Into the Heart of Life (24 page)

Questions

Q: What do you mean by duality?

JTP: Here duality means the conception of a self-existing subject and a self-existing object. Normally we possess a conception of an
I
which goes together with the idea that everyone else is non-
I
. This is our ordinary relative conditioned mind. Reality has no understanding of this sense of division between self and others. Natural primordial awareness, the clear light empty nature of the mind, does not recognize duality.

All schools of Buddhism recognize that dukkha is caused by our clinging to an ego; that is the root of the problem. As long as we see ourselves as solid, self-existent, and separate from the rest of creation around us, then we are going to suffer because we are endlessly not getting what we want and getting what we don’t want. We are in conflict with all the other little globules of self-existent beings who have their own ideas about what
they
want. So there is always going to be disagreement due to this basic duality.

Q: So when you say, “is like an illusion but isn’t an illusion,” are you saying that reality is like this primordial clear light?

JTP: The texts stress that the world is
like
an illusion, but they are not saying it is
actually
an illusion, because there are two truths, relative and ultimate. On a relative level, a thing appears to exist as we perceive it. It is only relatively true, but it is nonetheless true on its own level. For instance, an object like this table is just made up of protons and neutrons. If I were a physicist, I could tell you that actually it is all basically just empty energy. But if I threw this table at you, it would hurt. Ultimately it is empty, but on a relative level it appears to be solid. Therefore on a relative level there is some truth to it but ultimately that is an illusion presented by the kind of senses that we happen to possess. The point is that things are not what they seem to be. But it is not enough to just intellectually appreciate that. We must actually have direct realization to know it. Only that can transform us.

Q: If you experience everything as illusion, how do you then identify with others’ needs?

JTP: I know what you mean but it doesn’t seem to work like that. In fact, the more we realize our empty, illusory nature the more tremendous compassion arises, because we realize how trapped these illusory sentient beings are in their illusory conceptions—how they suffer because they don’t see clearly.

Wisdom and compassion are conjoined, and that is why they are regarded as the two wings of a bird: they support each other. As compassion grows, so wisdom and understanding develop. As wisdom sees the situation with increasing clarity, overpowering compassion arises. And yet it is all an empty illusion.

Q: Can you tell us about the importance of strong female practitioners in Tibetan Buddhism?

JTP: As in most religious institutions, Tibetan Buddhism is expressed in a predominantly male voice. The books were written by men, almost all the lineage lamas are male, all the examples handed out to us are male. If they say, “Oh, but there were great female practitioners,” and you say, “Well, who?” they reply, “Well, there was Yeshe Tsogyal, back in the eighth century; there was Machik Labdron in the eleventh century; and there was Jomo Manmo in the thirteenth century.” Easily, by the time you’re finished counting on one hand, you’ve run out of names, whereas the males are like stars in the sky. In this day and age, that is not good enough. Women also have a voice, which is very distinct, and in order to achieve balance in the Dharma, that voice needs to be heard.

Q: How do you think Tibetan Buddhism has affected the Western mind?

JTP: It’s very interesting that Tibetan Buddhism took off so well in the Dharma circles in the West. It says that Tibetan Buddhism has got something to offer. When I first came to Tibetan Buddhism, not only was I dismayed to be caught up in it but also I felt it was just too esoteric, too complicated, too irrelevant, really, for the West to be really interested. But Tibetan Buddhism has two great qualities. It has had very great masters who totally embodied the path, at least until recently. You didn’t have to know what they were talking about, you just had to be in their presence. They showed us what it is to be a human being. They showed us our potential. And this blew everybody away. Secondly, Tibetan Buddhism took on board everything which was extant in the Buddhist world up to about the twelfth century. It is a huge Dharma supermarket. In most spiritual traditions, you have this kind of method or that one, and if it suits you, wonderful. But if it doesn’t suit you, then sorry, you have to go somewhere else. But Tibetan Buddhism has so much, and at first that can be overwhelming. Where do you start? The richness of its skillful means and detail within its levels and approaches is extraordinary. You never can get to a point where you know it all. Even high lamas ask me about my tradition, because they don’t know it. The head of a given tradition may not know the others because there is so much.

