WHITE TARA /Artwork by the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa

Wochenend-Kurs-Fortsetzung mit Ringu Tulku Rinpoche:

WIE KÖNNTE VERWIRRUNG ALS WEISHEIT IN ERSCHEINUNG TRETEN? Gemäß der Mahamudra-Sichtweise tritt Verwirrung als Weisheit in Erscheinung, wenn wir erkennen, dass alles was wir erfahren das Erstrahlen der Natur des Geistes ist. Und was ist die Natur unseres Geistes? Und wie gelangen wir da hin, sie zu erkennen. Dies sind Fragen, die Gampopa seinen Schülern beantwortet, in einem Text, der als Gampopas „Hohe Gespräche mit der Gemeinschaft“ oder „Gampopas Großartige Lehren an die Versammlung“  ("tsok chö") bekannt sind.

Der 17. Karmapa dazu:
„Lord Gampopa war ein außerordentlicher Lehrer und Meister. Er war fähig,  mit einem einzigen Dharma-Diskurs Geist und Herzen vieler, vieler sehr unterschedlicher Praktizierender zu erreichen. Ohne Daklha zu verlassen war der Erhabene Gampopa in der Lage, den Dharma mit so einzigartigem geshcick in die Welt hinauszusenden, sodass die von ihm begründete Dakpo Kagyu-Linie heute, beinahe ein Jahrtausend später, immer noch fortfährt zu blühen und zu gedeihen.
  Heutzutage sehen wir uns der Herausforderung gegenüber, den Praxis-Geist unserer Linie lebendig zu erhalten, während wir in von Geschäftigkeit wimmelnden Tälern und Städten leben. Den Dharma anzubieten wo immer man ist, in Übereinstimmung mit dieser modernen Adaption von Kagyu Tatkraft und Spirit sitzt Ringu Tulku nicht auf einemBerggipfel, um Schüler anzuleiten, die ihn dort aufsuchen. Stattdessen reist er von Land zu Land und sucht Wege, wo immer er kann, den Dharma anzubieten.
   Es freut mich sehr, dass Ringu Tulku sich entschlossen hat, Gampopas Spirit des Anbietens des Dharma teilt, indem erGampopas Großartige Lehren an die Versammlung lehrt und kommentiert. Ich bin voller Zuversicht, dass das Zusammenkommen dieser beiden: Gampopa und Ringu Tulku - Gampopas überlieferte Lehren und Ringu Tulkus Kommentare dazu - eine Quelle des Guten in der Welt sind.“

Themen, die im fortlaufenden Kurs

(und in Gampopas „Großartigen Unterweisungen an die Versammlung“) behandeltt werden:

Das Verstehen dafür, weshalb es Hingabe braucht
Der Mönch, der Chenresig befragte:
Die Anwendung des „Gleichzeitig Auftauchens“
Die Natur des Geistes
Die Bedeutung von Mahamudra
Sechs Punkte, die Erzeugungsphase-Praxis betreffend
Das Erkennen der Natur des Geistes stabilisieren
Die Qualitäten eines authentischen Lehrers
Wie Sichtweise, Meditation, Handlung und Resultat zu aktualisieren sind
Die grundlegende Bedeutung, den gewöhnlichen Geist zu erkennen
Die Weisen, in welchen ein verwirklichter Yogi frei ist
Die Tücken bei der Erfahrung und die Abweichungen von der Sichtweise
Illusionsgleiches, traumhaftes Bodhicitta
Gampopas Herzensrat an sich Zurückziehende
Zehn Weisen, wie Schüler ihrem Lama zugegen sind

"Mahamudra is not something that we can achieve or realize through ordinary efforts. The only way that this can arise in us is through the blessings of the masters, and our own devotion. When these two things come together then naturally it will arise.“  The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa

Zu: Die grundlegende Bedeutung, den gewöhnlichen Geist zu erkennen:
Gamopa: „ Was ist der gewöhnliche Geist?
Er ist dein eigenes - durch nichts verändertes - Bewusstsein,
von jedweder Art weltlichen Bewusstseins unverdorben.
Egal ob durch trübende Dumpfheit oder durch Gedanken verborgen,
verweilt er in seinem natürlichen Zustand.
Wenn Du diesen erkennst, ist es die Weisheit ursprünglichen Gewahrseins.
Wenn du ihn nicht erkennnst, ist es gleichzeitig auftauchende Ignoranz.
Wenn du ihn erkennst, ist es, was Rigpa genannt wird.
Es wird Essenz genannt.
Es wird gleichzeitig aufscheinende Weisheit genannt.
Es wird gewöhnlicher Geist genannt.
Es wird primordialer Zustand genannt.
Es wird frei von Extremen genannt.
Es wird Luminosität/Lichtheit/Leuchten genannt."

___________________
Ringu Tulku answering a question about different styles of pointing out instruction: „ It depends on student’s style of understanding and readiness. 4 reasons we don’t get it – ordinary mind is nothing special: It is:
too simple
too near
too good
   too deep  

​
​​​Ringu Tulku Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist Master of the Kagyu Order. He was trained in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism under many great masters including HH the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa and HH Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche.  and was awarded the titles of Khenpo and Lopön Chenpo. He took his formal education at Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Sikkim and Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, Varanasi, India and has served as Tibetan Textbook Writer and Professor of Tibetan Studies in Sikkim for 25 years.
Since 1990 he has been travelling and teaching Buddhism and Meditation at Universities, Institutes and Buddhist Centers in Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and Asia. He also participates in various interfaith and Science and Buddhist dialogues. He authored several books (see publications section) on Buddhism as well as some children’s books both in Tibetan and European languages.
Rinpoche is extremely knowledgeable, and with his excellent command of English, he is able to transmit the most complex teachings in a remarkably accessible way, infused with his characteristic warmth and sense of humor.


