I will prostrate and pray just as Maitreya — Teachings on Maitreya’s Aspiration by Guru Vajradhara Kenting Tai Situ Rinpoche Day 1
Kagyu Monlam Pavilion,
Bodhgaya
14 January 2024
After requesting that we listen with the appropriate conduct and motivation of bringing all of our mother sentient beings throughout space to the state of completely perfect buddhahood, Tai Situ Rinpoche explained the conditions and context that brought us together for these teachings on The Noble King of Aspirations, Maitreya's Aspiration at the 38th Kagyu Monlam.
A most exceptional practice at an exceptional place and exceptional time
A few months ago, representatives of the seat of the Gyalwang Karmapa, Rumtek Monastery, Tergar Monastery, as well as the Kagyu Monlam visited Situ Rinpoche, bearing a letter. In the letter, it said that the Gyalwang Karmapa had told these representatives to have an audience with Situ Rinpoche and to invite him to preside over the 38th Kagyu Monlam.
Situ Rinpoche continued by explaining the history of his previous connections with the Kagyu Monlam. The first Kagyu Monlam began in Bodhgaya in 1983. A few years later, Situ Rinpoche was able to attend two Monlams in different years and make a good connection with it, although he was unable to attend the entire Monlam from beginning to end.
Later, when the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje came to India, he presided over the Monlam for several years. This was a wonderful way for him to inspire people to practice the Dharma. Many people said at the time that it was as if the Buddha had returned to the world and everyone praised this activity of the Gyalwang Karmapa greatly. So, when the Gyalwang Karmapa requested that Situ Rinpoche preside over the Monlam, Situ Rinpoche felt that he must attend.
Every year Palpung Sherab Ling, the main seat of Situ Rinpoche, holds a Monlam during which The King of Aspirations, the Noble Aspiration for Excellent Conduct, is recited 100,000 times — more or less, depending on the number of monastics present. This is a practice that began with the Eighth Tai Situpa Panchen Chokyi Jungne, and this practice has continued until the present.
Now that Situ Rinpoche is able to come to this exceptional place of Bodhgaya, able to recite this exceptional Dharma, The King of Aspirations, the Noble Aspiration for Excellent Conduct, and at this exceptional time of the 38th Kagyu Monlam it is, for him, a way to perfect the accumulation of merit. For all of us, it is an opportunity to accumulate merit, to actually practice the true Dharma, and to serve as an inspiration for practice.
The name of this event, The Kagyu Monlam Chenmo, refers the Kagyu which is said to be one of the eight main lineages [-gyu] or chariots in Tibet. The Kagyu lineage has been passed down in succession from the Indian Mahasiddha Tilopa Prajna Bhadra, to Naropa Jnana Siddhi, then to Marpa the Translator, to Lord Milarepa, and then to Gampopa. The Ka- of Kagyu means the four transmissions of pith instructions that contain the instructions of the path of means and the path of liberation. When we refer to The Kagyu Monlam, in the Marpa Kagyu tradition, there are the four elder and the eight younger lineages, and within the eight younger or individual lineages there are the Drikung, Taklung, Tsalpa, and the other various lineages. The Kagyu Monlam Chenmo, means The Great Kagyu Monlam, so this is a very vast, weighty, and important name and the meaning is also very important, so the name and the meaning are a good match.
The first Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa, entrusted his teachings to Drogon Sangye Rechen, a previous incarnation of the Situ lineage, and then appointed him to reside at the monastic seat of Karma Gön as a member of our Karma Kamtsang lineage. Situ Rinpoche estimated that probably 90% of the Rinpoches, Lamas, Tulkus and Khenpos in attendance are from Karma Kamtsang monasteries, with the Gyalwang Karmapa Orgyen Trinley Dorje as its present head.
So the vast activity of the Kagyu Monlam is not only Kagyu activity in general, but also a specific activity of the Karma Kamtsang lineage. As such, it's the vast inconceivable activity of the Buddhas, Situ Rinpoche explained. He continued by stating that he is not able to do such incredible, vast activities as the Karmapa, however he is able to help us to focus on accumulating repetitions of the King of Aspirations. In the future, when the Gyalwang Karmapa Orgyen Trinley Dorje returns to Bodhgaya and once again leads the Kagyu Monlam, then we can have such vast and majestic activities as we had before.
