"You won't achieve your goals just by reciting mantras," he said. It is only by revealing reality that the Buddha's indicate the way to liberation. Through teaching we transform ourselves and this makes us use our intelligence.
He explained the verse about taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and generating the awakening mind of bodhichitta by saying "the subject of these actions is 'I' and we have to think about who is the 'I' who becomes Buddha. Nagarjuna said "The self is neither in the aggregates nor separate from them. The Tathagata does not possess the aggregates; what then is the Tathagata.
His Holiness added that selflessness is explained in the works of Nagarjuna. The coming of Buddhism to Tibet was brought about by Emperor Songtsen Gampo who married a Chinese and a Nepalese princess. Emperor Trisong Detsen's father was Tibetan and his mother Chinese but he chose India as source of Buddhist teaching. He invited Shantarakshita and Padmasambhava to come to Tibet where they firmly established Buddhism.
They followed the Nalanda traition, His Holiness continued, memorizing and studying texts composed by Nalanda masters, which gives a broad view of the Buddhist path. Buddhism is something relevant to today, a teaching to study, learn and understand.
There are traditionally three masters in Tibet recognised as emanations of Manjushri. His Holiness proposed to explain the 'Three Principal Aspects of the Path' by giving a concise explanation of setting the determination to be free by cultivating renunciation of the attractions of this and future lives; cultivating the awakening mind of bodhichitta and generating the profound wisdom to overcome ignorance. He ended with Je Rinpoche's exhortation to Ngawang Drakpa
"Depend on solitude and strong effort And quickly reach the final goal."
The Permission of White Tara was taken from the Secret Visions of the Fifth Dalai Lama which His Holiness received in Tibet from Tagdrag Rinpoche. His final words of advice were that the purpose of the teaching is practice. He urged his audience to listen and read, then think about what you've learned and meditate on it.
