Traleg Kyabgon

Traleg Kyabgon

Traleg Kyabgon (1955–2012) was born in Eastern Tibet and educated by many great masters of all four major lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. He is the founder of the Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute, which is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, with a major practice center in upstate New York and a practice community in New York City. He taught extensively at universities and Buddhist centers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia beginning in 1980, and is the author of numerous books that present Buddhist teachings to Western readers, including The Essence of Buddhism and Mind at Ease.

Traleg Kyabgon

Traleg Kyabgon (1955–2012) was born in Eastern Tibet and educated by many great masters of all four major lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. He is the founder of the Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute, which is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, with a major practice center in upstate New York and a practice community in New York City. He taught extensively at universities and Buddhist centers in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia beginning in 1980, and is the author of numerous books that present Buddhist teachings to Western readers, including The Essence of Buddhism and Mind at Ease.

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GUIDES

Honoring Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche

Book coverThe family here at Shambhala Publications is deeply saddened by the loss of the incredible master, teacher, and author Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, who passed away in Australia at 12:10 a.m. on July 24, 2012, the Fourth Day of the Sixth Month of the Tibetan calendar in the Year of the Dragon. Rinpoche was a close friend and teacher of some of us and his breadth and depth of knowledge and experience on the path to enlightenment was tremendous. We will miss him so much.

Below is a short excerpt from his book Mind at Ease:

In approaching the spiritual path, we need some understanding of what the journey involves. Many different spiritual experiences may arise in the course of our journey. To make sense of them, it is important for us to grasp where our experiences originate and have some appreciation for the inconsistencies in these subjective occurrences. Some experiences may appear to be enlightened when they are deluded, and others may appear to be deluded but actually portend enlightenment.

An important method for developing our discernment is to fathom the spiritual path in terms of deluded mind and enlightened mind. We need to understand deluded states of mind as something we need to overcome and enlightened states of mind as something we need to cultivate. Only then can we confidently steer a course through the myriad subjective revelations that can and do unfold on the spiritual journey.

At the same time, we should engage in our spiritual pursuits-and indeed in whatever we do-with a sense of caring, love, and compassion as well as a sense of joy. If not, our healthy emotions will atrophy, and we will be forever trapped in our conflicting emotions, which will filter down to influence our spiritual experience and practice. Therefore, in spiritual practice, love, compassion, and joy have to be experienced in an unperturbed way through equanimity.

In the Mahamudra tradition, the notion of self-liberation is paramount. Through self-liberating our conflicting emotions and discursive thoughts by allowing them to simply arise and dissipate without any grasping or fixation, we transcend any spiritual requirement to renounce, purify, or transform them. This is the unique skillful means of path Mahamudra that inexorably leads to spiritual realization.

Thus the journey we take in Mahamudra is one that fundamentally involves returning to our true home, our original dwelling place. We can see, then, that ground Mahamudra and fruition Mahamudra are identical, because when fruition Mahamudra is realized, so too is ground Mahamudra; and when ground Mahamudra is realized, it is instantly apparent that this is fruition Mahamudra. In other words, to realize our authentic state of being is to realize the fruition of the Great Seal of all-encompassing reality.

Although the spiritual journey is a homecoming of sorts, it is still indispensable to proceed on the path in the first place. We cannot say that since our authentic state is the enlightened mind of luminous bliss, we need not embark on any kind of spiritual journey. We cannot afford to think we are already there. Although our original state of being is the same as that of the buddhas, we are not buddhas yet. We are deluded sentient beings, and our minds are layered with defilements and obscurations. In fact, due to the density of our obscurations, we are not even in a condition to catch the occasional glimpse of our original condition. There should be no doubt that we categorically need to engage in some kind of spiritual practice, one that is genuine and effective and can be systematically utilized to illuminate the darkness of our ignorance.

The Mahamudra meditation of tranquility and insight meditation is one of the most effective ways to achieve this end. If we follow this path with genuine interest and invest the necessary time and energy, we will quickly feel the effects of these practices. To really devote ourselves to this practice, it is essential to fully integrate ground, path, and fruition Mahamudra. This way, we will eventually be Mahamudra. The luminous bliss of Mahamudra is what represents our own true nature. We could even say that in our own true nature we are Mahamudra.

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Ken Wilber: Remembering Traleg Rinpoche

Book cover

"At 12:10 am on July 24, Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche passed into parinirvana. His death was not only a deep shock, but a truly tragic loss to the world of spirituality in general and Buddhism in particular-well, actually a tragic loss to the world, period. Traleg was one of what can truly be called a genuine Kosmopolitan-a truly universal human who had a deep understanding not only of Eastern culture and practices, but a genuinely profound grasp of the West and its various philosophical strands. When I first met him, through the graciousness of our mutual friend and Shambhala founder, Sam Bercholz, Traleg had a list with two columns: 'Where Ken is right' and 'Where Ken is not so right', and we proceeded to have one of the most intelligent, Enlightened discussions on Integral thought that I have ever had.

"As it turns out, he and I agreed on much more than we disagreed on, and we gave several public workshops together, often focusing on the perils of an extreme postmodernism to a genuine spirituality. But what was so amazing about Rinpoche is that, even though a high-ranking teacher in the Tibetan system, he was no mere traditionalist. He wanted to keep Buddhism pure, but he also wanted it to advance into the modern and postmodern world, and he (and I) were deeply worried about what some of the popular forms of Buddhism were doing to both distort traditional understanding and forestall evolutionary advancement. He was particularly concerned with the rampant anti-intellectualism that pervaded much of American Buddhism (and spirituality in general), and the common confusion of postmodern platitudes ('all things are equal') with deep Buddhist truths (which acknowledged absolute and relative truths equally). He was, in my opinion, one of the first truly Integral Buddhists, and at the time of his passing, he and I had in place plans to do a book together on these general notions, and had already transcribed our seminars in preparation.

"Now, alas, the world has been deprived of this voice of a genuine 4th Turning of the Wheel of Dharma. Those of us who knew him and counted him as Teacher will never forget him-his astonishing and wide-ranging intelligence, his deep Enlightenment, his easy-going nature and deep love of transmitting the Truth. But even his relatively short period with us was enough to demonstrate that a true coming together of East and West is indeed a real and extraordinary possibility, and a possibility upon which the future of humanity now depends."

-Ken Wilber

Visit the Integral Life website to watch Rinpoche and Ken Wilber discuss the evolution of enlightenment and the future of Buddhism.

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Lojong / Mind Training Reader's Guide

Lojong, or mind training, is a core practice in all the lineages of the Tibetan tradition. They can perhaps best be characterized as a method for transforming our mind by turning away from self-centeredness and cultivating instead the mental habits that generate bodhicitta, the awakened mind that puts the benefit of others above all else. The teachings on it are more diverse than many people realize, so we thought we would lay out a map of its origins and development for our readers, with some recommendations along the way for books through which the practice can be explored.

New and Recent Releases on Lojong

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The Heroic Heart: Awakening Unbound Compassion

by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo

Just as the archetypal hero possesses the heart to face trials and tribulations for the sake of helping others, the bodhisattva has a remarkable resolve to free others from suffering so that all may achieve true happiness and awakening. Through each challenge, the Buddhist hero of compassion develops rich inner qualities that empower them to be of true benefit to others.

In The Heroic Heart, Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, an esteemed spiritual teacher with a lifetime of experience, illuminates the heart of Mahayana Buddhism—bodhichitta—describing it as “the selfless expression of boundless compassion.” Jetsunma uses as a touchstone the famous Tibetan Buddhist text The Thirty-Seven Verses on the Practice of a Bodhisattva. Here, she reveals how to become such a compassionate hero, the bodhisattva in training, and helps us to face the uncertain tides of the world, however joyful or dangerous, with a deep wish to find meaning and uncover the ultimate heart of wisdom and compassion.

