SAMAYA -Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche
AS YOU KNOW, THERE ARE DIFFERENT VEHICLES for shravakas, bodhisattvas, and followers of Secret Mantra. Each has their respective precepts, trainings and samayas. When condensed to the essence, the very heart of all these samayas is contained in the four samayas of the Dzogchen view — nonexistence, all-
pervasiveness, oneness and spontaneous perfection — and the three root samayas of Body, Speech and Mind. As Vajrayana practitioners, we abide by all these three sets of principles. For instance, we take refuge at the very beginning of any empowerment, and have therefore received the refuge precepts of the
shravakas. After that, we form the bodhichitta resolve and so also receive the bodhisattva precepts. As for Secret Mantra, the moment we drink the “samaya water,” the drops of water from the conch given out before the actual empowerment, the water is transformed into Vajrasattva, who rests in the center of
our hearts. When we keep the samayas we are never separate from Vajrasattva. A good way to describe Vajrayana samayas is to use the example of a snake in the hollow of a bamboo shaft. The snake can neither go right nor left; it must either go up or down. Going up describes what is called the “upward
directness” which indicates we are ready to enter a buddhafield. On the other hand, there is the “downward directness” which applies to those who break the samaya vows. I hate to mention this, but such a person can only go downward into the three lower realms. This is precisely what is meant by the tremendous
benefit or the correspondingly huge risks involved in the Vajrayana samayas. To be Vajrayana practitioners we must have received the four empowerments, which in themselves are the very heart of the path
of Secret Mantra. We have entered the Vajrayana path simply by receiving these four empowerments. In other words, the snake has already crept into the bamboo shaft. If you keep the samayas you gain supreme accomplishment. If not, then that which remained as Buddha Vajrasattva in the center of your heart
as long as you observed the purity of samaya transforms itself into a “fierce yaksha,” a [self-destructive] force that shortens your life-span and “consumes the vital essences of your heart-blood.” This is the way to inescapably propel yourself into the “downward directness” at the end of your life.
The practice of Secret Mantra is the short-cut, the swiftest path to reaching the inconceivable common and supreme accomplishments. As you move up through the different vehicles, the “narrow defile” of this path of samaya grows increasingly confined; there is less and less room to move, so be on guard. In the
case of a shravaka or bodhisattva, it is more simple to progress: keep virtuous and disciplined in thought, word and deed — stay on guard against unwholesome behavior, adopt what is good. The samayas of Vajrayana, on the other hand, is to never let your body depart from being the deity, your voice
from being mantra and your mind from the state of samadhi. If you are able to do so, that is keeping the ultimate samayas with the Body, Speech and Mind of the victorious ones. You can then truly be said to possess the sacred precepts of Vajrayana. Without doing so, understand that the samayas of Secret Mantra
hold extreme risk. There are as well the samayas with the vajra master: not to disparage his bodily presence, break his command or upset his feelings. Let me again summarize about the different samayas. Concerning your vajra master, do not disrespect his bodily presence, his word, or his feelings. Moreover do
not separate your body from being the deity, your voice from mantra and your mind from samadhi. As for “vajra siblings,” there are three kinds: distant, close and very close. The very close brothers and sisters are the ones together with whom you received instructions on mind essence at the feet of the same
master. Close vajra siblings are the people with whom you have taken the same empowerments and oral instructions. The distant siblings are for instance the people who were also present in a huge Dharma gathering
or empowerment assembly, sometimes numbering into the thousands. We must keep our samaya with all these brothers and sisters, staying clear of perceiving them as imperfect, harboring resentment, ridiculing or belittling one another, criticizing behind each other’s back, or the like. If you can keep completely clean and tidy, without all those defects, you can be said to have pure samaya. Ultimately, to be totally free from any defects in your vows and samayas, you need to remain in the continuity of the four samayas of the Dzogchen view — nonexistence, all-pervasiveness, oneness and spontaneous perfection. If you are able to fulfill these you totally transcend any possible violation or breach of samaya. Nonexistence and all-pervasiveness are the two samayas of Trekchö, while oneness and spontaneous perfection are the samayas of Tögal. To accomplish this you need to be able to dissolve dualistic mind in nondual awareness, rigpa. This nondual awareness is the very identity of the three kayas of the awakened state of buddhahood. Within it all three — dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya — are complete. The three vajras of all buddhas — the unchanging vajra body, the unceasing vajra speech and the
unmistaken vajra mind — are complete within it as well. When you remain in the fourfold samaya of nonexistence, all-pervasiveness, oneness and spontaneous perfection, not a single infraction or transgression of samaya is possible, not even as much as a hair-tip. Until this point, however, there is no avoiding incurring breaches of samaya, be they subtle or coarse. In the general classifications of samaya you find the four stages called infraction, transgression, violation, and breach [literally: contradicting, damaging, breaking, and passing]. These categories depend in part on the length of time which has passed since the samaya was damaged. After three years of still not having apologized, there is no longer any chance to mend the samaya. At this point it is overstepped and becomes irreparable.
