Archive for November, 2007

I’ve tried to start this post several times but, I am lost for words.

Geshe Jampa Gyatso one of my teachers has passed away.

Geshe Jampa Gyatso was born in Dham in north-central Tibet in early 1932. At the age of 7 he received the novice vows from the famed Purchog Jamgon Rinpoche of Sera Je Monastery. Rinpoche, recognized as the manifestation of the future Buddha Maitreya, gave the boy the name Jampa Gyatso which means Ocean of Love.

I met Geshe-la when I attended the Masters Program at ILTK an FPMT center in Tuscany Italy in 1998-99. Geshe-la made such an impact on my life that I never felt far from him although I lived on the other side of the world and I continued to study his teachings. Unfortunately I was unable to see him one last time before his shock passing yesterday.

I had always planned on going back to see him again, if only just for a holiday and so his passing has knocked the wind out of me. It was so unexpected I’m still shaking my head in disbelief. So to try and make sense of this I thought I ponder the question.

How does a Buddhist deal with the process of grief and lose?

All meeting ends in parting.
All things are impermanent, be it persons or events. If one has a realisation - an internalised understanding - of this then the pain of grief will be diminished. Now this is not a case of putting a positive spin on things, or trying to feel better about a bad situation. Its simply stating the truth…all meeting ends in parting. The Buddha was quite good at pointing out everyday facts, that can on the surface seem quite simple but have massive implications on mental health if practiced.

We tend is hold things as if they are permanent, not even realizing that is what we do. I always felt that I had time left to see Geshe-la, after all he was only 75. But the truth is none of us know how long we are going to be here for! We could die tomorrow.

The best way to deal with grief and lose is not to dwell on missed opportunities or what if’s. To understand that lose is something that is a natural part of life, and of course in the end, all Geshe-la would want is for his students to practice what he taught them.

So with that in mind, its off to my meditation cushion I go.

And to all of Geshe-la’s other students my heart goes to you.

Update: 12/12/2007

I finally got around to listening to the second hour of this podcast.
In the second half I found myself less enthusiastic about Owen’s presentation. I find it hard to hear someone present fiction as fact…I can understand how someone not a belonging to a tradition can speak for that tradition. He even suggested that the Dalai Lama doesn’t believe in rebirth! I love thought provoking discussions, I mean to did link to this podcast in the first place but, I was disappointed by the second Question and answer section.

    
In the following lecture, the philosopher Owen Flanagan explores whether Buddhism is eudaimonistic. In so doing, he presents some interpretive points about the general structure of Buddhist ethics, and the plausibility of empirical claims about Buddhism and happiness.
http://www.cbs.columbia.edu/weblog/2007/11/the-bodhisattva.html

If you are into philosophy this podcast is worth a listen. Owen is thought provoking. There are some assertions he puts forward as Buddhist theories that are simply incorrect and this is a shame.

Minute 10.35 At one point his says that Buddhist ethics is rich although.
He goes on to say the practice of compassion and loving-kindness for all beings might be way too demanding but it is nonetheless ethically rich.

This shows me that he really doesn’t get the process of transformation presented in Buddhist meditation. Yet he says at the very start of the lecture that he is a skeptic in regards to whether Buddhist meditation can produce eudaimonistic.Is this tantamount to not believing in modern physics just because the experiments were not done by you the individual? I NOT saying that he should just accept Buddhist theories on the production on eudaimonistic or what Buddhist yogis would call the bliss of meditation. What I am saying is it is not good science to dismiss them outright without first doing the tests.

He also over simplifies the Buddhist theory of emptiness. Minute 9.40 His description of the self as a psychologically continuous and connected being is classic Sautrantika’s view of selflessness and this is not emptiness. It is not the final view of the Buddha nor that of Nagarjuna, Chandrakirti or Tsong Khapa.

Also he says that Jay Garfield says that the Dalai Lama is pandering to Westerners by presenting Buddhadharma as a path to happiness. Because the Buddha first teaching was about removing suffering.

