Today’s A Journey through Aesthetic Realms will be presented in Tibetan, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), ## Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, ## Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, ## Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

Greetings enlightened viewers. Tibetan Buddhism is the religion mostly practiced in Tibet and the northern regions of the Himalayas including Nepal, Bhutan and India. It is also practiced in Mongolia, certain parts of Russia, northern parts of China and other parts of the world.

Born in Nepal, Venerable Khenpo Tashi entered the monastery at age 12, and under the guidance of the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, was fully ordained as a monk in 1992. Owing to his skills in both Buddhist philosophy and meditation, he was appointed to be a main teacher at the Nepal Centre of the Thrangu Vajrayana Buddhist Centre.

When I was 12 years old, I had the fortune to meet the great scripture teacher Thrangu Rinpoche, become a renunciate, and remain close to him. I have studied and practiced Buddhism for over 20 years. When Thrangu Rinpoche was in Nepal, there was no ashram or temple of our order at the time.

Now with Rinpoche’s efforts, we have built many institutions, ashrams and schools in Nepal which have provided many opportunities to study and practice. Later, Rinpoche granted me the title of “scripture teacher.” Since then I have dedicated my life to serving the temple and teaching Buddhism for the past 15 years. In addition, from then on, I have had the opportunity to study, practice and preach Buddhism in the temple. I’ve also trained many students to be teachers.

There are four major schools in Tibet: Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Geluk. Here I will introduce the lineage of Kagyu school. A long time ago, there was a great translator called Marpa, who was very knowledgeable and a master of translation.

He spent a long time in Tibet in order to study, contemplate and practice. The great translator Marpa knew that Buddhism originated in India, so he travelled there despite all the hardship. With diligent study and practice, he achieved great accomplishments. Marpa studied with many masters, the main ones being Naropa and Maitripa. Following his master’s instruction, Marpa returned to Tibet and taught many high level monks and virtuous people.

There were four who became very famous, with Milarepa being the most distinguished one. The great translator Marpa taught everything he knew to Milarepa. Milarepa strictly followed the instructions of his master and became a great enlightened saint.

Milarepa also had many disciples and among them were two shining figures, Reqiongba and Gampopa. Both became great spiritual practitioners. That’s the origin of the Kagyu school lineage with Marpa and Milarepa as leaders.

Central to Buddhism’s teachings is the law of cause and retribution. Good deeds bring happiness whereas harmful deeds reap sorrowful consequences. What are the main principles of Tibetan Buddhism?

Buddhism emphasizes the importance of concepts, meditation and actions. Actions mean that one should not harm any beings. In concept, one should realize that all things are interrelated, interdependent, and interchangeable. There are three kinds of precepts in Buddhism: the precepts for outer liberation, for inner Bodhi heart, and the secret mantra.

There are seven principles within the outer liberation precept, which is divided into two parts, one for the renunciates and one for the householders.

For the householders, it lays out clearly and completely the ways to become a noble human being. To the renunciates, it systematically lists the ways of inner practice, the correct behavior, and how to apply Buddha’s teachings to be kind in heart and gentle in action. As to the inner qualities, one should have a Bodhi heart, which means to have a kind motive for everything. To have a kind motive means that we should be compassionate and be determined not to harm any sentient beings.

If we are kind and sincere in our hearts, it means that we have the Bodhi heart. If we can practice Buddha’s teachings in our thoughts as well as in our actions, we will achieve a great deal in life. We should refrain from harming sentient beings, because every being has similar thoughts. How similar? All beings long for peace and happiness, and don’t want to experience sufferings and disasters.

We don’t like suffering, so how can other beings want anything different? Because of this, it’s very important and meaningful to refrain from doing anything that harms sentient beings. If we harm other beings to satisfy our own greed and convenience, we are going against Buddha’s teaching.

Why is that? It’s because such actions will bring sufferings and calamities to sentient beings, and produce what they don’t like. Our health is mainly dependent on our hygiene and daily habits. We can be healthy by keeping clean and adopting a plant-based diet. It’s very logical.

Buddhism originated in India, spread to mainland China, and from there, to Tibet and to other parts of the world, including to this center in Hong Kong. Many followers since have practiced Vajrayana Buddhism taught by high ranking practitioners from Tibet. Laypeople come to study Buddha’s teachings and perform pujas, or acts of devotion.

Contributing significantly to the spread of the teachings is the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, who was born in Kham, Tibet in 1933. When he was five years old, His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu school, recognized him as the ninth incarnation of the great Thrangu tulku. Tulku refers to a high-ranking Tibetan Buddhist teacher who can choose the circumstances of his rebirth. The Very Venerable Rinpoche has now taught in over 25 countries and has 17 centers in 12 countries.

