Textual Sources
Now you should all set the proper motivation for listening to these teachings, namely that you wish to achieve a state of enlightenment or clear evolvement in order to benefit all limited beings. Then, with this pure motivation of the dedicated heart of bodhichitta, listen to the following teachings.
Today we will begin the teachings on Kalachakra. These tantric teachings are extremely rare to receive. Therefore, this is a great opportunity. As it says in the Kalachakra Root Tantra, “Just as the universal teacher taught the Prajnaparamita Sutras, the Sutras on Far-Reaching Discriminating Awareness, at Vulture’s Peak, likewise he taught the various everlasting streams of the tantras at the stupa or relic monument called Shri Dhanyakataka, the Glorious Mound of Rice.” This quotation is saying that, after the great universal teacher Shakyamuni manifested his enlightenment, he taught the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, or the Prajnaparamita Sutras, at the place called Vulture’s Peak.
In this same fashion, at another location, there is a stupa or relic monument which is called Shri Dhanyakataka, or Glorious Mound of Rice. Long ago, there were highly realized masters who caused a shower of rice to fall, and this rice built up into an enormous mound which became a relic monument. Inside this relic monument, the Enlightened One manifested two mandalas. In the upper part, he manifested the mandala, or round symbolic world system of Kalachakra, and underneath he manifested the mandala of the Dharmadhatu of the Lord of Speech, the sphere of reality of Manjushri, a different type of mandala. There, inside this relic monument, he arose in these mandalas in the form of the deity Kalachakra and delivered the various tantra teachings or root texts.
The person who requested the deliverance of the Kalachakra Root Tantra was an emanation of the Lord of All the Hidden Measures (Vajrapani), namely the king Suchandra. King Suchandra was the king of Shambhala, and he went there together with the ninety-six rulers of the ninety-six districts of Shambhala. They requested the deliverance of the root tantra from the clear evolved Buddha. At that time, the clear evolved Buddha delivered the Kalachakra Root Tantra in 12,000 stanzas or shlokas. This king Suchandra himself wrote a great commentary to the root text in 60,000 verses. Within the collection of translated scriptures, there is a commentary to the Kalachakra Root Tantra that was written by an emanation of Manjushri, namely the Holder of the Caste Manjushri Yashas. He wrote a concise commentary abbreviating the main meanings in 1,030 stanzas. The Holder of the Caste was the first of the line of twenty-five Holders of the Caste or Kalki kings. His son, Pundarika, was the second Holder of the Caste, who was an emanation of Avalokiteshvara. He also wrote a commentary known as The Stainless Light, Vimalaprabha, in 12,000 stanzas.
The commentaries to this root tantra are divided into two groups – the abbreviated indications and the extensive explanations. The abbreviated indications consist of three groups of texts. The first is called the abbreviated indications. The second is called the fuller abbreviated indications. The third is called the great-abbreviated indications. The expanded explanations consist likewise of three – the expanded explanations, the fuller expanded explanations and the great-expanded explanations. The root tantra itself would fall into the category of expanded explanations, and the commentaries would fall into the category of abbreviated indications. Out of these expanded explanations, which constitute the root text, the shortest – what is known as just the expanded explanation itself, or the least expanded explanation – is constituted of two texts. The first is the tantra or everlasting stream of definitive meaning, or the deepest meaning. The second is the tantra or the everlasting stream of the interpretive and definitive meanings taken in common. Thus, the first is the tantra of definitive meaning, and the second is the tantra of common interpretive and definitive meaning.
The first of these, the tantra concerning the definitive meaning, is dealing primarily with the Body of Deep Awareness, the Jnanakaya, and this is constituted by the text known as A Concert of Names of Manjushri. This tantra, A Concert of Names of Manjushri, starts with the line, “Then the glorious Holder of the Vajra,” and ends with the words, “Homage to you, enlightening body of deep awareness.” From beginning to end, this text is made up of 162 stanzas. The tantra that is common in terms of the interpretive and definitive levels of meaning is the actual 12,000 verses root tantra mentioned above.
[See: A Concert of Names of Manjushri]
Today, as an auspicious beginning, I will offer you the oral transmission of the first of these, the tantra dealing with the definitive level, namely the tantra A Concert of Names of Manjushri. There are two different traditions of explanation of this text: one from the tantric view and one according to the sutra tradition. I will give the one from the tantric lineages. As I have received this oral transmission, you should listen carefully, and then the transmission will be received by you.
(Rinpoche recites the text)
I was offering this as an auspicious beginning. If you are unaware of the meaning of this short root tantra, A Concert of Names of Manjushri, you will not be able to understand and know the meaning of the longer root tantras. This short text is very well known and famous. Out of the three levels of expanded explanations, which constitute the root tantras, the least expanded explanation is made up of two texts. The first is the tantra on the definitive meanings, A Concert of Names of Manjushri. The second is the tantra on the common interpretative and definitive meanings, which is the 12,000 verses root tantra. The great-expanded explanation is the text composed by the King Suchandra, The Great Commentary of the Root Tantra in Sixty Thousand Verses.
