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"I'll handle your mother," said the Karmapa; Conquering Your Wild Mind; Heartfelt Advice Book Excerpts

Lama Dudjom Dorjee's intriguing tale of how he was sent to the West is adapted from Heartfelt Advice, his new book arranged into easily digested, stand-alone chapters on key topics in Buddhism.

Over the course of the forty-five-day Summer Retreat, it had become routine for me to visit His Holiness Karmapa, receiving darshan, teachings, or simply meditating together. One day before Summer Retreat concluded, His Holiness called me to his chambers for a much more unusual audience. I figured this would be like any other of our daily interviews, but when I entered there were several prestigious lamas and eminences present. I scanned the room and noticed a small, decorated throne had been set up right next to His Holiness. I made my three prostrations and sat in my regular spot on the floor, but suddenly all the lamas present began signaling for me to go sit on the small throne. I felt uneasy about taking such a high seat in the presence of His Holiness, so instead of sitting on the throne, I scooted a few feet closer to His Holiness, hoping that would appease them. But again they signaled for me to sit on the throne, so I had no choice. When I was settled, His Holiness ordered tea and cookies. He asked me to make a tea offering, and this moment quickly became a hasty enthronement ceremony. When I was finished he made a gesture to his General Secretary, who began to address me: "His Holiness would like you to represent him in the West."

Of course I was a bit surprised, and I hesitated slightly for a couple of reasons.

"Your Holiness, you have great wisdom and compassion, and if you can see a benefit to sentient beings from this, I will do as you ask. However, I'm a little worried that my mother will not approve, and that she won't allow me to go."

"I will handle your mother!" His Holiness exclaimed. "I know she will let you go." At this, he ordered several gifts to be prepared and brought for my mother. I knew without a doubt that it was Karmapa's great wisdom, not the gifts, that would convince my mother, and I accepted my new role as a representative for His Holiness and the Kagyu lineage in the West.

At this point, His Holiness turned to the eminences and began to speak to them of my special qualities, and why I would be an excellent help to the lineage by turning the wheel of dharma in the West. "If he can't do it, no one can!" I could only sit and listen in silence, overcome with gratitude and humility for His Holiness's generous words.

His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa
Rangjung Rigpe Dorje

Sure enough, later when I delivered the news and gifts to my mother in South India, she responded with great grace and compassion. "I will let you go if His Holiness sees it is best. Even though it means I will not see you much in this lifetime, I have complete faith in His Holiness." By 1981 I had arrived in New York City to begin my coast-to-coast adventure of living and turning the wheel of dharma in the West. It was also in that year that His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, died in Zion, Illinois, leaving all sentient beings eagerly awaiting his return as the Seventeenth Karmapa.

More about the book . . .

For newcomers, Buddhism can sometimes feel a little overwhelming. Sometimes we just need a little help understanding how all the new terms and concepts fit together. Even seasoned students often want a clear, authoritative easy-to-access way to clarify certain points.

Lama Dudjom Dorjee is a skilled guide. With ninety-four separate sections, this useful handbook gives an overview of basic Buddhist topics in small digestible bites, fostering greater understanding of the main principles of Buddhist practice and giving us keen insight into the vast array of considerations on the path.

Though Heartfelt Advice can certainly be read from cover to cover, each section is intended to be read as a stand-alone unit. so it's easy to follow up on one topic or another in whatever sequence works best for the individual reader. Additionally, the sections are great for use as daily Buddhist inspiration.

As Westerners, we are often perplexed as to how to incorporate Buddhist teachings into our lives. Here, with the help of a warm-hearted American lama, we are given personal guidance, encouragement, and as the title says, "heartfelt advice".

Conquering Your Wild Mind

As genuine practitioners of Dharma, we must conquer our own wild mind before we can hope to conquer the wild minds of other sentient beings. Conquering the scattered craziness that litters our own wild mind is an important first step, and a prerequisite for many further steps, such as developing the correct view of the dharma, banishing all doubts about our practice, and removing all contradictions between relative and ultimate reality. Inexhaustible patience and determination are what we will attain when our own confused, ordinary mind has been conquered.

Until we have tamed our mind we will continue to experience the law of karmic cause and effect. Trapped in samsara and bound by these laws of karma, we experience not only regret for our inappropriate negative actions of the past, but also the terror that comes with our certainty of the suffering that will come when these negative seeds come to fruition.

The true nature of our mind is buddha nature—completely stainless and nothing short of a perfect purity that shines with a radiance like the sun. However, just as the sun's light and warmth can be temporarily obscured by clouds, dust, and pollution, so too our ordinary mind is obscured by negativities which must be removed by conquering the wild mind. Studying and meditating upon the doctrines of buddha dharma are necessary tools; in fact, they are the only tools we can use to truly tame our own wild mind so that we may travel the path toward liberation.

Conquering our wild mind will make us a suitable vessel to hold the sacred teachings, empowerments, and transmissions in order to liberate all sentient beings from samsara. So this conquering of our own wild mind is essential in order to attain enlightenment and recognize the true nature of our ordinary mind. When we clearly see the nature of our own mind, we are liberated, freed of the bondage created by our own dualism. "I" and "other," "good" and "bad," "right" and "wrong," along with all internal pictures and appearances of external phenomena, are mere reflections of our ordinary mind and so this recognition of it spontaneously frees us from these dualisms.

—excerpted from Heartfelt Advice by Lama Dudjom Dorjee