KTC-News 3/98
Namo Buddha-ya
Due to the fact that we Westerner often misunderstand the term and contents of ‘lineage’ with regard to Buddhism in general and especially to Vajrayana, we decided to use this issue to (hopefully) clear away all persistent prejudices and make a right view possible.
In this context I would like to recommend some books. Biographies of great teachers and masters of this lineage. This could be the starting signal for a new column (?) - book reviews. The aim is not to excel in summaries and brilliance. Rather it shall be a list of titles of different topics with a short comment by the editors, provided that you are interested. This means that it is now your term to say what you want. Let us know if you like the idea.
This makes us jump into our first recommendation. During summercamp, a wonderful CD fell into our hands. “Bridge to Tibet - Modern Mantra Music”, recorded by Sylvia Lafrenz. A piece, far away from New Age synthiesizers. Real musicians interpret Tibetan prayers and recitations with real instruments in their own personal style. The masterpiece will be available with us.
The first letter to the editor reached us - hurray! Since it is the first and (hopefully) not the last, it will be published in full length (of course not completely unselfishly…) Maybe you have suggestions, wishes, complaints. Just let us know.
As already announced in our last issue, Lama Alasdair will come to Vienna September 25 - 27 and teach the practice of Green Tara. A program is added to each issue of the newsletter. Should it miss or if you want more of them, please contact us and request them. Green Tara is practiced regularly Sunday mornings at 10.00 a. m.
With warm regards in the dharma
Namo Buddha-ya
If teachers emphasize the importance of lineage, occasionally one or the other person’s hair might stand on end, thinking this is only a sentimental clinging to traditions. In fact it is not.
First of all one has to illustrate the word ‘lineage’. Lineage is not a mystical, invisible threat, a secret, running through Tibetan history. It is a extremely profound, far reaching but also very practical fact. ‘Lineage’ comes from the Tibetan ‘gyu’. Mostly it is translated as lineage though this word does not define the whole meaning. ‘Gyu’ generally also implies belonging to a family; in our case a family in a spiritual sense.
Within Buddhism in its completeness we can distinguish between three paths (Skr. Yana, Tib. Theg pa) or vehicles. All three describe means and path towards the highest goal (after having reached the aim of Hinayana, arhatship, having taken a good rest, the practitioner realizes that his result was only provisionally, he automatically enters the Mahayana path). None is better or worse than the other. They basically simply differentiate by the motivation and the abilities of those practicing within the tradition.
Ways out of the excercise wheel
A person meditating withing the Hinayana (lesser vehicle, tib. theg pa dam pa) seeks liberation out of the cycle of sufferings (Skr. Samsara, tib. Korwa). Exclusively for himself. A person meditating within the Mahayana (great vehicle, tib. theg pa chen po) seeks enlightenment, to attain complete liberation out of the cycle of sufferings, first himself and then for all other sentient beings.
A person meditating within the Vajrayana (vajra vehicle, tib. dorje theg pa) seeks enlightenment, complete liberation out of the cycle of sufferings. The motivation from the Mahayana is that firm that the profound methods of the Vajryana fall on fertile ground and perfectly work. This as a basis, our compassion for all sentient beings will be much more powerful and effective. The motivation is decisive, it is the fuel.
The better the petrol the faster the wheels
This makes it quite obvious that all three practitioners have the same aim in the long run but that the ways to reach it are different. These can be described as Hinayana being the unsurfaced road, Mahayana being a bumpy country road and Vajrayana the huge highway with many lanes. The better and less polluted the petrol (motivation), the faster the car. The better the path, the faster the journey. So the difference also lays in promptness and speed. While in Hinayana the final aim can hardly be reached within one life (as it is not the goal of Hinayana), one has the means, methods and paths in Vajrayana to get there within only one single lifetime.
