September 25, 2019

Cultivating the Three Wisdoms in Degenerate Times

“It is very precious to receive and study the Buddha’s teachings. It’s like bringing light into darkness. If we don’t first study the teachings, it’s like trying to climb a mountain without any hands. We must study and contemplate, and then apply the teachings in meditation to go beyond mere intellectual understanding, and bring certainty wisdom of the teaching into our hearts. We must do all three of these things to bring about the desired result.
The three wisdoms of (1) listening, (2) contemplation, and (3) meditation are very important, particularly in these degenerate times. The great master Longchenpa said that in ancient times when the time was perfect, students would instantly achieve realization the moment they received teachings. Why did this happen? The teachers were highly enlightened beings, the students were full of devotion, enthusiasm, and joy, and without any doubt or hesitation, and the timing and circumstances were perfect. Yet according to the teachings of the Buddha, in these degenerate times, we generally don’t have as great of teachers and students as in ancient times. Everything is a little dim. Therefore we need these three wisdoms to usher our realization and understanding. We should not see them as insignificant—instead we should take them to heart and apply them in practice.”
Degenerate age (Tib. rtsod ldan; Skt. kaliyuga). The commonly heard expressions “degenerate age,”“age of dregs,” and “degenerate times” all technically refer to a kaliyuga, the last of four world cycles in traditional Hindu and Buddhist cosmology. In general, a degenerate age has five principal features: (1) beings are afflicted by war, famine, and illness; (2) the character of beings is declining and gross-level emotions and gross physicality are pervasive; (3) lifespan decreases dramatically in relation to other world cycles and will continue to decrease; (4) sentient beings continuously engage in the ten nonvirtuous actions; moreover, the extreme views of eternalism and nihilism are commonly accepted as correct; and (5) the obscurations of the five poisons—ignorance, attachment, anger, jealousy, and pride—are extremely powerful, such that worldly antidotes cannot easily reverse them.
Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
Supreme Wisdom: Commentary on Yeshe Lama (pgs 393 and 502)
 
Photo of Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche with his father, hidden Dzogchen Yogi Lama Chimed Namgyal at Padma Samye Ling in the 1990s.
Read more
August 28, 2019

The Whole Point of Taking Buddhist Vows

 
The Three Vows of Foundational, Mahayana, and Vajrayana Buddhism
by Ngari Panchen
with commentary by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche
by Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche
 
Year 1: Foundational Buddhism
Lay Vinaya Vows
 
The three sets of vows (Skt. trisaṃvara; Tib. སྡོམ་གསུམ་, dom sum; Wyl. sdom gsum) are:
 
1. vows of pratimoksha or of individual liberation (Tib. སོ་ཐར་གྱི་སྡོམ་པ་, sotar gyi dompa)
 
2. bodhisattva vows (Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡོམ་པ་, changchub sempé dompa)
 
3. samayas of the secret mantrayana (Tib. གསང་སྔགས་ཀྱི་སྡོམ་པ་, sang ngag kyi dompa)
 
www.padmasambhava.org/event/psl-philosophical-shedra-topic-tba
Read more
August 27, 2019

Fortunate and Connected

Which human beings are “fortunate and connected?” They are the ones who generate love, compassion, and devotion, as well as the commitment to remain steadfast on the path until all beings are liberated.
The single word that encompasses all of these beautiful qualities is bodhichitta. The meaning of bodhichitta is “courageous for enlightenment.” When bodhichitta blossoms in the center of our hearts and we are really determined, enlightenment is not far away.
During Shigpo Dudtsi’s time there were many people who met great masters, received teachings, and even practiced, yet they did not complete the journey. They missed their opportunity. This happened not only during Shigpo Dudtsi’s time, but during the times of Guru Padmasambhava and the Buddha as well. It is important that we do not let this happen to ourselves.”
Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
The Beauty of Awakened Mind (pgs 11-12)
Read more
August 26, 2019

Practice Now

“At last we have the means to completely remove all our ignorance. We should practice this very moment without putting it off.”
 
Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
The Beauty of Awakened Mind: The Dzogchen Lineage of the Great Master Shigpo Dudtsi (pg 111)
Read more
August 25, 2019

Going for Refuge

Happy Dakini Day!

“In order to explore our buddha-nature and journey toward enlightenment, we must understand the meaning of taking refuge. To take refuge daily is the most essential practice in all the schools of Buddhism. The Tibetan word for refuge is chab, which means “protection” and implies feelings of closeness, warmth, and trust toward the Buddha, his teaching, and those who are devoted to making the teaching a living experience. The Indian Dzogchen master Vimalamitra said:

When we clearly know the suffering of samsara,
As well as the qualities of enlightened beings,
We can go for refuge.

Discouraged by samsaric situations and an unstable mind, we learn to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. As Chandragomin teaches in his Seventy Verses on Refuge:

Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha
Are the supporters of those who seek liberation.
Taking refuge in them
Brings freedom from suffering.

