Advice from a Spiritual Friend - Softcover

Rabten, Geshe; Dhargyey, Geshe

 
9780861711932: Advice from a Spiritual Friend
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0861711939 ISBN 13: 9780861711932
Verlag: Wisdom Publications, 2001

Inhaltsangabe

"Do not wish for gratitude.
Never strike at the heart.
Now if you die, you will have no regrets."
- The Seven-Point Thought Transformation

Like wise old friends, two Tibetan masters offer down-to-earth advice for cultivating compassion, wisdom, and happiness in every situation. Based on practical Buddhist verses on "thought training" (lojong), Advice from a Spiritual Friend teaches how to develop the inner skills that lead to contentment by responding to everyday difficulties with patience and joy.

Following Stephen Batchelor's introduction to the Kadamapa tradition that gave rise to these earthy, pithy instructions, Part One is a commentary by Geshe Dhargyey to Atisha's (982-1054) Jewel Rosary of a Bodhisattva. Part Two includes a commentary by Geshe Rabten to the famous Seven-Point Thought Transformation.

First published in 1977, Advice from a Spiritual Friend is a Wisdom classic that has enriched readers in many editions over the years. As Batchelor says in his introduction, "These teachings are as applicable today as they were when Atisha first introduced them to Tibet."

Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Geshe Rabten (1921-86) was born in Dargye in eastern Tibet. He studied at Sera Monastery in Lhasa, where he gained renown as a great scholar, debater, and meditation master. In 1959, he escaped to India, where he became the spiritual teacher of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In the mid 1960s Geshe Rabten was appointed as a religious assistant to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. On His Holiness's request he began teaching Dharma to Westerners in Dharamsala in 1969, and he went to live and teach in Switzerland in 1974. He founded Rabten Choeling Center (originally Tharpa Choeling) in Switzerland in 1979, where he lived and worked as spiritual director until he passed away in 1986.

Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey taught Western students at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala. He moved to New Zealand in the early 1980s, where he lived until his death in 1995.

Stephen Batchelor has studied in Buddhist monasteries in India, Switzerland, and Korea. An accomplished writer and photographer, he has translated, written, and contributed to many books about Buddhism including Buddhism Without Beliefs, Verses from the Center, and The Tibet Guide. He lives in the South of France.

Brian Beresford (1948-97) was a photographer, translator, and editor. Beresford translated and edited several Tibetan Buddhist texts, including the first Wisdom title ever published, Advice from a Spiritual Friend. His photographs of Tibetan lamas and scenes of Tibetan culture have been published worldwide. He was also one of the first Westerners to travel into the remote areas of western Tibet, which he visited between 1986 and 1993. Between 1973 and 1979 he lived in Dharamsala and studied at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. He took pictures of, studied with, and translated for Geshe Rabten, Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, Lama Yeshe, and Lama Zopa, among other Tibetan masters. In the 1980s Beresford made his home in England, where in 1985 he helped found the Meridian Trust. At the end of his life, Brian was a student of the Dzogchen master Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and a leading figure in the Dzogchen community.

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Advice from a Spiritual Friend

EXCERPT

The commentary to The Jewel Rosary of a Bodhisattva

Homage to great compassion.

Homage to all spiritual masters.

Homage to the deities of devotion.

This short text by Atisha contains one hundred and eleven lines of advice in connection with the practice of thought transformation. It begins with obeisance to great compassion because this is the source of the many manifestations of a fully awakened being. The next obeisance to the spiritual masters implies that all inner development and experience is based upon devotion and confidence in the teachers of the path. This is the foundation for all successful spiritual practice. Both Naropa and his teacher Tilopa have said that without spiritual guidance there could be no fully awakened state. Lastly, obeisance is made to the deities of devotion (yidam). These are reflections of specific aspects of the awakened mind and are called upon when we wish to bring out these aspects in ourselves. For instance, when meditating to generate the conventional awakening mind, we should devote ourselves to Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of compassion, and when meditating on emptiness, to Manjushri, the embodiment of intelligent awareness, or wisdom.

Abandon all doubts and cherish exertion for

accomplishing the practice.

Whatever our object of meditation may be, we must learn about it thoroughly beforehand and eliminate any doubts we may have concerning the procedures. If our teacher says merely, "Meditate on emptiness," and we leave without studying what was meant, we shall not know what to do. We may meditate by thinking about an empty room, having no clear idea what is being negated by emptiness. Thus, we must first learn about the meditation we wish to do and gain a precise intellectual understanding of it. Based on this, we shall eventually be able to transcend the intellectual level and meditate nonconceptually.

