The Inseparability of Samsara and Nirvana

by His Holiness Sakya Trizin

This world that we live in has many different races, cultures, religions and philosophies. Among these, one single wish is shared: to be free from suffering. Everybody wishes to be happy. Every individual, every community, every nation dedicates all its efforts to the attainment of happiness. Due to the efforts that we have already made, tremendous progress has been achieved in technology and science. However, have we really achieved the goal that we are seeking happiness? It is very clear that unless outer material progress is linked with inner spiritual progress, the present progress will bring more suffering, rather than more happiness. There is much that needs to be accomplished; many things need to be done, and many wishes need to be fulfilled in our lives. The most important thing that needs to be accomplished, however, is spiritual development. Only through spiritual development can we make our minds attain real peace and happiness.

And so, the most important thing in our life is spiritual practice. There are many different religions and many different teachings that preach spiritual practices. Each one of these major teachings has its own beauty and its own way of helping mankind solve its problems. What is lacking, however, is the actual application of these teachings to our daily lives. Because of this, we are afflicted by a great deal of suffering and a multitude of problems. Therefore, in order to attain individual peace, and to establish peace and happiness not only within our local communities but in the world as a whole, it is very important for every individual to make an effort in their spiritual development. If we exert ourselves, we will find the potential to change the world.

We have access to the same teachings that brought great masters to achieve realisations. These were originally ordinary persons like us, but they made the necessary effort to achieve the realisation. So if we work hard, there is no reason why we cannot succeed. It is very important for us to understand the teachings. Also whatever practice we learn, we need to apply to our daily life. Following is a general outline of the basic teachings of the Sakya Tradition.

The great Lord Buddha created the enlightenment thought for the benefit of all beings without any exception. His purpose was to remove each and every sentient being from the suffering of samsara and lead them to enlightenment. By the time He meditated under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, the Buddha had accumulated infinite amounts of wisdom and compassion, and had finally attained perfect enlightenment. He was now free from all forms of obscurations and had acquired every conceivable quality.

After attaining enlightenment, the Buddha performed many great physical activities, voice activities and primordial wisdom activities. Among all the great activities that He performed, the most important activity was the voice activity: the turning of the wheel of Dharma. Through the turning of the wheel of dharma, He taught what He had realised, so that sentient beings could also enter onto the path and eventually attain enlightenment. And so, the Buddha’s most important activity was the turning of the wheel of Dharma.

Just as space has no limits, the number of sentient beings that inhabit it has no limits. These numberless sentient beings are all different. We each have different minds, different mentalities, different propensities, different tastes, and so forth. And so, in order to suit every level of mentality and every propensity, the Buddha gave many different teachings, a hugely vast array of teachings. Just as we need different medicines in order to cure different diseases, similarly the Buddha gave many different teachings to help different levels of sentient beings.

There are many different types of teachings. These can be divided according to the time when they were given- the first Dharmachakra, or turning of the wheel, the second Dharmachakra, and the third Dharmachakra. They can also be divided according to subject - the Tripitaka, or Three Baskets of the Buddha’s teachings, comprises three kinds of teachings: the Vinaya, the Sutras and the Abhidharma.

The purpose of turning the wheel of Dharma is to tame our minds, which are so caught up in defilements. Since beings are afflicted by three defilements, the Buddha gave three teachings as their antidote. The Buddha taught the Vinaya in order to establish proper moral conduct - how to lead a virtuous and disciplined life as an antidote to desire, the first defilement.

As an antidote to the second defilement, hatred, the Buddha taught the Sutras in which He explained the different types of meditation that we can use to tame our minds. And finally, as an antidote to ignorance, the Buddha gave teachings on wisdom in the Abhidharma.

