BODHICITTA IS THE MAIN TRUNK OF THE DHARMA TREE
Meditating on the lam-rim is the answer to all problems. It is the solution for any kind of problem. Any subject of the lam-rim but especially bodhicitta is the one answer to all problems.

If we practice bodhicitta well we accumulate extensive merit and in this way, by having inner merit, it helps us to quickly actualize emptiness, even though bodhicitta is not the direct remedy or weapon to cut the root of samsara, ignorance, the concept of the inherently-existent I. Even though bodhicitta is not the actual weapon or the actual direct remedy to cut the root of samsara, ignorance, the concept of inherent existence or even the direct remedy for the delusions, but by practicing bodhicitta—this ultimate good heart to benefit towards all sentient beings that derives from compassion and loving kindness—we accumulate extensive merit that helps us quickly actualize, quickly realize emptiness.

For example, doing the meditation on taking and giving: taking other sentient beings’ sufferings, their problems, and the causes, and then giving them our own happiness, giving them our own merits, all the results of happiness up to enlightenment, our own body, possessions, some the relatives, the family, everything that we own or possess, making charity, giving it to all sentient beings, by generating great loving kindness and taking all their problems and their causes, with the great compassion.

This special meditation powerfully develops bodhicitta, the exchange of ourselves for others. Each time we take the numberless other sentient beings’ suffering and the causes, we accumulate merit like the infinite sky. Each time we do the practice of giving towards all sentient beings, we accumulate merit like the infinite sky. Each time we think we must achieve full enlightenment for the sake all the kind mother sentient beings equaling the infinite sky, therefore we are going to generate bodhicitta, each time we generate even the motivation like this, we accumulate merit like the infinite sky, merit equaling the sky.

It is said in the sutra teaching—I don’t remember the exact title of the text—that somebody simply putting his palms together and generating bodhicitta, thinking “I am going to generate bodhicitta in order to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings,” this merit is far greater than a world equaling number of sand grains of the River Ganga, the large very long, large river in India. The world equaling the number of sand grains the river Ganga, that much filled with seven different types of jewels and make offerings to buddhas, for the number of eons equaling the number of the sand grains of River Ganga. Even just having a bodhicitta motivation like this accumulates far greater merit than having made such extensive offering, for that length of time to so many buddhas.

As Lama Tsongkhapa explains in The Hymns of the Experience of the Steps of Path to Enlightenment,

The generation of the thought to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings (which means bodhicitta) is like the main trunk of the path of the greater vehicle, the path of the supreme vehicle.

Bodhicitta is like the main trunk of the tree, the tree that has so many thousands and thousands of branches, the main trunk from where all the branches come. Bodhicitta is like this, the main path of the sublime vehicle.

In other words, using the example of a tree where all the branches, flowers, leaves all these beautiful things come from the main trunk. Likewise, we generate all the other Mahayana realizations by depending on the basis of bodhicitta, the main path. For example, there is a main road to go to Kathmandu that everyone has use in order to go to different places. To be able to do things, to be able to fulfill their own wishes, everyone goes on this main road then through this they go to the city to fulfill all the different wishes for happiness. Whatever there is to do gets fulfilled like this. Bodhicitta is like this, the main path of the sublime supreme vehicle.

And on this basis, the next verse says,

It is the supporting foundation of all the great extensive deeds (which means the great extensive deeds of the bodhisattva, the six paramitas and so forth).
Bodhicitta is like mercury that turns everything into gold,
It’s a treasury of merit containing the two types of merit.

For example, in order to build a monastery so that the Sangha would have a place where people could make offerings to them, their means of living, Nagarjuna did this special practice. He obtained this power with mercury, transforming much iron into gold. So Lama Tsongkhapa uses this as an example to get an idea of the benefits of the bodhicitta, the unimaginable benefit that bodhicitta has. With bodhicitta, we easily attain the two types of merit: the merit of wisdom and the merit of method or fortune. Accumulating these two types of merit with bodhicitta, the merit of wisdom or merit of fortune, all the merit leads directly towards enlightenment. Every single merit that is collected with bodhicitta becomes the cause of enlightenment, every single merit that we accumulate. So it’s like how mercury can turn so many thousands, billions of [pieces of] iron into gold. With this method, with these skillful means, with this powerful material, all those thousands of billions of [pieces of] iron become so precious, so important, so valuable. So like that, with bodhicitta, every single merit becomes the cause of enlightenment, the cause to cease all the mistakes of mind and to actualize all the qualities of the realizations.

