Daily practice

[honeydakini]

I'd been given a daily DS practice by my teacher to do, together with the rest of my sadhana (how fortune we are to have these lamas to give us these practices).

My question is that if people don't have a lama to give them a practice, what can they do on a daily basis? I am asking this as someone recently asked me on Facebook and I didn't know if I should just tell them to do the same practices that I am doing, or.....? The prayers here on this website are very helpful but what if someone wanted to do something longer / more extensive? And wud they require permission from a Lama to do them?

Would be grateful for any thoughts you might have. Thank you and three cheers for more people doing DS practices!

[Mohani]

Hi Just my thoughts

Heart Jewel prayers that are done by nkt folk don't require an empowerment/permission. Longer sadhanas usually have HYT aspects to them such as clearance/blessing etc, empowerment is required for these.
Similar questions have been posted here before and the advise has been for practitioners to try to practice lamrim and  pray to Duldzin to meet a qualified teacher soon.

[Zhalmed Pawo]

My question is that if people don't have a lama to give them a practice, what can they do on a daily basis?

The practice of going for refuge. There are of course different lineal ways of doing that, but nevertheless, that is the only practice important. Without that, there is nothing, in a Buddhist sense.

[Geronimo]

To Be or Not to Be FREE
What do we want to be free from? All kinds of suffering. Not only freedom from suffering from physical ailments, but also those things in our head that disturb us, stress us, make us dislike others and deprives us of a good night's sleep.

Are we satisfied with being free from the above?

What about the suffering of death when we have to lose everything? What about continued suffering in unfortunate realms of rebirths as ghosts and hell beings? Even if we are reborn as humans, we know how frail and vulnerable to suffering humans are, physically and mentally. It is said that a breath separates us from death. If we lose some skin, we are open to all kinds of infections. We can be disturbed easily. A mere insult can trigger us to go into all kinds of emotional ups and downs which can even result in killing oneself to get out of the anguish.

For those who have faith in Buddha's teachings and have developed conviction in the laws of karma, we can get a rebirth to the upper realms, and temporarily be free from the sufferings of the lower realms, by not doing 10 stupid things. They are really stupid things because the more we engage in them, the more we receive their negative results. The seed of anger planted in us during one moment of rage, in those 10 seconds to put someone down, just to get some satisfaction of wanting things our way, can throw us into hell in our next life. In the meantime, we become increasingly angersome and unhappy as the power of the seed increases with every repeated action.

For many, the idea of being a god in the heavens is the WOW-est wish. Lord Buddha said that it is not cool. Is it sufficient to become a god or human again in our next life? Even though they are fortunate realms from the perspective of having less suffering, there is no guarantee we will not be reborn in a lower state of existence in the future.

The suffering of gods at the end of their lifespan is said to be much worse than human's. As a god, it is certain that the next rebirth will be lower; the wise saying 'the higher one climbs, the harder one falls' applies. Whilst lower realm beings can die with some hope of a higher rebirth, gods do not have that luxury. Neither can they do much to prevent their descent because over-indulgence in pleasure blinds them to their eventual demise. If one is insensitive to one's own suffering, they cannot relate to others' suffering. Hence they are unable to develop virtues like compassion which can protect them.

As we ourselves have experienced, humans suffer from the day we are born. We only know too well the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and dying from observing others, if not ourselves, in those stages of life. Gods lead their lives exhausting their accumulated merits. There is nothing for them to look forward to except to go down in their next rebirth. Telling our friends that in our next life we are going to be a hungry ghost with a big pot belly and straw-sized throat, is not cool.

Having our wishes fulfilled to be reborn in the higher realms is like a prisoner who has been given a few days' reprieve to visit friends and family. This limited freedom means whatever happiness that arises, is fleeting when it is time to return to the prison.

Being born as a god, a being in hell or in any of the six realms of existence are the same insofar as the conditions are unfree and the basis for suffering.

