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DRUPCHEN
A TEACHING BY LAMA THARCHIN RINPOCHÉ
June 29, 2006 at Pema Ösel Ling
What we call the Dharma, the Buddha’s teachings, is something
extremely vast, and I have no qualities to be able to describe
to you just how vast those teachings are. On your side, using our
ordinary way of analyzing or investigating things with our minds,
you have no capacity to hear how vast these teachings are. So in
brief, to get to the real core of the teachings, we are now practicing
this Drupchen, which is an intensive group practice. And this is
a very wonderful, incredible style of practice. But more particularly,
as a framework for this practice we’re using a text that
was passed to Dudjom Rinpoché directly by Khandro Yeshé Tsogyal,
called “Collection of Seven Treasures (Ter Kha Dun Dü).” It
was Yeshé Tsogyal who asked His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoché to
compose this specific text. Yeshé Tsogyal is the crown ornament
of ten million dakinis. She is the teacher who has been the most
kind to all of the Tibetan people. And it is she who appeared in
a vision to His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoché, who himself is
like the monarch of Dharma within the three realms of beings. He
is our supreme spiritual guide. We call him by the name of His
Holiness, or Lord of Refuge, Kyabjé Jigdral Yeshé Dorjé Drodul
Lingpa Tsal as his long name. Yeshé Tsogyal appeared in
a vision to His Holiness, and told him that this was the time to
compose this text that gathers together six previous treasures
as well as His Holiness’ own terma of the practice of Guru
Rinpoché. This then is this very holy, important, vital
practice that we are all doing here together. By recognizing the
qualities of this practice, you will develop faith. Having developed
faith and then actually doing this practice, you receive its blessings.
And by receiving its blessings you achieve the two forms of accomplishment – both
common and supreme. Common accomplishments are what we call the
four enlightened activities and the eight powers. Supreme accomplishment
is to make manifest that which has always been present in the basis
of our being from the beginningless beginning – our own enlightened
nature. This is the reason why we are doing this practice, and
there is no other reason to be doing Drupchen besides that purpose.
One reason this “Collection of Seven Treasures” practice
of Guru Rinpoché is so special is that it gathers together
seven different treasure lineages into one. This is through the
kindness, once again, of Yeshé Tsogyal, who asked His Holiness
to do just that. You can imagine, if we didn’t have this
practice, it might be possible here in the West for some people
to find a few of those lineages but probably not all of them. The
same is true even in Tibet. Some of those lineages would be accessible
to people, but rarely would they be able to gather all seven together.
Thanks to the kindness of Yeshé Tsogyal, however, all the
blessing and the power of all seven lineages have been gathered
within this single practice.
When we are practicing any of these techniques, the point in
any of the vehicles within Buddhism is always the same. Whether
it
is on the level of the Hinayana, the Sravaka practitioners, whether
it is Bodhisattvas, or those practicing the tantras, or whether
it is those practicing the Clear Light Great Perfection teachings,
every Buddhist practitioner’s goal is to attain enlightenment.
However, each practice’s approach is somewhat different.
On the level of the Hinayana, one sees all phenomena as being like
a magical display or a magical illusion, and bringing that attitude
toward all phenomena is the path to enlightenment. In the Mahayana,
one thinks of all phenomena as being empty. Bringing that attitude
to bear at all times and meditating on the empty nature of all
phenomena is the path to enlightenment. When practicing according
to the tantras, such as in this particular practice, one considers
all phenomena as wisdom deities and pure realms. Since the primordial,
original nature of all phenomena is recognized as extremely pure
wisdom deity, tantric practitioners don’t need to impose
other thoughts, such as: “Oh, things are a magical illusion,” or “Things
are empty.” The nature of the deities themselves is originally
pure. These are the wisdom manifestations of magical illusion,
which are empty, which are the wisdom deities. So just focusing
on that is itself a very powerful means to attain enlightenment.
This is the basic approach of the tantras. Then among all of the
deities that are possible within the tantric tradition, we focus
our Drupchen practice on the wisdom deity that is the most effective,
that is to say, Guru Rinpoché. There are inconceivable numbers
of practices within the tantras focused on different wisdom deities.
Yet, our Drupchen practice focuses on Guru Rinpoché because
Guru Rinpoché said that during the time of decline in this
world, which is to say, our time, sentient beings will have very
powerful, very coarse afflictive emotions, and Guru Rinpoché said
his compassion would be that much stronger during this time of
degeneration. Guru Rinpoché, himself, also said that the
darker the time (darkness being a measure of the coarseness of
people’s afflictive emotions), the brighter the moonlight
of his compassion. So this is the promise behind our practice and
our choice of focusing on Guru Rinpoché.
So we have this practice of Guru Rinpoché whose compassion
and blessings are that much stronger during such times as our own,
which are very dark, with very coarse afflictive emotions. And
we’ve received the lineage of these teachings from the teacher
who is invested, empowered, praised, and lauded by Guru Rinpoché himself
as his own representative, that is to say, His Holiness Dudjom
Rinpoché. Guru Rinpoché and Yeshé Tsogyal
appeared directly to His Holiness in a vision and they gave him
the name Drodul Lingpa Tsal, the Adept Who Tames Beings, and at
the time they invested him as their representative in this world.
