Hong Kong University Question and Answer

Afternoon of November 27, 2011

(1) Question: I am a medical student here. I heard that when we begin to practise, the most important thing is to accumulate merit and wisdom. Could you please share some secrets that would allow us to quickly accumulate merit and wisdom?

People today are so busy that they like for everything to be “quicker”. Some have said that this is the “fast food age”, which has some degree of truth. If there is a “fast food monastery”, teaching “fast food Buddhadharma”, I am sure many will take part.

Now, it is not that there isn’t a more rapid path of practice. From my long years of experience of studying and practising the Buddhadharma, regardless of the tradition, in terms of accumulating merit and wisdom, it is still the preliminary practices that can be called the secret know-how.

Like “Rarity of human body”, “Impermanence of life”, “Suffering of cyclic existence”, and “The workings of Karma”, after you have cultivated these foundational Dharmas, profound changes will occur in your mind. It is only then that you can truly be called a Buddhist. Otherwise, someone who does not even acknowledge past and future lives cannot talk of Chan meditation or Tantric practices. Then it is the inner preliminary practices – taking refuge, cultivating Bodhicitta, repentance, Mandala offering, and guru yoga practice. Which of these practices is not the secret know-how to accumulating merit and wisdom?

It is a secret know-how, and merits and wisdom will accumulate rapidly. Now it is just up to you to practise it. If you are not willing to expend even this much effort, I am afraid it will be difficult to accumulate vast merits. In Chinese Buddhism, why is it that ancient masters required their disciples to endure long periods of harsh practices? It was to allow them to cultivate merits for the practice.

So, regardless of whether you practise Tantric methods or Sutrayana methods, to enter advanced practices requires one to have solid foundations. Otherwise, it is like buildings on ice that appear grand but are unstable, and would eventually entirely collapse.

Question: How does one realize emptiness? As this is the only way to liberation, where all words are without meaning.

Answer: Since all words are without meaning, then if you ask me to answer it, my words are also meaningless. (Audience laughs)

The nature of the mind does indeed transcend words. It is truly as Buddhist classics have said: “Unspoken wisdom reaches the other shore, it is by nature empty and is not born nor dies, each realizes his own states of wisdom, homage to the mother of all Buddhas of the past, present, and future.” Wisdom that cannot be described in words is of a nature that is not born and not die. It is the individually realized wisdom of holy beings, and the mother of all Buddhas of the past, present, and future. But for you to realize this, you cannot help but rely on words. The pre-requisite to enlightenment is studying, contemplating, and practising the Dharma, and these three must rely on words.

Of course, to be enlightened one must also pray to the teacher and be full of reverence. Master Yin Guang said: “Ten percent of reverence will eliminate ten percent of sins and bring about ten percent of merits and wisdom.” This teaching of “as the proportion of reverence increases, the benefits one gains also increases” is exactly the same as the practices and teachings of the Tantrayana tradition. In our tradition, a person who wishes to awaken must have especially strong faith and reverence in his teacher and in the particular teaching. He must also always pray.

When you pray like this, although what you wish for transcends words, but in fact you are able to obtain it.

 (2) Question: I am an Economics student, and I have become a Buddhist recently. I have a teacher, but we are rarely in one location, therefore I wish to ask: when I encounter questions and doubts in my practice, what should I do?

Answer: It is best to be near your teacher during your practice. But if the conditions do not allow this, I suggest you first systematically study the Buddhadharma.

The advantages of systematic studies are, first, it eradicates our misunderstandings and wrong views of Buddhadharma. Many of our questions and doubts can also be resolved in the process. Second, when you are deeply immersed in it, the worldly contaminants that are previously in your mind will slowly be purified. As time passes, the Buddhadharma naturally integrates into your life and your practice can become more independent.

Question: When I used to be troubled, I just go out to have fun, do some shopping, and it passes. But now when I learn to observe my mind, the troubles actually become more numerous. Why is this happening?

Answer: It is not that the practice has lead you to having more mental afflictions, but that when you are observing the mind, the afflictions have become more visible.

