Articles/Khenpo Namdrol 2008 Teachings on Buddha Nature

Khenpo Namdrol 2008 Teachings on Buddha Nature

Khenpo Namdrol

2008

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Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche teaches the Rigpa Shedra on Mipham Rinpoche's work on buddha-nature (Skt. sugatagarbha): The Lion's Roar: A Commentary on Sugatagarbha.
Recorded during Shedra East 2008-2009 in Pharping, Nepal. In Tibetan with English translation by Gyurme Avertin.

Study Material

• Duckworth, Douglas. Mipam on Buddha-Nature: The Ground of the Nyingma Tradition. State University of New York Press, 2008. The translation is contained in Appendix 1.
• The Tibetan is contained in Mipham Rinpoche's collected works (gsung 'bum), Volume 4, p. 563-608. bde gshegs snying po'i stong thun chen mo seng ge'i nga ro.

The Lion's Roar: A Commentary on Sugatagarbha

By Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche

Prologue

1st teaching, 16-Dec-2008: How is buddha nature taught in sutra, tantra and Dzogchen?

Introduction

2nd teaching, 17-Dec-2008: Our teacher the Buddha has taught on buddha nature emphasizing sugatagarbha's essence (Wyl. ngo bo) by teaching on emptiness. On other occasions, he gave clarifications on its nature (Wyl. rang bzhin) by explaining its primordially present qualities. It is crucial to understand that those two aspects are in union.

See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 564-565.

English: Duckworth, p. 147-148

3rd teaching, 18-Dec-2008: Accuracy of scriptures can be examined by the three types of investigation and understanding establishes irreversible trust by means of the three types of valid cognition. How can buddha nature (tathagatagarbha) be established in this way, as being empty in essence while cognizant in nature?

See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 566-567.

English: Duckworth, p. 148-149

1. Proof of the Presence of the Tathagatagarbha in all Sentient Beings

The Uttaratantra Shastra says:

27. Because the perfect buddhas’s kaya is all-pervading,

Because reality is undifferentiated,

And because they possess the potential,

Beings always have the buddha nature.

1.1 The Mistaken Apprehension of Others

4th teaching, 19-Dec-2008: A refutation of the position of early Tibetan commentators concerning the interpretation of the meaning of the Uttaratantra Shastra verse. Neither is the fact that the dharmakaya pervades everything sufficient for the existent of the nature (Tib. rigs) nor can suchness be simply understood as mere emptiness in the sense of the approximate ultimate.
See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 567-569.

English: Duckworth, p. 149-151

Nature (rigs) as the union of the two truths

5th teaching, 20-Dec-2008: The sugatagarbha is the indivisible union, beyond any possibility of being united or separated, of the primordial purity of the cause and effect of samsara, and untainted appearances which are natural and spontaneous clear light.
See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 569-572.

English: Duckworth, p. 151-153

1.2 Our Tradition

1.2.1 The Meaning of the First Line: Because the perfect buddhas’s kaya is all-pervading

1.2.1.1 General Reasoning

1.2.1.2 Specific Points

6th teaching, 22-Dec-2008: How to establish by reasoning that the sugatagarbha is already present in all beings?
See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 572-575.

English: Duckworth, p. 153-156

From the Uttaratantra Shastra:

The disposition is empty of the adventitious stains,

Which are characterized by their total separateness.

But it is not empty of the unsurpassed qualities,

Which have the character of total inseparability.

7th teaching, 23-Dec-2008: The nature as the great uncompounded which is unchanging and never separated from it's qualities.
See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 575-577.

English: Duckworth, p. 156-158

1.2.2 The Second Line: Because Suchness is Indivisible

8th teaching, 24-Dec-2008: An answer to objections concerning the presence of the essence of enlightenment in all sentient beings. Why the all-pervasiveness of gotra (rigs) is not refuted by stating that stones have no nature?
See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 577-580.

English: Duckworth, p. 158-160

9th teaching, 25-Dec-2008: Individual deluded perception does not contradict the authentic viewpoint that all perceptions appear without ever moving from the primordially enlightened state of dharmata. Answers to objections.
See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 580-583.

English: Duckworth, p. 160-162

1.2.3 The Third Line: Because They have the Nature

10th teaching, 26-Dec-2008: Each of the three lines relates to one of the first three principles of reasoning thus establishing that all beings have buddha-nature.
See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 583-585.

