From The Kagyu Dharma 2010

Interview with Shangpa Rinpoche 
KKDSKL yearly Buletin Volume two. 2010


1. Many individuals have their personal point of view with regard to the Buddha Dharma. How do we recognize this as the right view?


There is no way we can judge or recognize the right view since every individual has a different view towards the Dharma. Dharma is the sublime teaching given by Lord Buddha during the thrice turning of the Dharma Wheel.

The subject of the first turning the wheel of Dharma is the Four Noble Truths, the second turning is the lack of characteristic, that is the Prajna Paramita related teachings and the third turning is fine distinction of relative truth and ultimate truth.

Thereafter, the great Masters of India created a proper system so that the essence of the Buddha’s teaching is sustained correctly and made more accessible to everyone.

Among the ocean like Indian Great Masters, there were six masters who played the role of system creator and propagator of the Dharma.

These six great masters are Nagarjuna and Arya Deva for Madyamika;

Asangha and Vasubandhu for Mind only School or Chitta matra and

Dignag and Chandra Kirti for Pramana or Buddhist logic.

Beside these six great personalities, there were two most supreme persons named Guna Prabha and Shakya Prabha for Vinaya.

These six masters are addressed as ornaments of the Buddha’s teachings mainly by Mahayana masters because they have illuminated Mahayana teachings to this world. The practice of Mahayana was conferred by the Buddha in different time and different places as well as to different beings. It was collected and compiled by these masters, especially Nagarjuna. As a result, the teaching became available to everyone and made easy to comprehend due to the inclusion of good commentaries.

Commonly there are three schools of Buddhism which we categorize as Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. Each of them has its unique methods to overcome the defilements and confusion. It is like a patient’s medical condition that needs to follow different levels of treatment and diet in order for that person to not only recover completely but also to get stronger and healthier. Therefore, do not regard the Dharma as only one view and/or a single method. Rather, the dharma is all- encompassing and well-equipped to train an individual from the very basic level up to the state of enlightenment.

These different schools may appear to have some different views but each of these differences has a valid support from the Sutra and from logical reasoning. So the Dharma is actually not just a view but more importantly, it is a method for different individual with different capacities much like a staircase that leads to the summit.

An individual’s personal point of view of the Dharma may be peppered with confusion or emotions and they lack valid evidence or logical reasoning. We can’t recognize them as right view and neither should we deem them as wrong as we ourselves are still obstructed by ignorance and so, we are not in the position to decide what is right or wrong for others.

2 In recent times, there are numerous organizations claiming themselves as the “living Buddha or great masters”. For beginners who lack understanding on Buddhism, they may seek refuge in these organizations, resulting in misunderstandings and misinterpretation of the Buddha Dharma. In this situation, how can we help to guide them to the right path?

It is not really an organization that claims themselves as the living Buddha as the organization is not a person but rather a system. There are a number of cases where we have heard about some person claiming himself as a living Buddha and trying to promote himself through books, video and even on YouTube. Well, I regard this as unfortunate and it is not immediately rectifiable. It is said by one Tibetan scholar called Gedun Chophel that “Behind each hill, there is one community and each of that community has a different tradition. Each of this tradition has a number of learned and unwise people supporting that tradition”. I consider this as unfortunate because when one is not a realized person but claiming and promoting to be as such, this is a spiritual lie, i.e. “Micho Lamai Dzun” which means an ordinary human’s level claiming to be of superior spiritual attainment. Such a lie is one of the most serious forms of non-truths, especially if the person is a monk or nun as it breaks the vows of self-liberation that he or she has taken. Temporarily, that person may gain some reputation and even prosperity but at the same time, he destroys his entire accumulation of merits and plants the seed of downfall. His actions not only harm himself but also many others who follow him and as a result, they have no good future so it is really unfortunate.

But if people follow the right master, then their spiritual qualities will grow like a rising moon and they can develop every enlightened quality without much obstacle. This has been proven by our lineage master who followed their guru and gained all the enlightened qualities within a lifetime.

As an ordinary person, we can’t do much for people who are in the wrong path under the guidance of the wrong person and we feel pitiful for them. Nonetheless, we can make aspirations that they will soon realize and come onto the right path.

