It is mentioned that strong fear arises when the lower level bodhisattvas realize emptiness and the higher level bodhisattvas experience incredible bliss when they realize emptiness. They experience so much bliss, the hairs from the pores of their bodies stand up and tears come from the eyes, like that. The higher bodhisattvas are very happy and they experience incredible joy, bliss.
There is, of course, very deep fear, which is not like ordinary fear—like being afraid of a tiger or something—it’s not that kind of fear but very deep fear. It’s not ordinary fear, but deep, very deep fear, from your heart, very deep fear. Very deep fear. With most people very deep fear can arise, then on top of that if you think you’re falling into nihilism, you don’t know what’s going on, what’s happening to your mind. If you don’t know, then believing that you’re falling into nihilism makes even greater fear. Then what happens is, because you’re afraid you’re falling into nihilism that can block completing the experience of letting the I become totally lost, seeing the I as totally empty, completely empty.
You have the fear, not knowing, so when the actual experience comes you have no idea, you have no idea beforehand what’s going to happen to you. Not having guidance or any idea, you are afraid that you’re falling into nihilism, then you run away. The fear makes you stop and run away, stop the experience. You’re so afraid, because of the lack of guidance during that time of this kind of experience, what is happening. There is a lack of guidance, a lack of the full knowledge of this experience and because you have incredible deep fear then you don’t want to think of I, you don’t want to think even near the emptiness of the I. You don’t want to do analysis of the I, you are so afraid. For months or years, you are afraid to meditate on the emptiness of the I. So these things can happen.
Therefore, the reason why, so if this happens, because this experience doesn’t happen again and again, it just happens one time when all these conditions are gathered together at the right time. For some people it can be continuous, but for others all these conditions may not last all the time. Strong devotion, all that, may not last and may not happen all the time, therefore the experience, going back to emptiness, may not happen again.
Therefore, this opportunity to realize emptiness is just one time, then you have full confidence that you can achieve liberation from samsara, after seeing the emptiness of the I, that the I is empty of inherent existence. Then you get full confidence that you can achieve total liberation from the whole entire suffering and its causes; you can be totally free forever from samsara, you can achieve this. You have full confidence, from your own side, from this experience.
Why did you get this experience now? Why did you get this experience, that there’s no I? Why did you get this experience, that there’s no I? Like nihilism, why is it appearing to you? That’s not falling into nihilism, but it is expressing that. The experience shows that the I, on the I, or on the merely labeled I, same, that there’s no inherent existence. On the I there’s no inherent existence. That experience is showing that. That was explained in the mahamudra text by Ketsang, I think, Jamyang, then the last word I don’t remember. Ketsang Jamyang’s text is regarded as an excellent commentary on the mahamudra. So that lama explained, described, why this experience is happening. I think his name is Ketsang Jamyang Monlam.
So like this, having a lot of fear arising and being afraid of falling into nihilism when you’re having this experience of seeing emptiness, starting to see emptiness, when the I, when the real I appearing from there—which is the object to be refuted, that your ignorance, the root of samsara, has been holding onto—believing this is true. Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen, the great bodhisattva, the great pandit, from whom His Holiness received extensive commentary on the Bodhicaryavatara, says that this is like a child who doesn’t have training riding on a horse. For the child who doesn’t have experience of how to ride a horse, then if you put them on the horse they are afraid, so Khunu Lama used this as an example.
Therefore, what I was saying before, if you have the experience, when you meditate on emptiness you can remember what’s the best thing, what’s the best way to do the meditation, so you have the experience of the path. It’s exactly the same, you meditate in that way and then it’s very powerful. However, when you meditate on emptiness even if you don’t have the experience, even if you can’t see the emptiness, at least you are meditating on dependent arising, the subtle dependent arising, as I mentioned before—that things exist in mere name, merely imputed from the side of the mind—so meditating on the meaning, the correct words.
That is according to the Prasangika school—of the four schools of Buddhist philosophy, the last one, the Madhyamaka school, and the second division, the Prasangika school view. Those are correct words, and by relying upon them there’s hope of the correct understanding and correct meditation, the correct way of thinking. The conclusion that brings is the understanding of emptiness, that it’s empty.
