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!