From the time Lama Tsongkhapa was born until he passed away, his life was one of continual meditation and teaching, bringing benefit to countless mother sentient beings. He did nothing out of selfishness. This is too much for us to believe, isn’t it? Why is that? Simply because from the time we were born until now, what have we been doing? How does our life story compare with his biography? As we check up we come to see that during our entire life we have always been thinking of “I,” always putting it first. We have been preoccupied with our reputation, our material comfort and the like. Our concerns, dear friends, have been those of the supermarket.
Therefore, when we compare what we have done with the incredible things Lama Tsongkhapa did, we must conclude that either he was completely crazy or that we are. We have to decide. Who is right and who is wrong? I am not telling you which one to choose. I am just asking you to check up on your own instinctive attitudes.
Teachings are not always given with extensive philosophical explanations. As you remember, on Christmas Day we read what Jesus did during his life, the story of his compassionate deeds. His entire way of life is in itself a teaching. The same is true for Lama Tsongkhapa’s life. The amazing energy he had gives us an idea of how to put our own lives together. This is the teaching of divine and profound wisdom-action, the action that benefits numberless beings and leads to the highest goal: realization of the enlightened attitude and the fruit of full awakening. Thus it is very useful to listen to such biographies.
As mentioned earlier, Je Tsongkhapa—or Je Rinpoche, as he is commonly known—was born in Amdo, that part of eastern Tibet near the Chinese border. It is a very special place, a living Dharma experience. Lama Tsongkhapa’s parents had such unusual dreams while he was still in the womb that they knew someone special was going to be born. Through the science of dreams, by putting together clues from the various visions they received, they could tell that the child would be an incarnation of Manjushri, the embodiment of enlightened wisdom. Other signs indicated that he would also possess the qualities of Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani: enlightened compassion and the power of skillful means.
His parents were not the only ones who received predictions about the child. There was a famous ascetic lama living nearby doing retreat on Yamantaka, the high tantric aspect of Manjushri. During this retreat Yamantaka himself appeared and announced, “Next year I am going to come to a certain village in the land of Tsongkha.” In his search to understand the meaning of this vision, the lama arrived in the indicated village at the very time Tsongkhapa was born. He approached the parents and told them that he, too, had reason to believe the child was a very special being indeed.
There were many signs and events during his childhood pointing to the uniqueness of the boy. Even when he was very young he would practice a yogic method of Manjushri, reciting the appropriate mantra over and over again. One day, on a stone near his house, this mantra appeared by itself! It might not be there anymore, but up until 1959 it was still possible to visit Amdo and see that stone. There are many other stories like this to tell, but perhaps this is not the time to dwell on them.
Je Rinpoche spent much of his youth—and indeed the rest of his life—studying with the great lamas of the various Buddhist traditions: the Nyingma, Kadam, Kagyü and Sakya. If I were to refer to these traditions as “sects,” you might receive the false impression that they are totally different and even opposed to one another. In fact, many textbooks in the West foster such ideas, leading people to think that these traditions or schools have always been at war with each other. But it is not like this at all. That is a complete misconception.
For example, Lama Tsongkhapa himself received teachings from the great pandits and meditation masters of all these various traditions. He studied with them, debated in their classes, mastered their meditation techniques and had his understanding and proficiency examined thoroughly by all of them. Rather than being a source of conflict, this entire experience was of immense benefit to everyone.
But still the thought of sectarianism remains. Books in Western languages give people the idea that one tradition has a good practice, another a bad practice, that one concentrates solely on study while another does no studying at all, and so forth. I think many of you must have read such books claiming that one tradition is somehow better than the rest, so you all know what I am talking about. Yes, such statements are very interesting to read, but they are all views born from ignorance.
If you check up carefully you will find—as all the meditators and teachers of the past have found—that the Nyingma, Kagyü, Sakya and Gelug traditions all teach the Buddhadharma. They are all based on the fundamental teachings of the four noble truths, and they all study and follow the graded path that leads to full enlightenment. Each tradition has these same lamrim teachings, and each explains exactly the same subjects we have studied here at Kopan. If you check you will find that what is covered in Je Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo, the most extensive version of these graded path teachings, is covered in the texts of all the other traditions as well. Many of these have already been published in English, so you can prove this for yourself. And when you remember that Tsongkhapa received his lineages from the great masters of the other schools, how could their teachings be anything but the same?
