The instructions on the practice of Buddha’s teachings that you have already received from Lama Ole are the best we could ever get. On top of that, today, we have received instructions from Gyalwa Karmapa himself. He talked about loving kindness and compassion and how to practice the teachings. We have also received teachings on how to meditate on a teacher (Guru-Yoga meditation) and teachings on the Great Seal (Mahamudra). All these different kinds of teachings are very good. I cannot add much to it, but I want to talk a bit about our actual practice.
We have what is called the “precious human body,” a human body in which we can hear and understand the dharma. We also have the possibility to put the dharma into practice, from the preliminaries to the main practices. This auspicious situation originates from the so-called precious human existence.
According to some religious traditions, obtaining the human body has happened without a cause. In a sense, it occurred spontaneously. There are also traditions that say that the human body was given to us by a powerful and mighty god. He gives us the human or a god-like body if he is happy, and if he is unhappy he causes suffering. Some who have not adopted any religious or philosophical view think that the human body just comes about from the white essence of the father and the red essence of the mother, from sperm and egg.
But the human body does not come about without a cause, nor was it given to us by a powerful and mighty god, nor did it come about exclusively by the white and red essences of our parents. It comes about from former actions, by karma. Whatever happens is the result of an earlier cause. We cannot know how our last life was, what kind of body we had and where we have been; but based on the fact that we now have this good human body, we can infer that previously we also had a human or a god-like body with which we had accumulated the corresponding causes.
From which cause, from which action in former lives, comes the human body? It is said that it comes from good conduct. Without good conduct, it is quite difficult to get a human body. Using the image of a field, however nice our field may be and however much water and fertilizer we put in, as long as we don’t plant a seed, it will be quite difficult to get a sprout, let alone a fruit.
But as soon as we have planted the seed, then the quality and the amount of fruit that we will get depends on our effort. With a lot of effort, we’ll get a nice harvest with excellent fruits, and with lesser effort the harvest and the fruits will also be less. However, if we have planted the seed, there is no way that there will be no fruit.
Though we cannot remember former lives, the fact that we now have obtained a precious human body serves as a sign that, in previous lives and on the basis of a human or a god-like body, we have been able to plant the cause for it, namely positive and beneficial conduct.
We cannot directly see how our future lives will be. But what happens in future lives is decided by the good and harmful actions we do right now. If we now, based on our human body, put effort into good conduct, connect with the Buddha’s teachings, and accumulate good impressions, then we can again get a human or god-like body.
“Positive, meaningful conduct” (Tib. tsültrim) in order to obtain a precious human body does not necessarily mean that one has to become a novice or a monk. One can also keep the promises of the refuge, or the promises of a lay-person, or keep the seven promises for 24 hours, as in the Nyungneh-practice. Of course, it is good to become a novice or a fully ordained monk if one wants this. But the other types of good conduct, as just described, also lead to an excellent human rebirth.
The Three Jewels
Not only have we obtained a human body, based on good conduct in former lives, but we have also met the dharma, the teachings of the Buddha. We have “entered the door of the dharma,” as it is literally called, have met a lama, have taken refuge, have had a few hairs from our head cut, and got a Buddhist name. But that alone is not so beneficial. What is important in taking the refuge-promises is that our mind is oriented towards the teachings. In order to bring our mind on the path, it is good to remember the qualities of the refuge, the Three Jewels. Then one develops deep trust in them.
But if one just thinks, “I like them,” this sounds very positive; but it is not what is meant by trust. This does not cover the whole definition of trust, because one needs to have a proper basis for it. One must develop an understanding of the outstanding qualities of the Three Jewels. We have to understand the qualities of the Buddha, the qualities of his teachings (the dharma), and the qualities of the friends on the way (the sangha).
Although the qualities of the objects of refuge are limitless, one can grasp them by thinking about the saying, “The Buddha is the faultless, unsurpassable teacher.”
This means that the Buddha himself has, at one point in time, developed the wish to reach enlightenment for the good of all beings, the enlightened mind. Then, over three eons, he accumulated wisdom and good impressions and finally became a buddha. Just as he has become a buddha, we can also become buddhas. He said that we can achieve liberation if we follow the path that he has shown us. He is the one who has shown this path, and this is a quality of the Buddha that we should understand.
Over three eons, the Buddha gathered wisdom and good impressions. He gave up everything that could be given up, he did everything that could be done, he realized everything that could be realized, and finally he took on the rebirth in which he manifested as a buddha. Until he was 24 years old he lived in his palace and then he took kind of a spontaneous ordination, without belonging to a community. Afterwards he resolved to practice, which is the main point. He practiced for six years on the banks of the Neranja River, and during these years of hard practice he took just one drop of water and one seed a day. He practiced under very hard conditions.
