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| Tulku Chokyi Nyima and Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, with Erik and Namdol, in Hong Kong, 1981. |
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche's main job in
life was to teach Dzogchen, the pith instructions of Dzogchen to as
many people as possible. That was the command he had been given, not
only by the sixteenth Karmapa but also by his own root guru who was a
reincarnation of Vimalamitra, an Indian master, matchless, only
comparable to Padmasabhava.
That was the type of guru he had grown
up with and been taught by. When Tulku Urgyen was young he was asked
to teach by his guru some lay people and though still a teenager he
did it gladly, he just gave pointing out instruction with great
confidence and joy. Soon his guru said “You seem to be someone who
has no hesitation. You seem very confident. Perhaps you will teach
this a lot.”
Later his guru told that that was his
main task in life and he taught up to he passed away thousands and
thousands of people, the view and the practice of Dzogchen and
Mahamudra. And if people wanted teaching on Prajnaparamita or
Madhyamika, he would teach that, using almost the same words. Because
as far as Tulku Urgyen was concerned there’s absolutely no
difference in the view of Prajnaparamita, Madhyamika, a particular
style of madhyamika (Ngedon Uma Chenmo) known as the Great Middle Way
of The Definitive Meaning, the Essence Mahamudra, and then the
excellence of Dzogchen. He often told this:
“Since you can become enlightened by
any of these four views, would that mean that there are four
different types of Buddhahood? Not at all. It is the same identity
that one is supposed to recognise and train in and become stable in.
And stability in the view of knowing the nature of this mind, that is
another word for Enlightenment, Buddhahood.”
That was how he taught and it benefited
so many people and it has been my greatest joy to see the light being
switched on in peoples eyes from not knowing to knowing. He knew that
button and how to press it.
Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche knew how to
introduce the view of the deepest teachings in the tantras not as a
theory only but in actuality and I can vouch for that being the
greatest kindness that any teacher can bestow on a student.
He often compared, that the path of
Mahamudra and Dzogchen is like a wet rope in a lake, a thick long
rope; it’s impossible to pull it up out of the lake, it’s too
heavy. But if you get hold of one end of the long rope and you slowly
pull it in, one foot at a time, then you end up with having the
entire rope up on dry land. You need to get hold of the one end and
that is called the pointing-out instruction.
These days Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche often
corrects me when I use the words ‘pointing-out instruction’. I
had coined that phrase many years ago for the Tibetan sems ngo sprod
pa which means bringing face to face with the nature of mind, so I
thought ‘pointing out’, meaning “that’s it”, and then
‘instruction’ would be fine. Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche has now
re-edited it to be ‘Pith Introduction.’
I know that some of you have already
received this type of instruction, perhaps many times but I also know
that once or twice may not be sufficient, so ask for it again when
you have the chance to meet a wisdom master, and if you have not
received it before, pray to create the merit to receive it and when
there is a chance, go there, get off your butt, travel, ask for it
and receive it. Get hold of the one end of the rope and pull it in
before you die.
I’m still pulling and mine is very
wet and heavy.
For some people, and we’re not able
to judge who’s who, that process is very fast, for some it is very
difficult to comprehend, for some it takes a long time. It is
different from person to person but it’s absolutely worthwhile and
there are teachings that, if you don’t have merit to receive it,
there are teachings on how to create that merit very fast like during
one month, two months, half a year, a wonderful practice called
ngondro which is specifically designed to make anyone who is not
ready, ready.
This ngondro process is a very
effective set of instructions. The first time it is mentioned is in
one of the earliest Dzogchen tantras that appeared at the beginning
of this world aeon. It’s called the Longsal Barma Nyimey Gyu--The
Tantra of The Blazing Sun of the Vast Expanse.
It exists in this world in several
versions. The longest version is perhaps one revealed in Bhutan by a
great master known as Dorje Lingpa, but there are shorter versions,
one revealed by Ratna Lingpa. The longer version has more than one
hundred chapters and in Dorje Lingpa’s version there’s one
chapter for each of the Five Preliminary Practices that together make
up the ngondro: refuge, bodhisattva vow, mandala offering,
Vajrasattva recitation, and guru yoga.
In the early tantra, mandala offering
and Vajrasattva are switched, so the mandala comes first, Vajrasattva
after, don’t ask me why, and finally the most important part, guru
yoga. These five aspects of practice together, make it so that almost
all the hindrances that exist in this mind for becoming face to face
with itself can be almost totally removed. After the person has gone
through the ngondro training in a genuine and complete way, or some
practice that has the same ability as the ngondro training, he or she
can, when receiving the pointing out instruction, recognize the
nature of mind almost immediately and that is indeed wonderful!
--from a talk given at Rangjung Yeshe
Gomde, Doncaster, U.K.
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