Buddhist Monk Hitting People with a Broom
Thai abbot Phra Jirapan Analyo showing the grass stick he was using to bless devotees in Saraburi Province
In Buddhism, one of the things we learn is that things are not what they seem, and all too often we impose our ordinary and mundane perspectives onto certain Buddhist rituals. As a result, we develop wrong perceptions and fail to see one aspect of the tremendous benevolence of the Buddhas. One example is the manifestation of wrath in Buddhism, be it in the iconography of Buddhist images (especially in the Vajrayana tradition) or in Buddhist rituals and practices that come across as aggressive and ‘un-Buddhist’.
Buddhist Monk Hitting with Broom
In the video above you will see a Thai monk ‘furiously’ hitting temple-goers’ heads with a broom made of dried grass. This kind of roughness is not what one expects to find in Buddhism, which is usually associated with bliss, calmness and temperance. In addition, in Chinese superstition, to be hit with a broom is considered bad luck.
Understandably while this kind of unorthodox conduct may raise eyebrows, it is actually a very swift and compassionate method of purifying and clearing disciple’s obstacles and those who understand seem quite happy to receive this form of blessing and purification.
Phra Jirapan Analyo, the Thai abbot of Pha Sadej Monastery in Saraburi, said:
“The knocking of heads is a way to cure diseases and illness for the faithful. And the knocking may look violent, but it didn’t hurt anyone.”
Source: Khaosod English, 9 June 2015, http://www.khaosodenglish.com/life/2015/06/09/1433853163/
Skilful Means to Purifying Karma
The practice of Buddhist teachers inflicting some form of discomfort on their disciples or even beating them when necessary is not something new or uncommon in Buddhism, and certainly not practised only by Thai Buddhist monks. These wrathful actions are methods known to effectively clear disciples’ karma, and they are also common in Mahayana as well as Vajrayana Buddhism.
We get an insight of this in “The Steps on the Path to Enlightenment: A Commentary on Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo” by Lhundub Sopa. In the Lamrim Chenmo, a step-by-step meditational guide, it is explained that we can overcome our heavy negative karma by practising guru devotion and relying on our spiritual teacher to free us from our suffering. Our compassionate spiritual teacher keeps us close and fosters a close relationship with us solely for our own benefit. He or she will use various methods to guide, teach and constantly correct us so that we can transform our minds, habituations and attitudes to evolve into a better us. The virtues we create from having a close and special relationship with our spiritual teacher are very powerful. It can alter the result of our heavy negative karma in such a way that the impact on our lives is not as severe or it can lessen the length of time we become afflicted as the result of our negative karma coming to fruition.
To explain this further, a qualified spiritual teacher can cause a particular negative karma to be experienced and therefore exhausted in a much lighter form, or within a more favourable set of circumstances. This, in turn, means that the suffering, harm or damage experienced physically and mentally is only a fraction of what it would otherwise be. For example, if we have the karma to die traumatically in a horrific car crash, an event that would hurl us into endless suffering in the lower realms due to the tremendous distress and shock at the point of death, a qualified spiritual guide with clairvoyance will be able to see that. The teacher may compassionately purify that karma by ‘inflicting’ a similarly unpleasant experience for us to endure. We may experience a similar fear or sorrow as we would in a car accident, but the difference is, this bad experience created by the teacher does not have the same impact and result as a deadly car crash and does not lead to lower rebirths. The negative karma that would have killed us and propel us into the lower realms if left to ripen naturally is transmuted by the qualified teacher’s compassionate action, into an unpleasant experience that we will recover from. In that way, that negative karma is exhausted. In some cases, the karma can be made to ripen in nightmares and horrible dreams. In this situation, we experience fear and suffering in our dreams, but there is no real damage as the bad experiences and tragedies happen in dreams.
This wrathful practice is not without scriptural authority and legitimacy. One such benefit of a qualified teacher’s wrathful action is explained in the Sutra of Ksitigarbha:
As explained in the Sutra of Ksitigarbha:
“Those held by a spiritual teacher will have their negative karma – which could cause them to wander in bad migrations for innumerable millions of eons – purified by ripening in this life as plague, famine, and so forth, or as various ordeals of body and mind, or it might even be purified by a harsh scolding from the teacher, or even by a mere dream.”
