12. Time is running out

Do you know that Time is running out ?
Why we have to know about this ?
Because "Time is Money" everybody says this, isn't it ?

Time is running out, are you aware of it ?

"Why should I care?
I always have 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.
I never have to pay anything for the Time given to me."

"Hi, but you have forgotten one thing, though you never pay for Time,
Time is running you down moment by moment,
By the Time you realise, you are dying, too weak to do anything,
And soon you don't have the 24 hours and 365 days !"

To avoid being run down by Time, moment by moment in our life,
we have to.... Wake up and STOP having NON- Dharma Thoughts and Non-Dharma Activities!

11. Just to Ponder 2

Since we have a life which is given free to us, and the time given free to us, logically speaking, every one of us should be able to enjoy a good life.

However, most of us are not able to have a good life because of our own defilements. We have many complaints about our parents. Many people have blamed their parents for their failures. Some of us even point a finger at our parents for our sufferings. In this way, we can’t feel grateful towards our parents for the life they given us.

Have you ever wondered how much pain your mother had gone through when she was conceiving you in her womb for 9 months ? How much pain she had to bear during the time of delivering you? Have your mother grumbled to you about those pains she had gone through?

Have you contemplated and thought deeply about the way your mother have taken care of you when you were one day old, one month old, and one year old? How your mother have nursed you and taught you when you were an infant? She had cared for you, didn’t she? You wouldn’t have survived without her care for you with great loving kindness and compassion, would you?

We were hopeless when we were still an infant. Our parents nursed us, loved us, warmed us, fed us and cared for us with great tenderness when we were few months old. Have you felt grateful towards your parents? Without their loving kindness and compassion, will you survive till today?

Have you ever thought of repaying your parents’ effort of taking care of you? Without the sense of feeling grateful towards your parents, you may not try to repay their loving kindness and compassion give to you by them.

Do you think we should feel grateful towards our parents, and try to repay them for their efforts of taking care of us, in any way we can?

10. Just to Ponder

Have you wondered that when we took birth, we did not use a credit card or an ATM card or wrote a cheque for our birth? Our parents paid everything. We did not have to pay anything. We just came out from mother womb free of charge. Have your parents ever asked you to pay back the expenses for your birth? We are given a life free of charge, isn’t?

How come we have messed up our lives in dissatisfaction? Our credit cards are in bad shape. We are not at peace with ourselves. We hardly live a life we wanted. We have struggled all these years and what is the result now?

We have never paid for the time we have spent in this life. Each one of us is given 24 hours a day and 365 days a year free of charge. What have we done with our time to end up our life in this way? What are the mistakes we have done? Do we have the time to remedy it now?

9. How Buddhism started in the Land of Snow-Tibet

More than 2000 years ago, the Tibetans were living in small groups or small villages in the mountains. Later, a town was formed in the Kongpo area, also known as the “Monkey Nose” It was situated at the southern part of Tibet. It was the first Tibetan town. Tibet did not have a king then. There were village headmen only.

On one fine day, news spread around in the town that there was a very special person had appeared in the mountain. The people flocked into the mountain to meet this very special person. And that person was actually a prince from India. He was from a royal family known as "Lib-Stham-Bee", a very special race, known as the race of the Deva, the gods.

This prince was actually in exile from his country. He wandered around and happened to come to that area. He could not speak Tibetan language and neither those people speak his language. However, they noticed that he was a very special person. Since he was a prince, he has better appearance than them. So they were curious about him. They asked him where he had come from. Since he could not speak Tibetan, he just pointed his finger into the sky. Then the people thought that he was from the Devas. They bowed to him thinking that he was a Deva. They made a throne and carried him on their shoulders to the “Monkey Nose”. They appointed him as the king.

Since that time on, the monarchy system was well established in Tibet. Lha Thothori Nyantsen was the 26th king. "Lha" means the devas, the gods. Thothori Nyan was his name. He was a very special person. He had built the first palace in Tibet. It is known as “Yumbu Lagan” It was very well built. It is still there in Tibet.

