On the eleventh bhumi you are not taking the journey anymore, but you have a very definite memory of it. It feels somewhat different, but that difference is not based on attaining a new state of being. Although you have come back to where you began, the memory of the journey makes it somewhat different. As an example, I regard my escape from Tibet, from the communists, as a memory, but it is a very impressionable memory. I was able to get out of Tibet and just be myself once more—which I was, anyway—but I could not be myself if I did not escape.
The attainment of enlightenment means joining your world completely, and letting go of any reservations. We usually don’t want to join the rest of our world. We want to maintain ourselves as individuals, so we call the world outside “bad,” or a bad influence on us. We never join our world properly, completely, thoroughly, and fully. It is like the story about a king who heard a prophecy that a rain was going to fall on his country that would cause everyone to go mad. So he saved up his own reservoir of fresh water. At some point, all the inhabitants of his country became mad, while he continued to be sane. But eventually, he decided to drink the water of madness with them.
The eleventh bhumi is considered to be the first level of nirmanakaya buddhahood. You are wholeheartedly willing to join the world. In turn, instead of the confused world that you used to see, you begin to see a complete world, a sane world. You can communicate with confused people—who are also very complete people from your enlightened point of view.
On the eleventh bhumi, having gone through all the other bhumis, the bodhisattva has become a universal monarch. You have achieved all-pervasive awareness like Vairochana, the buddha with four faces looking in four directions. The completely radiant and luminous path of this particular bhumi is backless, and there are no hidden corners, so you see in all directions simultaneously. It has no front, because there is no manipulation of perception whatever you see is seen as the working base for dealing with the phenomenal world. It is all-pervasive enlightenment without direction.
1. After the Buddha’s enlightenment, this tree became known as the bodhi tree, and the variety of ficus is now known as Ficus religiosa.
2. In The Jewel Ornament of Liberation, there are said to be five qualities of vajra-like samadhi: unobstructedness, hardness, stability, one flavor, and all-pervasiveness, whereas Trungpa Rinpoche only lists four qualities.
3. A reference to a mythical battle between the gods and the demigods, or jealous gods. In Buddhism, the vajra, or weapon of Indra, is a powerful symbol of indestructibility. The term vajra (Tib.: dorje), also refers to a ritual instrument used in tantric ritual practices.
4. A reference to a description of five aspects of enlightened wisdom, displayed as a mandala of deities in vajrayana Buddhism. See volume 3, chapter 26, “The Five Buddha-Family Mandala.”
5. In some contexts, the kayas are described as fourfold: (1) dharmakaya, (2) sambhogakaya, (3) nirmanakaya, and (4) svabhavikakaya. For a discussion of the four kayas, see chapter 38, slogan 14.
6. According to Trungpa Rinpoche, the term nirmanakaya in this context relates directly to the buddha level rather than to the level of ordinary tülkus (the Tibetan translation of nirmanakaya), which seems to be slightly different.
7. A more literal translation is the “ten dharmas of nonlearning” or the “ten dharmas of no more training.”
APPENDIX 1:
NEVER FORGET THE HINAYANA
This spontaneous short talk was given at the 1986 Seminary at Shambhala Mountain Center in Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, late at night at the beginning of the mahayana section of the Seminary. The students were scattered about in their tents and sound asleep, and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche had them awakened and brought together to hear what he had to say.
GOOD EVENING. Ladies and gentlemen, it is a very profound time and a profound experience for us to realize how important is the hinayana teaching. It is very important to us, and inseparable from our lives and our existence as individuals. It is to be understood as the life force that carries on whether you are going through the hinayana, mahayana, or vajrayana. It is our substance and our sustenance.
It is for us to understand that basic life, that basic strength, which goes on continuously. The hinayana teaching should not be regarded as something that you can just carry out, and then get rid of or discard. The hinayana teaching is the life force that carries out our own practice and discipline, which goes on continuously. From that point of view, the hinayana should be regarded as life’s strength.
Okay. That’s that.
NEVER FORGET HINAYANA!
[Laughter and applause]
APPENDIX 2:
THE PRACTICE OF ORYOKI
Oryoki, a Zen monastic-style eating practice, was first introduced as a practice for Vajradhatu Seminary participants beginning in 1979. The form of oryoki used at seminaries was a modification that included elements drawn from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition as well. In subsequent seminaries and at other intensive meditation retreats, this mindful eating practice continued to be shaped and refined. The following brief description of oryoki is compiled from a variety of instructions given at Vajradhatu Seminary by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
THE DISCIPLINE of oryoki is based on the way that the Buddha taught his disciples to eat food: eating simple food with mindfulness and awareness. Oryoki is an ancient practice, based on the 250 rules of Buddhist monastic discipline, which includes almost forty rules for eating.
