Journey Through Cancer Chapter 36 - The Dharma and the “Big Picture”

For two nights I have been hearing the teachings of Drupon Rinchen Dorje Rinpoche on “Four Dharmas of Gampopa in relation to Mahamudra” at our beloved Katsel Dharma Center. These are profound teachings about which I can claim no great understanding. Nevertheless, all the experiences of my life as well those of my previous rebirths have been preparing to receive them at this particular time. As with many great teachings especially those of the Dharma, they are incredibly simple but not at all easy in their application.
The first of the “Four Dharmas” that the Dharma goes to the Dharma seems particularly applicable to my life in this rebirth up to this point. Rinpoche explained that the eight worldly dharmas are precisely what would prevent the Dharma from leading to the Dharma. For all of the worldly dharmas, whether it is seeking to get what you want or avoid getting what you do not want, whether it is wanting (instant) happiness or not wanting unhappiness, whether it is wanting fame or not wanting to be unknown, whether it is wanting praise or not wanting blame, the specific remedy for all of them is the same, meditation on death and impermanence. Furthermore, it is just such meditation that ensures that the Dharma leads to the Dharma.
As I described in the preface to this writing, Death has been my traveling companion throughout my life and yet I have continued to survive. Any of those close calls could have been fatal. I have just had a close brush with death. Once again I have survived, but how much longer will it be. No one can say that death won't come totally unexpected without the warning of a doctor's diagnosis. This is a meditation on death taken to another level, perhaps the Karmic fruit of being a particularly difficult student in a previous rebirth.
On the other hand, when I describe the breadth of my life experiences by saying that I've been “everything from a drunken sailor to a Russian Orthodox monk,” what else am I describing but the living out of change. Indeed, even the “I” who has lived all of these things is not a constant, but rather the ever-changing result of the succession of causes and conditions. Whether talking about lifetimes or just the series of present moments, it is rather like a string of “pop beads.” With ordinary beads, there is a string running through all of them, holding them together.. However, with “pop beads” there is no string but rather the connection of one bead to the next, like in the picture.

That little connector is like the causal relationship of one moment to the next or one lifetime to the next, but, of course, this is only an analogy not an ultimate model of the Truth. Nevertheless, it does help me comprehend impermanence on another level, perhaps even bringing me closer to letting go of the “self-other” duality.
Drupon Rinchen Dorje Rinpoche, concluding his teaching, stated that it was only an introduction, but that Venerable Lama Konchok Sonam would explain more to us later. I am looking forward to it with great eagerness. For these two nights, unlike previous teachings, I had a small notebook to make notes just like a student in any course of study. What more important subject for study can there be than freeing yourself and all sentient beings from suffering? I should approach it and all my others with no less diligence that I showed to my college courses.
Next month, when I am in Boston, I need to be just as diligent in striving to learn everything I can from Acharya Yogi Lama Gursam Rinpoche on Medicine Buddha and from His Eminence Garchen Triptul Rinpoche concerning “the Heart of Bodhicitta,” “Enlightened Female Masters,” and “Ganges Mahamudra.” These are of more lasting importance than “Differential Equations” or “Photography.” What greater value can my continued life have than to study from these masters and apply the lessons learned for the benefit of myself and all other sentient beings.