Phakchok Rinpoche

A Glimpse of Buddhadharma
Copyright 2009 by Phakchok Rinpoche.
pubIications@phakchokrinpoche.org
General Dharma Points
What is the unique quality of Buddhism?
The most crucial point in Buddhism is to tame the mind. As the
Buddha said in the Dhammapada, To tame the mind is excellent. When
you tame your mind, you will be happy. So the most important unique
quality of Buddhism is that it was taught in order to tame the mind.
What kind of mind do we need to tame? The mind that makes us
unhappy, uneasy. The negative emotions and all these wild negative
thoughts. Slowly slowly, we need to tame these negative emotions and
thoughts.
The antidote that tameswhere was that taught? In the
buddhadharma, the Buddhas teachings. These antidotes for taming
the mind are the unique quality of Buddhism. What is taught in the
dharma? Meditation, study, and mind training. With regards to study, we
need to study the Buddhist texts and receive teachings. Then we need
to contemplate and reflect on the meaning of what we have studied.
Finally, we need to meditate, to take the meaning of what we have
studied and contemplated into our experience. Mind training is a
section of teachings containing different types of meditation that help us
think positively and train in compassion and so forth so that our
negative emotions and suffering slowly reduce.
In mind training, there are many many different teachings and
techniques. I cannot go into them all here, but if you are interested you
should read texts such as Gyalse Togmes Thirty Seven Practices of a
Bodhisattva, Chengawas Seven Points of Training the Mind, and Atishas
Lamp for the Path of Enlightenment.
There are three types of meditation: shamatha (calm abiding),
vipashyana (superior clear seeing) and supreme vipashyanathis is
also called Mahamdura (Great Seal) or Dzogchen (Great Perfection).
There are many different kinds of shamatha and vipashyana techniques,
but they are all taught as antidotes for the negative emotions.
What does it mean to be a Buddhist?
First, going for refuge in the three jewels of Buddha, dharma, and
sangha. Secondly, having less desires, contentment, renunciation, loving
kindness, and compassion, and being able to slowly slowly gain
certainty in the dharma and realise selflessness and emptiness.
In short, being a Buddhist means being able to understand and
practice the Four Seals that are the sign of the Buddhas teaching. The

Four Seals are:

All conditioned things are impermanent.
All defiled things are suffering.
All phenomena are selfless.
Nirvana is peace.
What do samsara and nirvana mean in Buddhism?
Samsara is delusion. It is an ocean of uneasiness and suffering.
Outer samsara is the six realms. The six realms are the hell
realm, the hungry ghost realm, the animal realm, the human
realm, the demi-god realm, and the god realm. There are two ways
of explaining these: outwardly and inwardly. From the outer perspective,
the six realms exist outside of oneself, meaning the hell realms are
down below the earth and the hungry ghost realms a little bit above
them. The animal realm we can see. The human realm is here, where we
are. The demi-god realm is a little bit above this and the god realm
above that. However, the deeper inner understanding is that the six
realms depend on your own emotions and your own mind. They are
reflections of our own disturbing emotions. As a result of different
disturbing emotions, different realms appear: from anger comes hell;
from stinginess comes the hungry ghost realm; from stupidity the animal
realm; from desire the human realm; from jealousy the demi-god realm;
and from pride the god realm.
Inner samsara is the negative emotions, such as anger and so forth.
The innermost or secret samsara is self-grasping and ignorance.
(This is also the cause of inner and outer samsara.) It is called secret
because emotions are easy to see, but self-grasping and ignorance are
more difficult to see. The root of all of samsara is self-grasping and
ignorance. The remedy for self-grasping is realising selflessness. In
order to realise selflessness, first you need to learn about selflessness,
to study. Then reflect, investigate, examine. Finally, you need to
meditate on selflessness. You need to train in stages like this and then
gradually your negative emotions and self-grasping will lessen. Realising
selflessness is possible. We need to think properly about this self, this
existent self. Are there good reasons to say that there is a self, that the
self exists? Are there reasons to say that it does not exist? You need to
really think about this. Realising selflessness is possible. Up until now,
many people have practiced and realised. The main cause of selfgrasping is ignorance. The remedy for ignorance is the wisdom that
realises the natural state of all phenomena, the wisdom that realises
emptiness. As this comes to birth in your mind, then gradually you will
abandon ignorancethat is called buddhahood.
Buddhism seems to talk a lot about suffering. Isnt this a bit
depressing and pessimistic?

When Buddha first taught, the first thing he said was Know
suffering. From one side, at first you might think, Oh dear. Suffering is
so difficult and its possible youll find this quite depressing and
pessimistic. However, when you know your suffering then you can
recognise happiness very well. If you know suffering just a little bit, you
will be able to experience happiness and you will be able to recognise
happiness.
Secondly, when you know suffering, you must question what the
cause of this suffering is. If you just think, I am suffering and stay
stuck thinking only about suffering then you will get depressed.
Buddha said, See suffering. Know suffering. He didnt say,
Medicate on suffering. So after seeing suffering, you need to think
about the cause of suffering.
The second thing the Buddha said was Abandon the cause of
suffering, right? He said, Know suffering. Abandon the cause of
suffering. Therefore, when people first hear the buddhadharma and
hear all this talk about suffering, they might think that Buddhism is very
depressing and pessimistic. But, when you start from suffering then it is
very easy to identify happiness. For example, someone who is generally
healthy and happy doesnt identify their happiness very clearly and
doesnt really enjoy it, because they are always working, planning,
worrying, or doing something. When that person gets sick for one week,
iater on when they recover and are healthy again they really know that
they are healthy. They are really aware of it and really enjoy it.
Therefore, it is taught in Buddhism that Erst you need to know suffering.
Furthermore, not everything in Buddhism is about suffering.
Suffering is taught just at the beginning. We have 102 large volumes
of the Buddhas word, each containing man y different sutras and so
forth with many chapters, and suffering is only taught in a few chapters
in a few of those volumes.
In the mundane world, when there is something we desire, we think of
having that thing as happiness and enjoyment. One thing hat is very
different about Buddhism though is that it shows how, honestly
speaking, that kind of desire and attachment actually brings ore
suffering than happiness. You might have something very precious, for
example, very nice expensive clothes that you think you really enjoy,
but actually chasing after these things bring you lots ifaculties with the
negative emotions and disturbs your mind.
Therefore, the Buddhas teaching is very dear. When you think it, it
really is true.
The teachings that the Buddha taught seem to be very
individual.
Can they help society at all or are they just for the benefit of
individuals?

The buddhadharma can really help both individuals and

society.
It can be used by both. It can help and be used by both the rich and
poor, by rulers and the public. Why? Because the dharma teachings talk
about the conduct of the six paramitas (generosity, discipline,
patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom) and the motivation of
bodhichitta (the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of others).
If you have these two, then whatever you do life becomes very easy. For
example, in society you need generosity. You need discipline. You need
patience. You need diligence in improving things and you need
concentration: a firm, reliable, and relaxed mind. In order to develop a
positive society, you need wisdom or knowing. For example, in order to
be a good parent you must have the six paramitas. It is the same with
being a good leader. ]ust to be a good person you need to have these
qualities.
When you have the six paramitas and the motivation of bodhichitta,
what land of person are you? You are the perfect human being. A
precious, perfect human being. Perfect from your own side, because you
dont have any extra suffering, and perfect from the side of others,
because you are like a wish- fulfilling jewel that brings benefits to them.
It doesnt matter who you are, what you do. The buddhadharma is true.
It can benefit everyone, everywhere: society, business, family,
everyone. The buddhadharma is something that you need to apply and
make use of in all situations, not just as an isolated individual sitting
alone in a mountain cave.
If the worlds leaders were very patient, generous, and wisehow
good that would be! Even a childif they can have these qualities its
excellent. And at all times, you must have the motivation of bodhichitta.
You need to have compassion and loving kindness, at all times.
If you have bodhichitta, compassion, and loving kindness, and all the
six paramitas, its really good; if just one of them is missing then it's a
problem. For example, you might say about someone, Hes such a good
person. Hes very disciplined, diligent, focused, relaxed, and wise, but
hes so stingy. If someone doesnt have a calm mind, then you might
think, Oh, she is a really good person. She really gives a lot to others.
Shes very ethical, very patient, and very diligent in her work. Shes also
very smart, but her mind is so flighty. Shes not reliable. Or there might
be someone who has five of the six paramitas, but Jacks good ethics: he
is a womaniser. Really. So in any situation, in any role, whether as a
leader, a family member, whatever, you must have these six paramitas.
Buddhism is always talking about giving things up and throwing
things away, like Buddha Shakyamuni who left his family and
responsibilities to practice the dharma. Isnt this a bit selfish
and irresponsible?

