Interview with Geshe Denma Gyaltsen

Part of Sacred Interviews Series

Ligmincha International and Ligmincha Brazil launched a new online program in November called Sacred Interviews. During the first session, participants could ask questions related to their practice and to the teachings, and learn more about the life and background of Geshe Denma Gyaltsen, resident lama of Ligmincha Texas. Here are some excerpts from that interview.

There are times when I feel Buddhism is my path, and there are times when I feel disconnected. I know I'm the problem, but could you give me some advice on how to find stability?

You should know. The questioner said, "I know that I am the problem." This is most important thing to recognize, the I which is the source of all the pain. Look inside yourself and find out. Discover who is the I. It changes and has many different faces. When you are excited, happy, it is the I. When you are sad, depressed, it is same. But it's in a different form, different face. You need to know that I is really iportant.

The second part is how to find stability. When you feel disconnected, how do you disconnect? You should think about that. Do you disconnect with the teachings or do you disconnect with the teachers? Do you disconnect with the practitioners? You should know that. Then you need to develop that, deal with that. Develop a better way. For stability you can practice Guru Yoga, lame naljor. Before every teaching we do the lame naljor. You have received all the teaching from your teacher. You should connect with your root teacher in the lineage. I will read the Guru Yoga prayer:

From the crown of my head, palace of the great bliss,
I pray to you, benevolent root lama.
O precious one, grant me the blessings
To recognize my own true nature as a buddha.

Ask the precious one, "Grant me the blessings." That way you should connect to your teacher. Then also there is your inner refuge. The inner refuge quality is connection without effort, without analyzing, without thought. No manipulation, no pretending, no expectations. It is a simple, lovely, joyful practice of trusting, connection. Normally Rinpoche gives the example of the mother and son, mother connecting to the child, that needs to make connection. This way the practice will become more stable.

How do I know when I am meditating, that I am in my true nature?

Resting in the true nature is the main practice of dzogchen. There are three paths, renunciation, transformation and liberation. In Tibetan we call liberation togal. What does togal mean? It has nothing to do with consciousness. Nothing is created. You don't need to visualize or to think anything. It's self-liberating. You don't need to plan anything, write anything, do anything. Thought just appears spontaneously. Sometimes there are good thoughts. Sometimes there are bad thoughts, like thoughts of anger, jealousy, desire. Any kind of thought can appear spontaneously. After some time they don't stay so long; the thoughts will soon disappear by themselves. If you sometimes add more and more thoughts, then that is different, because the thoughts will not soon disappear by themselves. But when a thought has disappeared before the next thought starts, you can have a little bit of the rest between them.

No matter how strong anger, jealousy or any of the five poisons may come, ultimately they are all liberated by themselves. After a while, when your anger has decreased, jealousy has decreased, ignorance has decreased, and then before the next thought or emotion arises, we can have a peaceful rest for a little while. Soon afterwards, another thought comes. That state between those two is called the natural state. It's very short-term. It's peaceful. Then you practice more and more extending that peaceful state. Extend slowly, then stay longer and longer. That is the natural state. The true natural state is that. Then you don't need to search any longer. Practice that.

Is it necessary to practice tantric practices to mature our mind before practicing dzogchen?

You don't have to. If you practice tantra it will be very helpful for your dzogchen practice, but you don't have to do it. It depends on the person. Tantric and dzogchen are different practices. In tantra, there are a lot of visualizations and transformations. In dzogchen you don't need to do these; it liberates by itself. You don't need to think. There's no visualization part. Sometimes before dzogchen, we do a purification practice, a preliminary practice to purify yourself inner and outer. And when purified, clearer parts come out, and when we put the essence in there, it will be clear. That's a benefit of practice and is helpful for practice. At the monastery there are some curricula where we have to practice sutra, then tantra, then dzogchen, each for eight years. Some of the dzogchen practitioners didn't know the philosophy, and so then the monastery made two groups of practitioners. There is a philosophy group or a meditation group. One group starts with meditation practice and finishes with philosophy. The other group starts with philosophy and finishes with meditation practice. When you practice tantra before dzogchen, it will be very helpful, but you don't have to.

How can we involve children in the dharma?

First you need to talk to children. You can talk to them about the 10 virtues and renunciation of the 10 nonvirtues, the four good actions of the body, four good actions of the speech and three good actions of the mind. We always talk about that. We can say, do not destroy anybody's life; do not take what has not been given to you; avoid sexual misconduct. These are good actions from body. Then four good actions for the speech. If somebody is interested in that, then they need to go deeper into that. Maybe they want to meditate after they learn about the 10 virtues. What is meditation? Peace in the mind. Then slowly, if they are interested, you can bring children into the dharma. In Tibet it was customary that in a family, one son would become a monk. Now that custom has changed. Now it is ordinary to send the boys to school. After finishing school, they are asked if they want to become a monk or continue to study further. They have their own choice.

Animals seem to have so much love and compassion. Why are they considered to be part of a lower realm? How can we help an animal to evolve spiritually?

You say that animals have love and compassion. Not all animals have that. When you watch Discovery Channel, you see a lion, a tiger, a cheetah. They kill all the animals. And other animals eat meat all the time. They have compassion to their own child, but no compassion to other animals. They kill any animal they see, a big buffalo, a deer and also a small pig. Anything they kill, they eat. That's not so much compassion.

Also compassion and the responsibility are two different things. Some animals have compassion and responsibility, and some not. Look at the dog. They are so good and honest to the owner. When a male dog and female dog meet there is so much love for each other. After the female dog gives birth, their father is not taking any responsibility. When a puppy comes close to him, he's not happy. He growls. He has no compassion to his own child. A positive example is a duck. Male and female get together, then the female lays eggs. After the duckling come out, you can see how they take care of the little ones. One parent goes first and one goes after the ducklings. They protect all the ducklings. Both male and female duck take responsibility. So nice. I go to watch them and find it so peaceful.

Why do we call it the lower realm? Animals cannot express what is happening. They are happy or unhappy. What they need they cannot say, cannot express. They cannot learn the dharma. They will not do meditation. Some dogs are very interesting. One dog I miss a lot. When I was teaching at Chamma Ling in Crestone, Colorado Valerie's dog always attended my teaching. When Valerie said, "Go," the dog didn't go. He stayed between the hall and the kitchen, just listening. He didn't bother anyone. During the break, he was sent out. When teaching started and I rang the bell, he came to the teaching. That was so nice. I don't know how much he understood. He never asked questions. Is this right or wrong? Also, he didn't complain. He didn't say anything. He didn't ask anything. That is why animals are considered to be from a lower realm, because they cannot ask a question, because they cannot speak verbally.

The next Sacred Interviews conversation and practice will be with Geshe Choekhortshang Rinpoche on Saturday, April 6, at 12 noon New York time.