What is the unique quality of Buddhism?

General Dharma Points

The most crucial point in Buddhism is to tame the mind. As the Buddha said in the Dhammapada, ‘To tame the mind is excellent.’ When you tame your mind, you will be happy. So the most important unique quality of Buddhism is that it was taught in order to tame the mind. What kind of mind do we need to tame? The mind that makes us unhappy, uneasy. The negative emotions and all these wild negative thoughts. Slowly slowly, we need to tame these negative emotions and thoughts.

The antidote that tames—where was that taught? In the buddhadharma, the Buddhas teachings. These antidotes for taming the mind are the unique quality of Buddhism. What is taught in the dharma? Meditation, study, and mind training. With regards to study, we need to study the Buddhist texts and receive teachings. Then we need to contemplate and reflect on the meaning of what we have studied. Finally, we need to meditate, to take the meaning of what we have studied and contemplated into our experience. Mind training is a section of teachings containing different types of meditation that help us think positively and train in compassion and so forth so that our negative emotions and suffering slowly reduce.

In mind training, there are many many different teachings and techniques. I cannot go into them all here, but if you are interested you should read texts such as Gyalse Togme’s Thirty Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, Chengawa’s Seven Points of Training the Mind, and Atisha’s Lamp for the Path of Enlightenment.

There are three types of meditation: shamatha (calm abiding), vipashyana (superior clear seeing) and supreme vipashyana—this is also called Mahamdura (Great Seal) or Dzogchen (Great Perfection). There are many different kinds of shamatha and vipashyana techniques, but they are all taught as antidotes for the negative emotions.

What does it mean to be a Buddhist?

First, going for refuge in the three jewels of Buddha, dharma, and sangha. Secondly, having less desires, contentment, renunciation, loving kindness, and compassion, and being able to slowly slowly gain certainty in the dharma and realise selflessness and emptiness. In short, being a Buddhist means being able to understand and practice the Four Seals that are the sign of the Buddhas teaching. The Four Seals are:

All conditioned things are impermanent.

All defiled things are suffering.

All phenomena are selfless.

Nirvana is peace.

What do samsara and nirvana mean in Buddhism?

Samsara is delusion. It is an ocean of uneasiness and suffering.

Outer samsara is the six realms. The six realms are the hell realm, the hungry ghost realm, the animal realm, the human realm, the demi-god realm, and the god realm. There are two ways of explaining these: outwardly and inwardly. From the outer perspective, the six realms exist outside of oneself, meaning the hell realms are down below the earth and the hungry ghost realms a little bit above them. The animal realm we can see. The human realm is here, where we are. The demi-god realm is a little bit above this and the god realm above that. However, the deeper inner understanding is that the six realms depend on your own emotions and your own mind. They are reflections of our own disturbing emotions. As a result of different disturbing emotions, different realms appear: from anger comes hell; from stinginess comes the hungry ghost realm; from stupidity the animal realm; from desire the human realm; from jealousy the demi-god realm; and from pride the god realm.

Inner samsara is the negative emotions, such as anger and so forth.

The innermost or secret samsara is self-grasping and ignorance. (This is also the cause of inner and outer samsara.) It is called ‘secret’ because emotions are easy to see, but self-grasping and ignorance are more difficult to see. The root of all of samsara is self-grasping and ignorance. The remedy for self-grasping is realising selflessness. In order to realise selflessness, first you need to learn about selflessness, to study. Then reflect, investigate, examine. Finally, you need to meditate on selflessness. You need to train in stages like this and then gradually your negative emotions and self-grasping will lessen. Realising selflessness is possible. We need to think properly about this ‘self’, this ‘existent self. Are there good reasons to say that there is a self, that the self exists? Are there reasons to say that it does not exist? You need to really think about this. Realising selflessness is possible. Up until now, many people have practiced and realised. The main cause of self-grasping is ignorance. The remedy for ignorance is the wisdom that realises the natural state of all phenomena, the wisdom that realises emptiness. As this comes to birth in your mind, then gradually you will abandon ignorance—that is called buddhahood.

Buddhism seems to talk a lot about suffering. Isn’t this a bit depressing and pessimistic? When Buddha first taught, the first thing he said was “Know suffering.” From one side, at first you might think, “Oh dear. Suffering is so difficult” and it’s possible you’ll find this quite depressing and pessimistic. However, when you know your suffering then you can recognise happiness very well. If you know suffering just a little bit, you will be able to experience happiness and you will be able to recognise happiness.

Secondly, when you know suffering, you must question what the cause of this suffering is. If you just think, “I am suffering” and stay stuck thinking only about suffering then you will get depressed. Buddha said, “See suffering. Know suffering.” He didn’t say, “Medicate on suffering.” So after seeing suffering, you need to think about the cause of suffering. The second thing the Buddha said was “Abandon the cause of suffering”, right? He said, “Know suffering. Abandon the cause of suffering.” Therefore, when people first hear the buddhadharma and hear all this talk about suffering, they might think that Buddhism is very depressing and pessimistic. But, when you start from suffering then it is very easy to identify happiness. For example, someone who is generally healthy and happy doesn’t identify their happiness very clearly and doesn’t really enjoy it, because they are always working, planning, worrying, or doing something. When that person gets sick for one week, iater on when they recover and are healthy again they really know that they are healthy. They are really aware of it and really enjoy it. Therefore, it is taught in Buddhism that Erst you need to know suffering.

Furthermore, not everything in Buddhism is about suffering. Suffering is taught just at the beginning. We have 102 large volumes of the Buddha’s word, each containing man y different sutras and so forth with many chapters, and suffering is only taught in a few chapters in a few of those volumes. In the mundane world, when there is something we desire, we think of having that thing as happiness and enjoyment. One thing hat is very different about Buddhism though is that it shows how, honestly speaking, that kind of desire and attachment actually brings ore suffering than happiness. You might have something very precious, for example, very nice expensive clothes that you think you really enjoy, but actually chasing after these things bring you lots ifaculties with the negative emotions and disturbs your mind. Therefore, the Buddhas teaching is very dear. When you think it, it really is true.

The teachings that the Buddha taught seem to be very individual . Can they help society at all or are they just for the benefit of individuals?

The buddhadharma can really help both individuals and society.

It can be used by both. It can help and be used by both the rich and poor, by rulers and the public. Why? Because the dharma teachings talk about the conduct of the six paramitas (generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom) and the motivation of bodhichitta (the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of others). If you have these two, then whatever you do life becomes very easy. For example, in society you need generosity. You need discipline. You need patience. You need diligence in improving things and you need concentration: a firm, reliable, and relaxed mind. In order to develop a positive society, you need wisdom or knowing. For example, in order to be a good parent you must have the six paramitas. It is the same with being a good leader. ]ust to be a good person you need to have these qualities.

When you have the six paramitas and the motivation of bodhichitta, what land of person are you? You are the perfect human being. A precious, perfect human being. Perfect from your own side, because you don’t have any extra suffering, and perfect from the side of others, because you are like a wish- fulfilling jewel that brings benefits to them. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do. The buddhadharma is true. It can benefit everyone, everywhere: society, business, family, everyone. The buddhadharma is something that you need to apply and make use of in all situations, not just as an isolated individual sitting alone in a mountain cave.

If the world’s leaders were very patient, generous, and wise—how good that would be! Even a child—if they can have these qualities it’s excellent. And at all times, you must have the motivation of bodhichitta. You need to have compassion and loving kindness, at all times. If you have bodhichitta, compassion, and loving kindness, and all the six paramitas, it’s really good; if just one of them is missing then it's a problem. For example, you might say about someone, “He’s such a good person. He’s very disciplined, diligent, focused, relaxed, and wise, but he’s so stingy.” If someone doesn’t have a calm mind, then you might think, “Oh, she is a really good person. She really gives a lot to others. She’s very ethical, very patient, and very diligent in her work. She’s also very smart, but her mind is so flighty. She’s not reliable.” Or there might be someone who has five of the six paramitas, but Jacks good ethics: he is a womaniser. Really. So in any situation, in any role, whether as a leader, a family member, whatever, you must have these six paramitas.

