Kopan Course No. 33 (2000): Audio and Unedited Transcripts, Continued

By Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Kopan Monastery, Nepal. (Archive #1257)

The following are excerpts of the teachings given by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche at the Thirty-third Kopan Meditation Course, held at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in 2000. Included is an oral transmission of the Medicine Buddha mantra and portions of the Diamond Cutter Sutra.

Lectures 6-10 are below; the first five lectures can be found here. You can also read the entire lightly edited transcript here.

Day 8: Shortcomings of Self-Cherishing, Bodhicitta, The Ten Non-Virtues: Stealing, Lying

...problems in job, other people jealous, other people they are jealous of you, and they try to kick you out, sack you out or however, all these things they don't like you. All these things are shortcomings of self-cherishing, caused by self-cherishing thought, basically the same explanation as I explained before, so like this.

Not only, feeling so many relationship problems due to unable to control the desire, unable to control the self-cherishing thought, not only that but whom one trusts or whom one, the companion or friend who you rely on, how you say, with whom you want to live together, want to be harmonious and live together, they change their mind and leave you, they give you up, abandon you. However, all those things as I mentioned already, the other day, are the result of slandering, past negative karma done out of self-cherishing thought, slandering karma, done by yourself, the other person, the friend or companion or whoever leaving you, they give up, split from you, so due to one’s own negative karma of slandering in the past out of self-cherishing thought. So as well as sexual misconduct in past lives done out of self-cherishing thought, became negative karma. All this unhappiness is related to present self-cherishing thought and related to past lives self-cherishing thought who committed those negative karmas. Therefore all those problems we normally experience came from self-cherishing thought, caused by self-cherishing thought. So those normal problems that you always see on TV, that you always hear and oneself also has been experiencing are shortcomings of self-cherishing thought, caused by self-cherishing thought.

So now, even in one day what makes life empty, what makes one's own life empty is by self-cherishing thought. Twenty-four hours our activity, what doesn't allow it to become cause to achieve enlightenment is by ego, because ego is abiding there so therefore no place for bodhicitta, so the altruistic mind to achieve enlightenment, thought of cherishing others no place for that. So 24 hours our activity did not become cause to achieve enlightenment. Like this 24 hours of one's life is wasted, did not become meaningful, became meaningless, did not become cause to achieve enlightenment.

Then not only that 24 hours of our activity did not become the cause to achieve even liberation from samsara because due to self-cherishing thought the attachment to samsaric perfection, the samsaric pleasure, so therefore in the 24 hour activities there is no attitude of renunciation of samsara, the attitude is the desire clinging to samsara happiness. So the 24 hour activities did not become cause to achieve liberation from samsara therefore become meaningless because they do not become cause to achieve liberation from samsara, our activities become meaningless.

So not only that then our 24 hours activity did not become cause to achieve even happiness of future lives, why? Due to self-cherishing thought desire arises, clinging, attachment, clinging to this life, seeking the happiness of this life and so due to that that's the attitude so the 24 hours activity even one try to meditate, one does meditation, chanting mantras and doing meditation, even those things are done, what appears to be dharma, spiritual or making charity, giving things to others which appear to be spiritual good action. However since the attitude is attachment, clinging to this life, so therefore then one's own 24 hours activity even that did not become cause to achieve even the happiness of future lives because it did not become Dharma, 24 hours of activity did not become Dharma because attitude is the worldly dharma nonvirtuous thought the attachment clinging to this life. So like this, therefore 24 hours life become totally empty, meaningless not only that because the attitude of 24 hours activity did not become Dharma because attitude is not Dharma so 24 activities is not Dharma, so nonvirtue, all become nonvirtue. So therefore the ego makes 24 hours our life totally meaningless, empty; not only that but all the actions are nonvirtue, cause of suffering, cause of the lower realms like that.

So therefore, now, the "I", this self-cherishing thought is to be abandoned, to be renounced without delay for even a second. What is called "I", this is to let go forever because cherishing this is opening the door for all the problems, obstacles.

Bodhicitta is the source of all the success, happiness, yours and all other sentient beings. Your bodhicitta brings all the happiness up to enlightenment to you, it completes all your works, ceases all the defilements anger, gross, subtle, and completes the works for others, completes all realisations up to enlightenment. Your bodhicitta, one person's bodhicitta, if you have that it causes all the sentient beings, gives happiness to this life, causes them happiness of all the future lives, causes them liberation, ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara and full enlightenment due to one person’s bodhicitta causes all this happiness towards numberless other sentient beings. The numberless hell beings liberated from all the sufferings, oceans of samsara's suffering and brings to enlightenment. So brings to enlightenment, causing all the happiness. Your bodhicitta causes all the numberless hungry ghosts free them from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment, besides all the happiness. Your bodhicitta liberates numberless animals from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment, causes all the other happiness. Your bodhicitta causes numberless human beings to be free from oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment and all other happiness. Your bodhicitta causes all the numberless suras, asuras to be free from all the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment. Your bodhicitta causes the numberless intermediate state beings to be free from all the suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment.