I saw this text many years ago when I was in Lawudo while I was building the monastery during summer time. When I was living there for about six months I was going over the Kangyur or the Tengyur. At that time we didn’t have the Tengyur, I don’t remember, two or three hundred volumes of the text, many commentaries, the tantra and sutra by those great pandits, yogis. By borrowing the texts from the monastery of the village where I was born, which is called Thangme, I saw this text with the method that Nagarjuna practiced for building monasteries, with all this gold, by made offering, serving the Sangha. But I didn’t bother to read even the first page, I didn’t bother, I didn’t have the courage to read even the first page. Not because there were so many pages but I didn’t have the courage even to read the first page. Because I thought if it was such an easy thing to do everybody would do this, [Rinpoche laughs] to take care, to build a monastery, to make offering to the Sangha and so forth. I didn’t have courage to even look at the first page. I just turned the whole page and I didn’t look at it at all, how it is. I just thought if this is so easy everybody would do this. Because of that thought I didn’t even read one line from it.

Then next line:

It’s a treasury of merit containing the two types of merit.

“Treasury of fortune,” or “merit”—fortune, good luck, merit are the same. Ordinary people, common people in the world who do not talk about karma, who do not understand karma, who do not talk about need to have merit in order to have success, in order to obtain happiness, they don’t use the term “merit” but say “good luck,” They don’t know what they are talking about exactly but they are talking about merit, good karma. Because lack of Dharma wisdom, karma, the only term they have is “good luck.” In the everyday life, they say, “If I have good luck, this will happen.” I will find a job or an pass examination or get a degree, or win a lottery and so forth. Anyway, they use the term “good luck” and when people leave they wish them good luck. There is that expression when somebody leaves, “Have good luck.” But the problem is that they don’t understand, luck is something that is created by the mind. It comes from the mind; it is created by the mind. The thing that one can create the luck is our own mind. In everyday life, we create luck all the time.

In everyday life we create luck, bad luck or good luck. We are creating luck all the time but because of not having the understanding that we create luck all the time, it doesn’t happen. There is incredible freedom to create good luck all the time. Even though there is incredible freedom, our lack of understanding what luck is, and that it comes from our own mind, we don’t watch the mind, our attitude in the daily life. We don’t guard the mind, keeping it in virtue, free from disturbing thought, from nonvirtue. This doesn’t happen. Even though there is great freedom where we can create good luck all the time with our own mind, because of the lack of understanding Dharma, the lam-rim, particularly karma, continuously creating good luck doesn’t happen. And we believe that luck is something that doesn’t have cause. Luck is something inherent, luck is something inherently existent, that doesn’t have causes and conditions, something existing from its own side.

ACTIONS WITHOUT A LAM-RIM MOTIVATION BECOME THE CAUSE OF SUFFERING
After Lama Tsongkhapa says, “It’s a treasury of merit containing the two types of merit,” he continues,

By recognizing this the hero, the heroes, the Buddha’s sons
Should keep, this sublime thought as their heart practice.
I, the yogi, practiced this way.
I request you who are seeking the liberation also to practice this way.

As Tara advised a great lama from Sera Je, by practicing bodhicitta by practices such as tong-len, we accumulate extensive merit and due to this we can quickly actualize, realize emptiness.

For example, if we are not practicing the lam-rim, if our mind is not living in the lam-rim, with neither the renunciation of samsara nor bodhicitta and emptiness, that means our attitude to life is the self-cherishing thought. If there is no bodhicitta, that means the attitude of the life is ego, the self-cherishing thought, and ignorance and there is no practice of the right view, emptiness. Besides ego, the self-cherishing thought, the attitude of everyday life is ignorance, the concept of inherent existence. Then, since the attitude of everyday life is not renunciation, the attitude is attachment, particularly attachment to this life—not only attachment to future samsara but particularly attachment to this life.

