Kopan Course No. 43 (2010)

By Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Kopan Monastery, Nepal (Archive #1854)

These teachings were given by Kyabje Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche at the 43rd Kopan Meditation Course, held at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in Dec 2010. The transcripts are lightly edited by Gordon McDougall.

You may download the entire contents of these teachings in a pdf file.

Lecture Eight: December 11, 2010

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THE SIX TYPES OF SUFFERING: NOTHING IS DEFINITE IN SAMSARA
Until we are liberated from samsara we have to continuously experience the six types of sufferings. [The first is that nothing is definite in samsara.] Nothing is definite the relationships; it changes from life to life. Friend, enemy, stranger—there’s nothing definite even within one life, not only changing from life to life but even within one life, even within one year, even within one month it changes. And so in the morning we have a friend but by evening the person becomes an enemy. In the morning he or she was a friend, by the afternoon he or she becomes an enemy or by nighttime he or she becomes enemy, so like that. Or even few hours before friend and then next some hour become enemy, an enemy. The person tells us something that hurts our attachment, that hurts our selfish mind, so he becomes an enemy. He behaves physically or says something or thinks something we don’t like and that person becomes an enemy. We think that person is harming us so he is bad, he is an enemy.

It’s very interesting with family members. Maybe I’ll tell you this first. You might have already heard this but anyway, just to remind you. I think it was Shariputra. He went for alms and he saw a family. The father used to catch fish from the pond behind the house; he caught fish from there and ate them. When the father died he was born as a fish in the pond. Usually with fishermen, people who live off fishing, so many times they will be born as fish and then somebody catches them with the same technique. Then you can’t get out. Even before you die, I mean even before the consciousness leaves the body, you experience the body being cut in half, you experience the same as you did to others. I think that happens many times. All those fishermen experience much of that. I mean, we have all gone through that, being fishermen and catching fish and then being born as fish and then being caught by somebody else. We experience our karmic result of what you did to others in the past. We experience it, those fish that are caught, hooked and with no way to escape. It’s the same.

Anyway, the father was born as a fish in the pond after he died. Then the mother was attached to house and so was born as a dog, the dog of the house. The family’s son had an enemy but the enemy had a physical relationship with the son’s wife. I’m not sure but he was attached to the wife and he died with attachment to the wife. The enemy was killed but he died with attachment to the wife, and so he was born to that family son’s wife. It was enemy actually, but after he was killed, he was born to them, born to the son’s wife; he became their child.

And so the son was carrying his enemy, who had become their child. The mother was eating the father, fish, and the dog, his mother, was chewing the bone of the fish, which was her husband. Then the dog is sitting in the front of the son, waiting for the meat of the fish, her husband, and the son is carrying a stick to hit the dog, to hit his mother, the dog.

Shariputra saw this and said, “Eating the father’s flesh, beating the mother…” I’ve got some words but sometimes maybe different from the text. “Eating the father’s flesh, beating the mother, carrying the enemy that was killed on the lap! I laugh at the samsaric existence.” So, you see, it has totally changed, totally changed. That story is not only about them, not just this family, but about everybody. We all have dogs and cats; we’ve all been farmers who have cared for cows.

I think one time at Solu Khumbu, when I was coming down to Lukla, there was a benefactor we stopped at. The old mother was walking outside as we were leaving. There was a young calf next to her who suddenly got up on its hind legs and put its fore legs on her shoulders from behind as if it was trying to have sex with her. [Rinpoche laughs] That sort of shows it could have been her husband in its previous life still with an imprint of the past relationship. That’s why the calf stood up like that. Like that story, it’s the same for us. We change from one life to another completely like that. That’s the evolution of samsara. The evolution of samsara is very frightening.

Once it changes we don’t see what was before, like the son was unable to recognize his enemy, the incarnation is the enemy who was born to them and so cherished him. And the mother was born as a dog but he couldn’t recognize her and so he beat her with a stick. Then the fish that she was eating, chewing the bones of, was her husband, but she couldn’t recognize this.

When we have a child, we cherish that being, but before, in the previous life as a dog or cat or whatever, we didn’t cherish it; we didn’t think this is ours and if it got sick we weren’t unbelievably worries thinking, “My child is sick.” We weren’t worried and crying and all that.

Before they were born to us, we didn’t do that, we didn’t feel that. Only after they died and then were born to you, then we think, “My child, my this,” with all the constant worry. There’s so much attachment, unbelievable attachment and always worry about, always worry. A mother worries all the time, always talking about it and worrying, about health and education, everything, health, education, then marriage, about her child getting married. [Rinpoche laughs] Or not getting married, not finding a relationship, not getting married, oh such worry! Then after the child gets married there are many more problems, and then there are children, and then there are many problems; life is full of worries even after being married.

Once I met a rich Indian family with some of their friends in Singapore when I was there. The mother asked me, “Please pray for my daughter to get married.” She wanted her daughter to get married very quickly. They couldn’t wait; the mother couldn’t wait, she was so worried. So I said, “It’s better to wait.” So I said, “It’s better to wait and be more careful. Otherwise you’ll end up…Otherwise” I don’t remember the other parts I mentioned her or not. Maybe I didn’t want to frighten her. They never think, they never think there will be problems; they only think of the marriage, waiting for the marriage, and of course the wedding. There are two things here in Nepal, the people blowing those things which are part of the wedding, the wife and husband being carried or sometimes going in a car. So then some people play music, with drums and things. Anyway, that’s for simple people; the rich ones do much more. That’s one time, the wedding. Then what’s the next one?

[Rinpoche speaks to someone in Tibetan]

What I think is that with weddings like this, maybe playing music, that’s one thing. When I hear that, it reminds me the next time [they hire a band] is when they die, when the body carried to the cemetery, and again people play music or something. Not all Nepalese, but some type of Nepalese do that.

In Taiwan, in the early times I went there, when a family member died, they carried the body in a decorated car. I wanted to go the cemetery, but it didn’t happen. At one time, in a building near the road where the car passes on the way to the cemetery, sometimes in the day you hear a person crying. There is a person there crying, but they are hired. You hire the person to cry. So you can hear [Rinpoche makes crying sounds] crying in the car. I wanted to go to the cemetery but it didn’t happen. At the cemetery, the body is buried or burned, then people party; they drink and talk, but there is one person who is hired. She crawls on the ground, like a dog, she goes like this, and she cries. [Rinpoche makes crying sounds] She makes noises like crying. But she is paid, paid to cry. That’s funny! [Rinpoche laughs] I heard about that. The people drink and talk, but they hire one lady to cry; she cries so much, making that noise.

We have a center in Delhi, Delhi Tushita Mahayana Meditation Center. There was one student in Delhi, for many, many years, one family that went to Tushita at that time, Sikhs, Punjabis. The wife died. This is not the same as Taiwan. She died and all the family members, all the relatives came dressed in white. They all kind of sit around, the men on one side of the room and the women on the other side. A relative of Mrs. Singh operated the hotel, I think a part owner of the hotel, so she took us there; we went there together. She sat down with her head bowed. You have to show you are sad because it’s your some sort of relative. Then the husband, I’ve forgotten his name, was sitting next to her near the head; and he keep his head down, not tears coming, I didn’t see tears coming, because when tears come then it’s obviously he’s crying but he kept like this. He made a little bit of noise like, “Hooo hooo hooo” but I didn’t see any tears. Because this is the act of society. It is not that you are sad, but you have to act that, “Oooh.” Then the body was put in the car and taken to the cemetery. The daughter was crying, “Oooh.” The daughter wanted to go in the car but somebody tried to protect her. I was inside the house and the father came through to the kitchen; his face was up. “Oh,” I said, “Don’t worry.” He said, “Oh, Lama, now it’s finished.” He wasn’t sad actually. [Rinpoche laughs]

That’s a different style. This is a different story but I just remembered it. I was talking about Taiwan but I remembered Delhi. In Delhi I went two or three times to a cemetery to watch. I don’t remember if I prayed or not, I don’t remember. It was very, very interesting. For the rich people, the wood was sliced, like a salad, like you slice vegetable or carrots. It was very nice wood, and it burned the body very easily. I think a rich lady died so a rich family came with maybe thirty of forty people. There were many cars and motorbikes. The body was laying down there and they were all standing round. Then they put their knees down and prostrated to the person who died. Maybe they were close family members. The husband of that lady who died was walking round, and I thought that was the most perfect time to talk Dharma because his mind was completely confused with what was happening in his life. Usually a person like that would be completely absorbed in business and about the happiness this life—party, party, party, then business. Life’s totally about that, they never think of death. They’re totally absorbed in business and parties. That’s life. Even while they’re studying university, it’s still the same.

At the cemetery, however, they see a family member dead, and they have no idea of life, they are completely confused. They totally don’t know what to do, they have no idea of death, no idea, no understanding, no education of death, of reincarnation, no idea at all. Normally they never think of death, their minds are totally distracted, completely. Now at the cemetery, they are forced to see the reality of life, what happens but they have no idea what happens after this, after this what happens to the mind, no idea, completely no idea, no idea of life before this, no idea of life after this.

I was just walking around. Because I was standing there, the father asked me, “Are you doing research?” “Are you doing research?” I said I wasn’t but I don’t remember what else I said. “Are you doing research?” Maybe I should have told him I came to do research from Harvard University or something. [Rinpoche laughs] Anyway, he had totally no idea, so it was perfect, the best time to talk about Dharma because at such a time you can see the reality of life. At other times, the mind completely makes its own reasons. This is how it is. So the people were there, like that.

Then there were some very poor people who died. For them, a few people carried the body, bringing it there; those very poor people had to carry the body. The wood was not sliced but big, old wood, that takes a long time to burn. There was a mother from the poor family who was sitting there, she was talking so much about the person who had died, whose body was on the fire, talking so much, talking about how good that person was, something like that. I don’t know whether it was her son or her husband. She must have wanted to go into the fire with the dead person, so people were holding her back.

