BUDDHISM TODAY

B O U N D L E S S J OY A N D F R E E D O M

Spring/Summer 2006 Number 17

TABLE of CONTENTS
FEATURES DEPARTMENTS

6 12

The Brain in Meditation

By Peter Malinowski

Letters to the Editor

Our readers share their opinions and ideas

Being Calm and Effective: Managing a Business Well

By Lama Jigme Rinpoche

31 Questions and Answers

By Aaron Crook and Robert Manuse

17

34
Beyond Life & Death: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on Death and Rebirth
By Lama Ole Nydahl

Meditation Basics
By Klaus Neukirchen

38 43

Buddhism in Everyday Life

By Carin L. Crook

23 28

Finding a Teacher
By Pit Weigelt

Unsung Heroes of Active Compassion

By Michael Fuchs and Steffen Gill

Transmission in Buddhism
By Tasso Kallianiotis

45 48

Book Review Glossary

12

17

23

28

38

Editorial Board
Executive Editors: Aaron Crook, Kenn Maly Associate Editors: Joshua Johnson, Benjamin Ritchey, Cate Walker Art Director: Anilou Price Design Team: Heidi Bernhardi, Lara Dzioubouk, Jeremy Kunzinger, Ian Llanas, Michael Marchitto, Bozena Sudnikiewicz Photography: Marcin Muchalski Copy Editor: Carin Crook Department Editors: Book Reviews: Cristina Ferrando Questions and Answers: James Macur, Rachelle Macur Unsung Heroes: Claudia Balara Finance Manager: Jennifer Wilson Printing and Distribution: Jonathan Bradley Subscriptions: Benjamin Ritchey, Ryan Singer, Ivan Smirnov

From the Editors

Buddhism Today aims to be a living document of authentic Buddhist transmission intended for the lay person and yogi practitioner in the West. It is meant for people leading normal, active lives, who wish to understand and experience minds vast potential. Buddhism Today will challenge your mind by providing information and news that appeal to the discriminating individual. No religious truth can be above science or humanism, and Buddhism Todays aim is to work with and complement these areas of contemporary thought. For this reason, Buddhism appeals to educated, critically thinking people with fresh, independent mindspeople for whom nihilism rings hollow and existentialism provides no joy. The teachings presented here are benecial if taken at face value, but they can provide boundless levels of joy and freedom when applied at the Diamond Way (Vajrayana) level. This magazine supports an authentic transmission because of its direct connection to the hearing lineage of accomplished practitioners in Diamond Way Buddhism. Whether you are a casual reader or a devoted practitioner, we hope to provide something in these pages to support your understanding and development. It is said that we live in interesting times. To some these words reect the degenerative nature of the modern world in which we live. But to us, these words are a call to action and a statement of renewal, an opportunity for seeing new possibilities and openings. In either case, we promise to expound joy and humanism above political correctness or dogmatic assumptions.

Dear Buddhists and Friends of Buddhism, Buddhism Today continues its joyful trek down the road of inspiration for independent minds, of practical tools and insights for leading lives of greater wisdom and deeper compassion, and of a bridge for bringing Tibetan Buddhism into a style that works for Westerners with active lives in todays fast-paced world. Buddhism Today continues its commitment to presenting the timeless teachings of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. It continues to offer pieces that enrich our understanding of Buddhist practice. It also intends to offer insights and teachings that shed light on what works in everyday life, with its mundane chores and sometimes frustrating elements. In this issue, you will nd a piece on being calm and effective in business management, a piece on how one parent learns Buddhist practice from her young daughter, and a column of questions and answers that offers advice that might be pertinent to your own practice and active life. We draw your attention to a brief glossary at the end of the magazine to explain terms that appear in this issue but that may not be familiar to you. We hope this will be helpful. Finally, the Buddhism Today team welcomes your feedback. Comments, suggestions, and letters to the editor can be sent to [email protected]. May things become clear and meaningful! May we all grow in boundless joy and freedom!

Buddhism Today is a biannual magazine published by Diamond Way Buddhist Centers USA, a California nonprot corporation. Contents copyright Diamond Way Buddhist Centers USA. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission.

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BUDDHISM TODAY | SPRING/SUMMER 2006

Letters to the Editor

experiment), one only observes that a photon is stopped or permitted through. This tells us nothing of what happened at the other end and thus carries no information. Note also that the effect is only observed with lots of photons, since Bells Inequality, which is what Aspect was testing, is a statistical phenomenon, not a phenomenon that can meaningfully be applied to individual photons (just as one cannot test what the chance of getting a six on a die is by rolling it once). I am sending this erratum, not so much because of the individual article, but because Alain Aspects experiment is a very important scientic experiment and one that I have heard Lama Ole Nydahl refer to several times. Therefore, I think it is important that we really try to appreciate just how difcult it is to understand and interpret this experiment.
Buddhism Today Vol.16 Fall/Winter 2005

Buddhism Today asked Artur Przybyslawski, who is a professor of philosophy of science and who conducted this interview with Lama Ole Nydahl, and Sasha Rozenberg, who holds a doctorate in theoretical physics, to respond.

garding interpretation of the entangled states, Buddhist interpretation reects the rigorous quantum mechanical description closer than does an objective materialistic interpretation. Bell-type experiments, with Aspects being the rst successful one, demonstrate the existence of inseparable, nonlocalized entangled states. From this point of view, no information is actually exchanged between different parts of an entangled state, because there are not separate parts. In this sense, once the existence of the entangled states is proven, the statements about inseparability of the quantum states and instantaneous exchange of information are equivalent. These experiments do not contradict special relativity either. Special relativity prohibits superluminal signals. However, no signal is physically propagating within an inseparable, but non-localized entangled state. Moreover, since an observer requires a physical transmission of the key to gain access to the information about the entangled state, this information cannot be communicated outside of the state faster than the speed of light. Notice also that these conceptual difculties are bypassed in the modern formulation of quantum mechanics in terms of abstract Hilbert spaces. It is only the space representation of the quantum states that is non-local. Finally, predictions of quantum mechanics hold both statistically and for individual particles. Previous experiments were conducted for the ensembles of particles solely because of technical difculties of working with single particles. Recently, however, a few experiments demonstrated single-particle interference patterns. I recommend looking up papers by Anton Zeilinger, where he extensively discusses these and other experiments. Sasha Rozenberg New York, New York Send your letters to:

The question you referred to was asked and phrased

as such by me, but Lama Ole Nydahl also explains it in this way. Since, as you wrote, there are several interpretations of this phenomenon, it is not a problem that it is interpreted here in this way. I also think that it is mainly a question of semantics and not a real misunderstanding. Saying they do not need any time to exchange information says exactly that there is no normal communication between them that requires time. This is just one way to put it. The word entanglement conveys the idea of connection between the objects. They are no longer separate entities, and that means that they know what the other is doing, as it is put in every good popular science book like Gribbins. We can discuss this point at the level of popular understanding from the point of view of classical hard physics, but this would be very oversimplied and just popular science. We can also say that entanglement is a term conveying an idea that can only be correctly expressed with higher mathematics and cannot be discussed with words at all. Space is connected to everything, and it is not limited at all. Since objects have the same nature as space, they are also not limited. Your objection holds true only in the case that objects are real, but this is, as Buddha says, not the case. Artur Przybysawski Lodz, Poland

In the interview

with Lama Ole Nydahl on Buddhism and Science (Buddhism Today Volume 16, Fall/Winter 2005), the questioner states: Alain Aspect proved the fact of non-separability in the quantum world, a statement that I nd to be true. But then he states: Particles can communicate instantly, needing no time to exchange information, a statement that I nd not true. A very important point in entanglement (as this situation is commonly called) is that there is no exchange of information. One cannot affect one photon in a photon pair and hope to produce some predictable result in the other end of the tube. This might seem to contradict our intuition, since our affecting one of the photons actually does affect what is observed in the other end. But it is only when the results of both photons are taken together that one can see an effect. In either end of the tube (in the case of Aspects

A happy Buddhist interpretation is probably everything is connected; but it is important to understand that this is not the only possible interpretation of the experiment. And even if we choose this interpretation, we should understand why the experiment can be interpreted this way and what other possible interpretations are. Note also that the statement everything is connected contradicts the statement space is unlimited, since connectedness means limited in connection to one another. If everyone is free to do what they want, they are not connected. I hope you appreciate this rather long comment to what is quite possibly a very minor point seen from your point of view. But this subject interests me deeply, and I feel that if we are going to go down the slippery road of mixing science and Buddhism, then we owe it to Buddhism as well as science to really know what we talk about. Kristian Priisholm Copenhagen, Denmark

We should avoid

supercial conclusions about the convergence of science and Buddhism, which is often based solely on similarly sounding words. However, re-

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BUDDHISM TODAY | SPRING/SUMMER 2006

M ter e P by

ki ws o alin

n i a r B e h T in Meditation
achievements and qualities, as the convincing display of wisdom and active compassion). In this article, I am going to focus on one particular aspect of the encounter of Buddhism and Western culture: the meeting of Buddhist insights with modern science, which I understand as the authoritative world view on which Western societies rely. More specically, I want to ask how this encounter is reected in the understanding of meditation practices, the practical core of any Buddhist path. A particularly diverse overview of the encounter between Buddhism and science is provided in the recent book Buddhism and Science: Breaking New Ground, edited by Alan Wallace. In this collection of essays, various authors analyze the intersection between Buddhism and science from their own perspective or discipline, and thus offer a kaleidoscopic impression of this encounter. Within one chapter of this book, the Buddhologist Jos Ignacio Cabezn characterizes the development of the relation between Buddhism and science in terms of

three historically successive but overlapping modes: conict/ambivalence, compatibility/identity, and complementarity. The rst mode, conict/ambivalence, is largely related to colonialist times when Asian Buddhists perceived Western science as being to a large extent enmeshed with unwanted European colonialism and the imposition of an ideology that would ultimately undermine the existing Buddhist world view. There were, however, some exceptions. For instance, individuals like the 13th Dalai Lama attempted to modernize their countries by introducing education in theoretical and applied science. During this time, the prevailing Western view of Buddhism was that of a cultural curiosity to report on, but not a competing world view with which to seriously engage. A larger engagement with Buddhist views was then reected in the mode of compatibility/identity. Here the rst real contact between Buddhism and science took place. Cabezn argues that what happened during these rst encounters is typical when two very different cultures or traditions meet. The rst reaction is to treat the culturally other in terms of the culturally familiar. One extreme of this perspective would be the claim that, indeed, Buddhism is science, that the objects of investigation, results, aims, and methods of both are identical. The other end of the continuum is represented by the view that both share common concerns, reach similar conclusions, have similar aims, or utilize analogous methods. While individual views may vary between these two poles, within this mode of interaction, the common denominator is that Buddhism and science are seen as sharing a large amount of similarity rather than difference. An early proponent of this was Olcott, who in his Buddhist Catechism, published toward the end of the nineteenth century, claims that Budhism and science teach evolutionism, that both propose development from an imperfect lower, to a higher and perfect condition governed by universal laws, the law of karma in the case of Buddhism and the law of motion in the case of science. In more general terms, during the second half of the nineteenth century the lack of dogmatism in Buddhism was perceived to be in marked contrast to traditional Christianity, and the critical spirit found within Buddhism was seen as compatible with the rationalism, empiricism, and free-thinking of this period. Furthermore, the systematic, empirically veriable Buddhist path was taken as a convincing model of moral perfection in the spirit of Immanuel Kants philosophy, where rigorous application of the methods of reasoning was believed to be the key to moral behavior. Entering the next mode of discourse, complementarity, the focus shifted from what science and Buddhism have in common to the question of how they can complement each

other, a view characterized by the recognition of differences and similarities. The idea of complementarity of science and Eastern Mysticism (especially Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist) has been expressed in Fritjof Capras inuential work The Tao of Physics, where Capra encourages the dynamic interplay between mystical intuition and scientic analysis. While his writings still emphasize the similarity between the traditions, the physicist Manseld goes a step further by proposing a synergistic model of interaction where science and Buddhism have implications for each other. In his chapter on time and impermanence in Wallaces Buddhism and Science, he writes (p. 306): I hope to show that understanding a little about time in modern physics helps us more deeply appreciate some of the most profound ideas in Buddhism. Furthermore, I will also suggest that some appreciation of middle way Buddhist ideas could aid in the development of physics. Thus a non-trivial synergy between these two very different disciplines is possible, one that results in deeper understanding and more compassionate action. Clearly, science and Buddhism are here perceived as spheres with the potential of synergistic cross-fertilization. However, it cannot be assumed that this perspective is commonplace, either within the scientic community or among Buddhists. It is an interesting observation that, apparently, the majority of proponents of this complementarity view are in fact individuals at the intersection between the two spheres, not Buddhists or scientists, but often scientists and Buddhists, scientists with a strong dedication toward a certain Buddhist tradition. This is particularly obvious within psychology and the cognitive neurosciences, where many Buddhist scientists propagate the view that Western science has been concerned with the exploration of the material universe, whereas Buddhism has been concerned with developing an inner science, with understanding and modifying the mind, and that at the moment in time both views meet and can complement each other. Research inspired by this perspective often focuses on the processes underlying Buddhist meditation as well as its effects and benets. A recent dispute within the neuroscientic community, however, highlights that these new developments do not only attract praise. The announcement that the Dalai Lama would deliver a talk on the neuroscience of meditation at the prestigious annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience was met with criticism

Buddhism has frequently been compared to a clear crystal that shines in the color of the surface it is placed on. While its nature remains unchanged and unaffected by the background, its appearance depends on the context in which it is situated. This ability to adaptcombined with the fact that the historical Buddha Shakyamuni could give a vast amount of teachings and advice pitched to the different levels of expectations, wishes, and insights of his studentshas led to an impressive variety of Buddhist schools and traditions. For centuries these traditions have been practiced within the cultural and social context they evolved in, but the last century experienced their unprecedented spreading over the Western world. It is probably fair to say that by now in every major Western city, one could encounter exponents of all main Buddhist approaches and receive advice on using their specic methods. From this situation the interesting question arises as to what Western Buddhism is going to look like. In what color is the clear crystal going to shine? First significant changes and patterns are becoming apparent (e.g., a diminishing role of monastic traditions and an increasing reliance on transparent, non-hierarchical structures, where spiritual authority is referred back to observable

by a signicant number of society members, who demand that science preserves its independence from religion and politics it fought for so strongly, and should thus not invite a religious and political leader to speak at their meeting. While being independent from religious or political inuences and dogmas is of crucial importance for science to reach conclusions free of any particular bias, by insisting on a complete separation one would throw out the baby with the bathwater, and miss out on what might be gained by the encounter. This may be particularly true for the relation between Buddhism and science, as both appear to be sufciently similar to allow an exchange of ideas and understanding. I have mentioned already that Buddhism receives appreciation for its freedom from dogma and for its skepticism that does not exclude a critical view toward the Buddhist teachings themselves. Buddhas advice to the people of Kalama, retold in the famous Kalama Sutra, brings home this attitude very well: Do not rely upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor upon tradition; nor upon rumor; nor upon what is in a scripture; nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious reasoning; nor upon a bias toward a notion that has been pondered over; nor upon anothers seeming ability; nor upon the consideration, The monk is our teacher. This understanding is still alive in Buddhism and is probably one of the reasons why it is attracting a growing number of people in the West. The Danish Lama Ole Nydahl, who has been establishing Buddhist centers of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism during the last thirty years, explains in his popular introductory text The Way Things Are very explicitly (p. 41): After his [Buddhas] much quoted statement that he could die happily, having given all the advice that benets beings, he added something that makes his example perfect for our times. Now, dont believe anything just because a Buddha told you, but check everything for yourselves. See if the teachings t with your experience and be your own guiding lights. As science gets more Buddhist with every new discovery, making the following statement may be risk free: If there were a point where the teachings were evidently wrong, and science right, one should trust science. Buddha himself would want this.