Then also, the other thing is, how the I is appearing. Whether it’s appearing as merely labeled by mind or not merely labeled by mind, you can analyze that. If it’s appearing as not merely labeled by mind then that is the object to be refuted and that is the hallucination. So here, you can do one-pointed concentration, so it is extremely powerful, I guess, so on this I appearing to you as not merely labeled by mind, that which is the extremely subtle object to be refuted according to Prasangika view. This is very subtle, appearing as not merely labeled, appearing to you as not merely labeled by the mind, from the side of the mind, so that is a very, very subtle hallucination. That is the object to be refuted.
However, one-pointedly concentrate on that and look at it as a hallucination. Look at it as a hallucination, as it is a hallucination. You can do this, so looking at it as a hallucination, that which is a hallucination. It’s a very powerful, very powerful meditation. It’s an extremely powerful meditation. When you do that, it’s very simple but very powerful, like dynamite, like an atomic bomb that brings the conclusion in your heart that this is empty. Even the way you meditate, looking at it as a hallucination, as that which is a hallucination, so one-pointedly concentrate on looking at it as a hallucination, and one-pointedly concentrate on that, but understanding what comes in your heart, that this is empty. You’re not using the word “empty” but that’s what feeling or understanding comes. It is very effective and there’s no wasting time. There’s no wasting time, this is the correct way of meditating.
However, these two are just examples. Otherwise we meditate by using the four vital points of analysis. The first one is recognizing the object to be refuted. That is the start, so in order to do analysis, you have to find that out. That is the target, and on that [basis] you use all the analysis—whatever, how much you know from your analysis, then you can use it on top of that first one. Like when the countries fight, for example, when America was fighting in Iraq, they focused very precisely on the army place, the missiles precisely focused on that so there was no danger around the public.
Without that, if you miss the first point, understanding the object to be refuted, then however many hours you spend doing analysis you’ve lost your direction and then you don’t come to the conclusion of seeing the inherently existent table or I is empty. You don’t come to that conclusion. The conclusion is, by losing that first point, the object to be refuted, then your analysis—no matter how many hours or how many years you spend doing it, there is no result. The conclusion that comes at the end is not clear. The conclusion is not clear and also there’s the danger of falling into nihilism—that there’s no I or there’s no table, you cannot find the table. If you are unable to find the inherently existent table, that is the correct result. But if the understanding comes that even the merely labeled table doesn’t exist anywhere, that even the merely labeled I doesn’t exist anywhere, then you have fallen in nihilism.
You might think you are meditating on emptiness but actually, meditating for many years, many months, during the whole retreat, you are meditating on space, meditating on space, sky, not emptiness. When you meditate on emptiness, just sky, just sky, like from airplane looking at the sky, like that, but believing you are meditating on emptiness. So this danger can happen, then you wasted the whole time.
So for example, when the space appears, then you analyze the space. Think, “Even this space doesn’t exist from its own side.” Then it hits on the right point, then the meditation becomes correct. When the space appears, you don’t visualize form, any substantial phenomena, there’s no appearance, you see, space. After everything dissolved or however, when you meditate on emptiness, there’s appearance space, then you think, then you analyze the space, you go beyond from space. So this space, how does this space appear to me? This space appears to me merely labeled or not merely labeled? If it appears to me as not merely labeled by mind then, “Oh, then this is hallucination, this is the object to be refuted. So this doesn’t exist, this one doesn’t exist from its own side.”
Like that or just look at it, space, real space appearing from there, look at it as a hallucination, as it is hallucination. Or straight to think, “This space, even this space is totally empty, totally empty.” You can think straight like this. It’s totally empty, it does not exist from its own side. So if you go beyond from space then that is very effective, that’s the correct meditation, so like that.
I think it happened for a long time. Sorry, I think I talked for a long time, blah, blah, blah. So just to give some ideas for meditation [according to] the great Pabongka and those lineage lamas, how they realized emptiness, the precious words of their experience. The essence is how to realize the meaning of the Heart Sutra, how to realize that and what makes us able to find, to recognize the hallucination, the object to be refuted and how they realized that is empty. So this is the very essence, the very essential point of the meditation on the Heart Sutra or teachings of the Perfection of Wisdom.