Followers can be divided into two types: whose who follow the lower path, or the smaller goal, and those who follow the higher path or the great goal. This is why there are two vehicles, the Hinayana and the Mahayana. Mahayana itself is divided into two paths: the cause yana and the result yana. The basic Mahayana is referred to as the cause Mahayana because it requires a long time to work on the cause and to achieve the result. Mantrayana or Vajrayana, on the other hand, is called the result yana because its practice makes it easier and quicker to achieve the result. According to the Mantrayana, the result is present from the very beginning and can be taken into the path. This is why it is called the result yana. Although Buddhism originated in India and spread to many different countries, it would seem that only in Tibet do we have all the different levels of teaching: the Hinayana, the Mahayana, and the Vajrayana. However, the practitioners are all Mahayana and combined with Vajrayana teachings.

And so, all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism belong to the Mahayana vehicle, and their practice integrates Vajrayana’s methods and techniques. All the major schools that exist today bear absolutely no difference, from the creation of the enlightenment thought and the view of shunyata or emptiness, to final enlightenment. The only difference that one can point to is in that each school has its particular lineage, whereby the teachings originated in India and then came to Tibet through translators and masters, who created different lineages. Although each lineage places emphasis on different aspects of the teachings, for example some stress philosophical training, others meditation, their goal and achievement are identical.

Today the Sakya school has many different teachings: sutra teachings, mantrayana teachings, and many of the other sciences, but the most important teaching that we have in our tradition is the Lamdre teaching, which means the path that includes the result. The main teachings started in India by the great Virupa, one of the eighty-four mahasiddhas. He was born into a royal family. From a very young age, he had very special qualities and already viewed all samsara as suffering; and so, early in his life, he renounced his station and became a monk. He entered the great monastery of Nalenda where he excelled in the knowledge and practice of the Mantrayana teachings. He became so renowned for his learning that after the passing away of his teacher, he succeeded him as abbot of Nalenda Monastery. During the daytime he gave Mahayana teachings to the monks, taught debate and composed texts; but at night, in the intimacy of his monk’s cell, he assiduously practised Mantrayana. Although he practised for a very long period of time, he received no significant signs and eventually became disillusioned.

And so one night, convinced that he didn’t have a karmic connection with tantric practice, he threw his rosary into the latrine and vowed to henceforth dedicate himself exclusively to teaching Mahayana. That very might, Vajra Nairatmya appeared to him and remonstrated him. “Noble son, do not act in this way. Pick up your rosary, clean it, and take up your practice again. I am your karmic deity and I will bestow my blessings upon you”. The following night, Nairatmya again appeared to him, this time in her mandala of fifteen goddesses, and she bestowed upon him the four initiations, upon which he attained the first bhumi. From that evening onwards, Virupa attained a new bhumi each night and, on the night of the twentyninth day, he became a bodhisattva of the sixth bhumi, a great mahasiddha. He then left his monastery and performed many great miracles, subduing many evil forces and converting those who were on the wrong path. Just by hearing his name, people were cured of their ignorance.

He had many general followers, but Krishnapa and Dombipa were the two main disciples to whom he gave pith instructions. To Krishnapa, he gave the very brief teaching known as the Vajra Verses, which comprises the essence of the entire Tripitaka and Vajrayana. As butter is extracted from milk, the essence of the Buddha’s sutras and tantric teachings is condensed into these pith instructions. Krishnapa then passed the teaching on to his closest disciples, five great Indian gurus. One of these was called Gayadhara, who came to Tibet many times, and gave this teaching to the great translator Drogmi Lotsawa. Drogmi Lotsawa was the first Tibetan to receive this Lamdre teaching. He was a highly accomplished master and many of his male and female disciples attained great realisations. To these he gave general tantra explanations and the pith instructions separately. He would not give the general tantric explanations to the disciples who received the pith instructions, and he would not give pith instructions to those who received the general teachings; he would not give both at the same time, to prevent the teachings from becoming distorted.

Among the disciples to whom he gave these teachings was Seton Kunrik, who attained high realisations and in turn passed them on to Zhangton Chobar. The latter was a hidden yogi, who appeared to the public eye as an ordinary labourer, who worked other people’s fields. As he could emanate his body to several places, he could work many people’s fields at the same time. He transmitted the teachings to the great Lama Sakyapa, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo of the Khön lineage.