As long as we remain in this unending cycle of uncontrolled rebirth, it is almost impossible to avoid committing non-virtuous actions which are causes for lower rebirth. This awareness brings us to a profound conclusion - that if nothing is done to stop this cycle, we will have to endure suffering that is without end and escape. This is the reality that we should dread enough to want to get out.

Our determination to be free must be like rocket power to get out of the earth’s atmosphere. We must stop believing it is cool to take to the skies. We all know what happens when the fuel runs out.

We all have the potential to attain happiness which does not rollercoaster. We do not have to put up with low-grade happiness which is merely a reduction of suffering.

If you have this yearning to be free growing in you, you are now ready, step-by-step to say bye bye to samsara.
 
 Tsem Rinpoche

[Geronimo]

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byPq0vOFJw8
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). We also discussed a teaching that Rinpoche gave about LETTING GO – what it means to really let go of our attachments and negativities, and how letting go of the people we love is the best way we can love them.

I am the kind of girl who becomes desperately possessive and paranoid about my relationships and friendships. And I believe there is a little part in everyone who worries constantly about losing a relationship, falling out, arguments or mending something broken.

We think about it constantly
we cry
we lament
we bitch and moan
we lash out
we get revenge
we shut down
we get depressed
we take drugs and escape into our whiskeys
we tell the whole world our relationship and family problems

It is, we tell ourselves, because we claim we love these people and we have been hurt by them! Betrayed! Disappointed! How could they!!!

Rinpoche gave us a teaching recently about the profound importance of letting go and what it really means. So many of us fear losing someone and misinterpret the idea of "letting go" as throwing someone out, cutting off ties or running away from them.

Letting go has never meant that we stop loving them or actually let go of the "object" we are attached to. It is about finding a different way to love them.

When we let go, Rinpoche explains, it is not to let go of the person but to let go of the expectations and perceptions we place on that person. It is to realise that it these projections we place on what s/he is supposed to do to make us happy - which they don't meet - which makes us unhappy and keeps us stuck.

It is these very expectations and projections that harm us. When we project or expect, and when that person doesn't meet what we have projected or expected, our world collapses. We can't understand why they don't do as we think they should. We ask over and over again, "Why do they do that? Why do they act like that? Why did they say that? Why didn't they do this or that?" and we never get an answer that will satisfy us.


So we get hurt
frustrated
sad
angry
disappointed
irritated...

 

People react differently when they are hurt. Usually, we go into ourselves and think about the hurt.
we think about it constantly
we cry
we lament
we bitch and moan
we lash out
we get revenge
we shut down
we get depressed
we take drugs and escape into our whiskeys
we tell the whole world our relationship and family problems

When someone - such as our parents, our partners, our friends - don't approve of us (our careers, lifestyles, friends, religions etc) and we get upset, it actually only reflects our selfishness for how we want things to be, how we want them to like and approve of us and how we want to be accepted. There we go, thinking about ourselves again.

In the end, we're still none the happier
AND
we haven't done anything to help ourselves, the other person nor the situation.

But we claim to love these people. We care. We have given them everything. We have made them our whole world. Don't we?

All we achieve is to get more into our (selfish little) selves and further away from the people we claim to love. We start to shut them out, we start to plot how we can get them back or we self-destruct.

Letting go - of our expectations and projections - becomes the highest expression of our love for a person because in doing so, we STOP focusing on why WE have been hurt or disappointed and START focusing on THEM.

We change from relating our experiences to OURSELVES and our OWN REACTIONS to relating situations to THEM and THEIR NEEDS.

Then we truly begin to love them for them… and this becomes a real kind of love.

Once you put yourself back in the situation, any situation - your expectations, your needs, your problems - you find you can't help the other person nor the situation at large. You can't be focusing on yourself and the other person at the same time, especially not in a time when there is conflict between you both. So you pick - focus inwards on yourself or let go of "yourself" and focus outwards on the other person.

Though we fear that letting go means to lose someone forever and to lose any grasp at all that we might have on that person, ultimately, letting go actually means to let go of ourselves - our hangups, attachments and the selfish thinking we identify so strongly with which hurts us.

 "No one can cause you harm. It is your projections that harm you."