Mental afflictions are like a naughty child. When the child is being naughty by himself and you do not pay attention, no matter how naughty he is it does not bother you, as if you have not seen him. But when you start to pay attention to him, then you will become more sensitive to his behaviour. So, you now feel that there are more afflictions, and this is the reason.

But this is also a sign. It indicates that you now have the ability to recognize mental afflictions. From now onwards, so long as you continue to diligently practise, afflictions and suffering will lessen. This is a necessary path for most practitioners.

I am a fourth year medical student here. Could you please show us some ways of recognizing our own minds?

Answer: In terms of recognizing our own minds, I am ashamed to say that although I am very interested in it, but apart from some understanding, I also have not attained much realization.

Your individual circumstances are different. If you are interested, you can follow the order of practice of the Tantrayana tradition, starting with the preliminary practices, then receive initiation and seek the method of practicing the Great Perfection. This way, step-by-step, eventually you can definitely attain indescribable states of realization. Alternatively, you can also be like Chan practitioners and first study the Diamond Sutra, then Platform Sutra, then other sutras and sastras like the Prajna Paramita Sutra. As long as you have the right guidance and you read it with reverence and joy, you will definitely attain gains.

For instance, through this you are able to attain a certain insight, as said in the Diamond Sutra: “The past mind cannot be grasped, neither can the present mind or the future mind.” This is the most sublime insight. But there are two types of “cannot be grasped”: one is that it does not exist so it cannot be grasped; the other exists but cannot be grasped. It is like when I lose something, although it exists somewhere, but I cannot find it. The “cannot be grasped” of the mind belongs to the former – it is not that it exists and cannot be found, but that it originally does not exist.

Then, a simple “cannot be grasped”, or let’s call it emptiness, is it the Dharma nature? Not completely. If you only realize this, then according to the Tantrayana teachings, it is not true realization, because at the same time as “cannot be grasped”, there is also the part of luminosity. That is to say, in the ultimate truth, luminosity and emptiness are indivisibly one. This is the idea that luminosity and emptiness are inseparable, which has been taught in detail in sutras and sastras during the third turning of the Dharma Wheel, such as Jewel Nature Treatise, Mahayana Secret Sublime Sutra, and Bodhisattva Nagarjuna’s In Praise of Dharmadhatu. So long as you put in a little effort, you will gradually be clearer.

When you are clear, even if tens of thousands of people say that your practice is wrong, you will not be shaken. Instead, you will steadfastly continue the practice. This “steadfastness” is not because you are stubborn, but because you have already awaken.

 (4) Question: I am a first year Social Studies master student, and I have been studying Buddhism for three years. My current direction is to find a way to prevent psychological disorders, or even resolve some social issues through Buddhism, traditional culture, and Western research.

But until now, what confounds me is that although I have strong faith in Buddhism, I do not have the strength, nor do I know how to allow more people to believe in Buddhism, to let them believe in the power of traditional culture. What should I do?

Answer: I also share in your feeling. In this age, although there are more and more issues, people still just focus on money and ignore traditional culture, neglect the precious teachings of past great masters. This is why sometimes I also feel a little sad, and even quite helpless.

However, looking back into history and you will find: during any era, there were plenty of people who went against the current and turned around the tendency of decline. Even if society becomes increasingly complicated in future, there will still be a large group of such enlightened people. Thus, do not worry too much. The more obstacles there are, the greater one’s wish must be: we must use the most vast and profound ways to spread the Buddhadharma, to promote traditional culture, and to allow everyone to realize the importance and necessity of these precious ideas.

So long as we do not harbour selfishness, but try to be responsible for various groups in society and do our best, we can definitely touch some people in some way. Particularly for young people, if we do not help them now, then perhaps each following generation will truly decline further and further.