We think like this now. Because we lack the practice of bodhicitta, our whole attitude to our everyday life is ego, the self-cherishing thought, and therefore no action, nothing, becomes the cause of enlightenment. Nothing becomes the cause of enlightenment except those who have refuge in the mind, who have faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. For those who have faith in the Buddha, there is the extra opportunity to create the cause of enlightenment, because by having faith in the Buddha, there is respect so they circumambulate, prostrate and make offerings, even to a statue of the Buddha, and every single one of these actions done towards even holy objects such as a statue of the Buddha becomes the cause of enlightenment. Even if the motivation is anger or attachment clinging to this life or ignorance, due to the power of the holy object these actions become the cause of enlightenment.

So for those who are Buddhist, who have faith in the Buddha, by doing these actions, like offering, prostrating, reflecting, circumambulating and so forth, towards even a statue of the Buddha, even if the motivation is not pure, even if it’s not virtue, not Dharma, the action still becomes the cause of enlightenment due to the power of the holy object. Otherwise there is no opportunity to accumulate merit, there is no opportunity for that action to become good karma or that action to become virtue, to be the cause of happiness.

Since the motivation is only ego, with no bodhicitta practice nothing becomes the cause of enlightenment. Since there is no practice of right view, mindfulness, no practice of mindfulness of emptiness or dependent arising or looking at appearances as hallucinations, there is no practice of mindfulness, nothing of this, the motivation is purely ignorance, the concept of inherent existent, so no action becomes the remedy to cut the root of samsara.

There is no renunciation. The attitude of everyday life has no renunciation, not living in the lam-rim, not even having renunciation to this life, the comfort and happiness of this life, and so no action becomes the cause of liberation from the whole of samsara, from the entire suffering and causes, karma and delusion. Not one single action in everyday life becomes the cause to achieve the ultimate happiness, liberation from the entire suffering of samsara and the cause, karma and delusion. There is not even the renunciation of this life, so the attitude of everyday life is only the attachment clinging to this life, and therefore no action becomes even Dharma, a virtuous, positive action. No action becomes a positive, virtuous one, the cause of happiness.

That means that starting from the moment we wake up in the morning, for the entire twenty-four hours of the day and night, our activity—walking, sitting, sleeping, talking, doing our job, all these things—nothing becomes the cause of happiness, nothing becomes Dharma. Nothing becomes virtue, therefore nothing becomes the cause of happiness.

That means how many hours we spend washing in the morning, every single activity that we do for one hour or two hours, all those one or two hours’ actions—even washing—become only the cause of suffering. How many hours we spend getting dressed, how many hours we spend making up, fixing up the body, how many hours we spend in the bathroom, how many hours we spend taking refuge in the mirror, [Rinpoche laughs] how many hours we spend sitting in this chair, by taking refuge in the the mirror, all those hours’ activities completely become negative karma, only become the cause of suffering. Even the time when we are doing our job, eight hours, nine hours, how many hours we are doing our job, since the motivation, the attitude, for doing the job hasn’t become even Dharma, the positive attitude or the free mind, the healthy mind, the mind detached from this life, but an attitude strongly clinging to the pleasure, comfort and enjoyment of this life—nothing else, just our own enjoyment and comfort of this life—even that time doing our job becomes pure nonvirtue, a pure nonvirtuous thought.

Nothing in those eight, nine or, ten hours of doing our job day and night becomes the cause of happiness because the motivation is not Dharma. Nothing becomes Dharma. The whole activity done with much exhaustion, with many hardships, having to bear heat and cold, tiredness and whatever, all these many hardships, all these activities become only the cause of suffering. Despite having to bear all these hardships, it only creates the cause of suffering. All these hardships we have to experience only create the cause of suffering, not to practice Dharma or not to purify negative karma, or not to create the happiness of future lives. Bearing all these hardships, heat and cold, hunger, thirst or exhaustion, all these things are not experienced to to practice Dharma, to achieve happiness in future lives, to achieve liberation from samsara, to achieve enlightenment, they are not experienced for Dharma practice. As we are doing this course, taking the eight Mahayana precepts and so forth with a bodhicitta motivation, it’s not like this. Doing all these various practices, always by reminding ourselves of the bodhicitta motivation, the purest motivation, it’s not like that.

In one day, how many hours eating, how many drinking, how many hours sleeping, everything, every single action in that day becomes, in everyday life, without the lam-rim practice, without the Dharma attitude, every single action becomes only the cause of suffering. How many hours of sleep we have—eight hours, nine hours, ten hours—it doesn’t matter how comfortable it is, it all becomes only the cause of suffering, that which results, which ripens in the aspect, the result of rebirth in the lower realms. .