This palace had a very unique design. It had a tower. On the top of the tower, there was a place where the king could sit and contemplate. On one fine day while he was sitting there with his hands folded together, a very strong feeling aroused inside him. He had a strong aspiration for wanting to do something meaningful for his people. He realized that he had not done enough by being just a good king but he did not know what it was. Amidst his strong feeling, suddenly from the sky, sounds and lights appeared and all aspects of incredible; it seemed like a little bit of a magical thing happening around him. He sat still, waiting anxiously. Suddenly, a shining cloud appeared. It moved down slowly towards him. Then he was totally covered by this shining cloud. He could not see anything at all. Then he felt something heavy was placed on his hands. After some time, the cloud disappeared and he remained sitting on the tower of his palace. In his hands there was a box. It looked special. He opened it. He was so happy when he saw a statue, a stupa, and a booklet written “OM MANI PEDME HUNG” a mantra. There was a voice telling him that in the future, a king, five generations from him, would understand the meaning of all those items in the box. So the king kept the box with those items inside with his utmost devotion and faith. That was the first connection for the Tibetan people with Avalokitesvara, (in Chinese- Kuan Yin ), the manifestation of the essence of loving kindness and compassion of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. This event showed the manifestation, the blessing of Avalokitesvara specifically for Tibet and generally for the world.


Hence, this lineage had somehow started from this king Lha Thothori Nyantsen by receiving the auspicious box with those auspicious items in it. But later, after the 5th generations from him, a king called King Songtsen Gampo became the 1st in the line of kings in the Tibetan history.

King Songtsen Gampo is considered by the Tibetan as one of the manifestations of Avalokitesvara. By that time he had understood about the value of what his great, great, great grandfather had received from the manifestation of Avalokitesvara. In order for him to be able to learn and understand completely about this inheritance, he put lots of effort to bring the profound teachings of Buddha from India to Tibet. He was a great king. He became the king of Tibet when he was only 13 years old. Though he was so young, he conquered all over Tibet. Prior to this, there were many small kingdoms all over Tibet. Most of them were bandits, behaved like barbarians. So he united them as a sort of a united kingdom by conquering all of them.

After that, King Songtsen Gampo brought lots of profound teachings from all the neighboring countries; from China, Nepal and India. And he was able to cause Buddhism to flourish tremendously in Tibet when he married a princess from Nepal and a princess from China. These two princesses had brought along with them the most precious things - one Buddha statue from Nepal and one Buddha statue from China. And these two Buddha statues were most precious for Tibetan Buddhism until today. Besides the Buddha statues, they had also brought with them many texts of Buddha teachings. The Buddha statue which was brought by princess Wen-Cheng (文成公主) from China is highly venerated by all Tibetans until today. It was enshrined in the Jokhang Monastery in Lhasa (大昭寺)

From the teachings of the Buddha, King Songtsen Gampo had learnt about the causes of suffering of his people. He had learnt that they were suffering because they had 5 poisons i.e. desire, anger, ignorance, jealousy and pride. Those who had more of these poisons, they would have more sufferings. For those who had less poison in their mind, they would have less suffering. Happiness is not obtainable from the health, neither from their wealth, nor the fame. Happiness is obtained from our insight, the understanding or wisdom. As a result, he had understood that all the sufferings were caused by 5 poisons together with the stinginess as the 6th poison or in other words, the defilements in our mind.

He had also learnt the meaning of OM MANI PADME HUNG. This mantra is to pacify the obstacles of 6 poisons. There are 6 syllables in it and is able to help to develop the 6 special qualities out of the foundation of loving kindness and compassion. He propagated the OM MANI PADME HUM, the mantra of Avalokitesvara throughout Tibet..