After ordination, a disciple was given a bowl, a robe, and a seat. Such begging bowls, fashioned after the Buddha’s own begging bowl, were not received by anyone who had not taken the refuge vow. Traditionally, oryoki is done only in monastic communities. However, in the Japanese tradition it is sometimes extended to the lay community, which is the approach I am using as well.
In oryoki practice, you are served your meals and you eat in the shrine hall. You eat the way the Buddha ate. In your oryoki set you have a wrapping cloth, a wiping cloth, and a lap cloth; you have a setsu, or cleaning utensil, a spoon, and chopsticks; you have a case for these instruments; and you have a set of nested bowls. As you prepare for the meal, you chant the liturgy, and as you are chanting, you unwrap your oryoki set, take out your bowls, and set each one in its particular place. You appreciate that you are going to eat your food properly and mindfully, paying attention to the details of the practice. That is the ground. The path is raising your bowl to receive food, and the fruition is actually eating the food.
After eating, you finish your oryoki properly. You wipe your bowls clean, and you also fold the cloths and tie them up properly. That gesture is applicable to any situation: you can clean your entire world properly and fully. The logic is that at the beginning there is no praise, and at the end there is no blame.
During oryoki practice you and the server bow to one another. It is a question of recognizing the sacredness and also of being mindful of one another. When the servers lose their awareness, by bowing you could remind them to be aware; and if you lose your awareness, by bowing they could remind you to come back to your awareness as well.
In oryoki practice, everything is looked at and everything is very much cared for. Whenever there is a speck of dust in your oryoki bowl, you look at it; whenever there is a badly folded oryoki napkin, you see it. You begin to expand your world in that way, so your world is not stuck. At that point, your intelligence is so sharp and quivering that your awareness is almost bursting out onto the energy level.
By synchronizing study, sitting practice, and oryoki, you do not create the schizophrenia of taking time off. In that way, you become a true dharmic practitioner. Even though sitting posture may seem very difficult and even painful to maintain, there is upliftedness and a sense of enjoyment, and the same is true in oryoki. When you begin to eat oryoki style, you begin to appreciate every grain of rice and every pinch of vegetables. They become delicious. It is not that the food has changed or been blessed by the “up-above”; it is simply a matter of how you relat
e with the phenomenal world.
APPENDIX 3:
THE HEART SUTRA
THUS HAVE I heard. Once the Blessed One was dwelling in Rajagriha at Vulture Peak mountain, together with a great gathering of the sangha of monks and a great gathering of the sangha of bodhisattvas. At that time the Blessed One entered the samadhi that expresses the dharma called profound illumination, and at the same time noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, while practicing the profound prajnaparamita, saw in this way: he saw the five skandhas to be empty of nature.
Then, through the power of the Buddha, venerable Shariputra said to noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, “How should a son or daughter of noble family train, who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita?”
Addressed in this way, noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, said to venerable Shariputra, “O Shariputra, a son or daughter of noble family who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita should see in this way: seeing the five skandhas to be empty of nature. Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Emptiness is no other than form; form is no other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are emptiness. Thus, Shariputra, all dharmas are emptiness. There are no characteristics. There is no birth and no cessation. There is no impurity and no purity. There is no decrease and no increase. Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness, there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no appearance, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no dharmas; no eye dhatu up to no mind dhatu, no dhatu of dharmas, no mind consciousness dhatu; no ignorance, no end of ignorance up to no old age and death, no end of old age and death; no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no nonattainment. Therefore, Shariputra, since the bodhisattvas have no attainment, they abide by means of prajnaparamita. Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear. They transcend falsity and attain complete nirvana. All the buddhas of the three times, by means of prajnaparamita, fully awaken to unsurpassable, true, complete enlightenment. Therefore, the great mantra of prajnaparamita, the mantra of great insight, the unsurpassed mantra, the unequaled mantra, the mantra that calms all suffering, should be known as truth, since there is no deception. The prajnaparamita mantra is said in this way:
OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA
Thus, Shariputra, the bodhisattva mahasattva should train in the profound prajnaparamita.”
Then the Blessed One arose from that samadhi and praised noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, saying, “Good, good, O son of noble family; thus it is, O son of noble family, thus it is. One should practice the profound prajnaparamita just as you have taught, and all the tathagatas will rejoice.”
When the Blessed One had said this, venerable Shariputra and noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, that whole assembly and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.
Lotsawa bhikshu Rinchen De translated this text into Tibetan with the Indian pandita Vimalamitra. It was edited by the great editor-lotsawas Gelo, Namkha, and others. This Tibetan text was copied from the fresco in Gegye Chemaling at the glorious Samye vihara. It has been translated into English by the Nalanda Translation Committee, with reference to several Sanskrit editions.
