Khenpo Sodargye
During the Cultural Revolution, Gachuk Rinpoche, a renowned lama from Qinghai Province of China, was the victim of struggle sessions almost every day.
The public humiliation and torture included forcing him to admit various “crimes” before crowds of people, who would then verbally and physically abuse him. Normally after Gachuk Rinpoche’s “confessions,” several men would beat him badly.
Every time he was beaten, Gachuk Rinpoche would take the opportunity to practice patience using the three supreme methods (Bodhichitta motivation, main practice free of concepts, concluding with dedication).
When he was about to be beaten, he would make an aspiration: “I’ll start to practice patience. Now it’s time for me to generate bodhichitta for the sake of benefiting all sentient beings.”
When he was being beaten, Gachuk Rinpoche concentrated his mind, making sure no anger or hatred arose. His mind was free from the three concepts.
After being beaten, he would dedicate the merit of practicing patience to all beings, especially to those who just beat him. When time allowed, he would recite The King of Prayers (Samantabhadra’s Aspiration to Good Actions). Of course, he would recite this in his mind without moving his lips, because otherwise he would be beaten again.
If he was short of time, or people were still beating him on the way back to his prison cell after the struggle session, he would recite a shorter dedication prayer. When he arrived at his cell, his dedication prayer would be finished. He would be happy since the practice was complete.
When the Cultural Revolution was over, those who had harmed Gachuk Rinpoche came to him for confession.
Rinpoche said peacefully, “You have no need to confess to me. Without you, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to practice patience. I don’t hate you, not even a little bit. On the contrary, I do believe you have your own precious qualities. Please, you don’t need to confess and ask for my forgiveness.”
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Note:
What are the "three concepts"?
Khenpo Sodargye
When examining the nature of appearances with wisdom, we realize that dreamlike or illusory appearances don’t inherently exist; they are free from the three concepts of a subject, an object, and an action.
What does it mean to be “free from the three concepts?” As an example, let’s consider making a donation. When we practice generosity, we normally conceptualize a donor, a recipient, and a gift. However, when we examine the nature of these three things, we realize they have no inherent existence, and they appear in the manner of illusions or dreams.
Donor, recipient, and gift are all empty of inherent existence. The three are constructed concepts and labels in our minds, with no inherent nature of their own. Realizing this frees us from the three concepts, so that we are no longer bound by the dualistic mind—the root cause of our sufferings.
To deeply understand emptiness, one should study texts such as Chandrakirti’s Introduction to the Middle Way and Longchenpa’s Finding Rest in the Nature of the Mind.
