Tonight,
we did a Guru Rinpoche Prayer under the guidance of Acho Rinpoche. After which,
he told us about an ordained Tibetan Khenpo, who was quite actively teaching in
Taiwan and Australia in the past, has disrobed and renounced his monkhood. This
Khenpo admitted in public that he has failed to abide by the precept of an
ordained monk, as he has succumbed to the temptation of desires. An
ordained monk who chose to disrobe means that he has not accomplished his
spiritual practice, which is certainly not a glamorous thing.
This
Khenpo was praised by H.H Dalai Lama in the past, and the latter requested him
to teach in Taiwan. He has many students in Taiwan, Australia, Singapore and
Malaysia. He has also published some books on Buddhism and appeared quite
frequently on TV and radio, doing the teaching. Acho Rinpoche met him once when
he came to Singapore in the past.
This
Khenpo became a monk since young. He was trained in Tibetan Buddhism for about
thirty years by now and is very familiar with the method of Tibetan Buddhist
Debate too. He also expressed his disagreement with the views of a Taiwanese
layman Buddhist teacher who opposed to the practice of Smoke Puja. This Khenpo said
that there were many patriarchs including the 5th Dalai Lama who
commended the merits and advocated the practice of Smoke Puja in the past. Therefore,
he disagrees with that layman Buddhist teacher who opposed to the practice of
Smoke Puja. He also explained the method of Tibetan Buddhist Debate, in which the
two parties involved will simply oppose and argue against the views of each
other, in order to win the debate. Therefore, the party which wins the debate
may not necessarily mean that his argument represents the “truth”, for there is
no right or wrong between two debaters. So, he is worried that the Taiwanese
students of the layman Buddhist teacher might be misled by their teacher, for
they do not understand the rule of Tibetan Buddhist Debate.
Acho
Rinpoche opined that our spiritual practice ought to be guided by the ethics
and social values of the current society; one should not follow the literatures
blindly. Besides, a person who can convey the teachings very well in writing or
in speech does not necessarily mean that he has truly attained the state of realization.
One who has disrobed clearly shows that he has failed to uphold the precepts of
an ordained monk. However, Acho Rinpoche commended his honesty of admitting his
own faults in public, for failing to uphold his precept as an ordained monk. One
should renounce his ordination when he transgresses the precepts of ordination,
instead of hiding his faults from the public. When an ordained person transgresses
the precepts of ordination and refuses to renounce his ordination, this act of
ignorance will bring an end to the true teachings of the Buddha. Acho Rinpoche
also opined that the merits and pace of practice of an ordained practitioner is
certainly far more superior than that of a layman practitioner. However, the
real issue does not lie in the question of ordination nor its renunciation. What
truly matters is whether a practitioner has attained a true state of realization.
Actually, an ordained practitioner can attain a true state of realization, so
can a layman practitioner. So, learning too much of the teachings does not help
much because the teachings are, essentially, just theories. Actually, the most
important point lies in the “practice”, which is the only way to attain the
true state of realization.
Finally, we ended our prayer by reciting the names of
the Buddhas under the guidance of Acho Rinpoche, and dedicated the merits to
all sentient beings - may all sentient beings be happy, free of sufferings and
attain enlightenment one day.
Reported
by Sun Moon KFS on 21-10-2017 @Singapore
