Book review: Karmamudra: The Yoga of Bliss, by Dr. Nida

I’m calling this a book review, but it’s not a real book review. Yet I think this book deserves attention, and I will explain why.

I met Dr. Nida for the first time at a conference on Tibetan Medicine at Shechen Monastery in Nepal. I was taken by his very modern view on things (which is unfortunately often lacking with Tibetan doctors, despite the great potential the system has). For some years I have been slightly skeptical about him as well. How can one teach things like tumo and karmamudra publicly? According to my understanding from the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition, that is not done. But in his book The Yoga of Bliss, Dr. Nida explains very clearly that these are special teachings from the Yuthok Nyingtik tradition. Regarding karmamudra, yes, there are the classical methods (of the third empowerment) which are based on the tsa-lung practices (of the second empowerment). But these are difficult, require years of preparation and training, and so Dr. Nida does not discuss these in the book. Yet Dr. Nida offers a wealth of advice on the topic and places ‘tantric sex’, as it is often called, in the right context. He also discusses exercises that can be done by anyone.

Unfortunately, the topic has been stained with misconceptions and so he starts with dispelling a number of misconceptions, like:

-        -   Karmamudra is so secret it can never be discussed

-        -   Karmamudra is the same as karmasutra

-        -   For karmamudra you need many sexual partners

-        -   Karmamudra is for the purpose of exploiting women

-        -   Almost no one is qualified to practice karmamudra

In the past, with a few notable exceptions, most of –Tibetan- Buddhism’s experts have been monastics. The students as well: if you had any serious inclinations for the spiritual life, in most cases the monastic life was the only option (on the side, I think the appreciation for monastic life is still lacking in many Western Buddhists - perhaps especially in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism). But at the moment, most of the Western practitioners are living a lay person's life. Unfortunately, serious teachings and advice on one aspect of lay life, sexuality, has been painfully lacking. The introduction by Ben Joffe and Dr. Nida discuss this at length.

On the contrary, sex has been mostly or even solely associated with scandals and abuse. But that is a pity. In the vajrayana, there are teachings on each of the ‘four states’ of consciousness: of the day-time, deep sleep, dream and sexual union. There are plenty of teachings available on working with the day-time state, the deep sleep and dream state. Yet there are hardly any instructions offered for working with the state of the blissful conscious of sexual union. And most of us will, as human beings, have experiences of this. Thus Dr Nida argues that it is better to take it onto the path than to think that it is something dirty and something that belongs to ‘samsara’. 

This book is a good introduction and fills a gap in the currently available material on Tibetan Buddhism, and is therefore worth reading.

Trekking and pilgrimage from Kathmandu to Helambu (Yolmo)

Helambu is considered a 'beyul' or hidden valley, a pure place conducive for the practice of Dharma. In the past, the great yogi Milarepa has meditated there for many years, following the instructions of his teacher Marpa Lotsawa. In recent times, Chatral Rinpoche spend many years in retreat there and founded a couple of monasteries. Mingyur Rinpoche also visited and practised there during his wandering retreat.

In May 2017 we went for a small trek for about a week, starting in Kathmandu. I always wanted to write a small report / guide about it, so finally, here it is. 

Note: Helambu has been hit very hard by the earthquake in 2015, and two years after the quake, rebuilding has only barely begun. But that poses no obstacle for going there, and my hope is that this blog post might inspire some people to visit; any money spend there as a tourist will naturally help the locals to rebuild their temples and towns.

View of Langtang range from Ama Yangri

Yolmo seems to be the Tibetan name and Helambu the Nepali equivalent. It is said that ‘he’ means potato and ‘la’ is short for labu, which means white radish (daikon radish) in Tibetan; these are the main produce of the valley. The people -Yolmos- have probably migrated from the Tibetan region of Gyirong about 200 or 300 years ago, and have mixed with the local Tamang population.  

