3 August 2009

I spent a long day at Shechen house not doing much, trying to keep cool in boiling Delhi. The high point was greeting Rabjam Rinpoche who arrived at the house on his way to Taiwan. I started climbing the huge mountain of studying which I must summit in order to keep up with my class at the nunnery. I’m reading Khenpo Tsewang Sonam’s wonderful Abhisamayalankara commentary. The author is said by some to be one of the best students produced by our shedra at Namdroling. At the airport I had some nice chats with the check-in and immigration officials. We flew out of Delhi just after midnight.

2 August 2009

I took the bus out to the shiny new Bengaluru International Airport. I had been missing my coffee that morning, so I took advantage of both the Coffee Day and the Barista Coffee at the airport. I love coffee and I love that the Tibetan medicine I’ve been taking lets me drink more of it without ill effect. Earlier, my mother had advised me: “Try not to drink to much coffee or eat too many carbs.” Sorry Mom, I’m going to Europe. I was met at the Delhi airport by Ani Pema and two new Dharma friends. We spent the night at Shechen House where Khenpo was staying.

1 August 2009

I spent the morning thinking: I’m not supposed to be leaving shedra in the middle of the year and I’m not ready to translate, especially for Khenpo. The head disciplinarian Ani Y.W. gave me some encouragement, “By doing this you will be serving not only Khenpo, but our monastery and nunnery. You will be developing your own skills as well. We are all very happy you are going and will pray for you.” That did help me feel better. In the afternoon, I took the bus to Bangalore and stayed in a small hotel in Gandhinagar, near the bus station. I took some neat photos on the way.

A temple under construction.

This looks more like Canada than India.

My 'Semester Abroad'

I have decided to post 108 words about each day of my trip to France. Here's how it all started:

Two weeks ago, I went to translate for Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche in Bangalore. His original translator had fallen ill. The next day I joked to the translator: "Don't worry if you are too sick to go to Europe, I'll go in your place and you can stay here and write my exams." Not catching the end bit of that sentence, he replied, "That's a good idea!" I spent the next two weeks getting ready. I got permission to miss classes but still be allowed to write our final exams. Due to visa issues we weren’t sure the trip would happen, but it came together in the end.

Debate, Part 1

I'm still studying the Dharma, I always will be a student, but at this point I certainly don't see myself as a teacher. That being said, I have given a few talks here and there. In June, I gave my first talk at a Palyul lineage Buddhist center, namely Thubten Lekshey Ling Dharma Subhshita in Bengaluru (Bangalore). I promised at the talk that I would post a review of the main topics, so here is part one.

I explained the basics of debate as it is carried out in Tibetan Buddhism. We use logic to inquire about the Dharma. The Buddha says:

Monks and wise ones,

Just as you would burn, cut and burnish gold

Examine my teachings

Do not accept them out of faith.

Likewise Mipham Rinpoche has taught:

If the teachings of the Victor, which are logical,

Are extablished through logic,

And thus by the path of logic certainty is developed

The true result of the logical teachings will be seen.

So, logic is important. We begin our study of logic by learning the four points of relationship between things. Identical, seperate, three points, and four points. For example:

Identical: impermanent and caused are identical, they are different names for the same thing. Thus, whatever is impermanent is caused, whatever is caused is impermanent. Here identical means a singular entity. Not in the broader sense of identical objects, such as identical twins.

Seperate: permanent and impermanent are seperate. Whatever is permanent is not impermanent and vice versa. A pot and a pillar are seperate. Two identical twins would also be seperate, since there is nothing which is both of them.

3 Points: impermanent and knowable; All which is impermanent is knowable, not all which is knowable is impermanent. Thus we have something which is both: physical matter. Something which is knowable but not impermanent: space. Something which is neither: rabbit horns (not knowable because rabbits don't have horns, nor impermanent because they do not exist.)

4 Points: wisdom and permanent. That which is both: the wisdom of a Buddha. That which is wisdom but not permanent: the wisdom of a bodhisattva on the path of learning. That which is permanent but not wisdom: space. That which is neither wisdom nor permanent: matter.

Here are some more approachable examples:

3 Points: A ring and a gold ring. That which is both: A gold ring. That which is gold but not a ring: A gold brick. That which is neither: a silver ring.

4 Points: A ring and gold: That which is both: a gold ring. That which is gold but not a ring: a gold brick. That which is a ring but not gold: a silver ring. That which is neither: a necklace.

