The Dharma Lineage
by HE Kunzig Shamarpa Rinpoche

The teachings of the Karma Kagyu Lineage and its clear, simple, profound and powerful practices are praised and respected by other schools.

The first stage of practice of this lineage is to take bodhicitta vows (bodhisattva vows) , next is to practice the four foundations. The four foundations are Full Prostration (refuge), Vajrasattva (confession), Mandala Offering (limitless generosity) and Guru Yoga Practice.

Guru Yoga Practice is a very important one. It enables us to obtain the supreme practice of Mahamudra directly. We can read from many Dharma texts teachings about meditation practice and these are just instructions on how to control thoughts. Through the Guru Yoga Practice, we are able to receive the powerful blessings of all the lineage masters, thus can directly lead us to the practice of Mahamudra.

Generally, the various practices of meditation are more or less quite similar to the Mahamudra meditation practice. With the Guru Yoga Practice, we do not need to rely on the traditional methods of meditation as guidance on our path. That is to say, Guru Yoga Practice is a short-cut which is simpler and more stable. You all do not need to practice the kind of hardships like Master Milarepa and also need to go through the kind of training received by Master Gampopa. Master Naropa had to spend great efforts and energy on the foundation practices. Now we do not need to tread the same path again. All these practices have already been arranged and simplified by the compassion of Master Gampopa. Why then Master Marpa did not do the same kind of simplification for Milarepa in his time ? Did he purposely try to create problems for Milarepa ? Of course not. To accomplish the practice, one has to pay great price for it. But now, we have so many simplified teachings to practice. It is all because of the strong and great vow made by Master Gampopa in the past, a great vow to benefit sentient beings. This is also the reason why Buddha Sakyamuni specially prophesied in the sutra about the coming of Gampopa.

The first lesson in Dharma practice is to have a correct understanding of the Dharma. Then, the next focal point is on how to practice successfully.

Dharma practice should emphasize on getting rid of all possible opportunities of making mistakes because you can make mistakes easily along the path without being aware of them.

For example, some meditators who have already gained considerable experience in meditation might think that they have already reached the peak and that is the end point of the practice. They might also grasp at the notion 'I have already reached the enlightened state!' These are quite common among some experienced meditators. Their pride will grow slowly such that they do not even want to follow instructions given by masters. Under this circumstance, the results from meditation will lead you away from the right path.

The focal point in the last stage is to increased the ability of oneself to avoid making mistakes, and to carry out suitable self-adjustment and corrections. These stages as mentioned by Master Gompopa are mainly involved with using our deluded thoughts as bases of practice. All deluded thoughts such as harmful desires and greed are in fact helpful factors in the process of our practice. Therefore applying methods to avoid deluded thoughts from arising as antidote may not be as suitable approach. In actual fact, the essence of these harmful desires, greed is wisdom. They can be transformed into wisdom, but it requires very advanced stage of practice to be able to achieve this. Therefore we need to practice the previous three stages continuously until we achieve certain attainment. Then only we seek further for higher states. Very good meditators can also have thoughts and desires arise and the mind immediately realizes their essences, then these thoughts and desires can be controlled. That is the reason why desires can be treated as beneficial for practice.

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