In the same way, without the lam-rim practice, without the mind living in the lam-rim, how much wealth we have, how many material possessions we have, the more material possessions we have, there is that much more miserly attachment. How much wealth we have, how many material possessions we have, there is that much more attachment, miserliness or clinging. Depending on the amount of objects we have, we accumulate more negative karma. There is more miserliness or clinging, so there is more negative karma. Living without the lam-rim practice, the more wealth there is, the more negative karma there is.

Then, even when we go shopping, if we go shopping without the lam-rim practice, if we are motivated by the worldly mind, the nonvirtuous thought, just clinging to this life’s comfort and happiness, going shopping becomes negative karma. Since this is the motivation for going the shopping, for every time we leave the house, for every action of driving a car or walking towards the shop, every single action becomes negative karma. Going there and coming back and besides that, when we do the shopping, buying the things, since the motivation is not Dharma, is only done with a worldly mind, with attachment clinging to this life, for the sake of comfort and happiness, this motivation is nonvirtue. Because of this, how many objects we buy, how many objects we decide to get, we actually get for ourselves, we accumulate negative karma, doing the nonvirtuous action of covertness from the ten nonvirtuous actions. We collect that many incidents of covertness, depending on how many material objects we decide to buy for our own comfort. There is not so much question for us, for that many items of shopping we have bought, each action of buying becomes negative karma, each action a separate act of covertness. That many nonvirtuous actions of covertness are basically because they are motivated by the thought of worldly dharma, attachment clinging to this life.

This is because there is the self-cherishing thought there inside the heart, like a king. This is the main one. Depending on that, then the attachment, clinging to this life, the worldly, nonvirtuous thought, the thought of worldly dharma, arises. And because of that then how many objects we decide to get, we buy or we collect, the actions all become that many incidents of covertness, of nonvirtue. From the ten non virtues, we collect that many actions of covertness.

So, without the lam-rim practice, when we come back home from shopping, we come back with a huge load of negative karma, of covertness, with huge piles of negative karma. This is the reality of how we live our life, what’s happening in our life if we don’t live our life with the lam-rim.

It’s the same thing with maintaining our health, by juggling, running, jiggling [Rinpoche laughs] by running on the beach or in the city or the mountains. How many hours we go running, again if the motivation, is not lam-rim, if it’s not even Dharma, if there is very strong ego, self-cherishing thought inside, if there is the attachment, clinging to this life’s comfort and happiness, desiring to be healthy, the result is suffering. By strongly clinging this life’s happiness, to comfort and happiness, the desire to be healthy, to not have sicknesses and so forth, the motivation is just a pure nonvirtuous thought, the thought of worldly dharma. Therefore, how many hours of running we do, by exercising the body we do not have some problems of the body, for the time being, temporarily. At least, even if it becomes the condition for that, in reality all those actions, nothing become Dharma, which means nothing becomes the cause of happiness. Nothing becomes the cause of happiness beyond this life, nothing becomes the cause of liberation from samsara, nothing becomes the cause to achieve full enlightenment. It becomes the pure cause of the suffering. Each step we take, in all those hours running, becomes the pure cause of the suffering.

So all these, as Dromtönpa, Lama Atisha’s translator in Tibet, who is the embodiment of the Compassionate Buddha, asked Atisha what the result of actions done with the motivation clinging to this life would be. Lama Atisha answered that the result of actions done with the attachment, clinging to this life, is rebirth in the hell, hungry ghost or animal realms.

SAYING THE TARA PRAYER WITH FOUR DIFFERENT MOTIVATIONS
As I often mention, as Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo explains, of four people reciting the Tara prayer, The Praise to Twenty-one Taras, one person who is reciting with a bodhicitta motivation. That person’s action of reciting the Tara prayer becomes the cause of enlightenment. And a second person is reciting the Tara prayer with only the motivation to achieve liberation for himself, so that person’s action of reciting the prayer does not become the cause of enlightenment but it becomes the cause to achieve liberation for himself. Then the next person, the third person is reciting the Tara prayer with the motivation to achieve the happiness of future lives. With only this motivation, that third person’s action of reciting the Tara prayer does not become the cause of enlightenment, it does not become the cause to achieve liberation for himself, ultimate happiness, it only becomes the cause to achieve the happiness of future lives. The fourth person is reciting the Tara prayer with the motivation of worldly dharma, the thought clinging to this life, the motivation seeking only the happiness this life. This fourth person’s action of reciting the Tara prayer does not become the cause of enlightenment, it does not become the cause to achieve liberation for himself, it does not even become the cause to achieve the happiness of future lives. That fourth person’s action reciting the Tara prayer does not even become Dharma because the motivation is not Dharma. Because the motivation is not Dharma, the action is nonvirtue.