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The Power of Mind: A Tibetan Monk’s Guide to Finding Freedom in Every Challenge

by Khentrul Lodrö T'hayé Rinpoche

A modern guidebook based on ancient Buddhist techniques for transforming emotional pain, anxiety, and stress into complete mental well-being that benefits us and the people around us.

We’ve all heard platitudes about cultivating love and compassion, but how can we really develop these qualities in ourselves and—crucially—share them in our world? The Power of Mind provides a proven path.

Khentrul Rinpoche teaches that regardless of what’s unfolding in our lives, our route to freedom lies in our minds—and how we work with them. A thousand years ago, the Indian saint Atisha endured great hardship to bring the Buddha’s teachings to Tibet, where they flourished. This book introduces a primary text that emerged—the Seven Key Points of Mind Training.

Khentrul Rinpoche learned these practices from teachers who faced innumerable hardships during the Cultural Revolution. Rinpoche was moved by the ability of these teachers who, like alchemists, were able to follow these techniques to transform their suffering into something good.
The Power of Mind shares instructions that we can work through, one by one—from recognizing the preciousness and impermanence of our lives to avoiding drama and self-centeredness—along with meditations and practices. This wisdom is accessible to anyone seeking inner transformation—whether Buddhist or not. As Khentrul Rinpoche states, “Peace and happiness can be attained, but not by searching for something in the outside world. They start within us then extend out to the entire globe.”

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The Art of Transforming the Mind: A Meditator’s Guide to the Tibetan Practice of Lojong

By B. Alan Wallace

Includes three new translations of Atisha’s source material including Pith Instructions on a Single Mindfulness and Pith Instructions on the Middle Way.

The purpose of lojong, a traditional Mahayana Buddhist practice of training the mind, is about transforming one’s attitude and expanding one’s sense of self to encompass the greater whole. In this modern presentation of lojong practice and Atisha’s Seven-Point Mind Training, author, translator, and Buddhist practitioner B. Alan Wallace gives readers a framework from which they may cultivate the qualities of loving-kindness, compassion, and insight while diminishing harmful habits and ways of thinking. “All of us have attitudes,” Wallace explains, and “attitudes need adjusting.” The practice of lojong is therefore presented as a method to shift our attitude away from our problems, anxieties, hopes, and fears toward an expansive sense of joy and well-being that springs from the very essence of Mahayana—bodhichitta.

The Origins of Lojong

The origin of lojong as a codified system is generally attributed to Atisha, the eleventh-century Bengali master who came to Tibet and founded the Kadampa tradition and whose influence on all the Tibetan lineages was profound. Some teachers identify the actual origin of lojong with Atisha's teachers-Maitriyogi, Dharmarakshita, and Serlingpa-while others attribute the teachings to Atisha's main student, Dromtonpa (1005-64).

In fact, Thubten Chodron's  Good Karma:  How to Create the Causes of Happiness and Avoid the Causes of Sufferingis based on a text called  The Wheel of Sharp Weapons  that is generally attributed to Dharmarakshita.

Whatever the case, it is reasonable to think of Atisha as the anchor of these teachings.

A full, fascinating biography along with a great array of translations of his work was published as Atisa Dipamkara: Illuminator of the Awakened MindThe author and translator, James Apple, is one of the foremost scholars of Atisha  and his works.

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In 2016 in Boulder, His Holiness the Dalai Lama gave a talk on the lojong text  The Eight Verses (see below) and explained how Atisha and his teachers took this from Shantideva, in both his  Way of the Bodhisattva classic(for example in the eighth chapter where he presents the lojong practice of exchanging self and others, known as tonglen in Tibetan)  as well as in his Compendium of Training (a new translation of which is available from Oxford  2016). Shantideva in turn looked back to Nagarjuna, particularly in his  Precious Garlandand his Bodhicittavivarna, or Exposition on Enlightened Mind, which is discussed at length in In Praise of DharmadhatuAnd Nagarjuna himself used the sutras as his sources, in particular the Avatamsaka, known in English as The Flower Ornament Scripture.

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The Way of the Bodhisattva

By Shantideva
Translated by Padmakara Translation Group

Treasured by Buddhists of all traditions, The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicharyavatara) is a guide to cultivating the mind of enlightenment, and to generating the qualities of love, compassion, generosity, and patience. This text has been studied, practiced, and expounded upon in an unbroken tradition for centuries, first in India, and later in Tibet. Presented in the form of a personal meditation in verse, it outlines the path of the Bodhisattvas—those who renounce the peace of individual enlightenment and vow to work for the liberation of all beings and to attain buddhahood for their sake.

This version, translated from the Tibetan, is a revision by the translators of the 1997 edition. Included are a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a new translator's preface, a thorough introduction, a note on the translation, and three appendices of commentary by the Nyingma master Kunzang Pelden.

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Nagarjuna's Precious Garland: Buddhist Advice for Living and Liberation

By Nagarjuna
Translated by Jeffrey Hopkins

Treasured by Buddhists of all traditions, The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicharyavatara) is a guide to cultivating the mind of enlightenment, and to generating the qualities of love, compassion, generosity, and patience. This text has been studied, practiced, and expounded upon in an unbroken tradition for centuries, first in India, and later in Tibet. Presented in the form of a personal meditation in verse, it outlines the path of the Bodhisattvas—those who renounce the peace of individual enlightenment and vow to work for the liberation of all beings and to attain buddhahood for their sake.

This version, translated from the Tibetan, is a revision by the translators of the 1997 edition. Included are a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a new translator's preface, a thorough introduction, a note on the translation, and three appendices of commentary by the Nyingma master Kunzang Pelden.

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In Praise of Dharmadhatu: Nagarjuna and Rangjung Dorje on Buddha Nature

By Nagarjuna and Rangjung Dorje
Translated by Karl Brunnhölzl

Nāgārjuna's works sit at the heart of Mahāyāna Buddhist thought and practice, but he was renowned in Asia not only for his Madhyamaka work, but also his poetic collection of praises, most famously In Praise of Dharmadhatu. This book explores the scope, contents, and significance of Nāgārjuna’s scriptural legacy in India and Tibet, focusing primarily on this seminal work. The translation of Nāgārjuna’s hymn to buddha nature—here called dharmadhatu—shows how buddha nature is temporarily obscured in the experience of ordinary sentient beings, gradually uncovered through the path of bodhisattvas, and finally revealed in full bloom as buddhahood. Included is a translation of the text’s earliest and most extensive commentary by the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284–1339), supplemented by relevant excerpts from all other available commentaries.

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The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra

Translated by Thomas Cleary

Known in Chinese as Hua-yen and in Japanese as Kegon-kyo, the Avatamsaka Sutra, or Flower Ornament Scripture, is held in the highest regard and studied by Buddhists of all traditions. Through its structure and symbolism, as well as through its concisely stated principles, it conveys a vast range of Buddhist teachings.

This one-volume edition contains Thomas Cleary's definitive translation of all thirty-nine books of the sutra, along with an introduction, a glossary, and Cleary's translation of Li Tongxuan's seventh-century guide to the final book, the Gandavyuha, "Entry into the Realm of Reality."

The Heirs of Atisha

From Atisha and the Kadampa masters who followed him, we have received a rich array of core lojong texts that form the basis for the commentaries and teachings we have today. Originally the lojong teachings-often just collections of short sayings-were considered secret and were not widely disseminated, but this changed with the works of two Kadampa masters in particular.

