A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

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Malcolm
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by Malcolm »

Caz wrote: I appreciate they may reinforce one and other but how is it necessary to study Lamdre in order to improve your understand of Guhyasamaja or Dzogchen, Surely if one accomplishes the results of one perfect clarity and understand will come naturally regarding the rest ? :buddha1:
Such accomplishment is rare. Studying all teachings impartially improves our chances for realization because it improves our prajñā.

Further, we never know what circumstances we will be born in. If we are familiar with all teachings, and make a connection with all teachings, then we have more opportunity and it will be easier to study and practice in the future. For example, even if we want to be a Kagyu in life after life there is no guarantee.

M
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conebeckham
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by conebeckham »

Study is one thing. Practice is another.

Study is about concepts, conceptual understanding. As long as one recognizes the limitation of conceptual mind, it's wonderful to study widely, broadly...for any practitioner.

But in terms of practice, no one can practice everything, even if one is locked in strict retreat, 24/7/365 for life. That's not to say one can't practice somewhat widely, either--in fact, most lineages these days maintain practices from several lineages--even those that argue exclusivity to some degree. If one truly understands the sources of one's practices, one can't help but drop sectarian exclusivity, in my view. In any case, it's good to focus on a small number of practices at a time, I don't think anyone would dispute that. HHDL is said to practice 7 different Yidam sadhanas daily...that may seem like a lot, but compare it to the variety of yidam practices for even one deity, much less all the popular yidams....

In general, any practice that denigrates another lineage, teacher, or practice, should be questioned. But there is one practice in particular which HHDL has identified as "divisive" in nature, and if one studies broadly, one will quickly see why. Ironically, those that actively preach a more exclusivist position, denigrating one or another tradition, are often those that were forged syncretically from a variety of earlier lineages.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
Caz
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by Caz »

Malcolm wrote:
Caz wrote: I appreciate they may reinforce one and other but how is it necessary to study Lamdre in order to improve your understand of Guhyasamaja or Dzogchen, Surely if one accomplishes the results of one perfect clarity and understand will come naturally regarding the rest ? :buddha1:
Such accomplishment is rare. Studying all teachings impartially improves our chances for realization because it improves our prajñā.

Further, we never know what circumstances we will be born in. If we are familiar with all teachings, and make a connection with all teachings, then we have more opportunity and it will be easier to study and practice in the future. For example, even if we want to be a Kagyu in life after life there is no guarantee.

M
True we have no Idea what circumstances we shall be born in best to make the most of what you have now, After all there is a commonality of progressing through the Bodhisattva grounds and paths through to No more learning, So it doesn't really matter what tradition you do it in as they all take you to the same place but with slightly different presentations. Not being sectarian is a great Idea we wouldn't be very good Buddhists if we couldn't rejoice in the practice of others could we ? There was a great demonstration of this when all the Lama's came as refuges to India all working in harmony to benefit one and other,They've left an excellent legacy and built up their own tradition while maintaining respect and harmony for one and other. :namaste:
Abandoning Dharma is, in the final analysis, disparaging the Hinayana because of the Mahayana; favoring the Hinayana on account of the Mahayana; playing off sutra against tantra; playing off the four classes of the tantras against each other; favoring one of the Tibetan schools—the Sakya, Gelug, Kagyu, or Nyingma—and disparaging the rest; and so on. In other words, we abandon Dharma any time we favor our own tenets and disparage the rest.

Liberation in the Palm of your hand~Kyabje Pabongkha Rinpoche.
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by Virgo »

Caz wrote: True we have no Idea what circumstances we shall be born in best to make the most of what you have now, After all there is a commonality of progressing through the Bodhisattva grounds and paths through to No more learning, So it doesn't really matter what tradition you do it in as they all take you to the same place but with slightly different presentations. Not being sectarian is a great Idea we wouldn't be very good Buddhists if we couldn't rejoice in the practice of others could we ? There was a great demonstration of this when all the Lama's came as refuges to India all working in harmony to benefit one and other,They've left an excellent legacy and built up their own tradition while maintaining respect and harmony for one and other. :namaste:
We are all one, why fight ourselves?

Likewise with humans in general.

