downfalls

Faults and Downfalls in the Secret Mantra Vehicle

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

 

There is not one of us who has not entered the door of the Secret Mantra Vehicle. And once we have done so, if we do not subsequently keep the commitments, we will go to hell; if we do keep them, we will attain Buddhahood. There is no other destination than these two.

The Secret Mantra Vehicle commitments are very subtle, numerous, and difficult to keep. Even Lord Atisha said that after he had entered the Mantra Vehicle, he committed fault after fault in rapid succession.

So for us who have few antidotes, weak mindfulness, and no vigilance (we do not even know the different categories of vows, nor the point at which we break the precepts), there can be no doubt that breaches of our vows are falling on us like rain.

We should therefore do the practice of Vajrasattva every day and recite the hundred syllables twenty-one times. By doing so, our downfalls will be blessed and their fully ripened effect will be prevented from growing greater. And by reciting the hundred-syllable mantra one hundred thousand times, all our downfalls will be eradicated, as the Ornament of the Essence says:

Clearly visualize Vajrasattva
Enthroned on a white lotus and moon:
By reciting twenty-one times
The hundred syllables according to the ritual,
Downfalls and the like will be blessed
And therefore not grow greater.

Thus the greatest accomplished beings have taught,
So do this practice constantly.
If you recite it one hundred thousand times,
You will become the very embodiment of total purity.

Even if, for your own part, you have managed — through your stability in the generation and perfection phases, your mindfulness and vigilance, and so forth — to keep faultless commitments, there are others who may have broken the root commitments, and by mixing with them in conversation, joining with them in the same activities, and even drinking the water from the same valley as they, you will get the faults of transgression by association and of incidental transgression. As the tantra says,

I have kept the company of transgressors, fulfilled their wishes,
Given teachings to them and to those unsuitable.
I have thought nothing of those who’ve broken the commitments
And have in turn been tainted by their defilements and faults.

It is also said:

Like one drop of sour milk
That turns all the milk sour,
One degenerate practitioner
Spoils all the other practitioners.

Breaches of Mantra-Vehicle commitments are easy to purify if we part from them properly. The teachings say that if a single root downfall of the vows of individual liberation occurs and is concealed, it is impossible to repair, like a shattered earthen pot. Root downfalls of the Bodhisattva vow are like broken objects made of a precious metal: they can be repaired with the help of someone else, namely a spiritual friend.

Faults and downfalls in the Secret Mantra Vehicle are like slight dents in a precious metal object: one can completely purify them oneself, using the deity, mantra, and concentration as supports. As long as one parts from them immediately, they are easy to purify, but the longer one waits, the more the fault grows, and the harder it becomes to part from it. After three years, they cannot be purified, even if one attempts to part from them.

Dudjom Rinpoche –
A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom

BAD DISCIPLES ~ Part II

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

 

HH Dudjom Rinpoche  ~ Photographer unknown ~  
 No copyright infringement is intended.
These are the concluding words from he previous blog post of October 25th:
The Qualifications of the Disciples Following a Master

These are described in the “Self-Arisen Awareness” as follows:
They show no honor or respect,
They pervert the secret mantras in their conduct,
They have neither the qualities of family and lineage nor a good character,
Are quite unintelligent,
Scorn kindness,
And make a meaningless mess of things.
Such disciples, unexamined, are the enemies of a teacher.

And the Omniscient One says:
On the other hand, disciples with bad fortune are the basis for all faults.
They have no faith, no sense of shame or decency, and little compassion;
Their family, nature, and behavior reflect their evil fortune.
Their minds and actions are grossly affected by the five poisonous emotions,
They break the precepts, confusing Dharma and non-Dharma, good and evil;
They fail to keep their vows and commitments and have no antidotes.
Extremely stupid and unintelligent, they are difficult to satisfy,
Their anger and harsh words ever on the increase.
These disciples follow the teacher with five wrong notions:
Seeing the teacher as a deer, the teachings as musk,
Themselves as hunters, their intense practice as a form of shooting,
And the result—the accomplishment of the Dharma—as something to be traded.
Because they do not keep the commitments they will suffer in this life and the next.
Some begin unthinkingly without first examining the teacher;
For the novelty of it, they talk about his good qualities, but later they criticize.
Others are two-faced, deceitful hypocrites,
Slyly trying to get the better of the teacher’s closest disciples.
All this results in birth in the Hell of Ultimate Torment.