I think it is very important to refute all sectarian views. There are some people and some books that claim, for example, that Tsongkhapa’s Gelug tradition specializes in philosophical debate but has no tantric meditational practices to pass on to its followers. You can hear this view, and others like it, expressed very often, but in fact this is nothing but a misconception we would be better without. To dispel it, merely look through the vast literature Lama Tsongkhapa himself has written. You will discover that his works on advanced tantra far outnumber those on the more fundamental sutra teachings. His commentaries cover the entire range of tantric yoga and, although complete with scriptural references, grew out of his own meditational experiences.
Yet there is one thing about Lama Tsongkhapa’s approach that might lead some people to believe that his followers do not practice tantra. He stressed very much that when someone is practicing advanced yogic methods, he or she must present a subdued appearance to others. Tantric practices are too esoteric for a great outward show. For example, if there is a beautiful woman who tries too hard to advertise her charms, even exaggerating them, she can actually appear ugly. Do you think this ever happens or not? It is exactly the same with the practice of tantra. It is something very personal and therefore much better if practiced in a personal, inward way.
The advanced meditational techniques of tantra have been designed to remove the subtlest delusions and defilements obscuring the mind. Therefore, if you use these profound methods as part of another petty ego game—wishing to inspire awe or envy in others—you are going completely against their main purpose and will therefore reap nothing but distractions and interferences to your practice. This is similar to what happens to the woman who exaggerates her good looks. It becomes difficult for her to walk down a New York City street without protection. To call attention to yourself by announcing “I am a great tantric yogi” will make it impossible for you to succeed with your practices. Therefore, Je Rinpoche advised that, as much as possible, a person following the tantric path should appear natural and simple.
But you definitely do practice! You do incredible things inwardly, but nothing shows on the outside. That must be why some people feel that the Gelug tradition teaches nothing but the Vinaya rules of discipline, nothing but strict morality. “Look how pious those monks are! They don’t even eat dinner. They must never have heard of the tantric techniques for transforming worldly poisons into powerful Dharma medicine. Otherwise, why do they keep such strict control over themselves? Are they afraid they are going to lose their heads?”
In fact, this controlled behavior is based on the example of Lama Tsongkhapa’s own life. Even when practicing the most profound tantric methods for achieving the highest enlightenment, he felt it wiser not to emit too powerful a vibration to others. It was much better to appear to be a nobody; fewer distractions arose this way. This accounts for the peaceful, almost ascetic, arhat-like appearance of many meditators, even while inwardly actualizing the most profound and dynamic yogic methods.
Before Lama Tsongkhapa appeared, many Tibetans had serious misunderstandings about the practice of Dharma. Some thought, “Since I am practicing tantric yoga, I can do anything. I can drink as much alcohol as I like because I have the supreme method of transformation. The same with sex or anything else I desire.” Others felt, “Because I am following the sutra path and the strict Vinaya discipline, I must avoid such things as drink at all costs. I must be as ascetic as possible.” Such extreme attitudes showed a complete lack of understanding of how the sutra and tantra teachings could fit together into one unified practice. Instead, they were seen to be two completely different, and opposite, paths to enlightenment. But Lama Tsongkhapa explained how one person can actualize the entire sutra and tantra paths, observing Vinaya and practicing the most advanced yogic methods in turn without any contradiction. He demonstrated the accomplishment of this joint practice very clearly in his life, and explained this experience in many texts, some of which have been partially translated into English.
When I travelled to the West I saw many books on Buddhism. Some were very good, but others were full of garbage. Certain art books, for example, give the impression that Tibetan Mahayana paintings illustrate some sort of erotic practice, something solely concerned with mundane sensuality. Authors of such works do nothing but demonstrate their complete ignorance of the subject matter, yet these are the very people often cited as “experts” in their field!
The grandmother of one of my students once sent me a small book published by a large foundation in Los Angeles. It contained brief descriptions of all the world’s religions. The section on Tibetan Buddhism was about two or three pages long and explained how degenerate the teachings were, nothing more than “dirty sexual practices.” This is the kind of thing that feeds people’s misconceptions and is therefore very damaging, not primarily to Tibetan Buddhism but to those who read and write such things. That is why I think it is very important for people to have a right understanding about these matters.
