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The Karmapa at Hammerstein Ballroom, NY
(by Gregg Rock ©2008 Karmapa Foundation)

The Karmapa Returns

by Victoria Dolma

On May 19, standing before New York's packed Hammerstein Ballroom audience comprising Tibetans, Westerners, and Chinese, many of whom had been students of the previous Karmapa, Ponlop Rinpoche introduced Orgyen Trinley Dorje, the long-awaited 17th incarnation of the head of the Karma Kagyu and arguably Tibet's second most important Lama after HH the Dalai Lama. "New York is the natural place for the Karmapa to begin his tour," he stated, "because here everything most American is found in quintessential form. If the Buddha were born today, he or she might live in the Village, work in mid-town, and attain Enlightenment in Central Park! It could happen right here, right now."

The Karmapa's own opening words and demeanor left many in the audience with two overarching impressions: first, that the Karmapa phenomenon is cosmic—an energy vastly larger than that of any single office—holder, as indicated by his occasional detached references to himself; and second, that the boat of the Dharma is gradually being steered in a different channel from that which it coursed in its early days in the West.

The move toward greater ecumenism, begun in recent years by HH Dalai Lama, is now being brought to fruition by the Karmapa, whose resonant voice, inflections, and even gestures testify to the amount of time he has spent in the Dalai's presence. "The previous Karmapa made many connections here," His Holiness remarked, "and as I bear the name of his rebirth, I must continue his activity. The people of America have never been outside the Karmapa's mind. There is interest nowadays in Tibetan Buddhism, and the Dalai Lama speaks all over the world about the value of education and kindness. In following his example, and because it is the 21st century, it is appropriate for me not just to talk about Buddhism, but about the general principles of education, kindness, and behavior in life." Indeed there was little to characterize the Karmapa's NY appearances as Buddhist-specific events. Absent were the traditional music, rituals, and entourage. Only the monk's robes and a giant projection of a Buddha thangka behind the Karmapa were visual reminders.

The first day His Holiness confessed to "some physical limitations on my mental clarity since I arrived here only three days ago." However His Holiness proceeded over the next two days to speak with total fluency on a variety of subjects. The following is excerpted from his teachings.

"I've had to go through a lot of challenges. Many different things have happened to me. In facing certain challenges I've sometimes felt it almost beyond my capacity to meet them. But we must never let the challenges destroy our peace of mind. For example, imagine you have a mirror in front of you, along with an object weighing a hundred pounds. The image of that heavy object is reflected in the mirror, but the mirror doesn't bear the weight. Likewise, we can't prevent ourselves from encountering situations which place pressure on us, but we can experience the mere appearance of situations like the mirror—reflecting them clearly but not being weighed down by the pressure. You might say it's theoretically possible to be like the mirror, but where does one find the fortitude and patience? In order to do that, there has to be a stable and impregnable armor of patience within. There are great opportunities here in the US to acquire almost anything that physically exists. But the presence of so much material affluence doesn't in itself bring about courage or patience; in fact, it can be the cause of losing your patience. You want more, or you don't get it fast enough. We therefore need an independent armor of courage. I'm not talking about enforced denial—a patience where you force yourself to pretend things are OK. If I tried to live that way, I would never have come here. I would have said it doesn't matter, and I would not have done anything. The patience I'm talking about is independent of circumstances—a kind of empowerment within the person.

"Sometimes our desire to practice becomes a source of more pressure—another cause of feeling weighed down because we become so serious. If you take the process too seriously, you become enervated. Let's say you are aware of anger. You want to apply the remedy, and do it in the most serious and traditional way. You prepare the remedy in advance, but because the person preparing the remedy is the same person who will get angry, the angry part knows the remedy is there and will chase it out. Then it's not available when needed. When we demonize our afflictions, we see ourselves in opposition to them, and the tension just increases the power of the affliction. So it's more helpful to laugh at our kleshas (negative emotions) than to fight them.

Welcoming ceremony at Woodstock, NY
(by Robert Hansen-Sturm ©2008 KTD & Karmapa Foundation)

But the thing as a whole is not a joke. Humor is a strategy whose purpose is to attain mental stability and freedom which, as human beings, we have the potential to achieve. But this depends on the choices we make. What tendencies do we give autonomy to? Intelligently choosing what we give our power to is important.

"When we meditate on love, we often do so with the idea of I feeling compassion for the other. We feel separate and somewhat superior: I, cultivator of compassion, feel for you, miserable being. In the Buddhist tradition we try to cultivate heart with the vow not to lose this feeling until we achieve Buddhahood. But it is difficult, if not impossible, to feel heartfelt compassion that long while maintaining the concept of differentiation between self and other. However, when you see others as parts of yourself, your compassion will go to them wherever they go and accompany them whatever they do. Concerning the inseparability of self and others, you may ask to whom you can point as the embodiment of this. The best example is the Buddha. What characterizes his compassion? The lack of separation between self and other. What did the Buddha experience as a self—as himself? He experienced all others as himself. What he felt about I, he felt about others and vice versa. We can use the body as an analogy. Within the body there are different parts, but they are all part of one body. Similarly, in the cultivation of love and compassion we can distinguish between self and other, but we can also experience the inseparability of self and others. Thus, there is a real possibility of our developing bodhicitta, but we must look at our principal obstacles—anger, attachment, and jealousy. We seem to have them, but we never asked for them, never invited them into our minds, so we can't just kick them out; we have to talk to them.