Such disciples of evil destiny care vessels for numerous faults. They have little faith and hardly any shame with regard to themselves, decency with regard to others, or compassion. They are of an evil family and bad-natured. They conduct themselves badly and have little fortune. Their minds and afflictive emotions are very gross. They break the precepts and confuse positive and negative actions. They do not keep their vows or commitments. They have no control over their afflictive emotions and are ignorant of the antidotes. They are not very intelligent and are difficult to please. They get angry and shout over trifles. They are naturally diligent in non-Dharmic activities. They betray the Buddha, disgrace the Dharma, and destroy the Sangha. When they seek teachings from the teacher, since their minds are not at all at peace, they harm and despise everyone, like hunters. They think, “Apart from the fact that I am receiving this particular transmission from him, the master has this fault and that defect—he’s no better than an animal,” and, wanting to be better than others in having heard the teaching, they treat it like musk. Before they have even finished receiving the teaching, they transmit it and sell it—as a favor to others, or because they despise it, or for the sake of some small reward. Such disciples will be unlucky in this life, and in the next life they will have to wander in the lower realms, as is explained in the commentary on the “Tantra That Establishes the Three Commitments”:

Those who criticize a diamond master of the secret mantras,
Who abuse the Dharma and exchange it for riches,
And though they know the commitments, do not keep them
Will, in this life, suffer from a short life span,
The decline of their splendor and good fortune,
And the punishments of the dakinis.
In the next life, they will fall into the lower realms.

In the first place, teacher and disciple accept each other without each examining the other. Then, although the disciples, for the novelty of it, may show respect and make gifts to the teacher, they get angry over circumstantial trifles, crying insults and being rude. Even if they stay alone, they find fault in the slightest thing and discourage all the teacher’s close disciples. Some disciples may praise their teachers in their presence and make a false show of devotion, but in their minds there is neither faith nor respect, and they are secretly using their artful ways to play them false. Because of all this, and because they criticize their teachers, the negative consequences are boundless, as the “Fifty Verses” shows:

Who will endure the terrifying hells,
The Hell of Ultimate Torment and others?
Those who speak ill of the master:
As has been well explained, it is there they will remain.

For this reason teacher and disciple must first examine each other thoroughly, and not begin anything without prior deliberation. As the same work points out,

Since teacher and disciples
Will break the commitments equally,
The brave must first check the connection
Between master and disciple.

If this is not apparent within a short time, then, as the explanatory tantra the “Diamond Necklace” says, they will need to check each other over a long period:

Examine for up to twelve years.

Such examination must be carried out before any connection is made through empowerment or teaching. But once one has received an empowerment or teaching, even if one’s teachers have broken their vows by committing all four radical defeats, it is improper to examine them or lose faith, or do anything but regard them as objects of devotion and respect. As it is said,

If you don’t consider as your teachers
Those from whom you’ve heard a single verse,
It’s as a dog you’ll be reborn a hundred times,
And as an outcast, you’ll take birth.

Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche
A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom: Complete Instructions on the Preliminary Practice of the Profound and Secret Heart Essence of the Dakini
Padmakara Translation Group

When we put all our energies into a practice

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

When we put all our energies into a practice, it is quite common for bad deeds from the past to surface, so that all sorts of unwanted things happen to us:  we fall physically ill, feel mentally anguished, experience the manifestations of negative forces and obstacle makers, fall victim to hostile people, bandits, and thieves, find ourselves subject to people’s criticisms and false accusations, and so on. These are said to be signs that we are purifying ourselves, like the dirt that comes out when one washes a container. Therefore, when such things happen to you, don the great armor of diligence that renders the practice impervious to unpleasant circumstances.

Although it may happen that we get one or two good qualities here and there as signs of progress on the path, it can be hard to distinguish whether they are genuine signs or obstacles caused by demons. Even supposing they are genuine, the moment we attach any importance to them, they will turn into demonic obstacles, so get rid of all expectation, apprehension, and doubt, and do not be attached to good signs or frightened by bad ones.

It is said that while we are on the path, there are many mistakes we can make and ways in which we can go astray, but the principal errors are: to treat the teacher as an equal; to be lacking in pure perception with regard to one’s spiritual brothers and sisters; to criticize other philosophical systems while being proud of one’s own; to act hypocritically with regard to the commitments; to give the five poisons free rein; to have no respect for the law regarding actions and their effects; to air one’s views and indulge in big talk about emptiness and so forth; to tell all and sundry about one’s experiences; and to lie that one has sublime qualities that one does not have. To make these the basis of one’s practice is obviously the greatest error, yet even if the Buddha were to appear in person, it would seem difficult to block this perilous path onto which one can stray, for we ourselves are blessed by demons, and beings in the decadent age have but little good fortune, so that there is much running after purely meaningless talk without understanding the real point of the Dharma. Even though we follow a teacher, train in acquiring good qualities, practice in retreat, and read many profound texts, it does not do the slightest bit of good to our minds and our characters get worse and worse. We grow ever more proud, the eye of pure perception grows dim, and we pass the time only in examining others’ faults. People like us are impervious to the Dharma, we are breakers of the commitments, burdened with evil deeds from the past; we have truly been blessed by demons.

A Torch Lighting the way to Freedom
Dudjom Rinpoche Jugdral Yeshe Dorje
Padmakara Translation Group