Volume 2: No. 1
Summer 2006

News Front Page

Letter to the sangha from Khandro Rinpoche

Like Pearls on a String:
A short biography of
His Eminence Kongtrül Rinpoche

Meeting the Buddha Within:
VKR presents the Uttaratantra

Remaining Like a Log:
Memories of Shedra 2006

Stand-Up-Sit-Down-Zen!
Kyudo comes to Lotus Garden

Turning the Wheel of Dharma:
Annual Retreat is just ahead

Tibetan Lesson: Bodhicitta

Lotus News Contributors

Meeting the Buddha Within

VKR's Presentation of the Uttaratantra

The jewel treasure contained in the poor man's house
cannot tell him, 'I the precious treasure, am here'
and the man would never know it to be there.

— Uttarantantra

Rinpoche spends a quiet momentOur precious teacher, Khandro Rinpoche, launched Lotus Garden's first Shedra by noting the auspiciousness of the program dates, intentionally selected by consulting the Tibetan lunar calendar. Buddha Shakyamuni's birthday was being observed on that very day, Saturday, June 3, and the full-moon on June 11 would mark the anniversary of his enlightenment and parinirvana.

The million-mantra objective

In observance of this most sacred period, Rinpoche instructed the gathered assembly to be especially mindful of body, speech, and mind. Particularly significant was her request that we each do as many recitations of the Vajrakilaya mantra as possible over the course of the week, creating together a powerful boundary of protection around the land and the teachings. Our collective goal was 1,000,000 recitations


Long after we had called it a day, nocturnal beings would certainly have observed our teacher, her own mala in hand, briskly walking the land.


As the days went by, mantra practice seemed to bring increasing focus and depth to our experience of the teachings and one could sense peacefulness settling over the land. Between scheduled activities, relieved of any expectation to make small talk, one could slip away from the crowd and settle into practice. As the habits of chatter and distraction fell away, practitioners could be seen ducking into shady shrine rooms, gazing out over the mountains, cooling their feet in the pond, or waiting quietly in the lunch line, mala beads in hand. Most nights, long after we had called it a day, nocturnal beings would certainly have observed our teacher, her own mala in hand, briskly walking the land. By the end of Shedra it was reported that we were closing in on our million-mantra objective.

What is a 'Shedra'?

On the first day Rinpoche also introduced us to the concept of the Shedra, explaining that the training includes both the development of view and the deepening of one's meditation. Traditionally, this study of classical texts, the accuracy of which have been rigorously maintained for centuries, takes place in a monastic setting with teachers and students working one-on-one. While monks study for nine or ten years in the traditional Shedra, our group of fortunate practitioners received a highly intensive presentation of two great works in nine days — a breathtaking introduction — which left few doubts about the scope and scale of things to come for Lotus Garden.


...as barn swallows soared in and out of the open doors and chattered urgently about nesting options from the rafters above, Rinpoche presented the Uttaratantra...


The Uttaratantra and it's history

Over the course of the week, as barn swallows soared in and out of the open doors and chattered urgently about nesting options from the rafters above, Rinpoche presented the Uttaratantra, one of the foundation texts of Buddhist study. Texts may generally be classified as belonging to one of Buddha's three turnings of the wheel of dharma and the Uttaratantra belongs to those of the third turning, which illuminates the Buddha's teaching that Buddha-nature is inherent in all beings, as is the potential for its realization.

The Sanskrit title, Uttaratantra, literally means "The Highest Continuum". The full title in Tibetan, Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos, means "The Greater Vehicle Treatise on the Highest Maitreya as he is depicted on the Great Stupa at MindrollingContinuum." The name of the text is usually abbreviated to rgyud bla ma or Uttaratantra, often translated as "Sublime Continuum of the Mahayana" or "The Peerless Continuum".

Rinpoche led us through the history of the text, which is attributed to Maitreya, the future Buddha.

It is said that the monk, Arya Asanga, had supplicated Maitreya for many years to appear to him, but only when his compassion had strengthened sufficiently was he able to perceive Maitreya, who claimed to have always been right there with him. Transporting Asanga to Tushita Heaven, Maitreya then transmitted to him a collection of texts entitled The Five Dharmas. For the Uttaratantra, the final text of the five, Maitreya is said to have drawn his themes from several of Buddha Shakyamuni's mahayana sutras.

The Uttaratantra was then concealed as terma to be discovered later. It is said that Maitripa, the teacher of Marpa, while circumambulating a stupa, saw light shining from a crack and reached in, discovering the texts hidden there. As he attempted to decipher them, Maitreya appeared and gave him a transmission, whereupon Maitripa was able to understand and teach the texts. The transmission of the Uttaratantra has thus continued unbroken to this day. Along the way, various commentaries were written by many great masters, most importantly those of the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, and Jamgön Kongtruül Lodrö Thayé's The Unassailable Lion's Roar.

Why the Uttaratantra is so important

The very beautiful root text of the Uttaratantra is organized into the "seven vajra points" which are Buddha, dharma, sangha, Buddha essence, enlightenment, Buddha qualities, and Buddha activities - each arising one from the other. The text's central theme is the recognition of the absolute primordial awareness or Buddha nature in oneself.

This awareness, one's core nature, does not need to be cultivated since it is always present. Yet not knowing the emptiness of self and other, we instead cultivate and maintain a misperception of reality which allows the wisdom and emotional defilements to gain the upper hand, concealing our own Buddha nature from us. Trapped in this cycle, we continue to create karma and cannot purify ourselves by recognizing our fundamental nature. The study and contemplation of these seven vajra points is intended to uproot all defilements and allow our true nature to arise unimpeded.


Rinpoche urged us to break through our limited concepts and reject ego's demands that it be the one to define the nature of our enlightenment.


A refuge like no other

Rinpoche wasted no time in pointing out that the simplest distillation of the 404-verse Uttaratantra is already known by each of us as the refuge prayer we recite each day: "I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the dharma, I take refuge in the sangha." Holding this simple prayer up to the light, she invited us to contemplate it and analyze it more deeply, to gradually dismantle the words themselves and finally rest within non-referential space and silence.

Urging us to break through our limited concepts and reject ego's demands that it be the one to define the nature of our enlightenment, Rinpoche asked us to contemplate what it really means to take refuge. Could we move from a causal understanding of refuge where Buddha, dharma, and sangha are external and separate from us, to an experience of resultant refuge in which these three are an indivisible recognition of our own fundamental nature, intrinsic and free from all references? Recognizing this fundamental nature would dismantle our relative understanding of bodhichitta which requires a subject, an object, and an action, and allow it to arise as a natural and spontaneous expression of that fundamental nature. Not surprisingly, the sun is used throughout the Uttaratantra as a metaphor for Buddha nature.

Meeting the Buddha within

Rinpoche's commentary on the root text was illustrated by her usual penetrating observations of our hesitations, misperceptions, doubts, and fabrications about meeting the Buddha within. "As Buddha placed the crown on the head of Maitreya, the future buddha," explained Rinpoche, "so must a meditator empower oneself." She challenged us to "find the key, unlock the door, and walk into the house."

Contributed by: Linda Fisher

 

Photos:Rinpoche spends a quiet moment (top).
Maitreya, the future Buddha as he is depicted on the Great Stupa at Mindrolling (bottom)
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