Now we will dedicate the merit.
Due to the three-time merits collected by oneself, the three-time merits collected by the buddhas, bodhisattvas and all the living beings, may the bodhicitta, the source of all the happiness and success, for oneself and for all sentient beings, may it be actualized within one’s own mind and in the mind of all the family members, in the mind of all the students and benefactors in this organization, those who ... all the projects to serve others, and all the sentient beings without delaying even a second. That which is generated, may it be increased.
Jang chhub sem chhog rin po chhe....
We can dedicate in the same way to realize emptiness in one’s own life and also for family members, the same, and all the students and benefactors in this organization, as well as all the rest of sentient beings and for those who have realized emptiness, may their wisdom be increased.
Tong nyi ta wa rin po chhe....
Due to the merits, may the Buddha of Compassion, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and all the virtuous friends have a stable life and may all their holy wishes succeed immediately.
Gang ri ra wä....
Päl dän la mäi ku tshe....
Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by myself and by others, may I be able to offer extensive benefit like limitless sky toward all sentient beings, like Lama Tsongkhapa, by having the same quality within me as Lama Tsongkhapa has, from now on in all my future lifetimes. Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the three-time merits collected by the buddhas, bodhisattvas and all other living beings, may any sentient being who sees me, touches me, remembers me, thinks about me, talks about me, even dreams of me, praises me or criticizes me—just by this, may it bring benefit for them, causing them to never ever be reborn in the lower realms from now on, and immediately to be free from all the disease, spirit harms, negative karma and all the defilements. May they achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.
Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, and the three-time merits collected by the buddhas, bodhisattvas and all other sentient beings, may that which exists but is totally nonexistent from its own side, empty; may the I, who exists but is totally nonexistent from its side, empty; achieve Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment, or one’s own deity’s enlightenment, which exists but is totally nonexistent from its own side; and lead all the sentient beings, who exist but totally do not exist, who are empty from their own side, by myself alone, who exists but does not exist from its own side, is totally nonexistent from its own side, empty.
I dedicate all the merits to be able to follow the extensive holy deeds of the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra , Manjugosha, Ksitigarbha and so forth.
I dedicate all the merits to be able to follow the extensive holy deeds of the bodhisattvas, the three-time bodhisattvas and buddhas. May the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa— that which is unified of sutra and tantra, the stainless teaching of Lama Tsongkhapa—may it be completed in the mind of oneself, family members and in the mind of all the students, all the benefactors of the centers, including here at Tara House and all the rest, and all the projects in this organization, to benefit others, their body and mind, and bring them to enlightenment.
May Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching, Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings, be spread in all the directions and may they flourish forever. And those sentient beings who are unimaginably suffering in the lower realms, including those whose names are given to me, whom I promised to pray for, who rely upon me, including all those, may they immediately be reborn in the pure land where they can become enlightened, or receive a perfect human body in all their future lifetimes, and be able to achieve enlightenment quickly by meeting a perfectly qualified Mahayana guru and Mahayana teachings.
Chhö kyi gyäl po....
Dag dang zhän gyi...
If you can, do some meditation on the basis of what I explained, the different techniques of looking at everything, looking at all your views and then practice mindfulness of all these things which appear as not merely labeled by mind. Practice mindfulness, watching, looking at everything as a hallucination. While you’re walking—forms, I, action, object—I, the action of walking and the object, the road, all the six sense objects, that which is appearing to you as not merely labeled by the mind, as something real from there, then look at all of them from your own side as a hallucination. So practice mindfulness on the hallucination. While you’re walking on the road or even just sitting in your room, practice mindfulness, looking at everything as a hallucination—I, action, object, all the six sense objects, everything appearing to you as something real from there, as not merely labeled by mind. Practice mindfulness, one-pointedly keeping the awareness, looking at everything as a hallucination.
This is very good. While you are walking or while you are working in the kitchen and while you are doing activities, you are practicing awareness, looking at everything as a hallucination. Even when you are driving.
