Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen's Articles on Lions Roar

According to Tibetan Buddhism, all life and death take place in the gap, or bardo, between one state and another. While the most famous bardo is the one between death and rebirth, there are others that also shape our lives. Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen presents a commentary on Milarepa’s song of realization “The Eight Bardos.” Milarepa's style of teaching is called “direct pointing out.” This refers to instructions that pinpoint what should be rejected and what should be accepted, the causes of suffering and the causes of happiness, without a lot of intellectual argumentation. For centuries, people have benefited from studying his vajra songs. Now we too have the good fortune to study the songs of Milarepa and be similarly inspired to practice dharma sincerely. Even though we may not fully comprehend what Milarepa said, it is crucial to rejoice in the opportunity to read his words. If we can do that, we will make a connection with Milarepa and receive his blessings through his songs. This isn’t due to some magical power but rather is the natural result of understanding and practicing his teachings. In this song of the eight bardos, the profundity and vastness of his teachings are made clear to scholars and practitioners alike. If we keep them in mind, we will eventually arrive at buddhahood. Commentary. I prostrate to the saintly lamas. In particular, I go for refuge to the one who was kind. Son, in answer to your prayer I sing this song about the bardos. Milarepa begins by singing the praises of the saintly lamas, who are the great enlightened masters. Among them, Marpa was the one who was most kind to Milarepa because he is the one who gave Milarepa all the lineage teachings, which caused him to achieve complete enlightenment in a single lifetime. Gampopa is Milarepa’s spiritual son, and the one who requested these teachings. Bardo is a Tibetan word. The first syllable, bar, means “in between”; the second syllable, do, means “two.” So together, they mean “place in between two.” While the bardo between lives is the most well known, the word can be used to indicate a state between any two things: hungry and full, happiness and suffering, delusion and enlightenment, laughing and crying, this life and the next, or between meditation sessions. Our life constantly plays out in between, in duality. This song is a teaching on how to transcend duality or, in other words, how to purify the concept of duality. Since Gampopa was highly accomplished in meditation and scholarship, Milarepa explained these bardo teachings from the point of view of Mahamudra. All appearances related to every subject manifest in dependence on causality from the Mahamudra state, and they dissolve back into Mahamudra. A great amount of wisdom based on meditation experience with nonduality is needed to capture the meaning of inseparable appearance and emptiness. Sentient beings in the three realms of samsara and buddhas who have passed beyond suffering are one in their actual true nature. This is the bardo of view. The three realms that comprise samsara are the desire, form, and formless worlds. The desire world is the largest, extending from the hells up to the six lowest desire god realms. In that world, beings are ruled by their senses and their desires are fulfilled by outer objects. for example, our human desires are fulfilled when we look at beautiful forms, hear beautiful sounds, smell lovely fragrances, taste delicious foods, and touch smooth objects. Beings in the four stages of the form world have a more subtle existence, and their desires are completely satisfied through meditative absorption. They feel so joyful and peaceful that external phenomena are of no interest. Instead of looking for outside stimulation as we do, they are content to abide inside the mind. Beings in the formless world are even more subtle and have no physical form. They have only a mental form that is so fully absorbed in equipoise that it can remain so for many thousands of eons. They are satisfied with a meditation state that is even more profound than that of the form world. All the countless sentient beings are contained within these three contaminated worlds. Buddhas are those who have transcended these three realms to reach full enlightenment. Their obscurations, both gross and subtle, have been fully purified. The two wisdoms are fully awakened within them. Although these two—sentient beings and buddhas—are on two different levels, they share the same essential true nature. The difference is that sentient beings are bewildered in a jungle of confusion. They have failed to recognize their buddhanature and wander in helpless suffering as a result, whereas buddhas have purified their ignorance and revealed their true nature. Out of great wisdom and compassion, buddhas teach the dharma based on the certainty that buddhanature makes perfect enlightenment possible for everyone. The dharma is not some kind of instant magic. We gradually