Very Important talk!! Must Listen!
Dear Serious Spiritual Aspirants,
For those of you in Dharma who wishes to move ahead and eventually practice the higher teachings (Tantra and Vajra Yogini, Yamantaka, Kalacakra, etc), this talk David Lai gave IS ESSENTIAL. You must listen carefully..after hearing the talk hold an incense to Buddha and pray (aspire) YOU MAY RECEIVE THE VOWS AND HOLD THEM WELL. Then make three prostrations to Buddha with that strong aspiration and dedicate. It will plants karmic seeds to hold these powerful vows handed down to us by Buddha Himself.
Without holding the Bodhisattva vows correctly, it is impossible to expect results from any tantric practice. Tantra is not just attending an exciting exotic initiation, chanting powerful mantras and doing intricate visualizations AND THEN BOOM YOU ARE ATTAINED. It is never so fast and so ‘easy’. There is a lot more to do before, during and after initiation. Especially afterwards….
I always discouraged people to run after one initiation after another or to get initiation too soon… You should not get many initiations unless you can do all the practices and/or if you are going to become a Dharma teacher. Otherwise ordinary ‘citizens’ study Lam Rim and ground your understanding of Dharma strongly BEFORE ANY TANTRIC COMMITMENTS. And do your preliminaries are very essential: http://blog.tsemtulku.com/?p=28238 If you don’t, then you will fail-guaranteed. I am sorry. I am telling you the truth as it was shared to my by His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche and Ven Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen. I am very serious and direct when it comes to Tantra. I’ve seen in the last 25 years how unprepared people all over the world go for initiation. Enthusiastically do the practice for a while. Get no results and give up or become disheartened. That is not because Tantra has no power, it’s because the practitioner was not well prepared. I want you to be prepared and then experience the results of tantra. THERE ARE POWERFUL RESULTS WAITING FOR YOU. Tantra has great blessings and results. If you don’t believe, it’s just because you don’t know enough. Relax and study up and very powerful faith will grow in you about tantra.
For those taking tantric commitments you should understand the Bodhisattva vows, study them and practice them. It is more than essential. I cannot overstress this. Please trust and believe me. I know running after initiations is very tempting. Study up first please!!!
“All attainments and accomplishments arise from the three sets of vows”~ Je Tsongkapa
Without holding any vows you can never gain entrance into the higher studies of tantra let alone practice for real. Receiving an initiation doesn’t mean you have entered tantra or higher practices. Mosquitoes can be in the initiation room, but it doesn’t mean they received the initiation and understand enough to practice or have the basis to practice…
Especially for my students, I will never confer any initiations upon you if you don’t study and master these vows. If I confer initiation upon you without you mastering these vows, it would mean I don’t care about you. Or I have an alternative motive…And I care very much. And my motive for you is awakening…
So I cannot over-emphasize the study of these vows. PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO TALK BY DAVID LAI WHO SPEAKS CLEARLY. It will help you in your practice very much.
Don’t always expect your guru to be kind. It’s two ways. You be kind towards your guru too. That is just as essential. Being prepared and firm in your practice due to understanding is being kind to your guru. You make less work for your teacher when you know what you are doing….and get results…One of the ways to be kind to your guru is offering up your real knowledge, real practice and real results. Without real results everyone including yourself lose respect for what you are talking about…Be kind to your guru by getting yourself ready for real practice..and engaging in your studies now…be kind to your guru, be kind to yourself by transforming…be kind to those who supported you by results please….. be kind by your efforts and results.
Remember without studying the Bodhisattva vows, you can never get higher tantric initiation-teachings at least not from me. I am sorry….I do not disrespect you or tantra that is why I simply do not give you the higher practices when you are not ready… If you get it, without holding these vows, you can never gain any progress. When you do for example Vajra Yogini or Kalacakra, do you want progress? Do you want results? I want you to have progress…please study these vows.
Leave a comment and tell me 5 points you have learned from listening to the talks…
Let me know what you have learned ok??