Of the abbreviated indications, which had three levels mentioned before, the least abbreviated indication consists of two texts. One is by Manjushri Yashas, the first Holder of the Caste who wrote the abbreviated version in one 1,030 verses, and likewise he wrote a second text known as the “later tantra.” These two constitute the least level or smallest level of abbreviated indications. The great-abbreviated indication is the text by his son Pundarika, the second Holder of the Caste, which is known as Stainless Light, or Vimalaprabha, in 12,000 verses. It is not indicated explicitly in the literature exactly what the medium versions of the abbreviated indication and expanded explanation are, namely, what was called the fuller abbreviated indication and the fuller expanded explanation, as far as specific texts. If you know the meaning of this root tantra, A Concert of Names of Manjushri, you will know all the important and essential points of the tantric practices.
Long ago, in the central part of India, at the great monastic university of Nalanda, there was the great scholar Chandrakirti. In the east, there was the great master Chandragomin. The master Chandragomin came from the east to the place where Chandrakirti was staying. The rule at Nalanda was that except for the really greatest pandits, or learned masters, no one could explain the teachings outside. Since Chandrakirti was such a great learned master, he was qualified to explain the teachings or give discourses outside on these grounds.
Chandrakirti was giving a teaching or discourse outside, on the grounds of the great monastic university, to a very learned audience, when Chandragomin arrived and listened while holding a monk’s staff. As he was sitting listening to this discourse, Chandragomin asked Chandrakirti what he knew in terms of tantra, what sutras he knew and what languages he knew. He said that, of the tantras, he knew A Concert of Names of Manjushri. Of the sutras, he knew Prajnaparamita in Eight Thousand Verses. Of the grammatical systems, he knew Kalapa and Aindra. Then he asked back to him, “Aren’t you Chandragomin, the famous master of the east?” He said, “Yes, I am known by that name.” Chandrakirti said, “As you are such a famous master, we will lead a procession to welcome you.” Chandrakirti was a monk, and he led the various monks in this procession, and they carried Chandragomin on a platform. In front of the palanquin on which they were carrying Chandragomin, they placed a statue of Manjushri. As they carried him, Chandragomin composed various praises to Manjushri. Chandragomin was such a great poet and author that, as he was composing these various praises to Manjushri, the statue of Manjushri turned his head around to listen to the beautiful verses he was composing.
When they arrived back, they had a debate, since Chandrakirti was a holder of the Prasangika tenets, while Chandragomin held to the Svatantrika tenets. Chandrakirti debated frequently with Chandragomin at this occasion and set him many questions. Chandragomin said that he would come back the next day with the answers. Since Chandragomin was coming back each following day during this debate with very good answers, Chandrakirti suspected that he might be receiving his answers from someone, so he went to his house one night to eavesdrop. There was a great statue of Avalokiteshvara where Chandragomin was staying, and he heard the statue saying that Chandrakirti will say this or that and you should give this and that answer. Chandrakirti then went inside and grabbed Avalokiteshvara by the throat and asked him why he was showing favoritism. Avalokiteshvara said, “No, I am not showing favoritism, but for many lifetimes Manjushri has cared you for, and now I am giving a little inspiration here to Chandragomin, but it’s not that I am playing favorites.” When Avalokiteshvara was pointing out the different answers, he was pointing out with his hands like this, indicating on his hand that he wasn’t able to draw his hand back. Then Chandrakirti put Avalokiteshvara on his shoulders and paraded him around the area of Nalanda to show him to everyone. Nobody was able to see Avalokiteshvara on Chandrakirti’s shoulders, as no one had the karmic connection to be able to see him. They all said that Chandrakirti had been too deeply immersed in the Dharma and that he had gone mad.
From this account of Chandrakirti and Chandragomin, it is clear from his answer to the question of what tantras Chandrakirti knew that he knew A Concert of Names of Manjushri. This indicates that knowing this tantra enables you to know all the essential points of the tantras. This tantra, A Concert of Names of Manjushri, is in the Kalachakra literature. Specifically, it is in the category of least expanded explanations, tantras dealing with the definitive meaning. Therefore, as an auspicious beginning, I have transmitted to you the oral transmission of this text. As His Holiness had conferred upon you last year the seven initiations of Kalachakra of being like a child, I will explain to you then, starting tomorrow, about the sadhana, which is the self-generation, and also the guru-yoga, or the integrated practice with the spiritual master, which deals with Kalachakra. We will begin that tomorrow and I will explain to you on the basis of as much as I know. That will be it for today, and we are just starting today as an auspicious time to begin this teaching.