Kevin
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by JKhedrup »

I think it is no coincidence that the greatest and most impressive lamas of history studied broadly in different traditions. Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, the Dalai Lamas, The Karmapas, Gampopa, Lama Tzongkhapa - these great masters looked at a broad corpus of literature. Now surely they did have to make some decisions in terms of their daily practices, where their focus would lie. But they did so after having a broader knowledge of the various sectarian philosophies.

Here at Sera the monks who only study the yig-cha, monastic manuals of their college, who do not devote much time to the Indian treatises and who never look into the opinions of lamas from the other monasteries, are considered to be doing the "bare minimum'.

HH Dalai Lama on a recent visit exhorted the monks to focus on the Nalanda texts themselves, as a Lama's commentary was only one interpretation. Similarly, he said they should investigate themselves what Lama Tzonkhapa said, not what one of the commentators said he said. And then, to look into the forerunners of Tzongkhapa, like Sakya Pandita.

I think the same standard applies in modern education,really. If I am studying at a university and only use the school's texts books, or quote from a few sources, without investigating the other opinions, citing them and integrating them, my essays and presentations would be considered below par.

Let's take Atisha as an example. He held the Madhyamika Prasangika view. His teacher Serlingpa (Suvarnadvipi), did not. Now, if he had the outlook "I will only go to the teachers upholding the view of my (Middle Way) tradition", he would have missed out. Because although he considered Serlingpa to hold a so-called "lower view" of emptiness, he said he was the kindest teacher because it was through his instructions that he was actually able to give rise to bodhicitta.

For myself, the teachings I have received from the Theravada and Kagyu traditions have contributed greatly to my ability to understand, study and translate Gelugpa teachings. It also means that when people from other traditions mention particular views or masters, I don't draw an embarassing blank, as I used to.

The institutional loyalty on which some masters insist for me is a little bit suspect. Because in a university if a professor said "You should only read books by so and so"... he would be censured.

A true master is not threatened by their students learning with others. Fortunately my teachers have always given me that freedom. Focus is one thing, bias is another.

If Lama Tzongkhapa had not studied with a broad variety of masters, would he have been able to produce the vast corpus of literature that he did? If Gampopa had not studied with the Kadampa teachers as well as Milarepa, would he have produced his magnum opus "Jewel Ornament of Liberation". Would Jamyang Kongtrul Lodro Thaye have been able to revive a true and integrative practice tradition that was failing?

History tells us again and again that far from diluting Buddhism, syncretism actually vitalizes it, reinvigorates it.
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conebeckham
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by conebeckham »

Good Post^
:namaste:
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
Malcolm
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by Malcolm »

JKhedrup wrote:If Gampopa had not studied with the Kadampa teachers as well as Milarepa, would he have produced his magnum opus "Jewel Ornament of Liberation".
Everyone forgets that Gampopa was a Nyingmapa to begin with, and that Nyingma remained influential on him all his life.
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viniketa
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by viniketa »

JKhedrup wrote:Focus is one thing, bias is another.
And understanding the difference, letting go of bias, takes great skill... :thanks:
If they can sever like and dislike, along with greed, anger, and delusion, regardless of their difference in nature, they will all accomplish the Buddha Path.. ~ Sutra of Complete Enlightenment
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by pueraeternus »

Malcolm wrote:
JKhedrup wrote:If Gampopa had not studied with the Kadampa teachers as well as Milarepa, would he have produced his magnum opus "Jewel Ornament of Liberation".
Everyone forgets that Gampopa was a Nyingmapa to begin with, and that Nyingma remained influential on him all his life.
Do you have a source for this?
"Men must want to do things out of their own innermost drives. People, not commercial organizations or chains of command, are what make great civilizations work. Every civilization depends upon the quality of the individuals it produces. If you over-organize humans, over-legalize them, suppress their urge to greatness - they cannot work and their civilization collapses."
- A letter to CHOAM, attributed to the Preacher
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conebeckham
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by conebeckham »

:popcorn:
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
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conebeckham
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by conebeckham »

