“We do not have such sharp faculties as the Kagyu forefathers did, and our faculties are really rather dull, our faith, our diligence, our prajñā (wisdom) and lesser in strength. So we are not the same as them. Thus, it is important for us to engage in a certain degree of listening and contemplation and to study many different philosophical texts.”
“The main point is has our better understanding of the Dharma become such that we have greater consideration for karma, cause and effect in our daily lives? Do we have more faith and devotion for great gurus? Do we have more compassion for sentient beings? We need to look and see if this is happening. It is not a question of whether we can become more fluent with our tongues. It does not mean that. So when we get into debates, we cannot really see if someone is really engaging with the Dharma and looking inside or outside.”
“During the time of the 10th Karmapa, Choying Dorje there was the Mongolian invasion and when the Mongolians came, there was a lot of destruction of not just the Kagyu but also the Jonang, the Bonpos and different lineages. The ‘worst hit’ was the Kagyu and among them the Karma Kagyu and the Drugpa Kagyu. In particular, the Karma Kagyu experienced the worst destruction. In the past, in Karma Kagyu there was a well-developed and strong community of study, which was destroyed entirely. For example, many of the monasteries founded by the 7th and 8th Karmapas are nothing more than ruins, and it is difficult to even identify what several of them are. So, for three hundred years within the Karma Kagyu there were no fully-fledged shedras at that time. This is because of external conditions and being unable to establish shedras.”
“This is a time when we need to restore the Karma Kagyu and it is very important to do that now. In the future, we have no idea whether there will be as many people interested in the Dharma. So this time now, is a really crucial time. In this way, think carefully about it. We must not waste this time that we have and let it slip past us and let this opportunity go to waste. I think it is difficult for us to achieve an opportunity like this again in the future.” —17th Karmapa (Day 3, January 2024)
For Guru Rinpoche day today am happy to offer the transcript of the third and final day of the 17th Karmapa’s Kagyu Guncho teaching on the 8th Karmapa’s Instructions on the Seven Pointing Outs of Yanggonpa (here is Day 1 and Day 2). This was a shorter teaching because the 17th Karmapa only gave the oral transmission (lung) of the final four of the seven points of the text, and did not give a word explanation.
After the transmission, the main focus of the teaching was on the importance of listening, contemplation and practice in the Kagyu and how without the former, practice would not be easy or even successful. Yet, if the study and contemplation did not tame, subdue and transform our minds and conduct, then it had not become actual Dharma.
The 17th Karmapa then explained again how from the 10th Karmapa onwards, due to the violent Mongolian [and Gelugpa] invasion, domination and takeover of Tibet learning and excellence in Karma Kagyu experienced serious setbacks, suppression and destruction of their shedras and study communities and that the Kagyupas in particular were ‘worst hit’ by this brute treatment. For that reason, he advised that now was a good opportunity to revive and re-etablish the Karma Kagyu tradition of excellence in study and practice, as there was not longer anyone forbidding them from doing so. For another more detailed teaching last year by the 17th Karmapa on the destruction of Kagyu shedras and how one renowned Kagyu shedra in particular was stolen and converted to the Gelugpa Ganden monastery, see here. Here is a short video (Tibetan with English captions) I made of the section where Karmapa speaks about this.
Although the 17th Karmapa did not say this explicitly, according to several contemporary scholars [1] this destruction was done with the full permission of the Dalai Lamas/Gelugpas as the Mongolian’s ‘spiritual’ leaders. For more on the suppression and censorship of other lineages, their land, monasteries and texts at the hands of the Mongolian/Gelugpa forces in Tibet, also see Gene E Smith’s excellent and ground-breaking article “Banned Books in the Tibetan-Speaking Lands (2004). and Cecile E. Ducher’s Goldmine of Knowledge: Collections of the Nechu Lhakhang in Drepung Monastery (2020). For more on the horrific suppression and treatment of the 10th Karmapa, Choying Dorje by the Mongolians and Gelugpas, see endnote 1 below taken from scholar, Dr Imgard Mengele’s Treasury of Lives biography on the 10th Karmapa. If anyone has any photos or information about the caves/meditation places that 10th Karmapa stayed at in Tibet during that time, as mentioned in the biography, please let me know!