Anyway, I’m just giving an example, but when you met them, there’s no feeling, nothing, that after the death they’re born to you. It looks almost like they never had a past life and this is just kind of a new thing, a new birth, the first, the very first birth. There is no rebirth, no rebirth, kind of like that, according to hallucinated mind. Anyway, then you cherish, you have the most unbelievable attachment, the grasping mind, unbelievable attachment. As I mentioned before, “my this, my that,” there is unbelievable attachment. Then that person dies and is born as an animal or born as human being, and we meet them but have no feeling. It’s our family before, our son, our husband, our wife, whatever but after they died and become a animal or human being there is no feeling, nothing. Even if they come to the house as a beggar, we can’t recognize them, we can’t recognize them. We might meet them [Rinpoche laughs] but there is no feeling there. It’s very funny, very funny. That’s how samsara arises. It’s completely like that. After that person dies, for months, for months and years we cry, we cry for that person, our child, our son or daughter or husband, our brother or sister but then even though we actually meet that reincarnate, we have no feeling at all. [Rinpoche laughs] Before we cried and cried and cried as if we’re going to die, for months and years. Now even if we meet that loved on, as an animal or human, whatever, we can’t recognize him or her. It’s like this family story totally changes.

Every sentient being has been our own mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife, friend, enemy, stranger, every sentient being has been like that. We have been like this to others and others have been like this to us. For example, I have been like this to you; I have been every relationship to you and in exactly the same way you have been to me. Everybody’s been everything to each other numberless times—not just one time but numberless times, from beginningless rebirths, numberless times: numberless times our father, numberless times our mother, numberless times our brother, numberless times our husband, numberless times our wife, numberless times our enemy, numberless times our friend, a stranger numberless times. So it is kind of very, very, very, very old relationship from beginningless rebirths, a very, very, very, very old family, from beginningless rebirths. That is the first of the six types of suffering, that nothing definite in samsara.

THE SIX TYPES OF SUFFERING: NOTHING GIVES SATISFACTION IN SAMSARA
Then second [of the six types of suffering] is that nothing gives satisfaction in samsara. There is no satisfaction, as the Rolling Stone gave the teaching with his big guitar, “I don’t get no satisfaction.” He gave a very important teaching to the world, to the whole world, through his big guitar.

All the alcoholics, all the people in the world who become alcoholics, do so due to shortcomings of dissatisfaction. They cannot get satisfaction so they drink over and over and over to get satisfaction, over and over then become alcoholic, then they can’t control it. Then destroy the family, they give trouble to all the family members, their life gets into trouble; they cannot do their job.

In places like New York and those cities, there are many people who are beggars. I didn’t ask everybody but many times it looks like those beggars on the street are alcoholics. I think family members maybe do not like them so they are out on the street. They have family but the family members don’t take care for them, so they stay on the street. I’ve asked one or two people. They seems alcoholic. People give them money but they don’t buy food but alcohol. There are maybe many like this. It’s sad. They are sad and the family’s not happy with them. It seems there are many like that.

That is the shortcomings of dissatisfaction. As long as we’re in samsara, there are problems like this. Another great dissatisfaction is we are never satisfied no matter how much we have. If we are making money, we make a hundred dollars’ profit and then we try to make a thousand. When we’re able to get a thousand, we’re not happy until we make ten thousand. If we are able to make ten thousand then we must make one hundred thousand. If we are able to make a hundred thousand then what more are we able to do? Maybe a million. Then if we become a millionaire we want to become a billionaire. And so it goes on like that. As a billionaire, we’re still not happy, not satisfied, we want to become a trillionaire. If we become a trillionaire, we are still not happy and we want to become a zillionaire. Trillion, zillion? Anyway, this goes on like our whole life, with no satisfaction. No satisfaction. Did I mention that one? I am not sure.

Quite a number of years ago there was an article in Time magazine about the most successful person in the world. The cover showed the person’s face. The most successful person, that means the person who made the most money in that year through business. That’s the definition of the most successful person. That person’s life story was inside. Because he had become so rich, he had so much money, he was so scared to leave his house, to go out. He was too scared to go out, scared that people would kill him or kidnap him. And then all his worries, his fears about losing that wealth. He had so much more wealth and so he had so more worry, fear. Then his anxiety because he wanted to become even richer than other rich people. He was very rich but there were other people richer still and he wanted to be the richest person in the world. So there’s always competition, so life goes on like that. The article talked about his own life inside the house which was totally a mess, totally a mess, very uncontrolled, full of worries, of fear about going out.

In London, there was one person who did car business. He became wealthy by doing car business, and then he bought a huge property, a huge building, property. I heard he sleeps in each room on different nights. He doesn’t eat food but he drinks sixty bottle of alcohol, sixty bottles or something a day, a day, something like that anyway. He doesn’t eat food but he drinks. This is the shortcomings of samsara, the dissatisfaction. He couldn’t get any satisfaction, so he became like that. He was so unhappy, so depressed. When he checked back where his suffering came from, he remembered he became rich by doing car business.

Then he asked his bodyguard to buy toy cars. He thought that was the root of his suffering, what made him so unhappy, the car business. So he asked his bodyguard to buy lots of toy cars, and he went outside to the cement circle where birds drink water. He put all the toy cars there and poured kerosene on them and burnt them. He thought that was the solution to remove his suffering, all this unhappiness, worry, fear, depression, all this. He thought all these things came from that, so by burning the toy cars he would be free. [Rinpoche laughs] That’s totally, completely, because he thought cause of happiness is only outside, due to the car business. He never thought his mind, his delusions, caused it. He never realized, never discovered, that. If he had discovered that, if he had though the cause of suffering came from the mind, if he had has to study about the mind, he would have seen [why he was unhappy.]

The Buddha taught true suffering and the true cause of suffering, the Buddha explained it first, instead of the true cessation of suffering and the true path. Then the Buddha explained true cessation first and true path, how to achieve cessation. As far as suffering, he didn’t explain the true cause of suffering first; first he explained suffering itself. After we have studied suffering, then we think about where suffering comes from. Then we question that. Then the Buddha explained the cause of the suffering. After knowing there’s a cause of suffering, then the question comes whether we can cease the suffering, whether we can eliminate the cause. Then that was what Buddha showed with the cessation of the suffering, that we can achieve that. Then we wonder whether it is possible and the Buddha said, yes, there’s a path, a method, a true path. If we discover in our mind, our mind, then we look for the method, like the true path, how we can cease that mind which brings suffering, and then we make our mind only to produce happiness. Not just only this life, the happiness of all the future lives, and liberation from samsara and enlightenment. It’s our mind that liberates us by completing all the realizations of the path, then liberating numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bringing them to full enlightenment. It’s our mind that does that for sentient beings.

Even with the wealth of so many billionaires, so many rich people, famous people, there is dissatisfaction. We never get satisfaction, we always want more and more and more, even though we have enough for many lives, four, five, many lifetimes. We have enough wealth, but we always want more and more, and then we cheat other sentient beings. We kill them and cheat other sentient beings in order to earn more wealth. We cheat other sentient beings by harming others. Like that, we achieve all this wealth and fame, we become famous in the world, then one day somebody gets upset and sues us and throws us in prison. The world is always happening like this. We see this on TV. That is the shortcomings of dissatisfaction. No matter how much samsaric enjoyment we have, we never get satisfaction.

The problem is not practicing contentment. The practice of contentment is Dharma, renunciation, renouncing attachment, renouncing always wanting more and more. Here contentment means renouncing the desire that always wants more and more and there is no end. We renounce all that, so that is Dharma, that’s meditation. We can see this. After becoming so famous and wealthy somebody sues us for our mistakes and we end up in prison. Then life becomes difficult. I saw people cheating like that at different times in the world. It happens.

Due to dissatisfaction, relationships have problems. We spent thousands, tens of thousands, hundred thousands, millions of dollars to find the object of our desire. To be able to live together we spent so much money, and then you think, “If I am able to live with this person, wooow, if I am able to live with this person.” Like that Indian family I told it was better to wait, but they never, never think of the problem that comes after marriage, after the wedding, after all that the problem that comes. People never think of that, never. It’s like there can only be great bliss, only bliss, only bliss, in their whole life only bliss. It’s kind of like that. It’s very funny. People never think of the problems that will come up.

So like that, we spend all that money and we think, “If I can live with this person, wooow, my life will become completely perfect.” We never think of the problems that comes after that, never, we never think of problems. It is amazing. Before living together, it was very nice, very nice, so wonderful, we think that our life looks so perfect, we never think of the problems. Then once it happens, we succeed in living together, as the weeks goes by, the months goes by. In the world, in the West especially, relationships seem to change after one week, after one week it seems to change and lovers become enemies. This happens so many times. [Rinpoche laughs] Slowly, slowly, after living together, then we see the problems. Life becomes more and more boring. As the days go, they become longer and longer, and more and more boring, boring, boring. Or we find that the other person’s mind is so much more selfish, or angry. There are so many negative emotional thoughts and he or she only cares for him- or herself. Then we lose interest, and it’s boring, boring. We become bored with the body as well, not only the mind. Like seeing our partner doing kaka and all the things. [Rinpoche laughs] Why I’m telling you this is because I heard that. Because I heard that through the students. Anyway, we lost interest, we become more and more bored, then after some time, after some time the other person becomes boring.

In the beginning we pray, “In the world, this is the person, wow, who makes my life perfect.” Thinking this will make us most happy, we spend all the money we have, but after some time of being together, sooner or later, we realize this is the person we don’t want to see forever. [Rinpoche laughs] Many times it’s like that. This is the person we don’t want to see forever. Even though we’re not divorced, we’re not separated, we’re still living together but the mind has no interest. We wish the other people to be away, that person to be away from us any minute, wishing, “I want to leave you. When I can be free, when you can leave, this will bring me the unbelievable peace and happiness.” So now it’s totally the opposite. Then after a while that happens.

Sometimes we find somebody else, we find somebody else. [Rinpoche laughs] We find somebody who we think, “Oh, this person, I like this person the most,” or “This person loves me more,” something like that. But then that one living together with us totally become the enemy to our heart, so we pray. Before we prayed to be one with that person, but now we pray to be separate, to never see that person any more in this life. Then we meet another person, and think, “Ah, this will make my life so perfect, only bliss,” something like that, and we spend all our money on this. Again we live together, and again the same problem, and finally we find more and more problems. Sometimes the other person finds our problems, our emotions, our selfish mind boring. We become uninteresting to the other person.