People in the past were a little better. No matter what, they were somewhat restrained by traditional culture. But today’s people have been Westernized for too long and have lost all concepts of tradition. Dr. Arnold Toynbee has said it well: “to solve the social problem of 21st century, we have to rely on the teaching of Confucius, Mencius, and Mahayana Buddhism.” Yet, how do we solve them? First we need to have our own realizations, to spend time and devote ourselves to studying it; then, using modern technological means, we start to patiently spread it.

Although now is the Dharma degenerating age, if we persevere, to really put things into action, then surely many people will respond.

 (5) Question: I am a Buddhism Studies master student here, and also a Buddhist myself. Through Buddhism, I have learned some ways to let myself be happier and maintain a calm state of mind. But how should I help those around me, to change their lives?

Answer: Hearing many students here say that they are Buddhists, I am overjoyed. It feels as if the atmosphere is now different!

Indeed, those with belief – irrespective of belief in Buddhism, Christianity or other religions, tend to be calmer inside, and also are more willing to help others. You just said that you wish to help those around you, which I highly praise, because as a Buddhist, one’s only pursuit is to cut off the self-benefiting mind. You can be considerate for those around you and this is a very good practice.

Then when you help them, apart from being as humble and respectful as possible, you also need to be skilful and know how to be patient. This way, through long-term efforts, except for prior unchangeable causes and conditions, many peoples’ lives can be changed.

Therefore, when it comes to the question of benefiting others, I only have one thing to say: you must strive actively!

 (6) Question: I am a teacher from a Mainland Chinese school. I discovered that during class, if I directly teach about traditional culture or Buddhism, most students would be a little repelled. Because of this, I generally do not directly teach such content, but indirectly touch on them. But sometimes I worry if this is in accord with the Dharma? Or is it a type of blasphemy towards Buddhadharma?

Answer: This is skilful means, not “blasphemy”.

You are all aware that under the current societal mood, traditional culture is still not widely recognized. If it is taught directly, especially under inappropriate conditions, the result may be opposite to what was intended. Not only can it not help others, it may cause various misunderstandings, or even lead to unfavourable conditions. So you have done the right thing.

But Buddhism also says, “everything is impermanent”, this situation may one day change. There was one slogan during the Cultural Revolution- “Criticize Lin [Biao], criticize Confucius, persevere to the end”, but as soon as the era changes, no one shouts the slogan and no one does the criticizing. Nowadays, not only do we not criticize Confucius, we have instead started to praise him again. Even the Department of Education has had a change of heart and wishes to restore traditional culture in schools. If it is truly to be restored, then the three main parts of traditional culture are Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. As a member of these, Buddhism will definitely have a vast arena for spreading by that time.

Certainly, for the time being, use some skilful packaging, the “stuffing” is Buddhadharma, the “wrapper” is something people like. Giving something well wrapped like this, not only is there no wrongdoing, there is even great merit.

Question: You previously mentioned, “cannot be grasped”, Dao De Jing says: “As soon as everyone in the world knows that the beautiful are beautiful, there is already ugliness”, I feel that here, it has broken down the duality of beautiful and not beautiful. Is this middle state of “not beautiful, not not beautiful” the same as “cannot be grasped”? Is it “emptiness”?

Answer: This can also be considered a form of “cannot be grasped”, or “emptiness”, but is not yet “appearance and emptiness are indivisibly one” – appearance is itself emptiness, emptiness is itself appearance, it is also not a Middle Way state that is free from the four conceptual extremes and eight extremes of conceptual elaboration.

True “emptiness” is not simply the manifest separation that breaks down “beautiful “or “not beautiful”, but is “appearance” and “emptiness” being indivisibly one. Sure, this state cannot be described by words, because in our discriminative thinking, something is either “appearing” or “empty”, appearance and emptiness indivisibly one cannot manifest. Only through long periods of studying, contemplating, and cultivating the Dharma can one attain this state through true realization.

 (7) Question: I am a Chemistry student here. What are your views on highly qualified youths becoming a monk or nun?

Answer: In truth, among university students, the ratio of highly qualified youths becoming a monk or nun is very low. The reason why people pay great interest to it is still because of popular understanding.