Taking refuge can be seen as returning to our home, to the essence of who we really are. We have become confused through our dualistic actions and separated ourselves from our true nature. Of course, we can come and go as we please, yet once we have taken refuge, we will finally arrive at our permanent address. Knowing our true home inspires great confidence and freedom from hope and fear.

Each of us has buddha-nature. But this cause alone cannot develop the result of enlightenment; it needs supporting conditions. By taking refuge, we invite the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha to be conditions for our path. Just as a seed will not develop without the necessary conditions of moisture, heat and sunlight, similarly the seed of our buddha nature needs the assistance of the three jewels. As given in The Ten Dharmas Sutra:

Those without devotion will not have realization,
Just as a seed that is burnt will not grow.

We should take refuge with deep devotion, joy, and confidence. This is the spirit of taking refuge. It is as Guru Rinpoche says:

Without confidence in devotion
The blessings of the three jewels are far from you.

When the great master Atisha came to Tibet in the 11th century, he recited the refuge formula continuously and offered this teaching to many Tibetans. People called him the “Refuge Teacher,” and some thought this was all he knew. But long before Atisha came to Tibet, he was a great scholar at Vikramashila, a monastic university that was comparable to Nalanda. The reason he focused on taking refuge was because of its importance in establishing a firm foundation for practice.”

 

Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
Illuminating The Path: Ngondro Instructions According to the Nyingma School of Vajrayana Buddhism (pgs 80-85)
The Buddhist Path (pg 23-25)

Read more
August 24, 2019

Celebrating the first day of the PSL Shedra Philosophy Retreat on the Pratimoksha Vows of Foundational Buddhism!

The Three Vows of Foundational, Mahayana, and Vajrayana Buddhism
by Ngari Panchen
with commentary by His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche
by Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche

Year 1: Foundational Buddhism
Lay Vinaya Vows

The three sets of vows (Skt. trisaṃvara; Tib. སྡོམ་གསུམ་, dom sum; Wyl. sdom gsum) are:

1. vows of pratimoksha or of individual liberation (Tib. སོ་ཐར་གྱི་སྡོམ་པ་, sotar gyi dompa)
2. bodhisattva vows (Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡོམ་པ་, changchub sempé dompa)
3. samayas of the secret mantrayana (Tib. གསང་སྔགས་ཀྱི་སྡོམ་པ་, sang ngag kyi dompa)

www.padmasambhava.org/event/psl-philosophical-shedra-topic-tba

 

Read more
August 8, 2019

Removing the Root

“Due to the contradiction between our continuous clinging to phenomena, and the fact that these same phenomena are always changing and dissolving, we’re continually disturbed by ego-clinging and can’t function in a balanced state. Whenever we’re disturbed by the negativity of our ego-clinging, we don’t maintain proper control or balance. Ego-clinging generates attachment, and as long as there is attachment, there is desire and a constant craving for more and more. When our desire is challenged, we respond with anger, which instantly causes unpleasantness to arise, bringing with it many more negative emotions that get stirred up. In order to regain our balance and once again become joyful and peaceful, it’s essential to remove attachment and clinging, together with their root: ego-clinging.”
Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
Uprooting Clinging: A Commentary on Mipham Rinpoche’s Wheel of Analytic Meditation (pgs 68-69)
Read more
August 5, 2019

Padma Samye Ling Stupa Ground Blessing Ceremony Celebrating Chokhor Duchen

Padma Samye Ling Stupa Ground Blessing Ceremony
by Ven. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche

 

 

Celebrating Chokhor Duchen, the anniversary of when Buddha Shakyamuni first taught the Dharma! August 4, 2019

A 20 foot Enlightenment Stupa will be placed in the center, surrounded by the following 12 foot stupas in the four directions: a Heaped Lotuses Stupa, a Many Doors Stupa; a Complete Victory Stupa; and a Mahaparinirvana Stupa.

These five stupas honor and commemorate Buddha Shakyamuni’s birth, enlightenment, teaching the Dharma, extending his life, and mahaparinirvana.

They are made entirely of solid volcanic rock, and are being hand-carved in Indonesia by an expert craftsman.

 

 

The Noble Stainless Beams of Light Sutra states:

“Noble sons and daughters! Whoever circumambulates or make offerings to a stupa will be blessed by Tathagatas, move to the supreme enlightened state through a non-returning path, and purify all of their karmic obscurations. Even if the shadow of a stupa touches birds, animals, deer, or whomever, they will not be reborn in the lower realms.”

 

Learn how you can join the magic!
www.padmasambhava.org/psl-meadow-stupa-garden

 

 

 

Padma Samye Ling
618 Buddha Highway
Sidney Center, NY 13839
(607) 865-8068

Read more
1 2 3 4 5 … 34

Copyright © Padmasambhava Buddhist Center at Padma Samye Ling. All rights reserved.