Dharma Teaching, Open Forum and Blessing
Teaching on: Love and Compassion and the Six Paramitas
Venue: De La Salle University and Universal Wisdom Foundation on November 14, 2006

Who is Buddha • What is Buddhism • Dharma • Meditation • Guidelines to Tibetan Buddhism

Siddharta Gautama, an Indian Sakya Prince was born in northeast India near the border of Nepal on the full moon of May in 623 B.C. He was brought up with all the luxuries including the best education befitting a prince. Under the order of the king, his father, he was not to be shown any sufferings of life. He married and had a son.

He believed that his indulgence of life in the palace retarded him from spiritual progress. His discontentment made him renounce all worldly pleasure at the age of 29. He left the palace alone in search for Peace and Truth.

He endured 6 years of grueling austerities. He was convinced that this too was not going to take him to his goal as this practice emaciated him and made him very weak.

He decided to take the middle path by following the noble eightfold path.

At the age of 35, under the Bodhi tree, he was enlightened. He taught for 45 years as Buddha and passed away at the age of 80. He did not demand obeisance from his students, but he expected his disciples to practice the Dharma.

What is Buddhism?

Buddhism, the teaching of Buddha, is the philosophy of science. These teachings (Dharma) are guidelines on how, through pure living and pure thoughts (merit and wisdom), one can get out of suffering and samsara (cycle of existence).

The essence of Buddha’s teachings is compiled in the Tripitaka by the arhats of old. Tipitaka consists of three baskets - the Basket of Discipline (Vinaya Pitaka), the Basket of Discourses (Sutta Pitaka), and the most important and the most interesting of them all, the Basket of Ultimate Doctrine (Abhidhamma Pitaka) – the study of consciousness.

Buddhism is not a religion as it does not demand blind faith and devotion to an external supernatural God. It is not a philosophy that deals mainly with knowledge. Buddhism is more concerned with practice and realization.

Dharma

The Dharma is to be studied, practiced, and realized. Immediate realization is its ultimate goal. Without constant practice of its teachings, one cannot appreciate the truth. The Dharma is compared to a raft used to cross the ocean of samsara. The Buddha expects his disciples to observe his teachings. He also asks that one should not accept teachings blindly but instead use scientific analysis.

Buddha was a man and he died as a man. He points out the Path and exhorted his disciples to depend on themselves for deliverance. He never claimed divinity but he aspired to be the perfect man. The Buddha does not grant favor, but practicing meditation, which he taught, leads to self-control, purification, and enlightenment.

The Four Noble Truths

The foundation of Buddhism is the four noble Truths:

• Suffering – birth, old age, disease, death, 5 aggregates of attachment of the 5 senses
• Cause – craving for pleasure. Origin of suffering is karma and defilements.
• End – Annihilation of this craving
• Path – middle path or the noble Eightfold Paths.

The Dharma may be called the law of cause and effect. A Buddhist is aware of future consequences. He refrains from evil because it retards and he does good because it aids progress to enlightenment. There is no one to reward or punish. Pain and happiness are inevitable results of one’s action.

Buddhism is saturated with the spirit of free inquiry and tolerance. It also gives the greatest freedom of choice. One can do anything as long as one is willing to face the effect. As long as there is Karma, there is rebirth.

The doctrine of rebirth denies the existence of an unchanging or eternal soul created by God or emanating from Divine Essence (Paramatma). Instead, mind is nothing but a complex compound of fleeting mental states. It is always in the present and is ever slipping into the irrevocable past. When life ceases, the Karma energy re-materializes itself in another form.

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THE EIGHTFOLD PATH

Nirvana means non-attachment, the eradication of egoism. It is an attainment that can be achieved in this life. The path to Nirvana is through the eightfold path.

In the order of development,

Buddhism is much more than an ordinary moral teaching. Morality is only the preliminary stage on the path of purity, and is a means to an end, but not an end in itself. With morality, the practitioner embarks on the practice of Samadhi, the control and the culture of the mind. Samadhi is the one-pointedness of the mind. It is concentration of the mind on one object to the exclusion of all other irrelevant objects.

