The Heartful Path of Awakening

By Khenpo Jamyang Karma Gyaltsen

In this journey of samsaric life, which is full of dissatisfaction, sufferings, and uncertainties, let’s make these wisdom messages of the Buddha our beacon of hope and light. While Khenpo Rinpoche writes these lines, we are living in an unusual era of a global pandemic, the COVID-19. So through this book, Rinpoche wishes to send us a message of hope and healings. In our struggles in battling this deadly pandemic, he sincerely hope and pray that we could mask-up ourselves with the practice of mindfulness, to purify (“sanitize”) our mind-streams with the medicine of Dharma and also to “distant” ourselves from anything or anyone that is unwholesome or non-virtuous. By doing these spiritual practices, added with following the medical advices given by the health experts, the author truly believe that we could definitely win against all illnesses and dis-eases of all kinds, be it physical or mental, worldly or spiritual. Khenpo Rinpoche dedicates all merits to all patients, front-liners, doctors, healers and all sentient beings, may this pandemic quickly vanish and may we all live a normal, healthy and productive life – in its own perfect timing, for the highest good of all!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Oct 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781982273781

Khenpo Jamyang Karma Gyaltsen

Khenpo Karma Jamyang Gyaltsen is a senior teacher at the Larung Gar Buddhist Institute in Serthar, Sichuan, part of the Tibetan area known as Kham. He was born in 1962 in Nyarong, in Kardze, also in Kham. He is currently one of the main teachers at Larung Gar, which is the largest monastic institution in Tibet, if not in the world. He is the director of training in the Kagyu tradition at Larung Gar and was designated by 17th Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu tradition, to oversee the reconstruction of monasteries in Kham. The Khenpo (the term means “scholar” or “abbot”) took ordination in secret at the age of eight during the Cultural Revolution and practiced dharma for many years. When he was seventeen, he joined Tshokha monastery, an important Kagyu center in Nyarong, and spent several years in meditation in a cave at Tshokha. Later he received teachings from various lineages including the Rinchen terzod, Dzodun, and Nyingtik yabzhi practices. In his early years at Larung Gar, Khenpo Jamyang served as the attendant to Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok and completed advanced studies of five principal treatises in Buddhist philosophy (the Prajnaparamita, Madhyamaka, Pramana, Abhidharma, and Vinaya), as well as the yogic practices of Dzogchen and Mahamudra. He specialized in the study of language, was certified as a Khenpo, and became the first teacher of Sanskrit at the Institute. When the Kagyu department was founded at Larung Gar in 1997, Khenpo Jamyang was assigned as the director, as well as the teacher for the five treatises and the science of language. In 2002 Khenpo went to India, where he visited the 17th Karmapa. When he decided to return to Tibet, he was asked by the Karmapa to oversee restoration work at Tshokha and the other Kagyu monasteries in Kham. The Khenpo moved to Shenzhen on the east coast of China in 2002, becoming one of the first of Jigme Phuntsok’s students from Larung Gar to give Tibetan Buddhist teachings in the mainland areas of China. There he provided general support and, later, Buddhist teaching for local residents. The number of students and followers gradually increased and the Khenpo has since become well known as a religious teacher in many other places in China. He has established teaching centers in over thirty cities with hundreds of thousands of students. He has particular interest in addressing mental health issues in contemporary society, and has developed a series of methods to help with anxiety and other psychological problems

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Copyright © 2021 Khenpo Jamyang Karma Gyaltsen.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use

of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical

problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The

intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you

in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any

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the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-9822-7377-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-7376-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-7378-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021918146

Balboa Press rev. date: 10/06/2021

CONTENTS

Part 1: The Search

Chapter 1:     In the Illusive Dream of Impermanence

1.1.   Why Aren’t You Happy?

1.2.   The Trap of Pursuing Perfectionism

1.3.   Anxiety and Depression: The Dis-Eases of Our Modern Society

1.4.   Science of Success: Misuse and Abuse

1.5.   Acceptance Is Good Medicine

1.6.   The Art of Simplicity: The Beginning of Joy and Well-Being

1.7.   Stop, Rest, and Be Watchful

1.8.   Love Wisely and Mindfully, with Wisdom and Compassion

1.9.   Making Offerings: Are You Doing Business with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas?

Chapter 2:     The Reality of Life

2.1.   The Purpose of Life

2.2.   The Reality of Impermanence

Chapter 3:     Reincarnation and Cyclic Existence

3.1.   Is There a Previous Life?

3.2.   Winning the War against Samsara and Our Habitual Tendencies

Chapter 4:     The Priceless and Precious Jewel of Kindness

Chapter 5:     The Strength of Softness and Vulnerability

Chapter 6:     Self-Respect and Kindness

Chapter 7:     Between Superstition and Wisdom

Chapter 8:     The Meaning of Life Is What You Give to It

Part 2: The Return

Chapter 9:     Refuge: Gaining Peace and Stability within Your Mind

9.1.   Begin with Pure Motivation

9.2.   Trust and Let Go: The Truest Refuge of All

9.3.   After Taking Refuge, Then What?

Chapter 10:   The Guru and the Students: The Most Precious Encounter in Vajrayana