Situ Rinpoche explained that he made a request to the representatives of The Kagyu Monlam to recite a million repetitions of The King of Aspirations, the Noble Aspiration for Excellent Conduct and opined that this would be easy with approximately 6000 sangha members in attendance.
Situ Rinpoche also requested that we recite a hundred million repetitions of the Samaya Vajra mantra, something that we should recite all the time, as we're ordinary individuals with all of the bonds and fetters that can lead to violations or breakages of our vows of personal liberation or bodhisattva vows or mantra vows. To restore our vows, it's important for us to do the sojong practice of the vows of individual liberation or the sojong of the mantra vows. However, one thing that we can do regularly is the recitation of Samaya Vajra practice. As described in the text detailing the benefits of the practice, this restores all of our violations and breakages of samaya.
Within the Karma Kagyu, the venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche recently passed into parinirvana and great masters of the Karma Kagyu lineage have recently been in ill health, so it's important for us to recite aspiration prayers and do the Samaya Vajra meditation in order to perform increasing activity for their long lives, to help them to increase their life-force and that all the masters of the Kagyu lineage flourish.
Tai Situ Rinpoche made these requests, then received a reply a few days later saying that the Gyalwang Karmapa had accepted, further requesting that Situ Rinpoche preside over the Kagyu Monlam, teach Maitreya's Aspiration, bestow the Maitreya empowerment, and perform the Red Vajra Crown ceremony.
The Aspiration of Maitreya — The present Buddha’s recount of the aspirations of the future Buddha
The Bhagavan Buddha turned the wheel of Dharma in three cycles, and the third turning of the wheel of the Dharma is called the cycle that perfectly differentiates the characteristics. The Aspiration of Maitreya is found in this third cycle, within The Ratnakuta Sutra (The Pile of Jewels Sutra). This sutra comprises six volumes in 49 chapters (sutras) and in the sixth volume there are 14 chapters (sutras). In the sixth of these 14 chapters is The Sutra Requested by the Noble Maitreya, and within this sutra Maitreya’s Aspiration can be found.
This sutra begins,
Thus have I heard. Once the Buddha was staying in the land of Bhargas in a deep forest of deer with a large sangha. This forest is on the mountain that looks like the Astorian crocodile. And he was surrounded by a large sangha of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
As the Buddha was teaching the Dharma, among the retinue at that time was Maitreya. Within this sutra there are many dialogues between Maitreya and the Buddha and between Ananda and the Buddha. The Bhagavan Buddha said to Ananda:
In the past when the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Maitreya was performing the practice of a bodhisattva, he trained in this fashion three times each day and three times each night.
The Buddha continued, stating that the bodhisattva Maitreya recited the aspiration that is the topic of this teaching, Maitreya's Aspiration and that Maitreya recited this prayer continuously. This is the prayer that begins,
I prostrate to all of the Buddhas,
and continues until the last line,
And dwell on the peak of the tenth level.
To recapitulate, the Ratnakutra Sutra is the words of the Buddha, but within this sutra is Maitreya's Aspiration which is actually the words of the bodhisattva Maitreya, as recounted by the Buddha. This aspiration of Maitreya is not an aspiration of our present Buddha. Maitreya has not yet awakened to buddhahood but resides in Tushita Heaven as the regent of the present Buddha to later awaken to complete and perfect buddhahood as the fifth buddha of our aeon. In one of the five dharmas of Maitreya, The Sublime Continuum, Maitreya says that all his words are words of treatises, and therefore not the words of the Buddha.
Maitreya’s Aspiration is followed by a description of the actions and the activities of the bodhisattva Maitrya by the Bhagavan Buddha. The Buddha said:
The Bodhisattva, Mahasattva Maitreya, who is skilled in means, who is present, this is his activity, this is the way that is easy to travel, the way that is easy to enter, the method to achieve, the unexcelled, completely perfect enlightenment
The Buddha is teaching Ananda about the bodhisattva Maitreya’s qualities and aspects of his aspiration.