Helambu is the perfect place to go because it is not too far from Kathmandu, it is not so touristy, nature is beautiful and the people are very spiritual (but don’t be deluded: people are people!). It is perfect for beginner to medium level treks. The only downside is that you don’t get very high up in the mountains, but you can easily venture from Helambu to either the Gosaikund lakes or take the pass to Langtang. The pass to Langtang seems to be for more experienced trekkers though and should not be undertaken without a guide. There are enough tourists and hotels in Helambu, but it’s nothing compared to the Annapurna region, Gosaikund lakes and Langtang valley treks. Even though you are not in the middle of the highest mountains, still there are climbs going up 1 km straight, for example climbing up Ama Yangri peak, with breathtaking views of the Langtang range. The villagers of for example Tarkeghyang are devoted to Tibetan Buddhism, and there are many yogis around. 

Kathmandu to Nagi Gompa and Chisapani

There are at least three options when starting from Kathmandu. Most treks start in Sundarijal, which would take about 4 hours in total. However it is also possible to start in Boudha, walk to Pulahari, and then follow the ridge to Nagi Gompa. This took us about 4 hours. If you know the way, you can probably do it quicker, but we lost track at some point and had to clamber up the hill through the jungle for a bit; not recommendable. 

Starting in Boudha

An easier way is to start in Buddhanilkanta at the official entrance of the Park (the entrance fee is 500 rupees and you need to show your passport). Then it will only take about an hour to get to Nagi, after which you can continue straight away.

Behind Nagi gompa there is a path with concrete steps going up straight for a while. It’s very beautiful. After about two hours you’ll arrive at the beginning of the Bagmati river, and another few minutes up, there is a small temple. Occasionally you'll also meet a sadhu there, who is called 'tarkebaba', since he has meditated over there for five years with only a tree whole or 'tarke' as shelter. 

'Tarkebaba' making chai

The Start of the Bagmati river

Small temple on the way 

Then continue in the direction of Chisapani. After about an hour there is a crossroads: do not take the dirt road but continue straight. Then you’ll get to Chisapani.

Crossroads

Mountain view from Chisapani

Dangerously tilting hotel in Chisapani 

Chisapani  to Kutumsang

This part of the journey is perhaps least attractive. The main point is to keep your eyes open for shortcuts. If you follow the main road all along it will take about 10 hours. This is what we ended up doing and it’s not recommendable in the blazing sun.  Especially before the village of Chipling there are many shortcuts.

Chipling

Small village, probably Banjang

At the end of the day's hike there is still a short climb to do to get to Kutumsang. 

Alternatively, there are busses going from Kathmandu to Kutumsang and it is an option to start the journey here. It’s a nice town with quite some guesthouses; many popular trekking routes meet here.

Kutumsang to Mangengoth

Leaving Kutumsang, after about 15 minutes there is a field with a stupa on the left; after that you will meet the army post and entrance to the Langtang national park . You are not allowed to trek alone and the entrance fee is 3500 rupees if you pay at the gate. Yet if you get your permit before in Kathmandu at the Nepal Tourism Board (on Pradarshani Marg in the middle of Kathmandu) it would be around 1500, I have been told.

Stupa just before the entrance of the national park

Information on Langtang National Park

Climbing up to Mangengoth is a isn't easy, it's around 1 km, and it will take a few hours. When you get to Mangengoth there are two hotels, one as soon as you get up and one about 15 minutes further on. 

Second guesthouse in the distance

Trees in the valley high up Mangengoth

Be mindful that in general in the mountains, the higher you go, the higher the price of food and bottled water becomes, since everything needs to be carried up by porters. Mangengoth is at 3400 meters and it will get pretty cold during the night, even on a warm summer day.

Nepali signs by the way, are hilarious: "remoteness.. etc could cause the trekker unhappy events" and also "it is unsafe to trekking single because undesirable incidents such as tourist lost has been reported".

Mangengoth to Melamchigaon

The last climb up to Thadepati will take two to three hours. Thadepati is the highest point in the trek to Helambu. Here there is a split, the road on the left side leading up to Gosaikund and the road leading down on the right descending into Helambu valley. 

Thadepati

The descent to Helambu is steep, about 1km down, but not very difficult. You will arrive at Melamchigaon.

Melamchigaon

At Melamchigaon, make sure that you visit the Nyida Khajor cave (the cave of union of the sun and the moon), where guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated. It’s just above the village.