This line further implies that we should not become distracted, but meditate single-pointedly without any mental wandering. Moreover, the method we choose must be valid, and we must be convinced of its validity. Then, free from all doubts, we shall be able to meditate with strict concentration, confident that the path we have chosen is nondeceptive. We should not be like water on a tabletop, which can be led by the finger in any direction, easily swayed back and forth by the various opinions of others. We should know how to differentiate between valid and invalid spiritual teachings and be certain about what is right, leaving no room for doubts. If we apply the forces of hearing, or study, and contemplation, or examination, we shall be able to eliminate all indecisiveness.

Yet this is not enough. If we acquire sufficient intellectual knowledge about the meditation but never practice it, we are like a person who stores away food but never eats it. Such food will either rot or be eaten by rats, or the person will die without having ever tasted it. Tsongkhapa said that the purpose of hearing and acquiring intellectual knowledge is to meditate upon it. Therefore, according to our different levels of ability, we should hear and study the teachings as much as we can in order to meditate on or actualize them.

Because each person has different idiosyncrasies and abilities, everyone will not become enlightened as if stamped from the same mold. Bearing this in mind, we should practice in the way best suited to each of us. Without practicing what we have learned, we are like museum guides who know much but for whom the objects on display have no special significance. When we practice, it is important not to pattern ourselves on others; instead we each should examine our own abilities and meditate accordingly. To do otherwise leads only to frustration.

Abandon sleepiness, dullness, and laziness

and always exert enthusiastic effort.

We should eliminate laziness, mental wandering, mental dullness, and other such hindrances to our meditation, otherwise we may begin meditating with our head held erect, but later we will find it slouched against the middle of our body with our meditation turned to sleep. This line in the tettt is not belixling us but is a warning to arouse our energy for venturing into the practices. Even if we guard against all these obstacles, we must still have strong perseverance and diligence so that our meditation will be successful. As Tsongkhapa has said, "Wear the protective armor of enthusiastic perseverance and increase it like the waxing moon."

Also, Chandrakirti said, "All profound and superficial goals follow from enthusiastic perseverance; with it anything can be accomplished."

With recollection, alertness, and watchfulness always guard every door of the senses. We should post recollection, alertness, and watchfulness as guards at the gateways of our body, speech, and mind and have them restrain us from committing unwholesome actions through these three doors. To safeguard the treasure of realizations stored within us, we should lock these doors from both inside and out.

We can liken the mental faculty of recollection, or mindfulness, to an iron hook. When the mind wanders to nonvirtue, recollection hooks it and brings it back to a wholesome position.

Three times during the day and night, again and again,

investigate your mental continuum.

At all times we must analyze our stream of thoughts to see whether the actions we are doing will benefit our future lives or if they are just for momentary pleasure.

Proclaim your own faults and seek not mistakes in others.

To hide our shortcomings and harbor them inside only increases our guilt and discomfort. It is far better to reveal them to others: this lessens their effect. It is especially important to do so when generating the awakening mind. However, we should be discreet and careful with regard to whom we give such information since it may easily be misunderstood or misrepresented.

On the other hand, we should not be constantly on the lookout for faults in others. If we see their mistakes but never our own, we are like a mirror, which reflects only what is outside it but never itself. The faults we criticize in others are only our own projected onto them; if they were not, they would not bother us, and we would not even notice them. Furthermore, we should realize that whatever laws appear to stand out in others are perceptions no different from our usual mistaken view of all things as truly independent. The faults we see are, in fact, dependent on many circumstances, such as the person's previous actions and emotional afflictions and our view of the situation. We cannot find a truly independent and substantially existing possessor of shortcomings. By looking at things in this way, we can use this opportunity to make an ultimate analysis of the situation and reflect on the emptiness of our own projections.

Hide your own good qualities but

proclaim the good qualities of others.

There is no need to boast about our own knowledge and accomplishments. Tsongkhapa has said, "Your own attainments and insight should be like a butter lamp burning inside a vase: it illuminates the interior but is not displayed outwardly."

It is especially important never to boast about or exhibit extraphysical powers such as heightened awareness or clairvoyance. To demonstrate them with an impure motive serves no beneficial purpose. Dromtonpa, Atisha's closest Tibetan disciple, said, "If you can see your own faults and never look for those of others, then even though you may have no other good qualities, you are very wise."

Therefore, not seeking faults in others is in itself a very great Dharma practice. Dromtonpa and others...

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Verlag
Wisdom Publications
Erscheinungsdatum
2001
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0861711939
ISBN 13 
9780861711932
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
176
Herausgeber
Beresford Brian, Gonsar Tulku, Sharpa Tulku
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
Nicht verfügbar

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