The first was Langri Thangpa (1054-1123), whose teacher, Geshe Potawa (1027-1105), was one of the three main disciples of Dromtonpa and whose succinct Eight Verses on Training the Mind continues to be widely taught-recently by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to over ten thousand people in New York's Central Park. His Holiness has taught this text on numerous occasions and has published three works on it: a section in An Introduction to Buddhism,  the audio recording Eight Verses for Training the Mind  (an mp3 download of which is expected soon), and a section in Kindness, Clarity, and Insight. Another commentary is from the late Geshe Sonam Rinchen, also called Eight Verses for Training the Mind.

An Excerpt on Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment from An Introduction to Buddhism by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Thought to be an image of Dromtonpa
Introduction to Buddhism

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An Introduction to Buddhism

By H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

There is no one more suited to introduce beginners—and remind seasoned practitioners—of the fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism than His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Speaking to an audience of Western students, the Dalai Lama shows us how to apply basic Buddhist principles to our day-to-day lives. Starting with the very foundation of Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths, he provides the framework for understanding the Buddha’s first teachings on suffering, happiness, and peace. He follows with commentary on two of Buddhism’s most profound texts: The Eight Verses on Training the Mind and Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, often referring to the former as one of his main sources of inspiration for the practice of compassion. With clear, accessible language and the familiar sense of humor that infuses nearly all of his work, the Dalai Lama invites us all to develop innermost awareness, a proper understanding of the nature of reality, and heartfelt compassion for all beings.

This book was previously published under the title Lighting the Way.

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Kindness, Clarity, and Insight: The Fundamentals of Buddhist Thought and Practice

By H.H. the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

This beloved classic brings together in one volume all the major themes of the Dalai Lama’s teachings. Drawn from the lectures he gave during his first three visits to North America, the book covers the core subject matter of Tibetan Buddhism, as presented for the first time to an English-speaking audience. The chapters are arranged developmentally from simple to complex topics, which include the luminous nature of the mind, the four noble truths, karma, the common goals of the world’s religions, meditation, deities, and selflessness. Central to all these teachings is the necessity of compassion, which the Dalai Lama declares is “the essence of religion” and “the most precious thing there is.”

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Eight Verses for Training the Mind

By Geshe Sonam Rinchen
Edited and Translated by Ruth Sonam

How do we free ourselves from the demon of self-concern? These instructions are found in Eight Verses for Training the Mind, one of the most important texts from a genre of Tibetan spiritual writings known as lojong (literally "mind training"). The root text was written by the eleventh-century meditator Langritangpa. His Holiness the Dalai Lama refers to this work as one of the main sources of his own inspiration and includes it in his daily meditations.

The Seven Points of Mind Training

One of the earliest commentaries on Langri Thangpa's Eight Verses was by Geshe Chekawa Yeshe Dorje (1102-76), who devoted twelve years to putting the teachings into practice. After seeing the effect of the teachings on a village of lepers who were cured by them-and experiencing the teachings' remarkable effect on the mind of his unsavory brother-Chekawa decided to share them widely. He became the first to break the teachings down into the now-familiar seven points. Though this model became common, when people refer to The Seven Points of Mind Training, it is almost always Chekawa's text to which they refer (even if they call it Atisha's Seven Points of Mind Training). His text consists of fifty-nine aphorisms or slogans that encapsulate the essence of lojong.

There are many commentaries on Chekawa's text. One of the more famous is by Ngulchu Thogme Zangpo, the early fourteenth-century Kadampa master who also authored the renowned Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva. In Enlightened Courage, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche teaches on Thogme Zangpo's commentary on Chekawa's text.

The great nineteenth-century master Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye also included a commentary on Chekawa's text in his Treasury of Special Instructions. It is available in English as The Great Path of Awakening.

And there are many contemporary masters who teach on this text because it is so easy to put into practice and can have such a profound effect:

In The Practice of Lojong, Traleg Rinpoche calls the practices "a profound antidote to the victim mentality that has become so prevalent in our times. "

Ringu Tulku received his training in lojong from Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and wrote Mind Training, which is a succinct presentation of the slogans.

B. Alan Wallace wrote two books on the text: Seven-Point Mind Training and his newest release, The Art of Transforming the Mind (see above).

Chogyam Trungpa based his Training the Mind on both Chekawa's text and Jamgon Kongtrul's commentary. He said that this practice of training the mind-which follows taming the mind-is an antidote to the main obstacle for Mahayana practitioners: not having enough sympathy for others and for oneself.

Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche's  The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the Compassionate Life  is another excellent book on The Seven Points of Mind Training  with an emphasis on tonglen.

The most recent - and superb - addition is by the teaching duo Anyen Rinpoche and Allison Choying Zangmo, Stop Biting the Tail You Are Chasing: Using Buddhist Mind Training to Free Yourself from Painful Emotional Patterns. Not only is this an excellent reminder for those with experience, it can serve as an excellent introduction to Buddhist teachings in general.  A great "starter" book but that in no way indicates its depth which is vast.

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Enlightened Courage: An Explanation of the Seven-Point Mind Training

By Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
Translated by Padmakara Translation Group

Highly respected by thousands of students throughout the world, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was one of the foremost poets, scholars, philosophers, and meditation masters of our time. Here he speaks frankly, drawing on his own life experience. Condensing the compassionate path to Buddhahood into practical instructions that use the circumstances of everyday life, Rinpoche presents the Seven-Point Mind Training—the very core of the entire Tibetan Buddhist practice.

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The Great Path of Awakening: The Classic Guide to Lojong, a Tibetan Buddhist Practice for Cultivating the Heart of Compassion

By Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye
Translated by Ken McLeod

Here is a practical Buddhist guidebook that offers techniques for developing a truly compassionate heart in the midst of everyday life. For centuries, Tibetans have used fifty-nine pithy slogans—such as "A joyous state of mind is a constant support" and "Don't talk about others' shortcomings"—as a means to awaken kindness, gentleness, and compassion. While Tibetan Buddhists have long valued these slogans, recently they have become popular in the West due to such books as Start Where You Are by Pema Chödrön and Training the Mind by Chögyam Trungpa.

This edition of The Great Path of Awakening contains an accessible, newly revised translation of the slogans from the famous text The Seven Points of Mind Training. It also includes illuminating commentary from Jamgon Kongtrul that provides further instruction on how to meet every situation with intelligence and an open heart.

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The Practice of Lojong: Cultivating Compassion through Training the Mind

By Traleg Kyabgon

For many centuries Indian and Tibetan Buddhists have employed this collection of pithy, penetrating Dharma slogans to develop compassion, equanimity, lovingkindness, and joy for others. Known as the lojong—or mind-training—teachings, these slogans have been the subject of deep study, contemplation, and commentary by many great masters.

In this volume, Traleg Kyabgon offers a fresh translation of the slogans as well as in-depth new commentary of each. After living among and teaching Westerners for over twenty years, his approach is uniquely insightful into the ways that the slogans could be misunderstood or misinterpreted within our culture. Here, he presents a refreshing and clarifying view, which seeks to correct points of confusion.

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Mind Training

By Ringu Tulku

This small accessible book contains the essence of the Seven-Point Mind Training, expressed in the intimate colloquial style that distinguishes Ringu Tulku's teachings. The Seven-Point Mind Training, a lojong practice, assumes no prior special training or preparation. It does not require practitioners to enter seclusion or change the way they live their lives. It asks that they examine their relationships with all those around them and make a strong determination to become enlightened for others' sake rather than for their own. It gives instructions for tonglen breathing practice that ties the concepts of lojong to the physical act of breathing. Mind Training focuses simply on giving up, self-cherishing, and transforming self-centered thinking into compassion, egoistic feelings into altruism, desire into acceptance, and resentment into joy.

