8th karmapa advice for meditators

7/29/2019 8th Karmapa Advice for Meditators

1/6

"/129;=>?@A>?CDRules for Karma Kamtsang Meditators: The Stages of the Path of Eliminating Negative Conditions and Accomplishing Positive Conditions for Those People Who Wish to Enter

Supreme Liberation

FGHIJL=MAN/A/IOPQ=RSATVIn the ranks of the Great Kagyu Vajradharas, he who has the blessings of the spontaneous accomplishment of the two benefits, the crown jewel of yogis, and sole eye of all meditators

is called the great and powerful Sangye Nyenpa. If he appears to you, supplicate him.

"=XIYQ9Z[J>>\>9A=NBless me to be the nature of the glorious Karmapa, the unaltered mind, the essence of devotion that is always brilliant, and a friend in good times and bad who can withstand illness,

death, and adversity.

]^_Z1DCZ2D aD/bDAll of you here among the snow mountains who with delight in practice and supplicate me, who have the image of a bhikshu Miky Sangpo, and believe me to be a source of refuge,

whether you live in solitude or in a community, please consider this:

A

IcZ YAdCeIfg ZYa/h/YA /ef9iJ?

When do you ever think of death? Even if you do, it does not feel unbearable to you. Thus you act unvirtuously until you die and become so renowned for success in this life that

people want to be like you. Those who feel this is pleasurable attract people who have severed the roots of virtue. When people fixated on the pleasures of the senses r each such a state,

they leave the monastic community.

B

IjAYAHGAJYZlY2nop/fhM/rXAlas! We have but a moment and dharma practice is urgent, but we do not think about that. We put dharma practice off till later and welcome caring for friends and subduing enemies

first, using the lama and teachings as an excuse. Mindless people are very diligent about such things, but those true heroes who have revulsion are distressed and shed tears from high up in

the snow mountains.

C

s[ls/g[lia tIdu vwIAwvHx

Generally, people do not believe in the suffering of the lower realms, so they decide that great acts of nonvirtue will not ripen as suffering. They do not see any faults at all in samsara

and thus waste their entire lives for the sake of a few paltry sensory pleasures. If they knew how misdeeds would harm them, it is hardly possible that they would commit them, even at the

cost of their own lives. The fault is not knowing the causes and results of virtue and misdeeds.

D

CjyyhAh?hMAa^AAzT|bHIxj}AAf~A

So these days, instead of accomplishing liberation, people who do not want to be liberated try to become an influential loudmouth in some small place. Even in a monastery, they put

effort into being more visible than anyone else. They think they have been diligent enough about virtue but are able to spend all day and all night fornicating and speaking meaninglessly.

They dont want to cut the ties to the world and call everyone who knows nothing. They make connections, try to impress people with wealth or high status, and suspect those lower than

themselves of criticizing them. Only after hoarding things for themselves will they give to others. Such people are called lunatics with rigid spines. / puffed-up lunatic poseurs.


2/6

()

E

ApAoeI\JAA]]A?IInZY?JA

They dont want to practice dharma from their hearts, so when they are taught how, they get lost the distracting circumstance of talk about benefitting others. Or else they say they dont

have the time and have to go someplace or or do such and such a thing. They never come; they are never liberated; they do many things. Wherever they go, they never make up theirminds. Anywhere they go, they divide people into friends and enemies in less time than it takes to make tea.

F

^dZ heIefInY=dApS>Jj=JbP?SFGYJd

They want to spend their lives looking like dharma practitioners, so they go to great lengths to get robes, texts, ritual items, thrones, and a gathering of monks. In the process of fooling

themselves, they automatically deceive others. They never remember the true dharma but use whatever lama or sangha they happen to get as freely as they wish for the sake of this life,

using up all their food, clothing, and time in laziness. They go around bumping foreheads. They would have no problem going to Bodhgaya in India in order to deceive the friends they are

attached to or those who have wealth.

()

G

YPsyefHIfsYYH>GCHIn the middle of large groups of people, they say m any frightening things, such as [???], fooling people with no experience. There is not even a moment when the thought occurs to

them that such behavior is not good. Compassionate Kagyus, the practice lineage of those who naturally have revulsion, think of them!

H

xwhA1IYv=b?AN/bAAonThey joke around and practice/give up dharma on the side. They drive away any mea ning with counts of weights and measures. They stay due to making rules. They divide the head

and neck of what is and what is not. Then when such people, imagining that they are practicing dharma, look at you affectionately/forlornly, is a lama who can teach the methods of

practice unnecessary?

n YYn2V nbnZIlnpIZnV>2

Thus utterly abandoning what you can rely on. They vex the lama to whom they supplicate night and day with kam kam pa and beating drums. They get the ida they do not depend on

the lama, but in front of people otherwise than that, it would be embarrassing to to others entrust the lama, other than a supplication for help, they develop no confidence. Those people are

not in the class whose minds can be guided.