In the past, everyone felt that to become a monk or nun is a very negative thing. If someone is willing to become a monastic, it must be because they have no other avenues in life. Also to many people, the skill level of those who become monastic is very low – usually it is because they cannot find a job, so they bum around as a Buddhist. Perhaps because of this mentality, as soon it is known that some talented student from a good university becomes a monk or nun, many people feel that it is such a waste.

But in reality, when a person’s conditions have matured, wishing to walk on a path of choice is nothing to be shocked about. Being a monk or nun is also a way of life. At our Buddhist Institute, there are plenty of monks and nuns who have local or international higher qualifications.

Then, would this have some effect on some society? Certainly not, because there are strict requirements to becoming a monastic. One needs to be disillusioned with the world, to observe precepts… for most people, even if they wish to be a monk or nun, it would be difficult for them to do so. Therefore, it is not necessary for some parents to worry that as soon as their children study Buddhism they would become a monk or nun. If because of this worry you prohibit them from studying Buddhism, then it is simply too unwise.

From a different angle, for a university student to become a monk or nun is actually a normal behaviour. In history, there were so many emperors, kings, generals, and high-positioned officials who became monks and nuns. It is not unusual for a few talented students today to do so.

Question: I just checked your micro-blog online, and discovered that you have more than 650,000 fans. Of course, I am also one of these. I often read your micro-blog, and have discovered that you sometimes use some trendy net language. Does this mean that you are also often online?

Answer: Firstly, it is not possible for me to have so many fans. Recently I said on micro-blog: “I heard that fans can be artificially created. I started a micro-blog not because I need to be popular, nor would I spend a single cent on it. I should not have this many fans!” But then, the number of fans does not represent anything. Even if there is actually that many, perhaps it is mostly people who are curious. I do not know if they have real interest in Buddhism.

After that, I do occasionally go online, but not to read all those random things, I only like to read some good and inspirational local and international books, and to understand how people of the world think and feel. It is easier to find these online.

For this trip to Hong Kong, because my cell phone does not have global roaming, I cannot update my micro-blog. Before I came, I could only apply for leave from everyone: “During the next few days I will go to another city to teach the Dharma. As I do not have reception there, for the time being this micro-blog cannot be updated…”

As a result, someone lectured me in the comments: “You are going to some ungodly place that does not even have reception. What is the point? Do not go!” (Audience laughs)

 (8) Question: I am a Finance master student here. I have many Christian friends around me. What are the different views between Christianity and Buddhism? As a Buddhist, what should I pay attention to in my exchanges with them?

Answer: In the recent 100 years Hong Kong belonged to the Great Britain. Under the influence of its culture and governance, it is understandable that there are quite a few Christians.

In terms of views, there are certainly many similarities between Buddhism and Christianity. For instance, Buddhism teaches people to be compassionate, Christianity teaches people to have great love; these are all altruistic ideas. Nevertheless, Buddhism’s compassion encompasses all lives and not just humans, it also includes animals, whereas Christians consider animals to be food for humans. I have to say that this is indeed an enormous difference.

But then, we can leave aside areas of contradiction. It is like diplomatic relations between countries, although each has different views, but when heads of states meet, they only praise the good points of each other, as if the conflicts no longer exist. In this manner, when Buddhism meets Christianity, the differences can be elided – after all, faith is deeply ingrained, no one can easily change their faith because of someone else. Hence, for the happiness and benefit of humanity, everyone should cooperate, encourage each other, and advocate all ideas of virtue.

Ideas of virtue are truly important! From ideas of virtue, Christians have built hospitals, schools, and performed many charitable deeds. This is something that many of us Buddhists cannot accomplish. This is why I have said on different occasions that we Buddhists should learn from Christians. Of course, we do not need to learn all behaviour, but some behaviour, like charity.

For Christians, although Buddhism is a different religion, but there are many shared teachings such as Bodhicitta and emptiness, which allow much room for exchange. Therefore, when the causes and conditions are later mature, not only between Buddhists and Christians, all people from the major religions can sit together, learn from each other, and draw on the strong points of others to overcome one’s own weak points.

