Teaching Transcripts and Synopses 

O. K. now Gampopa - his teachings are based on Mahayana and Vajrayana schools of Buddhism. Philosophically speaking, his teachings are based on Madhyamika. Have you heard Madhyamika? Madhyamika means middle way or the central theory. His philosophy is completely based on that. There is a very famous figure in India of the second century called Nagarjuna, the one who systematized the middle way school. But again there are differences in their explanations. For example, middle way is a very important philosophy of Buddhism started in India and then spread through central Asia to China and then Korea and Japan. It spread into China quite early, maybe in the first century or second century, but in Tibet it spread much later, because Buddhism was introduced there in the seventh century, so it reached there after that, eighth, tenth century. There are always differences in explanations. In India, what they focused on, the purpose of Madhyamika's philosophy was to dispel, just to eradicate the wrong views - that was the only purpose. Both the existence and non-existence are to be abandoned. Nagarjuna has a very special point. He said "all views are wrong views" Once you have a view then you are away from the truth. Then if you ask what is your Madhyamika for, why did you write the treatises, he would say it's not to establish something but to dispel the wrong views. But when Madhyamika reached out of India, there were some changes, and you would find differences. People would focus more on how to establish and how to explain the Madhyamika school, so usually they will talk about the affirmation and exposition of the school rather than just dispelling the wrong views. For example, there are two truths they focus more on.

But now Gampopa's approach is again different. His approach is this: he always talks about the mind rather than the external worlds. Nagarjuna started explaining emptiness with outer worlds. For example, he would say "what is a car?" People will say one car is just one car, but then he would analyze and ask people "Where is the real one car?" Wheels are not car, doors are not car, if the doors are car, then you can ride a door (Rinpoche smiles). Gampopa didn't do that, he said everything is the reflection of the mind, the whole world is the reflection of the mind, if you are not here today, if you are not born, if you don't exist, the world for you is not there, it doesn't exist. There is a world for you because you see them, the reflection of your own mind. So some people misunderstood and think he is not from the Madhyamika school, and he is from another school called "mind only school" - Cittamatra - mind only whose philosophy says that nothing in the world exists but mind. But Gampopa, actually, is not mind only school, because he clearly said that mind doesn't exist. But his approach is that he started with the mind in explaining things. It's more on philosophical things.

Now often in his teachings he emphasized very much about "Byin-rlabs", in Tibetan meaning "blessing". In the Tantric practice of Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism in general, and especially the Kagyu lineage which was founded by Gampopa, it's very much based on devotional practices, but you have to have the next - "Dadpa", which means devotion or faith or confidence, something like that. Without "Dadpa" you can not get the blessings, without receiving the blessings it's nothing, it's meaningless to practice. So he emphasized again and again on practices of " Dadpa". You have to find a good teacher. Qualified teacher here for him means a teacher who has teachings from another teacher, with continuation of the lineage, not a teacher who just studied from a book and then teaches. So a teacher who has oral transmissions, who holds the transmissions of the lineage, who is full of kindness, who has the Bodhicitta, and that's the qualified teacher for him. So he said the person may not have the devotion or "Dadpa" at the beginning, so first the devotion would be artificial or false devotion, he said, but after some time - that helps - it became natural or authentic "Dadpa" and that's the time you open your mind and you can receive the blessings and understand the true meaning.

So go to the next (Rinpoche turned around to the whiteboard to point at the word he wrote) "Gdam-ngag" in Tibetan or "upadesa" in Sanskrit which means "advice". There're some differences between Gdam-ngag and advice, but generally it means advice. And I think Gampopa's special thing is about his Gdam-ngag. He is very good about giving examples. He gave teachings always with examples and it helps us to remember his teachings. I will just give you the examples that he gave. He said to practice Buddha's teachings in the right way, we have to practice like somaeone using a guitar, not too tight, not too loose. So he said "upaya", which means method or skillful means in Sanskrit and "prajna" meaning wisdom in Sanskrit: you know what it is and you know how to do it. Sometimes when you deal with people, you know what is truth, for example what this person did wrong, but you may not want to tell him directly because it may not work. You have to respect other people. So it's finding the right timing, right place, right speech, right tone, right expressions. Even though you are right and this person is wrong, you have to find all these right things to make everything successful. Even though the other person understands when you explain, he may not accept it, because there could be any reason - could be loosing face or other reasons - so skillful means like that are important.

