Day 9
Saturday, November 24th
9 a.m.

“If one possesses bodhicitta, it is easy not having a beautiful shape and ugly shape, and it is easy not receiving things and not having respect. It is easy even if there are no other virtues.” I can repeat again—”it is easy” means it is okay—if one possesses bodhicitta it is alright not having a beautiful shape or ugly shape, it is okay not receiving things and not having respect, it is okay not having other virtues.

This means not having other virtuous actions created without bodhicitta. So it is said by the great bodhisattva, who is the tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, his name is Negi Lama, his Tibetan name is [Khunu Lama] Tenzin Gyaltsen. He usually lives in Bodhgaya. He, this bodhisattva, is very hidden practitioner, how much great knowledge he has achieved. Before, for many years, he studied in Tibet under many great gurus, and he lived life as a sadhu in India for a very long time, living an ascetic life, but with great knowledge achieved. Before, he came to the Tibetan monastery at Bodhgaya as a sadhu but the monks didn’t recognize him. He asked for a place to stay and they let him stay there and then he left. Then His Holiness took teachings from him on bodhicitta and many things, so then he became famous and many people wanted to take teachings from him. But before, no one recognized what he was. I also took teachings from him on bodhicitta. Once I was alone taking teachings from him, and a postman came to give a letter. So he knocked on the door, which was locked. No one opened the door quickly, so the postman knocked more and more strongly on the door while I was taking teachings from him, so finally we opened the door. He also told me it would be good to translate the teachings on bodhicitta, Following the Bodhisattva’s Actions. He instructed that teaching bodhicitta would never cause any confusion to people’s minds. Unlike any other subject, it is a subject that people who have no interest in Dharma have to agree on when they hear the training in bodhicitta.

So if the person possesses bodhicitta, that is the best beautiful shape, the best beautiful color. If the person possesses bodhicitta the person has received the best possession. The outer beautiful shape can cause many problems, but the real beautiful shape, bodhicitta, cannot cause problems. Receiving external things can cause problems, but having bodhicitta can never cause problems. Same thing, receiving respect from outside can cause many problems—greed, pride, negative mind—but bodhicitta can never cause such a problem.

If there is bodhicitta possession, even if the person doesn’t create other virtuous actions, just having bodhicitta, it is okay. Because as long as the person has bodhicitta, all actions are okay, there is no way to involve the action in self, so the person intuitively, all the time, creates virtuous action, whatever it is—eating, sleeping, walking, none of these are involved in self. So even if he doesn’t create other virtuous actions, he continually creates merits.

And one thing, secondly, like this—the achievement of the bodhicitta can cause one to receive a rebirth that has a beautiful shape, good-looking, without purposely aiming for that. Due to bodhicitta such a rebirth can be received. By the way, through the achievement of bodhicitta, without purposely desiring, aiming, these things can be naturally received. In the same way, with bodhicitta, without seeking or expecting anything, admiration from other people can be naturally received. Therefore, it is important for us to receive such beneficial thoughts. Therefore, it is wise to make preparation, arrangement, even from now. If you don’t make preparation from now, how long we live it is not sure, so it is skillful, wise to make arrangements, plant seeds from now on. So think, “It is not enough for my present life to be happy, and also to receive a higher samsaric rebirth in the future lifetime; that is not enough, for myself to be out of samsara, I must receive enlightenment for the benefit of the sentient beings. Therefore, I must achieve the whole graduated path. To achieve all this I must fully know this, I must fully know the full explanation, the whole meaning. Therefore, I am going to listen to the teachings on the graduated path.”

The great saint, called Lingrepa, said, “In the samsaric superstitious city, the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas -zombie (I think six years ago I knew this word) is running; there is the fearful cemetery. If the lama makes the points equally, it should be done there,” (that means in that city).

Making the points equal, that is, the subject to make equal is the eight worldly dharmas . If the lama makes the object equal then should be done there. What should be made equal? The eight worldly dharmas. Where? In the samsaric superstitious city. It is also interesting and it has great meaning, gives much instruction on how to practice Dharma. So this is the most frightful cemetery; as this great yogi said, “There is the most fearful cemetery.” Usually ordinary people see the external cemetery where there are corpses burnt or buried, whatever; usually people have fear of things such as the external zombie. But we never have fear, we ordinary people never get frightened the actual cemetery; the actual zombie—the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas that causes much confusion and problems. If a person who sees, a person who sincerely practices, one who fully understands Dharma, they, instead of being frightened of the external cemetery and those things, they are frightened of the inner cemetery, the inner zombie. By being frightened, by recognizing the inner zombie or the inner cemetery, and being frightened of this, it only causes them to achieve the realizations quicker, to achieve the practice quickly. If there were no internal cemetery, no internal zombie, there also wouldn’t be the external cemetery.

So what we are supposed to do is to make equal the eight worldly dharmas , which is recognized as such an important, powerful practice in many other teachings written by many other great gurus and yogis. This, making equal the eight worldly dharmas , is the fundamental practice done by great yogi Milarepa, such as Thagpo Lharje, who is called is Gampopa, such as Guru Tsongkhapa, and many other yogis—Naropa, Tilopa. This is their fundamental practice. Depending on the practitioner, their way of using—when there’s pleasure, when there’s suffering, temporal pleasure, meeting sweet or ugly sound, receiving materials, not receiving materials, personal praise, abuse—depending on practitioner, he can use, he can make equal, his mind can make these things equal within his mind. There are many different ways to use them, depending on the practitioner. A person who practices tantra can use the tantra way, such as putting the whole daily life into tantric practice. A person who doesn’t practice tantra but practices, who follows only the bodhisattva action, practicing bodhicitta, when he meets these objects, besides making equal in his mind, he can use them in a Mahayana way, in Mahayana practice, in bodhisattva actions. And those who only try to receive the cessation of samsara, do not follow bodhisattva action, also have to make these objects equal within their minds by fighting the evil thoughts. So those beings, as they meet the objects, they use them for the practice of Dharma which is the cause of receiving liberation. There is a way to use these things depending on the practitioner—like this.

So as the person meets the different objects, the eight worldly dharmas , he can use it in a beneficial way by using the techniques that we discussed yesterday. There are techniques that I discovered while meditating, and I found that many times they were really helpful, beneficial, and there are many other techniques that are written in this book and not written. But of course, any realization, any positive experience is not something self-known, is not something intuitive without depending on the guru, without depending on the guru’s actions. There are different actions of the guru’s holy body, speech, and mind and so on. So when there are temporal sufferings like that, try to use those techniques.

For instance, we have to experience, to bear some troubles, some difficulty—physical difficulty, mental difficulty—to receive enlightenment. It is worthwhile suffering, experiencing or bearing the difficulty for the achievement of that. You see, experiencing temporal difficulty can be ended. As one approaches the higher path, enlightenment, the whole problem becomes less and less, decreased. What you are bearing, experiencing, only helps—you are suffering now but it helps—it helps you to completely cease the suffering that has no beginning. So, you are using the temporal sufferings in such a beneficial way instead of creating confusion, upset, and worries. This is the way that most ordinary worldly people do—instead of making the situation better, they create more problem for themselves in their minds, more confusion. It is impossible to achieve enlightenment without going through any difficulties. Especially, it is impossible to achieve the ultimate goal, ultimate peace, by following the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas , without bearing the difficulties of avoiding the eight worldly dharmas .

It is like this, with a two-pointed needle we can’t sew the cloth (i.e. a needle without an eye). So the same thing, it is impossible to achieve ultimate peace, enlightenment, by following the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas . The evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas and the Dharma practice of avoiding the evil thought of eight worldly dharmas is opposite, is always opposite. So the person, whatever he does, meditates, and whatever he does, as long as the mind is in the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas , he is a worldly person, this is what a worldly person is. As long as his mind is involved in the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas , he is a worldly person; No matter what he does, his action—meditating, preaching—is evil action. He is a worldly person, not a Dharma practitioner. So therefore, the great ancient Indian pandits and the great Tibetan yogis always instructed their followers what is necessary to have first to practice Dharma, the first step. That is the avoidance of the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas .

Like this, if I tell one story of one of the ancient yogis who practiced this. This is the same person who I was talking yesterday, whose early life was very evil—day time thieving, night time robbing. One person had many fields that gave him some amount of wheat, crops—forty tons of wheat from the fields. So at night he always stole from the families of the village, and always had four or five knives. He also had a field that gave him that much quantity of wheat, but he still life difficult, not finding enough to eat; he also has many enemies. Although he carried many weapons, had many difficulties, later he changed his life by meeting holy gurus living in the practice, by practicing the graduated path himself. Anyway, the story is this: in his later life he had his bhikshu robes and no other things, and he spent his life in a cave doing pure practices. One day, there was some kind of invitation to one monastery, offering curd. All the people were lined up, and he was somewhere down the last line. The people offering the curd came, and he saw much curd going into the cups of the people who were first in line, and he was maybe too much attached in the curd and was afraid he wouldn’t get any. He checked up his motivation, and then turned his bowl upside down and refused the curd. This was to punish his negative mind, to fight to the negative mind, because the negative mind says, “Missing curd, pouring too much to others,” all these worries, “The negative mind was trying to destroy you, destroy your peace,” so instead of following the negative mind he fought the negative mind. This mind is not involved in the eight worldly dharmas , in those evil thoughts.

