by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye
translated by Ngawang Zangpo
Preface 9
Translator's Introduction 15
The Three-Year, Three-Fortnight Retreat 17 Retreat Centers: Their Physical Setting 17
The Time Period of the Retreat 18
Retreat Centers and Gender 20
Meditation Training in Retreat 21
Jamgon Kongtrul's Life and Work as Related to the Retreat 24 Kongtrul's Non-Sectarian View and His Retreat Program 24 Kongtrul's Life and the Non-Sectarian View 31
The Evolution of Kongtrul's Retreat Center 39
The Three-Year Retreat at Tsadra Rinchen Drak and the Remainder of Kongtrul's Life 49 Kongtrul's Retreat Center After Kongtrul 55
Jamgon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual
Invocation and Resolution 59
Introduction 61
I. Preparation for and Entrance into Retreat 63
Mental Preparation 63
Practical Preparation 66
Entrance into Retreat 71
II. Life Within Retreat 73
1. The Main Program of the Retreat 74
The Preliminary Practices 74 The Origin of the Oral Instruction Lineage of the Karmapas 74 Manuals Used During the Preliminary Practices 77 The Buddha's Word as Instruction Lineage 79
The Importance of the Preliminary Practices 80
The Retreat Program for the Preliminary Practices 82 The Shangpa Instruction Lineage 85
The Origin of the Lineage 85
The Main Meditations of the Lineage 87
Later History of the Lineage 89
The Retreat Program 90
The Vajra Yoga Instruction Lineage 94
The Origin of the Lineage 94 The Main Meditations of the Lineage 96 Later History of the Lineage 97 The Intensive Practice Instruction Lineage 100 The Retreat Program 102 The Ancient Instruction Lineage 103
The Origin of the Lineage 103 The Source of the Meditations 107 The Treasury of Rediscovered Teachings 109 The Retreat Program 110 Additional Practices Performed During the Retreat 113 Exit from the Retreat 114
2. The Daily Schedule 116
Background Information 116
The Severance Instruction Lineage 119
The Order of the Yoga of the Four Daily Meditation Sessions 121 3. Extra Monthly and Yearly Rituals 130
Background Information 130 The Monthly Program of Memorial Offerings and Extra Rituals 132 Extra Offering Practices and Offerings Performed on a Yearly Basis 137 4. The Retreatant of the Protector Temple 144
Background Information 144 The Program for the Retreatant of the Protector 'T'emple 146 5. General Rules of Conduct and Discipline 151
The Most Crucial Advice for Life in Retreat 166
III. Words of Advice for Life After Retreat 175
Dedication and Colophon 181
Appendix 1: Books Referred to in the Introductory Sections 183
Appendix 2: Books and Prayers Mentioned in the Retreat Manual 187
Appendix 3: Persons Mentioned in the Retreat Manual 199
Appendix 4: Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Deities, and Practices Mentioned in the Retreat Manual 205
Index 213
Dedicated to my teacher, Kalu Rinpochay, whose love, wisdom, and creative spirit have proven to be inexhaustible treasures.
Jarngon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual has been a valued companion of mine for almost fifteen years. I was introduced to it during a meditation training program modelled on the one described in this text, a three-year, three-fortnight retreat. I completed two such retreats. During those years Kongtrul's words often inspired me, although I never felt equal to the expectations he had for his retreatants. Reading his advice now for those who have finished the retreat continues to be a similarly humbling experience.
The three-year, three-fortnight retreat constitutes one of the central institutions of tantric Buddhist education in the Himalayan region. Within two of the four main monastic networks, the Nyingma and the Kagyu, only those who have completed such retreats receive the title of lama. While programs of training differ from one retreat center to another, this book presents a complete view of one program designed by the author, a well-known and respected meditation master of the nineteenth century. This work should thus provide the basis for an understanding of the many parallel institutions that still furnish training for persons to become "lamas."