As far as the actual practice of tantra is concerned, it does not necessarily involve drinking alcohol, smoking and the like. It does not mean that the yogi meditator can do whatever he or she pleases. To understand this point, consider the following example from the illustrious Kagyü tradition, noted even in the West for its advanced tantric practitioners. One time the famous poet-meditator Milarepa paid a visit to one of his former teachers, the man who had taught him the alphabet. This teacher asked him to describe what his famous guru, Marpa the Translator, was like, how he lived and so forth. So Milarepa explained, “Marpa has a house, many fields, a wife, this and that….” When he finished his description, he was told, “Very good. You should have all these things, too. You can live in your mother’s house, turn her fields into a big farm, marry, raise a big family and so forth. You can do everything Marpa does.”
But Milarepa answered, “Excuse me. Marpa’s having a wife is for the benefit of all mother sentient beings. But I am not ready to copy him; I haven’t attained his level of realization. First, I must lead a very simple life. All I want to do is study the teachings my precious guru has given to me and put them into practice as much as possible. If I ever reach Marpa’s exalted state, perhaps I shall do what you suggest.” Of course, we all know that Milarepa is famous for the strength of his tantric practices, those supreme methods that brought him full enlightenment within one short lifetime. Thus his example explains clearly how wrong it is to think that a yogi practicing advanced tantra can do anything at any time at all.
Someone like Marpa can drink and have a wife and there will be no question of hindrances interfering with the practice of Dharma. So can a great being like Guru Rinpoche, Padmasambhava, transmitter of Buddhism from India to Tibet and founder of the Nyingma tradition. But whether you can do such things or not is for you to decide. I am not suggesting, however, that any of you should give up such things. I am only pointing out that it can be very misleading to judge things by their external appearance.
Related to this, you should avoid passing judgements that one school or tradition is better than another. Such opinions are not based on any understanding at all, so please do not let them influence you. Because of widespread misinformation in the West, Tibetan Buddhism is already becoming as mixed up and watered down as soup. Therefore, you who have had some personal contact with the teachings should try to preserve and transmit as pure an understanding as possible, and at the very least avoid adding to the confusion.
Another misconception some people have is that certain schools of Tibetan Buddhism only practice meditation and do not believe in studying or in attending discourses. I am sure that many of you have heard or read such statements. But without first receiving some sort of information, how do you meditate? What do you do, meditate on your old bad habits? In business, if you want to make a profit you first have to invest in some material, in some capital. Isn’t that true? If you want to have something extra to take home as profit, you have to start with something. If you start with nothing, you get nothing. The same is true with Dharma practice. Before you can follow an effective meditation method, you must be sure to have clean, clear information and instructions. You have to study this material very carefully and become completely familiar with it, removing all doubts. Only then can your meditations ever prove successful.
Concerning this point there is a famous saying of Sakya Pandita. He is to the Sakya tradition what Guru Rinpoche, Marpa and Tsongkhapa are to theirs. This great lama said, “He who meditates without first listening [to instructions] is like an armless rock climber.”
If we think that preparation or study is unnecessary for successful practice, then even animals can meditate. Whenever they concentrated on eating or drinking they would be engaged in such single-minded meditation. But of course, our practice should somehow be more than this. Khedrub Rinpoche, one of Tsongkhapa’s foremost disciples, pointed out the error of having a dull, uncritical approach to advanced Dharma practice by saying, “It is a great mistake to think that practitioners of tantric yoga do not need the wisdom of analytical reasoning.” Faith and concentration by themselves are not enough.
To summarize, you cannot reach the goal of everlastingly peaceful realization if your approach to the highest tantric practice is taking you in the opposite direction. For example, if you want to go from Kathmandu to Kopan, which is to the east, it is a mistake to travel westward. It will be impossible to get to where you want to go this way. I say this even though I know that some of you sharp-minded debaters will argue with me, saying, “Since the Earth is round, you can reach Kopan by travelling west from Kathmandu.”