The precepts and trainings of the Sutra system, including both Hinayana and Mahayana, are difficult to repair once they are broken, like an earthen pot dropped on the ground. But according to the vajra vehicle of Secret Mantra, if you sincerely try to mend a break in samaya, it is like repairing the dent
in a golden vase. A scratch or dent in a vase of silver or gold can be immediately repaired, but can you put together a clay pot once it breaks? There is immense danger in being careless about one’s samayas. However, when sincerely and genuinely mending them with apology and resolution, then the damage is
similar to a dent in a golden vessel; it can easily be repaired. Most important is the samaya with the guru; next is that with the vajra brothers and sisters. Everyone, both master and disciples, must keep the samayas. When this is done correctly and purely, the outcome is extremely profound. There is a
saying among the masters of the past, “Samaya violation is my worst enemy; the guru is my best friend.” The real enemy is the breaking of samaya; it can damage the master’s health and life. The breach of samaya among close or distant vajra brothers and sisters also creates negative karma and misfortune.
Broken samaya really does have an impact for both master and disciples. It creates unhappiness and turmoil that prevents one from remaining in the state of samadhi. In other words, impaired samaya hinders the training in samadhi and creates obstacles for learning, reflection and meditation. Broken samaya is
definitely detrimental to health, happiness and all other positive qualities. “Samaya violation is my worst enemy; the guru is my best friend.” This statement by the great Kagyü masters means that the only enemy they could not contend with is someone tainted by the defilement from broken samayas, and
that the most eminent companion is their qualified master. Isn’t this the difference samaya makes? In short, the best way to keep the samayas intact is through the proper view, meditation and conduct. If that is not completely possible, patience is a strong basis for keeping samayas. It is said, “Don’t
retaliate with anger when attacked with rage. Don’t retaliate with abuse when reviled. Don’t retaliate with criticism when blamed in public. Don’t retaliate with blows when threatened with physical violence.” Be
patient even if someone actually hits you. If you can be forbearing in this way, you will triumph over the enemy of broken samayas. Otherwise, if each attack has to be met with revenge, if each hurtful word must be matched with another spiteful word, the cycle never ends. One might think, “I am right!”
