2. Thar Lam AUGUST 2008. In order to really be able to say that you know about.
Buddhism, you have to know about Buddha, dharma and sangha. This I will ...
Buddha, Dharma & Sangha by His
Eminence Tai Situpa
In order to really be able to say that you know about Buddhism, you have to know about Buddha, dharma and sangha. This I will teach according to the teachings of Lord Maitreya known as Mahayana Uttaratantra.1 In that text there are three chapters on the Buddha, dharma and sangha.2 It is a major text but I will try to make it as
simple and short as possible and try to go through it and explain to you about the Buddha, dharma and sangha. This text was translated in Tibetan from Sanskrit and also a large number of commentaries were written by great masters of the lineage over the centuries. The text I have is all in Tibetan so I have to translate it back from Tibetan to Sanskrit.
1. The root text and a detailed commentary by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche is available as The Uttaratantra, A Treatise on Buddhaessence, published by Namo Buddha and Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Publications. 2. The text has seven chapters or points in total: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, Buddha-essence, Enlightenment, Qualities of Buddhahood and Buddha activity. 2
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THE BUDDHA Buddha is a Sanskrit word. In Tibetan we say Sangye, sang means awakened and gye means developed; awakened from the deep sleep of ignorance. All sentient beings are dreaming in the deep sleep of ignorance, which they happen to have. Prince Siddhartha has been awakened from that sleep, which is what sang means. Gye, meaning fully developed, because each one of us has immeasurable, ineffable and indescribable potential which is perfect beyond any comparison and limitation. We call that primordial wisdom or Buddha-nature, jnana. This potential when fully developed is like a lotus fully bloomed. That is the definition of Buddha, Sangye. It should not be misunderstood that we are saying that only our Buddha is just that. Let’s put it this way: whoever reaches the highest, the best, the most profound and limitless state of sang and gye is called Buddha. Then there is nothing further to reach, nothing more to develop, nothing more to be free from and no more to be perfected. So when you reach that state, we call that Buddha. And that can be you and you or me, or your dog or your cat. Anybody who reaches that state is Buddha. If a god or goddess reaches that state they are Buddha. If a hell being reaches that state they are Buddha. If an animal reaches that state they are Buddha. If a human being reaches that state they are Buddha. It is the same with asuras and pretas. It doesn’t matter who or what one is, once one reaches that state they are Buddha. The qualities of the Buddha are described in six
particular ways in the Mahayana Uttaratantra. However, you should know that when you describe the indescribable, then the words that are really ultimately suited for that indescribable-ness are impossible to find. So describing the indescribable itself is an irony, it is a fallacy in itself. You can’t describe Buddha by three, four, five, six, ten, a million, or ten billion qualities, it is impossible. But these kinds of particulars are helpful for us to get some kind of idea of what Buddha’s qualities are. It doesn’t mean that Buddha’s qualities are just six but they somehow give us a kind of alphabet to describe those qualities. Language is not just an alphabet, it is helpful for us to organize ourselves so that we can make sentences out of them and communicate with each other. This way the six qualities of Buddhas are described here. The first quality is that it is uncreated. It is not the outcome of composition. When this and this and this come together and this happens, that is called composite. Buddha is not a composite. It is not a result of anything coming together. It is always there and it is non-dualistic, it is not a result of two or three things coming together, which is result of dualism or triplism. Therefore it is uncreated. You may wonder how this relates to Buddha Shakyamuni and the thousands of lifetimes that Prince Siddhartha went through before he became the Buddha: before he was born as Prince Siddhartha, what result then happened. This is very clearly described here. For example, the light of the sun is always there and the sky is always clear. But if there is a cloud, then because of the cloud the light of the sun is not visible, it becomes a sunbeam. It is only a circumstantial condition of the wind blowing away the cloud and then the light of the sun is revealed, the clearness of the sky is revealed. So it is not the result of the cloud, the sky or the wind. It is just the circumstances and the conditions which are very temporary and very superficial, which is nothing more than just like a dream. A dream is a reality as long as we don’t know we are dreaming. But as soon as we know we are dreaming the dream disappears. Each one of these six qualities of Buddha is described with many sub-specifics, but I’m not going to go through those, six is enough to describe the Buddha. Now the second is, it is achieved spontaneously, or attained spontaneously. It evolved spontaneously. There is a very simple pramana (valid cognition) verse that describes this very easily: “The Buddha is not a result of effort because is always there as a primordial ultimate truth.” You might ask, “In that case, why do we come here and talk about Buddha? Why do we have to do practice? Why do we have to conduct pujas? Why do we have to do all of that if it is not a result of effort?” But again, it is the same thing. All these efforts are necessary as long as we don’t
