# General Information Tibetan title: - Short: de lam - Full: jangchub lam gyi rimpay martri tamche khyenpar drupay de-lam - Jangchub = enlightenment - lam = path - gyi = of - rimpay = steps? - martri = red text/dissection text - Tamche kyenpar = everything knowledge (omniscience) - drupay = travel - De lam = easy / bliss path Title: The Path to Bliss: a Dissection Text on Steps of the Path to Enlightenment, to be used for Traveling to Omniscience. Author: His Holiness the First Panchen Lama Lobsang Chukyi Gyeltsen Dates: 1570-1662 Two main stages in Tantra: 1. Kye Rim (Stage of Creation) 2. Dzog Rim (Stage of Completion) # I: How we rely upon a Lama ## A. What we do during our meditation sessions 1. The preparation [DL1, R2-4] - Find a pleasant seat - Call in the lama + Generate the Merit Field - Call in the root lama, make him beautiful, outer appearance as Shakyamuni Buddha with a body of light, with shining light radiating from his body - Great gathering of wisdom beings look upon me with love - Root lama as Buddha in center - left: Wisdom - right: Method - behind: Tantric Lineage - front: Dharma Protectors - Before each of them is book of light. You want to study it and teach from it. - Think about their good qualities - De Lam Preliminaries 1. All of my mothers - me and my mothers have all suffered through eternal time- samsara full of pain (the best things suck, dont get sucked back into it) 2. Opportunity for Enlightenment - I have an opportunity to get enlightened and I can help them 3. Light a Fire Under Your Butt - if I don't get enlightened, ill fall into lower realms (fear inducing, there are times this helpful) - The only ones who can help me is the lama and the three jewels who are here in front of me (cue in the merit field) 4. Merit Field - Revisit the merit field, only those in front of me could help me 5. Personal Responsibility - Take personal responsibility to become enlightened for your moms 6. Take Refuge - take refuge in the three jewels and the lama - contemplate the Wish and the four infinite thoughts 7. De Lam - I will learn the practices of De Lam, with the practices of the lama at its core - Repeat these De Lam Preliminaries 7 or 21 times - Emanations - Hung 1: Helper Beings - rainbow bodies of unthinkable numbers emanate in all directions, in 5 colors from all of the beings in the merit field - the emanations take the form as any form that may help all living beings - Hung 2: Wisdom Beings - From the heart of the lama, the central buddha, comes a blue light - goes to the realm of the pure reality and calls upon the wisdom beings there, beings who have the same outer appearance as those i have been picturing - The light guides/ushers them back - each one dissolves into the figures of the merit field - Reflect on the fact that each one of these holy beings is a combination of every form of shelter there is - Classical Preliminaries - And so I have accumulated some small virtue from these deeds, bowing, offering, confessing, rejoicing, urging, begging, and I dedicate them all to enlightenment! - Offer Mandala - Hung 3: Peaceful and Wrathful Brings - Light emerges from the heart of the lama - Flies forth and strikes billions of sacred beings (peaceful and wrathful) - 5 Become 1 - The 5 aspects of the merit field become the Buddha - From the merit field, five colors ray of light come from the Buddha to me - Lama comes to the top of the head - The Buddha dissolves into the root lama in the form of a tantric buddha at the top of the head - Repeat: classical prelims and mandala in abbreviated form - Supplication - Note: the reason for supplication changes, but the prayer used in supplication may not 1. To the 12 divisions of the Buddha... 1. All four bodies of an enlightened being 2. The Dharma body 3. The paradise body 4. The body of emanation 5. All the Lamas there are 6. All the close Angels there are. 7. Every enlightened being there is 8. All the Dharma there is. 9. All the community (Sangha) there is 10. All the tantric Angels there are 11. All the Dharma Protectors there are 12. Every shelter or refuge there is 2. Review one point: - Relying on the lama: We failed, we are in samsara because we didn't rely on our lama in thought or in action 3. Asking for blessings: - - Receiving Blessings - Note: the kind of blessings received depends on the supplication for the meditation 1. Rainbow Nectar descends into us from the lama at the top of our head and all of our mothers. The nectar is of five kinds, each with