As a sidenote, I personally feel this campaign to denigrate the Karmapa and Karma Kagyu and interfere with their activities has continued by the Mongolian-appointed Gelugpas in exile too. From starting to call him ‘Karmapa Rinpoche’, having him seated lower than the 14th Dalai Lama, to making jokes about the ‘two Karmapas’ to him having to stay in a Gelugpa monastery the many years he was based in Dharamsala, to even worse than that. This form of conduct was a way to control and diminish him in everyone’s eyes. Fortunately, such ‘bullying’ had not been successful, in fact, one might even say that their efforts have had the opposite effect, as can be seen at the turnout at the annual Kagyu Monlam this year and the Karmapa’s amazing depth and breadth of original teachings.
The Karmapa then spoke about the huge numbers of Karma Kagyu monastics at the Kagyu Monlam this year, so many they could not fit in Tergar Monastery! In addition, he spoke about his joy at 12th Tai Situpa being able to attend the Monlam for the first time this year in Bodh Gaya, after years of being prevented from doing so. In that respect, it is even more astounding that such present-day Karma Kagyu activities, such as the Kagyu Guncho and Arya Kshema, under the close leadership and guidance of the 17th Karmapa (who for the past twenty years or more has also had to ‘contend’ with another candidate for the Karmapa title put forward by the 14th Zhamarpa only, and who was never officially chosen and enthroned by the majority of Karma Kagyu in Tibet or exile). A testament to the power, intelligence and wisdom of the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, and the Karma Kagyu’s tradition of ‘brilliance’ in terms of both practitioners, scholars and textual legacy.
The Karmapa then went onto announce that for the forthcoming Arya Kshema nuns event (the annual Spring teaching) he would teach on the Vajrayana text Fifty Verses on the Guru. He explained the reason because:
“Previously, during the time of 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje and the 9th Karmapa, Wangchug Dorje, there were shedras studying the path of the prajnaparamita sutras and in addition, there were also tantra colleges where people particularly studied the resultant vehicle of the Vajrayana. These tantric shedras/secret mantra colleges, although it is not entirely clear for us right now, and we do not know the exact details of the texts in the curriculum, when you investigate it, we can get a reasonable idea what they would have taught. In the tantric colleges, the first topic was the Fifty Verses on the Guru. The reason for that is in Vajrayana secret mantra, the guru and student keeping samaya and their relationship being respectful is very important. The text that teaches these topics best is the Fifty Verses on the Guru.”
After the final dedications, the 17th Karmapa gave an oral transmission of some of his self-composed texts that had been requested by some people in Tibet, of three Praises to Hayagriva. This oral transmission has been edited out of the English translation video recording for some unknown reason, but is still in the Tibetan recording, here.
Music? For the Kagyu forefathers/lineage, Supplication to the Three Great Tibetan Masters of the Kagyu Lineage and Prayer to the Glorious Karma Kagyu Lineage, both chanted by the supreme lineage holder of Karma Kagyu, 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje. For the vajra heart guru, You Are Everything by Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye.
Dedicated to the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa and the Kagyupas, may your activities flourish and prosper! Transcribed and compiled by Adele Tomlin, 20th January 2024.
8th Karmapa’s Instructions on Yangonpa’s Seven Pointing Outs
Transcript (Day 3 Kagyu Guncho teaching by 17th Karmapa)
The importance of listening and contemplation in order to transform our minds
“Today, is the last day of our teachings. I will mainly read the transmission. There is not a lot left of it. As I said before, the instructions on the seven pointing outs have the instructions on shamatha, on Superior Insight and freedom from Elaborations we have already been through. Now we have the instructions on the last four points [Karmapa then gave a reading transmission of that].
