What is the essential characteristic of Tibetan Buddhism?
Rinpoche: One tends to associate Tibet
with the quintessential path of the Vajrayana. Generally
speaking, people tend to class the Buddhism that took
root in Ceylon, Burma, and Thailand as 'Theravada',
that which took root in China and Japan as the 'Mahayana',
and that which spread through Tibet and Mongolia as
'Vajrayana'. However, it seems to me that one finds
the Vajrayana present in all of those lands and traditions.
In the meditation instructions of the Theravada and
in the artwork of their temples there can be found traces
of what is normally associated with Vajrayana. For instance,
they have temple protectors, and in China and Japan
there are Vajrayana sadhana practices to Amitabha, Vajrapani,
and others. They also sometimes recite mantras. However,
it was mainly in Tibet that Vajrayana spread. There
were very many buddha-aspects venerated and meditated
upon, all to suit individual choices and needs. People
have very different aspirations and capacities, and
if the teachings only offer one sort of practice (that
they all would have to do), then they would feel very
restricted, very uncomfortable.
Lord Buddha taught a very wide variety of techniques
so that anyone would be able to have a practice that
suited just their preferences and capacities. Some want
to meditate on an aspect of Buddha that will help increase
wisdom, some seek particularly the Buddha's protection,
some have faith in his compassion, etc.
This is why there are so many forms upon which they
can meditate--male forms, female forms, peaceful ones,
wrathful ones, etc. By fulfilling their aspirations
then Lord Buddha helps them all to develop in the quickest
Q: I'm sure His
Holiness could answer this question for hours, but I
felt the need to ask it anyway. Just, perhaps, a little
insight into the birth and death cycle that might give
us a better understanding.
Karmapa: His Holiness says that there
are many people in the world who believe in rebirth
and many who do not. But believing in rebirth goes along
well with believing in the law of Karma, or cause and
effect. In Buddhism, the quality of one's birth is dependent
on how sincerely one has respected the law of Karma.
If within this particular lifetime you perform virtuous
activities, beneficial activities in terms of helping
other beings, and activities of kindness and compassion,
then it is possible, even certain, that you will experience
a fortunate rebirth in the next lifetime.
It is like sowing a good seed and then facilitating
its growth by giving it the necessary water, fertilizer
and so on. By putting forth this sort of effort it's
quite certain you will have a beautiful flower.
It's the same in life. If you perform beneficial activities
and respect the law of Karma, there is a possibility
that you will be reborn as a human being, with the opportunities
and the prerequisites necessary for you to understand
the profundity of the spiritual path and the spiritual
practices, thus enabling yourself to progress in a non-returning
direction. Whereas, if you spend your life indulging
in negative activities, activities that are destructive
to yourself and others, then even if you are born as
a human being in the next lifetime, you may be deprived
of the possibilities of further progress. You could
be born into a situation of complete destitution. This
sort of rebirth, unfortunately, leads to further negative
activities which means suffering the consequences and
then again suffering the degradation in quality of your
rebirth. Putting it simply, the quality of your rebirth
depends on how honestly you live up to the universal
law, the law of cause and effect and result.
Q: How can we,
in our present life or each life, best fulfill our destiny
and be of the most service not only to mankind but to
the universe in general?
Karmapa: His Holiness says that the best
way to fulfill your destiny in life, as well as benefiting
others, is to follow the Dharma by learning and putting
into practice the Mahayana teachings. But for this practice
to become the foundation of your life, you must first
understand the process of rebirth and gain confidence
in the truth of Karma--the truth of cause and effect.
If you apply the Mahayana teachings in your life, with
understanding and confidence, you will fulfill your
destiny by experiencing awakening or enlightenment.
Having done this, there is no doubt that you will be
in a position to benefit others. Not only could you
benefit human beings, but also sentient beings in general.
In this respect, the teachings are very fruitful. There
are many different methods or skillful means which we
can apply to our own lives. The teachings speak of the
six perfections of the path: perfection of generosity,
perfection of discipline, perfection of patience, perfection
of meditation, perfection of effort, and the perfection
of wisdom. We can work toward perfecting ourselves in
such a way that through inherent potential we develop
our destiny while spontaneously benefiting others. Willingness
as well as capability to benefit other beings comes
through the development of the remaining four perfections
of fruition (another of Buddha's teachings) which concern
the perfection of skillful means, perfection of strength,
perfection of prayer, perfection of wisdom, and the
perfection of fruition.
Q: You spoke this
morning about the confusion, neurosis, and suffering
that we all live with, and the fact that it is intensified
because it has been going on for so many lifetimes and
because we live in an environment where others are in
the same situation. I was wondering if you could say
more about the original cause: how it got started and
why it caught on the way it seems to have.