So he said: Practice Dharma not only with wisdom that you know the truth but also with skillful means and these two should go together all the time, and not too tight, not too loose just like a guitar. And wisdom is linked, wisdom is not only to know what to do and how to talk, not just that simple, but understanding the selflessness. And this is what divides Buddhist philosophy and non-Buddhist philosophy - accepting selflessness or not is what defines. Love and kindness - not only Buddhist but many other schools or religions profess the same thing. To do better, to become a good person, all these are there and the faith, but the selflessness is something very exclusive to the teachings of Buddhism, and Buddha said all the sufferings come from our self; when there is a self - "I" then there is others and "I " became very important, maybe the most important in the world and something related with me positively is important, and something related with that I don't like is unimportant. This kind of dualistic thing would start once there is "I". Then once these things are there you create karma; you do something to satisfy yourself, to make yourself happy, and by doing so you may hurt others and then you will get reaction from others and then you have to react back and forth, so there is a vicious circle continuously.

There are many ways to reduce sufferings but nothing will uproot the sufferings unless you can understand selflessness, that is the base and foundation of all Buddhist teachings. But we can not do it immediately, so the method is first we have to train our mind to think that everybody is equal - equalizing. Everyone just as I feel and everybody feels the same way; so we all want good things; we do not want bad experience; so I shouldn't hurt others; so the first thing is to practice equality and then about the selflessness. To find out which part of your body or mind or feeling is the "self". As you find your body is just a collection of cells and a collection of time. If you continue with that and analyze and contemplate on it then you will come closer and closer to understanding selflessness. So understanding selflessness and emptiness is called wisdom. Method and wisdom are two things one should practice if one wants to become a successful practitioner. So he gave the example of the guitar. He gave many examples: practice like a doctor, practice like the ground, the soil, practice like a wheel, practice like gold out of which you can make ornaments, which here means he understands that everybody, every human being by nature is like gold, is very pure; but you can make it better - if you make ornament out of it, make use of it, it becomes more precious.

So I will go to the next one (Rinpoche turned around) maybe if we have time we can come back to the second topic "Gdam-ngag".

Next one is "Thamal-shepa". In Tibetan it means ordinary mind - "Thamal" means ordinary, "Shepa" means mind. What do you think when you hear the word ordinary, what kind of picture do you get? (Rinpoche asked. Somaeone answered "unprejudged mind".) With thought or without thought? (answer: "without thought") O.K. it's quite good. Yeah, usually many people understand ordinary mind means ordinary people's mind. But that is not what he was trying to say. So first " Thamal-shepa" was very important to him and you will see very often in his teachings he uses it again and again in this lineage, the Kaygu lineage more than any other schools. They say if you understand this, you don't have to know anything else, one for all. But if you know many other things and don't know this, then you still lack the most important thing and you don't get enlightenment. Later on they use a very a very special term "Karpujuto" - I don't know how to translate exactly, but it means there is a medicine which is good for all sicknesses, one pure thing that can cure everything. This term was criticized by some other scholars, but it was very important in this Kagyu lineage. Now what is this important thing, if you see that ordinary mind then you are enlightened. If you don't see it, Gampopa said no matter how much you know - all the Buddha's teachings, five domains of knowledge - epistemology, medicine, crafts - arts and crafts, literature and languages, studies of inner meanings which in this case is Buddhism or you can say spiritual knowledge. If you don't know this thing, then all the other things are meaningless. That's what he said. Now what is ordinary mind, ordinary mind is, according to him, the mind that is not deluded by the outside world, also the mined not deluded by worldly thoughts, the mind not deluded by drowsiness or wondering mind, not too much up and down. When you become drowsy you are about to fall asleep, then your mind is very dull, or when you can not concentrate you think this and that, and you are very excited, then your mind again is very high, not normal. So that kind of mind is the ordinary mind. If you can see that mind that means you understand the nature of mind and that also you understand emptiness, so this term is very important. He said if one understands this, then this person is enlightened instantly.

