The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness
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It is impossible to present vajrayana in its fullest sense. If there is enough general confusion, hinayana can be presented; and if there is enough confusion about benevolence, love, and religiosity, mahayana can be presented; but nobody would be crazy enough to present or to listen to vajrayana anywhere on this earth. Nonetheless, at this point, society has gone crazy, confusions dawn everywhere, and spiritual disciplines have gotten corrupted; and because of that, somehow or other, it is possible to present the vajrayana. In this land of North America, this beautiful land, it has become possible to present the vajrayana. That possibility has come about because of the ancestors of my tradition.
ESTABLISHING A STRONG FOUNDATION
In order become decent vajrayana people, we need to establish a strong foundation through hinayana discipline and mahayana benevolence.
Hinayana Discipline
The foundation of the path is hinayana discipline. You begin with shamatha, or mindfulness, and vipashyana, or awareness practice; and out of that, you learn how to synchronize your mind and body. The point of hinayana discipline is to make sure that you are not hurting yourself or others. It is based on recognizing your own confusion and suffering and wanting to end it. The hinayana discipline of shamatha actually tames individuals; it creates an environment of discipline.
Mahayana Benevolence
With that foundation, you can take the bodhisattva vow and enter the mahayana. In the mahayana, you recognize others’ suffering and want to end it. On the bodhisattva path you are somewhat shifting gears: you are shifting from self-help to helping others, or at least opening to others. Your attitude begins to change, and you develop an understanding of the mahayana principle of exchanging oneself with others. Lojong, or “mind-training,” and the practice of tonglen, or “sending and taking,” begin to become very powerful. With the inspiration of mind training, you realize that you can exchange yourself for others, that you can send out pleasure and take in pain. That is definitely a very moving experience, and you can actually do it.
Photo 4. Rangjung Rikpe Dorje (1924–1982), the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa.
Becoming Decent Vajrayana People
Because you have the capability of doing such a thing, that automatically allows you to develop twofold bodhichitta, or awakened heart, which consists of both absolute and relative bodhichitta. You can develop the gentle, compassionate, and soft mind of relative bodhichitta, and with ultimate bodhichitta, you can learn how to rest your mind in the basic goodness of alaya, the fundamental ground. You can develop bodhi, or wakefulness, which is the lessening of ego fixation and grasping.
The more we learn to let go of our own pleasure and take in our own pain, as well as the pain of the rest of the world, the more we are becoming very decent human beings. All of that is what enables us to become decent vajrayana people. In fact, we are becoming such decent human beings that we are candidates for enlightenment. We are becoming would-be buddhas.
By exchanging ourselves for others, we are taking an extraordinary step. We are developing the most extraordinary understanding ever comprehended in the history of humankind, the entire history of the universe. Learning how to let go of our pleasure and receive other people’s pain is such a noble gesture. It allows us to become soft people, genuine people, extraordinarily good people. And with that merit, we begin to become worthy of receiving the vajrayana teachings.
If we are unable to hear the higher teachings of the vajrayana, the problem is that we have become deaf and dumb. We have no way of stepping out of our discursive thoughts, no way of stepping out of our ego fixation and grasping, because we are so caught up in that particular preoccupation. As far as we are concerned, we are the only center of the universe. That preoccupation with ourselves is problematic. We could go so far as to say that we have the potential of becoming egomaniacs.
But once we begin to understand, thoroughly and fully, the value of lojong training, we realize all that we have studied and learned, and we see how brave we have become. It is startling and precious and real. Because of that bravery, when conflicting emotions, or kleshas, such as passion, aggression, ignorance, and all kinds of discursive thoughts arise, we regard them as mere ripples on the pond. The pond itself is not disturbed; it remains clear and pure. We can realize this because we have understood our intrinsic tathagatagarbha, or buddha nature. It is because we have planted bodhichitta in ourselves that we are able to act in that way.
With the benevolence of the bodhisattva, we can give to others and build a strong foundation for ourselves at the same time. We can build a solid foundation for tantra. It is like building a house out of rocks: you get a lot of exercise and good health, but the house is built for somebody else rather than for you. Of course, you might occasionally walk into the house once it is built, but it is not yours. It is for all people, and it is as limitless as the sky. We are going in that direction.
In the vajrayana, we learn how to respect our world. We realize that this particular world we live in is not an evil world, but a sacred world. It is filled with sacredness altogether. We learn to develop sacred outlook. As we develop still further, we receive transmission. And from that, we develop a sense of how we could actually perceive phenomena without trying to perceive. We realize how we could appreciate phenomena instantly, without a struggle.
The vajrayana journey is short and concentrated, but this does not mean that we bypass the hinayana and mahayana. We never really abandon the previous yanas, but we constantly go back and forth. We keep trying to understand ourselves by realizing the gentleness of shamatha, the wakefulness of vipashyana, the reasonableness of lojong, and the greater warriorship of the bodhisattva path. Beyond that, we have to be willing to surrender ourselves into the state of intoxication of vajrayana. But we cannot make ourselves intoxicated; it will only happen spontaneously. So working with the basic approaches of the three yanas takes place spontaneously and always.
