buddha, dharma & sangha -...

2 Thar Lam AUGUST 2008

In order to really be able to say that you know aboutBuddhism, you have to know about Buddha, dharma andsangha. This I will teach according to the teachings ofLord Maitreya known as Mahayana Uttaratantra.1 In thattext there are three chapters on the Buddha, dharma andsangha.2 It is a major text but I will try to make it as

simple and short as possible and try to go through it andexplain to you about the Buddha, dharma and sangha. Thistext was translated in Tibetan from Sanskrit and also a largenumber of commentaries were written by great masters ofthe lineage over the centuries. The text I have is all in Tibetanso I have to translate it back from Tibetan to Sanskrit.

1. The root text and a detailed commentary by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche is available as The Uttaratantra, A Treatise on Buddha-essence, published by Namo Buddha and Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Publications.2. The text has seven chapters or points in total: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, Buddha-essence, Enlightenment, Qualities of Buddhahoodand Buddha activity.

Buddha, Dharma & Sanghaby His Eminence Tai Situpa

Thar Lam AUGUST 2008 3

THE BUDDHA

Buddha is a Sanskrit word. In Tibetan we say Sangye,sang means awakened and gye means developed; awakenedfrom the deep sleep of ignorance. All sentient beings aredreaming in the deep sleep of ignorance, which theyhappen to have. Prince Siddhartha has been awakenedfrom that sleep, which is what sang means. Gye, meaningfully developed, because each one of us has immeasurable,ineffable and indescribable potential which is perfectbeyond any comparison and limitation. We call thatprimordial wisdom or Buddha-nature, jnana.

This potential when fully developed is like a lotusfully bloomed. That is the definition of Buddha, Sangye.It should not be misunderstood that we are saying thatonly our Buddha is just that. Let’s put it this way: whoeverreaches the highest, the best, the most profound andlimitless state of sang and gye is called Buddha. Then thereis nothing further to reach, nothing more to develop,nothing more to be free from and no more to be perfected.So when you reach that state, we call that Buddha. Andthat can be you and you or me, or your dog or your cat.Anybody who reaches that state is Buddha. If a god orgoddess reaches that state they are Buddha. If a hell beingreaches that state they are Buddha. If an animal reachesthat state they are Buddha. If a human being reaches thatstate they are Buddha. It is the same with asuras and pretas.It doesn’t matter who or what one is, once one reachesthat state they are Buddha.

The qualities of the Buddha are described in six

particular ways in the Mahayana Uttaratantra. However,you should know that when you describe the indescribable,then the words that are really ultimately suited for thatindescribable-ness are impossible to find. So describingthe indescribable itself is an irony, it is a fallacy in itself.You can’t describe Buddha by three, four, five, six, ten, amillion, or ten billion qualities, it is impossible. But thesekinds of particulars are helpful for us to get some kind ofidea of what Buddha’s qualities are. It doesn’t mean thatBuddha’s qualities are just six but they somehow give us akind of alphabet to describe those qualities. Language isnot just an alphabet, it is helpful for us to organize ourselvesso that we can make sentences out of them andcommunicate with each other. This way the six qualitiesof Buddhas are described here.

The first quality is that it is uncreated. It is not theoutcome of composition. When this and this and thiscome together and this happens, that is called composite.Buddha is not a composite. It is not a result of anythingcoming together. It is always there and it is non-dualistic, itis not a result of two or three things coming together, whichis result of dualism or triplism. Therefore it is uncreated.

You may wonder how this relates to BuddhaShakyamuni and the thousands of lifetimes that PrinceSiddhartha went through before he became the Buddha:before he was born as Prince Siddhartha, what result thenhappened. This is very clearly described here. For example,the light of the sun is always there and the sky is alwaysclear. But if there is a cloud, then because of the cloud thelight of the sun is not visible, it becomes a sunbeam. It isonly a circumstantial condition of the wind blowing awaythe cloud and then the light of the sun is revealed, theclearness of the sky is revealed. So it is not the result of thecloud, the sky or the wind. It is just the circumstancesand the conditions which are very temporary and verysuperficial, which is nothing more than just like a dream.A dream is a reality as long as we don’t know we aredreaming. But as soon as we know we are dreaming thedream disappears.