Karthar Rinpoche: Both samsara and confusion
are known in Buddhism as beginningless, so there is
no real how or why as to the beginning of samsara or
how we became caught in confusion. That is a big part
of confusion, because not being able to know that is
itself confusion. The positive side of confusion is
that there is an end to it. If you practice, and if
you get some realization, and if you achieve enlightenment,
that is the end of confusion. We cannot really talk
about a beginning, though.
Many traditions, actually, teach that whatever we experience
in this lifetime, whether good or bad, happiness or
sadness, is the outcome of good or bad activity in past
lives, and whatever good or bad you do in this life
affects the next life, and so forth. It is possible
we may have been great practitioners in the past and,
therefore, our neurosis or confusion may not be so strong
in this life, and our ability to understand and achieve
enlightenment will be greater than it is for others.
This is because of our previous connections.
Other than that, the nature of confusion is that it
has no particular beginning. Various religions in the
world, thinking that there is the need to talk about
a beginning to confusion, tend to blame it on a superior
being, saying that such a being has punished us, and
therefore we are in this particular situation. But Buddhism
does not teach that there is anybody punishing us except
our own karma, which is confusion.
Q: Within the different
lineages of the Tibetan tradition, is it just the fact
that they have been handed down through different people
that separates them, or are there fundamental differences
in them and how they developed? What are the differences
Karthar Rinpoche: In the various traditions
of Tibetan Buddhism, concerning the idea of the union
of compassion and wisdom, there is no difference at
all. Concerning the objects of refuge--the Buddha, Dharma,
and Sangha--there is no difference at all. The teaching,
or the transmission, originated from the same source,
and the goal is the same: enlightenment. What is different
between the different traditions in some cases is the
presentation of the order of the practice. It has been
set up slightly differently, according to the insights
of the various skilled teachers, so there are what are
called different traditions. It is like a father having
four sons. If you ask any of them who their father is,
the answer will be the same, but they might live differently,
and they might have different numbers of children. It
is similar to that.
Q: Could you clarify
for me what the differences in technique are between
Buddhist meditation as practiced in Tibet versus, say,
Zen Buddhism that we've heard about from Japan?
Karthar Rinpoche: From the point of view
that the practices of different schools are all in accordance
with the teachings and experiences of the Buddha, there
is no difference between them--they are essentially,
basically the same. Thus both Japanese Buddhists and
Tibetan Buddhists relate to the Buddha as the ultimate
example and source of inspiration. Yet because of the
way Buddhism spread in the world and the way it was
preserved, there are differences of completeness, of
being more complete and being less complete or incomplete.
For instance, in Tibet what are traditionally referred
to as the three yanas or three vehicles of Buddhism--the
Hinayana, Mahayana, and Tantrayana or Vajrayana--are
equally practiced and preserved and emphasized, whereas
in many other Buddhist countries they are only partially
practiced. So from that point of view, yes, there could
be some differences. Then from another point of view,
there are various techniques on all levels--preliminary
as well as advanced levels--and because of particular
lines of practice and practitioners, and also because
of particular needs, certain techniques are emphasized
more by some lines or schools of practice than others.
So here again, there may seem to be some differences,
though essentially there is no difference.
Finally, there is also the cultural aspect: how a particular
gesture is done, what particular attire is put on, how
certain things are set up and so forth, you know, more
the physical level. In these areas, there may be some
differences but again, the essential point of view is
that there is not so much of a difference.
Q: There are a
lot of differences between Western culture and traditional
Buddhist culture. Is it necessary to believe in or understand
all of the beliefs that go along with Buddhism (for
example, reincarnation) in order to be a good practitioner?
Karthar Rinpoche: Culture is really not
the key to enlightenment. There are many academic teachers
who have mastered Eastern culture and have not even
reached the beginning of enlightenment. Cultural beliefs
do not bring people to the enlightened state. No matter
what culture we belong to, everyone wants to enjoy happiness
and get rid of the cause of suffering. It is not a matter
of East or West. Knowing that, if you practice with
the intention to provide well-being, goodness, enlightenment,
and freedom from suffering and the cause of suffering
impartially for every being, then you can be a good
practitioner, even if you have no knowledge of Eastern
culture at all.
Q: What is the
viewpoint of soul in the Buddhist teaching, and what
is the aim of the teaching?
Karthar Rinpoche: In terms of the view
about soul--the Buddhist term used might be mind or
consciousness. This could also be referred to by quite
a number of different terms, depending on how you are
relating to it. The thinking mind--this knowing ability
that we have as we are living right now--is referred
to as the mind or consciousness. And this mind, this
consciousness, is not anything material.
Yes, we have this knowing ability, this experience
of consciousness, but it is nothing material or substantial.
