Advice on the Practice of Dharma His Holiness Song Rinpoche

His Holiness Song Rinpoche came to stay at Kopan Monastery for a few days during the Sixth Meditation Course, March-April 1 !"# He ga$e this tal% to almost two hundred &estern students on April 1!# 't was translated (y )ama *hu(ten +eshe and edited (y ,icholas Ri(ush# His Holiness Song Rinpoche (1905-84) was born in Kham, Tibe , s !"ie" a #an"en $onas er%, gaine" renown as a learne" geshe an" grea "eba er an" ser&e" as abbo 'or nine %ears( He 'le" o )n"ia in 1959 an" la er ser&e" as principal o' he )ns i ! e 'or Higher Tibe an S !"ies in Sarna h( Song Rinpoche chan s# Rinpoche says that he-s .ust gi$en you the rl!ng, or oral transmission, of the A$alo%itesh$ara mantra, and that there-s a /harma relationship (etween all of us from the past0 we-$e all %nown each other (efore# Rinpoche says that he-s much attached to /harma wisdom (ecause he-s (een practicing it since he was six or se$en years old, and he-s $ery happy that all of you are acting in accordance with it# Howe$er, you should ma%e sure that you-re sincere in trying to understand the /harma and not .ust on some trip# His Holiness the /alai )ama says that he-s seen some people study 1uddhism 2uite deeply (ut then not put what they ha$e learned into action so that after some time they disappear without an atom of wisdom# He says he has %nown )ama 3opa Rinpoche for a long time and although Rinpoche has not had that much time to study, he has something, he %nows something that is as $alua(le as scholarship# He sees what Rinpoche-s doing for you people and thin%s it-s (eneficial, especially since you ha$e come from so far away, see%ing /harma %nowledge-wisdom# 't-s difficult (ut of course, your searching for the /harma means you ha$e a tremendous le$el of morality within

you, and therefore he-s $ery glad# 1ut of course, in general, whene$er any(ody practices /harma it-s $ery good# 'n particular, those who ha$e renounced samsara in order to put all their energy into the /harma path are $ery fortunate to ha$e come to that decision# *hat-s most worthwhile# And those of you who ha$e ta%en ordination as mon%s and nuns4which has (een your own decision0 no(ody else has made you do it4please try to put all your energy into the /harma path of li(eration according to your decision and (ecome continuously successful# *hat-s really worthwhile# )ord 1uddha himself said that this decision of wanting to ta%e ordination and then %eeping your (ody, speech and mind pure, not harming any other sentient (eing, is much more (eneficial these days than it was in )ord 1uddha-s time# 'n fact, %eeping the ordination for one day of this twentieth century is much more (eneficial than %eeping it for a whole lifetime (ac% then# ,ow, you hear many teachings at this meditation course (ut the main, fundamental thing you need to %now is how to ta%e refuge, what the essence of refuge is, what %arma is and how it-s created# *hose are the main things you need to %now# +ou can-t spend your life sitting in the lotus position meditating# So ta%ing refuge in 1uddha, /harma and Sangha, actuali5ing your practice continuously and following %arma strictly are important# '-m sure )ama 3opa Rinpoche has explained all this and '-m sure you %now it too# *he root of what we call /harma is the mind, your mental attitude, therefore, e$en if you create negati$e %arma you can purify it0 we ha$e the methods for doing that# And also, you should always ha$e pure thoughts and generate a pure moti$ation, whate$er /harma practices you do# *hat, too, is important# &e-re always so (usy that we don-t ha$e time to meditate e$ery day, (ut each night, (efore you go to sleep, you should ta%e refuge, reflect on the excellent 2ualities of 1uddha, /harma and Sangha, and try to sleep with a pure, positi$e moti$ation# 'n that way your sleep itself (ecomes /harma practice and your positi$e energy automatically increases# *hen, when you get up in the morning, instead of thin%ing a(out samsaric things, again thin% a(out the good 2ualities of 1uddha, /harma and Sangha# So in the morning, get up, ma%e three prostrations, ta%e refuge in 1uddha, /harma and Sangha and generate a pure moti$ation for whate$er you-re going to do that day# *his is $ery important and worthwhile since you can-t practice perfect single-pointed concentration (ecause of your (usy life# 'f you do this continuously e$ery morning it will (e $ery effecti$e in helping you integrate e$ery day of your life with /harma %nowledge-wisdom# 6f course, life is difficult4it-s hard not to create any negati$e actions4(ut there-s a solution# +ou can purify them with understanding %nowledge-wisdom# So instead of (eing discouraged, thin%ing, 76h, ' can-t do anything0 '-m so negati$e,8 %now that %nowledge-wisdom is a powerful

