Answers to Written Questions

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
Teachings on Bodhicharyavatara
Chapter 8: Meditation
Session 19
Answers to Written Questions

This Sunday’s, 24th January, Live Question & Answer session was postponed until 7th February because of a Kagyu Monlam prayer session that was scheduled for today.  Instead, on this video Rinpoche answers some of the presubmitted questions he has received on various topics, like the recent teaching on Aspiration of Samantabhadra.

Questions answered on this video:

1. I have been practising the Ngondro for around 6 years now. Gradually over the past 12 months I have developed a resistance to all the practices which I find very disconcerting. The practices began to feel like a race to the finish, an incredibly ego-led situation. I now just meditate daily which I find the most energising and enough. Is meditation enough? Are my actions karmically damaging? If so, how should I find my way back?
2. In the practise of the paramitas, what do you think about understanding prajna/wisdom fully before engaging in the others? and also drawing from it as a source of support to truly commit selflessly to the practise of generosity, discipline, patience, joyous effort, meditation.
3. When we pray for His Holiness The Karmapa to live long, do we pray and ask Karmapa to live long or do we ask the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to grant their blessings that he will live long? I want to pray properly.
4. When we ask for all obstacles to be removed that are affecting the Karmapa’s activities and that his activities will flourish, I pray to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for this, is this OK or should I pray directly to the Karmapa?
5. I have read its best to make offerings to your Root Guru, (Karmapa) as Vajradhara, the embodiment of all sources or refuge which undoubtedly he is. However before I practised with another lineage for many years, they taught me to make offerings to the head of that lineage (who is a Buddha too) and also to offer to all Buddhas everywhere. I am used to making offerings in this way, and so its hard for me to connect to offering to Karmapa as the same as offering to all Buddhas, even though I know this is true. I want to have a sincere, pure heart and not feel confused about making offerings. Can you please help me to overcome this?
6. Is there any MANTRA or SEED SYLLABLE which can be connected to visualization
   of Samantabhadra in the Sadhana of Kuntuzangpo?
7. It is taught that the human realm offers the best of everything to the human experience to accomplish enlightenment. It is also said after death, it is very difficult to move “up” to a higher level of enlightenment. If you have had 30 years of dharma teachings, been inspired by them, practised but only enough to enter the God realm…. what is it about the God realm that prevents awareness of the dharma and memory of practice from arising as a motivation to have renunciation there. And to summon the presence and guru from there?  To avoid dying and moving to a higher level of awareness? Please contrast the God Realm with what we call the god realm here in Samsara, where one’s motivation to practice dharma is disabled by pleasures, money, fame etc.

8. Is the reason we cannot leave the God realm or practice there, because it is only in the Human Realm we CAN conceptualize?   That conceptualization, which is an obstacle to the unattached state that matures enlightenment in the Human realm, is also a very important tool of Humans to reflect and learn;  until they trust direct experience and let go of all fabrications and rest in pure experience without any conceptual reflection and alteration of mind?

   Is this the reason why, even years of dharma training, will not help us move up to a higher level of realization from the God realm and we must die there and be reborn?

9. After your teachings on this prayer the experience of reading it is quite evocative and powerful. After these teachings, this prayer now brings back to me all the teachings I have ever had on the nature of mind in Dzogchen and ordinary mind in Mahamudra. Expressing your confidence in the directness of Adam’s translation was helpful to me. I apologize in advance I think but I know myself that if I don’t ask I will get stuck on this line for a while thinking about it. Initially I wanted to replace the word meaning on line 14 with the word experience but am I correct to say that on reflection on this line I now appreciate the choice of words Adam has made in a good way. Is this correct: the word realize in line 14 refers to a non-conceptual experience, and the word meaning refers to how we human beings designate a conceptual meaning to things, and that the sentence is telling us to take our intellectual understanding or our imputed meaning of the ineffable ground to the more enlightened level of realization? This is much more helpful than using the word experience. I realize the word experience is more difficult to understand, actually. Is my deeper appreciation of this translation correct? The way I worked it out for myself seems to reveal a very elegant way to talk about aspiring to the ultimate understanding of the ineffable ground instead of settling for just a meaning we project onto hearing about it.

Archive members can also view the teaching on the Chapter 8 page along with the other teachings on this chapter. All previous sessions on Chapters 1–8 are available in the Courses section of the Teachings Archive.

New sessions will  be posted twice a week, usually on Tuesday and Friday. Every Friday we will send a mailout with links to all new teachings posted during the week.

Rinpoche has kindly agreed to answer questions regarding these teachings once in every two weeks in a live webinar on Zoom, which will be simultaneously streamed on this website. Next webinar will be on 7th February. You are encouraged to ask your question live in the webinar, but if you are more comfortable with submitting it in writing, you can do so by using the comment area below. Please reflect on your question carefully before you send it, and be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Vous pouvez également envoyer des questions en français. También puede enviar preguntas en español. Sie können Fragen auch auf Deutsch senden. Puoi anche inviare domande in italiano. Presubmitted questions in other languages are also welcome and they will be translated to English.

In any other questions and for technical help, please contact us at Teachings Archive.

These teachings are dedicated for all who are sick and dying of corona virus, and for all who are tirelessly working in order to help them.

Audio-only version, Translations and other supporting materials:

Questions:

Your questions are most welcome. Archive members can log in and leave their questions for Rinpoche as a comment below, so that others can see them too. Please be concise and only use one short paragraph and less than 80 words. Questions longer than that may have to be edited. Questions will be collected from here in the evening day before each Live Q&A.