So normally I say, even just when you think about the animals, number of fish in the ocean, even just one lake, just think of one spot where there is one lake or one river without talking about the ocean just one small place how many fish there are, tiny ones just the fish and we don't talk about other animals, just the fish that type of animal, the fish, uncountable number. So if we think just one place, if you have bodhicitta then you liberated those numberless beings from one lake so many fish you liberate all those from oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment - that is fantastic unbelievable, it is and you think of all the fish in the ocean, all the fish in any universe, liberate them from ocean of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment. How that is just that you don't think of any other sentient being, don't think of any other animal, just the fish, how that is fantastic. If you think of just the ants you liberate numberless ants, even just one mountain ants, that one mountain, living on one mountain or living on one spot, one field how many unbelievable number of ants there on one field, one small area how many there are one spot, rock or something, workers nest, the ants unbelievable, thousands, thousands, thousands so your bodhicitta, if you have bodhicitta liberate them all those oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment how wonderful is that, how incredible is that, what you do with your bodhicitta if you have bodhicitta.

Therefore now you think all the ants living in all the universes not only this continent all the universes you able to liberate from the oceans of samsaric suffering bring them to enlightenment, how wonderful that is how incredible that is. So now here we talk about numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless sura, asura, numberless human beings, numberless sentient beings liberate from oceans of suffering and bring them to enlightenment. Then that is something beyond even when we think just one type of worm unaccountable number just liberate them and bring them to enlightenment incredible. Therefore all their happiness, they get all the happiness up to enlightenment, they get from you, from your bodhicitta. So that is up to you that is your responsibility, all the happiness they get up to enlightenment comes from your bodhicitta, so you are responsible.

To generate bodhicitta, the good heart, how crucial, how urgent it is, immediate, emergency, can't wait, can't delay even one second can't wait, can't delay even one second can't delay to have this bodhicitta realisation. All the numberless sentient beings, their happiness up to enlightenment comes from your bodhicitta, depends, so can't wait. So this bodhicitta is crucial can't wait even for one second, so unbearable that sentient beings are suffering, that they are suffering is unbearable so like that.

So now next thing is that… so, all the happiness comes from bodhicitta, all your happiness all other sentient beings happiness come from bodhicitta. All my past, present, future - all the happiness came from my good karma. My good karma is action of Buddha that is working within the sentient beings’ mind, within my mind. There are two types of action of Buddha: there is one Buddha possess his own mind, Buddha’s mind, then one is within us sentient beings’ mental continuum. So this is action of Buddha, one's own good karma is action of Buddha. Buddha came from bodhisattva, bodhisattva came from bodhicitta, bodhicitta came from the root, great compassion. Bodhicitta came from the root, great compassion. So the great compassion how it happened, that happened…

Now here from this you can understand. So now you see bodhisattva came from bodhicitta. From this explanation you can understand all your happiness and all sentient beings’ happiness came from bodhicitta. So now it’s clear, came from bodhicitta. All the happiness every single comfort that you experience, past, present, future, all the happiness came from bodhicitta.

So now, the bodhicitta came from great compassion and great compassion is generated by depending on the suffering, existing suffering of sentient beings. Great compassion is generated, depend on existing suffering of sentient beings, how it happens is by the kindness of the suffering obscurations of sentient beings.

So now you can see from where - here the point is from where all my past, present, future all the happiness came - from the sentient beings. Sentient beings, so that means every sentient being, not only the friend, you leave out the enemy, not like that. Every - all your past, present, future happiness including enlightenment, realizations - everything you received by kindness of every single obscured suffering sentient being. So that includes also the enemy, person who abused you, person who criticised you, doesn't love you - including that person. So all the past, present and future happiness oneself received, also from this person that you call enemy, who abused you - because compassion, from where bodhicitta came, is generated by depending on the existence of that suffering sentient being. Great compassion has to cover all the sentient beings, compassion that feels unbearable the sentient beings who are obscured by suffering, covers all the sentient beings, wanting to free them from the suffering and causes by oneself. That is great compassion - without leaving any sentient beings, without exception, without leaving out any sentient being.

Therefore all your three times happiness came from this person who also abused you, angry to you, so therefore this person is most kind most precious one in your life. Like that all the rest of the sentient beings; every human being every animal every hell being every sentient being is most precious most kind in one's own life, everyone most kind, most precious in your life, everybody, everyone, including person next to you. Look around here, starting from here most kind most precious one in your life, in one's own life.

So therefore now, in my life, there is nobody to cherish other than the sentient beings except only sentient beings there is nobody for me to cherish except only other sentient beings in my life, there is nobody to work for except only the other sentient beings. I have no purpose to work for except only for others, works other than that are meaningless, no meaning, no sense.

So now what the sentient beings want is happiness, what they do not want is suffering. Therefore, I must free them from all the suffering causes and bring them to enlightenment by myself alone alone. There is no other means to do that except first myself to achieve enlightenment.