I think that there is something in that statement that is worth looking at.
Happiness for the sake of happiness, or put another way, happiness as the goal is not a Buddhist practice. However it is a byproduct of the path and to suggest otherwise is simply silly.

Having said all that, I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the next one.

Buddhism is not just a religion; it is a pragmatic description of life that details our very existence and shows us methods for eliminating the dissatisfactory nature of much of our everyday experiences. The Buddha showed us the true nature of conditioned existence. It can be said the teachings of the Buddha are a set of mind training instructions that lead anyone who diligently practices these trainings to lasting happiness. Not just the happiness found through physical stimuli but, a happiness that is far deeper and meaningful than can be found through ordinary activities, money or fame.

The Buddhist Path

The Buddhist path is rich in history and has many different methods used in training the mind. In fact, the Buddhist canon extends to 84,000 different teachings. All of those 84,000 teachings are presented with one goal in mind, to eliminate suffering at its source so that the conditions that give rise to these dissatisfactory experiences will never return again. The Buddha showed us in his enumeration of the Four Noble Truths; that conditioned life bound by karma and delusion is by nature dissatisfactory – true suffering. That the source of this dissatisfactoriness is a basic belief in a non-existent imaginary – true existence – and that by employing certain methods – true paths – one can permanently eliminate the true source of our problems - delusions such as anger, attachment, pride, jealousy and so forth.

The Buddhist path could be summarized as having two main aspects. The removal of dysfunctional states of mind, such as anger, attachment and ignorance and the development of functional minds such as compassion and wisdom – the wisdom knowing the nature of reality.

Why are minds such as anger dysfunctional? Because, although wishing for happiness the mind of anger in fact produces an agitated experience. Often when we get angry we lash out either physically or verbally, thinking this will make things somehow better but, in fact these actions often make things worse. For this reason the mind of anger does not function as we intent and is therefore dysfunctional. In contrast to this the mind of compassion and wisdom are functional because they operate in way that is concordant with our fundamental intentions.

The purpose of prayer in Buddhism

Buddhist Prayer and by extension chanting, as chanting is nothing more than rhythmic vocalization of prayer, are guided meditations used to remind us of the internal knowledge that prayer can render. They are also affirmations, by reciting them with heartfelt devotion the spiritual aspirant is reaffirming their commitment, not to some deity or another person, but to the development of ideal inherent in the prayer. For instance, the purpose of this prayer composed by Shantideva in his famous text Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds

For as long as space endues

and for as long as living beings remain

may I too remain,

to eliminate the suffering of the world

is the generation of compassion and the universal responsibility that is a prerequisite to the development of Bodhichitta. Matireya’s Ornament for Clear Realisations defines Bodhichitta as: Bodhichitta means for the sake of others, wishing to achieve complete, perfect enlightenment.

By reciting this prayer the spiritual aspirant is implicitly endorsing compassion and bodhichitta - the mind of enlightenment - and reaffirming their commitment to the development of these minds. All Buddhist art, literature and music has the same intention. Even the folds in a monks robes have symbolic meaning related to the Buddhist path.

So does this mean there is no benefit in praying to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas? No, there is benefit but, if the Buddha is omniscient and has infinite compassion, they, all Buddhas, are already helping us whether we ask for it or not! By praying to these beings for help and inspiration we are opening ourselves to their influence even more than if we do not pray and, we are also implicitly saying, I think the qualities of the enlightened beings is useful. I would like to have these qualities myself. Therefore I will practice the methods that are the causes of these qualities.

Over at the Tricycle blog Phil is looking for a headline to go with this photo.

Here is mine!

1: Meditation, what rubbish!

2: They never told me it was used for meditation. I thought it was a pillow!

3: Gone dancing

Well that is the best I can do in 2 minutes, how about you?

Who was the Buddha?