This non-dogmatic openness for scientic evidence is not only expressed by Western teachers of Buddhism, but can also be found in statements and writings by the 14th Dalai Lama. But how far does this alignment of science and Buddhism go? Are there more similarities in support of the idea that the synergistic cross-fertilization we have been talking about may really work? To address this question, I would like to refer to the Oxford English Dictionary. It denes science as: A branch of study which is concerned either with a connected body of demonstrated truths or with observed facts systematically classied and more or less colligated by being brought under general laws, and which includes trustworthy methods for the discovery of new truth within its own domain. To what extent are these hallmarks of scientic rigor compatible with Buddhist principles? Science is characterized by a systematic classication of observed facts. In Buddhism, the abhidharma represents a systematic presentation of relevant areas of knowledge, including philosophy, epistemology, psychology, and meditation theory. To give only one example, it includes a systematic classication of states of mindor mental events (Skt. samskara)that is presented in much detail. Interestingly, these mental events are classied according to their inuence on human development. There is a group of omnipresent mental events, then there are determining mental events, positive mental events, basic disturbing emotions, secondary disturbing emotions, and changeable mental events. All these are described and explained in much detail as to how they arise, in which way they arise, etc. This is only one of many possible examples, showing that systematic classication is a central aspect of Buddhist doctrine. The next point is that science is concerned with general laws and principles, and I would like to add that they have to be testable as well. Here, again, we will nd that Buddhist theories of mind and consciousness are very well dened and make very clear predictions that can be tested, as long as one can apply the methods in an appropriate way. In the same way as science relies on trustworthy methods that have to be acquired by rigorous training through experts, also within Buddhism the training of methods is stressed, and advancement in mastering them is described in minute detail. One of the major differences between Buddhism and

science then is the reliance on very different sets of methods. While the vast majority of methods employed by science focus on the material world, consisting of observing and measuring its response to experimental manipulation, Buddhist methods predominantly focus on the observation of experiences, on a rened analysis of states of mind. Despite the obvious difference in actual methodology, both disciplines offer a host of methods that can be learned by anybody who is prepared to invest the time and energy to master them. When talking about scientic experiments, another aspect that needs to be fullled is replicability. An experiment that is carried out by one group of scientists must be performed and described in a way that other, independent groups of scientists can repeat the experiment and replicate the outcomes. Otherwise, experimental results would not be accepted as reliable. Here it is interesting to see that the laws and principles described by the historical Buddha have been tested and conrmed, replicated, by countless meditation masters over the last 2,500 years. I am aware that a statement like this usually raises the question as to how we can be sure that what these great meditation masters report and agree on really is true, really are observed facts. The answer is that one needs a certain degree of trust and condence in the honesty of these masters, at least as long as one cannot make these observations for oneself. But in this respect, I would argue, science presents us with a similar dilemma. Also science relies on experts, extensively trained over many years, to observe, scrutinize, and report their observations. Although the vast majority of Western society has never seen sub-atomic particles, we accept the idea that what we experience as solid matter in fact is predominantly space with a few rapidly moving particles in between. In a similar way, many Buddhists have never experienced a completely liberated state of mind, but do trust those masters who, after extensive training and subsequent conrmation of their qualities by their own teachers and other established authorities in the eld, explain these states. It seems to me that in Buddhism as well as in science, the integrity of the individual and of the whole process of acquiring and disseminating knowledge is of central importance. Accordingly, various methods are in place for enforcing and maintaining this integrity. The response to cases where the integrity is lost highlights this issue particularly well. The scientic community, for instance, is currently struggling with an increase of incidences of academic misconduct, where scientists fabricate results to secure funding for their research or to be able to publish in prestigious journals in an attempt to further their reputation and career prospects. Also Buddhism time

and again has seen authority misused for personal or economic reasons. About 950 years ago, the famous Tibetan accomplisher and poet Milarepa exposed and criticized leaders of religious centers who were motivated by personal or economic benet. In one of his vajra songs he exposes one particular Buddhist teacher1: But initially motivated by eight worldly concerns 2, Desiring ne things in the present life, One raises oneself to the position of teacher And takes the name Geshe Tnba. One learns to perform rituals for food and drink, Working hard to amass material wealth. Everyones pleasedWhat wonderful chanting! So hes appointed head of a religious center. Everyone bows and offers respect, While smiling he receives the sons of nobility. But he wont even see a hungry man And though gracious when offered food and goods, Without an offering he cant even be met. He collects an entourage of monk imitations And pretending to offer circle feasts 3 Entertains for days with food and drink, Receiving praise for his greatness of merit. His whole lifes wasted on this crooked path In dealing, usury, farming, and business Conducted with legal tricks and deceit. Such a crook and shyster completely involved In all sorts of evil action Is called the mainstay of the religious center! As already mentioned, one important aspect of maintaining the integrity and authenticity within Buddhism is to rely on a seal of approval given by other, already established Buddhist masters. In line with this, one important criterion would be that a Buddhist master is part of a transmission lineage that is accepted as being authentic. I see this as one of the major reasons why Buddhism puts so much emphasis on the existence of unbroken transmission lineages that reach back in time to the historical Buddha. Complementing this aspect, various Buddhist texts describe very clear benchmarks for assessing the qualities of a Buddhist master and encourage scrutinizing these masters thoroughly. The famous Jewel Ornament of Liberation, a standard text of Tibetan Buddhism composed about 900 years ago by Gampopa, the foremost
1 In

Drinking the Mountain Stream: Songs of Tibets Beloved Saint, Milarepa, Wisdom Publications, 1995, p. 129 -130. 2 The eight worldly concerns or worldly dharmas are: praise and blame, fame and shame, gain and loss, pleasure and pain. 3 Circle feast (Skt. Ganacakra) is a specic ritual for establishing or deepening the connection between student and teacher involving food and drink.

BUDDHISM TODAY | SPRING/SUMMER 2006

student of Milarepa, classies spiritual masters into four categories based on the spiritual realization of the individual. The lowest category, for instance, is ordinary spiritual masters, who should possess eight, four, or at least two qualities. The eight qualities are: 1) to possess the positive behavior of a bodhisattva4, 2) to be learned in the teachings of the bodhisattvas, 3) to possess realization, 4) to possess compassion and kindness, 5) to be fearless, 6) to be patient, 7) to be indefatigable in mind, and 8) to be able to use language expertly. If one were talking about only two qualities, then these would be to be expert in the teachings of the Great Way (synonymous with the bodhisattva teachings) and under no circumstances to abandon ones bodhisattva promise. Obviously, a very high standard is expected from a spiritual master, from somebody who is authorized and qualied to guide students in their development and give authoritative information about the states and qualities of mind. The criteria are closely linked to the general aims of Buddhism, which are condensed very concisely in the following quotation from Lama Ole Nydahls introductory text: When people asked Buddha why and what he taught, he replied: I teach because you and all beings seek happiness and try to avoid suffering. I teach the way things are. These few words, attributed to Buddha himself, not only highlight a commitment to the truth, to the way things area commitment we do also expect from sciencebut they also clearly dene the purpose of his teachings, the aim to benet all beings. While ultimately we would expect that science also serves these goalsand I surmise that this is the motivation for societies to spend signicant amounts of their money on itwe usually do not see them expressed in such pragmatic and condensed words. Although we would not expect a scientist to prioritize the benet of sentient beings over their own benet, they certainly should be trained and educated in their particular discipline; and we particularly expect them to be committed to academic integrity that is not compromised by personal opinions, beliefs, or other interests. To sum up, in science as well as in Buddhism we see a deep commitment to discovering the truth, both relying on well-established principles that imply integrity and honesty. A major difference between both spheres is that the

efforts are directed in almost opposing directions. Science is concerned with understanding the outer, material world, whereas Buddhism is concerned with revealing the inner processes that can lead to suffering or happiness. The achievements of science help us improve the outer living conditions with sometimes breathtaking developments just think about the benets of medical treatments or the opportunities that transport and communication technologies offer. Buddhism, on the other hand, focuses on improving our experiences, our states of mind, acknowledging that ultimate happiness does not primarily depend on the outer conditions we create. Psychology, the scientic investigation of mind, is where both spheres meet and overlap. Especially areas concerned with the nature of mind and consciousnessor the newly evolving branch of Positive Psychology that sets out to investigate the causes of happiness and well-beingpromise an exciting exchange that is already starting to take shape. A natural starting point for such exchange seems to be the scientic investigation of meditation. On the one hand, it is at the core of Buddhist practice. On the other hand, it possesses features that are similar enough to more common objects of investigation with which psychology is usually concerned and thus lends itself to the application of wellestablished scientic procedures. Within the Buddhist context, the term meditation is used either to denote the specic methods of mental training that are applied, or to refer to the states of mind to be achieved by these methods. Similarly, the scientic investigation of meditation may either focus on meditation as method or on the states of mind it is supposed to bring about. Obviously, both are closely related; but the difference is that one is more process-oriented, while the other is outcome-oriented. Furthermore, we might look at meditation either from a psychological or physiological perspective, although this distinction falls away more and more as many branches of psychology increasingly explain mental states and functions in terms of underlying physiological structures and processes. Especially the cognitive neurosciences draw from both domains, trying to understand experience and behavior in terms of underlying brain processes. This rapidly expanding area of research brings together expertise from a large variety of disciplines, including mathematics, computer science, physics, biology, neurology, and psychology.

Physiological effects of meditation have been studied long before the cognitive neurosciences were established as a discipline. As early as 1937, Kovoor Behanan, an Indian graduate student in Psychology at Yale, published a book considered to be the rst empirical study of yoga and meditation. In this study he describes the increase in oxygen consumption due to several yogic breathing exercises. Soon, various other studies followed, which included electrocardiography and pulse recording. The rst studies that directly zoomed in on brain activity in meditation surfaced in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and were carried out on Indian yogis and Japanese Zen practitioners. The only viable method available in those days was electroencephalography, which records rhythmic, electrical activity of the brain. By this time it was well established that different states of alertness and wakefulness are reected by distinct, rhythmic EEG patterns, and looking for changes to these rhythms in relation to meditation was an obvious rst approach to this topic. Already these early studies suggested that different types of meditation might have very different effects. One strand of research focused on the process of dehabituation. Buddhist teachings often refer to the freshness of experience, where every moment is experienced as new. This phenomenon was tested in habituation experiments that use so-called alpha blocking as an indicator as to whether habituation occurred or not. Generally, the alpha rhythm is a rhythmic brain activity in the range of 8 to 14 Hz (i.e., 8 to 14 EEG peaks per second), which is predominant when people are in a relaxed state, especially with closed eyes. When during such a relaxed state a stimulussuch as a single click soundoccurs, immediately the alpha rhythm is suppressed or blocked, thus the term alpha blocking. However, when the same stimulus is repeated a few times, the alpha blocking is reduced and ultimately does not occur anymore. This reduction of alpha blocking is understood as an indicator of habituation. Studies using

this phenomenon showed that experienced Zen meditators indeed were not prone to alpha blocking (i.e., did not habituate to the repetitive stimulus). These results were seen to support the claim that this type of meditation leads to freedom from perceptual averaging, where the individual maintains a heightened state of perceptiveness. Hindu yogis, on the other hand, who may remain in a trance-like inner absorption during their meditation, differed from the Zen meditators in that they habituated more rapidly and completely. Some of the researchers thus concluded that different types of meditation practice might produce different spiritual results. With more sophisticated technologies for scanning the active brain being available and more knowledge about brain activity already accumulated, more results from meditation research emerge. A recent study, for instance, claims that meditation makes people happy. This is supported by evidence that participants of a mindfulness training program showed a change in their EEG pattern that is consistent with a more positive mood. However, these studies are by no means conclusive, and critics point out methodological shortcomings. Overall, these developments seem to imply that meditation research is maturing and moving toward more scientic rigor. With this rst part of my essay, I have tried to describe the position of meditation research within a wider framework that describes the intersection between science and Buddhism. In the next issue of Buddhism Today, I will pick up this thread and analyze more closely what we know about the relation between the brain and meditation, and will ask what the relevance of this knowledge might befor both Buddhists and scientists. Look for part two of this article in the next issue of Buddhism Today, available in Fall/Winter 2006.

Peter Malinowski
Peter Malinowski holds a PhD in Psychology and is working as Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom. His research focuses on brain mechanisms underlying attentional processes, and he is currently extending this into meditation research. Peter has been practicing Diamond Way Buddhism for over fteen years and gives lectures internationally on the subject.

4A

bodhisattva is somebody who has developed the enlightened attitude and promised to use their life to benet sentient beings until all are liberated from suffering.