Maitreya’s aspiration can be divided into four sections: (1) stating the name or title, (2) the virtue in the beginning, (3) the actual main prayer and (4) the conclusion.
The actual name in Sanskrit is Arya Maitri Pranidhana Raja. In English, this can be translated as The Noble King of Aspirations, Maitreya's Aspiration.
Prostrations to the Buddha and Sangha
The prayer begins with prostrations as a way of going for refuge and rousing bodhicitta. In the first stanza there is a prostration to the buddhas and to the sangha, and then later in the second stanza there is a prostration to the dharma.
I prostrate to all of the buddhas
And also to the bodhisattvas,
Sages who have the divine eye.
I prostrate to the shravakas. [1]
“I prostrate to all of the buddhas” means all the buddhas of the ten directions and the three times, bowing with great respect and devotion and with body, speech, and mind. The three times refers to buddhas of the past, buddhas of the present and buddhas of the future.
We might understand what it means to prostrate to buddhas of the past or present, however how can we prostrate to a future buddha? What exactly is a future buddha? In terms of the Mahayana, the basis of a future buddha is rousing bodhicitta. When we rouse bodhicitta, we aspire to bring all sentient beings to the state of perfect buddhahood, ensuring that we will not let our body, speech, and mind be misused or go to waste, and to follow the path of the practices of six transcendences and to achieve the state of completely perfect buddhahood.
We ourselves are making the aspiration “I shall be a Buddha in the future.” This is aspirational bodhicitta. Engaged bodhicitta is when we commit, “I will do this. I will act and I will practice to achieve the state of buddhahood, to become a future buddha.”
We ourselves are the future buddha is ourselves when we have roused bodhicitta.
There are 1000 Buddhas of this fortunate aeon and so we are prostrating to and praying to all of them. The Kangyur’s Sutra of the Fortunate Aeon describes how all of the Buddhas of this aeon rouse bodhicitta, giving the names of their fathers and the names of their mothers. It tells their caste of birth, how they awaken to completely perfect buddhahood and how many beings comprise their retinues (at first, in the middle, and in the end). The sutra describes the type of dharma they teach and how long they live and it prophesies how long the dharma remains after they have passed into parinirvana.
And so we are prostrating to all of the past, present, and future Buddhas.
The third line says,
Sages who have the divine eye.
“Sages” means those people who speak straightforwardly and properly, without any deception and without any lying. They speak about the relative truth, about its essence, the ultimate truth, and they speak about the essence of that, the suchness. One who is connected to all of these or related to all of these is a sage. The Buddha is the sage.
“The divine eye” means the six clairvoyances. It is said that a buddha manifests the six clairvoyances, however the clairvoyances and qualities of a buddha are inconceivable and uncountable. If we could count and categorize them, then they wouldn’t be inconceivable and it wouldn’t be a buddha. For us ordinary individuals, they are inconceivable, though they are not for the buddha. To understand them as ordinary beings, we qualify and categorize the qualities of the buddha, such as the 64 qualities of removal and ripening, the four fearlessnesses, then ten powers and so forth. However, that's not how it actually is. The inconceivable qualities of a buddha are counted and categorized in order to have faith when prostrating.
There are three different types of faith: sincere faith, the faith of longing, and the faith of conviction. Sincere faith is something that occurs naturally for specific people who have particular karma connections; it doesn't happen for everyone. These individuals have certain connections so that when they meet a teacher and they hear about the Dharma, their impure minds naturally become purified. They develop realization and liberation simultaneously. However, for most of us, if sincere faith occurs, it happens for just a short period of time, or perhaps arises from particular conditions. It does not last long and it is not stable, and so it is not enough for us ordinary individuals to be able to practice the path.
In order to develop faith, the clairvoyances are listed as the six clairvoyances, the six clairvoyances of the Buddha. The six clairvoyances are:
(1) The divine eye, the ability to see all the forms in the world, small or large, clearly and without obscuration.
