The Study and Practice of Dharma

by Kalu Rinpoche

HOW TO LISTEN TO DHARMA 

It is very important to listen to Dharma properly, or respectfully and without the wrong attitude. There are three such wrong attitudes; the first is listening with a closed mind, like an upside-down pot that will not retain what is poured into it. Secondly, not only should we receive the teaching, but also retain it and keep it in mind. If we forget the teaching right after hearing it, we are like a leaky pot. The third kind of wrong attitude is to listen while overcome with negativity. Listening to the Dharma with a disturbed mind is like eating scrumptious food that has been mixed with poison: it is good at first, but later the poison makes us ill.

Having an attitude of respect and faith means receiving the Dharma joyfully and attentively, and regarding the lama who transmits the teaching not as an ordinary being but as Buddha himself. Also, we should not think of our fellow listeners the way we normally might; instead, we should recognise that each of them has Buddha nature. We also should think that the sounds of the teaching are the union of sound and emptiness and that they possess the sixty qualities of a Buddha's speech. This attitude is helpful for opening us to blessings and repelling disturbing emotions.

When we request a teaching, it is appropriate to see ourselves as patients suffering from the illness of ignorance and its associated afflictions and to see the lama who gives the instruction as our doctor, while the Dharma itself is the medicine that cures our ills.

Furthermore, our motivation for listening to and practising the Dharma must be to realise enlightenment for the sake of all beings. For any Dharma activity, bodhicitta is the indispensable preliminary.

PRACTICE IN DAILY LIFE

Right Dharma practice can be accomplished at every moment and in any circumstance, whether we are walking, eating, working, or doing anything else. All daily activities are an opportunity to overcome negativity and cultivate goodness: an opportunity to dedicate ourselves to the Dharma. Moreover, we can use our body, speech, and mind for something positive every single instant. When we bear in mind the value of human life, the truth of impermanence, the faults of samsara, and karmic causation, we will find we really can simplify our life, renouncing frivolous activities and completely devoting ourselves to practice. It is important for us, who are always so busy, always coming and going, to be able to stop and give ourselves a break, a moment's respite just for spiritual practice.

IN A DHARMA CENTRE

People who live in a Dharma centre are in a privileged and especially favourable situation. That is because they live close to the Dharma and to the lama, from whom they can receive instruction on a regular basis. Life in a Dharma centre is organised so that all activities are practice-oriented. In this context, the disturbances of everyday life are reduced or nonexistent. The environment is very conducive to Dharma study and practice.

Most people, however, cannot live in a Dharma centre. But you do have vacations, and every week there is a weekend. If you could use that free time for more intensive practice, that would be wonderful. Go to a centre and listen to teachings, meditate, do retreats, ask questions, and put an end to your doubts. This is what a Dharma centre is for.

ON RETREAT

Doing a retreat means withdrawing from all forms of distraction and outer disturbances for a period of time; it could be for a few days of vacation or any amount of time that is available. In a retreat situation, our mind is insulated from all distractions, so we can dedicate ourselves completely to practice and devote all our energy to the retreat.

Because of its isolation and silence, retreat offers the best conditions for practising meditation in general, but it is especially useful for training in samatha-vipasyana. The goal of retreat is to minimise distraction, but, as always, practice depends on us, on our own inner attitude. Doing a retreat without the proper motivation prevents us from fully benefiting from it. Without energy or discipline, retreat in and of itself cannot accomplish anything. If we went to live like a wild animal on the remotest mountaintop, with neither energy nor the right motivation, we would cultivate nothing but our pride. But if we have the proper motivation and determination, a retreat is an ideal situation for practising meditation and for making rapid progress.

THE THREE-YEAR RETREAT

In Tibet, there were many hermits like Milarepa who gave up all ordinary activity and meditated in caves. This kind of practice is wonderful, but the hermetic tradition has waned as the times have degenerated. That is why some great lamas such as Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye instituted the three year retreat as a good context for practice. This tradition has arisen out of their efforts.

In the West, the Dharma has just begun to spread. It has been only a few years since it was introduced here, and the door is just beginning to open. Looking at the Western lifestyle, I have noticed that Westerners are very busy people, extremely involved in the world through their work and very engrossed in their daily activities. It seems to me that practising in a retreat centre would be good for Westerners since it would enable them to devote themselves completely to practice for three years. They would derive incredible benefits from this. I myself have done this retreat, and I have also served as a retreat master (drubpon in Tibetan), so I am very familiar with its potential; I think it can be very productive. I started one of the first three-year retreat centres in France, and since then, several other centres have been created in Canada, Sweden, the United States, and other parts of France. Kagyu and Nyingma retreat centres have been founded by other lamas as well. 

In Tibet, many people devoted themselves to monastic life, but very few did retreats. Those who undertook three-year retreats did so on their own initiative, out of their own personal motivations. If ordination was a way to get out of the cyclic rut of worldly life and to rise above it to some extent, doing a retreat was like taking a further step, making a deep commitment to putting the teachings into practice. Becoming a lama was held in high esteem.

