These Brief Teachings
comprise a range of short notes made when C. R. Lama was explaining texts. He
talked very quickly and demanded full attention. These notes give a sense of
the condensed and direct way he made his points. They have meanings
which are revealed by calm reflection on oneÕs own existence. [James
Low]
Brief Teachings.............................................................................................................. 1
Stay on the one point of presence................................................................................................................................ 2
Empty nature............................................................................................................................................................................ 2
Your own awareness is king........................................................................................................................................... 3
Space............................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Bodhi.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Bring about the result......................................................................................................................................................... 4
Describing................................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Signs................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Grasping....................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Guru-Disciple behaviour.................................................................................................................................................. 5
Guru and faith........................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Story about devotion.......................................................................................................................................................... 6
How to get blessing.............................................................................................................................................................. 7
Vows.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Full faith....................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
The black and white stones............................................................................................................................................. 8
Purifying our bad actions................................................................................................................................................. 9
The ground................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Dharmatā.................................................................................................................................................................................. 10
Our true nature.................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Atiyoga and Adiyoga......................................................................................................................................................... 12
Vairocana and Sri Sinha................................................................................................................................................... 12
C. R. Lama on his throne.................................................................................................................................................. 13
The King tries to help his people............................................................................................................................... 13
Dorje and Bell........................................................................................................................................................................ 14
The main
point of all Dzogchen teaching is that everything is empty. Emptiness, or śūnyatā, is the ground of all experience.
Many different words are used to describe it but it is always the same.
Whatever we hear or see or touch or taste or smell or feel or think is simply emptiness which is both empty and radiant. Recognising that
all these are manifestations of the empty ground, our grasping at them as being
something truly real stops.
If you have
a body, then you have eyes and ears. When you die eyes and ears no longer
function but the mind is still present. When alive, I am Mr
A, but when I die, the dead body is Mr A. Mind always
has the same nature, it is empty and open whatever occurs.
What comes
in the mind arises due to some reason. For example, what I see is already
filtered. I say, ÒThis is my friend, or my enemyÓ, ÒIt is good or bad.Ó
Similarly through the ear, I say the sound is sweet or not. What we hear evokes
many different ideas, maybe with desire, maybe with anger.
At that
moment donÕt look for future thoughts and donÕt go after past thoughts, just
stay in the middle. For example, if you suddenly think, ÒI want my enemy to
dieÓ, donÕt try to antidote this ÔbadÕ thought with a ÔgoodÕ thought. Just leave it there. DonÕt grasp after
any movement that comes into the mind, just stay on this one point of presence
and leave the movement to do what it will. This is Rig-Pa Rang-Grol, self-liberating awareness. Awareness naturally
comes free by itself in the Dharmakāya. It is never caught, never trapped.
First thought—not stop
Next thought—not wait for
Hold middle point
Always keep original nature
All Jinas go that way.
[Three months before he died the son of Dudjom Lingpa wrote this for C. R. Lama]
If you see
all things clearly while knowing their nature is empty, then you will always be
happy. However if you know the good qualities of something, for example your
house, but do not know that it is empty of inherent self-nature, then you will
be very sad if it burns. If the partner you love dies, there is sorrow but if
you know the empty nature of all phenomena, then you will be happy. Appearance
and emptiness are naturally joined and in their union is much joy.
Infinite space which offers all-encompassing hospitality, dharmadhātu, is like a ball with no division
or end. It has not been made by anyone, neither by Buddhas nor ourselves. It has no beginning and no end and is without
differentiation. Nothing is separate from it and it is the depth and expanse of
wisdom. It is free of giving and taking, allowed and not allowed, and within it
everything arises free of grasping. It is great from the very beginning, pure
and complete. Our own mind, our awareness, is inseparable from this great
sky-like empty expanse. We are not a
thing that can be grasped and we have no need to grasp.
Our
awareness is pure from the very beginning, inseparable from the dharmadhātu, free of centre and boundary.
Uncontrived and without beginning or end, it is the depth of intrinsic knowing,
free of accepting and rejecting, it is the great
self-arising nature free of grasping. Primordially complete and pure, it is the
realm of natural purity. We offer this continuously in the situation of
effortlessly arising clarity.
Your own
awareness (Rang-Rig) is like a king. Why? If you recognise the nature of
your mind, this is the source and ground, the original stage or situation, and
then everything comes free by itself, both what we take to be object and what
we take to be subject. Thus the mind is the main thing. It is the king.
Openness or emptiness (śūnyatā, sTong-Pa-Nyid) is like the sky, it is everywhere. It is our basic nature. It
is free of interpretive concepts (sPros-Bral)
simple and direct. It has no bias or attitude or limited viewpoint (Phyogs-Ris-Med).
Emptiness is the nature of all-encompassing space (dharmadhātu) and this depth and expanse is unlimited in
all directions. It cannot be found anywhere; it has no origin and it never
vanishes (ÔOng-gNas-ÔGro-Med) – open unchanging awareness that is
uninvolved with anything which occurs.
In order to
get a result, effort must be made but this depends on karma and capacity. We
need to have a hook which lets us hold on to the
object of our practice until it becomes stable and the natural situation is
revealed.
Ordinary
karmic results give an intention which is like a lead
hook – it bends easily.
If some
effort is added to this then it is like a copper hook.
If you
practise Dharma according to your own idea but with no Guru this is like a
silver hook.
