Ray - In the Presence of Masters: Wisdom from 30 Contemporary Tibetan Buddhist Teachers

ABOUT THE BOOK

Thirty of the most creative, eloquent, and energetic Tibetan Buddhist teachers of Westerners in recent decades are featured in this collection of teachings that are certain to be highly treasured by all students of Buddhism. The contributors are masters who helped establish Buddhism in the West, founding centers in North America, Great Britain, Australia, and Europe; publishing books in English; and gaining recognition among Western Buddhists. Their teachings, drawn exclusively from the spoken word as given in talks and seminars, convey the directness and power for which the oral tradition is so valued in Buddhism.

The book highlights the teachings of the practice lineages, the branch of Tibetan Buddhism that emphasizes meditation practice, personal experience, and spiritual realization. Selections are thematically organized, including topics such as the major approaches to the spiritual path, meditation and other practices, Buddhist ethics, tantric practice, and the role of the teacher.

Includes the following teachers:

REGINALD A. RAY, PhD, is a faculty member at Naropa University and is President and Spiritual Director of the Dharma Ocean Foundation, which is dedicated to the practice, study, and preservation of the teachings of Chgyam Trungpa. He is also the author of many books, including Indestructible Truth and Secret of the Vajra World .

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In the PRESENCE of MASTERS

Wisdom from 30 Contemporary Tibetan Buddhist Teachers

E DITED BY

R EGINALD A. R AY

Shambhala

B OSTON & L ONDON

2013

To Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche,

Shambhala Lineage Holder and Dharma King

S HAMBHALA P UBLICATIONS , I NC .

H ORTICULTURAL H ALL

300 M ASSACHUSETTS A VENUE

B OSTON , M ASSACHUSETTS 02115

www.shambhala.com

2004 by Reginald A. Ray

Cover art: Klong chen snying thig Lineage Tree , reproduced by permission of the Hahn Cultural Foundation, http://www.hjmuseum.or.kr.

Please see section for a continuation of the copyright page.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

In the presence of masters: wisdom from 30 contemporary Tibetan buddhist teachers / edited by Reginald A. Ray.

p. cm.

eISBN 978-0-8348-2437-9

ISBN 1-57062-849-1 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Buddhism. 2. BuddhismChinaTibet. I. Ray, Reginald A.

BQ4016 .15 2004

294.3923dc22

2003026575

C ONTENTS

This volume contains instructions on meditation and the spiritual life by contemporary Tibetan lamas of the practice lineages, primarily of the Nyingma and Kagy. The teachers represented here include both those trained in Tibet who were part of the original diaspora that occurred in the late 1950s and the 1960s as well as lamas of the second and even third generation, brought up and educated in refugee communities in Asia and elsewhere.

All of these instructions were originally given orally to Western students or adapted from those teachings. In assembling this collection, I have drawn both upon unpublished transcripts of talks and discussions and also upon published materials (interviews, articles, and books). The thirty lamas represented here include many of the most energetic, creative, and eloquent Tibetan teachers working with Westerners in recent decades. In this collection I emphasize teachings of Nyingma and Kagy lamas because it is these lineages that have historically defined themselves most comprehensively as meditative traditions, and it is the masters of these lineages who have been most active in promoting meditation practice in the West.

The fact that this volume is composed of teachings that were originally given orally deserves some comment. Oral teachings, and especially those composed for and addressed to particular listeners, occupy a distinctive and important place within Tibetan Buddhism and within Buddhism as a whole, both past and present. The Buddha instructed and educated his own disciples primarily by talking with them: he conversed with them about what was going on in their lives and their world, showing them, in each situation, the unassailable and often shocking nature of how things are. The early texts show him revealing, case by case, that the paltry ideas we humans habitually have about our lives are finally inapplicable; he also demonstrated how easily they vanish before an experience of reality itself. The Buddha addressed his disciples immediate situation rather than quoting ancient texts because the experience of liberation can occur only as the epiphany of the present moment in all its fullness. And the depth and subtlety of the present is best unveiledso Buddhism assertsthrough the immediacy of the freshly spoken word, rather than something composed a long time ago.

It is interesting that, in spite of the existence of a huge written Buddhist canon and many thousands of books on Buddhism now in print in the West, the oral tradition continues to take precedence in the lives of individual, practicing Buddhists. When Buddhist practitioners think about how to approach life, they generally dont look to the books as the first and foremost reference point. Rather than quoting the the Bible as Christians might, Buddhists will quote the words of a teaching they received from their mentor that has struck them and remained in their minds.

The teachings presented in this book are, of course, written down. However, like the earliest Buddhist texts, they stand very close to the original oral teaching situation. In the Asian past of Buddhism, oral instructions given by accomplished teachers would be received only by the audiences actually present at the teachings. Others who were not present might hear about what was taught and very occasionally might see notes taken by someone who was there, but they would not have access to the full extent of what was said. With the recent invention of audio and video recording, the situation we face is different. Now, when a teacher gives an oral instruction, although we may not have been there, we may listen to, and perhaps also watch, a recording of it. Beyond that, as in the present instance, we may be able to read an edited transcription of what was said. This volume, then, enables us to see the situation that was addressed, the images that were used, something of the nuances of the presentation and the interactions between teacher and student. As we read these selections, we may feel that it is our own lives that are in question and our own situations that are being addressed. Because the modern world is so increasingly standardized, in a certain sense, this is an accurate impression.