Q and A with
Bardor Tulku Rinpoche
January 11, 2004
Bardor Tulku Rinpoche
January 11, 2004
St. Augustine, FL
The following is not a word for word transcript, but are my notes taken during the evening public talk.
Q: How come humans are so much more destructive right now? So much more than animals have ever been.
BTR: It’s true humans do a great deal of destruction and damage, but the destruction and damage has been engineered by very few people. Most people are good, not bad. People of power who force others to do bad make it seem as though there are many bad people. Like Hitler and Mao. With many billions of people in the world, a small amount actually cause the destruction and damage.
Q: How is the knowledge of Buddhism passed along?
BTR: In the Buddhist tradition the Dharma has two aspects: tradition and realization.
Tradition is the Buddha’s teachings. There are three kinds of teachings: Vinaya - overcoming attachment; Sutra - overcome all forms of aversion; Abidharma _ disclosure of the nature of things. These teachings are transcripts of the Buddha’s talks over a 45-year period. All his teachings occurred after he was enlightened. They are all in books.
The most important aspect of the Dharma is realization. When people achieve full realization that keeps it a living tradition.
Tradition is the Buddha’s teachings. There are three kinds of teachings: Vinaya - overcoming attachment; Sutra - overcome all forms of aversion; Abidharma _ disclosure of the nature of things. These teachings are transcripts of the Buddha’s talks over a 45-year period. All his teachings occurred after he was enlightened. They are all in books.
The most important aspect of the Dharma is realization. When people achieve full realization that keeps it a living tradition.
Q: Is there such a thing as forgiveness in Buddhism?
BTR: There is restitution and recovery in Buddhism through meditations and liturgical practices.
Q: How does one handle aversion to oppression and evil?
BTR: There is a difference between aversion which has a poison and hatred, and an awareness of a problem that has to be solved. To fight this without anger is not poisonous aversion. We need to be aware of aversion. It is poison. But we should not be afraid to stop injustice without anger.
Q: What can we do to increase our ability to increase our compassion for ourselves and others?
BTR: Compassion for yourself and others is the same. Most people who strive to cultivate compassion focus on others. There is no harm in cultivating compassion for yourself. Self-hate is a problem in western culture. It is unknown in Tibet. Self-hate harms your compassion for others. The need to cultivate self-compassion is great.
Q: Can you speak about apathy?
BTR: Apathy is the same as darkness or obscurity. It is an absence of feeling. There are two aspects of apathy:
Cognitive apathy is a kind of stupidity. It is the first outgrowth of ignorance. It is what results from not seeing things as they are.
Emotional apathy is lack of caring. When we see something as dangerous we feel fear or aversion. When something is gratifying, the feeling is pleasant. When something is neither pleasing nor frightening there is no feeling at all. This is very selfish. This is emotional apathy.
Photo of Bardor Tulku Rinpoche by C. C. Kessler 2007
