Dearest Friends @ CAS of T_A Chenrezig,   We have received all your Prayer-Pledges to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, offered with the purest devotion and love.   We will be sending your Prayer-Pledges -- so many millions of them -- to His Holiness via our good friend in Dharamsala on 3 March 2007, one of the holiest dates in the Tibetan Buddhist Calendar.     THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WITH ALL OUR HEARTS !!   We will keep in touch !!     bb & other angels @ CAS of Thousand-Arm Chenrezig   _______________________________________________________________________________________________________        The Dalai Lama     "His Holiness the Dalai Lama is completely transcendent, completely sublime, completely beyond our ordinary comprehension and knowing.... how can we ever know a minute bit of the greatness of His Holiness ??"  - The 100th Ganden Trisur - Supreme Head Emeritus of the Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism     "I don't need to take any more pictures. I have my most cherished and precious picture with me. This is the one i took with His Holiness the Dalai Lama." - The 101st Ganden Tripa - Official Head of the Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism       "His Holiness the Dalai Lama...... is our refuge in this and future lives, the guide of gods and men..... You all know this - you don't need me to tell you. It ( the "amazing development of the Dharma" ) has all happened thanks to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and to him alone. We should be endlessly grateful to him and pray for his long-life. This is vital.... There is not one person among us who has not received teachings and empowerments from His Holiness.... we must act according to His Holiness's wishes.... So keep this in mind, all of you! This is my advice to you, the advice of an old man. It is indeed my testament." - The late Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche - Supreme Head of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism. ( "Counsels from My Heart" - Shambala Publications )   _____________________________________________________________________________________________________   Most Venerable DENMA LOCHO RINPOCHE Denma Locho Rinpoche is one of the most esteemed Teachers of Drepung Loseling Monastery. He has served as the Abbot of the Dalai Lama's personal monastery and is universally respected within Tibetan Buddhism as one of Tibet's greatest scholars and realized masters. His students include most of the lineal-heads in the Gelugpa Tradition in addition to some of the greatest luminaries in Tibetan Buddhism. 5th October 2001   The Root Text   So after having gone through the benefits of listening to the Dharma, we should engage in the practice of listening to the Dharma teaching. So the Dharma teaching which we are going to receive today is known as 'The Three Principles of the Path'. So when we talk hear about 'path', what is meant by 'path'? In general we can talk about various kinds of path, for example, a road or a rail-track, something which gets us from A to B. However in this instance, we are not talking about a worldly path, we are rather talking about a spiritual path, and what is meant here by a spiritual path is one which gets us from a spiritual A to B, travelling through the various stages, based upon the oral instructions of the past masters, the present masters, and then taking those instructions to heart, putting them into practice, and through that moving through various stages of spiritual evolution. Here 'principle' then refers to the main points of the path, like for example snatching the essence from what is known as the Lam Rim (or the graduated stages of the path to enlightenment) teachings. So when we talk of these 'three principles of the path', we talk about a person of smaller, middling and greater capacities and then the practices which are in common with a person of smaller, middling and then the pinnacle practice which is unique to a person of greater capacity. So within that division of three, what we find are various divisions and sub-divisions, but the essence is all kind of snatched together and put in these three principles of the path, which we are going to go through. So this particular text was composed by Lama Tsong Khapa and it was something which he received while in communication, if you like, with Manjushri, and it is the heart-essence of his practice and also of the Lam Rim genre of texts. So this was requested by a disciple of his who lived in a place called Gameron which is on the Chinese-Tibetan border. This monk requested him to give him some inspiring word for his practice, and then Lama Tsong Khapa wrote this to him based on the teachings he had received in the pure vision, thus we have the written form of 'The Three Principles of the Path?¡¥.   The Three Principles   So if you ask ¡§C ??what are these three principles of the path??¡¥ Initially then it?¡¥s renunciation. So 'renunciation' here refers to a turning away from the faults of the cycle of existence and yearning or directing one?¡¥s spiritual career towards liberation from such a state of existence. Then the second is the mind of bodhicitta. This refers to a mind which for the benefit of all sentient beings, through seeing sentient beings?¡¥ suffering, strives to achieve the highest state of enlightenment in order to be of maximum or optimum benefit. So through seeing the faults in one?