antidote to negati$ity and stop feeling sorry for yourself and hanging onto your old ha(its and uncontrolled energy# So ma%e a strong effort to purify your negati$ities with wisdom# ' %now it-s hard for you to practice only /harma and not engage in any samsaric acti$ity, (ut try as much as you can to do some of the things we-re doing here, such as prayers, mantras and so forth# /o your (est to (ring /harma wisdom into whate$er situation you-re in and, slowly, slowly, you-ll continuously de$elop# *hen, e$en if you don-t reach le$els of perfection in this life, there-s hope that you might do so in the next# 't-s possi(le# Another thing is that rather than hating people who practice /harma you should (e glad and re.oice in their actions# Sometimes your friend might do something good, some meditation or something, and you loo% at him sideways, 7Hmm9#8 'nstead of (eing .ealous, (e happy# *hat, too, is $ery important# 't (ecomes wisdom# Remem(er how )ord 1uddha spent years actuali5ing %nowledge-wisdom while he was on the path to enlightenment and finally gained perfect li(eration, and (e happy0 re.oice instead of feeling hatred# /oing so creates the cause for you to also reach that le$el# Similarly, when you see people reciting mantras, doing prostrations4there are many different ways of actuali5ing /harma %nowledge-wisdom4instead of loo%ing at them funny, 7&hat-s she doing, why is she trying to (e different:8 try to feel glad# 6r when you see some(ody who has ta%en ordination trying to %eep his or her (ody, speech and mind pure, instead of feeling disli%e and .ealousy, re.oice that the person is trying to do something positi$e# &hen you re.oice at others- positi$e actions you also create merit# *hat-s (etter than loo%ing critically at what others do and putting them down, thin%ing they-re .ust trying to (e different# &hen you re.oice at others- positi$e actions you generate positi$e energy within yourself# And not only at others- positi$e actions4you can also re.oice at your own positi$e actions# 1e happy that you ha$e found the chance to gain /harma wisdom, which is $ery difficult to find# 't-s not easy to ha$e the opportunity to open your mind, de$elop awareness and disco$er the true nature of your internal world# *his truly is most difficult# +ou can see this for yourself# )oo% at the mem(ers of your own family and the people in your own country and a(road# 't-s extremely difficult to come to the conclusion that it-s important to search for the inner truth and de$elop %nowledge-wisdom# So feel that you are $ery, $ery fortunate to ha$e come to that conclusion yourself4when you do, that itself increases the energy of your /harma wisdom# /uring the meditation course you might sometimes feel that de$eloping /harma wisdom is difficult (ut try not to thin% that way and feel fortunate instead# 6f course, when you practice /harma pro(lems might arise (ut instead of thin%ing, 7*his is a pro(lem, this is (ringing me down,8 try to ma%e it a positi$e experience# *ransforming negati$e experiences into /harma wisdom is $ery important#

&e thin%, 7'-m suffering, '-m agitated,8 (ut if you really loo% at this agitated life you-ll see how short it is# &hen actuali5ing /harma wisdom on the path to li(eration it-s natural for samsaric pro(lems to arise0 you ha$e to expect them# 1ut this life itself is short, transitory and illusory and you should not (e attached to samsaric happiness, which lasts .ust a day or two# *here-s no point clinging to that and it really doesn-t matter whether you-re samsarically happy or sad0 it doesn-t matter# Rather than (eing up and down all the time, you-re (etter off continuously actuali5ing /harma wisdom# &hen e$erything-s going well you say, 76h, ' li%e practicing /harma,8 (ut when you encounter pro(lems you say, 7't-s too hard#8 Some little pro(lem arises, perhaps with a friend, you-re up and down, and for that small reason your practice suffers# +ou shouldn-t let small samsaric agitation upset you0 your wisdom should (e stronger than that and you should not so easily lose energy and gi$e up your practice# *hat-s wrong# Rinpoche says that he has had contact with us (efore and we ha$e met this time in order to de$elop /harma wisdom, not simply for this life-s happiness# Similarly, you-re ta%ing this meditation course (ecause of your tremendous past connections with )ama 3opa Rinpoche0 there-s a strong %armic lin% (etween his energy and yours and you-re extremely fortunate to ha$e that contact# 't hasn-t happened accidentally or (ecause of something that happened .ust last year# He also says that he-s glad that you can see the possi(ility of actuali5ing the path to e$erlasting peaceful li(eration and is happy to (e a(le to tal% to you for this short time# He feels he doesn-t ha$e to explain too much (ecause )ama 3opa Rinpoche is doing that and there-s much you %now already# So, please actuali5e what you %now and feel is worthwhile, and he will pray for you to continuously actuali5e %nowledge-wisdom on the path to li(eration# *han% you so much#