Given before a teaching on the tradition of Oral Transmission
by Khenpo Tashi
Question: What is the purpose of Oral Transmission? Why is it important?
Good, good. Wow, hrm, it is not so easy to explain. Before we explain this, we must discuss the Three Doors.
Everything is In the Three Doors
So, in Buddhism, there are Three Doors – mental, speech and physical actions. How special are these three? How much? This much, that much? Haha! Noo! They are 100% so much special! Why? Think of it very well. Why are the three doors 100% special?
(Student gave some non-satisfactory answers)
Because, see, because, All of one’s negative Karma… are found inside one’s Three Doors. Nothing outside of one’s three doors. Similarly, all of the Buddha’s qualities and states – holy body, holy speech, holy mind – all are found within the same Three Doors!
For example, losing lots of wealth or financial misfortune. Maybe, we worry what to do. Is it difficult to think of the solution? Ordinarily, yes.
But if we think of the three doors, no. Loss of wealth is a result of the seed of stealing or cheating others in some past lives. It is through the door of the physical actions.
Solution to that is to do generous acts to accumulate seeds of future wealth. Another solution is to purify the past seed of stinginess or stealing.
See? Everything is inside the Three Doors. Normally, we never think this way. We think Karma is something outside of us. All problems, all solutions, all liberation, found inside those three! Woow!
Equality of the Three Doors
Normally, we think that Door of Mind is most important amongst the Three Doors. Actually, that is not correct.
In fact, body, speech and mind, they are equally important. Equal. It is like life. Air, water, food, shelter, clothing are equally important to support life. Nothing is less important.
One super extraordinary quality of speech is that it can teach, it can listen, it can awaken, it can make someone realize. All of the Dharma can only be taught to a student through speech.
All of the Dharma we have learned – Four Noble Truths, even a single mantra – each one is under the door of speech!
How special is the speech then? Just contemplate that. We don’t need to rank them. The Three are equally important.
Unity of the Three Doors
Also, we normally think that these three doors are separate. “I purify my body separately, I purify my mind separately…” This is also wrong thinking.
The Three Doors are together, united. Speech is possible due to one’s mind (We think first before we can say something). Purifying negative bodily Karma is possible due to the teachings received through speech, and understood by mind.
Three Doors are Together, United. Three sides of the same thing. Inseparable.
Conclusion
Three Doors are equally important, not separated, united, three aspects of the same thing.
If we can accept this more and think in this way, Oral Transmission can be understood more easily. So, we need to watch out for those wrong ways of thinking.
For the teaching on Oral Transmission, click here.
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Oral Transmission (Tibetan: lung) is the tradition of the master reading a Dharma text to a number of students. The student listens to the words, often recited in Tibetan language.