CONVERSATION WITH MINNA STENROOS

Many of our readers will know Minna from her work on Ringu Tulku Rinpoche's teachings on the The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicharyavatara) by Shantideva, the eighth century Buddhist monk and scholar.

We are sitting on the bus taking us from the Bodhicharya Summer Camp in Casa da Torre to Braga in northern Portugal.  All around us is chatter and laughter and the sound of children having a wonderful time.

Minna says that in her home town in Helsinki, Finland, there is a Bodhicharya Study Group which has been running for about 6-years.  There is also a Palpung Centre to which Rinpoche attends when he is invited.  Besides these, there is a Samye Dzong and a Nyingma Centre.  In the Study Group, there are only five-people, but maybe this is because there are also so many other Buddhist activities in the city​, she tells me.

When the conversation turns to Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, Minna says, There was a time in my life when everything was quite sorted out and everything was going nicely and I had moved from another town to Helsinki. My son was about seven-years old and he went to his first class in school and we had a nice place to live and I had nice work.  Everything was there.

What was it that brought a change to her life?

I had a dream where I met a person, some young man.  Although I didn't know who he was, I felt that I knew him and I was very happy in that dream.  I was sorry because I knew it was only going to be a very brief meeting and before I woke up, I heard a voice in the air saying "Karmapa, Karmapa, Karmapa".  And when I woke up, I thought, "This is something!  This is really amazing!  What is Karmapa?"  I really didn't know.  Then I googled and read about him.  I saw a film made by a Finnish director.  It was a documentary about two Karmapas.  I don't remember the name of the film but that's how I found out about this whole Karmapa situation.  When I saw the two Karmapas, I immediately knew which one it was.  That was my dream.

Ten-years ago, when HH Karmapa was 19-years old, Meena had some knowledge about Buddhism, but it was mainly academic.  She started to read more and more books about the subject, including Sagyal Rinpoche's The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying and her interest in the subject increased.  She then became familiar with meditation techniques, especially  tonglen.  At this stage, Meena felt she had to find a Buddhist teacher and found out that two-Tibetan teachers were visiting Finland, one of them having a connection with the  Karmapa - Ringu Tulku Rinpoche who was vising the country for the first time.  I found the Bodhicharya website and found a lot of information that was very important for me.  I saw photos and pictures of people and years later, when I eventually met them, I felt that I had known them.

As far as my family and friends were concerned, they had no objection about my interest in Buddhism.  
The meeting with Ringu Rinpoche was quite a big thing for me.  I took refuge immediately when he came and I started meditating much more, being inspired and enthusiastic.  But  another two-years passed  before Meena met him again.

With Karmapa's promotion of vegetarianism, I wondered if Meena had been influenced by his cause - to impact a change in the diet of Buddhists.  I used to be a vegetarian for a few years after Karmapa asked everyone to make some kind of commitment towards changing.  I raised my hand when he gave the option of being vegetarian for some time and I decided I'd do three-years,  so I lifted my hand.  Then I got an eye problem and it was recommended I eat some fish with fatty acids.   So now I'm not vegetarian.  Also, when my family cook I sometimes eat meat.

With so much fighting in the world today, it's difficult to ignore what's going on and not have an opinion about the causes of conflict. Minna has her own take on this.  I'm convinced wars are caused by our mind's negative emotions and our not understanding them; not understanding our responsibility which is the same as our freedom, actually.  We don't understand it because nobody told us and we didn't try.  Sometimes I wonder where the bad people are because in my daily life I rarely meet anybody cruel; I rarely meet anybody who is fighting with others; I have hardly met anybody killing or hating another.  But actually, we all have that capacity.  I think that meditation, of course, gives me space and mindfulness and awareness to notice it at the very early stage, so it doesn't grow too big and confused.  It can also lead to uprooting the cause of conflict.

​As the bus draws nearer to Braga, Meena comments on the feeling of removal, of distance, the people have regarding politicians: One of the reasons there is war is because the people are not how we see the politicians.   There is war and injustice because we create images of other people, including politicians  We keep and hold on to those images that we have instead of just meeting the actual people - who are just like us.  We do so, perhaps, because we think it makes life simpler:  but actually, it makes it possible for us to objectify others and see them as something less, or more than a normal human being - just like myself.  That's also how we get our own identity.