Its very important to understand that there are many ways to

practice dharma. The most important thing to understand is that the
dharma is totally based on mind, how you think. Buddha was the first
teacher. He needed to show what it really means to give up inner
clinging. First of ail he himself was a prince and while living in the royal
palace he really didnt know how to give up this clinging. Later on when
he really did give it up, it was not only for his own sake, bur because he
saw suffering, he saw death, and he thought his children, his family,
everyone is going to have to go through this, and so he really wanted to
get an answer, an answer how to reduce these kinds of mental
sufferings. So from his perspective, from the perspective of what he
did, I dont think it was selfish. He needed to get the answers, the
solutions to these mental sufferings. And after he found the answers he
said, if you are very serious about practice and if you have the capability
to do practice, to give upcapability means for example that you dont
have too much pressure from family and so onthen if you really
want to you should give up. You should try. Trying doesnt hurt.
You should try different things, like trying different food.
However, there are other ways to practice as well. You can be in the
world. You can work and so on, but the most important thing is to tame
the mind. What did the Buddha say in his teachings? He said, Commit
not a single negative act, meaning anything that makes others and
yourself suffer. Cultivate a wealth of virtue, meaning positive things
that make yourself and others happy. Most importantly, Completely
tame your mind and your negative emotions. That is the
buddhadharma, the Buddhas teaching.
All of the buddhadharma can be condensed into these four lines. This
shows very clearly that Buddhism is not always talking about giving up.
Buddhism is talking about how to gain happiness, and freedom from
your negative emotions. To give up what? To give up your own negative
emotions.
When you begin to tame your mind, you can have anger, but you are
not really fully angry. You desire something, like in the business world,
but you dont have this iron grip of attachment. You have short-term
mental and physical sufferings, but you dont suffer.
To put the Buddhas teachings into reality is very important.
You shouldnt just keep them as something conceptual; you should
put them into reality and apply them them through your mind. Its very
important to understand that the buddhadharma is not just teaching
giving up, giving up.
Right now in the world many people say we have a problem with overpopulation, and many people are trying different things to solve this
problem. I have heard some horrible stories about different groups of
people doing terrible things in an attempt to control population increase.
Whether these stories are true or not I dont know, but nevertheless to

become a monk or nun is a good solution to keep the population in

control. Its a good solution, isnt it? Im just joking.
Ground

The Three Jewels

What are the three jewels?

The three jewels are the buddha, the dharma, and the sangha.
The word for Buddha in Tibetan, sangye (sangs rgyas), means having
cleared away or abandoned (sangs, sang) both the afflictive obscuration
of negative emotions and the cognitive obscuration that prevents us
from seeing things as they truly are, and having expanded (rgyas, gye)
the two wisdoms: the wisdom that knows things as they are, and the
wisdom that knows things in their multiplicity.
The Buddha appears for three reasons: first, the accumulation of
merit by sentient beings; second, the Buddhas aspirations; and third,
the Buddhas compassion. Therefore, we have the example of Buddha
Shakyamuni who was born in Lumbini, who attained enlightenment in
Bodh Gaya, who first taught in Sarnath, who gave the prajnaparamita
teachings on Vulture Peak, and passed away in Kushinagar. These are
the acts the Buddha Shakyamuni performed 2,600 years ago. Buddha
Shakyamuni is the fourth Buddha to appear in this aeon. Three Buddhas
appeared before him and many more will appear in the future.
Concerning the divisions of the Buddha, first is the dharmakaya, the
empty essence, the embodiment of emptiness.
The embodiment of thought-free awareness or wisdom, the cognizant
nature, is sambhogakaya. The embodiment of compassion that appears
from the dharmakaya to sentient beings is the nirmanakaya. Buddha can
be wood, an animal, anything. Buddha is not restricted to just one form.
Dharma in general means the Buddhas teachings, but the word itself
has many meanings. Dharma can mean the path. It can also be
understood as nirvana. Dharma also means to hold, not to let go and fall
into negative emotions and negative cause and effect.
Negative cause here means the negative emotions and ignorance.
Negative effect means suffering. There are two kinds of dharma: the
dharma of scripture and the dharma of realisation. Within the dharma of
scripture, there are two main kinds of texts: the Buddhas word (the
Tripitaka or Kangyur), and the translated treatises of great masters and
panditas (the Tengyur). We also have the texts of the great mahasiddhas
who gave pith instructions. So we have the Buddhas teachings (the
Kangyur), the masters treatises (the Tengyur), and pith instructions,
such as Mahamudra and so forth.
In the Vajrayana, on top of that, we have Buddhas teachings of tantra
(rgyud, gyii), scriptures (lung, lung), and the pith instructions (man
ngag, me-ngag). The dharma of realisation refers to the correct
understanding of dharma, the correct understanding of the teachings

that tame the mind, the realisation of emptiness and so forth. These are
all inner dharma, inner teachings of the buddhadharma.
Whoever tries to tame the mind and negative emotions, who tries to
accumulate merit on the path, who practices, who possesses the inner
dharma, the dharma of realisationthat is the sangha. There are three
kinds of sangha: the lay sangha; the ordained sangha; and the sangha of
mahasiddhas or yogis. The lay practitioners must keep the five precepts.
Ordained people must have the ten novice vows or the two hundred and
fifty three vows for fully-ordained monks or three hundred and sixty
vows for fully-ordained nuns. Yogis keep the fourteen root and eight
branch samayas.
What are the four noble truths?
Suffering, the cause of suffering, cessation of suffering, and
the path.
There are three kinds of suffering: the suffering of change,
the suffering of suffering, and all-pervasive suffering. When you
talk about suffering from the perspective of the object, there are the six
realms of hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, demi-gods, and
gods. These six different realms have six different sufferings, but
they can all be included in the three sufferings.
Some suffering is purely mental, not physical. We tend to think it is
the body that suffers, right? But no. There are two doors through which
we can suffer: one is the body and one is the mind.
The suffering of suffering means you have suffering to begin with,
but then on top of that you have even more suffering. For example, I am
very very sick and then on top of that my father passes away. Suffering
upon suffering. The second type of suffering, the suffering of change,
may look-like happiness for a brief moment, but things change so
rapidly that you end up suffering a lot. For example, you have a nice
beautiful relationship, both people feeling very happy, and then all of
sudden anger or jealousy comes up. Those nice pleasant feelings
immediately change to suffering, right? This is called the suffering of
change.
The third kind of suffering is all-pervasive suffering. An example of
all-pervasive suffering is our body. This body or me is the basis of
suffering. Because of this body, I have pain. Because of the body, I suffer
physically. Because of me, I have mine: my relatives, my house, my
business, my this, my that. If something happens to mine then I suffer.
Feeling-wise, all-pervasive suffering is neutral, but based on this
neutral feeling you suffer a lot. Feeling-wise, the first type, suffering
upon suffering, is what we usually consider suffering, whereas the
second type of suffering, the suffering of change, is samsaric happiness:
the happiness that we experience in this world, in samsara, is actually
the suffering of change because it does not last.

