Milarepa (1040-1123), Marpa’s student, became one of the greatest Tibetan Buddhists teachers. As a young man, Milarepa was disinherited from his family fortune and studied black magic to get revenge. After following this course for a time, he realized he had done great wrong and sought Tantric Buddhism to help him escape the negative consequences of his bad karma. Milarepa learned the six yogas from a female partner of Marpa. He combined the teachings he learned from Marpa with Mahamudra Yoga, the yoga of the Great Symbol. Milarepa became famous throughout Tibet as a culture hero, reputedly possessing great yogic powers. He wrote poetic songs about his insights.
The mountains are a joyous place full of flowers.
Monkeys play in the forest trees.
Songbirds sing and insects swarm.
A rainbow shines both day and night.
Summer and winter bring soothing rain.
Spring and autumn bring shifting fog.
Solitary in simple clothes, I am happy here
because I see the Clear Light
and contemplate the emptiness.
I am delighted by appearances
because my body is free from bad actions.
A strong mind wanders contentedly
and is naturally cheerful.
(Milarepa in Freke 1998, 74)
Milarepa’s student Gampopa (1079—1153) had disciples who evolved new lines of their own, but all are quite similar in basic doctrines. Gampopa synthesized Mahamudra, Naropa’s six yogas, and the stages of the path from the Kadampa order. Many subsects formed from his disciples and their disciples, resulting in many subtle variations in Kagyu, but all remained based on Mahamudra teaching applied to the practice of the six yogas of Naropa.
The core of Kagyu is Mahamudra Yoga, a meditative discipline that puts into practice Yogacara and Madhyamika philosophies. Since all is Mind and Mind is empty, all possible content is empty of absolute meaning and reality. Many varieties of practice can lead to enlightenment, and so the experience of dreaming, of body warmth, even of death itself are all opportunities to actualize enlightenment as a lived and experienced awareness. This is how tantric yoga can lead to enlightenment here and now, in this body and life. The Kagyu use their carefully trained awareness to transform this body into Buddha. Buddhahood then becomes a means of helping others.
GELUKPA SCHOOL
The Gelukpa tradition, founded by Tsong Kha Pa (1357—1419), is an eclectic school based on the Kadampa tradition of Atisa. All the earlier traditions were integrated together to utilize the best from each. Modern Kagyu doctrine is an important part of the Gelukpa eclecticism, which has included the Mahamudra and the six yogas of Naropa as systems of training, along with the Kalachakra. Gelukpas integrate the use of the intellect along with meditation and philosophy.
Tsong Kha Pa received lay ordination at the age of three and got novice vows at seven! He studied many traditions, including medicine, from more than a hundred teachers all over Tibet and India. Eventually, he taught thousands of pupils. He also wrote widely and collected eighteen volumes of writings on all aspects of Buddhist teaching. His successors headed monasteries that subsequently became teaching institutions, combining scholarship with spiritual training.
The Dalai Lama tradition arose within the Gelukpa sect when the third in the lineage, Sonam Gyatso was given the name by the Mongol Khan (see Chapter 2). Each Dalai Lama is considered an incarnation of the patron saint of Tibetan Buddhism, Avalokitesvara. They are found as a young child, based on signs and intuitions. Over time, the Dalai Lamas became the political head of state as well as religious ruler.
The student goes through fifteen to twenty years of study to achieve three possible levels of accomplishment. Debate on sutra and tantra are part of the curriculum. A graduate has the equivalent of a Ph.D. in Buddhist philosophy and is called a Geshey. The geshey may graduate and continue to study, teach, or retire into meditative seclusion. India’s branch of Tibet’s government in exile has four Gelukpa monasteries and a tantric college to maintain their scholarly, honorable tradition.
Gelukpas believe that everyone is born with a little enlightenment, possessing intuitive wisdom from childhood. From this small beginning people can develop and learn, and become fully enlightened. The First Dalai Lama advised: “Practice without bias toward the objects; Embrace everything and cherish all from the heart.” (Druppa 1993, 158)
Walter Evans-Wentz gazes out from the vista of his Sacred Mountain Cuchama in San Diego County, California. Courtesy of D. G. Wills Books, La Jolla, California.
CHAPTER 4
Modern Voices
My religion is kindness.
—His Holiness the Dalai Lama
WESTERNERS WHO INTRODUCED TIBETAN BUDDHISM
One of the first Westerners to visit Tibet and give first-hand accounts of what he experienced was Englishman L. Austine Waddell. He became interested in studying Buddhism, which he considered one of the great living religions of the world in 1879. During his work for the Indian Medical Service, he was stationed in India, where he was able to delve deeper into his studies. He was involved in some excavations that revealed actual relics of the Buddha himself, convincing Waddell that Buddha was a real historical person. By chance he was sent to Tibet, to Dorjeling, and seized this opportunity to delve into the little known Buddhism of Tibet, then known as Lamaism. He learned the language and conversed directly with lamas and natives.
His book, The Buddhism of Tibet or Lamaism, was the product of these years of study. Published in 1894, this book portrayed Tibetan Buddhism as a mysterious and magical religion that he found to be strange and often bizarre. The book is filled with detailed descriptions of what he saw and experienced, but because he had no precedence to follow, his understandings were often limited and tinged with prejudice. However, he did do a great service in bringing this tradition to the attention of the West.
Walter Y. Evans-Wentz, (1878-1965) was the American who first popularized Tibetan Buddhism in the West by his translations with extensive commentaries on four major Tibetan texts. His most well known is the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
Evans-Wentz had a spiritual nature from childhood. He attended Stanford University and then Jesus College in Oxford, England. Continually in search of deeper insights, he traveled extensively in Europe and India. He eventually found his way to Tibet where he was attracted to the deeply spiritual atmosphere. He studied with the Tibetan lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup who was headmaster of a school and an official interpreter for India. Evans-Wentz learned some of the Tibetan language as well as Sanskrit. He collaborated with Lama Samdup and continued the work after the lama died, to become one of the first English-language translators (lotsavas, as translators of sacred texts are called in Tibet). He returned to the United States to live at the Keystone Hotel in San Diego, California, so he could be close to the main branch of the San Diego public library. He spent many years there working on his research and translations.
Evans-Wentz had always wanted to open a spiritual center. He almost purchased property to do so in India, but was prevented by the outbreak of World War II. Piece by piece, he purchased Mount Tecate, known to the Native Americans as Sacred