And another example—one day he was in a family’s house, thieving. Something unconsciously happened, because he had done so many times before in his early life. So his hand was in the sack, and all of a sudden he discovered he was thieving, so he made noise, called the family, “There’s a thief!” And while his hand was in the sack he showed that there was the thief. It sounds silly, but actually he was practicing purely, trying to fight the negative mind, the evil thoughts, trying to fight the mind that is attached to the happiness of the temporal life.

It is easy to understand also, for instance, when you read the great yogi Milarepa’s biography you understand how much he took trouble, how hard he practiced under his great guru Marpa, completely dedicating his whole life to his hands. By practicing so hard like that, all the negativity and sinfulness was completely purified in one lifetime. By building the nine-storied tower—many times he built it, and then again his great guru told him to ruin it and leave the stones in the original places; so he ruined it completely, and then again built it—this was done three or four times. Not only the great yogi Milarepa, but also Naropa and many others did such a hard practice, they went through the experience of the hardships of the practice of Dharma and living the ascetic life. So just this gives a good example. It is good to take, as we read those biographies, why he had to experience, why he had to go through the hard practice—this is important to know, why he had to go through such hardships for the achievement of enlightenment in one lifetime, it helps you to understand how to practice. For a long time, I think many people know, even though he met the guru, he didn’t receive any oral teachings from his guru but only the physical work, for a long time.

If you wait to practice Dharma until you find comfort, no problems, until there is no confusion in the mind, you may not find any time. Of course you will find mental and physical problems in meditation. According to the power of your mind, your mind practicing Dharma, it is good not to follow the evil thoughts and to treat them by your own technique, by your own mind which is the psychologist. As you find trouble, if you treat it only by working with your own mind, you are your own psychologist, the best psychologist. But I am not judging or complaining that one need not depend on external treatments, that this is negative, I am not saying this. You can control the suffering by the power of your mind—then it is good to do like this for the practitioner. When it cannot be controlled by the power of your mind, then take the external treatment. But what is negative is taking the external treatment with the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas , so that treatment should be done with the pure thought of avoiding the eight worldly dharmas , that treatment should be done for the life to exist in order to practice Dharma. So this motive, to receive enlightenment for accomplishing that Dharma practice, is necessary; for that, to have longer life is necessary. If you do the treatment with this motive, which has the achievement of enlightenment as its final aim, then it becomes a beneficial action, a positive action, because you are having the treatment to have longer time to practice Dharma, so such action is not negative.

Then when you hear personal praise, admiration, which makes you burn, your heart breaking, when you meet these objects, try to be conscious of what is happening within your mind. As some people are admiring, praising, saying beautiful things, try to check up within your mind. Try to keep your wounds—for instance, if you have wound on your hand, when there is something going on, people moving, it may get touched, bigger, when there is a crowd you have to take care of it and keep it from danger. So like this, the mind is very dangerous, like a wound—when you are with people, and also when you are alone, you have to take care of the mind, otherwise there is the danger that it will get bigger. But if you don’t take care of your mind, then there’s the danger of all kinds of things happening with mind, then speech, then body.

So when you meet this object, speech, admiration, try to think, try to visualize it as a thunderbolt that destroys things, or as a red-hot sting, like a needle, long, red-hot; or sometimes like a thunderbolt that breaks things, destroys. You don’t have to say anything, you can still listen, but still work within your mind, because the problem is in your mind. If you visualize like this, these interesting words that cause your pride to get bigger and also cause greed to arise, many other things, so at the same time as you visualize in that form, the situation in your mind would be quite different. Before your mind would be lifting up, like a piece of paper lifted by the wind. The mind is like a piece of paper. The paper has no power, has to go wherever the wind pushes it, takes it. So just by changing the object, visualizing that, all of a sudden it changes your mind, it comes down, relaxed, peaceful.

After you visualize that, then think like this—this object, this has been causing me, obliging me to suffer, to experience the infinite sufferings in samsara for beginningless lifetimes, preventing all happiness, enlightenment, and realizations. Same thing, this will give suffering, oblige me to experience the infinite sufferings of samsara in the future, and prevent enlightenment and happiness. (The object is the praise, not the thunderbolt). So by checking how it destroys, then it makes no interest in the beautiful words that he says, no attachment.

Then think, “This hot red sting or thunderbolt, compared to this, this is nothing, because even if it is put in the body it can only harm this present life’s body, not the future life’s bodies. But the praise and admiration obliges me to experience the infinite sufferings of samsara in countless times, preventing happiness, realization, and enlightenment, and would do the same in the future, and also it is giving harm now, in the present. So, this red hot sting, this is nothing compared with that.” If you think strongly, not only the words, then it will be very useful. No matter how much you listen to that, no problem in your mind, no confusion—it is peaceful, relaxed.

Same thing when you receive gifts, things which break your heart, again things that make your mind lift up, something that can’t be pressed down. Also when we receive objects, material things, there is confusion—if you are attached; if you are not attached then there is no problem. Concrete, material things you can visualize as red-hot burning coal, and think similarly as before—”This red hot coal would give harm only to this present life, but the material would prevent all achievements, perfection, happiness, and oblige me to experience sufferings.” This way, actually if you really check up with your experience, this is a really powerful method that instantly helps right away, cures the problem right away, that always keeps yours mind in peace, relaxed, away from the attachment arising. And this practice is pure sincere practice, never involved in the eight worldly dharmas ; this is a serious practice, creating the cause for enlightenment.

Even if one recites mantra—of course, mantra is very beneficial, and contains much teaching—but, while you are with such dangerous objects, reciting mantra in order to stop attachment won’t instantly stop the problem. Of course, it definitely helps to decrease negative mind.

Even if you try to read Dharma books, if you are with dangerous objects, it won’t cut the problem right away. This, you can check up now, we don’t have to bring the problem, we have the problem in the mind.

For instance, just this example—take a man who has everything, all possessions, but when there is such confusion in his mind none of his possession, even tiny as a grain of rice, nothing helps to cut the confusion. He can only follow the evil thought, no matter how much value the possessions have, they cannot cut the problem right away, they cannot cure the problem. But the simple hippie who has no possessions like the other person—I mean mind simple, not having possessions—who tries to practice this, has the most valuable possession, the most valuable method to cut off such problems right away. This value can’t be compared to all the possessions that person has. Even trillions of dollars doesn’t have this knowledge, doesn’t have this value. This is the way, if you really want to make the life happy. Doing this practice really makes the life happy, peaceful, and also other future lives.

For instance, like this—again a story of that yogi. In his later life, he spent his time an ascetic life in a cave, in solitude, without any possessions. In early life he had many possessions, and he robbed, and still he had many problems. When he was living in the practice with no possessions, the opposite of his early life, he had no problems living his temporal life, although he had no arrangements to eat tomorrow, the next day—and so on. After he lived in this practice, lived an ascetic life, he received food, he didn’t have to try, without effort from his side. So he was surprised and said, “Before my mouth doesn’t find food, but now food doesn’t find my mouth,” because he had too much food to eat from so many benefactors, so he couldn’t eat it all.

Also, one great Tibetan yogi who led an ascetic life, Geshe Kharag, said: “Meditators dying of starvation, of feeling cold have never been heard of before and will never happen in the future. But meditators on the evil thoughts of the eight worldly dharmas always get into problems—for such mediators, this always happens.”

The first meditator means the one avoiding the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas . This is the experience of those great numbers of ascetic yogis—instead of suffering it always gives them peace.

So now I think I will end this conversation.

Also, for people who sometimes have too much attachment to food, in order to stop the problem, the confusion in mind, which is the creator of your own samsara, it would be good to think similarly like this, similar to other ones. But the food (if I tell you now I don’t have to tell you afterwards)—anyway since we wish to be free, desiring peace, the reason for eating food is also for peace, not for suffering. So we should find a better method, besides relying on the same food, we should find a better method that becomes the cause of real peace. This is the way it becomes worthwhile, it becomes knowledge, a human being eating food different from the dog eating food. The dog, as he sees foods, just eats, expecting the peace; we human beings should be different from them. If we visualize some kind of horrible thing, to change your mind by changing the situation, so it would be good to visualize food in the form of kaka. Then visualizing this, the attachment that arises, the strong attachment that is complicated, not peace, will all of a sudden go down. Then think just as the other example that I gave. “This object, the kaka, may cause some harm or trouble to this present life. But it cannot harm me as much as the food—food has been causing me to experience suffering since beginningless previous lives, preventing me from experiencing happiness and enlightenment, and in the future will continue to do so to me, and in the present is doing it.” So the person practicing this tries to keep himself from the mental danger, the person who uses this technique keeps himself from the attachment that causes him to be reborn in the three lower realms. For instance, attachment to food can cause one to be reborn in the preta realm, so one is protecting oneself from danger, making profit.