Then we experience another big package of relationship problems. Then that finishes. Then that becomes suffering and we look for somebody else. Our whole life goes on like that, suffering, suffering, suffering, another suffering, another suffering, the same package. All these are the problems of dissatisfaction, the problems of samsara, of being in samsara. Therefore, if we don’t become free from samsara, we have to have all these problems. Also we don’t practice meditation, we don’t know Dharma, we don’t practice compassion, we don’t practice patience, we don’t practice contentment. We can’t free ourselves from the dissatisfied mind, from desire, from the pain-sticking mind. We don’t practice renunciation, contentment or practice compassion; we don’t practice patience, so life becomes suffering, constant suffering.

THE BODHISATTVA’S MOTIVATION
As I mentioned the other day, even we don’t believe in reincarnation, in karma, but if we want happiness, it becomes so unbelievably important to practice Dharma, meditation, compassion, loving kindness, patience, good heart, all these things. If we want happiness. But if we want suffering, if we don’t want happiness, that’s different. We don’t have to practice Dharma then.

A good example is Geshe Lama Konchog. His reincarnation was sitting through there, the small lama. Geshe Lama Konchog’s relics are down there. There were many relics, all different colors. He was here for many years, after Lama Yeshe passed away, teaching the nuns and monks and the Western students meditation, preliminary practice and so forth. He also went to Australia, to Tara Institute [in Melbourne], Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, where he taught lam-rim.

Anyway, one time it was raining hard and he fell down outside the old gompa, I think, the old gompa. Outside there were cement steps and he slipped on the cement and fell very heavily. But the minute he fell down, his mind was so happy, his mind was so happy because he thought he had received my life obstacle. He thought he had received that, so he was so happy, unbelievably happy.

Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche told a story. Today I mention the story of Alak Rinpoche, the lama who was sitting there, who came to Lhasa to see the blessed statue of the Buddha, Buddha, prostrating all the way from Amdo to Lhasa, taking two years, every day doing prostration on the road. I mentioned that. He and another friend, another monk, had a donkey to carry the food, not much food, only a little food, and the things they had, the donkey carried. At one part of Tibet, I don’t know where, it was so cold with snow and ice that they slept outside near the donkeys’ stomach to keep them warm. Then next morning, it was so cold when the donkey shook his head like its ear came off; it became ice. [Rinpoche laughs]

Every day he prostrated from his home in Amdo to Lhasa. By thinking of this statue in Lhasa at the Jokhang temple, with that in his mind he prostrated on the road. Not just doing like this without any thoughts in his mind, but thinking of that Buddha, he prostrated.

Anyway, Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, the great master from whom I received many teachings and initiations, whom Alak Rinpoche served, when Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche was in Dharamsala, the doctor—I think it might have been an Indian doctor—came to check to Rinpoche’s health, and he said that might have cancer. He said he wasn’t a hundred percent sure, maybe just eight percent, but it might be cancer. When he asked Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche what he thought, Rinpoche said, “I am very happy to have cancer.” He told the doctor, “I am very happy to have cancer because this gives me the opportunity to practice bodhicitta, taking all sentient beings’ suffering and its causes.”

I think he did the tong-len meditation, taking and giving—taking all the sentient beings’ suffering and giving [all your realizations, happiness and good qualities.] You take all sentient beings’ suffering on your self-cherishing thought, destroying the self-cherishing thought which interferes with you achieving enlightenment for sentient beings, which interferes with you liberating numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsara, which interferes with you bringing sentient beings to enlightenment, destroying your enemy who make you to suffer in samsara from beginningless rebirths. You take all the sentient beings’ suffering, including cancer and all the cause, karma and delusion, with compassion. Then with loving kindness you take it on your self-cherishing in your heart, and destroy the self-cherishing thought; you burn all the self-cherishing thought. Then you generate loving kindness and give your happiness, merits, everything, three times’ merits and all the happiness up to enlightenment, everything you give to numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghost, numberless animals, human beings, suras, asuras, intermediate stage beings, like that. To everyone, to every sentient being, nobody is left out, no one insect, no one ant, no one ant left out, no matter how small it is.

So anyway, Rinpoche said, “I am very happy to have cancer.” That is what he told doctor. Later there was some other conversation I don’t remember when Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche said to others, “I have been doing this from when I was a small child, this meditation of taking all sentient beings’ suffering, every sentient being’s sufferings and its causes, and giving with great compassion, then giving your all the past, present, future merits and all the result happiness to the numberless sentient beings by generating loving kindness.” He said, “I have been doing this from when I was a small child.” I remembered because I asked before if there was any person who liked suffering and didn’t want happiness. That is one way of saying it.

Of course, generally speaking, with us ordinary beings, there’s nobody who don’t like happiness and there’s nobody who wants suffering. Everyone dislikes suffering; nobody wants suffering. Everybody wants happiness, generally speaking. But here now, that’s why I say unless you like suffering and don’t want happiness, [you can never destroy self-cherishing completely.] That’s one way of saying it. The other way is this. Dharma practitioners whose minds are well-trained in Dharma, with bodhicitta, when they experience suffering, when they experience problems, when somebody complain to them, their minds are so happy, unbelievably happy. For a being whose mind is well trained in bodhicitta, who cherishes sentient beings, who has realized the kindness of sentient beings, how sentient beings are so precious, so precious, he can get unbelievable joy and happiness when he gets cancer or sicknesses or whatever problem.

For example, achieving liberation for yourself, the blissful state of peace, total cessation of the oceans of suffering of hell, hungry ghost, animal, human being, sura, asura and the causes, karma and delusions, the total cessation of all the sufferings and causes, the arhat is so happy to achieve that because the motivation seeking happiness for oneself. For the bodhisattva, even ultimate happiness, everlasting happiness, liberation from samsara, from the oceans of samsaric suffering and cause, for a bodhisattva this is like used toilet paper, used toilet paper. You throw your spit on the road, on the stones, you don’t touch it because it’s bad, so I say it’s like used toilet paper. For the bodhisattva to achieve this liberation for oneself is like used toilet paper. On the other hand, for oneself to be born in hell in order to save sentient beings from suffering is like unbelievable, most unbelievable joy, happiness, unbelievable happiness, joy. It is compared to the swan when it feels hot going into the cool lake and feeling unbelievable joy and happiness.

For example, the bodhisattva captain who was one of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s past lives, the captain sailing a boat or ship, I am not sure, ship, where there were five hundred business people onboard. There was a short black man carrying the spear who wanted to kill all these business people. The bodhisattva captain realized this and felt so sad, because this man was going to kill all these five hundred people on the boat and create unbelievably negative karma—can you imagine?—to be born in the lower realm for eons and eons and eons and suffer. The bodhisattva captain realized this and, to stop this man killing all these people, he totally, completely decided to be born in hell himself in place of this person, by killing him, so that this person doesn’t have to kill all these people and also those people’s lives are saved. By killing this person who was going to create so much unbelievable negative karma, he accepted he himself would go to hell, but would save this person from creating that negative karma. Then this person didn’t have to suffering unimaginable, unimaginable, unimaginable eons in the lower realm, but the bodhisattva captain would suffer in the hell for this person. Then he killed this person, and sacrificed himself completely, he was unbelievably happy to be born in hell for this person. What happened here, though, listen to this, what happened, because that was done with a bodhicitta motivation, the purest motivation, that actually caused him to shorten his time in samsara by one hundred thousand eons. So that meant it was quicker to achieve liberation, it became that much quicker to achieve liberation from samsara from that act. Even though it was killing it was done with bodhicitta, done with total bodhicitta, the pure mind, to suffer in the hell for him. I’m sure there are numberless stories like this, about those bodhisattvas who trained the mind in bodhicitta, who trained mind in lo-jong, thought transformation.

Those who have trained their mind in lo-jong, whatever catastrophe, whatever problem happens, they’re wishing for that and they pray for that, they pray to the protectors, they offer torma to the protectors and they pray to the protectors, “Please give me problems.” They pray like this, to be given problems. Those who have a mind well trained in thought transformation do this to destroy the self-cherishing thought, by experiencing problems for sentient beings. What happens is, your heart sincerely wishes that for the happiness of other sentient beings, but the reality is, what really happens is that makes you collect limitless skies of merits, most unbelievable, unbelievable merits and that makes you to achieve enlightenment in the quickest time. That’s what it does. Of course, your motivation is the happiness of sentient beings, to free sentient beings from suffering.

THE SIX TYPES OF SUFFERING: WE HAVE TO LEAVE THIS BODY AGAIN AND AGAIN
There are so many problems, so much dissatisfaction. If we don’t become free from samsara, we have to experience all this, continuously suffering. The next of the six types of suffering is the shortcomings of having to leave the body again and again, leaving the body again and again. We have taken the body of a butterfly countless times, with those many, many colors. We have done that numberless times. If all the butterfly bodies we have had were collected, there would be no empty space left. Space would be filled completely. Similarly if the numberless female human bodies we have had were collected there would no space left or the numberless male human bodies, whatever color: white, brown, black, whatever—all those we have had numberless times would completely fill empty space.

All these different bodies we have taken numberless times. We have taken a cat’s body numberless times. Those of us who have a pet cat, think how we have taken a cat’s body numberless times; think of all the cats’ bodies we have taken, the different cats’ bodies, cats from Sri Lanka, cats from whichever country, dogs from Lhasa or dogs from Tibet, all the different dogs, dogs with flat noses and long nose, whatever, short tails, long tails, all the different dogs’ bodies we have taken, those dogs which have so many wrinkles on the face, that big dog full of wrinkles, including that, we have taken that numberless times from beginningless rebirths. There wouldn’t be any empty space left if all the bodies were collected. And the same with the human bodies we have taken numberless times, if they were collected there would be no empty space.

We have taken all these different samsaric bodies. There is not one type of samsaric body we haven’t taken, we haven’t experienced, there’s nothing left. Whatever we’ve been so attracted to, we have taken such bodies numberless times: horses, spiders, rats, rats or spiders, rats and spiders, anyway, those animals, those insects that we are so scared of, that we think are so dirty or we’re so scared of, if we see them in the house we get out, or we move to another hotel! If we see lice in the bed, we move to another hotel. [Rinpoche laughs] Anyway, we have been all these awful aspects, those terrifying insects, we have taken those bodies numberless times, and tigers, poisonous snakes, we have taken those bodies numberless times, numberless times and if they had been kept, there wouldn’t be any empty space left.