]1 dx=p= bIYHYb[A]npGj1111=I1Hb

It is a shame to give instructions, explain dharma, and bestow empowerments to these students. They do not want to let this life out of their sight and are afraid no one will follow them.

They dont stand on their own two feet, so they are a fraid. They are continually uncomfortable over thoughts of food and clothing.

In thinking of food and clothing, they are always uncomfortable and going back and forth. After looking at their clothing being used up and food not being dried, they create profound

sorrows. Practitioners who are habituated to that, even more so than their students, the lama is an object of compassion. Therefore between the two instructions in words and instructions in

meaning, where will the instruction in meaning come from? I know how to read the mere instructions in word, but the reason for not giving instructions to others is thus.

I

HIGpAd^bP |DM9fI2=sppAAN


3/6

HiAYWithout doing any of the methods to follow the Kagyus, those glib ones of this life are like an image of a practitioner carrying a yellow mala or else in the midst of worldly people they

are given the name of a siddha. Those of such a kind in a state of following whatever action of the three gates imagine they are doing dharma practice, but they are severely deluded.

Demons who fly in the air are nothing other than this.

J

CSAhbXAIvhizvgiThey give the bad to others and get the good for themselves, and then are prideful and jealous. They think anything about where they wont be seen or considered, but it is amazing that

they are given the name of practitioners. They remain as they were before and stay someplace where they get some clothes, food, and esteem for years on end, saying true spiritual

occurred.

K

?sCAnJvpPAAS n zbCt>ACA

If one must do practice to undergo hardships for the dharma, they deceive themselves into not wanting from their hearts to stay with lamas and dharma friends, and then in one day they

do many mi tar tar mi tsuk tsuk. All direct spiritual practice they do for not geting great food. Please look, Sangye Nyenpa. If the lama does not give profound dharma, they resent him. If

he gives it, forget about meditating night and day, when put to practice if htey do not get a bowl of soup every day, they immediately get up from their practice.

L

\ic9bPYJfnZGcZZYbnZYMAOur dharma is not a dominant condition for them. Since they do not bring it to the point of experience, on finishing the six yogas of Naropa for example they elicit the count and

proclaim the lamas faults. Without viewing that they have not developed any experience as a fault, they are clever at seeing the lama as faulty and then brag.

M

nJyt/Y=hybAdCe IJI""y ZvVIHIYybJ2HIG?b

In brief, after the appearance of the lamas and dharma friends going a bit to saliva, the ups and downs of the mind shaking, if the roots of virtue are cut like water, the fortune to

practice in this life is cut. By tradition of us having many things we need, we put the foundation for discussion. We might say we stick in each finger of kyortsa but there is not a single

salt or seasoning that we do not want. In the words of the Kagyus, Let whatever happens happen. Go however it goes. May whatever come. If one is practicing this, one is casting a later

eye on the tracks of the Kagyus.

Q

s9i@2pYsYJCQa=SbnZI] gJobYS HI2AN; XIAN;Yne@FGcZ

Generally monastics need to increase the good and remove their faults. In particular, there is much wrong conduct in a degenerate times, so most everyone will go to the lower realms,

so all accomplishing virtue and goodness is rare. Without thinking about how even the slightest qualities in others are as rare as a buddha, we take up the hidden faults of everyone near

and far, ourselves and others. We criticize their qualities. When we associate with them, dont we go as if approaching a ghost? Sangye Nyenpa, without a even single distinction in my

being, make the blessings I supplicate for as if vomiting stay. Saying I have devotion but did not receive the blessings, and then saying that you have lost faith in the lama, theembodiment of all the jewels, accumulates the karma of re jecting dharma, so it is certain to be born in the vajra hell.

()

R


4/6

ne>YyA/FGcZY2=Xn> YdLHKeeping ones temporary and ultimate wishes secret from the lama, and then always saying disputing words, one is born in the vajra hell. How can one hide the nature of bulge of the

three poisons from the lama? He focuses his wishes on this life, so what is there not to succeed in parts?

Sh=v/ZHv|PyH|

The root of what is needed now is that in the f our defeats and first remainder of the vows of individual liberation, one must have no faults. Thoughts of attachment or eversion to our

dharma traditions as the same or different depend on our mind. Through this manner, we dont know how the water in the vase went bad, so we need to examine our beings.