The cause of suffering is the negative emotions. As human beings

we have the problem of desire, attachment, and we are never content.
What we have, we want more of. When we get more, it is not enough;
we then want even more.
The negative emotions themselves are caused by ignorance.
Ignorance means the blindness that cannot see clearly whether what
you are doing is right or wrong, whether you are doing something
harmful or not and what the result of your action will be. That is
ignorance. In Buddhism, we traditionally talk about five main negative
emotions: ignorance, attachment, anger, pride, and jealousy. These are
the five negative or disturbing emotions, but I would like to add one
moredistraction. Distraction is when your clear mind gets distracted
from the virtuous path, and is a disturbing emotion.
Cessation is peaceful, unchanging, clear, and blissful.
Cessation means you gain some understanding or experience through
shamatha meditation or vipashyana meditationjust a small glimpse of
no negative emotions. That is a small example of cessation or freedom.
As to the path, there are five paths. The path of accumulation is
the first of the five paths and emphasises the accumulation of merit,
faith, mindfulness, and studying and contemplation. This could include
things like the preliminaries or other practices you might do before
gaining any firm understanding or experience.
After this, when one gains some direct experience of emptiness, one
enters the path of joining. When you then realise emptiness directly,
you are on the path of seeing. When you develop this seeing more
clearly, more deeply, and with more stability you are on the path of
meditation. When you complete that path, realising and attaining
enlightenment, you attain the path of no more learning, the state of
complete and perfect enlightenment. These are the five paths.
How to attain these? The three prajnas (or wisdoms): the prajnas
of studying, contemplating, and meditating. Study the dharma
correctly. Study the dharma without negative emotions. Study the
dharma with a good motivation. Contemplating means trying to gain
some certainty about what you studied.
To contemplate, to investigate, to examine is the prajna of
contemplation. To then try to gain experience in what you have studied
and contemplated is the prajna of meditation.
What are the three turnings of the wheel of dharma?
The first was taught in Sarnath and is the teaching of the four noble
truths: the first two truths being samsaras cause and effect, and the
second two being nirvanas cause and effect. The Buddha turned the
second wheel of dharma in a place called Vulture Peak. There he taught
the prajnaparamita, the path of supreme knowledge [prajna, shes rab,
sherab) based on emptiness, the six paramitas and so forth. The last

turning was given in a place called Vaishali and consists of the teachings
on buddha-nature, tathagatagarbha. The first turning teaches the four
truths. The second turning teaches the two truths, and the third turning
teaches the three truths: the dependent nature (gzhan dbang,
shenwang), the thoroughly-imputed nature (kun btags, kuntag), and the
fully-established nature (yongsgrub, yongdrub).
Why do Buddhists take refuge in the three jewels?
When we practice the dharma, we need to start with refuge.
You have suffering and the cause of suffering. The one who has
destroyed his own suffering and its cause is the Buddha. The method
for destroying it is the dharma, the Buddhas teaching. The ones
practicing this dharma are the sangha. Therefore, if we go for refuge in
the three jewels of Buddha, dharma, and sangha it really helps us to
abandon our negative emotions. When we practice the dharma, we have
to start from refuge: there is no other starting point. From one side,
going for refuge helps inspire us. It is also works as a positive influence,
because when we look at the Buddha and his qualities we want to
become like the Buddha. There are many different types of refuge.
The unsurpassable teacher, precious Buddha, is the teacher who
is free from all conceptual elaborations, all grasping to true existence
and to self, to I. What this unsurpassable teacher taught is the dharma
the unsurpassable protector, the precious dharma. The dharma
is not only the protector and refuge in this
life and future lives; it goes even further by teaching us how 10
recognise the disturbing emotions and their root in our minds and
teaching the methods to abandon them. Because it teaches these
methods, it is the sublime dharma, the unsurpassable protector. The
unsurpassable guides on the path are the precious sangha.
There are many benefits to taking refuge in the three jewels. First,
taking refuge means we will experience fewer obstacles. Second, it gives
support to our efforts on the path. Third, after you receive the refuge
vow and start practicing refuge, you will experience less emotional
problems and so forth, so refuge has many benefits.
Is there a difference when one takes refuge with a Hinayana,
Mahayana, and Vajrayana master?
When taking refuge in these three different contexts, first of all there
is a difference in the support that one takes refuge in. For example,
the three jewels, the three roots, and the three kayas. Secondly, there is
a difference in the motivation with which one takes refuge. In the
Hinayana one takes refuge motivated by renunciation. In Mahayana one
takes refuge motivated by bodhichitta, and in Vajrayana, secret mantra,
one takes refuge with pure perception.

What is faith in the context of Buddhism?

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

Karma

What is karma? Can it be proven?

Karma is action, cause and result.. Karma can be proven by your
experience. When you perform positive actions, you gain positive
results. When you perform negative actions, you gain negative results,
physically or mentally. Positive here means with a good motivation
without the three negative emotions of attachment, anger, and
ignorance.
What are the ten virtuous and ten non-virtuous actions? How
to distinguish between virtue and non-virtue?
There are three non-virtuous actions of body, four non-virtuous
actions of speech, and three non-virtuous actions of mind. The three
non-virtuous actions of body are killing, stealing, and sexual
misconduct. The four non-virtuous actions of speech are lying,
divisive speech, harsh words, and gossip. The three non-virruous
actions of mind are envy, harmful intent, and wrong view. The ten
virtuous actions are their opposites. For example, the opposite of the
non-virtue of killing is to abandon killing and do things to protect and
save the lives of others.
How to distinguish virtue and non-virtue? The most important thing is
motivation. Virtue and non-virtue depend on your motivation. If your
motivation in doing, saying, or thinking something is mixed with any of
the six negative emotions and connected with self-clinging, then
however the action appears outwardlygood or badit becomes nonvirtue. If you do something with a positive motivation, free of the
negative emotions
of desire, stinginess and so forth, then that becomes virtue. The main
factor that determines an action as virtuous or non-virtuous *is the
mind. Mind comes first, and then after that body and speech follow, so
the main thing is mind and your motivation.

Who decides what is good karma and bad karma?

It is mainly the mind, the motivation, the initial thought deep down in
your heart. It is the kind of motivation you are doing an action with that
determines what kind of karma it is.
Virtuous and non-virtuous karma are distinguished mainly by the
presence or absence of attachment, aversion, and ignorance. Actions
motivated by those three disturbing emotions are called non-virtue.
Actions done without any of those three disturbing emotions are called
virtue.
Within virtuous and non-virtuous karma there are different Q levels or
different kinds of karma. If you think of karma in a very coarse way,
regarding each of these types of karma there are two motivations: the
causal motivation and the motivation of time. The causal motivation is
the motivation you have before engaging in the karma, the action. The
motivation of time is the motivation you have when actually doing the
action, so within that time your mind and motivation can change.
The fact that the result of what we call virtuous deeds is happiness
and the result of what we call non-virtuous deeds is suffering is simply
the nature of phenomena. For example, you have a seed. If this seed
then has sunlight, water, and good soil it will sprout, right? This is the
nature of things, right? There is no question about whether it will sprout
or not. The fact that happiness results from virtuous karma and suffering
from non-virtuous karma is not something that was made up by God or
the Buddha. It is simply the nature of things. The nature of things means
for example that if you have ignorance in your mind stream suffering will
arise.
If you have aversion or anger suffering will arise. Likewise, if you
have attachment or desire in your mind stream suffering will arise.
This is the nature of the disturbing emotions. As I said before, nonvirtuous karma means actions motivated by these three disturbing
emotions.
In this context, when we talk about attachment, averison, and
ignorance they refer mostly to the aspect of disturbing emotions.
Disturbing emotions are shaky. There are two levels to the mind. You
really need to discriminate these two when talking about karma. On the
coarser level, when you talk about karma it refers to the shaky mind, the
ordinary shaky mind. Karma is quite deep. For example, when you think
about it in a more subtle way, about self- grasping, then if an action is
done based on self-grasping whether that action is virtuous or nonvirtuous depends on whether you are doing it for your own benefit. If
you are doing it for your own benefit it becomes non-virtuous karma. It is
karma motivated chiefly by self-grasping. So regarding virtuous and nonvirtuous karma, there is a lot to think about.
However, the main thing is, as the Buddha said, that karma depends
on your motivation. There is no-one deciding what is virtuous karma and

what is non-virtuous karma. It depends on your motivation. Why? It is

the nature of things. It is the nature of things that water flows
downwards, right? Water doesnt flow upwards, right? But dont think
that there is some truly existent nature of things. The sun rises and the
sun sets. The globe moves around the sun. Why is the globe moving? Of
course there are conditions to make the globe move around the sun.
Why are the conditions there? It is the nature of things, the way things
are. There are some non-Buddhists who say, Time goes. There is
something truly existent called time** Likewise, some people think that
when we say the nature of things in the context of Buddhism it means
that the nature of things really exists, that Buddhism teaches that the
nature of things is truly existent. Its not like that. If cause and conditions
are present then the result will arise. Why? Because the causes and
conditions have the ability or power to give rise to the result.
If one has created negative karma, can one purify it? If yes, how? And
if no, why?
Yes, one can. How? You need to meditate on bodhichitta and on
compassion and loving kindness. You need to study, reflect, and
meditate on the meaning of selflessness. This is very important. You
need to gather the two accumulations of merit and wisdom and
meditate a lot. Then slowly slowly your negative karma will be reduced
and purified.

