My most dear, most precious, most kind, wish-fulfilling one,
You chose the best practice; you are very good, so I don’t need to explain to you, but you can read the Arya Sanghata Sutra.
You can learn from all my talks on the kindness of sentient beings; especially learn the three different ways to meditate in order to realize the kindness of sentient beings.
The sentient beings are most kind, most precious, most wish-fulfilling for you. Also, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha [come from sentient beings]. One way I explain Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, is that Buddha comes from the sentient beings. From those talks, you can understand how all our own past, present and future happiness, including enlightenment comes from sentient beings. I explain [in those talks] how Buddha came from sentient beings.
Buddha came from sentient beings, therefore that means Dharma came from sentient beings, and the Sangha also came from sentient beings. So we rely on Buddha, Dharma and Sangha day and night, all the time. From there we can become free from the lower realms, purify our negative karma and get a higher rebirth. Not only that, we can actualize [the path] by taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, abandoning the karma that is the cause of suffering and practicing the good karma that is the cause of happiness. Then we get a higher rebirth.
By practicing the three higher trainings—the higher training of morality, the higher training of meditation, and the higher training of special insight—we can become free from samsara, and of course, on the basis of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, refuge, we can achieve liberation. On the basis of refuge, we generate bodhicitta by renouncing the self-cherishing thought and generating compassion for all sentient beings, and in this way we become a buddha. It all comes from sentient beings.
We think money is precious, because if we have money, we can buy whatever we want. The general idea is that, so everyone works for more money, therefore money is regarded as very precious, like that.
Sentient beings are unbelievably precious, kind, because all the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha came from the sentient beings. Numberless Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and also yourself, your Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, came from every sentient being—every hell being, every hungry ghost, every animal, every human, every sura, every asura being and every intermediate state being. Therefore they’re most kind and most precious.
Not only that, for example, the mosquitoes that bite you, the ants that bite you, these are what a bodhisattva regards as most precious; they regard those sentient beings as most precious, most dear and wish-fulfilling.
The bodhisattvas followed the path of giving up the self-cherishing thought, and cherishing numberless sentient beings. They removed the delusions, the obscurations, and the subtle obscurations by generating bodhicitta, and by collecting more than skies of merit each time with body, speech and mind, then they developed the wisdom understanding emptiness. Having both directly removes the obscurations and allows us to achieve enlightenment.
Therefore, a bodhisattva cherishes sentient beings the most; they are the most important. Numberless bodhisattvas cherish this ant, this mosquito that bites you. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha cherishes them the most, like a wish-granting jewel, most precious.
Buddha became enlightened because of this sentient being, because of numberless sentient beings; this sentient being that bites you or the person who is angry to you. They think this sentient being is a wish-granting jewel. The person who disrespects you, who is angry with you or puts you down is so precious. Numberless buddhas think this: “This insect is so precious to me, the insects are most precious.” Wow, wow, wow. The numberless sentient beings are most precious, like wish-granting jewels.
Then there’s no way for us to harm them, and instead we offer service in whatever way we can, as much as possible. With whatever capacity we have, we help them. In this way we take their suffering and the cause of suffering, delusion and karma. All the bad environments that we see, we take everything into our heart and give it to the self-cherishing thought and we destroy that completely. Generally, that is done with compassion.
By generating loving kindness, we give our body in the form of a wish-granting jewel, which brings all the success, numberless success to each sentient being—each hell being, each preta, each animal, each human, each sura, each asura realm being. Then we give our enjoyments, even those including wish-granting jewels, and our merits collected from beginningless time, and also the merits in the future, we totally give them all to every sentient being.
Then they get whatever they want, all the happiness, whatever they need, a perfect human rebirth, and Dharma, a perfect guide showing the unimaginable path to enlightenment, and then they’re freed from all the delusions of samsara, and they all achieve enlightenment. That’s what the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, suras and asura realm beings need. Then we rejoice, having enlightened them. You can do like this as many times as possible.
Your having cancer is extremely beneficial, so beneficial, because it brings you to enlightenment quickly, by purifying all the negative karma collected since beginningless rebirths, and causing you to collect extensive merit. This brings you to enlightenment quickly, especially by doing this tonglen practice.
So it becomes very important. You needed the cancer; it is really needed. It’s not that you didn’t need it; it’s not something to remove, but something that you need in order to bring the sentient beings to enlightenment, to free them from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment as quickly as possible. It’s really needed; it’s unbelievable. Therefore, the cancer is like a wish-granting jewel.
For tonglen think: “The self-cherishing thought caused all the suffering of samsara from beginningless rebirths; it made me to suffer. Then again in the future, if I don’t practice bodhicitta now, I’ll be unable to achieve enlightenment. Again, the self-cherishing thought will let me create negative karma and create the wrong concept. I’ll follow the wrong concepts continuously and that lets me suffer again without end—experiencing the original suffering of samsara, with all the obstacles to achieving enlightenment, to benefiting sentient beings, to achieving happiness, not only enlightenment, but the happiness of liberation from samsara and even the happiness of this life, so all that.