Tsem Tulku

[DharmaDefender]

My question is that if people don't have a lama to give them a practice, what can they do on a daily basis?

The practice of going for refuge. There are of course different lineal ways of doing that, but nevertheless, that is the only practice important. Without that, there is nothing, in a Buddhist sense.

Inarguably true! The Three Jewels are all that you need to protect you from taking rebirth in the lower realms.

But I think for a lot of people, the act of taking refuge is not enough - not everyone believes so strongly in the power of the Buddhas, and in karma. After all, if they believed in and had an understanding of karma alone, they wouldn't need any other practice.

Don't we need other practices for purification, to create merit, etc? Just because you've taken refuge does not mean you're automatically "saved", so to speak - people continue to experience and act upon ignorance, hatred and attachment even after they've taken refuge.

I suppose it goes back to the question of whether someone has truly taken refuge in the Three Jewels...they are there to protect you but are you creating the causes for yourself to be protected?

[a friend]

Would be grateful for any thoughts you might have. Thank you and three cheers for more people doing DS practices

Dear Honeydakini, correct me if I´m mistaken, but you are asking for advice for a person who asked to do the Protector´s practice based on what you put in Facebook; this person does not have a Lama.
Well, it´s difficult to have a practice all by yourself without any acquaintance with a Teacher. The instruction is to first go and get yourself a spiritual Teacher; once you started trusting this Teacher you start all the preliminary practices and start learning one by one the Lam Rim topics, beginning with the incredible good opportunity to have so many leisures and fortunes and with the fact that they don´t last, that death can come at any moment.

A practice of the Protector independent from this context ... well, it wouldn´t be truly "a practice" in the Buddhist sense. It would be some kind of faith and worship similar to the ones the Catholics have for their saints. I have nothing to object to that but it´s not a practice related to the teachings of our lineage of Mañjushri Lobsang Drakpa, that is the main object of the Protector´s protection.

I understand though that you want to give your friend something. Ok, let´s think of something.
Why don´t you direct the person to do some prayers, as Mohani suggested, but mainly, why don´t you recommend something to read? There is a text that many beginners find very useful. It is a commentary by Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche on Je Tsong Khapa´s Three Principal Aspects of the Path. It´s name is:
THE PRINCIPAL TEACHINGS OF BUDDHISM
and you can find it in the MSTP website, let me get it for you. Ok, it´s here:
http://www.mstp.us/
There, go to Book List, and you will find it, it´s the 13st title mentioned.

I´m sure that if your friend has a true interest in the Protector, then he/she will be eager to understand the object of the Protector´s protection, the pure teachings of Lord Tsongkhapa, the complete essence of Lord Buddha´s speech. By praying, and studying directly the teachings, the person will be able to "wake up" other good seeds that will take it to a Lama. I wish both of you great success!

[mika]

HELLO EVERYONE!
My name is Mika (obviously, d'oh) and I'm the friend that honeydakini was talking about who is looking for a practice (she got fed up trying to explain is told me to just get my butt on here and start learning myself).

I appreciate all your advice. I'm quite new to Dharma and Buddhism in general. It started when I visited the Manjushri centre in England last summer and I just loved the whole place, I loved the temples and their Buddha images. I usually find that Tibetan Buddhism is quite ostentatious but I liked the way that they have adapted the practices for their culture.

Anyway, when i started doing more research I found that NKT is in a lot of hoo ha which i don't really get for now. I just like their practices very much (I joined in one of their daily prayer sessions too just to see!) and I am trying to find out more about Tsongkhapa and the Lamrim and Dorje Shugden and Maitreya which is what I have seen most of during my visit and also further research.

I like the heart jewel book but the meditations are a bit complicated so I'm reading up more of different books and practices before I get into all the meditations and all that. I like the praises a lot though - especially the shorts ones so I can do them on the go! Someone gave me a Lamrim prayer and I like some of the praises on this website so I've been doing that. Do you think that would be okay?