,ja ngon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual was written to provide a guide to persons entering a three-year intensive meditation program. The author does not accompany his words of counsel with instructions in how to meditate; he simply lists the meditations that comprise the retreat program. The translation of this work has been supplemented by some details about the sources of the meditations mentioned, but no information concerning the content of the visualizations has been included. Instruction in tantric meditation, whether in Kongtrul's time or now, remains within the domain of the relationship a meditator has with his or her trusted spiritual advisor. The same is true for the decision to embark upon a long retreat. This book gives a clear picture of the spiritual and practical life of this kind of institution but this translation was not undertaken with the intention of encouraging the reader to consider entering such a retreat.
I hope that this book will contribute to our knowledge of the nonsectarian view within Himalayan tantric Buddhism and to our appreciation of the author, Jamgon Kongtrul. Both of these important subjects have not yet received the attention they deserve in any language other than Tibetan. A brief account of Kongtrul's life and thought as they concern the retreat is presented in the introduction, including translated quotations from Kongtrul himself. Some of these are quite long but I hope the reader will appreciate the opportunity to read some of Kongtrul's reflections in his own words. There is much more to Kongtrul's life and work than is mentioned here and much more to be said about the non-sectarian movement. No writer can do justice to a person's life in just a few words, let alone the life of such a multi-faceted genius as Kongtrul. In describing his life so briefly, and mainly in relation to the subject matter of this book, I have taken the risk of unintentionally distorting his thought. At the very least this risk will have been worthwhile if my limitations provoke others to present a more detailed picture of Kongtrul to non-Tibetan-speaking readers.
Understanding Kongtrul seems more crucial now than a decade ago because many of the great masters who were his spiritual heirs have recently passed away. The long list includes some who were instrumental in bringing Buddhism to countries outside the Himalayan region: His Holiness Karmapa, His Holiness Dujom Rinpochay, Dilgo Kyentsay Rinpochay, Day-zhung Rinpochay, Pawo Rinpochay, Salchay Rinpochay, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpochay, and my principal teacher who was an incarnation of Kongtrul, Kalu Rinpochay. These masters were trained in Kongtrul's ecumenical style, taught with his gentle but authoritative voice, and continued his work of impartially furthering the development of all forms of Buddhist practice. Because many present-day Buddhists have been profoundly influenced by these masters, their absence forces us to renew our consideration of the source of much of their instruction: Jamgon Kongtrul.
This book is concerned first and foremost with the three-year, three-fortnight retreat, an institution vital to Himalayan tantric Buddhism. Nonetheless, it was not coincidental to my choice of text to translate that this retreat was central to Kongtrul's life and a showcase for his non-sectarian ideal.
NOTES ON THE STYLE OF THE TRANSLATION
This translation is not intended to be innovative or challenging in style. I have occasionally departed from conventional norms in minor ways, usually in preference for English words over their Sanskrit or Tibetan equivalents. Where foreign words remain in the text, they represent my limits as a translator.
Names of persons have been left in their original form, i.e., the name the person was known by during his or her lifetime. This represents a departure from the convention among Tibetan authors, which is to translate most Indian names and render them in Tibetan. I asked three outstanding masters concerning this matter and received three different answers in reply. One master, Dabzang Rinpochay (since deceased), felt that all names of Indian persons or of buddhas, bodhisattvas, and deities should be retranslated into Sanskrit in English translations. Another, Trangu Rinpochay, quoted from a text giving advice to the early 'T'ibetan translators in support of his feeling that whatever can he translated, all names included, should be rendered in English. While I am personally sympathetic to that opinion, I have here followed the advice of the third master I questioned, Tai Situpa. He declared that the Tibetan translators were wrong to translate the names of persons: these should not he translated. Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and deities' names should he translated, he said, as these are not human individuals. I sincerely respect all three of these masters; their opinions are important to me. I have chosen to follow Tai Situpa's advice because it seems the most practical at the present time. I hope the result will not prove disorienting for those accustomed to being served large mouthfuls of Sanskrit with their Buddhism. A list of the names that appear in the main text of the retreat manual can he found at the end of the hook.