The main thing is as Je Gampopa said, beginners should apply themselves assiduously to listening and contemplation and those with experience should apply themselves to meditation. For us beginners, it is very important to engage in listening and contemplation.
In the Kagyu, the forefathers primarily practised meditation, but that does not mean they did not do any listening or contemplation, which is studying the great texts of philosophy as we do in our monastic colleges. Now, whether the great Kagyu forefathers did this, I am not sure but they were able to teach the meaning of these great philosophical texts in the form of profound, pith instructions. Likewise, our gateway into studying the profound Dharma are the pith instructions of the Dharma. There are people who have sharp faculties and who have very wide knowledge and who have great intelligence. The great forefathers are like that, so they understand the main points of the main philosophical texts, they were able to understand them. We do not have such sharp faculties as they did and our faculties are really rather dull, our faith, our diligence, our prajñā (wisdom) are lesser in strength and so we are not the same as them. So, it is important for us to engage to a certain degree of listening and contemplation and to study many different philosophical texts. It is important for us to try harder than they did and to work harder than they did. Ourselves and the Kagyu forefathers are not the same in the terms of our mental capacities, or the power of our prajñā/sherab (wisdom). So we need to continue listening and contemplation and to continue to read philosophical texts. This is important.
However, when talking about listening and contemplation. If we do this and are looking outwards. We are always doing a lot of listening and contemplation and engaging in debate and become very quick with our mouth, and we just look at the faults of the other person, this is what happens, right? But this is a sign that we have not taken listening and contemplation as the path and that it has not become Dharma. No matter how much listening and contemplation we have done, we need to be able to turn our minds inwards and look at ourselves to see what our faults are. We need to become someone who can examine our body, speech and mind. if we are able to do this, that is a sign that we are able to take the listening and contemplation as the path. So we need to see whether our listening and contemplation has become Dharma or the path or not.
The main thing is no matter how much listening and contemplation we have done, how peaceful and subdued have we become? Has our listening and contemplation been of benefit to our minds? Has our better understanding of the Dharma becomes such that we have greater consideration for karma, cause and effect in our daily lives? Do we have more faith and devotion for great gurus? Do we have more compassion for sentient beings? We need to look and see if this is happening. It is not a question of whether we can become more fluent with our tongues. It does not mean that. So when we get into debates, we cannot really see if someone is really engaging with the Dharma and looking inside or outside.
In any case, we are practising the Buddha Dharma and wearing the clothes and robes of a Dharma practitioner. The main thing now is that we need to tame our untamed mind. We need to make our rigid mind softer. That is what we need to put our efforts into. If we are unable to do this then from the perspective of Dharma, then it is not right. In any case, no matter listening and contemplation, there is only one destination and that is looking inside and changing our mind and improving it. That is the only place we need to go. We need to know our mind clearly. We need to understand what our aim and what we need to accomplish. It is important for this to be unmistaken. If it is mistaken then we may spend a long time on study and listening and contemplating but not achieve much from it. So we must keep this in mind.”
The destruction of Kagyu study communities and shedras in Tibet and the 12th Tai Situpa at this year’s Kagyu Monlam
“As I said before, this year for the Kagyu Guncho ,there are a very large number of monks there, they cannot fit inside the Tergar Monastery. So, in addition to those who have been coming regularly, there are a couple of extra shedras who have come, and this is wonderful. It is everyone developing enthusiasm. I have said in the past, generally within the Kagyu the shedras developing in the Karma Kagyu began around the time of the 7th Karmapa. In the Drugpa Kagyu it was around the time of Kunkhyen Pema Karpo. This was the time when many shedras were founded. So it around the time of the 7th Karmapa, although there was a shedra before that founded by Jangchub Gyeltsen, that was probably the earliest Kagyu shedra. In any case, the community of study really turned out very well and was very strong.