Each one of these six qualities of Buddha is describedwith many sub-specifics, but I’m not going to go throughthose, six is enough to describe the Buddha. Now thesecond is, it is achieved spontaneously, or attainedspontaneously. It evolved spontaneously. There is a verysimple pramana (valid cognition) verse that describes thisvery easily: “The Buddha is not a result of effort becauseis always there as a primordial ultimate truth.” You mightask, “In that case, why do we come here and talk aboutBuddha? Why do we have to do practice? Why do wehave to conduct pujas? Why do we have to do all of thatif it is not a result of effort?” But again, it is the samething. All these efforts are necessary as long as we don’t


wake up, in order to find out that we are sleeping and weare dreaming and having a nightmare. Even if you realiseyou are dreaming you have to come out of it by a struggle.How do you come out from a nightmare when you realiseyou are having one? You do all kinds of things. You try tostir, you try to move or stand up, all kinds of things, youdo all of that. You put all of that effort in and finally youwake up and can say to yourself: “Oh, now I have wokenup, it was a dream.” But when you realise that you arehaving a nightmare, in your nightmare, to get out of ityou have to put in effort. It is just like that. But when youwake up from the effort and find out you were dreaming,it is not the result of the effort. You are the same in yourwaking up state as when you are dreaming. You are justlike Buddha, exactly like Buddha, right now, when youhave not attained enlightenment. But you have to put inall this effort, which is dualistic and temporary, in orderto awake from the dream of samsara. For that reason wedo all kinds of dharma practices, including lighting lamps,burning incense, going to the temple, ringing the bell,doing all of those things. We have to engage in all of thateffort to reach the final state, which is not the result ofthat effort. That effort is just to reveal the inherentunshakeable, unchangeable and incorruptible essencewhich is always there.

For example, when a diamond mine is worked byworkers, and when the workers go there and break thestone and get dirty and find a diamond, do the workersfind the diamond? No. It was always there. The workerseffort just revealed it. As far as the finding of the diamondis concerned it was always there. I will give you a verysimple example: we say Christopher Columbus discoveredthe United State of America, and somebody discoveredAustralia, and so on. But those people did not find thoseplaces, they was always there. But they themselves sawthem for the first time. Australia was always there andAmerica was always there. It was Christopher Columbuswho saw it for the first time. So it is like that. Actually Iwas told that was not true and that the Vikings foundAmerica a long time before Christopher Columbus did. Iam not sure. Anyway, I find that very interesting. Thatwas the second quality of Buddha.

The third quality of the Buddha is that it is not realisedby any other circumstance, any outside circumstances.This is very easy to understand because recognition andrealisation of primordial wisdom cannot be the result ofsomething outside of the primordial wisdom.

The first three qualities that we have learned alreadyare qualities of the dharmakaya, they describe thequalities of the Buddha’s dharmakaya itself. Thecategorization of these three as qualities of thedharmakaya is itself another quality. The next qualities

describe the manifestation of the dharmakaya. To makeit easier for us, the limitless qualities that the Buddhamanifests are categorized into three.

Buddha is free from dualism, therefore Buddha isomniscient, the fourth quality. You can never beomniscient dualistically. As long as you are somebody whoknows something then there will be someone who knowsand something to know. This way it is impossible to knoweverything. Therefore you have to reach the non-dualisticstate. Buddha by definition is a non-dualistic state andbecause of that Buddha is omniscient.

The fifth quality is the perfect compassion and loving-kindness in manifestation. You can never be Buddha foryourself. If you wish to be perfect, you can never be perfectif it is for yourself only. You have to be perfect for thebenefit of all. Therefore everything that manifests fromthe Buddha will only benefit others, one way or another.Anything that manifests from the Buddha will never harmanybody. It will always be the manifestation that willbenefit others, one way or another.