So for other objects, such as displeasing words, abusing, criticizing, use them for your negative mind—instead of using them for yourself, which causes worry and confusion. Use them against your negative mind, as if you are in a group fighting the negative mind.

Even if a person doesn’t meditate or say mantra, it doesn’t matter what he looks like, even he doesn’t have the altar up, even if all of his daily life is eating, sleeping, making kaka and pee- pee—it can be Dharma practice fighting the negative mind, depending on the skill and mental power. This is better than sitting in a cave without possessions, meditating, but with evil thoughts.

3 p.m.

As the physical wound should be taken care of, so the mind should be taken care of from the dangers and distractions. When one is only with oneself or when one is with people, as this yogi Atisha instructed, “When one is alone, the mind should be taken care of; when one is with other people, the speech should be taken care of.”

Because when one is alone there’s not another to talk to, but a person talks a lot within his mind, with himself. So it is important to take care of the mind, to keep it away from danger and negativity. When one is with other people, other living beings, one should take care of the body and speech, because there is the danger that one may create negative karma, negative action. The total thing is to emphasize that one has to be always conscious, and being conscious one should take care of the three doors, the body, speech and mind. So, by being conscious, taking care of the three doors, the body, speech and mind, he does not harm himself or other living beings.

(Page 49)

Seems like the one month meditation course has finished!

Paragraph Two

First sentence: Here the sentence doesn’t look right. It should be like this, “Using this precious human rebirth for achievement of the individual everlasting happiness is not sufficient, is not enough, is not the highest advantage.”

The last sentence (paragraph two) is very useful to fully think about, because it contains just this point, it contains the way we mostly spend our daily life, with what aim we mostly spend in daily life, and how spending the present daily life with that aim, in that way, will effect in the future. By thinking this, it causes us to be conscious that we’ll have to have the suffering daily life in the future, because we are using the life for the samsaric aim, the limited aim, to receive the eight temporal needs and samsaric higher pleasures. So in this way, meditating on this, checking this way, it causes us to be careful, to stop continuing the negative daily life. Checking like this gives us the desire that I must receive peace, I must be free in future lifetimes—so as this desire arises we cut off continually creating negative actions, continually leading negative daily life. So this is useful.

Paragraph Four

It is like this—this is our daily life experience, nothing different, it is profound. In the morning time, we get up with the experience of the temporal happiness of this life. Then we have breakfast with the expectation of the temporal happiness of this life. Also most of the talks, most of the work, writing—mostly it is done with the expectation of one’s individual happiness, the temporal happiness of this life. Then lunch is enjoyed, is eaten, with also the same thought—the expectation of the temporal happiness of this life. Then maybe tea afterwards, that is also enjoyed with same expectation, same thought—only for the temporal happiness of this life. Then supper comes; that is also enjoyed with the same motive—to receive peace, the temporal happiness of this life. Then sleeping comes, bedtime is also done with the expectation to receive the temporal happiness of this life. So the whole daily life. Besides that talking, writing, working—all that is done with the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas that only expects to receive temporal happiness, that only expects the happiness of this life.

None of these actions is done desiring suffering—the whole action is done to stop the temporal suffering, the temporal suffering, the momentary suffering, the present suffering—it is all done to stop the present, temporal suffering. Is done to stop the suffering, to not experience suffering and to receive happiness, but only happiness of this life. Is done to stop suffering but only the present, the temporal suffering. Such daily life mostly is not done to stop all future suffering, it is all done to stop the present suffering.

So, like this, now it’s easy to understand—all these actions are done, actions of daily life, are done with greed, done with the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas . Totally, the evil thought, the greed that is attached to the temporal happiness of this life. So the whole daily life is negative action, is formed by negative action, so the whole daily life is negative, negative daily life. So the factual evolution, what it does, what result this daily life will bring, what one has to experience—the result of this daily life—what one has to experience is suffering, is suffering, is suffering.

The result of most of the daily actions is to be born in the three lower realms, the narak, the preta, and the animal realms. Even if the person is born in the upper realm such as those of the humans, suras, asuras, the samsaric gods, even if one is born such as in human world again—again he will meet much suffering, many problems, not having peace. Again he will receive a life that has problems, miserable situations, not being free. Like this, the results are like this—only suffering.

But we are deeply ignorant of the recognition, of discovering the results, those suffering results that are brought by the present daily life’s actions, and also we are deeply ignorant of discovering, realizing fully, recognizing the daily life’s work, what is negative and what is positive. We do not fully discover it. So, because being ignorant of fully discovering the suffering results that are caused by the present daily life, so we are not scared to continually live such daily life.

So Dharma and meditation is supposed to correct the daily life. The Dharma and meditation that you practice is supposed to correct your daily life, to make your daily life pure. It prepares you for better lives, for more freedom. So you see, from our ordinary being, from our side we think we are leading this life to have peace, for enjoyment, to be happy, to be wise, to be learned, to gain self-support, to not get involved in miserable situations. From our side we think like this, this is our aim.

But actually, in factual evolution, how does it work? If it is checked, when a holy being, a sincere Dharma practitioner, looks at it like a movie, they see it as funny, as opposite—we are doing it the opposite of what we expect, so we don’t get things the way we expect, no matter how we work. So how do those holy beings see our life? We are always creating causes for future suffering; in each day we are creating causes for future suffering—in each of our daily lives we are making arrangements to suffer more and more, continually, in the future. This is our total daily life. If I make it short no matter how long the person lives, 100, 400 years, but if I make it short—this is how we live.

So, in this way we can see how the avoidance of the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas is important, how it makes the life pure, how it is necessary. By understanding the evolution of our daily life, our actions, the relationship between this and future lives we can discover how this practice is important for a free life, for a real happy life. We think our daily life, this daily life experience is new, the first time. It is not like this, factual evolution is not like this, it is not like this. Because of our past, the previous daily lives have been continually used for creating the cause of suffering. Therefore, even now, we are still living in suffering, in ignorance, still living in the prison of ignorance.

Shantideva’s Quotation

So as this great pandit, Shantideva said, this is what we are exactly doing in daily life. Even if there is much opportunity, we are leading ourselves again to the lower suffering realms, ignoring ourselves.

Paragraph Seven

The example looks great, for us the example looks great, but others don’t feel as much for the example. The example we feel is wasted, and we don’t feel much for the meaning—that is the nature of our mind. The example is nothing to compare with the wasting of the perfect human rebirth, using it for the temporal needs, for the enjoyment of samsara. The example compared to the meaning is nothing—trading the universe, the universe, the universe full of jewels for kaka, that is nothing. Because even if one possesses many universes full of jewels, if one’s life, perfect human rebirth, is used for those ordinary aims, the samsaric enjoyments, the universes full of jewels cannot cause us to receive perfect human rebirth again, only that cannot help us to be born in the human realm again. So there’s nothing to compare. When we think of the possessions they look great, very valuable, but there is nothing to compare to the value of the perfect human rebirth.

Paragraph Seven

Sentence Two: This means working for attachment is always the cause of suffering. What you receive by working for it is only a suffering result, which kaka doesn’t do in that way. Kaka is extremely useful, in many ways.

Paragraph Eight

So it is same reason. If we have to care for the present temporary sufferings, why we don’t care for all the future lives’ sufferings, why we don’t try not to experience the greater future sufferings? The suffering we experience in this life is small—if we have to care for these, why not care for the greater sufferings which will have to be experienced?

Checking suffering like this—take person who is scared of future suffering, for example, a person whose leg is bitten by a snake. This can cause danger to the life, death. If it is not treated, if it is not cured with medicine, with treatment, it can cause danger to the life, so the person is scared. Usually, a person doesn’t want to suffer even a tiny thorn going inside, this is our experience, the person doesn’t want to suffer anything. So when his leg is bitten by a snake, because he is scared of the future suffering, death, he thinks of the treatment, taking out wound by surgery, the wound has to be taken out. Usually he cares for the pain of the surgery, usually he cares for a little thorn going inside, the pain; but at such a time, because of the greater future suffering, he doesn’t care for the pain of the surgery, of cutting off the wound, he can bear it. In order to stop the greater future suffering, he bears the pain, and he doesn’t see this pain as so great, he sees it as small, because his mind is scared of the greater future suffering, life danger. So he wants to go through the pain at the time of surgery, he doesn’t care for it, his only project is to stop the greater future suffering, and the person thinks, as he sees this suffering is small, the future is great, so he makes a choice, volunteers to take the small suffering now, in order to stop the greater future suffering.

So it is the same thing in life, in our life. As we think it is important to cure temporary suffering, also it is important to work and cure future suffering. And it is more important to work to cure the future suffering than to work for curing the present suffering, just as the example of the person bitten by the snake. Because the future life has greater suffering than we experience in the present life, so it is more important to work to stop the greater future suffering. That is done through living in Dharma practice. Therefore, it is more worthwhile to bear the present trouble, the present temporal little troubles for the Dharma practice to stop the whole greater future sufferings. And that person is always skillful and wise, and this person is working, who is living in the pure Dharma practice, to stop the continual, future greater sufferings by bearing the present temporal sufferings. This person is making work than can be finished, completed.