If you have
faith and effort and a good Guru who has power and compassion then it is like a
steel hook.
True dharma
is precisely emptiness, our original nature. Taking refuge in this will never
lead to trouble but not understanding emptiness can lead to confusion in Dharma
practice.
Buddhahood
or Bodhi or enlightenment is awakening to your natural purity. Bodhicitta is
the development of this experience, developing awareness of the primordial buddhahood of all beings. This also offers space to others which allows their own natural enlightenment to blossom
and shine forth.
The ocean
has great depth and stillness and also vast movement – neither aspect
harms the other. The sky is vast and empty and in it many things move. Mind is
vast and empty and in it many thoughts move. These movements cause no harm or
trouble unless they are taken to be something real and separate in themselves.
The sambhogakāya is reflected Bodhi – it is
glorious and beautiful. It is not bodhi itself since bodhi has no form. The sambhogakāya is the shining empty reflection
of the dharmakāya
which is emptiness itself, inseparable from awareness. Dharmadhātu is the ground of the Dharmakāya. Dhātu, space, is like
unworked gold – infinite potential. Dharmakāya, our natural enlightened mode is
like a statue made of gold – from the unmoving openness it arises as a
single point. This ends all the confusion of duality.
Three
causal factors operate to bring about the result. These are
á the root cause,
á the support and
á the secondary cause or circumstances.
From them
comes the result. For example, tea, sugar and milk are the cause. The pot is
the support. The fire is the secondary cause. The tea is the result. Or, for
weaving, yarn is the principal cause, the loom is the support, the weaverÕs
skill is the secondary cause, and the cloth is the result. Or, for murder,
stupidity and anger are the cause, an enemy is the support, a knife is the
secondary cause and killing is the result.
The object
of your desires is what you want, what is important to you, what you focus your
attention on. Seeing needs an object, things which are visible. Hearing needs
an object, things which are audible. Touching needs an object, things which are
tangible. Tasting needs an object, things which are taste-able. Smelling needs
an object, things which are smell-able. Mentation needs an object, things which
can be apprehended by the mind.
There is an
object which is attended to (Yul)
and a subject who does the attending (Yul-Can).
The relation between them is one of attention. When we work there has to be a
base that we work on and proceed from. The basis is that which is attended to.
If there is no basis there is no growth, no fruit. The object (Bya-Yul) is what you, the agent (Byed-Pa-Po)
work on (Bya-Ba). In samsara the
subject is always in a dualistic relationship with an object. The subject comes
into being through relating to the object. They are inseparable. In relative
truth practice we work to alter the relation between subject and object. In
absolute truth there is no object, no subject and no relation between them.
Describing
is also creating. Kun-Tu brTag-Pa
means to identify an object, saying, ÒIt is thisÓ,
ÒIt is that.Ó We both see and think, ÒIt is thisÓ, ÒIt is that.Ó
When we are fully committed (Yongs-Grub)
to this then what we see by relying on our flesh eye seems to be things which
are complete in themselves, self-existing entities. For example we might say of
a design that it is three-cornered, blue and beautiful. We seem to be seeing
its qualities as existing in themselves out there. We
can also say this of images in dreams. This capacity for description can be harnessed
by both awareness (Rig-Pa) and by ignorance (Ma-Rig-Pa). When we
experience our description inseparable from emptiness, this is the energy or
creativity of awareness (Rig-PaÕi-rTsal). When we grasp at what we describe and take it
to be self-existing this is the ignorance of identification (Kun-Tu-brTag-PaÕi Ma-Rig-Pa).
We rely on
signs to make sense of our experience. The ground of the sign (mTshan-gZhi) is the basis for building meaning; it
is the object or ground we build on. This is grasped with the sign (mTshan-Ma) which is
like the strength of the land, its shape and qualities. On the basis of this we
have identification (mTshan-Nyid). This is
like the materials with which the walls and door and roof of a house are made.
This is what makes it a house. If it were made of cloth it would be a tent,
thus the identification defines the particularity of what is there. When
practice is done physically the person who practises gains qualities (mTshan-bCas), for example through the practice of
breath control (rTsa-rLung). With
direct experience, not resting on the body, there is awareness beyond the
identification of qualities (mTshan-Med)
as in Dzogchen. With mTshan-bCas there is a model which can be followed and you know by comparing and
contrasting if it is right. With mTshan-Med
there is no model. Experience is unique. It is as if someone makes something
that seemed completely strange and unknown; it cannot be
understood by comparing and contrasting but only directly with the clarity of
the natural situation.
Grasping (bDag-ÔDzin) is an enemy for
it makes trouble for us. Grasping grasps at entities which it itself creates and sustains. It is a deluded and deluding
activity arising from the reification which mistakes
the illusory nature of phenomena. Grasping is not a thought nor is it an
object, yet it can taint and confuse both thoughts and objects. This grasping
ego, the sense of I, me, myself, must be killed by the mind itself, for the
mindÕs nature is free of grasping. It is ÔkilledÕ by relaxing, by opening to
the spacious source of the mind, by releasing the energy invested in grasping
so that grasping dissolves in space, like morning mist into the sky. After one
breaks the power of grasping, thoughts still arise, but after breaking the
power of thoughts through seeing oneÕs underlying true nature, grasping is
finished.