Tsem Rinpoche
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Dear Rinpoche,
There are 73 attendees for today’s Bodhisattva vows talk. (Read more about it here: Bodhisattva Vows: Push your practice one step further!)
David is giving a good presentation, which is being simultaneously translated by Dr. Lanse. Ms Han is in sound room too.
Susan is streaming the talk on justin.tv and Jace is filming it. I’m happy that my parents both joined Kechara House membership before the talk started.
Tq.
Sharon
A glimpse of the event, with some members listening to simultaneous translation in Chinese through earphones
Watch this four-part series of videos of David’s talk on the Bodhisattva vows!
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
David Lai is knowledgeable and very interested in Dharma. Apart from being a liaison and authors of 2 books – There’s No Way but Up and Vajrayogini and Other Sacred Power Places in Nepal, he has also given many talks on iconography of Buddha statues. Watch the videos here:
I am considering to offer an initiation in the future. But before people will be selected to join in, they must have gone for this class on the Bodhisattva vows. It’s of the utmost importance people hold their vows after the initiation. It is paramount to gain any real experiences or attainments based on holding our vows taken during the initiation. We should not slip or take the vows for granted. Without them intact, attainments or higher experiences will be near impossible.
Some people think, it’s ok to break the vows because they can do Vajrasattva to refresh or clean up the vows. But that is wrong thinking. The four prerequisites are necessary for a vow to be broken or not. If we break the vows for attachment and not disciplining ourselves, then Vajrasattva would not be much use. If we broke our vows without real intent or by slipping out of habit, then Vajrasattva will be helpful if we truly regret and add the four opponent powers.
I do not like giving initiation until people understand what it involves and the commitments. I am a big stickler for people to understand what they are getting into. Just to grant initiation and not explain before and afterwards what it is all about is dangerous for the lama and student.
Hence, I assigned David to give a talk on the importance of Bodhisattva vows which we will receive during this particular initiation I am considering to confer. Please listen to this video and take notes. Learn the vows well.
Everyone should ask David to give the talk again. Those who missed it will benefit and those who get a refresher course would do them good.
Much Care,
Tsem Rinpoche
Before the class, I googled to find out more about this. It’s a hard topic to talk about and explain and David did a great job. To me, the vows are a “code” of conduct which we can apply to our everyday lives and some parts of it most applicable for use when we are in the office, hahaha. As for the “antidote” for breaking the vows, I was thinking of how compassionate Buddha was for all sentient beings. I don’t know of any other teaching that provides such an option, though of course, we should try not to apply the antidote too often,” like I will eat this even though its bad for my sore throat because I have the antibiotics for it”. The interdependent factors for breaking the vows are difficult to grasp so best don’t break it lah.
The vows are meant to be used as a tool to discipline our mind. Because of our effortless in controlling our minds, we often let our mind generates nasty thoughts when we encounter unpleasant situations, e.g. we feel anger when we meet unscrupulous drivers who almost caused us fatal accidents, and the anger transform to hatred, and from hatred transform to action (revenge). Nonetheless, these negative thoughts and feelings often stop at that level without proceeding into actions because of the limitations imposed at the outer level e.g. the laws imposed and penalties for breaking the laws, the cost vs benefits of committing such acts (go to prison would result in lost of reputation and money and being outcast by the society), etc. However, if we allow ourselves to feel the same whenever we encounter such situation, we are reinforcing ourselves with the thought of vengance against those who caused such unpleasant experience to us.
At present / in this life, we might not have the means to carry out such actions, but what if in future / our next lives when we are born as somebody influential who literally above the law, would we still hold back our actions? Due to the lack of wisdom and compassion towards other beings, we would not hesitate to commit such actions, and due to our longing to commit such actions but unable to do so in the past / previous lives, we would feel tremendous joy in committing such non-virtuous acts and we would not hesitate to do it again and again and it has become a habituation. Sooner or later when we finish exhausting our good karma, we would end up in some place hot that we have to experience excrutiating pain over and over again. That is one of the many examples of the results of not practising dharma and holding our vows.
