practice – Karmapa Center 16

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.

Mirroring Ourselves: Finding Outer and Inner Refuge – 37 Practices – Session 6

Acharya Lhakpa warmly welcomed everyone for joining us, noting that snow had recently fallen at Karmapa Center 16 and it was a bit chilly outside. Following our opening chants, he continued guiding us in the practice of śamatha. First, it is important to give rise to the heart of awakening, the intention to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. This is why we practice the Dharma.

Movement of mind

During our meditation practice, Acharya taught a particular technique of recognizing the movement of mind. “Whatever thought arises, virtuous thoughts, non-virtuous thoughts, or middling thoughts, let them arise and simply be aware. You don’t have to feel bad about having a bad thought. And you don’t have to get excited if you have a good thought. Simply treat it as a thought. If you find yourself chasing after thoughts and your mind wanders, don’t worry. At that time, simply be aware that your mind wandered, and it will naturally be back.”

Verse 7: Undeceiving refuge

To begin our discussion on the seventh verse of The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva by Ngulchu Tokmé, we read the root text as translated by Christopher Stagg:

“Themselves also bound in the prison of samsara,
Whom do the worldly gods have the power to protect?
Therefore, when seeking a refuge, to go for refuge
In the three jewels that will not deceive you is the practice of a bodhisattva.” (7)

This verse, Acharya Lhakpa pointed out, teaches us about going for refuge to the three jewels. While Brahma, Viṣṇu, and the like, are in the highest realms of our world due to merit accumulated in previous lives, they are still in the prison of saṃsāra. Once their merit is exhausted, they will fall down into the lower realms. Therefore, those seeking to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings should not take refuge in these “gods.” They are deceiving. We must take refuge in genuine protectors: the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

Rare and Supreme: Our Destination, Path, and Companions

In Tibetan the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, are described as kön chog (Tibetan: དཀོན་མཆོག), which literally means “rare” and “supreme.” Therefore, they are considered to be like jewels. “The Buddha” refers to what is to be attained or the result: Awakening. “It is, so to speak, the destination.” The method, Acharya continued, is the Dharma. This is the path on which we will find what to avoid and what to adopt. Finally, to travel on this journey, we need companions. This is the Sangha or community.

The qualities of each of these can be summarized as follows:

The Buddha: the most excellent abandonment and realization of our obscurations and pristine awareness, respectively;
The Dharma: being free from the mental afflictions and suffering;
The Sangha: the supreme among other communities, giving us a sense of inspiration and wanting to be like those who already engage in practicing the Dharma

Going for Refuge: A Mirror and Ground

Taking the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha as the three jewels in the above manner is like the outer refuge. This, in turn, will serve as the condition to realize that we ourselves have the mind and potential of enlightenment within. “It is like mirroring ourselves,” Acharya said. “We will come to understand that the three jewels and their qualities are within us from the very beginning.”

Furthermore, once we have realized this, the realization of selflessness will arise. Based on that, we will realize emptiness. As Atiśa taught in the Seven Points of Mind Training (Tib. བློ་སྦྱོངས་དོན་བདུན་མ།, lojong dön dünma), the realization of emptiness is the highest possible protection. There is nothing beyond or higher than that.

Going for refuge to the Buddha will serve as a basis for the rest of our path. It will prevent us from falling into the miserable realms and avoid non-virtuous actions. It is the ground for those who take the vow of individual liberation as well as for those who take the bodhisattva vow.

Two Kinds of Advice: What to Abandon and What to Adopt

Taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, goes together with two kinds of advice: one relating to what things we need to abandon or give up; the other about what to adopt or accomplish. Acharya playfully noted, “After going for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, there are do’s and don’ts. What you should and shouldn’t do.” The first kind of advice is as follows:

When going for refuge to the Buddha, we should no longer go for refuge to worldly gods. “They are not out of the woods,” Acharya taught. In the scriptures we find a quotation from the great master Padmasambhava, who said: “The leaders of the world, no matter how excellent, are deceiving; the sources of refuge, the three jewels, are undeceiving.” While the worldly gods may have great power, they are not a place of refuge.
Going for refuge to the Dharma means abandoning harm or inflicting pain to sentient beings through our actions of body, speech, and mind.
Having taken refuge in the Sangha, we must abandon bad companions, those who always engage in negative karma and act counter to the Dharma.

If those three form the advice of what needs to be abandoned, then what is included in the advice of what needs to be adopted?

Going for refuge to the Buddha means that we should pay respect to any kind of image or representation of the Buddha, be it a statue, thangka, or the like.
Going for refuge to the Dharma means that we must respect the teachings of the Buddha and the scriptures in which these teachings have been committed to writing. Acharya shared a story about his Bhutanese childhood and how his book bag offered protection against any harm. He and his classmates had been taught to respect the words of the Buddha, and the books in his bag were written in the same Tibetan scriptures used to write down the Buddha’s teachings. No one would therefore kick the bag!
Going for refuge to the Sangha means being respectful towards the monastic sangha and, showing respect to the community and dharma friends who have adopted precepts or vows as part of their practice.

How All the Teachings are Encompassed by Taking Refuge

As a way of summarizing today’s session, Acharya stressed the importance of the three jewels and going for refuge. “Sometimes we think that after taking refuge, our study and practice are totally different things while, actually, all the teachings of the Buddha — from the way of taking refuge to the three jewels — are all about the qualities of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.”

Acharya illustrated that with the example of the teachings about the wisdom of buddha nature being about the Buddha. Likewise, when we think about abandoning the mental afflictions, and the truth of suffering and the origin of suffering, we speak about the Dharma. And as we progress along the path, we will get to know the paths and levels (Sanskrit: bhūmis), which show the qualities of the Sangha.

While the teachings can be summarized in terms of the three higher trainings (moral discipline, meditative concentration, and wisdom), as Acharya taught in the previous session, he concluded: “When we think from the aspect of the three refuges, then we can say that the entire teaching of the Buddha is teaching about the three jewels.”

Following this, we dedicated the merit, and Acharya expressed his warm wishes for everyone to have happy holidays and a happy new year!

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.