Just as an
old man must do many things and offer many presents in order to win a beautiful
young girl who has many attractive features, so traditionally the disciple must
do many things in order to please the Guru who is the site of all good
qualities. And the Guru will always act as if he is not pleased or satisfied.
For the very stupidest disciples he will act as if he is never satisfied and
always oppress them in the manner of a herdsman with his cattle.
The ÔouterÕ object is pure and devoid of inherent self nature. The ÔinnerÕ subject is also pure. Resting in
the middle point, your awareness will become pure by not relying on artificial
interpretation. This is the central teaching of Padmasambhava in the LeÕu Dun Ma.
However you must have faith in the Guru otherwise you could recite these
verses for 100,000 years and get no result. Doubts are very dangerous. The Guru
may be poor or stupid while other people may be very rich but the Guru has the
great treasure of the Dharmadhātu
and Sambhogakāya. The
rich man cannot save you, but the Guru can and you can gain enlightenment. Even if you become rich yourself that cannot save you. You have
to think, ÒThis world is a very difficult place so I must get free from it and
only the Guru can save me.Ó
Some
Tibetans say that Padmasambhava knows more than the present-time Gurus so he is
more important but this is not so because we can easily see the Guru but not
Padmasambhava. If we have faith that the Guru is not different from Padmasambhava
and that he will come to save us, then we get result. Also Padmasambhava,
without faith, is a very ordinary man with many wives. Faith is the most
important. Dudjom Rinpoche is a very high representative of Padmasambhava. Who
you believe much is your root Guru.
If someone
is known to be a Terton treasure revealer then we would ask them, ÒDo you have
La-Grub?Ó, ÒDo you have Dzogchen?Õ, ÒDo you have
Thugs-Grub?Ó. If all three kinds of texts are present in their treasure, then
this Terton is Terchen (gTer-Chen),
a great treasure revealer. If only two of them, then they are a Tertring (gTer-ÔBring), an
ordinary Terton.
Gya-Shang-Trom, a cow-herder found a terma (gTer-Ma) under a rock. He showed it to his uncle, Shang-Bo, who became his sponsor (Chos-bDag). Shang-Bo threw it in water but it returned. Then he put it on a fire but it was not damaged. Then he put it in a clay pot but it was shining and broke the pot open. One day Gya-Shang-Trom was sleeping and he dreamed that cow-herding girls were dancing around him and a man with a big hat came and beat him. When he woke up he could read and write and later he wrote three large volumes. Then when he was old he had cow-herder disciples. They could not read or study so for seven days he did phowa (ÔPho-Ba) practice and sent them all to Nirvana and then he died. Three years later his uncle died.
Once upon a
time there was a great and famous Guru who had many disciples. Students came
from all over to study with him and they would stay for months or years and
then leave to practise in caves or become teachers themselves. However this
teacher had one student who never seemed to make any progress. He always sat at
the front and gazed attentively and devotedly at the teacher. He heard every
teaching; he heard it again and again, but he seemed to understand nothing.
After many
years the teacher decided he could not help him and asked him to leave. However
the disciple exhibited such despair and hopelessness at the thought of leaving
that the Guru decided to try one last practice.
He gave his
student a recitation mala made of large rudraksha
beads and told him that he must go into a strict closed retreat. He was only to
do one simple practice – which was to recite the mantra
which said, ÒHung. All hail the horn on my head!Ó
Years
passed and many new students came and people stopped talking of the student who
was in retreat. The Guru was getting old and suddenly became very sick. Doctors
were called; they tried many medicines but nothing helped. His close students
tried many practices but these made no difference. It was clear that the Guru
was going to die. A message was sent out to all his students that they should
gather to see the teacher one last time.
Someone
remembered the student in his isolated cave and sent him a message. When he
heard of his teacherÕs condition he ran as fast as he could over the high
mountain passes. He looked crazy when he arrived, his tattered clothes falling
about him. He had wild eyes, a long beard and a mountain of tangled hair piled
on top of his head. When he came in front of his teacher he made many rapid
full-length prostrations and as he did this his hair
unfurled and fell about him revealing a huge horn that had grown on the top of
his head. When he bowed in front of his teacher his teacher touched the horn
and immediately the teacherÕs health started to return.
Devotion is the
heart of practice.
You must strive
for blessing in the way that a child says, ÒMummy, give me an ice cream!Ó and
then cries and pesters the mother tugging at her until she gives way. If we
really believe, the blessing will come. We must think, ÒI really trust you
so why do you not give me blessing? Why do you not show me!Ó
Firstly, we
must gain the intrinsic knowing of all-encompassing space, dharmadhātuj–āna, otherwise the other four are only names. Whoever gets this
wisdom of all-encompassing space, dharmadhātuj–āna, automatically gets the other four.
The mirror-like wisdom which shows all things clearly,
arises with the purification of anger. The wisdom of evenness which, being
without bias or preference, shows all things to be equal, arises with the
purification of pride. The wisdom of discernment which
shows all the details of whatever is occurring, both sins and virtues, arises
with the purification of desire. The wisdom of full accomplishment
which displays all methods with full power to act, arises with the
purification of jealousy.
The wisdom
of all-encompassing space has full power; like the sun shining above a mountain
its light goes in all directions. But if the sun is shining on one side of the
mountain only then its power is limited. Similarly each of the other four
wisdoms can only perform particular functions.