Buddhism is always talking about giving things up and throwing things away, like Buddha Shakyamuni who left his family and responsibilities to practice the dharma. Isn’t this a bit selfish and irresponsible?

It’s very important to understand that there are many ways to practice dharma. The most important thing to understand is that the dharma is totally based on mind, how you think. Buddha was the first teacher. He needed to show what it really means to give up inner clinging. First of ail he himself was a prince and while living in the royal palace he really didn’t know how to give up this clinging. Later on when he really did give it up, it was not only for his own sake, bur because he saw suffering, he saw death, and he thought his children, his family, everyone is going to have to go through this, and so he really wanted to get an answer, an answer how to reduce these kinds of mental sufferings. So from his perspective, from the perspective of what he did, I don’t think it was selfish. He needed to get the answers, the solutions to these mental sufferings. And after he found the answers he said, if you are very serious about practice and if you have the capability to do practice, to give up—capability means for example that you don’t have too much pressure from family and so on—then if you really want to you should give up. You should try. Trying doesn’t hurt. You should try different things, like trying different food.

However, there are other ways to practice as well. You can be in the world. You can work and so on, but the most important thing is to tame the mind. What did the Buddha say in his teachings? He said, “Commit not a single negative act”, meaning anything that makes others and yourself suffer. “Cultivate a wealth of virtue”, meaning positive things that make yourself and others happy. Most importantly, “Completely tame your mind” and your negative emotions. “That is the buddhadharma”, the Buddha’s teaching. All of the buddhadharma can be condensed into these four lines. This shows very clearly that Buddhism is not always talking about giving up. Buddhism is talking about how to gain happiness, and freedom from your negative emotions. To give up what? To give up your own negative emotions.

When you begin to tame your mind, you can have anger, but you are not really fully angry. You desire something, like in the business world, but you don’t have this iron grip of attachment. You have short-term mental and physical sufferings, but you don’t suffer. To put the Buddha’s teachings into reality is very important.

You shouldn’t just keep them as something conceptual; you should put them into reality and apply them them through your mind. It’s very important to understand that the buddhadharma is not just teaching giving up, giving up.

Right now in the world many people say we have a problem with over-population, and many people are trying different things to solve this problem. I have heard some horrible stories about different groups of people doing terrible things in an attempt to control population increase. Whether these stories are true or not I don’t know, but nevertheless to become a monk or nun is a good solution to keep the population in control. It’s a good solution, isn’t it? I’m just joking.

Ground

The Three Jewels

What are the three jewels?

The three jewels are the buddha, the dharma, and the sangha.

The word for Buddha in Tibetan, sangye (sangs rgyas), means having cleared away or abandoned (sangs, sang) both the afflictive obscuration of negative emotions and the cognitive obscuration that prevents us from seeing things as they truly are, and having expanded (rgyas, gye) the two wisdoms: the wisdom that knows things as they are, and the wisdom that knows things in their multiplicity.

The Buddha appears for three reasons: first, the accumulation of merit by sentient beings; second, the Buddhas’ aspirations; and third, the Buddhas’ compassion. Therefore, we have the example of Buddha Shakyamuni who was born in Lumbini, who attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, who first taught in Sarnath, who gave the prajnaparamita teachings on Vulture Peak, and passed away in Kushinagar. These are the acts the Buddha Shakyamuni performed 2,600 years ago. Buddha Shakyamuni is the fourth Buddha to appear in this aeon. Three Buddhas appeared before him and many more will appear in the future.

Concerning the divisions of the Buddha, first is the dharmakaya, the empty essence, the embodiment of emptiness. The embodiment of thought-free awareness or wisdom, the cognizant nature, is sambhogakaya. The embodiment of compassion that appears from the dharmakaya to sentient beings is the nirmanakaya. Buddha can be wood, an animal, anything. Buddha is not restricted to just one form. Dharma in general means the Buddha’s teachings, but the word itself has many meanings. Dharma can mean the path. It can also be understood as nirvana. Dharma also means to hold, not to let go and fall into negative emotions and negative cause and effect.

Negative cause here means the negative emotions and ignorance. Negative effect means suffering. There are two kinds of dharma: the dharma of scripture and the dharma of realisation. Within the dharma of scripture, there are two main kinds of texts: the Buddhas word (the Tripitaka or Kangyur), and the translated treatises of great masters and panditas (the Tengyur). We also have the texts of the great mahasiddhas who gave pith instructions. So we have the Buddha’s teachings (the Kangyur), the masters’ treatises (the Tengyur), and pith instructions, such as Mahamudra and so forth.

In the Vajrayana, on top of that, we have Buddha’s teachings of tantra (rgyud, gyii), scriptures (lung, lung), and the pith instructions (man ngag, me-ngag). The dharma of realisation refers to the correct understanding of dharma, the correct understanding of the teachings that tame the mind, the realisation of emptiness and so forth. These are all inner dharma, inner teachings of the buddhadharma. Whoever tries to tame the mind and negative emotions, who tries to accumulate merit on the path, who practices, who possesses the inner dharma, the dharma of realisation—that is the sangha. There are three kinds of sangha: the lay sangha; the ordained sangha; and the sangha of mahasiddhas or yogis. The lay practitioners must keep the five precepts. Ordained people must have the ten novice vows or the two hundred and fifty three vows for fully-ordained monks or three hundred and sixty vows for fully-ordained nuns. Yogis keep the fourteen root and eight branch samayas.

What are the four noble truths?

Suffering, the cause of suffering, cessation of suffering, and the path.

There are three kinds of suffering: the suffering of change, the suffering of suffering, and all-pervasive suffering. When you talk about suffering from the perspective of the object, there are the six realms of hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, demi-gods, and gods. These six different realms have six different sufferings, but they can all be included in the three sufferings.

Some suffering is purely mental, not physical. We tend to think it is the body that suffers, right? But no. There are two doors through which we can suffer: one is the body and one is the mind.

The suffering of suffering means you have suffering to begin with, but then on top of that you have even more suffering. For example, I am very very sick and then on top of that my father passes away. Suffering upon suffering. The second type of suffering, the suffering of change, may look-like happiness for a brief moment, but things change so rapidly that you end up suffering a lot. For example, you have a nice beautiful relationship, both people feeling very happy, and then all of sudden anger or jealousy comes up. Those nice pleasant feelings immediately change to suffering, right? This is called the suffering of change.

The third kind of suffering is all-pervasive suffering. An example of all-pervasive suffering is our body. This body or ‘me is the basis of suffering. Because of this body, I have pain. Because of the body, I suffer physically. Because of me, I have mine: my relatives, my house, my business, my this, my that. If something happens to ‘mine’ then I suffer.

Feeling-wise, all-pervasive suffering is neutral, but based on this neutral feeling you suffer a lot. Feeling-wise, the first type, suffering upon suffering, is what we usually consider suffering, whereas the second type of suffering, the suffering of change, is samsaric happiness: the happiness that we experience in this world, in samsara, is actually the suffering of change because it does not last.

The cause of suffering is the negative emotions. As human beings we have the problem of desire, attachment, and we are never content. What we have, we want more of. When we get more, it is not enough; we then want even more.

The negative emotions themselves are caused by ignorance. Ignorance means the blindness that cannot see clearly whether what you are doing is right or wrong, whether you are doing something harmful or not and what the result of your action will be. That is ignorance. In Buddhism, we traditionally talk about five main negative emotions: ignorance, attachment, anger, pride, and jealousy. These are the five negative or disturbing emotions, but I would like to add one more—distraction. Distraction is when your clear mind gets distracted from the virtuous path, and is a disturbing emotion.

Cessation is peaceful, unchanging, clear, and blissful.

Cessation means you gain some understanding or experience through shamatha meditation or vipashyana meditation—just a small glimpse of no negative emotions. That is a small example of cessation or freedom.

As to the path, there are five paths. The path of accumulation is the first of the five paths and emphasises the accumulation of merit, faith, mindfulness, and studying and contemplation. This could include things like the preliminaries or other practices you might do before gaining any firm understanding or experience.