Lam-rim Teachings as a Prerequisite for the Tantra Practice
You should now set the proper motivation for listening to these teachings, namely that of a pure dedicated heart wishing to achieve enlightenment in order to be able to benefit all limited beings. This is a quotation from the Kalachakra Root Tantra, and slowly the meaning of this will be explained. What this explains is the type of motivation that both the person who is giving the teachings of the Dharma and those who are listening to it should set.
Precious Human Rebirth
Now all of us have achieved a human rebirth, not only a human rebirth but a precious human rebirth complete with all the eight respites and the ten enriching factors. On the basis of this, we can eliminate the difficulties that we might have in a future rebirth. Nevertheless, since we will continue to take various rebirths after that, we will continue to have many problems and unhappiness. This quotation from the Kalachakra Tantra has a great meaning to be understood. Human beings have four major types of problems or sufferings – those concerned with birth, sickness, old age and death. The actual sufferings involved with being born are extremely great; however, most of us cannot remember that. For instance, we have to remain confined inside a very small womb for nine months and ten days. This is extremely difficult and unpleasant. If we were to be enclosed in a tiny little room with no doors or windows even for one day now, we would find that very difficult to bear. Likewise, it is very unpleasant to be confined in a womb for over nine months. As soon as we are born, no matter how smooth or nice a piece of cloth or blanket we are placed on, the feeling we have is of being placed on an area full of thorns. While we were in the womb, we didn’t have any type of contact in this manner, so as soon as we are placed on a blanket or cloth when we are born, it is an extremely painful and unpleasant experience.
As a very tiny infant, we are in an extremely miserable and pathetic situation. We have no teeth, no hair and cannot even open our eyes and see clearly. We are totally dependent on the kindness of our mother in order to even survive. This state of a tiny infant is one which is extremely unpleasant. Then, once we survive being an infant, we become a small child, and our lives are still filled with a great deal of difficulties and suffering. As a small child, we are not really aware of what is going on around us or aware of the dangers that are present. For instance, we walk into a street, and we are not aware that there are cars and that a car could hit us. Likewise, if we were to walk to the edge of a cliff or a place where we could drop off from, we are unaware of the danger. Thus, as a small child as well, our life is full of a great deal of terrifying situations and difficulties.
As we grow a little bit older and become a youth, we likewise have a lot of problems. As a school child, we have to deal with the problems of being accepted by peer groups, having girlfriends and being worried about various possessions or wealth. We have problems of having to take examinations and worrying about not being able to pass these exams. In this way, the life of a schoolchild as well is full of a lot of difficulties, problems and unhappiness.
Likewise, as we grow older, we are worried about making a living, money and possessions; these sorts of issues can even worry a schoolchild. These types of problems and difficulties are things that we all can see. For instance, no matter how much wealth you might have, you can still have a great deal of problems and difficulties. There are examples of children of very rich parents who are involved in using drugs, and their lives are extremely miserable and unhappy because no matter how much wealth they have, they are still upset and involved in the problems of being drug addicts.
As we grow old, we continue to have many problems and much unhappiness, particularly in old age, when it is very difficult for us to get up, sit down and walk around. In this way, as we come closer and closer to our death, we have more and more problems and unhappiness. As for the problems of old age, the process of aging is something that starts as soon as we are born: the first moment you are born, and the second moment you already begin to get old. In the discussion on the twelve links of dependent arising, one of the links is aging and death. The reason why these two things are put together in the count of the twelve links is because it is uncertain when you will die. You can die without having actually reached old age. There are those who are born one moment, and the next moment they die without ever having actually grown very old. It is for this reason that the two are placed together and counted as one link in the discussion on the twelve links of dependent arising. Therefore, the next moment right after you are born is the beginning of the link of aging. Your entire life, as long as you are living, all of that is the process of aging and therefore is included in the link of aging.
[See: Perpetuating Samsara: The 12 Links of Dependent Arising]
The process of actually becoming an old person is something gradual; it is not something you can see happening all at once. If it were to come at once, it would be like you were fourteen or fifteen, very good looking, pleasant and very healthy, and then all of a sudden it would be like a mask is put on you being an old person, if it were the case that old age came on all at once. As you grow old over time, then you have lots of problems and difficulties. Your various senses lose their clarity, and your mind as well starts to become senile, as you don’t even remember all of your relatives or friends. The food that you used to enjoy you are no longer able to eat, you have to undergo a great deal of very unpleasant medical treatments, take a lot of medicine, undergo many uncomfortable examinations, have operations and so forth.
When the actual time of death comes, there is nothing that can be done. No matter how skillful and competent of a physician you have, no matter what type of medicine may be available – you might even have a million-dollar machine for your use – nevertheless, when the time for your death has come, it has come, and none of these will be of any help. There is no place you can go where you will be able to find immortality, where you can escape your death. A funny story from Tibet can be told at this point. There was once an old lady who was renting a place to a geshe. She found a louse and said to her daughter to take the louse away to a place where it would not die. The geshe said to her, “If you can take this louse to a place where it will not die, please take me there too.” In fact, there is no place you can go where you will not die.
