Defect In Language

"It is a defect in language that words suggest permanent realities and people do not see through this deception. But mere words cannot create reality. Thus people speak of a final goal and believe it is real, but it is a form of words and the goal as such is without substance. The one who realizes the emptiness of objects and concepts does not depend on words. Perfect wisdom is beyond definition, and pathlessness is the way to it. The wise one treads this path for the direct realization of impermanence and for the direct realization of understanding. This, then, is perfect wisdom. Such a one should tread this path knowing that attachment and attractions are neither good nor harmful, even enlightenment is neither good nor harmful, because perfect wisdom is not meant to promote good or harm for that person. However, even though there is no intention of good or harm, it does confer endless blessing."

- Prajnaparamita

What Is Method, Doctor?

What is method, within the context of the unity of method and wisdom? It is a dedicated heart of bodhichitta, based on love and compassion. It apprehends its object, enlightenment, with the intention to achieve it in order to benefit others. Compassion, as its basis, apprehends its object, the suffering of others, with the wish to remove it.

Wisdom, on the other hand, is a correct view that understands voidness--the absence of fantasized, impossible ways of existing. Even if it is aimed at the same object as method, it apprehends that object as not existing in an impossible way.

The ways wisdom and compassion each apprehend their object are not at all the same. Therefore, we need to actualize these two, as method and wisdom, first separately and then together.

Even if we speak about the mahamudra* that is method and wisdom, inseparable by nature in the ultimate tantric sense, the first stage for its realization is understanding the abiding nature of reality.

--from The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra by H.H. the Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin, published by Snow Lion Publications

Cultivating Service to Others

The most important thing for this life’s happiness, especially for the sentient beings you meet, is to have the thought: “I’m the servant and they are the masters, I’m the servant and they are the kings, they are the masters and I am like the dog. Sentient beings are the ones from whom I have received all my happiness. They are the dearest and most kind. They are the ones from whom all opportunities come, in relation to whom I have the opportunity to purify all my negative karma, create all the merit and attain enlightenment. So they are the kindest of all. I should use my body, speech and mind to serve others, especially the people of the center, as well as all the animals and insects.” This is also the attitude one should have with one’s family, or if you are a teacher or leader of a company, etc.

The purpose of a meditation center is to take care of the minds of others, to keep the mind in virtue as much as possible. This means keeping your own mind in virtue. You have to try. It is very good to try. If you can’t do that, you can’t help others. So your motivation should be to use your body, speech and mind to create even the smallest happiness in others. Many people in the world waste their lives. People try to climb mountains no matter what risk to their life. Some people use themselves as bullets, getting fired from cannons, and so forth, unbelievable things, putting their lives in danger to achieve such insignificant happiness in this life.

The Ornament of Sutra by Maitreya Buddha says, “The child of the victorious one who has stabilized the supreme perseverance of thoroughly ripening the multitude of sentient beings will work to have even one virtuous thought arise in a sentient being’s mind, even if it takes 10 million thousand eons, without getting upset.”

When you train the mind in positive virtue, especially a good heart trying to benefit others, it creates very good communication. There is no Great Wall of China or Germany between yourself and others. It brings so much happiness to you and others, and brings world peace.

Every sentient being has buddha nature. Even a mosquito can achieve enlightenment and liberation from the oceans of samsaric suffering if it practices Dharma. So especially for us who now have this precious human body with which can do so many things to liberate from any problem or circumstance that gives rise to problems, especially having a perfect human rebirth on top of buddha nature, we are able to achieve all the happiness for all future lives, even for insects, ants, cockroaches, spiders and snakes, even for a mouse. You can cause the mice and the ants to achieve all the happiness in future lives, and ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara and enlightenment. You are able to cause the four levels of happiness for all sentient beings, not only to liberate them from the oceans of suffering and bring them to enlightenment, but to do that as quickly as possible through tantric practice …

Taking refuge with renunciation to this life, with morality as the foundation (living in the ten virtues and abandoning the ten non-virtues), causes future good rebirth as a deva or human, especially perfect human rebirth with seven qualities, rebirth with the four Mahayana Dharma wheels, the eight ripening qualities or to be in a pure land.