The Buddha was a real person. He was born into a royal family in what would nowadays be southern Nepal. As it was the custom in those days, the Buddha’s father asked an astrologer to outline the baby boys future. After a quick observation of the baby, the astrologer announced that he would become either a universal monarch or a great spiritual leader.

Hearing this the Buddha’s father shielded his son from sick and dying people. If any of the palace staff got sick they were quickly removed from the young princes sight as the father did not want to arouse any spiritual aspirations in his young son.
As time went by, the young prince become more and more disillusioned with his circumstances, surely there is something more to life than just sport, food and sleep, he thought. So he began to sneak out of the palace at night to visit the townships surrounding the royal palace. This is when he first came across sick, dying and diseased people. Seeing their plight, the young prince was overcome with compassion. Finally he went to his father to tell him he was leaving the palace to find a freedom from the dissatisfactory events that condition our existence. So at the age of 29 he set off on a journey that would culminate in the development and finally the direct experience of infinite compassion and infinite wisdom - this we label as Enlightenment or Buddhahood - he was 35 by this time.

What the Buddha taught

The Buddha taught that all living beings have a natural disposition that seeks greater happiness and wishes to avoid even the slightest suffering. Not only that, he said that we also have the right to be happy. It is not selfish to want happiness. Unfortunately we sometimes employee erroneous methods, thinking that happiness will be found in things and events. More often than not these things and events become a cause of our unhappiness. The new car breaks down, the new hair-do never looks the same after leaving the salon.
Does that mean the Buddha said we shouldn’t have nice cars or get new hair cuts? No it doesn’t. It is how we relate to things and events that is the real problem not the thing themselves.

The greatest potential

Not only do we have this natural wish for more and more happiness, because of the very nature of our mind, we have the capacity to develop infinite compassion and infinite wisdom just like the Buddha did. He called this potential Buddha Nature. Because the basic or fundamental nature of the mind is not permanently clouded by conception it is possible to remove these dysfunctional states of mind.
Therefore every living being regardless of age or gender, all have the potential to become a Buddha. One could say that in essence the teachings of the Buddha show us, either directly or indirectly, how to replace dysfunctional states of mind with functional states of mind.

The process of transformation

The primary source of happiness and unhappiness is in fact our own mind. Therefore consciousness itself is the principal object of investigation for Buddhists. The principal tool used in this investigation is meditation and the Buddha has developed many techniques for refining and stabilizing consciousness. So, just as scientists use telescopes or microscopes to investigate the physical universe. Buddhists use meditation to investigate the inner world of the mind and to develop healthier, balanced and constructive states of mind - the real causes of happiness.
What are these dysfunctional minds? There are said to be six main types of minds that at face value appear to be useful but, at closer inspection are in fact the cause of many of our problems. The six are anger, attachment, ignorance, pride, doubt and holding opinions that take us away from happiness. A Buddha doesn’t suffer from any of these as they have replaced them with compassion and wisdom.

Dispelling misconceptions

Ok, let me ask you a question.

Question: Is non-attachment and detachment the same? Do they mean the same thing? I ask this because out of the six main minds anger, attachment etc, attachment is the most misunderstood.

My answer: I would say they are not the same. Detachment implies a factor of not caring about others. Whereas non-attachment does not imply this, it is simply an experience free from a mind that is clingy. Thus giving your mind space for unconditional friendliness and love - the wish for another to be happy without any feeling of gain or loss.

Spirit of enquiry

One of the things I love about Buddhism is it encourages the spirit of enquiry, much as science does. The Buddha said not to believe what he taught out of mere respect or through faith alone but, to experience the path for ourselves. Does that mean we can just make stuff up? No but, as with science, we are encouraged to experiment and see for ourselves if what he has said was true is true.