Entrance to the Nyida Khajor cave

The sun and the moon on the sealing of the cave

Melamchigaon to Tarkeghyang

This will take about one morning, around 3 to 4 hours. At times the road is not very clear though, especially in the beginning. Don't hesitate to ask the villagers frequently for directions.

Stupa on the way to Tarkeghyang

Tarkeghyang is completely destroyed by the eartquake, and even two years after the earthquake, the whole village still lives in makeshift houses.

Destruction in Tarkeghyang

We stayed at Yangri peak hotel, one of the only hotels still standing. It turned out we slept in the same room where Mingyur Rinpoche stayed during his wandering retreat. 

Hotel Yangri Peak

Mingyur Rinpoche showed up as an ordinary monk, and the hotel owner had no idea who he was. He asked for a place to do retreat and the hotel owner decided to help him and bring him tsampa and other things every week. The place Mingyur Rinpoche did retreat is about 15 minutes up the hill from the hotel, and if you ask nicely, I'm sure the owner will guide you there. Unfortunately there is nothing left of the retreat house due to the earthquake; it's a pile of stones. It seems it could be rebuild for about 5000 dollar, so if any one is inspired and has some funds to spare...

The owner of Yangri Peak hotel showing the ruins of Mingyur Rinpoche's retreat hut 

The people of Tarkeghyang are very spiritual. I spoke quite a bit to many of the lamas, and I was told the whole village decided that they would first rebuild their temple before rebuilding any of their own houses. They have been living in houses made of corrugated plates for more than two years now, and the winters are pretty cold there. 


360 view of the ruins of Tarkeghyang

Practice with Chime Rinpoche for the deceased

At Tarkegyang, a nice thing to do is to walk up to the retreat centre of Chime Rinpoche. In 2018 they were just starting to rebuild the retreat house (drupkhang). There are many yogis there, but please don't disturb their retreat.

Chime Rinpoche

Rebuilding the retreat house or 'drupkhang'

Tarkeghyang - Climbing up to Ama Yangri

I recommend to stay for a day at least at Tarkeghyang and climb up to Ama Yangri. If you are lucky the weather is clear. But in any case, you should leave as early as possible, like 3 or 4 am. The climb is about 1 km up, pretty tough, and will take between 3 to 4 hours. You should arrive there around 7-8 am to get a clear sky. If the sky is clear you will have a magnificent view of the whole Langtang range. 

Ama Yangri seen from Thadepati

Beginning in Tarkeghyang, after about one hour you’ll reach a small grass plain with some yaks grazing and a resting house. A good place to take a rest, since there is considerable climbing left.

Yaks on the way to Ama Yangri

View of Langtang range

Tarkeghyang to Timbu

It will take about two hours to get to the Milarepa cave, which is a must visit in Helambu. Just ask around and take the shortcuts. Unfortunately it has been severely damaged by the earthquake. Also a good place to make some donations!

You can't miss the sign

Shrine inside the cave

Fresco of Mila

From the cave it will take another two to three hours to get to Timbu, from which you can take the bus to Kathmandu. The last bus leaves around 2pm I think, so make sure you arrive before that time. The bus will take around 6 hours, so you’ll be back in Kathmandu around 7-8pm.

Timbu in the distance

If you want to extend your stay, walking to the villages of Ghangyul and Sermathang is also very recommendable.

There is a Guide to the Hidden Land of Yolmo written quite recently by a Khenpo, which can be accessed at the Rangjung Yeshe Wiki

Map of Helambu

Enjoy!

PS. Here is a site dedicated to helping the people of Helambu (it includes a good video)

The great Chinese translator Faxian

Faxian (337 – c. 422) became a monk at a young age and studied Buddhism all his life. Yet he realized that the Buddhist texts in China were incomplete and had mistakes in them. At the age of 62 he decided to travel to India in search of the Dharma. At the age of 74 (!), he finally returned to China and spend the rest of his life teaching and translating the texts he had brought with him, until his death at the age of 87. Before his death, he also wrote his Record of Buddhist Kingdoms, without which we would know near to nothing about India during that age.

"During my journey to India, I traversed numerous mountains and braved turbulent seas,
I managed to bring the sutras and precepts back to China because I stuck to my core beliefs.
If your principles are unwavering nothing can stand in your way."