()

(

)

T

AIv?e>YZ vAAv?lY[l=[l@p

In the side of the bodhisattva vow, we need to develop bodhichitta in the sessions into which we divide each day. It is important for us to confess and resolve properly. In general so

that bodhisattva vow is not broken it is important for a person to have a good human nature. This good nature is not calling those who are close and on your side your clan. Just as we want

to be happy, others want to be happy. Just as we dont want suffering, others do not want it. The intent and acts to eliminate that, it is called. So it is important to have fortitude from deep

within.

lIvn=]e=V|o AN oIJZ]Y ==xPlI1Y=nn=HxPY

These tantric vows should be given by a clairvoyant lama to a student whom he has examined as a worthy vessel, but these days theres none of that, so the blessings of empowerments

and instructions has dissipated. Because of that, the dakinis and dharma protectors send obstacles for all masters and disciples. Therefore, this dharma is r are. Merely because it is rare it is

difficult. Merely because it is difficult, we need a great result. These days what is called by the name of vajrayana empowerment and instruction is nothing more than filth. It is not that one

takes it merely because it is plentiful, and merely taking it there is a result that benefits ones being.

lnIvH/lIh/lIh/Hiyo hZ|ZlIhY2f

Therefore those who have vows of the unexcelled mantra in their beings, for the khamchewa root downfalls of mantra, there are very few who have the khamchewa root downfalls in

their beings. Most root downfalls are thoughts of attributes arise about the creation and completion meditation it is said, so since there is not any proper practice of those, it is just as when

one has no field there is no need to fear hail.

IZilA/A>=n/A2?THowever, all the wrongs and faults in samaya that occur are taking the secret mantra as path in interest, so taking the path, empowerments, and sessions of Chakrasamvara and Yogini

uninterrupted, and in particular, practicing the profound path guru yoga, can restore all faults in that.

Se@A@Z v? =aXpbP zYY|AZVze=

Especially in the tradition of the buddha Gampopa, whatever discards are eliminated, whatever antidotes arisen, the main thing for confessing misdeeds, restoring downfalls, enhancing

practice, and removing obstructions is devotion, so like pangs of fever in the heart, the supplications we supplicate not for a month, not for a year, but uninterrupted day and night, these

alone as practice in your palm must be done a t all times. Each moment of supplication has more profit in perfecting the qualities of paths and levels than years of continuous weak/dull

creation phase, completion phase mixed with obstructions, and

SiHYisHSMJ=xY2H FG=JSYAAN]AaHX Ad2 HZZAY

Here in Tibet, there are many dharma lineages that came from India, but in general the Dakpo Kagyu and in particular the ranks of great Vajradhara in the Kagyu of Dusum Khyenpa,

the siddha without any peers, the buddha Simha, up to Sangye Nyenpa, how could there be any greater blessings than that. Therefore the main training in this lineage is devotion,

bodhichitta for sentient beings, and revulsion for this life. One must mediate on these three without breaking their stream, not just from words, but undistracted during the day and without

sleeping at night. If you do not meditate on them, they will not arise in your being. If you meditate, they will arise; this is the nature of c ognition. Therefore this is not the time for

meaningless talk.

HnG2"Yf>FGII>YfAIfHoYA

If you have doubts to resolve, if the lama is present ask him directly. If not, supplicate and ask in your dreams. The ability to resolve great meditators doubts is something that only

supplicating those woul know the nature of the vajra of the body have; understanding from reading texts and analysis with intelligence cannot. Therefore it is important instead of doing

mutual dharma question and answers to do dharma question and explanation in relation to ones own being.

=J]If^o|SAYHd1DD ?PevH

Though one might arrive at those supreme or less tea ranks, grasp well with mindfulness; one must take care of saddle sores on a horses back. When saying any words with your moth,


5/6

before saying it, one must think five or six times about whether what you will say will benefit or harm yourself or others, whether or not it will engage to bind you to this life. And when

you offer a prostration or tie a belt, one must examine whether that becomes a cause of misdeeds and downfalls. You should think like Milarepa, the lord of dakinis:

JYfAYfAY~AJYA/A=>bWhen sleeping, you sleep like a Mongol.

When speaking, you speak like a ghost.

When thinking, you think like a loony.

When you go, you stomp like a robber.

These do not fit with me, a human yogi.

sAp"eoQ=1v =fYJe eAnZ HffAnZY

Generally great meditators do not do great listening, but are deluded about the distinctions between terms, so in most dharma language they embarrass all the buddhas and accumulate

misdeeds. When going as an attendant to a great meditator, dont use much dharma language. Hoping to improve your mind through using dharma language is the way of scholastics. In the

tradition of practice, the hope is to improve your mind by mixing the antidotes with your being as much as possible.