The Khön lineage is believed to have descended from celestial beings who came down to the human realm. Of three brothers who came, two returned to their realm, while one stayed and settled in Tibet. With him began a lineage called ‘The Clear Light Race”. One of his descendants, Yapang Kye, subdued local spirits called Rakshas and took a Raksha wife, after which the lineage took the name of Khön, which it maintains until today.

The Khöns were formerly Bön practitioners, but in the eighth century, the great Indian abbot Sangharakshita came to Tibet and gave ordination to eight Tibetans, including a member of the Khön family. Many subsequent generations of the Khöns were henceforth devout Nyingmapa practioners. But during Khön Konchok’s time, it was felt that the teachings were becoming corrupted and that it was necessary to start a new school. Konchok Gyalpo had the ancient teachings buried and founded the Sakya Order, with the building of the first Sakya Monastery in 1073.

Khön Konchok’s was a disciple of Drogmi Lotsawa and received from him the general tantric teachings. These he subsequently transmitted to his son, the great Lama Sakyapa Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, who also was given the pith instructions by Zhangton Chobar. As he gave them, Zhangton Chobar gave strict instructions to Lama Sakyapa not to disclose them to anyone for eighteen years, not even to speak their name. After eighteen years, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo would be the owner of this great teaching.

So for eighteen years, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo didn’t so much as mention the name of the Lamdre to anyone and kept it completely secret. In the meantime, he studied and mastered the teachings. The great Lama Sakyapa was an emanation of both Manjushri and Avalokiteshvara, a manifestation of all the Buddhas’ wisdom and compassion combined. He was, in reality, a fully enlightened being but he took a human form and followed his human destiny as perceivable by the common eye.

And so it is that, at one point during these eighteen years, he fell ill and forgot most of the precious teachings. As these were strictly oral teachings, and had not been put to writing, he became very worried. His guru had passed away, and the teachings were extremely difficult to find - they were only practised in India, in the secrecy of high mountains or deep forests. Even if he travelled to India, it would prove difficult for him to find the teachings. As he prayed to his guru Zhangton Chobar, the latter appeared to him in a dream and gave him the teachings again, jogging Lama Sakyapa’s memory. Again he prayed, and again his guru appeared to him and gave him the teachings. By now, Sachen Kunga Nyingpo remembered most of the teachings. As he continued praying, the great mahasiddha Virupa, founder of the Lamdre, which he had received directly from the deity, appeared to him in the sky, his body dominating the whole of the Sakya mountain. As he spoke these words:” This earth belongs to me.”, he gave to Lama Sakyapa the full Lamdre teaching, along with many pith instructions and several additional teachings. The great Lama Sakyapa was now the owner of all the Buddha’s teachings. Sachen Kunga Nyingpo gave the teaching to his sons and to many of his disciples, and the Lamdre was passed on from master to disciple in an unbroken lineage that is still alive today.

The Lamdre teaching is very profound and very vast. Although it is a single teaching, it can be practised in many different ways. People who follow the gradual path will begin with the Hinayana path, then the Mahayana, then the Vajrayana. For those people who follow the direct path, it depends upon their individual state of mind and their karmic connections. There are very many different ways to present the Lamdre teachings to disciples. The common way to teach it is by dividing it into two parts: the preliminary part and the main part.

The preliminary part is included in the preliminary teaching known as the Triple Vision. The Triple Vision refers to the base, the path and the result or, in other words, the impure vision, the vision of experience and the pure vision. The base is contained in sentient beings. Due to their karma and defilements, sentient beings experience the impure vision, the reality that that we, as ordinary beings, perceive. Then there is the vision of experience, as perceived by yogis who have engaged in the path and whose meditation has changed their perception. Finally, after great effort, the practitioner attains the result, which is the pure vision, and finally Buddhahood.