The sixth quality of the Buddha is limitless power.The Buddha’s power has no limitation. Why, because allthe shortcomings in samsara to which we feel powerlessare because of our own weaknesses that are based on egoitself. The bigger your ego is the weaker you are. If youare the head of 200 groups you think you are big andimportant. But then you have to watch over and worryabout all those 200 groups and you have to be concernedabout all of them. The bigger your ego is the more worryyou will have with those 200, and as a result of that youwill have 200 misunderstandings, 200 fears, 200misinterpretations, 200 prejudices and 200 paranoias, allof that. So the bigger your ego is the less powerful youbecome. And the less powerful you become the more youwant to be sure you have more power. First you have tohave a little stick, and then it doesn’t work, so a biggerstick. Then that doesn’t work so then a small gun. Thenwhen that doesn’t work a bigger gun. Then when thatdoesn’t work a small bomb. Then a bigger bomb etc. Soat the end you just scream and go crazy. So until thatthere is no end. You will always need something biggerand more destructive and something more frightening tofrighten others. As long as your ego is not handled, thenyou will have fear, which you cannot pretend that youdon’t have. So that you show by showing that you arestrong, that you are macho, and you are big and dangerousand you are feared. All of this is the nature of the ego.

Because Buddha overcame all of that then he is themost powerful. The power of compassion is incomparableto any other power and the power of wisdom isincomparable to any other power. Therefore Buddha hasno fear whatsoever, because he has no ego whatsoever. He


transformed his ego into wisdom and because of that thenhe is the most powerful.

As I mentioned, the first three qualities of the Buddhawere qualities of the dharmakaya, the fourth, fifth andsixth are qualities of the sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya,how the Buddha manifests to others; the quality of thesun and how it manifests to all its surroundings. So theselast three qualities of the Buddha are how Buddhamanifests non-dualistically for the benefit of all sentientbeings, this categorization being another quality. There isno such thing as Buddha’s limitless spontaneous activitywith an end. It will always continue. The activities of PrinceSiddhartha are also the activities of all the Buddhas. Theyare timeless, therefore they are the activities of the pastBuddhas, the present Buddhas as well as the futureBuddhas. These are the six qualities of the Buddhadescribed in the Mahayana Uttaratantra.3

THE DHARMA

Now you understand the Buddha, next, the second, is thedharma. Dharma is the manifestation of the Buddha. Thereal definition of the dharma is the dharmakaya, but onceit manifests from the Buddha, then the recipients to whomit manifests then receive it and perceive it and it isimprinted in them as words or as an experience or, assome kind of inspiration and thought which stays withthem. Then it continues from them and it re-manifestsfrom them as a written form, a verbal teaching and so onand so forth. So the dharma, such as the Four NobleTruths, the Eight Fold Noble Path, the Six Paramitas,Prajnaparamita, Pramana, Abhidharma, Vinaya, Sutra and

Tantra, all of those are the manifestations from therecipients, who received the Buddha’s manifestation. Theyare manifesting it and that’s what we call a living lineage.What manifests from them is received by their disciplesand it manifests from them again. That is what we haveuntil today. So that is dharma.

Of course the dharma’s qualities are countless, butaccording to Lord Maitreya in the Mahayana Uttaratantrait is described with eight qualities.

The first quality of the dharma is, it is the ultimatetruth therefore it is inconceivable and ineffable by relativemeans. So the real essence of the dharma can never beperfectly told by anybody with any words, it is impossible.It is the limitless, ultimate truth; therefore it cannot bespoken with limited relative words.

The second quality of dharma is that it is non-dualistic. Buddha did not teach dharma the way I teachthe dharma. I teach dharma because I received it from thelineage. And I am passing it on to you through my notes,through my understanding and through my words. ButBuddha manifests the dharma. An example is the sky.The sky provides for all. If we build a thousand-storeybuilding right here, where does the sky go? And if youpull it down, where does the sky come from? And if youpollute the sky and it is dirty and you pile up 2000 feet ofgarbage, where does the clean sky go? And if you pull itdown and clean it up, then where does the clean sky comefrom? Right in front of our nose, this ineffable,indescribable, impossible is possible. So dharma is likethat, it is non-dualistic, it is ineffable.

The third quality of dharma is it is free from anyaspect of limitation. If there is any limitation then it is alimitation of the teacher of the dharma. But dharma itself

3. If the categorization into each group of three is counted then there are eight qualities.


has no limitation. Dharma is about everything. Dharmais relative truth and the ultimate truth of everything. Theessence of the dharma is the ultimate truth of everything,and the means to communicate that is the relative truthabout everything, therefore dharma is free from any aspectof shortcomings. The shortcomings are described in manyways here, but let’s leave them alone. We just say all theshortcomings.