To help to develop the essence of universal peace from Tibet, being the plateau of the world, King Songtsen Gampo combined the teaching of the Buddha and the great knowledge of ancient China which was the geomancy (风水), he built 108 stupas covering from Bhutan to Chengdu and also 12 main temples with a special one - the 13th temple . These stupas and temples were built on a very special location from Tibet to Bhutan and to Chengdu. The landscape, viewing from the sky, was like a human being lying on his back. The temples and the stupas were built on this human-like landscape in specific locations. He had built the special central temple in Lhasa on a lake named Milky Lake. It was a white lake, a very special one, and it was totally covered with earth. He had built this central temple there as his gratitude towards all the masters who had brought the Buddha dharma to Tibet and also to show his gratitude towards his queens who had brought the special Buddha statutes into Tibet. This temple was known as "Lhasa Thur Nam". It is still there. Thus, this action signified the beginning for creating the universal peace especially for mankind was nailed and established totally on the plateau of the earth.


From then on, the strong establishment of Buddha dharma in Tibet had taken place. After another 6 generations had gone by, Trisong Detsen became the King of Tibet. He too was a great king. He invited Guru Padmasambhava to Tibet. Guru Padmasambhava was an Indian Mahasidha also known to the Tibetan as the Second Buddha. (He is commonly venerated as Guru Rinpoche by all the Buddhists who practice Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism.) With the help of the occult power of Guru Rinpoche, King Trisong Detsen was able to complete the building of the first Buddhist monastery named "Samye Ling". It remains till today. Samye Ling is a holy place for pilgrimage.

Through the patronage of King Trisong Detsen, all the three yanas of Buddha Teachings; the Theravada, the Mahayana, and the Vajrayana were brought purely from India to Tibet where these Teachings slowly developed into 8 lineages. They were:1) Nyingma, 2)Kadam, 3)Lamdrey, 4)Marpa Kagyu, 5)Shangpa Kagyu, 6)Chicheh, 7)Dorje Sumjin and 8) Andrup. At present, there are 5 surviving lineages: 1)Ningma is Ningmapa. Kadam has divided into old Kadam and the new Kadam which known as 2)the Gelukpa. And 3)Lamdrey is the Sakyapa. 4)The Marpa Kagyu is the lineage in which the Karma Kagyu belongs to. The 5th lineage is the Shangpa Kagyu. Its lineage holder was the late V. Ven. Kalu Rinpoche. These are the five surviving lineages of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism. All the other 3 were somehow absorbed to these 5. There is no special separate lineage, but somehow they were absorbed into it. This is the way how Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism fit to the present time and still surviving well. This is a brief history of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism.

8. Karmapa

Here, we shall introduce about Karmapa which I mentioned in our article no.6. He is the head of Karma Kagyu Lineage in Tibetan Buddhism which we are following.

Tibetans revere Guru Rinpoche as the 2nd Buddha after Buddha Sakyamuni. And they believe that Karmapa is a manifestation of Guru Rinpoche. Tibetans also regard Karmapa as one of the manifestations of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (known as Kwan Yin in Chinese). The coming of Karmapa was predicted by Buddha Sakyamuni in the Samadhiraja (King of Samadhi) Sutra:

Two thousand years of my passing,
The teachings will spread in the land of the red faced ones,
Who will be the disciple of Avalokita;
The bodhisattva Simhanada, known as Karmapa, will appear.
Possessing mastery over Samadhi, He will tame beings
And establish them in bliss through seeing, hearing, recalling and touching.

Another prediction from Lankavatara (Manifesting in Lanka) Sutra:

Wearing monastic robes and a black crown,
He will perform unceasing benefit for beings
Until the teachings of one thousand buddhas disappear.

Karmapa is a very unique living personality. He is the founder of Tulku System (Incarnated Lama) in Tibetan Buddhism. The 1st Karmapa, Dusum Kyenpa left a written Letter predicting his future birth. The 2nd Karmapa, Karma Paksi, was found according to the descriptions in the Letter. Karma Paksi went to China by the invitation of Emperor of China during the Ming Dynasty. He performed 21 miracles during the first 21 days of His stay in the Palace. The Emperor of China became His disciple. From then on, all following Karmapas became the Gurus of Emperors of Ming Dynasty of China.