For instance, if the person, if he cared, if he didn’t think of the greater future suffering of his life and he is not scared of it, not knowing the future greater sufferings, such a person who only cares for the present temporal suffering, the pain of the surgery, the pain of the treatment, that person has no will, no energy, no courage to have the treatment, to bear the temporary pain of that treatment. So what would that do? He would have a short life. Soon he would have to experience greater suffering. So, as well as the temporary suffering of the wound, so he experiences two sufferings, that of the present and that of the future.

In that way we have been spending our present life, like the man who experiences the present temporal suffering and doesn’t have treatment, so we experience the present life’s suffering and the future life’s suffering. As we have been using daily life like this from beginningless previous lives, if we continually do this we will only experience the future greater sufferings without end. That’s all.

It is necessary to have a long aim in the mind, a far aim in the mind. Having the far aim in the mind always helps to accomplish Dharma practice and be successful, and to make the practice continual. For instance, you might practice when you are happy, but when you have problems you come down, forget the meditation—without continual practice. Then like this, it is extremely difficult to make quick progression within your mind. The person who is sometimes up, sometime down; sometimes up, sometimes looks like ... yes. I think that’s not important.

When you meditate on the usefulness of the perfect human rebirth you have to remember the different levels of results that are achieved in the temporal and ultimate goals, all the precious chances. And also, if you can remember both these subjects, both subjects would be good, helpful. What is written in the book is just a seed, but on the basis of this, as you are using this subject for meditation, you have to elaborate, you have to make it more extensive, more sharpening, wider as much as possible by yourself using your wisdom. By that method, in order to realize how the perfect human rebirth is useful, your wisdom should be made sharp, acute, and practical as much as possible, by trying to remember many other precious chances which you find, desire, within, your mind. So in this way you can see the subject more and more clearly, and the perfect human rebirth as more and more useful, if you discover the great usefulness of the perfect human rebirth more and more clearly through the practice of such meditation.

But generally it is like this. A person whose mind is ready to receive realizations doesn’t have to depend on many words to receive realizations, with just a few words he can receive realization. But a person whose mind is far from this subject has to train a great deal in meditation. So a person whose mind is ready can receive realizations just by reading the words written here, but the person whose mind is far away has to use much logic, wisdom, amplifying many reasons why the perfect human rebirth is useful.

When you achieves other realizations, then spend more time in the second part until the realization is achieved. When you have the achievement of this realization, the great usefulness of the perfect human rebirth, at that time your mind will be in a state like this—you will be a person who cannot waste the human life even for a minute, whose mind is always scared of not making the life meaningful, a person who can never waste the human life even for a minute, who feels greatly upset wasting the human life even for a minute. That person has realization of that meditation, the great usefulness of the perfect human rebirth, at that time the person has the experience of the realization of the great usefulness of perfect human rebirth.

It means this—a person who never wants to use the life, spend the life, even for a minute or second, creating negative actions. We can discover if we have this realization or not if we check up our own mind.

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“The conditions” here means—cause, the cause of the present life mainly based on morality and charity.

It is impossible in the three lower suffering realms to follow precepts, ordinations, such as keeping morality. It is also extremely difficult in the higher realms of the gods. So the best chance is in the human realm, this specific human world, even among the other human worlds.

Paragraph Two

These things are the disturbances, these things do not allow one to create cause for the perfect human rebirth.

Check up your own thought—if it is a pure thought or an evil thought that is attached, that clings to the happiness of this life, and for what you are intending to make the meditation. If it is the thought wanting to meditate for the achievement of ultimate peace, or if it is just the thought that is just curious about the work, about the meditations. If there is the evil thought, think that it is only the cause of the suffering, which you should get rid of.

Think, “Only having this present life happy and even receiving upper rebirth again in the future life is not sufficient. Still in samsara, still in the bondage of suffering. Just releasing myself from the bondage of suffering is still not enough, because all sentient beings are objects from whom I received all my past perfection and happiness, and also in the future, and they are also objects of my receiving present perfection and happiness. So leaving them in suffering, not repaying them, not helping them, not guiding them, satisfied with myself being free is not right, this is selfish and guilty. So I must repay them and help them for the kindness of the object, being the object of all my perfection and happiness, and I must guide them from all their sufferings. In order to do that I must have complete achievement of great infinite power, knowledge, and great compassion. To achieve this I must become an enlightened being who has these three supreme infinite powers, knowledge and compassion. Who has it? Only the enlightened beings! So I must become Buddha. To achieve this I must complete the practice of the graduated path, from the meditation practice of the perfect human rebirth up to enlightenment. Therefore, I am going to meditate on the graduated path, do the preparation of purification with the visualization of Guru Shakyamuni, and concentrate on the breathing.”

If you can’t meditate because of trouble, temporal physical troubles, then meditate on those troubles by using those techniques which fight the creator of suffering. This is also a practical method and is better than wasting time, just sitting being tortured and distracted.

Meditation

As we have tried to visualize Guru Shakyamuni, the throne absorbs to the lotus, sun, and moon, and those absorb into Guru Shakyamuni, and he comes onto the center of your head, and you became oneness, and as it absorbs into you, the ordinary body that you see completely disappears, nowhere existing, and your mind becomes one with Guru Shakyamuni’s holy mind in emptiness, in the nature of infinite happiness, just as encompassing space.

Now visualize the throne at your place, a large throne, and lotus, sun, and moon, and yourself in the form of Guru Shakyamuni, in the form of a bhikshu, seated on the throne. Think that all of your body, speech, and mind became one with Guru Shakyamuni’s holy body, speech, and mind. You are no longer yourself, such ordinary body, speech, and mind exist nowhere.

Many people may get colds and coughs because of inner seeds, delusions, and also due to external conditions, such as the outside smoke of the rubbish burning. But since we have to experience the sufferings, try to use it for Dharma practice, as the ornament that makes the body beautiful.

Day 10
November 11

The great bodhisattva, Negi Lama, whose introduction was given yesterday, said, “A living being who has the ornament of bodhicitta, how can it be possible that such being has ill-will, (the will giving harm to other beings). To avoid the ill-will to other living beings, the holy being intuitively follows, without need of persuasion, (without asking or telling the person not to give harm to others).”

This means that a living being who is adorned or decorated with the ornament of bodhicitta, because of the power of this holy mind that lives intuitively in the action of not giving harm to other living beings, only in the actions of helping other beings, the person actually does it because of the power of bodhicitta, without being asked, without being told to do it.

The quotation is this—since the creator of the hindrance is subdued within one’s mind, there’s no way to receive the hindrance form outside. So just achievement of bodhicitta brings that peace, great freedom. Therefore, it is skillful and wise to spend the present short life in the practice of bodhicitta. It is necessary to start the training of bodhicitta even from this moment since we have such a precious chance. For the action of listening to Mahayana teachings on the graduated path, it is necessary to be possessed by the impulse of the bodhicitta, therefore think, “It is not sufficient, it is not enough to have this present life happy, and even if one can receive many happy future lives in the upper realms of the samsara, because it is still in the bondage of suffering, so it is necessary to be out of the bondage of suffering. But oneself being out of the bondage of suffering is not enough. There are numberless sentient beings in the bondage of suffering who need to be guided, need to be saved, who have no freedom, who haven’t opened the eye of wisdom in the Dharma, not having a leader and not receiving the perfect human rebirth, great numbers of sentient beings who have received suffering by not receiving the perfect human rebirth. Therefore, we, it is necessary that we ourselves, in order to release them from the suffering, to guide them, first to be enlightened. To become enlightened we must complete the realizations of the graduated path. Therefore, it is necessary to completely and correctly understand the meaning of the path. Therefore I am going to listen to the teachings on the graduated path.”

However profound, helpful, or precious the subject is, for many people maybe it can be like this—if you put dirt in the drum of his ear, he shakes. Even he doesn’t find it as gold, if it is kept, the time will appear. It is also not like this—I am giving a lecture and you are sort of a journalist; it is not like this, in this way we can’t practice Dharma, we can’t make the Dharma effective, the subject we are listening to now cannot become effective.

Actually, within the subject of the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas , one can explain the benefits of the knowledge of that for months and months. It is not kind of subject that can be quickly ended, quickly finished. Because it is like this—this is the first door, this is the first thing of the Dharma practice, this is like the main gate, it is like the main gate of the palace, this practice. So anyway, as this is the first thing of Dharma practice, so the whole realization of the path, enlightenment, the whole thing is rooted, based on this. So the knowledge of avoiding the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas and the practice of this is not simple—we think as it is a simple thing but it is not like this. The knowledge of this can be explained in many lifetimes. Therefore, we should not think it is simple—if it is simple we should practice it. The reason we can’t practice this is because it is not simple, even thought we try to climb over higher subjects.