Photo by Francois Henrard

Minna is a student of Ringu Tulku since 2004. She lives in Helsinki, Finland, with her grown-up son. She is involved with Bodhicharya International website and  with coordinating the Online Shedra.

TEACHING FROM THE BODHIChARYAVARA BY RINGU TULKU RINPOCHE

Taking the Bodhisattva’s Vows

3^rd Chapter, Stanzas 23-24

BA3_23-24: Taking the Bodhisattva’s vows.

3^rd Chapter, Stanzas 23-24

September 14, 2011

Transcribed by Albert Harris

Teachings on the Bodhicharyavatara for the Online Shedra

So, now we come to stanza number 23 of the third chapter of Bodhicharyavatara: and this is the actual taking of the Bodhisattva vows.

Now here, generally, when Bodhisattvas take the aspiration or the vows, according to their motivation, their kind of strength of motivation, there are three-types of Bodhisattvas: somebody who’s called the king-like Bodhisattva; the captain-like Bodhisattva; and shepherd-like Bodhisattva.

The king-like Bodhisattva is those who would say that, ‘I would very much like to work for the benefit of all the sentient beings, would like to bring them all to the lasting peace and happiness.’ So therefore, first I would like to get there, I would first get enlightened and then, as an enlightened being, I would help all the beings to get that experience of enlightenment, lasting peace and happiness.

This is like the king who first wanted to look after himself, make everything enjoyable, good, powerful, everything perfect, and then he would also like to help his subjects to become better. This is called the king-like Bodhisattva.

The captain-like Bodhisattva is those who says that, ‘I would like to bring all the sentient beings to the enlightenment, to lasting peace and happiness, and I would bring them together with me, I would become enlightened along with them.’ So, this is like the captain who takes the ship across the ocean and if he gets across the ocean then the passengers of the ship also get across the ocean: and if doesn’t then nobody gets [across]. Therefore, it’s called the captain-like Bodhisattva whose aspiration is much stronger, much more compassionate that he wants to bring - or he or she wants to bring - every being together with him to the lasting peace and happiness.

Then there is the Bodhisattva called the shepherd-like Bodhisattva. This Bodhisattva says that, ‘I would like to bring all the sentient beings without leaving anybody behind to the perfect enlightenment, to lasting peace and happiness. After I have done that, and after that only, I would like to become enlightened, I would not want to become enlightened unless and until I bring every being to the enlightenment.’ This is like those shepherds who first want to see that all his or her sheep are safe and fed and in the kind of a barn and then only he goes to kind of sleep or take his meals and rest.

So whichever kind of Bodhisattva you would like to be doesn’t matter: but when you take the Bodhisattva vows, usually it is said the best is to take it from a genuine teacher who has the Bodhisattva’s vows, who keeps the Bodhisattva’s vows and who is a kind of a genuine, trustworthy person, a teacher.

But it is not that you have to take the Bodhisattva’s vows only from a person who’s a teacher. It is possible to take the Bodhisattva’s vows also in front of images of the Buddha or Bodhisattvas; or even if there are no images or there are no representations of the Bodhisattvas you kind of think about all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in front of you existing in front of you and then from them you can take the Bodhisattva’s vows. It’s about yourself. So therefore, you can take the Bodhisattva’s vows yourself without any other person being there; also because it is you own aspiration, your own making the decision. There’s no difference, actually, not too much difference. The only thing is that you take it from a person then you have some kind of a…[you] can be a little bit aware and mindful, a little bit ashamed if you break it because you have taken it from your teacher.

Now, when we take the Bodhisattva vows first of course, you make all the right aspirations, you can make offerings and things like that, as much as possible, to make a very strong kind of preparation, prepare it nicely. Usually it is said, to clean the place, to decorate the place, to make a throne for the person from whom you are taking refuge, decorated with flowers and everything that’s possible to make it a grand way, to make lots of offerings and things like that. So that you kind of accumulate lots of positive merits and positive deeds to make the act very powerful or to make it not something unimportant but very important for you like you make a marriage: you make it very important you make lots of expenses and celebrations in the same way. Then you also do the refuge three-times and then the actual vows. There are two-ways. One is what is sometimes called the Manjushri way or the Nagarjuna way where you take the aspiration Bodhisattva’s vow and action Bodhisattva’s vow together in one go. Another way is the Maitreya way or Asanga way which is [where] you take the aspiration Bodhisattva vows separately from the actual Bodhisattva vows. You have two-ceremonies. So this is the Nagarjuna’s way because Shantideva is following the Nagarjuna’s tradition.