The 16th Karmapa was a great Bodhisattva. He received oral instructions and teachings mainly from His Root Guru, H.E. 11th Tai Situ Rinpoche. The 16th Karmapa’s Dharma activities spread far and wide. Many people in Europe and North America became Buddhists through just having a mere glimpse of Karmapa. Thus Tibetan Buddhism became flourished in Europe and North America. Many Dharma Centers sprung up like mushrooms all over the world. The 16th Karmapa had affected the lives of millions of people. My life changed for good after I took Refuge under The16th Karmapa.

The 16th Karmapa passed away in USA amid many wonderful signs. A few year prior to His Parinirvana, He left a letter with His Heart Disciple, H.E. The 12th Tai Situ Rinpoche who became the Root Guru of the present 17th Karmapa . The letter described about His future birth in details such as names of parents, year of birth, place of birth, and the signs after his birth. Thus the present 17th Karmapa was found without difficulty.

The 17th Karmapa, Urgyen Trinley Dorje was born in June 1985 in a nomad family in Kham, Tibet. When he was born, the neighbors heard the sound of conch-shell horn from the sky which lasted about 2 hours. This event was predicted in the 16th Karmapa's letter. The nomad's baby born with mysterious sound was named as Apo Gaga. When he was 6 years old, the search party for 17th Karmapa came to look for him by following the description in the prediction letter.

The 17th Karmapa was enthroned on 27th September, 1992 in Turphu Monastery, Tibet, with the recognition letter from the Central Committee of Communist China. And this was the first time the Communist Government of China recognized an incarnated Lama. If you wish to know more about Karmapa, please click this link: http://www.kagyuoffice.org/

7. Development for Compassion – One of the methods for Merit Accumulation -"Hock（福）"

Another way to accumulate “Hock（福）" (merit accumulation) are good deeds done through our body, speech and mind with compassion. Deeds done with compassion give us “Hock（福）” Deeds done with selfish motivation cause us to loose “Hock”. Hence, if our action is motivated for helping others, trying to make them happy and free from suffering, we shall accumulate “Hock”. In order to have such a motivation spontaneously, instead of self-centered motivation, we need to possess strong loving kindness and compassion within ourselves. We require skillful methods to develop our loving kindness and compassion.

There are several methods to develop loving kindness and compassion by meditation.

Meditation to develop Compassion

In Tibetan Buddhism, there are two methods of Meditation to develop compassion. Here, we are going to introduce one of them. This method is based on compassion towards our mother in this life. We contemplate our own mother’s great kindness and her suffering to generate compassion on her. And develop that compassion towards all sentient beings.

Buddha taught that Samsara is without beginning or ending. Therefore, since every sentient being has gone round within Samsara countless of times, anyone of them, at somewhere in our past lives, had been our mother. Hence, we shall try to perceive every sentient being as our mother. And we are to develop compassion towards all our sentient mothers using our present mother as the anchor. This is the basic idea of this method.

Instruction

First, you take refuge in the Budha, Dharma and Sangha, 3 times and then you generate Bodhichitta.

Then visualize your own mother in front of you.
Think that you are the baby in her womb.

Think about her sufferings and her great care for you during the time conceiving you:
Her body is heavy and uncomfortable, having various kind of pains etc...
She walks and moves carefully not to fall down or knock something so as to protect you.

When she was delivering the baby (you), she had to bare severe pain.
After given birth to you, she took care of you day and night.
She carried and curled you, washed your body, fed you milk, etc…
When you got sick, she stayed up at night to look after you for the whole night long.

She brought you up with great care, protect you from harm, and teach you many things. She has spent a large part of her life for taking care of you.