After this, when one gains some direct experience of emptiness, one enters the path of joining. When you then realise emptiness directly, you are on the path of seeing. When you develop this seeing more clearly, more deeply, and with more stability you are on the path of meditation. When you complete that path, realising and attaining enlightenment, you attain the path of no more learning, the state of complete and perfect enlightenment. These are the five paths.

How to attain these? The three prajnas (or wisdoms): the prajnas of studying, contemplating, and meditating. Study the dharma correctly. Study the dharma without negative emotions. Study the dharma with a good motivation. Contemplating means trying to gain some certainty about what you studied.

To contemplate, to investigate, to examine is the prajna of contemplation. To then try to gain experience in what you have studied and contemplated is the prajna of meditation.

What are the three turnings of the wheel of dharma?

The first was taught in Sarnath and is the teaching of the four noble truths: the first two truths being samsaras cause and effect, and the second two being nirvana’s cause and effect. The Buddha turned the second wheel of dharma in a place called Vulture Peak. There he taught the prajnaparamita, the path of supreme knowledge [[[prajna]], shes rab, sherab) based on emptiness, the six paramitas and so forth. The last turning was given in a place called Vaishali and consists of the teachings on buddha-nature, tathagatagarbha. The first turning teaches the four truths. The second turning teaches the two truths, and the third turning teaches the three truths: the dependent nature (gzhan dbang, shenwang), the thoroughly-imputed nature (kun btags, kuntag), and the fully-established nature (yongsgrub, yongdrub).

Why do Buddhists take refuge in the three jewels?

When we practice the dharma, we need to start with refuge.

You have suffering and the cause of suffering. The one who has destroyed his own suffering and its cause is the Buddha. The method for destroying it is the dharma, the Buddha’s teaching. The ones practicing this dharma are the sangha. Therefore, if we go for refuge in the three jewels of Buddha, dharma, and sangha it really helps us to abandon our negative emotions. When we practice the dharma, we have to start from refuge: there is no other starting point. From one side, going for refuge helps inspire us. It is also works as a positive influence, because when we look at the Buddha and his qualities we want to become like the Buddha. There are many different types of refuge.

The unsurpassable teacher, precious Buddha, is the teacher who is free from all conceptual elaborations, all grasping to true existence and to self, to ‘I’. What this unsurpassable teacher taught is the dharma—the unsurpassable protector, the precious dharma. The dharma is not only the protector and refuge in this

life and future lives; it goes even further by teaching us how 10 recognise the disturbing emotions and their root in our minds and teaching the methods to abandon them. Because it teaches these methods, it is the sublime dharma, the unsurpassable protector. The unsurpassable guides on the path are the precious sangha.

There are many benefits to taking refuge in the three jewels. First, taking refuge means we will experience fewer obstacles. Second, it gives support to our efforts on the path. Third, after you receive the refuge vow and start practicing refuge, you will experience less emotional problems and so forth, so refuge has many benefits.

Is there a difference when one takes refuge with a Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana master? When taking refuge in these three different contexts, first of all there is a difference in the support that one takes refuge in. For example, the three jewels, the three roots, and the three kayas. Secondly, there is a difference in the motivation with which one takes refuge. In the Hinayana one takes refuge motivated by renunciation. In Mahayana one takes refuge motivated by bodhichitta, and in Vajrayana, secret mantra, one takes refuge with pure perception.

What is faith in the context of Buddhism?

In Buddhism, we talk about four types of faith: inspired faith; longing faith; confident faith; and irreversible faith. Inspired faith is the faith that arises when you see the good qualities of the Buddhas teachings and so forth and feel inspired. Longing faith is the faith of wanting to achieve enlightenment, wanting to tame your mind, wanting to practice. Confident faith arises when as the result of having done some practice you gain some certainty in the dharma, certainty that the dharma is true and that it really can tame the mind. Irreversible faith is unchangeable faith. How to gain char? Through meditation experience, through understanding, through investigating, and through gaining certainty in the dharma, in practice.

Karma

What is karma? Can it be proven?

Karma is action, cause and result.. Karma can be proven by your experience. When you perform positive actions, you gain positive results. When you perform negative actions, you gain negative results, physically or mentally. Positive here means with a good motivation without the three negative emotions of attachment, anger, and ignorance.

What are the ten virtuous and ten non-virtuous actions? How to distinguish between virtue and non-virtue? There are three non-virtuous actions of body, four non-virtuous actions of speech, and three non-virtuous actions of mind. The three non-virtuous actions of body are killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct. The four non-virtuous actions of speech are lying, divisive speech, harsh words, and gossip. The three non-virruous actions of mind are envy, harmful intent, and wrong view. The ten virtuous actions are their opposites. For example, the opposite of the non-virtue of killing is to abandon killing and do things to protect and save the lives of others.

How to distinguish virtue and non-virtue? The most important thing is motivation. Virtue and non-virtue depend on your motivation. If your motivation in doing, saying, or thinking something is mixed with any of the six negative emotions and connected with self-clinging, then however the action appears outwardly—good or bad—it becomes non-virtue. If you do something with a positive motivation, free of the negative emotions

of desire, stinginess and so forth, then that becomes virtue. The main factor that determines an action as virtuous or non-virtuous *is the mind. Mind comes first, and then after that body and speech follow, so the main thing is mind and your motivation.

Who decides what is good karma and bad karma?

It is mainly the mind, the motivation, the initial thought deep down in your heart. It is the kind of motivation you are doing an action with that determines what kind of karma it is. Virtuous and non-virtuous karma are distinguished mainly by the presence or absence of attachment, aversion, and ignorance. Actions motivated by those three disturbing emotions are called non-virtue. Actions done without any of those three disturbing emotions are called virtue.

Within virtuous and non-virtuous karma there are different q levels or different kinds of karma. If you think of karma in a very coarse way, regarding each of these types of karma there are two motivations: the causal motivation and the motivation of time. The causal motivation is the motivation you have before engaging in the karma, the action. The motivation of time is the motivation you have when actually doing the action, so within that time your mind and motivation can change.

The fact that the result of what we call virtuous deeds is happiness and the result of what we call non-virtuous deeds is suffering is simply the nature of phenomena. For example, you have a seed. If this seed then has sunlight, water, and good soil it will sprout, right? This is the nature of things, right? There is no question about whether it will sprout or not. The fact that happiness results from virtuous karma and suffering from non-virtuous karma is not something that was made up by God or the Buddha. It is simply the nature of things. The nature of things means for example that if you have ignorance in your mind stream suffering will arise. If you have aversion or anger suffering will arise. Likewise, if you

have attachment or desire in your mind stream suffering will arise. This is the nature of the disturbing emotions. As I said before, non- virtuous karma means actions motivated by these three disturbing emotions.

In this context, when we talk about attachment, averison, and ignorance they refer mostly to the aspect of disturbing emotions. Disturbing emotions are shaky. There are two levels to the mind. You really need to discriminate these two when talking about karma. On the coarser level, when you talk about karma it refers to the shaky mind, the ordinary shaky mind. Karma is quite deep. For example, when you think about it in a more subtle way, about self- grasping, then if an action is done based on self-grasping whether that action is virtuous or non-virtuous depends on whether you are doing it for your own benefit. If you are doing it for your own benefit it becomes non-virtuous karma. It is karma motivated chiefly by self-grasping. So regarding virtuous and non-virtuous karma, there is a lot to think about. However, the main thing is, as the Buddha said, that karma depends on your motivation.

There is no-one deciding what is virtuous karma and what is non-virtuous karma. It depends on your motivation. Why? It is the nature of things. It is the nature of things that water flows downwards, right? Water doesn’t flow upwards, right? But don’t think that there is some truly existent nature of things. The sun rises and the sun sets. The globe moves around the sun. Why is the globe moving? Of course there are conditions to make the globe move around the sun. Why are the conditions there? It is the nature of things, the way things are. There are some non-Buddhists who say, “Time goes. There is something truly existent called ‘time** Likewise, some people think that when we say ‘the nature of things’ in the context of Buddhism it means that the nature of things really exists, that Buddhism teaches that the nature of things is truly existent. Its not like that. If cause and conditions are present then the result will arise. Why? Because the causes and conditions have the ability or power to give rise to the result.

