Chogtrul Khentrul Gyangkhang Rinpoche Opening Remarks – Palyul Ling Virtual Summer Retreat 2021

中文 Speech by Chogtrul Gyangkhang Rinpoche at the beginning of Summer Retreat, New York, 2021

Today we begin our virtual summer retreat for 2021 which will last for a month. To all of you who have joined this virtual summer retreat through the Internet; most of you are our senior students who have been with Palyul Ling for some time, and there may be some who may not have been to the retreat before. Many may have joined this virtual summer retreat from different countries with different time zones, but it is morning here in New York, therefore, I am wishing you all a very good morning.

His Holiness had set up this centre with lots of difficulties in hopes of spreading the words of dharma. One of the main purposes of establishing this retreat is to benefit our Western students who are connected and devoted to us, to make it easy for them to practise and to study the dharma here. As a result, they will be able to subdue their own mind and afflictive emotions like desire, hatred, etc. All the difficulties we face either in this life or in the future lives, are created by our own afflictive emotions. So it will be beneficial to practise the dharma in the hopes of reducing these emotions. For this reason, His Holiness had established this month-long summer retreat.

His Holiness conducted this summer retreat by himself until he had passed into Parinirvana. Then His enlightened activities have been continued by His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche, our senior Khenchens, all the attendants of our late Holiness, including other khenpos, lopons, the volunteers and all those who are working in this centre. There are many people who support and have aspirations to continue these activities, making it easier to perform this summer retreat throughout these past years.

Since 2020, due to the pandemic, we were not able to gather together to carry out our practises and studies. Yet, we were able to broadcast the teachings for the Ngöndro class through the Internet. This year, while the pandemic may be getting better in some countries, it may not be possible yet to meet face-to-face. I know many of you have wished to come here and attend the retreat in-person, but due to the local and national regulations we cannot do so. Nevertheless, we are able to carry on this summer retreat virtually through the Internet, which would be of benefit to many individuals and communities.

His Holiness Yangsi Rinpoche is also doing well in Tibet. He is excelling in his education. We all hope that Yangsi Rinpoche will visit us when he grows up, and we are working hard to make his visit possible. So, it is of no doubt that the fortunate sun will shine again and that Yangsi Rinpoche will visit us soon.

There is no need for all of us to worry about our Yangsi Rinpoche because His Holiness Karma Kuchen Rinpoche is taking the full responsibility,overseeing his education and all of the other matters. Similarly, His Holiness Kuchen Rinpoche is also in good health, and of course, he is always working to benefit the Buddha Dharma in general and the Palyul lineage in particular. Therefore, you have nothing to worry about regarding Kuchen Rinpoche.

As responsible students of Yangsi Rinpoche, His Holiness Kuchen Rinpoche and all the masters who are here to uphold the Buddha Dharma in these degenerative times, we must always recite the long life prayers and also pray to the three jewels for the good health and long life of these masters from our side.

Recently, due to our lack of merit, we have suffered great loss as Tulku Thubzang Rinpoche passed into Parinirvana last year. He too was a great holder of the Palyul lineage, and he was carrying out all the enlightened activities as instructed by our late Holiness. He was able to complete most of his dharma activities in this way. Even though we no longer have him with us right now because of the lack of merit, we should always engage in prayers, requesting the swift rebirth of Tulku Rinpoche, so that his incarnation, like the new moon, will come back again to benefit us.

Therefore, it is very important to always engage in reciting the prayer for the swift rebirth of Tulku Thubzang Rinpoche. Of course it was a big loss for dharma in general and to all of us. It also shows us that everything that is compounded is also impermanent. But it is also symbolically indicating that the enlightened activities of the Buddhas are in perpetuity.

As we all are dharma practitioners, we have to pray that all the lineage masters who are with us right now, live long. We must also pray for the well being of all the masters we have made dharma connections with and we must pray for the swift rebirth of those who have passed away. Of course you are all doing this regularly, I’m just reminding you about the importance of doing these long-life prayers and swift-rebirth prayers.