Even by reciting a mantra or Tara prayers, due to the power, due to the Buddha’s true word, the blessings, even if it becomes a healing and we recover from our disease or our lifespan is extended, or our career or something in our live becomes successful, even if the recitation can help in these things, that doesn’t mean our action of reciting prayer itself becomes Dharma. For example, person takes medicine with a pure nonvirtuous thought, with no other thought except the evil thought of worldly dharma, seeking, clinging only to the happiness of this life. With this pure nonvirtuous attitude, since it is the right medicine, it can cure the illness. Even if the motivation is nonvirtuous, since it is the right medicine, it can still heal the disease, but that doesn’t mean the person’s action of taking the medicine becomes the cause of happiness, virtue. The action itself becomes the cause of suffering, since the motivation is nonvirtuous.

Without the lam-rim, without living in the lam-rim practice in everyday life, without the practice of three principal aspects of the path, neither bodhicitta nor emptiness, nor even renunciation, life becomes totally nonvirtuous. Besides the problems we face, we can’t find any satisfaction in what we do, in work, in relationships, in our life. If we look at the attitude we have in our whole life, in reality, that worldly attitude becomes an obstacle to happiness because it is nonvirtuous. Everything we do constantly interferes with our own temporary and ultimate happiness. Like a waterfall, we constantly create only the cause of suffering.

Therefore, without the lam-rim practice, even if we become a millionaire, even if we become the richest person in the world, our life is only suffering. Whatever class, whatever society we live in, without the lam-rim, even when we are at the beach it’s suffering, it’s a totally suffering life. Even if we are in a five-star hotel or a ten-star hotel, life is totally suffering. No matter who the person is, if there is no lam-rim, if that person doesn’t practice lam-rim, life is always suffering, not only having to experience sickness and problems that are the results of past karma, but constantly creating the cause of future suffering. Whether he lives alone or with other people, the reality is like this.

EMPTINESS: SHOPPING WITH EMPTINESS
For example, when we go shopping, we can do the shopping with the mindfulness of emptiness, that the I is nothing else except what is merely labeled by the mind, therefore the I is empty. Therefore the I is empty of this real one, of existing from its own side. Similarly, the action of shopping is empty, the action is also what is merely labeled by our mind. Therefore our own action is also empty.

The object we are buying is also merely labeled by the mind. In our own perception, even though it appears not merely labeled by the mind, in reality that it is not true, it’s a hallucination, it’s an object to be refuted, it’s a hallucination, it’s empty. The buyer is empty, the action of buying is empty, the object is empty, so the whole thing is empty.

When shopping, we should either practice mindfulness or emptiness, looking at everything as empty or merely labeled by the mind. The practice of mindfulness is subtle dependent arising. The I that is doing the action of buying—the mind has made up the label “I” by relating to the aggregates. Relating to the aggregates, the mind just made up the label “I”. Then, the same thing with the action of buying. The aggregates’ action of paying the money, because of that, the mind just made up the label “buying”. Then in the same way, whatever object one we are buying, by relating to the base our own mind simply made up the label “this and that”, the object.

We can practice the mindfulness of how all these things are merely labeled by the mind. With this awareness we then doing the shopping. The other very effective meditation we can do, as I mentioned some days ago, is to practice mindfulness, the very intention of the hallucination that which are hallucinations, especially in the break time—the I, the action, the object, everything, the six sense objects. We look at the I who is doing shopping, appearing not merely labeled by the mind, that’s the hallucination. The action of buying appears our own perception as not merely labeled by the mind, and object we are buying appears to our own perception as an object not merely labeled by the mind. Again, by examining, by watching the I, the action, the object, the place, the people in the shop, the sellers, the whole thing—even though everything exists as merely labeled by the mind, in our own perception, all these things appear as not merely labeled by the mind, as something real from their own side. So, the practice of mindfulness is to always look at all these appearances as hallucinations.