If one has created negative karma, can one purify it? If yes, how? And if no, why?

Yes, one can. How? You need to meditate on bodhichitta and on compassion and loving kindness. You need to study, reflect, and meditate on the meaning of selflessness. This is very important. You need to gather the two accumulations of merit and wisdom and meditate a lot. Then slowly slowly your negative karma will be reduced and purified.

The Mind and Buddha-nature

In the context of Buddhism, what is the mind? What is consciousness?

In Buddhism, mind and consciousness are a little different. The Buddhist texts talk about six consciousnesses: the five sense consciousnesses of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body, and the mental consciousness. The cognition of the five sense consciousnesses is non-conceptual cognition, while the cognition of the mental consciousness or mind is conceptual. For example, eye consciousness is a consciousness, but you don’t call it mind. It is something that is just clear and seeing, without thought. It is after the initial moment of eye consciousness that we then see and judge with our mind, our mental consciousness. Then we call it mind. The mind or mental consciousness is a judgmental conceptual consciousness. The mind is what thinks, plans, worries, feels, experiences. It is the creator. All negative emotions arise from the mind. All happiness arises from the mind.

What is buddha-nature?

It is the cause of buddhahood. There are two kinds of buddha- nature. In Sanskrit they are called tathagatagarbha and sugatagarbha. Tathagatagarbha means the thus-gone nature: it is the nature of mind, the natural state. What is the nature of mind like? The unity of clarity and emptiness. Sugatagarbha means the bliss-gone nature and is more of a Vajrayana term. ‘Bliss’ refers to the path, the path of the third turning of the wheel, the fact that it is without great harships, very fast, and comfortable. All enlightened qualities are naturally present within buddha-nature, without having to be developed though reading dharma books, practicing compassion, and so forth; thev are naturallv present. All sentient beings have buddha-nature.

All living beings have buddha-nature. That is why they can attain or realise enlightenment.

How can we gain certainty in buddha-nature?

You need to study, reflect, and meditate on buddha-nature. If you study, reflect, and meditate, then gradually certainty will arise. In short, there are two things you can do. Firstly, when you start practicing the dharma and your positive qualities improve a lot—for example, if someone has a very short temper and then really focuses on practicing, and within a year or just a few months their temper really reduces and their practice of loving kindness increases—then that is a sign that anger is not innate in buddha-nature. That is why we can improve. If buddha-nature was already tainted by anger and so on, then we couldn’t really improve. This is the long route to gain certainty in buddha-nature.

A shorter route is to reflect on how buddha-nature is the nature not only of all phenomena, but mainly the quality of our mind. This is the second method. Do a little bit of shamatha meditation to stabilise the mind a little and then start analytical meditation. Examine the mind. Where does it come from? Where does it go? Where is the mind? Examining the arising, abiding, and going of mind is really helpful. If you do that, it is very easy to gain certainty in buddha-nature. It is usually difficult to gain certainty from studying alone. When you really gain certainty in buddha-nature

like that, then I think your practice will be very stable and you will become very diligent. Also, you won’t have the problem of low self�esteem, because you have certainty that you have buddha-nature.

Path

Buddhist Schools & Lineages

What are Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana students? Why is Buddhism divided in this way?

The term Hinayana actually means ‘lesser vehicle’, which could be insulting to Theravada practitioners, so it might be better to say ‘Pali students’ because their tripitaka is written in the Pali language, while the Mahayana and Vajrayana tripitakas were originally in Sanskrit. Their view is selflessness. Their path is the practice of contentment, renunciation, and shamatha and vipashyana meditation. Their fruition is nirvana, freedom.

For bodhisattvas, or Mahayana students, the view is emptiness free from the four extremes of existence, non-existence, both existence and non-existence, and neither existence nor non�existence. The path is based on compassion and bodhichitta (the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of others) and the six paramitas (generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation, and supreme knowledge). The fruition is freedom from samsara and nirvana, and the attainment of complete and perfect enlightenment, buddhahood.

For Vajrayana students, the view is the inseparable unity of pure perception and emptiness. With regards to the meditation, shamatha is practised as the development stage (visualisation practice) and vipashyana as the completion stage (either with concepts, such as the practise of nadis, pranas, and bindus, or without concepts as in Mahamudra or Dzogchen). Freedom from hope and fear is the fruition of Vajrayana.

There are two major differences between these three. One is the ground and one is their emphasis. With regards to the ground, the Hinayana and Mahayana traditions see tathagatagarbha or buddha-nature as a cause for achieving nirvana or enlightenment. The Vajrayana views enlightenment as something to realise, not something to achieve. The Vajrayana view is pure perception, which means seeing the body, speech, and mind as pure, not impure.

The biggest difference in their emphasis lies in the view. In the Hinayana, Buddha taught mostly non-existence. In the Mahayana teachings, Buddha taught mostly emptiness, and in Vajrayana mostly primordial wisdom {ye shes, yeshe). Because of these differences in the view, then there are differences in the strength of the result attained. Sometimes the result is called buddhahood, sometimes no hope no fear, but ultimately they are the same. Ultimately, all vehicles arrive at the same result and at one ultimate vehicle, but there are differences in the paths taught and the amount of skilful means.

You must understand that Vajrayana includes Hinayana and Mahayana teachings and practice. Vajrayana includes the essence of Hinayana and Mahayana. The essence of the Hinayana is renunciation, selflessness, and mindfulness, which are practiced in the Vajrayana. The essence of Mahayana is bodhichitta, the six paramitas, and emptiness, which are also practiced in Vajrayana.

How many different schools are there in Tibetan Buddhism?

First is the Nyingma school, the Ancient School of the Early Translations. It began from Guru Rinpoche, Vairotsana, Khenchen Bodhisattva, and so forth. Second is the Kagyu school, which started from Tilo, Naro, Marpa Lotsa, who brought the Kagyu tradition from India to Tibet, and Mila. Then there is the Sakya school, which began from the great mahasiddha Virupa who then passed the lineage on to Drokmi Lotsawa Shakya Yeshe and then the five great Sakyapa forefathers. Then there is the Gelug school, in which there is the earlier Gelug and later Gelug. The earlier lineage

is the Kadampa lineage that started with Jowo Palden Atisha and his students in Tibet. The newer lineage began with Je Tsongkhapa Chenpo and his two disciples Gyaltsab Je and Kedrub Je. From there came the new Kadampas. These are the four schools.

How many different levels of practice are there in Tibetan Buddhism?

The Buddhas spoken words comprise 102 large volumes that are divided into four sections of Vinaya, Sutra, Abhidharma, and Tantra. Ail of these four sections are studied and practiced in Tibet.

First, there is the practice of shravakas. They focus on having less desire and contentment. They practice mainly the four truths, and from among the four truths mainly the meaning of selflessness. They also practice the eightfold noble path and shamatha and vipashyana. These are the things they emphasise most. The master who brought the shravaka teachings to Tibet is the bodhisattva and fully-ordained monk Shantarakshita. He brought the zhikun yopa (gzhi kunyodpa) branch of the Sarvastivadin lineage of personal liberation (pratimoksha) vows from India.

Then there is the practice of pratyekabuddhas, which is similar to the shravakas in practicing less desire, contentment, shamatha, and vipashyana. Their main practice though is reflecting and meditating on dependent origination. Then there is the practice of bodhisattvas, who emphasise the practice of the two truths (the relative truth and the ultimate truth) and relative and ultimate bodhichitta. This was also brought to Tibet by the bodhisattva Shantarakshita. Within the practice of bodhisattvas, there are two lineages: one that comes down from Manjushri and one that comes down from the protector Maitreya. Based on these two lineages, one takes the bodhisattva vow and engages in the conduct of a bodhisattva, meaning compassion and bodhichitta and the practice of the sue paramitas.