All who have joined this virtual summer retreat know that the Buddha Dharma has been in this world for about 2500 years. Within the Buddhist teachings, there are various topics of study such as how you should be eating when you consume your meals; how you should be walking; and even the minor things that we have to do on a daily basis, we have to learn how to perform them properly. This way, it covers a wide range of different topics. You can also see, in the past, how the great masters received teachings. It was not easy for them. They had to walk for many days or months while trying to gather provisions for their survival, they continued to walk regardless of whether it was sunny or rainy or snowy. Therefore, we need to go through all these difficulties to meet with the Lamas. And once we have met the Lama; because of the various dispositions and the capabilities of the student; even if the students went through all these difficulties to meet the lama, sometimes the lamas were reluctant to give teachings to particular students. A very good example is found in the biography of Jetsun Milarepa, how he went through immeasurable difficulties to receive dharma teachings.

But in these modern times, many things have changed in the world. Especially regarding the dharma, one can use the internet to gain knowledge and definitive meaning of the dharma. It has become very easy to access the teachings, and now you can also see so many masters and lamas giving teachings through the Internet. This is how easily accessible the teachings have become to all of us. You can be in your own bed and listen to the dharma. But in the olden days you had to come to our retreat center, and you had to sit upright and focus for about an hour and listen to the teaching and do the practises accordingly. But now through the Internet, you don’t have to go through all these kinds of difficulties. You can just relax in the comfort of your bed, drinking your coffee and, if the teachings are boring at times, you can just turn on your TV and watch something else. It has become so easy for you to receive these teachings these days.

So be vigilant with your mind and always try to tame it, that is the main practise. One thing is that people think that dharma is only for the religious and that it has to be practised only by people who are following a religion. Many think that In order to do the practise, one has to meditate in one’s house in front of the altar, and outside of the scheduled practise, they no longer need to “practise”. But in reality, this is not the case. Buddha Dharma is a teaching on the way of life so it is not only for those who want to be religious. It is for anyone who aspires to relax and be happy. Through this method, you can see whether you are actually practising dharma or not. If you practise the dharma then you will definitely find joy and you will be able to enjoy life. In this way you can see the importance of practising the dharma.

Generally, if we look at our nature, what happens is that if one is not practising dharma, when one encounters the things one likes,one is very overwhelmed, excited and happy. Similarly, if one encounters some misfortunes or suffering that one is not able to confront, then one may even think of commiting suicide. This happens because we are unaware of the real nature of all phenomena. If one does not know the actual nature of all phenomena, then one is caught up in the external appearance of all phenomena. When something appears then one instantly has the judgement of seeing it as good or bad. In this way one is projecting one’s concepts upon all these different external appearances . One attaches oneself to this projection. This is how one is always engaged in either attachment or an aversion. For example, if someone is very nice to oneself or favourable to oneself, then one becomes excited. Similarly, if one encounters something one does not like then one becomes upset. All this happens because one does not understand the true nature of all phenomena.

Due to this reason, when Buddha first turned the wheel of dharma, he taught the Four Noble Truths: the Truth of the Suffering, the Truth of the Cause of Suffering, the Truth of the Cessation and the Truth of the Path. First, the Truth of Suffering. Whether you are a follower of the dharma or not, the reality is that not only human beings, but even the animals don’t want to suffer. If one doesn’t want to suffer, then what one must do is find the cause of the suffering and then try to relinquish that cause of the suffering. If one is able to see that the cause of the suffering is none other than your own mind which is so caught up with attachment, anger and aversion, then one will know the cause of all suffering. This happens because of the lack of understanding of the true nature of reality and not being able to give up attachment, anger or aversion.