THE GORILLA
Without taming yourself, you cannot train yourself. You are somewhat wild and untamable, so we have to catch you and put you in a zoo, like a wild gorilla. Traditionally, this particular zoo is known as monasticism. Actually we do not catch this gorilla, but it walks into our trap. And once it is caught, we have to do something with it, and the best thing to do is to educate and civilize that gorilla. Shamatha actually tames that gorilla; it creates an environment of discipline. Captivity in that particular discipline ensures that the gorilla no longer has crude animal instincts; it makes the gorilla more human.
From that ground, this gorilla can develop a more civilized nature. Its mentality has to change so that it relates much more with others. So we take this gorilla out for walks or hiking in the mountains. In that way, the gorilla develops more awareness of others and a quality of gentleness. We may take the gorilla into gorilla camps or show it baby gorillas in order to teach it how to relate with other gorillas. We also may show it bananas, oranges, and apples, so that the gorilla begins to learn how to eat with others without fighting. We are basically teaching this gorilla how to develop good table manners, so that it could become gentle, hospitable, and kind.
As we go on, we take the gorilla on a further journey, based on the training that it has already received. With this journey, its gorilla nature could begin to come out. So far we have been almost humanizing the gorilla. However, if the gorilla becomes highly humanized, we are in trouble: we are simply producing another anthropomorphic existence. So instead of that, we take the gorilla back into the jungle. We finally let it loose to reassume its own habitual patterns and style of relating with the phenomenal world. After its extensive training, the gorilla is finally liberated. The gorilla begins to teach the dharma and to manifest dharmic qualities to the world of gorillas and monkeys. That is the end of the story. However, after the gorilla has been freed into the world, it might slip back to untamed gorillahood. That is why the vajrayana is very tricky, and why it is special. The vajrayana tells you how to be yourself, but at the same ti
me, it tells you how not to be yourself.
THE THREE-YANA JOURNEY
By studying and practicing the three yanas, you are not graduating from hinayana to vajrayana, but you are doing the same thing all along. Studying vajrayana might be like becoming a professor and receiving a PhD; but professors still need to know how to spell words on the sixth-grade level. Therefore, it is necessary to reflect back on the hinayana. You need to keep going back to square one.
In the vajrayana, you want to liberate all and everything, yourself and others together. But in order to be ready for the vajrayana, you first need to become an excellent practitioner. You need to have an understanding of the journey, of the fruition as well as the ground. Vajrayana practice is like adding salt and pepper to your food—but first you have to cook the food and bring it to the table.
If we use the analogy of a mirror, in the hinayana stage you are working to free the mirror of dust, in the mahayana you are working to keep more dust from landing on the mirror, and at the vajrayana level you look directly into the mirror. You see that it is alpha pure, primordially pure, not pure as opposed to dirty. You see that it is basic goodness. Basic goodness does not mean that you are bad, and you finally find something good, but it is a natural quality of being. That naturalness means that you have nothing to dilute or to delete. You just remain as what you are. So the three yanas work together. If you are involved with the vajrayana, you should not only do vajrayana practice, but you should extend your vision to include hinayana and mahayana disciplines as well.
The three-yana journey is like plowing a field, sowing seeds, letting the crop grow, and finally harvesting it. In the harvest, the crop gets pulled out of the ground. Whether you are fruit or grain—or for that matter, flowers or berries—you have been too imbedded in the ground. If we let you stay that way, when winter comes you will fall apart. So you have to be cut out of the ground. In that way, everybody can eat the crops; they can make use of you.
This process is not regarded as sabotage or as killing. Nonetheless, we have to cut you from the earth and make you space-bound. It is like harvesting wonderful peaches and oranges and making marmalade, jam, and pies. So in the spring, you blossom, then you have a fantastic summer, and finally you have a good autumn. After that, it is time for you to gather your seeds and keep them carefully. In that way, future generations could continue the process by sowing the seeds we have collected from this particular farm. And if the altitude and the land that you are living on are too harsh, you have to save the seeds so you can sow them later. That is one analogy of the three-yana principle.
A GOLDEN ROOF
In another analogy, the three yanas are said to be like building a house. The hinayana is the starting point or the foundation. In the mahayana, having discovered our enlightened potential, we can experience the reality of buddha nature, which is like erecting the walls of our house. Finally, having established the foundation and put up the walls, we are concerned with how we can finally make our house livable, with a ceiling inside and a roof on top. We need to have a roof, and with the vajrayana we are building that roof and ceiling out of gold.
So, having already built our house, the vajrayana stands out as a golden roof. The vajrayana is referred to as the “golden roof” because it is the final procedure through which we can become accomplished. It is not particularly regarded as the fruition, but it is, in a sense, the beginning of the fruition.
