Suffering and liberation

Chapter one: Suffering and liberation

In order to destroy ignorance and cleanse the habits of clinging to true existence, it is essential to realise the wisdom of emptiness. Practitioners who follow the step-by-step Buddha Dharma practice should first practice renunciation and Bodhicitta. No matter what lineage you follow, without the foundation of renunciation and Bodhicitta, and directly trying to understand emptiness, it is impossible to realise the Mahayana practice.

Unfortunately, nowadays many practitioners do not consider their abilities and make progress. They admire others who can discuss Buddhist theories in depth, have vast knowledge, and reach certain meditation levels. They may discuss a lot, but they still have very heavy burdens of afflictions. There are many Vajrayana practitioners, who think that practicing the preliminaries delays their progress, maintaining that the preliminary practice should progress faster. They often take part in retreats or seek major instructions, and visit great teachers. In fact, for the majority of practitioners, without the proper foundation and the requisite elements, directly practicing emptiness will not produce good results. Like painting on a wall, if there is no wall, how can you paint?

No matter which lineage of the Buddha Dharma you follow, only contemplating the theory is far from enough. You should implement the theory in daily life to train your mind and tackle afflictions. When in the process of purifying body, speech, and mind the practice of hearing and contemplation only stays at that level and does not penetrate your mind, then the mind will not change significantly. It is like a blind person sitting in a lecture hall without seeing anything, or the stones lying on a dry river bed. Similarly, only understanding the theories but not putting them into practice in daily life, even though you may obtain many teachings or meet with many great masters, it will not help to purify your mind. Wherever you go, afflictions will follow, like a hungry person only looking at the food but still waiting to eat.

In integrating hearing, contemplation and cultivation, practice with perseverance without seeking short-cuts. Even the Buddha himself only attained enlightenment through his long-term diligent practice. Conquering afflictions needs time, stamina and patience. Do not waste your time on distractions and still hope that one day some external force will bring you liberation. The great teacher, Buddha, once said, “I have taught you the way to liberation, but your liberation depends on yourself.”

Liberation through the Great Perfection

Before selecting a lineage, you should research into it and make sure that it suits your abilities. In this way you can avoid switching to other lineages halfway. Some people switch many times, changing teachers and lineages, this is due to a lack of understanding and research beforehand. It wastes a lot of time and hinders your progress. This is not to say that you cannot change a lineage, but you should make the decision carefully.

The vehicles or yanas mentioned earlier are defined differently in Exoteric and Esoteric Buddhism: there are three vehicles, five vehicles, seven vehicles, nine vehicles, and so on. The Tibetan Buddhist Nyingma tradition defines the trans-mundane vehicles as Exoteric and Esoteric vehicles, Nine Yānas in total. Within Exoteric Buddhism there is Sravakayana, the Vehicle of the Listeners or disciples.

The Pratyekabuddhayana (Theravada), the Vehicle of the Solitary Buddhas, is the way of solitary meditation. The Bodhisattvayana (Mahayana) is the Great Vehicle, the Vehicle of Enlightened Beings. Within Exoteric Tantra there are Kriya Tantra, Carya Tantra, and Yoga Tantra. In Esoteric Tantra there are Mahayoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga. The Great Perfection is Atiyoga, the pinnacle of the nine yanas. The Great Perfection consists of the Mind series, the Space series, and the pith instruction series. The pith instructions consist of outer, inner, Esoteric Tantra and Ultra-Esoteric Tantra. The Ultra-Esoteric Tantra consists of Eighteen Texts, the core essence of which is integrated. There are Pandita and Kusulu practices. The Pandita practice constitutes The Seven Treasuries of Longchen Rabjampa. The Kusulu practices are Khandro Nyingtik by Padmasambhava and Vima Nyingtik by Vimalamitra. These two are the mother Nyingtik, while the subsidiary Nyingtik also include Khandro Yangtik and Lama Yangtik. The essence of Khandro Nyingtik and Vima Nyingtik is Longchen Nyingtik.

After understanding the level of the teachings, we should also research into the lineage. The purity of the lineage will determine the successful outcome. The lineage of the Yachen Monastery is mentioned in the article in Gyalwai Nyugu Rinpoche’s Bibliography.

The Great Perfection is a fast track Mahayana path, suitable for all types of people of various abilities. People with diligence and high level of ability can progress rapidly. People with lesser abilities, as long as they practice diligently according to the lineage requirements, can also succeed. As long as they have confidence in this path, no matter whether they are lay practitioners or monks and nuns, they can also reach enlightenment through rigorous practice. Therefore, we should not feel inferior, but we have to believe that we may also succeed.