I^^9OhhYhhM;xT?lbI??AYJ

In brief, take your mind with your hand; take your hand with your hand. This is not the time to wrap your head, close your eyes, and play games. Be very diligent in practicing the root,

in a state of not having time for tsadro, you should go to sleep late and get up early. Yawning wide open while looking at the sun one tsen, is the way of an a nimal.

ISP 2> eAAIFGZ-9Yn=NHYzAAHZAIxPfnA2tI29Y

It is true what the king of Dharma Gtsangpa saidChild, you need a dharma practice. We do and do the ways of meditation, but do we sit for an entire day in meditation without

loosening the vajra posture? Have we supplicated the lama uninterrupted by ordinary words, our face wet with tears, taming our being uninterrupted for seven days? Without doing that,

saying meditation has not arisen in my being, so I meditated but it seems the result will not come and lose confidence in the dharma and lama. Though we might use round methods to

fix that, we will not be able to fix it.

HjocAcZwAQH@A=HSfIf we take as an example not applying an antidote in your own being for the length of time it takes to brew tea, telling another to do meditation is impossible to develop experience.

Everything saying that it would be more profitable to do another virtue than that, is speech that puts the higher below the lower. I t is like one whose being has discards covering with a

weak seal the being of another who has the antidotes.

sgYl2A=a=A fAQHZ >>cZIn1xpf hh =JIYP

In brief, even if you do no more than recite theAspiration for Excellent Conduct, you must dedicate to the benefit of others and practice it yourself. Therefore just as if we were afraid

that others will not know of the dharma that we practice, we do a prayer or two but boast of it to others. Those who are like they are afraid that they wont be heard are because dharma has

not arisen in their beings.

Therefore, until we develop the experience of not thinking about food and let us die if we die, it is important for us to have the intense resolve that thinks I will not be separated from

this lama or this retreat. We must strive as if we have no time to sew our own clothes; even if someone asks us to help spin anothers thread we have no time.

xAd cdu cZn;AMIf] sII99fp[lj92r92

Therefore call the person an escaper, we must not have any hope for benefit in this life. We must devote our entire human life to the practice that develops our experience. The mind

that has not developed experience of anything does not engage in many, no acts, in the end there is not e ven a single accomplishment. Through such as that, one will not get anywhere.

Therefore, in general among all sentient beings think that like me, not able to to destroy the afflicted, and then one must be one who has gone to a surrounding of suffering. When that

happens, there is no what not to practice whatever you know. It is important to practice in the same way as there is no way not to eat the food and drink you have in a famine.

2YoyLPyPhVRsYA]YI@TIIY YA9 I9i^A?|a abP ]IbPaYp]aAa

Therefore do not use anything other than the three dharma robes, a coat, the sen, a small cushion, a mat, alms bowl, small notebook, pitcher, cup, a tsampa container, small tent, tinder,

needle and thread, and chamberpot. In brief, all your robes, a single one six years. Give up the extremes of weariness, and be able to dwell happily, the Bhagavan explained in the vinaya.

Other than that, no mater where you accept an ounce of gold, you cannot sieve with it. For the place you eat, once you have made this monastic form, there is no way not to rely on food

from the faithful, so without wrong livelihood, like selling the dharma, flattery, praising anothers things to get them, or evaluate whether you will get them, in order to keep your body

alive, an almsman asks in a pleasant voice. Looking to lead your livelihood like this is important.

sY=vDYspId G2bPY n9 dIMbPMAnsY9

Generally even when living in the community of the sangha, other than food offered as alms for the sangha in general, especially it is important not to specifically take offerings for

dispelling illness in this life or taking care of the deceased. In particular, offerings to the lama are especially weighty, so the accomplishments of clothing and food for this life make

obstructions for the supreme accomplishment, so unless the lama insists, you cannot use them.

wAN;H =hS@ a aPZ x@I

We great meditators with great cravings for books, other than increasing our clinging to things, there are not great blessings to receive, so do not like black ink. It is important to give

up the eight impure things, the root of meaning, so there is no way not to give up meat and alcohol, weapons, armor, houses, property and fields, business and interest, riding and packanimals, and dairy herds and pastures. It is important in all ways to have antidotes for each of these.

hYA 1]1 ] I]FI]FA9/hiiY?2tGSPI

Fundamentally, there are the four qualities that make a spiritual person: not returning anger for anger, not returning an insult for an insult, dont point out faults in return for faults being

pointed out, not returning a blow for a blow. These four are important, every one of them, but for us who have not purified the afflictive obscurations, the greatest danger is this arguments,

so when that occurs, prostrate to each other, and then it is important no matter what to recite the Confession of Downfalls ten times actually and later one hundred thousand or ten billion

hundred-syllable mantras.