After understanding the truth of suffering, then one looks for its cause. The cause of suffering is none other than the three poisons; desire, anger and ignorance. Why we have these three poisons is due to our idea of a kind of truly existing reality outside of one’s mind. We project existence through our minds. Even if the outer existence is not attractive, one projects and deceives oneself, seeing it as attractive. This mis-perception is what causes one to pursue or avoid things. Through this process, one accumulates karma, and this is how we suffer. That is the reason why the Buddha’s first teaching was on the Four Noble Truths.

What we experience is called the Truth of Suffering. And the cause of that Truth of the Suffering is our afflictive emotions. By understanding cause and effect, Buddha said that we must eliminate these causes. If we eliminate the cause then there is something blissful, ultimate happiness and joy that can be achieved as a result. How can one achieve that ultimate joy or happiness? It is by practicing all these different stages of path; this is how one is going to achieve the ultimate joy and happiness.

Now, how must one practise this path to achieve the result? For that, first one must study and receive teachings from a Lama. After listening to the teachings, one must then contemplate on the meaning of what one has studied, and finally one must put all that one has learnt and understood into practise.

What this means is that one must make your mind inseparable from the dharma and carry out all the practises.This is how one will benefit from the dharma; just knowing about the dharma will not help. What one really needs to do is to put them into practise and why we have to practise them is just as I had said earlier,even the animals want happiness, they do not want to suffer, but they do not know what causes suffering and what causes happiness. In that way one can see what the Buddha Dharma is teaching us, how one can achieve happiness and how one can abandon the causes of suffering. It is not only Buddhists who should be following the Buddha Dharma but this is something the whole world actually needs to understand and be able to practise. Why it is so is because most people think that happiness can be achieved through materialistic pursuits, which is why there is a great advancement in technology and material comforts. People are so easily distracted and are always engaged in external matters; trying to find happiness in that way. But then later on they realize that happiness is not only the result of external development or external phenomena. We need to see that happiness is generated from and within our own minds. Whether it is happiness or suffering, the mind becomes the main factor that experiences it. Some people may use the dharma to teach, but they’re not labelling it as Buddhist teachings; they give all this advice, especially to those who may have some mental health issues. You can even see that Buddha Dharma is being used to help those people who have mental illness. You can see that yoga or tsa-lung practises are being used to heal different kinds of sickness. Whether you are a Buddhist follower or not, it is crucial to see the importance of our mind, as it plays a very important role in the experience we call life. Seeing this with reasoning, one can see the necessity to practise the Buddha Dharma.

As you all know, our late His Holiness had been giving all these teachings, practises and advice. As for pith instructions, people usually think that if you want to receive the pith instruction, the Lama should be whispering in your ear so that nobody hears the instructions except oneself. That is not the pith instruction.

One of His Holiness’ main instructions always had an emphasis on this: “you should always be a very calm and stable person, just like a rock.” This means you shouldn’t be too excited or happy when things are going as per your wishes, and not to get too depressed, sad or mentally ill when things are not happening as per your wishes. The reason this is happening is that we don’t know the true nature of the dharma or the true nature of phenomena. Not knowing this fact, some people go through depression and get mentally ill when encountering things they don’t like.

Again, to put all these teachings into practise is not that easy, it is quite difficult. But then it is also something very practical. I’m not talking about teachings on Dzogchen.

Let’s say when anger arises in oneself, that time one must only look at the nature of the anger and see it for what it is. If one just looks at the nature of the anger instead of getting carried away by the anger, then one will see that the anger will become feeble and lose it’s power to disturb you. In the same way if one has desire growing in one’s mind then, at that time if one looks at the nature of the desire, then definitely the desire will not become bothersome to oneself and the desire will also become weaker and more feeble. This way the anger or desire will gradually mitigate itself and this will definitely reduce the power of these afflictive emotions. If one does this practise on a regular basis, one will see a big change in oneself. Whether there are things that excite oneself or things that make oneself depressed, one should not be like the weather, always changing, or else one becomes an unstable person.

The reason we are facing all these problems and issues is that we are unable to understand reality. If one doesn’t know reality then one has all these mis-perceptions, and once one has this misperception, one starts thinking that something is truly existing and something is truly established.