Every tradition has its preliminary part - the initial practice of all the paths, the root of all dharma and the foundation of all vows. As Buddhists, the first thing we do when we enter the path is to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Our very first meditations are divided into three parts: taking refuge and creating the enlightenment thought, practising the main part of the meditation, and ending with the dedication of merits.

Taking refuge is the same in every school. Normally we divide the refuge into five parts: the cause, the object, the way, the benefit and the rules of refuge. The cause refers to why we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and this can be out of fear, faith or compassion. The object is the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. In Mahayana, the Buddha is the one who possesses the three kayas - the dharmakaya, the sambhogakaya and the nirmanakaya; the Dharma is the teaching that leads us to realisation; and the Sangha refers to the assembly of great bodhisattvas that have already reached the irreversible state. The Buddha is our guide, the Dharma is our path, and the Sangha are our spiritual companions.

The benefit of taking refuge is immense. As it is said in the scriptures regarding the merit of taking refuge, if the latter had a physical form, there wouldn’t be enough space in the entire universe to accommodate it. It is boundless.

Then there are rules: general rules and individual rules. The first general rule is that, no matter what, even at the cost of our life, we should never give up the Triple Gem, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Secondly, whatever happens, we should always seek the guidance and the blessing of the Triple Gem. The third rule is that we should continuously make offering to the Triple Gem, and the fourth is that we should practice refuge diligently, from the bottom of our hearts. The fifth and last rule is that, wherever we are, whatever we do, we should always remember the Triple Gem. The specific rules are that we cannot take refuge in worldly deities, harm any sentient being, taking non-believers as our friends, show disrespect to any representation of the Buddha, Dharma or Sangha.

And so, the first thing we do when we embark on the path, is to take refuge. Next, we need to develop the enlightenment thought (bodhicitta). The essence of the enlightenment thought is the altruistic wish to benefit all beings. Like taking refuge, creating the enlightenment thought is an essential part of the preliminary practice. In order to produce the enlightenment thought, we need to develop renunciation.

The next thing we need to do in our preliminary practice is to meditate. For this, there are three steps to follow. The first is to meditate on why we need to develop renunciation; the second is to meditate on the difficulty of obtaining a precious human life; and the third is to meditate on the law of karma.

In order to develop renunciation, the Lamdre gives a detailed explanation of the impure vision. This is in accordance with the first turning of the wheel of Dharma by the Lord Buddha, in which He taught the four noble truths - the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the cessation of suffering, and the truth of the path to the cessation of suffering.

In order to be free from suffering, we must begin by understanding its nature. Just a when we are sick and need treatment, we must first know the nature of our disease. And so, the first noble truth, the truth of suffering must be thoroughly understood. The teachings give an extensive explanation of the suffering of samsara. There are three types of suffering: the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and the suffering of the conditional nature of all things. The suffering of suffering refers to the tangible suffering that we all experience: physical pain, mental anxiety, and so forth. Beings in the lower realms - the hell realms, the hungry ghost realm and the animal realm - continuously and intensely experience the suffering of suffering, whereas beings in the higher realms - the human realm, the demi-god realm and the god realm, beings experience a mixture of suffering and happiness.

In reality, there is no such mixture. First of all, we experience the suffering of physical pain and mental anxiety. And then, we also experience the suffering of change, which means that everything that is created by causes and conditions is impermanent. Anything that is impermanent causes suffering. This means that the external world as we experience it is subject to change, much like the change in seasons. Change also occurs continually in our own existence, for example with our growing older, with our losing loved ones, and so forth. Everything is in a state of change.

The third kind of suffering is the suffering of the conditional nature of all things. What we normally look upon as being happy feelings or indifferent feelings, we only do so in comparison with other feelings. In reality, there is no real happiness in samsara. Although certain parts of samsara are less painful and others are more so, there is not a single iota of samsara that is worth being attached to. Much like if food is mixed with poison, it doesn’t matter whether the food tastes good or bad, it is equally harmful.