His paved the way for later explorers and translators, like the great translator Xuanzang about whom I wrote earlier.

A fantastic documentary about his life can be seen at CCTV:

Part 1 and 2
Part 3 and 4

An Introduction to the Guhyagarbha Tantra by Gyurme Dorje

Many years ago Gyurme Dorje, a pioneer in the world of translation, did his PhD on the Guhyagarbha Tantra, the flagship tantra of the Nyingma tradition. His excellent introduction has been available on the web for a long time, but now it seems the website hosting it has gone down, and I have been unable to locate in anywhere. Thus, in order to make this introduction available again, and as a reminder of it's importance, you can download it here.

Gyurme Dorje - An Introduction to the Guhyagarbha Tantra PDF  

The man behind Gene Smith and scanning the Tibetan canon: Mangaram

Last year a group of selected ritual specialists, Lerab Ling's umdzes, chopon and a translator -myself- went to Dodrupchen Rinpoche's monastery in Sikkim, to learn the Longchen Nyingtik ritual tradition of Dodrupchen gompa.
There I was able to gather almost their entire collection of publications related to the rituals the Longchen Nyingtik cycle. I arranged for the TBRC, now BDRC, to have all the pechas scanned. In the process I met Mangaram and we decided to have lunch in Delhi. To my surprise he turned out to be the former asistent of the legendary Gene Smith for over 30 years until his passing away a few years ago.

Mangaram: "Smith must have been a reincarnation or so, looking at the karmic connections he had with so many Tibetans and what he accomplished."

"Smith went to Leiden in the Netherlands to study more Sanskrit. Then he decided to go to India to meet the Tibetans who had just fled there from China. During that time, there were not so many flights to India, one had to go by boat. He finally managed to get on an oil tanker to Delhi but got stuck in Egypt because of the war with Pakistan for 2 months. Finally he managed to get to Bombay, after which he went to Kathmandu. After staying there for a bit, teaching English to rich Nepali kids, he went to India."

"Smith was advised not to go to Dharamsala, since then the Indian government would suspect him to be involved with the CIA. So all the Rinpoches and lamas with texts came to him in Delhi. Then he started working for the Library of Congress and they printed many texts. Once, there was a flood in Delhi and the basement were the texts were stores flooded, so they had to print them again."

"I worked in his house and organised all the books. When he moved to Indonesia and later to Egypt, to new York and then to Boston, every time I helped to arrange the bookshelves, since I knew where the books had to be placed. And he was not happy if something was misplaced."

"I often met Dilgo Khyentse rinpoche in Gene Smith's house in Delhi. He said several times I was a monk in my previous life. Dzongsar Khyentse and Rabjam Rinpoches, who were about the same age, always traveled with Dilgo Khyentse rinpoche. Back in the days they were in their teens and in Delhi their favourite thing to do was to go to the cinema and watch movies"

During the last part of Gene Smith's life and after his passing,  Mangaram worked for the TBRC, heading the main branch in India, where almost all of the major collections of the Tibetan canon and collected works have been scanned under his supervision, working with a team of around ten people. The pechas were scanned and then manually cleaned from any noise, meaning black spots and so on.

Most of the work concerning the Tibetan texts has now been done, and his team will soon be reduced to a few people who can be called upon for any remaining jobs. The BDRC will now focus more on other canons, like the Chinese and Pali canons and so the work will move to other countries. Also, most of the major monasteries these days like Shechen, Mindroling and Dzongsar, have upgraded their publication methods from the traditional woodblock printing to digital methods, which can be shared in digital format straight away without the need of scanning them.



We had lunch at Gene Smith's favourite restaurant in Delhi, Have More. The place to go for any Gene Smith admirers!



See also

Documentary about Gene Smith.
http://digitaldharma.com
For a better and more complete story of his life
https://khyentsefoundation.org/project/gene-smith-and-tbrc and
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Gene_Smith

www.tbrc.org

Studying the Abhisamayalankara at the Rigpa Shedra 2017

Many khenpos, whether Nyingma or Sakya, consider two subjects very important: abhidharma and prajnaparamita. And besides being important, they are not easy to understand. So for these subjects they always encourage their students to make some extra effort. Even the Buddha himself told Ananda, that if he were to forget some teachings of him, that would be admissible, but if he were to forget even a single word of the prajnaparamita teachings, that would be a serious fault.