There was a great debate in Tibet between Indian masters and Chinese masters when Buddhism was first introduced to Tibet in the first monastery sponsored and built by the king of Tibet. The doctrines they taught had some differences. So there was a big debate for days and the topic was whether one can get enlightened instantly or gradually. Indians said gradually, Chinese said instantly. Actually there are many schools at that time, those who arrived in Tibet had a debate, I should say. Actually Gampopa taught both teachings. Sometimes he was talking about gradual practices. He said one has to find the right teacher and then study Dharma and then contemplate on the meaning and then do meditation. It takes time, you have to do patiently and eventually you will understand. Sometimes he said you can get enlightened instantly. So there are both.

And lastly I want to talk about "Chos.bzhi" - the Four Dharmas. This could be a separate topic because it's a very special thing, special teaching that Gampopa taught. but just to let you know roughly I want to talk a little bit about this. The Four Dharmas - this covers one persons practice from the level as a beginner to enlightenment, covering the whole thing and divided into four stages:

First is to turn the mind into Dharma. There are two kinds of situations. If people are afraid of bad karmic results of going to the hell realm or something like that, and then they want to practice Dharma because they did something wrong, that's your turning the mind to Dharma for some better result, not to go to lower realms, the lower part of the samsara. That's one kind of turning the mind to Dharma. The another one is the better one, the better quality that's not because you are afraid of going to lower realms but you want to get freedom from karma and the sufferings, you want to get out of the whole circle, so that's another kind that's the better or higher quality of turning the mind to Dharma.

The second one is that if you just turn your mind into Dharma, that's not enough that may not succeed, the Dharma you practice should go according to the path so your Dharma practice should go on the right track. There are actually two things that keep you on the track - one is to understand the whole world as an illusion, something you can see, touch and feel and you can communicate with but in reality something that doesn't exist. So what it is and what it appears to be are the two things: it appears in a different way from what it is. If you think appearance is what it is then you are trapped again in the ignorance, then you don't get the freedom to understand everything as an illusion. Seeing something you can see but not truly existent in that way is one method, and the other thing is Bodhicitta, the loving kindness.

There are many kinds of loving kindness, for example, thinking that people don't understand the truth so they create bad karma, they do worse and worse, if somaeone says bad things to you and is very angry, negative to you, instead of reacting back immediately, maybe you can think that this person is controlled by ignorance, this person is creating bad karma not because of his or her wish but out of lack of control, out of ignorance. Just as if somebody hit you with a stick you won't be angry with the stick but with the person, similarly you should be angry with the anger inside this person and think that this person is creating bad karma because of ignorance. Then you may even feel more compassionate, with loving kindness towards him. So with those two things: understanding that things are like illusion, and compassion, loving kindness towards others will keep you on the right path.

The third one is that while you are on the right path, you may still fall into misunderstanding, wrong view. O.K. I will give you a very practical example. If you think Buddha exists, or just like I exist, it's the same problem. For the beginner, it's O.K. but as you approach, as you go further - Buddha said everything from the beginning to enlightenment, nothing exists and neither non-existence exist, so that's why it's not nihilism. If you attach to non-existence it's a problem that's even worse. (Rinpoche smiles) This is a very difficult part. If we can reach up to there that's o.k. That's good enough because our mind and our reasoning can reach to a certain level, then it stops, then it won't work. We are used to believe in one of the four extremes, actually basically two extremes - whether there is or isn't. That's very comfortable with us, we are used to it and if you go a little further you can say there are both existence and non-existence; there are neither existence nor non-existence. But the truth is beyond this. That is why our wisdom that we gain through our learning, hearing and studying and contemplating can only give you a rough picture of the ultimate truth, but from then you have to go through meditation and only from meditation can you experience something that you can not explain. It's very true even for very simple things.