This, then, is the original source of this lineage, and we have
received these teachings directly from His Holiness and from his
son, who is also his spiritual heir, Dungsé Thinley Norbu
Rinpoché, whose wisdom mind is completely of a single flavor
with that of his father. We have received these teachings from
both father and son in a very direct lineage that brings with it
all of the power and blessing and influence of the original source.
Having received these teachings is like having a wish-fulfilling
jewel placed in our hand. We have it here in our hand, but we must
recognize it as such. If you have a wish-fulfilling jewel in your
hand, you can pray to it for whatever you wish and you’ll
receive it. Not recognizing this, you might as well be holding
ordinary rocks and stones because if you’ve got an ordinary
rock in your hand you don’t think of praying to it and you
don’t receive anything from it. If you have a wish-fulfilling
jewel in your hand and you don’t recognize it as such, it
might as well be something very ordinary. So, we must think, “Oh,
this is the source of the lineage. Here we have it.”
And further, you should be very happy with yourselves. Why? Because
you have attained that which is very difficult to get in this world:
that is to say, a precious human life. And in this human life you
have met with that which is difficult to meet: the tantric teachings.
You have met with qualified spiritual masters in the persons of
His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoché and Dungsé Thinley Norbu
Rinpoché, and you have the opportunity to practice. These
are signs of incredible merit on your part. So you should feel
overjoyed at yourselves. You are the vessel for these teachings.
You have the opportunity to practice. And yes, we have about a
week for this Drupchen practice. It might seem like a short time,
but it’s not. A week is time enough. With recognition of
your fortune to practice, with recognition that you’re holding
this wish-fulfilling jewel in your hand, a week is more than enough
time. Without recognizing your fortune, you can practice without
faith, without belief, without trust for an aeon of time and it
won’t be enough. If you have trust and faith in this practice
and lineage, a week is time enough for you to attain supreme accomplishment.
So please recognize your fortune and be happy.
Some people believe that once they become Buddhist the best thing
to do would be to practice absolutely everything there is available – to
practice the Sakya tradition and the Nyingma tradition, the Kagyu
tradition and the Gelug tradition, at least. And if not that, then
even within one tradition, they think it’s best to have received
as many teachings as possible. That’s what some people believe – the
more the better. Some of my Western friends have come to me and
said, “You know, your center at Pema Ösel Ling… all
you’re doing are just all the rituals and practices of Dudjom,
everything is just… Dudjom, the New Treasures of Dudjom Rinpoché.
What gives?” And they’re sort of unhappy about it,
or they’re questioning: “Why is it that you’re
just limiting yourself to such a small piece of this whole picture?” Well,
the entire range of Buddha’s teachings can be found within
the Dudjom lineage, within these teachings. With these teachings,
you have before you really the very innermost essence of all of
the Buddha’s teachings. It’s really not necessary to
go anywhere else. You have everything right here in these teachings,
and to go elsewhere for teachings doesn’t seem to make much
sense. Here is the heart blood of the dakinis. Here are teachings
that are vital, that are still powerful, that still have their
blessing if you practice them.
What is proof of the fact that if you practice these teachings,
they will lead to enlightenment, since attaining enlightenment
is what we want in practicing the Buddha’s teachings? Well,
Dudjom Lingpa, Dudjom Rinpoché’s previous incarnation,
the source of many of these teachings, had at least thirteen disciples
who attained rainbow body. And Dudjom Rinpoché had a student
named Jigmé Chöying Norbu, a lama who had requested
that Rinpoché write many teachings down, who he praised
in the colophon of many of his texts as “my foremost disciple” or “the
best among all of my disciples.” Dudjom Rinpoché revealed
a treasure with a prediction of this man’s life and his attainment
of rainbow body at death. And he did attain rainbow body. That
was one example. A second example was one lama who was originally
a Gelug geshe who received transmission of Dorje Phurba Namchak
Putri teachings from His Holiness, who said, “Now you’re
the chö-dak. You’re now responsible for these teachings.” This
lama wrote a long commentary to the Namchak Putri teachings. He,
as well, attained rainbow body. And there was yet another who had
received teachings from both Dudjom Lingpa and his reincarnation,
His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoché, and he also attained rainbow
body. These are three that we know of, and who knows how many other
students of Dudjom Rinpoché attained rainbow body? This
is proof that these teachings alone contain all of the essential
points, the innermost essence of the Buddha’s teachings,
because practice of these teachings alone can lead to enlightenment
and to these marvelous signs of rainbow body at the time of death.
This is the basis of my faith in these teachings and this practice.
I have very deep faith and trust that these teachings lead to enlightenment.
This is the point of my making this opportunity available to all
of my dharma friends to practice these Dudjom teachings because
I trust very deeply that these are the heart blood or heart essence
of the dakinis. These will lead my dharma friends to enlightenment.
This is why I have made this center in this way.