And so, in order to arouse renunciation, the teaching emphasises meditation on suffering. And so, in order to fully arouse the renunciation thought, the compelling urge to free ourselves from suffering, we need to meditate extensively on the suffering that is experienced in each realm.

The second part of the preliminary meditations is to reflect on the difficulties of obtaining precious human birth. As ordinary beings, due to our karma and defilements, we perceive the impure vision. This impure vision comes from our own previous actions; in order to be free from this wheel of existence, we need to practise the Holy Dharma. And in order to practise the Holy Dharma, we need to obtain a precious birth as a base to do so.

This precious human birth is very rare and difficult to obtain. The cause of a human birth is the practice of virtuous deeds in previous lives, especially pure moral conduct, generosity and sincere prayers. Such a cause is very rare. If we look at the world today, how many people are there practising the spiritual path? Even among those who appear to be practising the Dharma, many are only practising outwardly and superficially. Since the cause is rare, the result is also very rare. So from the perspective of cause, precious human birth is very rare.

There seems to be so many people in the world; however, if you think about it, there are very few humans in relation to other beings. For example, it is very easy to count how many people live in one house; but it would be impossible to count how many different beings, including insects, there are in that same house. So from the point of view of the number of beings that exist in the universe, human birth is very rare.

If human birth itself is rare, all the more so is one that is endowed with the necessary attributes to practise the Dharma, such as freedom from all the unfavourable states of mind, and right conditions, such a being born at the time of a Buddha coming to this universe or at a time when a Buddha had given the teaching and the teaching is still a living tradition, and also being born with sound organs and enthusiasm to receive the teaching.

And so, we can see how difficult it is to encounter the Dharma. Therefore, we must realize how precious human life is, more precious than the wish-fulfilling jewel. The wish-fulfilling jewel is the most precious thing among all material things. It can bestow all our material requirements such as food, medicine, clothing, and so forth. However, it cannot bestow a higher rebirth, self-liberation, or enlightenment. Through this precious body and hard work, we can not only achieve higher rebirth and personal liberation, but even the ultimate enlightenment is within our reach. Therefore, we must not only intellectually understand the precious body, but we must also fully appreciate how precious and very rare it is, more valuable than the wish-fulfilling jewel. With something so precious, we understand that there is no greater loss than losing this very precious opportunity. If make use of this precious time, we will never know whether or when such an opportunity will present itself again. Therefore, it is very important for us to work when we have all the right conditions and are free from all the unfavourable states. We must fully understand the impermanent nature of our precious human life.

In other teachings, precious human birth and impermanence are treated separately but in this particular one, they are combined. The precious human birth that we have now is impermanent. Everything is impermanent, including our precious human birth. In the Sutras, it is said that the best offering we can offer to the Buddha is to reflect about impermanence, because reflecting about impermanence will turn us away from our attachments. Reflecting about impermanence will speed up our practice and our efforts on the spiritual path. Thinking about impermanence is a powerful antidote to suffering, and it will eventually help us to realise ultimate truth.

In this way, we must be mindful that this human existence that we are enjoying now has no definite lifespan. People can die even before they are born, or soon after birth, or when they are babies, or grownups, and so forth. Moreover, even if one is set to have a long lifespan, there is no guarantee that one will live it out, because anything can happen at any moment. Much the same as a butter lamp that can be blown out at any moment by a gush of wind, so can our precious human life be extinguished at any time. Even if we are young and healthy, anything can happen - inner or outer obstacles - and we can lose our life. And so not only is it important to practise the Dharma, but it is important to practise it with now, not to waste precious time.

The third preliminary meditation is on the law of karma: cause and effect, one of the unique teachings that the Buddha gave in order to show what one must do and what one must reject. Everything that we have now, including the life that we living, who created them? No one creates anything apart from our own actions. This has two parts: illusory vision and karmic vision.