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Seven-Point Mind Training: A Tibetan Method for Cultivating Mind and Heart

By B. Alan Wallace
Edited by Zara Houshmand

In this society, with its hurly-burly pace demanding of our time, it is ever so easy to let life slip by. Looking back after ten, twenty, thirty, years—we wonder what we have really accomplished. The process of simply existing is not necessarily meaningful. And yet there is an unlimited potential for meaning and value in this human existence. The Seven-Point Mind Training is one eminently practical way of tapping into that meaning. At the heart of the Seven-Point Mind Training lies the transformation of the circumstances that life brings us, however hard as the raw material from which we create our own spiritual path. The central theme of the Seven-Point Mind Training is to make the liberating passage from the constricting solitude of self-centeredness to the warm kinship with others which occurs with the cultivation of cherishing others. This Mind Training is especially well-suited for an active life. It helps us to reexamine our relationships—to family, friends, enemies, and strangers—and gradually transform our responses to whatever life throws our way.

Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness Chogyam Trungpa

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Training the Mind and Cultivating Loving-Kindness

By Chogyam Trungpa

Warning: Using this book could be hazardous to your ego! The slogans it contains are designed to awaken the heart and cultivate love and kindness toward others. They are revolutionary in that practicing them fosters abandonment of personal territory in relating to others and in understanding the world as it is.

The fifty-nine provocative slogans presented here—each with a commentary by the Tibetan meditation master Chögyam Trungpa—have been used by Tibetan Buddhists for eight centuries to help meditation students remember and focus on important principles and practices of mind training. They emphasize meeting the ordinary situations of life with intelligence and compassion under all circumstances. Slogans include, "Don't be swayed by external circumstances," "Be grateful to everyone," and "Always maintain only a joyful mind."

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The Intelligent Heart: A Guide to the Compassionate Life

By Dzigar Kongtrul
By Joseph Waxman

Compassion arises naturally when one comes to perceive the lack of solid distinction between self and other. The Buddhist practice known as tonglen—in which one consciously exchanges self for other—is a skillful method for getting to that truthful perception. In this, his commentary on the renowned Tibetan lojong (mind training) text the Seven Points of Mind Training, Dzigar Kongtrul reveals tonglen to be the true heart and essence of all mind-training practices. He shows how to train the mind in a way that infuses every moment of life with uncontrived kindness toward all.

Stop Biting the Tail You're Chasing

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Stop Biting the Tail You're Chasing: Using Buddhist Mind Training to Free Yourself from Painful Emotional Patterns

By Anyen Rinpoche
By Allison Choying Zangmo

Are emotions our friends or our enemies? Is it possible to free ourselves from emotional conflict? The Buddhist practice of lojong is a way of letting go of attachment to both “positive” and “negative” emotions and leads to profound insight and compassion, unbounded by our habitual reactions. This book provides a set of tools that you can apply in daily life to gradually relieve your own suffering and extend that relief to everyone you encounter.

Lojong Beyond the Kadampa School

While the core Kadampa lojong texts are taught throughout the Tibetan schools, some schools gave them their own unique expression. In the Sakya tradition, a core lojong teaching is Drakpa Gyaltsen's Parting from the Four Attachments. The Nyingma and Kagyu traditions have lojong built into the Ngondro practices in the form of meditations and reflections on the "Four Thoughts " and on generating bodhicitta. Khandro Rinpoche's This Precious Life provides a good example of this. Perhaps the most famous Ngondro commentary is Patrul Rinpoche's Words of My Perfect Teacher, which constantly refers back to Atisha, Dromtonba, Chekawa, Drakpa Gyaltsen, and others. Khenpo Ngwang Pelzang's Guide to the Words of My Perfect Teacherdoes the same.

However, there is a particular and very unique Nyingma presentation of lojong and that is Steps to the Great Perfection:  The Mind-Training Tradition of the Dzogchen Masters.  In this unique and masterful work, Jigme Lingpa presents mind training from the core teachings familiar in all the above works and then introduces the  Dzogchen-specific instructions.

The evolution and influence of lojong is not limited to Tibetan Buddhism. Zen teacher Norman Fischer has introduced it to his Zen and interfaith audiences in Training in Compassion, seeing that Zen practitioners can benefit from its explicit teachings in compassion-and that the lojong practitioners can also benefit from the Zen perspective.

jigme lingpa
The great master Jigme Lingpa from the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism

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Parting from the Four Attachments: A Commentary on Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen's Song of Experience on Mind Training and the View

By Chogye Trichen Rinpoche

The teaching on Parting from the Four Attachments is universally regarded as one of the jewels of Tibetan Buddhism. Rinpoche leads the reader through a detailed and lucid exploration of the nature of mind, pointing out inevitable pitfalls in spiritual practice and showing how they can be avoided.

This Precious Life

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This Precious Life: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on the Path to Enlightenment

By Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche

Using the traditional Tibetan Buddhist framework of the Four Reminders—the preciousness of human birth, the truth of impermanence, the reality of suffering, and the inescapability of karma—Khandro Rinpoche explains why and how we could all better use this short life to pursue a spiritual path and make the world a better place. The book includes contemplative exercises that encourage us to appreciate the tremendous potential of the human body and mind.

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$34.95 - Paperback

A Guide to The Words of My Perfect Teacher

By Khenpo Ngawang Pelzang
Translated by Padmakara Translation Group

This guide provides readers with essential background information for studying and practicing with Patrul Rinpoche's Words of My Perfect Teacher—the text that has, for more than a century, served as the reliable sourcebook to the spiritual practices common to all the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. By offering chapter-by-chapter commentary on this renowned work, Khenpo Pelzang provides a fresh perspective on the role of the teacher; the stages of the path; the view of the Three Jewels; Madhyamika, the basis of transcendent wisdom; and much more.

Steps to the Great Perfection

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Steps to the Great Perfection: The Mind-Training Tradition of the Dzogchen Masters

By Jigme Lingpa
Translated by Cortland Dahl

A compilation of teachings on the seven contemplations, an ancient system of mind-training (lojong) teachings that has been preserved as part of a rare set of instructions on Dzogchen, or the Great Perfection, this book is unique because although the lojong teachings of the Kadam tradition are well known, this is the first time the mind-training teachings from the Dzogchen tradition have been presented in an English translation, and most Western scholars and practitioners are unaware that such mind-training techniques even exist in Dzogchen. The contemplations themselves are vividly described, and some unfold as dramatic stories in which the meditator imagines himself or herself as the main character. Thus, they are quite accessible for beginning practitioners.

Training in Compassion

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Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong

By Norman Fischer

Lojong is the Tibetan Buddhist practice that involves working with short phrases (called "slogans") as a way of generating bodhichitta, the heart and mind of enlightened compassion. Though the practice is more than a millennium old, it has become popular in the West only in the last twenty years or so—and it has become very popular indeed, because it's a practice that one can fit very well into an ordinary life, and because it works.Through the influence of Pema Chödrön, who was one of the first American Buddhist teachers to teach it extensively, the practice has moved out of its Buddhist context to affect the lives of non-Buddhists too.

It's in this spirit that Norman Fischer offers his commentary on the lojong slogans. He applies Zen wisdom to them, showing how well they fit in that related tradition, but he also sets the slogans in the context of resonant practices throughout the spiritual traditions. He shows lojong to be a wonderful method for everyone, including those who aren't otherwise interested in Buddhism, who don't have the time or inclination to meditate, or who'd just like to morph into the kind of person who's focused rather than scattered, generous rather than stingy, and kind rather than thoughtless.