THE SIX TYPES OF SUFFERING: WE HAVE TO TAKE REBIRTH AGAIN AND AGAIN
That was the shortcomings of having to leave a body again and again. Then the next one is the shortcoming of having to take rebirth again and again, of joining a body again and again. That has two meanings. Lama Tsongkhapa explained in Lam-rim Chen-mo that even if the whole earth was made into pills the size of a juniper berry and each pill represented one mother, then it would still be impossible to count or mother and our mother’s mother, mother’s mother, mother’s mother, mother’s mother, mother’s mother, mother’s mother, father’s father, father’s father, father’s father, father’s not mentioned there, mother mentioned there, but it’s same, mother’s mother, mother’s mother, mother’s mother. Mother’s mother you count even, that mother’s mother you count then put another pill, then that mother’s mother you put another pill. The whole earth’s worth of pills would be finished but still there would be more mother’s mothers, or the same if we were counting father’s fathers.

I thought maybe the idea is this, how it helps for renunciation, to be detached to samsara. This body of ours is sperm from the father, and the egg or blood from the mother, so mother’s mother, mother’s mother, mother’s mother, so mother’s mother, mother’s mother, the egg, blood, there’s a continuation from mother’s mother, to mother’s mother, to that mother’s mother, to that mother’s mother, an unbelievable continuation from all the mother’s mothers. Similarly this sperm comes from the father and his comes from our father’s father’s sperm, and then that father’s father, that father’s father, ooooohhh… This actually becomes like a septic tank, like the poo-poos and everything, poo-poos and pipis and everything in the septic tank, all the smells, all collected together. This is like that. In this way, we can see something like very old junk; like this we can become detached, the mind can be free from the attachment which causes us to be reborn continuously in samsara, and from beginningless rebirths to suffer in samsara.

In another text it’s mentioned about the continuity of this aggregate, this continuity of taking birth, is like the continuity of the sound of the trumpet, blowing trumpet, the trumpet during the puja. Have you seen this? A person blows the trumpet. [Rinpoche laughs] Anyway, the shortcomings of joining again and again, the continuity of these aggregates taking birth, reincarnating, due to the contaminated seed of delusion, caused by karma and delusion, this circles from here to the next life and then next life to another, then the next life, then the next life, then the next life, so the future is like the past. This has been continuation of past lives, then there is the continuation from previous lives, from beginningless rebirths, these aggregates taking birth, reincarnating, and so on like that. So another meaning is that. If we are not liberated from samsara, we have to continuously suffer with birth after birth.

THE SIX TYPES OF SUFFERING: WE GO FOREVER FROM HIGHER AND LOWER IN SAMSARA
After that, the next type of suffering is we go forever from higher to lower, we cannot stay always higher, we cannot stay always as human being. After death then it changes and we take the rebirth according to karma, even as a hell being, a hungry ghost, an animal, or as a deva in the sura realms. We have to change. It’s not always everyone always stays as a human being, from beginningless rebirths all the time we become human beings, it’s not like that.

After achieving the highest deva realm we must fall. There’s the desire realm, the form realm and the formless realm. The formless realm is the highest realm in samsara. The formless realm has four stages, four levels, and the fourth one is the tip of the samsara, so after we are born there, when our karma to be there finishes, then we reincarnate again in the lower realm, as a desire realm deva, a desire realm human being or a hell being and so on. We’ve gone through shamatha meditation, calm abiding, and achieved the form realm and formless realm, those deva realms, numberless times, and in the formless realm we’ve reached the fourth one, the highest one, the tip of samsara. We’ve been born in that realm numberless times through meditation, being detached from desire realm, being detached even from the form realm, being detached even from the three previous formless realms. But because not having realized the tip of samsara is the nature of suffering, we haven’t renounced that. That’s one thing. Then we didn’t have the realization, the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness, and because of that we have to reincarnate again and again continuously. So then numberless times we have been born in those realms through shamatha meditation, calm abiding. So nothing is definite.

So this suffering, going from high to low, shows us how in a previous life maybe we were a king but in this life we become a servant or a beggar. Or even in the same life, you become beggar after being a king, or after being a wealthy person, then becoming a beggar even in the same life. In the world this happens. For example, Tibet totally changed, it went totally upside down after Mainland China took over. So like that example, different conditions cause changes like that.
THE SIX TYPES OF SUFFERING: WE HAVE TO DIE ALONE
Then the last one of the six types of suffering is the shortcoming of having to be born and die alone, to be without a helper. We are born alone; just the bare consciousness comes from the past life to this life, just the bare consciousness. Whatever body we had past life didn’t continue, it didn’t reincarnate, only bare consciousness came into this life. And when we die we die alone and then the body is left in this world and only the bare conscious leaves to go to the next life. It’s like when you pull the hair from butter; the butter doesn’t come, only hair comes.

Then all the negative karma we have collected for ourselves, for our family, for the children, all the negative karma we’ve collected for the family, friends, relatives and so one, once we are reborn in the hell realm, only we have to experience. Nobody comes to share it. No family member comes there, saying “Oh, I will help, I will share your suffering. You have too much suffering. I will share, I will take some.” Nobody comes there, only we have to experience it. It’s like that.

Until we are free from samsara, whichever place we have been is a place of suffering and whoever we’re with, friend or whoever accompanies us, it’s a friend of suffering, whatever enjoyment we have, it’s the enjoyment of suffering. Until we’re free from samsara it’s always like this. Besides the suffering of pain we have to experience, even the suffering of change, all the temporary, samsaric pleasures which are the suffering of change, bring us suffering. That’s why there is no continuing, samsaric pleasure doesn’t increase the like Dharma happiness. Dharma happiness we can continue, we can develop, we can complete, and it’s one time, we only need to make effort one time. Samsaric pleasure, we do again and again, again and again. We have been doing that from beginningless rebirths, any samsaric pleasure, we have been trying that from beginningless rebirths again and again, but the pleasure never continues, it never increases. Those two other sufferings come from the pervasive compounding suffering. For example, these aggregates are pervaded by suffering because they’re under the control of karma and delusion, they came from that, and this contaminated seed of delusion compounds the suffering. The seed of delusion compounds the suffering of the mind, the suffering of the body and compounds our future life’s rebirth’s suffering. So these aggregates are in the nature of pervasive compounding suffering and the two other sufferings come from this. Without this, if we could be free from this, then we would never experience the other two sufferings. Therefore liberation means freedom from this pervasive compounding suffering, from these contaminated aggregates. We have to understand what liberation from samsara exactly means.

Now, how to be free from samsara. I am just going to stop here, I’m not going to talk about the twelve evolution of samsara, the twelve links. I am not going to go through that today. But that’s a very, very important meditation. Still there are a few days, so I must meditate on that, the twelve links, the twelve dependent related limbs.

Therefore, so now the conclusion is we must be free from samsara, we must be free from samsara. To “put it off” until our next life, if we put it off, it is extremely difficult to say what our next rebirth will be. There are only two choices, a higher rebirth, the body of the happy transmigratory being, or a lower rebirth, the body of a suffering transmigratory being. From virtue we achieve the body of the happy transmigratory being and from nonvirtue the body of a suffering transmigratory being.

Even in one hour, even if we are trying to practice Dharma, even in one hour we create mostly nonvirtue. If we check one hour, it’s mostly nonvirtue and then in one day it’s mostly nonvirtue. From the two types of karma it’s mostly nonvirtue. Then one week, one month, one year, from birth it’s mostly nonvirtue. It’s most unbelievable. I think I talked yesterday or the day before yesterday, virtue’s is so small and not powerful, so weak. Negative karma’s powerful. That means rebirth in the lower realms immediately. Of course, we go through the intermediate stage unless we get reborn in then the formless realm, then there’s no intermediate stage. Then there’s negative karma collected from past lives, from beginningless rebirths which we haven’t purified, which we haven’t finished experiencing. There’s so many negative karma like that, like the dust of the earth, like the atoms of this earth on this mental continuum.

Therefore, that means it’s extremely difficult if we put off the practice until future lives, thinking, “I will do this next life.” It’s extremely difficult. To be free from samsara, that is this life. Having received this perfect human body, having met a virtuous friend revealing the unmistaken path to enlightenment and the Buddhadharma, all the conditions have been received, so it’s almost, almost just this once, almost just this once, it’s almost only just this one chance. If we don’t practice Dharma now and free ourselves from samsara this life, then the future is so extremely difficult to say.

Death is definite to happen, and death can happen any day. Any day it can happen, any moment it can happen, therefore we must practice, we must practice right away without delay. Now we must free ourselves from samsara, as the Buddha explained, the cessation of suffering. To achieve that, we need to practice the true path, the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness. There are five paths to achieve liberation which begins with the renunciation of samsara, the total detachment from samsara, by discovering how samsara is only in the nature of suffering, like being in the center of a fire or like that, or being drowned in a septic tank with all the dirty things, most unbearable.

MOTIVATION FOR THE REFUGE CEREMONY
The very beginning, the foundation is refuge, taking refuge. So to be free from samsara we need to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, but we can be saved from being reborn in lower realm even by remembering a mantra, by remembering even the Heart Sutra or something like that, those Dharma text or mantra, even without taking refuge to the Sangha or Buddha, even just a mantra. We don’t get reborn in the lower realms, it saves us. We pray, we remember a member of the Sangha, a monk or nun we have devotion for, we remember that at the time of death, and that saves us; we don’t get reborn in the lower realms. Or we remember the Buddha at the time of death and that saves us from the lower realms, from reincarnating in the lower realms.

Here, to be free from samsara we must, we have to take refuge in the Buddha who founded, who revealed the actual refuge, and the Dharma and the Sangha. We have to take refuge in the actual Dharma like medicine, taking refuge to Buddha like the doctor. Like the doctor gives medicine, the Buddha revealed the Dharma, so we have to rely on that. The actual refuge is Dharma, the Buddha is the founder. Then the Sangha are the helpers to actualize refuge. So we also need to rely on the Sangha.

Not only that, we need to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings, therefore think, “I am going to take refuge,” then those who are taking refuge and the lay vows or the five precepts, if you can’t take all the five, you can take four; if you can’t take four, you can take three; if you can’t take three, you can take two. If you can’t take two, you can take three [Rinpoche laughs] I said, “If you can’t take two, you can take three.” So if you can’t two, you can take one, okay. Anyway, whichever way, you analyze and then do whichever.