When someone praises oneself, one instantly becomes excited and happy. At the same time if one is aware that there is also someone who is dispiriting oneself, then the praise won’t bring that much of excitement to you; and in the same way, if there are people who are dispiriting you, during that time think that there are people who like you and are praising you, this will not bring this kind of stress or suffering. Hence, one will gradually balance both excitement and suffering in one’s life. If we are able to balance our life then we will have a more joyous and meaningful life. For this reason the Buddha in his first turning of the wheel of dharma, taught the four Noble truths; the suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of the suffering, and then the path to bring the suffering to an end. That is why it is very important to practise the Buddha Dharma by taking small gradual steps.

For this reason our late His Holiness established this one-month retreat. As we begin this one month retreat I was requested to give some teachings. I also have a responsibility and because of this, I have taken the time to do so. Anyway, you all have been here before and some of you may be in the eighth or ninth year, and some may be ready to receive the teachings to recognize the nature of your mind. If you have recognized the nature of your mind it is your responsibility to continue meditating on the nature of your mind and then be able to practise as much as possible. Otherwise, just by being able to recognize your nature of mind, if one is not able to continue practising on it, then there are many chances that you will be practising the meditation but then instead of resting on your Rigpa, you may just be resting in the Alaya consciousness. Or even if you’re meditating there’s a meditation called Dull Meditation whereby one’s meditation becomes dull and one will not be able to meditate on the clarity of one’s mind.

If you have to recognize the nature of your mind then you must be able to practise.Through that practise, the essence of your practise is that you must be able to reduce your afflictive emotions and to tame your mind. That is something very important. Of course all these teachings you have to receive from individual teachers. Then, whatever teachings you have received, it is your responsibility to put them into practise. In that way if you see that your desire, anger, and so on are reducing, then that is the purpose of practising the dharma. Otherwise, nowadays through the Internet you will get to learn the dharma and you may be an expert in all of the terminology and know the dharma by heart. But then if your desire, anger, and so forth, are still intact, without being able to reduce or tame them, then the dharma practise is not effective.

So all the difficulties that our late Holiness had gone through by buying this big piece of land, propagating the dharma, sacrificing his personal comfort and going through immeasurable difficulties. The main purpose of all the hard work of our Holiness is that whoever is engaged or connected with the centre would be able to reduce their afflictive emotions, this would be of great benefit. Otherwise, if you just become an adept in only talking about dharma and leaving one’s mind just as an ordinary person, then it doesn’t serve the purpose. Thank you!

法王 蔣康秋祖仁波切於2021年紐約夏季閉關首日之開示

今日我們開始2021年為期一個月的網上夏季閉關。此次參與閉關的法友們,大多數是白玉資深或年長弟子,有些人也可能從未參加過閉關;這次許多人都從不同國家及不同時區參與閉關,而紐約現正是早上,所以我先祝福各位有一個美好的早晨。

貝諾法王曾經歷了許多困難才建立起這個中心,至今已持續許多年,過去法王都是親自帶領為期一個月的閉關;創立此閉關中心的主要目的,是為了利益與我們有緣以及具虔敬心的西方弟子,讓他們能在此學習及修持佛法、調伏自心的貪欲、瞋心等一切煩惱。

人們於此生或來世所面對的一切困難,都是由自己的煩惱所產生的,若能為了減少煩惱而修持佛法,將能得到利益,基於此原因,法王創辦一個月的夏季閉關

過去 貝諾法王一直親自主持這個夏季閉關,直到他圓寂為止。法王的佛行事業由噶瑪古千法王、資深的堪千策旺嘉措、及資深的堪千們、和所有法王的侍者,堪千、洛本以及你們所有人、中心的義工和工作人員承繼下去,由眾人合力延續法王的佛行事業,使我們多年來能夠持續舉辦此夏季閉關