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Then, after some time, you begin to see that there is no difference between Asians and Westerners, just as there is no difference between the French and Germans, for example. Of course, there are differences between the languages, history, and cultures of the two nations, but the principle is the same, the basis is the same, the mind of people is the same, and, as such, there is also no difference between the basic nature of the West and the East. Why do we need a Tibetan example in the West? After studying a bit of Western history, it is obvious that the West denitely was not built on Buddhist techniques. In the West, there are heavily complicated nancial structures and enormous industrial structures created by spending huge amounts of money. All that created a static world, a world that did not submit to spectacular changes, where everyone kept the same job for a long time and defended their stability. In that context, techniques for working with mind were not a big deal. During the last few decades, there was a drastic change in the industrial world provoked by the age of communication. Because of accelerated communications and the evolution of good industrial techniques, what used to be static has become volatile and changeable. A fax machine can change the strategy of a company; it can be the cause of new laws. Everything happens instantaneously, from one end of the planet to the other, with almost no obstacles. We have gone from a static world to an essentially dynamic one. You can go instantly from one point in the world to another. You can use intermediate methods of communication to act over distances to buy things, sell things, and exchange information. The world is essentially uid. Now, information counts more than big buildings. In business, peoples dynamism counts more than doing the same job for many years in the same place. The important thing is a relationship based on trust. It is no longer possible to work without that element of trust. For example, if you have a salaried employee in charge of studying the companys procedures, what counts is what is in her head. If she is not really involved in the company, if she has not taken the companys goals as her own, then if another company offers her two times her present salary, she will leave with something much more precious than money or the business methods: she will take all the potential she could have given. On the other hand, if she has trust in her employers, if she shares the same goals, then she will resist external pressuresand her employers will be much more motivated to promote her career. These are the methods that really matter in todays world.

Today, many heads of corporations or managers nd themselves faced with the cruel necessity of dismissing people something truly unpleasant. There can be many reasons for this, but most of the time it is because someone has not kept up with the companys changes or has been outmoded by technology. Or, perhaps it is because the companys atmosphere has deteriorated and friction is reducing the output or the circulation of information. If this occurs, one ends up in a very unpleasant situation where one is obligated to get rid of people.

... when you have a situation of trust rmly established in an organization, you have fluid relationships, an absence of energy-wasting friction, and lots of energy to use for really useful things. You will have an organization that functions well, and clients will be satised.
Communication within a company is becoming more important. But the people who communicate are people with emotions and conicts, which often snowball into big problems. Managers may see that they really should give their employees opportunities, help them improve, and retrain them. But many people do not take advantage of these opportunities. They have not been sufciently motivated; they have not been shown that they possess aptitudes and potential within themselves. Obviously, one of the goals of a companys training is to help people discover their capabilities, their own potential qualities. This may seem complicated, but in fact it is not very difcult because we are really talking about something that people already possess, something that is common to everyone. The only difculty is helping them see that they have it in them. However, you should not deceive yourself. It is not enough just to show people that they have some potential; you have to know how to encourage them to develop it. This means that you must have developed the motivation to do it yourself and to help others. In this sense, I do not think that it is possible for the general manager or whoever is responsible for the staff to be part of a company without sharing himself or herself. It is not that if this person is strongly convinced of what he must do and has

Being Calm & Effective: Managing a Business Well

by Lama Jigme Rinpoche
Its good to be aware of certain truths, qualities, and charcharacteristics found again and again in Buddhist teachings. My goal and that of those who, with me, are trying to transmit this wisdom, is simply to permit everyone to discover the qualities that are intrinsic to their nature and to use them for the good of all. The essential point is to have understanding and action together. If somebody were to make an outer observation about how I look, they would say that I come from Tibet, as though that was something completely foreign. But, in fact, the philosophy that the lamas convey is not something that belongs to Tibet; it is something that can be found everywhere and in all of us. It is a philosophy, a teaching that must be adapted in every way to our civilization and that is actually adaptable to every circumstance. Seen from the outside, one says, Thats the lamas practice, the lamas philosophy, the lamas thing. In fact, this is not true. It is not something reserved for one type of personit is something that is accessible to everyone. The teachings, philosophy, and techniques are directly useful and freely accessible to anyone who wants to use them. Tibetan Buddhism comes from Asia, and at rst one would think that it is very different from Western ways. However, the differences between Asians and Westerners are greatly exaggerated. There is absolutely no difference on the level of mind. To realize this, you may have to be an Asian person who comes to the West. When you arrive, with your philosophy and mental techniques, there is rst a shock. You nd yourself faced with something completely foreign: extremely different cultures and people who pursue unfamiliar goals.

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decided to do it that he has to convince his staff all by himself. His staff are like collaborators who can spread the action out to all others. However, in order to succeed, this person has to develop something that we can call the enlightened attitude or bodhicitta. In the business world, managers must have an acute awareness of the businesss goals, products, services, and prot model. However, this is not possible without considering the companys employees and really having the intention to do the most you can for themdoing everything possible so

transformation necessitates a personal transformation rst, because people do not change into compassionate altruists overnight or by looking at their navels all their lives. It is something that demands a personal effort. In theory, this sounds ideal; in practice, it is a bit more difcult. One collides with oneselfin fact, with ones own mind. In the mind of everyone, there are disturbing emotions that obstruct the proper functioning and circulation of minds energies. The three principal emotions that can hinder the proper functioning of businesses and teams are greed (for money, power, etc.), jealousy, and irritability (another way of saying anger). What happens is that individuals mistakenly see themselves as perfect. Everyone has a strong dose of pride that masks these notorious emotions, and it is very difcult to become aware of them unless one is pushed. For oneself, one can feel an echo of them, but one puts a lot of energy into putting this out of ones mind because it is really too embarrassing for ones pride and for the image one has of oneself. It is not that serious if these emotions lead us around unless we give them free rein by not wanting to recognize them, and unless they systematically destroy all our efforts to create open and simple relations. If something unpleasant happens, it must be somebodys fault. It could not be my fault since I am perfect, so it is the fault of someone else or many others. One often sees a situation where a manager, politely hated by her employees and exasperated by them, is obligated to work with them because she has no other choice. In this case, the manager sees in her employees the causes of her worries and stomach problems, and obviously her employees see the cause of every injustice in their manager. Nobody in this situation asks himself whether or not he might be a little bit responsible as well. Still, this situation wouldnt be too catastrophic, even though it implies the permanent unhappiness of dozens of people, except that it happens with emotions, which have the effect of a mirror, resonating and amplifying. Emotions have the tendency, like vibrating guitar strings, to resonate in all the messages we send out, whether verbal or subconscious. For a business in this situation, everyone will become more and more unhappy because, from top to bottom, their relationships are strained. If someone is unhappy at work, he will feel irritable when he arrives at home and will poison things for everyone else, including his wife and children. This system creates uneasiness, unhappiness, and dramas. Whats more, because the business isnt working well, cli-

ents will not be entirely satised and will have the tendency to go elsewhere. This is why we insist so strongly that you must become aware of your own emotions; it is necessary to know that they are there. The best motivation to realize this and become master over them is bodhicitta, the enlightened attitude, which you can think of as a kind of altruism or unselshness. Why is bodhicitta so important? It is the only thing that can push us in the direction of introspection and incite us to change. If I become aware of the emotions that disturb me but still put myself above others, there is no reason to change; I still have a reason to become angry. On the other hand, if I decide that it would be useful for me, for my business, and for everyone if I consider the common good, in that moment I will start busying myself with my relationships with others. I will begin to see that it is my own emotions that poison these relationships, and that it is up to me to correct the situation. If the manager of a business starts to think that way and acts as a result, if she really tries to master her emotions, this will be felt to the point that it will establish an atmosphere of trust in the organization. Why? Because, in general, when people work in a business, they may feel like they are considered part of the business, but not like people who are really valued. If something changes above, this will be felt at the most basic level of production. People will feel that they arent just cogs in the machine, but that they are considered individuals with an intrinsic value outside of the business. That considerably changes their point of view and the manner in which they are involved in their work.

This situation benets everyone because when you have a situation of trust firmly established in an organization, you have uid relationships, an absence of energy-wasting friction, and lots of energy to use for really useful things. You will have an organization that functions well, and clients will be satised. Everyone will prot from this prosperity, everyone will be happy, and everything will work much better. You could say, That is a really nice idea, but there are ve hundred thousand employees in my organization. How do I change all of that, when everybody is jealous, when everyone tries to play mean tricks on their co-workers? Change is something that spreads; it is contagious. In the same way that laughter is contagious, when you start to change yourself from your post of inuence, this change has the power to transmit from one end of the organization to the other. It is not necessary to believe that you will have to inject something into peoples minds, to make something enter into their heads. In fact, this enlightened attitude is something that everyone already possesses, it is just covered up by a strong dose of selfishness. But it is in every one of us, and it is enough just to create favorable conditions for it to blossom. I was struck by the number of Westerners who practice bodhicitta without knowing it, in a totally oblivious manner. Consider highways. For a Westerner, a highway is the way to the goal. For the highway manager, the highway is the way to make money (egotistical motive). Nevertheless, seen from the outside, it does not appear this way. It is a medium that permits people to go from one place to another easily and with relative safety; something that serves the common

If you decide to really take into consideration all the individuals who make up an organization, and if you decide to act for their best interests, inevitably, you will act in the best interests of the business.
they develop in their jobs, have the highest salaries, and have the best working conditions. If you do that, you will create a situation where you can harmoniously reconcile business and prots. Keep in mind, however, that it is not a ready-made formula. Managers must be convinced that they have an interest in beneting others, that they want this harmony, but not at any priceonly to help and support those who can be made happier, for instance, or to avoid conict. Managers must develop a compassionate outlook. Once they resolve a situation, managers will continue to have relationships with their direct reports and, through them, with other employees. If the managers motivation is sincere, others will appreciate itnot immediately, but over the long-termand when the manager proposes something, he will be believed. Hell become credible. People wont say, He is trying to get around us again, to fool us with sugar pills. People will know that his proposals strive to improve employees working conditions, rather than to manipulate. A climate of trust will be established. It is absolutely essential that this attitude, which must be shared at the highest level, is sincere. If it is not sincere, people will notice that the manager does not walk the talk. This will resonate through the subconscious of the organization and become part of the culture. If the actions are sincere from the start, things will function very well. Of course, this

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good. There are also other examples like social services that do not exist at all in the East. In the East, if you have a certain amount of wealth, nine people out of ten will never prot from it. The wealth will be monopolized by a certain class, a certain stratum of society, so that in the East (although everyone is egotistical, although everyone runs after prot), there is a much more uneven distribution of wealth. In general, Westerners think in much wider terms about things that will be useful at the national level. If you decide to really take into consideration all the individuals who make up an organization, and if you decide to act for their best interests, inevitably you will act in the best interests of the business. The same individuals will begin to act with a common goal clearly in mind. To put all this into practice, you must rst relax. Relax and calm your mind. When the mind is tense, it gets carried away by emotions without knowing it. In that case, you send mes-

sages that are aggressive and often misunderstood because they are distorted by emotions. When you give out distorted messages, you will receive aggression. Therefore, you must recognize your emotions. Having recognized them, you can calm your mind, relax, and stop being consciously or unconsciously aggressive. This will avoid the phenomenon of the mirror, of reflection, of constantly receiving negative messages. This attitude permits you to put a certain distance between yourself and your emotions, and to not get pushed around instinctively by your emotions. For example, if I become angry, instead of yelling and banging on the table, I will take a brief moment to calm my mind. I became angry, but I am free: I can bang on the table or I can decide to act in a more normal manner. Moreover, when you perceive emotions or unpleasant messages in others, you can then analyze whats going on inside yourself. You can see that the other person is a prisoner of something that he cannot control at all. It is a blindness that strikes, the person is no longer aware or reasonable. This is what youre faced with; it is an emotion. You can also avoid reacting with aggression when faced with an individual with that emotion, because you know that it is not an individual but an emotion, like an illness. In order to have this time for reection and depth of mind, in order to not get stuck in your emotions, you must have some control over your own mind and have reached a certain degree of calmness and mental pacication. Then, you have time to choose: I will make things worse or I will not. At rst, it is not possible. In training your mind, you soon start to see a little bit of space, then there is more and more space, until the moment when you are really free to choose. And thats something everyone can do. I am convinced that whoever tries to do this will attain concrete results. It is something really necessary that can spread, and calm and pacify our lives and our relationships with others.

When one hears the Tibetan word bardo, the rst thought is of the time after death. However, this word refers to any intermediate state. Beings experience little but intermeintermediate states throughout their lives until they attain the state of enlightenlightenment, when mind recognizes its own timeless clear light.

Beyond Life and Death

Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on Death and Rebirth

Lama Jigme Rinpoche

Lama Jigme Rinpoche was born in 1949 in Kham, Eastern Tibet. In 1959, he left Tibet together with H.H. the 16th Karmapa and many other high lamas and moved to Rumtek in Sikkim, India. In addition to receiving all the main transmissions and teachings from the Karmapa, Lama Jigme Rinpoche was very close to some of the highest lamas of the Karma Kagyu lineage, such as Gendun Rinpoche, Pawo Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche, and others. In 1975, the Karmapa appointed him to be his spiritual representative in Europe, and since then he has resided in France overseeing the activity of the Karmapas seat and traveling the world teaching in the Kagyu centers.

By Lama Ole Nydahl

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Right now we are in the bardo of being awake. (If I did not bore you to sleep already!) We communicate using the words and symbols of different cultures, and perceive more or less the same world through our senses. At night we enter the bardo of sleepof darkness and a lack of consciousness. For those fortunate enough to know the Clear Light Meditation well, the experience can be very different, like resting in an ocean of light. There are also periods when the impressions stored in ones subconscious surface in different ways, such as while dreaming. This is called the bardo of dreaming and may include most drug-induced states. Then, one changes again to waking or sleeping consciousness. The mental states mentioned so far are in their essence conditioned and changing, with no lasting qualities. While alive, humans and animals move between these three bardos of waking, sleeping, and dreaming. At death, three further bardos appear. First comes the process of dying itself and the centering of energies in ones body. Whether death is quick or slow, this is a profound transformation. After three days of unconsciousness, a

period follows where mind continues its habitual ow from the previous life. During the next two weeks, the recognition that one is dead surfaces ever more often. During the last twenty ve days of the seven weeks that the full maturation of ones subconscious may take, those who receive no help from the outside will see their dominant mental condition condense into one of six states of existence.

The key realization is that mind is essentially space, that it does not have colcolor, weight, smell, or size. That it is not made of anyanything, was not born, and cannot die. As it did not come from anywhere, it also will not go away.
This process is timeless in the way that space is without beginning. Mind also has no starting point. The outer world and our inner experiences constantly unfold. They express minds unlimited richness in countless ways.