Wherever he goes, he brings Buddhist teachings. Each month, on the 10th, 25th and 30th, he would gather everyone to recite sutras and meditate together. Sometimes, there would be many participants and sometimes there would be only a few, but Rinpoche has always been persistent in his effort to preach.

Let’s now listen to the following excerpt from a lecture given by the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche on being loving.

First of all, we have a rare human body, and it’s mentioned in Buddhist sutras that all beings have Tathāgatagarbha, which means Buddha Nature. So we have the ability to manifest all kinds of good merits and positive energy. What’s the most important thing when cultivating ourselves?

It is to have a kind and altruistic heart. What is an altruistic heart? It’s to love and care about other people and animals and even the so-called lifeless forms such as rocks, wood, mountains, rivers and the Earth, apart from caring about ourselves. If we have the heart to love, care and benefit others, it means we have a kind and altruistic heart.

When you show love and care to other people, they will also do the same to you. On the contrary, when you want to harm others, you will attract all kinds of harm to yourself. When we care about people around us, gradually, we will develop an altruistic heart; and gradually, we will really bring benefits to them.

Khenpo Tashi now describes the major Buddhist festivals that are celebrated to reinforce the Tibetan Buddhists’ spiritual devotion.

There are four major festivals: The Day of Miracles, the Day of Realization, the Day of Shakyamuni Buddha’s Ascension, and Shakyamuni Buddha’s Birthday. During these festivals, Buddhist rituals are performed, including sutra reciting, worshiping, playing music, blowing the Dharma trumpet, and drumming to remind us to be sincere in our offerings to the Three Treasures.

We dedicate our sincerity and prayers to Buddha and our Bodhi heart. We just talked about the rituals and general information in regards to offerings. Each month, the Tibetan people choose the 8th, 15th, 25th and 30th of the Tibetan calendar to observe as auspicious days.

On these days, if people can do good deeds, their merits will be doubled. In order to gain extraordinary merits, many people are very focused on spiritual practice these days. Every summer, we hold a summer retreat that lasts one month and 15 days. The summer retreat is a time for meditation.

In these one-and-a-half months, the monks and novices live on the offerings of the benefactors. They conduct intense practice, and also give lectures in order to spread the teachings. Every morning, they perform a ritual to worship Tara (female Bodhisattva). It’s performed at the same place for 15 consecutive days. Every day at the ritual, they will sing praises one time and make offerings to the Goddess Mahakala.

We now conclude today’s program with an amusing yet meaningful story told by the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, illustrating the importance of being merciful toward others.

There is an ancient Chinese legend. It’s not a true story, but it has a deep meaning. The legend says that once, a Bodhisattva visited hell. What did he see there? He saw there was a big table in hell with hellish beings sitting around it.

Each being appeared to be in grave suffering. There were many delicacies on the table, but why were the hellish beings in so much suffering? It’s because each one of them had a pair of chopsticks that were 6 feet long. They wanted to eat but their chopsticks were too long to bring the food to themselves. So they were all depressed and sad.

Then, this Bodhisattva visited Heaven. What did he see there? He also saw a similar setting, where there was a big table with a lot of yummy food. However, the heavenly beings appeared to be very happy and joyful. Even though they were holding the same kind of chopsticks that were 6 feet long, they were very happy.

Why is that? It’s because they picked up the food and fed other people. They picked up the delicious food and fed each other. So all of them were satisfied and happy.

This story tells us that when we have an altruistic heart, we gain true happiness. On the contrary, if we just think about ourselves, we incur more suffering. We just prayed to the Quan Yin Bodhisattva to develop our compassion and altruistic heart. Having a compassionate and merciful heart is the best way to make our mind peaceful.

There is no one who doesn’t have the quality of compassion. Why? It’s because everyone has Buddha Nature, Tathāgatagarbha, so they must have the quality of compassion. However, even though we ordinary people all have compassion, we don’t have infinite compassion.

Having infinite compassion means wishing all beings happiness; having mercy means wishing all beings to be liberated from suffering. When we eliminate negative cause, we won’t receive negative consequences, but positive consequence that brings happiness. Similarly, if we make good cause, we will reap good results and happiness.

Our respectful appreciation, the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche and the Venerable Khenpo Tashi for sharing with us the universal concepts in Tibetan Buddhism, a great sacred tradition. May the Buddha’s righteous teachings to have a kind and loving heart be practiced everywhere for the benefit of us all.

Thank you virtuous viewers for joining us today. Next on Supreme Master Television is Our Noble Lineage, after Noteworthy News. May Heaven’s light guide you to wisdom and happiness.