The Mind and Buddba-nature

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

consciousness?
In Buddhism, mind and consciousness are a little different. The
Buddhist texts talk about six consciousnesses: the five sense
consciousnesses of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body, and the
mental consciousness. The cognition of the five sense consciousnesses
is non-conceptual cognition, while the cognition of the mental
consciousness or mind is conceptual. For example, eye consciousness is
a consciousness, but you dont call it mind. It is something that is just
clear and seeing, without thought. It is after the initial moment of eye
consciousness that we then see and judge with our mind, our mental
consciousness. Then we call it mind. The mind or mental consciousness
is a judgmental conceptual consciousness. The mind is what thinks,
plans, worries, feels, experiences. It is the creator. All negative emotions
arise from the mind. All happiness arises from the mind.
What is buddha-nature?
It is the cause of buddhahood. There are two kinds of buddha- nature.
In Sanskrit they are called tathagatagarbha and sugatagarbha.
Tathagatagarbha means the thus-gone nature: it is the nature of
mind, the natural state. What is the nature of mind like? The unity of

clarity and emptiness. Sugatagarbha means the bliss-gone nature and

is more of a Vajrayana term. Bliss refers to the path, the path of the
third turning of the wheel, the fact that it is without great harships, very
fast, and comfortable. All enlightened qualities are naturally present
within buddha-nature, without having to be developed though reading
dharma books, practicing compassion, and so forth; thev are naturallv
present. All sentient beings have buddha-nature.
All living beings have buddha-nature. That is why they can attain or
realise enlightenment.
How can we gain certainty in buddha-nature?
You need to study, reflect, and meditate on buddha-nature. If you
study, reflect, and meditate, then gradually certainty will arise.
In short, there are two things you can do. Firstly, when you start
practicing the dharma and your positive qualities improve a lotfor
example, if someone has a very short temper and then really focuses on
practicing, and within a year or just a few months their temper really
reduces and their practice of loving kindness increasesthen that is a
sign that anger is not innate in buddha-nature. That is why we can
improve. If buddha-nature was already tainted by anger and so on, then
we couldnt really improve. This is the long route to gain certainty in
buddha-nature.
A shorter route is to reflect on how buddha-nature is the nature not
only of all phenomena, but mainly the quality of our mind.
This is the second method. Do a little bit of shamatha meditation to
stabilise the mind a little and then start analytical meditation. Examine
the mind. Where does it come from? Where does it go? Where is the
mind? Examining the arising, abiding, and going of mind is really helpful.
If you do that, it is very easy to gain certainty in buddha-nature. It is
usually difficult to gain certainty from studying alone. When you really
gain certainty in buddha-nature
like that, then I think your practice will be very stable and you will
become very diligent. Also, you wont have the problem of low selfesteem, because you have certainty that you have buddha-nature.
Path

Buddhist Schools & Lineages

What are Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana students? Why

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

fruition is nirvana, freedom.

For bodhisattvas, or Mahayana students, the view is emptiness
free from the four extremes of existence, non-existence, both existence
and non-existence, and neither existence nor nonexistence. The path is
based on compassion and bodhichitta (the wish to attain
enlightenment for the benefit of others) and the six paramitas
(generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation, and supreme
knowledge). The fruition is freedom from samsara and nirvana, and the
attainment of complete and perfect enlightenment, buddhahood.
For Vajrayana students, the view is the inseparable unity of pure
perception and emptiness. With regards to the meditation,
shamatha is practised as the development stage (visualisation
practice) and vipashyana as the completion stage (either with
concepts, such as the practise of nadis, pranas, and bindus, or without
concepts as in Mahamudra or Dzogchen). Freedom from hope and
fear is the fruition of Vajrayana.
There are two major differences between these three. One is the
ground and one is their emphasis. With regards to the ground, the
Hinayana and Mahayana traditions see tathagatagarbha or buddhanature as a cause for achieving nirvana or enlightenment.
The Vajrayana views enlightenment as something to realise, not
something to achieve. The Vajrayana view is pure perception, which
means seeing the body, speech, and mind as pure, not impure.
The biggest difference in their emphasis lies in the view. In the
Hinayana, Buddha taught mostly non-existence. In the Mahayana
teachings, Buddha taught mostly emptiness, and in Vajrayana mostly
primordial wisdom {ye shes, yeshe). Because of these differences in the
view, then there are differences in the strength of the result attained.
Sometimes the result is called buddhahood, sometimes no hope no fear,
but ultimately they are the same. Ultimately, all vehicles arrive at the
same result and at one ultimate vehicle, but there are differences in the
paths taught and the amount of skilful means.
You must understand that Vajrayana includes Hinayana and
Mahayana teachings and practice. Vajrayana includes the essence of
Hinayana and Mahayana. The essence of the Hinayana is renunciation,
selflessness, and mindfulness, which are practiced in the Vajrayana. The
essence of Mahayana is bodhichitta, the six paramitas, and emptiness,
which are also practiced in Vajrayana.
How many different schools are there in Tibetan Buddhism?
First is the Nyingma school, the Ancient School of the Early
Translations. It began from Guru Rinpoche, Vairotsana, Khenchen
Bodhisattva, and so forth. Second is the Kagyu school, which started
from Tilo, Naro, Marpa Lotsa, who brought the Kagyu tradition from India
to Tibet, and Mila. Then there is the Sakya school, which began from

the great mahasiddha Virupa who then passed the lineage on to Drokmi
Lotsawa Shakya Yeshe and then the five great Sakyapa forefathers.
Then there is the Gelug school, in which there is the earlier Gelug and
later Gelug. The earlier lineage
is the Kadampa lineage that started with Jowo Palden Atisha and his
students in Tibet. The newer lineage began with Je Tsongkhapa Chenpo
and his two disciples Gyaltsab Je and Kedrub Je. From there came the
new Kadampas. These are the four schools.
How many different levels of practice are there in Tibetan
Buddhism?
The Buddhas spoken words comprise 102 large volumes that are
divided into four sections of Vinaya, Sutra, Abhidharma, and Tantra. Ail
of these four sections are studied and practiced in Tibet.
First, there is the practice of shravakas. They focus on having less
desire and contentment. They practice mainly the four truths, and from
among the four truths mainly the meaning of selflessness. They also
practice the eightfold noble path and shamatha and vipashyana. These
are the things they emphasise most. The master who brought the
shravaka teachings to Tibet is the bodhisattva and fully-ordained monk
Shantarakshita. He brought the zhikun yopa (gzhi kunyodpa) branch of
the Sarvastivadin lineage of personal liberation (pratimoksha) vows from
India.
Then there is the practice of pratyekabuddhas, which is similar to
the shravakas in practicing less desire, contentment, shamatha, and
vipashyana. Their main practice though is reflecting and meditating on
dependent origination.
Then there is the practice of bodhisattvas, who emphasise the
practice of the two truths (the relative truth and the ultimate truth) and
relative and ultimate bodhichitta. This was also brought to Tibet by the
bodhisattva Shantarakshita. Within the practice of bodhisattvas, there
are two lineages: one that comes down from Manjushri and one that
comes down from the protector Maitreya. Based on these two lineages,
one takes the bodhisattva vow and engages in the conduct of a
bodhisattva, meaning compassion and bodhichitta and the practice of
the sue paramitas.
Then there is the practice of tantra or mantra. It is very
important not to misunderstand tantra. It is not black magic. It is not
just ritual. It is based on all the previously mentioned levels of practice:
on the practices of the shravakas, the pratyekabuddhas, and the
bodhisatrvas. There are outer levels of tantra and inner levels of
tantra. The outer levels can be divided into three: Kriya, Upa, and
Yoga. Each of these levels has its own kind of shamatha [and
vipashyana] meditations, and development [and completion] stages.
Development stage means meditating on a deity.