The prajnaparamita teachings contain the teachings on emptiness. The explicit meaning of these teachings has been expounded by Nagarjuna, and the hidden meaning by Buddha Maitreya, who revealed it to Asanga in the Abhisamayalankara or Ornament of Clear Realization. 

Asanga

The Abhisamayalankara describes the entire journey of the bodhisattva, from the generation of bodhichitta to the attainment of full omniscience. It is here were the famous quote defining bodhicitta or the mind of enlightenment is found:

Arousing bodhicitta is: For the sake of others,
Longing to attain complete enlightenment.

Bodhicitta is where the journey of the bodhisattva begins, and is the first of the seventy points of the text. The text is notoriously terse and might seem to be a bit scholastic. But if you can read beyond the endless lists, there is a treasure of information to be found. It is like an encyclopedia of the Dharma, containing all you need to know. Despite its difficulty, in the end it is a precious manual which explains to the bodhisattva how to journey to enlightenment, what happens when you meditate on emptiness, and what are the dangers one should look out for. But since this topic is so profound, many ordinary beings like us might be a bit puzzled as to what the text is saying.

We studied the commentary by Mipham Rinpoche, the White Lotus Garland, which has not been written by him personally but compiled by his students based on his teachings and then approved by Mipham himself. It is a word by word commentary, so it is quite concise and good for beginners. But behind those few words, there are a lot of important discussions, which one would ideally also familiarize oneself with. Those discussion can be found in Patrul Rinpoche's Overview (or also called General Topics, both being translations of chidon ).

Teacher and translator

While studying, it is very useful to have some smaller texts which summarize the content and supply definitions on the side, for example The Seventy Points of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra by Khenpo Tsöndrü or An Overview of the Perfection of Wisdom's Ornament of Realization by Khenpo Pema Vajra. All these can be found in the prajnaparamita series on Lotsawa House.

For those who aspire to reach perfect scholarship, it is obviously essential to also look at the Indian commentaries, notably those of Haribhadra  and Arya Vimuktisena.

Teachers and students on a refreshing walk
in the Himalayan mountains surrounding Pharping

As for other materials, there is a book by Thrangu Rinpoche, presenting the text even more simply, which is excellent for beginners. Karl Brunnhölzl has done a major contribution to the study of this text with his three volumes on this text. In Gone Beyond volume 1 and 2, the Kagyu commentaries can be found, and in Groundless Paths the Nyingma point of view is represented by Patrul Rinpoche's chidon and word by word commentary, supplemented by sections of Mipham Rinpoche and others in the end notes. In general the translations are good, but often the English is unreadable (a kind of German-English) and unnecessarily difficult to understand, and the translations are not completely without mistakes. Also the strategy to take one commentary and then cut up the others and put them in the footnotes is not one I endorse; although there is much duplication in the commentaries, each deserves its own full translation.

Khenpo Namdrol Rinpoche giving an overview of madhyamaka and prajnaparamita 

A final note should be made regarding Patrul Rinpoche's famed chidon. For reasons we can only guess at, Patrul Rinpoche took Tsongkhapa's famous Golden Garland and copied it mostly verbatim. Some scholars, including Brunnhölzl, say that therefore there is no real Nyingma commentary. But Patrul Rinpoche did not blindly copy over Tsongkhapa's commentary, itself of course also based on his teachers explanations and finally grounded in the Indian commentaries and the Abhisamayalankara itself, and carefully left out sections which he did not agree with and supplemented the text with clarifications of his own.

If you are serious about Buddhism, there is no way around the Abhisamayalankara. Despite some minor hardships one might encounter while studying it, this sublime commentary summarizing all the prajnaparamita Sutras has to be studied.

Sogyal Rinpoche visiting Asura cave in Pharping

Students lighting butter lamps

A new khenpo

The Karmapa and Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
awarding Tsewang Rigdzin the degree of Khenpo

Recently my teacher and friend Tsewang Rigdzin from Dzongsar Shedra in India has been awarded the title of 'khenpo', which one could compare to receiving a PhD in Buddhist studies. Besides congratulating him with his achievement, a few words of praise of these incredible scholars seems appropriate.