Source: Lhundup Sopa and David Patt, Steps On The Path To Enlightenment (Wisdom Publications 2004).
In another example, the famous teacher and ascetic Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje, who founded the Drukpa Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, and who mastered the Mahamudra and the Six Yogas of Naropa at a very early age, said, “A harsh rebuke by your guru is a wrathful mantra; it clears away outer and inner obstructions.” Therefore we again see that the ‘harsh treatment’ at the hands of a qualified teacher is in fact a skilful and compassionate method to clear away hindrances to practice.
The most well-known examples of the Guru’s wrathful actions can be found in stories of the lives of the great mahasiddhas Milarepa, Naropa and Lochen Rinpoche.
The great yogi, Milarepa endured tremendous physical distress and mental anguish at the hands of his teacher, Marpa. Milarepa had gone to Marpa for teachings but instead of receiving Dharma teachings, Marpa instructed Milarepa to build four towers with his bare hands, a task that was seemingly irrelevant to Dharma. Each time Milarepa completed this task, Marpa would demand for the towers to be torn down and rebuilt. Milarepa became so ill, his body covered with sores from having to carry the heavy stones up and down the hill, and having to build and tear down the towers with his hands. And whenever Milarepa asked for teachings, Marpa would subject him to torrents of verbal and physical abuses.
Milarepa’s nine-story tower built as an act penance still stands at Sekhar Guthok Monastery, Tibet
It would have looked like Marpa was unfairly abusing Milarepa. Eventually, Marpa revealed that Milarepa’s arrival had been prophesied by his own teacher, the great Indian master Naropa. He then explained that the trials he put Milarepa through were actually the means to purifying his heavy negative karma of killing many people out of vengeance when he was a sorcerer. However, because Milarepa ultimately endured the trials, he accomplished complete enlightenment in one lifetime instead of taking rebirth in the lower realms. Today, the final and fourth tower that Milarepa built still stands at the centre of Sekhar Guthok Monastery in Tibet.
One of the most famous examples of the teacher-student or guru-disciple relationship is the famous story of Marpa and Milarepa, and how Marpa threw Milarapa out of his house. Marpa explained his wrathful methods. “Although I may have appeared unreasonable, I am not to blame for Milarepa’s suffering. I actually used my rage as a skilful tool to test him thoroughly and purify him of his past ill-deeds.” Copyright Brian Beresford/Nomad
Here are more examples of the harsh treatment Milarepa received from his teacher Marpa, illustrated from the comic book “The Magic Life of Milarepa Tibet’s Great Yogi” by Eva Van Dam (click to enlarge)
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Similarly, the legendary mahasiddha Naropa’s 12 major trials by his teacher (this was on top of the 12 minor hardships he encountered while searching for his teacher), the great Indian master Tilopa were harsh, arduous and defied any worldly reason. Most people would consider Tilopa’s training to be outright abusive and accuse the teacher of torturing his student. However, each of those trials that Tilopa subjected Naropa to was in fact precious teachings in themselves and also tremendous purifications that prepared Naropa for the next step of his training. Each trial brought great physical and mental suffering but Naropa endured, and each trial that Naropa withstood yielded a precious teaching or empowerment by Tilopa.
A beautiful old painting of Mahasiddha Naropa. On the top right corner of the painting is Naropa’s teacher, the great Indian master Tilopa. (click to enlarge)
However, during the 12 years of difficulties, Naropa did not once lose faith in his teacher. Towards the end of the 12 trials, Naropa once again requested profound teachings from his teacher. Tilopa screamed at Naropa saying, “You are not yet pure enough to be introduced to the nature of mind!” and with that, Tilopa suddenly removed his slippers and without warning, slapped Naropa’s face so hard that he passed out. When Naropa regained consciousness, he had attained mahamudra siddhi and became equal in enlightenment to his teacher. The trials Tilopa had put Naropa through appeared to be horrendous. In truth, Tilopa could see that Naropa was a suitable vessel for the highest Dharma, but Naropa also had some deeply entrenched obstacles of the mind that would have prevented him from gaining enlightenment. These had first to be purified.