With the
arising of these wisdoms the afflictions vanish. These wisdoms are not removed
from life, they do not block responsiveness but
effortlessly provide many effective ways of relating. For example, if you drink
cold water when you are hot you will become hot again very quickly, but if you
drink hot tea it has a refreshing effect and will cool you down for much
longer. In the sphere of the
Dharmadhātu there are no relative positions. What do we find there? Its natural
inhabitant is Dharmatā,
the actuality which never changes or does anything.
This is similar to the sky, which is always the same. From Dharmadhātu comes Dharmakāya. Dharmadhātu is like a place. Dharmatā
is its nature. Dharmakāya is its form or presence there.
It is vital
to experience the Dharmadhātu so that when you die and go unconscious you recognise the Dharmakāya and so do not go the wrong way.
Then you will gain the Sambhogakāya and the Nirmanakāya. Without the
Sambhogakāya the Nirmanakāya
cannot arise. It cannot appear straight from the Dharmakāya.
Why do we
take vows? In the Hinayana system vows are like an
object made of clay: if they are broken they cannot be repaired. Mahayana vows
are like copper: if they are broken then they can be repaired a bit. Vajrayana vows are like gold: if they are broken there is
no harm to the gold.
Dam-Tshig, or samaya, or solemn promises, are
made in order to gain enlightenment, which means recognising oneÕs own original
nature. In Dzogchen the vow is the original nature since the practice is
non-dual. The vow is Ngo-Bo, our natural situation or Rang-bZhin, our natural quality. Abiding in oneÕs own
situation is the fulfillment of all vows. A woman makes vows at marriage to
always stay with her husband and serve him – this covers all her later
activities of cooking, raising children and so on. Similarly all offerings and
practices are part of the vow, for the vow is to see and abide in our original
situation.
Relaxing
and opening to and within the natural clarity of our mind, object vanishes and
subject vanishes. The first thought is our present thought,
it is the only thought. For example, if a thought
arises such as, ÔI must do thisÕ then do not continue it. Leave it as it
is. It needs no completion. Do not try to stop it or develop it. DonÕt examine
it or get involved. If it is left alone it will go free in its own place.
The ocean
always has waves. In the mind there are always thoughts. It is the emptiness of
the ocean that allows the waves to move. They stop moving when they reach the
beach. In the same way the mindÕs nature is open like the sky. DonÕt make a limit, donÕt block the
movement. It is not possible to hold the mind still, to keep it in one
place, for it is always moving. If you try to hold your mind you are grasping
at a memory, for the thought or feeling or experience has already gone. That
memory is a different thought from the one which it is
ÔrememberingÕ and ÔitÕ has to be put there again and again. Each repetition is
different; no moment is exactly the same as any other. It is not possible to
hold the sky, for the sky itself is infinite and ungraspable and its contents,
the clouds and the wind and so on, are always changing. Likewise, mind is open
and empty. It is not possible to fix it in its own place. Just leave it in its own place which is where it always is and then thoughts go free.
By following thoughts more thought is stimulated and so it never ceases.
To awaken
to this you need full faith in your Guru and Padmasambhava. We pray, ÒYou
must do all that is necessary for me. I fully open to you. I want to be like
you. You must give me knowledge of my own nature.Ó Pray slowly with understanding of the
words and with the wish to gain wisdom and be free of the constraint of
thoughts. Padmasambhava is the actual Buddha. He is not different from the
Buddha and has the same power, qualities and so on. Therefore he is called Orgyen Sangye Nyipa
(O-rGyan Sangs-rGyas gNyis-Pa), the second Buddha who comes from Orgyan. Some old texts refer to him as Sangye
Mi Nyipa (Sangs-rGyas Mi-gNyis-Pa), that is, not different (gNyis-Su-Med),
the one who is not different from the Buddha.
Geshe Potowa (dGe-Shes
Po-To-Ba) used to practise meditation with a pile of white stones and a
pile of black stones in front of him. He would pick up a white stone if he had
good thoughts, and a black stone if he had bad thoughts. At first he only had
one white stone and many black stones. After six months they were of equal
amounts. After two years he had no black stones at all.
He asked
Atisha if this was enough. Atisha told him that he should continue practising
till there were no stones at all; he was to free himself from the perception of
duality, of distinguishing between good and bad. Atisha said, ÒNow you have
stopped doing sins but not stopped karma from the past. You must practise śūnyatā, emptiness.Ó And he taught him this. Firstly he
showed him that all objects are empty and he got the result. Then he showed him
that the subject is empty and with this he finished all his sins and
obscurations. Atisha said to him, ÒNow even if we bind you with chains and
weights, and throw you in hell, you would not stay there.Ó
Stopping
sins is one part of practice but you must get śūnyatā to really stop sins and gain
enlightenment. You will only really
understand karma when you get śūnyatā. When we do sins we create bad karma. This arises due to the
afflictions, whose root is ignorance. Ignorance is darkness from which comes desire, pride and so on. When you know śūnyatā then wisdom shines forth and all
sins stop. With śūnyatā you see that the subject is impermanent and so cut egoism.
The root of
all trouble is ignorance. It is the source of egoism and due to it, desire, anger and so on arise. It is the sole root and
it is the opposite of awareness, intrinsic knowing, and wise discernment.
Whether I become a Buddha or whether I go to hell, awareness never changes. It
is always clear, always good, never mixed. Stupid ignorance covers that wisdom
for us like a pot placed over a lamp. It is necessary to break the pot so that
the permanent light shines forth.