2020年由於疫情的緣故,使大家無法齊聚一堂學習及做所有的修持,然而依然能在網路上直播 貝諾法王所給予的前行教授;今年2021年,雖然有些國家的疫情已有好轉,但由於各地及國家的規限,以致無法開放讓渴望親自參加此夏季閉關的弟子們前來中心;儘管如此,我們仍可透過網路舉辦此次夏季閉關,相信能為大家帶來利益。

目前身處西藏的揚希仁波切一切安好,他學習表現很好,所有人都期望揚希仁波切長大後會來探訪我們,而我們也會為他的到訪而努力。所以可以肯定的是,有如陽光般的好時光,必然會讓揚希仁波切前來探訪我們。

請大家無須為揚希仁波切擔憂,因為噶瑪古千法王已擔負起照顧仁波切之教育及其他所有事情的全部責任;同時噶瑪古千法王身體亦很健康,他一直為利益全世界的佛法,特別是白玉傳承而努力,所以各位亦無須為噶瑪古千法王擔憂。

為了揚希仁波切與噶瑪古千法王,以及所有於此五濁惡世護持佛法的大德們,大家應經常念誦所有長壽祈請文,並向三寶祈願他們長壽健康,同時亦應時常祈願所有護持佛法的大德長久住世。

由於我們缺乏福德之故,去年經歷了祖古圖桑法王圓寂的巨大損失,法王亦是偉大的白玉傳承持有者,他實踐了所有由 貝諾法王所指示的佛行事業,且幾乎能圓滿他的所有佛行事業,即使現在圖桑法王已經不在了,但我們仍必須經常念誦祈願法王迅速轉世之祈請文,願他如新月般轉世再次利益眾生。

為此,時常念誦祖古圖桑法王迅速轉世祈請文是非常重要的,因為這不僅是整個佛教界及我們所有人的巨大損失,同時亦示現一切因緣所生的事物都是無常的,更顯示出佛陀之佛行事業是永續的。

我們大家都是修行佛法之人,要祈請所有仍住世的傳承上師們長壽;此外,任何與我們結過法緣的上師若已圓寂,亦要念誦祈請他們早日轉世的祈願文。相信你們所有人每天都已如此修持,而我只是提醒大家念誦長壽祈請文、以及迅速轉世祈請文的重要性。

相信所有參加此網上夏季閉關的法友都知道,佛法住世已近二千五百年。在佛法的範疇中,有不同的學習主題,像是應何時進食、如何進食、如何行走等,即使是日常生活中的各種小事,我們都要學習如何正確地去做,其中包含廣泛的不同教法。各位可以看到過去大德們是怎樣去求法的,那並非容易的事,他們要走多少日或多少月的路,要準備足夠的道糧,無論晴天、雨天或下雪都要繼續前行,必須經歷種種困難後才得以拜見到上師。儘管弟子歷盡艱辛前來拜見上師,然而為了因應弟子不同習氣與能力,有時上師並不會向某些弟子傳授教法。從密勒日巴尊者的傳記中就可得知,尊者是如何歷經各種艱難才接受到教法的。

處於這個時代,世上很多事物已瞬息萬變,尤其當人們想透過網路對佛法有更多了解時,就能輕易地搜尋到所有的教法。許多上師和大德也在網路上傳法,讓人們很容易接觸到各種教法,甚至可以在床上聽聞佛法開示。若是在兩年前則必須前來閉關中心,身體坐直並花幾小時專注地聽聞開示以及學習所有的修持。但現在透過網路,你不用經歷這種困難,只須在床上放輕鬆或喝咖啡,若覺得開示很沈悶時你可以去開電視,當你覺得有興趣聽時再去聽;像現在這種方式,讓你變得很容易就能接受到教法。

然而要留意你的心,並且一直嘗試調伏自心,這是主要的修持。有些人認為佛法只屬於宗教,只能由宗教的追隨者去修持,亦必須在屋內佛壇前禪修,除了特定的修持時間之外,也就不需要修持了;然而事實並非如此,佛法的教示是與生活相關的,並不只是為了追隨者而設、或為任何渴望放鬆與想要快樂的人而設。若你修持佛法必定能找到喜樂,並且可以享受人生,如此你將能了解修持佛法的重要性。

