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TEACHINGS | EASTERN HORIZON 13
To practice the Pure Dharma,
dharma purely,
we have to walk Barefoot Dharma
barefoot before we
can run–learning By Dr B Alan Wallace
and practicing
In 1979, I had the privilege of ultimate reality. Developing these
fundamentals before interpreting for His Holiness the aspects of one’s experience, he said,
we go on to more Dalai Lama on his visit to Greece. was the foundation for Vajrayana
advanced techniques. During that stay, we dropped by Buddhism, and once that was
a small Tibetan Buddhist dharma established, they could proceed to
center, recently founded by the the five preliminary practices and
eminent Kagyü lama Kalu Rinpoche. all that follows.
His students’ enthusiasm and great
reverence for him compensated In the twenty-five years since,
for their limited background in Tibetan Buddhism has spread
Buddhism. But they were troubled. widely throughout the world, but
Kalu Rinpoche had encouraged these same issues continue to arise.
them to complete the standard With many lamas representing
set of five preliminary practices different orders and lineages of
(ngöndro), including such practices Tibetan Buddhism, and other
as 100,000 ritual offerings of the Buddhist teachers offering
mandala, before venturing into instruction in the theories and
more advanced practices. But, as practices of Theravada Buddhism
they reported to the Dalai Lama, and various schools of East Asian
Dynamic lecturer, progressive they didn’t really understand Buddhism, confusion can easily
scholar, and one of the most the nature or purpose of these arise if we try mixing them all
prolific writers and translators preliminaries, and they were together at whim. Students are
of Tibetan Buddhism in the resistant to doing them. What to do? often cautioned against this, since
His Holiness responded that these they are encouraged to maintain the
West, B. Alan Wallace holds a
five practices were preliminary “purity” of the dharma. What exactly
doctorate in religious studies
to Vajrayana Buddhism, but they does this mean, though? Is it a call
from Stanford University. He
were not preliminary to Buddhist for sectarianism, maintaining the
is founder and president of practice as a whole. It was purity of one’s own lineage, which
the Santa Barbara Institute important, he counseled them, first mustn’t be polluted by any other
for Consciousness Studies and to gain a sound understanding of defiled teachings? Although one
the Center for Contemplative the Four Noble Truths. Following gets this impression sometimes, in
Research. that, they could develop a sense other cases the call for purity seems
of renunciation by fathoming motivated by other concerns. Even
the reality of suffering, a spirit of the most non-sectarian Buddhist
enlightened altruism (bodhichitta) masters encourage their students
as they pondered the vulnerability not to mix up teachings, initiations
of all beings to grief and pain, and and practices from different
finally, insight into the nature of lineages and schools unless they