10.1.   The Guru’s Plea: Right Here Waiting

10.2.   When a Qualified Guru Meets a Suitable Disciple

10.3.   Maintain and Uphold Your Devotions and Soft-Heartedness

10.4.   Meeting Your Guru in All Appearances and Forms

Chapter 11:   Renouncing Your Attachments

11.1.   What Is Renunciation?

11.2.   Renunciation ≠ Meaninglessness of Life

11.3.   The Samsaric Cyclic Existence of Desires

11.4.   Renouncing Your Ego-Grasping Views

11.5.   Transcendence, Not Avoidance

Chapter 12:   Bodhicitta: The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel of Enlightenment

12.1.   The Precious Mind of Bodhi

12.2.   Unreserved and Unconditional: The Supreme Mind of Great Love and Great Compassion

12.3.   Transforming the Heartless Mind of Numbness and Indifference

12.4.   The Arising of Shunyata: The Great Wisdom of Emptiness

12.5.   From Inspiration to Inspired Action: Bodhisattva Actions That Flow from the Wellspring of Bodhicitta

12.6.   Making a Wiser Choice in Life

12.7.   Benefiting Others? Yes, We Can

Chapter 13:   The Bodhisattva Conducts of Listening, Contemplation, and Meditation

13.1.   The Nine Yanas of Nyingmapa School of Tibetan Buddhism

Part 3: 108 Wisdom of Rinpoche

Chapter 14:   A Few Traps of Listening to and Studying the Dharma

14.1.   To Attain Results, Listen to the Dharma Wholeheartedly

14.2.   Listening and Contemplation: The Two Wings of a Garuda

14.3.   Systematic Listening and Integral Contemplation

14.4.   Though the View Is as Vast as the Sky, Keep Your Conduct as Fine as Barley Flour

14.5.   Maintain Self-Mastery But Avoid Disturbing the Minds of Others

Chapter 15:   The Suitable Vessel of Dharma

Chapter 16:   The Accumulation of Merits

16.1.   What Are Real Merits?

Chapter 17:   Have a Prayerful Life

Chapter 18:   Creating Auspicious Causes and Conditions for Oneself

18.1.   Taking Adversities and Obstacles as a Path

18.2.   Utilizing the Creative Power of Interdependent Origination

Chapter 19:   The Innocent Childlike Mind of Great Abundance

Part 4: Dharma Practice

Chapter 20:   Meditation: The Discovery of Your Inner Joy

20.1.   Buddhist Meditation: The Preliminary Practices

20.2.   Shamantha: Calm Abiding That Brings You Joy on the Cushion

20.3.   Vipashyana: Special Insights Arise as Wisdom of Nonattachment

20.4.   The Continuation: Practicing Meditation in Your Daily Life

PREFACE

Meeting the Buddha in Your Journey of Life

More than twenty-five hundred years ago, Prince Siddhartha Gautama was born in India, and he was shocked when he saw the four phenomena of life, namely birth, old age, sickness, and death. He then contemplated deeply on the meaning and purpose of life and realized the truth of impermanence and suffering.

At the age of twenty-nine, Siddhartha said goodbye to his mundane life and decided to renounce worldly life. He gave up his royal status and luxurious enjoyments, and began his search for truth and enlightenment. He left his kingdom, his wife, and his son to follow a spiritual path, determined to find a way to relieve the universal suffering that he now understood to be one of the defining traits of humanity.

For the next six years, Siddhartha lived an ascetic life, studying and meditating using the words of various religious teachers as his guide. Later, he found that such extreme practices of torturing one’s body and mind never achieved his determined aim to attain perfect liberation, hence he gave up those ascetic activities and walked along the riverside of the Ganges River. He saw a Bodhi tree and decided to sit under it to meditate. That night, Siddhartha sat alone under the Bodhi tree, vowing to not get up until the truths he sought were revealed to him, and he meditated until the sun came up the next day. He remained there for several days, purifying his defilements, seeing his entire life, and previous lives, in his pure recollections.

Siddhartha finally saw the answer to the questions of suffering that he had been seeking for so many years. He finally reached to the very source of all suffering and ignorance, mastering the truth of all phenomena, which is the truth of interdependent co-arising. This can be summarized in a few verses as below:

This is, because that is.