This doesn’t mean that all those who aspire to practice within the Vajrayana already bring along a real Vajrayana motivation. Due to our personal karma, if we engage in Buddhist practice, we are attracted by one of these three paths. In the beginning of our career because of our own past we will be mainly interested in catapulting ourselves out of delusions, suffering and confusion. Then, as our capabilities grow and we will have reached a certain stability we will slowly come to an understanding of others and their problems. And then, after a long implementation and realization our practice will step by step lead us to a true Vajrayana attitude and motivation. This doesn’t mean that if all people have problems and want to get rid of them they have to meditate within the Hinayana system and may not think of Vajrayana, even if they are attracted by it. Their motivation might initially be that of a Hinayanist but through the guidance of a qualified teacher they will be able to slowly approach Vajrayana, receiving all needed methods according to their level of understanding by this teacher. These means to reach the aim become more elaborate from Yana to Yana.
The faster the car, the more it must be tuned up, so to speak. This is why Hinayana temples are held very plain, whereas in Vajrayana there are many different yidams (so-called meditation ‘deities’) and rituals which make adepts of other religions erroneously think that we are polytheistic.
Great diversity of families
Returning to the notion of lineage one must understand that it basically comprises all that expresses a sense of belonging to a family. This might be the family of gardeners who share the love for plants, it might be the family of those liking icecream, whose common ground is the desire for this cool trent. But it might as well be the family in a spiritual sense whose aim it is to attain enlightenment. According to the three yanas, this lineage of teachings will on the surface look differently. What the three all have in common is the fact that they are paths shown by Buddha Shakyamuni who initiated them 2500 years ago in India, taking the steps from the prince until final enlightenment. We may not think of Buddha as a lecturer in a university seminar. Buddha didn’t sit in front of a crowd of people and report his realizations, he manifested them. And according to his listeners’ capacity, these teachings were received on different levels as Hina-, Maha- or Vajrayana instructions.
The teacher, source of inspiration, basis, path and goal
Vajrayana, which in the West is often simply translated as Tibetan Buddhism, comprises the fastest way with the teacher as central point. He is our source of inspiration, of instruction and realization. Without the teacher we would have never be able to come even close to liberation. This also explains the great devotion which we have for our teacher. A devotion which other side of the coin is compassion, as Situ Rinpoche always stresses. Without devotion there is no compassion and vice versa. They always develop simultaneously and will never be separated from each other. And without compassion and devotion enlightenment is impossible. For us the teacher is the most important person. He embodies the wisdom and the means which are needed. He is our personal access to the teachings, for us he is the Enlightened One, whose ideal we follow in order to benefit all sentient beings.
Teacher is not teacher. Traditionally one can distinguish between the teacher and the root teacher. The lama is the one who cares for us, who is always there for us with all his warmth, who knows all our personal problems, abilities and characteristics. On this level he is the most generous person who can even exist for us. He is our mother. Then, in addition there is the root Lama, the one who introduces us to and through whose transmission we truly realize the nature of our own mind, not only having glimpses of it during our practice. This teacher gives us the means and ways to step by step reveal this nature. Only then, if we have realized this mind as unborn, limitless and all-pervading, we have found our so-called root guru. (tib. tsawe lama). Naropa considered Tilopa his root teacher throughout all the practices. But Tilopa truly became Naropa’s tsawe lama when he finally completely liberated from samsara. It is that root teacher who definitely guides us towards and on the path to enlightenment with the means and methods of Vajrayana. It is that teacher who had received all the transmissions, teachings and instructions from his teachers who in their completeness make the lineage. An unbroken lineage of transmission which can be traced back to Buddha Shakyamuni who attained enlightenment in India 2500 years ago.
Attention: danger!
Now there appears the danger of only respecting the personal teacher and not to take notice of all the others, since we consider him to be our personal access. But then one has not at all understood the meaning of lineage. The teacher so much appreciated, put much higher than the other teachers, is part of a particular lineage. Without it he would not be what he is for us. He received the transmissions from his teacher who on the other hand received them from his teachers and so forth and if one traces back the lineage to its source we will again come to Buddha Shakyamuni. Our teacher doesn’t teach his own ideas even though sometimes it might seem so because he uses his own examples which might come from his personal history. He only wants to illustrate the teachings, the transmissions, translating them for us. The essence has remained the same - since the beginning.
The starting point was lineage. Here the cycle closes again as all, I wrote down here, is not my outcome. It comes from a lineage, a family in which I am connecte with and practice and whose teachers with their utmost kindness confer to me all the lineage’s methods and ways. Those teachings which, if the basis is solid and stable contain the perfect means to reach the final goal. Sometime.