After four years in the Himalayas, the 16th Karmapa directly asked that Hannah and I, as his trusted students, go out and found Karma Kagyü centers in the west, guide them, and teach in them. That’s why, since the early seventies, there are continually increasing opportunities for students with a level of human maturity to enter into the practices of the timeless values of our Karma Kagyü lineage. The fact that their blessing works is demonstrated by 656 joyous Diamond Way Buddhist centers in non-Muslim countries around the world.
For this reason, let me give first an overarching answer to your questions:
Those who benefit from an accomplisher lineage trust their innate Buddha nature. Here, multi-faceted methods for real growth are provided, and because it is about the transmission of a total life experience, a teacher should also embody the taste of this accomplishment and be able to impart it through his own experience. In this way, students’ narrowness—such as too strong a focus on either the head or the heart—can be dissolved. In cases where students have meditated well but stiff ideas and taking feelings personally can gradually be transformed into a giant “aha,” I teach the refreshing text by Lama Shang. It gives one space.
Through the blessings of the lineage, we trust that when teachings did not fit into our time, then these and other groundbreaking texts simply could not be found. Then, at the right time and the right place, they can contribute their enlightened methods as ripened insights.
Twenty-hour-a-day schedules around the world with Hannah since 1972, lectures almost every day and seven books with my wife, which were later translated into German with Caty, have allowed little time to work through further material. We have also used two excellent Mahamudra texts for a long time—the 25 verses of the 3rd Karmapa and the 28 verses of Tilopa / Naropa, both of which use the view and language chosen by our teachers. It was Lama Shang’s immediate connection to the 1st Karmapa and his brave exploits in battle, which let me understand what this noble gentleman had to offer. I simply like him. He is real family, a friend you can count on.
Since the day of our first meeting, the 16th Karmapa had expected a similar protector function of me, which luckily, has not been bloody so far.
It arose at our first meeting on December 24, 1969, when he drew Hannah and me into his blessing field on Swayambu mountain in Kathmandu. From then on, I often had to push around large masses of people, but always to protect the high lamas while Hannah translated for them.
Lama Shang’s practical and down-to-earth example is very fascinating as we do not have many such teachers in the history of Buddhism. Is Lama Shang especially important for us at present? It can’t be a coincidence that he is now becoming so popular.
For people today who feel more and more that they are being misled, restricted, and bored by society and its political correctness, Lama Shang is a freedom fighter who addresses self-responsibility for the benefit of all. He stands as an example today, like a Tibetan Robin Hood, Holger Dansk, or Roland the Giant of our times.
What makes Lama Shang’s Mahamudra style so special? His text has a totally different feel than the other two texts you use at your courses, the Mahamudra of the 3rd Karmapa and the Ganges Mahamudra from Tilopa.
Our highest teachers find their own recognizable style for the benefit of all beings. For one thing, Lama Shang was only a monk for brief periods. Otherwise, in his battles for the freedom of beings, he was only bound by his own sense of responsibility and worked out of his own conviction. He was simply a hero, a funny guy and a free mind. He enjoyed the excitement and one-pointed energy of great battles in the front ranks and, in this way, won every battle—even when only hundreds of soldiers faced thousands of foes.
Because it was about rescuing the timeless values of Tibet, of which he was a protector and many other realized teachers expected victories of him, his conscience and energy remained untarnished. When it comes to values—then and today, where it is above all about the most important value of all, our freedom—then even the wildest behavior is turned into a useful one. Lama Shang’s actions make him a timeless example, which gives maturity and is a timeless gift to everybody who wants to remain free.
“All growth begins with the avoidance of trouble, increases through the view of wisdom and compassion, and reaches its bloom through the beyond-personal behavior of a buddha until one becomes a buddha oneself.”
Is it meaningful to first have concentrated on explanations like those of the 3rd Karmapa before one delves deeper into the text of Lama Shang? Many of his statements are difficult to understand without a foundation of information and some meditation.
Yes, for many always, and for all, at least sometimes. All growth begins with the avoidance of trouble, increases through the view of wisdom and compassion and reaches its bloom through the beyond-personal behavior of a buddha until one becomes a buddha oneself. That is what Lama Shang gave the world. That is why he is the best example for those who accept responsibility and love excitement. However, he should be celebrated because of the maturity he earned, which came also from a general and evolving life experience. He only had such trailblazing success because he was well established as a high tulku on all levels—something only reached after many lifetimes of practice and initiations. In a world in which freedoms are continually being restricted, regardless of good-sounding reasons, Lama Shang gives us—as do other heroes—the necessary space to breathe.
Will it become at all important for us to intellectually deal with Lama Shang’s text? During the transmission that you give us, it seems to be about something other than transferring knowledge.
It is exactly for this reason that every precocious attempt at virtuous examination of Lama Shang will bring no or very thin results. Only bad boys and girls of easy virtue will, without moral defense mechanisms, be able to follow his way of experiencing, which leads to enlightenment. I myself belong to this species and happily witness such freedom. Once people overcome their self-created narrowness, that is the most beautiful birth. Courage and wisdom help, and the moment of freedom we realize is limitless. Our teachers who have experienced that will always allow the Diamond Way to grow under the banner of realization and will thus attract friends who, as buddhas themselves, recognize our unending abilities and trust in them.
What must one have realized in order to carry out the powerfully protective buddha activity as Lama Shang did when he waged war for good causes? If one is not so far along but still gets into situations in which one must act with force, what should the Buddhist keep in mind?
Whoever has experienced the depth of space—even that which can be experienced by skydiving or on motorcycles—should act with precision to cause the least damage to surroundings and opponents as possible. Enlightenment, or at least talented and accomplished life experience, is the path we follow here to make good omelets from every egg we break.
