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8 EASTERN HORIZON | LEAD ARTICLE

pure motivation to cultivate the mind and benefit sentient beings and Buddhism as a whole.
others. The motivation of practicing Buddhadharma
is to help all beings be free from suffering and attain Thus, from my personal journey of learning
happiness, to liberate ourselves and all beings from Buddhadharma, I realized that it was important to have
saṃsāra, and ultimately to attain Buddhahood. The pure contemplation toward non-sectarianism. Non-
Buddha gave teachings of eighty-four thousand Dharma sectarianism is not a matter of abandoning teachings of
Doors to guide practitioners with different roots and one’s own sect and studying others. Its main principle
conditions in their cultivation. A practitioner’s behavior is to be able to understand the teachings of one’s own
should be like bees picking nectar, to absorb the essence tradition first and then study and rejoice in other
of cultivation from different traditions. By doing so, one traditions. As His Holiness the Karmapa said, “It is
should not be disturbed by the defilement of attachment good to study without sectarian differentiation, but one
to self and others and allow our minds to absorb the must not lose one’s own view.” This is the part where
essence of mind cultivation. we can contemplate and be open to learn. In short, we
need to first practice our own tradition wholeheartedly.
“School with No Differentiation” is an open mindset. Meanwhile, we should not be so attached to our own
It is an opinion and viewpoint. As mentioned earlier, sects as to exclude others, and we can learn from
we are all studying under the same fundamental other sects without preconceived notions. Only this
teacher, the same Shakyamuni Buddha, the same way can we have an open and comprehensive study
guide, and the same Buddhadharma. So, we should not of Buddhadharma that encompasses the entirety and
differentiate between different sects of Buddhism with integrity of the Buddha’s teachings.
the dualistic mind of mortals. We should not oppose
and discriminate amongst one another using the same A great example of the non-sectarian practice of
differentiating mind. All Buddhadharma can only be Buddhadharma can be seen with the Great Compassion
fully understood by the Awakened Ones and not by Mantra, which originated in Vajrayāna, but has become
deluded beings through speculation and discrimination. a very well-known Mantra widely recited in Mahāyāna
Therefore, we should not slander the teachings of other Buddhism. In fact, many Vajrayāna Mantras are very
Buddhist traditions and Schools, whether Theravāda, popular and widespread in Mahāyāna Buddhism. In
Mahāyāna, or Vajrayāna. our daily practices, we have long been blending Tantric
practices into the Mahāyāna practices and never felt
The different traditions of Buddhism are like the them out of place. With the foundation of Mahāyāna
different branches of a giant tree. They are all teachings and open-mindedly bringing in Mantra
originating from the same root. The strength and recitation and visualization practices from Vajrayāna,
prosperity of the tree rely on the branches collaborating we can quickly transform our mind stream from
and mutually supporting one another. In recent years, vexation into Prajñā or wisdom.
there are more collaborations between different
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Schools of Buddhism. For example, in 2017, His His Holiness the 17 Karmapa has demonstrated to
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Holiness the 17 Karmapa, in order to restore the be a great proponent of integrating Vajrayāna and
ordination of Bhikkhuni’s precepts in Vajrayāna, invited Mahāyāna practices. In an auspicious visit to our Temple
Buddhist nuns from the Mahāyāna School in Taiwan (Great Compassion Bodhi Prajna Temple) in 2017,
to Bodhgaya, India to transmit Bhikkhuni’s precepts during the blessing ceremony, His Holiness expressed,
(Dharmaguptaka). This is a major step to restore “Even though my stay here is not long, it means a lot
Vajrayāna Bhikkhuni’s precepts and collaborate across to me, and the meaning is significant. The reason is
Buddhism Schools. This is also a concrete example this Temple and two Masters provide the profound
that under the cross-school lineage, the Mahāyāna understanding of different branches in Buddhism,
and Vajrayāna Schools can transform and grow with namely Mahāyāna Buddhism and Vajrayāna Buddhism.
each other’s mutual support and inclusion and benefit What’s better is that they ingeniously fuse various ideas