(2) The divine ear, to be able to hear all sounds in the world, soft or loud.
(3) The clairvoyance of knowing others' minds or telepathy. We don't even know our own minds, although we think we know our own minds. We always spend our time assuming that we know other people's minds, but this is just a judgment. We are always judging other people and making judgments about them. But how can we actually judge other people when we don't even know our own minds? The clairvoyance of knowing others' minds is knowing others' people's minds exactly as they are.
(4) The clairvoyance of knowing past lives.
(5) The clairvoyance of knowing birth and death. This means knowing when you will die, how you will die, when you will be born, where you will be born, and knowing this all very clearly and precisely.
(6) The clairvoyance of the extinction of defilements. Through the path of realizing selflessness, you are able to see clearly so as to overcome all the obscurations of ego-clinging. As a result, they never arise again.
The six clairvoyances are qualities of a buddha and they can also be qualities of a bodhisattva. Primarily, “sages with the divine eye” are those bodhisattvas who have achieved the bodhisattvas' levels, although some bodhisattvas who have not yet achieved the levels indeed have the clairvoyances. For example, bodhisattvas on the four stages of the path of joining [the levels of warmth, apex, forbearance, and the supreme attribute, the Dharma] definitely have some degree of these clairvoyances, as can ordinary individuals progressing along the path. “Sages” also includes noble beings who have achieved the results up through the tenth level and the extinction of the final defilements.
I prostrate to the shravakas.
This includes all of the noble listener vehicles, the four pairs of the eight results. And so in the first stanza, we're prostrating to both the Bodhisattvas and the shravakas. The four pairs of the eight results means those on the stages on the path to achieve arhatship as well as those who have achieved it: those who are entering and who have achieved the results. We are prostrating to all of them.
The bodhisattvas and the arhats do have some degree, but not all, of the Buddha's qualities. For example, the qualities of the Buddha's wisdom, love, and power are like infinite space, without end. Tai Situpa gave an analogy. If you join your palms there is a little bit of space between them. Is it the same space qualitatively? It is. It has the same characteristic as infinite space, but you cannot say that it is infinite space. It's just the space in between your palms. This is similar to the sangha of Bodhisattvas. They have some of the qualities of the Buddha, but they do not have all the Buddha's infinite qualities. This is why we say that the Buddha is the unequalled teacher.
And so, the first stanza is a prostration to the Buddhas and the Sangha.
Next, Situ Rinpoche, the monastic sangha and lay devotees recited the first stanza together in Tibetan, thinking about the meaning of the words, then resting in meditation The Buddha said that Maitreya's Aspiration is for practice: it's easy to practice. It's not heavy. It's light. It's not difficult. It's easy. Rinpoche said to think that we are reciting these words just as the bodhisattva Maitreya recited them.
I will prostrate. I will pray. I will make aspirations just as Maitreya prayed.
We need something that can reveal the paths to the higher realms, and this something is the dharma.
The prostration to the dharma has two parts: (1) the prostration in the expedient or guiding meaning, bowing to gain a good rebirth and (2) the prostration in the definitive meaning, bowing in order to exhaust all births.
I also bow to bodhicitta,
Which blocks all paths to lower realms,
Reveals the path to higher realms,
And leads to freedom from age and death. [2]
The first two lines of the second stanza are the expedient meaning, the prostration to gain a good rebirth. The lower realms are realms where you are born in a bad place and you are born in a bad body. You were born in these places as the result of past bad actions that ripen as birth there. When you were born in these realms, they appear as illusions and dreams. They do not exist in truth. But for beings who are born in the lower realms, they appear as if they truly existed, even though they do not. The lower realms are the realms of the hell beings, the hungry ghosts, and the animals. These three realms were not created by anyone.
It is as Shantideva said in The Way of the Bodhisattva:
Who made the ground of burning iron?
Whence come the fires in hell?
They are not made by a creator. These are all the results of a wicked mind. The places and the bodies in the lower realms are all the ripening results of our own karma and our own afflictions. When we say that bodhicitta blocks all paths to the lower realms, blocking means that we are eliminating the causes of birth there, which are karma and the afflictions. We are distancing ourselves far away from the causes of birth there. So bodhicitta blocks the paths to the lower realms.