Often we make mistakes in our actions of body, speech, and mind; often we meditators think it is the lack of teaching, lack of special technique that is not written in the book, and not our own fault. It is never like this. Basically, it is the lack of the person not making even the first thing of the Dharma practice. That is why he makes any mistakes in actions, finds problems with other living beings and with himself, even while he is alone. People think, “I am so negative, I need more teachings.” If one is not living in the first practice, going through the first thing of the Dharma, even if one hears the 84,000 teachings that were shown by Guru Shakyamuni, still he couldn’t change his mind, change his life, still his mind would be negative, and he would think still it’s the lack of teachings. Anyway, something like that.

Also, this is the part where I have most of my interest, which I enjoy very much. Because through this practice you can really discover the knowledge of the Dharma, you can really see it like you mix different colors, and then you paint and see what color comes there. You can prove it by yourself; even if you are alone you can lead a happy life, you don’t need to depend on companions, friendship, being a couple or something. Actually, you and this practice can be the best couple—only bringing enlightenment, not disturbing yourself or others even in one atom—the best parents, best children, best enjoyment. Because with this practice, no matter where the person is, his enjoyments are limited, he has no companions, no parents, the conditions are limited, and his mind can always be happy, peaceful, and relaxed, not in confusion.

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Totally talking like this—it is extremely difficult to find the perfect human rebirth. Why it is extremely difficult? Because the cause of it is extremely difficult to create; just as the example, to receive a diamond that has the value of 10,000,000 dollars, it is difficult to get because it is difficult to have 10,000,000 dollars, just giving a simple example. To get, gain such a great amount of money is difficult. From this people thinking of receiving such diamond is difficult. Why? Because they think to get that much money is difficult. So similarly with our perfect human rebirth. The cause of the perfect human rebirth, what brings the perfect human rebirth, which is like money, is mainly morality and charity. So now we should think how it is difficult to create the causes for morality and charity.

Generally speaking, morality is more difficult than charity because it is involved in the discipline of the body, speech, and mind, so it is more difficult than charity. The essence of morality, the basic thing is disciplining your body, speech, and mind away from the negative actions of body, speech, and mind. Therefore, for instance, in countries such as Tibet or India and such places, there are celibates existing. In some countries there are very few. That is because, in those places, there are few people who know these karmic evolutions, what brings the human rebirth, and what has to be done to bring it in the future. So in the country where these inner evolutions are known there are more celibates. In the country where these are not known there are few who discipline their body, speech, and mind.

So first we talk about charity—even a person makes charity. First of all, the chance to create charity and morality is almost impossible in the three lower suffering realms, and also it is difficult in the upper realms such as those of the samsaric gods. Now, in the human realm—even in the human realm it is difficult to make charity. There are many other, many other disturbances to the practice of charity, such as the disturbance of not understanding karma, not understanding that the cause of charity results in receiving enjoyments, not understanding karma, not understanding Dharma; also miserliness. Lazy people who have possessions can also make charity but don’t know how to—that is also disturbance to charity. Charity doesn’t only mean material charity. Also, even if the person wants to make material charity, he may have no control, no choice, may not be free. There are many other disturbances, such as the disturbance of not believing in the karmic concatenation, the cause, of charity and its result. Besides not understanding, not believing is also a disturbance to practicing charity. And from one’s side, oneself being a fool, not having a mind that is capable of understanding things. Also, being born in such a country or such an environment or family without belief, or not having the understanding of the necessity of making charity is also a disturbance to the person, to create good karma, charity. There are many things like this—so this disturbance, even if we are born in the human realm, there is much disturbance.

So now we talk about morality, how it is difficult. There are different levels of ordination, which has different numbers of precepts, such as five precepts, eight precepts, thirty-six precepts. Higher than that, for men 253, for women 300 and something like that. So now, the beings who keep the 253 precepts are very few, so few; those who purely keeps them are so rare, extremely rare. Even those who try to keep them very easily break them. Just as that example, with the thirty-six precepts, there are very few who purely keep them, even if they are trying to do that, they easily get broken. It is the same thing with those who keep the eight precepts—very few purely keeps them. The same thing happens to those who keep the five precepts. Even with the five precepts the same thing happens, even one takes ordination with the five precepts from the abbot or from a guru, same thing—there are very few who purely keep them—most of them easily get broken. So, there are very few people who confess and purify what is broken, and greater numbers who live their whole life like that until death, not confessing, no discipline. Even to keep one precept purely is extremely difficult, even to live in one precept.

For instance, we have to think like this—in the United States, there is no need to talk about other ordination, just five precepts are much rarer than a diamond. A diamond is nothingness compared to the person living in the five precepts; he is extremely rare. Even living in one precept, two precepts. Even we talk just about Nepal, just in this valley. There are more families not creating morality; those who follow morality are extremely rare. Even one family, if you check, even one who believes in karma; and there are fewer numbers following the disciplines of morality.

If we think with detail then we clearly understand, if we don’t think with detail it is difficult to understand. Then we don’t see how difficult it is to create the cause for the perfect human rebirth, and how it is difficult to achieve. We are even lazy to meditate; most of the time is spent in laziness or doing something else, other actions that are not the cause of the perfect human rebirth, actions that do not bring that result, most of the time it is spent like that.

So totally, even people keeping those precepts have too many dangers, many distractions. There are hundreds and hundreds more distractions to the practice of morality than to charity. Distractions from your side are the different types of negative mind, deluded mind, the inner disturbance that come from your side, that disturb your practice of morality.

And there are disturbances that come from outside, from other living beings. Even people who want to keep precepts but the family doesn’t allow them to, doesn’t want them to, so they are not free. Sometimes the king doesn’t allow them to, so they are not free, there is no choice. There are many things. Also from one’s side, from one persons’ side, he, according to his mind, desires to follow the precepts of morality, but he’s afraid of some other person, that it may hurt some other person because of this fear, and then this becomes a disturbance to keep the precept, to follow morality.

So totally talking, especially in modern worlds, it is a big shock; keeping precepts is a bit shocking. If you unconsciously go through the door, people find a big shock. So this way we understand how rare it is, how difficult it is because of these hindrances from your side. If not from your side, then from other’s side; sometimes from both. Condition, environment, country ... so difficult.

Totally talking, morality is the discipline of body, speech, and mind, trying to keep away from negative, evil actions of body, speech, and mind. But the person externally making himself to look like a celibate, taking that uniform, only that does not mean keeping morality. Because the factual thing is, as the person has that symbolic robes, the person is supposed to be living in the precepts—the thirty-six precepts, the 253 precepts, whatever the view he makes. Just changing the external look does not mean following morality. If the monkey has robes on, the only difference is the tail—it does not mean he is following morality.

Anyway, the one who has the symbolic things, the uniform, has a great responsibility, a big job—he has a big job. The fees that he receives in return, the salary that he receives by doing this job, by taking this responsibility, besides all the perfections, are receiving the ultimate goal of enlightenment, cessation of samsara, happiness in many other future lives. Even in the present life there is greater freedom and happiness, quick progression of internal knowledge, Dharma practice, continual creation of merits. These precepts that I have just named are generally precepts that are followed by Hinayanists; then on top of these there are bodhisattva precepts, and there are tantric precepts. But following the five precepts, the thirty-six precepts, the general precepts, by taking these precepts, by making a vow in the presence of a guru to keep them until the time of death, as he made the vow and as long as he keeps it, there is always the continual creation of merits, he is always making profit, he is always creating good karma. As long as he is in that condition, keeping it, he is always in the continual creation of merits that creates a cause for a perfect human rebirth in future lifetimes, all happiness and perfection, ultimate peace and enlightenment, the ultimate goal. Those precepts are still recognized as easier, the five precepts, the eight precepts, the thirty-six precepts, the 253 precepts, but the bodhisattva precepts are more difficult than those, more strict.
People can take these on different levels, but it is necessary to follow these in order to take the bodhisattva and tantric precepts. One who breaks the tantric precepts can still follow the bodhisattva precepts. Even he breaks those, he follows the general precepts, so he still creates merits on the basis of those, his life is not empty. Even if he doesn’t follow those higher precepts, he still makes profit, as he eats and sleeps so he always creates profit while he is in those; so life is not empty, life is not completely empty—always he is making something for the future, for ultimate peace. Then, if there is a stronger will, one takes the bodhisattva ordination, makes the vow, following the precept. Then whose mind is ready, stronger, then follows with the tantric precepts. But breaking the tantric precepts is much more dangerous than breaking the bodhisattva vow, which is much more dangerous than breaking the general precepts; and breaking these is much more dangerous than the actions that are done for the temporal life.

For example like this—the reason I’m talking this way is because people are concerned about this, want to understand a little about this. So, like this—for instance, a person who fell and lost his job may not get whatever number of the money, the salary that he receives. Even if the person dies of starvation, not having money or food, that is only danger of the present life. But breaking the general precepts, depending on the precept broken, causes one to be reborn in the narak stages, suffering for many eons, many hundreds of lifetimes of suffering in the worst narak stages. Generally, breaking precepts causes one to be reborn in the three lower suffering realms, the animal realms for many lifetimes. This is very dangerous, much more dangerous than losing one’s job or a person falling down from the job—that cannot cause as much suffering as the other one. So it’s important, when we meditate on how difficult it is to receive the perfect human rebirth and the difficulties of receiving the perfect human rebirth, to go through the details like this. The more details you can go through, the more effective your meditation can be to quickly realize the difficulty of achieving the perfect human rebirth.

