Debate with Rinpoche!
Footage of His Eminence Tsem Rinpoche debating with his students. It is a common practice in the monasteries for monks to debate each other to insure knowledge and complete understanding, as part of Dharma teaching. Watch Rinpoche debate students, with clarity in logic, passion, sharpness and quickness. And ultimately, it is Rinpoche’s compassion in helping the students realize their own shortcomings and how to overcome them.
The hand slapping is to throw the debater off balance, to train them to focus their minds and regardless of the distractions in front of you, be able to answer the question in an accurate and convincing manner. The hand slapping is also to provoke the person answering, for them to become aware of their ego which manifests during the debate (in the form of, for example, the need to win, as opposed to learning). This ego impedes their ability to answer clearly, thus the exercise also trains them to be aware of this and to subdue this. There is great symbolism in the clapping and the pulling back of the hands. The Buddha himself taught 84,000 Dharma to appeal to a vast variety of minds.
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Omg…that’s the wittiest, funniest and very sharp intellectual and intelligent debate by H.E. Rinpoche I’d ever seen.Dear H.E. Rinpoche, how I wish our Parliament ministers can debate with logic and answers like you do. If only they have at least 5% of your debate skills…instead of wishy, washy tai-chi answers…Malaysia would be like Singapore 🙂
This debate/ compassionate teaching is amazing. Sneaky mind that cheats us of our own happiness – the buddha will tame you. I’m glad of the emphasis of guru devotion in the dharma because without this we would be wreckless and disastrous to humanity and ethics- in fact we already are! May I be able to practice guru devtion with an esteemed lama like Rinpoche too. Thank you Pastor Seng Piow for sharing this rare footage. I enjoyed it very much but more importantly I need to tame my mind too.
very cool just like me and jampa do but we do it years apart
we slap hands and exchange beads and words with lots of years
in between discoursce
Dear Rinpoche,
Thanks for sharing this wonderful debate video. Through this debate i not only learn how the debate going on in Monastery. Most important, I have learned that our mind is so tricky and its trick us into our comfort zone. With this in mind, i am always checking am I using the dharma here for my own selfish reason or i am here to learn dharma. Is important to learn up the dharma if we aim to benefit people whom we love and also ourself.
Thank you Rinpoche for always turning the dharma wheel
Love, Freon
Thanks for sharing this wonderful debate, a great learning experience in itself. It asks alot of questions and helps us to examine ourselves deeper to check that we are on the right path. Also, I love this method of teaching as it is not only entertaining, but a sure quick method to help us transform. Thank Rinpoche and Seng Piow.
Dear Rinpoche,
This post was very insightful and interesting to watch and learn from. From what I have watched, I learned that we must not use the dharma for self gain as this will eventually lead to your downfall. We must not favour teachings given to our Guru because it is disrespectful as we are ignoring his other teachings that he/she has given. The reason why we contradict ourselves in debates is because we are letting our ego do the talking instead of being fully honest so if we are to confess something, we have to be honest and humble about it (I hope I’m saying this right… Is this ego talking too?)
all in all, I am glad Rinpoche shared this with us and I will promise to continue reading more posts on your blog.
Thank you.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for posting this! It was truly entertaining and educational for me. I have learnt that we must first change and improve ourselves; our attitude; our mind; our intentions; in order for change and improvement of everything around us. The Lama or Rinpoche can teach us the dharma, but it is up to us to absorb those teachings and to improve ourselves upon hearing (and understanding) those teachings.
And In order to improve ourselves, we must apply the right amount of effort and concentration to be consistent in the development of our improvement. We must not slack off and be lazy. However, we must first fully understand the teachings of what our Guru had taught us so that we may have no obstructions or confusion in our self-improvement. 🙂
I have also learnt that we must not use these teachings for our self-gain; we must always have the intention of improving ourselves for the benefit of other beings. we must understand these teachings and practice it so that we may be able to teach other beings and help them improve as well. So that we may all leave samsara and be one step closer to enlightenment. 🙂
Thank you once again, Rinpoche, for posting this debate.
Your humble student,
Keng Hwa.
I enjoyed and learned much from this video on debate aka monastic style. Particularly how the debater leads the opposing person through simple yet logical questions that leads on to a particular answer. The debater has to know the subject well, think fast, verify the given answer and ask the next question. The Q & A thinking process required quick thinking and deep knowledge. It got me thinking alot more after watching the video.
As I watched the debate and as the question are thrown out, it makes me reflect on myself those question. Great sharing and thank you Guru for the sharing.
Thank you Pastor Seng Piow for the sharing. Debates with Rinpoche blew away our ego. This is no ways to hide our ego.
Thank you for uploading this, Pastor Seng Piow. It is a very interesting clip. Love to watch Rinpoche in debate mode.
Dear Rinpoche.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this video to us. From here, we know and understand the debate is one of the important way to helping student realize their own and how to overcome them. I like this video so much.
This make me thinking a lot. Thinking that I need more and more hard work to learn knowledge in Dharma.
Thank you Rinpoche and Pastor Seng Piow for posting this video.
With Love
Wei ling