Death does come to everyone, and when you die, there is nothing that you can take with you. No matter how much money or material possessions you have, you have to leave them behind. No matter how many relatives, attendants, employees and friends you have around you, none of them can go with you. You just leave behind even your old name; you leave behind everything and die. Some people are so upset at the idea of the unhappiness of death that they don’t even want to think about it. It is not of any help to ignore the fact that you are going to die, because whether you think about it or not, your death is going to come. Ignoring it and pretending it isn’t going to happen will not make it go away. If you actually do think about it a lot before you die, then at the time of death you won’t be taken unawares. You won’t die with any regrets, but you will be able to die in a happy state of mind, like someone returning to their homeland.
You might think that the suffering that you experience at death is something very short and quickly over, and that after that it does not matter. In fact, what will follow after your death is again taking rebirth. You leave behind your old body when you die, and you go to a future rebirth. This future life can be in six different types of life forms. There are the three worse states of wandering existence and the three better states. Being reborn as hell creatures or hungry ghosts involves life forms that we are unable to see with our eyes, but all of us have at least heard about them. In terms of animals, this is something we can all actually see directly with our eyes. It is not the case that life forms only reincarnate in the same life form. It is not the case that animals are always reborn as animals and humans are always reborn as humans. In fact, animals can sometimes be reborn as humans, and quite often it is the case that humans fall to a lower rebirth and are reborn as animals. Thus, there is no certainty as to what life form or what plane of existence you are going to be reborn into.
Even if you avoid being reborn as an animal or any of the worse states and are born as a human, demigod or god, nevertheless you are still going to have to experience and deal with these different types of suffering and problems that were previously mentioned. All of us, however, are unaware of these conditions or facts of life; we are rather bewildered about it. We don’t think in terms of wishing to benefit our future lives, but rather we spend all our time involved merely with things of this lifetime, such as getting food, clothing, worrying about our reputation and fame. In fact, we spend all our life building up negative potentials, and we don’t really think in terms of how to benefit our future lives. We are not even aware of how to do it. Furthermore, this human basis of our life is the basis upon which we can work most effectively to benefit our future lives. Most people, however, don’t use their human lives for engaging in any type of spiritual activity, which will benefit them in the future. In fact, they don’t make full use of having a human life. If we aren’t able to accomplish or to gain a human rebirth in the future that we can use for applying to spiritual practices and means, then for sure we are to be reborn in less advantageous situations and won’t be able to do much at all when we are born in that way.
Furthermore, as human beings, no matter how much wealth or possessions we may have, we still have the problem of the fact that these things aren’t steady, they don’t last and our situation in life can change. Therefore, we have the problem of change. We can see from the example that if we are very hot, we have the unhappiness or suffering of being too hot. We turn on a fan, and what comes from that is maybe a little diminishing of the problem of being hot, but then we get another problem of being too cold. We got a chill from the fan, so all that happened was that the first problem became less, we’re no longer hot, but in fact we still have a problem. The problem is now getting a chill and being too cold. This is the type of phenomena involved with the problems of change.
Therefore, we should think that now having achieved a precious human rebirth with the eight respites and ten enriching factors, this will allow us to make spiritual progress. No matter how many possessions or how much wealth we have in this lifetime, we should see that these do not have any deep essence or meaning at all. We should try to improve our future lifetimes, but it is very rare for us to have such a thought. We should think in terms of improving our future lives so that we can be reborn as a human or god. We should think of this in terms of being able to obtain a situation in future lives where we can continue with our spiritual practice and continue with our progress in terms of the Dharma. Just to think in terms of getting this type of better rebirth to become wealthier, more affluent and so forth is not getting the point. Therefore, it is rare for people to think of improving their future lives in a proper manner. It is very rare that someone thinks of improving their future lives and getting out of the types of suffering situations and problems that might occur in future lives.
Dedicated Heart of Bodhichitta
To think only in terms of benefiting your own life, benefiting yourself and getting rid of all problems for yourself is likewise not the fullest accomplishment, because everybody else has problems. It is extremely rare for anyone to think to achieve an enlightened state of a Buddha in order to be able to help everybody. It is difficult because a dedicated being or bodhisattva is someone who is totally dedicated to the welfare of others – dedicated to helping others. When you think of what it means to be dedicated to working for the benefit of everyone, this word “everyone” refers to all beings other than yourself and is limitless or infinite in number. When you think in terms of “I” or “me” or “myself,” that’s only involving one person. Therefore, it is easy to work for the benefit of yourself, as it is only one person. When we are dealing with others, then “others” involves a limitless number of beings in all different types of life forms, in all different aspects of existence, in all different types of thought, motivations, idiosyncrasies, habits and so forth. It is very vast. Therefore, it is very difficult to be able to tame all others who have so many different types of thoughts, idiosyncrasies, habits and life forms.