Books cited in the introduction or in the main text appear with an English title. Unfortunately very few of these have been translated from Tibetan into any foreign language. The Tibetan titles of these books are listed at the end of the book. This information is crucial in identifying the original because Tibetan book-titles often stretch to a couple of lines of text: any translator must decide what portion of the original title, if any, to use as the title in English. For example, the full Tibetan title of this book could be translated as A Source of Comfort and Cheer: A Clear Guide to the Rules of Discipline for the Retreatants at The Ever-Excellent Abode of Radiant Great Bliss, the Isolated Retreat of Palpung. Instead of using all or part of this title, the present title seemed both more practical and more descriptive of the book's content. Translators must make these choices; many of the books mentioned in this text with English titles may someday appear with another title entirely.
On the subject of terminology, the reader may notice that I have avoided where possible calling the Buddhism of the Himalayan region "Tibetan" Buddhism. The predominant language of Buddhism in the Himalayas certainly is Tibetan, but many past and present masters and disciples of this form of spiritual development are not Tibetan. These non-Tibetans include Indians, Bhutanese, Nepalese, Sikkimese, and members of many other ethnic and linguistic groups resident throughout the Himalayan region. They share a common faith and use a common language for their prayers and meditations, but many are no more Tibetan than a Roman Catholic is necessarily Italian. Kongtrul, for his part, usually wrote of Buddhism of "the Himalayan region" (gangs chen rdzong) rather than of Tibet, and I have been happy to follow his example.
The words Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Gayluk are seldom mentioned in this hook. I have reserved their use for when Kongtrul seems to be referring to what these four represent: the four main monastic systems of the Himalayan region. In most of his books most of the time, Kongtrul discusses tantric Buddhism of the Himalayan region from the point of view of the lineages of meditation practice, specifically the eight practice lineages. (This is discussed more fully in the introduction.) The names of these lineages of meditation instruction appear in English within this book, despite unavoidable shortcomings in the translations. For example, the Marpa Kagyu lineage is rendered here as the Oral Instruction Lineage of Marpa, whereas the word Kagyu is a contraction of a rarely used name, Kabab Shi'i Gyupa - the Instruction Lineage of the Four Transmissions, a reference to part of the lineage's origins. As inaccurate as it might be, however, "Oral Instruction Lineage" is found in this text, and this is certainly not the first time such a translation has been used.
The word larva appears very frequently in the Tibetan text but seldom in the translation. This word in Tibetan can refer to any graduate of the three-year retreat or to an enlightened master who is capable of guiding a person through all the stages of spiritual development to full and complete enlightenment. My own teacher used to remark that the former kind of lama was quite common, the latter exceedingly rare. While the same word for both is used in Tibetan, "lama" appears in the translation when Kongtrul is referring to retreat graduates, and "spiritual master" when he is referring to an enlightened spiritual guide, male or female.
I have been perplexed with how to treat Kongtrul's habit of calling tantric Buddhism "Secret Mantra," not a fashionable term among modern Buddhists. I decided to put my own preferences aside and to be faithful to Kongtrul's style, as odd or even distasteful as "Secret Mantra" might sound to our ears.
Within the retreat manual, introductory sections have been inserted which give background information and historical context for the practices to be discussed. In order to better distinguish these from the main text of the retreat manual, the introductory sections have been printed in a smaller type size.
Finally, in the footnotes, the Tibetan equivalent of a term is sometimes provided within brackets. The first word or phrase that appears in non-italicized type is an approximate pronunciation of the Tibetan word. This is followed by the actual Tibetan spelling in italics.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This translation has benefitted at various stages from the assistance or suggestions of a number of persons. Lama Tsondru and Lama Umdzay Zopa, both graduates of the retreat center described in this book when it was under the guidance of Kalu Rinpochay, were particularly helpful in untying some of the knots of Kongtrul's colloquial style. Yudra Tulku, Khamtrul Rinpochay, Geshe Sonam Rinchen, Zenkar Rinpochay (through Peter Roberts), Dr. Tenpa Kelzang, and Nyima Tenzin Bashi also contributed to my understanding of the Tibetan text. They have all done their best to ensure this text is error-free: mistakes that remain are due entirely to the translator. Lama Drubgyu Tenzin (Tony Chapman) gave me invaluable support and encouragement with the English version of this book. I am also thankful for the comments and criticisms of Kitty Rogers, Lama Kunzang Dorjay (Olivier Brunet), and Michael Rey.
