For The Benefit Of All Beings

[Simple_Jack]

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/50733/FOR-THE-BENEFIT-OF-ALL-BEINGS--the-Extraordinary-Life-of-Garchen-Triptrul-Rinpoche

 

​For The Benfit Of All Beings: The Extraordinary Life Of His Eminence Garchen Triptul Rinpoche

 

Love [bodhicitta] is the only cause of happiness.

Its nature is all-pervasive like space.

Love [bodhicitta] is the sunlight of the mind.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Simple_Jack

[C T]

Will you be attending his retreat in Seattle?

[Jetsun]

I thought it was interesting about what he said about Tonglen, in that he did it in the regular way until he met Khenpo Munsel in prison who taught him how to do Tonglen in a non-dual way, I wonder if anyone knows of any further instructions on this because in non-duality there are no other beings so who do you give and take to?

[Simple_Jack]

I thought it was interesting about what he said about Tonglen, in that he did it in the regular way until he met Khenpo Munsel in prison who taught him how to do Tonglen in a non-dual way, I wonder if anyone knows of any further instructions on this because in non-duality there are no other beings so who do you give and take to?

 

Fazang 法藏 (643-712), the third patriarch of the Huayan school states:

 

 

《修華嚴奧旨妄盡還源觀》卷1：「觀色即空成大智而不住生死。觀空即色成大悲而不住涅槃。以色空無二。悲智不殊。」(CBETA, T45, no. 1876, p. 638, b1-3)

Contemplating that form is emptiness one attains great wisdom yet one does not abide in saṃsāra. Contemplating that emptiness is form one attains great compassion yet one does not abide in nirvāṇa. As form and emptiness are non-dual, compassion and wisdom are undifferentiated.

Person responsible for this translation: https://sites.google.com/site/dharmadepository/

Edited January 20, 2014 by Simple_Jack

[C T]

Fazang 法藏 (643-712), the third patriarch of the Huayan school states:

 

yes, that sums it up precisely. thank you!

[Jetsun]

Fazang 法藏 (643-712), the third patriarch of the Huayan school states:

 

 

But how does that relate to the practice of Tonglen, where you take suffering on of other beings and give your happiness to other beings? In non-duality there are no other beings.

[doc benway]

But how does that relate to the practice of Tonglen, where you take suffering on of other beings and give your happiness to other beings? In non-duality there are no other beings.

 

Fazang is not referring to an intellectual understanding but rather, direct experience.

Tonglen is pointing in that direction as well.

[doc benway]

I thought it was interesting about what he said about Tonglen, in that he did it in the regular way until he met Khenpo Munsel in prison who taught him how to do Tonglen in a non-dual way, I wonder if anyone knows of any further instructions on this because in non-duality there are no other beings so who do you give and take to?

 

Tonglen is practiced from a relative perspective. Once the Nature is achieved and one is stabilized in the non-dual experience, Tonglen is already occurring and need not be practiced any longer.

[Jetsun]

Tonglen is practiced from a relative perspective. Once the Nature is achieved and one is stabilized in the non-dual experience, Tonglen is already occurring and need not be practiced any longer.

 

How is Tonglen already occurring once the non-dual is realised?

[doc benway]

How is Tonglen already occurring once the non-dual is realised?

When I have the direct experience (not the intellectual knowledge) that I am not separate from others or the environment, when I feel deep in the core of my being that connection, then anything that causes pain or suffering in others causes pain and suffering in me. Others are me, the illusion of separation is gone. The same holds for happiness.

 

I like the analogy of the sky - the nature of mind is likened to the sky. When the sky is cloudy, the sun is obscured, and there is little warmth. When the sky is free of all clouds (obscurations), the sun can be seen, and when the sun is present, there is warmth. The clear sky is the emptiness of being, the sun is the light of awareness, and the warmth is compassion and bliss. The three go hand in hand, hence the concept of the three doors in the Bon tradition.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

I thought it was interesting about what he said about Tonglen, in that he did it in the regular way until he met Khenpo Munsel in prison who taught him how to do Tonglen in a non-dual way, I wonder if anyone knows of any further instructions on this because in non-duality there are no other beings so who do you give and take to?

 

Emptiness and form being one, all being one and one being all. So in Boddhichitta for one, you have Boddhichitta for all.

 

I particularly like Book Seven, Purifying Practice, in the Avatamsaka Sutra for this. An example being

 

"If they see high mountains,

They should wish that all beings'

Roots of goodness stand out,

Their peak beyond anyone's reach

 

If they see thorny trees,

They should wish that all beings

May quickly cut away

The thorns of the three poisons

 

Seeing trees with luxuriant foliage,

They should wish that all beings

Make a canopy of light

With stability and liberation.