and say something in return, but the other person will think, “You are wrong!” and counter with more abuse, and so on. There is an Eastern Tibetan saying, “Words are the wellspring of all strife.” This is the main reason for staying in silent retreat. The voice is the instigator of quarrels. No one can know
what you think inside, only buddhas and bodhisattvas. But the tongue, being as nasty as it is, [[[Rinpoche]] laughs] does not want to stay silent, and so begin all kinds of quarrels. The main point is, therefore, to be your own teacher. When someone attacks you, do not fight back in any way whatsoever. Stay as
quiet as a stone; this will allow you to triumph over squabbles. What does it truly matter what other people say? The way of worldly people is give tit for tat, to respond in kind; someone attacks you, so you fight back. That is how disputes begin. The best way, really, is to keep your mouth shut as tightly as
a squeezed ball of tsampa. The vajra vehicle of Secret Mantra has the potential for great reward, but also for great danger. The great reward is that authentic practice of the oral instructions enables us to reach complete enlightenment at what is called the unified level of a vajra-holder, within this
same body and lifetime. The great danger lies in the fact that nothing is more risky than the samayas. Isn’t this true? Once “the snake is in the shaft,” there are only two openings to exit from, the top or the bottom: there is no third alternative. Once you take the empowerments, you are caught in the
bamboo-shaft of the samayas. And isn’t it true that in order to be a Vajrayana practitioner there is no way around receiving empowerment? Now, there are some people who, while calling themselves Vajrayana practitioners, mistakenly believe they do not have to
observe any of the precepts of individual liberation, the bodhisattva trainings or the vidyadhara samayas of Secret Mantra. How can that be correct? Is there any empowerment ceremony that excludes taking refuge? In the moment of committing yourself to the Three Jewels — whether or not they are described in
detail — you implicitly receive the Hinayana precepts. Don’t you repeat three times the lines of the bodhisattva vow as well? Contained within the meaning of that is the entire body of bodhisattva trainings, in principle if not in letter. The vase empowerment of Secret Mantra authorizes you to practice the
development stage. Through the secret empowerment and the wisdom-knowledge empowerment you are entitled to train in the two aspects of completion stage with characteristics. Lastly, through the precious word empowerment, you are authorized to practice the entire path of Trekchö and Tögal, of primordial purity and spontaneous presence. In fact, once you receive these four empowerments, you have in reality received authorization for the entire path. Having received in principle the entire body of teachings of the three vehicles, how can one claim, “I don’t have to keep any precepts!”? To abide by the precepts, one definitely has to observe the samayas. On another note, for a layperson it will suffice as “samaya” if he or she can just keep to the ten virtuous actions. But perhaps you want to rise above the state of an ordinary person and become a noble being. All the tools, all the precepts and samayas
for this are included within the empowerment ritual of Vajrayana. You need to take refuge, generate bodhichitta, and receive the four empowerments. Having received empowerment, you want to maintain the connection by keeping these precepts, though you may not be an amazingly great practitioner. But if you
manage to keep the samayas intact, you will be able to have the six recollections when you roam through the bardo state after death. These include remembering the guru, the oral instructions, the yidam deity, and so forth. Conversely, someone who damaged and then broke off his or her samaya
commitments will have the experience of being shrouded in dense fog, and will be totally bewildered. He or she will not know what to do, what to trust or where to go in the bardo. Such an individual will
definitely be unable to remember what counts, in terms of the six recollections. You may not have done extensive meditation on the yidam deity or performed many mantra recitations. Even so, if you have maintained sincere trust and have not spoiled your samayas, you can still be benefited by the fourfold
liberation of Secret Mantra in the bardo, and proceed to a higher path. These four are liberation through seeing, hearing, remembering or touching. They are not possible for someone who throws the sacred commitments of samaya to the winds and pretentiously exclaims, “I am a meditator, I have
accomplishment.” The four liberations unquestionably depend on the purity of samaya. Thus, it is much better to be a simple practitioner who has not violated his or her samaya, even though he may not have a particularly high view or deep meditation. Through his pure samaya commitment he is able to
journey along the straight path towards liberation from samsara and complete enlightenment. When we look around us, the consequences of people’s actions and their keeping or breaking of samaya is not something that is immediately visible. It is quite possible for us to think, “My vows are whole and intact;
I have not broken anything; I am pure and clean; I am a righteous person!” If we keep up such a pretense, we are totally incapable of seeing our faults. But unfortunately, we damage and violate the samayas repeatedly. We need to acknowledge our faults to be able to remedy them; this is important. Come to
your senses and think well about this. Understand that damaged samayas will hurt you in future lives. To deal with this issue, you have to acknowledge your own shortcomings, don’t you? Without admitting any personal fault, it is as Jamgön Kongtrül says in his Calling the Guru From Afar: “Though my faults are
as huge as a mountain, I hide them within. Though others” faults are as tiny as mustard seeds, I proclaim them far and wide. Even though I do not possess any good qualities, I still pretend to be virtuous.” Most people fall prey to this shortcoming.