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Good Karma: How to Create the Causes of Happiness and Avoid the Causes of Suffering

By Thubten Chodron

Why do things happen the way they do in our lives? How do we create the causes for a happy life? The Buddhist practice of mind training gives us the answer to these questions: it involves overcoming our self-centered attitude and replacing it with an attitude that cherishes others. This, in turn, leads us to act in ways that naturally lead away from suffering and toward happiness—in short, to create good karma. Thubten Chodron offers a commentary on one of the great Tibetan Buddhist poems, The Wheel of Sharp Weapons, which shows, clearly and practically, how to eliminate the causes of anxiety, fear, and depression and to create the causes of joyful liberation for oneself and all others.

And, of course, Pema Chodron has brought lojong teachings to a very broad audience with her book Start Where You Are, probably the most widely read book on lojong in English.

And if you love Start Where You Are, you will also love her latest,  Pema Chodron's Compassion Cards: Teachings for Awakening the Heart in Everyday Life  and The Compassion Book which is a great way to really ingrain the  lojong slogans by interacting with them ,testing yourself.  This deck includes Pema's  introduction to the practice, fifty-nine cards representing the full set of lojong teachings for daily inspiration and contemplation, a practical commentary from Pema on the reverse of each card, a card stand for easy display, and an audio download of Pema's teachings on the related practice of tonglen.

We hope you enjoy learning about the lojong tradition from some of these wonderful teachers and that they help us all to open our hearts and minds, and become more generous, flexible, and tame.

Start Where You Are

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Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living

By Pema Chodron

We all want to be fearless, joyful, and fully alive. And we all know that it’s not so easy. We’re bombarded every day with false promises of ways to make our lives better—buy this, go here, eat this, don’t do that; the list goes on and on. But Pema Chödrön shows that, until we get to the heart of who we are and really make friends with ourselves, everything we do will always be superficial. Here she offers down-to-earth guidance on how we can go beyond the fleeting attempts to “fix” our pain and, instead, to take our lives as they are as the only path to achieve what we all yearn for most deeply—to embrace rather than deny the difficulties of our lives. These teachings, framed around fifty-nine traditional Tibetan Buddhist maxims, point us directly to our own hearts and minds, such as “Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment,” “Be grateful to everyone,” and “Don’t expect applause.” By working with these slogans as everyday meditations, Start Where You Are shows how we can all develop the courage to work with our own inner pain and discover true joy, holistic well-being, and unshakeable confidence.

Compassion Cards

Mixed Media

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Pema Chödrön's Compassion Cards: Teachings for Awakening the Heart in Everyday Life

By Pema Chodron

Let compassion and fearlessness guide you and you’ll live wisely and effectively in good times and bad. Here Pema Chödrön offers a powerful method to awaken these qualities using a practice called lojong, which has been a primary focus of her teachings and personal practice for many years. In this boxed set, she provides all the tools needed to practice it in your own life. It includes:

    • an introduction to the practice
    • fifty-nine cards representing the full set of lojong teachings for daily inspiration and contemplation
    • practical commentary from Pema on the reverse of each card
    • a card stand for easy display
    • and an audio download of Pema’s teachings on the related practice of tonglen
The Compassion Book

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$17.95 - Paperback

The Compassion Book: Teachings for Awakening the Heart

By Pema Chodron

Let compassion and fearlessness guide you and you’ll live wisely and effectively in good times and bad. But that’s easier said than done. Here Pema Chödrön introduces a powerful, transformative method to nurture these qualities using a practice called lojong, which has been a primary focus of her teachings and personal practice for many years. This book presents fifty-nine pithy slogans from the lojong teachings for daily contemplation and includes Pema’s clear, succinct guidance on how to understand them—and how they can enrich our lives. It also features a forty-five minute downloadable audio program entitled “Opening the Heart.”

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SNOW LION NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE

Life, Art and Teachings of the 17th Karmapa

The following article is from the Spring, 2003 issue of the Snow Lion Newsletter and is for historical reference only. You can see this in context of the original newsletter here.

Tibetan Buddhism, Karma Kagyu, The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje

The Karmapa and Music in the Sky

 

The 17th Karmapa, Music in the Sky, Tibetan Buddhism, Karma Kagyu, Michele Martin

Michele Martin is the author of Music in the Sky: The Life, Art & Teachings of the 17th Karmapa.

An Interview with Michele Martin

How did you come to write "Music in the Sky?"

It's hard to say when you start something because there's always causes behind causes. I went to Tsurphu [Karmapa's monastery in Tibet] in July 92, not long after the Karmapa returned there in June. I was working with a film crew, translating, and his parents were there, staying at the monastery. I came to know his mother quite well; we spent a lot of time together.

One day she turned to look at me very clearly and she said, "When His Holiness comes out of Tibet and goes abroad, please help him."

And I said, "I will." It was a very deep commitment although I didn't know what it would be or how, but there was definitely a very strong connection that was made. So that was there as a basic condition of things.

After the Karmapa escaped to India in January 2000, I went to Dharamsala with Thrangu Rinpoche. There was a meeting of the high Kagyu lamas to decide what to do now that he was out of Tibet. And at the end of the meeting there was an evening celebration that was an offering to all the lamas who had come; as part of it, they had put to music a song that the Karmapa had written while escaping.

It's very beautiful and I thought, "I'd love to translate that." I have had a particular joy in reading poetry from childhood. I've translated poetry from Tibetan—the Kagyu lineage is a lineage of song and poetry. So I found a copy and translated it—and that was a beginning.

Tibetan Buddhism, Kagyu Refuge Tree, Karmapas

Kagyu Refuge Tree

The contents of the book are so rich, ranging from the dramatic stories of his escape, to his recent teachings, to the history of the Karmapas. How did you find all this great material?

I interviewed his sister, who took care of him when he was young and remembered the stories about him at a young age. And I talked to the people who had escaped with him. And to some who were involved in his recognition of some young tulkus. That's a special ability of the Karmapas—to recognize tulkus.

At a press conference we held in India I noticed that the press knew very little about the historical background of the Karmapa, so I wrote a brief history of the Karmapas. And I added a more traditional history so that people would see how Tibetans view their own history—they view it in quite a mythopoetic way. And then there were poems of the 16th Karmapa that were prophetic of the future.

The Karmapa knew I was working on the book and that I liked poems. Sometimes, at Gyuto, I'd be walking down the hall and he would suddenly appear and pull a poem out of his pocket and hand it to me.


 the best teachings are those that meet the minds of the people who are there. He seems to have a unique ability to do that.

You translate for His Holiness the Karmapa. What's that like?

He's so awe-inspiring it's very difficult to keep your wits about yourself to translate. He has such a powerful presence. In the beginning when he would say something and then turn and look at me, he was so stunning that it was very hard to keep any words in my mind. It took a while getting used to the powerful presence he is.

I never knew what he was going to talk about. Often with lamas there's a text you can prepare and you know ahead of time generally what they'll be speaking about. With the Karmapa he would speak just whatever it was that he wanted to speak about that day. It kept me always on my toes. I was impressed: he seemed to be able to choose a topic that fit the people who were there that day; they say that the best teachings are those that meet the minds of the people who are there. He seems to have a unique ability to do that.


These connections go beyond reason... It went beyond any intellectual figuring out.

What was your relationship to the previous Karmapa?

I met him while I was traveling with Dudjom Rinpoche in California. I felt an immediately close connection and took refuge with him. I met him 4 or 5 times. Not many, but each occasion was very special and very strong.

How did it happen that you went to Tsurphu in Tibet to see the young 17th Karmapa?

These connections go beyond reason. I just saw a picture of the Karmapa in the tent when he was first discovered. I felt an immediate, intense connection. I had no doubt that it was the Karmapa; it was one of those occasions when tears come to your eyes and you're completely touched. It went beyond any intellectual figuring out.