The fourth quality of the dharma is: these three qualitiesof dharma are spontaneous, therefore ever present. And thedharma is not something that is described. The dharmawas not described by Prince Siddhartha or by BuddhaDipankara before him. And the dharma was not describedby a great Buddha many billions of years ago to whomPrince Siddhartha as a beggar in a previous life saw and gotinspired by. The dharma was not discovered by that Buddha.So the dharma was not discovered by Prince Siddhartha,the dharma is always there. Dharma is the ultimate essenceof everything at all times and is always there.

The fifth quality of dharma is that it is totallyincorruptible and stainless. Because the ultimate truth ofeverything, the ultimate truth of good, the ultimate truthof bad, the ultimate truth of correct and incorrect, theultimate truth of everything is not only one, it is beyondone, it is non-dualistic. It is not even one. Therefore it isincorruptible and unstainable by anything.

The sixth quality of dharma is that it is clear, clarity.There is nothing which is not clear.

The seventh is that it is an antidote in itself. Forexample, as a practitioner we try to meditate and prayand do all those kinds of dharma, which is an antidote forwhatever we are supposed to overcome. If somebody walkson the street and there is a hole in the street, and if theystep in it they might break their leg. But if you use yourmind and be aware and mindful and look where you aregoing, then that’s an antidote for not breaking your leg.So dharma is in everything, everything about dharma isan antidote and solution. It is always an antidote andsolution by itself.

The eighth quality, the last, it is the path. Regardlessof who you think you are—you can be Buddhist, you canbe Hindu, you can be a non-believer, you can be apolitician, you can be a thief, you can be a rich man or apoor man, you can be a kind or cruel person, you can beanybody, but whoever you are, in the dharma, all of youare equal. I just learned something from our dharmabrother here. I asked him a question. I said, “Why dopeople throw paint against each other in the Holi festival?”He said, “One of the reasons is to feel the equality, youcan throw paint at anybody.” And I add to it equanimity,because you are not allowed to get angry! Normally ifsomebody throws paint at you, then what is next thingthat you should expect? But in Holi, you just have to smile

and show your teeth, you are not allowed to show anything.They can paint your teeth, too! That is interesting.

Anyway, it is a path, everything is a path. Going upis a path and going down is also a path. Going here andthere and moving around is also a path. Of course, theideal path which we really wish to follow is straight forwardtowards the destination, towards the centre of the mandalaand to reach there without obstacles. And each step is abetter step, a wiser step, a more awakened step, that’s whatwe all wish for. But even if we don’t manage that, we areon the path. Even if we do something and go to hell,that’s also a path, because that is purification—purificationin the hard way.

Then if we do something good and we are born as agod, that’s also purification, but purification in a niceway, we are purifying all our good karma by enjoying allthe wonderful and nice things, indulging in all thosebeautiful and wonderful and blessed things in the heaven.That is purification of our good karma. Going to hell andgetting burned and chopped and all of that, it ispurification of our bad karma. But it is a path. And forus, when we will end is when we will realise the ultimateof the dharma, the ultimate truth as it is, that is thedharmakaya. The source of the dharma is dharmakaya,the end of the dharma is dharmakaya. The definition ofthe practice of dharma is dharmakaya.

So this way according to the Mahayana UttaratantraI have roughly and briefly explained about the qualitiesof Buddha and dharma, out of the Three Jewels. Before Italk about the sangha I am happy to take some of yourquestions.

QUESTIONS

Question: I didn’t understand when you said dharma

is clear.Rinpoche: The dharma, being the ultimate truth, is

not unclear. It is clear because it is never wrong and it isnever obscured. I will give you an example. If somebodyis trying to lie, the person thinks they managed to foolpeople and are lying. But it’s impossible because the truthof what they said, is a lie. They tried their best, but theycan never lie ultimately. If any of us try to lie, we cannever manage to lie ultimately because the truth of untrueis untruth. It will never be otherwise. The truth of thetrue is truth and truth of the untrue is untruth. It has atruth, the truth of untrue in untrue. The truth of a lie isa lie. So it is impossible to be unclear because the essenceof dharma is the essence of everything. Therefore it isalways clear, it is always transparent, it is always like light.It is not like darkness, it is transparent, always, that iswhat this clarity means, clearness.