Then during the time of the 10th Karmapa, there was the Mongolian invasion and when the Mongolians came, there was a lot of destruction of not just the Kagyu but also the Jonang, the Bonpos and different lineages. The ‘worst hit’ was the Kagyu and among them the Karma Kamtsang and the Drugpa Kagyu. In particular, the Karma Kagyu experienced the worst destruction. In the past, in Karma Kagyu there was a well-developed and strong community of study, which was destroyed entirely. For example, many of the monasteries founded by the 7th and 8th Karmapas are nothing more than ruins, and it is difficult to even identify what several of them are. So, for three hundred years within the Karma Kagyu there were no fully-fledged shedras at that time. This is because of external conditions and being unable to establish shedras [For more on what happened during that time, see endnote 1].
These days, it is a question of our own ability, if we can manage to do to re-establish these shedras, there is no longer any external circumstance of someone saying we cannot do it anymore. So, on a day like this, for us to restore the Kagyu community of study and to uphold the transmission of the teachings, is a wonderful opportunity for us to do that.
This is a time when we need to restore the Karma Kagyu and it is very important to do that now. In the future, we have no idea whether there will be as many people interested in the Dharma. So this time now, is a really crucial time. In this way, think carefully about it. We must not waste this time that we have and let it slip past us and let this opportunity go to waste. I think it is difficult for us to achieve an opportunity like this again in the future. I do not have much else to say.
Last year, we did not have the Summer teachings, so the next few days will begin the Kagyu Monlam and Jamgon Vajradhara Tai Situpa we have hoped for a long time that he could come to the Kagyu Monlam and wondered ‘will be able to come?’ I have hoped for this for a long time and many people I know really hoped he will come. But up until now he has been unable to do so. But this year, he has been able to come and this is a great fortune. So, during the Monlam he will give teachings and empowerments and that is a great fortune.”
Teaching of Fifty Verses on the Guru for the Arya Kshema nuns’ event
“Following that, we will have the Arya Kshema teachings for nuns. I thought about what topics I should teach on, and recently we talked about it a bit and some people said, I should teach the Ornament of Precious Realisation or the 37 Practices of the Bodhisattva and many other ideas, but in the end what we decided was the Fifty Verses on the Guru (Lama Nga-chupa) [said to be by the 1st Century Indian scholar-translator, Ashvaghosha ( སློབ་དཔོན་དཔའ་བོ།)].
The reason for this, is that previously, during the time of 8th Karmapa, Mikyo Dorje and the 9th Karmapa, Wangchug Dorje, there were shedras studying the path of the prajnaparamita sutras and in addition, there were also tantra colleges where people particularly studied the resultant vehicle of the Vajrayana. These tantric shedras/secret mantra colleges, although it is not entirely clear for us right now, and we do not know the exact details of the texts in the curriculum, when you investigate it, we can get a reasonable idea what they would have taught. In the tantric colleges, the first topic was the Fifty Verses on the Guru. The reason for that is in Vajrayana secret mantra, the guru and student keeping samaya and their relationship being respectful is very important. The text that teaches these topics best is the Fifty Verses on the Guru.
So the first topic will be the Fifty Verses on the Guru and the second topic is the root downfalls of the secret mantra. There is a text by the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje that they probably used to teach this. So, in the future I would like to speak about this text called the Ocean of Samayas (Damtsig Gyatso). This year, I will speak on the Fifty Verses of the Guru.
In the past, I have taught the Fifty Verses to a few people, not to the public, once a month over six months and so during those times, I got a bit of experience about it. So I think if I teach it again, it will turn out alright, that is my hope.”