He'd grown up in the mountains and here he is all of a sudden with high government officials and he is totally himself. There was no sense that he was overpowered by the situation; he was just matter-of-factly relating to whatever it was that came to him.

How old was he when you first met him?

He was seven years old.

And what was he like?

Completely spontaneous, very energetic, very bright, very quick, curious about everything around him, and very independent.

He had self-confidence in relating to people. When he met with the Chinese officials during the enthronement ceremony he related to them perfectly naturally as equals. It was a whole new world for him. He'd grown up in the mountains and here he is all of a sudden with high government officials and he is totally himself. There was no sense that he was overpowered by the situation; he was just matter-of-factly relating to whatever it was that came to him. He picked up on everything amazingly quickly in a completely natural way.


There's a time in Tibetan political history when there was an opening to freedom of religious practice.

Was it was difficult for you to get access to him initially?

Things were very open at that time. There's a time in Tibetan political history when there was an opening to freedom of religious practice. The time when the Karmapa was discovered happened to coincide with that. That was why the Chinese government recognized him. He was the first tulku that the Chinese government accepted. That side of things was not difficult. Because he was the Karmapa there were formalities, but there wasn't the sense of him being hidden away or protected in any way. We were able to ask questions and hang out a bit.


The living presence of the masters who have practiced there is palpable. Really, that's one of the reasons we go on pilgrimage: the blessings are still there.

How did it evolve that you eventually became a translator for him?

In 2001, the labrang, his administration, asked me to come and translate for him at Gyuto. I of course was delighted. I had had plans of going on retreat for some months but I dropped those and went to Gyuto instead.

You've seen the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa interact. What is that like?

It's like an uncle with his favorite nephew. There's a very warm connection between them. You can see that the Dalai Lama is very concerned about the Karmapa's studies and growth and that he gets what he needs. The Dalai Lama has been extremely generous in seeing him whenever it was needed—even if he was on retreat he'd open the doors to him. And he gave him important initiations as well as his monks' vows. They have an extremely close connection.


You look at the rock and there are these letters written, with the lichen. It's quite amazing when you see these things with your own eyes.

Tibetan Buddhism, Tolong Tsurphu Monastery, Karmapa, Karma Kagyu

Tolong Tsurphu Monastery (click for attribution-license)

What was Tsurphu like?

It's a very special place. I went there first in 1988, before the Karmapa came. It's a very spare landscape—a very simple backdrop for practice. And yet it's a very powerful place; a natural clarity seems to happen when you come there. Your mind just clears out. There are caves where the previous Karmapas meditated. The living presence of the masters who have practiced there is palpable. Really, that's one of the reasons we go on pilgrimage: the blessings are still there.

Any good stories about the Karmapa?

There are many in the book. But there's one that isn't included. The Karmapa would go for walks in the mountains around Tsurphu. One time he was walking with a group of monks and he walked by a big boulder that was sitting next to the trail. And he just sort of passed his monk's shawl across the face of the rock and the person behind him saw that the name Karmapa, in letters the same color as the shawl—deep maroon—had been written on the rock. When I was there in 1996 I walked up and looked at it and it's very clear: you can see the name Karmapa very clearly. You look at the rock and there are these letters written, with the lichen. It's quite amazing when you see these things with your own eyes. I'm skeptical—all Westerners are—but seeing something like this is impressive.

 


For more information:

H.H. the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje

The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, is the spiritual head of one of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 900-year-old lineage of Karmapas has included some of Tibet’s greatest spiritual masters. Born to nomadic parents in rural Tibet, he was identified while still a young child as the heir to this leadership position. In 2000, the Karmapa’s dramatic escape to India from Chinese-ruled Tibet at the age of fourteen propelled him onto the world stage.

 


Michele Martin

A Buddhist practitioner for over thirty years, Michele Martin has spent the last fifteen years based in Nepal and India studying with Tibetan lamas and working as a translator of oral and written Tibetan. With graduate degrees from Yale University and years of work as an editor, her publications include numerous translations from Tibetan texts on philosophy and meditation and also articles on Buddhism. For the last two years she has translated for the Karmapa and currently lives in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York.


Related articles:

The Discovery and Recognition of Ogyen Trinley Dorje

Karmapas: Recognizing a Tulku

Recognizing Reincarnations for Enthronement


 

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The Role of Correct View in Liberation: Venerable Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche

The following article is from the Winter, 2003 issue of the Snow Lion Newsletter and is for historical reference only. You can see this in context of the original newsletter here.

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While many people want to learn Buddhist meditation, they are often very sceptical and uneasy about the philosophies and religious elements that go with it. Many think that Buddhist practices and meditative experiences can be easily separated from belief systems within which they are embedded. Many have the idea that belief systems, especially religious belief systems, are dangerous and regard anyone who is a "believer" as a dogmatic person. They think that those who subscribe to a religious belief system have completely shut their minds off from new ideas and remain mere prisoners of tradition. For this reason they are afraid of being "converted" when they are introduced to Buddhism, automatically regarding that possibility as a terrible outcome. However, that notion is highly questionable, as we have to make use of certain Buddhist concepts in order to make sense of meditation practice. For example, to do meditation we have to believe that there is such a thing as spiritual liberation and that ignorance and the defilements of the mind inhibit us from realizing that goal.

There is some truth to the perception that people can be very opinionated and fundamentalist in the way that they cherish their beliefs. However, that does not mean that we can embark on a spiritual path without believing in certain fundamental elements of spirituality. Although it has been said that we should learn to dispense with our beliefs, if we have no philosophical orientation we will have no idea what we are trying to achieve, where we are trying to go, or what sort of personal predicaments or psychological and spiritual conflicts we are trying to understand.

When we discuss Buddhist meditation practices and experiences, we always discuss them from a particular perspective. It is not a matter of thinking that the Buddhist way is the only way or that it is superior to all other religious or spiritual traditions. It is simply that the Buddhist approach to realizing the ultimate truth and discovering the sacredness of spiritual reality can only be attained through adopting a particular viewpoint. This is why Buddhists talk about developing the correct view.

The correct view is called the "noble view" and the incorrect view the "ignoble view." The things that we believe in must come from having adopted the noble view (samma ditthi in Pali, samyha drsti in Sanskrit, yang dag pa,i lta ba in Tibetan). Instead of thinking that we should not believe in anything at all, we need to learn the appropriate things to discard from our belief systems, even in relation to spirituality. Through the process of refining our views, we learn how to re-orient ourselves on the spiritual path, realizing that liberation and our belief systems are intimately related.

Correct views have the ability to lead us to liberation, while incorrect views can distort our spiritual goals, increase the delusions of our minds by encouraging our delusory mental states, fan our anger, and increase our sense of superiority and pride. That is why we need to have a proper orientation the "correct view" when we embark on the path. The correct view is the transport that we need to journey from the bondage of samsara to the liberation of nirvana. There is no separation between the vehicle that transports us to our spiritual destination and the views that we hold in our minds.

We should not think that meditation is all about discarding views or that all views will restrict us from attaining our spiritual goal. For example, even if we have no intention of becoming a Buddhist but want to practice meditation, this indicates that we already think that our lives are incomplete and that the only way to find any kind of ultimate fulfilment is through something spiritual. This kind of thinking requires a lot of conceptual categories, schemas and various pre-existing beliefs. In other words, we do not have to transcend all viewpoints to have meditative experiences. What we experience in meditation may be independent from the particular viewpoints that we hold, but those viewpoints can help to steer us toward the appropriate meditative experiences. What we are experiencing in and through meditation has to be made sense of. In order to acquire this understanding, we need to interpret the given experience and this interpretative act requires the appropriate use of conceptual categories, i.e., is it veridical or non-veridical, etc.