Renunciation of samsara and living in the three special higher trainings causes liberation from the oceans of samsaric suffering. Then, with bodhichitta, taking bodhisattva vows and living in the six paramitas and the four methods of drawing in the sentient beings in order to achieve enlightenment.

Having taken initiation, living in the tantric vows, practicing pure appearance, generation and completion stages, causes one to achieve full enlightenment much quicker, within one brief lifetime of these degenerated times.

Contentment is not for others but with your own needs. Usually, we have attachment to so many different things, or to having many of a similar object (e.g., wife, husband, girlfriend or boyfriend, sexual relationships) and not content with one. Or wanting more money – when we have $1000, wanting $10,000, then a million, then a billion, it is endless. Then to get more, one engages in the ten non-virtues, cheats or even kills others. Then one gets into trouble and receives punishment, is sent to prison, becoming famous for negative mind – a bad reputation. Contentment means not needing more than you have or what you don’t have. You can understand better if you think of renunciation, it is similar, bringing peace in the heart by healing the mental sickness of attachment …

Virtuous actions and virtuous thoughts need to be developed until enlightenment is achieved. Always continuously develop completing the great works, as much as one can, like collecting merit, the cause of happiness, developing realizations, and achieving liberation and enlightenment. One should never be content regarding developing positive actions, virtue, which lead to one’s own and others’ ultimate happiness, enlightenment – always strive to do more. Apologize immediately if one did some mistake, harmed others, was disrespectful or said hurtful words. Forgive immediately if somebody gets angry, is disrespectful to you or harms you. Develop courage by thinking of the benefit to others, serving others. This is the best offering to the buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Excerpted from Letter to All Center Directors and Coordinators dictated by Lama Zopa Rinpoche to Ven. Roger Kunsang and Ven. Trisha Labdron, Nov 5, 2009, Dehradhun, India, and edited by Ven. Trisha Labdron. Lightly edited for FPMT eNews.

A New Social Model

A new social model

We must attempt the impossible. I am convinced that if we continue to follow a social model that is entirely conditioned by money and power, and that takes so little account of true values such as love and altruism, future generations may have to face far worse problems and endure even more terrible forms of suffering.

...Each one of us lacks one thing or another. I am not exactly sure what we lack, but I can feel we lack something. In the West, even if at the moment you are going through a crisis, you actually have everything, or at least you think you do; all kinds of material goods are there, and are no doubt distributed better than they were in the past. But it seems to me that you are living in a constant state of tension, in an atmosphere of never-ending competitiveness and fear. And those who are brought up in such an atmosphere will find themselves lacking all their lives: they will not know that wonderful quality of depth and intimacy that is the richness of life. They will stay on the surface of the troubled sea, without ever knowing the calm that lies beneath.

--from The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner Peace: The Essential Life and Teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

How To Expand Love

The general procedure of narrow-minded worldly life is summed up by what are called "the eight worldly concerns":

like/dislike
gain/loss
praise/blame
fame/disgrace

The worldly way of life is to be unhappy when the four unfavorable ones--dislike, loss, blame, and disgrace--happen to you or your friends, but to be pleased when these happen to your enemies. These results are all based on how people act, whereas true love and compassion are based not on actions but on the crucial fact that these sentient beings want happiness and do not want suffering, like you, and thus are all equal. Some actions are positive, and some are negative, but the agents of those actions are all sentient beings with aspirations to happiness. We always need to look from that angle. Actions are secondary, since they are sometimes positive and sometimes negative--always changing--whereas there is never any change in the fact that beings want happiness and do not want suffering.