Why are the realms called “lower”? Because the causes are lower and the manifestation is lower. The suffering is great and it is difficult to liberate yourselves from this great suffering.
The third line reads,
Reveals the path to higher realms,
To liberate ourselves from suffering, we need to achieve the higher realms, the realms of humans and gods. Why are these called “higher realms”? Because they do not have such great unbearable suffering as the lower realms. Due to having purified our karma, we are able to be reborn in a higher place with greater powers. For this reason, they are called the higher realms, the realms of gods and humans. They are also like dreams and illusions, but they're like a nice dream. Having encountered dharma, we have been able to overcome the causes for rebirth in the lower realms. It is the expedient meaning, not the definitive meaning, that brings rebirth in the higher realms.
Although you might be born as a human in a higher realm, you might possess a hell-like hatred. You might have a hungry ghost-like stinginess. You might have animal-like delusion. Consequently, you might act on these. Someone who has human form might have experiences like an animal or a hell-being. This is something that we can all perceive, so there is no need to expand further. Sometimes people who have been born with a good human body, aren't able to let their good human qualities shine forth. Instead, they act as if they are animals or worse. Their human qualities are unable to shine and it is as if they are blocked. We can see this in the world as people mistreat and harm one another, believing that they have no choice.
Because of the kindness of the Buddha and our spiritual masters, we understand a little bit about the dharma and we realize that this is unacceptable, pointless conduct. We may know that this derives from confusion, but others do not necessarily know this. Although born as humans, people may not actually know what they need to do.
We need something that can reveal the paths to the higher realms, and this something is the dharma.
To achieve the higher realms, we need to practice the 16 qualities that lead to rebirth in the higher realms. The first 10 of the 16 qualities are the 10 virtues. This means giving up the 10 non-virtues and then practicing the 10 virtues. There are six additional qualities to total 16:
(1) Abandoning or giving up alcohol. This refers to anything that affects your mind so as to make you drunk or intoxicated. You should not use any intoxicants.
(2) Not practicing wrong livelihood. There are many different types of wrong livelihood, and the basic meaning is that you should have a proper or correct livelihood.
(3) Giving up malice or harm towards others. This means having malice towards others in your mind, speaking badly or insultingly with your speech, or doing physical things that harm them. We must give up all of these.
(4) Having love for all beings. Love, or loving kindness, means the wish that all beings be happy and have the causes of happiness. Just as a mother has love and affection for her child, we should also train in having such love and affection for all sentient beings.
(5) Being respectful to all sentient beings. This means not treating them badly, not treating them harshly, not speaking about them negatively in any way at all. There are two reasons why we need to be respectful to everyone in all situations:
—Because all sentient beings have buddha nature. Every being, even insects have buddha nature and therefore they are all future buddhas. At some point all sentient beings will definitely achieve buddhahood. This is the nature or essence of all beings. If we are disrespectful of beings, if we speak badly, or if we treat them poorly, then we are being disrespectful to a future buddha. All sentient beings have the essence of a buddha, the buddha nature.
—Good people respect everyone. If you're being disrespectful to someone, treating them badly, or speaking negatively of them, this is a sign that you are not a good person.
Do you treat people with respect or do you not?
Do you treat them well or do you not treat them well?
Do you do improper things to others or not?
This is how we can tell if someone is a good person or not. It's the way you can tell if you yourself are a good person or not. None of us wants to be a bad person. For this reason, we need to be respectful to all.
When we prostrate, we pay respect to all sentient beings. This doesn't mean that we need to physically prostrate to all beings, because not everyone wants to be an object of prostration. What it really means is that you should not be disrespectful to any being, whether with your body or with your speech, and you shouldn't be disrespectful with your mind. You should be respectful to all sentient beings.
