Teaching Dharma

My most dear Julian,
How are you? Yes, I do remember you have invited me a few times to come to teach. Since I am busy now for sometime, maybe I will send some hummingbirds to teach, or some bees or mosquitoes to give very important teachings that helps enlightenment, and not only that, of course, this world peace. Teaching patience, tolerance. HA HA HO HO.

Please share this chocolate with the group for the happiest life, for full enlightenment. See you soon.

With much love and prayer...

1. Karma
There are different ways of presenting karma; there are the four aspects and the 10 non-virtues, but another way of teaching karma is from the point of view of helping others by protecting their lives. In the case of killing, emphasize the opposite—that saving the lives of animals causes us to have a longer life.

Emphasize the benefits of saving lives and present karma by explaining what happens to us—that the result of saving lives is that we have a long and healthy life now and in the future.

Emphasize the opposite of killing and talk about saving the lives of others, for example, birds. Elaborate on practicing charity for others— helping sick, dying and homeless people.

2. Reincarnation
Explain that our future lives depend on how much we create positive karma. Present the idea that our life isn’t just this lifetime. If you don’t talk about reincarnation, people won’t be inspired to abandon negative karma and it won’t be an important issue for them, so the thought to change doesn’t come.

There is a fixed idea that farmers have to kill, but this isn’t necessarily so. Farmers have to feed animals, but they don’t have to kill them. If there is concern that the animals’ numbers will increase too much, they can use birth control for the animals. If the animals are sold then other people will kill them, so it’s better to control the increase in numbers. Also, being a farmer is by choice and that lifestyle can be changed for the good and happiness of others. There is no rule saying they have to be farmers—they have free will.

In the case of people who can’t stop killing but still want to meditate, they can develop compassion for others, for example, by practicing patience and the basic things that are the only ways to bring happiness, such as keeping virtue in the mind, visualizing the Buddha, and doing purification with Shakyamuni Buddha yoga meditation. Gradually, these people will become inspired to stop killing.

Buddha gave us many different practices, because sentient beings have different kinds of minds. We can always practice Dharma and meditate—there is always something we can do and something we can practice. It is better that we practice something that is the opposite to creating non-virtue, so our life isn’t just full of negative karma and completely dark. We should especially perform purification practices. If we purify ourselves, then we have less negative karma and suffering, so it makes a big difference.

My dear wish-fullfilling Keith,
How are you? I hope you had a good day and had a good time since we left.

I had the good fortune to receive quite a number of lungs from Khongla Rato Rinpoche in New York, such as the Lama Tsongkhapa Sum Bum, the first volume, and Kachen Yeshe Gyeltsen’s second and third volumes, that I missed last time when Khongla Rato Rinpoche gave those lungs at Sera Jhe. I missed a few days because the FPMT had invited His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Bombay to give a public talk. Also, I received the lungs of a few different other texts.

In the future, Khongla Rato Rinpoche may give the lungs of Kyabje Bodhisattva Keith’s collection of teachings. This may be the biggest collection of teachings, so Khongla Rato Rinpoche may have to continue also in the next life. I may be joking now, but it could happen, if not in this life, in the next life. You could be a great, most famous, rime lama, more famous than His Holiness, famous even on the moon and sun. So, here, I end my joke.

With much love and prayers...

Offering centers qualified teachers, teaching the correct path to enlightenment, is one very powerful thing we can do for sentient beings. We are able to give sentient beings the correct path to enlightenment. In the world, even with Buddhism, there can be misunderstandings of the teachings, wrong teachings, and if one practices those one can’t achieve and complete the path.

Most kind, having wisdom beautified with precious morality, Geshe Monlam.

I enjoyed my stay very much. I don’t think I have benefited the people much, but I really rejoice in the unity, and how harmonious things are from the people’s side, and from your, the resident teacher’s side, as well. I thought everything was well arranged.

The other important thing that I have wanted to mention to you for a long time is I want to have every single instruction on how to make the best dal, which the Tibetan cook makes. Maybe you could send it to me or he can send it to me, if you give him my address.

Thank you very much for everything that you do, which is benefiting other sentient beings and the teachings of Buddhism. It is one way to repay the kindness of our incomparably kind compassionate Shakyamuni Buddha, who has chosen us sentient beings of the degenerate time to bring to liberation and enlightenment. The best way Buddha liberates us is by revealing the Dharma. The best way to repay the kindness of sentient beings is by teaching the Dharma, by example, because the teachings of Buddha are the only way to get rid of the causes of sufferings, which are within. The teachings do this not only through caring, but because they work…if they are put into practice. They contain the complete path to enlightenment.

Again, thank you very much. We need many young geshes like you, all over the world. You are not only a teacher; you work together with the people, help them, and inspire them at the same time with compassion.

With much love and prayers...

Student's Letter

Dear Rinpoche,
I have a few questions if that is OK. I have a little dilemma here at the Dharma center. They want me to teach the Tantra Module of the Discovering Buddhism (DB) program. I was not too keen because I barely see myself as a teacher, and certainly not one that should teach tantra. But it was announced anyway. First I thought I could get away with just mainly talking about the mind, but now they are asking for this, and from one side I feel obliged.

I know of course that the tantra module is part of the DB program but I do not feel comfortable talking to them about tantra for many reasons. I think most of them are relatively new students, even though they have done all the modules of the DB program. Here, they spend four evenings on each module.

I also think that many of them have not received a proper initiation yet. I looked in Lama Tsongkhapa's commentary on the tantric vows about breaking a vow by revealing secrets to those who are not a suitable vessel. It seems quite difficult to actually break this vow because quite a lot of conditions need to be there. Is that correct?

But even if it would be OK from the point of view of the vows, I feel it would be presumptuous of me to talk about tantra. I have checked in my mind and it just does not feel right. I even feel uncomfortable talking about selflessness of self to them because I feel it would make them afraid; at least of subtle selflessness.

But then, on the other side, maybe I am seeing it too narrowly and maybe there is some karma ripening to give them some inspiration to practice the Dharma by talking a little about tantra with them?

Do you have any advice? I would be very grateful.

Rinpoche's Response

Dear Kevin,
If it inspires the person to have more faith or practice Dharma, I think it is good to talk on the introduction to tantra. Of course, it depends on the subject. If you think or feel the person could lose his or her faith or that heresy might arise, then it is better not to talk about tantra. That is the reason we are asked to keep it secret. We need to protect the minds of sentient beings because there can be the danger of a negative mind arising. My own example is, with western people, the best way to introduce Buddhism is by having them analyze emptiness, but how subtly you explain this depends on how capable you think the people are.

Explaining emptiness is like science—it doesn’t require belief, so, in actuality, explaining this way first can give more faith. Talking to one individual can depend on karma, but if you are talking to a group you have to make some judgment overall of what is best, and this is sometimes not easy.

I am sure there is a lot of explanation in the introduction to tantra which you can read, and I think you can explain a little about the meaning of kaya—the four completely purified results. You can give the basic introduction of how tantra is the quick path to purification and accumulation of merit and not talk about the stages themselves. You can also explain in a general way the stages of purifying ordinary death, bardo and rebirth and how the actual purification comes with the completion stage.

The ultimate secret is Dharmakaya, the subtle unification, where subtle means not just unification of body and mind but the subtle way of actually explaining it.

With much love and prayers...