their own light - Om - white - streams from the forehead - "May I serve my lama with perfect actions" - Ah - red - streams from the throat - "May I serve my lama with perfect speech" - Hung - blue - streams from the heart - "May i serve my lama with perfect thoughts" - Sva - yellow - streams from the navel - "May I see my lama is a Buddha" - Ha - green - streams from the secret place - "May I see myself as a Buddha" 2. Nectar purifies the results and possible obstacles of our failures 3. Nectar blesses us, prana is strengthened and we enjoy spiritual insights 2. The actual practice - a. Relying upon our lama in our thoughts [DL1, R3] - i. Practicing faith, which is the root of everything - Agama: Scriptural Sources - Lo Diamond - Diamond Canopy - Very Heights - Kye Rim: Yoga of Make Believe - Second of the Three beliefs: Faith in the teacher - ii. Developing respect, through remembering our Lama's kindness - Teaching a path to avoid three lower realms [See II.B.1.a.ii] - Teaching a path to nirvana - Teaching a path to become an enlgihtened Angel in one lifetime - 20 Qualities of a tantric Lama - Inner 10 - come from anutara tantra 1. Knowing the two ways of stopping obstacles: meditating on a wrathful being 2. Knowing the two ways of stopping obstacles: using the drawing of a wrathful being 3. Grant secret empowerment 4. Grant wisdom empowerment 5. Separating someone from their capsule 6. Making torma cakes 7. Can teach Dorje Depa 8. Attaining goals through fierce action 9. Can consecrate new land 10. Make a mandala and bring others into it - Outer 10 - come from the three lower groups of tantra (kriya, charya, yoga) 1. How to offer a mandala 2. Good concentration 3. They should know the secret signs and seals 4. How to properly move your body 5. How to sit properly for tantra practice 6. performing the rituals 7. How to bring the diety into them at the end of the ritual 8. Know the texts well and recite them 9. Understand the ginsek; the four modes of a teacher 10. Know how to do the secret offering - b. Relying on our Lama in our actions - Purify obstacles and bad deeds that prevent us from being able to: - Give away our body - Give away our life - Give away all the things we own - Do what they ask us to do 3. The conclusion - ask for blessings - dedicate karma from session - mantras - fulfill other commitments (puja, offerings) ## B. What to do between meditation sessions 1. study the scriptures: review teachings of Lord Buddha and the commentaries specifically about the rim of the lam you are studying 2. monitor vows 3. moderate eating 4. never waste time sitting around 5. Practice sleeping yoga (not lucid dreaming) 6. Practice of washing our body as a divine being 7. Practice eating as divine beings # II. Everything Else or How to train our mind, once we have taken ourselves to a Lama. ## A. Urgent advice that we should try to get the very essence from our spiritual opportunities and resources (Delnjor) ### 1. What do during our actual meditation sessions #### a. The preparation [DL1.6] - i. Everything up to the following verse as before - ii. My mothers - iii. Supplication - iv. Stream of Nectar - cleans bad deeds and obstacles - our bodies transform into pure and crystal light - v. Grow and expand - everyone's life-energy, good deeds, every wonderful quality and the ability for spiritual insights grow and expand #### b. The actual practice - i. Contemplating how important our opportunities and resources are (think of the potential) - ii. contemplating how hard it is to find these opportunities and resources (think of the impossibility) (Delnjor)8 - Delwa (8) - free from wrong views - free from being born as an animal - free from being born a hungry ghost - free from being born a hell being - free from being born in a place without teachings - free from being born in an uncivilized country - free from handicaps that prevent you from practicing - free from being a worldly diety - Jorpa (5 that relate to me, 5 that relate to the world) - Born a human - Born in a central land (keeping morality, there are monks doing sojong) - Having all of one's sense faculities - We have not committed any of the five misdeeds - Killing mom - Killing dad - Attempting to hurt the Buddha - Harming an Arhat - Creating a schism in sangha - Faith in the teachings - Buddha has come - Buddha taught - Buddha's teachings have not been lost - Live in a world where people still practice - Practitioners have the support they need - Tantric Delnjor - kam drunk