Longchenpa
Longchenpa
This collection of frequently asked questions (FAQ) provides brief answers to many
common questions about Buddhism and Dzogchen meditation. It was compiled by Lama Surya Das, in response to the many inquiries which have
come to him as a Buddhist teacher.
How do I know which spiritual path or practice to pursue?
There are few shortcuts. Trial and error -- following your heart's intuition, while seeking advice from those who have gone before you -- seem to provide the main highway. It is a gradually unfolding process, for which both patience and perseverance are required. Mistakes are inevitable, so do not be easily discouraged. Stumbling blocks can become stepping stones. The great Way is right beneath your feet. Please do not overlook that. There are countless Dharma gates. It is up to you to enter.
Do I need a teacher in order to go forward in the spiritual life?
Good friends and experienced mentors can be very helpful. Be open to the influence of
others, but not overly dependent on them. It is always healthy to maintain a certain
amount of critical judgment for yourself.
It could certainly be worth checking some spiritual teachers out, and see if they are
offering what genuinely interests you in a way that you can relate to. Find out who and
where they are, and check them out for yourself. Sincere self-examination and keeping an
open, inquiring mind are also among the best propellants to move you along the Path.
Reading about the teachers, mystics and Wayfarers of the past is often inspiring,
informative, and can provide guidance.
Where can I learn to meditate? I have read books about it and want to experience it more personally.
There are many meditation centers, retreats, workshops and classes in our country, as
well as elsewhere. You can find them by word of mouth; on the bulletin boards of health
food stores, spiritual bookshops and college campuses; in the Yellow Pages (though not
necessarily the best way to find the best in this field); through religion forums and
Buddhist bulletin boards on the Internet; listed in the backs of books about meditation;
in publications like "Tricycle" magazine; through my homepages on the world wide
web; etc.
Be wary at the outset of too much commercialism, fantastic promises, instant enlightenment
programs, charlatans who may take advantage of the naive and inexperienced, and anything
else that does not feel right for you. Your intuition in these matters is probably your
best guide.
Check things out for yourself. Spirituality can best be learned, like swimming, by testing
the waters yourself, and not from books. Use your common sense in finding what is suitable
for you.
Is Buddhism a religion? Do I have to convert in order to practice meditation, visualizations, yoga, etc.? Are all religions leading to the same place?
Of course Buddhism is one of the major world religions, but it is more of a
psychological-philosophical-ethical system of awakening; a technology of enlightenment.
Since Buddha's teaching does not posit a supreme Creator, Buddhism does not fit the usual
definition of a religion. Buddhism takes an agnostic stance on such matters as the Creator
question. It is not atheistic, as some uninformed critics suggest. Buddha's principle
subject was suffering and the end of suffering, not theological and ontological issues.
All religions are similar in many ways, yet each has its different emphases. A good
comparison might be the different types of cuisine in the world; all food is for
nourishment and enjoyment, yet there are many different styles suited to varying peoples,
tastes and habits. My own teacher Kalu Rinpoche
used to answer this question by saying you do not need to convert. It is probably useful
to hold your current beliefs up to examination, whatever they may be. Investigation is
said to be one of the most transformative agents facilitating enlightenment. There is
nothing to believe in Buddhism, and everything to discover.
To study the Buddha's way is to study the self;
To study the self is to transcend the self.
To transcend the self is to be enlightened by all things.
-- Zen Master Dogen
What is Dharma? I hear and read this word everywhere.
Dharma is a Sanskrit word. It means teaching, truth, doctrine, spirituality, or
reality. It means the truth of things as they are. Its literal meaning is that which
supports or upholds. Dharma is thus likened to the ground we stand upon.
Another, lesser known meaning of dharma is "that which remedies, alleviates, heals
and restores". The truth embodied in Dharma teachings heals what ails us, on the very
deepest level.
Buddha Dharma refers to the teachings of the compassionate, enlightened Buddha, the
founder of Buddhism, who lived in the fifth century B.C. in northern India.
What is enlightenment? Is it the goal of meditation? Where is Nirvana? Can anyone be a Buddha?
Nirvana, the so-called Other Shore (of enlightenment, the goal of the Buddhist path) is
everywhere and nowhere. It is not a place. Nirvana is more a state of mind: one of total
awareness; deathless peace; joy, ease and fulfillment; and perfect freedom. Nirvana is by
definition the highest form of everlasting happiness, desirelessness, fulfillment and
peace. It is experienced by the heart-mind liberated from the fetters of ignorance,
dualism and delusion, and freed from conflicting emotions including attachment and desire.
Anyone can realize such an innate reality, which is your own true nature. This is
technically known as Buddha nature. To awaken fully and irrevocably to that is awakened
enlightenment, Buddhahood. That is why Buddha said: "I only point out the Way; it is
up to you to walk it."
Meditation, the conscious or intentional cultivation of attention and awareness, is a
skillful means or effective method leading directly to awakened enlightenment.
What is a Buddhist teacher? What does one do, day to day?