Then there is the practice of tantra or mantra. It is very important not to misunderstand tantra. It is not black magic. It is not just ritual. It is based on all the previously mentioned levels of practice: on the practices of the shravakas, the pratyekabuddhas, and the bodhisatrvas. There are outer levels of tantra and inner levels of tantra. The outer levels can be divided into three: Kriya, Upa, and Yoga. Each of these levels has its own kind of shamatha [and vipashyana] meditations, and development [and completion] stages. Development stage means meditating on a deity.

Then there are the three inner tantras: Maha, Anu, and Atiyoga. Mahayoga emphasises the development stage and practices the four nails, the three samadhis and so forth. Anuyoga emphasises the completion stage with concepts, meaning the practice of nadis, pranas, and bindus, and the six yogas of Naropa: the yoga of inner heat, the yoga of illusory body, the yoga of dreams, the yoga of luminosity, the yoga of ejection of consciousness, and the yoga of the intermediate states. Dream yoga purifies the dream state. The yoga of the intermediate state purifies the intermediate state (the period between dying and taking rebirth) and so forth. Then there is the practice of Atiyoga, which emphasises non-dual primordial wisdom, the Great Perfection, which is like the heart essence of the Buddha. Some divide the different levels of tantra not into six, but into four: Kriya, Upa, Yoga, and Anuttara.

So there are many stages and many different ways of dividing them. Some talk about nine stages or vehicles. Some talk about three stages and some about two. The nine stages are the shravaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattvayanas, and then the six levels of tantra as described above. The three stages are shravaka and pratyekabuddha, bodhisattva, and tantra. The two stages are the greater vehicle, which includes the bodhisattvayana and tantra, and the lesser vehicle, which includes the shravaka and pratyekabuddhayanas.

Disturbing Emotions & Obscurations

What are the five poisons?

Ignorance, attachment, anger, jealousy, and pride.

Ignorance means not knowing. For example, when negative emotions arise, when we get angry, we don’t know we are angry. This is one example of ignorance, so at some levels ignorance is not knowing or being aware of negative emotions. At some levels, even though you are aware of the negative emotions, you don’t recognise that they are negative. This is also ignorance. There are many different levels to ignorance, but I cannot go through them all here.

Attachment is desire. For example, you see something pleasant and think, “It is mine. My child. My thing.” Whenever you perceive something as pleasant, then immediately attachment arises. You think, “If only I could get that...” and then when you have it you start thinking, “Oh no. Maybe I will lose it...” This is all attachment, grasping.

Anger arises when you think someone or something has harmed you or hurt you, or you experience something unpleasant. Pride is thinking, “I am high. I am superior. I am great.” When you have pride, you see everyone as lower than you. You think you are the best, that only your path is the true path.

Jealousy arises towards those equal to one and a litde bit better. You think, “If only he was worse than me and I could become better than him.”

Sometimes we talk about six negative emotions and add on stinginess. Stinginess is strong grasping, being unable to let go, to give. It is miserliness.

What is the root of all emotions?

There are two main roots. One is self-grasping, self-clinging. Once you have clinging to me, to I, then it is so easy for emotions to arise. We are so spoilt and so habituated to this self-clinging that sometimes it is so difficult to deal with our emotions. The second root is ignorance (ma rig pa, marigpa), the ignorance that does not recognise the meaning of the natural state. You need to think like this: every moment is a condition to gain realisation of ultimate truth, but still we haven’t realised. For example, a dog is barking. The barking is emptiness, right? Where does the sound come from? From the back?

From the front? Where does it come from? Where does it go? To be honest, it does not exist, right? Some air goes in and out of the dog’s throat. The dog opens his mouth. There is nothing really there. Everything is emptiness, but we cannot understand that. For example, when we watch a movie we know that it is an illusion, but we cannot recognise or understand that actually everything is an illusion. A few people do understand that everything is an illusion, but they cannot realise. Most can’t even understand. This is all ignorance, ignorance of the meaning of dharmata, of suchness, the way things really are.

Are there specific remedies for specific disturbing emotions?

Yes. There are specific remedies. In the Buddhist texts, traditionally compassion and loving kindness are taught as the remedy for anger. Meditating on unpleasantness is taught as the remedy for desire. In this context, desire refers mainly to the desire between men and women, because that is usually the strongest kind of desire and the most difficult to part from in the human realm. There is another antidote for desire taught in the bodhisattva teachings, which is seeing all sentient beings as yout parents, in particular as your mother and siblings. For ignorance, you can meditate on the twelve links of interdependent arising in their forward and reverse orders. As an antidote for pride, the traditional remedy is taught to be meditating on the six elements of earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness. This can help because pride is based on our notion of self, of T; by this meditation, you break down that notion of self and realise that there is no real basis for pride. For jealousy, you should practice rejoicing.

Those are the most common traditional remedies, but you can also practice looking at your own faults for pride; rejoicing and compassion for jealousy; selflessness for desire; studying and practicing the dharma in general for ignorance; and shamatha meditation for distraction.

So there are many different specific remedies you can apply, but you can also just apply one method to reduce all the negative emotions. For example, the burjom technique, which means trying to eliminate the negative emotion the moment it arises through investigation. You can practise just that or you can also just practise bodhichitta: both are single methods that can tame all of the negative emotions. The principal antidote for all the negative emotions is profound emptiness.

Merit

What are the two accumulations and why are they important?

The two accumulations are the accumulation of merit with concepts and the accumulation of wisdom without concepts. For the accumulation of merit with concepts you need to have a good motivation, for example, the intention to benefit, or bodhichitta. When you have the intention to benefit and with that intention you engage in generosity, or any other kind of positive action, that is the accumulation of merit with concepts. If you accumulate merit with bodhichitta thinking, “I want to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings; it is for this purpose that I am gathering the accumulations”, you will accumulate vast stores of merit. The accumulation of wisdom without concepts refers to when you realise that the person gathering the accumulations, the action of gathering the accumulations, and the accumulations gathered

(the three spheres of subject, object, and action) are emptiness. If you can realise this, it is called the accumulation of wisdom, and is the direct cause for the birth of primordial wisdom. This is the accumulation of wisdom. To qualify as the accumulation of wisdom, your mind must be infused with actual primordial wisdom or something very similar. For the dharma practitioner, the most important condition for the realisation or recognition of wisdom is the accumulation of merit. Accumulating as much merit as we can is the best way, the best skilful means, to help us realise emptiness and recognise wisdom.

How can I accumulate merit and practice the dharma most effectively?

You need to embrace all your actions and dharma practice with the three excellences. If you can apply the three excellences to everything that you do, you will accumulate a vast amount of merit and your practice will be very effective. The first excellence is the excellent preparation of bodhichitta. The main point here is compassion and bodhichitta. Bodhichitta is the motivation to do something for the sake of freeing all sentient beings from suffering and the cause of suffering and establishing them in the state of enlightenment. The second excellence is the excellent main part without concepts. There are two kinds of main part without concepts: concordant and actual. The concordant main part is reflecting on how the nature of all phenomena is not established, that all phenomena are like dreams and illusions. For example, doing prostrations while reflecting on this, giving while reflecting like this, or offering butter lamps and at the same time thinking, “I and what I am offering, it’s all like an illusion, a dream.” Practicing like this is extremely powerful, because it helps you to understand emptiness.

The last of the three excellences is the excellence of dedication, which makes the merit of our good actions further and further increase.

Why are these three so important? Because of the results they bring about: if you have the excellent preparation of bodhicitta, the result is buddhahood, enlightenment. If you have the excellent main part without concepts, then no negative emotions will be able to harm or destroy the merit. For example, if you perform an act of generosity thinking that it is all just like a dream and illusion, the merit of that generosity becomes as vast as the sky and no negative emotions will be able to destroy that merit. By the power of dedicating the merit, the merit dedicated will further and further increase. For these reasons they are called excellences. Whether it is meditation, prostrations, making offerings, doing circumambulations, or even just reciting one mantra, if you embrace it with the three excellences it becomes extremely powerful.

Entering the Path

What is the first step one should take as a Buddhist? How should one begin the path?