I'm interested to hear this, as well...but I do understand that Gampopa was a physician, married with children, prior to becoming a (Kadampa) monk. I think he was born into a Nyingma family, and I believe he had some Nyingma teachers, and studied Guhyasamaja and Chakrasamvara (and maybe Hevajra as well?) prior to becoming ordained. I think he studied Guyhagarbha Tantra, as well, if I recall....
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by Kunga »

I think one of the benefits of taking teachings from all lineages is that one gets to see the bigger picture and is able to realise that one's own lineage and the issues that affect it is not the be-all and end-all of Vajrayana Buddhism. Also, it helps us to hold a wider view on matters such as root gurus, yidam practice, ngondro, etc. Even if we subscribe to one lineage's teaching on any given matter, we should still understand that this is not the only view nor even the regular or common one.
Malcolm
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by Malcolm »

pueraeternus wrote:
Malcolm wrote:
JKhedrup wrote:If Gampopa had not studied with the Kadampa teachers as well as Milarepa, would he have produced his magnum opus "Jewel Ornament of Liberation".
Everyone forgets that Gampopa was a Nyingmapa to begin with, and that Nyingma remained influential on him all his life.
Do you have a source for this?

Yes, his biography.
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by Jnana »

Huseng wrote:Do you think Tibetan non-sectarianism would ever expand outside of the realm of Tibetan Buddhism?

As in, making use of Theravada or East Asian traditions?

With so much literature being translated into English, this could be immensely helpful to Tibetan Buddhists. For example, a lot of Indian literature only survives in Classical Chinese translation. Much has been and is being translated into English, which any Buddhist could readily make use of.
I'm not sure that TB can withstand the kind of critical deconstruction of its lineage mythologies and hagiographies that have occurred in East Asian Buddhism & Pāli Buddhism. And without this it seems that TB is likely to remain stuck in a 14th century worldview with teachers making claims of superiority based on spurious assumptions while the rest of the modern Buddhist world moves on.
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by Huseng »

Jnana wrote:
Huseng wrote:Do you think Tibetan non-sectarianism would ever expand outside of the realm of Tibetan Buddhism?

As in, making use of Theravada or East Asian traditions?

With so much literature being translated into English, this could be immensely helpful to Tibetan Buddhists. For example, a lot of Indian literature only survives in Classical Chinese translation. Much has been and is being translated into English, which any Buddhist could readily make use of.
I'm not sure that TB can withstand the kind of critical deconstruction of its lineage mythologies and hagiographies that have occurred in East Asian Buddhism & Pāli Buddhism. And without this it seems that TB is likely to remain stuck in a 14th century worldview with teachers making claims of superiority based on spurious assumptions while the rest of the modern Buddhist world moves on.
That's indeed true that East Asian Buddhism as well as Theravada have made ample headway in analysing their own traditions and adapting themselves to changing circumstances in the modern day. I think the equivalent analysis is happening in Tibetan Buddhism, though it might be limited largely to non-Tibetans (i.e., westerners). I know in all of East Asia many natives have taken to dissecting their own traditions of Buddhism, particularly in Japan, but is something of similar capacity occurring within Tibetan Buddhist traditions from within?

Why do you say though it might not withstand critical deconstruction?
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by username »

Despite what we westerners conceptualize according to latest theoretical trends or even old superseded French theories from the 60's, TB masters & mistresses from various ethnicities & all TB schools have been producing many siddhis & some rainbow bodies & above all realizations of their true nature of mind which effortlessly helps sentient beings of many world systems from the day Padmasambhava introduced Vajrayana in Tibet to this very day & future as prophesied & have always incorporated into their teachings & practices the subset of lower vehicles & yanas as a norm by default. HHDL is a good example of giving those lower level teachings & yanas regularly as well as Rime non-sectarian higher teachings of the Buddha Shakyamuni & other realized beings whose lineages he has made famous worldwide for the first time in human history.
Dzogchen masters I know say: 1)Buddhist religion essence is Dzogchen 2)Religions are positive by intent/fruit 3)Any method's OK unless: breaking Dzogchen vows, mixed as syncretic (Milanese Soup) 4)Don't join mandalas of opponents of Dalai Lama/Padmasambhava: False Deity inventors by encouraging victims 5)Don't debate Ati with others 6)Don't discuss Ati practices online 7) A master told his old disciple: no one's to discuss his teaching with some others on a former forum nor mention him. Publicity's OK, questions are asked from masters/set teachers in person/email/non-public forums~Best wishes
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by Jnana »