When a shocking event happens, whether during the day or when dreaming, our immediate response is "I," not Tibetan, not American, or any other nationality; not Buddhist, not Hindu, or any other system, but just "I." This shows us the basic human level. On that important level all are the same. Little children do not bother about religion and nationality, rich or poor; they just want to play together. At a young age the sense of oneness of humanity is much more fresh. As we grow older, we make a lot of distinctions; a lot of artificial creations that are actually secondary become more important, and basic human concern diminishes. That is a problem.

Love thrown into bias by lust and hatred eventually must be stopped. Love influenced by afflictive desire necessarily brings with it hatred at what opposes it, and along with that comes jealousy and all sorts of problems. Though lust itself does not directly harm, it indirectly brings about all the forces that harm. This is why the process of expanding love begins with developing equanimity, after which the main point is not whether a particular person is good or bad to you but the fact that the person is the same as yourself in wanting happiness and not wanting suffering. Since this desire resides in all sentient beings, your awareness of it can apply to everyone, making the basis of your love very stable. Once you put the emphasis on their similarity to yourself, love has a solid foundation that does not vacillate depending on temporary circumstances.

--from How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships by H.H. the Dalai Lama, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins

Room For Change!

" There is often a big disparity between the way we perceive things and the way things really are.
For instance, when we see an object we think, 'Oh, this is the very same object which I saw two days ago.'
This is a very crude way of talking about reality. What is actually happening here is a kind of a conflation between an image or a concept of an entity and the actual reality of the moment. In reality, the object or entity that we are perceiving has already gone through a lot of stages.
It is dynamic, it is transient, it is momentary, so the object that we are perceiving now is not the same as the one we perceived a day ago or two days ago, but we have the impression that we are perceiving the very same thing because what we are doing is conflating our concept of that object and the actual object.
By grasping for permanence, we cause things to appear to us differently than how they actually exist. "

" It is vital to leave a lot of room for change in one's relations to another person. Change comes about in times of transition, allowing love actually to ripen and expand. Then one is able to really know the other one--to see that person with their faults and weaknesses and going through change, a human being like oneself. Only at this stage can there be true love. "

-The Dalai Lama

-from Impermanence: Embracing Change by David Hodge and Hi-Jin Kang Hodge, published by Snow Lion Publications

Dispel Dualistic Thinking!

" Even though supreme awareness is the basic nature of reality, because we do not realize this, as sentient beings we develop dualistic thinking. We start making distinctions between subject and object, near and far, and so forth, and then we cling to those as real. The twelve links of interdependence arise, and, beginning with ignorance, we develop the notions of "me" and "mine," and all sorts of deluded thinking. The great master Chandrakirti taught that you begin by clinging to the ego, then you cling to "what is mine," then to "what is other," such that there is an ongoing state of delusion. Due to clinging, our habitual patterns become stronger and stronger, and all our conceptions become regimented and solid.

In order to dispel ignorance and dualistic thinking, Vajrakilaya arises in a wrathful form. The wrath of Vajrakilaya is not the wrath of anger or jealousy; it is the wrath that destroys anger and jealousy. It is not like being angry with enemies and being attached to friends. This wrath is totally based upon great compassion. Directed toward duality, ego-clinging, grasping, and ignorance, Vajrakilaya's anger demolishes the causes of delusion throughout the six realms. Since it is based on immeasurable loving-kindness and immeasurable compassion, it is known as the phurba of immeasurable compassion.

To apply this phurba in a practical way, rather than becoming angry toward external situations, we begin by feeling great compassion for sentient beings. Then we start working with our own emotions to demolish ignorance, attachment, anger, jealousy, pride, fear, and doubts. We remove these emotions according to the way we interact with the world. At the same time, we expand our compassion for all beings in the six realms. "

from The Dark Red Amulet: Oral Instructions on the Practice of Vajrakilaya by Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche.

A Mouse On Interdependance!

