Lazy Lama looks at The Six Paramitas

By Ringu Tulku

"I think everything that we need to improve our world, our society and our humanity is in the Six Paramitas. These practices can make our lives good temporarily, as well as bringing lasting peace and happiness. 

This is an approach based on compassion, on wishing to help not only myself, but all of us together. The attitude is not "I

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bodhicharya Publications CIC
• Release date: Dec 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9780995734357

Ringu Tulku

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist Master of the Kagyu Order. He was trained in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism under many great masters including HH the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa and HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He took his formal education at Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Sikkim and Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, Varanasi, India. He served as Tibetan Textbook Writer and Professor of Tibetan Studies in Sikkim for 25 years.Since 1990, he has been travelling and teaching Buddhism and meditation in Europe, America, Canada, Australia and Asia. He participates in various interfaith and 'Science and Buddhism' dialogues and is the author of several books on Buddhist topics. These include Path to Buddhahood, Daring Steps, The Ri-me Philosophy of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great, Confusion Arises as Wisdom, the Lazy Lama series and the Heart Wisdom series, as well as several children's books, available in Tibetan and European languages.He founded the organisations: Bodhicharya - see www.bodhicharya.organd Rigul Trust - see www.rigultrust.org

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LAZY LAMA LOOKS AT

The Six Paramitas

RINGU TULKU RINPOCHE

Number 8 in the Lazy Lama series

First Published in 2021 by Bodhicharya Publications

Bodhicharya Publications is a Community Interest Company registered in the UK.

38 Moreland Avenue, Hereford, HR1 1BN, UK

www.bodhicharya.org email: [e-mail]

Text ©Bodhicharya Publications

Ringu Tulku asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. Please do not reproduce any part of this book without permission from the publisher.

ISBN 978-0-9957343-5-7

First Edition. 2021.

Transcribed and edited by Karma Trinley Paldron.

From teachings given at at Gaunts House, Dorset UK, and Karma Dzong, Paris.

Illustrations by Karma Orgyen Namdreul.

Typesetting & Design by Paul O’Connor at Judo Design, Ireland.

Cover Image: Conrad Harvey

Lazy Lama logo: Conrad Harvey & Rebecca O’Connor

Editor’s Preface

The Six Paramitas, or transcendent perfections, contain all the skills needed for taming the mind and opening the heart.

Paramita is a Sanskrit word. Para means beyond and the further shore and mita, means that which has arrived. So, broadly speaking, Pāramitā, means that which has gone to the further shore.

For beginners, the further shore seems very far away. We can feel overwhelmed before we even set out. But in this, the eighth book of the Lazy Lama series, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche helps us to understand how the path of the bodhisattva is possible for all of us.

In providing this wonderful bridge on the journey from here to the further shore, Rinpoche reveals the Six Paramitas as bodhicitta in action, rather than an unattainable state of perfection. Through his wisdom and great compassion, warm humour and unfailing patience, Rinpoche shows us how these profound teachings are essential to our lives, especially in these times of stress and great uncertainty.

Karma Trinley Paldron

Dublin, 2021

Introduction

It seems that so many things in this world are not going in the right direction, so I would like to say something about what we can do to make our world a better place to live. I think everything that we need to improve our world, our society and our humanity is in the Six Paramitas. These practices can be very useful for making our life temporarily good, as well as bringing lasting peace and happiness.

Paramita is a Sanskrit word, meaning that from this samsaric state of being, we cross over to nirvana. Para means the other side and mita means going to the other side. So that is Paramita, going from samsara to enlightenment.

The Six Paramitas is the practical training of the Bodhisattva’s path. In English, it is sometimes translated as perfection. I think what it means is to perfect these six positive trainings.

As this is the practice of Mahayana, or Bodhisattvayana, maybe we need to say a few words about the Bodhisattva, which is also a Sanskrit word. Bodhi is sometimes translated as enlightenment, from the root word bodh, to know. It means knowing completely how things are. Bodhi is the knowledge of wisdom, of awakening, free from confusion and ignorance, and "sattva" is somebody who has heart, or courage. So, a person who has the heart or the courage for awakening is called a Bodhisattva; and this awakening is not only of yourself, but of everybody.

Therefore, somebody who has the strong aspiration to end the sufferings of all beings and bring lasting peace and happiness to everybody, however difficult it may be and however long it might take, is called a bodhisattva.

It is an approach based on compassion, on the attitude of wishing to help not only myself, but all of us together. The attitude is not I and you, but me and we. I see everybody as we. Just as I myself want to be free from pain and suffering and problems, so do all sentient beings. And just as I want to be happy, joyful, and have all the positive things of life not just for a short time, but forever, so I also know that everybody wants the same thing.