Oh and another thing, how do you find a teacher? I like the little galleries and short articles about the great masters here but (and i don't mean this disrespectfully), they're either passed away or in some far off land in a monastery so it's hard to find them!!! LOL.

[vinayaholder]

I'd been given a daily DS practice by my teacher to do, together with the rest of my sadhana (how fortune we are to have these lamas to give us these practices).

My question is that if people don't have a lama to give them a practice, what can they do on a daily basis? I am asking this as someone recently asked me on Facebook and I didn't know if I should just tell them to do the same practices that I am doing, or.....? The prayers here on this website are very helpful but what if someone wanted to do something longer / more extensive? And wud they require permission from a Lama to do them?

Would be grateful for any thoughts you might have. Thank you and three cheers for more people doing DS practices!

The best is if they have a lama or dharma centre close to where they are  so that they can learn more about buddhism. Buddhism is not just about sitting in front of the altar meditating or chanting, although that's what many people limit themselves to. True buddhist practice involves study, contemplation and putting these into practice. The deity practices are there to supplement these activities and for us to collect merit and eventually gain attainments.

If there is no lama available to them, and if they do not have a particular affinity to any of the Buddhist schools, then the lamrim is always a good introduction and can be supplemented by tsongkapa's guru yoga and if they are not scared away, Dorje Shugden's basic practice as outlined in Heart Jewel.

[LosangKhyentse]

Nice production of Tsongkapa:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RkGRFe7Lfg&feature=related
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What the Gaden Tripa Thinks of Tsem Rinpoche, A must watch video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS7wYF6B8kg&feature=related
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[mika]

HELLO EVERYONE!
My name is Mika (obviously, d'oh) and I'm the friend that honeydakini was talking about who is looking for a practice (she got fed up trying to explain is told me to just get my butt on here and start learning myself).

I appreciate all your advice. I'm quite new to Dharma and Buddhism in general. It started when I visited the Manjushri centre in England last summer and I just loved the whole place, I loved the temples and their Buddha images. I usually find that Tibetan Buddhism is quite ostentatious but I liked the way that they have adapted the practices for their culture.

Anyway, when i started doing more research I found that NKT is in a lot of hoo ha which i don't really get for now. I just like their practices very much (I joined in one of their daily prayer sessions too just to see!) and I am trying to find out more about Tsongkhapa and the Lamrim and Dorje Shugden and Maitreya which is what I have seen most of during my visit and also further research.

I like the heart jewel book but the meditations are a bit complicated so I'm reading up more of different books and practices before I get into all the meditations and all that. I like the praises a lot though - especially the shorts ones so I can do them on the go! Someone gave me a Lamrim prayer and I like some of the praises on this website so I've been doing that. Do you think that would be okay?

Oh and another thing, how do you find a teacher? I like the little galleries and short articles about the great masters here but (and i don't mean this disrespectfully), they're either passed away or in some far off land in a monastery so it's hard to find them!!! LOL.

[honeydakini]

hah. mika. you found us! (glad you plucked up the courage to go online finally!!!!!!!!!)

Yes, the short praises are really good and very beautiful. I remember my lama advised us that we can just recite those praises anytime - short n sweet and uncomplicated. you don't need to have an initiation to do that or a Lama (that's why they are made freely available here too I guess!). Most important, as ever, you gotta have a good motivation. When you recite the prayers, make a sincere wish that you can create the causes to meet with a qualified lama to give you more practices

In the meantime, do keep reading - gaining knowledge is the best way forward

[Zhalmed Pawo]

Hello Mika

If you are a "beginner", it might be best to concentrate your practices on the Buddhist foundations, and not so much on the different Deity-Buddhas, say Je Tsongkhapa, Dorje Shugdän, Maitreya, etc, but just simply on the Founder, that is Shakyamuni Buddha, and his basic teachings.

In the NKT, that you mentioned, those basics are given as the Lamrim-system. These can also be presented as the Three Principal Aspects of the Path (renunciation, bodhichitta, correct view of emptiness), but in fact these Three Aspects must be preceded by the practice of Taking Refuge. Having refuge, one becomes a Buddhist, having renunciation one becomes Hinayanist, having bodhichitta one becomes Mahayanist, and having the correct view one becomes free from samsara, a Holy One, but it is important to remember, that this system is progressive: First refuge, then renunciation, etc. One should not skip any steps.