pa (6 elements) 1. Earth 2. Water 3. Fire 4. Wind 5. Channels 6. Drops - white, red, drop at the heart (indestructible) - Second set of 6 - Father - gross manifestions of the white element 1. Bone 2. Marrow 3. Semen - Mother - gross manifestations of the red element 1. Skin 2. Flesh 3. Blood #### c. The conclusion - See I.A.3 ### 2. What to do between meditation sessions 1. See I.B ## B. Method to get the essence from your opportunities and resources ### 1. Training our minds in the steps of the path that are shared with lesser capacity #### a. What to do during our actual meditation sessions - i. The preparation - ==page 85 - ii. The actual practice - a. Contemplating impermanence, in the form of our coming death - Death is certain - No power in the universe can stop it - You can't add more time - There isn't enough time - Time is uncertain - There is no fixed lifespan - Many things can kill you, few things keep you alive - Body is like a bubble; fragile and weak - At death only dharma can help - We can't take our possessions - We can't take our family - We cant take our body - Three resolutions - I will practice - I will practice the highest thing - start now - b. Contemplating the sufferings of the lower realms - Suffering of the three lower realms 1. Hell realms - Unspeakable pain of fire and ice 2. Craving spirits - Unspeakable pain of hunger and thirst 3. Animals - Unspeakable pain of dullness and ignorance - General cause for a birth in each of the three lower realms. 1. Hell Realms - greater forms of the ten non-virtues 2. Craving Spirits - medium forms of the ten non-virtues 3. Animals - light forms of the ten non-virtues - 9 Causes to be born as a craving spirits 1. 1. Faiing to share our money or things with others 2. Being unhappy when others get something 3. Being obsessed with the things or money we own, constantly reviewing them 4. Obstructing others from acts of giving 5. Forcibly taking away other people's money or things 6. Stealing others' money or things 7. Forcibly taking things from the Community. 8. Stealing from the Community, taking more than your share of offerings 9. Calling other people a craving spirit (especially spiritual practitioners). - c. Practicing taking shelter in the Three Jewels - Objects we take shelter in - Buddha Jewel - Doctor - Omniscience body (dharmakaya) - Essence body - Dharma Jewel - Medicine (realization) - Sangha Jewel - Nurse - Two reasons for coming for shelter - Fear - Faith - d. Developing intelligent belief in the laws of karma and its consequences. - Four laws of karma 1. karma is perfectly consistent (plant corn seed, get corn) 2. karma increases exponentially (plant a seed, get many seeds) 3. no action, no result (no seeds planted, no yield obtained) 4. action brings result (plant seeds, get fruit) - Four factors to empower karma 1. The person we direct the action towards 2. State of mind 3. The nature of any physical object involved 4. The kind of person we are - Four Powers 1. Foundational Belief: Refuge (karma + emptiness) + Bodhichitta (ultimate love) 2. Intelligent Regret 3. Reasonable Commitment 4. Remedy 5. BONUS! Certainty - Deeds remain as "dirty" good karma without these two attitudes. 1. Renunication 2. Bodhichitta - Avoid 10 non virtues 1. Killing 2. Stealing 3. Sexual Misconduct 4. Lying 5. Decisive Talk 6. Harsh Words 7. Useless Talk 8. Coveting 9. Ill Will 10. Wrong View - Four Steps for Complete Karma (Karma Marga) 1. Shi: The object 2. Sampa: The state of mind 3. Jorwa: The undertaking 4. Tartuk: The conclusion - iii. The conclusion #### b. What to do between our meditation sessions ### 2. Training our minds in the steps of the path that are shared with medium spiritual capacity #### a. Learning to develop an aspiration for freedom 1. What to do during our actual meditation sessions - a. The preparation - b. The actual practice - i. A contemplation upon the pain of the cycle in general - Six Sufferings [DL2.1] - (1) Friends and enemies constantly change on us. - (2) Pleasant things we get not only fail to satisfy us, but actually create more and more desire and dissatisfaction. - (3) Our body, however strong or beautiful, is unpredictable, and we must lose it. - (4) We are forever dragged into more rebirths. - (5) We must lose any good thing we ever find in this life, constantly changing from high to low. - (6) In actuality we are always alone, especially as we travel on after death. - Three Sufferings [DL2.2] - Suffering of Suffering - Suffering of Change - Pervasive Suffering - Six steps in the chain of suffering [DL2.3] - the neutral mind looks at what is me and mine - the mind sees them in the wrong way, we have liking and disliking - we have a wide variety of wrong views of how things actually work - mental afflictions grow - we undertake actions that hopelessly uninformed - the wheel keeps on turning - Four open doors & antidotes [DL2.3] - ii. A contemplation upon the various specific sufferings of each form of life in the cycle - Suffering of the human realms - Ten kinds of human suffering [DL2.1] - Suffering of the pleasure being realm - c. The conclusion 2. What to do between our meditation sessions #### b. Establishing just what the path for traveling to freedom is like 1. What to do during our actual meditation sessions - a. The preparation - b. The actual practice - c. The conclusion 2. What to do between our meditation sessions ### 3. Training our minds in the steps that belong to the path of people of highest spiritual capacity #### a. How to develop the Wish for Enlightenment - i. The actual practices for developing the Wish - a) How to develop the Wish for enlightenment through the advices on seven steps of cause and effect - i) What to do during our actual meditation sessions - a1. The preparation - b1. The actual practice - a2. Developing a sense of equanimity - Neutral passerby - Someone we have attraction for - Someone we don't have attraction for - Someone we love dearly and someone we hate greatly - Every single living being - b2. Recognizing that all beings are our own mother - c2. Remembering our mothers' kindness - d2. Working to repay our mothers' kindness - e2. Developing love for our mothers - f2. Developing compassion for our mothers - g2. Deciding to take personal responsibility to save our mothers - h2. Reaching the Wish for enlightenment - c1. The conclusion - ii) What to do between our meditation sessions - b) How to cultivate the Wish for enlightenment through the dual practice of treating oneself and others the same; and then exchanging oneself and others - ii. Committing oneself to the Wish for enlightenment through a formal ceremony - a) Going from not having the bodhisattva vows to having them - b) Keeping onself from breaking the vows #### b. How to train in the perfections once you have developed the Wish - i. How to train oneself in the general activities of a child of the Victors - a) what to do during our actual meditation sessions - i) The preparation - ii) The actual practice - a1. Practice relating to those actions which serve to ripen ones own mental continuum - the six perfections - a2. The practice of giving - b2. The practice of an ethical way of life - c2. The practice of patience - d2. The practice of joyful effort - e2. the practice of meditation - f2. The practice of wisdom - b1. Practice relating to the actions which ripen the minds of others - the four methods of gathering disciples - iii) The conclusion - b. What to do between our meditation sessions - ii. How to train oneself, more particularly, in the last two of the perfections - a) How to train ourselves in stillness (shamatha), which is the very essence of meditative concentration - i) What to do during our actual meditation sessions - a1. The preparation - b1. The actual session - c1. The conclusion - ii) What to do between our meditation sessions - b) How to train ourselves in vision (vipashyana), which is the very essence of wisdom - i) What to do during our actual meditation sessions - a1. The preparation - b1. The actual session - a2. How to meditate by establishing what the lack of a self to the person is like - a3. First of the four crucial points: actually seeing how the very thing we deny appears within our mind - b3. Second of the four crucial points: seeing that the possibilities are covered - c3. Third of the four crucial points: coming to a definite understanding that the object not one "real" thing - d3. The Fourth crucial point: coming to a definite understanding that the object is not multiple "real" things - b2. How to meditate by establishing the lack of any self-nature to caused things - a4. Material things - b4. Mental things - c4. Changing things which are neither material nor mental - b3. How to meditate by establishing the lack of any self-nature to uncaused things - c1. conclusion - ii) What to do between our meditation sessions #### - c. How - once we have prepared our mind with the shared path as described above - we must now enter the way of the diamond