So here, in this stanza, the two-stanzas, stanza 23, after saying the refuge three-times:

Just as all the Buddhas of the past

Have brought forth the awakened mind,

And in the precepts of the Bodhisattvas

Step-by-step abode and trained…

Means that, all the Buddhas of the past generated the Bodhicitta-that means they brought forth the awakened mind means they generated the Bodhicitta-they can use the word Bodhicitta, “and in the precepts of the Bodhisattvas, step-by-step abode and trained”…they kind of generate the Bodhicitta, that’s the aspiration, and then they trained in the Bodhisattva’s precepts of the Bodhisattva’s ways, action Bodhisattva’s Bodhicitta, the six paramitas and things like that; and step-by-step means as possible, the first little bit then a little bit more then a little bit more, stronger and stronger. It is said that first you try to give a cup of curry if you have no problem with that; and then a little bit more and a little bit more and then once you get very accustomed to it, very used to it, then, even if there’s a great benefit you might even give your life for the sake of the people.

So in this way, not directly or not at the beginning, do something that you cannot do, it’s not like that but first try something that is easy and possible for you to do, then getting better and better then in terms of all the six-paramitas - generosity, moral ethics, discipline – any of those paramitas – meditation, patience, wisdom – everything, that is step-by-step and gradual.

So likewise, this is what the great Buddhas of the past and Bodhisattvas generated and trained themselves on the Bodhisattva’s way so in the same way, likewise for the benefit of beings, for the benefit of all the beings including myself, my benefit and for the benefit of every other being, I will bring to birth the awakened mind: [this] means, I would like to generate the Bodhicitta in myself. This is the aspiration Bodhicitta. This is to promise myself to generate the aspiration Bodhicitta. I will bring to birth the awakened mind, I will generate the Bodhicitta, I will bring the compassion, the wisdom with compassion aspiration of the Bodhicitta within myself: and then I will not only generate this motivation Bodhicitta but in those precepts, step-by-step, I will abode and train myself.

This last one is action Bodhisattva’s vows: I will not only generate the Bodhicitta but also will train on that practically in action, step-by-step, step-by-step I will abide by the actions of the Bodhisattvas and the six-paramitas and helping others do all those kinds of things and there are many precepts of the Bodhisattvas; and all of them, all of them step-by-step, not everything together, but whatever I can at this stage, I will train on that, I will abide in that and then, when I can, a little bit more, a little bit more, that’s what we call step-by-step, gradually, I will train in those kind of Bodhisattva’s way of life Bodhisattva’s precepts, Bodhisattva’s conduct, Bodhisattva’s training and then become a better and stronger and greater and greater Bodhisattva.

So this is very, very important. When you take the Bodhisattva’s vows, not promising something that you cannot do. You are just promising to train, start to train, in generating the Bodhicitta first and then training in its way, in its precepts, in its way of life as you can, step-by-step and gradually. And basically, the most important thing is you want to bring the lasting peace and happiness to yourself, you want to bring the lasting peace and happiness to all the beings and this must be, this is very clear that I want to bring the lasting peace and happiness to myself, the lasting peace and happiness for all the beings. Therefore, I must bring an enlightened state of mind to me, I must develop my wisdom, my compassion, my ability to help and heal others and I must bring that to all other beings, that must be so, there’s no two-opinions, there’s no…that I must do.

In order to do that then I would like to train myself, I would like to train myself and work for the benefit of others as much as I am able to, step-by-step, because the more I get trained in it, the more I get advanced in it, the more I become better in it, the more I can do.

So this is the actual Bodhisattva’s vow. So I think today I’ll stop here [with] stanzas number 23 and 24. Thank you!

©Ringu Tulku Rinpoche

This is a transcript of a video talk given for the Bodhicharya Online Shedra by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche. The transcript has only been lightly edited and is meant to be used within the Online Shedra study context.