Gampopa also said, “When the Dharma is not practiced correctly, it becomes a cause for returning to the lower realms.” This is very true. Practicing the Dharma correctly means keeping pure samayas, and developing devotion to those above, compassion for those below and being diligent at all times. The most
eminent training is to recognize the wishfulfilling jewel of your own mind. When you do all these things, then you will be able to cross safely through the bardo. There, through the kindness of the fourfold liberation you will be successful in traversing the bardo. Otherwise, once you arrive in the bardo, you
will find no one to be pretentious with, lie to or deceive. It is like the metaphor of the “revealing mirror” that clearly shows all your deeds. Failure or success in the bardo depends ultimately on the integrity of one’s samaya. Those who have kept pure samaya will, through the abovementioned fourfold
liberation, definitely escape further roaming about in the three lower realms. You may have an amazingly high level of view and realization; you may have attained a certain level of accomplishment and possess various types of totally unimpeded superknowledge. But the moment you violate your samayas, I’m
sorry to say, you fall straight back down again. There is no way around that: the road upward is blocked. Always scrutinize your own shortcomings. Ignore the faults of other people. Keep this attitude: “Whether they are pure or whether they are defiled, it is none of my business!” Be your own teacher; keep a
strict check on yourself. That is sufficient! There is then no chance for a single error to sneak in. On the other hand, maybe you want to go to the place which in the Sutra tradition is known as the Hell of Incessant Torment, and in Secret Mantra is called Vajra Hell. The only way is arrive there is to break
your samayas. Ordinary evil deeds, even very negative ones, will not suffice. You cannot go there unless you violate the samayas. This is the uncompromising fact of the samayas. So if you want to take a sight-seeing tour to Vajra Hell, first you must diligently break your samayas, because
ordinary misdeeds and obscuration will not suffice to get you there! [[[Rinpoche]] laughs] Then you’ll get to see the Vajra Hell, with the other 18 hell realms thrown in for free. If you want to visit the dharmadhatu buddhafield of Akanishtha, you have to keep your
samayas pure. This is the serious truth involving the keeping and breaking of samaya. Having entered the path of Vajrayana’s four empowerments, train in bringing self-existing wakefulness into the realm of your experience. Moreover, triumph over being tainted by even the most subtle breach of samaya. If you
can accomplish this, you will journey through the “upward directness.” That means you will attain the state of complete enlightenment within your present body. Conversely, you may have received Vajrayana teachings but have let the time fly by while totally ignoring the sacredness of samaya. In this case, you
will succeed in visiting the deepest pit of Vajra Hell. That is what is meant by no third alternative. It is said that the buddhas are both skillful and compassionate in teaching the vajra vehicle of Secret Mantra. This implies there is the possibility of purification through apology and resolution. By apologizing from the bottom of your heart and resolving never to commit the transgression again, any misdeed, obscuration, violation or breach can be purified. This must take place before three years have passed; otherwise it is very hard. This is the only and primary quality of evil deeds: that they can
be purified through apology and resolution. That evil deeds can be purified through apology is one of the special qualities of Vajrayana. Take the instance of someone who has committed one of the “five acts with immediate result.” Even these can be purified. In order to purify them, it is necessary for that
person to arrange the mandala of the peaceful and wrathful buddhas; to invite a master with disciples in a corresponding number; and to offer them respect and make lavish offerings. Then, in their midst he must proclaim with a loud voice, “I have done such-and-such evil! I have committed the five acts with
immediate result: killed my father and mother, killed an arhat, and the rest! There is no one worse then me! Please help me purify my misdeeds!” After exclaiming this, the person must strip off his clothes in the presence of the gathering and the mandala of the
