Jamyang Rinpoche
Lama Atisha said, “Even if one keeps the three levels of vows perfectly, if a
practitioner does not have the mind that renounces samsara, (performing many
positive deeds) become the cause of samsara instead.”
A person keeps the three levels of vows perfectly (Pratimoksha vows,
Bodhisattva Vows and Vajrayana samayas), practices the Dharma day and night
diligently but he has not renounced or turned his mind away from the three
realms of cyclic rebirth (samsara). Then
no matter how this practitioner practices or chants, it will not become a merit
for liberation or a cause for liberation from samsara.
Some people seem to be doing a good job with keeping their vows. They studied a
lot of Dharma and did many years of retreat. Wow, it seems like they are such
great practitioners, but the truth may not be so because they did not give rise
to genuine renunciation in their minds.
Some people may be dressed in rags and shabby-looking, they may seem to be
staying in isolated mountain retreats or the cities in an aimless manner. They do very little recitation of mantras and
so forth. Are they lousy practitioners?
The truth may not be so too because they are practitioners who always
check their own minds.
In Yarchen Monastery, there was an old lama who was very diligent in his Dharma
practice. He did large amounts of recitations and homework diligently. There
was another lama who was quite mediocre. He was in his 40s. The old lama was in
his 70s. We never ever saw the younger lama doing his practice. After Lama
Achuk Rinpoche finished giving teachings, the younger lama did not even glance
at his texts a second time. He would
just sit there by himself with his monk shawl covering his head (Rinpoche
demonstrated how). He did this daily without doing anything else.
Once, we were sitting on the grass plains meditating. After the session of
meditation, we began to discuss Dharma. The older lama who liked recitation
couldn’t keep up with the discussion. In
terms of the contemplation of Dharma, the younger lama was much richer in his
understanding.
Some time later, when we received Dzogchen teachings from Lama Achuk Rinpoche,
we were practicing Togal. Lama Achuk Rinpoche commented about the younger lama,
saying, “He is someone who has attained Buddhahood in this life.” In terms of Togal, this younger lama has
probably reached the level of rainbow body.
(Rinpoche laughed) At the beginning, all of us admired the older lama. This
younger lama was held as an example of a poor practitioner while the older lama
was regarded as a good practitioner. But later on, it became clear that the
older lama was probably still attached to some parts of samsara and fixated on
his external practice, while the other lama was always introspective and
examining his own mind with constant mindfulness. Hence, in terms of actual Dharma attainment
and practice, the younger lama surpassed the older lama by a lot.
The older lama had very little contemplation of Dharma. His main practice was
recitation. His self-reflection and internal mental practice were lacking.
Without inner reflection, it is very hard to generate renunciation.
When we know a place is very dangerous and fearsome, we will do our best to
avoid that place. When we ate something delicious and have been poisoned
before, the next time we see that delicious dish, we will avoid it fearfully at
all cost. Because we know that eating it again, we will just suffer from
wracking pains… Merely seeing the dish would bring us fearful memories, let
alone eating it again.
In the same way, if we have contemplated deeply and habituated ourselves, the
very thought of samsara, from the highest heavens to the hell realms, will
generate fear in our hearts. We will be
very determined, “No matter how, I will never ever return to samsara. I must find a way to escape in the
bardos.” This is strong
renunciation.
If we do not have renunciation, when we hear of the various realms of samsara
being described, whether heavens or hells, we do not have the slightest
feeling. We may talk alot about the intense hunger in the preta realms, but our
minds are unmoved. The reason we do not feel anything is because we have not
contemplated deeply and habituated ourselves to these contemplations. Without
habituation, there is no renunciation.
Without renunciation, no matter how we recite or practice Dharma, just as Lama
Atisha said, you can’t free yourselves from samsara. Here it is said (Lama
Atisha), “If you practice very diligently day and night but do not dedicate
your merits towards perfect Buddhahood, the merits would be destroyed by
inverted thoughts. Even if you have the qualities of wisdom, pure vows, study
and practice, without abandoning the eight worldly Dharmas, everything would
become the provision for only this life, you will not attain the path in future
lives.”
As said, even if one is a great Khenpo or a master with great wisdom, your vows
are perfectly pure, you have mastery over the Dharma teachings and teach it
eloquently, your contemplation and practice of Dharma is also quite good, yet
all your diligent practices such as making offerings, generosity to others etc
can still be contaminated.
For instance, you might teach Dharma but it is stained with the wish for fame.
You may contemplate and practice the Dharma but you are concerned with what
kind of karmic rewards it will bring. You keep pure vows but you hope for
others’ praise or a good reputation.
Then everything you do has been stained by the eight worldly dharmas. In
this case, all your practice will only become a worldly merit. You do not even
have the slightest merit for liberation.
We should look at our motivations when we release lives etc. I myself have this obstacle. When I go and do
puja, I observe my own motivation. When you come for teachings from home, you
should also observe your own motivation, how dreadful and impure it can be.
The moment you observe your motivation and see how impure and dreadful it is,
you start becoming a real practitioner.
Because you are finally becoming aware of your mistakes. Normally, we
think that we have no mistakes. But we should observe ourselves clearly.
The mind does not stop moving for even an instant. The mind sways between virtue to non-virtue
constantly from thought to thought. Without self-reflection, we don’t know what
the mind is really doing. Now, after learning Dharma, we begin to observe our
minds.
Upon self-reflection, we feel the burden of this mind. We feel how terrible the mental afflictions
are and how they keep arising in our minds. This proves that your practice is
improving. In the past, I told Lama Achuk Rinpoche that when I was meditating
by myself, the mental afflictions were arising non-stop. It was very hard to
handle them.
I told Guru, “I used to be quite a good person, why am I becoming worse after
meditating?” The moment I looked at my mind, I became very bothered by all the
afflictions that were arising… I told Lama Rinpoche, “The afflictions are
arising one after another non-stop, I am so tired of dealing with them, what
should I do?”
Guru said, “This means that you are really practicing Dharma. This is good. You
are beginning to recognize your mental afflictions. Originally, you were full
of these mental afflictions, but you did not recognize them and allowed them to
be free to do anything they want. Now,
due to your self-reflection, you recognize them and are restricting their
freedom. Your practice is progressing in the correct direction.”
In the course of our Dharma practice, when you recognize more and more of your
afflictions, this is true practice. When
you don’t recognize them, you feel like you are such a great person, then it is
for sure that you are not practicing Dharma well.