Then there are the three inner tantras: Maha, Anu, and Atiyoga.
Mahayoga emphasises the development stage and practices the four
nails, the three samadhis and so forth. Anuyoga emphasises the
completion stage with concepts, meaning the practice of nadis, pranas,
and bindus, and the six yogas of Naropa: the yoga of inner heat, the
yoga of illusory body, the yoga of dreams, the yoga of luminosity, the
yoga of ejection of consciousness, and the yoga of the intermediate
states. Dream yoga purifies the dream state. The yoga of the
intermediate state purifies the intermediate state (the period between
dying and taking rebirth) and so forth. Then there is the practice of
Atiyoga, which emphasises non-dual primordial wisdom, the Great
Perfection, which is like the heart essence of the Buddha. Some divide
the different levels of tantra not into six, but into four: Kriya, Upa, Yoga,
and Anuttara.
So there are many stages and many different ways of dividing them.
Some talk about nine stages or vehicles. Some talk about three stages
and some about two. The nine stages are the shravaka,
pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattvayanas, and then the six levels of tantra
as described above. The three stages are shravaka and pratyekabuddha,
bodhisattva, and tantra. The two stages are the greater vehicle, which
includes the bodhisattvayana and tantra, and the lesser vehicle, which
includes the shravaka and pratyekabuddhayanas.

Disturbing Emotions & Obscurations

What are the five poisons?

Ignorance, attachment, anger, jealousy, and pride.
Ignorance means not knowing. For example, when negative
emotions arise, when we get angry, we dont know we are angry. This is
one example of ignorance, so at some levels ignorance is not knowing or
being aware of negative emotions. At some levels, even though you are
aware of the negative emotions, you dont recognise that they are
negative. This is also ignorance. There are many different levels to
ignorance, but I cannot go through them all here.
Attachment is desire. For example, you see something pleasant and
think, It is mine. My child. My thing. Whenever you perceive something
as pleasant, then immediately attachment arises. You think, If only I
could get that... and then when you have it you start thinking, Oh no.
Maybe I will lose it... This is all attachment, grasping.
Anger arises when you think someone or something has harmed you
or hurt you, or you experience something unpleasant.
Pride is thinking, I am high. I am superior. I am great. When you
have pride, you see everyone as lower than you. You think you are the
best, that only your path is the true path.
Jealousy arises towards those equal to one and a litde bit better. You
think, If only he was worse than me and I could become better than

him.
Sometimes we talk about six negative emotions and add on
stinginess. Stinginess is strong grasping, being unable to let go, to
give. It is miserliness.
What is the root of all emotions?
There are two main roots. One is self-grasping, self-clinging. Once
you have clinging to me, to I, then it is so easy for emotions to
arise. We are so spoilt and so habituated to this self-clinging that
sometimes it is so difficult to deal with our emotions. The second root is
ignorance (ma rig pa, marigpa), the ignorance that does not recognise
the meaning of the natural state. You need to think like this: every
moment is a condition to gain realisation of ultimate truth, but still we
havent realised. For example, a dog is barking.
The barking is emptiness, right? Where does the sound come from?
From the back? From the front? Where does it come from? Where does it
go? To be honest, it does not exist, right? Some air goes in and out of
the dogs throat. The dog opens his mouth. There is nothing really there.
Everything is emptiness, but we cannot understand that. For example,
when we watch a movie we know that it is an illusion, but we cannot
recognise or understand that actually everything is an illusion. A few
people do understand that everything is an illusion, but they cannot
realise. Most cant even understand. This is all ignorance, ignorance of
the meaning of dharmata, of suchness, the way things really are.
Are there specific remedies for specific disturbing emotions?
Yes. There are specific remedies. In the Buddhist texts, traditionally
compassion and loving kindness are taught as the remedy for
anger. Meditating on unpleasantness is taught as the remedy for
desire. In this context, desire refers mainly to the desire between men
and women, because that is usually the strongest kind of desire and the
most difficult to part from in the human realm. There is another antidote
for desire taught in the bodhisattva teachings, which is seeing all
sentient beings as yout parents, in particular as your mother and
siblings. For ignorance, you can meditate on the twelve links of
interdependent arising in their forward and reverse orders. As an
antidote for pride, the traditional remedy is taught to be meditating on
the six elements of earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness.
This can help because pride is based on our notion of self, of T; by this
meditation, you break down that notion of self and realise that there is
no real basis for pride. For jealousy, you should practice rejoicing.
Those are the most common traditional remedies, but you can also
practice looking at your own faults for pride; rejoicing and compassion
for jealousy; selflessness for desire; studying and practicing the dharma
in general for ignorance; and shamatha meditation for distraction.

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

Merit

What are the two accumulations and why are they important?
The two accumulations are the accumulation of merit with
concepts and the accumulation of wisdom without concepts. For
the accumulation of merit with concepts you need to have a good
motivation, for example, the intention to benefit, or bodhichitta. When
you have the intention to benefit and with that intention you engage in
generosity, or any other kind of positive action, that is the accumulation
of merit with concepts. If you accumulate merit with bodhichitta
thinking, I want to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings; it
is for this purpose that I am gathering the accumulations, you will
accumulate vast stores of merit.
The accumulation of wisdom without concepts refers to when you
realise that the person gathering the accumulations, the action of
gathering the accumulations, and the accumulations gathered
(the three spheres of subject, object, and action) are emptiness. If you
can realise this, it is called the accumulation of wisdom, and is the direct
cause for the birth of primordial wisdom. This is the accumulation of
wisdom. To qualify as the accumulation of wisdom, your mind must be
infused with actual primordial wisdom or something very similar.
For the dharma practitioner, the most important condition for the
realisation or recognition of wisdom is the accumulation of merit.
Accumulating as much merit as we can is the best way, the best skilful
means, to help us realise emptiness and recognise wisdom.
How can I accumulate merit and practice the dharma most
effectively?
You need to embrace all your actions and dharma practice with the
three excellences. If you can apply the three excellences to everything
that you do, you will accumulate a vast amount of merit and your
practice will be very effective. The first excellence is the excellent
preparation of bodhichitta. The main point here is compassion and
bodhichitta. Bodhichitta is the motivation to do something for the sake
of freeing all sentient beings from suffering and the cause of suffering
and establishing them in the state of enlightenment.
The second excellence is the excellent main part without concepts.

There are two kinds of main part without concepts: concordant and
actual. The concordant main part is reflecting on how the nature of all
phenomena is not established, that all phenomena are like dreams and
illusions. For example, doing prostrations while reflecting on this, giving
while reflecting like this, or offering butter lamps and at the same time
thinking, I and what I am offering, its all like an illusion, a dream.
Practicing like this is extremely powerful, because it helps you to
understand emptiness.
The last of the three excellences is the excellence of dedication,
which makes the merit of our good actions further and further
increase.
Why are these three so important? Because of the results they bring
about: if you have the excellent preparation of bodhicitta, the result is
buddhahood, enlightenment. If you have the excellent main part without
concepts, then no negative emotions will be able to harm or destroy the
merit. For example, if you perform an act of generosity thinking that it is
all just like a dream and illusion, the merit of that generosity becomes as
vast as the sky and no negative emotions will be able to destroy that
merit. By the power of dedicating the merit, the merit dedicated will
further and further increase. For these reasons they are called
excellences. Whether it is meditation, prostrations, making offerings,
doing circumambulations, or even just reciting one mantra, if you
embrace it with the three excellences it becomes extremely powerful.