There was one dedicated being or bodhisattva who was working for the sake of others, and someone came along and asked him to give him his right arm. The bodhisattva cut off his right arm. Having cut off his right arm, the only way he could give it to the other person was to offer it with his left hand. In certain societies, to give with the left hand is considered very dirty and insulting, so when he was presented this with his left hand, the other wouldn’t accept it. The reason he stated why he refused the arm was that the way it was offered to him was very impolite and disrespectful. The bodhisattva replied, “To give in a respectful way would be to offer it with two hands, but I’ve cut off one of my hands to give it to you, so how could I possibly offer it to you with two hands?” The person replied, “Well, the main limb that you have is your head, and so you should have bowed your head in respect when you offered me your hand, but you didn’t do that. Therefore, I won’t accept.” This person said that this type of work of a dedicated being, of a bodhisattva is much too difficult and really quite impossible to do, and so he gave up his dedicated heart. He decided that he would have a more modest-minded goal and work only for himself. In fact, he was able with this more modest-minded motivation and intention to work to achieve liberation for himself from all his problems.
Someone who has this motivation of only wishing to help themselves and get over their own problems is able to achieve in fact liberation from their troubles. However, they are not able to achieve the total clear-mindedness and full evolvement of being an enlightened Buddha. This is because they lack the motivation of a dedicated heart or bodhichitta, a heart dedicated to others and to achieving the highest level of purified growth. Therefore, it is necessary to have such a dedicated heart in order to achieve enlightenment, but this is something that is extremely rare.
From the first moment that you develop such a dedicated heart, you develop yourself through all the various stages of the paths until you have the tenth level mind of a bodhisattva. This entire long process involves building up a positive potential for a great period of time – for three countless eons. When you consider that you have to build up a positive potential for over three countless eons, you should have the attitude that you are willing to be able to endure having to be reborn in one of the worst states of rebirth even for the benefit of one person or one being. You are willing on your part to go to a lower rebirth in order to benefit even one being. However, you see that all others have such terrible problems from beginningless time and that they have been so kind to us that you develop the attitude with which you say, “I can’t wait three countless eons in order to become fully enlightened in order to help them.” You want to become enlightened, clear and evolved, as quickly as possible in order to really help everyone. This is the type of very strong motivation that you need to have for entering into the hidden measures to protect the mind – the practices of tantra.
Therefore, since it is possible through taking the hidden measures of tantra to achieve enlightenment extremely quickly in order to be able to benefit others, it’s a great mistake then to use these practices to achieve enlightenment quickly simply in order to become extremely happy yourself. If you engage yourself in the practices of these hidden measures of tantra, it is possible that you will not have to wait three countless eons in order to become enlightened. In fact, there are instructions for you to be able to achieve enlightenment in your very lifetime. Since these hidden measures of tantra have the ability to bring you to an enlightened state in your very lifetime, you should realize that unless you actually practice these tantric methods, you won’t be able to achieve enlightenment in your very lifetime.
Why Tantra Teachings are Especially Rare and Precious
Even if the vast-minded methods of Mahayana are available and have spread, it is extremely rare to come upon these tantric methods. With respect to the difficulty and rarity of meeting with these tantric teachings, the text uses the example of the udumbara flower. It is possible that the udumbara flower will appear, but this is a very rare occasion to come upon. The timespan involved is that each time a universal teacher such as the great Buddha comes, the udumbara flower also appears. When a Buddha enters the womb of his mother from whom he will be born, the seed of the udumbara flower is planted and starts to grow. When the actual birth of this Buddha takes place, the flower itself will bud. When the Buddha sets flowing the various transmissions of the rounds of the Dharma, the preventive measures, at that time the flower blooms. When the Buddha passes away, the flower dies. In general, the Buddhas will take birth in two castes, the royal caste and the priestly or brahmin caste. When the Buddha is born in the royal caste, the udumbara flower is red, and when he is born in the priestly or brahmin caste, the flower is white. This is an extremely outstanding and magnificent type of flower, which is extremely fragrant. The wonderful fragrance of it spreads very widely. Therefore, with respect to the tantric teachings, which we have the fortune of being able to practice in our lifetimes, the rarity of it is something that is described in terms of the analogy of the udumbara flower. It is in fact extremely difficult to meet with the hidden measures of tantra.
Within tantra, there are the four classes. At the peak of this are the peerlessly integrated deity practices of anuttarayoga. This is the highest class of tantra. Within it are the father and mother tantras. Within the mother tantras, there are many different deity systems, and one of them is the system of Kalachakra. Therefore, to meet these teachings is something that is extremely difficult to come by. Today, in fact, we have an opportunity to meet these teachings, and we are extremely fortunate.
