December 5, 1993
Knowing what is Dharma and what is not
In case somebody doesn’t have a clear idea, I normally mention that this [explanation of how to meditate] is the fundamental understanding of Dharma, the extremely important fundamental understanding of Dharma. If somebody doesn’t have a clear idea, it might help. We are talking about how to meditate, but it is not just for meditation. If we know how to meditate, then we know how to do everything—how to eat, how to sleep, how to walk, how to work, everything. It’s not just how to meditate. The explanation on how to meditate covers how to live our life, twenty-four hours a day. It’s something that covers how to do every action. Whether we lead a life of celibacy or a householder’s life, being married, how to do everything is there.
From this we can also understand what is Dharma and what is not Dharma; what is the cause of happiness and what is the cause of suffering. It defines the border between what is holy Dharma and what is not holy Dharma.
Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo was a great enlightened being who completed the path. Starting from the root of the path to enlightenment, guru devotion and the three principal aspects of the path, he actualized everything up to the highest tantra path, both the generation and completion stages. He gave the example of four people reciting the Praises to the Twenty-one Taras. The first person recites the Tara prayer with the attitude to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings; the second person recites the Tara prayer with the attitude to achieve liberation from samsara for themselves; the third person recites the Tara prayer in order to achieve the happiness of future lives for themselves and the fourth person recites the Tara prayer for the sake of the happiness of this life.
For the first person who recites the Praises to the Twenty-one Taras to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings, that person’s action becomes the cause to achieve enlightenment. The second person’s action of reciting the Praises to the Twenty-one Taras to achieve liberation for themselves does not become the cause of enlightenment; it only becomes the cause to achieve liberation for themselves. The third person’s action of reciting Praises to the Twenty-one Taras with the attitude of seeking the happiness of future lives does not become the cause to achieve either liberation or enlightenment; it only becomes the cause of the happiness of future lives. Then, the fourth person who recites Praises to the Twenty-one Taras with the attitude of being attached to this life, seeking only the happiness of this life, that person’s action does not become Dharma. For the other three people, their actions of reciting Praises to the Twenty-one Taras becomes Dharma, the cause of happiness.
One way of explaining the meaning of Dharma is [the literal translation] “holding up.” It holds us up from falling into suffering, into the lower realms of the hell beings, hungry ghosts or animals.
Another explanation of the term is “protecting.” Dharma means “protecting the mind.” When our actions protect our mind, they protect us from suffering. That meaning, “protecting the mind” from suffering, contains the whole path to enlightenment. What we need to be protected from and how we can be protected covers the whole path from beginning to end. Our unhealthy mind is transformed into a healthy mind; our disturbed mind is transformed into a subdued, peaceful mind; our angry mind is transformed into a patient mind or one of loving kindness; our self-cherishing, egoistic mind, the mind that brings all the problems, is transformed into the mind that cherishes others, which is the source of all the happiness and peace for us and for every other living being.
Without going into much detail about each path, each realization, the Dharma is that which transforms the mind from the cause of suffering into the cause of happiness. All these aspects are Dharma. When our mind is transformed from the cause of suffering into the cause of happiness, when it becomes the cause of happiness and peace, at that time our mind becomes Dharma. That is how we are protected from suffering. The mind is transformed from one of dissatisfaction into one of satisfaction. It is transformed from one of attachment and dissatisfaction into the happy, free mind that is renounced. The mind is transformed from the ignorant mind, which has a hallucinated [view of] the nature of phenomena, into one of wisdom, one that realizes emptiness.
So, this fourth person who recites the Praises to the Twenty-one Taras with the attitude seeking only the happiness of this life, that person’s action does not become Dharma. They might be reciting the Praises to the Twenty-one Taras to help have a long life or to heal a disease or to stop the problems of life, but that still does not mean the action becomes Dharma. For example, taking medicine with the attitude seeking only the happiness of this life might cure the disease, but that doesn’t mean the action of taking medicine becomes Dharma, even though it can solve the problem.
In the Precious Garland Nagarjuna explained,
Desire, hatred, ignorance, and
The actions they generate are non-virtues.