Now you are so fortunate to get Dharma Teaching which can liberate yourself from the suffering of Samsara. But your mother is still suffering in the ocean of Samsara. If she passes away, she will be blown by the wind of Karma and where she will reborn is not certain.

After contemplate this way, when the compassion for your mother arises, then pray for her;
“May my mother always be very happy and peaceful.”

Since all sentient beings were your mother somewhere in your past life, you also pray for other people in the same way, starting from near one to complete strangers or even your enemies, and all other beings.

For example;
“May my father always be very happy and peaceful.”
“May my brother(s) / sister(s) always be very happy and peaceful.”
“May my relatives always be very happy and peaceful.”
“May my friends always be very happy and peaceful.”
“May my enemies always be very happy and peaceful.”
“May all the people in this town always be very happy and peaceful.”
“May all beings in this country always be very happy and peaceful.”
“May all beings on the earth always be very happy and peaceful.”
“May all beings in whole universe always be very happy and peaceful.”

Then stay in the feeling of impartial compassion towards all beings for a while.
After that, dedicate your merits to all sentient beings to gain Enlightenment by saying silently in your mind, “May the merits gained be dedicated to the Enlightenment of all sentient beings” You do this dedication prayer sincerely.

6. Becoming a yogi or a yogini – Ngagpa-lama

In Tibetan Buddhism, there is another kind of Field of Merit similar to the Members of Sangha are yogis or yoginis. Buddhist Yogis or Yoginis (known as Ngagpa in Tibetan) are mostly found in the Himalayan Regions and Tibet. Nowadays, you may also find them in Europe and Ameirica. The main cause of this establishment is due to the fact most of the Schools of Buddhism in Tibet are founded by the Ngagpa-lamas. They were the Indian Mahasiddhas. Most of these Ngagpa-Lamas have families. Like the monks or nuns, the ngagpa-lamas have strict rules to follow. Through this way, they become more careful at all times to watch out their outer actions and inner motivations. Many ngagpa-lamas attain high realization. They are an excellent field for us to sow our seeds of Merit Accumulations. The greatest yogi ever lived on this earth is Milarepa. He was a Tibetan. He attained full enlightenment within one lifetime. His life story has inspired many Buddhists through out the ages. Many people, especially in Europe and America, became Buddhists after reading the life story of Yogi Milarepa. They were inspired by Him. I was inspired by Milarepa too.

Buddhism in Tibet was well established and become flourished by a ngagpa-lama. His name is Padmasambhava, known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) by the Tibetans. Guru Rinpoche was the founder of Buddhism in Tibet. (I met many Japanese who had mistaken that Tibetan Buddhism was founded by Dalai Lama.) Guru Rinpoche was an Indian Mahasiddha (highly accomplished practitioner). He brought Buddhism from India to Tibet in the 8th Century AD. He was invited by the Tibetan King, Trisong Deutsen. The first Buddhist Monastery, Samye Ling, built by The King with the help of Guru Rinpoche's occult power, still stands out majestically in Tibet. Samye Ling is considered as one of the most Holy Places in Tibet.

King Trisong Deutsen later became one of the disciples of Guru Rinpoche. Guru Rinpoche’s main disciple was Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal. She became his consort and became the first female lineage holder in Tibet. Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal was partly responsible for the Ter-Teachings (Treasure Teachings) given by Guru Rinpoche. These Ter-Teachings are being revealed from time to time by the Tertons who are the ngagpa-lamas. These Ter-Teachings have made Tibetan Buddhism unique until today. Guru Rinpoche founded the Nyingma Lineage. This is the oldest lineage of Tibetan School of Buddhism. Many of the Nyingma practisioners including the Tulkus (Incarnated Lamas known as Rinpoches) follow the foot-step of Guru Rinpoche by having consorts.

