Lopon Tenzin Namdak-- 'a word on practicing in modern times'

"Sometimes I read you the biographies of the Lineage Masters who spent their whole life in a cave. So maybe some of you think of cutting off your living conditions and going and living like that. but that is not possible in modern times.

It is important to understand this. According
to the times we live in, usually, don't think that you should go away from
certain place to search for solitude or something. You can read history or
biographies of the early Masters, but that time is over. You have to think: we are now in modern
society. It is not easy. In early times,
especially in Tibet—although not all Tibetans were practitioners, not at all—some
people would first study and gain knowledge, and then realize, and then practice. They would spend their whole life in
solitude. In those days, if someone went
into solitude seriously, then anybody nearby who saw them staying in some cave
somewhere would immediately serve them and help them. The local people knew that the practitioner
was a living person who needed simple things like firewood, food, tsampa or
some simple things. They would serve the
practitioner willingly. He would not be
living in luxury at all, but he would not be starving, so in that way he could
spend his time practicing continuously. Those practitioners were real, living
people but they didn’t care about their worldly conditions. I mean, they didn’t expect or prepare any
living conditions at all because they already knew someone would help them, in
those days. But that time is over. The texts are still there, the system is
still the same, it is written here, but if you do this nowadays, you will
starve if you don’t prepare anything, you see.
Follow the teachings, but don’t follow what these Masters did. If you try to, you will be starving or
freezing!



In modern times it is better for practitioners to prepare. I
am always talking about our two conditions.
Whatever you are doing in your lifetime to ensure your living
conditions, you should carry on with that, but don’t have too high expectations
or go after a reputation; that doesn’t
help very much. But you have to do
something to earn a living. Otherwise we
call it Ngejung [renunciation]—you collect
many different teachings, you listen to many different Masters, and suddenly
you think: ‘Oh, this life is no use!’ and you stop everything and try to
concentrate on practice for a little while. But your property, possessions and
facilities won’t last so long. If you go
back and try to carry on with your job, relationships and so on afterwards it
is really hard to find work. So it is
better to carry on continuously in a simple way, not doing anything special,
not having too high expectations, not expecting luxury, but just living in a
simple way.





Then alongside that, it is very important to try and think
about preparing for the next stage: death will certainly come, there is no
doubt. You have to do some preparation
by yourself; no-one else can do anything.
We can see that. Just after
someone has passed away, their house or bed is cleaned up and then the next
morning other people move in. Nothing
remains and soon no one can remember you.
No one will be able to help you at that time; maybe they will be able to say some nice
things and put you in the coffin in a comfortable way, but that doesn’t help at
all. Think about it, there is just the
skeleton lying in the coffin, nothing else, so whether it is comfortable or not
doesn’t help at all. Think about it,
there is just the skeleton lying in the coffin, nothing else, so whether it is
comfortable or not doesn’t help. The
mind went away a long time ago, and no one can be certain where it is roaming
now—higher realms, lower realms, circulating who knows where. What is the situation at that time? Don’t think this next stage is an illusion or
not true or something. It feels just as
it does now in this present time. You
can see evidence of this in dreams; they
show you. Dreams are great
evidence. So try to trust what dreams
show you as this is evidence for what it will be like when you leave your body.



As for how to prepare for this next stage, I hope you can
read again and again what I was saying earlier.
That is preparation, that is what to do.”

I've copied this out because the simple, realistic humanity of the Tibetans [at their best] always cheers me up. It's totally NOT pious, sanctimonious droning about 'the degraded age in which we live.' No nostalgia, no sentimentality about what human life, or death, is. I submit, friends, that THIS is 'pragmatic dharma' at its unassuming best!

That is pretty darn pragmatic. Not only do I get tired of pious sanctimonious droning about the modern age, but also about the dharma in general. The Tibetans also seem to (often) keep a sense of humor, which is dreadfully refreshing.