When one gains this perfect one-pointedness of the mind, it is possible to develop any of the 5 supernormal powers. Supernormal powers should not be primary the goal of practitioners.

The mind is purified, but discipline and concentration are useful to clear the Path of its obstacles. To reach the ultimate goal, insight or vipassana (correct view) enables one to see things as they truly are. The goal is to have all forms of attachments totally annihilated.

2,500 years after the Buddha’s paranirvana, his teachings continue to be relevant. There are 84,000 ways to reach enlightenment. There will always be a way that will best suit the capacity and temperament of a practitioner.

Though all seek happiness, the being with small capacity seeks a good rebirth by doing virtuous acts and avoiding immoral acts. The being with middling capacity seeks to achieve freedom from cyclic existence by realizing the 4 noble truths and following the middle path. The being with the highest capacity aspires to attain Buddhahood to liberate all sentient beings.

As Buddhists, we dedicate our body, speech, and mind to virtue. By taking refuge, we dedicate ourselves to the Triple Gems – the body, speech, and mind of the Buddhas. The triple gems also refer to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. We must rely on them in our search for enlightenment. The Buddha is our inspiration and model. The Dharma is the method to accomplish the ultimate goal. The Sangha is our teacher and guide.

Keep in mind the 4 thoughts that turn the mind.

• Our precious human body with its 18 prerequisites for the practice of Dharma is difficult to obtain and easily destroyed, so now while one has it, one should use it meaningfully. It is like a blind turtle at the bottom of the ocean that emerges only once every 100 years and has to poke his head into a golden loop bobbling constantly on the ocean.
• The only constant thing in the external world is change. Impermanence is its trademark. Life forces of beings are as fragile as a bubble. It is only the Dharma that can help when it is time to go, so one should practice it now.
• Since it is the law of cause and effect that determines what will happen to one and where one will go, one should abandon all karmically unskillful action and occupy oneself with karmically skillful action.
• The defects of samsara is that all samsaric places, friends, pleasures, possessions cause one’s continual torments so one should regard them like a last feast before execution and cut off all attachment and strive to attain enlightenment.

Cultivate the 4 immeasurables.

• Through kindness, we wish that all sentient beings gain happiness and the cause of happiness.
• Through compassion, we wish that all sentient beings be free from suffering and the cause of suffering.
• Through sympathetic joy, we wish that all sentient beings never be cut off from the highest bliss, devoid of all suffering. May they always be endowed with sorrow-free joy of having the Dharma.
• Through impartiality, we wish that all sentient beings dwell in equanimity free from attachment and aversion.

Due to the law of cause and effect, meritorious thoughts, words, and deeds will always results in future beneficial results and vice versa. Because of this, it is important to dedicate all your good thoughts, words, and deeds for the good of all sentient beings. Undedicated acts will reap benefits only once for you. However, if the acts are dedicated to the end of attaining the level of the Buddhas for the benefit of all sentient beings, the harvest will be inexhaustible.

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THE SIX PARAMITAS

One of the many lessons which the Lord Buddha taught is first to expand our consciousness by practicing generosity in thoughts, words, and deeds. Generosity is the first of the six paramitas. There are three types of generosity: the giving of material things, the giving of protection of fearlessness, and the giving of Dharma.

The second paramita is moral discipline. There are 5 moral precepts which release the mind from remorse, anxiety, and guilt feelings when they are continually kept and observed. These precepts are abstaining from killing, stealing, wrong sexual activities, lying, and taking drugs and alcohol. Our mind is tension free if we follow this rule.

The third parmita is patience. Tolerance and non-judgmental attitude is adhered. This practice is very essential especially when one is to understand the lesson on duality.

The fourth paramita is joyful perseverance. It means finding enthusiasm in the study of Dharma and all activities connected to this. According to Nagarjuna, if one cannot understand the teachings, it is because of lack of merit.