THE BASE AND THE LABEL
From beginningless samsara, from the beginninglessness of our own rebirth, up to now, why we have been suffering, why we have got stuck in samsara, why we have had to experience the oceans of samsaric suffering, and why it has still not ended, that is because of this. That’s the short version! I usually mention this a little bit. It is similar to what I mentioned some days ago.

Before the child is born, the parents already have an idea of the name. They have already decided the name of the child, they have already they labeled the child, like “Tony” or something like that, even before there is a base, the aggregates, the association of the body and mind. There is still no base, but their minds have already labeled the child; they have already decided the name, Tony. Their minds have already labeled the child at that time, even though Tony doesn’t yet exist. Their minds have already labeled “Tony” but at that time there are no aggregates. There is no base. Tony doesn’t exist at that time. And even when the aggregates are actualized, even when the base is there. if there is no mind labeling “Tony” Tony doesn’t exist. Even though there is the base, the aggregates, even though the aggregates, the association of body and mind, exist, if there is no it is the mind labeling ‘Tony’ again Tony doesn’t exist.

So when does Tony come in existence? There is the base, the aggregates, and relating to the aggregates the mind makes up the label “Tony,” the parents’ minds or whoever make up the label “Tony”. The mind of the parents or whoever make up the label “Tony,” deciding on that. They generate the concept, they create the concept; it’s his name. The mind makes up the label “Tony,” deciding that label. In other words, the mind simply makes up the label and we believe in that.

Now you can see, just from this examination, how it’s possible there is Tony. Just from this you can get some idea how the mind makes up the label “Tony” and believe in that. Now you can see, you have some idea how it’s impossible that there is a Tony on the aggregates, there is a Tony there, there is a Tony there on the aggregates, on this association of body and mind. Even just from this analysis you can see how it’s impossible. There is no way is that Tony is there on the aggregates, on the base. Tony doesn’t exist at all on the aggregates, on the base; there is nothing there. “There” means on the aggregates, on the base. Just from this analysis, you can see that it’s just the mind making it up. Even from this idea, there is no Tony there on the aggregates. It looks like there’s a Tony there in the mind. It looks like that; it’s not exactly that but it looks like that, it looks like Tony is in the mind. It looks like that, but it’s not exactly that, it’s not exactly in the mind. When we think this way, it looks like Tony is in the mind. Like many people say, “Oh everything is in the mind.”

It is not saying that the object is in the mind. It is not saying that the object is in the mind but what it’s talking about is to do with the concept. It is to do with the concept, with what kind of concept we made up, what kind of idea we made up. Just from this analysis, it’s clear nothing is there. Tony is not there, on these aggregates, on the base. There is no Tony there.

Here, we are talking about the merely-labeled Tony. Even the merely-labeled Tony is not there. The Tony that exists is the merely-labeled one. The Tony that is appearing not merely labeled by mind is what doesn’t exist. The Tony that is merely labeled, that is what exists. But even this, even this is not there. Even the merely-labeled Tony, the Tony that exists, is not there, is not on the aggregates, is not on the base.

The Tony that exists, the merely labeled-one, even that is not there. Therefore, if we look for even the merely-labeled Tony on these aggregates we cannot find it anywhere. We cannot find it anywhere. Nowhere we can find it when look for it. That proves it’s not there. Even the merely-labeled Tony doesn’t exist on these aggregates.

Therefore, how is it possible that the Tony that is not merely labeled by the mind could exist on these aggregates? In other words, the real Tony, the real Tony not merely labeled by the mind, in the sense of existing from its own side. How is it possible? First of all, we went through the evolution of how Tony came in existence, how the mind just made up the idea, the concept, the mind just made up the label and then believed in that. First we went through this, so it’s clear how Tony came in existence.

Now, even this merely-labeled one, if we look for it on these aggregates we cannot find anywhere. There is no way that this exists, that it is there, that it exists on the aggregates. This completely contradictory to the reality of how Tony came into existence, completely the opposite to reality. This Tony appearing this way is totally a hallucination, totally empty.