So monks, nuns, and so forth who understand what their responsibility is recognize that they have a big job, which is also dangerous and also profitable, extremely beneficial. Living in this responsibility, having such an occupation, is the knowledge of the person, because it is done with the power of his mind, with the power of his will. So for such a person living in the number of precepts, this is his job, this is his knowledge. Even for the person who has no deep profound understanding of the Dharma, this is his knowledge—his keeping precepts is his knowledge. And the profit of that will be received in many other future lifetimes, which can be enjoyed in all times, even after enlightenment is received, the profit is even something that can be enjoyed even in that lifetime.

For instance, take the example of a person who spends many years studying many things—science, psychology, psychiatry, medicine, many other things—one who has spent much time, so many years, and who is highly qualified in all these, but not living in discipline of body, speech, and mind. To gain the knowledge he received, he paid many expenses, he or his parents, and spent that much time, everything. Yet the responsibility, his responsibility is limited, smaller than the person following precepts. His knowledge is only aimed for the purpose of making the present life happy, for his present life to be happy. So what that would do—I’m not complaining, but just talking of the evolution of what’s happening—so in the future life, there is nothing to look at, no profit is made for the future life with that knowledge by the person. So there is nothing for that person to receive in the future lifetime. It never becomes the cause of receiving the ultimate goal of enlightenment, or ultimate peace, because the person is not used to that.

So now—he profits in this life based on that knowledge, after he is qualified. Is he happy until death? No. Is he satisfied? No, continually problems arise. Even from that knowledge, no matter how much money he gets, there are other problems that arise—such as becoming crazy, no matter how many possessions or needs there are. So the profits of that knowledge are limited.

So the poor beggar, the monk living in this knowledge looks poor, but since his life is living in that discipline he is really rich. Also in this life, and also in future life he is always making profit, he is continually creating merits, cause for the ultimate peace. That peace. That is the real way of working for the ultimate peace.

3 p.m.

As the great yogi, Guru Tsongkhapa said, “When one realizes how the perfect human rebirth is difficult to receive, one cannot stay without doing anything.”

This means that the person who has discovered the difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth cannot live without doing anything; it means that without creating good karma, without doing some virtuous actions, the person cannot live. When one realizes the difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth one cannot live without doing anything.

“When one realizes that the perfect human rebirth is meaningful, one avoids creating meaningless actions.”

So, besides avoiding creating meaningless actions, by discovering the difficulty of the perfect human rebirth, there’s no way for the person to live the life—the realization obliges the person to do something, to create good karma, the cause of the perfect human rebirth that will be received in the future lifetimes.

So why is it difficult? Because achievement of the cause is difficult. For instance, if you check each of our own places, where we came from; for instance, the place in the West where you came from—if you check up in your life, since you were born until now, you saw very few people living in celibacy, following morality, following the precepts—the number that you see is much fewer than seeing the number of people not living in the discipline, following the precepts. For some people in the West, maybe they never saw other people living in the disciplines, observing morality. So by thinking in this way, the person who is creating these two causes, is collecting the best possessions, he is the actual rich person because, besides benefiting his present life, he is working, he is making some beneficial action also for the future lives.

As we discussed this morning, there are that many difficulties, hindrances, and distractions even if we try to practice charity and follow morality. Even if we try to create charity, it becomes an evil action because of not knowing the essential practice, not knowing how to practice charity, the actual meaning of the charity. Even trying to practice charity, thinking it is a good action, from the action’s side it becomes an evil action, poisonous charity (means charity done with poisonous mind)—giving materials or possessions, expecting something to receive in return, with the expectation to receive something in return in this life, or afterwards. Or, giving charity to other people so that one gains reputation, expecting that other people, beggars or other people, will say that he is so compassionate, such a good person, or expecting to receive pleasing words of admiration due to attachment to reputation. He expects that either the beggar will think he’s good or compassionate, or if it other people see him giving things away that they will admire him, think of him as good, and he expects to get something in return. The whole idea is that charity is done to gain the temporal happiness of this life, so it is an evil action, not a virtuous action.

It is the same thing with making offerings, as we were talking about before, to the holy objects (there are many different objects). Just as this action of charity is made with the evil thought, it becomes an evil actions—most of the time worshiping and offering actions done with such motive becomes impure. Wrong actions of worship such as sacrificing, thinking, aiming for peace, hoping to gain peace and perfection and to please the god by sacrificing other beings, by causing suffering to other beings, thinking that the god will be pleased by this and thinking that if this is not done the god would not be pleased. Such wrong actions are the opposite of those of a perfected being, or god, or enlightened one—the opposite of his wishes, the actions created in opposition to his wishes. Even if one tries to create virtuous actions of worship, due to his level of understanding of the karma, due to his wrong realization and wrong belief, such wrong action comes. This action works in the opposite way of what the person expects from that action, as his expectation of what this action will bring is the complete opposite of actual evolution of the karma. The factual evolution of the karma is this—one receives happiness by not harming other beings, by following morality. One gains happiness by abstaining from causing harm to other beings. This causes one to have longer lives, longer future lives. How does not harming other living beings make the future life happy and the life longer? This way—from such a cause, one will experience less harm from other beings in the present and future lives. So in that way one can live longer, free and happy, receiving less harm from other beings.

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Guru Shakyamuni’s quote—so both are as important as these two legs; without having both the legs, it is difficult to walk. So just as these two legs are necessary to walk, creating both causes are necessary to receive perfect human rebirth again.

Chandrakirti’s quote—one never receives new enjoyments except the enjoyments that are the results of past karma, charity. For instance, those who create charity but do not follow morality and break the precepts but do not confess, mostly take birth in the animal realm, take birth as a naga—this type of animal. (There are animals that our ordinary mind sees and those that we do not see). So when one is born as this animal, as a naga, one has much enjoyment, many stores of jewels, many rich possessions—that is the result of the karma that was created when one was a human being, such as through the practice of charity. But while one is a naga, an animal, one only enjoys the result, the enjoyments that are the result of the karma, one only finishes up the result, the enjoyments. One is not conscious of the karma, the cause of that result, and never creates good karma in that life, so there is no way to receive new enjoyments. That’s because of ignorance, deep ignorance. There are certain animals who have lives like this, having rich possessions, but our ordinary mind, uncontrolled, unrealized mind, do not see it. Usually those beings are situated mainly in oceans, such as the Atlantic.

In ancient times, when the great bodhisattvas went to get jewels, they got help from these beings to bring jewels out of the ocean, the Atlantic. There are many other stories. Also ordinary people who have no control of the mind can be disturbed and hindered by them, for example, those who ride on ships.

Many times (just a story) in Tibet, where there is water dried, such as streams where the water has dried, there are many methods and pujas to be done. There are all kinds of different methods that were shown by Guru Shakyamuni in order to increase the water, to get the water out of that place. Most of the methods are to do with nagas, giving presents to them, soothing their minds. People invite lamas, monks, and they purify the place through puja, with meditation and prayers, and also with blessed things, such as nectars. They make pujas for the nagas. There are many stories that happened—the water came, the water increased, or when there is much rain disturbing the crops, there are pujas to be done for the nagas to stop the rain. Also for hail. Also when the weather is dry and disturbs crops, there are pujas to bring the rain.

This is common in India, the monks do puja. In the camp where I lived for eight or nine years there were more than 1000 monks. That place was used for the army—our buildings had holes for guns. It was a very strict place for European people. So the Indian villagers used to ask. That was the place where Prime Minister Nehru and Gandhi were imprisoned. But the actual building where they were poisoned was used as the prayer hall by the college—it is used by one subsidiary. There are three famous colleges in Tibet—Sera, Ganden, and Drepung—in each of these are two subsidiaries. There were other buildings used as a prison for Gandhi—those were used by the nuns. So the Indian villagers had much trouble with the water not coming, and the monks went to the river and burnt incense, and made prayers to the nagas. Many times the rains came so the Indians really believed it; sometimes we came to the house and just as we arrived there the rain came. So actually we cannot say that just because we didn’t see them in our lives, traveling round, that there’s no such beings existing.

(Page 51)

There are three ways to meditate on realizing the difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth. The first is checking through the cause—creating the cause is difficult.

Second is the number. The largest number of rebirths is in the narak realms, so there are more living beings, the most the living beings, in the narak stage.

Then preta, the number of the living beings in the preta realms. When there is snowfall in the country it is extremely difficult to count each snow flake; so that is just like this, to give an idea of how many.

And the number of living beings who are animals are like the mountain—the sand, the dust. If you are going to count each tiny piece of the dust from a huge mountain, it is unbelievable, unimaginable. So just like this the number of living beings who are animals—so many.