Really, in this world, each religion has its own charm and value, and its own reason for existence. There is absolutely no need to have animosity, or even rejection, defamation. If non-religious groups can harmoniously co-exist, then why can religious groups not do the same?

Thus, in some universities, if there are more Christians, please do not discriminate against us Buddhists, please do not forcibly drag Buddhists into your “Godly” group; but if Buddhist groups are stronger, then also do not forcibly absorb non-Buddhists, forcing them to enter the kingdom of “Buddha”. In Western cognition, this kind of brainwashing is considered very unethical behaviour.

Therefore, we should respect each other’s belief and at the same time, learn from each other’s strengths.

 (9) Question: I am a Social Science student here. There is a saying in Buddhism that “I seek my fortune, I create my destiny”. I wish to know, ultimately is it possible to change one’s destiny?

Answer: Destiny, can be changed, also cannot be changed.

Some destiny can be changed, just as it is said in Liao Fan’s Four Lessons: The latter 20 years of Yuan Liao Fan’s career was changed because of his great charitable efforts. Thus, Buddhism is not deterministic, it does not say that what is decreed by fate cannot be changed. For instance, even a person who has been sentenced to life can be released given some skilful ways.

But also not all destinies can be changed. If some particularly severe karma has been created in the past, the so-called “fixed karma”, then that cannot be changed and one must bear its fruit. Just like some prisoners, no matter how they try to find someone to help, they still cannot be released.

 (10) Question: I am a high school student. Is it that once we have compassion and loving kindness, we have Bodhicitta?

Answer: Compassion and loving-kindness have two types: worldly and transcendent. Worldly compassion and loving-kindness are generally aimed at those around oneself, and mostly have compassion towards “all humans”. Its scope is relatively small. Whereas transcendent compassion and loving-kindness, especially that of Mahayana Buddhism, is the wish for “all beings” to be free from suffering and to be happy. This capacity of the heart is enormous.

But compassion and loving-kindness are not yet Bodhicitta. They are the cause of Bodhicitta.

Question: In our Chinese classes, there are many classical texts such as Si Ma Qian’s The Basic Annals of Pre-Han China, Wang Bo’s The Pavilion of Prince Teng Sequence. Reading between the lines, it seems that they all teach us to chase after fame and fortune, to become so and so… Yet I wish to know, when we grow up, must we pursue these? Irrespective of if they are good or not?

Answer: In contemporary education, it has almost become a trend to teach students to pursue fame and fortune, “when you grow up you need to be successful, be famous, be so and so…” But while teaching these, it is best to also set up some idea of altruism for children – “In the future you need to help others, care for life, give back to society, and so on…”

If from a young age, a person is only taught how to survive, how to demand things, when he grows up he will also become this kind of narrow viewed and self-centred person. On the contrary, if from childhood he is taught how to be considerate rather than just thinking about the self, then as he grows up he will naturally be considerate for society and contribute and make sacrifices for humanity, even for all beings. This is why a good education will allow someone’s life to present altruistic trends, and this trend is considerably rare and considerably crucial.

Of course, what to accept or reject of classical thought perhaps still require detailed analysis. On the one hand, while the ancients had wisdom and ethics, they are still just worldly beings; therefore it is understandable that they taught others to seek fame and fortune in their writings. But on the other hand, there is much of their thinking that is worth studying. We cannot make sweeping generalizations and abandon everything.

Up to now, I have yet to have religious belief, I hope my words will not offend. I wish to ask: for someone without religious belief, is it possible to realize the same kind of peace and wisdom brought about by religion, but through one’s own virtuous mind and after studying and contemplation?

Answer: In our type of exchange, whether you have belief or not you can all join in. This is a free and open platform. Personally speaking, I have always greatly respected those without belief, because I believe that for him to not maintain a belief, he must have his own rationales and values, as well as a way of life based on these.