Even if we come across some news, i.e. one country conquering another contry and, based on our ignorant mind we think it is justifiable, we have planted the idea (imprint) of such thought in our mind. The imprint would be triggered whenever we encounter such news and articles that the idea would influence how our conscious mind reacts to such news that gradually the idea would be transformed into words i.e. we defend the act of occupying another country in daily casual conversation with our friends, and soon our such idea would be embodied into our characters and behaviors (i.e. showing sign of unhappiness such as showing black face and raising our voice due to feeling disturbed or dislike when people disagree with our “rightful thought”). In this life, the transformation of the idea stop there because most of us don’t have the political will to actually conquer another country as most of us are just ordinary beings. But what about in future / next lives that “unfortunately” we have become a powerful / influential figure that we have the means to actually declare war against another country.
At that point of time, when we are being proposed of the idea of declaring the war by the cabinet, our subconscious mind feel comfortable of the idea due to favourable conditioning of our mind to such idea in our past lives that we would not hesitate to declare war against another country. We would think that the idea of conquering another country is for greater good and sacrifices are inevitable.
Never, never underestimate the power of thought in our mind. Not one thought is negligible. As Buddha said below:-
“The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings. ~Buddha” (http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/2010/03/and-buddha-spoke-you-should-listen.html)
As we do not have a bodhicitta mind, we can only rely on the vows to condition our mind into the development of the state of bodhicitta mind. It is hard to hold the vows, but it is not the excuse of not holding the vows to our best abilities and efforts. If we give up in holding the vows, we are guaranteed a place in 3 lower realms.
There is no way but up!
I am extremely proud of David and am really very happy to see this article up, with the videos. Sometimes, David feels not 100% confident about himself (sorry, David, I’m telling your secrets), but he has no reason feel at all like this. He has so much to be confidence about – of all the liaisons in Kechara, I daresay David has the greatest wealth of Dharma knowledge. I don’t get it – he has the same size head as all of us, where does he store all that info?! It’s incredible how much he knows, is able to remember, and is capable of regurgitating at any given time.
An unusual quality is that he is also never arrogant about his knowledge. On top of knowing so much, he is also such an extremely nice person. You just never ever hear him talking badly about or to anyone. It’s like impossible for him to say anything negative about anyone. I respect him for that. It’s really very uplifting to know someone like David, for all his knowledge, his gentleness, his humility and his incredibly loyal friendship.
Lots of love to you David. I hope you know how proud we all are of you. Here’s to a bright future as a bright star
Love, one of your ugly sisters.
Dear Rinpoche,
David spoke well in his teachings of the Bodhisattva vows. The 5 points I’ve learnt are as follow:
1. The vows are to help train us to be selfless.
2. We should start thinking of being a Buddha when we have these vows.
3. Curb our attachments. Moderation is the key for now.
4. Never give up our practice.
5. The vows give us more grounds to check on ourselves.
In a nutshell, these vows are parameters and guidelines for us to train ourselves to develop bodhisattva qualities. This is a manual to remind ourselves constantly to focus out on other people’s needs.
Thank you for this talk. I had read the Bodhisattva vows before but didn’t really understand them, so the explanation after each one was very useful.
Dear David, thank you for your effort to learn up the vows and teach them to us!
After watching the video, the 5 learning obtained are:
1) The vows exist because the law of cause and effect (Karma) exists. When we engage in non-virtuous acts, we will bear the consequences of collecting and accumulating negative karma that will eventually cause a rebirth in the 3 lower realms (for most of us). Thus, the vows are developed to protect us and support us restrain from accumulating more negative karma.
2) Besides preventive precaution, the vows also functions as a set of code of conduct to collect merits and purify negative karma. This will form a better and stronger foundation for our Dharma progress and growth.
