NEW ARTICLE ~ THE YELLOW BOOK

[psylotripitaka]

Excellent feedback Big Uncle, thank you.

My understanding is that the DL's concern with this book was that it promoted negative sectarianism and disharmony and this was like a final straw that provoked the public ban of DS and the inclusion of Nyingma teachings in Gelug curriculum. Reading is one thing, and another to practice the instructions or be forced to practice them. I find the Nyingma teachings really beautiful and blessed with great power but I don't practice them because I find the Ganden Hearing Lineage not only to be a complete path, not only too much instruction, but to be so blessed that there's no need to practice otherwise. By doing so my practice feels clear and my energy gets concentrated rather than dissipated in learning new terms and practices. It is said by the Yogis that if we were to have used all the time and energy we've spent seeking sex and relationships and used it to meditate on completion stage with bodhichitta, we would have been enlightened a long long time ago!

Intellectual knowledge alone is meaningless. The only exception to this is if an intellect shares something that causes others to develop virtuous realizations.

Nows the time to concentrate. I mean, hell, is anyone paying attention to the extreme danger we're in due to the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan? This is the Kali Yuga, and the shit is hitting the fan!

So no matter what lineage you are with, please go inwards and mix your mind with it. Your time is almost up!

[Big Uncle]

Dear Big Uncle,

You said  (pardon, I don't really get how to make use of the quoting system here!!)
"In the lamrim, they are called trailblazers and basically, they set the lineages and teachings for others like us to practice. So, we cannot compare them with ordinary practitioners like you and me.

We... on the other hand, can barely practice a fraction of our lineage and because of the easy availability of Gurus and their various lineages these days, it creates a culture of supermarket spirituality where we pick and choose teachings, lineages and gurus as and when we like without going through the entire path."

Well said. I do want to say though that even practitioners practicing only one lineage are free to pick and choose teachings without going through the whole path. Some Yogis have said we can just emphasize one particular teaching our whole life and that it is time not wasted. Of course, the more causes and conditions we can train in increases our capacity and velocity of approaching the final Union.

I felt it important to say this in this context because people should not feel they are a poor practitioner for only emphasizing one or two things. I've seen many people burn out or spin off from being overloaded with information and never choosing something to place emphasis on. Then again, burn out is a necessary part of the path, but we need to see its import for the path ahead!

Dear Psylotripitaka,
To insert a quote just type quote within squared brackets at the beginning of your sentence and don't forget to add /quote in closed brackets at the end.

And to answer you is that people today are of course free to pick and choose teachings within their lineage but on what basis do we pick and choose? I think it would be wiser to allow our spiritual guides to pick and choose teachings for us. In the Gelug, we tend to prefer the study of the lamrim as the basis for all Sutra and the Ngakrim for all Tantra. In the end, it would be best to rely on our teachers observations and wisdom to pick and choose. If we do not have a spiritual guide, just studying and applying the lamrim to the best we can is sufficient without having to pick and choose. That's how I see it.

[psylotripitaka]

Dear Big Uncle,

I agree to an extent. It is important for teachers to help their students feel empowered and to develop and refine their own wisdom. Of course we can receive specific advice, and it is important to check our practice in dialogue with our Guru and other experienced practitioners, but complete deference can cripple the development of a students own wisdom. The outer Guru is an aspect of our own consciousness and the inner Guru must not be neglected in favor of excessive external dependence. This view is a part of the basis for a practitioner learning to make wise decisions.

Another contributing support to this is the fact that the Gurus ability to communicate is multifaceted, multidimensional, pervasive. It is not confined to meeting in person, emails, talking on the phone, or attendants conveying messages. The Gurus can and do communicate the direction of travel via dream, visions, insights, the conversation of strangers, bumper stickers, movies, music, atmospheres, the rustling of trees and so forth. When we understand the nature if mind and the pervasive nature of the Guru, our experience of life becomes a dialogue between us and the Guru, and we can check our experiences against the Dharma to make sure we're on track.

That said, I do agree it is very important to connect with experienced practitioners and check in with our Gurus via normal means, just as Je Pabonkhapa did his lamrim retreat then checked in with the Guru.

We have a refuge commitment to regard every image of a Buddha as a living Buddha. This is a nirmanikaya relationship with the Guru. There are other levels of operation. We come to feel that we are always in the presence of the Guru, and our dialogue then becomes much more profound. How lucky we are!