Certainly, as a Buddhist, after long years of studying Buddhism, as I have contemplated a great deal, I have attained a little realization. Thus, I still hope that it is best for a person to have a belief. But just as you have said, for someone without belief, if he has a good heart and can lean on a type of thinking to perfect the self, and even to benefit humanity, I also don’t see why not.

But then, if you have borrowed ideas from a particular religion, then it also counts as a kind of belief. A narrow belief requires you to be an adherent, but from a broader perspective, as you read and study, if you start to trust and admire a particular teaching, then it is already a “belief”. Therefore, beliefs can be divided into many layers.

Question: Each religion has its classics, but if people were to read them with reverence, would the resultant excessive trust harm the intellect and affect critical thinking?

Answer: The truth will never harm your intellect.

If it is work that is unhealthy, unscientific, and does not contain the truth, then when you overly trust it and read it, it may bring adverse effects to your life. But if it is the truth, especially the precious Buddhist classics that I have encountered, they contain only the zenith of human thought. Anyone who has read them will find their spirits cleansed, their thoughts purified, and there can only be benefits and not a single harm.

Of course, I also understand your concern. Generally speaking, when people are young, their thoughts are more active, so they are unwilling to submit to any one type of understanding. The so-called “critical thinking” has also led many to keep their distance from classical works because of the concern that they would lose their own stance. Yet, when one’s life reaches its dusk, after experiencing myriad joys and sorrows, separations and reunions, and experiencing to the fullest the impermanent changes of birth, aging, illness, and death, perhaps it is easier for one to be closer to the teachings in classics.

As a matter of fact, you also need not worry about being “polluted”. So long as you bring your thinking to the study, after a while, you will realize: truth will be truth, it is the real need of any epoch, any society.

Now, if it is not the truth, then that is hard to say.

 (12) Question: I am a grade three primary school student. I would like to take the refuge, teacher, please in your compassion allow me to take the refuge.

Answer: Third grade primary school and already wish to take the refuge. Great!

Then I will recite a refuge verse, if others among you also wish to take the refuge, then you can do it at the same time. Sit quietly and do not move; it will not take long. Those of you who do not wish to take the refuge fear not; it is fine so long as your do not generate the intention. I would not force you to take the refuge.

 [Khenpo recite taking the refuge in Tibetan…]

 (13) Question: After realizing emptiness one can obtain freedom. What bears relation on this, is it actual practice?

Answer: Yes it does require actual practice. Having said that, it first requires long periods of studying and contemplating the Dharma’s teachings in order to generate solid belief and understanding. After this then start the actual practices. For any person, so long as one practices in this orderly manner, those states of realization that transcend nature, transcend the spirit will naturally appear.

Question: What should we pay attention to during the practice?

Answer: During practice, generally people will encounter some unfavourable conditions and obstacles. You must overcome these and let the wonderful states of realization manifest within you. You must expend some hard effort. At the same time study more, Han and Tibetan region monks and masters have left behind many Vajra words. If you frequently study and read these, you will naturally resolve many issues.

 (14) Question: I am a student here. This last July, I went to Tibet with some classmates. Originally we wanted to go to the Serthar Gar Larung Buddhist Institute to pay our respects to you, but eventually we could not go. I never dreamed that you would actually come here!

My question is: could you please let us know a little about the spread of Tibetan Buddhism in Mainland China as well as the world. Also, what is the recent status of teaching at the Buddhist Institute?

Answer: During this visit to Hong Kong University, although our time together with the Dharma teachers and teachers is very short, everyone has really enjoyed the exchange. Intellectuals with their particular sensitivity are paying attention to society, to Buddhism. As for myself, what I have most cared about in all these years is Buddhist education, thus, we have much in common.

Speaking of the spread of Tibetan Buddhism, in the past 20 to 30 years, one should say, the understanding of Tibetan Buddhism in Mainland China had a lot to do with our Buddhist Institute. Before Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche went to Mount Wutai in 1987, Tibetan Buddhism was almost unknown. But since then, more and more people have come to know the Tibetan Buddhism’s tradition of studying, contemplating, and practising the Dharma. Nowadays, although I dare not say that it is flourishing, but in many Buddhist communities in the Han region, everyone have some right understanding of Tibetan Buddhism.

