WORDS OF WISDOM AUTHOR: KHENPO TSULTRIM LODRO

It is best that busy people today take up the practice of Dzogchen. Even though Dzogchen is for people of superior capacity, we can still try to elevate ourselves to that level, and the way to do that is by practicing the preliminaries. Through hearing and contemplating the Dharma, and the practice of the preliminaries, an ordinary person who knows nothing about karma, let alone renunciation and bodhicitta, can also turn into someone of superior capacity. A person who has cultivated renunciation and bodhicitta after completing the preliminaries and developed great faith in tantra is said to have superior capacity. Such a person has a chance of succeeding in the Dzogchen practice. Whether we can be someone of superior capacity is all up to us. However, to practice Dzogchen prematurely would not only fail to bring any benefit but also run the risk of losing one’s faith in the practice. Therefore, make effort to practice the preliminaries first.

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO THE VAJRAYANA PATH - The Completion Stage —the skillful means to realize emptiness

All yidam practices, whether the deity is peaceful or wrathful, involve the generation stage. One cannot do deity practice without knowing how to practice the generation stage. To properly practice the generation stage in a retreat, one should first complete all the preliminaries, also pay particular attention to the process—there are many complicated requirements regarding the time, place, format of the retreat, and the time and format of ending the retreat, and so on. We don’t need to know the details for the time being, as many people have not yet undertaken the preliminary practice; even if some people have completed the preliminaries once, the quality of the practice is still less than satisfactory. However, the method of visualization is very important. If one is unable to visualize clearly, the entire result of practice will be adversely affected. The preliminary practices, such as the ones for taking refuge, Vajrasattva, and Guru Yoga, also entail the practice of the generation stage. Therefore, it is necessary to briefly explain this practice.

~Depicted from GATEWAY TO VAJRAYANA PATH -The Generation Stage

It happens quite often that people make speedy progress at the initial stage of their practice, but the progress tapers off after some time. Worse, some may even stop practicing altogether. This is mainly due to a lack of systematic approach to Buddhist practice. What should be done about it? First, we must understand what the foundational practices are and duly recognize the importance they command on our spiritual journey.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - The Three Supreme Methods—the ultimate methods of cultivating virtue and training the mind

As we breathe out during meditation, visualize our happiness and the causes of this happiness – the virtuous actions and merits of the past, present, and future – transformed into a white gaseous substance which is then dissolved into the minds and bodies of all sentient beings. Visualize all sentient beings receiving this happiness and its causes, and thus being free from suffering.

~Depicted from ARE YOU READY FOR HAPPINESS -How to Face Suffering and Happiness-How to Face Happiness

True Buddhist practitioners are not pessimists even though they look upon money and fame as things of little value. This is because they are fully aware their spiritual development is not impaired by the body’s physical decline; wisdom and compassion will always follow them like a shadow in old age and even in death. Awaiting them from afar is a state of clarity and bliss; thus, far from being defeatist, they are optimistic and full of confidence. Because they have this aspiration, they can practice tirelessly and without regret. We need not fear suffering nor lose hope; with effort, we can free ourselves from the shackles of samsara and attain absolute happiness.

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - All Contaminated Things are Unsatisfactory

Vajrayana Buddhism was developed in two stages: the First and the Second Propagation period. The period of the First Propagation refers to Nyingmapa whose central teaching is Dzogchen, or Great Perfection. The tantras of Great Perfection specify clearly that no meat eating be allowed. The period of the Second Propagation refers to Gelugpa, Kagyupa, Sakyapa and all the other schools of Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet except Nyingmapa. Of all the tantras of this period, the most important and pivotal is the Kalachakra Tantra. Both the Tantra and its annotations specify very clearly that meat eating is not allowed. All these point to the fact that Mahayana Buddhism, be it exoteric or esoteric, is against eating meat.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW - Why Vegetarian?

First of all, we should know that to encounter the teaching on emptiness is not something to be taken for granted. Hearing it plants the seed for realization of emptiness that is not only indestructible but will also come to fruition in the near future. It is stated in the Four Hundred Verse Treatise by Aryadeva: Most sentient beings do not have the chance to hear the profound teaching on emptiness due to insufficient merit. Even if they do, most are unable to generate faith in or have reasonable doubt about the empty nature of phenomena, having little merit and inferior capacity or being negatively influenced by the surrounding environment and their social background. Anyone who can muster even the slightest doubt about the plausibility of all phenomena being empty of self-nature will hence have the means to cease samsara in the end.

~Depicted from THE RIGHT VIEW -The Two Truths—the Key to Unlocking Madhyamaka

The Buddha’s approach is always logical rather than dogmatic. The Buddha told us that underneath the skin, there are thirty six kinds of impure elements such as bacteria, microbes and parasites, among others, operating in an environment that’s both chaotic and unclean. Moreover, the notion of being beautiful or ugly is just a matter of meeting the expectations of most people. In the eyes of an extraterrestrial or a person of different race, a woman we consider beautiful may perhaps be deemed ugly. Even a real beauty will lose her appeal from overexposure or with age.

Through these observations, we come to realize that there is neither a thing nor a person that has genuine and absolute beauty. At this point, our minds can relax a little bit, no longer being so obsessed and anxious. Then with further observation and contemplation, we can slowly abandon our old attachment.

~Depicted from THE HANDBOOK FOR LIFE'S JOURNEY - On The Three Poisons-How to Handle Desire

Sentient beings in general, certainly the beings in hell and even the gods, do not have the opportunity to practice on the path of liberation. To establish a foundation for practice on the path of liberation, one must start in the human realm. Gods can also practice if they laid the basis of the practice in their previous life as a human being; thus, establishing this foundation in a previous life as a human is the only condition that governs whether they can continue to practice or not.

~Depicted from THE FOUR SEALS OF DHARMA - All Contaminated Things are Unsatisfactory