The last lay vow is to abandon drinking alcohol. Usually abandoning smoking is not mentioned, it’s just alcohol because alcohol is very dangerous, very, very dangerous. It makes you totally uncontrolled, totally uncontrolled, harmful to yourself, harmful to others, your family and other sentient beings. So it’s very, very harmful. That is why alcohol is mentioned, because it makes you uncontrolled. But then of course, along with alcohol, there is also smoking cigarettes. If it’s possible for you to stop, that’s unbelievably great, so you’re no longer polluting yourself, polluting your body. Smoking makes the mind unclear; it affects the mind and it pollutes your body, it makes your body dirty. It affects your mind to have realizations, makes the body dirty, polluted and it’s difficult to have a clear mind, difficult to have realizations because that substance is an impure substance. There is a whole story, evolution of that. So together if you can stop all those other things, of course, it’s very good. But however, the main precept, the fifth one is not drinking alcohol, which makes you violent, it makes you totally uncontrolled.

There is the story about what happened to a lady. A monk met a lady in the road. She was carrying a goat she’d brought and a clay pot filled with alcohol inside. She told the monk, “You have to do one of three things: either you kill the goat or you drink the alcohol and you have sex with me.” That is what she told the monk. The monk thought, “Oh, the others are difficult, so maybe it’s easy to take the alcohol.” So the monk drank the alcohol, then after drinking the alcohol, he lost control and had sex with her and killed the goat. So it’s like that. [Rinpoche laughs] So, the dangers of alcohol.

REFUGE VOWS
Those who are taking refuge, this is the basis for all the vows, the pratimoksha vows, the bodhisattva vows, the tantric vows. To purify negative karma collected from beginningless rebirths, it depends to having refuge in the heart. Then you collect extensive merit, if you have refuge in the heart, relying on the Buddha Dharma and Sangha in daily life, so many times you collect extensive merit, so amazing. I mentioned this morning, I mentioned this morning already, even if you offer one small flower or one grain of rice to even a picture of the Buddha or statue of the Buddha, no matter how small it is, then the benefit you receive, what you get is happiness, happiness you experienced from beginningless rebirths up to now, that much to be experienced, for you to experience that much happiness in the future, so that is most amazing, most amazing, most amazing, most amazing. It doesn’t stop there. On top of that you achieve ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara, everlasting happiness, the total complete cessation of all suffering and the causes.

Not only that, it doesn’t stop there. On top of that you achieve full enlightenment, peerless happiness, full enlightenment, the cessation of subtle defilements and the completion of all the qualities, you achieve that for sentient beings. Now the benefit doesn’t stop there, that offering you made of one single grain of rice or one tiny flower to a picture of the Buddha or a statue or a stupa or a scripture of the Buddha, the benefit you get still doesn’t stop there. After that then you liberate numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and causes; after that, then you bring numberless sentient beings to full enlightenment. When every sentient being has been brought to enlightenment and there is no sentient being left, when everyone is brought to enlightenment, only at that time then the benefit of your offering one single grain of rice or one tiny flower to a stupa, to a statue, to a scripture or a picture of the Buddha, no matter how small it is, only then will the benefit you receive be complete. Only when every single sentient being has been brought to enlightenment. Then there is another quotation, but I think it might be too late now. If you are able to listen, some people, then it’s so important to understand these things. You can see, when you hear about karma, the benefits of offering, it’s most amazing, you can’t imagine the benefit you get from a tiny offering.

It’s also mentioned in a sutra, The Sutra of the Mudra of Developing the Power of Devotion, it’s mentioned by the Buddha that somebody can make an offering every day of a hundred divine fruits, meaning nectar, and a hundred divine dresses, meaning something unbelievably precious. Even all the human wealth of this world is nothing compared to even one ornament, a necklace or something of the devas and the suras, asuras, all this human wealth is not enough to pay for one necklace. So the dress means a deva’s dress; it means something unbelievably precious. We can understand from that it’s unbelievably precious. So anyway, a hundred deva’s fruit, deva’s nectar, if every day you offer like that for how long? A hundred eons. And you offer to a solitary realizer, an arhat who are free from samsara. And how many? Equaling the number of the sand grains, sand grains or atoms? I don’t remember, the atoms of the Pacific Ocean, that many arhats, realized arhats, the atoms of the Pacific Ocean, the atoms of universe, I think, the dust or sand grains equaling the sand grains of the universe that many arhats, oh can you imagine? With your hand you take dust, each sand grain like this, just one with one hand, how many dust there is, can you imagine? So arhats equaling the number of these sand grains here, you make offering every day, you make offering of the deva’s dress and the fruit, meaning nectar and precious dress. Arhats equaling the number of the atoms, sand grains that you have in the hand, there is so many, can you imagine? Oh so many, unbelievable. Now can you imagine the sand grains of where your house is, all the sand grains, so that many number of arhats you offer, phew, what a merit! Then one country, one whole country, then the entire world, so how many sand grains this entire world has, imagine the merits. Now here it says, the sand grains of the universe, that many arhats you make offering to of the deva’s fruit, the deva’s nectar, and deva’s dress, a hundred fruit, a hundred dresses every day for hundreds of eons.

Now, somebody merely seeing a statue of the Buddha, a stupa, a scripture, a painting of the Buddha, somebody merely seeing that, not talking about a Buddhist, a believer or non-believer, any sentient being, the minute they see a painting of the Buddha, a drawing of the Buddha, a statue, how much merit that person collects is numberless great merit, numberless great merit is collected the minute somebody sees the Buddha’s holy painting or statue.

All those are previous merits, somebody offering one hundred divine devas' fruit and dresses, every day for a hundred eons to arhats, solitary realizers—how many?—equaling the number of the sand grains of the universe. All this—can you imagine?—the amazing merit, but compared to this somebody merely seeing the holy body of the Buddha, a statue or a painting, this numberless great merit, one collects. The other one becomes small, because this is unbelievable so other one become small. Even greater is somebody making light offerings or incense offerings, flower offerings, and so forth to the painting or statue of Buddha, here collects greater numberless merit than seeing Buddha’s holy body, painting or statue, so that becomes small. Here making offering creates more numberless great merit than before. I just want to tell you this, then for you to understand how this is the offering, making those offerings to the arhats, unbelievable merit. In the past, somebody who had nothing offered medicinal food to four monks, they are not arhats, just ordinary monks, just one time. The person died and was reborn in India as a king. That poor person died and was born in India as the most powerful, most powerful wealthy king, he was born the next life. The cause is just giving medicinal food to four monks, and not even arhat, not even bodhisattvas. Can you imagine? The cause, the merit is just that. The result is—can you imagine?—becoming the most wealthy, powerful king. This gives you some idea to understand the hundred offerings of food and dress to the arhats, everyday like that for a hundred eons to the solitary realizer, arhats equaling number of sand grains of the universe. That example gives you kind of some idea how this, wooow, is so unbelievable. If you have refuge, immediately you collect extensive merits, just like that.

After you have taken refuge, whatever you eat, drink, first you offer, first you offer to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, even candy or a piece of chocolate, tea or whatever you eat or drink. Before you eat and drink, first offer to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, then you take that as blessing. We eat every day, we eat and drink so many times, so can you imagine? Can you imagine? Here please listen here, the merits wow, how much you collect, how much you collect. So the person who eats a lot every day, that person eats so many times, eating chocolate, so many times drinking coffee, drinking milkshakes or whatever, so many times eating, when that person does refuge practice, taking refuge, then offer refuge vows, precepts, make offering, then that person, wow, just one time offering is like that. Now so many times one day—can you imagine? Wow, wow—most unbelievable. If you have refuge in the heart you don’t get harmed by spirits or human beings. There are many stories. Because you rely upon the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha who has unconceivable powers, qualities, you rely upon them and also you do unbelievable purification, all the time destroying defilements and collecting unbelievable, extensive merit. All your wishes get fulfilled, all your wishes get fulfilled, and you quickly become enlightened if you have refuge in the heart.

So please, those who are taking refuge, please stand up. Then make three prostrations to the statue of the Buddha, just from where you are, prostrate by thinking of the Buddha, that real living Buddha, by thinking that, make three prostrations, and then after that make three prostrations to me, the Lama who gives refuge. Thank you.

After that, please kneel down like when you take eight Mahayana precepts, those who can kneel down. Those who can’t kneel down, then comfortably sit.

[Refuge ceremony]

So please repeat.

The repetition is not for those who have taken this refuge vow, the precept. Those who cannot take any precept, then you still can take refuge, only the refuge vow, which is call only refuge upasaka vow. You can take that, those who can’t take any precepts. But those who can take even one, then that’s unbelievable good, wise, okay, because now with this human body, this perfect human body is the time to do that, while we have this perfect human body, it is time to what’s best in the life, to do that, while we have this perfect human body. We are not sure how long we will live; death can happen any day, at any moment. So to do the best in the life, okay. That is the conclusion, to not cheat ourselves, to not deceive ourselves. So please repeat. Then da means “yourself.” You have to mention your name. Da. Then you mention your name.

[Refuge ceremony]

I started to say, but I didn’t complete. Sorry. Those who have taken a higher vow should not take the upasaka vow, only refuge upasaka vow, but cannot take than lower vows. If you do that it is said it makes to lose your higher vow. Like the ordained monks, nuns like that.

[Refuge ceremony]

“From now on, until the death, the supreme among those who have two legs,” meaning among the human beings, “from the highest, I go for refuge to the Buddha.” You rely on Buddha a hundred thousand times more than you rely on doctors, physicians, you even can recover sicknesses but only temporally, so here is to cease completely all the suffering and causes, delusion and karma.

[Refuge ceremony]

Think of the meaning of the sangye, which is “eliminated all the defilements, all the mistakes of the mind and completed all the qualities of realization, so there’s nothing missing,” in other words, the Buddha. So totally rely on that.