The number of the upper realm beings is very few, so little compared with the number of the lower realms, the number of living beings in the lower realm. The upper realms are those of the human, sura, and asura. Even in the human realm, the general human being is like grass growing in the country, but the people who have a perfect human rebirth are so little, so very few; like the grass growing on the food, so little, so few compared with the grass growing in the country, on the ground.

It is extremely difficult to receive the perfect human rebirth even with the examples.

The third way of meditating on the difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth is with the example, with these examples:

So just like this example, the tortoise only comes up from the depth of the ocean after each 100 years. It’s extremely difficult for the tortoise, as he comes up, to get the wooden ring around his neck, extremely difficult to get his head inside the golden ring (now golden). So this is like receiving a perfect human rebirth. As this tortoise comes up after each 100 years, most of the time the golden ring is here but he comes up on the other side. But another time, after 100 years, the golden ring is in the center, but he comes up somewhere else, or where it was before. Even if he gets near, the golden ring doesn’t get on his neck. Then as he comes up he pushes it away. So the ring is just the teaching, but the golden ring, the pure golden ring, is meeting the perfect, pure teaching, which is never corrupted, which is never mixed with wrong understanding, wrong realization, wrong conception, which is never corrupted, which is perfect, pure. This is something that is almost impossible to happen—for the tortoise to put his head through the ring. Receiving perfect human rebirth is more difficult than this.

So the third way to do the checking meditation is to think of the example carefully, clearly—think of the golden ring as the teaching, and the tortoise as yourself. As the tortoise didn’t put his head through the golden ring many times before, so we in beginningless lives didn’t meet the teachings. So in the future will it happen many times, that as the tortoise comes up here, the ring is there. So, as long as I am in samsara, in the bondage of suffering, as numberless times I didn’t have this chance, also in the future there will be the same difficulty, same problem.

First check up with the cause, with details. As your wisdom can see the situation, understand this situation.

Secondly with numbers.

Third with examples.

This time we are going to do the meditation gradually. That is just to have the understanding, the general idea of the meditation. We practice or meditate on all these subjects in order to have the whole idea, the general understanding. But in actual training, to finish each realization, you have to spend most of your time in the first part, the perfect human rebirth, until you get the realization; then the next part, the usefulness; then the next is easy to receive. But first it is necessary to have the understanding of the whole meditation.

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If you throw a grain on a glass wall, it cannot stick there. If you put a needle in the ground, it is extremely difficult to throw grain that sticks on the point of the needle.

As in the example, receiving the perfect human rebirth is difficult.

How Should I Make This Perfect Human Rebirth Highly Meaningful? (Page 51)

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At least I should make myself confident of avoiding a lower rebirth. This means, at the moment, that besides not having the achievement of enlightenment and the noble realizations of the arhats, at the moment we don’t even have the full confidence that we will not be reborn in the lower suffering realms; we do not have that firm belief; it is not sure, not certain. When we think of life after this there is complete darkness in our minds, like a completely dark room. So even this plan we didn’t achieve yet.

To make it certain that we will not be reborn in the lower realms, this is the lowest action, the lowest aim, this is the least thing that we should try. At least we should achieve the certainty that we will not be reborn in the suffering lower realms before death. Otherwise it is like this—we climb over Mount Everest on the top, then fall down again—like this. So the plan should be made with Dharma practice. There are all kinds of Dharma practice, but we should do Dharma practice based on these meditations.

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This is not criticizing, this is like this—generally the work you do, if I say it in a simple way, so Dharma practice is something that is rooted in the positive and negative creator, it doesn’t need a specific form of action. If you have the positive creator—the pure thought devoid of the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas —whatever work you do, the action is beneficial—such as an action in conjunction with the wisdom realizing the great benefits of the action—the pure thought and wisdom, realizing the great benefits of the action for other living beings, then any other action such as being a soldier, being president, going on an expedition, being a scientist, many things, all become Dharma work, beneficial to oneself and to other living beings—done with this pure thought, devoid of the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas , and with the wisdom realizing the great benefits of the action for other sentient beings, which helps gradually to release other sentient beings from suffering.

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Which “sees all the problems”—this should be like this—”ceases all problems.”

When meditating on the section of the difficulties of receiving a perfect human rebirth on the basis of the understanding of the subject written in the book, it is best to remember as much as possible. But using these methods, checking with your wisdom, it is good to check as many details as possible.

Check up what you think—if it is an evil thought or pure thought—an evil thought that is attached in the temporal happiness of this life.

If you discover the evil thought that is clinging only to the happiness of this life, then think, “It is the real enemy, the creator of the whole suffering, it is the source of the whole problem that we do not desire.”

“Since we do not desire the results that are created by this evil thought, also we should not desire the evil thought. As we hate the suffering results, so should we hate the cause, the evil thought, the attachment to the temporal happiness of this life and rebirth, the higher samsaric rebirth. It is only cause of samsara that should be cut off.”

“Even oneself achieving the cessation of samsara is not sufficient. There are numberless sentient beings who are in the suffering of the samsara, who didn’t find the path, who have no wisdom to clearly understand what is positive and what is negative action. They do not having a guru showing the teachings, or a leader leading them to liberation. They always cause themselves to suffer. Also, sentient beings are the objects from whom I received my past, present, and future happiness, perfection and ultimate peace, enlightenment. Therefore, as I have such a precious time, chance, and such a perfect body, I must repay them for their kindness, I am responsible to help and guide them from suffering, while they are in suffering.”

“It is necessary for me to achieve enlightenment first, for the sake of sentient beings and I must achieve the whole graduated path. Therefore I am going to meditate, practice with the preparation, purify with Guru Shakyamuni and concentrate on the breath.”

(Meditation)

As you have visualized Guru Shakyamuni, make the absorption from the throne to Guru Shakyamuni coming down on your head and becomes oneness. As it is absorbed into you, think about the complete emptiness of your usual body, and the impure conception becoming one with Guru Shakyamuni in the nature of emptiness, space, but in the nature of infinite happiness.

Now visualize the throne and lotus at your place, just out of the space. From that state visualize a throne, lotus, moon, sun, and yourself as Guru Shakyamuni, your body, speech, and mind being oneness with his holy body, speech and mind.

Day 11
Monday November 26th
9 a.m.

From the teachings of the great bodhisattva, Tenzin Gyaltsen, who is also called Negi Lama, “As the pundarika [lotus] is the best flower in among all the flowers, the bodhicitta is the best in among all the virtuous minds, thoughts. Therefore, it is worthwhile to always make effort for this; besides for only the present life, also for all the lives (besides this present life, even in all the lives).”

Like this, just as the example of the flower—for instance, among the possession, the best, the most expensive is the diamond. So just like this, the most precious, the most valuable, the most virtuous, the best karma, is the action that is created with bodhicitta. Same thing, the bodhicitta is the most valuable, precious, beneficial thought among all the thoughts. So it is greatly worthwhile to always attempt for this practice, not only in this present life but also in many future lives.

To be able to make continual practice on such beneficial, holy thoughts as bodhicitta in future lifetime, it is necessary that the present thought becomes familiar, that we are habituated with this thought in this present life, that the mind to be habituated to the holy thought of bodhicitta. As we practice, train in this life, this makes the arrangement to be born with a perfect human rebirth and have continual teachings on bodhicitta in future lifetimes.

Living in such practice in the future lives depends on arrangements made in the present life. Therefore, it is necessary to start even from now, because we are not sure how long we can live with this body. We should start now as we have chance, as we have human mind.

So listening to the teachings, for one day or a few hours of action try to make these actions become possessed by the impulse of bodhicitta; as we are free in this moment, think like this. Practicing or meditating this minute or this hour, while we are free, is wise and skillful.

Think, “Now I am attached, my mind is attached to the temporal happiness of this life and the pleasures of samsara. But in fact, this is the source of all the billions and billions of different samsaric sufferings, except I am not fully seeing that this. Such thought and not seeing the result causes those different terrible samsaric sufferings. In whatever realm, whatever samsaric body—human body or rebirth, suras, asuras, those higher gods—whatever body we receive and the pleasures derived from enjoyments that we experience, totally all these rebirth and enjoyments are in the nature of suffering, in the uncontrolled bondage of suffering, in the circle of death and rebirth. It’s always like this, as long as we are in samsara, like living on a red-hot burning iron ground. So I must be released from this.

“Releasing myself alone from this is not enough because all sentient beings are also in the suffering of samsara. Most of the sentient beings have not received a perfect human rebirth as I have received, and do not have a leader leading them to enlightenment, and do not have the wisdom to understand the Dharma, and instead cause suffering to themselves. They are objects from whom I received all past, present, and future happiness, perfection, and enlightenment. So I am responsible to repay them by leading them to enlightenment. But first I must become enlightened myself, by accomplishing the graduated path. So I am going to listen to the teachings on the graduated path.”

The listening subject is the graduated path.

Perfect human rebirth, the explanation of the great usefulness of the perfect human rebirth and the difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth, is finished.