Non-attachment, non-hatred, non-ignorance,
And the actions they generate are virtues.From nonvirtues come all sufferings
And likewise all bad transmigrations,
From virtues, all happy transmigrations
And the pleasures of all lives.1
Dharma is the action motivated by a pure attitude, unstained by ignorance, anger or attachment. Here, this attachment means attachment clinging to this life, not attachment clinging to future samsara. There is a difference. Any action motivated by this pure attitude unstained by ignorance, anger or attachment is virtue and is the cause of [rebirth as] a happy transmigratory being—a god or a human being. We can see that clearly from the quote by Nagarjuna. And conversely, any action motivated by ignorance, anger or attachment—the attachment clinging to this life—becomes nonvirtue and therefore the result is only suffering, particularly rebirth in the suffering lower realms.
Lama Atisha gave a similar explanation when asked by his translator, Dromtönpa. Lama Atisha re-established Buddhadharma in Tibet, making it pure after it had degenerated. He was invited by the Dharma king of Tibet, Yeshe Ö, who sacrificed his life when he was put in prison by an irreligious king. He gave up his life in the prison in order to invite Lama Atisha to Tibet and to establish and spread pure Buddhadharma there. Because of that, we can now receive pure teachings from many qualified teachers, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the many qualified Mahayana virtuous friends, geshes or Tibetan lamas who can reveal the whole path to enlightenment without anything missing. That we have this incredible opportunity to receive the pure teachings and to be able to practice the pure path is by the kindness of the Dharma king, Yeshe Ö who sacrificed his life in the prison under the hand of the irreligious king in order to invite Lama Atisha to re-establish pure Dharma in Tibet.
That’s how this lamrim, Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, happened. The teaching that has the title “lamrim” started from there. That’s why we now have this incredible opportunity. Even for us Western people, who have been in the dark for so long, now there is the light of Dharma, and especially the lamrim teaching, which is the integration of the entire Buddhadharma without confusion. Everything is set up to show one person how to achieve enlightenment, all by kindness of the Tibetan Dharma king, Yeshe Ö.
Dromtönpa asked Lama Atisha to explain the results of actions done with ignorance, anger and attachment. Atisha replied,
Actions done with ignorance, anger and attachment bring rebirth in the lower realms as a suffering transmigratory being. Greed causes rebirth in the hungry ghost realm, hatred causes rebirth in the hell realm, ignorance causes rebirth in the animal realm and so forth. Actions done with an attitude not possessed by the three poisonous minds bring the result of rebirth as a happy transmigratory being.
For example, there are people who spend their whole life doing breathing meditation or walking meditation with attachment clinging to this life, seeking to gain power, to have a reputation and be famous, to gather disciples or to earn wealth and so forth. None of these actions become Dharma; they only become nonvirtue. A whole lifetime spent in doing breathing meditations or walking meditations, whatever, when it is done with this attitude, only becomes nonvirtue, the cause of the lower realms. Therefore that person’s whole life is wasted, even though they might have so much pride, believing that they have done many years’ retreat. In reality, if it is analyzed, because they don’t know how to practice Dharma, how to meditate, because they don’t know the definition of what is Dharma and what is not Dharma, their whole life is wasted. Their whole life is used only to create the cause of the lower realms.
Therefore, it is not sufficient to just be able to undistractedly concentrate on one object such as the breath. That person may believe that they are meditating, but actually the motivation does not become virtue, the motivation does not even become the cause of happiness if it is just to gain reputation, power, wealth or collecting disciples or whatever, just for the comfort and happiness of this life. They might call it meditating but they don’t know how to meditate, because, first of all, the motivation that starts the action has to be virtuous, Dharma, the cause of happiness, then the action itself can become virtuous, Dharma, the cause of happiness.
This applies not just to meditating but to whatever we do, from morning until night, twenty-four hours a day, walking, sitting, sleeping, working, talking and so forth. For example, somebody who gives a lecture might be able to lecture very professionally with outwardly perfect speech, but it still doesn’t mean they know how to talk [with a pure motivation]. Talking is just being able to externally arrange words. That is not enough. We need a pure motivation. Knowing how to talk is not enough, the outside thing is not enough; the most important thing that decides whether our talk becomes the cause of suffering or happiness, holy Dharma or worldly dharma, is the motivation. For the motivation to be Dharma, the very least is an attitude that is detached from this life, free from the attachment clinging to this life. It must be at least that pure attitude, unstained by attachment clinging this life. If this attitude is missing, in reality it doesn’t mean the person knows how to talk.