Let's say apple, if somaeone asks what the taste is, then you have to say "sweet", but "sweet" doesn't represent what you taste because "sweet" is a word which has no connection at all with what you taste. It's a language which was created by somaeone who forced people to think that there is some connection, but actually the connection is in our mind, not in realty. If the taste of the fruit and sweet have the connection, people don't have to learn the language. The moment they taste the fruit they can still say it, but it's not like that. So you have to use many different words and say something like this, something like that, but you are actually not saying that. So if very simple things are so difficult to explain, the ultimate truth is even more difficult. So understanding things as illusions, as TV pictures will help you be protected from the two extremes of eternalism and nihilism. It's not that things exist eternally and at the same time it's not there, none or nothingness. Because Buddhism accepts appearance, what it appears to you will not hold you or trap you in samsara; only your clinging or attachment will trap you, not the appearance. So even if you are enlightened you can still see things, you can still understand. It's not that you become blind and deaf. You can still see the whole things - they won't obstruct you to get enlightened. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas don't deny appearance; they can not deny and they won't deny, so that's the third Dharma - the path which eliminates the mistaken thoughts. With understanding that things are illusion like you expel the mistaken thought of two extremes of eternalism and nihilism; at the same time, with the help of the Bodhicitta, loving kindness, you reduce or eliminate the self or selfishness, So that's how you eliminate the two main problems on your path to enlightenment.

The final one out of the Four Dharmas is how the mistaken thought can change into wisdom without abandoning it. Some teachings will tell that you have to abandon the wrong parts, mistaken thoughts, but here it's said you don't have to abandon; the mistaken thoughts can turn into wisdom by itself. So this is much higher level or deeper layer of the teaching. He said the point here is: mistaken or non-mistaken they both are mind; they are the same as mind. Even if you are mistaken your real mind is awareness. If the mind is not awareness it will just be like a table or stone which is a dead thing that can not perceive things, not to mention whether perceiving in the right way or wrong way - it has no power to perceive, there is no awareness itself. The mind is different, even if you say it's a wrong view but there is still a view so mind itself is always awakened in its nature, therefore again back to the "Thamal-shepa". From the moment it appears it is awareness and if our mind can realize that, your mistaken mind turn into wisdom. those are the four teachings of Dharma, and for Gampopa that is the time when you get enlightened.

So I will stop here. If you have questions you can ask me now?.

Q: How to distinguish the beginner's mind and the ordinary mind?

A: One thing - when you say beginner's' mind is defined by time but actually we have to be very careful. We should not think this is something that covers in the beginning part and not the later part - we should not think in that way. It's not something that is there when you are an ordinary person but when you become a Bodhisattva or Buddha you don't have. It's not like that. Something that continues all the time because the nature is the same. The nature of Buddha and the nature of beings are the same.

Q: Would you please distinguish between karma that we are forced to act and free will?

A: o.k. It's like this: Karma is divided into two parts - the cause and the effect. The effect part karma is unchangeable; they decide and they force you. For example, because of your good karma you are born in a good family, you have good luck, you are happy you have good friends so everything is there set up, and you just receive the results, you are just experiencing it. But the cause part of the karma is up to you. You decide what you want to do. So that's why about 50% of karma, the karma of the future is under your control but what you are getting now is not under your control, it's under control of the karma that you created or you accumulated, but it's again a vicious circle. Because of some negative karmas we have created we are born or exist in unfavorable situations which give us more chances to do bad things. When we are in good environments, maybe we don't have to do or don't come across to do bad things - lesser chances, and that's the result of previous karma and that causes you to do similar things again, and it keeps you in a circle. That's the samsara.

Q: Would you please tell what the pure state of mind is?

A: Usually it's always in that state. For everybody the mind itself is in the pure state but the thought disturbs everything so we don't see it. When you do meditation for a very short time, you may experience in that state but you can not catch it, can not realized it first. The first problem is that you can not realize, the second problem is when you realize you think "Oh, I realized". And that's the problem. When the thought comes and you feel good, it disappears. That's why people have to meditate for a long time.