In the same way, in order to become enlightened we first need to connect to the Three Jewels. Taking refuge involves entrusting ourselves to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; the taking of refuge contains the Hinayana teachings. After that, what is the use of being the only one who is enlightened while all our mothers roam about in samsara? That would be totally shameless. It is said that the Hinayana orientation is like the little puddle of water contained in the hoofprint of a cow, while the Mahayana attitude is as vast as the entire ocean. Everyone needs to be enlightened—not only ourselves. Thirdly, without the very profound teachings of Vajrayana, including deity, mantra, and samadhi, there is no way we can achieve full enlightenment in this same body and lifetime. Thus, we need all three vehicles together: Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. There is no point at all in regarding oneself as some kind of superior practitioner who doesn’t need “low” or “inferior” teachings. Such an attitude would be very unrealistic.
Ensuring that one’s Dharma practice becomes the path means purifying the obscurations and misdeeds that create obstacles and block the path to the attainment of complete enlightenment. There is a profound reason to practice the preliminaries, even though some may think of them as unnecessary. It is through the preliminary practices that we are truly able to clear away obstacles and make our Dharma practice become the path of enlightenment.
Adapted from Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Repeating the Words of the Buddha (Boudhanath: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1996), “Four Dharmas of Gampopa,” and As It Is, Volume I (Boudhanath: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1999).
16
INSTRUCTIONAL ADVICE ON TRAINING IN BUDDHISM
Patrül Rinpoche
O root lama, the great vajradhara, who is the embodiment of
The triple refuges and all the buddhas in reality,
Please always remain inseparably on the crown of my head, and
Bestow blessings without separation from me in the three times.
O friend who is devoted to Dharma from the heart,
You have requested me again and again with these heartlike words:
“Please write and give us your heart-advice.”
So I offer you this affectionate message from the heart.
The first entrance to the path of liberation from samsara
Depends on having a perfect lama.
So, with proper devotion without changes,
To follow whatever he teaches is important.
However, in these days, the age of dregs,
There are many people who are attached to having lamas deceptively,
Cherishing the desires for this life in their hearts.
It is crucial to reverse such a manner.
Therefore, whatever is the essence of your wish,
Without concealing it, again and again
From the bottom of your heart
Recollecting it, you should speak to the lama and implore him for the wish.
Although a gem is all wish-fulfilling,
If it is not anointed and displayed atop a victory banner
And prayed to, and aspirations are not made for the wishes,
A gem it may be, but no wishes will be fulfilled.
The lama is the source of the teachings,
But if there is no one who requests the teachings,
There won’t be any occasion for giving the profound teachings.
So it is important to request the sublime teaching, whichever one wishes.
Without practicing the teachings you were given earlier,
To keep yearning to receive further teachings
Is to do nothing but bother the lama and provoke scoldings,
So it is crucial to exhort yourself in practice all the time.
You should do practice by knowing the crucial aspects of the teaching.
The essence of the teaching is going for refuge and development of the mind of enlightenment
Through these two one accomplishes buddhahood.
There is no need to yearn for many other so-called profundities.
If the fourfold turning of the mind to Dharma, the entrance to Dharma,
Is not born in the stream of your mind perfectly,
Even to hear other teachings is only to waste them.
So it is crucial to exhort yourself to tame your mindstream.
Those people who don’t eat what is given and who steal what is preserved,
Who abandon the Dharma teachings that they have studied But pretend to be practicing something else,
Are doing nothing but causing others to be indifferent to Dharma and breaking the sacred pledge.
Without taming one’s mind through mental disciplines,
The practices of body and speech do not benefit the mind.
Therefore it is crucial to contemplate with your mind again and again
The fourfold turning of the mind and the development of the mind of enlightenment.
If these contemplations are perfectly born in your mind,
And if your mind has entered into the Dharma without wavering,
Then the excellent lama gradually will give you
The entire profound instructions of higher and higher teachings.
From the difficulty of obtaining fortunate human birth
Up to the development stage, the perfection stage, the practices on
Channels, energy, and heat of the esoteric path,
And the training on cutting through of Great Perfection, which is the direct approach—
There is no Dharma that is not included in this.
Therefore, besides the teachings you have already received,
There is no need to request more.
However, it is crucial to receive clarifications and refinements
To resolve any doubts on the teachings you have received.