At the
early stages of practice we need to say, ÒForgive me.Ó We need someone
to clean us; this is the first factor of purification. We need to say, ÒExcuse
meÓ to the man who has the power to purify our sins. This is
Vajrasattva. All the Buddhas have
power to help, so why is Vajrasattva employed especially for purifying our
sins? All students while training have some main idea, like medicine or
engineering. Similarly when the great Bodhisattvas were training they thought
of different ways to help beings.
At that time Vajrasattva made a firm intention to free all beings from
their sins.
Why do we
say, ÒExcuse meÓ? This is how we acknowledge that we have done bad
things; this is the second factor of purification. We know that these actions
were sins, for example stealing. This causes trouble to others and it means
that I also will get trouble. You must think that you are dying from sin as if
you had taken poison. With this understanding you develop great fear; this is
the third factor of purification.
Then you
must promise and firmly decide that in future you will never do it again. This
vow or promise is the fourth factor of purification.
With these
four factors we separate our mind from our habit of selfish egoism. Now we can
appreciate how these habits appear to be ÔmeÕ and we also see that they are not
actually ÔmeÕ. When we identify with our assumptions
and habits they seem to be ÔusÕ. Yet when we stand apart from them we see that
they are not ÔusÕ. This mixing or confusion is what we ask
Vajrasattva to wash out of us.
A student
of Dudjom RinpocheÕs first incarnation was a butcher and while he was washing
the stomach of dead animals he believed that all sins were being washed out.
After practising this he stayed in a cave in retreat and then flew in the sky.
It is also said that when he went for teaching he was taught that everything
was illusion, gyuma (sGyu-Ma),
but he heard it as everything was sausages made with
intestines, gyuma (rGyu-Ma).
So by one-pointed attention to his daily practice of making sausages, he became
enlightened!
From the
ground (gZhi) the delusory appearances
(ÔKhrul-sNang) of subject and object arise.
They are confusing because under their power we believe that something is the
case when it is not. Then, becoming at home in that confusion, it seems to be
just how things are and we take our reliance on this to be clarifying rather
than confusing. By the interplay of subject and object the ground itself is not
recognised. When the ground is recognised their power ends. They are not
different from the ground.
For
example, if our ground nature is Room 8 in a building, confusion (ÔKhrul-Pa) is to not like Room 8. Due to this we cannot
really see Room 8 as it is but only in terms of our prejudice. Truly seeing
Room 8 as it is, we awaken from bewilderment and in that liberation we see that
confusion, our belief about Room 8, was not different from the ground, the open
spacious potential which is the actuality of Room 8. Staying in Room 8 is the
ground, not liking Room 8 and so daydreaming that youÕre somewhere else, is
confusion. But actually Room 8 is okay in itself so we must wake up on Room 8
itself as it is. Thus confusion is non-dual with the ground. It is naturally
arising, a natural form, empty of inherent
self-nature. What gives confusion its power is our own belief in it.
By taking
confusion to be something other than the ground, to be an obstacle
which has to be removed, one has not really shifted from the position of
believing that confusion is truly existing in itself. By recognising the
activity of sleep-like confusion we wake up on the basis of the ground.
Then confusion is self-liberating; it is neither to be adhered to nor
avoided.
For
example, if a Chinese child was adopted by European parents and raised in
Europe the child would one day awaken to the fact that these people were not
her biological parents. On the basis of this she becomes what she has always
been, Chinese. Or, another example, on the basis of living in a country where
there are many snakes, while walking outside in the dark night, you see a rope
and think it is a snake, and then many fears arise. If you then take out your
torch and focus it at the snake, then on the basis of seeing that it is in fact
a rope, you awaken from these fears.
From the
ground comes the bewilderment therefore bewilderment must wake up, or dissolve
itself, or vanish, on the ground. In sleep you could wake up from
unconsciousness inside a dream but this is still a form of unconsciousness and
you are still confused. It is necessary to wake up on consciousness free
of all unconsciousness, that is, on awareness. A prince becomes a king on
his parents, that is to say, it is on the basis of
having royal parents that the prince is entitled to be king. If a thief steals
money he has money but the situation is unstable because the money does
not really belong to him. But if a man inherits money from his father, this
money is really his on the basis of his father. It is on the fact of his
father being his father that he has the money. It is on the fact of our
source, our ground, that we awaken. What is truly ours
arises on, and from, and in, the ground. It is ours, it is us, but not as a
personal, private or separate possession.
It is not
about developing something new. For fundamental awakening, all the rich
creativity of your imagination is not required. Imagining new possibilities and
developing new technologies will not lead to enlightenment. Enlightenment is
the awakening of the potentiality of the ground. It is not something new. It
canÕt be purchased, or made. It is always present as the ground of every
experience.
The knower,
awareness itself, our own presence, does not make or do anything but remains
true to its own nature without being artificial. Even great scholars are not
able to construct it. When we become distracted we can go under the power of
various tendencies such as a helpless drifting (ÔBying-Ba)
and sinking (ÔThibs-Pa). With drifting (ÔBying-Ba), like a tired swimmer who has no energy left
but is kept going by the force of the waves, the meditator has no energy to
maintain clarity and direction and is moved hither and thither by the waves of
thoughts, feelings and so on. With sinking (ÔThibs-Pa),
the overpowering forces get stronger, increasing oneÕs helpless confusion. Yet
the mind itself is never trapped in the prison of these experiences, therefore
stay present on the knower itself and whatever is arising will go free by itself without causing help or harm.