¡¥s state of mind, through abandoning those, gathering all the qualities, achieving the mind of omniscience of the Buddha - this desire to achieve such a state - the mind of bodhicitta - is the second of the three. Then the third of the three is what is known as the 'correct view', also known as 'wisdom'. 'Wisdom' here then refers to the mode of abiding of phenomena, that is to say the middle way view - 'middle way' here being a middle way between the two extremes of annihilation and permanence. So this correct view of reality then is the third of the three principal aspects of the path.   Prostration   So then initially we have the prostration and then the promise to compose the text. So initially then we have the first line of the text: I bow down to the venerable lamas. So then we should understand what is meant by this prostration - who is the object towards which the author is making this prostration? It is the field of merit, that is to say, the field upon which the prostrator, or the one making the supplication, receives the maximum amount of merit, that is to say, one's spiritual mentor, or one's lama. So here then the prostration is made to the venerable lamas. So here then we should understand what is meant by 'venerable lamas' by looking at the Tibetan word. If we look at the etymology of [Tib] - the first part [Tib] refers to the lama having heard a lot of teaching, that is to say, the lama is very knowledgeable about the Buddhist practice. Then the second part of that word [Tib] refers to not only having heard the teaching but then has accomplished, or has gained realisation of, that teaching through putting it into practice in a faultless fashion. So this then refers to the level of realisation of the lama. So here then [Tib] together refer to the lama's knowledge and then the realisation of that knowledge. Then the third word 'lama' - if we look at the meaning of this word, what we find is that it refers to the highest, or that of which there is none higher. So then this is the name given to one's spiritual master with whom there is none higher with regard to the knowledge of the teaching and the realisation of that teaching. So thus we have [Tib]. In Tibetan, there is the plural [Tib] - so [Tib] here refers to the various lamas of the various lineages, that is to say, of the profound lineage, of the vast lineage, there are many what we call 'lineage lamas'. So through saying 'I bow down to the venerable lamas' - using the plural, the author is showing his willingness to bow down before all the lamas of the lineage and in particular then his principal teachers.   The Promise to Compose the Text   So then we have now reached the first stanza which is the promise of composition, so I will read from the root text: I will explain as well as I am able the essence of all the teachings of the Conqueror, the path praised by the Conqueror's offspring, the entrance for the fortunate ones who desire liberation. So here when we talk about 'the teachings of the Conqueror', the 'Conqueror' here then refers to the Fully Enlightened One, the Buddha, and then 'the essence of the teachings' here - whether it be the various sutras or the various teachings of the Secret Mantra and the fourfold division therein, the essential part of all of this is what is going to be explained. So here then we have to understand what is meant by the teaching of the Buddha. It wasn't that the Buddha just gave a teaching and then everybody had to follow that teaching. Rather, as is mentioned by Nagarjuna in the 'Precious Garland', the Buddha teaches as a grammarian instructs his pupils. That is to say, a grammarian doesn't just teach advanced grammar to... [end of side - tape breaks here]   Renunciation   ?­initially then one would learn the alphabet, so you would learn the basic Tibetan grammar like [Tib], or in English 'A, B, C', then in dependence upon that you would learn how to form words and then sentences and then advance up into advanced grammar and so forth. So the Buddha taught his disciples in much the same way, that is to say, in a method which would lead them along a path. So 'path' here then is referring initially to renunciation. So there are two kinds of renunciation which are mentioned - one is to turn one's attention away from this life in and of itself and towards one's future lives; then to turn one's mind even away from future lives and put one's mind in a state where one wishes to achieve liberation from the cycle of existence. So thus then there is turning away from this life and then turning away from future lives, thus two kinds of turning away, and these are taught in stages to the aspiring disciples. In essence, we can say that the Buddhist teachings are taught as a method to subdue one's unruly mind, to subdue the destructive emotions which we find therein, and then to develop the spiritual qualities on top of that. So this is what is meant by 'the essence of all the teachings of the Conqueror', and here 'Conqueror' refers to having conquered all others, thus the Fully Enlightened One.   