[Manisha Kudo]

Upon reading the article on "The Yellow Book", I have to say that it was enunciated very well and it also left room for reflection, research and learning. Great job! 

Let's talk about religion. I believe that the high priests or even an apprentice clergy of any religion would not be mixing his practice. If he is a Methodist pastor, he will interpret the holy text the way his church has guided him to. I doubt he would go around promoting Catholicism. Would be weird, wouldn't it? 

But the ones that would be church-and-center-hoping are the lay persons, perhaps believing that blessings and initiations from different masters would be beneficial stemming from ignorance and greed. For this reason alone, the masters themselves must be clear and precise in their practice and follow the tradition and lineage that they are representing because the normal people who go to them for guidance are not.

If the Dalai Lama is using "The Yellow Book" to condemn Dorje Shugden, then, he is missing the point. We would have watched enough Chinese Kung Fu movies to understand what a specialized skill is. The Drunken Master learns every move by heart and its secrets are drilled into his every living cell. You don't see him (or at least the scriptwriter didn't illustrate it) going to the Wing Chun or Flying Dragon school to foster his abilities. He just stuck to one martial art and excelled in it. If he did sway, his "sifu" would literally drag him back by his ears. Does this make the "sifu" a sectarian, mean and controlling? But at the end of the movie, when the young disciple wins a battle using the style of "The Drunken Master" and is enlightened as a result of that, who is right? Something to ponder upon, yes?       

[Manisha Kudo]

Dear Big Uncle,

I agree to an extent. It is important for teachers to help their students feel empowered and to develop and refine their own wisdom. Of course we can receive specific advice, and it is important to check our practice in dialogue with our Guru and other experienced practitioners, but complete deference can cripple the development of a students own wisdom. The outer Guru is an aspect of our own consciousness and the inner Guru must not be neglected in favor of excessive external dependence. This view is a part of the basis for a practitioner learning to make wise decisions.

Another contributing support to this is the fact that the Gurus ability to communicate is multifaceted, multidimensional, pervasive. It is not confined to meeting in person, emails, talking on the phone, or attendants conveying messages. The Gurus can and do communicate the direction of travel via dream, visions, insights, the conversation of strangers, bumper stickers, movies, music, atmospheres, the rustling of trees and so forth. When we understand the nature if mind and the pervasive nature of the Guru, our experience of life becomes a dialogue between us and the Guru, and we can check our experiences against the Dharma to make sure we're on track.

That said, I do agree it is very important to connect with experienced practitioners and check in with our Gurus via normal means, just as Je Pabonkhapa did his lamrim retreat then checked in with the Guru.

We have a refuge commitment to regard every image of a Buddha as a living Buddha. This is a nirmanikaya relationship with the Guru. There are other levels of operation. We come to feel that we are always in the presence of the Guru, and our dialogue then becomes much more profound. How lucky we are!

Wow! What a wonderful exchange of knowledge happening here! Thank you Big Uncle and Psylotripitaka! 

In 2004, "Crash" won the Oscar for Best Movie. Every character in that film went about doing his / her own things like any good human whether white, yellow, black, Latino etc would. All living within their conditional minds about what is right and wrong as if they didn't know each other. But when their safely boxed worlds crashed into each other, they started questioning their values, ethics, sanity and how they actually thought they were just, kind and caring. Some were surprised as to how they were fired by latent racial discrimination and some who appeared racist surprised the audience with his acceptance and impartiality.

The real application of Dharma comes about when opposing situations arise and crash into each other. As a disciple of the Gelugpa tradition, how far would I go to keep the lineage pure? As Psylotripitaka asked, what is a mixed lineage? I know this is a frivolous comparison. But don't we all enjoy an authentic Italian pizza and to a certain extent we also like the variety in a fusion sushi pizza? Technically, both are attractive. The challenge is how do we commit to one and not the other. How do we pick one and not feel we have missed out on the rest and as such respond by attacking the other choices that we could not have picked? Perhaps, this is the cause of negative sectarianism. When it comes to the choice between two pizzas, I guess we can easily stomach both. But when it is between two or three lineages that have a long list of authorities, it is a heavy task. Simply because when we pick either one, both positive and negative karma would surface and when it happens, are we practicing the Dharma or creating more drama? Where is emptiness as propounded by Nagarjuna? Where is the middle way as taught by Lord Buddha?

Much to contemplate on a Saturday night...