3 Points: American and American president: He who is both: Barrak Obama. American but not president: Hillary Clinton. Neither: the Queen of England.

4 Points: American and president: both: Obama. American but not president Hillary. President but not American: The president of any other country (unless he or she holds American citizenship). Neither: the citizen of any other country who is not a president.

Thus, we can examine both mundane phenomena and philosophical terms as to wether they are the same, different, or intersect with three or four points.

For example, let's debate on compassion:

Me: Are compassion and bodhicitta identical, seperate, three points or four points?

You: Three points.

Me: What are the three points?

You: All bodhichitta is compassionate, not all compassion is bodhichitta.

Me: What is that which is compassion but not bodhichitta?

You: Worldly compassion which is not embraced by the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of others is not bodhichitta.

Me: So if compassion is not united with the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of others it is not bodhichitta?

You: Yes, that is correct.

Funny conversations...

I've been meaning to post some of the funny conversations I've had. Early this morning:

ROOMATE: Ani Damchoe Wangmo! Did you drop 200 rupees (about U.S. five dollars) in the toilet?

ME: Uh...

RM: Someone dropped 200 rupees in the toilet!

ME: (cringing at the thought of Gandhi-ji's visage getting dirty in our toilet) Did you take it out?

RM: (points to two wet 100 rupee notes drying on the window sill) So it isn't yours?

ME. I don't think so.

RM: I think it is mine. I took a shower last night. (yes, we shower in our toilet stall, for privacy)

ME: Well... if you are not sure you could offer it (for a puja). But... maybe you shouldn't offer those exact bills because...

BOTH OF US: They fell in the toilet! (laughter)

How I spent my 29th birthday

I started my day with some coffee and practice. Talked to my mother and brother on the phone. Read my first few birthday wishes on facebook. Read a book Konchog gave me about the Mongolian folk hero lama Danzan Rabjaa. Studied Devangari, the alphabet common to Hindi and Sanskrit. Called Khenpo Pema Sherab's attendant to ask about a reading transmission for a certain text, told to come tomorrow morning. Had lunch. Got an hour of electricity around noon. Read more birthday wishes on facebook. Had a shower. Spent half an hour using Teach2000 to study the definitions of the five paths. Worked on memorizing the titles of the 17 Prajnaparamitra sutras and 21 Indian commentaries on them. At 3 pm went to First Camp for cappucinno with some Western friends and one Nepalese ani (most Tibetans don't follow birthdays). Inhaled a lot of fumes from the generator next to the cafe. Went back to the nunnery. Bought some momos from the vendor at the gate. Went back to my room. Ate chips for dinner and had another coffee, because hey its my birthday. Went to my friend's room to charge my computer. Messed around on the internet. Felt sorry about Aung San Suu Kii's situation. Taught my friend who speaks about five words of English how to say 'Shame on you.' Took fully charged laptop back to my room. Wrote this blog.

What I'm up to in shedra land

We've been having classes in the evening instead of the usually 8:30 am because our days have been filled with puja for our lama's passing. Despite the very sad reason for it, I found I like class in the evening much more than in the morning. I've felt sharper.

In a month we've only gotten to page 22 of Paltrul Rinpoche's General Commentary (spyi don) on Abhisamalankara. It is typical to go this slowly at the beginning of a text. The first quatrains of many shastras are not only homages to the Buddhas and so on, but contain pith summaries of the main points of the texts.

Our teacher asked us if we would like him to teach us Haribhadra's Abhisamayalankara commentary Short Commentary Clear in Meaning ('grel chung don gsal) at the same time, or wait until after we finished the General Commentary. We voted on it and the result is we are covering each section in the General Commentary then following it with the same section in the Short Commentary.

The Short Commentary is interesting to read because it is a Tibetan translation of an Indian Commentary. This means its Tibetan is unusual; it has been bent and stretched to be an exact translation of the original Sanskrit. These days some Dharma students complain that the English translations of Tibetan texts and sadhanas are hard understand, filled with 'translator speak'. Well, if that's true, at least there is a precedent for it in history.

On the side, to try to shore up my understanding of the above texts, I am reading Khenpo Tsewang Sonam's commentary The New Radiance ('od snang gsar pa), as well as Botrul Tenpa'i Nyima's Words of Maitreya (ma pham zhal lung), and occasionaly looking at Tsongkapa's Golden Rosary (legs bshad gser phreng).