If we search for this on the aggregates, when we do not examine it, it looks like it’s there but but the minute we start examining it, cannot find it on these aggregates. So when we examine whether this real Tony really exists appearing from above the aggregates, it cannot be found anywhere, neither on these aggregates nor separate from them. Neither on these aggregates nor anywhere. It’s a total hallucination, empty, it doesn’t exist. This totally hallucination, empty, totally hallucination, empty, doesn’t exist right there, right on that base. This is the hallucination; it is false because it is contradictory to reality, its appearance is contradictory to reality. Therefore this appearance is false.

EMPTINESS: WE SEE THINGS AS TRULY EXISTING DUE TO PAST IMPRINTS
But now, in the case of the merely-labeled Tony, it doesn’t exist on the base, on the aggregates. We can’t find it at all but where there is a base there is Tony. There is no Tony on the aggregates, on the base but where there are the aggregates there is Tony. The house, the room at the place where there are aggregates, where there are the aggregates there is Tony. What is that Tony? What is that Tony? That Tony is nothing except what is merely labeled by the mind. It’s nothing except what is merely labeled by the mind.

So now you can see that after all this analysis in the reality what Tony is is extremely subtle, it’s extremely subtle. Tony has never existed in the way we have believed Tony to exist. It’s never been that Tony. That Tony doesn’t exist. The way we have believed, apprehended Tony so far, that doesn’t exist at all. That can’t be found anywhere. After all this analysis, what Tony is, is completely something else. That is extremely subtle, extremely subtle. It’s not that it doesn’t exist but it’s like it doesn’t exist. The way Tony exists, what Tony is, is extremely subtle. It is not that it doesn’t exist at all but it’s like it doesn’t exist.

The border between existing Tony and not-existing Tony, the borderline is so fine, it’s like a knife edge, it is the sharpness of a blade. It’s so fine. The borderline of existing Tony and not-existing Tony is so extremely subtle. So, it’s extremely easy to fall into nihilism.

Aryadeva in the teachings explains that the heavy karma of fall into nihilism and believing nothing exists is as heavy or heavier—I’m not sure which—as having killed one hundred million human beings, something like that. In The Four Hundred Stanzas, the commentary by Aryadeva, it says if you fall in nihilism believing nothing exists it’s a very heavy negative karma, as heavy or heavier—I am not sure which—as having killed one hundred million human beings.

What Tony is and how Tony exists is so subtle. It’s not that it doesn’t exist but it’s like it doesn’t exist. Like this, like this, like this… To make it short anyway, [Rinpoche laughs] I, action, object, all phenomena, all the rest of the phenomena, in reality it’s like this, like how Tony is. What Tony is, is exactly same, like this is so subtle, empty of existing from their own side, not space but like space.

So, without using another example, just to finish with this one, with Tony, even though it’s merely labeled by our own mind, we’re not aware that it is merely labeled by our own mind. That is one thing. What this Tony is or what is merely labeled by the mind and why? We ask questions. We ask questions, why it has to appear something else, why it has to appear to us as not merely labeled by the mind. Why it appears as something real, existing from its own side, we ask why. Why it doesn’t appear to us according to its reality, as merely labeled by mind, why?

It’s because of the imprint left on our own mental continuum by past ignorance, by the past ignorance of the concept of inherent existence. The imprint that is left on the mental continuum by past ignorance, the concept of inherent existence, this imprint is projected onto the object, it decorates the object right after we perceive the Tony that is merely labeled by the mind and we believe in that. We believe in the imprint left on our own mental continuum by past ignorance, the projection of, the decoration of inherent existence on top of the merely-labeled Tony, on the mere name, Tony. The imprint left by ignorance projects the hallucination of inherent existence onto the merely-labeled Tony, the mere name.

Therefore, you see, after Tony is merely labeled by the mind, he appear to us completely opposite to the reality, the hallucination, as real, existing from its own side and not merely labeled by mind.

The conclusion is this. This is the biggest problem, the biggest mistake that we are making. Our biggest mistake is that we let our mind believe this is true, we let our mind apprehend that this is true. At that time we’re creating the ignorance, not seeing the reality of Tony, not understanding the reality of Tony. Instead we are creating the ignorance, the concept of inherent existence. We let our mind apprehend that this is true. This is obscures, hinders, block us from seeing the ultimate nature of Tony, that how Tony existing is merely labeled by the mind, that Tony is empty of existing from his own side. We are blocked from seeing this. So now, this becomes the basis of delusion. We let our mind to believe it is true, we apprehend it as true. Instead of let our mind apprehend this is a hallucination, we let our mind apprehend that which is not true as true.

