Post Vajrayana in Kampuchea

Perhaps the first syncretic religious figure I became aware of, but never thought of him as such, was Thomas Merton. He himself was critical of a relativistic, syncretic naiveté, that “accepts everything by thinking of nothing.” Merton was a Catholic Trappist monastic, Vietnam war resister, a fan of Thich Nhất Hạnh and also an ardent student of both Zen and Vajrayana Buddhism. He had corresponded with of one of my root Tibetan teachers, Chobgye Trichen Rinpoche, the Sakya sub-sect Tsar-pa lineage holder and Merton’s editors later placed the letter by Rinpoche on the center pages of his Asian Journals. Published, in 1973, Edward Rice, of the New York Times, had this to say: “The journals contain not only Merton's daily observations and comments, but metaphysical passages, poems, newspaper stories, dreams, definitions of Eastern terms, dialogue from comic strips and numerous (but often condensed) quotations from sources [in which] he was interested.” These writings record the last s...

20/9/23 To understand the teachings on the bardo or to give those teaching one needs to have thoroughly experienced Clear Light as it arises in meditations, before sleep, at dawn, during sexual union, at the moment of death and so forth. To wait until one dies to finally acknowledge or discover Clear Light is too late. For the Vajrayana practitioner, the focus is on the dissolution of the five skandhas, their corresponding elements, starting with earth and ending with space. Following that, one can fearlessly anticipate the ‘three empties,’ the experience of four lights are: white bodhicitta, red increase, black near attainment, and the base Clear Light of the dharmakaya, which permeates all beings. There are as many as six positive outcomes that keep one out of the bardo (the netherworld in Pali Canon) in the Sakya esoteric tradition. If one is not familiar with any of these practices, or has failed to sufficiently train in them, then once in the bardo—after forty-nine days—six real...

10/9/23 Awakening to the depth of karmic complexity, one also see the utter senselessness and pain of it all and is moved to both neutralize and ameliorate one’s basic situation. According to both Buddha and Nagarjuna this means following the Eightfold Noble Path—gateway to becoming Enlightened. Dodrupchen Rinpoche taught that both animals and humans have different strengths and abilities over each other and that this is just a sign of karmic patterning. Essentially, it’s meaningless other than a source of pride, competition—the thrill of victory and the pain of defeat. Worse, it’s also survival of the fittest. When one can see this karmic patterning, really see it, then one is elevated above its suffering altogether. Thus, the unsatisfactory nature of existence is ameliorated by the knowledge of dependent origination—karmic patterning and ‘no selves’ to ‘own’ or take pride in anything. This is the very wisdom of Emptiness, whether arrived at through logical analysis, father and mother...