December 2, 1998

The beggar and the billionaire

[Break in recording]

This other person only has ten rupees but is so satisfied with that. They don’t look for more. We can use the example of beggars. There are many whose minds are so peaceful, not depressed at all. When they beg and get enough money for lunch on that day, they are so satisfied, so happy, with that. Even though there’s nothing there for tomorrow’s food, or next year’s food, there’s no expectation. They have peace of mind because there is no desire, because the mind does not follow the desire that wants more. That gives satisfaction, peace in the heart. It’s not only that they have no problem, that the mind doesn’t make up the problem, but there’s peace and happiness in the heart.

This is one way of looking at the situation. There is the other person who has billions of dollars but they have put a negative label to their life’s situation. They put the label, “What I have is too little, it’s no good.” That’s what makes them upset. One way of looking at it is that they have put a negative label instead of a positive one. Instead of making a positive label, “This is good,” they put a negative label. Then, by believing in that negative label, they become depressed, sad.

Now, you can see the problem comes from that person’s mind. You can see by putting a negative label on the situation and believing in that, they make their mind upset. To them, the situation appears bad and so they are upset. In other words, the negative label they believe makes them depressed, upset. So actually, it’s not the shortage of money; it’s the concept that creates the negative label that depresses them, that makes them unhappy.

The other person—the one who is so happy with ten rupees, with no expectation to get more—makes up a positive label and believes in that. With the positive label, seeing their situation as positive, they are happy and satisfied. That gives them peace of mind, peace in the heart.

It is exactly the same with our beloved, heart friend, the one we rely upon most or think of the most in our heart, when their mind changes toward us, when their way of thinking changes toward us, when it is not the same as before. Whether it changes from loving kindness or from attachment, whether it changes from liking us, taking an interest in us, it’s just a different way of thinking than before. Now this becomes a very interesting point.

How to do a tea offering

Anyway, we’ll stop there! You know on the TV, when it comes to the point where they show the advertisements, where they advertise dog and cat food and other things. Anyway, here I think I want to advertise offering practice.

Especially since the course has already been going for more than two weeks, I think it’s very important to do this practice of offering before we eat and drink. It’s very good to do the offering together here before lunch. By doing it in a group, it not only reminds everybody, the benefit is that everybody get the practice done. Everybody collects merit—good luck or good karma or merit. To do it individually might be more difficult. For those who normally practice offering, of course, it becomes a daily practice. It’s like brushing your teeth every day; it becomes an everyday thing. But those who have not been practicing, maybe not everybody will remember to do it. So it’s very good. And it’s short!

First think, “The purpose of my life is to free all sentient beings from all sufferings and its causes and bring them to happiness, especially to full enlightenment.” That means you are specifying what is the most important, highest benefit for others, which also includes for yourself. That is the most important, the peerless happiness, the completed, perfect bliss or happiness. “For that I need to achieve full enlightenment. Therefore, I’m going to make the tea offering.”

“Because I need to achieve enlightenment, I’m going to make the tea offering,” looks like it doesn’t make sense! It looks like there’s no connection. It might sound like, “My head feels cold, so I’ll wear shoes!” Anyway, I’m joking. It might sound like it’s not connected. “Because my feet are getting cold, I’ll wear a hat!”

Enlightenment is not independent. Enlightenment exists by depending on causes and conditions. The cause is the path. Because of that, we need to actualize the stages of the path to enlightenment, and that depends on accumulating merit. It depends on collecting the necessary conditions, accumulating merit and purifying the obstacles, the defilements, the negative karmas, that hinder us achieving the realizations of the path to enlightenment.

We do this through the Buddha, just by thinking of the Buddha—whether it’s a statue of the Buddha, or a picture of Buddha, or a visualization of the Buddha. Just thinking of the Buddha, making offerings to the Buddha, has inconceivable benefits, because the Buddha has ceased all delusions, all the emotional disturbing thoughts, both gross and subtle, the cessation of the mistakes of the mind, and the holy mind that is fully awakened, fully enlightened, has completed all the realizations.