 

If they see blossoms on trees,

They should wish that all beings'

Features be like flowers,

With all marks of distinction.

 

If they see fruits,

They should wish that all beings

Attain the supreme teaching

And realize the way of enlightenment.

 

[....]

 

When they eat

They should wish that all beings

Feed on the joy of meditation

And be sated by delight in truth.

 

When tasting flavor,

They should wish that all beings

Attain the supreme savor of buddhahood

And be filled with the elixer of immortality.

 

[not sure what that last line was a translation of.. lol]

 

 

But anyways, if you find yourself doing something really mundane like sweeping, you can wish that all beings have illusions swept from their spirits, or if you are walking a long journey you can wish that all beings endure the road to liberation, etc.

[Simple_Jack]

How is Tonglen already occurring once the non-dual is realised?

 

Interdependent origination. Even in the abhidharma, the arising of the universe is described as a result of the actions, which requires intention, of all sentient beings. It should be noted that a singular or universal consciousness is not posited in buddhadharma, positions such as this are conceptual proliferations by way of grasping to signs and characteristics for true existence (most often due to meditative experiences).

Edited January 22, 2014 by Simple_Jack

[C T]

But how does that relate to the practice of Tonglen, where you take suffering on of other beings and give your happiness to other beings? In non-duality there are no other beings.

Non-dual in this particular regard does not indicate the absence of beings ~ it refers specifically to attaining complete pacification/purification of subtle discriminatory tendencies leading to a spontaneous arising of equanimous poise. In another sense, it means dropping all preferences in terms of objects of practice. All sentient beings gain blessings thru your wish for their attainment of freedom from samsara. ALL beings... regardless if they are your parents or your worst enemy, a dolphin, or a poisonous snake which just bit your only child.

 

Being in prison at that time made Garchen Rinpoche realize more acutely the vividness and immeasurable qualities of attaining Equanimity (Upekkha) without remainders, which i am assuming helped tremendously in becoming more resilient to the realities of that temporary phase he was experiencing at the hands of the Chinese authorities. It also allowed him to utilize the onslaught of negativities brought upon him as a 'vehicle' (means) for higher realizations.

 

I read this some time ago. Cant recall the source exactly.

[C T]

Extracted from an article on Insight Meditation Online:

 

11) Knowledge of equanimity regarding formations - sankharupekkha-nana

Progress through the knowledge of re-consideration is marked by the development of equanimity. At some point, a subtle but fundamental shift takes place, and the meditator enters a stage of the practice called the knowledge of equanimity regarding the formations (sankharuppekha-nana). This is the reward for all the work he has done and the suffering he has endured up to this point.

Now the dominant factors in the meditator’s mind are awareness and equanimity - as in the fourth jhana. All forms of pain either disappear or are minimised. There is little or no sense of mental disturbance. The meditation carries on by itself, with little or no conscious effort on the meditator’s part. He finds he can sit and walk for long periods of time, and needs little sleep. The attention rests naturally on a few experiences, staying on the same experience for long periods of time.

At this point the meditator feels he understands the practice as if for the first time. It is so simple and so obvious! This attitude of clarity and simplicity carries over into everything else. Life itself is so simple and so obvious! How could he ever have got himself tangled up in big problems! Everything is fundamentally OK. A meditator at this stage of the practice is very difficult to upset.

The knowledge of equanimity regarding formations may continue for a long time, gradually becoming more subtle and refined, or it may end fairly quickly. If the meditator relaxes his effort and just cruises along, enjoying and clinging to the pleasant aspects of the nana, then unknown to him his awareness declines, his equanimity turns into indifference, and he may, with a sense of great shock, find himself back in the dukkha nanas. It can be difficult to convince some meditators to maintain the momentum of the practice. If they do maintain the practice, then at some point they fall through the trap-door.