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wake up, in order to find out that we are sleeping and we are dreaming and having a nightmare. Even if you realise you are dreaming you have to come out of it by a struggle. How do you come out from a nightmare when you realise you are having one? You do all kinds of things. You try to stir, you try to move or stand up, all kinds of things, you do all of that. You put all of that effort in and finally you wake up and can say to yourself: “Oh, now I have woken up, it was a dream.” But when you realise that you are having a nightmare, in your nightmare, to get out of it you have to put in effort. It is just like that. But when you wake up from the effort and find out you were dreaming, it is not the result of the effort. You are the same in your waking up state as when you are dreaming. You are just like Buddha, exactly like Buddha, right now, when you have not attained enlightenment. But you have to put in all this effort, which is dualistic and temporary, in order to awake from the dream of samsara. For that reason we do all kinds of dharma practices, including lighting lamps, burning incense, going to the temple, ringing the bell, doing all of those things. We have to engage in all of that effort to reach the final state, which is not the result of that effort. That effort is just to reveal the inherent unshakeable, unchangeable and incorruptible essence which is always there. For example, when a diamond mine is worked by workers, and when the workers go there and break the stone and get dirty and find a diamond, do the workers find the diamond? No. It was always there. The workers effort just revealed it. As far as the finding of the diamond is concerned it was always there. I will give you a very simple example: we say Christopher Columbus discovered the United State of America, and somebody discovered Australia, and so on. But those people did not find those places, they was always there. But they themselves saw them for the first time. Australia was always there and America was always there. It was Christopher Columbus who saw it for the first time. So it is like that. Actually I was told that was not true and that the Vikings found America a long time before Christopher Columbus did. I am not sure. Anyway, I find that very interesting. That was the second quality of Buddha. The third quality of the Buddha is that it is not realised by any other circumstance, any outside circumstances. This is very easy to understand because recognition and realisation of primordial wisdom cannot be the result of something outside of the primordial wisdom. The first three qualities that we have learned already are qualities of the dharmakaya, they describe the qualities of the Buddha’s dharmakaya itself. The categorization of these three as qualities of the dharmakaya is itself another quality. The next qualities
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describe the manifestation of the dharmakaya. To make it easier for us, the limitless qualities that the Buddha manifests are categorized into three. Buddha is free from dualism, therefore Buddha is omniscient, the fourth quality. You can never be omniscient dualistically. As long as you are somebody who knows something then there will be someone who knows and something to know. This way it is impossible to know everything. Therefore you have to reach the non-dualistic state. Buddha by definition is a non-dualistic state and because of that Buddha is omniscient. The fifth quality is the perfect compassion and lovingkindness in manifestation. You can never be Buddha for yourself. If you wish to be perfect, you can never be perfect if it is for yourself only. You have to be perfect for the benefit of all. Therefore everything that manifests from the Buddha will only benefit others, one way or another. Anything that manifests from the Buddha will never harm anybody. It will always be the manifestation that will benefit others, one way or another. The sixth quality of the Buddha is limitless power. The Buddha’s power has no limitation. Why, because all the shortcomings in samsara to which we feel powerless are because of our own weaknesses that are based on ego itself. The bigger your ego is the weaker you are. If you are the head of 200 groups you think you are big and important. But then you have to watch over and worry about all those 200 groups and you have to be concerned about all of