Also, it is useful when we meditate on the difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth, it is also good to check up, to try to remember, yourself as animal or naga or preta—yourself in that form. Check up if you can do all the possible things that a human beings can do, and if you can do what the perfect human rebirth can do—not creating negative actions, but creating merits, creating good Dharma. The lower beings can also create negative actions, but what I mean is to think about the possibility of creating those most precious and valuable good actions and merits, such as the discipline of your body, speech, and mind, studying Dharma, receiving teachings, many things. It would be fun, but also it would be interesting. Also, not visualizing yourself as an animal just think of the lower creatures as we see them and check up. For instance, it is easy for us to check if we are born as birds or insects, which are in our surroundings, which we can see. Think if in their life if they had possibility to recite one mantra, even once in their life—they have no choice, no freedom. So just like this and in many other ways, these lower creatures are very limited and deeply ignorant of creating other virtuous actions, and all the time they create only negative actions, only following greed, ignorance, and hatred in their whole lifetime. There is no chance to recognize what is positive and what is negative mind, what is negative action and what is positive action. There is no way to teach them—even if you beat them, they cannot understand; even if you give them such delicious food, they do not understand. Sometimes it is useful to think in this way, yourself visualizing like this. Meditating in this way is not only helpful to receive the realization of receiving the perfect human rebirth, but also it helps a great deal for the achievement of higher realizations, bodhicitta, great compassion, great love; it helps a great deal as a basis.

So yesterday, we talked about how to make the life meaningful, useful (Page 51).

There are thousands and thousands of different types of actions. There are good actions, such as helping other people, many types of good actions, many different ways of creating merits, practicing. Helping like this, helping one person or two people, working for one or two beings, living beings, is good, benefiting them is good. But it is better to help 100 living beings or to help, work for, and benefit one country which may have several thousand people. Of course, it is more beneficial to help or benefit thousands than just 100 living beings. Working for, helping, and benefiting the whole country’s people is better and more beneficial than working for, helping, or benefiting just several thousand people. And helping or working for or benefiting all human beings, those who are in samsaric suffering, is a much more powerful action than only working for human beings who are only in one world.

So besides working for and helping all human beings in samsara, it is more powerful to also work for all pretas, and also all the beings in the narak realms and all the beings in the animal realms. Besides that, working for, helping, and benefiting all the upper realm beings—the suras, asuras, those higher gods is much more powerful. And working for all the sentient beings who are not enlightened is the greatest action, working for each and every sentient beings who is not enlightened. This is the most powerful action—not one single being is missing. In this way you are working for each sentient being. Comparing this, working for one country is nothing, offering service to one country is nothing.

So, what I want to tell you is this, this is the purpose—to release the infinite number of sentient beings from suffering. There are many thousands of different actions that one can do. Common virtuous actions such as reciting mantra, making prostration, and are many other things makes the human life meaningful, but still it is not the best, the most efficient. Even making 1,000,000 prostrations, reciting mantras; even doing other meditations, such as samadhi meditation without understanding and without practicing the graduated path, or trying to achieve psychic power—that is also not the best method of making the human life meaningful, such as black magic.

Because, like this—there are many other living beings who had the power to remember the past, who had psychic power to perceive future things, or who could see things, people or whatever it is, many miles away. There are even animals who can do this, there are even animals who can make footprints on stone by eating special grass. This is not surprising, this is not the best way to make the human life meaningful. Even the power of prophecy is not the best way of making the human life meaningful, because such things can be achieved through ordinary practice, ordinary meditation, but still the person can be in samsara because he is involved in samsara, and he circles round in samsara and is born in the lower suffering realms because the root of samsara has not ceased.

The most practical, useful, and meaningful way of making the human life meaningful is to spend the life in the practice of the meditation on the graduated path. This is the most practical, useful Dharma way to make this human life meaningful.

It is like this—for instance, in ancient times, there was one meditator who did not practice the graduated path, also didn’t practice bodhicitta, who didn’t practice bodhicitta and renunciation of samsara, but only practiced and meditated on the method of the deity to achieve power. He achieved such incredible power through the deity—just by looking with his eyes he could can kill hundreds or thousands of people; just by peering with the eyes, this person had such power to be able to kill right away. But because he didn’t make practice on the graduated path, bodhicitta, and renunciation of samsara, after death the achievement of that power didn’t protect him, didn’t guide him. He was born in the lower suffering realm, instead of being born again in the human realm. So such power is not the best method to make the human life meaningful. The best, most practical way to make the human life meaningful is through practicing or meditating on the graduated path.

The graduated path is the main road—if you want to go to Kathmandu, it’s like taking the road, the graduated path is like the actual road by which the people can reach Kathmandu. By receiving realizations and practicing this, you are achieving the holy path, that’s like this. The most practical way for you to reach Kathmandu is by the road, no matter how you go—by bicycle, car, or bus. Taking this path, we work ourselves, taking this path is the most practical way to make life meaningful, to receive enlightenment quickly and without dangers. Of course, there are many other things that are necessary. If you are going to go for a trek on the mountains, only putting yourself on the path is not enough; without carrying the foodstuffs and other things you can’t make the whole trip. So also, there are many other needs to make the whole trip on the graduated path; such as prostrations, reciting mantra—there are many other things for purification. All those are life, those necessary things that you have to have to make the whole trip. But you see, one thing is this—even with all the arrangements, equipment, and food, without yourself taking the road you cannot make the trip. The most important thing is for you to take the trail. Of course, it is important to do many of those different methods of purification. But if you spend your the whole life doing those purifying methods but never practice or meditate on the main road, the graduated path, although of course it is not wasting time or life, it makes the human life meaningful because it purifies, still it is not the most practical or the quickest way. Therefore, doing both is necessary to put yourself on this path, the main road. It is necessary to practice, to experience through practice of these meditations of the graduated path, and also to do the purifying methods at the same time. Just as the trekker with all foodstuffs makes the trek, so he can make this trek with less problem, he can make the tour more quickly and with less problem, he can make it successful.

How Long is the Lifespan? (Page 52)

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This is according to our modern thought.

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This is just an example; it doesn’t mean only New York people have wrong conceptions; also in many other worlds. But for example we pick out only one.

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1. Such as the body, the decay of the body, such as the gross change from small to big, such as possessions, the shape changes, the color changes, things get broken; gross impermanence.

2. Subtle impermanence—when one snaps the finger; if it is divided into sixty-five shortest instants. So each of the changes in the shortest instant is subtle change.

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That means the unrealized mind, the mind unrealized of impermanence.

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Quotation: The reason that we believe and think that the object is permanent, that this person is permanent, that my life is permanent—even if the person doesn’t say we can develop wrong belief in our thoughts. In the depth of our thoughts there is a wrong belief, wrong conception. There are people like this, who really believe or really say because of theory, that it is permanent. Even if people say it’s impermanent, they have wrong belief that the object is permanent, that is latent in the thought in the mind. All the belief that the person has does not depend on the person’s words, does not depend on what he says. It always cannot be the same thing—what he says and what belief is latent there.

So, we see the existence of other people and oneself as always existing like the river. There’s a latent belief that it’s permanent, which is opposite to the factual happening, the factual way the object exists. This is simple. As the river flows each time—each day, each hour, each minute—the river that we see, the flow changes, even though it is always the river, even though it is always the same river. As it comes and goes like this, all other non-living things, causative things, and causative living things are also changing like that.

Also, in regards to impermanence, the scientist explains well. Maybe not insofar as discovering which existences are impermanent and which are not impermanent—it is a matter of discovering this—but they explain the changes in many thousands of split seconds. The whole problem is the principal, the basic problem is the original creation, the original evolution; one basic problem is this. Therefore, they don’t discover fully the divisions of existence—which are permanent and which are impermanent—even though they talk about impermanence, even though they accept the belief that some causative phenomena, some causative physical things, such matter are impermanent.

According to what I heard from one psychiatrist, scientists believe that atoms are permanent—because we discussed life evolution, the ball that explodes and all the planets, such and so on start, and how this is caused by gravity. He said that this depended on atoms—some scientists said atoms came into existence from nothingness; some said they are permanent, according to different experiments. But there is not one answer that is agreeable to all, but still in progress. Each year they make progress through observation.

Also, I checked up about beginningless mind, because I have been waiting for a long time to find further answers from scientists—so he gave a little more information. He said psychologists only talk about mind evolution, but physical matter is examined by scientists. The mind depends on the physical nerves, the physical situation, what the child looks like depends on the parents. We discussed this for some time and he said, in the case of one person who has children, whatever the physical situation is depends on the parents and the nerves. What about the child who can predict the future but parents do not have such power? That has no answer, he said. Also I asked, the person has different fingerprints? He said there is one physical cause, nerves; as does one person desire to sleep and another does not.

What about people in the city, one finds it noisy, the other does not? He said this is habit, because one lived there a long time, and the other did not. But the person who spent his early life in a cave, who comes to the city and finds quiet, peace in his mind? And he said, “Do you know any?” And I said, “Yes, many.”

So they talk about the impermanence of some causative things, which is also very helpful for them, for us.