Tibetan Buddhism started developing earlier in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but there are some “odd phenomena” that have perhaps led many to misunderstand it, and even to strongly reject it. Certainly, the propagation of Buddhism also accords with the conditions and depends on the merits of all beings. Just like when Mahayana Buddhism first emerged in India and the Chan tradition initially entered the Han region; it also was not accepted. Thus, if we observe today through the lens of history, we find that it is the same in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the same in the Han region. To not be initially accepted is a usual phenomenon.

But today, perhaps after having experienced this entire process, among Western intellectuals, there is a “Tibetan Buddhism craze”. Why is it that in the 20th and 21st Century, people in the West would long for and admire Tibetan Buddhism in such a way? Many great masters believe: it is just like how we need water when we are thirsty, when people suffer relentlessly, there needs to be a force to resolve this, and Tibetan Buddhism has exactly this force. Hence, “craze” was also caused by need.

As for the teachings at our Buddhist Institute, from what I have experienced since 1985, it has mainly been the same. There are Sutrayana classes and Tantrayana classes. In the Sutrayana classes there are the Five Great Mahayana Texts – Vinaya (Precepts), Abhidharma, Buddhist Logic, Middle Way, and Prajnaparamita. Everyone has to study these. There are of course also studies of Tantra as well as Dharma Assembly practices. Our Institute does not reject any tradition, as long as it accords with the Dharma, irrespective of being from Tibetan or Han tradition, they can all be taught there.

In reality, it is not only at our Buddhist Institute, across the entire snow region, there still fully retains a genuine Buddhist system and tradition. Since we live in this day and age, on the one hand we wish to continue transmitting it, and at the same time we wish for more regions and more people to benefit from it.

 (15) Question: I am an ordained student at the Hong Kong University Centre for Buddhist Studies. Could Khenpo please give a brief explanation of “extrinsic-emptiness”?

Answer: There are even monks in university; this makes me feel very welcomed! Once I came across a Sri Lankan monk at Fudan University. At the time I found it very novel. Yet there are even more here, that’s why as soon as I came here, I felt both the novelty and welcome.

Your question on “extrinsic-emptiness” has been discussed in Sutrayana sutras and sastras, as well as Tantrayana’s Kalachakra. Among the Tibetan Buddhism lineages, generally speaking, the Gelupa lineage speaks of “intrinsic-emptiness”, whereas the Jonangpa lineage speaks of “extrinsic-emptiness”. Whereas the Nyingma masters believe that “intrinsic-emptiness” and “extrinsic-emptiness” do not contradict.

What is referred to as “intrinsic-emptiness” is a teaching during Shakyamuni Buddha’s second turning of the Dharma Wheel. The main commentaries that expound on this teaching are Bodhisattva Nagarjuna’s Six Commentaries on the Middle Way, Aryadeva’s Four Hundred Verses on the Middle Way, and commentator Chandrakirti’s Introduction to the Middle Way. “Extrinsic-emptiness” is a teaching during the third turning of the Dharma Wheel, which mainly discusses the idea of Tathagatagharba, such as Bodhisattva Maitreya’s Jewel Nature Treatise, Bodhisattva Nagarjuna’s In Praise of Dharmadhatu and Praise to the Supramundane Buddha. These are all significant commentaries.

In reality, intrinsic-emptiness and extrinsic-emptiness do not contradict, it is just that their emphases are different: one emphasizes emptiness, and one emphasizes luminosity. But actually, from the ultimate perspectives of Luminous Essence-A Guide to the Guhyagrbha Tantra to the Kalachakra, all see luminosity and emptiness as indivisibly one; that is, the union of appearance and emptiness.