The fifth paramita is meditative concentration. The Lord Buddha taught methods of meditation or mental development to free the mind from tension. The essence of meditation is to open and calm one’s mind and accept whatever arises without tightening at all. We must learn to take the light with the shadow.

The sixth paramita is discriminating or primordial wisdom. Tranquil Wisdom Meditation removes clinging and leads to wisdom, full awareness, sharp mindfulness, and eventually to the highest goal of enlightenment.

Four levels of awareness

In practicing, there are 4 levels of awareness.

• 1st level of practice is to realize that whatever is thought, said, and done to another are only seeds planted for future effect. Hinayana withdraws from the world and seeks liberation and happiness.
• 2nd level of practice is to realize whatever good or evil is only an effect of past thought, word, and deed. Mahayana responds with compassion and dedicates this to the happiness of all sentient beings.
• 3rd level of practice is to realize everyone and everything (all phenomena) is a reflection of our inner being. There is no inherent existence of recipient, doer, or object. It sees others their divine aspect. This is Vajyarana/Tantrayana/Mantrayana.
• 4th level of practice is Atiyoga where the parameter is beyond pure or impure. Experience equality or there is equal taste for all phenomena. There is neither desire nor aversion. It points to us for finding fault in others and it is our own disgrace to find it.

The levels of awareness are not to be confused with the two vehicles or schools of thought.  The first vehicle is Hinayana or Theravada, which contains Buddha’s most basic teachings, wherein one seeks enlightenment or Arhatship, happiness through liberation.

The other vehicle is Mahayana which is divided into Sutrayana and Vajrayana, also known as Tantrayana or Mantrayana. They start and end with the same goal of seeking enlightenment or Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. They differ in methodology.

THE SIX POISONS

It is essential to practice and find skillful means of destroying the 6 poisons – pride and jealousy, attachment, ignorance, greed, and hatred.

Pride leads to birth in the realm of the gods or devas who are totally involved in sensual pleasure and who do not think of the Dharma. Life term is indefinitely long; complete with beauty, wealth, and power, but leads to transmigration and suffering when it ends. The enjoyment they gain is living off a large sum of borrowed money. When funds run out, difficulties arise. The cause is practicing skillful deeds without motivation to attain enlightenment or wishing to be reborn as a deva.

Jealousy leads to birth in the realm of the jealous semi-god where there is power, wealth, and beauty, but it is jaded and incomplete as there are intrigues, war, and violence.

Attachment leads to birth in the realm of the human kind with the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness, and death.

Ignorance leads to birth in the realm of the animal, with the suffering of dullness, stupidity, and enslavement literally or figuratively. Their lives are always in danger. They are not able to express their hunger and pain. Causes of rebirth in this realm are sexual misconduct and abuse of others.

Greed leads to birth as a craving spirit with suffering of hunger and thirst that can only see lack and limitation. It is said that inhabitants of this group have big mouths and stomachs (appetites) but have only needle-like esophagi. They do not have the opportunity to practice Dharma. The main causes of rebirth in this realm are greed, avarice, and covetousness.

Hatred leads to birth in hell with extreme sufferings where all beings hate each other. One can only imagine with fear and horror the topography of the 18 layers of hell. In this realm, there is only suffering. Not a word of Dharma is ever heard.

Chenrezig made a vow to Amitabha to lead His devotees to Dewachen and in response Amitabha gave Chenrezig the mantra “Om mani peme hung” The mantra thus closes the door to samsaric rebirth but open the door to rebirth in Dewachen.

VIRTUOUS AND NON-VIRTUOUS ACTIONS

Keep in mind the 10 virtuous actions, the root of all merits as compared to the 10 non-virtuous actions, the source of all bad karmas which are rooted in the 3 poisons - greed, anger, and delusion.

