CONVERSATION

by Jason Stern

Sakya Trizin

When His Holiness the Dalai Lama, supreme head of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism—Nyigma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug—fled Chinese-occupied Tibet in 1959 and went into exile in India, he was quickly followed into exile by His Holiness the Sakya Trizin, the fourteen-year old head of the second oldest school—the Sakyas. This story of Tibetan resistance to Chinese occupation and religious persecution continues even today with the escape from Tibet of His Holiness the Gyalwa Karmapa, the fourteen-year old head of the Kagyu school, recently capturing the world’s attention.
A member of the royal Khön family, one of the “holy families” of Tibetan Buddhism, His Holiness the Sakya Trizin is the forty-first descendant in a long line of spiritual masters dating to the eighth century. One of the members of the Khön family was a close disciple of Padmasambhava—generally considered to be the founder of Buddhism in Tibet—and was one of the first seven Buddhist monks in Tibet. He reached a high stage of spiritual realization and was responsible for transmitting the profound Vajrakilaya teachings. In 1073, motivated by the need to cultivate an infusion of new teachings from the Tibetan disciples of the great Indian masters of the day, the Khön family founded the Sakya (“white earth”) Monastery in Southern Tibet, thus fulfilling a prophecy of both Padmasambhava and Atisha. Foremost among the Sakya teachings was the Lam Dre (Path and Result) system, which originated with the great adept Birwapa of Nalanda University (c. 650 A.D.) and continues to be taught in the great monasteries of Vikramashila and will be taught by His Holiness during this visit to North America.
His Holiness will visit give teachings in New York City and Carmel, New York, June 6 to June 12. For more information call 201-541-0007 or email info@vikrmasila.org.
Chronogram interviewed Lama Pema Wangdak, a student of His Holiness.
—Jason Stern
Chronogram: His Holiness Sakya Trizin is coming to North America. Why is he coming?
Lama Pema: He is coming to teach. He has many followers here—mostly American and British.
C: How is this the Sakya school different from the other three schools of Tibetan Buddhism?
LP: Generally there is no difference. The Sakya was built in the 11th century by a teacher named Konchog Gyalpo. The teaching itself goes back 150 years before that. That was the beginning of the Sakya order.
C: Can you say something about the teachings that His Holiness Sakya Trizin will be giving during his stay here?
LP: He will give very comprehensive teachings on the fundamentals of Buddhism; on the moral and ethical commitments of individuals as the foundation of spirituality. These will include a teaching called “Great Resolve.” According to Buddhism spirituality starts with the individual’s resolution.
C: What is the nature of that resolution?
LP: It is the will to help all beings, including oneself.
C: And the means by which one helps all beings?
LP: One helps all beings by practicing compassion, practicing loving kindness, and by practicing the disciplines associated with the fundamental spiritual aspiration.
C: What is an example of these disciplines?
LP: Living a harmless life is an example. To support this a person undertakes a lifestyle that is conducive to the realization of that basic aspiration. Such a lifestyle has a foundation of living harmlessly.
C: It seems as though Tibetan Buddhism is a monastic tradition. The teachings seem to be designed for renunciates. How do these teachings translate for lay people who wish to practice and remain in life?
LP: Actually, the practices that are prescribed in the monastic life are the same practices that are taught to all people. There is no difference. At the same time there is a distinction. It is that the monastic life is the life that is chosen by the monk to pursue the same idealism with greater intensity. But there are not two teachings. For instance, the monk and the layperson both follow the path of harmlessness. It is the same. So likewise with all the precepts; harmlessness, helpfulness, enlightenment, equanimity, kindness, the sameness of all beings in the sense that all want happiness and all do not want unhappiness; respect for all beings as beings that have Buddha nature. So the path for the layperson and the monk is not a different path.
C: And so by penetrating deeper into the practice the monk or nun is given more...
LP: Opportunities. More chances to learn. The monastic life is a lifestyle. It does not distinguish you from me. But it is much better suited to pursue the teaching of attaining enlightenment for all beings.
C: So these teachings of His Holiness Sakya Trizin are available to anyone?
LP: Yes, they just have to register.