There are infinite qualities that the Buddha has achieved, infinite qualities of the Buddha’s holy body, holy speech and holy mind. Because of those inconceivable qualities, making tea or food offering to the Buddha—even by visualizing or thinking of the Buddha—brings inconceivable benefits. The benefits are infinite because of the infinite, inconceivable qualities that Buddha has achieved.

The result of this good karma, first of all, is that as soon as we offer to the Buddha, by thinking of the Buddha, that immediately becomes the cause for us to achieve full enlightenment. Then, by achieving full enlightenment, we can then liberate all the other numberless sentient beings from all the sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment. It’s not just that we ourselves achieve enlightenment. The benefit doesn’t just stop there. All the numberless other sentient beings continuously get skies of benefit from us after we become enlightened. We are able to bring all sentient beings from happiness to happiness to enlightenment.

This association of body and mind is in the nature of suffering. For example, the mind experiences loneliness, depression, fear, all these things, and the body, which is also in the nature of suffering experiences so many problems: old age, sicknesses and so forth. This association of body and mind which is the nature of suffering is compounded or created by impure causes, by delusions and their actions, karma, causing the continuation of these aggregates which circle from this life to the next life, and then that continuation circles to the life after that and so forth.

Until we break this continuation by ceasing the karma and delusion, we must continuously circle in this samsara, experiencing suffering without end. There are always the same problems. There are the oceans of problems: the ocean of sufferings of human beings, the ocean of sufferings of gods and demigods, the ocean of sufferings oceans of the hell beings, the hungry ghosts and the animals. We have to experience all these sufferings again and again and again and again. Just as its continuation did not have a beginning, it goes on and on without end.

Making the tea or food offering to the Buddha, besides immediately becoming the cause of enlightenment, it also become the cause to be totally liberated from this samsara by the way. And not only that, by the way, this offering to the Buddha causes us to achieve a good rebirth, not just once, in the next life, but, because karma is expandable, for hundreds and thousands of lifetimes. From one good karmic action we can experience the result for so many times, for hundreds and thousands of times in one life or in many lifetimes. Therefore, even though it’s a very small practice, it is an extremely important practice, one that makes our daily life so meaningful, so rich. When we offer with a bodhicitta motivation, generating to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings, at that time we collect merit, good karma, good luck, as limitless as the sky.

We can visualize the Buddha in our heart, on our forehead or in the front of us, whichever way we feel a particular connection with. It can be just Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, or if we feel a stronger connection with the Compassion Buddha or Tara, with a particular aspect of the Buddha, we can visualize that. Then we can think that all the buddhas’ compassion, all the enlightened beings’ compassion, manifests into this form in order to guide us and all other sentient beings, to liberate us all from suffering and its causes. We can think like that.

Seeing the guru as the dharmakaya

The other thing is, if we are making the offering within the guru yoga practice, we can think of all the buddhas’ holy mind, the dharmakaya, the absolute guru. Because they are bound with infinite compassion to us and all sentient beings, they manifest into this form. Then, if we are making an offering, we can think in this way. The guru has [two aspects]: the absolute guru and the conventional guru. The absolute guru is the Buddha’s holy mind, the dharmakaya. This ultimate wisdom is the absolute guru, and so because it’s bound with infinite compassion to us sentient beings, this is what guides us and all other sentient beings by manifesting, in some way. Since our mind is impure, since the karmic obscurations are not purified, we have no other way to see the guru [except in this impure aspect.] It’s like covering the eyes with red glass and seeing everything white as red, or, if we wear blue glasses, we see everything, all white things, as blue. Because of our impure mind, because we are obscured by impure karma, we cannot see the pure aspect of the Buddha.

The absolute guru manifests into the deity’s form but we cannot see it in that aspect. The only way that we can see the absolute guru and the absolute guru can communicate with us, and this means all the buddhas, is only through this impure aspect. Only with this can we communicate. They communicate with us through this ordinary aspect and we communicate with them by depending on this ordinary aspect. The absolute guru guides us by manifesting in this ordinary form, which means having a samsaric, suffering body and mind and making mistakes in action. In this form, the absolute guru manifests and guides us, giving us vows and precepts, initiations, commentaries, instructions and so forth—the various means to lead us from happiness to happiness to enlightenment. Whether we use the term “absolute guru” or “buddhas” it means the same thing, because they are manifestations of the absolute guru. When the absolute guru and the buddhas manifest in this ordinary aspect, or through this ordinary aspect, they liberate us from suffering and guide us to enlightenment.