3) The vows can also create and enhance the level of discipline of our minds. We often say: Mind over matter but how often do we practice it? With these vows, we make the choice to consciously tame and train our mind. Only a trained mind holds the slightest chance to the opportunity of attainment, liberation and ultimately enlightenment.
4) The Boddhisattva vows act like a manual to guide us through the 8 fold path as taught by Lord Buddha (as the 4th noble truth), which is aimed to alleviate us from suffering.
5) The vows actually benefit those who uphold them the most. So, when we hold vows we are only doing ourselves a favor. So we should be humbled by and have deep gratitude with the opportunity to hold vows.
Dear Rinpoche, thank you for considering to give us the opportunity to receive (tantric) initations in the future and telling us clearly what we need to do to be qualified to receive the vows and initiations.
After listening to the video by David Lai and Pastor Ngeow’s explanations at Lamrim classes, this is what I understood about the Boddhisatva vows:
1. The Boddhisatva vows are not vows created by someone to be held by Boddhisatvas, they are the actual spontaneous conduct of Boddhisatvas. The Boddhisatva vows were extracted from the sutras, where the actions of Boddhisatvas were described, hence the vows are a step-by-step guide for us on how to behave and eventually become a Boddhisatva. It is like a “How to become a Boddhisatva for Dummies” book.
2. Because we do not have Boddhichitta now, do not know what it really is or cannot maintain it in our minds constantly without effort, we need to “force” ourselves to adhere to the Boddhisatva vows to have “artificial altruism”, create the causes to develop Boddhichitta, collect merits and plant the seeds to become a Boddhisatva in the future. Practicing and planting imprints of Boddhisatva actions, so in future lives hopefully we pick up the good habits more naturally and earlier.
3. Holding vows is not scary or restrictive if we have no intention to break them, if we sincerely want to hold them and know why we are doing it. If we find ourselves not wanting to hold vows, finding it a drag to keep them, it is because we secretly want to continue doing harm / naughty things without “restrictions” and we do not understand the purpose of holding vows.
4. The repercussions of breaking vows are heavier, this makes sense. It is just like how there is a higher level of duty and care placed on professionals; because they are upholders of their profession, people place more trust and reliance on them. If they transgress their code of conduct, the damage done is much greater and more widespread than someone who is not in their position e.g. how many banks/ companies have (nearly) collapsed because of unethical professional traders/ accountants. We hold vows to protect others from our otherwise harmful actions.
5. Many of these vows/actions are already being held/ done by people who are not consciously holding / aware of the vows. Knowing what the Boddhisatva vows are enable us to recognize what are Boddhisatva behavior/qualities and learn from whoever is doing it, anywhere, anytime, not just in a Buddhist Dharma Centre e.g. colleague who always responds in a polite and timely manner.
6. Holding the vows well requires wisdom and sometimes personal discretion, as at times it may be unavoidable or more beneficial to others to break a vow. So with wisdom, we know when it is “ok” to break a vow. We also need enough knowledge and understanding to make such decisions. Hence it is important to continue reading up, contemplating, discussing what we learn from Dharma texts and the Guru’s teachings so we know what we are doing even after we have received the vows, it is a responsibility. In fact the urgency of stocking up on knowledge when we have received the vows is greater, we cannot be laidback and fall behind. This is the same in the corporate world where professionals are required to fulfill a minimum number of hours of professional learning.
There was something that Pastor Ngeow shared with me from what he heard from Rinpoche and that was if you dont want to hold vows it is very clear you want harm others. that was so direct and makes so much sense.
Most, if not all of us shrinks away from taking vows. Some people feel that they loose their freedom to do as wish. Thus, many people live life breaking “social rules and norms” thinking that it will expand their space and achieve some form of freedom.
But with knowledge, in time…we learn that vows is a powerful way of granting us real freedom. Rinpoche life and teachings is all about showing us how to obtain this freedom thru holding vows. I appreciate this talk by David as it helps me and it will help many people.