In dealing with the hidden measures of tantra, in the previous days we’ve been discussing the lam-rim, or graded paths of the mind, and if you don’t have some understanding of the graded paths of the mind, then you won’t be able to get into these tantric methods of hidden measures. If you don’t have an understanding of the lam-rim, starting from taking the essence of a precious human life, but jump right into these tantric teachings, that won’t do. You can’t just think to approach it like picking up a vajra from the center; you don’t have a vajra constituted just by the central part of it.
Long ago, there was a great master in Sera Monastery called Purchog Ngawang Jampa. After each time he gave the teachings of the lam-rim, he would give the empowerments and commentaries on the tantras of Guhyasamaja, Yamantaka, Vajrabhairava and Chakrasamvara or Heruka. He gave this without any break each year, so he gave many fortunate opportunities. When he gave these tantric discourses, the main thing that he emphasized was the lam-rim. Some people complained that he was spending too much time on the lam-rim and he was not giving enough of the actual tantric teachings. There was another great lama from Lower Tantric College, Chankya Rolpe Dorje. Some people were complaining like this, and once he heard about the complaints. He replied that, in fact, the lam-rim was the real crucial points of the teachings. He said that in order to practice these hidden measures to protect the mind, the measures of tantra, it’s necessary to have trained before in the lam-rim, and without it you won’t be able to get far or have success in the tantric method. You will not be able to have great success in the higher stages of your education if you haven’t prepared well in the lower stages. Therefore, it is extremely important to train yourself well to actually develop the lam-rim teachings starting with taking the essence of a precious human life with its respites and enriching factors.
Therefore, a paragraph from the Kalachakra Root Tantra has been explained here, and it has great meaning to be understood, because it indicates the importance of training in the common teachings of the lam-rim. The analogy of meeting with these tantric teachings is likened to the example of the rarity of meeting an udumbara flower. The reference to this example is something that comes in the text of the preliminary ceremony of the initiation, which was given the other day. I didn’t explain it then, as it comes here in the beginning of this discourse that I am explaining now. It says that the meeting with this flower is something that happens occasionally out of hundreds of such occasions. There is an example in the Tibetan saying, “Out of hundreds of poisonous snakes, there will occasionally be one with a pearl on the crown of its head.” There is also a saying, “Out of hundreds of otters, one will have a turquoise on the crown of its head.”
Likewise, out of hearing many teachings, it may happen that you will meet these very high tantric teachings. Thus, it is possible, as with these examples, that you might be able to meet the very advanced teachings of Kalachakra. Just to see a statue of Kalachakra or to find a scriptural text of Kalachakra doesn’t actually constitute meeting the teachings of Kalachakra. Likewise, in terms of meeting the teachings of the Buddha, to come across a representation of Buddha’s body, speech or mind, statue, text or to just to come across a Dharma book doesn’t constitute meeting his teachings. What does constitute the actual meeting the teachings of the Buddha is to hear the words of the enlightening speech of a Buddha. First to listen and hear it, then to ponder it or think about it so you understand, and then to meditate or build it up as an actual good habit of mind, actually practicing it – practicing it until you actually achieve proficiency – all of that constitutes meeting the teachings of the Buddha.
In order to meet these teachings of Kalachakra, it’s necessary first to make your mind a suitable vessel for receiving it. If you ask what type of disciple has a mind that is a fit vessel for these teachings, it is someone who has trained himself or herself in the lam-rim. All of you were extremely fortunate last year, because the manifestation of the great Holder of the Caste was actually invited here and conferred upon you the initiation of Kalachakra. Many of the people who came last year and received this initiation had not trained themselves in these common paths of the lam-rim, so you might have some misconceptions about this kind of people in terms of their having actually received this initiation. Since it is necessary to have trained in the common paths of the lam-rim, and since there were people who attended who had not trained previously in this manner and who just came, then it is possible that some people might wonder whether or not they actually received the initiation. There is a special feature of this Kalachakra initiation that if you have received permission to receive initiation of the Kalachakra, then you have received all the initiations; this is a special feature of Kalachakra.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama received this initiation from Ganden Tri Rinpoche, Yongdzin Ling Rinpoche, who received it from the great Khangsar Rinpoche from Gomang Monastery – and received this many times from him. He gave this on the fifteenth day of the third month of the Fire Rabbit year. He gave this initiation at Ganden Monastery, and although the official count of monks at the monastery is 3,300, nevertheless there were many thousands who attended at that time to receive it. He announced that everyone within the bounds of the monastery received the initiation. Although not everyone could fit into the space where the actual initiation was given, the lama said that everyone within the grounds of the monastery received it, because he gave permission for everybody to receive it. At that time, I myself was there and was sixteen years old. Therefore, this is the feature of Kalachakra that if the spiritual master gives permission for people to receive this initiation, then on those grounds alone one receives it. It’s not a matter of just anyone receiving this initiation solely on the basis of what they’ve done in this lifetime. It’s a factor of having built up great positive potentials in previous lifetimes that they have the opportunity to be present and receive this initiation.