them. The bigger your ego is the more worry you will have with those 200, and as a result of that you will have 200 misunderstandings, 200 fears, 200 misinterpretations, 200 prejudices and 200 paranoias, all of that. So the bigger your ego is the less powerful you become. And the less powerful you become the more you want to be sure you have more power. First you have to have a little stick, and then it doesn’t work, so a bigger stick. Then that doesn’t work so then a small gun. Then when that doesn’t work a bigger gun. Then when that doesn’t work a small bomb. Then a bigger bomb etc. So at the end you just scream and go crazy. So until that there is no end. You will always need something bigger and more destructive and something more frightening to frighten others. As long as your ego is not handled, then you will have fear, which you cannot pretend that you don’t have. So that you show by showing that you are strong, that you are macho, and you are big and dangerous and you are feared. All of this is the nature of the ego. Because Buddha overcame all of that then he is the most powerful. The power of compassion is incomparable to any other power and the power of wisdom is incomparable to any other power. Therefore Buddha has no fear whatsoever, because he has no ego whatsoever. He
transformed his ego into wisdom and because of that then he is the most powerful. As I mentioned, the first three qualities of the Buddha were qualities of the dharmakaya, the fourth, fifth and sixth are qualities of the sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya, how the Buddha manifests to others; the quality of the sun and how it manifests to all its surroundings. So these last three qualities of the Buddha are how Buddha manifests non-dualistically for the benefit of all sentient beings, this categorization being another quality. There is no such thing as Buddha’s limitless spontaneous activity with an end. It will always continue. The activities of Prince Siddhartha are also the activities of all the Buddhas. They are timeless, therefore they are the activities of the past Buddhas, the present Buddhas as well as the future Buddhas. These are the six qualities of the Buddha described in the Mahayana Uttaratantra.3
THE DHARMA Now you understand the Buddha, next, the second, is the dharma. Dharma is the manifestation of the Buddha. The real definition of the dharma is the dharmakaya, but once it manifests from the Buddha, then the recipients to whom it manifests then receive it and perceive it and it is imprinted in them as words or as an experience or, as some kind of inspiration and thought which stays with them. Then it continues from them and it re-manifests from them as a written form, a verbal teaching and so on and so forth. So the dharma, such as the Four Noble Truths, the Eight Fold Noble Path, the Six Paramitas, Prajnaparamita, Pramana, Abhidharma, Vinaya, Sutra and
Tantra, all of those are the manifestations from the recipients, who received the Buddha’s manifestation. They are manifesting it and that’s what we call a living lineage. What manifests from them is received by their disciples and it manifests from them again. That is what we have until today. So that is dharma. Of course the dharma’s qualities are countless, but according to Lord Maitreya in the Mahayana Uttaratantra it is described with eight qualities. The first quality of the dharma is, it is the ultimate truth therefore it is inconceivable and ineffable by relative means. So the real essence of the dharma can never be perfectly told by anybody with any words, it is impossible. It is the limitless, ultimate truth; therefore it cannot be spoken with limited relative words. The second quality of dharma is that it is nondualistic. Buddha did not teach dharma the way I teach the dharma. I teach dharma because I received it from the lineage. And I am passing it on to you through my notes, through my understanding and through my words. But Buddha manifests the dharma. An example is the sky. The sky provides for all. If we build a thousand-storey building right here, where does the sky go? And if you pull it down, where does the sky come from? And if you pollute the sky and it is dirty and you pile up 2000 feet of garbage, where does the clean sky go? And if you pull it down and clean it up, then where does the clean sky come from? Right in front of our nose, this ineffable, indescribable, impossible is possible. So dharma is like that, it is non-dualistic, it is ineffable. The third quality of dharma is it is free from any aspect of limitation. If there is any limitation then it is a limitation of the teacher of the dharma. But dharma itself