Some people, not only in western cultures, think that religion is about giving up free thought. They believe that being religious is about accepting a given set of instructions and bending your own ideas and believes to match the ideas of a given religion. Buddhism is not like this, in fact, it is the very opposite of that. It is youthful enthusiasm and a thirst for knowledge and understanding that will yield the most of any field of study. Buddhism is no different. Conducting experiments using the Buddhist tool of meditation with a sense of discovery and openness is the key to progression along the path.

In a future post I would like to expand on the theme of enquiry as I feel it is something that is not discussed often.

The weekend went well and the weather was beautiful. The blessing ceremony was particularly good this year. Personally sometimes I feel the invited politicians who speak during the blessing ceremony tend to be a little political in regards to the content of their speech’s. This year however they kept their speech’s less politically charged. Ironically I think this is because of the pending election. I believe they didn’t want to appear like they were selling their sides views and as a result the speech’s were focused on the festival and Buddhism.

The temple tours were well attended. I had four sessions over the weekend, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. Each session had roughly 50-70 people.

The session went something like this…From the front of the temple a brief history of the Tibetan Buddhist Society and the founder Geshe Loden.
A brief description of the the ornaments on the outside of the building. Then we would move up to the front of the temple where I spoke about the various aspects of the door and the 8 symbols of good fortune. Then into the meditation hall.

Here I would start by adding a little bit of the history of the Buddha and a quick overview of the Buddhist path. I tried to related the different aspects of, for example the Buddha statue, and how they related to our every day ordinary lives. This was by way of setting a context for the listeners, as many had little to no previous contact with Buddhism.

For example, the Buddha sits on a lotus, the lotus symbolizes renunciation. Just as a lotus grows out of the dirty water of a swamp, the mind wishing to be free of suffering and suffering and the causes of suffering (renunciation), naturally develops from the recognition of the human condition - the dissatisfactory nature of life - and how we naturally experience problems. Many people think this is just a fact of life…get over it they may say. The Buddha said that while this is true, it does not have to be that way. There are in fact methods for removing these dissatisfactory issues we experience and so there is something you can do about it. Meditation is a tool used in this process of getting over it!

So, all Buddhist art, either directly or indirectly, is a reminder of some aspect of the process or what we call the path. And what is that path? One could say, in it’s most simplest form the path is the process of replacing dysfunctional states of mind with functional states of mind.

Taking this approach to the tours seemed to be appreciated by the attendees.

Anyhoo I enjoyed myself and in particular I enjoyed the question/answers at the end of the sessions. My favorite question of the weekend was by a 5 year old boy who asked where do the Buddha’s live? He asked this question without any assistance from his father who was sitting near him…it was very funny.

This weekend is the Tibetan Buddhist Society’s annual Buddhist spring festival. If you are in Melbourne, Australia you are invited to attend.

The weekend is jam packed with dharma lectures, temple tours, market stalls and more.

PDF Poster Here is a post of what is on over the weekend

Directions

View Larger Map

The royal free photos I purchased from the 2007 HHDL tour have finally arrived. click on the image to see a larger version.

Below are a couple of photos from the Melbourne teachings.

HHDL is coming back to Australia in 2008 to give 4 days of teachings on the famous text by the 9th century Indian Buddhist saint Kamalashila called Stages of Meditation.

For anyone interested, there is a book available entitled Stages of Meditation published by Snowlion or you can get it from amazon here

The tour dates are 6-16 June 2008 although the teaching is only for 4 days. I’m not sure on the happenings of the other days at this stage.
HHDL did say that he would prefer to teach for 10 days in one spot. Hopefully the organizing committee were listening!

More updates as they come

I’ve decided to move back to my old domain lodenjinpa.com mainly because I couldn’t find anyone’s to help me blog at Buddhistbloggers.com

See Buddhistbloggers is plural but, I was the only one blogging there, so this made it felt a little strangle. By blogging here under my own name though, I can more openly discuss more than just Dharma and I will also be able to promote forth coming books and teaching engagements etc.

I hope no one is too inconvenienced by this, and of course please don’t forget to update your subscription.

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That all for now, thanks