“And not only me, the self-cherishing thought has caused me to harm sentient beings from beginningless rebirths, and let the numberless sentient beings suffer from beginningless rebirths. If I don’t practice bodhicitta now and achieve enlightenment, it will harm the numberless sentient beings continuously. Having the motivation of the self-cherishing thought itself is harming the sentient beings, so then sentient beings have to experience suffering without end. This is the worst enemy, so now I recognize this.”
Therefore, as it’s mentioned in Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara:
As long as I don’t give up the fire, [which means the fire is in your hands]
The burning won’t be stopped.
So if we don’t give up the I, the self, the self-cherishing thought, it’s the same. Thinking that the I is real, that self, and then cherishing it the most, as the most precious thing. As long as we don’t give up the I, the suffering cannot be given up; this means we cannot be free from suffering.
Therefore, in order to pacify the harm to us, and pacify the suffering of others, we need to give ourselves up to others and cherish others as we cherish ourselves. This is the most incredible, most incredible advice, and practice, then teaching. You must write this down in your prayer book, and you should remember it every time you generate the motivation. Generate bodhicitta, develop bodhicitta at that time, using that great example.
If you don’t do this, then it doesn’t happen, and you can’t renounce the suffering, both your own and others. “Others” means numberless sentient beings, not just one. Even just to renounce yourself, to become free from your own suffering, even this is unbelievable, most unbelievable. To be free forever from the suffering of samsara, the oceans of sufferings—wow, wow, wow—just that is amazing.
Now, to free every sentient being, numberless sentient beings, from the oceans of samsaric suffering—wow, wow, wow. Renouncing the I, and the method, cherishing other sentient beings the most, you need to practice that. So the cancer is helping for that.
It is said in the teachings that the 424 diseases, the 84,000 interferers and the 360 kinds of spirit possession are all usually regarded as harm-givers. But now here, when we practice thought transformation, all of these are helping us to harm the I, to harm the self-cherishing thought which has been harming us from beginningless rebirths, now and in the future.
Again, numberless sentient beings of the hell, hungry ghost, animal, human, sura and asura realms, and so forth, and in the three times, so all those are destroying [the self-cherishing thought], so you can see very clearly the cancer, one of the diseases, is really helping you. So, it is like a jewel, most needed for quick enlightenment, not only for you, but for all sentient beings. It’s like the most precious, most precious, wish-fulfilling jewel, not only for you, but for all sentient beings. It’s most precious, like a wish-fulfilling jewel.
Also, and this is very important for you, in the Heap of Teachings, in Tibetan tsom [Wyl: Ched du brjod pa’i tshoms; Pali: Dhammapada], Buddha said,
The fool worries, thinking,
“I have sons, I have wealth.”
Indeed, when he himself is not his own,
Whence are sons, whence is wealth?
It is referring to those who don’t know Dharma, and in particular, who don’t know emptiness, the ultimate nature, the right view, how things exist—that things exist because they are empty and do not exist from their own side. “Empty” means things do not exist from their own side; it does not mean nihilism, that things totally do not exist. It is not saying this. Here, empty means they do not exist from their own side, so that’s how things exist—they exist in mere name, merely labeled by the mind. There’s not even one atom existing from its own side.
Now think about your I. You must have read my teachings on emptiness, which explain how the I exists, so then you can understand and I don’t have to repeat it here. You can read more on this by going to my teachings on how the I exists as merely labeled by the mind.
So I, action, object, samsara, nirvana, enlightenment, hell, happiness, problems, all the objects of mind, all the subjects of mind, and the person, the whole, entire phenomena, how they exist is most unbelievably subtle, existing in mere name, merely imputed by mind, so subtle.
For example, the I exists, but it’s like it doesn’t exist. It definitely exists, but it is unbelievably subtle. You can only understand that if you discover the Prasangika view, from the four schools of Buddhist philosophy. The definition [of emptiness] according to the Madhyamaka—the second division, Prasangika Madhyamaka, not Svatantrika—it’s most unbelievably, unbelievably subtle; it’s like it doesn’t exist—subject, action, object—the whole thing, that’s the reality.
There’s no you, there’s no your house, there’s no your area, there’s no your country, there’s no the whole world. It’s like that. This is the way things appear to your ignorance, your hallucinated mind, and the way you’ve held on to them as real from beginningless rebirths—not only from this birth but from beginningless rebirths. According to that, things exist but they do not exist, like that, it’s unbelievably subtle.
In Tibet, only those who have a lot of merit understand Madhyamaka philosophy, their view of emptiness, the special Prasangika view, the second one. People need so much merit to understand this Prasangika view; only some will understand. Otherwise, they think according to the different philosophical schools. These are Vaibhashika, Sautrantika, Cittamatra (Mind Only) and Madhyamaka, which has two divisions, Svatantrika and Prasangika.
The four schools each have their own view, and of course, their own understanding of the object to be refuted, the hallucination. They have their own truth, which helps them discover the most unmistaken Prasangika view, the hallucinated gag cha, the object to be refuted, as well as the right view.