It’s the same thing with somebody who is doing business. Even if they are very smart, unless there is a pure motivation, they don’t know [how to do business.] The best way of doing business is out of compassion, out of loving kindness, with bodhicitta. That is the best way, and at least it should be done with a pure motivation. Even if they don’t have the thought of cherishing and benefiting others, they should at least have the thought that doesn’t wish to harm themselves or others. As Nagarjuna said, it should be a mind of non-ignorance, non-hatred and non-attachment. If that is the motivation, then that person knows how to do business.
It’s the same thing with whatever we do—how we eat, how we sleep, how we wash, everything. There is more to doing any action than what ordinary people think. The most important aspect of doing the action is the attitude and this is commonly missing. It is missing in schools, in colleges, in general education. Because of that, no matter how much education people get, no matter how many other skills they acquire, the real way to apply those skills, the way that produces happiness and peace, that brings satisfaction and gives meaning to life, is not there. That attitude is missing. We should at least have the attitude of not harming ourselves and doing what is beneficial. So, this understanding covers everything we do, our whole life, everything to do with our body, speech and mind. It’s not only how to meditate.
Eight Mahayana precepts motivation
So, we will take, restore or revive the Mahayana ordination. This is the main cause of receiving the body of the happy migratory being, a god or a human body, after this life.
It is mentioned that living nowadays in such a time of degeneration, a time when it is so difficult to practice, with so many obstacles, that even taking this ordination and living purely in it—of course, there is no question keeping all eight precepts but even just keeping one—taking it and living purely in it for even one day, for even one hour, for even one minute, has unbelievable benefits. Even taking one precept for just a short time, one day, makes it definite to receive the body of a happy migratory being in the next life.
Here, because we are taking not one but eight precepts we are extremely, unbelievably fortunate. Living in the precepts, the ordination, is the very source of the fundamental path to achieve liberation from samsara, and not only that, we are taking this ordination with the motivation of bodhicitta, to benefit each and every living being, not just for our own happiness.
There are a few special things [that differentiate] the eight pratimoksha precepts taken to achieve liberation for ourselves [and the eight Mahayana precepts]. The pratimoksha vows are not taken with a bodhicitta motivation, to achieve enlightenment for sake of all sentient beings. And there’s no need to visualize all the buddhas and bodhisattvas. That practice not there.
Here, we are taking the eight Mahayana precepts, which can also be taken daily by anybody, even fully ordained monks and nuns. These Mahayana precepts are done with a bodhicitta motivation and they are taken in the presence of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas and can even be taken by fully ordained people.
The branches of the precepts also include other additional things such as avoiding black food: onion, garlic, meat and these things. According to Kriya Tantra, there are more than these, however these are the basic things. The reason why keeping the eight Mahayana precepts involves taking white food and avoiding black food is because the precepts come from lower tantras, from Kriya and Charya Tantra and this is fundamental in the lower tantras because of the outer yoga and inner yoga. Their main emphasis, their main practice, is the outer yoga of keeping the body clean, unpolluted. In this way we are able to keep the mind unpolluted, and that helps the meditation. That might be a reason.
An additional thing is this. Because the teachings on the eight Mahayana precepts come from the lower tantras, the eight pratimoksha lay precepts which are taken—the eight types of ordination for the liberation for the self—involve avoiding black food. Where there is a strong emphasis on being vegetarian and also avoiding garlic, onion and those things, my guess is that this might originally be because of reciting a lot of Amitabha mantras, Compassion Buddha mantras and Medicine Buddha mantras, which are lower tantra.
Of course, there can be both the highest and lower tantra aspects of these buddhas. There’s Amitabha Buddha in the aspect of highest tantra and of lower tantra and there is also Compassion Buddha in the aspect of highest tantra and of lower tantra. The aspect of practice that has been commonly spread has been the lower tantra aspect. Because of that, the practice of vegetarianism is very strong, which also involves avoiding onion, garlic and so forth. That is my guess; that it is connected with those practices that are lower tantra. In those countries, the vegetarian restaurants that don’t have onion and garlic have become very common and very popular.