When you are driving everything again appears to you, but things don’t appear to you as merely labeled by mind; they all appear as not merely labeled by mind. Besides all the other schools, all their philosophies of the objects to be refuted, all the hallucinations; besides having all those schools’ points of view of the object to be refuted or hallucinations. Beside that, there is the Prasangika school view of the hallucination, the object to be refuted. This is a very subtle one. So even while driving a car, practice mindfulness. It’s like you’re driving a car in a dream, like you’re dreaming about driving a car, then you recognize the dream is a dream. You recognize that you’re dreaming about driving a car, but you don’t believe it’s true. You recognize the dream is a dream.
Like that, continuously practice mindfulness that all these things—subject, I the driver, the action of driving, everything appearing as real from there—are a hallucination. So from your mind to look at everything as a hallucination. In reality, then you get the understanding that everything is empty. This is very, very powerful.
Even when you go shopping in a department store or supermarket, from your room, from your house, you plan, “This is how I’m going to meditate.” From your room, from your house, you can plan to meditate on emptiness while you’re going shopping. So continuously while you’re in the shop, while you’re buying things, it’s as if you’re buying all these things in the dream. All that becomes the meditation session—going shopping, buying food or buying whatever. If you are going to work, from the house you can plan, thinking, “This is how I’m going to meditate.” You can plan from the house how you are going to practice mindfulness like this.
You can do the same thing with renunciation and bodhicitta. The three principal aspects of the path you can do like that in your daily life practice. Even if you don’t do meditation, a sitting meditation session, then whatever you do becomes lam-rim meditation—while you’re traveling or while you are doing your job, everything. This means, this way the delusions, the disturbing emotional thoughts, do not arise during that time. While you are practicing mindfulness, one-pointedly looking at things as a hallucination or meditating how everything is merely labeled by the mind, dependent arising, or looking at things as empty, whichever words you use or meditate on.
Either you spend the whole day long doing the activities with renunciation of samsara, with detachment by always remembering impermanence and death in your mind, all the time, then that makes the mind always detached. Then here you’re living your life with renunciation of samsara, the first of the three principal aspects—renunciation. Or you can do everything with bodhicitta, or you can do everything with emptiness, by meditating on emptiness.
Whichever way you do it, this way the disturbing emotional thoughts do not arise because your mind is always guarded, protected by the lam-rim. Therefore, it helps by the way to not create negative karma, at least that helps to not create negative karma today, on that day in that hour. Not only that, whatever you do with this awareness, everything becomes a remedy to the root of samsara. So, it becomes the cause to achieve liberation and then at the beginning of the act if there’s bodhicitta motivation, then everything becomes the cause of enlightenment. Even during the act if you mainly meditate on emptiness, but at the beginning of the act, bodhicitta motivation is there, then it can become the cause of enlightenment.
So this way, it’s what Lama Tsongkhapa says, taking the essence day and night, in the lam-rim teaching, the Foundation of All Good Qualities, yeah, taking the essence all day and night. There it says by reflecting on the perfect human rebirth and its usefulness, how it is difficult to find again; by reflecting on this, then taking the essence day and night, so not wasting the life. Similarly, you can do that with the three principal aspects of the path. You can do it also with guru devotion, all day long with guru devotion and you can live your life so that everything becomes Dharma. Also because of guru devotion, that means according to the guru’s advice, offering service or....
So we should use emptiness, not only just in sitting meditation when we recite the Heart Sutra or sadhanas. We should use it more when we deal with people, when we’re living with the family or when we deal with people. Anyway, especially when we are in danger of creating heavy negative karma or great confusion in our relationships, when others treat us badly, when others are abusing us or treating us badly, then we can use emptiness. Depending on how effectively we think, it can be very powerful.
It is said by the bodhisattva Thogme Zangpo who wrote the Thirty-seven Practices, I don’t remember the verses, but it says that if we talk from the mouth about emptiness —if we announce or talk about emptiness, but when we encounter problems or undesirable things, then arises discriminating thought, anger, attachment, and no emptiness. So this bodhisattva explained like that. The words itself are very effective, but I don’t remember. Anyway, something like that.
I think that’s all. So, thank you very much. Thank you. OK.
[End of first discourse]