Westerners who choose to undertake a three-year retreat do it out of their own motivation even more so: nobody makes them do it-neither king, president, nor parents. It truly comes from their own aspiration, from their own wonderful inner motivation. Considering impermanence, it is never a mistake to renounce outer things in order to give ourselves completely and profoundly to Dharma practice.

This kind of retreat is the best way to practice Dharma intensively for three years, without worldly cares or distractions. This period offers the most favourable conditions for devoting all the energies of body, speech, and mind to the most important tantric practices: sadhana of the yidams, yogas of Niguma, the Five Golden Teachings, mahamudra, and so forth. If you are considering doing a three-year retreat in the future, you must prepare yourself well for it. If you can actually follow through on it, it will give extraordinary meaning to your human life.

Because I have observed that it is difficult to keep monastic vows in the West, I have asked those who wish to do a three-year retreat to keep the vow of celibacy only for the duration of the retreat. During this time, retreatants live as celibates, immersing themselves fully in the practice. Afterwards, those who wish to do so can receive monastic vows, and the others can resume lay lives. 

Even if you do not continue in total commitment to the Dharma once the retreat is over, you will still have used all your energy in a very positive pursuit during that time, and that alone is an extraordinary achievement.

A three-year retreat offers the opportunity to get well acquainted with Dharma and with tantric practices. Afterwards, we can follow up by doing lengthy solitary retreats and eventually attain Buddhahood in this very life.

TIBETAN LANGUAGE STUDY

Generally speaking, learning Tibetan is not mandatory for practising the Dharma well, but in order to engage in deep commitment to Dharma, such as a three-year retreat, knowledge of Tibetan is extremely important because it allows us to understand the practice texts and the traditional Tibetan commentaries. If I tell people who are going to do the retreat to learn Tibetan, it's not because I am Tibetan-and anyway, being from Kham, I do not particularly consider myself Tibetan, and I speak in a dialect that no one can understand! Anyway, what you need to know, what is important, is the classical Dharma Tibetan.

In Tibet, we didn't have the conveniences of the West-the means of transportation, the cars, the machines. Practically speaking, there were only three occupations: farming, animal husbandry, and commerce. But on the other hand, an enormous number of people were involved with Dharma study and practice. When Westerners introduced material comforts to Tibet, the Tibetan language was not at all adapted to modern life. It did not have the words to accommodate modern science and technology. In the West, there is a similar situation in terms of Dharma, but reversed. Tibetan is a traditional language that has a very rich vocabulary for meditation and spiritual practices-a vocabulary without any equivalent in Western languages. When Western scientists go to Tibet to share their knowledge, they should teach in their own language, at least initially. Some Tibetans could learn from them; then later on, adequate terminology could be devised and translated into Tibetan. Here, we have the reverse situation. In order for Dharma to be properly understood in the West, there must be Westerners who are willing to master the Tibetan. Of course, my wish is that in the future, everything will be translated correctly. Once the totality of Dharma is adequately translated into Western terminology, there will be no need for Tibetan. But for now, anyone wishing to study the Dharma deeply, and particularly anyone preparing for a three-year retreat, will reap great benefit from the study of Tibetan. If you study regularly, a little bit every day, you will quickly become knowledgeable.

THE RACE BETWEEN THE LOUSE AND THE FLEA

Once upon a time, someone suggested that a flea and a louse have a race and offered a prize to the winner. They were to run and deposit a load of grass at the finish line. The flea accepted happily because it knew that it could go faster than the louse. The louse also accepted because it knew that by going along steadily and energetically, it could finish first. The signal was sounded. The flea made a great leap forward but spilled its load and had to pick it up before attempting its next leap. With each great leap, the flea would spill its whole load, and it wasted a lot of time picking up all the grass it kept dropping. Although it was able to jump quite far, it was making little progress. On the other hand, the louse, though it advanced slowly, did not drop anything or stop. Guess who was the winner?

MONASTIC DISCIPLINE

Why become ordained? Why do a three-year retreat? Because these are favourable situations for thorough and efficient Dharma practice since they provide the optimal framework for practice. Monastic life is solitary, which offers the independence for total dedication to practice. Without spouse or children, without financial or family problems, we have none of the usual sources of worry and much more freedom to study and practice Dharma. 

Our usual circumstances involve many completely consuming situations that drown us in passions and afflictions, and we have little inclination to practice. The general tendency of everyday life is toward conflict-ridden emotions rather than enlightenment. Ordinary life is inclined more toward the passions. Our activities are like timber on a mountainside which can go down easily but is not so easy to bring back up. This is why monastic discipline is so useful and valuable. But of course, it is not without renunciation and its own difficulties.