Practically one can of course receive teachings and practice all those stages "in mesh", but the actual progress on the Path necessitates that the foundations are solid before the latter stages can bear fruit. (It is typical, that people practice Mahayana or Vajrayana eventhough they have not taken refuge properly, but it does not matter so long as one understands that one is not on the level of Mahayana, or any Yana, before one has truly taken refuge in the Three Jewels. The Path begins really just there, and what follows are the Three Aspects of the Path.)

In some other traditions the wordings and classifications of the Path might differ, but in the end, the meaning is the same.

If on the other hand, you feel close connection to a certain Buddha, say Tara or Avalokita, you can of course approach Dharma from that perspective, but in the end, it really comes to the refuge, renunciation, bodhichitta and correct view, no matter what, no matter how. But if you have a "heart's affinity" for a certain Buddha, then just simply practice his or her sadhana, while concentrating on the meaning, not just ritualistically mumbling words. (The practices in Heart Jewel book might be too much at start, so dunno. And also they basically require empowerment if one wishes to do all the associated practices.) Typically nevertheless, the NKT sadhanas are nice in that way that one can do them solely from the perspective of Sutra, without needing to have Tantric empowerment. Heart Jewel included.

But in a general sense, it is best to start "the whole thingy" by practicing breathing meditation, studying Lamrim (or other functionally similar systems) and taking it easy with the Deities, unless one feels drawn to a certain Deity. In the NKT setting that you mentioned, that would mean: book called Introduction to Buddhism. It explains Lamrim, gives instructions on breathing meditation, and presents a short Shakyamuni sadhana with the Lamrim-prayer by Je Tsongkhapa. Really neat.

As to the practice of the different prayers - both the praises to a certain Buddha, and the path-prayers like the Lamrim-prayer - these can of course be praciced right from the start. In fact, they are meant to be practiced like that. The reason: they are meant to arouse faith in the Buddha and the Dharma! They therefore are practices leading to the mind of refuge, the very start of the Buddhist Path. So go ahead! These prayers of course have also an informative function, operating on the level of cognitive mind, but they are primarily meant to speak to the heart. To help the arising of faith.



Oh yes, and of course, while studying Buddhism in a practical sense as suggested above, it might be good to study it's history and the various traditions. There are many great books made by some modern scholars who also are practicing Buddhists, that present quite nicely the different developments of Buddhism throughout the world and through the ages. Peter Harvey: Introduction to Buddhism and Peter Williams: Mahayana Buddhism are great basic intros to the vastness of our religion. They do not explain practices or anything like that, but they provide a nice overview of the different developments and traditions of Buddhism. They might be useful material as well. For after all, we all are different, and therefore we might need different systems, or traditions. It is good to know the options around, so to speak.

As to finding a Teacher, well, I cannot help. Ask the Buddha. There is the old saying that "when the student is ready, the Guru will come." The best way to become "a ready student" is to practice refuge, I guess.


blessings,
Harri

[Big Uncle]

Dorje Shugden is a Dharma Protector practice and hence requires one to practice a Yidam practice first. That would mean having received initiation into a particular deity's practice. A yidam is a deity with whom we focus our meditative practices in order to gain attainments. Hence we practice a Yidam in conjunction with a Dharma protector's practice. However, having an initiation would mean holding refuge and 50 Stanza commitments with the Lama and Boddhisattva vows. If the Yidam is a higher Tantric practice, it would also mean that one would take Tantric commitments. However, for those who do not have Yidam may practice Lama Tsongkhapa's Guru Yoga in conjunction with Dharma Protector practice.

I hope that helps. 

[iloveds]

So what you don't have a teacher or Guru at this time. You can still create the cause to receive on in the future and even if you didn't receive in future, at least you would have planted an enormity of dharmic speed..