一般而言,如果只依習性而沒有修持佛法,當遇到喜歡的事物時就會感到興奮及快樂,而若遇到無法面對、不幸或痛苦時,甚至可能會想自殺;這是因為不明白一切現象的真實本性,所以會被事物外在的表相牽著走,當某事物出現時,只會以自己的認知判斷所看到的是好或是壞;由於將自己投射到所有外在事物之上而對此投射產生執著。如此,你的心便一直處於貪著或瞋惡的狀態而變得很情緒化,一旦某人對你好或有利時,你就會感到很興奮,當遇到某些不喜歡的事物時便會變得很沮喪,這都是因為不明白一切現象的真實本性

有鑒於此,佛陀於初轉法輪時傳授了四聖諦:苦諦、集諦、滅諦及道諦。首先,苦諦是指不管你是否為佛法的追隨者,只要是人類甚至是動物都不想受苦。若不想受苦,所要做的就是去尋找造成痛苦的原因,進而斷除痛苦的因,若你能看到所有的痛苦,無非是來自貪著、憤怒或瞋惡所牽絆的心,藉此將了知一切痛苦的原因,即是由於對真實本性缺乏了解,以及無法捨棄貪著、憤怒或瞋惡所致。

痛苦的因就是我們的貪、瞋、痴三毒。三毒乃孻源於我們認為外在有某種真實存在的真相,而將此存在涵蓋到現象當中;即使外在的存在沒有吸引你,你也會把它涵蓋進去並認為它很吸引人,由於誤解而追逐或逃避事物,這就是為何佛陀第一個教示就是四聖諦

我們所體驗的是苦諦,集諦是指我們的煩惱;透過明白因果,佛陀說必須斷除苦因方能得到快樂。至於如何才能成就究竟的喜悅或快樂,所依靠的是修持的不同次第,這即是成就究竟的喜悅或快樂的方法。

此外,應如何修持此道以達成結果?首先你要依止上師。需依止上師學習及聽聞教法,然後思維所學到教法之意義,再將教法付諸於實修。

這裡所指的是,你必須將心投入佛法之中並做所有的修持。如此,你將能從佛法中獲益,若只是理解佛法是沒有幫助的,你需要做的是實修佛法。至於我們為何要修行,正如我之前所說,即使是動物亦希求快樂不想受苦,然而卻不知什麼是造成痛苦的因?什麼是快樂的因?由此可知,佛法是教導我們如何能得到快樂、及如何斷除苦因。其實不只是佛教徒應該遵循佛法,而是全世界的人們都需要了解,並能夠去修持。為什麼這樣說,因為大多數人都認為快樂是可以透過物質世界而得到的,所以人類在科技及物質舒適上有很大的成就。

人們之所以很容易被分心,是因為一直都醉心於從外在事物來找尋快樂;然而卻發現快樂並不只是外在發展或外在現象的結果。我們要看到快樂是從自心中產生的,不論是快樂或痛苦,主要都是來自內心的體驗

所以這就是為何有些人可能已在運用佛法,但他們並沒有意識到是佛教的教法,他們給予建議,特別是對那些精神可能有問題的人,甚至將佛法用於幫助精神病患者,或是以瑜珈或拙火修持去治療不同種類的疾病等;可見無論你是否為佛教徒,最重要的是能看到自心的重要性,心在我們此生的體驗當中扮演著非常重要的角色,因此依循著推理去觀察時,你將能理解必須修持佛法的重要性。

