rangdrol's Blog

(by Kyabje Jadral Sangye Dorje Rinpoche)

The following is an excerpt from the teachings of Kyabje Jadral Rinpoche as spiritual advice for Dharma practitioners given at Salburi Monastery in Siliguri (India) on 26 December 2000.

It is an auspicious day today as it is the first month in the Tibetan year. You have all come from afar with a sense of Dharma and a spiritual intention. Thank you for your offering to Nyungne Temple. I will give a little advice that comes directly from the Buddha’s teachings.

Observe the actions

Please always remember how important it is to know exactly what to accept in your life and what to let stay. There are the ten wholesome actions and there are the ten unwholesome actions. Of course, we should try and do our best to do all ten wholesome actions. Among the ten unwholesome deeds, the worst of all is killing and the wrong views. As it is said: „There is no worse action than taking someone else’s life, of the ten unwholesome actions, the wrong view is the most serious. So please refrain from any act of killing, even the smallest insect. If at all possible, also refrain from eating meat and become a vegetarian. If someone cannot do this all the time, then at least refrain from eating meat on the three important days of each month, the 8th, 15th and 30th.

Also hold back on drinking [alcohol] and smoking, especially smoking, as this makes Phowa – the transmission of consciousness – ineffective.

Right View

Since a wrong view, (which includes the two extreme wrong views of the belief in eternity and the belief in nothingness) is the most serious one, be very careful with it as well.

In this age of decline, the effects of our actions are very powerful, whether positive or negative. Therefore, the suffering of people in this world is increasing because many people are committing unwholesome deeds. Try to give them all up and instead do only wholesome actions at all. For most sangha members it is extremely important that we hold on to our own vows and rules.

If offerings made by the faithful of the sangha are misused, it will lead to huge weaknesses and bad karma for those who do it. So always be very careful in your own actions!

In all good or bad actions, intention is the most important factor that determines whether they are positive or negative, serious or minor. In the same way, the motivation with which you hear the sacred Dharma is most important. So what makes an action good or bad? Not what it looks like, not whether it is big or small, but the good or bad motivation behind it.

In The Sutra of the Wise and the Stupid, it says, „Do not recklessly commit small misdeeds because you think they do not harm. Even a tiny spark of fire can ignite a haystack.“ Therefore, do not underestimate the smallest evil by believing it will not do much harm. In the same way, even the smallest wholesome deeds bring great benefit.

State of mind

So if we have a negative mind then we will have the three poisons (that is desire, hate and ignorance) and the five poisons of desire (desire craving, attachment etc.), hate (anger, aversion etc.), ignorance (confusion, ferocity etc.), jealousy and pride, along with the 84,000 negative emotions associated with them. With this negative mind, we will then continue to perform negative actions, which eventually only lead us to the lower realms.

There is a verse from Jowo Atisha that says, „To be kind to those who have come from far away, to those who have been ill for a long time, or to our own parents in old age, is equivalent to meditating on emptiness, of which compassion is the real essence.“ It is extremely important to look inside and change your motivation. If you can correct your mindset, then skillful means will work through your positive actions and you will set out on the path of the great beings. Whether or not your motivation is pure will have a great impact on the final outcome of your practice. So it is said that „pure mind is the land of the path of the bodhisattvas.“ And that’s why your daily life will be good too. If as your mind is good, then your path and the land you walk on will be good. On the other hand, if your mind is bad, your path and the land you walk on will be bad. The mind is the only one that produces good and bad. So always check your mind. If your mind is positive then be happy and do more and more good. If your thoughts are negative, confess them immediately, regret and be ashamed that you still have such thoughts in the face of all the teachings you have received. So look carefully at your mind. Be careful and alert all the time.

The Teachings of Buddha

We should therefore remember the following important words: „Do not commit any negative deeds, always do virtuous things, tame your mind.That is the Buddha’s doctrine.“ If you can completely renounce these unwholesome deeds, then you will close the gates to the lower realms and you can then attain the precious human birth. You will be able to encounter the sacred Dharma and be accepted by a spiritual friend. Then your veils will be removed and then in the future you will be reborn either in Buddha Amitabha’s pure Land of Great Bliss, or in the Potala – the Buddha Field of Avalokiteshvara – or in Guru Padmasambhava’s Palace of Lotus Light in the Buddha Field of Copper Mountain (Zangdog Pal Ri). They will hold you with their compassion and accept you as their disciples, so that they will eventually lead you to complete liberation and enlightenment, with the qualities of the ten powers, the four kinds of fearlessness, etc.

In the face of many sufferings today, such as new kinds of diseases, wars, people who are sick all their lives and those who die suddenly, the most important thing is to pray to the Three Jewels with a pure heart. Then all your prayers will be heard and answered and all your wishes will be fulfilled.

Mantrayana

The Mantrayana can be entered through many entrances. It includes many methods of accumulating merit and wisdom, and skillful means to manifest the potential within us without having to undergo great effort. The basis for these methods is the way we direct our aspirations.

Everything is impermanent and depends entirely on one’s own aspirations. The flawless path is on our way that we use the foundation of our own Buddha nature, the support for our precious human life, the fact of having a spiritual friend and the method of following his advice. In this way we can become Buddhas in the future. All this will of course start from our own application of the three sacred acts: 1) developing Bodhicitta at the beginning; 2) doing the main practice free from conceptualization, i.e. with the nature of emptiness; and 3) dedicating the merits to the attainment of Buddhahood for all sentient beings at the end. Furthermore, we must do all these things daily. Otherwise, you will feel sick and tired, and then you will have many obstacles. So to avoid this, be both consistent and persevering in your practice of sacred Dharma every day. Thank you very much!