Dinner time, looks like beyond dinner time. I think the motivation is for dinner (R confer) oh okay I think not only for dinner, I thought motivation was only for dinner – maybe not quite. Anyway, (gong) (R confer unclear).

“For that reason then I am going to listen teaching lam rim and oral transmission Diamond Cutter Sutra for the benefit of all my kind mother sentient beings.”

The negative karma of stealing which is completed one, which is the base, thought, action, goal, if it is all the four. Then goal as I mentioned before during the present time whenever you think, I've got it, whenever you possess, your mind thinks this is mine, whenever you think that I've got it, whenever you think it's mine at that time stealing is completed that is the goal. For example you borrow book from somebody, you borrowed a long time ago, then you kind of… book was ungiven by other person, so it has to be that. The other person didn't give it up. Then you think now this is mine, I've got it, possessed by yourself. Then that time it becomes stealing, even though before it was borrowed.

However, the completed negative karma of stealing then, the four suffering results one has to experience, ripening aspect result rebirth in the lower realms, hell, animal, hungry ghost realm one of those. Then three suffering results one has to experience later, sometime, when one gets reborn in the human realm. Then the possessed result is that the place where you are born, where you live, the crops, the fruit, those enjoyments very little, very scarce, crops or food, any of the enjoyments are very scarce, very little. Then even before there were plenty, but now very little, they change, that is the possessed result of negative karma of stealing. Or you plant but they don't grow, those things, even they grow but the fruit changed it becomes rotten, inedible. Then lots of obstacles experiencing like those countries Africa, like that, many places having the weather problem, destroys the crops, temperature, some kind of obstacle cold. Anyway that makes, like Solo Kumbhu potatoes, which is main crop in Solo Kumbhu, place where I was born. When this happens something to do with the weather, cold, then say it harms them to develop then too much rain destroy the crops. Then fruits or crops become dry. The fruits become dry, then eaten by, become non existent, can't enjoy, eaten by insects or animals or things like that.

In New Zealand one time when I was there, so much rabbit, unbelievable number of rabbits covered whole mountain or something. So this is due to karma of the people. What the Government, their idea is to kill all these rabbits. So you see, now here, it doesn't change anything in the karma, their karma is their crops eaten by rabbits. That karma which they have created before, killing the rabbits doesn't change the past negative karma, doesn’t purify the past negative karma, they create more by killing the rabbits, creating extra negative karma, which suffering result they have to experience later, either this life or future lives. If they don't want rabbits to eat the crops they have to deal with the past karma, they have to purify that, that is the solution. To not experience animal like that problem they have to purify the karma, but instead of purifying the karma they create extra negative karma to experience different, other sufferings, later.

So due to lack of understanding, lack of education of karma, lack of education, correct understanding of cause of happiness cause of suffering, lack of correct education of that how all those problems are coming from the mind, lack of that. Therefore their solution is only you are creating another problem, so that's it. Then that karma not purified so more rabbits will come continuously to eat and then they keep on killing, thinking that way will solve problem, what they think solving problem, as long as karma is not purified, there will continue to be rabbits, no matter how many they kill.

Then you may think of this question: when did the rabbits start in this world? Rabbits coming to eat crops, that kind of connection to the people, so when did the rabbits start? You see, they had the karma for that to happen, there is the karma to have the rabbits, like that. The people who want to kill the rabbits thinking as a solution to protect the crops, to have your enjoyment, then you ask question, how did the rabbit happen in the first place? What makes the rabbit to happen? That could be interesting question to the people who think this is solution, killing the rabbits, putting that question: do you know how first rabbit started?

If there is karma for rabbit it will happen. Because there was karma for such animals, shape of body, to be born, karma was created so therefore rabbit was born. Therefore killing is not the solution.

So the seeds you plant get eaten by worms, cannot grow, so things like that; or burned by fire or things.

Then experiencing results similar to the cause of stealing then you experience poverty when you are born human being, no means of living or very little, very difficult to earn a living. Even you do have but you have to share with other people, you don't have complete freedom like that.

Also you lose all the time, you lose your things all the time, or your things get stolen by other people. When your things get stolen by others we have to remember immediately at that time, what I am experiencing is the result similar to the cause, it is an experience which is similar to a cause you have created in past times. Doesn't have to be only past life, everything doesn't have to be past life can be this life, childhood time or even can be last year or even few days ago, sometimes can be even same day.

So when your things get stolen by others remember this is one of the results of stealing, karma, the experience which is similar to the previous cause, Tib called (norwa?), experiencing the result similar to the cause. Anyway, this is my own translation.

Then creating the result similar to the cause is after some time even when you born human being you do again the same thing, stealing. Some people even they are punished, even they are put in prison again they do stealing; even that person suffered so much in prison, punished but the person does again, again, because of such heavy karma from past lives, habituation, creating the result similar to the cause. Then...

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