Tibetan Buddhism contains skillful means to deal with all kind of personalities and needs. Some people are devotional; others are intellectual. Some people like pure meditation; others like things to be very complicated. And there are those who like things to be very simple. It’s all there. In Tibetan Buddhism there are many different methods of tummo, inner-heat meditation, from the very simple to the unbelievably complicated, and with all stages in between. They all work. So the commentaries advise that we find one that suits us and stay with that. This applies to all the practices: we can perform extremely complex visualizations or we can maintain a very simple practice. It is all valid. There are extraordinary depths of psychological understanding within Tibetan Buddhism.

Q: Some people are fearful to be alone. Solitary retreat seems too challenging. But maybe understanding aloneness requires the willingness to just be. Do you feel that your experience of solitary retreat through the guidance of your teacher opened you to heartfull contact with others?

JTP: Most people have a problem with being alone because they’re not friends with themselves. Of course, ultimately, we are trying to go beyond the ego. We are trying to see through the fabrications of our self-cherishing. But in the meantime, we have to make friends with ourselves and not be our own worst enemy, because the one thing we can never escape from is our own mind. A lot of people when they are alone become very depressed, because they are just hearing very negative recitals of soap operas which the mind is presenting and which they cannot escape from.

People think when you are in solitude or away from others that you are escaping, but actually it is the one time when you can’t escape, because there is no outside contact. You can’t distract yourself. You have to face whatever comes up in the mind. You can’t run away, you can’t put on the television or call up your friends. You have to face what is. And so it makes a lot of sense to learn how to accept ourselves instead of being so judgmental and harsh, which just creates a lot of judgment and criticism of others. If we are at home within ourselves, and we have befriended ourselves, then the mind will cooperate and wish to be a good practitioner instead of putting up any opposition. And once we are more at home within ourselves, more at peace, we can begin to question our own assumptions and ideas and memories, and realize how much we fabricate our inside worlds and don’t speak truth to ourselves.

We don’t know how things really are; we just make up these fantasies continually. Once we start to look at ourselves, to really face ourselves, that also opens up the opportunity to be truly honest and at peace with others. And so then, when we are out with others, we don’t feel so judgmental or critical or defensive or paranoid. As we have accepted ourselves, we can accept others, too.

Q: Can you speak a little bit about the
togdenma
lineage and why it’s important to resurrect that?

JTP: Our tradition of the Drukpa Kagyu is a practice lineage, and so throughout the ages we haven’t had many great scholars but we’ve had an infinite number of great practitioners. The jewel of Khamtrul Rinpoche’s monastery, Khampagar, in Tashi Jong has been its
togdens,
or yogis. While they follow the tradition of Milarepa, they are fully ordained monks. They have dreadlocks and wear white skirts. When they were in Tibet, the Khampagar togdens lived in caves above the monastery. The Sixteenth Karmapa said to me that even in Tibet togdens like this were very rare, and the togdens of Khampagar were highly esteemed. In Tibet, there were also females of this lineage, but after the invasion, none of them seems to have ever gotten out. Many years ago, the Eighth Khamtrul Rinpoche spoke to me of this as he put around my neck a white silk
kata
or scarf, which in those days was rarely received. “In Tibet,” he said, “we had so many togdenma. But now this lineage has been broken, and I will always pray that you will reinstate this very precious female lineage.” And I have always felt that this is my real commitment. One aspect of this underlying commitment to start the nunnery was that it act as a support system for training a whole new generation of young women to become yoginis. Certainly we hope that the ninth Khamtrul Rinpoche Shedrub Nyima and the yogis of Tashi Jong are supportive of this, as they know that this was the wish of the previous Khamtrul Rinpoche. They have said that they will help.