"Yesterday, I was driven around New York City and experienced the traffic for the first time. Stop-go-stop. It was quite an intense emotional experience! People often become angry, especially if they have a cup of hot coffee balanced precariously and it starts to spill. We can say the anger is unnecessary, but it's something we all recognize. It is the rejection of the unwanted, while desire is the impulse to attract the wanted. In their basic attributes there is nothing wrong with these two. The problem is that we go too far. It's fine to admit that you want something. The problem is that we one-sidedly reject an entire thing on the basis of one or two apparent attributes until we eventually cultivate the habit of confusing the attributes with the whole thing. We need a strategy to re-learn how to view things in the correct perspective.

"A lot of what appears to us is not just appearance, but our fixation. We overlay appearances with our fixated perception. It's much like wearing eyeglasses. If you wear the proper prescription, you see clearer. But if you use reading glasses to look in the distance, everything becomes blurry. And dark glasses worn inside can obscure things. Besides these fixations is our tendency to divide appearances by introducing the concept of I on one side, and him on the other side.

The Karmapa touring Naropa University with President Thomas Coburn,
Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, and
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche (by James Gritz ©2008 Karmapa Foundation)

"We look at appearances through a little window we've opened, and the frame is what divides the world. Something odd happens when we look out the window of I and mine. What we see is not actually there. Like a computer's virtual image, our view is spurious. And when we try to reach out to others through that window, if we see something that seems to be unpleasant, we feel it is directed personally at us. 'That person is invading my window,' and we feel hurt. There is also the matter of what you can't see through the window. Genuine spiritual experience doesn't occur through I and mine. In fact, this barrier is worse than a window; it's a solid wall between us and reality. But like the computer image it can be turned off.

"Delusions are important not just because they are incorrect, but because they affect us. They change how we feel. If delusion didn't hurt, it wouldn't matter. Concerning the distinction between delusion and its absence, for most of us philosophical analysis is too hard to understand, and we don't have time to think about it. We simply need sufficient understanding to improve our lives. I can take myself as an example. I am one of the youngest of the Tibetan Lamas, but I have also faced the most difficulties. As best as possible I've applied the remedies, and though I haven't eradicated delusion, I have calmed emotional turbulence. So it will be useful for you perhaps if—as they say in America—I share with you the methods I've used.

"Among our experiences one of the most depressing is when our delusions so overpower us that we can't even remember positive states of mind. It's as if they never occurred. For example, a while ago when I encountered an unpleasant situation, then an unpleasant emotion would plunge my mind into a state where I couldn't even recall well-being. But if we can use our faculties of mindfulness, remembering a pleasant situation, then our mind will turn from depression to ease. In each of our lives we've experienced states of delight. If you leave those experiences alone, they have only benefited you once. But if you can bring them to mind when you are depressed, they can be effective again.

"Anyhow, we must accept delusions rather than fighting them... Attempting to overcome delusion by force won't eliminate it; it will only suppress it. That's like burying garbage. With enough burying, after awhile the ground itself becomes garbage. You may wonder: If I accept my delusions, won't they cause me problems? Acceptance isn't the problem; fighting with something is. Great intelligence is found in the acceptance of suffering. Because of rebirth we have all accumulated a great amount of experience. So if we cultivate acceptance with one difficulty, we will learn how to accept all. Wisdom is intelligent awareness described as 'knowing one, liberating everything.' The reason is that great wisdom is not like research learning where you investigate the attributes of individual things. Since all things have the same nature, once the nature of one thing is understood, all are understood."

His Holiness concluded with reflections on his ongoing relationship with America: "When I was eight years old, I was recognized as the Karmapa and brought to Tsurphu. When I first encountered Americans, I saw some—to me—odd-looking people, and I asked who they were. I was simply told, 'Westerners'—no further explanation. Subsequently, I have developed strong relationships with Americans. Because of the relationship established by the previous Karmapa, I feel a strong connection, and have been waiting since the age of eight to come here. I have only been here three days, but from the moment I arrived, I have enjoyed it. I feel great love and affection for you. But we need to share our love and affection with all other countries, as well. There are many where there is horrific suffering, particularly China and Burma. We must extend ourselves not only in thought, but practically. Though Burma is devoted to Buddhism, it is difficult to extend aid, but there is much we can do to help the people in China. I feel this strongly because of my obvious deep connection with that part of the world. Therefore, I ask you to do whatever you can to help." (At this point, the room erupted in applause.)

The Karmapa's physical beauty, his willingess to show his vulnerability, his reminder that any method (such as over-seriousness) can lose its effectiveness when used too long, his graciousness in presenting complex philosophy in simple terms always accompanied by concrete examples, and his gentleness of approach, less chastising beings for their ego than sympathizing with their "uninvited" afflictions, brought to mind Maitreya, the Buddha of the future, the Buddha of Love. For many His Holiness opened the possibility of learning in joy, rather than the hardship and guilt with which Western audiences are too familiar. The present Karmapa incarnation embodies traditional Dharma, but with a new iteration for a new age. It is to be hoped that circumstances will permit him to return to the West soon, allowing him further to develop the remarkable qualities that are already his.

Above excerpts were taken from Music in the Sky: The Life, Art and Teachings of the Seventeenth Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.

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More about the Karmapa . . .

For more information on His Holiness the Karmapa's recent visit, see: www.karmapavisit.org

Books and Teachings by and about H.H. 17th Gyalwang Karmapa