It has no color or dimensions or form of any kind, yet
it is happening all the time. And the aim of Buddhism--although
it's not usually put in these terms--is to experience
perfect joy and the total ability of the mind.
Q: What is faith?
Is it only faith in buddha nature?
Ponlop Rinpoche: I would use the word
confidence rather than faith. In general,
faith is not a proper term in Buddhism. The word faith
can give the sense of blindness. When we say you have
to have devotion to a teacher, we actually mean that
you have confidence that the qualities of the teacher,
of the Buddha, and of the Dharma have something that
will benefit you. I think faith is different, but we
might need faith in the Vajrayana.
Q: Aside from apparent
doctrinal differences, is there a fundamental congruity
between the quality of enlightenment the Buddha taught
and the experience of universal love that Christ taught?
Karthar Rinpoche: Not having had much
personal experience in comparative religion, I cannot
definitely say. Based on what you have said, however,
there appear to be similarities as well as differences.
I understand that both paths teach that you should gear
your actions and thoughts towards the well-being of
others, so there is a common goal in this sense. On
the other hand, it would seem that if there are differences
in the doctrinal view, then there is going to be a difference
in the experience, because the purpose of the practice
is to experience what is seen as the ultimate philosophical
view. For example, if someone wants to get to the east
and somebody else wants to get to the west, they both
may decide to walk, but still, the destinations are
going to be different. So there may be similarities,
but there are also key differences.
Q: Are there women
scholars and teachers in Buddhism?
Karthar Rinpoche: Oh yes, definitely.
The fact is, as I already mentioned, that differences
between people are not made by things like the color
of their skin or their sex or their age, but by who
can generate a nobler state of mind.
Q: What makes a
being sentient? Is a tree a sentient being?
Karthar Rinpoche: Sentient beings are
those with consciousness like ourselves, and other beings
who experience happiness or unhappiness, pain or pleasure.
Trees are not sentient, because they lack consciousness.
However, a being in the form of a spirit or something
like that could inhabit a tree; you could think of this
as a sentient being, but not the tree itself. For example,
you do not think of someone's clothes as a being; rather,
it is the person within them.
Q: Some native
peoples, such as Native Americans or other shamanic
tribal people around the world, believe that sentient
beings or spirits exist within trees and plants and
herbs and things like this. I had asked a lama about
this, and he said that according to the Buddhist point
of view, it is not that those trees actually have a
spirit, but that there are spirits from perhaps the
hungry ghost realm who take something such as a tree
as their home. If we need to cut a tree down or pick
herbs or whatever, is there something we can do at our
level, that is very simple, to try to ensure that we
are not causing harm to beings?
Karthar Rinpoche: Yes. According to the
vinaya system, when you need to cut a tree down, you
first obtain permission from the people to whom it belongs.
After that, you try to get permission from the local
deities through prayer or making offerings or doing
a prayer of praise (TO PA). Then you cut the tree down.
Until then, according to the vinaya system, you cannot
just chop down trees without meeting all those conditions.
What the lama told you is very true. We should not
believe that all plants or all trees have a spirit (in
Tibetan we say consciousness) in them. It is
not necessarily a hungry ghost. It is also possible
that a being attaches to such a thing, that the being's
consciousness attaches to the particular object, whether
it is a tree or plant, with the belief that the plant
is their own physical body. When you do not make such
an offering or praise prayer as I described, these beings,
or the consciousness that is being held there, will
feel pain and suffering just as if someone were destroying
or cutting your own body. In order to prevent such pain,
these offerings and praise are necessary.
[Q: ...I am asking
this because we just discovered the other day that my
two lamas with whom I spend most of my time are going
to be leading a fire puja. They have asked us to get
a lot of different types of wood, and if we cannot find
it through other sources, it may be necessary for us
to go and cut it ourselves. Are these prayers available
so that we could use them for this?]
The prayer is not necessary. Take with you a variety
of grains, all mixed together--all the sorts of grain
that you have (medicinal grain)--and a little powder
of precious stones. Whenever you need to cut a tree
or its branches, before doing so, throw the grain and
the powder of the precious stones, telling for what
purpose you are going to cut it. Your cutting has a
purpose. You are using it purposefully. You are not
just cutting it without a goal. Make a request, just
as though you were talking to a person, telling the
spirit (if you want to call it that) or the consciousness
not to be possessive of that tree or whatever you are
going to cut; not to be attached to it. Having said
that and having made those offerings, you can proceed.
[Q: ...What do
you mean by the powder of a precious stone?]
can be any precious stone, such as turquoise or coral--not
ordinary ones you would find on the ground. You make
a powder of them and mix them together.]
Q: I have two questions.