Such bardos have always alternated, expressing timeless minds ows of causes and effects. Here, the subject is the events around death and rebirth, seen mainly from three unreformed or red hat Tibetan Buddhist schools. This view is unique in the world and presupposes an analysis of both minds absolute and relative aspects. The key realization is that mind is essentially space, that it does not have color, weight, smell, or size. That it is not made of anything, was not born, and cannot die. As it did not come from anywhere, it also will not go away. However, this space is no black hole. It implies neither disappearance nor non-existence. Its nature is rich. It plays, expresses itself, dreams, lets things happen, and then dissolves them again. It has great power and is simultaneously unlimited. Wherever one looks, there is no end to itmore things can always happen. As this recognition dawns, it brings increasing bliss. No conditioned feeling is even comparable. And fearlessness, spontaneous joy, and active, unsentimental, and far-reaching compassion spring from it naturally. If this were beings constant statealways aware of mind itselfdying and

being reborn would be like an exciting change of clothes, simply because they show minds potential. Minds clear light, its radiant awareness, and the joy and power of its activity would never stop to impress. Without any breach of consciousness, and utilizing our bodies and speech ever better as tools for the good of others, we would freely choose rebirths at places of maximum usefulness to all. This is far from the everyday experience of most, however. Whoever does not meditate will rarely glimpse minds essence. In that case it happens mostly by chance, such as in lovemaking, in a fast curve on the motorcycle, or during the free fall before one opens the parachute [while skydiving]. Whoever meditated well in former lives may experience such states when nding inner calm, while chemically altered states may show one the door but cannot take one inside. Whether minds eternal freshness manifests through a continuous process of growth or accidentally, its nature is the total certainty and deep joy that appears when one is here and now. When one forgets to fear or expect, mind expresses a love that has few concepts. Unenlightened beings identify with minds stream of impressions and seek a lasting essence in the changing ow of thoughts and feelings that are their own mental activities. Even though experiences may be strong and convincing, conditioned situations and feelings cannot last. On a relative level, however, their nature is similar to a river: though new water ows by constantly, there is still continuity and people identify with their streams of awareness. There is a causal relationship between a child of seven and the later adult of seventy that they may become. Without the

original child, there could be no adult later, even though every particle and molecule is new. At a certain point, when the conditions for a body to function fall apart, we meet the process called death. Seen from the outside, death looks very different, depending on whether one dies slowly from AIDS or cancer, or if ones body disintegrates immediately due to meetings with suicidebombers or having a high-speed accident. The process that takes place is, however, always the same. Whether it happens in a ash or over a longer time, the energy that was spread over the whole body moves toward its central magnetic axis. In Far Eastern religions of experience, awareness and energy are seen as interdependent. Therefore, the body is thought of as an energy system, the qualities of which vary depending on the goal. A Hindu here seeks shakti willpower, leading to a formless god state. A Taoist aims for a balanced long life, and a Buddhist wishes to

experience minds clear light. In Hinduism, one focuses on the nervous energy in the spine. In Taoism, one breathes in an ellipsis that descends down through the front of ones body and ascends through its back. From a Buddhist perspective, the central and transpersonal magnetic axis in ones body lies between a point eight ngers behind the original hairline on the top of ones head and ends four ngers below the navel in the center of ones body. From this main energy tube, ve energy wheels spread out in ones head, throat, heart, navel, and sexual centers. They branch out into 72,000 energy channels that ll the body. Feminine in essence, they are essentially intuition and space. Within them lie dormant male energies that gradually awaken into compassion and joy on ones way to enlightenment. During the dying process, awareness draws back toward the center of ones body; and then ones ve energy wheels collapse into the central

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cases when dead people have come to metransparent but looking in all other regards as they normally would (see Riding the Tiger by Ole Nydahl, Blue Dolphin Press, Grass Valley, CA, page 271)it has always been after sixty-eight hours. I think this is because they were all highly educated city peoplewith quick mental processes. When mind re-awakens after unconsciousness, there is the feeling that something is fundamentally wrong. Even if the body lying there is still intact, one will avoid looking at it and will try to get away. This state is most confusing because due to the lack of being anything solid, we appear at whatever place we think of. Our intelligence is also much sharper when we are dead. We hear whatever the living think as if they were saying it, which may bring some surprises, but we cannot communicate with them. When sitting on a chair, people will sit on us, and when we try to talk to them, they walk away. In spite of all of these signs, especially those who died suddenly, we avoid recognizing that we are dead. After the three days of unconsciousness, a week follows during which people still experience the habit-world

of their past life. Then, however, it becomes impossible to ignore the realization that we no longer have a physical body. This recognition may strike when once again we stand in front of a mirror and see no reection, we discover ourselves walking on ne sand without leaving any footprints, or we put our hands in boiling water and do not get burnt. The realization I am now dead. I do not have a body anymore, is such a big shock that one falls unconscious for a second time. Then mind awakens again, around the tenth day. During the next two weeks ones habitual mental program alternates with ones subconscious impressions from the last life, until around the twenty-fth day. Then the strongest tendency becomes dominant, and if no lamas blessing or meditation habit from last lives intervene, within a total of seven weeks after dying that will determine ones next existence. What makes breaking that chain so important is that any conditioned state contains pain. It is much less than the emotionfree state of liberation and does not even touch ignorance-free enlightenment. Since mind is essentially space and has always been playing, bringing forth the inner worlds of experiences

and the outer ones of phenomena, understanding the conditions at work help one bring both others and oneself to the level of full functioning. Here is an overview of the six psychological realms of existence experienced as the maturation of beings karmas at rebirth. Though the desire-dominated human realm provides a wide range of karmic effects, from the suffering people in poor and suppressed countries to the free and luxurious Western suburbs, the power of the states experienced is weakened through ones sense impressions. Also the experiences of animals are thereby muted, while the four other non-human realms of existence that may appear from minds stored tendencies experience joys and pains much more intensely. Three levels of existence appear from dominant pride. Massive good actions combined with the power of abstract thoughts bring about four socalled formless god-realms. Combined with aesthetic sensitivities, they produce seventeen so-called formed realms, and with desire they become six states dominated by sensual pleasure. Only in tandem with the under-

Om Ami Deva Hrih Om Ami Deva Hrih Om Ami Deva Hrih

energy channel. As this transpires, we rst lose power of the solid body. We feel under pressure, and our sense impressions become unclear. Then, we lose control of the uid element. We feel as if oating in water and drool from our mouth and nose. Following this we begin to feel dry, and cold enters from our extremities. As death comes nearer, our breathing becomes shallow and harsh; and if we have not meditated, we increasingly lose the ability to focus our mind. Depending on our individual karmas, impressions absorbed during our life may manifest as anything between wonderful states of joyful meaning or intensive states of loss, with fear and frustration. In the end, one takes three very long exhalations, and one is dead. Though metabolism stops at this point, during the next twenty to thirty minutes, an energy process continues inside the magnetic axis of the body. This central energy channel was founded when our consciousness met with the sperm and egg of our parents. The two cells, the genetic information of which supplied the basis for our present bodies, each carry an energy charge. In meditation, the male essence is experienced as white and the female as red. As billions of cells became our human bodies, the white energy moved upward and is centered about eight ngers behind our original hairline on the crown of our heads. At the same time, the red energy moved down and came to rest four ngers below the navel in the middle of the body. Between these two poles lies an axis with ve main energy-wheels. Further wheels and channels spread from there. During the rst ten to fteen minutes after breathing stops, the white energy loosens its hold at the top of the head and moves toward the heart. On its way down, a beautiful moon-like clear light is experienced, while thirty-three feelings coming from anger disappear. Many hear the sound of a drawn-out HUNG syllable, and memory becomes so intense that one frequently sees beings that have died long before oneself. During the next ten to fteen minutes, a red light rises from the point four ngers below our navel. The feeling is very powerful, and we experience a light like a deep sunset. While it moves up to our heart center, many hear the deep vibration of the syllable AH. Forty feelings of attachment disappear at this point, and we feel indescribable joy. Twenty to thirty minutes after death, the upper and lower energies fuse in the center of our chest at heart level, and everything becomes black. As this happens, seven veils deriving from minds ignorance dissolve. Shortly after that, the radiant light of all-pervading and beyond-personal awareness appears, and, if we can hold that state, mind experiences no separation between truth inside and out. Its open, clear, and limitless essence pervades all times and directions, a level of consciousness manifested to the awe of hundreds by the 16th Karmapa at his passing during November and December 1981. (See Riding the Tiger by Ole Nydahl, Blue Dolphin Press, Grass Valley, CA, pages 178-214.) This condition is often compared to the meeting of a child and its mother, and whoever can hold this light will experience the limitless awareness and highest bliss of enlightenment. All separation between space and energy, here and there, past, present, and future then falls away. The majority cannot hold this level of integrity because they didnt train their minds, became politically correct, or otherwise obscured their awareness. They then black out. The Tibetan Book of the Dead mentions a period of three to four days of unconsciousness after death. However, in

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standing of non-ego do good actions become liberating. Otherwise their good effects are spent, and other less pleasant psychological states take over. If jealousy manifests as beings main feeling, they may nd themselves in weapon chambers. In former times they would have looked for swords or spears, but today it would probably be machine guns. Bombs for suicides would be found in the very lowest department. These beings have serious inferiority complexes and are deeply disturbed when others enjoy more happiness than they. If confusion from many lies surfaces as the strongest disturbing emotion, mind may try to hide among rocks and bushes. If animals go there to mate, one may make the mistake of going between them. Thus, one will end up with four paws and a genuine fur coat for both summer and winter. If greed predominates, already during this life it makes beings miserable. The more some people have, the stronger their possessions imprison them. After death, this general frustration condenses into an intense craving for food and drink. Some then experience their bellies to be as big as towns while their mouths are like the eyes of needles. Others may feel any nourishment discovered as being hot like re or that unpleasant spooks snatch it away from them. However, minds worst pollutant is hatred, anger, and ill will. If not puried, these feelings will mature as heavy paranoia. The traditional texts distinguish between eight levels of pain deriving from heat and eight from cold. They are not worth visiting! In addition, there exists the so-called neighboring and sometimes states. The

latter two also appear in the human realm as beings inicting and experiencing massive suffering. As mentioned earlier, desires brought about this present human life. They continually and strongly inuence it. Also, karma is ongoing and has wide-ranging effects. It produces the realms of beings rebirths. It also determines the kind of body one gets, the environment into which one is born, and the motivation bringing about the actions leading to ones next existence. Yet, we have the controls in our hands. Having the ability to imagine transpersonal states, liberation and enlightenment are possible to humans. Furthermore, until minds abstract power arises, one may work skillfully on the relative level. Doing what is useful and avoiding harm, one may inspire others to experience and also share the best of the impermanent happiness inherent in mind. Even humans have the four basic problems of birth, old age, sickness, and death with which to contend. The best years of ones life are characterized by the difculties of trying to get what one wants, avoiding what one does not like, holding on to what one has, and arranging oneself with whatever cannot be avoided. This cycle of existence has been going on since beginningless time, and it is important for us to nd lasting values. All Diamond Way Buddhist meditation practices aim to make radiant awareness ever present. If we meditate, we can enter a state that is timeless clear light in essenceawareness independent of anything, beyond birth and death, without coming or going. If we use our precious opportunity, the after-death bardo states can be-

come our gateways to enlightenment. They give us our best chance to confront mind with its true nature and to set it free.

About Lama Ole Nydahl

Lama Ole Nydahl is one of the few Westerners fully qualied as a lama and meditation teacher in the Karma Kagyu Buddhist tradition. In 1972, after completing three years of intensive meditation training, Lama Ole began teaching Buddhism in Europe at the request of H.H. the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. He has since transmitted the blessing of the lineage in a different city nearly every day, traveling and teaching worldwide as an authorized lama. His depth of knowledge and dynamic teachings inspire thousands of people at his lectures and retreats in North and South America, the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, and Asia.

Finding a Teacher
By Pit Weigelt The idea of a spiritual teacher is far from most peoples experience. Many know teachers in school, but not as a companion in ordinary life. However, all people share their desire for happiness. Although an unlimited number of people try to reach this goal, only very few succeed. In Buddhism, we are fortunate to have men and women who know true happiness and who want to share their experience.
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There are different kinds of Buddhist teachers. The lineage lama holds all the transmissions of a Buddhist school, whereas the root lama gives special meditations and methods. In this article, I will describe the important root lama that we deeply trust, the one who shows us the clear light of our mind. Because his or her mind is stable and joyful at the same time, we gradually develop devotion as we recognize his or her qualities. A Buddhist teacher is the only one who can guide us to the liberated state he or she has reached. Buddhist Teachers Differ by Tradition The traditions and transmissions in Buddhism have developed in various cultural backgrounds, such as Tibet, Japan, Europe, and the United States. Teaching styles differ depending on whether the teachers are monks or nuns, laypeople, or yogis.

In the Theravada tradition, the goal of liberation means that one overcame the illusion of an existing ego. The highest possible realization for Theravadins relates to the rst bodhisattva level. The contact between student and teacher is not as close as it is in the Great Path (Mahayana) or Diamond Way (Vajrayana) schools. In the Theravada tradition, the teacher functions as an advisor to students who meditate to develop awareness. The reasons for this are many: A bright student can practice the path of awareness, cause and effect, by oneself, so close contact is not necessary. A teacher needs only to give short instructions about the path and meditation, and the student can follow them on his or her own. Many Theravada practitioners are monks or nuns, who are bound to their vows and therefore practice independently of a teacher. On the level of the Great Path (Mahayana), the teacher is more important. His or her role as an example of compassion

and wisdom naturally includes a much closer connection to his or her students and to all other people. Because on the Great Path or Diamond Way level enlightenment is the ultimate goal, the teacher must be a bodhisattva who has overcome selshness and the idea of an existing ego. This enlightened attitude opens the teacher to others, and he or she patiently supports students development with a balance of compassion and wisdom. At the same time, these teachers live a modest life as an example. This requires that they be close to their students. This bond results in faster progress, because students can check their level of realization in every encounter with others, while the teacher supports the students effort on the way to realization. Because the students have daily experience of their level of attitude, understanding, and wisdom in relation to others, they need a closer bond to the teacher. Zen Buddhism belongs primarily to the Great Path, although

it also includes some Diamond Way transmissions. In both Soto and Rinsai Zen, the teacher follows deeply rooted Japanese traditions so that a very close and open relationship to any other person is rare. The teacher works with students at some distance because it is natural in that culture, and therefore the only immediate access to the students mind is from the level of wisdom. In Diamond Way Buddhism, the teacher is always a mirror to the student. The teacher must have the highest qualities, because the goal requires the student to behave as a buddha until he or she becomes one. To give the students a glimpse of buddhahood, the teacher must constantly demonstrate advanced realization. Kalu Rinpoche said, The teacher is a living buddha. The teacher keeps the transmissions of the lineage (teachings/ knowledge, methods, and meditations) without any

To give the students a glimpse of buddhahood, the teacher must constantly demonstrate advanced realization.