It is very important to try to understand meditative experiences by consulting the voluminous historical literature that describes them. We are often told that meditation is about emptying the mind, that it is our discursive thoughts that agitate our minds ensuring that we remain trapped in the world of appearances. However, without making use of any kind of conceptual formulations, we cannot really attempt to have any meditative experiences. We would be unable to discern what sorts of mind-states were conducive or detrimental to meditative experiences.

Some meditative experiences may have the appearance of being genuine but in reality they are false or misleading experiences. These non- genuine experiences can be deceptive, giving us the false conviction of having attained a particular meditative state, when in reality we have simply gone astray or fallen victim to fanciful thinking. To separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, and endeavor to find out whether anything genuine has occurred or not, we have to make use of conceptual tools that can steer us in the right direction.

Correct views are also connected to liberation, because they lead to proper understanding. Proper understanding leads to insight or transcendental knowledge (prajna), which in turn gives rise to gnosis (jnana). In traditional Buddhist teachings, first we speak about prajna and jnana. We also speak about view, meditation and action. In order to cultivate transcendental knowledge or prajna we need to hear, study, and contemplate the teachings and then meditate on their meaning. In Mahayana Buddhist literature, conceptual understanding is always a precondition for the dawning of gnosis or jnana. Therefore, unless we have a correct view, we will never have a proper understanding of spiritual matters. For example, we should have a correct conceptual understanding of emptiness. We cannot simply do meditation and hope for the best. We have to have a conceptual framework to work with and that conceptual framework has to be dependent upon a correct view.

The correct understanding comes from becoming familiar with the teachings. The Buddhist teachings are supposed to have four characteristics, according to Mahayanauttaratantra: (1) the quality of leading sentient beings to enlightenment; (2) the words that express the meaning are devoid of any linguistic imperfections; (3) the function to eliminate mental afflictions; and (4) the purpose of pacifying suffering of sentient beings. Any teachings that fail to meet these requirements would then be the cause of engendering wrong views.

Through familiarizing ourselves with teachings that have these four characteristics we develop a proper understanding that does not simply remain on an abstract level. By studying and becoming familiar with the teachings, we appropriate their content into the continuum of our own experience. In that way, the teachings and our own inner experiences become inseparable. This is why it is sometimes said that there are the outer expressions of the teachings and the inner expressions of the teachings—the outer expressions being teachings in written or spoken form and the inner expressions being one's own experiences. This is called lung dang tog pa in Tibetan. The teachings of the lung, which means "the written and oral traditions," are contained in the Buddhist canon in the form of the Kangyur and Tengyur. The Buddha's own direct discourses are known as Ka, while the commentarial material on these discourses are known as Tenchoe (the Tengyur contains the general commentarial texts, while the Tenchoe contains commentaries strictly related to Ka). Tog pa means "the inner understanding that develops from having appropriated their content into our own continuum of experience."

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We cannot do without the viewpoints related to our belief systems, because it is only through them that we can make any sense of what we are experiencing.

In Buddhism, therefore, we have to practice meditation through understanding the teachings and placing our own experiences in the context of those teachings. We have to appreciate the fact that they cannot be separated. The understanding that one develops through appropriating the teachings into one,s being is liberating in itself. It is not the case that we first have to understand the teachings, then do certain practices and then find liberation.

The teachings are important to us, not because they were given by Sakyamuni Buddha, but because the Buddha realized the content and the significance of the teachings in himself and then passed that down to us. The Buddha was not in a privileged position to access the content and the significance of the teachings, nor are we at a disadvantage. We cannot say that the Buddha achieved a total assimilation of the teachings so that there is a completely direct connection of the truth to him. We are distant from the Buddha in every way in terms of time and in terms of our existential condition but by developing the correct view and practicing meditation, we can learn to assimilate the content and significance of the teachings. As a consequence, we can also become liberated.

It is also important to have a comprehensive world-view, because we cannot treat meditation as a way of dealing with one aspect of our lives. If we are going to practice Buddhist meditation, we have to have a comprehensive view of our human nature, our place in the scheme of things, and our relationship to the world in which we live. All of these things have to be taken into account when we do meditation. Otherwise, our world-view will not be comprehensive, but fragmentary and as a result we will become confused about life.

As stated above, while we should not regard Buddhism as the religion that has the truth, while other religions and spiritual traditions are wrong, we have to realize that each religion is a competing world view and therefore unique unto itself. However, we have to embrace a particular world view in order to function properly in this world. This does not mean that we have to regard one world view as true and all the others as false, but we have to approach our meditation practice from a Buddhist point of view. We cannot say, "I'm doing meditation in a way that world views do not matter."

Buddhism has many stories about the utilitarian nature of the teachings. The Buddha said that the teachings are like a raft for crossing a river. Once you have reached the other shore, you do not need to carry the raft anymore. There is also the Zen story that suggests the teachings are like a finger pointing to the moon, where once you see the moon, you no longer need to rely on the finger any more. However, people misunderstand these metaphors when they perceive them to mean that people should reject all belief systems. The point of both these stories is that the boat and the finger are initially a spiritual necessity.

It is only after the content and the significance of the teachings have been assimilated into one,s mind- stream, so that there is no separation between the teachings and oneself, that one no longer has a need for conceptual tools. Up to that point, conceptual tools are completely necessary, just as it is necessary to have a boat in order to cross a river. The important point here is that these conceptual tools the world views and belief systems are our means of transport. Like with any kind of transport, one has already embarked on a journey as soon as one has entered that vehicle. Similarly, as soon as one has assimilated a certain kind of spiritual world view, the effect has already taken place. One has already been liberated. The understanding that one develops, through appropriating the teachings into one,s being, is liberating in itself. It is not the case'that we first have the understand the teachings, then do certain practices and then find liberation. The assimilation of the teachings is the same as liberation—that is enlightenment, that is the goal.

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Venerable Traleg Kyabgon, Rinpoche, IX

The following article is from the Winter, 2003 issue of the Snow Lion Newsletter and is for historical reference only. You can see this in context of the original newsletter here.

The Venerable Traleg Kyabgon, Rinpoche, President and Spiritual Director of Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute located in Melbourne, Australia and the Hudson Valley, New York, was recognized as the ninth incarnation of the Traleg line by His Holiness the XVI Gyalwa Karmapa. The Traleg line can be traced back to the time of Salton Shogam, also known as one of the Three Men of Kham, who is the originator of the Traleg history of incarnations and a contemporary of the first Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa. Born in 1955, Traleg Rinpoche was enthroned at the age of two as the Supreme Abbott of Tra'gu Monastery in Tibet.

Rinpoche regularly gives lectures and seminars worldwide on Buddhism and related topics, and has become well known for his erudition, fluency in English, and background in Western psychology and comparative religion. He is especially respected for his skill in working with people of diverse interests, ages and backgrounds. In 1984, Rinpoche inaugurated the annual Buddhist Summer School and more recently the Buddhist and Psychology Conference, held every two years, Both of these programs have developed into major national events in Australia and have hosted many well-known spiritual teachers, Western psychologists and thinkers. It is Rinpoche's sincere wish that these colloquia promote and explore the rich and varied forms of Buddhism from all traditions and cultures.

His first book, Essence of Buddhism, has been well received and now in its second printing is also being produced in various languages. Also published by Rinpoche, The Ordinary Mind, is a superb quarterly magazine produced in Australia, which reflects Rinpoche's activities and interest.

For further information, contact the E-Vam Institute in Hudson, New York at (518) 672-6333 or visit our website at http://www.evam.org.

The Essence of Buddhism

$18.95 - Paperback

By: Traleg Kyabgon

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Death, Dying and Reincarnation

The following article is from the Spring, 2002 issue of the Snow Lion Newsletter and is for historical reference only. You can see this in context of the original newsletter here.