I was sent this moral tale and thought it captured wonderfully the Buddhist concept of Interdependence.
The mouse's story shows that whether we acknowledge it or not, our actions are inter-related and we should be mindful of the consequences of our body, speech and mind.

The link in the title is to an article on Tibetan Medicine referring to how the "Buddhist teachings tell us that we have interdependence with the whole environment, and that there is no enemy existing from its own side."


"A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

'What food might this contain?', the mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning :
There is a mousetrap in the house!
There is a mousetrap in the house!'

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said,
'Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.'

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, the pig sympathized, but said,
'I am so very sorry, Mr Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.'

The mouse turned to the cow, the cow said,
'Wow, Mr. Mouse, I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose.'

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap . . . alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey..

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught.

In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.

To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died.

So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember, when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk."

It appears that the mouse had some notion that the emergence of the mouse-trap would affect all the animals in the farmyard but the other animals couldn't get through their ignorance to see the truth.

Impermanence: Embracing Change!

Kisa Gotami has led a sheltered life, according to the Dhammapada. Married to the son of a rich merchant, she feels immune from death. But then her son dies before he can walk. Deep in shock and denial, she refuses to let the body be burnt. Slinging the tiny corpse on her hip, she rages through the neighborhood, asking if anyone knows where she might find medicine to bring him back to life. Most people think she's crazy, but a wise man recognizes a spiritual crisis when he sees it, and sends her to the Buddha.

The Buddha tells her he knows where to find the medicine she needs. To create it, he will require a pinch of white mustard seed from a household where no one has ever died. Kisa Gotami begins knocking on doors. The Dhammapada observes: "At every house she is told, 'The living are few, but the dead are many.'" We can imagine the heads shaking back and forth. Realization slowly penetrates her grief, and light dawns. Without so much as a single mustard seed in hand, she returns to the Buddha and tells him that she now knows that every living thing must die. Although the Dhammapada doesn't say it, we recognize the horizon that she now glimpses--the ring of light circling her suffering. Through the power of this teaching, she becomes a nun. One day she notices that the flickering of a lamp is like the life of all of us. She takes the leap of liberation and becomes an arhat - one who has "laid down the burden."

What did the Buddha offer her? Only awareness. Yet what a tool.

- from Impermanence: Embracing Change by David Hodge and Hi-Jin Kang Hodge

What Price Joy!

The Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan may not register immediately on the geo-political map but it's place in the world, wedged as it is between the powerhouses of China and India, may be increasingly significant given China's continues its occupation of Tibet.
Bhutan's observance of Gross National Happiness, a policy instituted by the Fourth King in 1972, is a measurement of happiness just as important as economic prosperity or gross national product.

“It’s derived from one of Buddhism’s teachings, and it’s a philosophy that creates an environment where our people’s happiness and contentment is of utmost importance,” explained Princess Kesang Choden. “It’s hard to quantify and measure happiness, but we do have the four pillars of Gross National Happiness, such as sustainable and equitable socio-economic development, good governance, and also more holistic views such as preservation and promotion of our cultural heritage as well as the preservation of our natural environment. It’s a well-rounded approach in taking care of the needs of Bhutan’s people in the area that counts – their happiness.” - The Buddhist Channel

The Dalai Lama continues, even after the long struggle to provide freedom and justice for his people, to portray an image of Happiness, indeed his book The Art of Happiness was a best seller which explained how it is possible to find happiness in spite of perceived difficulties, by learning to understand the mind.

Perhaps, if the world's leaders could embrace concepts such as Gross National Happiness, then the world would conceivably be a more joyful place as people sought to find a communal happiness rather than individual material prosperity.

After stumbling out of another festive season where the promise of joy is ever-present, could it be time to turn on the people who would have us believe that receiving is as important as giving, if people voted to give more of themselves, their wisdom and compassion, then the price of joy could be lowered considerably.
Because we have not, should we necessarily be happy not?