APPENDIX 4:
PRAJNA DIALOGUES
The following short interchanges between Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his students, taken from Vajradhatu Seminary question-and-answer periods, illustrate the use of dialogue to sharpen a student’s prajna. In these dialogues, students were encouraged to question what they were being taught and to wrestle with the material in order to develop a deeper and more personal understanding of concepts such as shunyata. They were challenged to discover the link between such seemingly abstract philosophical teachings, their meditation practice, and their daily lives.
SHUNYATA: DEAD MAN TALKING
Question: Is there a knower of shunyata?
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche: No. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be shunyata.
Q: Okay. Then what sense can it be said to exist, independent of idea or concept?
CTR: Because it is independent of concept, nobody is at home. It is very simple when you realize that nobody is at home.
Q: Yeah, but “nobody is at home” is a statement that is bounded by concepts.
CTR: Sure. Definitely so.
Q: So we are not talking about shunyata, but are we talking about something that we substitute for shunyata?
CTR: At this point, we are not talking about shunyata from the point of view that nobody is home, but we are talking about the possible fever of shunyata. Hearing that there is nobody at home to help you and that the house is completely empty, you could be panicked. There is no ground, although you are on some kind of ground. There is a fever of shunyata. From there we go on.
Q: In that case, you would not really say that shunyata exists?
CTR: That is the whole idea. You cannot say shunyata exists: that would be a contradiction. And you cannot even say that it nonexists, because you have no idea whether it exists or not. It is total experience.
Q: Does the concept of shunyata come from shunyata occurring in somebody’s life and then going away, after which they have sort of a flavor of the memory, and then try to describe what it was? Is that how the concept of something that doesn’t exist or nonexist arise?
CTR: No.
Q: No?
CTR: No. It is like a dead man telling us a story. It is like a dead man describing to you what it is like being dead.
Q: Well, as someone who is telling us about shunyata, isn’t that what you are doing?
CTR: Yeah, I suppose so.
Q: Well, that makes it rather frightening.
CTR: People died [when the Buddha taught about shunyata]. They had heart attacks. All kinds of drama about shunyata took place.
DOES BODHICHITTA EXIST?
Q: How does bodhichitta relate to tathagatagarbha?
CTR: It is tathagatagarbha. Is that all?
Q: That’s all.
Q: Is bodhichitta self-existing?
CTR: Since it is a goalless approach, therefore, it is self-existing. If it were goal oriented it could not exist. That is why it is called unconditional.
Q: In what sense do we mean “exist” then?
CTR: It doesn’t really mean very much. Bodhichitta is unconditionally there, but we cannot actually say “exist,” as such. We can’t say that it exists as the JFK Airport exists in New York City.
Q: So it could be a construct of mind, actually.
CTR: Yes.
Q: It could be simply something that we agree is there.
CTR: That is the point. If we agreed something was there, it would be goal oriented. But we have not agreed about anything at all. It just suddenly appeared. It is like the analogies of Shantideva, such as discovering a jewel in a heap of refuse, or being a beggar with a universal monarch in her stomach about to give birth. Those things apparently come about by chance, which makes the whole thing neither eternal nor unconditional. Bodhichitta comes about purely by chance. In fact, we could say that the idea of having bodhichitta in us was a big mistake from ego’s point of view. But that mistake turned out to be good from the enlightened point of view.
JUST A TOOTHBRUSH
Q: Rinpoche, when the experience and the experiencer are both cut through, it sounds like there is nothing left to function. And it also sounds very scary.
CTR: Nothing left to function. You’re right. The question of function is actually what the whole of Buddhism is all about. What do you mean by “function”?
Q: Brushing your teeth.
CTR: Yes, that’s fine. That’s very common. But do you expect that in order to brush your teeth you have to assume a certain particular state of mind?
Q: Well, I expect that I have to be able to pick up my tooth
brush and—
CTR: But where does that come from?
Q: How do you mean?
CTR: You have to have some philosophical belief in order to pick up your tube of toothpaste and your brush and put your toothbrush in your mouth. Does that come from an attitude of real ego-orientation alone?
Q: I suppose it comes from the belief that the toothbrush is a solid thing.
CTR: Not necessarily. That’s the trick about the whole thing. A toothbrush is just a toothbrush, rather than anything particularly solid. It’s just a toothbrush doing its function. Because of its function, it is very light, so you are not holding this clunky thing in your hand, which helps you to be less nervous about your arm muscle. Holding your toothbrush is not a heavy thing: [changes to somber monotone] “Now I’m going to brush my teeth.”
Little by little, any pressure or tension is relieved by experiencing egolessness. Your shoelaces become tighter, your nails become brighter, and your toothbrush becomes lighter. When you take the attitude that the toothbrush does not exist and the brusher does not exist, you can brush your teeth much more easily. You can experience the whole thing. That is why we talk about a double-edged sword. The brusher has been cut along with the brush, so the toothbrush can brush properly and fully.
Q: This isn’t something that happens real quickly or all of a sudden, necessarily, I hope.
The Bodhisattva Path of Wisdom and Compassion Page 49