Looking at the situation in Tibet, one might get discouraged and think that the heydays of Buddhism are over and done with. But young Tibetan scholars like Tsewang show that all is not over yet, and there is hope for the future.

Tsewang Rigdzin teaching Dharmakirti's Pramanavartika in 2015

So why is it so important to have scholars like this in the Buddhist tradition? To answer that, we might want to ask ourselves what the Dharma actually is. One answer, as there are a lot of different responses, is that the Dharma consists of the Dharma of transmission and the Dharma of realization.
A story from Patrul Rinpoche illustrates what these two mean. Once, Patrul Rinpoche said that he still had some hope for the Dharma to remain, since there was one practitioner who had attained full enlightenment, or in Dzogchen terminology, had attained the rainbow body, and so he concluded that the Dharma of realization was still present in the world. Also, he heard that there was one tulku or reincarnation of a highly realized being, who was able to teach the Bodhicharyavatara at the age of seven, and so he concluded that the Dharma of transmission was still present in the world.

But there is only one individual who can truly understand and teach the Dharma, and that is a fully enlightened Buddha. Unfortunately for us, the Buddha has passed away 2500 years ago, and so how are we to understand the Dharma, the only way of gaining release from this endless ocean of suffering? Just reading the Buddha's words written down in the scriptures by oneself will not suffice, since Chandrakirti in his Introduction to the Middle Way reminds us that only a highly realized being, who has seen the nature of reality on the grounds or bumis of realization, is able to comprehend the scriptures by him or her self. But, there is a unbroken lineage of explanation of the Buddha's scriptures going back all the way to the Buddha himself. And so based on the explanations of those teachers we can understand the Dharma. And if we can manage to practice well, we can attain full realization and freedom from suffering. Those teachers who are qualified to explain the Buddha's words have different names in the different Buddhist countries in the world, but in the Tibetan tradition, they are called Khenpo. 

The words of the Buddha are very vast, and in the Tibetan canon comprise about 100 volumes. And that is leaving aside all the commentaries upon them by the great Indian scholars, like the seventeen Nalanda masters, and the vast array of commentaries by Tibetan scholars from all the different traditions of Tibet. So even though it would be very difficult to study or even just read all the words of the Buddha (if one reads day and night, it will take at least three months), the shedras present a solution to that. Their curricula are designed so that one understands the essence of each field of knowledge, which in the common Mahayana tradition are often cited to be the great subjects of madyamaka, pramana, abhidharma, prajnaparamita and vinaya. By studying all those topics in detail, one will have a general understanding of all the Buddha's teachings. One can then explain the Buddha's teachings to others, and so by upholding the Dharma of transmission, the Buddha's teachings remain in the world.

Dzongsar Shedra in Chauntra, Himachal Pradesh, India

Nevertheless, the road to become a Khenpo at Dzongsar Shedra is long. First one studies the above mentioned subjects for about ten years (for a detailed overview of the texts studied at a shedra, see for example the Namdroling curriculum or my previous blog about the academic curricula of different shedras). The academic year runs for about eight months each year, there is only one day holiday in the week, and the day starts at about 5:30 in the morning(compulsory!) and ends around 9, or even later, in the evening. Once one has finished, or perhaps one could say survived (not all monks survive) the whole curriculum and passed all the exams, one is awarded the title of acharya or, in Tibetan, lobpön. Not everyone who has managed to finish the whole training is qualified or even wants to teach, since it is not an easy task. But if one has the qualifications and propensities, one would teach for at least a few years. Then, as it is written in the curriculum of Namdroling Shedra "Whether an acharya will be enthroned as a khenpo then depends upon "personal virtue and [other] qualifications".

Having followed some of Tsewang Rigdzin's classes and also knowing him personally, I am sure that he embodies all the qualities of a Khenpo and he is more then deserving of this prestigious title.
May he and all the other learned scholars continue to unerringly teach and uphold the Buddha's teachings, to dispel the ignorance and misery of the world!