This becomes the basis for anger to arise, and attachment and all the other delusions. This concept of an inherently-existent Tony, which doesn’t exist in reality, becomes the basis, like opening a door for all the delusions. In other words, you can see now how the whole thing doesn’t make sense. This whole thing we let our mind to believe is true but which is not true, on the basis of that, all the delusions arise, pride arises, jealousy arises, anger arises, attachment arises, all these things, all these expectations, all these wrong concepts arise on top of this. All these things don’t make sense.

Just like this, the conclusion is that the I and all the rest of the phenomena, everything is merely labeled by the mind but the imprint left on the mental continuum by the ignorance projects, decorates—like we decorate a floor or a table by covering it with a the carpet on cover, like this brocade on the table—ignorance decorates inherent existence onto the merely-labeled I and all existence and so forth. We then let our mind believe in this decorated, projected hallucination of inherent existence, apprehending what is not true as true.

This is what we have been doing from beginningless rebirths; this is how we have let our mind believe things, how we use our mind, how we have been apprehending all phenomena, including the I, from beginningless rebirths until now. Because of this concept, apprehending that all these are true, including the I, that’s why we have been experiencing the suffering of samsara from beginningless rebirths until now. It is because of instead of looking at what is a hallucination as a hallucination, we let our mind apprehend it as true; we look at it as true. This is the basis of all the problems, all the sufferings of samsara. As long as we continue, as long as we don’t change this, as long as we don’t eliminate this, then the suffering of samsara becomes endless—death and rebirth and so forth—all the suffering becomes endless. This makes it endless, endless delusion and karma, endless suffering, endless samsara.

Therefore, we need to change. The most important practice, the most important meditation is, instead of letting our mind apprehend all these are true, that all these appear not merely labeled by mind true, we let our mind apprehend the opposite, that all these are hallucinations. We look at all these appearances as hallucinations. With this way of looking at things there is liberation, then there is the possibility to achieve liberation, the cessation of the entire suffering and its causes. When we look this way, when we let our own mind apprehend that all these are hallucinations, the understanding that comes in our own heart is emptiness; the meaning is emptiness, that all these are empty.

What we have to become familiar with, what we have to train our mind in, the most important meditation in everyday life is this one, to change the way we look at things, to let our mind look at everything, to apprehend everything as the opposite [to how they appear to us at present]. It is to looking at what is a hallucination as a hallucination. That itself becomes a meditation on emptiness. That leads straight into emptiness. By looking at all these hallucinations, that which are hallucinations, the perceptions, all these things the way appear not merely labeled by mind in our own view, this way it becomes a meditation on emptiness, bringing it straight into emptiness, leading us to make us see things as empty, seeing phenomena that are in reality empty as empty. Again, this way of thinking is the most important meditation. We just need to change the way of looking at the object, then it becomes a meditation on emptiness.

Normally, I think when we look at an object, what we don’t think about is its emptiness. When we don’t think about its emptiness what we see is the hallucination and when we see the hallucination usually we don’t do any Dharma practice. What we normally do is worldly because we don’t see the object as empty. Sometimes we think this way. It is extremely good to see how this is how problems arise and when we have problems in this life—relationship problems, times where there is gain or loss, all the ups and downs of life—when we experience these things, we can apply the emptiness meditation looking at life like this, like a hallucination. It becomes very effective, like an atomic bomb, immediately cutting away the problem.

Maybe I’ll give more details tomorrow. Maybe I can mention a few more things.

These few words on emptiness are just some imitation. I am able to express them by the kindness of my virtuous friends, including my virtuous friend who taught me the alphabet, who let me recite many times the short text on the Perfection of Wisdom, the short one before the Heart Sutra. In my childhood, my alphabet teacher made me recite it many times for a long time. So from that, there may be some imprint left on the mind. Of course, to realize emptiness takes many lifetimes. It is said in the Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings on emptiness, this is Lama Tsongkhapa’s expression in The Three Principal Aspects of the Path, if we have some faith that it is true, and of course we need to realize a lot of merit, and spend many lifetimes studying and accumulating merit, then maybe we can actualize it.

I’ll stop here.

[Chanting]

Dedicate the merits may I generate bodhicitta in my own mind and in the mind of all sentient beings.

[Chanting]