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and the advice that is permanently fresh, motivating, inspiring, surprising, and sometimes concept-destroying. His or her view is beyond hopes, fears, and expectations and is combined with all buddha activities. After long years of meditation and practice in everyday life, the teachers mind is pacied; therefore, he or she is always clear and joyful, with complete control of body, speech, and mind. In order to benet students, he or she has to be intelligent with an up-to-date understanding of the world. He or she uses his or her abilities (Skt. siddhis) with the basis of the bodhisattva promise to work for the benet of all. Because the teachers mind is completely stable, he or she can give Buddhist refuge. As a holder of the teachings, he or she can give initiations that plant seeds of liberation and enlightenment in the minds of his or her students. Moreover, he or she always blesses them. At the same time, the teacher always checks him or herself by asking things such as: Was I egotistical? Proud? Am I thinking only of my students development? Am I teaching them how to nd their innate qualities? Do I still carry my own luggage? Am I still grateful? Do I speak directly into the faces of my students? Do I feel more important than my students? Am I always joyful in my activities? Do I continue to support my students so they become responsible, independent, and strong? Monks and Nuns, Lay Buddhists, and Yogis Monks and nuns must keep their vows. Whatever they transmit to their students can only be within the range of their vows. Lay people live a life like most people on earth. They have jobs. Many are married or live in partnership, with or without children. Others are studying in schools or universities. Their daily experience is completely different from monastic life. If a teacher has experienced lifes ups and downs, he or she can use this knowledge in teaching. The methods are therefore different from those of monks and nuns. An excellent example of such a life and teacher is Marpa the Translator (1012-1097). In the world of Buddhism, yogis are the most rare but also the most exciting teachers. Their lives are an example for the highest realization and deepest understanding of Buddhas teachings. Because the yogi teacher shatters

Because the teachers mind is completely stable, he or she can give Buddhist refuge.
peoples concepts by saying or doing provocative things without regard for political correctness and lives a life beyond all social limitations, he or she is either loved or not accepted at all. He or she instructs on the highest level of the Buddhas Mahamudra or Maha Ati. Because of karmic bonds and connections, relatively few people have access to these teachings. Different Types of Students The Buddha distinguishes two types of students: the average and the above-average student. The Buddha describes the average student as one who meditates regularly or from time to time, with some progress, and who can reach liberation in this life. The Buddha then compares this average student, who practices regularly in the tantra path, to the aboveaverage student, who follows the Mahamudra path beyond expectations, hopes, and fears. This student understands everything instantly and will be enlightened in this lifetime. Students vary almost as much as their teachers. Depending on their culture, education, goals, wishes, and karmic bonds, they can follow the path that has the highest benet to them. It is comparable to sports. If a person can walk but not run, he or she could hike and improve physical ability and health; but it would be impossible to compete in the Olympic marathon. But a person with natural talent and training as a runner would waste his or her abilities if he or she only did hiking, and would need the help of a good coach to excel. How to Find a Teacher One usually doesnt look for a teacher, but rather nds a teacher. Bonds from former lives, current lifestyle, and other conditions lead one to his or her teacher. The rst teacher encountered will not necessarily be the right one. For example, in a small town with one Buddhist center, a person who is more attracted to Zen might visit the towns Diamond Way center. But after some time practicing there, he or she will eventually and naturally meet a Zen teacher and follow him or her. For some people, this search may last twenty years or longer. When one has actually found his or her teacher, everything between them is beyond any doubt. The student brings devotion and karmic bonds, while the teacher can see, simultaneously and with compassionate understanding, all the qualities in the student and the future of their connection. In rare cases, if the bond between the teacher and student is too weak, the teacher will send the student to another teacher, because he or she sees the potential for more benecial cooperation there. Reading the life stories of the Mahasiddhas, one quickly understands that a student can have several teachers. This means that even if one feels devotion to a teacher now, in twenty-ve years it might be completely different. Sometimes a teacher will send a student to receive certain transmissions from another lama, as when Naropa sent Marpa to Kukuripa, Maitripa, and other teachers. Meeting his or her teacher is itself a big step on the students path. Deep trust arises, beyond all former experiences with any other human being, with a feeling of nally coming home. Of course, it can take time before all doubts about the teacher disappear. But, if it happens that even the tiniest residual doubt is vanquished and the student sees the teacher as a living buddha, he or she has actually found his or her teacher. From this moment on, the student understands his or her own concepts and is open to all future experiences. As it is traditionally described, one has really found a teacher if one has tears in ones eyes when merely thinking of him or her. In todays modern world, one could perhaps say: When the student has found the teacher, he or she simply knows it, without any doubt.

mistake, and simultaneously always holds the bonds to his or her own teachers. The teacher shows the students how to remove veils or obscurations to their own buddha nature, because he or she always speaks in a way that benets others. His or her compassion and wisdom reach far in support of the sangha; the protection of the students;

Pit Weigelt
Pit Weigelt was born in 1953 in former East Germany. He moved to the West in 1958, where he studied German, English, Pedagogy, and Psychology. He got married in 1975, and has three adult children. He entered the dharma ofcially in 1992 (following earlier contacts and a meditation practice). Since 1997 Pit has been active as a Buddhist teacher, worked on the German magazine Buddhismus Heute, and been instrumental in incorporating Buddhist curriculum in German schools.

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movement of our limbs move through it, is not the same as knowing (the experience of) swimmingor knowing how to swim. Only having found ourselves within those conditions of being immersed in water and successfully moving through it do we actually know swimming. Buddha taught that this ability of mind to know is inherent in all beings. However, because it is usually xated and focused on whatever happens to appear at any particular moment, the resulting experience is incomplete and therefore also inaccurate. This knowingness (Tib. shes pa) fails to see what occurs in its full contextthe fact that subject, object, and action are part of a totalityand mistakenly assumes a separation among them. If what is perceived is considered to be something other, then it is immediately evaluated as something desirable, unpleasant, uninteresting, favorable, threatening, and so on. For example, when anger arises, we immediately identify it with whoever has triggered the anger and ignore the fact that it occurs in our own mind. We forget that ultimately we are the ones who have unconsciously decided to react in a way that produced this unpleasant experience. We then proceed to engage in it fully, forgetting its impermanent nature, that it was not there a minute ago and that it will not be there a minute or two from now. Like this, we go on to experience our lives, from one moment to the next, in a way that is dened by our not completely and fully knowing how things actually are. In order to break through this short-sighted and habitual conditioning, it is important that we apply our knowing practice in each and every moment, and operate on this level of granularity. But how do we do that? How do we transition to an experience that we have never had before and that is beyond any point of reference? Two important factors make this possible. The rst is the fact that we already have this ability to know and be aware inherent within us, potentially. Since what is necessary to experience the true nature of mind and things as they are is already present, there is nothing better or superior that can be added or gained from outside, from somewhere else. Since it is our own awareness and ability to know that must experience beyond separation and duality, there is no one

else that can do the work for us. What is needed are the right conditions that make it possible. The second factor, then, is an outer inuence, a catalyst and enabler, that creates all the necessary conditions to make such an experience achievable. This is the realized teacher. The result of these two factors coming together is the transmission of a direct experience of the nature of mind, from teacher to student. As the teacher carefully and meticulously creates the right circumstances around us and guides us, our condence, trust, and devotion anchor us and feed our courage. The latter then is the nal key ingredient that allows us to continue to move closer and closer to our goal. We nally nd ourselves in a situation that the teacher has created, from which the only way out is to let go of our hopes and fears, our clinging to things as solid and permanent, and go beyond our self-imposed limitations. Our ability to be aware and to know relaxes its clinging, thus broadening its eld of vision and sharpening its focus. This results in the transmission of the teachers experience to us. Without anything leaving the teachers mind and entering ours, our mind has relaxed enough to be able to rest in itself, fully and completely knowing its own nature and how things actually are. We nd ourselves on the receiving end of a transmission, now sharing the same enlightened experience as the teacher. Reaching this point and maintaining it is in fact the full and complete enlightened state. Our objective, as Buddhist practitioners, is as profound and as simple as that, but not so easy to accomplish! Everything that we doand what happens along the wayis geared toward making this experience possible. All practices, whether simple or elaborate, that involve bringing to mind the various pure forms of energy and lightactivating them through sound and interacting with themhave this single purpose. We are guided through a series of steps, in which we shed more and more veils that cloud minds inherent clarity and uproot deeply engrained behavior patterns that suppress it. Our ability to know and be aware gradually widens its view and increasingly sees everything in context. Our behavior becomes less personal, easier, and more natural, automatically manifesting as benecial for others. Develop-

Transmission in Buddhism
by Tasso Kallianiotis
Masters and experts repeatedly tell us that Buddhism is unlike any other religion. They emphasize how in Buddhism there is no superior power that has control over our minds, our lives, and our future. From this basis Buddhism denes as its goal, attainable by all beings, the direct experience of our natural inherent state. But, when simply stated like that, the mere verbal communication of this target or goal raises a myriad of questions and does not shed much light on what exactly, or even vaguely, it actually is. In order to do this, one must distinguish understanding the goal conceptually from fully knowing it. The difculty in going beyond this distinction is a fundamental problem in Buddhism, since fully knowing the goal is the same as accomplishing it. If one completely knows enlightenment, then one is enlightened. This direct experience of fully knowing has been successfully passed on from teacher to student for the last 2,500 years, in what is called the unbroken transmission of realization. However, what does it really mean to know something? And how is this direct, seemingly personal experience transmitted? It is important to understand what fully knowing is and how we are enabled to realize it by those who have reached this level of accomplishment. This understanding can only bring the goal closer. We usually associate knowing with information. When we think of things we know, what primarily comes to mindour knowledgeare conceptual constructs about ourselves, the world around us, and our interaction with it. But in order to make them meaningful and useful to us, this knowing must eventually lead to a direct experience. Knowing that we can oat in water and with the coordinated

Developing wisdom and compassion enables us to be more and more aware in every moment, thus making our goal virtually inevitable.

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ing wisdom and compassion in this way enables us to be more and more aware in every moment, thus making our goal virtually inevitable. All of this is enabled by the teacher, who induces all necessary inner and outer conditions and ensures the successful transmission of the methods, both as a foundation and a point of reference. Through blessing, empowerment, sanction, and clarication but most importantly by example, we are guided through every step along the way. Constantly transmitting glimpses into our true nature, bit-by-bit all necessary conditions are put into place that nally lead to a rst-time realization, a living enlightened experience. Each such step requires that we work with means with which we are not yet familiar. We need to understand, recognize, and identify with methods that require some explanation and familiarization, so that the essence of what we are doing and what we are trying to achieve becomes clear. In order for the full experience of realization to occur, an intermediate transmission is necessary, that of all the specic methods and practices used on the way. Given by the historic Buddha and passed on for the last twenty-ve centuries, these methods are outwardly and formally transmitted through empowerment (Tib. wang), oral permission (Tib. lung), and detailed explanation (Tib. tri). Through empowerment we are introduced to a particular meditation form, learn how to activate it through sound, and understand that our own body, speech, and mind as well as the totality of these three are inseparable from it. These are known in tantric Buddhist terminology as the vase, secret, wisdom, and word empowerments. This deep and meaningful symbolism conferred by the teacher creates deep impressions in our stream of consciousness. These are then reinforced by receiving the oral permission and detailed explanations about how to meditate on and use these forms, what their inner meaning is, and how their essence is in no way different or separate from ours. This necessary outer transmission puts all the hooks in place, creates a solid link between enlightenment and us, and sows all the seeds enabling a deeper inner experience to eventually occur. Through practice we actually come to

realize that in fact we are not separate or different from the form we are meditating on and that in turn the meditation form is not in essence different or separate from the teacher. Connecting these points by taking our practice to heart and applying it in every situation allows us to see the totality of mindhow our awareness and everything we are aware of cannot occur separately. The fact that everything is mind becomes more and more obvious as the teacher orchestrates conditions and ne-tunes situations according to our level of openness and clarity. We come to realize that what we have been identifying with all this time is nothing but a set of ever-changing conditions. Not only does the whole picture gradually come into view; but since we are also no longer busy trying to protect or promote the small and limited idea of who we are, we begin to notice all the minute and subtle details of the inner workings of our consciousness. We notice its tendency to grasp things as being solid and real and to cling to stiff ideas, likes, and dislikes. The whole situation becomes an entertaining spectacle, and we become liberated from all difculty and disturbing thoughts and feelings. We no longer feel the need to manipulate every situation so that it produces an outcome we think will make us happy. Our behavior ceases to be contrived and becomes natural and benecial for others. From this position of surplus, ease, and comfort, we become aware that past and future are created through our memories, and our fantasies and do not exist beyond them. That the only thing that is there is the present, and everything that takes place in the current moment is mind. That there can be nothing else, nowhere else, and at no other time, and that our goalenlightenmentcan also only happen here and now. At this point we only need to rest in whatever is there, totally aware and alert; and our mind will show its nature. What happens in that moment is like looking in the mirror and recognizing our own face. We realize that it is inseparable from the mirror itself and everything else reected in it. As we rest in this experience and gaze into minds space-like nature, we nd our teacher smiling back at us, joyfully playing with whatever is there; and we realize that something truly precious has been passed on.

A & Q
Questions and Answers
Aaron Crook and Robert Manuse
a teaching on the way. Over time we learn to recognize the richness that is present in every moment, rather than cling to the difcult pictures that appear in mind. Ultimately, we just need to relax and enjoy the process.

Q: I heard my lama speak, and it was a really good lecture.

I was on a positive high for the next day. Unfortunately, I could not keep this higher level of consciousness, and I crashed. When returning to daily life, after seeing my lama, how can I keep the good feeling with me?

