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ADVICE Teaching given by Ven. Kyabje Ling Rinpoche Tibet House, New Delhi, India 16 March 1983
A treatise on the middle view, a song to release a shower of siddhis. On the throne of unchanging method and wisdom combined See him as a Buddha both transcended and realized; In the dungeons of limitlessly painful samara See them all as parents who have Generate unforgetting mindfulness and hold it in In the inconceivable mansion of great bliss joyful
to know, See yourself as the Yidam of three indivisible kayas; In the mandala of knowable things Each day you should do the self-generation, and the six-session guru yoga, because it contains all the daily practices you have promised to do during the initiation. All of you here are highly fortunate. You who have come from the West to this Dharma Celebration have received the highest, most profound teachings from most precious lamas, in particular, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. As far as fortune is concerned there is none greater than this. However, each individual must practice well. There is no benefit in simply thinking, "Now I have received these teachings" and leaving it at that. If you have received some material like money, perhaps it is enough just to record it as a credit in an account book, but where initiations are involved, merely counting the number you have received is useless; you have to practice. It used to be impossible to hear Buddha dharma and meet gurus in the West. From the Dharma point of view these were barbaric lands, outlying countries to which the teachings of the Buddha had not spread. But now there are many different Dharma centers in the West, and especially through the incomparable activities of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, many devoted to preserving and disseminating the teachings of Lama Tsong Khapa. So it is very good that you have taken the great responsibility of serving the teachings in this way, engaging in both Dharma and administrative activities to establish these centers all over the world. And although you have done very well so far and are making progress year by year, still you must continue making the efforts necessary for further progress. As the teaching spreads in this way, more and more people in the West can hear the Buddha dharma and are to that extent highly fortunate. To ensure progress in the many centers you have established there are two aspects of activity that have to be developed together: the Dharma aspect and the administrative aspect. To develop the conditions necessary for study and practice in a center, those who do the administrative work should take proper responsibility and be in good harmony with everybody at the center. On the basis of this, all the students there should make great efforts to develop the center in whatever way possible. It's like when you have some very delicious food, you take big bites and chew it with all your teeth, taking full advantage of it- this is a Tibetan saying; I hope you understand its meaning. If you were at a place where there were gold coins for the taking you would stuff them everywhere, into every pocket and orifice! Take every opportunity to develop your Dharma center. With respect to developing the Dharma side, it seems that most of your centers have already received resident teachers. Thus it is extremely important that you expend energy in studying well. But don't leave whatever you learn as mere intellectual knowledge; you should use it to subdue your minds and eradicate delusions. Your understanding should become one with your mind. As it is said in the lamrim teachings: The purpose of understanding what one has heard is to enable one to practice according to his capacity. After you have heard and understood some teaching-for example, the perfect human rebirth, renunciation, bodhicitta-you must practice it; that is the purpose of the teaching. Each one of us should practice in accordance with our individual level of mind, or ability. We study, study, study, but if we do not mix whatever we have understood thoroughly with our minds there will be a Dharma famine in our minds; we shall suffer from poverty of Dharma. This is what happens: you live in the middle of a Dharma center, you study Dharma, but you are a Dharma pauper. So don't be like that. Use the Dharma that you have studied to change your mind, to be different from before. That is the purpose of Dharma, and if you can use it to change your mind in this way you won't be poor in Dharma. As Tewugen Rinpoche said, "Those who know the secret of turning iron into gold through alchemy never experience material poverty." How can you become poor if you can transform any old piece of iron into gold? Similarly, if you know how to change your mind with Dharma you'll never suffer from Dharma starvation. This is the most important thing to worry about. Because we have not yet changed our minds, we create negative actions and accumulate many non-virtuous impressions that cause us to wander in samsára. How can we know if our mind is unchanged, un-subdued? If we are constantly concerned about the comfort of this life - food, clothing and reputation - we have un-subdued minds. How should we change such minds? By reflecting on topics such as the eight freedoms and ten rich nesses, the great usefulness of and the great difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth, and impermanence and death. Through this we should be able to change our minds. Also, if we are seeking samsaric enjoyments such as the pleasures of the devas, our minds are un-subdued. As a remedy we should contemplate the suffering nature of the whole of samsára and generate strong aversion to it. Furthermore, the thought, "How good it would be if I had to remain in samsára no longer," the concern for oneself alone that abandons the welfare of other sentient beings, while generally not considered an un-subdued mind, is an un-subdued mind from the Mahayana point of view. The antidote to this is training in the loving compassionate bodhicitta and equanimity. We should accustom ourselves to the fact that all sentient beings - friends, enemies and neutrals - are exactly equal. All desire happiness and none desire the slightest suffering, even in their dreams. Since we, ourselves, and all others are like that, exactly equal, we should work for the benefit of all sentient beings. All the good things we have come from other sentient beings: our perfect human body, with its eight freedoms and ten rich-nesses, our meeting with the holy Dharma and the ability to practice it, our food, drink and clothing - everything. Thus of course, we should work for their benefit. To be able to work for sentient beings we must train our minds in bodhicitta and thought transformation. This starts with subduing the mind through study and reflection on the lamrim teachings. This is the most important thing and is the basis for the practice of the entire path to enlightenment. Even though the practice of tantra is so important and is the incomparable method for attaining the unified state of Vajradhara, it depends completely on the lamrim. Just as the Tibetan delicacy made of powdered cheese and butter is said to depend on the kindness of the butter, without which it would be just a pile of dry cheese, so too does the profound tantra depend on the kindness of the sutra and lamrim teachings - the graduated paths of those of the three levels of capability. Whoever tries to practice the generation and completion stages of tantra without having gone through these is like a small child gazing around a temple: nothing happens. You should all study the lamrim thoroughly, and on the basis of that try to change your minds. That is the essential point. If you then practice the Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara or Vajrabhairava tantras your efforts will be incomparable and you will be able to achieve the unified state of Vajradhara. Please take this advice to heart. And each of you should take the responsibility of spreading Dharma so that, like the rising sun, it illuminates the darkness of the world. You have been doing so; please do still more. We should all pray for success in this.