The Karma Kagyu monastic debates and conference – personally hand signed hundreds of certificates
“Today during the Kagyu Guncho everyone has been very enthusiastic and divided into teams and worked hard and produced good results. Mingyur Rinpoche handed out the certificates. And I personally signed all these certificates myself and then sent them to you. So I signed about 400-460 and so my finger became a little crooked and stiff for me to sign them all you might think it would be easier to print them all. But as they are considered special, instead of that I personally hand signed them all and sent them. So it has been a not inconsiderable result.
I think the conference went well. I think I can attend the conference in person in the future. I think it might be beneficial to do that. I want to say thank you to all the presenters at the conference in particular to Khenpo Jigme.”
At the end after the dedications, the 17th Karmapa gave an oral transmission of some of his self-composed texts that had been requested by some people in Tibet. He gave three transmission including a Praise to Hayagriva.”
Endnotes
[1] It is said by historians, that when Gushri Khan and the Mongolian army invaded Central Tibet and defeated the indigenous Tsangpa Dynasty, he was proclaimed (chogyal), i.e. the King of Dharma, or Teaching, by the Fifth Dalai Lama. Gushi Khan granted to the Dalai Lama authority over Tibet from Dartsedo to Ladakh. The title “Dalai Lama” itself had previously been bestowed upon the third lama of the Gelug tulku lineage by Altan Khan (not to be confused with the Altan Khans of the Khalkha), and means, in Mongolian, “Ocean of Wisdom.”For more on the Mongolian/Dalai Lama attacks/invasion in Ladakh and the Drugpa Kagyu teachers there, see here.]
In the Treasury of Lives biography on the 10th Karmapa by scholar, Dr Imgard Mengele goes into the horrific and cruel way the 10th Karmapa was treated by the 5th Dalai Lama/Mongolians/Gelugpas in Tibet:
“Soon after the death of his brothers, U and Tsang again erupted into war, one that resulted in the total destruction of the kingdom of Tsang and the ascendance of the Dalai Lama and Geluk power in Lhasa. In 1639, at the invitation of Geluk hierarchs, the leader of the Khoshot Mongols Gushri Khan (1582-1655) led an army into Kham, obliterating the Bon kingdom of Beri (be ri) and then proceeded to march eastwards towards Lhasa. When Gushri Khan reached as far west as Kongpo and seized territories there, the Karmapa was asked by patrons and supporters to call up the considerable military forces of the area. He refused to get involved, saying, that should he be responsible for the destruction of the Geluk monasteries, “It would be an ugly thing for the Buddha’s teachings.” The Karmapa was later criticized for not helping to defend his patron, the king of Tsang.
In 1642 the Karmapa escaped the chaos of the fighting by going south to Lhodrak, where he took the opportunity to recognize the Fourth Pawo, Tsuklak Kuntu Zangpo (dpa’ bo 04 gtsug lag kun tu bzang po, 1633-1649), who was then about eight years old.
Together with his disciples, the twenty-five-year-old Fifth Tsurpu Gyeltsab, Tsang Khenchen, and most probably the Fourth Pawo, the Karmapa stayed at a cave called the Marme Puk (mar me phug) of Nyanya (gnya’ gnya’), which he had visited in 1617 with his late tutor, the Third Pawo. He spent most of this visit producing statues and paintings. He also received teachings from Tsang Khenchen. On the eighth day of the first month of the year 1643 at Sung Puk (zungs phug), the Karmapa performed the full monastic-ordination ceremony for the Fifth Gyeltsab and installed him in his office. On that occasion, the Fourth Pawo received also his novice ordination.
Meanwhile, after a long siege, Shigatse, the capital of the king of Tsang, finally fell to Gushri Khan’s troops. The king was imprisoned in Lhasa and was executed there some months later. The young Fifth Dalai Lama was brought to Shigatse and entrusted with responsibility for religious affairs of Tibet, while Gushri proclaimed himself to be the king of all Tibet. Gushri and his Geluk supporters then embarked on a vicious campaign of destruction, razing monasteries belonging to the Nyingma and Kagyu tradition, converting many to the Geluk tradition.