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has no limitation. Dharma is about everything. Dharma is relative truth and the ultimate truth of everything. The essence of the dharma is the ultimate truth of everything, and the means to communicate that is the relative truth about everything, therefore dharma is free from any aspect of shortcomings. The shortcomings are described in many ways here, but let’s leave them alone. We just say all the shortcomings. The fourth quality of the dharma is: these three qualities of dharma are spontaneous, therefore ever present. And the dharma is not something that is described. The dharma was not described by Prince Siddhartha or by Buddha Dipankara before him. And the dharma was not described by a great Buddha many billions of years ago to whom Prince Siddhartha as a beggar in a previous life saw and got inspired by. The dharma was not discovered by that Buddha. So the dharma was not discovered by Prince Siddhartha, the dharma is always there. Dharma is the ultimate essence of everything at all times and is always there. The fifth quality of dharma is that it is totally incorruptible and stainless. Because the ultimate truth of everything, the ultimate truth of good, the ultimate truth of bad, the ultimate truth of correct and incorrect, the ultimate truth of everything is not only one, it is beyond one, it is non-dualistic. It is not even one. Therefore it is incorruptible and unstainable by anything. The sixth quality of dharma is that it is clear, clarity. There is nothing which is not clear. The seventh is that it is an antidote in itself. For example, as a practitioner we try to meditate and pray and do all those kinds of dharma, which is an antidote for whatever we are supposed to overcome. If somebody walks on the street and there is a hole in the street, and if they step in it they might break their leg. But if you use your mind and be aware and mindful and look where you are going, then that’s an antidote for not breaking your leg. So dharma is in everything, everything about dharma is an antidote and solution. It is always an antidote and solution by itself. The eighth quality, the last, it is the path. Regardless of who you think you are—you can be Buddhist, you can be Hindu, you can be a non-believer, you can be a politician, you can be a thief, you can be a rich man or a poor man, you can be a kind or cruel person, you can be anybody, but whoever you are, in the dharma, all of you are equal. I just learned something from our dharma brother here. I asked him a question. I said, “Why do people throw paint against each other in the Holi festival?” He said, “One of the reasons is to feel the equality, you can throw paint at anybody.” And I add to it equanimity, because you are not allowed to get angry! Normally if somebody throws paint at you, then what is next thing that you should expect? But in Holi, you just have to smile 6
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and show your teeth, you are not allowed to show anything. They can paint your teeth, too! That is interesting. Anyway, it is a path, everything is a path. Going up is a path and going down is also a path. Going here and there and moving around is also a path. Of course, the ideal path which we really wish to follow is straight forward towards the destination, towards the centre of the mandala and to reach there without obstacles. And each step is a better step, a wiser step, a more awakened step, that’s what we all wish for. But even if we don’t manage that, we are on the path. Even if we do something and go to hell, that’s also a path, because that is purification—purification in the hard way. Then if we do something good and we are born as a god, that’s also purification, but purification in a nice way, we are purifying all our good karma by enjoying all the wonderful and nice things, indulging in all those beautiful and wonderful and blessed things in the heaven. That is purification of our good karma. Going to hell and getting burned and chopped and all of that, it is purification of our bad karma. But it is a path. And for us, when we will end is when we will realise the ultimate of the dharma, the ultimate truth as it is, that is the dharmakaya. The source of the dharma is dharmakaya, the end of the dharma is dharmakaya. The definition of the practice of dharma is dharmakaya. So this way according to the Mahayana Uttaratantra I have roughly and briefly explained about the qualities of Buddha and dharma, out of the Three Jewels. Before I talk about the sangha I am happy to take some of your questions.
QUESTIONS Question: I didn’t understand when you said dharma is clear. Rinpoche: The dharma, being the ultimate truth, is not unclear. It is clear because it is never wrong and it is never obscured. I will give you an example. If somebody is trying to lie, the person thinks they managed to fool people and are lying. But it’s impossible because the truth of what they said, is a lie. They tried their best, but they can never lie ultimately. If any of us try to lie, we can never manage to lie ultimately because the truth of untrue is untruth. It will never be otherwise. The truth of the true is truth and truth of the untrue is untruth. It has a truth, the truth of untrue in untrue. The truth of a lie is a lie. So it is impossible to be unclear because the essence of dharma is the essence of everything. Therefore it is always clear, it is always transparent, it is always like light. It is not like darkness, it is transparent, always, that is what this clarity means, clearness.