I have made use of the computer facilities at the International Buddhist Translation Committee of Sonada, India, and of the considerable patience of my colleagues there toward my absenteeism during my work on this book. I am grateful for both.
Finally, Faye Angevine of Taipei and Lama Gyaltsen of Sonada Monastery supported me materially during my work on this translation. Their generosity has been timely and is deeply appreciated. I am equally indebted to the Hirota family of Tokyo, who kindly sponsored my journey to Kongtrul's retreat center in Kham where I found the answers to many of my questions.
This translation of,7antgon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual is intended as a modest contribution to our understanding of meditation training in the tantric tradition of Buddhism and of the life of the author, a nineteenth-century meditation master whose work remains one of the dominant influences in modern Himalayan tantric Buddhism.
This short hook was written as a guide for those entering an intensive three-year meditation training program. The author, director of the program, advises his students how to prepare for the retreat, what will be expected of them during their stay in his center, and how to lead their lives upon the successful completion of their training.
If we find the subject of meditation training in a retreat daunting or mysterious to begin with, this is not due to any innate difficulty of the subject itself: we simply do not have any parallel to it within non-Buddhist cultures. This book gives us practically unlimited access to the closed world of a retreat. The view afforded by this small window has not been cosmeticized. It is doubtful that the author ever expected this work would be examined by a readership so far removed from his own culture and time. Intentionally or not, however, he gives modern readers the most accurate, de-mystified portrait possible of this kind of institution.
A major section of this book is devoted to a detailed description of the program of the retreat. This information is particularly noteworthy in the case of Jamgon Kongtrul ("Gentle Protector") (1813-99), as it reveals his personal interests and preferences within the wide range of Buddhist meditation practices.
During the nineteenth century, Kongtrul was responsible for the compilation of The Five Treasuries that contain the best of over a thousand years of Tibetan-speaking people's experience of the study of Buddhism and the practice of its meditations. In all, these five collections comprise over one hundred volumes of 400 to 800 pages each (using a Western numbering system). Of these, approximately thirty volumes are of Kongtrul's original work that supplements and elucidates the works of past meditation masters.
It would be difficult to overestimate the influence these books have had. They are the format in which many modern Tibetan-speaking Buddhists continue to receive their spiritual inheritance. They are universally respected as a major source of the authoritative and reliable guides to study and meditation needed for spiritual development within Buddhism.
Unfortunately, non-Tibetan-speaking readers have little access to this man and his work. Only two translations of his books have appeared in English: The Great Path of Awakening and The Torch of Certainty. Both are careful and accurate translations, faithful to the author's style. But they represent two very small drops drawn from an ocean. In the Tibetan original the former is 46 pages long; the portion of the latter that was published in English, 101 pages. The original Tibetan volume of which they are both a part contains 758 pages in all and is itself just one of over one hundred volumes of Kongtrul's original works and his compilations. Jamgon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual (64 pages in Tibetan) is nothing more than another tiny taste from a particularly copious banquet.
The special significance of this book in understanding Jamgon Kongtrul derives from the central place the retreat center described here occupied in his life. The Ever-Excellent Abode of Radiant Great Bliss, as the center was known, was Jamgon Kongtrul's principal place of residence for most of his long life. He wrote most of his books there, often initially for the use of the retreatants. His care with every aspect of life within retreat that we sense in this book is a clue to the fact that this was the only such center he founded. This was his home and it was entirely his own - from the physical structure and its contents to the meditation practices done by the retreatants. By reading his counsel to his students, who were in a real way guests in his physical home and his spiritual world, we can glimpse what Jamgon Kongtrul held most dear.
The following introduction furnishes some general information concerning the two main subjects of this hook: the three-year meditation retreat as an institution and the importance of this retreat in the life and work of Jamgon Kongtrul.