Dharmatā is infinite like the sky. It is the actuality of our true nature. It is
our ground and so is described as the mother. Our ordinary mind that has been
mixed with confusion needs to recognise the mother and to join with it again
like a child returning home. If this is experienced, we will not go under the
power of lazy distraction and will not get lost and will abide in the house of
the Dharmadhātu. If you do this you will have full awareness and be integrated with
the Dharmadhātu and so be able to work continuously for the benefit of others.
We must
understand Dharmatā
or actuality clearly. It is rJen-Pa,
raw, naked, without secrets, our direct original nature. It is emptiness, śūnyatā, thusness,
Tathata, Sugatagarbha, Tathatagarbha, the ground or basis of all the Buddhas. If
you understand this then all that can be seen or experienced is immediately and
directly known (sNang-Rig). With this
there is great clarity inseparable from emptiness (gSal-sTong).
When this
is awakened to your body and your world are like a rainbow. If you see śūnyatā directly you will not have any sins
or obscuration – when the sun rises all the
darkness and cold immediately clears. Flesh, blood, and bone are ended and the
light body is gained (ÔJa-ÕOd Thig-LeÕi-Khams).
This term
also indicates that when we understand Dharmatā, spheres of light (Thig-Le) are seen in front of our eyes. At
first they are black and white, and then four or five come one after another in
a row, or like a lotus petal, or move, going away and coming towards the eye.
This term
also indicates that all that is in the Dharmadhātu is in the form of spheres of
light. This is radiance without substance; appearance,
clarity and awareness inseparable from emptiness. With the wisdom of
all-encompassing awareness the other four are automatically present for they
are its qualities – just as when one walks in the sunlight oneÕs shadow
is automatically immediately there.
From this
rainbow-light the symbols of the meditation deities manifest, for example vajra
and bell for Dorje Dragpo Tsal and a vajra for Dorje Zhonu, and one manifests full awakening with the five kāya
modes of enlightened being, and the five j–āna wisdoms. In this
way we gain or awaken to the full primordially pure original śūnyatā nature.
Our true
nature (Ngo-Bo), is unborn depth. It is
awareness inseparable from space and depth (dhātu) which is emptiness. It is essential to focus on this, your
own nature. This is the infinite space of awareness in your own heart where
awareness emerges as a point. This is the heart point (sNying-Thig)
– in the heart there is one empty point which is
the form of emptiness, of śūnyatā. This is the site of awareness. If it is blocked by blood then one
dies.
From this
point, natural clarity (Rang-bZhin), the
inherent quality of our true nature, radiates as a sphere of five colours
within the heart. With this our energy or compassion (Thugs-rJe) emerges as the display of the activities of the
components or skandhas, potentials or dhātus, and so on, as a
light form in a world of light forms. Our awareness (vidya)
is simply knowing, pure knowing. Ngo-Bo,
Rang-bZhin and Thugs-rJe
are its modes of knowing, its non-dual ÔobjectÕ (dhātu) and all that
appears in the space of dhātu.
Liberation
lies in recognising and keeping to our true nature (Ngo-Bo), and not
getting seduced by the magnificence of self-display (Rang-bZhin). As long as there is any resting on or in what
arises, there is no security. The secure place of Vajradhara
(rDo-rJe ÔChang-Gi-bTsan-Sa) is Dharmadhātu. This is the direct experience or knowing
of the infinite openness of oneÕs being. All relative identities, whether as hell-being or as heruka, are the
manifesting of dependent co-origination (rTen-Ching
Brel-Bar ÔByung-Ba) and
so are not ultimate. They are not the natural unchanging situation. If our true
nature (Ngo-Bo) is directly experienced, not one atom of arising need be
rejected because then one sees that everything is non-dual radiance.
But if this
is not realised then there is grasping at entities and then karma is produced
and one finds oneself wandering in the six realms. OneÕs behaviour becomes
artificial and full of contrivance (bCos-bCas
bZo-Byed). Interfering with whatever is
occurring, the mind is kept busy and is unable to rest in its own place (Rang-Sar Ma-bZhag-Pa). Thus due to
reification and dualistic vision one experiences fixation and polarisation,
involvement of subject and object, and karmic activity.
The great
perfection or completion, Dzogpachenpo (rDzogs-Pa Chen-Po), is also known as Atiyoga or Adiyoga. Ati means
topmost, the very highest. Adi means primordial,
prime, before mind became false. This teaching appears in three sections or
groups. There is the mind section (Sems-sDe).
This points out that everything is the mind, mind does everything, there is nothing else. Everything is emptiness but it is
mind that gives rise to everything. Even emptiness, śūnyatā, is known by mind. The space
section (kLong-dDe) points out that everything
is śūnyatā, infinite depth and expanse. kLong is the vastness in
which everything is emptiness. It is infinite space itself. The instruction
section (Man-Ngag-sDe)
offers the teachings of the mind and space sections in a form that can be
practised.