The great Milarepa, in his lifetime, gave the appearance that he hadn’t trained very strongly in the lam-rim, but this is not the case that he hadn’t trained at all. In his previous lifetime, he had been a great Kadampa geshe, a spiritual master of the Kadampa lineage who was a disciple of Atisha and Dromtonpa. Atisha told him that he should do a pure practice of Dharma. He did circumambulation of the temple where he was residing. When he reported back that this was the preventive measure of Dharma he had practiced, he was told he should in fact practice the Dharma. He then did a lot of prostrations. He was told that, yes, in fact, doing prostrations is a preventive measure of Dharma, but he should do something even more. He then made many mandala offerings. He was told that, yes, offering mandalas is a Dharmic measure, but still he should do some Dharma. Finally, he asked what it means to take some preventive measures of Dharma. He was told to give up his primary concern for this lifetime – gaining food, clothing and reputation. He did this and went off to live in solitary retreat in the mountains eating only leaves from trees. Thus, Milarepa in his previous lifetime did in fact train himself very well in these common paths of the mind. On this basis, then, when he met the great translator Marpa, after going through many difficulties and difficult practices, he was straightforwardly given the tantric initiations and empowerments. He did intensive practice and was able to gain the highest realizations in his lifetime.
You have trained yourselves in the common preliminary paths of the mind, and you came and received the Kalachakra initiation last year. You received it from an incredibly inconceivable lama who is a Holder of the Caste, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and you have seen for yourself how difficult it is to receive the Kalachakra initiation. It requires extremely extensive preparation; the mandala from which it’s given must be constructed out of powdered sand, and this is something that is very difficult to construct. We are all aware, having witnessed directly all the immense preparations that had to be made for this initiation, that in fact it is something very rare and difficult to come by. It’s an indication that in past lifetimes you have trained yourselves and built up an enormous positive potential that would ripen in this lifetime in the form of meeting all the conducive conditions and circumstances for receiving this type of opportunity. As the great Nagarjuna has said, we have worked very greatly in our past lifetimes and have likewise worked very greatly in this lifetime to meet the “four wheels of opportunity” that we have with this practice. In sutras as well, it says that it is a result of having built up positive potentials or merit over many, many lifetimes that one receives such incredible opportunities in this lifetime.
Since it is so difficult and rare to come across these teachings of Kalachakra, we should all rejoice and feel very happy about having received such a rare opportunity. We should build this happiness up as a good habit of mind. You had the good fortune to receive the Kalachakra initiation last year, and with very pure thoughts and mind, you have kept up your interest and maintained this continuity. Now you have come here this year to learn about the actual practices. This is something very excellent. We are all here with everybody having a very kind heart and being warm and friendly towards each other. With everybody in a harmonious situation, this is excellent, and now, within this type of very conducive atmosphere, we should all listen to the teachings. To practice it, you must first listen to all the teachings here.
How to Approach Our Dharma Study
The Buddha gave various collections of special verses on the topics of hearing, listening to the teachings, impermanence and various other themes. This is extremely important, because listening properly to the teachings has many benefits. You will be able to think about and ponder different measures to the extent that you have heard them. In other words, the more that you hear, the more you will have to think about. It is only from hearing the teachings and listening about the measures that you will be aware of them. You can’t know them or be aware of them without having heard about them. Likewise, you can’t build them up as beneficial habits of mind, or meditate, unless you have heard all the teachings; you won’t have anything to meditate on. As the great triumphant Maitreya said, if you try to meditate without having listened to any of the teachings, it makes everything meaningless. To build up respectful belief in the Buddhas, you must be aware of all their good qualities of body, speech and mind. In order to be aware of this, you have to hear about it; you can’t be aware without having heard a description of their good qualities.
For instance, in terms of the good qualities of the enlightening body of a Buddha, this entails the thirty-two major signs and the eighty exemplary features, and each of these requires a great many eons of building positive potential in order to be able to achieve them. This is true even for the least of the exemplary features. The amount of positive potential required to achieve the enlightening speech of a Buddha is even more than that required for achieving all the major marks and exemplary features. Thus, to actually develop some respectful belief in the good qualities of the enlightening body of a Buddha, it’s necessary to have heard about all these features and their descriptions. Otherwise, you just think that the Buddha is someone who is precious and important, but you are unaware of any reasons for why this is so.
Likewise, when you think of the enlightening speech of a Buddha, the speech has sixty different facets to it. It’s only when you hear about and are aware of these various facets that you’ll have something to think about when the topic of the good qualities of the enlightening speech of a Buddha is raised.
In terms of the good qualities of the enlightening mind of a Buddha, this entails twenty-one different categories of features that are unassociated with any confusion or uncontaminated. This would include the ten forces, ten powers, the eighteen features unshared with others and so forth. It’s a matter of having heard about all these incredible features in these twenty-one categories unassociated with confusion that you’ll have some appreciation for the good qualities of the enlightened mind of a Buddha.