THE THREE-YEAR, THREE-FORTNIGHT RETREAT
RETREAT CENTERS: THEIR PHYSICAL SETTING
In the Buddhist scheme of spiritual development, study and reflection find their consummation in meditation. While a close connection between study and meditation is considered ideal in theory, the two trainings are usually separated institutionally. Budding scholars gravitate to monastic colleges; future master meditators enter retreat centers, the institution designed to impart a thorough training in meditation.
In the traditions of the Ancient Instruction Lineage (Nyingma) and the Oral Instruction Lineage (Kagyu), the basic intensive meditation training program lasts three years and three fortnights. 7wngon Kongtrul's Retreat Manual was written as a guide to this style of retreat. No standard model exists for the physical structure of these retreat centers. The following description is based on retreat centers I have visited in the Himalayan region - Tibet, India, and Nepal - and in foreign countries - France, Canada, and "Taiwan.
A meditation retreat center usually stands apart from the main grounds of a monastery, temple, or public meditation center. Retreats are self-sufficient micro-communities served and protected by the larger institution to which they are affiliated.
Seen from the exterior, retreat centers are islands of stillness: they are not meant to draw attention to themselves. Persons entering retreat leave any duties and responsibilities to family, livelihood, or society at the door, to he re-assumed after their chosen period of training has been completed. Members of the public are not permitted to enter the retreat at any time during the program. The only persons leaving or entering the retreat compound during the retreat period are the attendant-cook and designated meditation instructors.
Within the retreat enclosure a number of buildings encircle a courtyard. Each retreatant has a room of his or her own and it is there that the meditator spends most of the day. 'I'he largest building is a temple where the whole community gathers twice daily - morning and evening - for group prayers and meditation. (Breakfast and supper are served at these times in retreats in the Himalayan region.) Also within the enclosure is a large room for yoga exercises. 'I'he other structures within the retreat house the kitchen, washroom, and toilet. The whole area is closed to the public's eyes by walls or fences.
Each retreatant's room affords just enough space for a small shrine, some bookshelves, a reading table and a place for the occupant to stretch out on the floor in a gesture of prostration. Each room's window opens onto the inner courtyard. Instead of a bed, the rooms are furnished with a "meditation seat," a wooden support which has three low sides and a high back. This serves as both a meditation seat and a bed: participants in long-term intensive retreats (such as the one for which this manual was written) must habituate themselves to sleeping in a seated, upright position.
Retreat centers are commonly small communities, often numbering a dozen resident meditators or less. Monasteries and monastic colleges in the Himalayan region have a certain notoriety for tending to the grandiose. Not so retreat centers: a healthy teacher-student ratio is always considered essential in such communities. For example, only eight persons made up the retreat community in Jamgon Kongtrul's retreat: one master, five retreatants, one cook, and one woodsman.
Jamgon Kongtrul's retreat center departed from the conventional model in a few minor ways. There was more than one temple within the enclosure and two programs of meditation were followed concurrently within the one retreat community. The second program was followed by the one retreatant responsible for the second temple, dedicated to the Buddhist protectors. Unlike most modern meditation centers, the residents of this retreat had to leave all their personal possessions in storage for the duration of the retreat. This constraint later became all-inclusive, from religious articles (such as statues and paintings) to clothes: in later retreats, even the one-size-fits-all monastic robes were provided by the center. This enforced conformity would seem to underline Jamgon Kongtrul's insistence that the meditators in his center were to see themselves and to be treated as equals, regardless of their wealth or social standing outside the retreat.
THE TIME PERIOD OF THE RETREAT
The program of Jamgon Kongtrul's retreat was squeezed very tightly into a three-year, three-fortnight period. This might seem both arbitrary and inconvenient; however, it follows a tradition that began long before Kongtrul's time.
In the year before his death, the Buddha taught The Tantra of the Wheel of Time (Kalachakra), said to represent the pinnacle of his instructions. In this tantra the Buddha describes the relationship between the universe, time, and one's own body. His presentation provides the rationale for determining the optimum length of a meditation retreat as three years and three fortnights.
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Sharmik