"I am pleased that Ringu Tulku has chosen to share in Gampopa’s spirit of offering the Dharma, in publishing and teaching this translation and commentary on Gampopa’s Great Community Talks. I am confident that the coming together of these two-root text and commentary, Gampopa and Ringu Tulku - will be a source of goodness in the world." —Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the Seventeenth Karmapa        Gampopa (1079-1153)
is one of the greatest masters of Tibetan Buddhism, one of the founders of the Kagyu lineage. He was the main disciple of the great yogi Milarepa and is known for having merged the teachings of the Kadampa and Kagyu lineages of Tibetan Buddhism.
'The Jewel Ornament of Liberation' is an excellent work that reflects the blending of two systems of teaching - the Kadampa tradition and the mahamudra tradition. Gampopa received complete transmissions of Atisha's Lam Rim tradition and Naropa's mahamudra tradition. This text is therefore a Lam Rim text and reflects the Madhyamika philosophical view, but it also implicitly reflects the teachings of highest yoga tantra and mahamudra." The Dalai Lama.  

Gampopa was a twelfth-century Buddhist monk who was a disciple of Tibet’s greatest yogi, Milarepa. He applied Milarepa’s instructions on meditation to reach the highest realization of Mahamudra. In this volume of advanced teachings, Gampopa passes on these same instructions in the form of heart advice on how to practice the nature of mind and reach enlightenment.
          
The late Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche meeting HH the Gyalwang Karmapa:

Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche on Essence Mahamudra: „Go Lotsawa also mentions that, prior to Gampopa, the Mahamudra teachings were exclusively given as a highly secret instruction to practitioners who had received tantric initiation. Gampopa was revolutionary in this matter as well Not only did he extract the Mahamudra practice as a self-sufficient doctrine; he also significantly liberalized its dispersion by giving instructions outside of the tantric environment. While Milarepa did not teach Mahamudra separate from the tantric teachings, Gampopa began to give tantric initiations to select students and Mahamudra teachings to all the rest without giving them tantric initiations. He thus initiated a widespread practice of separating the Mahamudra cycle of teachings from their tantric origin.“



This is how late Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche described the last station of his Pilgrimage in India, meeting with His Holiness the Gyalwang Karmapa :            
"Since I didn't have many days left I had to concentrate on securing an audience with His Holiness Karmapa which I had the good fortune to achieve. One early morning I got a taxi and went to where His Holiness was residing, about forty minutes away at the Gyuto Monastery. His Holiness asked me a few questions and even though I answered and we had a good conversation I could not remember what we even discussed. Afterwards my mind had become blank. The only thing I remember is asking His Holiness to come to Australia and His Holiness said he would, perhaps next year. It was the most spiritually moving experience I have had for a long time. I genuinely felt I was in the presence of a very special and unique being. My pilgrimage had come to an end in such a wonderful way."

MAHAMUDRA: Skt. mahāmudrā, Tib. phyag rgya chen po: Mahamudra is the
name of a set of ultimate teachings on reality and also of the reality itself.

The key point about Essence Mahamudra is that it aims only at the
ultimate, all the time, twenty-four hours a day. Thus, that is the
great theme that runs throughout all of the interviews and
teaching sessions. You will see this key point made over and
over again by Gampopa in the interviews—again and again his
disciples veer into duality in their approach to dharma and again
and again Gampopa leads them out of that, back into nonduality.

in the Short Great Vajradhara Prayer
which many Kagyu followers recite every day,
in the last verse it says:
 “The essence of discursive thought is dharmakaya, as is taught …..“

Maitripa, great master of essence mahamudra, travelling far and wide in search for his guru - Shavaripa (one of the  Karma Kagyu forefathers in the Mahamudra lineage)  one day met a yogini, whos sang to him the following song:

Then she killed a deer and sang:

Then the yogini disappeared. Maitripa still not convinced, Shavaripa sang the following song:

"When we say going for refuge, refuge means someone that we can individually place our hopes in, someone we can approach. It’s like when you’re a small child you can approach your parents for a sense of protection and security. And when we’re talking about ‘going’ for refuge, it’s like we’re walking someplace—it’s a sense that we are actually progressing towards achieving the state of those sources of refuge ourselves. When we go for refuge to the Buddha, then in order to be able to achieve the ultimate protection from the Buddha we ourselves need to be able to go towards that state of Buddhahood. And if we actually move ourselves towards that state of Buddhahood, then we will be able to receive the actual protection.“
 -  The 17th Karmapa

A mahamudra advice by the 17th Karmapa: „When a negative emotion arises, if you just let it be, it will disappear because it is not supported by the truth, like a liar who eventually loses credibility. “When a negative emotion arises, there’s no need to be afraid or nervous, just look at that situation, regard that negative emotion as being like a person who tells lies. There’s no truth behind it,” he explained in English.
Then the negative emotion will lose its power, though this technique may not completely uproot the negative emotions. It is viewed as the union of the two forms of meditation, shamatha and vipasshyana, because your mind is peaceful but you are aware of the emotions and thoughts arising. Thus you recognise the nature of your mind.
 Karmapa’s heart advice on Dharma practice, Nuerburgring, 30th May, 2014