Entering the Path

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

should one begin the path?
First you need to study, to read. At the beginning, you should study
and read about mind training, the four noble truths, and the twelve links
of dependent arising. Try to see your own negative emotions and try to
understand compassion and the four immeasurables. If you are
interested in meditation, then first you need to learn about shamatha
meditation, first with a concrete support, then without a concrete
support, meaning focusing on your breath or visualisation etc., and
finally without a support, without focus. You shouldnt immediately start
reading about tantra, and Dzogchen and Mahamudra, because then you
will get lost before you have even begun.
If you are really interested, then first you need to take refuge in the
three jewelsthe Buddha, dharma, and sanghawith a lama.
After refuge, you need to practice the refuge vows. After that, you
should spend more time studying. What is the Buddhist view?
What is the Buddhist meditation? What is Buddhist conduct?
What is Buddhisms fruition? Focusing on these four points, you
should study. For example, the view. WTien you talk about the view, the
most crucial point is wisdom or supreme knowledge, which is like eyes.

Meditation is like legs. Conduct is like walking, how you should walk and
move around. Fruition is the goal, the destination. It is these four points
that you need to study. For example, with regard to the view, there are
texts such as Chandrakirtis Entering the Middle Way, Nagarjunas Root
Verses of the Middle Way, Aryadevas Four Hundred Verses, and
Shantarakshitas Ornament of the Middle Way. They teach mainly the
view of the Middle Way. In meditation there is shamatha and
vipashyana, Middle Way meditation, Mahamudra meditation and so
forth. You need to study all these things, but just reading books wont
help. You need to receive teachings directly from a teacher and follow
their advice. For example, even when studying at university you must
have a teacher; you cant learn everything from just reading books. The
teacher is like a guide. If you study with a teacher, then your path will
become more stable. With regards to conduct, you could study
Shantidevas Way of the Bodhisattva. This text teaches mainly conduct,
but also the view and meditation. Texts such as the Uttaratantra by
Maitreya teach the fruition in a lot of detail. You need to study all these
things.
What is the correct sequence to train in?
Generally, and if you are serious about practicing, then at the
beginning you should focus on mind training. You should start doing
some simple meditation and then practice the four foundations,
beginning with the four mind-changings: the preciousness of human
birth, impermanence, karma, and the defects of samsara. After that,
there are the development and completion stages of the Vajrayana,
which should be trained in side-by-side with shamatha and vipashyana.
Finally there is Mahamudra and Dzogchen.
However, it also depends on your interest. For example, if you have
the most interest in meditation you shouldnt only do meditation. While
focusing mainly on meditation you need to study mind training, study
the dharma texts, learn philosophy and so forth. Likewise, if your main
interest is philosophy you shouldnt only study philosophy. Focus on
philosophy, but also meditate and practice mind training. Wherever your
interest lies, focus on that. However, mind training, the four
foundations, studying the dhanna well meaning learning what the
crucial key points of dharma are, and meditationthese four are
crucial.
Study, reflection, and meditation are taught in all contexts. First of all
you need to study. Receive teachings. Then reflect on the teachings.
After this you need to meditate.
What books are good to read when starting out?
First of all read books about the four truths. After that it is good to
read books that teach mainly the Buddhist view, the view of the Middle

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

The Bodhisattva Path

What is a bodhisattva?
A bodhisattva is someone who has one of the two types of
bodhichitta: relative bodhichitta and ultimate bohichitta. Relative
bodhichitta is the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all
sentient beings motivated by great compassion. It includes the concepts
of the three spheres: subject, object, and action. Ultimate bodhichitta
however is the direct realisation of emptiness, so is free from the
concepts of the three spheres.
There are two levels of bodhisattva. The first is the beginning or
ordinary bodhisattva, who practices relative bodhichitta. One who has
directly experienced emptiness is a noble bodhisattva practicing
ultimate bodhichitta.
What is the difference between loving kindness, compassion,
and bodhichitta?
Loving kindness focuses on wishing sentient beings to have
happiness and the causes of happiness. Compassion focuses on
wishing that sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of
suffering. Bodhichitta focuses on helping sentient beings achieve the
realisation of enlightenment.
What are the six paramitas?
Generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation, and
prajnaparamita or transcendent knowledge.
The paramita of generosity is a generous attitude, a mind without
attachment. There are three kinds of generosity: generosity of material
things, such as wealth; generosity of giving protection from fear; and
generosity of the dharma. Generosity means giving fully
without any attachment, without any stinginess. The generosity of
material things is easy to understand. The generosity of giving
protection from fear is, for example, saving animals from slaughter and
setting them free. You can do many things for the generosity of dharma.
For example, if someone is printing books you can contribute some

money. If someone is new, you can give them some advice. When you
are practicing, just chanting the words of the dharma out loud so that
the many beings surrounding you hear itthat is also the generosity of
the dharma.
The paramita of discipline is not letting body, speech, and mind fall
into carelessness. Maintaining carefulness by means of mindfulness
and attentiveness is what is meant by the paramita of discipline. There
are three different kinds of discipline: the discipline of avoiding negative
actions; the discipline of undertaking positive actions; and the discipline
of bringing benefit to others. These three are very important. You should
understand that if you want to refrain from something non-virtuous, it is
better to take a vow, because when you take a vow you accumulate
merit. When you practice discipline, just avoiding negative actions
without taking a vow, you avoid accumulating bad karma, but you dont
accumulate any good karma, because you didnt take a vow, so it is
good to take vows.
The paramita of patience is an undisturbed mind. There are three
types of patience: patience when wronged; patience to bear hardships
for the dharma and for the benefit of sentient beings; and most
importantly, patience to face the profound truth of emptiness and
selflessness without fear.
The paramita of diligence is a mind that takes joy in virtue.
Diligence is the opposite of laziness. There are many different types of
laziness, for example, procrastination thinking, I will practice tomorrow,
not today. Therefore, we need diligence, meaning to be able to take joy
in positive actions with a good motivation. There are three kinds of
diligence: armour-like diligence; diligence in action; and diligence that
cannot be stopped.
The paramita of meditation refers to shamatha and vipashyana
mediation. In general, it is a mind that remains one-pointed and focused.
Calmness, one-pointedness, clarity, and non-distraction are the qualities
of shamatha. Most important though is vipashyana meditation. The main
qualities of vipashyana are thought-free, objectless, non-distracted, and
clarity. There are three kinds of meditation: shamatha, vipashyana, and
supreme vipashyana (Mahamdura and Dzogchen).
The paramita of prajna, supreme knowledge, is the wisdom that
realises selflessness or emptiness. There are three kinds of
prajnaparamita: the prajna gained through study, the prajna gained
through contemplation; and the prajna gained through meditation.
When any of these six paramitas is embraced by the wisdom that
realises the emptiness or selflessness of the three spheres subject,
object, and actionit is called a transcendental paramita. Without
this wisdom, it is a mundane paramita.
What are the four immeasurables?