Question: You said going to hell is a path, that

everything is a path, how is that?Rinpoche: If you don’t go to hell you can never get

out of the hell. How can you get out of hell without goinginto hell? That way it is a path, yes, it is purification.There is no such thing as a hell, ultimately. There is noultimate heaven or hell. Hell is relative. Why you are bornin hell is to purify all of the bad karmas that you havedone. That is the reason. And why you go to heaven isbecause of all the good karmas that you have done: it’slike you charge a cell phone battery overnight and thenyou use that for the whole day to talk with your friends,that is the heaven. You see? It is using the battery that youhave charged to talk with your friends. It’s like that witheverything in samsara. After you have used your batterythen you have to re-charge it. When you re-charge it thenyou can’t talk with your friends, so then you are in hell, or

something like that. We create new hells. In the old daysthere were no such things, everything was okay, but nowwe have all these things and without them we feel like hell!

Question: But being born as a human being is the

most precious one for the dharma?Rinpoche: A precious human life is described as being

with eighteen qualities.4 If you have those qualities, thenyour life is a precious human life. If one of them is missingthen you have a precious human life with seventeenqualities. If two of them are missing then you have aprecious human life with sixteen qualities etc. If all ofthem are missing, then you just have a human life, not aprecious human life. So you have to cultivate them.

Question: Does it mean that if you are an animal youcan’t somehow use your chance to become enlightened?

Rinpoche: In the Jataka tales Buddha describes hisprevious lives when he was a monkey, a rabbit, when hewas in hell, he described all of that. So it is very clear thatanimals can become Buddhas and hell beings can becomeBuddhas, because Buddha was born as an animal andBuddha was in hell and from there he slowly becameenlightened as Prince Siddhartha.

Question: I understood animals don’t have

consciousness and can’t make decisions, how would theybecome enlightened?

Rinpoche: You have to be born as a dog. The animallife from which to be born as a human being is a dog. Youare born as a tiger, as a fish and all kind of things, thenfinally you are born as a dog, that means you are going tobe a human. There is an old Tibetan saying. “Before youare born as a human you will be born as a dog and beforeyou go to hell you are going to be born as a leader.”

Question: I thought enlightenment was possible only

if you are a human being?Rinpoche: Not necessarily, but a human life is easier

because we are somewhat in between. We are not in asluxurious state as gods but we are not as deprived asanimals, we are somewhere in between. Therefore it is

4. Eight freedoms & ten opportunities. (Tal jor) Tal is often translated as “freedom” and jor as “endowments,” “qualities,” “resources,”and “opportunities” which constitute a precious human birth to practice dharma. The eight freedoms are traditionally enumeratedas freedom from birth as a hell being, a hungry ghost, an animal, a barbarian, a long-lived god, a heretic, a mentally handicappedperson, or living in a dark age (here meaning when no Buddha has come, in other contexts, according to the teachings on fivedegenerations we are living in a dark age). Of the ten conjunctions or resources, the five personal conjunctions are having a humanbody, being born in a land to which the dharma has spread, having all of one’s senses intact, not reverting to evil ways, and havingconfidence in the three jewels. (Having one’s senses impaired to the extent that one’s mind could not function properly in the studyand practice of dharma would constitute the loss of one’s precious human birth.) The five conjunctions that come by way of othersare that a Buddha has been born in this age, that the Buddha taught the dharma, that the dharma still exists, that there are stillfollowers who have realized the meaning and essence of the teachings of the dharma, and there are benevolent sponsors.


quite easy for us to look up and look down, look rightand left. It is easier for human beings, definitely, but itdoesn’t have to be. There are Buddhas of the six realms:Buddhas of gods, Buddhas of asuras, Buddhas of humans,Buddhas of animals, Buddhas of hungry ghosts, Buddhasof hells, six Buddhas. We even have an enormous pujawhich involves all six Buddhas.

THE SANGHA

Sangha in Tibetan is gendun. Ge is gewa which is virtue,virtuous, and dunpa means pursuing or dedicated to orinvolved with. So, you yourself as sangha are involved invirtuous practise and also leading others in the samedirection, involving others in virtuous practice. Thisgenerally describes any person who is him or herselfinvolved in virtuous activity, conducting themselvespositively and virtuously. But then of course when we sayBuddha, dharma, sangha, that means—the definition ofvirtuous activity and conduct is the dharma, so followingthe dharma. And in Buddhism, when we say sangha, thatmeans, one who is following the virtuous conduct andpractices which manifest from the Lord Buddha.