something like that. We create new hells. In the old days there were no such things, everything was okay, but now we have all these things and without them we feel like hell! Question: But being born as a human being is the most precious one for the dharma? Rinpoche: A precious human life is described as being with eighteen qualities.4 If you have those qualities, then your life is a precious human life. If one of them is missing then you have a precious human life with seventeen qualities. If two of them are missing then you have a precious human life with sixteen qualities etc. If all of them are missing, then you just have a human life, not a precious human life. So you have to cultivate them. Question: Does it mean that if you are an animal you can’t somehow use your chance to become enlightened? Rinpoche: In the Jataka tales Buddha describes his previous lives when he was a monkey, a rabbit, when he was in hell, he described all of that. So it is very clear that animals can become Buddhas and hell beings can become Buddhas, because Buddha was born as an animal and Buddha was in hell and from there he slowly became enlightened as Prince Siddhartha. Question: You said going to hell is a path, that everything is a path, how is that? Rinpoche: If you don’t go to hell you can never get out of the hell. How can you get out of hell without going into hell? That way it is a path, yes, it is purification. There is no such thing as a hell, ultimately. There is no ultimate heaven or hell. Hell is relative. Why you are born in hell is to purify all of the bad karmas that you have done. That is the reason. And why you go to heaven is because of all the good karmas that you have done: it’s like you charge a cell phone battery overnight and then you use that for the whole day to talk with your friends, that is the heaven. You see? It is using the battery that you have charged to talk with your friends. It’s like that with everything in samsara. After you have used your battery then you have to re-charge it. When you re-charge it then you can’t talk with your friends, so then you are in hell, or
Question: I understood animals don’t have consciousness and can’t make decisions, how would they become enlightened? Rinpoche: You have to be born as a dog. The animal life from which to be born as a human being is a dog. You are born as a tiger, as a fish and all kind of things, then finally you are born as a dog, that means you are going to be a human. There is an old Tibetan saying. “Before you are born as a human you will be born as a dog and before you go to hell you are going to be born as a leader.” Question: I thought enlightenment was possible only if you are a human being? Rinpoche: Not necessarily, but a human life is easier because we are somewhat in between. We are not in as luxurious state as gods but we are not as deprived as animals, we are somewhere in between. Therefore it is
4. Eight freedoms & ten opportunities. (Tal jor) Tal is often translated as “freedom” and jor as “endowments,” “qualities,” “resources,” and “opportunities” which constitute a precious human birth to practice dharma. The eight freedoms are traditionally enumerated as freedom from birth as a hell being, a hungry ghost, an animal, a barbarian, a long-lived god, a heretic, a mentally handicapped person, or living in a dark age (here meaning when no Buddha has come, in other contexts, according to the teachings on five degenerations we are living in a dark age). Of the ten conjunctions or resources, the five personal conjunctions are having a human body, being born in a land to which the dharma has spread, having all of one’s senses intact, not reverting to evil ways, and having confidence in the three jewels. (Having one’s senses impaired to the extent that one’s mind could not function properly in the study and practice of dharma would constitute the loss of one’s precious human birth.) The five conjunctions that come by way of others are that a Buddha has been born in this age, that the Buddha taught the dharma, that the dharma still exists, that there are still followers who have realized the meaning and essence of the teachings of the dharma, and there are benevolent sponsors. Thar Lam AUGUST 2008
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quite easy for us to look up and look down, look right and left. It is easier for human beings, definitely, but it doesn’t have to be. There are Buddhas of the six realms: Buddhas of gods, Buddhas of asuras, Buddhas of humans, Buddhas of animals, Buddhas of hungry ghosts, Buddhas of hells, six Buddhas. We even have an enormous puja which involves all six Buddhas.