Everybody, including the scientists, those who are learned, as well as those who are highly educated in the West, even Buddhists, the extremely learned ones who can explain sutra and tantra by heart, the five treatises: Pramanavarttika, the Vinaya, the Abhidharmakosha, the Madhyamaka and Prajnpaparamita. They can explain by heart the root texts, the commentaries, the tantric teachings, unbelievable, but then if they don’t practice—if they think everything that appears to the wrong concept, ignorance, [is truly existing] —if they don’t have the realization, if they believe things are real, they hold onto what appears as real.
So then, including even those small insects, or if we touch worms, the worms think they are receiving some harm; even the smallest worms jump up and down. Even the smallest insects, when we touch them they run away so quickly, feeling they’ve received harm. This is because of believing there’s a real I. The real I appears to the hallucinated mind, ignorance, then they hold it as true. Even the small insects have this.
Then this one is called “child”. A child does things and says things, for example, a child makes a house in the sand on top of our feet, but when somebody destroys the house of sand, then the child gets angry, they fight.
Therefore, all this is done with the wrong view. We believe in that as true, recognizing that as true, seeing all the hallucinations as true, instead of recognizing the hallucination as a hallucination, looking at it as false. We look at it all as true, not seeing it as a hallucination. All of this is like a child, so that’s why all these are called “children”.
There are people, human beings in the West [and we think] how wise they are, how much education they have; they did this and that; they are from famous universities, even Buddhist universities. They have great, great understanding, but their concept is like this: thinking that all the other things that appear are real, and holding on to this as true, instead of seeing all this as a hallucination, as it is a hallucination.
In the Dharma texts they are called children. Children think this way, so that is how we should understand it. So then all those people think, “I have a son; I have a wife; I have a million dollars or a billion dollars; I have a house; I have this and that.”
The next one, “the I doesn’t have I.” [Refer to lines 3–4 of the verse above.] So I already explained this before. The way it appears as real and the way we believe it’s true, for this there’s not even one atom. If there’s no I, how can you have a son and wealth that you believe? You believe you have son and wealth? No!
So now, please think, please think, please think: the cancer appears real and then you hold on to that as true. That’s how you create the ignorance, in that way, holding it as true instead of false.
This is exactly the same. There’s much to meditate on here. You have no [truly existent] cancer. So ignorance thinks, “I have cancer,” but in reality, no. Meditate on that. This is the meditation.
As it says in the Heap of Teachings [Dhammapada], if the I doesn’t exist, if the self doesn’t exist, then how can “my” exist? If there’s no I, no self, then how is it possible for “my” to exist? “My body, my mind, my this, my that, my parents, my son, my daughter, my sickness, this and that, my cancer.” So how does “my” exist? It means there’s no way. It is saying I and my ceases, it doesn’t exist.
The ignorance believing there’s I, there’s mine—when the ignorance ceases, then the seed of that, and taking rebirth in samsara due to that ignorance, finishes, ceases, stops. It ceases, and when that ceases, rebirth in samsara ceases, then there’s nirvana.
Thank you very much. You have so much to meditate on. You should study my teachings, then it becomes more and more clear. Study the teachings on emptiness.
Thank you very much. You are most welcome to enlightenment, the quickest way to come to enlightenment. Goodbye to samsara. Thank you very much. Please let me know how your practice is going. As your practice goes on a little bit, please let me know.
Since you’re a good practitioner, I want to tell you more. It is said in the Heap of Teachings that even if there’s birth and death, there’s no birth and death.
Even though birth and death happen,
There is no birth and death.
For one who realizes this,
This concentration is not difficult to find.
What it’s saying is that conventionally, according to ignorance, there’s birth and death, but in reality, according to the ultimate nature, there’s no birth and death. By knowing this, for a person who knows this, this concentration is not difficult to find. It’s not difficult; it’s easy.
Another quotation in the Guhyasamaja Root Tantra says there’s no rebirth. From no rebirth, all are born. From merely birth, there’s only merely labeled birth, therefore there’s no birth. So you can relate that to the cancer. From no cancer, all are born. From the merely labeled cancer, because it’s merely labeled cancer, there’s no cancer, same thing. You can relate this to old age and death, so you can meditate like that every day. And here, the second verse is the commentary to the first verse.
Also, something you can remember many times in a daytime, from the Heap of Teachings [Dhammapada], think that all phenomena are like a dream, like an illusion. There’s not even one thing that has essence, that is true, whose essence is the truth, there’s not even one.
All existents are like a dream and an illusion.
There is nothing that is truly existent.
Nothing exists yet it appears. Therefore,
Don’t cling so much to phenomena!
What it is saying is that the way things appear to our mind’s ignorance, holding them as true, that is saying there’s no essence, there’s not even one thing whose essence is truth. Phenomena don’t exist, but they appear.
So don’t cling, don’t cling highly. “Highly” means “so much” or “directly”; it’s kind of like that, or “don’t cling actually”. So that’s what Buddha said in these verses.
When you go to the shop, when you go to the supermarket, you can meditate on this. When you are shopping, when you are cooking, when you are sightseeing, remember this. When you go to a party, especially anything you find exciting, you can think that. When you’re eating delicious food or singing delicious songs, so anything that’s delicious, delicious contact, right.
Thank you very much. I will stop here.
With much love and prayers ...