Sangha generally has two aspects. One is ordinarysangha and the other one is extraordinary sangha.Ordinary sangha in general Buddhist terminology meansordained monks and nuns. The extraordinary sangha are

the enlightened bodhisattvas and enlightenedmahasiddhas. But today’s common usage of sangha, inthe west, they use the word sangha for every Buddhist. Soevery Buddhist is sangha in the west. In principle, as thedefinition of the terminology, as far as sangha itself isconcerned, it is correct. But when we say “I take refuge inthe Buddha, I take refuge in the dharma, I take refuge inthe sangha,” then it is not one hundred percent appropriateto describe every Buddhist as sangha. In Tibetan society,most of the five million Tibetans are Buddhists, but theyare not called sangha. Sangha is the ordained monks andnuns and the enlightened mahasiddhas and enlightenedbodhisattvas. The past ones we know, bodhisattvas suchas Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, Vajrapani, andmahasiddhas such as Tilopa, Naropa, Dombi Heruka,Shavaripa, Marpa, Milarepa etc, they are the extraordinarysangha. But it is hard to know presently the extraordinarysangha. I think some time in the future we will know thepresent extraordinary sangha. So that is a generaldescription of sangha.

Now the quality of sangha, the definition of sangha,according to the Mahayana Uttaratantra, eight specificqualities about the sangha are given. These are the qualitiesof the Mahayana Refuge Sangha. The Uttaratantra is aMahayana text so this definition of sangha is of theMahayana Refuge Sangha.

The first one is described as ji-tawa chenpa. Ji-tawameans “as it is” and chenpa means “knowing”. So,“knowing as it is,” “knowing correctly.” As it is means, forexample, if I misunderstood this butter lamp to be anelectronic lamp, then it is not ji-tawa. When I understandthis as a butter lamp, then it is ji-tawa. Chenpa meansknowing. So ji-tawa means as it is, correctly, unmistakably.That means, during meditation, the Mahayana RefugeSangha recognize the nature of the mind withoutobscurations, and realising that in the practise and in themeditation that it was never stained by any defilements,forever. Also knowing at the same time that it is the natureof all sentient beings—not only yours, but all sentientbeings. And also knowing that this is free or empty of allaspects of self.

When we say all aspects of self, we have to go back tothe Theravada aspect of the teachings. There, the arhataspect is knowing the emptiness of everything, except forthe shortest moment and the smallest object, that is thearhat level.5 The pratyekabuddhas understanding of thisis, knowing the emptiness of the smallest object, but still,the shortest time, the shortest moment, the self, is still there.Therefore, to be free of all aspects of self means to be free of

5. In the Vaibhashika school, one of the four major schools of Indian Buddhism and one of the two major Hinayana schools,sometimes translated as the Particularist school, relative truth is defined as whatever can be broken down into parts and ultimatetruth as that which cannot be broken down, eg, indivisible atoms and indivisible moments of consciousness.


both the smallest object and the shortest moment of time.The shortest time by the definition of the mind, theperception, the thought, and the smallest object means allother external reality. So knowing this, as the Refuge Sanghaof Mahayana practices, is the first quality ji-tawa chenpa

Now the second quality, ji-nyedpa chenpa. Ji-tawameans “as it is” and ji-nyedpa means “all of it.” So, all thepeople here in this room are ji-nyedpa in this room. Allthe human beings on this Earth are ji-nyedpa of humanbeings on this Earth. The ji-nyedpa of everything meanseverything. So here ji-nyedpa means everything. Ji-tawais the quality and ji-nyedpa is the quantity. Knowing theji-nyedpa. Chenpa is the same.

So now, during the meditation, the Mahayana RefugeSangha, ji-tawa chenpa. In the post meditation, theMahayana Refuge Sangha, ji-nyedpa chenpa. Do youunderstand? So the meditation and the post meditation.Now in the post meditation ji-nyedpa chenpa is: all of therelative reality is always sacred and holy with its inherent,ultimate sacredness. For example, a vessel is sacred becauseits content is sacred. The content, the nature of mind issacred, so the vessel of the nature of mind, sentient beings’bodies, as well as all the so called inanimate objects thatsentient beings can see and touch and hear etc., are equallysacred. So recognition of the essence during the meditationand recognition of the external sacredness during the postmeditation, so these two are the first two qualities of theMahayana Refuge Sangha.