Not only do we have these incredible teachings. You know, we are
unbelievably fortunate – I guarantee that. I’m not
competing or playing politics or anything, but under this blue
sky today, there is an incomparable teacher who is the living Buddha
Samantabhadra in human form, and that is Kyabjé Thinley
Norbu Rinpoché. Kyabjé Dungsé Rinpoché is
our Lord Protector. For us to have this kind of good fortune and
not make a serious effort to practice would be a big loss. You
know we have this precious human life. Human life is more precious
than devas or gods. People think the deva or god realm is better
than the human realm, but actually that’s not so. In terms
of temporary experiences of pleasure, happiness and joy, yes, devas
have all that. But to reach the final, long-term happiness and
joy of complete enlightenment, human life is more powerful even
than the gods’. Why is this? It’s because of our motivation.
We develop the motivation to benefit all sentient beings equally
under this blue sky. How many sentient beings are there? Wherever
sky pervades, there are sentient beings. Wherever there are sentient
beings, there’s karma. Wherever there’s karma, there’s
suffering. That’s samsara. We think that we want to empty
this samsara and liberate all sentient beings from their suffering.
We develop that kind of vast motivation. Plus we have the skillful
wisdom aspect of Vajrayana, these teachings. And the most powerful
is the human body because while normally beings have five elements,
humans have one extra called the element of the wisdom of exaltation.
Though devas do temporarily have some kind of joyful, light body
that’s not solid, still that body is based on karma. When
this karma is exhausted, they can be reborn in other realms within
samsara because they’re not enlightened. The human body is
the most powerful thing we have for practice. It’s our good
fortune to have this precious human life. And according to our
positive circumstances, you can see what kind of teacher and teachings
we have. We’re unbelievably rich. Then, when we take that
essence of our precious human life, it’s most powerful. But
without recognition, we lose that essence. Of course, we have to
have faith. Generally speaking, on an external level, you have
to have faith in the Triple Gems. And from the point of view of
tantra, you first must have faith in your own enlightened nature,
your Buddha nature. When you have that faith, then naturally you
will have manifestation of Triple Gems, of inconceivable Buddha
phenomena, externally manifesting unobstructedly. When these two,
your faith and Buddha’s manifestation, come together, it’s
very powerful. When you’re doing practice, then even though
your life is one day longer, it’s most meaningful. Every
day you can recite mantra, do Dharma practice, accumulate virtue,
and think of the Triple Gems’ blessing with faith and devotion.
If you keep receiving the blessings and continually repeat that,
you will become fully enlightened. You know, we have Buddha nature,
but based on two different circumstances, we find ourselves stuck
in samsara or enlightened. When we are engaged with the afflictive
emotions, that produces karma. Karma produces suffering. That’s
called samsara. Based on other circumstances, if our mind is engaged
with the phenomena of the Triple Gems, and we develop that habit,
repeating it again and again, then we become enlightened.
I’m trying to say that even one week is never too short because
you’re experiencing true positive circumstances. Normally
we are always repeating and experiencing worldly material phenomena,
which lead us to samsara. But for this one week of Drupchen, we
are totally engaged with Buddha phenomena. For instance, you can
look at all these external art forms, such as the Guru Rinpoché statue.
Like we say in Tibetan, you can put the whole world on one side
and this statue on the other side, and this statue will be more
valuable than the whole world. We have this kind of support for
our practice created by Kyabjé Dungsé Rinpoché’s
own hand. The moment you think of this support, you continually
receive its blessings. And everything we are doing during this
retreat is Dharma. Then your mind repeats that experience and creates
that habit. Then after Drupchen, when you go home, you can remember
this experience: this mantra, this sadhana, the visualization,
your faith and devotion. When you die, whatever kind of mental
habit you’ve created awakens and you will be reborn wherever
that habit takes you. If your anger habit wakes up, you wake up
in the hell realm. If your habit of pride wakes up, you’ll
be reborn in the deva realm. And so on for each of the six realms.
This Drupchen creates only the habit of Buddha phenomena. When
that habit wakes up, immediately you wake up in the Buddha’s
pureland. That’s what we’re doing, creating this kind
of pure habit. That’s why this practice is so powerful. Through
the kindness of Kyabjé Dungsé Rinpoché and
Lama Sonam Rinpoché, we have these kinds of genuine teachers
to guide us. It’s an incredibly unique and fortunate circumstance.
Please keep that appreciation.
Then also it’s most important to practice. You know, people
have the idea, “Oh, I want to do practice, but I don’t
know how.” Lots of people have this thought. But Patrul Rinpoché said
that’s not true. He said, “Everybody knows how to say
Om Mani Padmé Hung, but only a few people accumulate a hundred
million.” People know how to recite mantra, but they’re
not doing it – that’s the problem. To practice the
Dharma, you don’t have to know much. Dharma practice has
to do with a pure heart. Have genuine faith in the Triple Gems
and genuine loving kindness toward all sentient beings. Also have
genuine trust in your own Buddha nature, and try to keep that awareness
present all the time. It’s that simple.
Thank you so much.
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