This is a common occurrence. We go to a course, get a big blessing, and then try to hold the state of awareness that the lama transmits for as long as possible. It gets longer each time. After developing a personal practice at home, we learn to stabilize our emotions and recognize that this joyful, beyond personal state is present all the time, whether we are physically with the lama or not. There is no limit to what a qualied teacher can transmit if we are open and can understand. The goal of a qualied teacher should be to make his or her students fully independent. Instead of feeling bummed out, we can instead feel very happy that we can even recognize this state of awareness. It is completely natural to have this kind of reaction, but it is important to remember that if we do the practices the lama gives us, eventually this state will be held continuously. It is simply a question of time. The radiance of mind is always shining; the disturbing emotions are like the clouds that prevent us from seeing and experiencing this. It is the lamas skillful means that help us see this radiance and give us the condence that this is the way things are. And remember, every kind of experience is

Each time we see a glimpse of the natural radiance of mind, no matter how brief a moment, massive amounts of obscurations and negative impressions are instantly burned away. This is the point where we stop taking baby steps in our development and start taking long, healthy strides. The transmission of a qualied lama is the basis for this kind of quick development that we call the diamond vehicle.

Q: I still take comfort in praying to God, or at least the jumbled entity that I envision as being God. What is the Buddhist perspective on prayer? Prayer is similar to what a Buddhist would call making wishes. But instead of making wishes to an abstract personality, and thus putting our fate in the hands of an outside power, we make wishes to the potential of space itself whose nature we share. Our wishes will have an impact on our state of mind and a material impact in the physical world. Because our strong feelings are often dictated by a yo-yo-like mind, our judgment can easily be clouded. For this reason, it is best not to make wishes for specic things. Another way of saying this is that we are not always experts on what is best for our own development. Therefore, it is good to wish all beings everything

About

Tasso Kallianiotis

In 1982, Tasso Kallianiotis took refuge with Lama Ole Nydahl and has remained his close student ever since. He has received teachings and transmissions from many high lamas of the Karma Kagyu lineage. Since 1994, at Lama Oles request, he has been teaching and introducing people to Diamond Way methods throughout North America and Europe. He has also given radio interviews and written articles on Diamond Way Buddhism.

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meaningful, every imaginable joy, and that they realize the true nature of their mind. By doing this, everything that anyone would ever need is already covered. Our wishes may start out being for ourselves, to alleviate our own suffering, but they eventually will become for the benet of others. As practitioners deepen their meditation practice, and their mind becomes more stable, their wishes can have more of a positive inuence. Even more so, the wishes of a realized beinglike a bodhisattvacan penetrate time and space, deeply inuencing the world. If we are uncomfortable giving up our ego in exchange for radiant limitless space, we may want to stick with a peaceful god to which we can make wishes. For many people, this is perfectly okay. As Buddhists, however, we feel that we cannot afford the luxury of false security in exchange for limits on freedom, especially when it comes to making wishes. Wish big!

Scientists who study the effects of meditation also need a standard model so they will have statistically accurate and dependable results. This way, they can show which brain changes are attributable to the meditation. Likewise, the Ngondro we are doing today has been tested in the laboratories of the yogi caves for 2,500 years. For instance, we know that Milarepa used the same methods we are using now. This can give us a lot of condence. In response to your other point, there are really no legitimate excuses for postponing meditation, although we have tried them all, too. J Eventually, we recognize the tremendous transforming power of meditation, and we simply decide that it is time to do it ourselves.

ful, or the result of negative karma, may in fact be the opposite. If we have amazingly good karma, obstacles may appear in our lives that prevent us from being successful at anything other than developing our minds. Everything that happens is cause and effect, whether because of harmful intentions, words, or actions. But dont forget that this applies to positive actions and results, as well. We enjoy amazing conditions in the West today because of a lot of good karma. We cannot afford to waste the opportunity that we have now, because things are likely to change rather quickly. As our understanding of cause and effect deepens, we begin to realize that we can change our lives, and more often we will choose the comedies rather than the tragedies.

Q: I understand that if we do bad things, the result eventually comes back to us. I also understand that if you walk through a bad part of town and get mugged, then the unfortunate incident is the result of a poor decision, not the result of a bad thing you did. Is this view correct? Your question is talking about cause and effect, which in Buddhism is called karma. It is the simple fact that if we do positive things, we will get a positive result, and if we do negative things, we will get a negative result. It is, however, very difcult for us to judge our own karma or that of others. Karma involves a very complicated set of conditions and variables that create our experiences. To say that the cause of something is just bad judgment is an oversimplication. We may have a rough experience in a bad neighborhood; however, what brought us there involves more than one quick decision. Rather, it involves a variety of causes and conditions that came together. As an example, for a ower to grow we need all the right conditions: soil, a seed, moisture, and sunlight. Similarly, if we isolate a situation and look deeper into it, we begin to see the habits, tendencies, patterns, and other characteristics that come into play. Situations are incredibly elaborate. Additionally, things that happen to us that we view as harm-

Q: What about when children are abused or people raped?

These are horrible things done to people who didnt do anything to bring that kind of effect on them. Do we tell them that karma has come back to them from something they did in a past life? To dene how and why something happens is nearly impossible from our current level of understanding. To know the complexities of karma, it is said that one must have the realization of a buddha. Genuine compassion for others while they face difficult experiences can really help them open a lot of space in their minds. The fastest path to healing is to make as many positive wishes as ones inner strength allows for the person that created the difculty. This is the most effective way to dissolve a negative connection. The person that did the harmful action is also creating future obstacles. Compassion is needed for both people. If there is one gift you can give a person in a vulnerable moment, try to help them understand that anger should be avoided at all costs. Anger is like a boomerang that always comes back to hit oneself no matter what the intended target. Sending a difcult person positive wishes may be a big mental leap for the person that was harmed, but if possible one should try to avoid getting angry. Anger is poison for the body, speech, and mind.

Q: I have been thinking about meditating seriously, but I

have yet to begin a daily practice. I nd myself making a lot of excuses, like not having the perfect mala. The counting of mantras also seems strange. Ngondro, or the preliminary practices of Diamond Way Buddhism, are like an industrial cleaning for our mind. Our practice does not have to be perfect to get results. It is best just to keep a steady pace without judging our practice, even when it is difcult, especially as we are getting accustomed to doing it. People often make the mistake of thinking that nishing the 111,111 necessary repetitions in each of the four Ngondro practices is the goal. Of course, the actual goal is to polish the diamond of our mind so that it can clearly reect and express its natural qualities for the benet of others. The counting is important, however, because it gives us a standard model to follow. A retreat master once said the counting is the only way you can be sure you are having the right experience. Because we all go through the same path, and it has been tried before, we can be certain that we will have similar results.

About

Aaron Crook and Robert Manuse

Buddhism Today welcomes your questions. Please send them to [email protected]. Some may be chosen for publication. Buddhism Today reserves the right to edit or modify your submission.

Robert and Aaron have been friends for many years and were asked by Lama Ole Nydahl to start teaching Diamond Way Buddhism on the same day. Robert is a long-time business owner in Manhattan, and Aaron is a nursing student and co-executive editor of Buddhism Today.

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MEDITATION
B A S I C S
by Klaus Neukirchen
Questions like Why do we meditate? or How do I meditate properly? are very useful. They require continual examination of the skillful methods that lead us to the heart of Buddhas teachings: liberation and enlightenment. For the beginner who is interested in meditation, it is important to understand the purpose of meditation. Meditation is not an end in itself. It is a skillful method to reach a specic goal. In terms of meditation practice, there are many offerings available today: Buddhist, Christian, and Hindu, to name only a few. Each of these pursues its own ends. Therefore, it is necessary in the beginning to determine which tradition you wish to pursue and scrutinize the ultimate goal of that particular tradition. This effort will help you nd the type of meditation that will best lead you to that goal. Mixing different traditions can lead to confusion in your approach to meditation, even though such mixing is sometimes considered modern or is incorrectly understood as spiritual openness. Taking drugs can also be a strong hindrance to your attempt to achieve mental clarity through meditation. The idea that drugs can be benecial in spiritual practice has persisted since the 60s, when people in the West knew very little about the functions of mind. Meanwhile, it has become apparent that drugs anchor xed ideas that often make you overly serious and, in the long-term, make the mind dull and inexible. A combination of drug consumption and indecisiveness in your basic attitude has, at best, proven a source of short-term happiness. In terms of groups development, drug consumption proves to be very time consuming and troublesome. The basis of a successful meditation practice consists of: the ability to discriminate, a solid experience of life, and the ability to independently make well-grounded decisions. If you are interested in meditation, you need to look closely at the various offerings and examine their applicability to your daily life. You should understand their different goals and closely scrutinize your path.

The Goals of Buddhism

Roughly 2,500 years ago, the Buddha was the rst one in this epoch to discover lasting values in mind by using deep meditation methods. This resulted in fearlessness arising from the recognition that mind is not a thing; it is self-arisen, boundless joy that needs neither an external nor internal cause. This enabled him to work day and night for the benet of all beings. For 45 years, he passed on 84,000 teachings, all pointing toward lasting values of the mind. Although minds nature is fearless and joyful, a lot of meditation is necessary to continually hold this state. Buddha passed on these teachings orally on different levels. One of these is known as Theravada, or the Words of the Eldest of the Order. This cycle of teachings is widespread and particularly associated with The Four Noble Truths, as well as with the teachings on cause and effect, or karma.

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The Buddha also taught the path of Mahayana, or the Great Way. This path highlights the concept of the bodhisattva, a practitioner who not only wants to achieve liberation for himself, but enlightenment for the benet of all beings. According to these teachings, neither that which you perceive as self nor that which you perceive as other has in its essence any lasting truth. While you take refuge in the Buddha, the dharma, and the sangha in Mahayana meditation practice, you additionally take refuge in the teacher, who on this level acts as a useful friend. He or she enables you to help yourself on a lasting basis. The merit of the Mahayana meditation practice is dedicated to all beings. In this way, compassion and wisdom are cultivated in mind, ultimately leading to the state of a buddha. In addition to the two cycles of teachings addressed above Theravada and MahayanaBuddha also taught the methods of the Diamond Way (Skt. Vajrayana; Tib. Dorje Thegpa). Here, practitioners use the awareness of their teachers perfect accomplishment to recognize their own qualities through the use of special meditation methods that incorporate the totality of your body, speech, and mind.

nique the Buddha taught is called the way of insight, which is based on the minds ability to know. The practitioner holds the mind and calms it down through tranquillity meditation (Skt. Shamatha; Tib. Shine). This leads to an intuitive insight (Skt. Vipasana; Tib. Lhagtong) that points directly to minds essence. Buddha also gave methods of meditation that are known as the way of skillful means. These meditations use hologram-like buddha forms. The practitioner meditates on these buddha aspectsas single forms or male-female forms in uniontogether with mantras, which activate enlightened energies inherent in the body. In the way of skillful means, Buddha also taught his students to hold the view, which enables you to keep the level you have reached in the meditation, seeing the Buddha in yourself and in all other beings. Here, it is important not only to reach happiness and avoid suffering, but also more and more to use situations in your daily life as a springboard for discovering lasting values. In addition to the way of insight and the way of skillful means, there is a third possibility to discover the nature of your mind: the way of identication with ones teacher. Here we see the

realized teacher not only as a person or limited being, but as a mirror for ones own potential buddha nature. On this path it is essential to keep an unbroken bond to the teacher. Seeing the lama unwaveringly as a buddha leads to very quick and powerful results. If this is not possible, then you can see him as liberated on the way to becoming a buddha. This also offers many good possibilities. In any case, you should at least regard him as somebody who works day and night for the benet of all beings. If you cannot hold any of these views, then the natural thing to do is to approach the teacher, thank him or her for what has been shared, and look for a new spiritual guide. By doing this, you can spare yourself a lot of unnecessary thoughts and also help your friends on the way by saving them a lot of time. This kind of courage really does pay off and is generally respected. In addition to a strong bond with your teacher, a good connection to friends on the way can strengthen your meditation. Teachers generally recommend an attitude where you see the potential inherent in our friends. This view strengthens the friendship and even leaves space for friendly criticism, if necessarymaybe once a year. The sangha is particularly important because these friends represent the powereld of the teacher when he or she is not physically present, showing us minds full potential in daily situations.

Insight and Skillful Means

The Diamond Way differentiates itself from other paths through the direct connection that is required between the student and a realized teacher. There may be cases where individuals have educated themselves on the paths of Theravada or Mahayana, but this is not possible in the Diamond Way. Some of the teachings can be found in books; but without the empowerment and detailed explanation by a teacher who carries an unbroken transmission of a lineage like the Karma Kagyu, realization will not be possible. Together with an appropriate knowledge basis, the meditation methods of the Karma Kagyu Buddhist tradition under the 17th Karmapa Thaye Dorje lead to concrete results. This truth is perhaps best conveyed in the following: Without the instructions of a good teacher, you can meditate for ten years and the only result will be a at behind. One tech-

Before meditating on these teachings, you take refuge in the Buddha, the dharma, and the realized sangha, our friends and helpers on the way. Then you stabilize the mind, for example, by concentrating on the breath. Here you focus on the stream of air that comes and goes at the tip of your nose. Through consistent practice, a level is reached where things are no longer taken personally. You can always consciously choose what to say and do, even in difcult situations. This leads to a state where your mind is lled with so many positive impressions that you no longer experience suffering. This level of accomplishment is that of a so-called Arhat, one who has become liberated.

About

Klaus Neukirchen

Klaus Neukirchen is forty-seven years old and has been a Buddhist for twenty-ve years. A geriatrics nurse living in Cologne, Germany, Klaus travels as a Buddhist teacher for Diamond Way Buddhism.

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Buddhism in Everyday Life

Lesson #1: Our precious opportunity In my Diamond Way Buddhist practice, there are four basic thoughts that provide deep meaning to our lives and motivate us to the kind of lasting happiness that working with mind offers. The rst basic thought reminds us that we have a precious opportunity to be born in a time and place where we can know and freely work with our minds. Alyza was born at NYU Medical Center in New York City, one of the best hospitals in the country. Although I chose not to use any medicines or painkillers during labor and delivery, Alyza was born in a place where they are available and useful, if needed. Millions of people are born into and live in conditions without the basics of food, water, and housing, much less the luxury of modern medicine.

time. Now, when I am in a mood, I often see Alyza as an example of how quickly moods come and go, and this helps me take my emotions a little less seriously. Most importantly, since having the baby, Aaron and I have almost no spare time for ourselves, for each other, or to practice. And yet, the essential part of the second basic thought is that only the true nature of our minds is lasting, and we really do not know how long we have to recognize this. My meditation teacher says that raising a child is like doing Ngnodro, and I am still learning what that means. For Alyzas rst year, I used this statement as an excuse not to practice as much as I could. But I do not want to use Alyza as an excuse. In fact, she inspires me to practice more. I recently kicked my meditation practice up a notch, so to speak, by practicing whenever I have a spare few minutes, rather than waiting for the perfect conditions to arise.