The first quality is mentioned by Nagarjuna in hisUma Tsawa Sherab, his text on Madhyamaka, in whichhe says: “The emptiness of one is the emptiness of all.”

The second quality, ji-nyedpa chenpa, is mentionedby Tilopa in his doha described as “Doha Right After HisEnlightenment”. A doha is a sacred song, sacred poetry.In this doha right after his enlightenment he says: “Theessence of the sesame seed—if the ignorant ones do notknow, then they will never be able to get the oil out of thesesame seed. But by knowing it, then putting in the effortto pound the sesame, then they will get the oil of thesesame out from the sesame seed.” So right after hisenlightenment he made this doha, a very long one, butI’m just sharing the first two lines here. So those are thefirst two qualities of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha.

The third quality is: that person, that being whopossesses that true aspect of wisdom, the ji-tawa chenpaand ji-nyedpa chenpa, is possessing the wisdom which isthe highest of all wisdom, because you cannot have thatwisdom if you are within the context of, or within thesphere of dualism. You have to be above that, you have togo beyond the limitation of dualism in order to possessthat wisdom. That way, this is superior wisdom, and theperson is known as the possessor of superior or the highest

level of wisdom. That is the third quality of the MahayanaRefuge Sangha.

Now the fourth quality. This ji-tawa chenpa, ji-nyedpachenpa, and superior wisdom, these three are the qualityof one’s own realisation. So these three qualities are thequality of the realization of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha.

The fifth quality of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha isto be free from the obscuration of attachment, anger andliking and disliking. Free of all of that which is relatedwith oneself and others. For example, I like myself—thatis one thing, I hate myself—that is another thing. I likesomebody is one thing and I hate somebody is anotherthing. Also, I prefer this to that. So free of all of this. Forexample, with myself, I’m absolutely free from “I hatemyself ” but I am not free from “I like myself.” I like myself,and it was a very big problem for me when I went to thewest for the first time in 1980. My first lecture was inWales. There I was giving a lecture and somebody wassaying, “I hate myself”. Those sorts of questions were askedof me, but I couldn’t understand. It was mind-bogglingfor me because my problem is I like myself so much. Ihave so much attachment for myself. I like me so much,so I have to overcome that. That is my problem. But now,here was somebody who did not have that problem, whosaid: “I hate myself!” I couldn’t understand it. Now, aftermore than twenty years, now I have somehow come tounderstand that if I like myself too much, then I don’tmeet with my expectations of me. Then I get disappointedabout myself because my expectations of me do not match.So it is like a flipping of liking yourself too much,unreasonably. So that is my interpretation about this today.I’m not really sure whether it is accurate or not, but thatis what I think. Otherwise, I can’t understand whysomebody would say, “I don’t like myself.” That’s a verybig mystery, an unimaginable mystery to me. But up tonow it only makes sense to me if I like myself so much thatI don’t perform according to my expectations about me. Somaybe that is half correct. Anyway, this quality is free fromattachment, hatred, and preferences, and all of this. That isthe fifth quality of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha.

The sixth quality of the Mahayana Refuge Sangha is:the body, speech, and mind activity of the MahayanaRefuge Sangha, there is shortage. This means there isnothing that the Mahayana Refuge Bodhisattva Sanghaare not capable of as far as their performance in concerned,their body, speech and mind performance is concerned.But of course it is not equal to the Buddha, so you shouldnot expect it to be like the Buddha. For example, whenBuddha manifests dharma, if there are present one thousandpeople with a thousand different languages, everyone willhear according to their own language and according to theirown capacity. Bodhisattvas have similar abilities, but not


exactly like a Buddha, so there are differences. We are talkingabout sangha, not about Buddha.

The seventh quality of the Mahayana Sangha is: theinner wisdom, the view of the inner wisdom, theperception of the inner wisdom is superior. That means:the bodhisattva Mahayana Refuge Sangha do not haveany kind of selfish motives whatsoever. So a self-orientedperception, outlook and motivation are totally zero. Thatmeans totally selfless. Every quality and wisdom of theMahayana Refuge Sangha, which are bodhisattvas likeAvalokiteshvara and Manjushri, they are totally matureso that whatever kind of power and manifestation thatthey are able to perform, it will never become an egoisticselfish thing. For example, with me, if I could performin two places in Delhi at the same time I would be quiteproud of myself. But for a bodhisattva of that level itwill never happen like that. That is the seventh qualityof the Mahayana Refuge Sangha.