Now the next one, what it is saying is the supreme one, devoid of attachment, that’s Dharma. So think the ultimate Dharma is the cessation of the defilements, the cessation of the defilements and cessation of the sufferings, that and the true path, wisdom directly perceiving emptiness. Going for refuge to the Dharma, you should remember that. There is the ultimate Dharma, and the Dharma for the all-obscuring mind, which is true to that. So the scriptures, the Tripitaka, taking refuge is the same. The Buddha has also absolute Buddha and the Buddha for the all-obscuring mind. That is the rupakaya, that manifest in holy form. The Sangha has also absolute Sangha and the Sangha which appears to the all-obscuring mind, which true for that. The absolute Sangha is one who has the realization, the cessation of suffering or the true path, the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness. It doesn’t have to be an ordained person, it can be a lay person. Anyone who has that is absolute Sangha. It can be a lay person but somebody who has those realizations, they are absolute Dharma. The Sangha for the all-obscuring mind refers to one who is a fully-ordained monk or nun but who don’t have the realization of absolute Dharma. That is the Sangha for the all obscuring mind.

[Refuge ceremony]

“Devotion to the Dharma is a thousand times stronger than the medicine which cures sickness, but only temporally.” The next one is the Sangha

[Refuge ceremony]

“To the Supreme or sublime,” sublime means those who are intending virtue, “I go for refuge. Gen dun means “intending virtue,” and that virtue is liberation, seeking liberation, that virtue is related to the seeking liberation, so intending, wishing to achieve the liberation.

[Refuge ceremony]

So please repeat two more times.

Da means please mention your name.

Going for refuge to the Buddha. Now next, the Dharma.

Da. I already have told this before.

Now here you think whichever number of vows you are taking, so upasaka, one vow, two vows, three vows, four vows, five vows, you are taking that. Okay?

So, request the Lopin, the precept master to guide you. Please repeat the third time. Maybe repeat again two times. Please mention your name.

The Buddha, now the Dharma and Sangha.

So please repeat the third time. Then after the third repetition I become your lopin, the master, the leader leading the disciple in the path to liberation. Lopin means that.

Please mention your name.

[Refuge ceremony]

Then before I die, I am going to take these vows. “Those who are taking vows.” Those who are taking only refuge, then only refuge upasaka vow, okay?

When I say loudly [Tibetan], loudly the third time then you must generate thought that you have received the vow, if you are taking only refuge upasaka, only the refuge vow. But if you are taking any number of the precepts, upasaka, one vow, two vows, three vows, four vows, like that, make sure of that one, you must think that then you have received them. If you don’t think that, you don’t receive them.

For the last past of the repetition of the precepts, what you do is this. His Holiness Dalai Lama did this in France because there was no time. Instead of repeating, he asked the audience or the students to decide which number of vows they were going to keep so I’m following that example. The arhats kept these as precepts and that helped them to be free from samsara, to achieve liberation, so I am going to take such-and-such a precept, thinking of the arhat. That is sufficient.

After that, then think, I say [Tibetan]. Very good, okay. So, you’ve learn a Tibetan word.
Then do three prostrations to the Lama who gave the refuge upasaka vow, only the refuge upasaka vow, or the upasaka and whichever number of precepts you have taken.

If you make a prayer then dedicate the merits and make the prayer, it’s extremely powerful, just now you have taken upasaka. Either only refuge vow or upasaka five vows or whatever number of vows you have taken, so your prayer has so much power. So put your palms together like this.

DEDICATION
Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, the three times’ merits collected by numberless sentient beings and buddhas, may I able to complete the paramita of morality by keeping it without mistake, keeping it pure without pride. Think that.

[Chanting]

Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, the three times’ merits collected by numberless buddhas, bodhisattvas and sentient beings, may bodhicitta be actualized in my heart, in the hearts of my own family members, in the hearts of all the sentient beings, and in the hearts of all the leaders, especially leaders of the world, especially leaders in mainland China and populations in all those many other countries who have unbelievable suffering, in those people’s mind and also the leaders. Then the third, all the people who follow different religions, may bodhicitta to be actualized in all their hearts without delay even a second. Then may this world be filled with the perfect peace and happiness, may everybody live their life only benefiting each other, giving no harm, anything whatever they do may it become only cause of enlightenment, happiness to all sentient beings.

[Chanting]

Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, the three times’ merits collected by numberless sentient beings and buddhas, okay, that’s it, [Rinpoche laughs] the three times’ merits collected by numberless sentient beings and buddhas. This prayer is very important, to be able to learn the complete teaching of the Buddha, unmistaken, unified with sutra and tantra, the Lama Tsongkhapa teaching. Think, “May in all the lifetimes Lama Tsongkhapa being Mahayana direct guru to myself.” You can also think of your family and friends, and everybody in this world. You can think of that, and then never be separated away from the pure path which is admired by all the buddhas, so that means actualized the complete path that Lama Tsongkhapa actualized.

[Chanting]

Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, the three times’ merits collected by numberless sentient beings and buddhas, that which is merely labeled by the mind, may the I who is merely labeled by the mind, achieve Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment which is also merely labeled by mind, and lead all the sentient beings who are also merely labeled by mind to that Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment, which is also merely labeled by the mind, by myself who is also merely labeled by mind.

I dedicate all the merits to be able to follow holy extensive deeds as Samantabhadra, Manjugosha, as they realized, I dedicate all the merits in the same way as the three times’ buddhas have dedicated their merits. Think that.

Yeah, that’s it, okay.

REFUGE IN THE BUDDHA: WHAT TO PRACTICE AND AVOID
So those who are taking Vajrasattva, so the Vajrasattva initiation, maybe it is good to have, maybe want to take a little break outside to get some fresh air.

There needs to be preparation from the lama’s side, self-generation and front-generation. From the side of the disciple, there is preparation like cleaning the mouth, water cleaning.

I forgot something. This book has explained details, other information, other advice. This book is very, very useful to read about refuge. With refuge, there are three things to be abandoned and three things to be practiced. Then there are seven or eight advices that it’s important to follow in everyday life. As mentioned before, just having taken refuge, taking refuge in mind every day you collect unbelievable, most unbelievable merit and purification. By these practices, you’re able to achieve enlightenment quickly.

By taking refuge in the Buddha what you should abandon is following the wrong guide, following the wrong guide. It’s like you have been receiving treatment from a very qualified doctor but at the same time you follow a unqualified doctor. The right doctor who is giving correct medicine knows exactly what your sickness is, but the wrong doctor who doesn’t know gives you the wrong diagnosis, and that interferes with you receiving the correct treatment from the right doctor. This is a very clear example. When you are following the Buddha, right founder, then following a wrong teacher interferes with that.

For example, devotion to the Buddha protects your karma. Following what the Buddha said, his advice: to abandon the cause of suffering, negative karma and then create the cause of happiness, virtue, practicing good karma. Then a wrong founder teaches you following karma doesn’t matter. This is an example, this is not the only thing, this is an idea. Say, he tells you to sacrifice an animal or something, to make an offering of a sacrifice. That is totally the opposite of the Buddha’s teaching. That is just one idea but there are others that are against the Buddha’s advice to not harm other sentient beings. That is the Dharma practice we should do, to not harm. On top of that we should benefit other sentient beings. That is the Buddha’s advice. To not harm others and benefit other sentient beings, these two advices, that includes the whole entire teaching of the Buddha. Kadampa Geshe Chekawa said included in this two teachings, don’t give harm to others [and benefit others], there are the Hinayana teaching, the means to stop giving harm others, and the Mahayana paramitayana teaching, the secret mantra Vajrayana teaching, which go into how to benefit others, the Buddha’s second advice. The Mahayana paramitana teaching, the Mahayana sutra teaching, and the Vajrayana teaching, these are included in the second advice, benefiting others.

For example, the lam-rim integrates these two pieces of advice in the three levels. The graduated path of the lower capable being goes into the advice not to harm others. The graduated path of the middle capable being also goes into not harming others. Then the graduated path of the higher capable being is about benefiting others. So the whole entire Buddha’s teaching goes into not harming others and benefiting others.

So you see, if you follow a wrong founder, it is not like that. It is the opposite to that. The Buddha cannot guide you. For example, if you take the wrong medicine of others, then the right doctor cannot help you. That is the same. That is why these precepts are for your benefit, for our own benefit. Giving advice for our own benefit, guidance for our own benefit. This is advice what to abandon, by practicing taking refuge in the Buddha.

What you should practice is this. [You should respect any holy object.] Even a statue of the Buddha, where the artwork is very ugly, the art is done very badly, you can’t throw it away in the garbage. You have to think this is really the Buddha, you are looking at the Buddha, seeing the Buddha. Even a broken statue, or pieces of a painting of the Buddha, you can’t throw them away, you have to think this is the real Buddha. Even a broken statue, you can’t throw it away. If you throw away like that, it doesn’t harm the Buddha but it is opposite to your mind. Then, it’s very difficult to have realizations, to actualize, to develop compassion, loving kindness and bodhicitta, the root of the enlightened being, to realize emptiness, it becomes very difficult. Then, the whole path to enlightenment is blocked. Even if you can’t fix the statue, you should put it in a high place, put it in a high place.

REFUGE IN THE DHARMA: WHAT TO PRACTICE AND AVOID
By taking refuge in the Dharma, what you should abandon is not following the wrong path, the wrong teachings. So, it’s basically the same, not harming others. To not harm sentient beings by taking refuge in the Dharma, the precept to do that, to not harm.

Then, by taking refuge in the Dharma, what you should practice is respect the Dharma, the written texts, even torn or incomplete pages of Dharma books, even just a few lines. A missed-out text, a misprint or whatever, even a torn page, you can’t throw in the garbage, just drop it somewhere. You can’t do that; that is disrespectful to the holy object, the Dharma. That is very bad. It obscures your mind, not only the lower realm, it obscures your mind to realizations, to understanding the Dharma.

For example, when a lama gives teaching, it becomes very difficult to understand, very difficult to absorb all the words. Even if you don’t fall asleep it becomes very difficult, you cannot catch the words, your mind becomes very fixed, very obscured. It’s very difficult to understand Dharma. Even though the lama is speaking slowly, you still can’t understand. You find it difficult to understand the meaning, the words. Even if you read the text, it’s difficult to understand.

This happens because you have been disrespectful, careless with a Dharma text. And then one thing very important to understand with the Dharma, you can’t put it on your cushion. Some people know but many people don’t know. This is what happen at centers. On the cushion or chair where you sit, you put Dharma books, prayer books. Even the text inside the cover you still can’t do like that, this is disrespectful. If there is no table to put them on, you should pass them to a person who is passing to put on a table. If you can’t do that, then place them off the floor by placing them on something like your folded coat, but not anything dirty. You can’t put a Dharma text on the floor, that is very disrespectful. And you can’t put your mala or even a statue on the text.