Bodhicitta   So then the second line of 'The Three Principle Teachings of the Path' (which is the first in Tibetan) talks about the practice of renunciation. The third in English (and the second in Tibetan) - 'the path praised by the Conqueror's offspring'. So here then let us have a look at the word 'Conqueror's offspring'. Here then if we read from the Tibetan it says the holy Conqueror's offspring, or the exalted Conqueror's offspring. So this word 'exalted' means that a person in whose mental continuum, or mind, the wish to achieve full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings has arisen, becomes a superior individual, thus kind of a holy individual. At that moment of generating the mind aspiring to the highest enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, a lot of negative karma is destroyed, and that person then becomes what is known as one of the 'Conqueror's offspring', or the son or daughter of the Victorious One. This is mentioned quite clearly in Shantideva's book called 'The Bodhicharyavatara' where it says that just through having given rise to this, no matter what caste one is born to, one becomes renowned as the son or the daughter of the Victorious One. So no matter what caste or what colour one might be, one is equal in the sense that one will be equally regarded, through having given rise to this mind, as the offspring of the Victorious One. This mind then is one is which is extremely important and its importance cannot be overestimated because through this mind one achieves the state of buddhahood, and if one doesn't have this mind, if one hasn?¡¥t given rise to this thought, then no matter what practice one engages in, one will not come any closer to the state of omniscience.   Correct View   Then the next line reads 'the entrance for the fortunate ones who desire liberation'. So 'fortunate ones' here then refers to those who are engaging in the Buddhist practice - fortunate in the sense that we have become into contact with the Buddha's teaching and are able to put them into practice, and in particular, fortunate in the sense that we have come into contact with the teaching of the greater vehicle, or the Mahayana teaching. So this sentence is describing the third of the three principles of the path which is correct view, correct view of reality. Because as the line says, 'the entrance for the fortunate ones who desire liberation'. So here then 'desire liberation' - what is meant by 'liberation' and how does this sentence teach us about the correct view of reality? Here we have to understand what is meant by 'liberation'. So liberation then refers to a kind of release or an escape. So if there is a release, something has to loosen so we can escape from it, or if there is an escape there has to be something from which we are going to escape. So here then what we are escaping from or loosening and then getting away from is the destructive emotions, and then action, or karma. So these are the two fetters which bind us to the wheel, or cycle, of existence. So it is only through removing ourselves from the destructive emotions and action that one is able to achieve liberation. So then if we think about what the cause of the destructive emotions and karma is, we can say that the root of the causes of cyclic existence (that is to say, of the destructive emotions and then the action which is brought about through them) is grasping at a truly existent or self-existent self or 'I'. So then if one wants to reverse this root, one needs to understand how this root is baseless, that is to say, we need to understand how phenomena actually exist and how, perceiving them in a wrong way, we develop these destructive emotions and then through having brought about these destructive emotions, we engage in action, the result of which is the wheel of existence, that is to say, the state of dissatisfaction. If we look at action and destructive emotions in and of themselves, then we find that the strongest of the two is the destructive emotions. If we look at the destructive emotions, then we find in the various college text books that there are two kinds, that is to say, the root and then the secondary destructive emotions, but whether it be root or secondary, these destructive emotions are emotions which cause us to have an unpeaceful or disturbed mind. So those states of mind are those which we are seeking to abandon through uprooting the root of those destructive emotions, that is to say, wrong view. So that which is going to uproot the wrong view is the correct view which is taught here in the third line - 'the entrance for the fortunate ones who desire liberation'. 'Entrance' here then referring to the path which one has to engage in if one wants to achieve liberation, that is, the removal of the destructive emotions and the actions which come about through that. Then the last line in the Tibetan which is the first in English is 'I will explain as well as I am able'. So through this we see that Je Rinpoche was a very humble individual. He in fact was an incredibly learned person, so he could easily have written 'I am going to explain the subject matter better than others or in a different way to others' but rather than that he wrote 'I will explain as much as I can, as well as I am able', then he went on to give the rest of the verse. So this clearly shows that Lama Tsong Khapa himself was a very humble individual who always took a low status.   Helpful notes by bb @ CAS: So ends lAM-rIM ONLINE lESSON tWO -- oVERVIEW: A) rENUNCIATION B) bODHICITTA C) rIGHT vIEW [ OF eMPTINESS ]   ____________________________________________________________________________________________________   "HAPPY LAM-RIM !!"     tHEY ARE NOT dHARMA-dUMBS-dUMBS. tHEY STUDIED THE lAM-rIM. ______________________________________________________________________     "nO LAM-rIM, wHAT tANTRA ??!!" - quoted from all Masters   of all Schools of all generations.