Having recently married, I can espouse the idea that occasions where the gift is love, can bring about a shared level of Joy that has the potential to change lives and relationships.

But it is the willingness of people to think primarily of others' happiness that is the bringer of Joy.

To invest in oneself is the key to changing our society. His Holiness says that, " Material progress alone is not sufficient to achieve an ideal society ... mental development, in harmony with material development, is very important. "

One Minute Wonders!

I discovered a blog called The Worst Horse which calls itself a Buddhist sub & pop-culture site. They get stuck into the world of exploiting all things Buddhist, it's called the "Dharma Burger" culture and anything is allowed in the name of commerce. Take for example Dalai Lama statuette, (pictured) which was conceived by a German company in 2005 to celebrate His Holiness' 70th birthday, and sold for the not modest price of 165 euros, this was hot off the back of the pope doll. While the Catholic church has been selling out for years, it is hardly right to assume that the proceeds of the mini Dalai Lama were going into charities of his choosing or even finding there way into the homes of Tibetan people.

I found a video on the site (hit the title), which takes the viewer on a one-minute tour of the ancient Buddhist Temples at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, a Unesco-listed "Wonder of the World" which Keith was fortunate enough to visit in 2004 (see Keith with one of the friendly attendants).
It set him to thinking about the concept of the "One Minute Wonder' and how with the technology plague anyone can see the world in small bytes like this, but alas, it seems there could be something missing from the equation. In Keiths sweat and sun soaked trip to the temples over a week he had time to reflect on the footsteps of thousands of intrepid pilgrims weaving there way across the site. One thing he can say is that at least they smelt the earth and the history in the air which is more than could be gleaned from a minute on the "Tube" while suckin' down those electro-rays.

After two days spent hanging out in Ta Prohm, an overgrown temple away from the main complex, most famously captured in the film Tomb Raider, Keith had mixed emotions of profound calm and despair in equal measure. He refers to the site of punters turning up to the temple looking for "that old guy from the Lonely Planet cover" and revisiting there favourite scenes from that film and seeming blissfully unaware of the ancient stones beneath them. And then old mate turns up, he's been around for years doing the same thing, taking care of his precious temple, someone's grandfather, no probably great grandfather, and now he's become some sort of rock star (tongue firmly in cheek) and it just becomes a bit weird.
On second thought, perhaps we should keep the marauding tourists at bay by slipping a video into their morning coffee and let the temples rest.

Anyway, Keith recommends those big palm sugar pills you can pick up on the roadside to ward off the harmful affects of the sun, and if you get a chance, stay after dark, but don't forget about your waiting cabbie, 'cause he'll probably be worried and come looking for you.

Zen and the art of drinking beer!

It occurred to me while reading a blog article in Ode Magazine called "Zen and the art of drinking beer", that in fact it can be an incredibly (in moderation of course) meditational experience.
It takes me back to many a traveling moment when the cares of the world seemed far away, the location was perfect and only the taste of the local brew was having its hypnotic effect.

As the writer says, "We can meditate on anything we choose. Some people meditate using their breath or on yoga poses. Anything can be used for the practice of meditation, for the practice of mindful living. So next time you lift up a frosty glass of beer, just tell everyone around you that this is part of your spiritual practice". Indeed many Buddhist masters would agree that you can use the experiences in your daily life as part of your meditation.
Lama Yeshe says, "Buddhist meditation doesn't necessarily mean sitting cross-legged with your eyes closed. Simply observing how your mind is responding to the sense world can be a really perfect meditation and bring a perfect result."

It gives great hope to beginner practitioners, like myself, to think that we can incorporate the everyday pleasure of experiences like sipping on a favourite brew into our practice. Of course the key is, Mindfulness, and using it to generate wisdom and compassion on the path to generating loving kindness (Bodhichitta).

The photos are from a few moments on the road, Mumbai (Bombay) in India, Trieste in Italy, Bingan in Bali.