THE SANGHA Sangha in Tibetan is gendun. Ge is gewa which is virtue, virtuous, and dunpa means pursuing or dedicated to or involved with. So, you yourself as sangha are involved in virtuous practise and also leading others in the same direction, involving others in virtuous practice. This generally describes any person who is him or herself involved in virtuous activity, conducting themselves positively and virtuously. But then of course when we say Buddha, dharma, sangha, that means—the definition of virtuous activity and conduct is the dharma, so following the dharma. And in Buddhism, when we say sangha, that means, one who is following the virtuous conduct and practices which manifest from the Lord Buddha. Sangha generally has two aspects. One is ordinary sangha and the other one is extraordinary sangha. Ordinary sangha in general Buddhist terminology means ordained monks and nuns. The extraordinary sangha are
the enlightened bodhisattvas and enlightened mahasiddhas. But today’s common usage of sangha, in the west, they use the word sangha for every Buddhist. So every Buddhist is sangha in the west. In principle, as the definition of the terminology, as far as sangha itself is concerned, it is correct. But when we say “I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the dharma, I take refuge in the sangha,” then it is not one hundred percent appropriate to describe every Buddhist as sangha. In Tibetan society, most of the five million Tibetans are Buddhists, but they are not called sangha. Sangha is the ordained monks and nuns and the enlightened mahasiddhas and enlightened bodhisattvas. The past ones we know, bodhisattvas such as Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, Vajrapani, and mahasiddhas such as Tilopa, Naropa, Dombi Heruka, Shavaripa, Marpa, Milarepa etc, they are the extraordinary sangha. But it is hard to know presently the extraordinary sangha. I think some time in the future we will know the present extraordinary sangha. So that is a general description of sangha. Now the quality of sangha, the definition of sangha, according to the Mahayana Uttaratantra, eight specific qualities about the sangha are given. These are the qualities of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha. The Uttaratantra is a Mahayana text so this definition of sangha is of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha. The first one is described as ji-tawa chenpa. Ji-tawa means “as it is” and chenpa means “knowing”. So, “knowing as it is,” “knowing correctly.” As it is means, for example, if I misunderstood this butter lamp to be an electronic lamp, then it is not ji-tawa. When I understand this as a butter lamp, then it is ji-tawa. Chenpa means knowing. So ji-tawa means as it is, correctly, unmistakably. That means, during meditation, the Mahayana Refuge Sangha recognize the nature of the mind without obscurations, and realising that in the practise and in the meditation that it was never stained by any defilements, forever. Also knowing at the same time that it is the nature of all sentient beings—not only yours, but all sentient beings. And also knowing that this is free or empty of all aspects of self. When we say all aspects of self, we have to go back to the Theravada aspect of the teachings. There, the arhat aspect is knowing the emptiness of everything, except for the shortest moment and the smallest object, that is the arhat level.5 The pratyekabuddhas understanding of this is, knowing the emptiness of the smallest object, but still, the shortest time, the shortest moment, the self, is still there. Therefore, to be free of all aspects of self means to be free of
5. In the Vaibhashika school, one of the four major schools of Indian Buddhism and one of the two major Hinayana schools, sometimes translated as the Particularist school, relative truth is defined as whatever can be broken down into parts and ultimate truth as that which cannot be broken down, eg, indivisible atoms and indivisible moments of consciousness. 8
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both the smallest object and the shortest moment of time. The shortest time by the definition of the mind, the perception, the thought, and the smallest object means all other external reality. So knowing this, as the Refuge Sangha of Mahayana practices, is the first quality ji-tawa chenpa Now the second quality, ji-nyedpa chenpa. Ji-tawa means “as it is” and ji-nyedpa means “all of it.” So, all the people here in this room are ji-nyedpa in this room. All the human beings on this Earth are ji-nyedpa of human beings on this Earth. The ji-nyedpa of everything means everything. So here ji-nyedpa means everything. Ji-tawa is the quality and ji-nyedpa is the quantity. Knowing the ji-nyedpa. Chenpa is the same. So now, during the meditation, the Mahayana Refuge Sangha, ji-tawa chenpa. In the post meditation, the Mahayana Refuge Sangha, ji-nyedpa chenpa. Do you understand? So the meditation and the post meditation. Now in the post meditation ji-nyedpa chenpa is: all of the relative reality is always sacred and holy with its inherent, ultimate sacredness. For example, a vessel is sacred because its content is sacred. The