The union of appearance and emptiness is the original nature of Tathagatagharba. You can choose to use the method of intrinsic-emptiness, or the method of extrinsic-emptiness. The Jonang tradition uses extrinsic-emptiness. The meaning of extrinsic-emptiness is that the original nature is not empty but that agantuka is empty. According to this, if the original nature of Tathagatagharba is not empty, then how does it differ from the teaching of a “permanent self” by other religions? Regarding this, the Lankavatara Sutra has clearly stated[1], Tathagatagharba is different to the permanent-self taught by other religions, because it is free from attachment to self, and from any fabrications.

As you can see, intrinsic-emptiness and extrinsic-emptiness are based on discriminative thinking. True Tathagatagharba transcends these concepts.

In Indian history, surrounding the second and third turning of the Dharma Wheel, commentators Chandrakirti and Chandragomin debated for a long seven years; but eventually their views converged. Hence, based on this theoretical foundation that our predecessors have chosen, we followers should combine the teachings of the second and third turning of the Dharma Wheel to arrive directly at the understanding of the union of appearance and emptiness. And this union of appearance and emptiness is exactly the “Great Emptiness” that has transcended consciousness, transcended intrinsic-emptiness and extrinsic-emptiness. This should be the Buddha’s true secret meaning. If you wish to comprehend this idea explicitly, you can study Mipham Rinpoche’s The Lion’s Roar Proclaiming Extrinsic Emptiness.

In brief, “extrinsic emptiness” is highly technical in Buddhism, and is an area of deep study. It is perhaps very difficult to depict its true meaning in a few short sentences.

[1] At that time, Mahamati the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva said this to the Blessed One: Now the Blessed One makes mention of the Tathagata-garbha in the sutras, and verily it is described by you as by nature bright and pure, as primarily unspotted, endowed with the thirty-two marks of excellence, hidden in the body of every being like a gem of great value, which is enwrapped in a dirty garment, enveloped in the garment of the Skandhas, Dhatus, and Ayatanas, and soiled with the dirt of greed, anger, folly, and false imagination, while it is described by the Blessed One to be eternal, permanent, auspicious, and unchangeable. Is not this Tathagata-garbha taught by the Blessed One the same as the ego-substance taught by the philosophers? The ego as taught in the systems of the philosophers is an eternal creator, unqualified, omnipresent, and imperishable.

The Blessed One replied: No, Mahamati, my Tathagata-garbha is not the same as the ego taught by the philosophers; for what the Tathagatas teach is the Tathagata-garbha in the sense, Mahamati, that it is emptiness, reality-limit, Nirvana, being unborn, unqualified, and devoid of will-effort; the reason why the Tathagatas who are Arhats and Fully-Enlightened Ones, teach the doctrine pointing to the Tathagata-garbha is to make the ignorant cast aside their fear when they listen to the teaching of egolessness and to have them realise the state of non-discrimination and imagelessness. I also wish, Mahamati, that the Bodhisattva-Mahasattvas of the present and future would not attach themselves to the idea of an ego [imagining it to be a soul]. Mahamati, it is like a potter who manufactures various vessels out of a mass of clay of one sort by his own manual skill and labour combined with a rod, water, and thread, Mahamati, that the Tathagatas preach the egolessness of things which removes all the traces of discrimination by various skilful means issuing from their transcendental wisdom, that is, sometimes by the doctrine of the Tathagata-garbha, sometimes by that of egolessness, and, like a potter, by means of various terms, expressions, and synonyms. For this reason, Mahamati, the philosophers’ doctrine of an ego-substance is not the same as the teaching of the Tathagata-garbha. Thus, Mahamati, the doctrine of the Tathagata-garbha is disclosed in order to awaken the philosophers from their clinging to the idea of the ego, so that those minds that have fallen into the views imagining the non-existent ego as real, and also into the notion that the triple emancipation is final, may rapidly be awakened to the state of supreme enlightenment. Accordingly, Mahamati, the Tathagatas who are Arhats and Fully-Enlightened Ones disclose the doctrine of the Tathagata-garbha which is thus not to be known as identical with the philosopher’s notion of an ego-substance. Therefore. Mahamati, in order to abandon the misconception cherished by the philosophers, you must strive after the teaching of egolessness and the Tathagata-garbha.