Fundamentally, we start with vajra mind, our inherent intelligence, and that keeps growing constantly in our environment through our training. So in the three-yana journey we begin by establishing a basic footing; from there, we evolve further, which is like putting the walls on the structure; and finally that development needs a finishing touch, which is like putting on the roof. With a roof, when the rain falls, our house does not get ruined, and when the sun shines too much, we are kept cool.
When this building is complete, it can connect with the natural environment around us. It is an ideal structure or state of existence to be involved in. Altogether, this state of existence is based on the idea of discriminating-awareness wisdom, not on a conceptualized notion of what should be happening. It is like knowing that at a certain stage in the change of seasons, we are going to open our windows and let the fresh air come in, and at another point, we have to exclude that possibility. But we need to get away from air-conditioning. If we want to take part in the reality of nature, we need to shut off the air-conditioning and just maintain ourselves.
PROTECTING THE MIND
Maintaining our existence in this way is a form of protecting the mind. It is a way we can ensure that our mind does not create any unusual leakage. But we are not particularly holding ourselves back, in case there is a problem; we are simply maintaining ourselves intact, as it were. We are maintaining our existence in the teachings.
In talking about protecting the mind, we do not mean cognitive mind. The cognitive mind picks and chooses; it pushes away certain things that you do not like, and it keeps certain things that you do like. But if you cease to do that, then you really have your own mind back. So this is more like having mind rather than protecting mind, because mind is not regarded as an obstacle. You are not warding off any problems or dangers, but you are just maintaining your mind.
If your mind has been protected, when you speak you are not misunderstood. Mind consists of wise, confused, or neutral discursive thoughts. It includes anything that moves, flips, interprets, or goes into a deeper world. Mind appreciates and has tremendous understanding; it has passion. It also has incredible aggression; it can destroy you and others in great depth, boundlessly. Mind also has incredible generosity, which allows it to let go and appreciate nonduality and emptiness. That is the description of mind, and the vajrayana teachings protect all of those faculties and possibilities, so that you could use them all.
The idea is that your intelligence should be preserved within your own capability, rather than babbling around or just schmoozing. This has two qualities: one is not letting go too much, but holding yourself together as much as you can; the other is that as you try to maintain your existence as a perfect human being, you should also be kind to others. If you are able to maintain yourself as what you are, that also allows a lot of compassion and kindness in relating with others. So maintaining yourself at the same time as you are letting go is something that happens very naturally within you. It is not some kind of schizophrenia.
Studying the vajrayana is an important aspect of your development, but it does not mean that you have gone beyond the earlier yanas. However, although you are starting from the beginning with the hinayana, you should not view yourself as incapable of receiving the fullest understanding of the teachings. You could maintain your existence, and at the same time, maintain that particular endeavor. So we are talking about two things at once: how to be yourself and how not to be yourself. Learning how to be yourself and simultaneously how not to be yourself seems to be asking quite a lot. It may sound like a joke. It is letting go and not letting go at the same time, which is quite exciting.
SHILA, SAMADHI, AND PRAJNA
Throughout these three volumes, we have been working with three basic themes: discipline, meditation, and knowledge; or shila, samadhi, and prajna.
Shila
In terms of discipline, I myself worked very hard for your sake. I got beaten, I got pinched, and I got punished many times. Usually, at least three punishments took place every day from the age of seven until the age of eleven. Every day there were big scenes about how to behave and how to sit. If I was slouching, I would get pinched; if I was mumbling, I would get pinched; if I was making conversation other than functional talking, I would get pinched. But I feel good about my education. I do not feel resentful about any of it. I would not mind reducing myself to a child and starting all over again. In fact, I would be quite delighted to start all over, and I appreciate the environment that my teacher and my tutors created. It was quite magnificent and remarkable.
Samadhi
Samadhi is quite simple: it is meditation or sitting practice. Wherever you are, even if you are commuting on a train or traveling in an airplane—whatever you are doing—meditation practice is always the key point.
Prajna
If you would like discipline and meditation to take place properly, you have to have intelligence. If you would like to have a house, you cannot just build a box, but you need to have bathrooms and electricity. And in order to have bathrooms and electricity, you need to have plumbing and electrical systems. And if you want to drill a hole, you cannot just drill in the middle of the room, because you might hurt your plumbing or electrical systems. You don’t just dictate situations in that way.
Practicing dharma is not difficult; it comes naturally. It is free from hassle, and it brings a lot of health. As you practice more and more, you find that practice begins to grow inside your bones, in the marrow. Practice becomes natural. It is just like a horse that is used to being ridden: that horse begins to like the rider rather than feeling resentful. That is why we sometimes call practice “riding the mind.” In your job situation, basic survival might be important to you; but at the same time, survival is based on a state of mind. When mind is healthier, then synchronizing body and mind becomes natural. Therefore, you have no problem and no obstacles. You have good health.