The wrathful actions of a qualified Guru are indications of the Guru’s highest compassion and evidence of his best intentions towards the student. We see this in the loving words of Tilopa to his student after Naropa had completed the 12 trials:
“The fact that I led you deliberately into many trials and tribulations does not mean that I am a cruel person. You see, your negative karma could not be purified by your own effort alone. It was only through experiencing hardship could you purify the negative karma that obstructed you from realising the ultimate nature of Buddhahood. Throughout all the hardship, you did not develop any doubts, hesitation, or wrong views, and you diligently obeyed all commands. In this manner, you were finally able to overcome all delusions and gain the highest realisation.”
Source: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/mahasiddha-naropa-the-indomitable-disciple.html
Yet another example can be found in the case of the great female master, Jetsun Lochen Chonyi Sangmo or Lochen Rinpoche, who was so highly attained that she was regarded as the incarnation of Machig Labdron. Lochen Rinpoche also went through very harsh training under her teacher, Pema Gyatso who saw the need to break his student’s ego. Pema Gyatso was very fierce towards her and would often ignore her and treated her harshly. One time, Pema Gyatso flung at Lochen Rinpoche, the offerings she had made to him, along with one of his boots. Lochen Rinpoche crouched down and picked up her teacher’s shoe and placed it on the crown of her head before returning it to Pema Gyatso. Lochen Rinpoche had never lost faith and never doubted her teacher’s pure intention. To her, Pema Gyatso’s actions were skilful methods (upāya) to help her purify her obstacles in order for her to understand the fundamental religious truths and to gain realisations.
The Great female master Jetsun Lochen Rinpoche (1865 – 1951) who is known to be an incarnation of Machig Labdrön. Her life is truly an inspiring story and an exemplary of pure guru devotion (click to enlarge)
There was one occasion when Pema Gyatso was meditating and reciting his mantra when he heard someone drumming. Turning to Lochen Rinpoche, he demanded:
“Who is drumming now? You (female) beggar, it seems to be you!” It was in fact the caretaker who was creating the drumming sound but when Lochen Rinpoche replied, “It was not me, it was the caretaker”. Pema Gyatso instantly became furious.
Source: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/great-lamas-masters/the-great-female-master-jetsun-lochen-rinpoche.html
The teacher grabbed a long stick and started to chase Lochen Rinpoche who quickly ran.
These wrathful actions by an attained teacher are not always something they inflict on their students only. There are cases where highly attained and qualified teachers manifest tragedies that befall themselves. A number of highly accomplished teachers, practitioners and yogis have manifested circumstances and difficulties at the time of their death. For example, a highly attained monk can suddenly suffer a stroke and die in what appears to be miserable circumstances. Contrary to what it seems, this can in fact be due to the power of his virtues, which acts to exhaust all his remaining negative karma during this lifetime. The same highly practised masters who manifest these ‘unfortunate situations’ can often in fact, determine the timing and circumstances of their passing, and the time and conditions of their rebirth. Clearly then, the afflictions they experience leading to their own terrible demise is yet another example of how they adeptly exhaust their remaining karma or even the collective karma of their students. It is in fact an act of great kindness.
Young Tsem Rinpoche with Kyabje Zong Rinpoche. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche was a very direct, open and quick lama. He manifested a lot of wrath when necessary. When things are right, he would be very happy and he would immediately acknowledge. When things are wrong, he was not the type to keep quiet about it. Zong Rinpoche was well known to beat his close students in order to purify their karma or extend their lives. Zong Rinpoche had once beaten his uncle and purified his karma that his life was greatly extended. His uncle was grateful to the wrathful compassionate lama Zong Rinpoche.
So we see that the “harshness,” “wrath” or physical acts that appear to indicate a teacher’s displeasure towards the student is in fact a skilful method that arises out of compassion. It is not an emotion that arises out of egoistic projections of the teacher. It is not the same as when ordinary people become angry because something or someone does not meet their expectations of how things should be. However, for a disciple to be able to receive the full potency of such blessings and swift purification of their karma, he or she must first have strong guru devotion. And herein, we have the 2 primary aspects to this wrathful purification method.