Guru Rinpoche, being a nganpa-lama, is highly revered by all Tibetans and those who practice Tibetan Buddhism. They consider Him as the second Buddha. The 84 Mahasiddhas in Buddhist history were ngagapa-lamas too. Four of them were female ngagpas or yoginis. They practiced the unconventional Tantric Buddhism. Mahasiddhas are Maha (Great) Bodhisattvas who have the ability to choose to enter into nirvana but instead through their bodhicitta (compassion), choose to take rebirth in samsara to help others. These 84 Mahasiddhas were made up of diversified family backgrounds consisting of kings and ministers, priests and yogins, healers, poets, musicians, family house holders, farmers and whores. These Mahasiddhas have occult powers or siddhis. As Siddhas, their main emphasis in Dharma practice is the direct experience of the sacred practice through spiritual discipline of the highest level.

Besides the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, we can also find ngagpas in Kagyu and Sakya School. Yogi Virupa, an Indian sage who lived in the 9th century, was one of the most beloved Mashasiddhas. He had inspired the founding of Sakya Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. The present Head of the Sakya Lineage, His Holiness Sakya Tenzin has a family. His son will be the future Head of the Sakya Lineage. In this Sakya tradition, the Seat of the Lineage Head is passed from father to son.

His Holiness Karmapa (Link: http://www.kagyuoffice.org/ ) is the Head of Kagyu Lineage. The present Head of Kagyu Lineage is H.H.17th Karmapa, Urgyen Trinley Dorje. The unique Tulku System (incarnated lama system) of Tibetan Buddhism was founded by 1st Karmapa Dusun Khenpa.

The Kagyu School was founded by Mahasiddha Tilopa, an Indian sage. Marpa , a Tibetan Ngagpa-lama went to India to bring the Kagyu School of Buddhism to Tibet from Mahasiddha Naropa, a disciple of Mahasiddha Tilopa. Marpa translated the Teachings written in Sanskirt into Tibetan. At the time of Passing-away, Marpa with his consort Dakmema, flew into the sky and disappeared. Both Tilopa and Naropa were Ngagpa-lamas too.

The 15th Karmapa was a monk but later He took a consort to be ngagpa lama. Many Tibetans were unhappy about this. However, before His Passing-away, He left a letter describing His future birth, just like all past Karmapas had done. The letter was written in Dakini language and He left it with His attendant monk with a specific instruction. The letter was handed to His Eminence, 11th Tai Situ Rinpoche much later. When it was translated, the content in the letter, describing His future birth, matched perfectly to the 16th Karmapa whom was found and enthroned earlier by H.E.,11th Tai Situ Rinpoche.
(Click this link to know more about Tai Situ Rinpoche’s Lineage, http://www.palpung.org/english/taisitupa/brief_brief.htm)

Venerable Khenpo Tsutrim Rinpoche, a highly accomplished master, is one of the 17th Karmapa’s teachers. He is a great ngagpa-lama. He had lived a life like Yogi Milarepa while he was in Tibet. He wondered throughout Central and Eastern Tibet, staying in caves doing solitary retreats. If you are interested to know more about Venerable Khenpo Tsutrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, click this link, www.ktgrinpoche.org/biography.html

It is not an easy way to practice Tibetan Buddhism as ngagpa. We require a lot of Merit Accumulations in order to be able to practice dharma successfully as ngagpa. Besides having an authentic lama from an unbroken lineage to be our guide, we need a heart of renunciation, compassion and bodhicitta, sincere motivation with unwavering faith and devotion to our Root Guru. We must possess high level of mental discipline, determination, tolerance, perseverance, patience and hard work. It is dangerous to practice without a qualified master. I have met many of them with cuckoo minds because they have practiced without a master or a qualified master. Some of them told me that Buddha became enlightened under the Bodhi tree at Bodhgaya without a master! Hence, they could do likewise. These people were wrong. They were ignorant indeed. Buddha says," In this Fortunate Eon, there will be a thousand Buddhas appearing on this earth. All of them have gurus to guide them until they become Buddhas.” Therefore, we need authentic lamas (masters) to guide us, lives after lives, in order to become Buddhas to benefit all sentient beings.