First is equanimity. There are three things to understand regarding

equanimity. The first is that all sentient beings are equal in having been
ones parents in past lives. Secondly, all sentient beings are equal
because they want happiness and peace and want to avoid suffering
and unhappiness. Thirdly, all sentient beings are equal in being
inseparable from emptiness: when you realise emptiness, you realise
that all sentient beings are emptiness.
The second immeasurable is compassion, the practice of seeing
other sentient beings suffering and the cause of suffering and wishing
them to be free from that. There are three levels of compassion: the
compassion that focuses on sentient beings; the compassion that
focuses on dharma, meaning on sentient beings as the five aggregates
(form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness); and
compassion without reference or focus.
Loving kindness, the third immeasurable, is the wish for sentient
beings to have happiness and the cause of happiness.
The fourth immeasurable, sympathetic joy, is a very good quality. It is
the wish, May all beings not be separated from the happiness free from
suffering.
Many people talk about loving kindness and compassion, but fewer
people talk about equanimity, and fewer still about sympathetic joy.
Sometimes when you practice loving kindness and compassion you end
up feeling a little sad, sometimes very sad. That is why we should
practice compassion and loving kindness together with sympathetic joy.
Sympathetic joy means rejoicing in all sentient beings short moments of
happiness and wishing that they not be parted from those small
moments of happiness. For example, in Africa a mother and child may
be very poor and lacking even enough food to eat; but when practicing
sympathetic joy, we dont focus on that aspect, but on the fact that the
mother and child are both very fortunate that they have each other and
are together. It is very positive. So when you practise the four
immeasurables with sympathetic joy at the end, then it is like a good
end to a movie; you dont need to cry at the end. I like to joke like that.
They are called the four immeasurables because the object of focus
(sentient beings) is immeasurable, the wish or intention is
immeasurable, and the benefit is immeasurable.
What is tonglen?
Tonglen is giving and taking. What do you give? When breathing
out, you give your happiness, your merit, your practice. Whatever good
things you have you give to all sentient beings. Then when breathe in
you take on all their negativity and suffering. There is one style of
tonglen practice where you visualise a black ball in the centre of your
heart. All the negativity you breathe in dissolves into that. Then it blasts
into pieces and you relax. In another style of the practice, you dont

need to visualise that. You just focus on the breath.

When you practice tonglen visualising a black ball in your heart centre
like that, you are combining tonglen, compassion practice, and
selflessness practice. When the black ball blasts apart, it is the self that
blasts. Your whole being blasts. Dont think that only the ball blasts and
not the self. The self needs to blast, or you are not going to reduce your
self-clinging. Wherever and whatever you feel is your self should be
blasted apart like a nuclear bomb. Then rest in emptiness. Practising like
that helps you to reduce selfishness and self-dinging.
We have a lot of grasping to our merit. Therefore, you should give all
your merit away to sentient beings so that you have nothing left to be
attached to. But then you will have the fear, I have no merit. I am going
to suffer! How to tame that fear? Take all the suffering of sentient
beings into yourself. Wherever you feel fear, just dissolve their suffering
into that fear and then blast the fear, the self that fears. Then you start
again. You can blast the ball of self with every in-breath, or every three,
five, or ten in-breaths.

Discriminating the True Path

What is the difference between mindfulness, attentiveness,

and carefulness?
Mindfulness (dran pa, drenpa) is the mindfulness that does not
forget what to accept and reject. It is knowing and not forgetting what
the negative emotions are and are not. Attentiveness (shes bzbin,
sbezbin) (sometimes also translated as conscientiousness) is knowing or
being aware of what you are doing, saying, and thinking each moment.
Carefulness (bag yod, bagyo) is being cautious and careful thinking, If
Im not careful, Ill fall into the negative emotions. I must be careful!
What is the difference between equanimity and indifference?
Equanimity is based first on compassion, second on loving
kindness, third on knowing the reasons for having equanimity that
all sentient beings have been ones parents in past lives and that they
all have the same wish, happinessand fourth, on knowing the natural
state, emptiness. Indifference is based on ignorance and laziness. Just
not feeling, not caring for other beings is totally different from
equanimity, because it doesnt have the base of compassion, loving
kindness, knowing the reasons for having equanimity, and knowing
emptiness.
Equanimity is a very important quality to develop in our minds. It is a
quality that will help us see the nature of all phenomena and all sentient
beings, to see that they all have the same wish and that they are all
emptiness.
What is the difference between pity and compassion?

Compassion focuses on sentient beings suffering and the cause of

suffering. Pity doesnt see the cause of suffering. It only sees the
suffering. It is just thinking, Oh dear, they are suffering. That is pity.
But compassion not only sees the suffering; it tries to see the cause of
suffering and on top of that wishes beings to be free from suffering and
the cause of suffering. Pity does not wish sentient beings to be free from
suffering and the cause of suffering. Pity is just the thought, Oh, it is so
bad that that happened.
What are the most important qualities required to gain
supreme wisdom?
There are three important qualities. First is pure complete
devotion. Second is selflessness, pure bodhichitta. Third is firm
unchanging diligence. These are the three qualities you must have.

Meditation

What is shamatha and what is vipashyana?

Shamatha is mainly making the mind calm and one-pointed.
There are many different shamatha techniques. As explained above,
calmness, one-pointedness, clarity, and non-distraction are the qualities
of shamatha. Vipashyana is mainly training in the clarity of the mind and
the meaning of selflessness. The main qualities of vipashyana are
thought-free, objectless, non-distracted, and clarity. Both shamatha and
vipashyana have great results.
When I do shamatha meditation many thoughts come up.
What should I do?
First, try to recognise that you are distracted. Then try to come back
to one-pointedness again and again and again. When you have many
thoughts, exhale your breath and dont inhale for a few seconds. There
is a short gap between exhaling again and usually also a gap between
your thoughts, so focus there.
When I feel dull and sleepy when practicing meditation what
should I do?
With your body, stop sitting, get up, and move around. With your
speech, chant some mantras. Look a little higher with your eyes, not
lower. With your mind, think about the qualities of the Buddhas. Try to
investigate the self. Supplicate your lama. Eat less food.
What is the ultimate teaching ofVajrayana?
In the ultimate teaching of the Vajrayana, the view is freedom from
dualistic fixation, from good, bad, all dualistic thoughts. The meditation
is free from meditation, effortless, thought-free wisdom, without
distraction, without focus. The fruition is nothing to achieve, nothing to

loseno hope, no fear.

The Four Foundations

What are the four foundations?

First is refuge and bodhichitta. Second is Vajrasattva. Third is mandala
offering, and fourth is guru yoga. You need to accumulate 110,000 of
each of these.
There are many benefits to refuge. We purify our non-virruous karma
accumulated in the past, our obscurations, and obstacles, and most
importantly, we reduce the base of our negative emotions: pride and
self-clinging. Bowing your head down to somebody naturally affects our
emotions: it reduces your ego. Egolessness or selflessness is the path of
liberation. So that is why we do half and full prostrations with the body,
while chanting with the voice, and with a mind of one-pointed devotion.
When we do full prostrations, laying our whole body, the five points of
the body (the two knees, the two hands, and the head) down, we think,
May all the bad karma accumulated in the past with our body, speech,
and mind be purified. Please bless my body, speech, and mind! That is
the meaning of prostrations. We do half prostrations when there is less
space or many people around. When we are physically uncomfortable
like that, then half prostrations are okay, but when there is enough
space then you can do long prostrations.
After refuge, then there is bodhichitta practice with the four
immeasurables for reducing our anger. Without bodhichitta, our practice
cannot be called Mahayana practice.
After that, in order to reduce jealousy, and all the outer, inner, and
secret obstacles, everything negative, there is Vajrasattva practice,
which involves meditation on Vajrasattva and chanting the one-hundred
or six-syllable mantra.
Then, in order to reduce our attachment and to accumulate merit
there is the mandala offering. As an outer offering, we offer our wealth
and so on. As an inner offering, we offer our body. The secret offering is
the understanding that all appearances are illusory.
Last of all is guru yoga. The first quality of a guru is great compassion
and bodhichitta; second, being learned in the sutras, tantras, and texts;
and thirdly, practicing those him- or herself. Why do we need a guru?
There are two kinds of guruouter and inner. The outer guru is the
teacher in human form. Why is the outer guru so important? Because he
or she shows you the path to recognise your inner guru. The inner guru
is thought-free awareness, wisdom. Without the outer guru it is not
possible to realise the inner guru. That is why the guru is so important.
When you say guru, dont immediately think of the guru as being a
human being. If you immediately think like that you are mistaken.
Ignorance, the ignorance that stops you from recognising the true
nature of mind. In order to reduce that ignorance and realise wisdom we