peaceful and wrathful deities, and make full prostrations while reciting the Hundred Syllable Mantra one hundred and eight times. Then the karma of even these five acts will be purified. This is what is meant by Vajrayana being incredibly skillful and compassionate. All of us have already entered the
gateway to Vajrayana by simply receiving one empowerment. Whether that empowerment was famous or not does not really matter; you receive the precepts and samayas by participating in any ceremony in which the four empowerments are given. Violating the “pledged discipline,” the oath to keep the Vajrayana
precepts, is much worse than the “unformulated evil.” Unformulated evil is what we might unwittingly commit if we are an ordinary person who has not taken any vows or commitments. There is nothing worse than failing to observe the pledge one has taken, since it is samaya violation that truly cuts the life-
force of liberation. The samayas include the connection with distant vajra brothers and sisters, like those who participate in the empowerment ceremony a grand master gives to a crowd of thousands. It also includes the connection with close siblings — those who live in the same monastery under the guidance
of the same teacher. Finally there are the extremely close siblings, the ones with whom we received the teachings on mind essence. That is the most uncompromising; there is no one more intimate than these extremely close vajra brothers and sisters. We should regard them as being as precious as the
heart in our chest or the eyes in our head. The misdeeds and obscurations created through countless past lives must be purified through apology, otherwise there is no way in the world that they will disappear by themselves. These negative patterns lie dormant as habitual tendencies that sooner or later will manifest in our dualistic frame of mind. We must purify them with apology, which is always possible, as I mentioned when defining the only virtue of evil deeds. This is the purpose of the Hundred Syllable Mantra among the preliminary practices. In this, we apologize not only for the negative actions we have committed within this life and in this body; but for all the negative actions we have committed since beginningless time until now. Unless we dispense with the dualistic frame of mind, these traces of misdeeds and obscurations remain as habitual tendencies that will reoccur within this dualistic attitude. They do not disappear otherwise: this is why you hear so often about the need for purification. You can definitely purify them all by means of the four powers in the Vajrasattva practice. Your negative karma may be as huge as Mount Sumeru but it can still be purified by apology. Imagine a mountain of dry grass the size of a mountain; doesn’t it all burn down when set on fire? It is
also said, “Realization occurs automatically when misdeeds are purified.” When your intrinsic buddha nature is free from any veil, it is naturally stable in itself. But normally it is obscured by unwholesome tendencies. Don’t the clouds covering the sky make it impossible to clearly see the stars and
planets? It’s impossible to train in and grow accustomed to the original wakefulness as long as we are unaware of it and fail to recognize it, or as long as we are caught up in doubt even if we have recognized it. On the other hand, once you completely arrive in nondistraction, the king of all samayas, you transcend the dividing line between keeping and breaking samaya. At that level there is no samaya whatsoever to observe. Until that happens, however, there
is no way around observing the samayas, since we are still controlled by dualistic mind. The dualistic frame of mind is what we need to be free from, and nondual awareness is the outcome of this freedom. As I have mentioned earlier, these two aspects coexist at present, but as we progressively purify our karmic misdeeds and obscurations, realization occurs spontaneously. Realization in this sense means that the stream of conceptual thinking becomes self-
arising selfliberation, until finally your state of mind is like a cloudless, clear sky. At this point, since there is no more distraction, conceptual thinking is naturally liberated. This is the point when one transcends the dividing line between keeping and breaking samaya. This is also the point of realizing the four samayas of the Dzogchen view: nonexistence, all-pervasiveness, oneness and spontaneous perfection. You do not have to try to understand these individually, as they are inherently inseparable. But, up until this realization, isn’t claiming “I don’t break any samayas!” only pretentious self deception?