The Karmapa attempted to negotiate with the Fifth Dalai Lama to have his monasteries restored to him, but for the most part the Dalai Lama refused, agreeing only to place his seal on a document that gave vague assurances to the protected status of the Karma Kagyu tradition. A supporter of the Karmapa with the title of Zhokhapa (zho kha pa) attacked the Geluk monastery Chokhorgyel Metoktang (chos ‘khor rgyal me tog thang). Other rebels who launched attacks against the Mongolian invaders appear to have stayed at the Karmapa’s encampment in Lhodrak. Consequently, in 1644, Gushri Khan’s troops, supported by the Kyisho Depa, Choje Tendzin Lobzang Gyatso (skyid shod sde pa chos rje bstan ‘dzin blo bzang rgya mtsho, 1593-1638), surrounded the encampment.
The twentieth abbot of Taklung Monastery (stag lung), Ngawang Tashi Peldrub (ngag dbang bkra shis dpal grub, 1600-1671) was asked to act as mediator. The Fifth Dalai Lama sent a letter to the Karmapa through the Taklung abbot, who went to the Karmapa with a Mongolian army at his command. A meeting between all of the concerned parties took place on the tenth day of the sixth month in the year 1644 at a place called Dorkha Pangshang (dor kha spang bshang). The Karmapa was asked to take an oath that he would not subvert the interests of the Geluk tradition. The Karmapa refused, stating that “This is not necessary. I should rather take the oath that earlier I did nothing to subvert the interests of either the Karma Kagyu or the Geluk Schools.” This answer was taken as evidence that the Karmapa did not intend to cooperate.
The situation at the Karmapa’s encampment grew graver with each passing day. When the Mongols finally attacked, at the end of 1644, the Karmapa himself managed to miraculously slip away on foot unscathed, accompanied only by his attendant, the Tsang Khenchen The encampment was completely destroyed and most of the monks ran away. Some were wounded, while some others were caught and killed.”
The 10th Karmapa then had to spend twenty years in exile and was unable to return to his homeland Tibet:
“In 1672 the Karmapa, now aged sixty-nine, finally left Gyeltang, where he had spent much of the past twenty-four years, from 1648 to 1672, and returned to U-Tsang. It is not known how his return was negotiated, since in the Ganden Podrang (dga ldan pho brang) the Dalai Lama’s government in Lhasa, continued its policy of harassment of Karma Kagyu monks and lamas, a policy that continued into the early eighteenth century. His main reason for returning was presumably to arrange the installment of Norbu Zangpo at Tsurpu. He left in a large entourage that included his wife, sons, and daughters.
After one year of travel, on the third day of the third lunar month of the year 1673 the Karmapa reached Lhasa, where he had an audience with the Fifth Dalai Lama, the first in forty years. Their conversation was said to be relaxed, covering topics such as the Karmapa’s recent journey. The Karmapa, already seventy years old at this point (the Dalai Lama was fifty-seven), had difficulties understanding and answering the Dalai Lama’s questions, since he was rather deaf and therefore asked Tsang Khenchen to answer on his behalf.
Toward the end of 1673, without having yet visited Tsurpu, the Karmapa was told by the Fifth Dalai Lama to go to Drak (sgrags), a somewhat inaccessible region south of Lhasa, on the north bank of the Yarlung Tsangpo River. The Karmapa followed the order. There, at Nagdrak Monastery (sngags grwa dgon pa), he produced one of his last works of art, a drawing of the Caṇḍa Vajrapāṇi for Norbu Zangpo and a white-sandalwood statue of Mārīcī riding a pig for Norbu Zangpo’s mother. Around the lunar New Year of 1674, not only was the Karmapa granted permission to return to Tsurpu, but the Dalai Lama gave him back the share of property from which he derived his sustenance, the main and subsidiary estates of Tsurpu. He never returned to Tsurpu, however, as he fell ill at Drak and passed away.”