Teachers of Dharma, both in East and West, have adopted various lifestyles. A Buddhist
teacher can be a monk or nun, a lay person, or a yogi who is in between lay and monastic
lifestyles. He or she may conduct meditation retreats, seminars, and workshops; be part
of, or even lead, a monastery, nunnery, retreat center or other kind of intentional
community, or live alone; be sedentary or peripatetic, or some combination of both; be a
Buddhist scholar, translator, and writer-lecturer; lead a congregation, or be an academic;
or any combination of the above. Buddhist teachers traditionally spend a certain amount of
time meditating, praying, and studying in seclusion to deepen their spiritual realization,
for the benefit of both themselves and others.
Traditionally, a Buddhist teacher is authorized or empowered by his or her own teacher,
thus continuing a lineage of transmission, blessings and authenticity stretching back in
an unbroken line to the historical Buddha himself.
What are the major approaches to Buddhism?
There are many different schools, sects, orders and styles in Buddhism, not unlike
Christianity and Hinduism. The main divisions are Theravadin and Mahayana, or the Southern
and Northern (Asia) Schools.
These two are further expanded into three: Theravadin, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Vipassana
teachings fall mainly, although not exclusively, under the first category. Zen teachings,
Pure Land, Nichiren, Sokka Gakkai, and Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, are loosely
categorized under the second. Tibetan Buddhist groups and centers are in the third
category. It should be understood that many of these groups represent an open, inclusive,
nonsectarian outlook which encompasses more than one fixed category.
Theravadin teachings are generally characterized by an emphasis on renunciation,
restraint, mindfulness, desirelessness, morality, selflessness, simplicity and individual
liberation. Mahayana teachings emphasize compassion, impeccability, altruism, wisdom and
love combined, emptiness, openness, mind-training, and unselfish efforts towards universal
enlightenment. Vajrayana, or tantric, teachings emphasize integration, celebration, guru
devotion, energy, fearlessness, nonduality, and immanent enlightenment.
Buddhism in the West at present represents a unique historical occurrence: the coexistence
in one single country of all the various types of Buddhism extant in the world. The
emerging American Buddhism, and western Buddhist teachers generally, displays a fairly
broad and inclusive approach.
The emerging American Buddhism and Western Buddhism tends to be open, honest,
nonsectarian, and inclusive; gender-unbiased; democratic; a
non-hierarchical approach to awakened enlightenment. It is shaping up as experiential and
practice-oriented, rather than intellectual; as demystified and essentialized; lay-oriented, although
with significant room for the monastic experience; dynamic, and
integrated with daily life in the modern world.
American Buddhisms -- there are probably more than one already -- tend to be creative,
adaptable, exploratory, and skeptical and inquiring;
psychologically astute; humorous, with a keen appreciation of the absurd; ecumenical, and
open to cross-fertilzation. American Buddhists are generally well-informed, well-educated,
open-minded citizens of the modern world. They are as often as not socially engaged; supportive of basic human rights;
concerned about family life and a sane future for this planet; and ecologically conscious.
How does Tibetan Buddhism relate to what the historical Buddha actually taught? What is Tibetan Buddhism?
The Buddhism of Tibet represents the last extant wisdom culture to survive intact from
ancient times. Tibet was a cloistered, theocratic Buddhist state which, until 1959,
preserved all the teachings of the Buddha in a unique situation. Tibetan Buddhism includes
the Theravadin, Mahayana and tantric Vajrayana traditions of Buddhadharma. All the sutras
and tantras are preserved and practiced in Tibetan Buddhism. Many Buddhist sutras and
commentaries in the Sanskrit language, which were lost in India during the Moslem
invasions of northern India, were later discovered intact in Tibetan monastery libraries.
Buddhism was brought from its land of origin, India, in the Sixth Century A.D. to Tibet,
where it incorporated certain indigenous traditions in becoming the colorful Tibetan
Buddhism we know today.
Dzogchen is the consummate practice of Tibetan Buddhism. It is practiced mainly by the
Nyingma Lineage in Tibet, although all four sects of Tibetan Buddhism practice it to some
extent.
It
derives from the Maha Ati Tantra, and represents the nondual, or absolute/ultimate
teaching of pure and total intrinsic awareness, innate wakefulness.
Dzogchen is considered, in Tibet, an advanced and secret teaching. Today it is said by
certain senior Tibetan lamas to be "a teaching for our time", because it is
direct, immediate, essentialized, adaptable and profound: a naked awareness practice
applicable to any circumstance or situation, and easily integrated into modern life.
Where does the Dalai Lama of Tibet live? When will he visit the USA again? How can I meet him?
His Holiness the Dalai Lama lives in the
Himalayan foothills at Dharamsala, in northern India; he has been there since the Sixties,
after forced to flee Tibet when it was conquered by the Red Chinese in 1959. The Indian
hill station of Dharamsala is the capital of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.
In the last few years, The Dalai Lama of
Tibet has come to the USA every year, sometimes twice a year. This pattern is
expected to continue. In general, he alternates East Coast and West Coast visits,
often with one or more stops in the South, Midwest or Rockies. In the summer of
1999, he will be giving the Kalachakra Initiation in Bloomington, Indiana.
A Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and active human rights advocate, he is the political head of his country as well as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. Contact the Office of Tibet in New York City for further details, at 212-213-5010.
A lama is a trained, authorized, learned and empowered spiritual teacher in the Tibetan
Buddhist tradition. The Dalai Lama is the
chief lama. In a humorous vein, sixty or seventy years ago Ogden Nash wrote in the New
Yorker magazine:
"With one 'l' he's a priest;
with two 'll's' he's a beast.
But I'll bet a pair of silk pajamas
there aren't any three 'lll' lamas.&>
What is meditation? Is it good for everyone?
Meditation is the intentional, conscious cultivation of attention and awareness, often called mindfulness. Developing mindful awareness purifies, illumines and frees the mind. It liberates awareness from habitual conditioning, compulsion and attachment; clarifies, resolves and eases inner conflicts; and expands and raises consciousness. Meditation "untangles what is tangled," as Buddha said. It provides access to a profound sense of oneness, of interconnectedness, of sanity and coherent wholeness. Meditation enhances powers of observation and sharpens the mind. It demonstrably brings inner peace, calm, centeredness, enhanced focus, concentration, relaxation, rejuvenation, balance of mind, increased receptivity and acceptance, clarity and deep insight. This is something anyone can benefit from.
What is the best time of day to meditate, pray and perform my spiritual practices?
Anytime is the best time. And one can do it almost anywhere. However, practically
speaking, first thing in the morning and last at night are generally found most conducive
to spiritual practice. Dawn and dusk are also good times to use inner work-- being, not
just doing-- to gracefully bracket a busy day.
Bringing the cultivation of contemplative awareness into every activity, every moment, is
the heart of spiritual practice. Make your life a prayer, as Saint Paul said. This is the
way to bring together heaven and earth, the sacred and the mundane, into a truly
integrated, seamless whole.
When I meditate, I often fall asleep, or at least doze off now and then. What remedy can you suggest?
Try meditating with eyes open, if sleepy. Brighten the room. Wash your face with cold water. Try sitting outside. Do walking meditation, breathing exercises, chanting, prayer, etc. Walk backwards to raise your attentive vigilance. Sit for shorter periods of time, rather than prolonging meditation periods as long as possible even while dozing or drifting dreamily. (Killing time only deadens ourselves.). Inspire and enliven yourself, with whatever works. It is quality of awareness that counts, not mere quantity of time and effort. It is easier than you think!
What are some good books to read as introductory material to meditation Buddhism, enlightenment, etc.?
There are many good books. "The Tibetan Book of Living and
Dying" by Sogyal Rinpoche is excellent. The
Dalai Lama's recent series of books from Harper San Francisco publishers are good (see
"Open Heart, Awakened Mind") as is his autobiographical "Freedom In
Exile". Joseph Goldstein (author of "Insight Meditation: The Practice of
Freedom"), Sharon Salzberg ("Loving Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of
Happiness"), Ane Pema Chodron ("Wisdom of No Escape"), Charlotte Joko Beck
("Everyday Zen"), Jon Kabat-Zinn ("Wherever You Go, There You Are")
and Jack Kornfield ("A Path With Heart"), and Thich Nhat Hanh ("Peace Every
Step" and "The Miracle of Mindfulness") each have several other excellent
books in print.
Chogyam Trungpa's numerous books are very
interesting, beginning with his autobiography, "Born in Tibet". "Entering
the Stream" by Sherab Chodzin Kohn and Sam Bercholz is a fine anthology of Buddhist
teachings. "Women of Wisdom" by Tsultrim Allione is a fascinating account of
female Himalayan masters.
"Zen Flesh, Zen Bones" by Paul Reps is delightful. "Zen in America" by
Helen Tworkov and "How the Swans Came to the Lake" by Rick Fields give excellent
anecdotal history and insights into Buddhist developments in America. "The Awakening
of the West" by Stephen Batchelor is a thoughtful history of Buddhism's advent in the
Occidental world.
"How Can I Help?" by Ram Dass is inspiring. The "Tao Te Ching" by Lao
Tzu, translated by Stephen Mitchell, is a marvelous Asian classic.
A romantic recounting of the Buddha's life is found in "The Light of Asia" by
Sir Edwin Arnold, a venerable classic among Buddhist poems in the West.
"Thoughts Without a Thinker" by Dr. Mark Epstein is an interesting introduction
to Buddhism and psychology. Jack Kornfield's "A Path With Heart" is a useful
study of the perils and pitfalls on the spiritual path.
"Tibetan Buddhism From the Ground Up" by Alan Wallace, and "The World of
Tibetan Buddhism" by the Dalai Lama are
also recommended.
"Repeating the Words of the Buddha" by Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and "Natural Great
Perfection" by Nyoshul Khenpo and Surya Das introduce Dzogchen teachings and practice. Namkhai
Norbu Rinpoche's books about Dzogchen ("The Crystal and the Way of Light",
"Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State", etc.) are well worth reading.
You can find details of the books I recommend on my Reading List.