content, the nature of mind is sacred, so the vessel of the nature of mind, sentient beings’ bodies, as well as all the so called inanimate objects that sentient beings can see and touch and hear etc., are equally sacred. So recognition of the essence during the meditation and recognition of the external sacredness during the post meditation, so these two are the first two qualities of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha. The first quality is mentioned by Nagarjuna in his Uma Tsawa Sherab, his text on Madhyamaka, in which he says: “The emptiness of one is the emptiness of all.” The second quality, ji-nyedpa chenpa, is mentioned by Tilopa in his doha described as “Doha Right After His Enlightenment”. A doha is a sacred song, sacred poetry. In this doha right after his enlightenment he says: “The essence of the sesame seed—if the ignorant ones do not know, then they will never be able to get the oil out of the sesame seed. But by knowing it, then putting in the effort to pound the sesame, then they will get the oil of the sesame out from the sesame seed.” So right after his enlightenment he made this doha, a very long one, but I’m just sharing the first two lines here. So those are the first two qualities of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha. The third quality is: that person, that being who possesses that true aspect of wisdom, the ji-tawa chenpa and ji-nyedpa chenpa, is possessing the wisdom which is the highest of all wisdom, because you cannot have that wisdom if you are within the context of, or within the sphere of dualism. You have to be above that, you have to go beyond the limitation of dualism in order to possess that wisdom. That way, this is superior wisdom, and the person is known as the possessor of superior or the highest
level of wisdom. That is the third quality of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha. Now the fourth quality. This ji-tawa chenpa, ji-nyedpa chenpa, and superior wisdom, these three are the quality of one’s own realisation. So these three qualities are the quality of the realization of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha. The fifth quality of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha is to be free from the obscuration of attachment, anger and liking and disliking. Free of all of that which is related with oneself and others. For example, I like myself—that is one thing, I hate myself—that is another thing. I like somebody is one thing and I hate somebody is another thing. Also, I prefer this to that. So free of all of this. For example, with myself, I’m absolutely free from “I hate myself ” but I am not free from “I like myself.” I like myself, and it was a very big problem for me when I went to the west for the first time in 1980. My first lecture was in Wales. There I was giving a lecture and somebody was saying, “I hate myself”. Those sorts of questions were asked of me, but I couldn’t understand. It was mind-boggling for me because my problem is I like myself so much. I have so much attachment for myself. I like me so much, so I have to overcome that. That is my problem. But now, here was somebody who did not have that problem, who said: “I hate myself!” I couldn’t understand it. Now, after more than twenty years, now I have somehow come to understand that if I like myself too much, then I don’t meet with my expectations of me. Then I get disappointed about myself because my expectations of me do not match. So it is like a flipping of liking yourself too much, unreasonably. So that is my interpretation about this today. I’m not really sure whether it is accurate or not, but that is what I think. Otherwise, I can’t understand why somebody would say, “I don’t like myself.” That’s a very big mystery, an unimaginable mystery to me. But up to now it only makes sense to me if I like myself so much that I don’t perform according to my expectations about me. So maybe that is half correct. Anyway, this quality is free from attachment, hatred, and preferences, and all of this. That is the fifth quality of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha. The sixth quality of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha is: the body, speech, and mind activity of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha, there is shortage. This means there is nothing that the Mahayana Refuge Bodhisattva Sangha are not capable of as far as their performance in concerned, their body, speech and mind performance is concerned. But of course it is not equal to the Buddha, so you should not expect it to be like the Buddha. For example, when Buddha manifests dharma, if there are present one thousand people with a thousand different languages, everyone will hear according to their own language and according to their own capacity. Bodhisattvas have similar abilities, but not