The first question concerns the different realms. I
wonder if the six different realms are all on this earth
or in the earth or around this planet? Are they around
this planet, because you mentioned that the gods also
take dwelling places on this planet? Or is there some
other location? And the other question is: when you
talk about "limitless," such as limitless kalpas, is
that because it is really limitless or because it is
limitless to our minds?
is the name of a kalpa. "Limitless" constitutes sixty
zeros. That is one limitless kalpa. Because there are
sixty zeros, there is no word for that big a number,
so we call it limitless.]
[Q: Is it the same,
concerning the hell realm, which eventually you will
get out of, but it is so long that it is almost limitless?]
Karthar Rinpoche: The answer to your
question about the location of the realms is that it
varies. The Buddha gave teachings such as the vinaya
and abhidharma which are concerned with the relative
existence or appearance of phenomena. In accordance
with that approach, the Buddha gave the locations of
realms to help ordinary beings to relate to the idea.
In that explanation, the hell realm was in the depths
of the earth. Higher up, encompassing places in the
earth and water, is the animal realm. The hungry ghost
realm is between the hell and animal realms. The human
realm is on the surface of the earth. The jealous god
realm is above that of the humans and below that of
the gods. The god realms are up in the sky like the
stars, and they could also be on the earth.
However, at a more advanced intellectual level, in
the higher teachings, Buddha has explained that there
is no definite location of the realms. It is all karmic
perception. Wherever we are, based on our karma, we
conceive that realm. For example, think of this room.
For us, this room is a nice, comfortable room. That
is a human karmic perception. If a hell being came here,
for that being, this room turns into molten, boiling
lava. It is no longer a room. Similarly, for a hungry
ghost, this room would become a very hot and painful
experience. If a god came here, this room would become
a palace or a paradise. One place can be perceived differently
by different beings, so there is no particular location
in terms of the higher teachings.
[Q: For practitioners,
aside from individual practice, are there any particular
pujas or practices that we could perform that would
help beings who have descended to the lower realms?]
There is no particular sadhana, chant, or prayer. Every
prayer of Mahayana Buddhism is based on beginning with
developing what is called altruistic or enlightened
mind (bodhicitta), wishing to benefit limitless sentient
beings (limitless in the sense of the beings of the
six realms). Beginning with that motivation, any practice
of Mahayana is aimed in that direction. It further depends
on how intensely we practice, how intensely we believe
in benefiting others, or how sincerely we want to help
limitless sentient beings. That is very much individual.
With proper motivation, any practice of Mahayana would
have that benefit.
Q: What are your
views on abortion?
Karthar Rinpoche: In general, abortion
is killing. It accumulates the negative karma involved
with taking life. Abortion is definitely a matter of
taking life, since the Buddha said that once a being
is conceived it is complete life, even though the being
has not completely developed physically. We discussed
earlier that killing one's father and mother are immeasurable
crimes. Therefore, from a spiritual point of view, it
is not appropriate to destroy one's own child or any
life, for that matter. The negative karma is very serious.
Personally, I would not encourage anybody to do it.
Q: Today there
is political controversy over this issue, concerning
whether it should be legal. Would Buddhism stand behind
making abortion illegal?
Karthar Rinpoche: The Buddhist teachings
we have been studying here are about avoiding the ten
unvirtuous actions, and taking life is one of those
unvirtuous actions. Therefore abortion is certainly
not regarded as positive, spiritually speaking. Making
abortion against the law is a different matter, however.
I think people need to understand why abortion is negative,
rather than simply making a law against it. In the past
in Tibet, the need for abortion and the problem of overpopulation
did not really exist. The problem of abortion is a present
problem, and we have to go along with what we can do
best to solve the problem.
Q: What about birth
Karthar Rinpoche: In Tibet there was
no birth control either. They just went along with fate.
They believed in karma. If a child was to be conceived,
they accepted that, and if there was not any conception,
they thought there was no karma for them to have children.
However, from my personal point of view again, preventing
pregnancy beforehand (with whatever method you use)
is much, much better than abortion, and I do not think
it is negative. I am just giving you a suggestion or
advice about what we could do at present, but in the
past no such problem existed.
Q: If you have
had an abortion, do you just sit and wait until your
life is over to go to hell?
Karthar Rinpoche: No, and that is the
advantage of having knowledge of the Dharma. In the
Dharma it is taught that although the negative karma
is definitely negative, the positive aspect of the negative
karma is that if we acknowledge it, there is always
a method to purify it. If you are a practitioner (or
a religious person) and have engaged in such a thing,
you need to apply the practice of purification to purify
it. That is the advantage of being a practitioner. A
non-practitioner may not be able to acknowledge and
apply such a technique, so we must make use of our religious
knowledge in that way.