Buddha showed us how to practice, but just listening to the teachings does not give the full benefit. We have to put it into practice. Buddha taught that we ought to follow his example. In this way if we understand the immeasurable qualities of the buddha-jewel and have trust in the qualities of the Buddha from the depth of our mind, then we will have joy in our practice.
The next jewel is the dharma, Buddha’s teachings. It is said, “The unsurpassable protection is the Buddha’s teachings.” Why is that so? Because they can protect us from temporary problems and fears, and also from our ultimate problems and fears. Because they have this capacity, they are called the “unsurpassable protection.” Understanding and having trust in this quality also increases joy in our practice.
The next jewel is the sangha, the friends on the way, and it is said, “The unsurpassable guide is the sangha.” The unsurpassable guide is our teacher who gives us instructions, refuge, and explanations—for example on the preliminary practices, on the practice of the Great Seal, and any other practice. The lama is helping us all the time in order to develop our practice. When we have problems in our practice, all the dharma-friends are helping us on the way. For this reason this jewel is like a guide; it leads us from cyclic existence to a pure land. In this way we should understand the teacher and the friends on the way as the unsurpassable guides.
In the context of the Secret Mantra, Diamond Way Buddhism, it is said that the three jewels are contained in one’s root lama, or main teacher. For example, Marpa went to India three times, to his teacher the pandit and yogi Naropa. Once, when he was staying there, very early in the morning, Naropa allowed the Buddha-Aspect Hevajra to emanate very clearly and brilliantly in the sky, with his palace and all the other aspects around him. Naropa said to Marpa: “Your yidam has appeared. You should do prostrations and I will also prostrate to him.” Marpa came quickly and Naropa asked him, “Do you first prostrate to the yidam or first to the lama?” Marpa thought: “I see the lama all the time, but this is the first time I see the yidam. So I should quickly prostrate to the yidam.” Thereupon, Naropa gathered the yidam, the palace, and everything back into his heart-center and said to Marpa: “Not one of the thousand buddhas would exist without their lamas. All of them became buddhas through their teachers. Over three eons, on the basis of their teachers they have developed bodhicitta, the enlightened mind, have accumulated wisdom and good impressions, and finally have become buddhas. The yidam that you have just seen is an emanation of mine.”
Marpa regretted his behavior and felt very bad. He thought: “I was wrong. Usually, every time I meditate on my yidam, I visualize the lama on top of the yidam. All the empowerments and instructions, I have received from my teacher.” It is said that this event is connected to the end of his family line. Although he had seven sons, there was no continuation of his family line. His dharma lineage, however, spread far and wide.
The Three Trusts
This was a very brief explanation of the qualities of the three jewels. Now that we have understood their qualities, we should develop trust in them. There are three subdivisions to what is called “trust”: “radiant, fully developed trust,” “trust of wishing,” and “trust of confidence.”
The first, “radiant, joyful trust,” means that one feels really good when, for example, one goes to special pilgrimage places, meditation places, or monasteries. Or one meets representations of Buddha’s enlightened body, speech, and mind, such as stupas and statues. Or when you read the life story of a lama or the Buddha and you are really happy and think, “I would like to go there again and again, or I would like to read the story again.” Or else you meet a teacher and you are really joyful, experiencing extraordinary trust and wishing to meet him again and again.
The “trust of wishing” means that one understands that the state of buddha is something very good, because it liberates us from all kinds of suffering and problems. It is a state where we experience full joy and happiness. Understanding that this is a very good and beneficial state, one wants to achieve it. Following the instructions of one’s teacher, one strives for that with all of one’s energy.
The “trust of confidence” means above all that one has trust in cause and effect. That is the confidence that good results will come from good actions, and problems and suffering from harmful actions. Having this confidence, one understands exactly which cause leads to which effect and then one tries to behave and practice accordingly.
Understanding these three kinds of trust and their qualities, and then “entering into the Buddha’s teachings,” we will obtain the ultimate kind of trust, an immutable confidence. If, based on this understanding, one creates trust in the three jewels and then enters the Buddha’s teaching, one will attain an unshakeable trust and then be able to perfect one’s practice in this life. If one does not have this trust, based on proper grounds, then it may happen that one is very enthusiastic about Buddha’s teachings for a month or a year but then abandons it again, because one doesn’t have any joy in it anymore. Then we maybe go to another tradition, just as people in the West often change partners. Some stay together for a month or a year, but then leave. Some even have two or three children and then divorce. (Rinpoche laughs)
If we have properly created trust and openness, then the mind turns towards the Buddha’s teachings. Then we receive instructions from our kind lama, for example on the foundational practices or on specific yidam meditations. As you are all doing these practices, I would briefly like to explain on how to practice….
See: Teachings on Dharma Practice, Part 2
Translated from Tibetan by Jim Rheingans.
Edited by Kenn Maly.