One time after Lama passed away in United States we went to see His Holiness Dalai Lama in Dharamsala to get his advice. There were certain students there including some Italian students who showed him a Dharma brochure and then put a stupa on top of it to hold it down. His Holiness saw it and quickly took it away, he moved the stupa. You can’t even put a statue on a Dharma text.

When you have an altar, you put statue there and the scripture first. The Buddha achieved enlightenment from studying the Dharma. You put the text up there, then the statue go like that. The other one is to put the statue in the center and the Dharma text on the sides, you don’t put it at the ends. Generally, the scripture should be above the statue. And it’s very important you can’t put malas or your glasses on a Dharma text. That is very disrespectful. It obscures your mind, you must know that. And you can’t carry a Dharma text with your cushion together, or with your shoes. Say, you take your shoes off to go into the gompa and then you hold your shoes and the Dharma text in the same hand. Or the text and a cushion. That is very important.

ST FRANCIS
I am happy because I saw this book, remembering it. I forgot to explain those things. In the book, there are other bits of advices that are very important. On the back of the book there’s St Francis, that real bodhisattva. You can have it inside at the altar, the real bodhisattva. Even though the name is a Christian one. How he lived his life, what affects the world, that is a real bodhisattva, even though he chanted the name of Jesus Christ with his disciples, his life was exactly like the Kadampa geshes’. He wore rags from the garbage. There were many meditators like that. He wore very rough dress, very rough material inside next to his skin, as a sort of renunciation of comfort.

Even Italy, or Spain, huh? I forgot the name. You come around the mountain, and you see the monastery; it’s very nice. When you come this way and see the monastery, it is like monasteries in Tibet. A very big, huge building. Outside there was one man, a priest with a long white beard, a very long white beard, then we went inside and met the abbot, abbot or? I don’t know. I don’t know the name of that church, don’t know the name of that monastery. On the wall was the dress of St Francis, very simple, hanging on the wall in the room. It was a very rough one that he wore, but they were very happy, the abbot, the head was very happy when he saw us. Lama Yeshe was there.

When they die they bury the body inside the monastery. There were four monks who died, and they buried the bodies inside this garden, then they had the biggest party. When a monk died they had biggest party, the most extensive food, the biggest party, because they were happy that monk had gone to heaven. That’s why they had the biggest party when a monk died. The monks can’t get out, they just stay in the monastery. I think probably it’s not only Benedictine orders that do this, there are some others, not many but I think maybe there are two or three like that where the monks can’t go out. For many years they just have to live in their room, just going out for a walk or for pipi.

This was long time ago, but then in recent times, in Lama Yeshe’s time, they changed the, they changed the rules and the monks could go out, the monks could go out and walk up to certain time but they couldn’t go far. When we were there we did prayers. There were one monk, it seems his mother maybe had some problem. He had a very serious face, walking up and down. There is Jesus photo, not that monastery but near, in Italy, near Lama Tsongkhapa Institute. There is a place, I don’t know the name, where St Francis’ body is, near Assisi, whereas St Francis body is. But you can’t see the body but where they put it, Lama Yeshe sat down and meditated.

On the next level there is a nunnery founded by his disciple, a nun who had three hundred nuns under her. This nun had very tall body. Everybody can see her body, laid down, covered by glass. I am not sure, it was probably around hundred years ago, so they’ve kept the body quite good. St Francis was either a Kadampa geshe or a bodhisattva, because he liked to be criticized by other people; he didn’t like to be praised by others, like the Kadampa geshes. This was what he wanted. He asked his disciple to criticize him, but his disciple couldn’t at all, he could only say good things. He couldn’t think of any bad things to say to criticize him. At that place there was water coming, so the disciples couldn’t meditate. They complained to him about the water, and he went and said to the water, “Sister,” he called the water “sister”; “Sister, please stop, the monks can’t meditate.” Then the water stopped but then they said, if water comes it looks like it’s very bad for the country.

Wherever he was, pigeons, birds, came to sit on his body, due to his good heart, due to the warm heart. He was a bodhisattva, so the animals totally trusted him. You see statues showing pigeons sitting around him. There was a wolf in the forest that harmed many people, so they told St Francis not to walk in the forest. When he said he would go and talk to the wolf, the people told him not to go but he insisted. He went and met the wolf, and the wolf started to lick his feet, like a dog who sees his master. He was so gentle. Then St Francis told him not to harm others and the wolf stopped harming others. Then St Francis said he would beg for and give it to the wolf so he wouldn’t have to harm others.

There are stories about bodhisattvas who, when they cross a river, the water immediately stops, and after finishing crossing the water comes back. That is quite a common story about bodhisattvas. They said the same thing here about St Francis. I have a few statues of him here. A picture of Jesus spoke to St Francis.

On the back of the refuge card there are his ten pieces of advice. I took it from there. I think that because he has such pure mind, a holy mind, with bodhicitta, only cherishing sentient beings, my guess is the Buddha through Jesus spoke to him. In Buddhism there are many stories of great meditators, great yogis, who have statues speak to them. And buddhas appear in rocks. Tara appears in rocks, the Buddha appears, they talk to those great yogis. St Francis, with his pure mind, was a yogi, a bodhisattva. It’s quite common, you can see many things like this, in holy places, in monasteries or hermitages, in Tibet, in Nepal. So I think because his pure mind the Buddha spoke to him through the Jesus picture.

Anyway, only the last work has something different. I’ve had to change it a little, otherwise you’d have a problem. There might be some confusion

REFUGE IN THE DHARMA (BACK TO)
Anyway, by taking refuge in the Dharma, you should stop giving harm to other sentient beings. What you should practice is studying the Dharma texts and respecting them, even ones with pages missing, even one syllable. For example, if a Tibetan meditator sees one syllable in the garbage or on the road, he picks it up and put it here [on the crown] thinking it’s the actual Dharma, revealing the path to liberation and enlightenment. Even if you see a single Tibetan letter on the road, pick it up, put it on your crown and think it is actual Dharma, liberating sentient beings from samsara. Then put it in high place. But English words you see everywhere, under the shoes, in the road, everywhere, it’s difficult. But during a teaching in Darjeeling His Holiness Ling Rinpoche, the Dalai Lama’s guru, said you shouldn’t use newspapers for toilet paper. When you go to the toilet and use newspaper, that’s not right, because Rinpoche said we should also respect the English language. Don’t use a newspaper to cover the table. A newspaper means not only Tibetan script, it also means the English language, but it’s a bit difficult, because you see English all over, on the road, everywhere.

With a Tibetan text like this, we should offer expensive cloth, wrap it in it, like a dress, like clothing a statue represents offering robes, divine dress to the Buddha, the deities. Like that, offering to the scripture, offer a nice cloth, good, not dirty. In Nepal, Tibet, normally I try to buy very good cloth for offering. By offering this soft, light cloth, it increases faith and we can achieve vajra holy speech. Each family who does this offering collects unbelievable merit, so it is very good. And with a thangka painting, you should have brocade around. That is like offering robes, offering the divine dress to the Buddha’s painting. Normally you see brocade around a thangka, a painting of the Buddha.

REFUGE IN THE SANGHA: WHAT TO PRACTICE AND AVOID
By taking refuge in the Sangha, what you should abandon is following both the wrong guide and following the wrong path. But now here, the wrong guide. By following the wrong guide, it becomes an obstacle to practicing Dharma, to follow the right path, to follow the Sangha. The example is same as before.

The Sangha guide you: a wrong guide is the opposite to that, so you don’t follow him. This is very important, very important. Not thinking much about this, just doing the basic practices, you can do something for some time but then you meet somebody and you decide to follow that person, thinking it is better. You don’t really analyze, seeing what is really helpful. Remember this, the more Dharma you learn, the more Buddhism you learn, the more wisdom you have to discriminate, to be able to discriminate what is harmful and needs to be abandoned and what is beneficial and should be practiced. You are able to develop more wisdom, to be able to discriminate bad and good, harmful or beneficial. You have the wisdom to judge, to discover. Without learning Buddhism then it is very difficult to discern what is bad, what is good, what is harmful, what is right. It is very important to understand that point. There is so much to learn, such as karma, for example. What is harmful, what is beneficial.

It is most unbelievably important to learn, to know these things, otherwise how can your life become better? How can your life be beneficial for other sentient beings, causing them happiness, especially the happiness all the future lives then liberation from samsara, and then especially enlightenment? How can you do that? There’s no way. You have to understand what is harmful and what is beneficial, and abandon what is harmful and practice what is beneficial. The more you learn Buddhism the more wisdom you develop, then you are able to see this. Without that there is no way, and you can easily follow the wrong guide.

Many people do that, they follow Buddhism and then, after some time they change their mind. Sooner or later they meet somebody else or they feel this method is better. Like eating food, it’s like you go different restaurant and, you decide this is better. Where you dedicate your life, if it is wrong, if it is harmful, it’s an unbelievable waste of your life, an unbelievable waste of your most precious human body, waste and harmful. Not only wasteful but harmful to you and to other sentient beings from life to life. Whatever you do continues into the next life, it continues into the next life and then you harm to yourself and you harm others, from life to life, like that, karma, karma. Therefore, in this life you really have be most careful, to do the best. You must collect the best karma otherwise it destroys all your future lives, and the same thing happens over and over. You believe the same thing because of past habit, you believe the wrong way, you believe the wrong path is the best, because of past imprints. So whatever you do in this life, it has to be most helpful. You must check first before you put your life there, before you throw your life there, must check everything to see it’s really beneficial, that it helps sentient beings, and then dedicate your life.

This is how to develop this wisdom. The more you learn Buddhism, more you can develop this. This is telling the truth. What you should do is practice cherishing the Sangha. If you see any person in Buddhist robes, yellow robes, white robes, red robes or blue robes, like the Chinese, any Sangha person, any Buddhist monk or nun—it doesn’t have to be a Tibetan monk—any member of the Sangha you see on the road, any monk or nun, it’s all the same. You should think, “This is a Sangha member who guides me from samsara, and brings me to enlightenment.” Then you respect this person because he or she is Sangha, even though other people might criticize this Sangha.