Even though the Great Perfection is a precious practice, suitable for all types of abilities, it may not be appropriate for everyone to start with the profound concepts right from the beginning. The Great Perfection contains profound concepts; it also has many methods to improve the abilities of practitioners step by step. I often remind my students “during the Age of Dharma Decline, sentient beings do not have sufficient abilities. We should not reach for what is beyond our grasp; rather we should practice resolutely, step by step, according to the lineage requirements. Through this practice, our ability will increase along the way and our view will be more closely attuned to the Great Perfection. Only when the Dharma and our ability match, will our practice be synthesised with the Dharma. If we neglect the foundations and are only eager to pursue the profound practices, the result will be like using ice cubes to build a house, and everything will be in vain.”

This is a brief introduction of the Great Perfection on how to tackle afflictions according to the lineage requirements.

First of all, practice the four outer preliminaries: the precious human life, the impermanence of life, the infallibility of cause and effect, the suffering of samsara. Transform your mind so that you do not cling onto the temporary happiness in samsara and turn to the Buddha Dharma. You have to generate the determination to abandon samsara. Through the practice of renunciation, you can reduce your grasping to mundane well-being and reduce your gross afflictions. If you do not practice the outer preliminaries resolutely, your renunciation will not be stable.

Secondly, practice the inner preliminaries. Establish your foundation within the inner preliminary practices by taking refuge and complying with the refuge precepts. To avoid entering into the three lower realms, all good deeds contribute to the merit leading to liberation. Without taking refuge in the Three Jewels, you cannot raise faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and without faith you will not receive any blessings when practicing. Through meditating on the four boundless qualities, cultivate equanimity, compassion and loving kindness, raise relative Bodhicitta. Fill your mind with compassion and loving kindness, and thereby reduce clinging to the self. Your mind becomes vast and with equanimity. Without the aspiration of achieving Buddhahood in order to benefit all suffering sentient beings, you cannot enter the door of Mahayana, let alone practice Vajrayana. Through the practice of Vajrasattva, mandala offering, Kusulu practices, and so on, you purify your negative karma and accumulate merit. When you accumulate merit, your body, speech and mind are clearer, and your afflictions will be more insignificant. Through practicing Guru Yoga, you adapt your body, speech and mind to that of the Guru.

When practicing the Outer and Inner Preliminaries, give rise to deep and strong motivation, rather than just going through the motions. Thereafter, hear, contemplate, and meditate on the pith instructions of the Great Perfection taught by the Guru. When we realise the view of emptiness through meditation, our ability in tackling afflictions will be greater. With the steady reinforcement of meditation, our view of emptiness will become more and more stable. At the right moment, we will realise that all outer circumstances and inner thoughts are appearances of the wisdom of our mind; therefore we can destroy the wrong view of attachment and of true existence. When we realise that all that we pursue in all our lifetimes is as real as a mirage, we will naturally abandon the attachments. As a result, the outer circumstances and inner thoughts will affect us less, our mind will become delicate, agile and unrestrained, and our ability in conquering afflictions will be very strong.

After realisation of the view of liberation of the Great Perfection we should maintain diligent practice. Our view of liberation will become more stable and the liberation of our afflictions will be quicker, like snowflakes in summer melting the moment they touch the ground. When continuing and maintaining the state of being one with the true nature of mind, all afflictions are the majestical, moment by moment manifestation of the true nature of mind, just like on the island on which everything is made of gold there is no dirt to be found. The Yogis, who realise the true nature of the mind, are without afflictions, without hope or fear; in their perception, all outer phenomena are the pure land, their mind is as vast as space, they see the scenes in samsara as naturally as the view in one’s courtyard, without any limitation. They can transform into a myriad of different Nirmanakaya manifestations to benefit countless sentient beings. This is the perfect liberation.

A very important point to emphasise is that the progress of mind training should be guided by experienced teachers, otherwise you can easily derail onto the wrong path. True realisation can only be reached through the guidance and blessing of enlightened teachers. Due to our different abilities and different stages of practice, we adapt to different methods. It is important to select a suitable path, a pure lineage, a teacher with great merit, and practice step by step following his guidance.

Those who would like to practice the Great Perfection should obtain oral teachings from a recognised teacher, starting with the Outer Preliminaries, followed by the Inner Preliminaries, Guru Yoga, and the Great Perfection pith instructions. Under the guidance of the Guru, practice diligently step by step, this is the requirement of the lineage. The great Guru Lama Achuk Rinpoche said, “I’m a practitioner with lesser ability and I have practiced step by step following the lineage requirements.” The Guru has such a high level of realisation and yet he is still so modest, and we as students should also follow the step by step requirements and practice diligently. This is the most reliable and secure way of practicing.

Of course, there are some practitioners with a high level of ability. The special feature of this lineage is that the Dharma is taught according to the student’s ability. Currently, the Root guru of the author, HH Lama Rinpoche’s teachings are the mind lineage of the Conquerors, the symbol lineage of the Vidyadharas, and the oral transmission lineage of Pudgala. These are the three main methods of the transmission of the Great Perfection.

This chapter is part of: Introduction Course - Part 1: Renunciation