The qualified Guru is the primary key to purification of negative karma. The ‘power’ of the purification relies foremost on the qualified teacher’s realisation and attainments that he or she has acquired, usually through many lifetimes of intense practices and meditations. In Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana), some teachers are recognised to be reincarnated Bodhisattvas, and sometimes, even Buddhas. Whereas others have accomplished such high levels of meditative realisations that they have acquired the qualities and abilities of their meditational deity or yidam. When they need to purify the negative karma of their students, these highly accomplished masters generate themselves as the yidam or the Buddha, and it is this enlightened being that purifies and transmutes the student’s heavy karma. Such teachers are known to have the power of clairvoyance and can foresee what lies ahead for their beloved students, and the power of omniscience to know what needs to be done to circumvent the ripening of negative karma or mitigate the effects of that karma. Such highly accomplished teachers are known to be able to control internal, as well as external elements, and are able to intercede on behalf of their students and disciples.
In the Theravada tradition, there are also teachers who are highly attained or even enlightened. They may look like simple monks but due to their practices and meditative realisations, and the firm observation of their vows, there is power in their actions. The vows that monks hold are energies that take them away from samsara and closer to nirvana or the state of Buddhahood. And hence each day the monk keeps his vows firmly, he accumulates the energies that are derived from the power of the Three Jewels, and these are the energies that help to purify negative karma when accompanied with wrathful actions, such as hitting disciples with brooms.
“To take vows is to consciously eliminate the stimuli that would further reinforce negative habits and also to cut them. Vows is the key.” — His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche
The devotion of the student is also another factor in the purification process.
Although the actions of the qualified Guru is potent on its own because of who the teacher is, the effectiveness or swiftness of this purification is also dependent on the level of the student’s devotion to the teacher. How much merit and purification we receive from the spiritual guide’s wrathful actions depends mainly on how we perceive our teacher. This means that if we honour our Guru and view him as the sum of all the Buddhas, the merit we accumulate is equivalent to that of the purification and blessings from all the Buddhas. Therefore, when we see the wrathful actions of a Guru, whom we regard as a Buddha, are in fact blessings, then we powerfully purify the accumulated negative karma that would otherwise cause us to be reborn in the horrible lower realms, where we would suffer tremendously.
This devotion to the teacher forms the foundation of all attainments (and hence, purification) as is explained in the Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion (Sanskrit: Gurupancashikha; Tibetan: Lama Nga-chu-pa), which was written around the first century by Ashvagosha. At the beginning of his commentary to the Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion, Je Tsongkhapa said:
“The only door for disciples who want to experience great bliss and gain the highest attainments without much effort is the proper cultivation of guru devotion. In order to open this door, I am going to explain the Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion.”
Source: The Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion, Lama Nga-chu-pa, p. 1.
The Fifty Verses is one amongst many attestations of the great significance of guru devotion in one’s spiritual practice. For example, a passage from the Sutra of Ksitigarbha states:
“One morning of honouring your spiritual teacher outshines the roots of virtue that arise from making offerings, or worshipping, or taking precepts from innumerable millions of Buddhas. Those who honour their guru possess inconceivable merit. See that all the numberless good qualities manifested by the Buddhas arise from this. Therefore, just as you would behave toward a Buddha, you should rely on, serve and honour your teacher.”
Source: Geshe Lhundub Sopa and David Patt, Steps on the Path to Enlightenment – A Commentary on Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo Volume 1: The Foundation Practices, Wisdom Publications, 2004, p. 268.
The great Indian pandit Naropa said, “Before the existence of the lama there was neither Buddha nor deity.” He said this because Buddhas and meditational deities are emanations, or embodiments, of the guru; that is why there was neither Buddha nor meditational deity before the guru.
Jetsun Milarepa said, “Try to see your guru in his actual aspect of dharmakaya. If you can, you will receive all blessings and inspirations effortlessly.”
Vajradhara himself also spoke often about the importance of guru devotion. Since all these great beings have said these things, there’s not much need for me to comment further.
Therefore within the parameters of our Dharma practice, we must be careful to understand the nature of suffering. To begin with, all beings in samsara suffer and this forms the First Noble Truth that the Buddha taught. We must learn to differentiate between suffering that leads to even more negative karma and suffering that exhausts bad karma. When the qualified guru acts out of kindness and with skilful purpose, the ’suffering’ he inflicts is swift, compassionate and ultimately curative and beneficial.