Vairocana
had received many teachings from Sri Sinha but still
he was not satisfied so Sri Sinha said,
ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས་ལ་ཟད་མེད་ཀྱང་།
དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་ཀྱི་གཅིག་ཤེས་ན།
མ་ལུས་དེ་ལ་ཡོངས་སུ་རྫོགས།
དེ་ལས་ཡོད་ན་ སིངྷ་ཀན།
ÒAlthough infinite hospitality is never exhausted,
if you know the true
nature of just one thing
then you will have
complete knowledge of all.
I, Sri Sinha promise this.Ó
Sri Sinha is saying to Vairocana: you are not satisfied but the Dharmadhātu never finishes so how
will you gain full knowledge? How can you possibly keep track of every
teaching? But if you know the nature of just one thing, if you see its
actuality, its thusness, itÕs Tathata
directly, then that is enough. I promise that there is nothing more than this.
This points to the fact that the result naturally comes out, it is naturally
revealed within (ÔBras-Bu Rang-Chas-Su sTon-Pa).
There is no end to looking if you look in the wrong place. DonÕt look at the
object. DonÕt look at the current content of the subject. Look at the looker.
By being the looker enter the situation of non-dual presence and then
everything is clear.
Mindfulness
is the middle way. To be mindful is to be present, not going to the left or
right, not leaping forward and not falling back. For example, when I was young
and living in my monastery I sat on a throne like the other high lamas although
I did not know very much at that time. At the end of the public rituals,
sponsors and other people would come forward to present ceremonial scarves and
offerings. When I was presented with a scarf I had to lean forward and drape it
around the sponsorÕs neck. However not every sponsor offered me a scarf. I had
to be ready to bend forward if one was offered and to sit still in equanimity
if one was not offered. If I leaned forward when one was not offered or sat
still when one was offered, my teacher who was sitting beside me, would hit me
on the back of the head. Thus I was trained in mindfulness.
It is very important for human beings not to waste their
life in laziness. However it is also important not to waste your life in
unhelpful or unproductive activity. For example, when King Srongtsen
Gampo first converted to Buddhism he became very
inspired by the beautiful vision of love and compassion that he learned about.
He looked around him at his people and saw how different they each were. Some
were sick and some were healthy. Some were beautiful and some were ugly. Some
were rich and some were poor. He realised that even as a great king he could
not alter peopleÕs health or beauty by a law, however he could change their
financial circumstances. So he published an edict declaring that at the end of
the month all the wealth of
the country was to be gathered together.
A great
mountain of possessions was created and this was then redistributed fairly
amongst all the people of Tibet. ÒAhÓ, he thought, Ònow my people
should be happy.Ó However after a year he noticed that again some people
were rich and some people were poor so he arranged another redistribution. At
the end of that year, again he saw that some were rich and some were poor. This
awakened in him a direct understanding of the power of karma. What arises
manifests the energy and consequence of actions performed long before. No
matter how he tried to impose justice, the individual patterns of peopleÕs
karma caused them to experience precisely their own share of the world.
If we want
to help people the key focus has to be on helping them to cut the root of
duality for it is this root which generates all the
many karmic tendencies and impulses. Trying to alter the patterns of behaviour
from outside is doomed to failure. That is why we must recognise and work with
circumstances and the precise capacity of different individuals.
The Tibetan
word for a small bell is Dril-Bu; Dril means sound. Different kinds of drilbu are described in tantras
such as the Hevajra tantra, the Kalachakra tantra,
the Vajrakilaya tantra and so on and they are also
mentioned in Kriyayoga tantras.
The mansion or palace of Kalachakra is shaped like a bell.
Instructions
for building stupas include the making of a chain of bells, drilbu,
around the stupa and the consecration ceremony for the stupa also makes
reference to these drilbu.
Monasteries
have a bell to waken the monks and another big bell is used during invitations
and blessings in the rituals. There are also bells used as wind chimes to
remind people of the thirty-seven Bodhisattva practices. Some sutras describe
how a bell was tied on an elephantÕs trunk and then the person whom the
elephant touched with its trunk was recognised as a king.
Such bells
did not have symbols on them unlike the Tibetan drilbu
bells which have om a hung cast inside them at the
top, in the area called the ÔdrilbuÕs wombÕ. Some drilbus, like mine, have no images cast inside them and
these are called Myangs-ÔDas Dril-Bu, paranirvana drilbus. They were cast when Shakyamuni Buddha died and so
were called Ôsadness bellsÕ. One hundred and eight such bells were made and
many of them, including mine, came to Tibet with the Bodhisattva Atiśa
Dīpaṃkara Śrīj–āna. They were made in different sizes. Mine has a silver head, as do all the
original bells. Later copies were made and their heads are of mixed metals.
Drilbus
are classified according to shape, for example with five or nine prongs, or
according to the country where they were made, or according to the
ornamentation on the ÔskirtsÕ.
Shapes
include those of Uddiyana, Nalanda
and Bodhgaya. There is a Nepalese style which differs
from that in other countries. In Upper Tibet and Tsang they use a bell which is
sometimes wrongly called a Tashilhunpo drilbu since this shape is used in other monasteries also,
such as in Khordong monastery. Other bells are the Tsa-dril, Hor-dril, Shing-dril [of the Shan dynasty], Chang-dril,
Tsok-dril, Nyarong-dril, Derge-dril, Den-dril, Lhasa-dril, Shigatse-dril, Kalimpong-dril, Bir-dril, Clementown-dril, Nepali-dril, Rajpur-dril, Byalakuppe-dril and
so on.