follow in the footsteps of great masters like Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa, phagmo Drupa, and Jigten Sumgön. One after another, they practiced and forcefully destroyed their delusions. Therefore, there is no doubt that we too can experience this. We only need courage, dedication, and strength. The buddhas and great masters did not create their own view of reality; rather, they realized it as it actually is. They recognize the very ignorance that causes the perpetual suffering of samsara as primordial wisdom. When one sees everything clearly and precisely, there is no samsara to give up and no nirvana to achieve. Duality and all bardos are transcended. This is the principal point of all our dharma study and practice. A simple analogy can help demonstrate this point. Let’s say you are suspicious of someone and think, “Oh, this is a terrible person. She gives me such a hard time.” But after some time, you get to know her better, discover her good qualities, and become close friends. The other person is the same; the duality of her being good or bad does not exist from her side. But as you gained understanding, your perceptions changed. Similarly, as we develop more loving-kindness, compassion, and bodhicitta, our perception of negative thought purifies. Mental clarity grows stronger as we perceive with a healthier mind. We can even get to the point where we feel grateful when someone presents us with an obstacle. There is an account of a bodhisattva in ancient times whose hand was cut off by a king. The bodhisattva reacted by saying, “Thank you so much for this opportunity to enhance my practice.” His heart had been so transformed that instead of seeing a negative action, he genuinely felt grateful. With practice and confidence we too can transcend the duality of good and bad, buddha and sentient being. This is the ultimate view, the view that the Buddha and we ourselves share the same nature. There are many, many high and profound views, but this one is the pinnacle. There is nothing higher that we might achieve. Actualizing this view is our goal, and until we arrive at that destination by transcending duality, we must exert whatever effort we can. The various white and red manifestations and the inexpressible innate mind are inseparable, being one in the intrinsic state. This is the bardo of meditation. An infinite variety of experience will arise when we meditate. Manifestations can come while dreaming, during the meditation session itself, or afterward. There’s really no predicting what, if anything, will manifest. But no matter what appears, it is all a manifestation from the innate mind. The mind cannot be described or limited by any sort of boundary. We cannot say that it exists one way or the other. In fact, we cannot pin down whether it exists at all. Its nature is inexpressible by any conventional means, yet that same mind is the basis of all our experiences, the various white and red manifestations. These are the myriad experiences that occur during meditation practice and during our various thought processes. The mind is like an ocean, and all mental activities are like ocean waves. Ocean waves arise from the water and dissolve back into it. When a wave manifests, we can point to it and say, “This is a wave.” But the wave is of the same nature as the water, so we can’t truly separate them. Big waves and small waves may come, but the water itself is unchanged. Water with waves and water without waves is still water. They may temporarily appear to be separate, but upon examination they are actually seen to be of a single nature. Similarly, when we are skilled at meditation, we can see that all phenomena are manifestations of the innate nature of mind. Different experiences come and go, but when it comes to the mind itself, nothing has happened. The innate mind is utterly unchanged. We should focus on the mind in our meditation, rather than getting involved with the myriad manifestations that arise within it. Look at the ocean and the sky, and don’t be distracted by the waves and clouds. Let phenomena such as feeling good or bad manifest from mind and let them dissolve back into mind. Simply sustain awareness of the innate mind. Delusory appearances in their various manifestations and one’s own nonarising mind are one as nondual coemergence. This is the bardo of conduct. We, and all others in samsara, are deluded and confused, blinded by ignorance, and mistake outer appearances in their various manifestations for reality. Not recognizing that they are illusory, we fixate on them and are continually disappointed. When we do not recognize the actual nature of these outer projections, they delude our mind even more, and the darkness thickens. The deluded samsaric mind and the innate nature of mind seem to be two different things. But they are one, nondually coemergent. That very deluded mind is coemergent with the unborn mind of wisdom. The confusion is that we do not recognize this. The unborn mind is like...

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