What My Daughter Teaches Me

About Being Buddhist

By Carin L. Crook

When I was pregnant, I told my husband, Aaron, that I was prepared for everything up until I went into labor. From that moment on, I had no idea what to expect. Would childbirth be painful? Could I handle it? Would the baby be healthy? What would I do with a baby? And what if it was a boy?! I thought so much about what I could do, should do, for this new little beingall I could teach it. Little did I know that the baby would teach me. Alyza Clare Crook was born on October 3, 2004, after nineteen hours of labor (and three hours of pushing). She came into the world with her eyes wide open and in her rst year had more experiences than many children have in ten, including a few stamps in her passport. Along the way, she is helping me learn what it means to be Buddhist.

Beyond that, Alyza was born into a family that is educated, nancially stable, and, as such, has the space to work with our minds. I went into labor only a few hours after Aaron Lesson #3: Cause and effect (karma) nished his Mandala offering practice, a core piece of the First, I must say that having Alyza in our Ngondro. One of the rst voices Alyza lives proves that Aaron and I did something heard was that of our meditation I often see Alyza as right to get a daughter as wonderful as teacher (his lectures were playing an example of how she! over the speakers and helped me stay focused and calm during labor), and quickly moods come Practically speaking, I watch Alyza learn she took refuge ve weeks later. At and go, and this helps about cause and effect daily. When she only twenty-four hours old, she smiled immediately when we sang the me take my emotions drops her broccoli on the oor, she learns that it is no longer within her reach to eat. invocation to the Buddhist protector a little less seriously. (Now, she waits until she is done eating Mahakala. Already, she has been to to throw her food on the oor.) When she dozens of large meditation courses approaches our cat, Harley, from behind, she learns that and weekly group meditations. Alyza has the precious Harley runs away in fright. (Now, she says hi to let Harley opportunity to work with her mind, should she choose to know she is coming.) When she refuses to wear her hat practice. and mittens, she learns that her head and ngers get cold very quickly. (Now, she gladly accepts her cold-weather Lesson #2: The impermanence of everything composite gear before we go outside.) The second basic thought reminds us that the only thing lasting is the unlimited clear space of mind. Everything else Alyza also helps me question, or rethink, traditional is passing, temporary, impermanent. parenting techniques. Consider this situation: A child is playing in the Tupperware cabinet, opening and closing the I always thought I understood this teaching, at least door. He gets a little overzealous and slams the cabinet conceptually, but it took on new meaning during Alyzas door on his nger. He begins wailing, and his mom comes birth. At times, the pain was unbearable, but I asked Aaron to repeat the four basic thoughts over and over and over again, and they helped me remember that the pain would not last. That something would change. That I would feel better soon. That we would have a new being in our lives. Alyza also reminds me of this teaching on a daily basis. She can go from being happy to crying to laughing to screaming to smiling to screeching to being content within a minutes

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be paid, the house that needs to be cleaned, the work that needs to get done. Be here now. I am still working on it, and likely will for a long time. But these days, Aaron is much less surprised when he nds me only doing one thing, instead of three. Lesson #5: Balancing compassion and wisdom Aaron and Alyza like to play this little game: Im gonna get you, Aaron says playfully as he chases after Alyza, his arms outstretched. The baby squeals with delight as her little legs move faster in an earnest attempt to outpace her dad. Im gonna get you, Aaron says again. This time, Alyza looks over her shoulder, her eyes twinkling, as she laughs even harder and runs even faster. Im gonna get you Splat! Alyza falls, hitting the pavement face rst. How is this a lesson on compassion and wisdom? Because I saw it coming. As soon as Aaron said his rst, Im gonna get you, I thought, Why are you playing this game now? Alyza has string cheese in one hand and a long sleeve covering the other. She is not yet completely steady on her feet. She is going to fall. And yet, not wanting to spoil the fun, not wanting to be the stereotypical worrying mom, I did nothing to stop it. And now Alyza has a bloody mouth and a swollen lip and I am mad at Aaron. But when I quickly transform that feeling from blaming Aaron, I realizeyet againthat I want to have more compassion. I had the wisdom that, this time, the game would end with Alyza crying. And yet, I said nothing. I did nothing. I just let it continue. When compassion and wisdom are in balance, we not only see what is there, but we act on it. With more compassion in that situation, I would have acted to stop the game. I would have picked up Alyza, or held her hand, or told Aaron that today the game wasnt such a good idea. According to Buddhist teachings, women tend to have more wisdom and men more activity. Working together in a partnership, we can learn from and teach each other. Lesson #6: Non-attachment Aaron and I often feel that Alyza is not ours, so much as she is the sanghas. When she was no more than six weeks old, she attended her rst ve-day meditation course in Wisconsin with more than 300 people. Many new parents struggle with letting others hold their new, precious baby (the germs!), but Aaron and I never felt this. Somehow, we understand that she is everyonesand she benets all of us without even trying.

Alyza also helps me recognize even more that it is not useful to be attached to material things. We moved from Minneapolis into our new home in New York three weeks before Alyza was born, and did I have plans! We were going to tear out the kitchen, redo the bathrooms, get new furniture, hire an interior designer.... But all that changed the minute we brought Alyza home. Who had time for such things? Why did it even matter? We had a new baby to play with and learn about and share things with. (The fact that she spit up all over our brand-new Pottery Barn rug may also have been a small contributing factor!) Lesson #7: Holding the highest view My meditation teacher recommends that we try to see at least one or two interesting or beautiful things everyday, in others or ourselves. The idea is that the better we feel, the closer we are to truth, and the more disturbed we feel, the further away we are from recognizing the richness of space. Eventually, we will hold this highest view without

I need to be with her, to be present, to know and give her what she needs, because she cannot tell me.
running. Bad cabinet, she says, Bad cabinet! The child agrees. Bad cabinet, he says crying harder and hitting the cabinet door with his unhurt hand. This is a standard parent response. But what does it teach the child? That he is not responsible for getting hurt, that he had no role to play, that the cabinet is bad and to be feared. Aaron and I take a different approach. It goes something like this: Alyza is running around the coffee table. She is laughing and smiling and squealing. Suddenly, she gets off balance and bumps her head on the table. She is not hurt, but surprised, and begins to cry. I pick her up, hug her, rock her, and say, Alyza, tell the table youre sorry for hitting it with your head. She calms down, looks at the table, and puts her hand on it, as if to say Were still friends. Within minutes, she is running around the table again (perhaps this time a little more slowly). Instead of blaming the table, we help Alyza see that she was, indeed, involved in the incident. We are showing her that her actions help create her situation now and in the future. And I realize that what Aaron and I do, say, and think now will play a role in Alyzas development. Lesson #4: Living in the moment I am the queen of multi-tasking. At work, I can participate on a conference call, respond to emails, and clean my ofce all at the same time. At home, I can talk to a friend on the phone, make cookies, and answer Aarons questions, without missing a beat. But Buddhism teaches us to be here now, because nothing else really matters. What is important is what is going on right here, right now. Until Alyza was born, I understood this conceptually, but did not know how to put it into practice. In fact, on the rare occasion Aaron would nd me sitting on the couch and only watching TV (as opposed to writing a letter and straightening the house, too), he would be shocked. (He, on the other hand, is an expert at living in the momentespecially when it comes to not cleaning the cats litter box!) When I was pregnant, I began to understand this teaching more. During my rst trimester, I was so nauseous and tired that I was forced to slow down. I could only do one thing at a time (if I could even manage that). I had to be here now and pay attention to my body, my unborn child, and our needs. Since Alyzas birth, I see why this teaching is so important. I need to live in the moment, for myself, for her, and for Aaron. I need to be with her, to be present, to know and give her what she needs, because she cannot tell me. Now, if I am trying to do three things at once, the baby will suffer. I will not notice that she is hungry, or needs her diaper changed, or already watched too many Baby Einstein DVDs. I want to slow down and enjoy her, enjoy every single moment, because they are going by so quickly. When Alyza snuggles up to me, blanket and thumb in place, and buries her face in my chest, there is nothing like it. I am trying to live in the moment and forget about the bills that need to

Somehow, we understand that she is everyonesand benets all of us without even trying.
even trying. Its an amazing idea: To behave like a buddha until we become one. Every morning, Alyza wakes up, stretches her arms and legs, wipes her groggy eyes with her sts, sits up, smiles, and, suddenly becoming very clear says, Cat! (Sometimes its Elmo or Clock or Daddy, but its always the same drill.) Okay, so cat might not be the rst thing on your mind, but to Alyza, it is the best thing! From the moment she wakes up, she sees the interesting in what we perceive as ordinary. She points out things that we just glance over. She is amazedfascinatedby the smallest things: a colorful leaf on the sidewalk, an almost hidden picture of a cow at Trader Joes, a lost Cheerio on the oor. She never gets bored of the same book, the same game, the same food. She sees everything as interesting and amazing, and shows us how to see that way, too. A couple of months ago, Aaron, Alyza, and I were traveling shoulder to shoulder on a rush hour subway in Manhattan when a very angry man stepped on. He began swearing and yelling at the man in front of him, on the verge of physical

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people to believe his words just because a buddha said them. Instead, he wanted people to check things out in their own experience and see if his teaching make sense. Having a child really brings this teaching to life. I cannot tell Alyza anythingshe has to check it out, experience it, touch it, feel it, live it, breathe it, be it, herself. If I say the soup is hot, she dips her nger in anyway just to be sure. If I say be gentle with the cat, she pulls Harleys tail to see what will happen. If I say be careful, she needs to fall down and be hurt a couple of times before she really knows what that means. Everything children know is based on experienceit can be no other way. As adults, we are more likely to take others words for it, to not question or analyze, to not rock the boat. Alyza reminds me again and again that true knowledge comes only from direct experience. The best is yet to come! When I was pregnant, I wondered how having a child would affect my Buddhist practice. Now, I cannot imagine having a Buddhist practice any other way. In the Marpa Kagyu tradition, we practice in a family and as a member of society, using the intense emotions and energies that come with family life as fuel for enlightenment. If this rst year was any indication, Aaron and I will have many more opportunities to useand transformthese raw materials every single day. Carin L. Crook is a Communication Consultant for a global consulting rm, a yoga teacher, and copy editor for Buddhism Today. Carin lives with her husband, Aaron, and daughter, Alyza, in New York. She began practicing Buddhist meditation in 2001 on the same day that she met Aaron.

Unsung Heroes of Active Compassion

By Michael Fuchs and Steffen Gill

In our last issue, our unsung hero was a clown, sharing time with children and sick people to help them forget their pain and sorrows. This time, Michael Fuchs and Steffen Gill interviewed someone with a totally different activity: Vera Bohle, a German woman who disarms landmines. Yet, the attitude of both, and of many readers who gave us feedback, is not so different: Giving your life meaning and depth by thinking of others and their happiness more than your own is more fullling than anything else.

I Am Not Here to Save the

Ever since high school, I thought of working in International Aid in developing countries or as a foreign correspondent. Because television journalism always fascinated me, I studied theatre, lm, and television, along with politics and geography. While studying I worked as an editor for ZDF, one of Germanys main TV stations, in various places, including Somalia. At the time, German soldiers were on foreign duty in Somalia, and ZDF was making a documentary about them. Because my assistance wasnt required all day longI mostly waited for material to editthere was time to watch and think about things. You could see the refugee camp from the roof of the hotel; it was nearly at the walls of the hotel. There were no real tents, only a horrible stench, and dead people were carried out at regular intervals. It was such incredible misery that I felt completely uncomfortable in the role of a mere observer. That was one of many key experiences I had during that time, which later determined my path. A wish just arose in me to be actively useful and directly improve the situation of these people. It became obvious that if I should be working in International Aid, then it would be in Refugee Aid. So I looked for a very concrete, technical application that would help people in crisisafter all, you cannot just go there and say, I love you, everything is going to be okay.

World

Translated by Anja Pahl, Edited by Claudia Balara

violence. Without thinking, Aaron said, Hey! Theres a baby on board. Please keep it down until the babys off the subway. At the same time, Alyza looked at the man and simply smiled. She did not see an angry manshe saw someone interesting and beautiful. Amazingly, the man calmed down and stopped talking. (As soon as he got off the subway and was away from the baby, however, he began his tirade anew.) Alyza looks at people as if she could see their buddha nature. From this man on the subway to her grandparents to people on the commuter train, she always gives them a warm smile and melts their hearts. Already, she has met hundredsperhaps thousandsof people, and she has yet to express any sort of stranger anxiety even though she is at that age. Lesson #8: Dont believe a single word just because a buddha said it Experience. Experience. Experience. Unlike many religions, belief is not part of Buddhism. Instead, the Buddha advised his students to listen to his teachings and see for themselves if they make sense. He did not want followers, but people who were his equals in working with mind. He didnt want

Because I was still in the middle of my studies, I forgot about this wish for a few years. But when I nished, everything happened very quickly to help me realize it. I started working for a well-known television station and had the option to go on foreign assignments. I always thought that it was important to really think things through, to come to a real conclusion. After awhile, I started to wonder if I really wanted to do what I was doing. In all the reporting of crises, I asked myself more and more what positive thing one could really do for those caught in war zones. So, in spite of a basically pacist worldview, after the Kosovo conict I had to acknowledge that in war zones the strong really do rule, and that one actually needs military intervention, in part, to break through this and stop anything worse from happening. But I could never have been a soldier! And what sort of thing can a woman do in war, without ignoring it on the one hand or justifying it on the other? I looked for an area in which I could be active but that would leave me the option of opposing war. After much thought, I decided that the best direction was in landmine disarmament. I could actively help and have a positive role. Of course I know that if I make a mistake, it will affect me. But with each space we clear, a little bit of normality returns to the crisis zone, and that makes it worth it.