This is not, because that is not.

This ceases to be, because that ceases to be.

Then he proclaimed, Strange indeed! Strange indeed! Strange indeed! All living beings have the wisdom and virtue of the Enlightened Ones, yet because of their discursive thoughts and attachments, they fail to realize this primordial quality!!

In that moment of pure enlightenment, Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha. The Buddha, or the perfectly Enlightened One, proclaimed to us the ultimate reality of our lives and the universe, which is summarized and contained within these few principles:

All that is conditioned is impermanent.

All that is tainted is suffering.

All phenomena are empty and devoid of self.

Nirvana is peace.

I am just a very simple Buddhist monk, a Tibetan Lama with a very simple life mission: to spread the wisdom teachings of the great Enlightened One, the Buddha, and to try my best, by using various skillful means, including writing this book, to benefit as many people as possible, for the sake of perfect wisdom and ultimate enlightenment.

I wrote this book with some very simple purposes:

• to introduce some basic teachings of the Buddha to my beloved readers

• to tell my version of Buddhadharma that I’ve received, uphold, practiced, and experienced

• to introduce to the readers some essentials of Tibetan Buddhism in general and the essence of Tantric Buddhism in particular

• to share my experiences in applying these teachings into our day-to-day living

• to encourage readers to come and taste the nectar of the Dharma and receives tremendous benefits, either mundane or supra-mundane, and countless inconceivable merits and blessings out from it

We’re on a journey in this samsaric life, which is full of dissatisfaction, sufferings, and uncertainties, so let’s make these wisdom messages of the Buddha our beacon of hope and light. While I am writing these lines, we are living in an unusual era of a global pandemic, the COVID-19. So through this book, I wish to send you a message of hope and healings. In our struggles in battling this deadly pandemic, I sincerely hope and pray that we could mask up ourselves with the practice of mindfulness, purify (sanitize) our mind streams with the medicine of Dharma, and also distance ourselves from anything or anyone who is unwholesome or nonvirtuous. By following these spiritual practices, and following the medical advice given by health experts, I truly believe we can definitely win against all illnesses and dis-eases of all kinds, be it physical or mental, worldly or spiritual.

I dedicate all merits to all patients, front-liners, doctors, healers, and all sentient beings; may this pandemic vanish quickly, and may we all live normal, healthy, and productive lives, in its own perfect timing, for the highest good of all.

I sincerely pray that this little book becomes your spiritual companion; together, let’s explore the infinite treasure of the Dharma and sail along with each other. May we reach to the other shore of liberation and enlightenment together. May the blessings of the Three Jewels (Budddha, Dharma, and Sangha) be with you, now and forever more.

Part 1

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THE SEARCH

CHAPTER 1

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In the Illusive Dream

of Impermanence

1.1. Why Aren’t You Happy?

We are not happy because we don’t have money, or because we are not healthy, or wealthy, or loved. But are you really sure that once you have all these things, you are going to be happy, now and forever more? You don’t need be reminded that many people are still not happy even when they do have all those things. And even if they do become happy by having them, they will definitely have to deal with their new unhappiness, which is going to happen in their near future.

We are always busy chasing so-called happiness, forgetting that happiness or joy is indeed a state of mind, a state of inner contentment. Happiness is also connected with your willingness to open up, your ability to really feel and taste life as it is, and your capability to be positive regardless of what obstacles you face in your life.

Since there are very few people who are genuinely optimistic and capable of handling stress and negativity, we have more unhappy people than happy ones. And we are unhappy most of the time.

In our ordinary thinking, we always believe that in order to be happy, we must have certain good conditions. We must work hard to earn our happiness. But I am asking you to put aside all your personal opinions and biased views, and look at this issue of happiness objectively and scientifically.

Is it that difficult to simply be joyful and happy?

I once read a Zen poem (Hsin Hsin Ming) written by great Master Sengstan:

The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.

When love and hate are both absent

everything becomes clear and undisguised.

Make the smallest distinction, however,

and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.

If you wish to see the truth, then hold no opinion for or against.

The struggle of what one likes and what one dislikes

is the disease of the mind.

So you see, happy or unhappy, sorrowful or joyful, it’s merely a state of mind, a state of being in which you have the power to choose and decide.

Those mundane events that make us unhappy, for example, bankruptcy, infidelity of a loved one, rebellious teenage children, these may bring us sadness and anxiety. But we have to check and reflect. Does our mind, our ego, our endless desire to chase after all these mundane possessions, also play an important role in making ourselves miserable and anxious? We crave what we don’t have and want more of what we already possess.

In reality, we don’t actually need too many things to make ourselves content. Be happy that you now have a