]X dnI=PY=bbPnSI /InY= yof


6/6

CHp1YPIn addition, those umzes and servants of the sangha who are senior to you in terms of precepts and qualities such as devotion, giving up this life, and so forth are those who actually

perform the activity of the lama, so when they ask you to serve the lama and sangha, think to yourself that with this body of collected chungbo, there is no greater way to accomplish

greater merit, and with such joy and enthusiasm it is important to strive until your body, flesh, spit and so forth turn yellow.

lO=]xo=Y } /A|9I]=Y= /A=XJJIHoy/Z

In the past when Dromtnpa was being a student ofSetsun, he was a substitute for a dog in protecting flocks. The great yogi was always employed in Atishas work, but he saw theyidam deitys face before other students. If the lord of yogis Milarepa had finished building the nine-stories of tower, he would have gone to liberation on hearing. There are many stories

such as these, but it is difficult for those who have accumulated little merit to believe them.

VZj=J2I?vjY^hnYpIn brief, whoever the monks, friends, companions junior and senior in this place that arises out of impure perception may be, without holding as objects of attachment or aversion for

those near or far or groups, meditate on them as the root lama and yidam deity; it is important to recite supplications and sound their praises.

a1Yva>o1>]ava>v>>In brief, when you live in the crowd of a community, you must be able to be in comm unity, and when in a crowd of empty mountains, you must be able to mountain. Without any ease

or difficulty in these two, if you are in a community, you must be able to. If you stay in a mountain, you must be able to. You must be able to send your health on the wind. It is important

to think that just this itselfmight just be the end.

pJY | [l o AyI X xA a1II IX^w

In brief, when going for alms, one should never be without impermanence, suffering, empty, selflessness, bodhichitta, devotion, and the four immeasurables. Whether surrounded by a

gathering of crowd or in isolation, one should take as a basis for the body a retreat and the points of posture, for the speech silence and supplication, for the mind devotion and revulsion.

Up to the meditation belt and stick, this single fortitude is important.

QZeTSY>H/ fAAff>

It is said that all scholars say that to develop qualities there are scripture and logic. The alternative to that is this supplication, so other than one session of dividing the night into eight

sessions, it is important to supplicate continuously until you reach the sharp, swift, shaking, trembling, unbearable, unthinking, nothing else to do, whatever is best.

aD/YYFi?9Y 2 n9 fw s SanfA9?9Y=]bPep9

Those who live in communities, when the sign that the sangha must gather occurs, all gather in one place. Wear the three dharma robes wrapped around. Drape the upper robe over one

shoulder, and then stand up straight. Join your palms above your crown and remembering the qualities of the precious glorious lama, the essence of the ocean of jewels, prostrate with five

points touching the ground. This alone is important. Other than the sanghas taplepa and bhikshus who are ill, it is extremely important for others to have the contentment of not thinking

anything about food, drink or cooking as good, bad or so forth.

he9/IAyFGYsYg 9i^9Ig]/A Se>GY fI _HY=Jo

In brief, those who have supreme diligence and karmic fortune engage in the conduct of the vinaya of the bodhisattvas and the vajrayana, so I do not know to say much. If those who

take the form of a monastic with extremely dull faculties do not train in at least this much, there is no method at a ll to achieve libration, so they must put this into practice as much as they

can. Among one hundred Tibetan people, there is the opportunity to treasure ones head, so one must take care of oneself with compassion. No matter how much I think about it, I ca nnot

find any method other than this, and nothing else comes to mind, so I have taught whatever words occur to me without leaving any out.

I I~[lS Sf/ sZ HFGJ SA Ax/

MYl

XISPIYJGOZFGA few words:

Though there is no one to listen, I could not bear.

I offer this song of a beggar to the prideful and arrogant

crazed by the afflictions and whose suffering increases.

So maintain conduct free of deceit,

And in the ranks of the Kagyu Vajradharas,

The one called great Sangye Nyenpa

and my former mothers who have no idea what to do,

I dedicate this virtue to their achieving one taste.

With the banner of devotion unwavering, may the jewel of revulsion blaze with the light of what is needed and wanted.

Miky Dorje wrote this which is known as the rules on yellow paper. Mangala.

Eighth Karmapa Rules for Meditators rough draft1

8th karmapa advice for meditators

Documents