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In the beginning, I did it all myself. Later, I taught the natives of the zone to do the same, supervised them, and developed programs for passing on the information. I was responsible for the organization HELP in Kosovo, for GTZ in Africain Mozambique and Zimbabweand ultimately for the United States of Afghanistan. There we mainly disarmed duds buried with the wide-ranging cluster bombs of the USA. These are one big bomb from which lots of little bomblets get thrown. They have a three-fold devastating action: they get through tank lines, set the whole environment burning, and kill people with their razor-sharp metal splinters. The biggest problem with the bombs is that there is an unusually high number of duds. The little bomblets can stay underground for years and put the civil population at great risk. Lots of children become human sacrices because the scattered bomblets look like toys. Since taking part in the Disarmament Conference in Geneva, and realizing how long-winded all the ofcial processes are while mines are still being laid and duds just lie around, it became even more clear that I should go back to my little mineeld. To get better results, I would need to engage on a higher level, even if this work doesnt bring the same immediate results as mine disarmament. I am probably not here to save the worldI cannot do that. But in my small way, where something can be achieved, I want to do something. What are the important human qualities that one should develop so humankind can develop? I believe that everyone should try to act positively in his or her own environment. Of course, in order to spread happiness and joy, you need to nd it yourself rstand that is a pleasant job. Then, to avoid war, there should be more tolerance, peace, and equanimity. One shouldnt solve a conict by immediately using sts, machine-guns, or bombs. And on top of the ability to approach things with a bit of equanimity, the art of discussion should be practiced more often. If people can talk, then they wont feel as if they have to strike out, except with words. It is much more difcult to ght with words than to hit someone, but that has to be our goal. Everyone can destroy, but building things and creating friendly structures of engagement is much more complicated. Women, especially, should choose to become qualied in conict prevention, if they are inclined to work in war. For example, I would wish that more women have higher positions in NATO. Have there been any magical moments in your work? Yes, and it is sometimes strange how it happens. In the most dangerous work in mine clearing, you rst need to test the area, because you never know exactly where the mineeld begins. You might not pay attention for just a moment; and

if you are unlucky, that is the moment you are standing on a mine. One day we were in a completely shot-covered area, and I went ahead alone. Just as I was going to step from the road to the eld, a weird feeling came over me. I can hardly describe it, but as I stood there, completely awed, a buttery came up to me. It ew around me once and then sat on my left foot. I got goose pimples and went back to the car, thinking Vera, you need a vacation. As I got to the car, we heard over the radio-link that two kilometers further along our area, just up the mountain, one of our colleagues had just stood on a mine and lost his foot. And even before they told us, I knew which foot. It was the left one.

Book Review
By Tasso Kallianiotis

Reections on a Mountain Lake

Teachings on Practical Buddhism

I am probably not here to save the worldI cannot do that. But in my small way, where something can be achieved, I want to do something. Vera Bohle, Landmine Disarmer
In March 1995, a German initiative for the prohibition of landmines began as part of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).This was supported by the Ottawa Agreement to ban anti-personal landmines and functions as a prohibition for all mines and for securing more voluntary help. In 1997, the ICBL was given a Nobel Peace Prize for this work. On March 1, 2004, the German initiative changed its name to Aktionsbuendnis Landmine.de. This is a political umbrella, to which sixteen organizations belong. The Aktionsbuendnis is responsible for the universalisation of the Ottawa Convention, though up until now countries like Russia, China, the USA, and Finland have yet to join. In addition, the Aktionsbuendnis oversees whether the prohibition is actually being carried out, is active in United Nations disarmament talks, and lobbies in the Bundestag and the European Parliament. Between 1995 and 2002, the member organizations gave over eighteen million Euros in twenty-one countries to promote the cause of the Aktionsbuendnis. But it is just one drop on a hot stone. They estimate that 80 to 110 million landmines are not yet deactivated, and, as a result, more than twenty thousand human sacrices happen each year, meaning that humanitarian help will still be needed for decades. Do you know a Modern Hero, or are you even one yourself? Then we would love to hear from you. Please share your story by writing to [email protected]. Michael Fuchs and Steffen Gill are also planning a global version of Modern Heroes; so if you like, we will be happy to pass on your story. This is an excerpt from Michael Fuchs and Steffen Gill, Moderne Helden. Printed with permission from J. Kamphausen Publishing, Germany.

Ani Tenzin Palmo Snow Lion Publications, 2002 ISBN: 1559391758

It was with curiosity that I approached this book. After all, it has been quite awhile since I read a book written by someone who is not a widely recognized authority on Buddhism or not somehow afliated with the Karma Kagyu lineage. I had already heard of Tenzin Palmo, the English nun who lived in India since the early 60s and spent twelve years in solitary retreat in the Himalayas. Her story, the very little I knew of her, intrigued me, and I was very curious to see what she had to say after all her experiences in the East as a practitioner, a woman and a nun in a predominately male Buddhist culture. Reections on a Mountain Lake is based on a series of talks Ani Tenzin Palmo gave in the late 90s in the US and Australia. It is well-written and easy to read, and it presents a wellbalanced combination of teachings and practical advice for beginners as well as more seasoned practitioners. The rst

chapter gives an overview of the authors life and experience as a Buddhist nun. Her growing up in London, England, during the second world war, traveling to India in the early 60s, nding her teacher, taking ordination, and going into a twelve year solitary retreat in the Himalayas. The book continues with successive chapters that cover some basic topics corresponding to progressive stages on the path one takes as a Great Vehicle (Mahayana) practitioner and concludes with themes essential to the Diamond Vehicle (Vajrayana). Reading through the pages one can easily get the feeling of being in the room with her while she is teaching, and there is denitely a kindness present in her words. She writes/speaks in a very relaxed, easy style, and mainly covers the basic principles of Buddhism in a practical way without getting too much into philosophical terms and views. This makes it easy

Reading through the pages one can easily get the feeling of being in the room with her while she is teaching, and there is denitely a kindness present in her words. She writes/ speaks in a very relaxed, easy style, and mainly covers the basic principles of Buddhism in a practical way without getting too much into philosophical terms and views.

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to follow the meaning of her teachings, making the points comprehensive and practical in everyday situations. She drives home the importance of working with our behavior and developing compassion. With a no-nonsense kind of attitude, Ani Tenzin Palmo repeatedly makes the point that in order to bring any kind of lasting change to our lives, we have to take responsibility for our situation and apply ourselves. She provides a plethora of examples from her own life, before and after she became Buddhist, presenting such issues primarily from a psychological perspective and relating to common views and/or approaches also used in other religions. Such anecdotes from her life also show her own development along the years and reinforce her character and integrity. It was greatly encouraging that she refers to the difculties she faced as a woman within a male dominant Tibetan Buddhist culture without any trace of blame or resentment, but with understanding, acceptance, and compassion. It seems obvious that she took these obstacles head-on, like any true practitioner, and through long years of hard work put herself in the position where she can now lead by example, bring positive inuence, and contribute to the eventual change of this archaic patriarchical system. As I continued to read through each chapter, a subtle conservative undertone became noticeable as the content remained centered on the causal approach of the sutric path. There is clear focus on things to be avoided and things to be pursued. She frequently points out all that is a waste of time and effort, and the necessity of abandonment, both outer and inner. (She is a nun after all.) In her teachings, she expounds on the need for developing compassion and briey touches on the basis of developing wisdom, but only

a few references to the joy aspect can be found in 250 pages of text. I cant help wonder or at least be curious why she does not bring more attention to

The one thing I found a bit alarming is an indirect message of a kind of universal spiritualism that is free floating throughout the book.
the direct approach of the Diamond Vehicle (Vajrayana). She was the disciple of the eighth Khamtrul Rinpoche, a Drukpa Kagyu master, is very knowledgeable, and has received training in the tantric path of direct transformation and identification with ones nature where working with joy is key. So clearly familiarity is not the issue. Of course it is obvious who her audience was when she was giving these talks, but the style of every teacher always comes across regardless, so I am not at all convinced it is by choice either. I will therefore dare to assume that this is probably not where her own focus primarily lies. The one thing I found a bit alarming is an indirect message of a kind of universal spiritualism that is free oating throughout the book. My inference is based on her examples and comments. Common ground can certainly be found on an external level between various religions and spiritual paths, especially in reference to the development of compassion or at least the necessity of it. However, understanding and working toward a goal become fundamentally different, especially between theistic and non-theistic religions. This distinction is not made

anywhere, and the book leaves plenty of room for the reader to assume the opposite. There is a new age vibe that comes across that can wash away this kind of useful discrimination and lead to confusion. I have to admit that it was a bit disappointing to see it come from a long-time practitioner. Overall I enjoyed reading this book, even though it did not completely t my personal style. In my view, it does not express an approach that can be attractive to those who fully engage in whatever is there and attempt the full transformation of it all to a highest, purest level. It nevertheless contains a lot of useful advice and sheds insight into working with things on a psychological, analytical, and causal level. Those who feel more comfortable working with their mind using slower paced, more indirect, and softer methods will relate to it better. Those who immerse themselves in life and want to use every situation without throwing anything away can still derive benet from it as long as it is read with clarity and awareness of its style and approach. Tenzin Palmo is very knowledgeable and conveys the Buddhas teachings quite well. She is a good example, and, as a woman in Buddhism, has broken a lot of ground. My intent in this review is not to judge or criticize but to simply point out what is there, to the best of my ability, so the reader has some idea what to expect and can therefore decide if and when to read the book. The Buddha taught on many different levels and many different things based on what people need. This book will no doubt be useful to many.

Announcements
By Ryan Spies

Songs of Naropa

Commentaries on Songs of Realization

This book is based on two short songs by Naropa (The View Concisely Put and A Summary of Mahamudra), illuminated with a commentary by Thrangu Rinpoche. Although the subject matter is quite traditional, the authors style is accessible and pragmatic. Detailed in many respects, it forms the basis for a comparison between Mahumudra and Shamatha practice. Stories on the life of Naropa abound with interesting, informative, and above all useful information for practitioners everywhere. The life stories included provide guidelines and advice pertinent to dealing with all sorts of disturbing emotions and potential difculties likely to affect the aspiring bodhisattva on his/her path to liberation and enlightenment. Without doubt, this book would prove useful to those who wish to deepen their understanding of dharma practice and the arsenal of tools it presents to deal with samsara, acting as a light to beings everywhere and moving forward on the path. Additionally, the rich historical background and lessons inherent in any study of Naropas life, and indeed his contemporaries and mentors, act as inspiration to modern dharma practitioners in the West.

Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche and Erik Pema Kunsang Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 2005 ISBN: 9627341282

No Time to Lose

A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva

This book is the most recent offering by this inspiring Western Buddhist author. Pema Chdrns work always serves to illuminate and inspire readers in simple, concise, and positive terms. Approaching the subject of dharma practice from the point of view of the student, Pema Chdrns writing is accessible and informative because she does not lecture, but approaches life and dharma practice from the point of view of someone who is still learning. Outlining techniques for maintaining an awakened mindset and pure view in the face of all manner of disturbances in the real world and away from the rarified existence of the monastery, this book is a true gemespecially for Westerners. Positivity and sheer information aside, this book gives insight into many aspects of bodhichitta. Her explanations on the sage Shantidevas poem The Way of the Bodhisattva makes this ancient eighth century mystical treatise accessible and relevant to the modern world and the lessons we face as we strive to put into everyday practice what the Buddha sought to pass to all beings. Chapters on Using Our Intelligence and Taming the Mind prove especially useful for modern Westerners whose environment is often far from conducive to maintaining the view. Without hesitation, this book is a worthwhile read for anyone who wishes to put into practice the tools and techniques that make dharma practice such a necessity in todays world.

Pema Chdrn Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2005 ISBN: 1590301358

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Glossary
Empowerment: [Tib. Wang] A ceremony that introduces the practitioner to the powereld of a certain buddha aspect. It may be given as a blessing or at the start of a practice. One also needs an oral transmission of the text (lung) and instructions on how to use it (thri). The effectiveness of these methods in developing ones awareness cannot be overestimated. Enlightenment: A state of realization in which the most subtle traces of ignorance about the nature of reality are eliminated, and highest wisdomthe state of omniscienceis attained. Great Way: [Skt. Mahayana, Tib. Theg Chen] The motivation and practice to reach enlightenment for the benet of all beings. Its very basis is the development of compassion and transpersonal wisdom. Lama: [Lit. highest principle] A qualied Buddhist teacher. Maha Ati: [Tib. Dzogpa Chenpo] The absolute teaching of the old or Nyingma tradition. Also called the Great Perfection. Essence and goal correspond to the Mahamudra of the Kagyu transmission. Mahamudra: [Tib. Chagya Chenpo] The Great Seal of reality. Buddha promised that this is the ultimate teaching. It is mainly taught in the Kagyu tradition and brings about the direct experience of mind. Mahamudra includes basis, way, and goal, and is the quintessence of all Buddhist teachings. Mahasiddhas: Great Indian tantric masters renowned for affecting changes in the phenomenal world through spiritual power. They came from all walks of life, and they developed the means for the dharma to be practiced effectively by people of widely varying capacities and inclinations. Meditation: [Tib. Gom] The word meditation is used to denote the practice itself, but it is actually only the third step of a Buddhists practice. The rst step is to receive teachings, the second is the effort to understand them, and the nal step is meditation. While meditating, one actualizes what s/he has learned. For an efcient meditation, the right understanding of the Buddhist path is necessary. Sangha: The community of those who practice the dharma. Sutra: [Lit. thread, in the sense of a guiding line] The teachings given by Buddha Shakyamuni himself or ascribed to him. Divided into different groups, nowadays contained in the Pali-Kanon (Theravada) or the Kanjur, the Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit Kanon (Mahayana and Vajrayana). Tantra: [Lit. texture or web, in the sense of a complex structure, a holistic approach] Root scriptures of Vajrayana. These scriptures are ascribed to Buddha Shakyamuni and his different manifestations. They describe the Mandala and practice connected with an enlightened being. Vajra Songs: Songs of realization. Spontaneous expressions of the realization of the nature of mind or of the bliss of realization. Yogi: An accomplished practitioner who experiences his or her mind in its natural state, on the absolute and relative levels simultaneously.

Abhidharma: The section of Buddhist scriptures concerned with philosophical, cosmological, and psychological analysis. Bodhicitta: [Tib. Chang Chub Kyi Sem] There are two levels of Bodhicitta. The relative means perfecting ourselves through the six liberating actions for the benet of all beings. The absolute is spontaneous and effortless activity without thought or hesitation. The experience of subject, object, and action as a totality makes this intuitive state spontaneous. Bodhisattva: One who has taken the great promise to rescue all beings from suffering and guide them to enlightenment. Bodhisattva Promise: The promise to maintain the enlightened view at all times. The promise is given in the presence of a bodhisattva and is repeated as often as possible.

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