While there is no self, which means while there is no inherently existent I, we apprehend there is an inherently existent I. While causative phenomena are impermanent in nature, we apprehend that they are permanent. While temporary samsaric pleasures are in the nature of suffering, we apprehend that they are pure happiness. While the body is impure in nature, the container of so many dirty things, we apprehend that it is clean. Due to such wrong views, we and all sentient beings have been experiencing the general sufferings of samsara: the six types of suffering of samsara, the four types of suffering of samsara, the particular sufferings of humans that are condensed in eight types, and the sufferings of the god realms that are condensed into four or five.
In particular, we and all sentient beings have experienced the sufferings of the lower realms—the hells, the hungry ghost realm and the animal realm—numberless times from beginningless rebirths. If we think well about the beginningless sufferings of samsara, it is something that cracks the heart. If we continue to follow these wrong concepts, we will have to experience all these sufferings, and particularly the sufferings of the lower realms, numberless times, without end. If we reflect well on how we will have to experience this again and again and again in the future, numberless times without end, by following this wrong concept, by living our life with this wrong concept, it is something that makes us unable to sleep.
Precepts motivation: Nothing harms like the self-cherishing thought
However, at this time, we have received the perfect human rebirth, we have met the Buddhadharma and we have met many virtuous friends. We have gathered these three rare conditions, so at this time, after this life, after death, to be reborn in the lower realms again or to receive a god or human body is not sufficient. Even to be able to achieve liberation from samsara for ourselves is not sufficient. This attitude of seeking happiness for ourselves is nothing special, whether we are seeking temporal happiness or ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara. It does not make having this human body anything special. It is not the special quality of the human mind, because even the worms, the tiniest creatures, have this thought of seeking happiness for themselves. Therefore, we must achieve full enlightenment, the cessation of all the mistakes of the mind and the completion of all the realizations, for the sake of all the kind mother sentient beings.
Why we should attempt to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings is because the work of cherishing ourselves is the door that opens all our problems. It is the root of all the undesirable things. Anything that we do not like, that we do not wish to happen, comes from this self-cherishing thought.
This self-cherishing thought is much more harmful than any disease such as cancer or AIDS. If we compare how harmful having AIDS is with the harm caused by the ego, we see that the harm AIDS can do is nothing compared to the harm the ego gives us. The ego is far more harmful, more dangerous, without question, and it is more dangerous for all the numberless sentient beings. Having AIDS alone doesn’t make us reincarnate in the realms of the hell beings, the hungry ghosts or the animals. Even if we die with AIDS or cancer, it doesn’t cause us to reincarnate in the unfortunate suffering realms.
None of the 424 diseases alone cause us to be reborn in the lower realms or cause harm to numberless sentient beings. AIDS doesn’t continuously harm other numberless sentient beings from life to life, whereas from beginningless rebirths our ego has been harming sentient beings. The inner enemy, the ego, does this. Even if we don’t have AIDS, cancer or any of those other diseases, the ego makes us create negative karma and that makes us reincarnate in the lower realms, to experience the longest, heaviest suffering of samsara.
Therefore, all the 424 diseases, including cancer and AIDS, are nothing compared to how harmful, how dangerous, the ego is. Why in the world are people so scared of cancer and AIDS but not at all scared of the ego? They have no fear of the ego! People even feel proud of having an ego, and they even regard it as a good quality.
No matter how many atomic bombs there are in the world, they cannot cause us to reincarnate in the lower realms and they cannot harm all the numberless sentient beings of the six realms, but this ego gives all sentient beings harm from life to life. Besides that, it obliges us to create negative karma and causes us to reincarnate in the lower realms, so this ego is much more harmful than all the atomic bombs. No matter how harmful all those atomic bombs are to ourselves and others, that is nothing compared to the harm of this ego.
How much poison and pollution there is in the world compared to the harm caused by the ego, all the dangers and harm it does to us and the numberless other sentient beings, again, for the same reason, there is no comparison. The idea is that the amount of harm our ego, our self-cherishing thought, does to us and to the numberless sentient beings is unimaginable.