We so wish all our near and dear ones to have happiness and be free from suffering that we often sacrifice a lot for them. This is not something foreign to us; it is done all the time. Everywhere in the world people are ready to sacrifice their lives to protect their family, their community, their country and their religion. In doing that, however, there is always a limitation.

When we have concepts, our limitations and our boundaries become very strong. We limit this love, this compassion, this willingness to help, to our side. The main reason is because we do not include everybody in this feeling of we. We say I, and we, and we protect what is ours against others. Sometimes we make others so horrible and insignificant that we don’t mind giving them all kinds of pain and suffering and torture. But if you look a little bit deeper, you will understand that they are not different from us.

I saw a film on the Rwanda massacre. People of one community were going with big, terrible swords, searching for the others, and saying, Where are the cockroaches? They were looking for people who were actually the same as themselves, but out of ignorance, out of a certain kind of hatred or wrong way of seeing, they were projecting what people think of as the worst kind of insect onto others, and then killing them. Because if you see people as nothing more than cockroaches then you have less of a problem, or maybe even no problem, to crush them.

From the bodhisattva’s point of view, that is not the way. Everybody is the same and has the same feelings. Like us, they want to love and be loved and they also feel the same way for their own near and dear ones.

Although bodhisattva may be a Buddhist word, in fact there are bodhisattvas everywhere, including animals, birds, fishes and insects. Why not? Anybody who has that kind of aspiration, or attitude, is called a bodhisattva.

In the Jataka Stories, it is said that Buddha took countless lifetimes before he became Buddha. Even after he became a bodhisattva, he took lots of different life forms. Sometimes he was a bodhisattva deer, or an elephant. Sometimes he was a monkey, or different kinds of birds...and sometimes even rabbits.

Once, when the Bodhisattva was a very kind, compassionate rabbit, he saw a hungry person, sick and alone in the forest, in great anguish and crying for help.

The rabbit said, What do you want?

The man said, I want food. I haven’t eaten. I’m going to die if I don’t get food.

So the rabbit said, What do you eat?

I eat meat. I’m a hunter. I couldn’t get any meat so therefore I am dying.

The rabbit said, Okay, you just make a fire and maybe you will get some meat.

So the hunter made a fire, and when his fire was very, very strong and very, very big, the rabbit ran quickly and jumped into the fire and he gave his body to this man.

So that is the rabbit bodhisattva. That is the main understanding from the Buddhist point of view.

Even if we don’t have that kind of natural compassion for every being, we can learn, we can understand and we can train. To see the importance of being a bodhisattva, to generate the bodhisattva’s attitude and then to become one, is the strongest, most positive practice.

It is said that if you become a bodhisattva, you will become a Buddha sooner or later. There is no alternative. Just as a crown prince is sure to become the next king, in the same way a bodhisattva is sure to become a Buddha, even if he or she doesn’t want to become one.

Many bodhisattvas like Chenrezig make a promise to themselves, I will never, ever become a Buddha until I have led every being to Buddhahood without exception and without leaving anyone behind. Only then will I become Buddha.

When you have so much compassion and so much wisdom, you are a Buddha whether you like it or not. You want to transform yourself, but you think what is the use if you alone are free of problems. You have to make sure that everyone else is free also. Their cause is as dear to you as your own cause.

I have to transform myself first, otherwise I cannot help. I have to learn how to be free from suffering and pain and the problems of samsara. I have to learn how to deal with my own emotions and negative habitual tendencies and see things in a clear way. So therefore, first I need to train in order to help others. It is not that while I am training I cannot help anybody, but I have to work on myself. I have to be the change. Without transforming myself, I cannot transform others.

We can train in compassion and in how we love people. We can train in how we see things and in how we react. We can also train our minds to be more calm. This is something everybody can learn.

Through reasoning, we can find that it is much better for myself and for the whole world if I am kinder and more compassionate. If I have lots of hatred, if I react with anger and greed, eventually I am the sufferer and I cause so much trouble for others. It is not good or useful for me to be that way. I need to train to be less negative, less angry and less jealous, and learn to be kinder, more compassionate and more loving. If I can do something helpful for others, then the one who is helped most is myself. Plus it also helps other people. So I must try to cultivate something that is good for me and good for everybody else. That is the motivation and the understanding.

Sometimes, people have the idea that I am only doing things for others and it’s not good for me. It is harming me. Sometimes, I have even heard people say, "I’ve been too compassionate, now