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exactly like a Buddha, so there are differences. We are talking about sangha, not about Buddha. The seventh quality of the Mahayana Sangha is: the inner wisdom, the view of the inner wisdom, the perception of the inner wisdom is superior. That means: the bodhisattva Mahayana Refuge Sangha do not have any kind of selfish motives whatsoever. So a self-oriented perception, outlook and motivation are totally zero. That means totally selfless. Every quality and wisdom of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha, which are bodhisattvas like Avalokiteshvara and Manjushri, they are totally mature so that whatever kind of power and manifestation that they are able to perform, it will never become an egoistic selfish thing. For example, with me, if I could perform in two places in Delhi at the same time I would be quite proud of myself. But for a bodhisattva of that level it will never happen like that. That is the seventh quality of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha. The first three qualities are qualities of realisation, that categorization itself is the fourth. The fifth, six and seventh are qualities of freedom, qualities of liberation, which is the eighth. So these eight are the eight qualities of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha. When we say Mahayana Refuge Sangha according to the Mahayana Uttaratantra according of Lord Maitreya, he is talking about bodhisattvas with realisation. He is not talking about monks or nuns or somebody who has just taken bodhisattva vows. He is talking about one who has reached the level of realisation so that they are worthy of refuge. When we say “I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the dharma, I take refuge in the sangha,” it has to be equal. Buddha, dharma and sangha, all three have to be very close to each other. Buddha and dharma are the same thing in this case, because dharma is what manifests from the Buddha. But there are very important subtle differences between Buddha and dharma, the dharma that we have and Buddha. This is because Buddha’s words and manifestations are according to the capacities of the recipients who receive it. Therefore, the teaching of dharma as we know it does not represent what is the dharmakaya of the Buddha, totally. But of course it is the outcome and manifestation of it. Then when it comes to the sangha, again one step further, because the sangha are the ones who practise the dharma and have some realisation of the dharma so that they able to transmit the dharma and represent the Buddha. That way the Extraordinary Sangha, the bodhisattvas, are described here. These are the eight qualities of the sangha. So now the very basic subject for a Buddhist, understanding the Buddha, dharma and sangha is roughly completed.
THE MEANING OF REFUGE When we say we take refuge under or to Buddha, dharma and sangha, what does it really mean? It means a very simple, clear and orderly thing: Buddha—I wish to reach Buddhahood. Dharma—by following the path which is manifested from the Buddha. Sangha—by learning it from the living lineage, which is continued up to today and by receiving it, the transmission, by having the companions, and by having the support and blessing of the sangha. Taking refuge under Buddha, dharma and sangha means that and this is what defines somebody as a Buddhist or not. Every sentient being has Buddha nature, every sentient being is equal to Buddha in his or her essence. Therefore, everybody is more than a Buddhist, because everybody is a Buddha himself or herself. But at the same time, Prince Siddhartha attained enlightenment and became Buddha Shakyamuni and by following his teaching, by taking refuge under Buddha, dharma and sangha, then we are his followers. But it does not mean that the followers of Prince Siddhartha are the only Buddhists. No. Prince Siddhartha himself was not a follower of Prince Siddhartha. That way, anybody can reach the realisation of Prince Siddhartha by doing what he has done, by realising what he has realised. This way, when we talk about refuge under Buddha, dharma and sangha; Buddha as Buddha Shakyamuni, dharma as all the teachings that he has given, sangha as the ordinary sangha and the Extraordinary Sangha. This is the Extraordinary Sangha description. So this is for Buddhists, and Buddhism, as one of the major religions of the world today, so according to that, it is described. Of course I am a Buddhist, a Buddhist follower of Prince Siddhartha. But at the same time I should not lose sight that this is not the only way. I am very happy with it, but it doesn’t mean that it is limited to this. Anybody who knows how to drink a glass of water one hundred percent perfectly is Buddha. I can say, with my ignorance and with my ego very loudly, that these days there are very few in this world who know how to drink a glass of water twenty-five percent correctly, let alone about one hundred percent correctly. This way, Buddhas, I haven’t seen too many. I have only heard and beliefs, you know, belief in many as a Buddha, but seeing one hundred percent clearly as a Buddha, very few. I want to leave it there, please don’t question me on this subject, okay! I am a believer and I rely on devotion, I rely on faith and so I would rather not go further on this. So that is about refuge.
We wish to thank Ani la Sherab and Rokpa Finland for transcribing, editing and offering these teachings for publication. 10
Thar Lam
AUGUST 2008