The illusory vision, the dual vision that we perceive, does not exist in actual reality. It is just an illusion, just as in a dream. When we are dreaming, everything feels as real as it does in normal life, and yet when we awake from our dream, there is not a single sign of what we saw and felt while dreaming. Likewise, everything that we perceive during our waking life is an illusion. This is our illusory vision, the dual vision wherein subject and object appear separately. All sentient beings experience the world as the illusory vision.

Karmic vision means that each individual sentient being experiences its particular vision; some beings experience less suffering, some experience more suffering, and so forth. Whatever actions we take, karmic vision will follow, just as our shadow follows us wherever we go. Similarly, a virtuous action or a non-virtuous action is like a seed that we plant. In due course, it will ripen and produce a result. There are non-virtuous deeds, virtuous deeds, and neutral deeds. Non-virtuous deeds are actions created out of ignorance, desire and hatred, the same as if the root of a tree is poisonous, whatever grows on it, flowers and leaves, will be poisonous. Non-virtuous deeds create suffering in this life and continue through to the lives that follow. There are physical actions, verbal actions and mental actions.

Similarly, virtuous actions are deeds performed without hatred, desire or ignorance. Actions that are based on loving kindness and compassion are called virtuous deeds. For example, if the root of a tree is medicinal, then whatever grows on the tree will also be medicinal. Any action that is performed without defilements is a virtuous deed. Virtuous deeds create happiness in this life and in lives that follow.

Then there are actions that are neither virtuous nor non-virtuous, such as walking, sitting, etc. Since they do not produce any negative results, they are superior to non-virtuous deeds; yet, since they do not produce any positive results, they are inferior to virtuous deeds. It is important to turn them into positive deeds. One must abstain from negative deeds. If one wishes to be free from suffering, one must abstain from its cause. If we continue to indulge in the cause of suffering, we cannot expect to experience happiness. Therefore, we must abstain even from negative deeds, even from tiny ones. It is said that the accumulation of water drops forms the ocean. And we must perform as many virtuous deeds as possible. Even if these are tiny virtuous deeds, we must try to accumulate them. And indifferent actions that are neither virtuous nor nonvirtuous, can be transformed into virtuous deeds by changing the motivation behind them and by practising the skillful means of the bodhisattva’s way of life.

So, this was a brief explanation of the impure vision.

The second part - the vision of experience - has two parts: the common vision of experience and the uncommon vision of experience. The common vision of experience refers to what the common practitioners, the common yogis and the common Mahayana practitioners experience. The meditation here is on loving kindness, compassion and the enlightenment thought. By practising these, one will experience the vision of experience. In order to arouse the vision of experience, one must practise loving kindness.

When we see how samsara is full of suffering, we feel loving kindness toward all beings, who so wish to be free from suffering. We feel that we must work to become enlightened for their sake. We might think that the goal we need to aim for is personal nirvana, the extinction of all our aggregates, but this is not a valid goal. We are just a single person. In ordinary life, if we are a kind-hearted person, it doesn’t feel right for us to be in a safe place when the members of our family are in trouble. We would rather suffer along with our family than see them suffering on their own.

Although our consciousness has changed since we were born, and the mind that we had as a baby is different from the mind that we have as a grownup, it is still part of the same mind continuum. Throughout our life, it is the same mind that takes different forms and perdures. Whilst our body came from our parents, our consciousness was there before we were born, part of a continuum of many lives and it has continued to be our consciousness until the present time. When we die, our consciousness does not die with our body - it cannot be burnt or buried. It continues in a different form. There is no point in time considered to be the beginning of a mind. We take birth, we die, and then take on another form. And so, every time we have taken birth, we have had a father, a mother, a family, and friends. Because we have lived an uncountable number of lives, every single being has been at some point in time dear father, mother, relative, lover or friend, as dear to us as are our present loved ones. And so, to leave other sentient being behind as we achieve our own salvation is not an acceptable goal. We must think of other sentient beings, and achieve liberation for their sake.