We really can’t tell who is a buddha and who is not a buddha. What appears to us as a mistake might not necessarily be a mistake. I’ve mentioned this in subjects like guru devotion, but anyway, we are ordinary beings, we have ordinary minds, impure minds. There are many buddhas that we don’t see as buddhas, we see as ordinary beings. These are projections of our ordinary mind, our delusions, having sicknesses. They are really buddhas but we can’t see them as such. There are many like this.

I mentioned the butcher at the Potala, who sold meat but actually was Red Yamantaka, the wrathful deity, the enlightened being, and how he cut the frog and liberated the consciousness into the pure land. Buddhas can manifest as anything to benefit us, and anywhere, at a butcher’s shop, at a brothel, on the street as a beggar, wherever, not necessarily only in a monastery or some great temple. We can’t really tell who is a buddha and who is not a buddha. Only if our mind is pure, then we can see the aspect a buddha, when we become a bodhisattva and have achieved the Mahayana path of merit, which has three levels—lower, middle and great, and when we achieve great path of merit we see numberless, numberless buddhas in the nirmanakaya aspect. When we achieve the third rising path, we achieve numberless buddhas in the sambhogakaya aspect. Then, when we complete the path, we become one with all the buddhas, you see all the buddhas mentally, like that. So, at present, we can’t really tell who is a buddha.

There are many stories. For example, seeing a dog totally filled with the maggots, Asanga was filled with unbelievable, unbelievable compassion. Then he cut the flesh from his leg and spread it out for the maggots to eat. But he thought pulling them from the dog might hurt them, so he went to pick them out with the tip of his tongue. He closed his eyes, but before he touched the maggots he opened his eyes and saw Maitreya Buddha. The wounded dog was actually Maitreya Buddha. For twelve years in a cave he had been meditating to achieve Maitreya Buddha, to see Maitreya Buddha, but he never saw Maitreya Buddha so he left the cave. Then in the road he saw the wounded dog, full of maggots. Then Maitreya Buddha asked, “What do you want?” Asanga said he had been meditating for twelve years and he complained that he hadn’t seen Maitreya. Maitreya Buddha replied he had been there all the time and to prove it he told Asanga he spat in the cave and showed him his robes where the spit had landed. Asanga wanted teachings, so Maitreya Buddha took him to Tushita pure land for one morning, which was thirty years for a human being. Maitreya gave Asanga teachings on Abhidharma that Asanga wrote down called Abhisamayalamkara, one of the main subjects studied in the monasteries. Numberless sentient beings have achieved enlightenment by practicing Maitreya Buddha’s teaching. The lam-rim is based on all that. If the lam-rim is expanded those are the teachings.

This is very important to remember in daily life. You can’t really tell whether a person is really an ordinary being or not; it’s difficult to say. Therefore it’s good to respect everybody. Then, you see, like that, even though people criticize a member of the Sangha, from your side you respect them. This is the practice you should do.

And also you should respect the Sangha’s robes. You cannot step over a Sangha’s robes or even the seat of a Sangha, the cloth cover they use called a ding-wa. You cannot walk over the robes or the ding-wa; that’s being disrespectful to the Sangha. Again, it harms your mind. When the Kadampa geshes even see a scrap of cloth on the road, they pick it and think about the quality of the Sangha, then put it in some high clean place. Kadampa geshes, like Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, respect the robes like that. When the great master, Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, came to Tushita, Dharamsala, when he was to do an initiation, there were many seats for the Sangha, with the ding-was. He didn’t walk over them but stepped between the seats. Those great masters, with all that unbelievable experience, that knowledge of tantra—their experience is like the sky—they know how important it is not to step over the robes of the Sangha. This is very, very important but it is not so much known in the West, you see, there is not so much advice about this. During pujas, I see Westerners walk over the Sanghas’ seat covers and their robe, and Dharma text. You can never do that. You must pay attention to this.

GENERAL ADVICE ON WHAT TO DO AND AVOID WITH REFUGE
Then the general advice. Before you eat and drink, you should make offerings to the Buddha Dharma and Sangha. If you haven’t [been doing the refuge prayers] start to pray, generating compassion for sentient beings.

The other one is before you go to bed, do three prostration, and in the morning, when you get up, do three prostration. But of course, if you are doing prostrations by reciting the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas, or Vajrasattva— if you are doing more prostrations, that’s better, but if you are not doing more prostrations, at least do three prostrations to the Buddha in the morning and in the evening.

The other one is to try to control your mind, as much as you can, to not let strong anger, dissatisfaction, attachment and so on arise. Try to control your mind. If it is difficult, then try to stay away from objects that trigger these strong afflictions, that cause strong attachment or strong anger, that destroy your positive qualities and cause obstacles to having realizations to practice the lam-rim. Keep away from those objects as much as you can. Then, you should listen to the Dharma. This doesn’t mean anybody who is teaching Dharma in your country, you have to run towards that. It’s not saying that. I mean, in Taiwan …

[audible singing] To wake us up! [Rinpoche laughs] I think this is the first time I’ve spent all night for something like this. A long initiation goes all night, it goes late, it goes all night, but I think this is the first time this has gone all night.

There are the general advice for when you have taken refuge. If you follow them—wooow, can you imagine?—in daily life, the unbelievable, unbelievable, most unbelievable merit you collected, helping sentient beings so much.

To listen to the teachings. Something that I heard, in Taiwan it was believed that this meant whoever was giving teachings, you had to run to there, something like that, but it is not like that. When your spiritual master gives teaching, then listen as much as you can.

I’ll stop here.

I think it is very important to know these things. Okay, that is it.

VAJRASATTVA INITIATION
From your side, you wash the mouth, then do prostrations and the mandala offering. Visualize the lama as Vajrasattva. You have to visualize the lama as Vajrasattva, the essence and also in that aspect, not as an ordinary being, as an aspect of the Buddha because this is tantra. This Vajrasattva is with the wisdom mother. There is a lower tantra Vajrasattva and a higher tantra Vajrasattva, and the higher tantra Vajrasattva is with the wisdom mother. I have received this initiation from His Holiness Zong Rinpoche. This is what Lama Yeshe gave.

You cannot put things on top of a text and you can’t step over a text, you have to go around the text, not walk over it. Rinpoche also mentioned that. That’s one thing I remembered.

Okay, so the mandala offering. Offer all the merit of your own body, speech and mind, and all the merits created by others, visualizing the manifestation of all kinds of offerings filling the whole mandala, the whole universe, the whole entire space. Offer like that to receive the je-nang, the permission to practice Vajrasattva.

[Chanting]

Above the lama as Vajrasattva, visualize the lineage lamas of the initiation, then all the buddhas and bodhisattvas gathered in the sky. Then, in their presence take the bodhisattva vows.

Those who have taken the bodhisattva vows in the past, of course you can take again. Those who have not taken the bodhisattva vows in the past, generally the bodhisattva vows has wishing vows and entering vows. The entering vows protect from the eighteen root falls and forty-six things to abstain from, the forty-six vices. You have to do these things if you take the entering vows. Even if you are not taking the entering vows you can take wishing vows.

If you take the wishing vows there are four black dharmas to renounce and four white dharmas to practice. The four black dharmas are: telling a lie to the guru, deceiving sentient beings, criticizing bodhisattvas and feeling unhappy when you see somebody practicing Dharma. You feel unhappy and don’t want that person to practice Dharma.

In Sydney many years ago, when we were staying at a student’s house, there was a nun who was doing water bowl practice. She was very busy but every time she had ten or fifteen minutes to spare, any short time at all and any place, such as in the student’s room or in front of the TV—wherever there was a small space or a small table—she immediately put the water bowls, and did the water offering practice. Even if there was only ten or fifteen minutes she took the opportunity to finish her preliminary practice of water bowls. The house owner, the student, was not comfortable with that. He didn’t do the water bowl practice himself and he didn’t like the nun doing it. Because he couldn’t do it, he was unable to do is himself, when he saw her doing the water bowl offering he become unhappy. He even told her not to do it. It didn’t harm his body, it harmed his mind. He didn’t like it; he didn’t want her to do it, to collect merit by making water bowl offering. That’s an example. Anyway, there are four black dharmas to abandon and four white dharmas to practice: opening your heart to the guru, praise bodhisattvas, looking at bodhisattvas as like buddhas and praising and respecting them, and inspiring the sentient beings who are around you, bringing them into the Mahayana path to enlightenment.

If you cannot take the wishing vow then at least think, “I am going to practice more compassion, I am going to practice more compassion, loving kindness, more than before towards other sentient beings.” At least you can do that. That makes it worthwhile to take this blessing.

[Rinpoche continues with the initiation]

Then next one, “I am confessing all the negative karmas” and think it has been purified, gone.

[Rinpoche continues with the initiation]

Then, the negative karmas collected from beginningless rebirth are complete gone.

Now, the next one is rejoicing. Rejoice in all your past, present and future merits as well as the past present and future merits of all the numberless sentient beings, as well as of the buddhas. The second one is for others, the first one is rejoicing, how wonderful it is.

From the virtue collected from that you get happiness, ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara, full enlightenment, peerless happiness. Therefore, virtue is sooooo precious. Okay, so rejoice. How wonderful the virtue is collected by you then after that the virtue collected by numberless sentient beings and the buddhas. How precious is this unbelievable, most precious virtue, collected from beginningless rebirths, and what will be collected in the future. When you do this, every second, every minute, you collect limitless skies of merit.

[Rinpoche continues with the initiation]

“I am going to take the bodhisattva vows in order to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings.” Those who are taking either or both the vows or just wishing vow or if you can’t take it, just think, say, “I am going to develop more compassion and loving kindness for sentient beings.”

[Rinpoche continues with the initiation]

Then those who are taking vow, think you have received it. Those who are taking only the wishing vow or entering vow or both.

Whichever, one or both. Generate very strong faith. Since the entering vow is taken then in every second you collect limitless skies of merits, limitless skies of merit in every second. It is amazing, amazing. Whatever merit you collect every day; it increases millions of times every day. Then think, “Taking the bodhisattva vow, think this my best contribution, my best contribution to world peace.” Think like that. You have done something amazing.

[Rinpoche continues with the initiation]

See the leader as leading the disciple to enlightenment, the essence is there. From your side do this meditation. It is not saying that I am this; it is not saying that I am the three times’, past, present and future Buddha, I am not saying that but from your side try to see it like this.

“Please grant me permission to practice your father mother Vajrasattva holy body, holy speech, holy mind.”

[Rinpoche continues with the initiation]


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