Meditation

Practice meditation with detachment, devotion, and non-distraction. The practice of meditation has 2 levels. “Samatha “meditation trains the mind to be calm, peaceful, and stable.  It is very important for every practitioner to acquire this foundation before proceeding to the next level called “vipassana” or insight meditation. Insight meditation brings awareness.  Discipline and determination again are essential for the success of meditation.

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The hair-cutting ceremony during the refuge symbolizes the cutting off of samsaric ties.
It signals the start of the committment to strive diligently on the path until enlightenment. 

The essence of Tibetan Buddhism is:

• Renunciation means letting go of indulgences and ego “I”.
• Bodhicitta means development of sincere compassion and kindness towards other beings including oneself.
• Sunyata or Emptiness/non-duality means understanding wisdom that is the path of liberation.

The Lama will give instruction on the practice of the 4 foundations called the ngondro.

• Full prostration-refuge
• Hundred syllable mantra-confession. Receives actual sign and in dreams of becoming purified.
• Mandala offering - limitless generosity. Body will be blissful, mind clear, gain incalculable merit.

Guru yoga-loving respect to the guru. This is very important because it enables us to receive powerful blessings and inspiration from the guru and all the lineage masters. The teacher or the Lama is the Buddha Himself.

The first lesson in Dharma practice is to have a correct understanding of the Dharma. There is the need for genuine Dharmic practice. The way to start is to have proper motivation. One has to be warned on the pitfall of practicing to gain psychic power as it is practicing with the wrong motivation. Besides, it will not lead to liberation.

The way to practice is through hearing, thinking, and meditation. Whatever type of practice one is engaged in, correct motivation, which is to aspire for perfect enlightenment for oneself and for others, say it all.

This being so, it is essential to practice the 4 foundations, the very core of Dharmic practice. The ngondro will establish a firm foundation to make sure that the Dharma is not just in one’s mouth but is in one’s heart. Without this firm foundation, one can get carried away by arrogance, pride, and ego. Skills will be developed on how to avoid mistakes by carrying out suitable self-adjustments and corrections as one practice the ngondro.

A serious practitioner must keep in mind 3 points:

• It is imperative to have the right view.
• It is necessary to practice with persistence and enthusiasm.
• It is essential to have a guru, the fountainhead of blessings; to be sure we are on the right path.

Masters are not here for themselves but are here to render service to sentient beings like us who are searching foe enlightenment.

One must see the sacredness of the teachings to realize the urgency of not delaying or missing any opportunity to practice the Dharma.

Realize nothing is more important than the practice of Dharma within this lifetime and lifetimes to come.

Constant practice will lead to favorable habitual tendencies to arm oneself against any adverse condition and enhance favorable condition anytime, anyplace in this lifetime or any lifetimes to come. One should practice till one is armed with irreversible Bodhicitta mind in all future lives and times. This is to make sure one can avoid falling into the 3 lower realms.

There is no short cut. The sooner one realizes this, the sooner one will settle down to practice. The sooner one practices, the sooner he reaps the benefit of having fewer obstacles in attaining temporary needs. The more one reaps benefits, the more one understands how Dharma works. This is truly profound as there are many levels of understanding the way of the Dharma. Suffice to say that one should not be too happy with success nor too depressed with failure.

It cannot be overemphasized that the greatest waste is when presented with the opportunity (having the teacher, time, financial capability, place, and circumstance) to practice, one did not benefit from it. This is due to the ripening of one’s previous bad karma from countless aeons or kalpa, the veil of ignorance and its dark forces hold one in bondage and refuse to let one recognize and seize this good karma or breakthrough of the veil.

Depending on the capacity of the individual to absorb the teachings is how much is possible for the practitioner to evolve on the path.

It is up to one’s enthusiasm, determination, merit and karmic connection how one evolves. When one practices sincerely with enthusiasm, one is bound to find a guru of the same mind. When the guru is pleased with the sincerity and diligence of the student, genuine blessing will be flowing. With genuine blessing comes genuine fruit, the ultimate accomplishment, the highest siddhis.

“If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.”

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Karmapa Visit, November 2006