Having trained in the fivefold hundred thousand practice, such as going for refuge,
To complete the guru yoga, the esoteric path of devotion,
With recitation of the mantra ten million times
Is the tradition of this lineage.
So if you have completed just the preliminary practice
Properly as it is and thoroughly,
Hereafter the certainty of your birth in Zangdog Palri
Is promised. See the instruction texts.
The unmodified, self-aware, and ordinary mind,
Which is thorough, free, and innate, is the Dharmakaya.
Realize that suchness of the mind nakedly
And maintain the thoughts, the appearing power of the awareness of liberation-at-arising.
Apart from this, some crucial points on meditation
I have given you again and again in the past, as you asked.
As there is no teaching higher than that to give you,
Please do practice on those instructions.
Thus, having been urged by a friend, who has lived in accordance with the Dharma.
This is written by that shallow wanderer.
Although lacking in definitiveness, profundity, or excellent meaning, It is an honest and direct message from the heart.
By the merits of writing this, in all the successive lives,
In the presence of the consorts of the Lord of Accomplished Ones,
In the single assembly, without separation,
I pray, may we be reborn and taste the joy of Dharma.
Thus, as prayed by Patrül, may all be auspicious and may all be virtuous.
From Enlightened Living, translated by Tulku Thondup (Boudhanath: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1997).
17
THE TRUE FOUNDATION
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
Let me tell you another essential point: until you have truly taken to heart and assimilated their truth within your being, continue to train in the general and specific preliminaries. These are the reflections on the four mind-changings—on the precious human body, on impermanence and mortality, on the consequences of karmic actions, and on the negative charact
eristics of samsaric existence. The specific preliminaries are: taking refuge and making prostrations, generating bodhichitta, Vajrasattva recitation, mandala offerings, and guru yoga. It is common to all schools of Tibetan Buddhism to begin with these.
If we truly take the four mind-changings to heart, reflecting sincerely on the sufferings of the six classes of beings, we will not find it difficult to do these preliminary practices. Otherwise we might think it was okay to just lie back and have a good time eating and drinking, with an attitude like “Why bother to do exhausting things such as prostrations and mandala offerings?” In reality, these preliminary practices are the foundation for attaining complete enlightenment. When you sincerely understand that, you can see the reason for doing this “work.”
However much you hear about the difficulties of obtaining a precious human body and the value of renunciation, the will to be free, such information will only benefit when you make these thoughts your own. Right now you have the freedom to do so. Make no mistake; these four reflections are the very basis for the path of enlightenment. To build a house you need a stable foundation; if the foundation is good then a hundred-storied tower can be built on top of it. If you want to become enlightened in this very body and life, you need to bring about a deep shift in attitude, a shift that can take place by your reflecting on these four mind-changings. On the other hand, if you only want to enjoy life’s pleasures, you’ll find Dharma practice to be extremely tiring. You will lose interest in it eventually if you think these four thoughts are unimportant. In fact, you will not have any lasting interest in a spiritual path until you take them into your stream of being.
For example you hear talk about the view, about the teachings of Madhyamika, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen. Through these, you can attain enlightenment in one body and one lifetime; such precious teachings do exist. But it is a mistake not to take the four mind-changings as your foundation. To rely only on teachings about the view is like trying to arrive somewhere that can only be reached by flying, when you only have the capacity for walking. If we do not have the proper foundation, there is no way to progress.
Almost every Dharma system contains preliminary and main practices. I will once more repeat what the Buddha said, “Just as the steps of a staircase, you should also train step-by-step and endeavor in my profound teachings; without jumping over any step, proceed steadily to the end. Progress in Dharma is similar to the way a small child gradually develops its body and strength, from entering in the beginning up until the complete perfection.” First are the teachings of the shravakas and pratyekabuddhas, and the levels continue like going up a staircase all the way up to the three profound views of Mahamudra, Madhyamika, and Dzogchen.
It cannot be repeated too many times that you need a firm foundation. Unless you are someone of the highest capacity like Garab Dorje, it is not enough to have merely been introduced to the view without following that up with the preliminary practices. Needless to say, not everyone is of the highest capacity: the perfect conditions do not always manifest with a perfect teacher, a perfect student, and perfect teachings.
Taking this into account, we have to examine ourselves honestly. We are ordinary people, and we are mistaken if we think otherwise. If from the start the four mind-changings have been a motivating force, then practicing the Dharma will not be difficult at all. Without embracing these we will only tire ourselves. The very basis of our practice rests on taking these four mind-changings to heart.