[C T]

This is the Practice of Meditation on Equanimity (for those who may be interested to get deeper into realization):

 

 

The Prajqaparamita in Twenty Thousand Verses says:Subhuti, all sentient beings are mutually equal, and you should produce an attitude of equanimity.e.  The meditation on equanimity	For this reason:	Therefore, start by regarding friends and relatives	With neither love nor hate, as we would those who are neutral.	Then we should give up hatred, being neutral to our enemies.	When we do this, near and far are non-existent.	Thus we should equalize friends and enemies as indifferent.f.  Equanimity meditation to benefit sentient beings:	To be rid of the mental darkness that comes from fixating neutrality,	Eliminate habits of thinking of beings in terms of the kleshas.	Meditate on phenomena in freedom from samsara.	Subsequently may kleshas be completely pacified with regard to all sentient beings, starting with our enemies and friends.  May love and hate never arise.  May our minds become mutually workable.g.  Equanimity about getting and losing, by meditating on them as one:	All who want happiness want to eliminate suffering.	But their ignorance courses in the cause of suffering.	Those who truly want joy for themselves do not desire what is painful.  Since all beings are like that, how can malevolence toward them be appropriate?  Desire, even desire for happiness, is a cause of suffering.  We should eliminate this unwholesome approach.h.  The real object of equanimity	Kye ma!  If only the draining host of kleshas of sentient beings,	With all their habitual patterns, were equalized in peace.	May it come about that all embodied beings, 	Tormented by their violent loves and raging hatreds,	Are free from either clinging or animosity,	For all either near or far feeling equanimity.	May all the kleshas of sentient beings be pacified.  In particular, after the fires of love and hate are pacified, without near and far, may our minds become workable.i.  Expanding the object of equanimity:	Having contemplated on one being in this way,	Then going further, do the same with two or three.	Go on to a country, and then to a continent.	Then having contemplated all the four continents,	Try one or two thousand worlds--we should consider them all.	The training is complete when self is the same as others,	And enemies and friends are seen with equality.	Beginners should meditate on friends and enemies as neutral without regret.  Then from one, two, three, beings and so forth, we should go on to our whole town and then our country, its continent, and finally all of this world Jambuling.  Then from the continent of videha and so forth go on and meditate on a thousand, two, three, and all the world systems.  Also first meditate on human beings, and then on animals and so forth as being equal.j.  The measure of having trained in equanimity within one's beingWithin one's being:	The training is complete when either self or others,	Or enemies and friends, are seen with equality.	For anyone who has attained this attitude, jealousy and enmity will not arise, since they will be hindered by the arising of equality.k.  Post-meditation in equanimity meditationThen after a session of meditating with that object:	Then go on to the equanimity without object.	Everything is mind, whose nature is like the sky.	Rest in this emptiness, the unborn absolute,	Free from complexities of mental phenomena.	The objects to be meditated upon, these appearances of sentient beings, are like a reflection, appearing while they do not exist, unborn by nature.  Rest in mindfulness of this.  Though we are attached to the skandhas as   being grasped objects and a fixating ego other than these, both are false.  This is like thinking that a reflection in a mirror is a face.  What does not exist appears, depending on the skandhas.  The Precious Mala says:	Though depending on a shining mirror	Reflections of oneself and others appear,	All such vivid images as these	In actuality do not exist.	Likewise, in dependence on the skandhas,	Ego is perceived and firmly grasped.	Like the reflected image of one's face,	Really it does not exist at all.	As without depending on a mirror,	No reflected natures will appear,	If there is no dependence on the skandhas,	Ego-grasping too will disappear.	By their nature, if the skandhas are grasped as an ego, karma exists.  Since from karma birth exists, by intervals old age and death will also exist.  When we do not grasp the skandhas, all this is reversed.  The same text says:	As long as the skandhas are being grasped at all	So long will they be grasped as truly being an ego.	If there is ego-grasping, there is also karma.	As a result of that, there also will be birth.	The three kinds of action have no beginning, end, or middle 	The mandala of samsara, like a whirling fire-brand,	Has recursive causes, so it will keep on whirling.	But if the cause of that were not to be established,	Conceptions of self and other and distinctions of the three times,	The context of ego grasping would be entirely exhausted.	Therefore karma and birth will be extinguished too,	And likewise cause and fruition, will simply cease to be.	Having seen the exhaustion of these, in the world of truth	There is no thought of existence, no thought of non-existence.	Therefore all dharmas, without an I or any object to grasp, should be known to be non-existent, like a reflection.The benefits of equanimity meditation	The measure of being well-trained by meditating in this way, is that realization of profound peace arises and realization of the nature of all dharmas as primordially unborn equality.  The All-Creating King says:	Within the unthinking enlightenment of dharmata,	By resting in non-duality, wisdom will arise.l.  The fruition of equanimity Of this meditation:	The fruition is that for mind, undisturbed by near and far,	There is the spontaneous presence of the natural state.	This is the actual nature of reality.	When the relativity of self and other, near and far, is non-existent; the absolute, non-dual dharmata, will be realized.