If we do the practice of offering within the guru yoga, with this understanding, that means that there is no differentiation in our view, in our mind, between this Buddha that we visualize and the conventional guru that we can actually see and communicate with. All the buddhas can communicate with us through this conventional guru, guiding us through this aspect. So, understanding the inseparability [of the conventional guru and the dharmakaya], we make the offering with devotion.

We can do the offering practice in a very short time. It doesn’t even need to take a minute, just within a few seconds, think that this is all the guru, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. We can visualize, we can think of all the ten directions’ holy objects, all the ten directions’ statues, stupas, scriptures, and we can offer to them. If we can think more extensively like that, it’s like the very wise businessperson who collects inconceivable additional merit. By thinking in this way, if we make offerings to all the gurus, all the ten directions’ buddhas, all the ten directions’ Dharma and Sangha, all the ten directions’ holy objects, like this, within these few seconds we collected merit like the sky, so much good karma, the cause of happiness.

Then, after that, we can offer again by elaborating. We offer to all the gurus, to all the ten directions’ Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, the ten directions’ statues, stupas, scriptures. We can offer like that. Before we integrated everything into this aspect having all the qualities, and now we offer to all the ten directions. It is just a way to take the opportunity in our life.

I started the subject about the beginningless rebirth, but what I’m trying to say, relating to the offering, we may not have this unbelievable opportunity again and again to collect such good karma all the time, to create the unmistaken cause of happiness. We won’t have this opportunity much. In every life, it’s very difficult and even in this life it’s not sure. Therefore, now is the time. Now we have all the opportunities, this is the time to do the best in our life, to collect extensive merit and to purify the mind as much as possible. We must take the opportunity as much as possible to do this unmistaken practice, one that will definitely lead us to the goal, which has been experienced not only by Shakyamuni Buddha but by numberless buddhas and numberless yogis, pandits who have completed the path. Numberless beings have practiced this path correctly and proved its worth, achieving full enlightenment and enlightening other sentient beings. Collecting more extensive merit each time, we become closer to liberation and closer to enlightenment, closer to total freedom, everlasting peace and happiness.

Then, if possible, after the offering, while you are eating and drinking, you should visualize the Buddha. Those of you who engage in the practice of tantra, the Mahayana Secret Mantra, Vajrayana, you have to visualize yourself as the deity to enjoy the sense pleasures. Then, making offerings to yourself as the buddha, you don’t allow anything to become the cause of samsara, the cause of suffering; everything only becomes the cause of enlightenment. All the sense pleasures are only to develop the path within your mind quickly. With the skillful means of tantra unified with wisdom, having sense pleasures, enjoyment, becomes the quick path, the quick way to achieve enlightenment.

So now, I think it really is time to have tea! Or very delicious hot water!

Having this opportunity to practice Dharma and liberate ourselves, at least from the cause of sufferings, and not only that, to liberate the numberless sentient beings from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment—having this opportunity to practice Dharma is completely by the kindness of all these numberless sentient beings who have suffered, who have accumulated negative karma, who have had to die. This is the situation; this is how it is.

Now the conclusion is this. By having these enjoyments—food and drink, shelter, and so forth—by using these, the purpose is to serve others, to make our life useful for other sentient beings. That is the second reason. The first reason is that every sentient being, including our enemy, is cherished like a jewel in the heart of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas, who see them all as the most precious, the most important one. They cherish them in this way. Then the second reason to serve others is because every single happiness, comfort, enjoyment, day-to-day survival in our life, our organization—everything is by the kindness of sentient beings, especially the opportunity to practice the Dharma.

So I think I’ll stop here. I’m not going to complete the other talk. I’d like to do that tomorrow. I think maybe that’s enough, otherwise after some time, you may not be able to get up! You might have to call the ambulance!