Gold,
silver, lead, copper, tin, bronze and iron are the metals used for making dorjes and drilbu as well as
alloys such as tung, an alloy similar to pewter which
is white in colour and less valuable than
silver. Jang (lJang)
is a pure metal and should it get broken when it is old, the inside metal has
the colour of jade. Jang (lJang)
is also an area_ where jade comes from.
Large bells, cymbals, long-life vases, bumpas
and butterlamps can also be made of this metal and
some of the bumpas have fingerprints visible on the
metal.
Bells make
different sounds according to the proportions of the various metals used. If
there is a lot of gold, the bell sounds hung hung hung. If there
is a lot of silver, the bell sounds shung shung shung. If there is a lot of
tung white metal, the bell
sounds chag, chag, chag. In the
Indian system eight metals were used and the proportions varied.
Regarding
their shape, the dorje and the drilbu
have the same number of prongs. PadmasambhavaÕs termas describe nine-pronged ones and these are used only
in the Nyingma practices.
The dorje is a symbol of strength. There is an account of one
yogi who died and attained the vajra body, with all his finger joints being
separate vajras and his forearms like the vajra of Indra, which is a different shape from the Tibetan vajra.
Vajra is something that is very strong and cannot be destroyed. When deities
hold a vajra it is a symbol of victory and subduing.
Some tantras refer to a dorje with a
hundred prongs, rDo-rJe rTse-brGya-Pa and there are also dorjes
with four and with five prongs. The prongs pointing up represent the male dhyani Buddhas and the prongs pointing down represent the
female dhyani Buddhas. The central prong represents Vairocana. To the East is Vajrasattva, the South is Ratnasambhava, to the West is Amitabha and to the North is Amoghasiddhi.
On the drilbu, below the figure on
the shaft and starting under the deity's nose, that is to say, in the East,
there are five letters, མུཾ
ལཾ མཾ
པཾ ཏཾ Mum Lam Mam Pam Tam. These are
symbols for the five female dhyani Buddhas and these
letters are the equivalent of the five lower prongs on the dorje. Sometimes there are eight letters, but
this is not correct. If there are eight letters, these are ཏཾ མཾ ལཾ པཾ མཾ ཙུཾ
པཾ བྲུཾ Tam Mam Lam Pam Mam Tsum
Pam Bhrum. These eight letters would correspond to
the eight lotus petals around the ÔwaistÕ of the dorje,
which signify the eight Bodhisattvas and their eight consorts.
Regarding
the ornamentation of the drilbu, the eight
water-monster (Chu-Srin) heads, represent the
eight consciousnesses. The long jeweled garlands
hanging from their mouths are a symbol of the purification of the obscurations,
klesas and also represent the decorations on the
outer walls of the mandala. The
four drops at the end of tassels signify the Ôfour immeasurablesÕ,
love, compassion, joy and equanimity.
Between the
water-monstersÕ faces there may be ornaments symbolising
the eight great Bodhisattvas. The sequence starts from the East, below the
deityÕs nose. It may be the eight auspicious ornaments which can vary and may
include a wheel or moon, a jewel, a lotus, a knife, crossed vajras,
a single vajra, flowers and other additional things. These ornaments are a
symbol for the Rupakāya
and the eight upper letters are a symbol of the Dharmakāya.
Around the
rim at the base of the bell, enclosed within two rows of pearls, is a ring of
upright vajras, forming a vajra fence or protective
circle (Srung-ÔKhor).
Around the
top of the bell, between two rings of pearls, there is a ring of horizontal vajras, a protective circle representing the boundary of
samsara and nirvana and the eight or sixteen emptinesses.
Inside the
bell, the upper part of the bell represents Dharmakāya and the lower part represents Rupakāya, that is, the Sambhogakāya and the Nirmāṇakāya.
The bell
does not vary according to the mandala practice, nor to the tantra nor to the
school, however in general we Nyingmapa use a
five-pronged dorje and drilbu
for peaceful practices and a nine-pronged dorje and drilbu for wrathful practices.
At the base
of the upper handle of a five-pointed drilbu there
can be a a long-life vase (Tshe-Bum) with jewels. A nine-pronged drilbu will not have such a long-life vase but instead will
have an open ring through which you can put your finger when doing certain
practices, such as wrathful dances.
Regarding
the use of the dorje and bell, other than when we are
reciting mantras, we should hold the dorje and bell
all the time, keeping the dorje upright, with the
prongs representing the male Dhyani Buddhas on top.
Since there is no way by looking to tell the difference between the top and the
bottom of the dorje, we need to do something to help
us, such as marking the dorje at the time of
initiation or at its consecration. Especially when doing Vajrasattva practice
we should hold the vajra, or dorje, because
Vajrasattva belongs to the vajra family. At other times, according to Jangter and Khordong practice, we
hold the dorje at our chest, using the thumb and
three middle fingers of our right hand and with our left hand holding the bell
at our left knee. When we are
saying a prayer, we can hold the dorje and bell, or
if we do not have them, simply hold our hands in the prayer mudra.
When we lay
them down, the Jangter system is to place the drilbu facing east towards you, with the dorje laid across in front of it, not touching. The upper
part of the dorje should be on your left, the lower
part on your right. When picking them up, pick them both up at the same time.
[1] This is chapter 10 in Collected
Works of C.R. Lama compiled and edited by
James Low [Simply Being,
Nov, 2013] ISBN-13: 978-0956923929