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Interview - His Holiness the 101th Sanden Tripa
Supreme Head of the Gelugpa Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
The following is an interview with His Holiness the 101th Ganden
Tripa, the Supreme Head of the Gelug Tradition.
The interview is conducted on the occasion of His Holiness the
101th Ganden Tripa's first official visit to Singapore.
The interview is conducted by Kunga Nyima and is translated
by
Associate Professor Huang Yi Yan of Taiwan.
It is conducted on 18 June 2003 at His Holiness's residence
in
Singapore.
His Holiness the 101th Ganden Tripa is hosted on His first
Official Visit to Singapore from 25 May 2003 to 23 June 2003 by the
Charitable Assistance Society.
Buddhism
Q: What is the most essentially fundamental thing for a
Buddhist?
A: Buddhists should know that samsara is suffering. We need to
realize that samsara is
suffering first before we will try to obtain liberation from it.
The only way to liberation from
samsara is through following the Teachings of the Buddha. According
to the Texts, only by
following the Buddhist Teachings can there be ultimate liberation
from samsara.
Q: What is the most important thing a Buddhist should
remember?
A: A Buddhist should always remember the 3 Jewels: the Buddha, His
Teachings [The Dharma ]
and His Assembly of Noble Disciples [ The Sangha ].
A Buddhist should clear internalize the supreme qualities of the 3
Jewels.
In general, the Buddha is like a doctor, the Dharma is like
medicine and the Sangha is like
nurses and assistants to the doctor. We, sentient beings, in
samsara, are like the patients. We
need to take the doctor's prescription to get well. Moreover, we
also need to rely on the
doctor and his assistants too.
A Buddhist needs to always take refuge in the 3 Jewels as well as
to remember the qualities
of the 3 Jewels.
Q: How do we sustain "Bodhicitta": the attitude of completely
dedicating ourselves for the
welfare of others; of wanting to attain the state of Complete
Enlightenment or Buddhahood
solely for the good of others?
A: To put the Teachings into practice is difficult. If we can put
the Teachings into practice, this is
real Bodhicitta. If we cannot, this cannot be Bodhicitta.
To give rise to Bodhicitta, we must first cultivate Loving-kindness
[ Wishing all beings to
have happiness and the causes of happiness ] and Compassion [
Wishing all beings to be free
from suffering and the causes of suffering ]. Next, we must think
of the kindness of our
mother. Then, we need to remember the kindness of all beings as
they have acted as our
mothers in countless past lives. Following, we need to cultivate
the wish to repay the
kindnesses of all these uncountable mother sentient beings.
To put Bodhicitta into practice is difficult. If we can put
Bodhicitta into practice, this is real
Bodhicitta. If we cannot put Bodhicitta into practice, this cannot
be genuine Bodhicitta.
Always try to sustain a good-heart. Do not be bothered about what
others do. Just try to
sustain a good-heart. This is the way of the true Buddhists.
Q: Is vegetarianism compulsory? It has been suggested that
cultivating crops kill untold
numbers of insects whilst the slaughtering of only one yak in old
Tibet can feed the whole
family for a week. Therefore, from the numerical point of view,
this group of people suggests
that we should consume meat of big-size animals rather than eating
vegetables which
inevitably entail the death of countless creatures. Moreover, some
masters have insisted on
vegetarianism as compulsory for a Buddhist whilst others quoted
Buddhist texts to the
contrary. What is Your Holiness point of view?
A: In general, Lord Buddha has taught 3 differing points with
regard to vegetarianism.
In the first one, in the Theravada tradition, it is taught that we
cannot take the so-called three
categories of "Impure Meat": a) we perceive through our eyes or
ears the killing of the meat;
b) we suspect that the meat is killed for ourselves; c) we know
that the meat has been killed
for us. Besides these 3 categories of meat, we are permitted to
partake of the rest.
In the second one, in the Mahayana tradition, it is taught
explicitly that the taking meat is
necessarily unskillful and wrong. So vegetarianism is compulsory
here.
In the third, in the Vajrayana tradition, it is taught that
practitioners of this path should take
meat. The reason for this is given in the texts and requires
extensive explanations. It is not
appropriate for me to elaborate here.
Students of Buddhism can choose to follow any of these 3 points. It
is not possible for me to
dictate which points students should follow.
Q: There have been some Buddhist centres concentrating mainly on
doing social work whilst
some concentrating mainly on spiritual practices. What is Your
Holiness's opinion on what
a Buddhist centre should concentrate on?
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