Seeking Wisdom (Memory-Retention Practice)

Rinpoche first discoursed on 22nd May, 1994

Rinpoche repeated it in the Vajrayana Association(France) in September, 1994

Uploaded to the Website on 3rd February, 2015(after about twenty-one years)

Introduction ‘Seeking Wisdom’ or ‘Memory-Retention Practice’ (refers to the ability to acquire memory-enhancing and memorizing the beholding and hearing Buddhism forever) is a method to upgrade human intelligence so as to obtain infinite secrets. Orthodoxy • In ‘Devadatta’ of 【Lotus Sutra】, the chapter which talks about how the Dragon Girl becomes a Buddha. It gives an account of the various basic requirements for ‘the attainment of Buddhahood in one’s lifetime’. The so-called basic requirements refer to the fact that practitioners must possess special abilities before they can accept ‘the recondite secret treasury that is talked by various Buddhas’. They can thereby cultivate and attain a realm that is beyond the intelligence of human brains and specialty skills.

•	There was once a Master (Master Saicho) who discarded his self-esteem in order to be able to cultivate and acquire ‘Seeking Wisdom Dharma’. He knelt in front of the seat of Grand Master Kukai to beg for the Dharma for a long time. Note: Master Saicho (also known as Lamp-Transmitting Dharma Master) and Grand Master Kukai (whose posthumous name is Kobo Daishi) were both Japanese eminent monks who were selected by an Imperial command to go to Datang (China) to seek and learn Buddhist Dharma together during the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD). In returning to Japan after finishing their studies, the former Master founded Tendai, a Japanese school of Mahayana Buddhism while the latter Master became the first ancestor of Shingon Buddhism, one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan. Since both Masters were requested under the Imperial command to go to China to learn Buddhism, they were supposed to be equal in status. However, Master Saicho put down his status without hesitation to beg Grand Master Kukai to teach him Seeking Wisdom Dharma. As long as one is really fully-aware that Buddha Dharma is rare, treasure and sacred, it is believed that if it is you who encounter Grand Master Kukai, you will also take the same action as Master Saicho to seek the Dharma.
•	In 《Mahavairocana Sutra Commentaries》, it says, “Possessing the brain that can read extensively, Akasagarbha Bodhisattva manages to deal with all worldly odd jobs calmly and easily. After that, Akasagarbha Bodhisattva can still maintain a high brain-level as well as the power to tame and conquer everything.” (Note: that is why Rinpoche has also granted all of you the Empowerment of Akasagarbha Bodhisattva.)
•	Perhaps lots of people think that one should learn complicated and specific skills before one can enter the realm of Tantric Buddhism(Vajrayana) or there should be the presence of ‘favourable climatic, geographical and human conditions’ , then one can attain perfection and intact (to learn Vajrayana). Along with the flourishing development in information nowadays as well as the advancement in educational standards, the level of knowledge of an average person has greatly been ascended. Making a comprehensive survey on the Gurus, monks, lay Buddhists, Tantric practitioners etc. at the moment, all of them have already acquired knowledge to a certain extent and some can even be regarded as the intelligentsia. Yet, among the practitioners, many of them cannot acquire the real lineage (from a Master to his disciples). As a result, they learnt very complicated skills of Introduction to Tantric Buddhism or received abstruse teachings of Tantric Buddhism instead. However, most of them have ignored or entirely disbelieved that barely mantra-chanting method can direct one to the Siddhi (accomplishment) of ‘attainment of Buddhahood in one’s lifetime’ as well as making one obtain ultra-high brain intelligence (the Five Wisdom of the Five Buddhas). This is the genuine inconceivable part of Tantric Buddhism. One does not need to receive too much worldly education that brings about word-barrier and textbook-barrier (both impede the understanding of the truth of the universe) before one can be able to acquire the authentic tradition of Introduction to Tantric Buddhism.
•	Having acquired the authentic tradition, you learn the introduction and enter into the realm of Tantric Buddhism. You then advance forward step by step and make progress level by level until you obtain the secret achievement of Tantric Buddhism eventually.
•	Hence, as a ‘beginner’ of Tantric practitioner, one does not have to know too much nor ask a lot for the time being because it (knowing or asking too much) gives rise to cognitive hindrances which in turn hinders the growth of the real wisdom (that is one does only obtain knowledge instead of the wisdom that Buddhists refer to). Therefore, one solely needs to attach oneself to, needs to depend and rest upon an experienced as well as enlightened Rinpoche/Guru to learn from him. Tantric Gurus do not have time to explain too many things and matters. The time in one’s life is so precious and ephemeral that practitioners only need to follow and do what they are taught. For instance, assembling a television set, once the workmen have the set-up done, the television can be watched. Through watching the television programmes, one can obtain educational information and is taught with all the theories that are delivered.  Take another example like having medicine to heal diseases, as the medicine is taken, one’s sickness will soon be cured. If one tries to study and investigate the content and composition of the medicine (before taking it), one is believed to have died already. So, it is important to have confidence. Lacking the confidence, in the end, the television set cannot be set up and the medicine is not taken as one may even doubt whether the medicine is a good medicine or a poison.
Epilogue
(The Sixth) Patriarch has said, “Zen does not rely on words, but is based on a special transmission outside of the scriptures.” If too many of the Zen’s keen words (Buddhist allegorical words or gesture) and transposition are said or too many descriptions are made upon words, it will be getting much further away from the aim of Zen. 《 50 Stanzas on Devotion to the Guru》, Introduction to Tantric Buddhism, illustrates that practitioners have to rely on their Gurus to lead them into the realm of Tantric Buddhism. It is where the introduction as well as secret element of Tantric Buddhism lies. In simple terms, to learn and cultivate Tantric Buddhism, practitioners have to build up a very deep, steadfast, firm and rigid confidence on their Gurus first. This is also the prerequisite of seeking Wisdom.

Reference Information:
Our website
＞	Wisdom Plaza
＞＞	•	Chanting Mantras with Usual Mind
	•	‘Heart’  ‘Brain’
＞	Vajrayana Treasures
＞＞	The Significance and Theories of Vajrayana
	•	50 Stanzas on Devotion to the Guru (Foreword)