In the same way, even if all sentient beings become our enemy, even if they all harm us, badly treat us or kill us, that alone could not cause us to be born in hell, and so forth. But, even if no living being becomes our enemy or harms us, our ego, our self-cherishing thought, makes us create negative karma and be reborn in the lower realms and then continuously experience suffering. Even when we are born in the human realm, we will have to experience so many problems in the future lives. And it goes on and on—again we create negative karma and suffer, and then again we create negative karma—the same thing repeated again and again. And so we experience the problems again and again, over and over and over, going on and on without end.
Therefore, even if all sentient beings become our enemy and they all harm us or kill us, that is nothing compared to the harm done by this one person’s ego, our own self-cherishing thought. We should therefore be aware of how extremely dangerous this ego is, how terrifying, how much harm it gives us and all other sentient beings.
Precepts motivation: All happiness comes from others
Therefore, we should think, “There is no way I can stand having this ego in my heart for even one second. I must split from it! I must divorce my ego! I must eliminate this ego without delay of even a second. All my problems come from cherishing the I. That means all my problems come from this I, from me.
“Therefore, what is called ‘I’ must be renounced forever and what is called ‘others’ must be cherished forever. Why? Because every happiness, every success, every good thing, every desirable thing that I have ever received has depended on the kindness of other sentient beings. Even the enjoyments of everyday life have been received by the kindness of sentient beings.”
As I often mention, one grain of rice on our plate comes from the field. For that one grain of rice, so many human beings, so many ants, so many worms in the ground—sometimes even mice—so many sentient beings suffered or died when the land was fertilized. However, that is not all. This grain of rice came from another grain, and again so many sentient beings suffered, died and created negative karma for that grain, and again that grain of rice came from another grain, and again so many sentient beings suffered, died and created negative karma. Like this, if we think back on how many sentient beings suffered for the evolution of this one grain of rice, the continuation is endless. Therefore, for that one plate of rice, an unbelievable number of sentient beings have suffered and died and created negative karma by harming others just so this rice can be on our plate.
That we are able to survive by eating food and that we have comfort and enjoyment is dependent on numberless sentient beings. Thinking like that, we can see that our survival every day as a human being, to be able to be alive, is completely by the kindness of sentient beings. It is completely dependent on other sentient beings.
In the same way, for one bowl of vegetables numberless sentient beings have suffered and created negative karma by harming others. And for even a cup of tea, in the water there are so many sentient beings. Without disturbing them, without their suffering, without depending on their kindness, there is no way we can have a cup of tea. Just having the water in the first place depends on the kindness of sentient beings.
It is similar with our clothes, with every item, from the hat on our head down to the socks on our feet. Many of our clothes come from an animal’s body, such as all those woolen or silk things. Numberless sentient beings have suffered or died, numberless sentient beings have been harmed and have created negative karma by harming other sentient beings, in order for us to receive one item of clothing to protect our body and give us comfort. All this comfort and enjoyment is dependent on the kindness of numberless sentient beings.
And it’s the same thing with the place we live in, with the protection, the comfort and the enjoyment that we have by having a house. Every house we have lived in, that has protected our life and given us comfort and enjoyment, has happened due to numberless sentient beings suffering and dying and creating negative karma. This is what happens. Therefore, our enjoyment, our survival, from day to day—even just to be alive—is completely dependent on the kindness of sentient beings.
By reflecting on how much numberless sentient beings have suffered, died and created negative karma by harming others for all this enjoyment, there is no way to have all this enjoyment just for ourselves, to work only for ourselves. That is so unbearable. Only doing work for ourselves, only thinking of ourselves when using all these enjoyments, when eating even this one grain of rice, this piece of vegetable—there is no way we can eat it for only our own happiness. If we look at it from the side of all those numberless sentient beings who have suffered, died and created negative karma for these things, how unbelievably selfish it is. To use all these things that came from them through so much suffering only for our own ends, that is so selfish. Therefore, we have to do something to benefit them. We have to do something meaningful, something beneficial for them.
Sentient beings are so precious and kind. As I mentioned yesterday, the best service for them, the best benefit for them, is to achieve enlightenment in order to free them from all their sufferings and to lead them to the peerless happiness, full enlightenment. This is the highest, the best benefit we can offer sentient beings. To be able to do that, first we ourselves must achieve full enlightenment. In order to achieve full enlightenment, we must practice the fundamental path, protecting our karma, living in morality. Therefore think, “I am going to take the eight Mahayana precepts and keep them from now until tomorrow sunrise.”
