Happy New Year 2025 from the Western continent!
I wanted to share a fantastic read: Tsongkhapa: A Buddha in the Land of Snows by Thupten Jinpa and foreword by the Dalai Lama (2019). I studied the Lam Rim with Gaden Choling and Paramita Centre in Toronto for a few years. Most of the embodied mind training I developed at CCCS is based on Western and Eastern psychologies and psychotherapy. On the Asian Eastern front, it is informed by Buddhist psychology and philosophy (Lam Rim), Zen and Dharma arts. Two schools and lineages combine to train with inner and outer experiences in everyday life to reduce suffering and reinforce stability of mind, calm, and resilience.
Who was Tsongkhapa?
Tsongkhapa (Tibetan meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley", c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the formation of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Tsongkhapa was educated in Buddhism from an early age by his first teacher, the Kadam monk Choje Dondrub Rinchen. Tsongkhapa became a novice monk at the age of six.
His philosophical works are a grand synthesis of the Buddhist epistemological tradition of Dignāga and Dharmakīrti, the Cittamatra philosophy of the mind, and the madhyamaka philosophy of Nāgārjuna and Candrakīrti (Wikipedia).
What is the LAM RIM?
The Lamrim is a special set of instructions that includes all the essential teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni arranged so that all his Hinayana and Mahayana teachings can be put into practice in a single meditation session. It was compiled by the great Indian Buddhist Master Atisha, who was invited to Tibet by King Jangchub Ö in AD 1042.
Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelug school, which is primarily based on Atiśa's Kadampa school, wrote one of his masterpieces on lamrim: The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path of Enlightenment (Tib. Lam-rim Chen-mo), which is about 1000 pages long and primarily based on literary sources. There is also a medium-length lamrim text by Tsongkhapa (200 pages) and a short one called Lam-rim Dü-dön (Tib.).
The Lam Rim train the practitioner in the three scopes (or stages of training) based on motivation: 1) small or modest motive; 2) Medium; and 3) highest motivation. This is a preparation before going into the Dharma teachings and training toward liberation.
At CCCS, embodied mind training intends to reduce suffering and increase awareness about functions, habits, and patterns within our specific cultural and social circumstances and conditions in our relationships with people, animals, and the planet. This embodied mind training helps people cultivate clarity (understanding of functions and reality), mindfulness, and awareness (understanding choice) and develop qualities.
When you read the life of Tsongkhapa, you discover how special he was and how his capacities and training started so young. He breathed the Dharma, day, and night from an incredibly young age, travelling between monasteries in Tibet and learning, receiving teachings, empowerments, and teaching himself.
Jinpa wrote that at age 34, "Tsongkapa was not only a master of the sutras but also a master and a lineage holder of the great tantras of the Vajrayana tradition." This book is impressive because the Tibetan masters trained for years and dedicated their lives to study and meditation.
Two years ago, I attended a lecture at the University of Toronto on Buddhist Philosophy. The lecturer said the texts did not prove that the masters contemplated and meditated on the teachings, which stunned me. I felt a significant gap in understanding Buddhist philosophy in Western Academia if they genuinely thought that Buddhist masters did not apply the methods and teachings. Reading this series of books on the "Lives of the Masters" published by Shambhala Publications and written by Buddhist teachers clarifies everything.
Sakya Pandita had written more a century earlier (p.89):
"Meditation that is without learning
May bring temporary attainments, but those soon fade."
We could add to Pandita's quote:
"Meditation that is without learning, and learning that is without meditation,
May bring temporary attainments, but those soon fade as well."
I am still reading this masterpiece of a book, and I am now clarifying the practice of emptiness and its contemplation in meditation. Tsongkhapa did a lot of contemplation and questioning on the methods of meditation.
In a few days, I will be doing a Buddhist pilgrimage and retreat in Bharat, India. I will be bringing together reality and theory, following the teachings of Tsongkhapa and following in the footsteps of Buddha Shakyamuni and centuries of teachers and practitioners.
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