English: Duckworth, p. 162-164

11th teaching, 27-Dec-2008: The teachings on sugatagarbha focus on the inseparability of the appearance of kayas and wisdom with their empty nature. Both, the teachings of the intermediate turning, which focus more on the emptiness aspect, and the teachings of the final turning, which focus more on the spontaneous presence aspect are therefore definitive teachings and need to be seen in union.
See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 585-587.

English: Duckworth, p. 164-165

2. Refuting Some Misconceptions Concerning the Nature of the Element

12th teaching, 28-Dec-2008: How the element (khams) abides within the continua of sentient beings. The refutation of some misconceptions concerning the nature of the element.
See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 587-590.

English: Duckworth, p. 165-168

2.1 Refuting the view that the element is truly existent and not empty

2.2 Refuting the view that the element is an empty void

2.3 Refuting the view that the element is impermanent and compounded

13th teaching, 30-Dec-2008: A refutation of misconceptions by scripture and by reasoning: the element is neither truly existent, nor an empty void, nor is it impermanent and compounded.
See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 590-594.

English: Duckworth, p. 168-171

14th teaching, 31-Dec-2008: For those who have not transformed themselves and have dualistic perceptions, there is the incontrovertible and undeniable appearance of inequality. Yet the fundamental nature abides as the great equality in which arising, ceasing, and dualistic phenomena do not exist.
See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 594-598.

English: Duckworth, p. 171-174

15th teaching, 01-Jan-2009: The benefits and the purpose of studying buddha-nature. The dedication. This concludes Khen Rinpoche Namdrol's teachings on the sengge naro, the Lion's Roar by Mipham Rinpoche.
See Tibetan: Mipham gsung 'bum, Vol 4., p. 598-606.

English: Duckworth, p. 174-180

References

sugatagarbha - Literally, the "essence" or "heart of the Bliss Gone One(s)," a synonym for tathāgatagarbha that is likewise often rendered into English by the term buddha-nature. Though it is often back translated into Sanskrit as sugatagarbha, this term is not found in Sanskrit sources. Skt. सुगतगर्भ Tib. བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་

Go to the page with the definition of 'sugatagarbha'

sugatagarbha - Literally, the "essence" or "heart of the Bliss Gone One(s)," a synonym for tathāgatagarbha that is likewise often rendered into English by the term buddha-nature. Though it is often back translated into Sanskrit as sugatagarbha, this term is not found in Sanskrit sources. Skt. सुगतगर्भ Tib. བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་

Go to the page with the definition of 'sugatagarbha'

sugatagarbha - Literally, the "essence" or "heart of the Bliss Gone One(s)," a synonym for tathāgatagarbha that is likewise often rendered into English by the term buddha-nature. Though it is often back translated into Sanskrit as sugatagarbha, this term is not found in Sanskrit sources. Skt. सुगतगर्भ Tib. བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sugatagarbha'

sugatagarbha - Literally, the "essence" or "heart of the Bliss Gone One(s)," a synonym for tathāgatagarbha that is likewise often rendered into English by the term buddha-nature. Though it is often back translated into Sanskrit as sugatagarbha, this term is not found in Sanskrit sources. Skt. सुगतगर्भ Tib. བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sugatagarbha'

tantra - Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism. Skt. तन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད། Ch. 密宗

Go to the page with the definition of 'tantra'

Dzogchen - Dzogchen is an advanced system of meditation techniques to reveal the innate state of perfection primarily, but not exclusively, espoused by the Nyingma Buddhist tradition and the Tibetan Bön tradition. Skt. महासन्धि Tib. རྫོགས་ཆེན།

Go to the page with the definition of 'Dzogchen'

śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt. शून्यता Tib. སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch. 空,空門

Go to the page with the definition of 'emptiness'

These are the root verses of the Uttaratantra attributed to Maitreya by the Tibetan tradition.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Uttaratantra'

Uttaratantra - The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. Skt. उत्तरतन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch. 寶性論

Go to the page with the definition of 'Uttaratantra'

gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

Go to the page with the definition of 'rigs'

gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

Go to the page with the definition of 'rigs'

gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

Go to the page with the definition of 'rigs'

tathatā - Suchness itself, absolute reality, or thusness, as in the ultimate state of being of phenomena. Skt. तथता Tib. དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་

Go to the page with the definition of 'suchness'

gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

Go to the page with the definition of 'disposition'

gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

Go to the page with the definition of 'disposition'

gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

Go to the page with the definition of 'disposition'

gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

Go to the page with the definition of 'gotra'

gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

Go to the page with the definition of 'gotra'

gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt. गोत्र Tib. རིགས་ Ch. 鍾姓,種性

Go to the page with the definition of 'gotra'