BuDDHA S.AKYAMUNI's GREAT DEPARTURE

In his youth as a prince, Buddha Sakyamuni was destined to rule. It had been prophesied that he would become either a Buddha or a universal monarch. His father, who held him in high regard, loved him deeply and wished he would become such a king. But the future Buddha perceived the suffering of beings, the suffering of birth, sickness, old age, and death. He understood that kingship and the power that accompanies it are not an ultimate way of benefiting beings, so he decided against becoming a king and chose instead to dedicate himself to spiritual life. His father, aware of young Siddhartha's intentions, tried to keep him from leaving the palace by placing him under guard. However, with the help of divine beings, the future Buddha succeeded in escaping one night with his horse and groom. Once he had left the palace grounds, he removed his royal ornaments, cut his hair, and took up the ascetic life, dedicating himself completely to religious practice.

Through his renunciation, he became fully awakened - a Buddha and gained the ability to help countless beings. Buddha Sakyamuni taught:

One hundred lives as a universal monarch

Are insignificant when compared

To a single life that's truly dedicated to Dharma.

The life of a king is always oriented to samsara, while commitment to the Dharma opens onto enlightenment.

BEYOND ATTACHMENT

At the moment, we have all sorts of fixations on what we see, hear, taste, smell-everything we experience. Our experience of ourselves and of the outer world is the result of these fixations, which are the source of all our delusions. Understanding the nature of mind frees us from them and the suffering they cause.

But fixations exist in various areas of the Dharma as well. Lama, Buddha, yidam really do exist, and it is because of them that we can receive their blessings, realise the attainments, and realise mind's nature. Nevertheless, their true existence is not material like that of crystal, gold, iron, or stone. Their essence is emptiness, their nature lucidity, and their appearance the expression of unobstructed wisdom. It is vital for us to think of them this way, and not think that they exist as something physical. Understanding them like this, we can have real faith in them, join our mind with theirs, and remain absorbed. Some people go astray in their practice; they have faith in the lama, the Buddha, and think that they actually exist and have form, hearing, sense of taste, and so on. This point is extremely important to understand, but these days such understanding is rare. 

There is a famous saying:

If we become attached to them,

There is no greater fetter than the divine states.

If we fixate on them,

There is no greater obstacle than the attainments.

If we become attached to divinity, it will hold us captive, and we will remain bound by it. Likewise, if we are attached to attainments in practice, they become huge obstacles.

Attachments to the things of this world are like straw chains; attachment to things of the Dharma are like chains of gold; their value is not the same, but the straw ones are easier to break.

PATRIARCHS OF THE LINEAGE: DIFFERENT STYLES OF PRACTICE

Above all, do not consider it impossible to practice correctly without being ordained, or outside a three-year retreat. This would be a huge mistake. Not everybody has to become a monk or nun or do that kind of retreat. It is quite possible to reach enlightenment in other ways.

In the tantric tradition, there were many accomplished sages, such as Tilopa, Naropa, and others, who were not monks and never did such retreats. Some even reached enlightenment while acting in eccentric and nonconformist ways. These "mad yogis" indulged in all manner of outrageous behaviour, but they reached enlightenment nonetheless. 

In the Kagyu tradition, there were many lineage holders who were very different from one another. After Tilopa and Naropa came Marpa the Translator, a family man and a farmer who was involved in all kinds of activities; his neighbours considered him proud and quick-tempered. He had a rather bad reputation and was allegedly hard to get along with. But he had realised the teachings-while leading quite an ordinary life he attained enlightenment. It is he who started the Kagyu lineage in Tibet.

Marpa's principal disciple was Milarepa, who was not a monk either, but a lay practitioner. The life he chose, however, was different from his teacher's-he abandoned all mundane activities and went to meditate alone in mountain caves. He lived like a wild animal fleeing people. Through his practice, he too attained enlightenment.

Milarepa's main disciple was Gampopa, who had been a husband and father and practised the Dharma as a layman. He had a very beautiful wife and children. Then one day, his wife became ill, and both knew she would soon die. Exceedingly grief-stricken, Gampopa asked her not to remain attached to him. He pledged never to remarry, but to become a monk and devote himself to Dharma; he touched a Dharma book to his head and made her that promise. She died soon after, and Gampopa kept his word. At first, he received ordination and monastic education in the Kadampa lineage. He carefully kept all the precepts and was an outstanding monk.

Later, he met Milarepa, became his disciple, practised at his side, and gained realisation. He himself became a Kagyu lineage holder. Gampopa's four main disciples were the originators of the four main branches of the Marpa-Kagyu lineage.

Among these, there was Tusum Khyenpa, the first Karmapa. Then, in his lineage were great lamas like the Karmapas, the Shamarpas, the Situpas, and others who manifested enlightened activity and worked for the welfare of beings through what might be called their royal or princely positions. Milarepa had other disciples as well, in particular three men and four women, the Pusum Moshi, who weren't monastics and who, in their lives as lay hermits, also reached enlightenment.

Within the lineage, there has been every possible style in approaching the path. The most important thing is the state of mind and the quality of practice. The outer status-ordained, married, hermit, or parent-is not the determinant. You can reach enlightenment in any context.