Within the preliminary practices, all three yanas can be practiced in one session, on one seat. Taking refuge comprises the essentials of the Hinayana teachings; generating bodhichitta embodies the heart of the Mahayana teachings; and meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva comprise the very quintessence of the Vajrayana teachings. Thus, within a single session, we can cover all three vehicles and perform a complete Buddhist practice.
If you want to practice many extensive details, you can find hundreds of thousands of teachings in the Buddhist canonical collection. But it is impossible to practice them all in a single lifetime. Padmasambhava and other masters kindly extracted the essence of the teachings in developing the preliminary practices, which include all the instructions of the scholars and accomplished beings of India and Tibet. Every Vajrayana school contains these preliminary practices. Why? Because these are an excellent method for purifying obscurations and gathering the accumulations. Without purifying obscurations and gathering the accumulations we cannot reach the state of enlightenment. Compared to the main practice, the preliminary practices are considered more profound. If you want to grow a crop you need fertile ground: a hundred years of planting seeds on a stone will not yield a harvest. If these four thoughts, the four mind-changings, are not embedded in your stream-of-being, if you do not comprehend their depth, then you will not realize the true meaning. The highest teachings of Vajrayana have their base in the preliminary practices.
The four mind-changings are not beyond our comprehension. We are capable of understanding that having a human life is extremely rare and precious. Most people know that everything is impermanent, that with each passing day our life becomes shorter. If we have some degree of intelligence, we can trust that our actions have their karmic consequences. Finally, it’s apparent that all samsaric states, being impermanent and unreliable, can never offer us lasting happiness. These are all things we can understand—but intellectual comprehension is not enough. We must take to heart and deeply assimilate this understanding within our stream-of-being.
All the great masters of the past practiced in this way. They gave up all worldly concerns and attached as much importance to mundane aims as we do to a gob of phlegm spat out onto the ground. No one ever thinks of picking up such an object, do they? We should try to cultivate that same detachment toward all samsaric states. The old Kadampa master said, “Give up your homeland; wander in unknown lands; be a child of the mountains; wear the mist as your garment; keep companionship with wild animals in jungles, forests, caves, and mountain retreats.” How were practitioners able to do this? Was it just by pushing themselves into enduring these hardships? No, they simply took to heart, clearly and genuinely, the four mind-changings. When we reflect on these four points and truly take them to heart, then practicing the Dharma in an authentic way is not difficult at all.
The measure of having taken to heart the preciousness of the human body, with its freedoms and riches that are so difficult to find, is that we are unable to waste time. We are filled with deep joy at having attained something so precious and rare, and we want to put this treasure to full use. This sense of true appreciation, of rejoicing so deeply that one cannot sit idle, is the measure of having taken to heart the preciousness of the human body.
Another example for taking the four mind-changings to heart is that of a beautiful but vain maiden who notices that her hair has caught fire. She will not rest at ease for a single instant, but will immediately try to extinguish the flames. In the same way, if we have truly assimilated the four mind-changings, we will not hesitate for a single second, but will immediately try to practice the sacred Dharma.
People usually have the attitude, “Things do last; we live for quite some time.” Of course, they know that there is impermanence, but they think that it does not pertain to the present; that it is something that “comes later on.” For example, we might think, “This particular object will finally disintegrate; right now, however, it does exist and continues to do so. Things are therefore permanent.” This attitude is contrary to how things really are.
Taking impermanence to heart means to acknowledge that nothing whatsoever lasts even from one moment to the next—especially our life. Our existence here in a physical body has no real permanence. We will die. We should develop this attitude, “I will die. I do not know when and I do not know how; but it is unavoidable!” Keep this feeling so acutely in your mind that you cannot bear to sit idle. Instead you will feel: “I have to do something truly worthwhile. I cannot let the time fly by. As e
ach day and moment passes, I’m closer to death. Not only me—it’s like this for everyone, but no one pays any attention.” The measure of having taken to heart the thought of impermanence is a genuine understanding of our mortality and everyone else’s. When you have this painfully acute understanding of the “suffering of being conditioned” and of the fact that time is continuously running out, you refuse to waste a single second on anything that is not Dharma practice.
The Dzogchen Primer Page 16