GENERATING THE BODHIMIND Teaching given by Ven. Kyabje Ling Rinpoche Tushita Mahayana Meditation Center, This teaching is made available through the generous work and dedication of The Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive (www.lamayeshe.com) which is affiliated with The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) (www.fpmt.org).
Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre, Dharamsala,
India
Ling Rinpoche was born in 1984 and recognized in 1987 in Dharamsala, as the incarnation of Kyabje Yongdzin Ling Rinpoche (1903 - 1983), the sixth in his lineage and regarded as a human manifestation of Vajrabhairava, the wrathful aspect of Manjushri. Before fleeing Tibet in 1959, he had been appointed as His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Senior Tutor and became the 97th Ganden Throne Holder in 1965. Rinpoche now studies at his former monastery, Drepung Loseling in South India. Advice to Students
Regarding the history of Tushita (Meditation Center), generally Thubten Yeshe la and Zopa Rinpoche both had a very strong connection with Ling Rinpoche and were his disciples. I myself also in this life, have this connection with Rinpoche and Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche. When we were young, I was staying over there at Chopra House and we came to know each other very well. Lama Osel used to come for tea, just like this, you know. A while ago, I had a casual conversation with Zopa Rinpoche and at that time I asked Rinpoche what was the reason he had for having all these centers. Then Rinpoche said that because he is a Tibetan lama and a Buddhist Dharma practitioner, preserving and spreading the Buddhist teachings has become Rinpoche's duty. Regarding this, Rinpoche has a strong relationship, specially a dharma relationship, in foreign countries, giving teachings and so forth. Therefore Dharamsala is a place where many foreigners gather. That's why Rinpoche thought that having a Dharma center here, a place where the Buddha Dharma could if possible, be taught, would be excellent. Thinking that, it all started, Rinpoche said. Therefore this was an extensive vision of Rinpoche and a center started. Therefore, Rinpoche's vision being like this, even if you cannot generate the path within your mindstream, you should all have the determination to do so. According to the wishes of Rinpoche. The teachings are divided into two -- scriptural and insights. The insight teachings refer to generating the path in the mindstream; and scriptural teachings refer to teaching the Dharma. So generating the path within the mindstream refers to practicing, and then teaching based on one's experiences, that is the scriptural teachings. In the Abhidharma, it is said: "explaining and accomplishing only." The essence of the teachings is like this. Therefore mainly Gyalwa Yeshe Norbu (Holiness Dalai Lama); then your guide, master and root guru Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the various refuge protectors have given various teachings. Also all the different lama's teachings as well as His Holiness' teachings and advice that you have received, should be practiced by practicing scriptural and insights teachings, hence preserving them. Like this, practicing and preserving in this manner. You foreigners are sometimes unstable, constantly running after new things. That is the way I see it, you foreigners are unstable -- receiving teachings for a few days from a lama and then criticizing afterwards. This happens. So this should not happen. You should reflect on this and act accordingly, it is important. Why is that? Because as a practitioner of the Buddha Dharma, one accepts the Buddha Dharma, and should practice in accordance with the Buddha Dharma. Because if one degenerates the practice of relying on the Spiritual Master, it is very serious because in the outline of the Lam Rim, in the very beginning, is the topic of relying on the Spiritual Master. Therefore this is very important. One should practice properly. Thus if one doubts the teacher's way of doing things, then one should humbly ask for clarification and remove the doubts; it is good to do it in this way. Otherwise if, upon seeing something disagreeable, one immediately criticizes and so forth, then it is only negative karma for the self only, it will not affect the lama. Practice the Dharma well, and stay with a happy mind, with a virtuous mind, eat delicious food and thus - make merry! Eat well! You have good cooks, huh! Amdo cooks! Thank you!
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