Date: 20/12/2011 6:58:09 PM
Subject: [CASonline] Lam Rim @ CAS !! |
TOPIC ONE - GURU
As we all have problems in life,
we are always looking for a way out.
The Lam Rim recommends reliance
upon a holy, authentic Buddhist Teacher as THE first
step and the sure step !!
It has never been taught though
that a Guru should be funny, cute or quaint. ( The above
is therefore a non-Guru. )
TOPIC TWO - PRECIOUS HUMAN REBIRTH
Having a Guru is uselss unless
one has a precious human body receptive to the Dharma.
What's the use of being powerful,
scary Yakshas if one cannot practise the Dharma ??
TOPIC THREE - DEATH & IMPERMANENCE
Having a precious human body is
excellent but one could lose it anytime and eventually.
Also, when death comes, only the Dharma will help !!
TOPIC FOUR - REFUGE
The Buddhas, Dharma and Sangha
are the Refuges who protect us when the skies turn
dark and stormy and when death strikes eventually !!
The holy, authentic Guru/s
also protect us because He / She is the embodiment of the 3
Jewels ( for the Vajrayana students !! ).
TOPIC FIVE - KARMA
Since we take refuge in the Dharma,
we are expected to refrain from the 10 Unskilfulness (
such as gossips etc ) and to enact their "Opposites" wherever
possible.
This is because Karma strikes
in perfect response to what we do !!
If / when we are wicked and bad,
we surely suffer. Also, we will fall to the 3 Lower
Realms.
In the Lower Realms, one is ugly
and one's hair stands on end ( most of the time ) because
there is so much terror !!
If we are nice and lovely like
the above ....
We will be happy and be reborn
in the 3 Higher Realms where we will be happy like Garfield,
the Gods or a lark.
TOPIC SIX - RENUNCIATION
Like what every other religions
offer, one becomes a heavenly being when one is good and / or
believe in their god/s, their son/s or prophet/s.
However, in the end, one becomes
but a caged god, ready to be removed when one's store of good
karma runs out.
At this moment, one gives up Samsara. We
don't want heaven ( supposedly eternal ), human realms
with all the curled up damsels or other fun.
One will rather prefer to be a
pure monk who keeps all the Self-Liberation Precepts.
TOPIC SEVEN - WISHING BODHICITTA
If one leaves samsara alone like
Arahants do, one would have left all other beings still in samsara,
forvever going up, down and everywhere in samsara, helpless
and lost !!
This is ungrateful because all
beings have been our mothers and died for us countless times
in the past. One must be someone or something "higher" than
an Arahant to bring them all out also from samsara. The someone
or something fully capable of doing this is a BUDDHA !!
"I want to be a Buddha for all
mother sentient beings !!"
At this moment, one becomes an
aspiring Bodhisattva, a son / daughter of the Buddhas !!
TOPIC EIGHT - ENGAGING BODHICITTA
Merely aspiring to be a Buddha
is insufficient. So, one needs to engage in countless selfless
acts to accumulate sufficient store of merit and wisdom to finally
culminate in perfect Buddhahood for the sake of all mother sentient
beings.
One lays out a veritable feast
of selfless acts for the highest benefit and good of all. One
then becomes like Buddha Shakyamuni Himself in the Jataka tales.
Layers upon layers, eternity upon
eternity, we shall strive in the 6 BOdhisattva PErfections solely
that we will accumulate enough Merit and Wisdom to ripen into
the perfect state of a Buddha for the good and liberation
of all mother sentient beings.
TOPIC NINE - UNCOMMON BODHICITTA
But this takes so much time and
mother sentient beings are suffering meanwhile.
"I need to be a Buddha in the FASTEST
way possible for all mother beings !!"
One suddenlybecomes a bodhisattva
eligible to enter the tantric path, the path capable of bringing
one to Buddhahood in one single lifetime.
TOPIC TEN - TANTRA
One finds a qualified tantric
Guru who bestows the empowerments and teachings and one flings
oneself into the dual stages of Generation and Completion.
The 2 stages could be rough and
feel alien-like.
Over time, the 2 stages ripen
into the Form and Truth Bodies of a Buddha via the Illusory
Body and Clear Light Mind; the Coarse, Fine and Transformation
levels; the 9 Mixings; the 4 Joys; the Vajra Recitation;
the Wisdom Seal; the 3 Unelaborated Conducts; the Semblant
Illusory Body and Semblant CLear Light; the Great Seal
and one finally flowers into ...
The Enlightened One, a Buddha,
the Teacher of Gods and Men, the ultimate manifestation of perfected
Wisdom and Virtues.
One is like an illusory dancer,
unbounded by samsara but fully, resplendently acting for
every beings' well-being and good, that, in the end, they shall
all be free from samara or become a Buddha like oneself.
When the occasion warrants, one transforms
into a monster, but always, for the highest benefit and
good of all.
When the occasion warrants, one
transforms into a wild mass of flowers, but always, for the
highest benefit and good of all.
When the going gets tough, one
continues to emanate countlessly and ceaselessly for the highest
good and benefit of all, just like a penguin thriving
even if the weather turns snowy !!
In short, after one becomes a
Buddha, one soars the endless space of samsara like the dragon,
the king and lord of all creatures, soars the heavens,
solely for the highest benefit and good of all, exploring hidden,
latent karmic connections, that, in the end, all mother
beings will one day become a Buddha like oneself ... eternally
enacting for the highest benefit and good of the world.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This issue of Lam Rim @ CAS
is dedicated to holy Je Tsongkhapa, the great Teacher of the
Lam Rim tradition,
today, the 25th of the Tenth
Month of the Tibetan Calendar, the Anniversary of Lama Je Tsongkhapa.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
LAM RIM details
are at
http://www.casotac.com/lamrimp1.html (
short ) &
http://www.casotac.com/lamrim.html (
long )
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