Just as the Buddha said in the Sutra of the Recollection of the Noble Three Jewels:
The Sangha of the mahayana is engaged in goodness. It is engaged in lucidity. It is engaged in truth. It is engaged in harmony. It is worthy of joined palms. It is worthy of prostration. It is a glorious field of merit. It is the great purification of alms. It is a fit object of generosity. It is always a great object of generosity.
When you see the members of the sangha behaving properly, your mind naturally feels faith. Merely witnessing people who behave well brings benefit to sentient beings. That is how we should be, and it's an internal quality that we need to have.
When gold is buried underground, you cannot see its lustre.
Similarly, if you are a good person, then you must never show any disrespect or act insultingly towards others. We must always — in all manners and at all times — be respectful of others. If we do this, we will be happy and we will help others to be happy.
When we treat other people poorly, it obscures our own abilities and it obscures the abilities of others. It is important for us to treat all sentient beings well in all ways and all times, because if we do not, then our own qualities will be hidden, it will not help us, and it will not help others. When you treat others disrespectfully, then this makes it difficult for you to do anything or for anyone else to do anything either.
(6) Performing generosity. Generosity can be giving away food and money and so forth, but generally generosity means not being too attached, having less attachment and less fixation in our minds.
If you have qualities and you don't use them, then they do not benefiting anyone. If you have qualities and you're attached to these qualities, holding onto them tightly, you keep them as your own and you lock them inside. In this way, there's no benefit to yourself and no benefit to others as well. You need to be able to use your own qualities, your money, and your things to bring benefit to others.
If you have the willingness to use whatever you may have to benefit others, thinking to yourself, “I need to benefit others,” then you have a generous attitude. If you don't have a generous attitude, keeping all your money and all your qualities to yourself, never using them to benefit others, then in the next life you may be reborn as an insect who just will chew through your paper money, because karmic cause and effect is unfailing.
If you have a lot of education and qualities from education, then you need to use that for others. If you're learned but you don't use this to benefit anyone else, then it's not beneficial for you and it’s not beneficial for anyone else.
If we have any abilities or capacities that arise from our practice, then we need to use them to benefit others as well.
And so we always need to practice generosity, the last of the 16 qualities for accomplishing the higher realms, referred to in the third line of the second stanza. This line teaches the expedient meaning, the methods for taking a good rebirth.
The following topic is the definitive meaning of exhausting birth.
And leads to freedom from age and death.
This is a prostration to what exhausts freedom of birth and leads to freedom from age and death. We also bow to bodhicitta which leads to freedom from age and death. The actual nature of samsara is birth, age, sickness, and death. If we want to free ourselves from samsara and achieve a state free of birth and death, then we need to purify ourselves of the causes and conditions for birth and death — karma and the afflictions.
We need to pacify the afflictions and gradually progress through the path as we do this. In the secret mantra we can purify the impure, transforming the impure into amrita, the transforming nectar. Vajrayana methods for transforming impure into pure are a way to overcome ageing, sickness and death.
Arhats overcome age and death by achieving nirvana and we can achieve the non-abiding nirvana which is the state of buddhahood, by aspiring to bring ourselves and all beings to the state of buddhahood, a state where there is no more ageing and death.
What allows us to do this is bodhicitta so we prostrate to bodhicitta. Without bodhicitta, it is impossible to achieve the state of buddhahood, so we prostrate to bodhicitta. This is achieving true excellence — the state of the ultimate result, full enlightenment or buddhahood.
Because we all have the potential to achieve buddhahood, we need to do just as the buddhas of the past and present have done, otherwise we will always remain future buddhas. All the buddhas of the past achieved buddhahood due to their bodhicitta. All great beings on the tenth bodhisattva level including Maitreya, Samantabhadra, Vajrapani and all of the other close sons, as well as all of the infinite uncountable buddhas achieved these levels and states due to bodhicitta.
Because of bodhicitta, we also can achieve buddhahood.
Please dedicate the merit of this teaching to the benefit of all sentient beings throughout the ten directions. Please dedicate so that all the gurus and bodhisattvas may have long lives and so that their activity may flourish, in order that all sentient beings may be freed from the lower realms and ultimately achieve the state of freedom from samsara and the state of buddhahood.