貝諾法王過去一直都在傳授所有修持及建言。談及竅訣,人們一般都以為竅訣是上師在你的耳邊細聲說,好讓除了你之外沒有人聽到,事實上這並不是竅訣。法王其中一個主要的教法總是在強調:「你應該一直都是個非常平靜與穩定的人,就如一塊岩石。」其意思是當事情如你所願時,不應該興奮或快樂,而事與願違時,亦不要變得沮喪、傷心或精神失常。若出現這些狀況,是應為我們不了解佛法的本性、或一切現象的本性,以致於有些人當遇到不喜歡的事物時,就會感到抑鬱寡歡及甚至變得精神失常。

所以再說一遍,要將所有這些教法付諸實修並不是那麼容易的,是非常困難卻是非常實際的事,在此並非談論有關大圓滿的教法。

讓我們談談當憤怒生起時那一刻,你只需去觀察憤怒的本質,並看看它是什麼。若你只是去觀察憤怒的本質,而不是被憤怒牽著走,那麼你將發現憤怒會減弱,而這個憤怒將不再有任何能力去干擾你。所以相同的,若你心中貪欲增盛,當你去觀察貪欲的本質那一刻,貪欲必定不會再給你麻煩,之後貪欲會變得越來越弱。以此方式修持,貪欲與憤怒將逐漸自然減少,並能夠減低煩惱的力量。若你經常這樣修持,將會看到自己有重大的改變。如此無論那是令你興奮或讓你沮喪的事物,你都不會再像天氣一樣總是在改變,或者變成一個不穩定的人

為何我們會面對這些問題,其原因是我們無法認識及了解事物的真相,若你不了解真相就會產生誤解,一旦有誤解,就會認為某個事物是真實存在,或有某些事物是真正能成立的

好比當某人稱讚你時,就馬上變得快樂興奮,同時,若發覺有人在背後你壞話或者誹謗你時,則稱讚將不再令你感到雀躍;同樣的,當有人在背後你壞話或誹謗你時,你可思維此時亦有人喜歡和讚歎你,如此,就不會感到壓力和痛苦。所以生命中的興奮與痛苦兩者,皆將逐漸能夠取得平衡;若能在生活中取得平衡,那麼將擁有更喜樂及富意義的人生。為了此原因,佛陀於初轉法輪時傳授四聖諦苦諦、集諦、滅諦以及滅苦之道諦,這就是為何依次第修持佛法是非常重要的。

過去 貝諾法王有鑒於此,而創辦這一個月的閉關。當此閉關開始時,我被邀請給予一些開示,而我有責任這樣做。無論如何,你們所有人都曾經來過這裡,其中有些可能已是第八或第九年,有些可能準備好接受了悟自心本性的教法;若你已了悟自心本性,你的責任是要繼續在心的本性上禪修,並盡力去修持,否則單是能了悟自心本性,而無法繼續於心性上禪修的話,則有很大的可能是你或許在禪修,但不是安住於「本覺」之上,而只是安住於覺性;或者即使你是在禪修,有一種禪修被稱為「無記的禪修」,變得很呆滯,如此你將無法於心的明性上禪修。

若你要認出自心的本性,那麼必須能夠修持,並透過該修持,作為修持之精要,你要做的是,你必須能夠減少煩惱並調伏自心,這是非常重要的事。當然所有的教法都必須從不同導師處接受,無論接受什麼教法,你的責任就是要將之付諸實修。以此方式,若你看到貪欲及憤怒等等正在減少,那就是修持佛法的目的。否則現在透過網路雖能學習到佛法,卻可能成為一個熟悉所有名相的專家並對佛法內容了然於心,可是內心的貪欲及憤怒等等依舊是完好無損,並無法減少或降伏它們,那麼佛法的修持將會是沒有效果的

所以 當時貝諾法王在購入這一大片土地時所遇到的難題,以及在弘傳佛法時所承受的困難和所經歷的一切艱辛,其主要目的就是希望所有加入或與這個中心結緣的人,他們的煩惱都能夠減少並獲得一些利益,否則如果只是習慣談論佛法,內心卻流於如凡夫一般,如此,將會是徒勞且無所助益的。謝謝

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