Huseng wrote:That's indeed true that East Asian Buddhism as well as Theravada have made ample headway in analysing their own traditions and adapting themselves to changing circumstances in the modern day. I think the equivalent analysis is happening in Tibetan Buddhism, though it might be limited largely to non-Tibetans (i.e., westerners). I know in all of East Asia many natives have taken to dissecting their own traditions of Buddhism, particularly in Japan, but is something of similar capacity occurring within Tibetan Buddhist traditions from within?
The only Tibetan teacher that may have even come close thus far has been Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.
Huseng wrote:Why do you say though it might not withstand critical deconstruction?
Well, if this reply is any indication, it cannot withstand any criticism:
username wrote:Despite what we westerners conceptualize according to latest theoretical trends or even old superseded French theories from the 60's, TB masters & mistresses from various ethnicities & all TB schools have been producing many siddhis & some rainbow bodies & above all realizations of their true nature of mind which effortlessly helps sentient beings of many world systems from the day Padmasambhava introduced Vajrayana in Tibet to this very day & future as prophesied & have always incorporated into their teachings & practices the subset of lower vehicles & yanas as a norm by default. HHDL is a good example of giving those lower level teachings & yanas regularly as well as Rime non-sectarian higher teachings of the Buddha Shakyamuni & other realized beings whose lineages he has made famous worldwide for the first time in human history.
Even faith in the context of the Abrahamic religions doesn't require accepting these kinds of triumphalist assertions and hagiographies.
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by pueraeternus »

Jnana wrote: The only Tibetan teacher that may have even come close thus far has been Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.
This is a little off-topic: I like his teaching style and what he is doing with Nirtatha and its programmes. However, the Nalandabodhi english liturgy is a little strange. In general sanghas that adopt english liturgies haven't really produced beautiful verses, like the graceful ones produced by the Chinese when they adopted Buddhism.
"Men must want to do things out of their own innermost drives. People, not commercial organizations or chains of command, are what make great civilizations work. Every civilization depends upon the quality of the individuals it produces. If you over-organize humans, over-legalize them, suppress their urge to greatness - they cannot work and their civilization collapses."
- A letter to CHOAM, attributed to the Preacher
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by heart »

pueraeternus wrote:
Jnana wrote: The only Tibetan teacher that may have even come close thus far has been Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.
This is a little off-topic: I like his teaching style and what he is doing with Nirtatha and its programmes. However, the Nalandabodhi english liturgy is a little strange. In general sanghas that adopt english liturgies haven't really produced beautiful verses, like the graceful ones produced by the Chinese when they adopted Buddhism.
Erik Pema Kunzang tells me he is redoing many translations so that they are possible to sing in English, it is a huge work.

/magnus
"We are all here to help each other go through this thing, whatever it is."
~Kurt Vonnegut

"The principal practice is Guruyoga. But we need to understand that any secondary practice combined with Guruyoga becomes a principal practice." ChNNR (Teachings on Thun and Ganapuja)
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Re: A directive for a non-sectarian approach to practice (HHDL)

Post by pueraeternus »

heart wrote:
pueraeternus wrote:
Jnana wrote: The only Tibetan teacher that may have even come close thus far has been Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche.
This is a little off-topic: I like his teaching style and what he is doing with Nirtatha and its programmes. However, the Nalandabodhi english liturgy is a little strange. In general sanghas that adopt english liturgies haven't really produced beautiful verses, like the graceful ones produced by the Chinese when they adopted Buddhism.
Erik Pema Kunzang tells me he is redoing many translations so that they are possible to sing in English, it is a huge work.

/magnus
Wonderful. I hope they eschew the monotonous drone that really sounds bad in English. Something poetic. But not Vogon poetry.
"Men must want to do things out of their own innermost drives. People, not commercial organizations or chains of command, are what make great civilizations work. Every civilization depends upon the quality of the individuals it produces. If you over-organize humans, over-legalize them, suppress their urge to greatness - they cannot work and their civilization collapses."
- A letter to CHOAM, attributed to the Preacher
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