Returning to Lama Tsongkhapa’s biography, we can compare this example of one man’s achievement with what we have done so far. Where did he get the energy to accomplish everything he did while our lives seem taken up with trivialities? It is important to realize that there is no essential difference between Lama Tsongkhapa and ourselves. Do not think that he—or any of the other great Indian or Tibetan teachers—inhabited some sort of unreachable realm while we are stuck down here, trapped in sin and negativity. That is not right. The whole process of mental purification is to rid ourselves of such dualistic thoughts as, “He is holy, while I am nothing.” The practice of guru yoga absorption, in which you visualize yourself as inseparable from the guru-buddha, should wake you up to the realization of your own unlimited capabilities. To think that you are hopeless and incapable is a dangerous underestimation of your qualities and potentialities. Therefore, please study the lives of such great teachers as Lama Tsongkhapa and Milarepa and be inspired by them to use your own abilities to the greatest advantage.
Now it should be clearer why the emphasis on purity is one of the most important features of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings. If our body, speech and mind are not kept in a fundamentally healthy condition, it will be impossible to live up to our potential and attain advanced states of meditative concentration (samadhi) and penetrative insight (vipashyana), both of which are necessary for receiving profound realizations. Now that you have attended this meditation course, you can see the sense behind this. From your own experience you realize that the body, speech and mind must be tamed by the proper discipline if any progress is to be made. However, I am sure that if I were to talk about the need for such purity and discipline to a group of Los Angeles people caught up in the Los Angeles mentality, they would think I was crazy. But after spending some time observing the mad elephant nature of the untamed mind, you can understand what I am saying. You do not think I am completely crazy.
It is helpful to realize how much your thinking has changed over even as short a period as one month regarding such matters as the need for discipline. Now that you have had the chance to digest a few teachings, you can see how your understanding has grown. Without making such an attempt to put what you hear into practice—experimenting to see if they are valuable or not—it is easy to disregard what someone might tell you. You might think, “Oh, just some more words. Who wants to listen to all that? It has nothing to do with Western traditions, so what possible value could it have for me?” But now that you have put these teachings to the test, trying them out in your own experience, you can see what value they have. To check in this way is very important.
Furthermore, if you do decide to practice the teachings of the graded path, you should do so without arrogance. Do not think, “What fantastic teachings I have received! Now I can forget about right and wrong and put things together in whatever way I like.” In at least one important way this would be a very serious mistake. An arrogant attitude like this could turn you into a bad influence on your friends. Remember that whatever a person does has an effect on others. It leaves an impression on them and creates in their mind a certain visualization. Thus the influence of friends is a very powerful thing and can easily cause delusions to arise. Therefore, if we truly have compassion for others, we should try to act as naturally as possible while in their company, rather than bragging or showing off whatever powers we may have gained through our practices. This is simple advice and has meaning for us all.
I cannot tell, but perhaps some of you here are as advanced as Guru Rinpoche, Vajradhara or some other great embodiment of the tantric practices. Maybe your control over inner and outer forces is so great that you can do fantastic things, even conduct high voltage electricity through your body. But what is the value of this if, by demonstrating such powers, you fail to benefit others? Perhaps you will only disturb their mind, causing them to become confused or jealous or go berserk. You have to take into account the effect your actions will have on others, because the only reason to practice such advanced methods as tantra is to benefit others as quickly as possible.
To use spiritual teachings or powers in a boastful, inconsiderate way is really very selfish. That is why I say that even a very high practitioner should never be arrogant. It is much better to practice in a subdued manner. When the Buddhist teachings of tantra flourished in India, the practitioner was not even allowed to show others the tantric implements he or she carried. Even the string of beads used to count mantras had to be hidden in a small bag whenever the practitioner went out among the people.
There were many followers of Lama Tsongkhapa who achieved enlightenment by following his tantric yoga methods; Gyaltsab-je, Khedrub-je and Gyalwa Ensapa are just a few of the most famous. In exactly the same way, if you follow the graded path of sutra and tantra just as Lama Tsongkhapa and the other great gurus of the various traditions have explained it, there is no reason why you yourself cannot achieve full enlightenment in this very lifetime. There is no distinction between men and women concerning this; it is a possibility open to everyone.
Therefore, please put whatever teachings you have received into practice as much as possible. This would be very beneficial for all concerned.
Sometimes, even after studying Dharma for a long time, you may feel that you still do not know how to act properly. At such a time it is useful to read the life stories of the great teachers of the past. This is a good way to check up and see how the teachings can be put into practice in everyday life. This is a very helpful way of learning. Therefore, I am glad we all had the chance to listen to the biographies of Buddha, Jesus and Je Tsongkhapa presented these past few days.
Thank you very much and please enjoy the holiday.!