First you need to study, to read. At the beginning, you should study and read about mind training, the four noble truths, and the twelve links of dependent arising. Try to see your own negative emotions and try to understand compassion and the four immeasurables. If you are interested in meditation, then first you need to learn about shamatha meditation, first with a concrete support, then without a concrete support, meaning focusing on your breath or visualisation etc., and finally without a support, without focus. You shouldn’t immediately start reading about tantra, and Dzogchen and Mahamudra, because then you will get lost before you have even begun.

If you are really interested, then first you need to take refuge in the three jewels—the Buddha, dharma, and sangha—with a lama. After refuge, you need to practice the refuge vows. After that, you should spend more time studying. What is the Buddhist view? What is the Buddhist meditation? What is Buddhist conduct? What is Buddhism’s fruition? Focusing on these four points, you should study. For example, the view. WTien you talk about the view, the most crucial point is wisdom or supreme knowledge, which is like eyes. Meditation is like legs. Conduct is like walking, how you should walk and move around. Fruition is the goal, the destination. It is these four points that you need to study. For example, with regard to the view, there are texts such as Chandrakirti’s Entering the Middle Way, Nagarjuna’s Root Verses of the Middle Way, Aryadeva’s Four Hundred Verses, and Shantarakshitas Ornament of the Middle Way. They teach mainly the view of the Middle Way.

In meditation there is shamatha and vipashyana, Middle Way meditation, Mahamudra meditation and so forth. You need to study all these things, but just reading books won’t help. You need to receive teachings directly from a teacher and follow their advice. For example, even when studying at university you must have a teacher; you can’t learn everything from just reading books. The teacher is like a guide. If you study with a teacher, then your path will become more stable. With regards to conduct, you could study Shantideva’s Way of the Bodhisattva. This text teaches mainly conduct, but also the view and meditation. Texts such as the Uttaratantra by Maitreya teach the fruition in a lot of detail. You need to study all these things.

What is the correct sequence to train in?

Generally, and if you are serious about practicing, then at the beginning you should focus on mind training. You should start doing some simple meditation and then practice the four foundations, beginning with the four mind-changings: the preciousness of human birth, impermanence, karma, and the defects of samsara. After that, there are the development and completion stages of the Vajrayana, which should be trained in side-by-side with shamatha and vipashyana. Finally there is Mahamudra and Dzogchen.

However, it also depends on your interest. For example, if you have the most interest in meditation you shouldn’t only do meditation. While focusing mainly on meditation you need to study mind training, study the dharma texts, learn philosophy and so forth. Likewise, if your main interest is philosophy you shouldn’t only study philosophy. Focus on philosophy, but also meditate and practice mind training. Wherever your interest lies, focus on that. However, mind training, the four foundations, studying the dhanna well meaning learning what the crucial key points of dharma are, and meditation—these four are crucial.

Study, reflection, and meditation are taught in all contexts. First of all you need to study. Receive teachings. Then reflect on the teachings. After this you need to meditate.

What books are good to read when starting out?

First of all read books about the four truths. After that it is good to read books that teach mainly the Buddhist view, the view of the Middle Way. There are many Middle Way texts, such as Entering the Middle Way by Chandrakirti, The Root Verses of the Middle Way by Nagarjuna and so forth. These texts teach mainly the Buddhist view. You should also read books that teach mainly Buddhist meditation, such as Kamalashila’s Stages of Meditation, and other texts on shamatha. There are also very good books such as Heart of Compassion by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Repeating the Words of the Buddha by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva by Gyalse Togme, and The Way ofa Bodhisattva by Shantideva. These are all very good books for beginners.

The Bodhisattva Path

What is a bodhisattva?

A bodhisattva is someone who has one of the two types of bodhichitta: relative bodhichitta and ultimate bohichitta. Relative bodhichitta is the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings motivated by great compassion. It includes the concepts of the three spheres: subject, object, and action. Ultimate bodhichitta however is the direct realisation of emptiness, so is free from the concepts of the three spheres.

There are two levels of bodhisattva. The first is the beginning or ordinary bodhisattva, who practices relative bodhichitta. One who has directly experienced emptiness is a noble bodhisattva practicing ultimate bodhichitta.

What is the difference between loving kindness, compassion, and bodhichitta?

Loving kindness focuses on wishing sentient beings to have happiness and the causes of happiness. Compassion focuses on wishing that sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. Bodhichitta focuses on helping sentient beings achieve the realisation of enlightenment.

What are the six paramitas?

Generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation, and prajnaparamita or transcendent knowledge. The paramita of generosity is a generous attitude, a mind without attachment. There are three kinds of generosity: generosity of material things, such as wealth; generosity of giving protection from fear; and generosity of the dharma. Generosity means giving fully without any attachment, without any stinginess. The generosity of material things is easy to understand. The generosity of giving protection from fear is, for example, saving animals from slaughter and setting them free. You can do many things for the generosity of dharma. For example, if someone is printing books you can contribute some money. If someone is new, you can give them some advice. When you are practicing, just chanting the words of the dharma out loud so that the many beings surrounding you hear it—that is also the generosity of the dharma.

The paramita of discipline is not letting body, speech, and mind fall into carelessness. Maintaining carefulness by means of mindfulness and attentiveness is what is meant by the paramita of discipline. There are three different kinds of discipline: the discipline of avoiding negative actions; the discipline of undertaking positive actions; and the discipline of bringing benefit to others. These three are very important. You should understand that if you want to refrain from something non-virtuous, it is better to take a vow, because when you take a vow you accumulate merit. When you practice discipline, just avoiding negative actions without taking a vow, you avoid accumulating bad karma, but you don’t accumulate any good karma, because you didn’t take a vow, so it is good to take vows.

The paramita of patience is an undisturbed mind. There are three types of patience: patience when wronged; patience to bear hardships for the dharma and for the benefit of sentient beings; and most importantly, patience to face the profound truth of emptiness and selflessness without fear.

The paramita of diligence is a mind that takes joy in virtue. Diligence is the opposite of laziness. There are many different types of laziness, for example, procrastination thinking, “I will practice tomorrow, not today.” Therefore, we need diligence, meaning to be able to take joy in positive actions with a good motivation. There are three kinds of diligence: armour-like diligence; diligence in action; and diligence that cannot be stopped.

The paramita of meditation refers to shamatha and vipashyana mediation. In general, it is a mind that remains one-pointed and focused. Calmness, one-pointedness, clarity, and non-distraction are the qualities of shamatha. Most important though is vipashyana meditation. The main qualities of vipashyana are thought-free, objectless, non-distracted, and clarity. There are three kinds of meditation: shamatha, vipashyana, and supreme vipashyana (Mahamdura and Dzogchen).

The paramita of prajna, supreme knowledge, is the wisdom that realises selflessness or emptiness. There are three kinds of prajnaparamita: the prajna gained through study, the prajna gained through contemplation; and the prajna gained through meditation. When any of these six paramitas is embraced by the wisdom that realises the emptiness or selflessness of the three spheres— subject, object, and action—it is called a transcendental paramita. Without this wisdom, it is a mundane paramita.

What are the four immeasurables?

First is equanimity. There are three things to understand regarding equanimity. The first is that all sentient beings are equal in having been one’s parents in past lives. Secondly, all sentient beings are equal because they want happiness and peace and want to avoid suffering and unhappiness. Thirdly, all sentient beings are equal in being inseparable from emptiness: when you realise emptiness, you realise that all sentient beings are emptiness.

The second immeasurable is compassion, the practice of seeing other sentient beings’ suffering and the cause of suffering and wishing them to be free from that. There are three levels of compassion: the compassion that focuses on sentient beings; the compassion that focuses on dharma, meaning on sentient beings as the five aggregates (form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness); and compassion without reference or focus.

Loving kindness, the third immeasurable, is the wish for sentient beings to have happiness and the cause of happiness. The fourth immeasurable, sympathetic joy, is a very good quality. It is the wish, “May all beings not be separated from the happiness free from suffering.”

