or relative) truth and absolute (or ultimate) truth. Explaining this in an easy manner, this means that while all phenomena appearing to us constitute conventional reality, they are ultimately empty in nature – signifiying absolute reality. In other words, things seem to come and go; they can be perceived as long or short, good or bad, and so forth. However, upon closer investigation, we will find that nothing truly exists as it appears.

Acharya taught that the ultimate nature of all phenomena is emptiness, a view that can be difficult to grasp. To help us understand this, he pointed to how the great master Tsongkhapa explained emptiness by teaching about the interdependence of all phenomena. The booklet containing Christopher Stagg’s translation may seem small, but its size is relative. If there were a smaller booklet, this one would appear larger in comparison. In short, recognizing the reality of interdependence—conventional reality—is key to understanding emptiness—ultimate reality. For our practice, it is essential to see that these two truths are inseparable.

Avalokiteśvara, the supreme guru and the light within

The three lines that follow the first line of the four-line verse, which comes after the Sanskrit honoring India as the birthplace of the Buddha’s teachings, express Ngulchu Tokmé’s homage to Avalokiteśvara and his root teacher, the supreme guru.

Why does he pay homage to them? Avalokiteśvara has realized emptiness and strives, as the verse indicates, for the benefit of all beings in samsara who have not yet understood that all phenomena lack inherent existence. Since his teacher embodied the compassion of Avalokiteśvara and diligently worked to liberate all beings, Ngulchu Tokmé prostrates to both of them as inseparable.

Acharya pointed out that paying homage in this way helps us realize that the enlightened qualities of Avalokiteśvara can be found within us. He shared how his own teacher, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, often illustrates this with the metaphor of a candle. While we all share the candle of compassion, it needs to be lit through our practice of paying homage as we embark on this revolutionary and heroic path. Thus, we begin by honoring both Avalokiteśvara, the embodiment of compassion, and our own spiritual friend as one.

Practicing the genuine dharma

Before closing our session, Acharya Lhakpa briefly explained the second verse:

The sources of benefit and happiness, the perfect buddhas,
Come from accomploshing the genuine dharma.
Since this depends on understanding their practices,
I will explain the practices of the bodhisattvas. (B)

This is Ngulchu Tokmé’s statement of purpose, revealing the intent behind composing this text. The practices he will explain in the next 37 verses are the practices of the bodhisattvas. We might wonder, why?

Well, our resident teacher explained that bodhisattvas become buddhas through these practices. Therefore, if we want to attain buddhahood like them, we need to practice in their ways. What are these practices? As the verse states, it is the practice of genuine dharma. What is genuine dharma? That is the practice of compassion.

The practice of compassion serves as the cause for both temporary benefits in this life and the next, helping us avoid non-virtuous actions that could lead to miserable states. Additionally, it provides the ultimate benefit of achieving awakening or realizing buddhahood.

Therefore, Acharya Lhakpa explained that without the practice of compassion, there is no way to find genuine happiness in this life, nor any chance of attaining ultimate happiness. Thus, for both our well-being and the realization of complete buddhahood, compassion is indispensable.

Acharya said he would stop here for this first session in the new series of Meditation for All, wishing that our practice and engagement with this text may serve as a cause for our own awakening. He concluded by inviting everyone to join together in the dedication of merit.

Meditation for All – Every Sunday, Online and Onsite

Since October of last year, our resident teacher, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering, has offered guided meditation and short dharma teachings every Sunday at Karmapa Center 16, and friends in the area have been able to join us onsite.

As everyone is welcome, and no prior experience is needed, Acharya calls the Sunday sessions Meditation for All.

We are delighted to announce that beginning January 14, 2024, Acharya’s teaching and the opportunity to practice together, will be offered online, so that Meditation for All will, indeed, be available to all!

Please join us onsite or online!

For online access, please register here for the Zoom link. The sessions begin at 10 am and finish at 11:30 am Central Standard Time. Please be sure to log onto Zoom a few minutes before we start. Below, you can find a few other guidelines that will help all of us practice together in the most beneficial way possible.

KC16’s resident teacher – Acharya Lhakpa Tshering. Photo Credit: Gloria Sherab Drolma

We aspire to follow in the footsteps of His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa by offering Meditation for All to everyone and practicing together as he once expressed:

“I will always exert myself in dharmic recitation, proclamations, and readings. In mind, I will not flutter back and forth like a young bird on a branch. Not getting absorbed in discursive thoughts of good and bad, I will meditate, cultivating forbearance and relying on my own perceptions, not those of others. I will reflect on how best to benefit the teachings and beings.”

Karmapa Khyenno!