practice guru yoga. Because of the gurus blessings and guidance, we

can decrease our ignorance and increase our wisdom.
The reason you need to accumulate 110,00 is that it is a good
measure. It gives you a certain period of time that you need to practice
refuge or the other foundations for. For example, if you are practicing
refuge and bodhichitta and accumulating prostrations it takes at least
two or three months if you are diligent, and otherwise a year or longer to
finish 110,000. So you really have to focus on and emphasise one
particular practice for quite a long period of time. If you only had to
accumulate 10,000 it would be too little, too short a time. If it were
1,000,000 it would take too long, because our lifespan is quite short.
110,000 gives us a good period of time.
It is said that the more times you do the four foundations the better.
Some lamas have done the four foundations as many as thirteen times
or even more. Even if you cant do them many times, at the least you
must complete the four foundations once in your lifetime. Why? Because
so much is included in the four
foundations. Mind training, shamatha, purification, training in
devotion, in diligence, in generosity... When you first look at the four
foundations, it seems that there is not that much to them, but actually
when you consider what is included inside them they are so beneficial,
so important. These short practices develop the most important qualities
that a dharma practitioner should have. The most important thing is to
tame your mind, and that as a result of practicing the four foundations
your mind becomes calmer and your disturbing emotions are reduced.
Why is guru yoga so important?
Guru yoga is so important because it includes training in pure
perception and devotion. In the sutras, they say faith, and in the
tantras devotion. The two words mean mainly the same thing, but
there is a slight difference in the presence of pure perception. If you
cannot train well in pure perception and devotion, you cannot become a
good practitioner and good meditator. You will not be successful in your
practice. Based on pure perception and devotion, you will become an
excellent practitioner. When does the training in these two qualities
begin? With guru yoga.
In the Vajrayana, guru yoga is taught to be extremely important and
is taught in many texts. It is said that making one offering to the root
guru is no different from making offerings to a thousand buddhas. There
are many types of guru: the guru you receive teachings from, the guru
you receive empowerments from, and the guru you receive oral
transmissions from, but the most important is the guru who introduces
you to the ultimate nature of mind, emptiness.
The benefits of guru yoga are that it becomes very easy to tame
your mind, and few obstacles arise. Your mind will become very blissful

and results will come very fast. For these reasons, you should practice
guru yoga continuously.
Is devotion important?
Devotion is so important. Devotion has three main qualities: certainty,
remembering the kindness of the masters, and pure perception.
Certainty means being free from doubt about the dharma. Where should
you gain this certainty from? From studying, reflecting, and meditating
on the dharma, and mainly from the view. By gradually endeavouring in
the view, then you will gain certainty in the dharma. Having gained
certainty in the dharma, you will attain confident faith. Gaining certainty
in the dharma is confident faith. This is the first quality of devotion.
Remembering the kindness of the masters means remembering the
great kindness of the teachers who taught and teach the dharma, and
the sangha who practice and uphold the dharma. Remember their
immeasurable kindness. That is the second quality of devotion. You then
need to train in pure perception. You should train in pure perception
thinking that there is no difference between the three jewels of Buddha,
dharma, and sangha, and the lama. When these three qualities of
certainty, remembering the kindness of the masters, and pure
perception are present, your devotion will become veiy good, very
authentic. Lacking just one of them, real devotion wont arise in your
being. On the contrary, if all three qualities are present, then an
exceptional kind of devotion will arise in your mind stream.
You can measure your devotion by measuring these three qualities of
certainty, remembering the kindness of the masters, and pure
perception. The more certainty you gain in the dharma, the deeper and
vaster your understanding will become and the more you will be able to
practice, to take the teachings into your experience.
The more pure perception you have, the less you will see faults in
others. In fact, when you really have pure perception, you will not see
faults in anyone and will regard everyone as your teacher. So those
three qualities are the measurement of your devotion.

Advice for the Path

How can I make the dharma part of my life? How can I

integrate my practice into my daily routine and family life?
A general answer would be the three chakras or the three wheels: the
study wheel of learning and contemplation; the renunciation wheel of
meditation; and the action wheel of dharma activity.
We should practice each of these wheels every day, meaning we
should study and reflect, even if it is reading and thinking about just a
single verse of dharma. We should practice meditation, and also do
some physical dharma actions, such as making offerings at our shrine in
the morning. Also think of the six paramitas and try to practice these in

daily life. Try to keep your mind mindful and calm. These are very
general points.
However, the most important thing is to focus on one main practice.
For example, if you are practicing mind training, then you should focus
on one particular aspect of mind training, such as mindfiilness,
compassion, or emptiness, and focus all the time on that in daily life.
That will help make your practice very natural and strong.
For example, if I am focusing on compassion, then when I am drinking
water I should think, May all sentient beings suffering from thirst be
free from their thirst. When you go into work think, So many people
want to work, but dont know how, or they are unable to work because
of disabilities. Many people know how to work and want to work, but
cant find jobs. May everyone who has these kinds of problems be free
from them! Sometimes if you get angry or jealous at work with your
colleagues, you are afraid of your boss, or you have a really hard time
being patient with others, then think, How many beings there are who
are worse off than me, with even less patience and so on. In the same
way, you should integrate whatever your main practice is with your daily
life as much as vou can. Then your practice will become very good.
How can I improve my practice and positive qualities?
Supplication is very important. Supplication means recalling the
excellent qualities of enlightenment and the dharma and supplicating
those who have obtained these excellent qualities that those same
qualities may take birth in your own mind. Supplication removes
obstacles and has many other benefits. In general, all Buddhists should
supplicate the three jewels at all times. In particular, if someone is a
meditator for example, then they should supplicate the great meditators
and so forth.
When supplicating, you should do so with great respect through your
body by prostrating and with your palms joined at your heart, with great
respect through your speech by reciting supplications, and through
great respect through your mind by recalling the excellent qualities of
the Buddha, dharma, and sangha, and of dharma practice, and
supplicating that these excellent qualities may be born in your own
mind. Supplication is extremely positive.
Is solitude important for meditators?
Yes, solitude is important. Solitude from other people, from thinking,
from talking nonsense is very important, so every year it is good to go to
retreat for a week, two weeks, a month, and so on.
What are the common faults of
practitioners?
First, thinking that you understand everything.

beginning

dharma

Second, wanting to gain experience or results quickly.

Third, wanting to practice everything straight away.
Fourth, not checking your motivation.
Fifth, trying to read many books, but not seeing clearly the important
points of dharma.
Sixth, trying to see the faults of other practitioners, of masters,
books, and so on.
And seventh, feeling useless and without understanding, being
discouraged.
How can we know if were practicing dharma correcdy? What
is the sign of successful meditation, pracdce, and learning?
The most important signs are compassion increasing naturally,
negative emotions decreasing, and devotion arising naturally.
Fruition
What is the result of Buddhism?
The first result is taming the mind. A tame mind means a calm
mind, relaxed and peaceful, and with less negative emotions or free
from the negative emotions completely. The second result is, on top of
that, gaining freedom from clinging to the self and clinging to things as
realthat is called nirvana. When you attain nirvana, you are freed
from the circle of samsara. The third result is abandonment of the two
obscurations together with all subde habitual tendencies, the
blossoming of the primordial wisdom of knowing, and the perfection or
completion of all bhumis and paths. This is attaining or realising perfect
buddhahood as explained in the Mahayana teachings. You could also
simply say that buddahood is the manifestation or actualisation of
emptiness, the nature of mind, the natural state.
In addition, in Vajrayana the result is, in short, not only the
abandonment of all obscurations and habitual tendencies, but also
abandoning completely even the most subde hope and fear, about
everything, samsara and nirvana.
These results perfect the benefit of oneself and others. You perfect
your own benefit by taming your mind, attaining nirvana, and attaining
or realising enlightenment. Having attained these results, you perfect
the benefit of other sentient beings by helping
How can I measure whether I am getting nearer or farther
away from the fruition?
There are many different ways to measure. Sometimes it is taught
that good dreams and certain meditation experiences are signs that
youre getting closer. However, the most important thing is to check
whether your disturbing emotions are decreasing. Your hope and fear
decreasing is also a definite sign that you are getting closer to the

fruition. No hope and fear means that whatever experiences arise,

whatever disturbing emotions arise, you are able to remain in the
ultimate nature, or in the state of whatever your practice is.
them in turn to gain hese results.

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