All of you are very fortunate here because you have these great geshes, spiritual masters here to whom you can ask a question. You have all the great scriptural texts, and you are all reasonable people who are very intelligent, and so you all have the ability to find out correctly about all these features. You should try to hear and listen to teachings as much as you can. No matter how much you hear about the teachings, you should ponder them, think about them and then meditate on them or build them up as positive qualities of your mind. You shouldn’t listen to the teachings merely to be able to know about them as intellectual knowledge. Rather, whatever you hear, you should think in terms of putting it into actual practice. As soon as you first hear about the dedicated heart of bodhichitta, immediately you should try to have a kinder heart and to dedicate yourself to others and achieving enlightenment. You should try to put it into practice to the best of your ability as soon as you hear about it. You shouldn’t think there are certain things that you listen to and study on one side, and that what you actually meditate on and build up as habits of mind is something else on another side; they’re not separate things. It would be like building a stadium for athletic events and then holding the events outside the stadium. It would be pointless. You build the stadium to hold the events inside it. Likewise, whatever teachings you listen to and study, it is those teachings you build up as good habits; it is those teachings that you meditate upon.
Now the occasion has arisen for all of us to receive teachings on Kalachakra, on the root tantra and the explanatory tantras. This is an extremely fortunate occasion for us to be able to hear and receive teachings. We shouldn’t listen to these teachings merely out of intellectual curiosity, to see what kind of weird or strange things we can find out about in terms of these teachings. Rather, we should listen to it in terms of wanting to actually practice. By means of practicing it, we wish to achieve enlightenment through these methods of Kalachakra.
Yesterday, I began by giving the oral transmission of the text A Concert of Names of Manjushri. There is still some left, so I will continue with that.
(Rinpoche recites text)
There are twenty prostrations that are referred to in this text. During the ceremonial dance, which is performed before the Kalachakra, these twenty prostrations or salutations were recited for auspicious reasons.
To practice any of the preventive measures of Dharma, you must know about them. In order to know about them, you have to hear about them. In order to hear the teachings, you have to hear them in a really excellent and splendid manner. That involves hearing it from many sources, hearing it together with many people and hearing many things. Just to hear the teachings and listen to them without actually pondering them and not actually building them up as good habits of your mind will not be sufficient. Whatever you hear you should try to immediately put it into your mind and integrate it. You should integrate as much as you learn about. Because the entire process of listening to the teachings, pondering them and then meditating or building them up as habits of mind are all intended to be methods for taming your mind. Just to hear teachings in order to become a very learned and erudite person is not something that is going to benefit your mind. There is an account that, at the time when Atisha went to Tibet, he mentioned that there was a practitioner of Vajrabhairava or Yamantaka who was reborn as a ghost with nine heads and nine faces. This was because this person had practiced the teachings of Yamantaka and recited the prescribed syllables without actually having done anything to tame his mind-stream. By the power of just the mantras, he was reborn as a very strong and powerful ghost.
Therefore, whatever you hear and however much you study, you should become more and more humble by means of that. In other words, the more learned you are, the more humble you should be, and that will be very good. If you have a bucket and it has just a little bit of water, then as you carry it, it is going to splash all around. If the bucket or container is full, then it is not going to splash no matter how much you carry it. Therefore, if you are extremely learned, this should make you a more tamed, peaceful, quiet and humble type of person. If that is so, you will be of great benefit to all others.
Long ago there was the great practitioner Dromtonpa Gyalwe Jungne from the Kadampa lineage, and he was a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara. He was a great pandit or learned master and had many great qualities. He was a layman. He was extremely humble towards everybody and extremely respectful, even though he himself was a bodhisattva. One day he met someone walking on the road. This person said to him, “Please, carry my boots.” Dromtonpa put his boots on his shoulders and walked along with this person. His traveling companion didn’t know that Dromtonpa was on his way to give some teachings. He was unaware of the identity of his travel mate. When they approached the monastery where Dromtonpa was heading, everybody was outside and there was a great procession. The place was well swept, and there were designs all over to welcome Dromtonpa, who was their root master. As he saw all this tumultuous welcome that was being prepared, the traveling companion thought it was all for someone else. When they finally arrived near the monastery and everyone started prostrating and being extremely respectful, he became really embarrassed that Dromtonpa was carrying his boots. So even though Dromtonpa was such a learned person with such great qualities, nevertheless he was extremely respectful and served everybody.
Therefore, the result you want to accomplish by listening to the teachings, pondering their meaning and then meditating on them or building them up as a good habit of mind should be to tame your own mind-stream. You have already received here a great deal of material that you have heard about and that you should ponder. You should build this up as a good habit of mind. Namely, you heard the teachings on the lam-rim and, out of all of that material, you should put great emphasis on love and compassion. Build these up as good habits of mind, and on the basis of this, then enter upon the discourses and practices of tantra.