 

How to Contemplate and Encounter Death from a Buddhist Point of View

 

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Venerable Traleg Kyapgon Rinpoche at his monastery (Tra'gu) in Tibet

(photo by Given Merrick)

 

By the Venerable Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche, IX

 

Because of the ever-present fear of death and the lack of contact with death and dying, it is important, from a Buddhist point of view, to have a proper encounter with death. It is also particularly important to deal with the fear of death, because from a Buddhist point of view coming to terms with death is part of making our life worthwhile and meaningful. Death and life are therefore not opposed. Rather, death and life give rise to each other; they co-exist in a sort of complimentary fashion. From a Buddhist perspective, the aim is not to conquer death, but to accept death and to familiarize ourselves with our sense of mortality and impermanence.


[F]rom a Buddhist point of view coming to terms with death is part of making our life worthwhile and meaningful. Death and life are therefore not opposed.

 

It seems to me however, that from a Christian point of view, death is viewed quite differently to this. This is particularly true of the Protestant theologies, where death is seen as the direct result of our original sin. In this view, it is only because of Adam's transgression that death came into existence in the first place. Until that point, God had created Adam as immortal. Human beings only became mortal because Adam transgressed the will of God. In these Christian theologies therefore, death is seen as unnatural. As an 11th century Christian author, Saint Anselm states:

"Moreover, it is proved that man was so made as not to be necessarily subject to death. For as we have already said it is inconsistent with God's wisdom and justice to compel man to suffer death without thought , when he made him wholly to enjoy eternal blessedness. It therefore follows that had man never sinned, he never would have died."

This view is very different from the Buddhist concept of mortality. In Buddhist doctrine we die because we are a product of causes and conditions, called Pratityasamutpada in Sanskrit. Whatever is caused is impermanent, and therefore subject to death and decay; human beings are no exception to this. It is a natural process. From the Buddhist point of view, life without death is impossible, and visa versa. The ultimate aim of Buddhist practice is to learn to accept death and not view it as something ugly and menacing that robs us of our life. This kind of thinking only leads us to ignore the reality of death and think about the possibilities of living forever.

On the contrary, we should see death as part of life, because everything is transient and impermanent. Death and life are inseparably bound with one another, because death, to an extent, is present even while one is alive, the aging process itself being a part of the dying process. Life and death are inextricably bound to one other, moment to moment. When one moment has passed, that is death, and when another moment has risen that is life, or rebirth you could say.


[W]e should see death as part of life, because everything is transient and impermanent. Death and life are inseparably bound with one another. . .

 

Thinking about death in this way may be a bit upsetting at first, but one will be much better off for having done so, because the fear of death is always there and often influences our life in a negative way. The contemplation of death is simply another aspect of Buddhist meditation. In meditation, we try to incorporate everything within our experience, even the negativities of mind. We try to deal with them rather than ignore them.

In Tibet, the monks sometimes even used to go to charnel grounds to contemplate death. This may seem a bit excessive, but it helped them to deal with the fear of death, and the fear of the dead as well, I suppose. In Tibet, the charnel grounds used to be in the wilderness, so they could be very eerie places to practice by oneself. They also used such things as thighbone trumpets as part of their practice. Westerners often freak out at this, thinking it is some kind of shamanistic black-magic implement, but for the Tibetans, these things are simply used as reminders of impermanence.


When we actually contemplate death in meditation, all kinds of thoughts and emotions will arise, and we have to deal with that. In this way, a real transformation can take place on an emotional as well as an intellectual level.

 

This is not to say that some Christians do not die very peaceful deaths. Some do and some do not, it is the same for Buddhists, and even atheists for that matter. As Elizabeth Kubler Ross said in one of her books, you can never judge how a person is going to respond to death. A very mild-mannered person may become aggressive and obnoxious at the time of death, while others, who are very characteristically disagreeable, may accept their death in an amiable and calm manner.

What we can say though, is that doing certain meditations on death can help people to accept their own death. But we should not think that only people who do Buddhist meditation on death can accept death properly. It all depends on our habit. If we think about death and become familiar with certain ideas, then we have developed a habitual response that will help us to be more capable in dealing with our death when the time comes.


Most of us already have a fair degree of intellectual understanding that everything is impermanent. That is not the point; the sense of impermanence has to be felt.

 

It is not simply a matter of thinking about death however; one has to have a real experience of it. In Buddhism, this can only come about through the practice of meditation. It's not enough to read what Buddhism says about death and impermanence, because this alone will not make the issue an existential concern. It has to be translated into real experience and become a real encounter with death. For when we actually contemplate death in meditation, all kinds of thoughts and emotions will arise, and we have to deal with that. In this way, a real transformation can take place on an emotional as well as an intellectual level. It is not sufficient to simply think about and say this is what Buddhists believe- I now think that everything is impermanent. Most of us already have a fair degree of intellectual understanding that everything is impermanent. That is not the point; the sense of impermanence has to be felt. Then when our relationships break up, when we get divorced, when our loved ones and relatives die, we will be able to handle those situations differently.

Death is something that happens to everybody, not just one person, or a few people. Knowing that can at least, diminish the fear of death. If you think only of the person you have lost and concentrate on your own grief about them, your focus becomes very narrow and your loss may seem overwhelming. But if you think of all the mothers in the world who have also lost their children and experienced the same grief as yourself, then the experience is more encompassing, it is no longer such a personal problem.


[T]hrough the practice of meditation we may no longer get so overwhelmed by them [our emotions, our anger, resentment, jealousy, and so on] when these emotions arise.

 

As the Buddha said we come into contact with things that we do not want to come into contact with, and we get separated from things that we do not want to become separated from that is how things are. It is very difficult not to occasionally succumb to our emotions, our anger, resentment, jealousy, and so on, but through the practice of meditation we may no longer get so overwhelmed by them when these emotions arise.

In a similar way, death may still be a very fearful experience when it occurs, but one may be able to maintain a sense of awareness. This is what, the Tibetan Book of the Deadtalks about. This is the main point, the fear of death may still be there, but we can maintain a sense of equilibrium along with that.

Venerable Traleg Kyabgon, Rinpoche, IX

The Venerable Traleg Kyabgon, Rinpoche (1955-2012) was the President and Spiritual Director of E-Vam Buddhist Institute, New York, and Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute, Melbourne, Australia. Born in 1955 in Eastern Tibet, Traleg Rinpoche was recognized by His Holiness the XVI Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Kagyu lineage, as the ninth incarnation of the Traleg lineage, which can be traced back to the time of Salton Shogam, a contemporary of the first Karmapa.

Traleg Rinpoche was enthroned at the age of two as the supreme head of Tra'gu Monastery in Tibet and following the Chinese invasion of his country was taken to safety in India. He has returned to Tra'gu Monastery twice in the past five years, thus reestablishing his connection with the monastery and its monks, some of whom are very elderly and served Rinpoche's predecessor. In India he continued the rigorous training prescribed for tulkus born with responsibilities as major lineage holders in the Tibetan tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism.

The Venerable Traleg Rinpoche gave lectures and seminars on Buddhism and related topics in Melbourne, Australia from 1980 until the time of his death. He established Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute, and the Maitripa Contemplative CentreE-Vam Buddhist Institute- New York is a retreat facility in Hudson, New York where he also conducted seminars and retreats.

For more information:
Traleg KyabgonTraleg Kyabgon (1955–2012) was born in Eastern Tibet and educated by many great masters of all four major lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. He is the founder of the Kagyu E-Vam Buddhist Institute, which is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, with a major practice center in upstate New York and a practice community in New York City.

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