Many people talk about loving kindness and compassion, but fewer people talk about equanimity, and fewer still about sympathetic joy. Sometimes when you practice loving kindness and compassion you end up feeling a little sad, sometimes very sad. That is why we should practice compassion and loving kindness together with sympathetic joy. Sympathetic joy means rejoicing in all sentient beings’ short moments of happiness and wishing that they not be parted from those small moments of happiness. For example, in Africa a mother and child may be very poor and lacking even enough food to eat; but when practicing sympathetic joy, we don’t focus on that aspect, but on the fact that the mother and child are both very fortunate that they have each other and are together. It is very positive. So when you practise the four immeasurables with sympathetic joy at the end, then it is like a good end to a movie; you don’t need to cry at the end. I like to joke like that.

They are called the four immeasurables because the object of focus (sentient beings) is immeasurable, the wish or intention is immeasurable, and the benefit is immeasurable.

What is tonglen?

Tonglen is giving and taking. What do you give? When breathing out, you give your happiness, your merit, your practice. Whatever good things you have you give to all sentient beings. Then when breathe in you take on all their negativity and suffering. There is one style of tonglen practice where you visualise a black ball in the centre of your heart. All the negativity you breathe in dissolves into that. Then it blasts into pieces and you relax. In another style of the practice, you don’t need to visualise that. You just focus on the breath.

When you practice tonglen visualising a black ball in your heart centre like that, you are combining tonglen, compassion practice, and selflessness practice. When the black ball blasts apart, it is the self that blasts. Your whole being blasts. Don’t think that only the ball blasts and not the self. The self needs to blast, or you are not going to reduce your self-clinging. Wherever and whatever you feel is your self should be blasted apart like a nuclear bomb. Then rest in emptiness. Practising like that helps you to reduce selfishness and self-dinging.

We have a lot of grasping to our merit. Therefore, you should give all your merit away to sentient beings so that you have nothing left to be attached to. But then you will have the fear, “I have no merit. I am going to suffer!” How to tame that fear? Take all the suffering of sentient beings into yourself. Wherever you feel fear, just dissolve their suffering into that fear and then blast the fear, the self that fears. Then you start again. You can blast the ball of self with every in-breath, or every three, five, or ten in-breaths.

Discriminating the True Path

What is the difference between mindfulness, attentiveness, and carefulness? Mindfulness (dran pa, drenpa) is the mindfulness that does not forget what to accept and reject. It is knowing and not forgetting what the negative emotions are and are not. Attentiveness (shes bzbin, sbezbin) (sometimes also translated as conscientiousness) is knowing or being aware of what you are doing, saying, and thinking each moment. Carefulness (bag yod, bagyo) is being cautious and careful thinking, “If I’m not careful, I’ll fall into the negative emotions. I must be careful!”

What is the difference between equanimity and indifference?

Equanimity is based first on compassion, second on loving kindness, third on knowing the reasons for having equanimity— that all sentient beings have been one’s parents in past lives and that they all have the same wish, happiness—and fourth, on knowing the natural state, emptiness. Indifference is based on ignorance and laziness. Just not feeling, not caring for other beings is totally different from equanimity, because it doesn’t have the base of compassion, loving kindness, knowing the reasons for having equanimity, and knowing emptiness.

Equanimity is a very important quality to develop in our minds. It is a quality that will help us see the nature of all phenomena and all sentient beings, to see that they all have the same wish and that they are all emptiness.

What is the difference between pity and compassion?

Compassion focuses on sentient beings’ suffering and the cause of suffering. Pity doesn’t see the cause of suffering. It only sees the suffering. It is just thinking, “Oh dear, they are suffering.” That is pity. But compassion not only sees the suffering; it tries to see the cause of suffering and on top of that wishes beings to be free from suffering and the cause of suffering. Pity does not wish sentient beings to be free from suffering and the cause of suffering. Pity is just the thought, “Oh, it is so bad that that happened.”

What are the most important qualities required to gain supreme wisdom?

There are three important qualities. First is pure complete devotion. Second is selflessness, pure bodhichitta. Third is firm unchanging diligence. These are the three qualities you must have.

Meditation

What is shamatha and what is vipashyana?

Shamatha is mainly making the mind calm and one-pointed.

There are many different shamatha techniques. As explained above, calmness, one-pointedness, clarity, and non-distraction are the qualities of shamatha. Vipashyana is mainly training in the clarity of the mind and the meaning of selflessness. The main qualities of vipashyana are thought-free, objectless, non-distracted, and clarity. Both shamatha and vipashyana have great results.

When I do shamatha meditation many thoughts come up. What should I do? First, try to recognise that you are distracted. Then try to come back to one-pointedness again and again and again. When you have many thoughts, exhale your breath and don’t inhale for a few seconds. There is a short gap between exhaling again and usually also a gap between your thoughts, so focus there.

When I feel dull and sleepy when practicing meditation what should I do? With your body, stop sitting, get up, and move around. With your speech, chant some mantras. Look a little higher with your eyes, not lower. With your mind, think about the qualities of the Buddhas. Try to investigate the self. Supplicate your lama. Eat less food.

What is the ultimate teaching of Vajrayana?

In the ultimate teaching of the Vajrayana, the view is freedom from dualistic fixation, from good, bad, all dualistic thoughts. The meditation is free from meditation, effortless, thought-free wisdom, without distraction, without focus. The fruition is nothing to achieve, nothing to lose—no hope, no fear.

The Four Foundations

What are the four foundations?

First is refuge and bodhichitta.

Second is Vajrasattva.

Third is mandala offering, and fourth is guru yoga.

You need to accumulate 110,000 of each of these.

There are many benefits to refuge. We purify our non-virruous karma accumulated in the past, our obscurations, and obstacles, and most importantly, we reduce the base of our negative emotions: pride and self-clinging. Bowing your head down to somebody naturally affects our emotions: it reduces your ego. Egolessness or selflessness is the path of liberation. So that is why we do half and full prostrations with the body, while chanting with the voice, and with a mind of one-pointed devotion. When we do full prostrations, laying our whole body, the five points of the body (the two knees, the two hands, and the head) down, we think, “May all the bad karma accumulated in the past with our body, speech, and mind be purified. Please bless my body, speech, and mind!” That is the meaning of prostrations. We do half prostrations when there is less space or many people around. When we are physically uncomfortable like that, then half prostrations are okay, but when there is enough space then you can do long prostrations.

After refuge, then there is bodhichitta practice with the four immeasurables for reducing our anger. Without bodhichitta, our practice cannot be called Mahayana practice.

After that, in order to reduce jealousy, and all the outer, inner, and secret obstacles, everything negative, there is Vajrasattva practice, which involves meditation on Vajrasattva and chanting the one-hundred or six-syllable mantra.

Then, in order to reduce our attachment and to accumulate merit there is the mandala offering. As an outer offering, we offer our wealth and so on. As an inner offering, we offer our body. The secret offering is the understanding that all appearances are illusory. Last of all is guru yoga. The first quality of a guru is great compassion and bodhichitta; second, being learned in the sutras, tantras, and texts; and thirdly, practicing those him- or herself. Why do we need a guru? There are two kinds of guru—outer and inner. The outer guru is the teacher in human form. Why is the outer guru so important? Because he or she shows you the path to recognise your inner guru. The inner guru is thought-free awareness, wisdom. Without the outer guru it is not possible to realise the inner guru. That is why the guru is so important. When you say ‘guru’, don’t immediately think of the guru as being a human being. If you immediately think like that you are mistaken.

Ignorance, the ignorance that stops you from recognising the true nature of mind. In order to reduce that ignorance and realise wisdom we practice guru yoga. Because of the guru’s blessings and guidance, we can decrease our ignorance and increase our wisdom. The reason you need to accumulate 110,00 is that it is a good measure. It gives you a certain period of time that you need to practice refuge or the other foundations for. For example, if you are practicing refuge and bodhichitta and accumulating prostrations it takes at least two or three months if you are diligent, and otherwise a year or longer to finish 110,000. So you really have to focus on and emphasise one particular practice for quite a long period of time. If you only had to accumulate 10,000 it would be too little, too short a time. If it were 1,000,000 it would take too long, because our lifespan is quite short. 110,000 gives us a good period of time. It is said that the more times you do the four foundations the better. Some lamas have done the four foundations as many as thirteen times or even more. Even if you can’t do them many times, at the least you must complete the four foundations once in your lifetime. Why? Because so much is included in the four foundations. Mind training, shamatha, purification, training in devotion, in diligence, in generosity... When you first look at the four foundations, it seems that there is not that much to them, but actually when you consider what is included inside them they are so beneficial, so important. These short practices develop the most important qualities that a dharma practitioner should have. The most important thing is to tame your mind, and that as a result of practicing the four foundations your mind becomes calmer and your disturbing emotions are reduced.