The first three qualities are qualities of realisation,that categorization itself is the fourth. The fifth, six andseventh are qualities of freedom, qualities of liberation,which is the eighth. So these eight are the eight qualitiesof the Mahayana Refuge Sangha. When we say MahayanaRefuge Sangha according to the Mahayana Uttaratantraaccording of Lord Maitreya, he is talking aboutbodhisattvas with realisation. He is not talking aboutmonks or nuns or somebody who has just takenbodhisattva vows. He is talking about one who has reachedthe level of realisation so that they are worthy of refuge.When we say “I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refugein the dharma, I take refuge in the sangha,” it has to beequal. Buddha, dharma and sangha, all three have to bevery close to each other.

Buddha and dharma are the same thing in this case,because dharma is what manifests from the Buddha. Butthere are very important subtle differences between Buddhaand dharma, the dharma that we have and Buddha. Thisis because Buddha’s words and manifestations are accordingto the capacities of the recipients who receive it. Therefore,the teaching of dharma as we know it does not representwhat is the dharmakaya of the Buddha, totally. But ofcourse it is the outcome and manifestation of it. Thenwhen it comes to the sangha, again one step further,because the sangha are the ones who practise the dharmaand have some realisation of the dharma so that they ableto transmit the dharma and represent the Buddha. Thatway the Extraordinary Sangha, the bodhisattvas, aredescribed here. These are the eight qualities of the sangha.

So now the very basic subject for a Buddhist,understanding the Buddha, dharma and sangha is roughlycompleted.

THE MEANING OF REFUGE

When we say we take refuge under or to Buddha, dharmaand sangha, what does it really mean? It means a verysimple, clear and orderly thing: Buddha—I wish to reachBuddhahood. Dharma—by following the path which ismanifested from the Buddha. Sangha—by learning itfrom the living lineage, which is continued up to todayand by receiving it, the transmission, by having thecompanions, and by having the support and blessing ofthe sangha.

Taking refuge under Buddha, dharma and sanghameans that and this is what defines somebody as aBuddhist or not. Every sentient being has Buddha nature,every sentient being is equal to Buddha in his or heressence. Therefore, everybody is more than a Buddhist,because everybody is a Buddha himself or herself. But atthe same time, Prince Siddhartha attained enlightenmentand became Buddha Shakyamuni and by following histeaching, by taking refuge under Buddha, dharma andsangha, then we are his followers. But it does not meanthat the followers of Prince Siddhartha are the onlyBuddhists. No. Prince Siddhartha himself was not afollower of Prince Siddhartha. That way, anybody canreach the realisation of Prince Siddhartha by doing whathe has done, by realising what he has realised. This way,when we talk about refuge under Buddha, dharma andsangha; Buddha as Buddha Shakyamuni, dharma as allthe teachings that he has given, sangha as the ordinarysangha and the Extraordinary Sangha. This is theExtraordinary Sangha description.

So this is for Buddhists, and Buddhism, as one ofthe major religions of the world today, so according tothat, it is described. Of course I am a Buddhist, aBuddhist follower of Prince Siddhartha. But at the sametime I should not lose sight that this is not the only way.I am very happy with it, but it doesn’t mean that it islimited to this. Anybody who knows how to drink aglass of water one hundred percent perfectly is Buddha.I can say, with my ignorance and with my ego very loudly,that these days there are very few in this world whoknow how to drink a glass of water twenty-five percentcorrectly, let alone about one hundred percent correctly.This way, Buddhas, I haven’t seen too many. I haveonly heard and beliefs, you know, belief in many as aBuddha, but seeing one hundred percent clearly as aBuddha, very few. I want to leave it there, please don’tquestion me on this subject, okay! I am a believer andI rely on devotion, I rely on faith and so I would rathernot go further on this.

So that is about refuge.

We wish to thank Ani la Sherab and Rokpa Finland for transcribing, editing and offering these teachings for publication.

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