Taking the eight Mahayana precepts
Those who can kneel down, kneel down on one knee and put your palms together at your heart.
I don’t think people without an understanding of the Dharma can see how the ordained Sangha living in the monasteries and nunneries away from the city, not mixing with outside people, can benefit the world, how they can benefit other sentient beings. People think they are of no benefit to the outside world just because they live by themselves, isolated. Many people think like this, maybe not so much in the East but in the West. Even in some of our centers there are people who think like this because they haven’t really thoroughly thought of the benefits of keeping the precepts. They think that people can only benefit others by mixing with people, by doing service in the community, such as doing work in a hospital or something practical like that.
On the other hand, no matter however much a person develops their mind in the path, gaining realizations by retreating, by living in the vows, somehow many people think what they are doing is not service for other sentient beings. Even though it is in fact the very best service, due to a lack of understanding of karma, people think this is not real Dharma.
There is no way we can do perfect service for other sentient beings without the renunciation of samsara. Without it there is always danger. Without bodhicitta, how can we do perfect service for other sentient beings? There are always ego problems that stop us from doing perfect work for others. And how can we liberate others from samsara when we ourselves have not realized emptiness? Not having had the experience, without becoming liberated ourselves we cannot help others become liberated. And it’s the same thing with actualizing the tantric path for quick enlightenment. Without that, how can we do perfect work for other sentient beings quickly?
So, the whole lamrim path from beginning to the end is needed so urgently. Actualizing the three principal aspects of the path is especially urgent. It’s crucial in order to do perfect work for other sentient beings without any danger for ourselves and for others.
Therefore, we are taking these precepts in order to eliminate famine and sickness, thinking of all the people who are having heart attacks, who are having breathing problems, in hospital now with their family around, their brothers, sisters, father and mother, as well as the doctors around them. They are suffering so much but they don’t know what to do. There could be many patients right now on the point of dying, so many who are having operations right now, not sure whether they will survive or die. Remembering all this, we take the eight Mahayana precepts in order to benefit all of them.
[Rinpoche gives the eight Mahayana precepts]
[Taking the precepts in this way] we are engaging in perfect virtue, which means engaging in that which is most beneficial for other sentient beings. Because of that, it also becomes beneficial for us. Benefiting others is the best way to benefit ourselves. As His Holiness often says, if you want to be selfish, the best way to be selfish is by cherishing other sentient beings. The best way, the most intelligent way, the most skillful way to be selfish is by cherishing other sentient beings.
By cherishing other sentient beings, we don’t harm others and we benefit them instead. Then, by the way, it becomes the best cause of success for us, the best way for us to obtain happiness for ourselves, temporary and ultimate happiness, including the peerless happiness, full enlightenment.
In the Praise to Shakyamuni Buddha, there is a quote from a sutra where the Buddha says,
Do not commit any nonvirtuous actions,
Perform only perfect virtuous actions,
Subdue your mind thoroughly—
This is the teaching of the Buddha.
After not harming others and helping others, the third line tells us how to do this—by subduing our mind thoroughly. “Subdue your mind thoroughly, this is the teaching of the Buddha” tells us that to stop committing the nonvirtuous, harmful actions and to be able to perform only perfect virtuous, beneficial actions, this is what we must do. It shows that the way to do this is by subduing our mind. Subduing our mind means watching it every day, taking care of it, protecting it from delusions, from disturbing thoughts, by applying the remedy, the meditations, starting from the root of the path to enlightenment, guru devotion, through to the renunciation of samsara, bodhicitta and the right view, and then, if we can, on top of that using the skillful means of the Secret Mantra, the Vajrayana—and in that way, transforming the mind into the path to happiness, to liberation, to enlightenment. This is the teaching of the Buddha.
Then the next verse says,
A star, a visual aberration, a flame of a lamp,
An illusion, a drop of dew, or a bubble,
A dream, a flash of lightning, a cloud—
See conditioned things as such!
All causative phenomena, including our own life, those around us, friends, enemies, our material possessions, wealth—all these things are changing within every second due to causes and conditions. But they can be stopped at any time. This life can be stopped any time; this appearance that we have now, this appearance of this life, can be stopped at any time. This appearance that we have with this present human mind that is associated with this human body can be stopped at any time, today, in any minute, it can be stopped. Like this, all causative phenomena can be stopped at any time. This is the reality.