2. Some individuals who lack the proper understanding in Buddhism may misinterpret the Buddha Dharma. How do we resolve this ongoing matter?

The key is to learn the pure Dharma from a qualified teacher so that all these misinterpretations will diminish naturally because they do not have a stable foundation or base. Therefore, it is important that we involve ourselves in the activities of organized teachings, seminars and retreat sessions with the right teacher. If the teacher is running an organization, then the student should check if that organization concentrates on the training and education of pure dharma as the first and top priority. In the affirmative, misunderstandings towards dharma should not arise and/or would naturally be resolved.

3. There are many bogus monks who go around cheating the public by collecting donations. How should we treat them? Should we treat them with a compassionate mind, point out their wrong doings, or should we just ignore them?

It depends on the mindset of individuals on how they should be treating that kind of monk. There is no one simple rule for such a situation. For example, if that person has an unwavering devotion towards the Sangha and is not bothered if that monk is bogus or not, and wholeheartedly makes offering to accumulate merits, then he or she will receive the merits of offering to the Sangha completely.

Another person who realizes the monk as bogus and thinks that it is very bad for that monk, and without any hatred tries to educate the monk that his action is harmful for himself and others. Then such a sincere motivation is good and it can be a turning point for that person to reform from bad to good.

Yet another type of person whose mind is very simple and easily influenced should best avoid or ignore the issue. So it depends on what kind of person you are when handling such a situation. I think there is no one common method that everyone should follow.

4. Sangha’s have certain vows to abide to. If they have broken the vows when they are within or outside the monastery, what should we do?

Sangha’s vow maintenance or breakage is actually sangha communities’ concern and the abbot or discipline master will handle such cases. Within the community or monastery, if one breaks any of the four main vows, then he will be disrobed (change into layman’s clothing) and dispelled from the monastery. Though he is no longer part of the Sangha, he is still allowed to practise. Usually, lay people do not have the right to interfere with such matters as they are settled by the community or Monastery. However, if lay people witnessed the breaking of vows by a sangha and deemed it necessary to resolve the matter, then they should inform the Abbot of the sangha community or monastery which the vow-breaking sangha is from.

5. There are certain groups of practitioners who are very attached or superstitious in their beliefs in Buddha Dharma. How do we lead or guide them to the right path?

Firstly, one should know what is superstition and then check if the practice is indeed attached with superstition.

For the non-Buddhists or anyone who is not in association with any religion, they may view that all religious practices are superstitious. The vast religions have many different views of differentiating things from truths or superstitions. Even in Buddhism, we also have many different views to define what is the truth and what is superstition.

In the context of Mahayana and Vajrayana, there are two ways of identifying and categorizing the truths as relative and ultimate.

On the relative level, we believe there is an existence of spirits and gods that may have some impact on our lives. As a Buddhist, we do not see such impacts as superstitious but rather term it as a Karmic debt that is somehow associated with us in either a good way or a bad way. So we regard it as a need to pay back with right intention, love and compassion.

That does not mean that all things bad and/or good are controlled by spirits and gods and that we humans are totally dependent on them. It is wrong and superstitious to think that we need to please the spirits and gods by making constant offerings to them in order to live happily. That kind of person cannot be a genuine Buddhist practitioner. A true Buddhist very much relies on his own potential to create the causes of happiness and/or suffering and karmically experiences the effects accordingly.

Without one’s own creation of cause, there is no way one can get the result. No gods or spirits can give the result that you did not create the cause for. If you have created such a cause, then the result will inevitably manifest in time. It is impossible by mere pleasing or making offering to the spirits or worldly gods that make things happen. The manifestation of the result is due to the action that has a favorable condition to ripen the cause. Favorable conditions such as repaying a karmic debt helps to lighten the effect of experiencing unpleasant situations.

In ultimate truth, we do not regard conditions as truly existing but merely as our own conceptually manifested state of mind. It arises interdependently and if we know the nature of it, we might realize the true meaning of emptiness. Otherwise, we may in confusion create an attachment or aversion.