Why is guru yoga so important?

Guru yoga is so important because it includes training in pure perception and devotion. In the sutras, they say ‘faith’, and in the tantras ‘devotion’. The two words mean mainly the same thing, but there is a slight difference in the presence of pure perception. If you cannot train well in pure perception and devotion, you cannot become a good practitioner and good meditator. You will not be successful in your practice. Based on pure perception and devotion, you will become an excellent practitioner. When does the training in these two qualities begin? With guru yoga.

In the Vajrayana, guru yoga is taught to be extremely important and is taught in many texts. It is said that making one offering to the root guru is no different from making offerings to a thousand buddhas. There are many types of guru: the guru you receive teachings from, the guru you receive empowerments from, and the guru you receive oral transmissions from, but the most important is the guru who introduces you to the ultimate nature of mind, emptiness.

The benefits of guru yoga are that it becomes very easy to tame your mind, and few obstacles arise. Your mind will become very blissful and results will come very fast. For these reasons, you should practice guru yoga continuously.

Is devotion important?

Devotion is so important. Devotion has three main qualities: certainty, remembering the kindness of the masters, and pure perception. Certainty means being free from doubt about the dharma. Where should you gain this certainty from? From studying, reflecting, and meditating on the dharma, and mainly from the view. By gradually endeavouring in the view, then you will gain certainty in the dharma. Having gained certainty in the dharma, you will attain confident faith. Gaining certainty in the dharma is confident faith. This is the first quality of devotion. Remembering the kindness of the masters means remembering the great kindness of the teachers who taught and teach the dharma, and the sangha who practice and uphold the dharma. Remember their immeasurable kindness.

That is the second quality of devotion. You then need to train in pure perception. You should train in pure perception thinking that there is no difference between the three jewels of Buddha, dharma, and sangha, and the lama. When these three qualities of certainty, remembering the kindness of the masters, and pure perception are present, your devotion will become veiy good, very authentic. Lacking just one of them, real devotion won’t arise in your being. On the contrary, if all three qualities are present, then an exceptional kind of devotion will arise in your mind stream.

You can measure your devotion by measuring these three qualities of certainty, remembering the kindness of the masters, and pure perception. The more certainty you gain in the dharma, the deeper and vaster your understanding will become and the more you will be able to practice, to take the teachings into your experience.

The more pure perception you have, the less you will see faults in others. In fact, when you really have pure perception, you will not see faults in anyone and will regard everyone as your teacher. So those three qualities are the measurement of your devotion.

Advice for the Path

How can I make the dharma part of my life? How can I integrate my practice into my daily routine and family life? A general answer would be the three chakras or the three wheels: the study wheel of learning and contemplation; the renunciation wheel of meditation; and the action wheel of dharma activity.

We should practice each of these wheels every day, meaning we should study and reflect, even if it is reading and thinking about just a single verse of dharma. We should practice meditation, and also do some physical dharma actions, such as making offerings at our shrine in the morning. Also think of the six paramitas and try to practice these in daily life. Try to keep your mind mindful and calm. These are very general points.

However, the most important thing is to focus on one main practice. For example, if you are practicing mind training, then you should focus on one particular aspect of mind training, such as mindfiilness, compassion, or emptiness, and focus all the time on that in daily life. That will help make your practice very natural and strong.

For example, if I am focusing on compassion, then when I am drinking water I should think, “May all sentient beings suffering from thirst be free from their thirst.” When you go into work think, “So many people want to work, but don’t know how, or they are unable to work because of disabilities. Many people know how to work and want to work, but can’t find jobs. May everyone who has these kinds of problems be free from them!” Sometimes if you get angry or jealous at work with your colleagues, you are afraid of your boss, or you have a really hard time being patient with others, then think, “How many beings there are who are worse off than me, with even less patience and so on.” In the same way, you should integrate whatever your main practice is with your daily life as much as vou can. Then your practice will become very good.

How can I improve my practice and positive qualities?

Supplication is very important. Supplication means recalling the excellent qualities of enlightenment and the dharma and supplicating those who have obtained these excellent qualities that those same qualities may take birth in your own mind. Supplication removes obstacles and has many other benefits. In general, all Buddhists should supplicate the three jewels at all times. In particular, if someone is a meditator for example, then they should supplicate the great meditators and so forth. When supplicating, you should do so with great respect through your body by prostrating and with your palms joined at your heart, with great respect through your speech by reciting supplications, and through great respect through your mind by recalling the excellent qualities of the Buddha, dharma, and sangha, and of dharma practice, and supplicating that these excellent qualities may be born in your own mind. Supplication is extremely positive.

Is solitude important for meditators?

Yes, solitude is important. Solitude from other people, from thinking, from talking nonsense is very important, so every year it is good to go to retreat for a week, two weeks, a month, and so on.

What are the common faults of beginning dharma practitioners?

First, thinking that you understand everything.

Second, wanting to gain experience or results quickly.

Third, wanting to practice everything straight away.

Fourth, not checking your motivation.

Fifth, trying to read many books, but not seeing clearly the important points of dharma.

Sixth, trying to see the faults of other practitioners, of masters, books, and so on.

And seventh, feeling useless and without understanding, being discouraged.

How can we know if we’re practicing dharma correcdy? What is the sign of successful meditation, pracdce, and learning? The most important signs are compassion increasing naturally, negative emotions decreasing, and devotion arising naturally.

Fruition

What is the result of Buddhism?

The first result is taming the mind. A tame mind means a calm mind, relaxed and peaceful, and with less negative emotions or free from the negative emotions completely. The second result is, on top of that, gaining freedom from clinging to the self and clinging to things as real—that is called nirvana. When you attain nirvana, you are freed from the circle of samsara. The third result is abandonment of the two obscurations together with all subde habitual tendencies, the blossoming of the primordial wisdom of knowing, and the perfection or completion of all bhumis and paths. This is attaining or realising perfect buddhahood as explained in the Mahayana teachings. You could also simply say that buddahood is the manifestation or actualisation of emptiness, the nature of mind, the natural state. In addition, in Vajrayana the result is, in short, not only the abandonment of all obscurations and habitual tendencies, but also abandoning completely even the most subde hope and fear, about everything, samsara and nirvana. These results perfect the benefit of oneself and others. You perfect your own benefit by taming your mind, attaining nirvana, and attaining or realising enlightenment. Having attained these results, you perfect the benefit of other sentient beings by helping

How can I measure whether I am getting nearer or farther away from the fruition?

There are many different ways to measure. Sometimes it is taught that good dreams and certain meditation experiences are signs that you’re getting closer. However, the most important thing is to check whether your disturbing emotions are decreasing. Your hope and fear decreasing is also a definite sign that you are getting closer to the fruition. No hope and fear means that whatever experiences arise, whatever disturbing emotions arise, you are able to remain in the ultimate nature, or in the state of whatever your practice is.

them in turn to gain hese results.

Over the years I have met many individuals coming from varied backgrounds but all with the same interest, which is the sacred buddhadharma. During most encounters, I’ve been repeatedly asked the following questions: what to, when to, which to, whom to, and how to go about practicing the supreme dharma. I have therefore decided to offer a study and meditation program with teaching materials that will cover the entire nine vehicles of the Buddhist path or the “Nine Yanas” in depth over a period of years. The first volume, The Shravakayana, is now ready. This and the following volumes will contain direct teachings of Lord Buddha, Indian panditas, and Tibetan mahasiddhas, as well as some of my own instructions and specific practice texts (sadhanas). If you are interested in entering this study and meditation programme, you can email �HYPERLINK "mailto:nineyanas@phakchokrinpoche.org"�nineyanas@phakchokrinpoche.org�.

What is the unique quality of Buddhism?

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