Sources:
- Khaosod English report, khaosodenglish.com, [website], http://www.khaosodenglish.com/life/2015/06/09/1433853163/ (accessed: 29 January 2019)
- Lhundup Sopa and David Patt. Steps On The Path To Enlightenment (Wisdom Publications 2004).
- Aryashura, Commentary by Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, Fifty Stanzas on the Spiritual Teacher (Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Second Revised Edition 1992)
- The Great Female Master- Jetsun Lochen Rinpoche, tsemrinpoche.com, [website], https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/great-lamas-masters/the-great-female-master-jetsun-lochen-rinpoche.html (accessed: 29 January 2019)
- Mahasiddha Naropa: The Indomitable Disciple, tsemrinpoche.com, [website], https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/mahasiddha-naropa-the-indomitable-disciple.html (accessed: 29 January 2019)
- Milarepa, tsemrinpoche.com, [website], https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/great-lamas-masters/milarepa.html (accessed: 29 January 2019)
- The Treasury of Lives, treasuryoflives.org, [website], https://treasuryoflives.org/institution/Sekhar-Gutok (accessed: 29 January 2019)
- Diamond Way Buddhism UK Blog, blog.dwbuk.org, [website], https://blog.dwbuk.org/kagyu-lineage/milarepas-tower/ (accessed: 29 January 2019)
For more interesting information:
- Complete Commentary on 50 Verses of Guru Devotion
- Three True Stories you must read!
- The Great Female Master- Jetsun Lochen Rinpoche
- Mahasiddha Naropa: The Indomitable Disciple
- Milarepa
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The guru only cares for our well being, and though he may act wrathful to us, his acts will still be very beneficial now and in the future. I’m not sure about you but I’d rather stub my toe then break a leg, and if that meant a guru scolds us then we should develop humility, patience, and develop wisdom too know that the guru is only trying to help us. Thank you, Your Eminence Tsem Rinpoche and blog team for providing us with this educational blog post.
Interesting first time hearing this….. Buddhist monk hitting people with a broom to purify and clearing one’s obstacles . Different religion and faith have their own way of purifying and blessing. A more usual form of Thai blessing would be sprinkling water on the fore head. A monk who was seen forcefully hitting temple-goers heads with a broom is normal to them. Even though the smacking may look violent, but it didn’t harm anyone recording to the Buddhist monk. I have seen in Chinese temple, one or two occasion that the deity in trance using branches of leaves hitting temple-goers to bless them.
Thank you Rinpoche for this interesting sharing.
This is a very interesting topic which i have heard about and was hoping to read and understand more about it in detail. Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for sharing so many interesting and educational write ups lately. Really helps to perk up my attention a lot. ????
This is an interesting article to read. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing with us the less seen, and the unconventional way a qualified Buddhist teacher might use for the benefits of the students. It is unconventional because we tend to think a monk or a Buddhist teacher should be full of compassion and gentle, they are not fierce or wrathful because they have the nature of a Buddha. But bear in mind, Buddha can manifest as a wrathful Buddha, for examples, Dorje Shugden, Yamantaka, etc.
If Buddha can manifest wrathfulness to benefit people, a qualified Buddhist teacher can too! Just like our parents, when we are young, when we misbehaved, our parents will beat us up so that we remember there are certain things we should not do because they are harmful to us or to others. A Buddhist teacher will not beat the students unless all the other methods used are not effective and what the students do are harmful to themselves and others. It is out of great compassion that the teacher beats the students because other methods are not working to make the students realise they are going in the wrong direction.
When we regard someone as our Buddhist teacher, we should always see him the same as the Buddha. A Buddhist teacher has a greater responsibility than our parents. He has the responsibility to make sure we achieve enlightenment and the responsibility is not for 18 years, this responsibility can be for Aeons. If a Buddha will not harm us, our teacher who is the same as the Buddha will not harm us either. His speech and his action is 100% to benefit us. He has the clairvoyance to know where we are heading to and the method he uses will be the best for us. When we trust our teacher and surrender, we will get the blessings from our teacher and we will see changes.