Therefore having anger, discrimination, dissatisfaction, attachment—none of these emotional, unhealthy minds make any sense. There is no reason for them. It doesn’t make any sense to follow these emotional minds. There is no reason to become angry, to have the thought to hurt others. There is no reason for ignorance to arise, this belief in the concept of permanence.
Not only that, what all these phenomena are, what the I, the action, the object, all these phenomena are in reality is merely labeled by the mind. In reality the I, the action, the object, all the sense objects—form, sound, smell, taste, tangible objects—all these things are merely labeled by the mind. Therefore, they are all empty of existing from their side.
We’ll just concentrate a little bit on this.
Emptiness and the phenomena that are empty
What is I? What is me? What is this I, the self? Not the general self, not the word, not the I that is merely labeled by the mind and therefore is completely empty. This I is not empty of the I but is empty of existing from its own side. This I that has the aspect of not appearing as merely labeled but appearing from its own side, what is this I?
Another way of expressing this is that this I that seems to be self-appearing, as having the aspect of appearing from its own side, this I is completely empty, that aspect doesn’t exist. That aspect of the self is a hallucination, a complete absence. It’s empty, which means it’s empty of [being other than] the merely labeled I. That is the reality; that emptiness is the reality, the reality that is on the I, which means on the merely labeled I.
In the philosophical texts, in the scriptures, where it talks about the emptiness on the phenomena, the emptiness on the I, the emptiness on the vase, the emptiness on the table, the emptiness on the pillar, they use two terms. One term in Tibetan is chö nyi, emptiness, and the other is chö chen, the I that is empty. Chö nyi is the emptiness that is on the chö chen, which is the merely labeled phenomenon. This is just to give you an idea; chö chen is not an exact literal translation. Chö refers to the emptiness, chen means that which has emptiness.
Chö is a general term, with different meanings depending on the words that follow it. In general it means existence and it can be used as Dharma, the positive attitude that produces peace and happiness. Anything that becomes the remedy to the delusions, that heals or stops the sicknesses, that is Dharma. So one meaning of chö, depending on the context, how it is presented, is “Dharma.”
But here in chö nyi there is this word nyi, which means “only” so in this context it means “emptiness.” Chö nyi and chö pa nyi have the same meaning. The literal translation of tong pa is emptiness. The literal translation of chö nyi would be “only existence” if you did a literal, word by word translation, but in this context it means the same as tong pa nyi. Tong pa means “emptiness” and nyi means “only” so tong pa nyi means “only emptiness” or “emptiness only.”
The emptiness of the tea
The reason the word nyi is used after tong pa is because it makes it precise. It becomes a very important term to give the right understanding of emptiness. It’s not just any type of emptiness. “Emptiness only” cuts off any other types of empty; it cuts off the ordinary emptiness. This nyi isn’t in the English translation but it is there in the Tibetan, making it that specific emptiness.
For example, it cuts off the ordinary emptiness such as the mug being empty of having tea in it. The emptiness of the tea that is in the mug is not the lack of tea [after we have drunk it] but the emptiness of inherent tea. It’s not the ordinary emptiness of having no real tea in the real mug. In Tibetan tea is chai so we say chai tong nyi or chai tong pa nyi meaning the “emptiness only of tea.” We can also say chai ten ‘gi nyi where ten ‘gi means “above” or “on.” This means this emptiness is not the absence of tea, the absence of the substance that has form and space. The nyi stops that wrong understanding, seeing it as an ordinary emptiness, which is not the reality of the tea.
So by negating the ordinary emptiness—the absence of tea, not having tea in the mug—while the tea is in the mug, the tea is empty. This is emptiness of the tea that exists there in the mug. While the tea exists in the mug, it’s empty. So then what we have to know is empty of what? It is not empty of tea, but it has to be empty of something specific about the tea.
The tea that exists in the mug is empty of the aspect how the tea appears to us. How does the aspect of the tea appear to us? While we are thinking about the tea, looking at the tea, in what aspect does the tea appear? In reality, the tea that exists is merely labeled by the mind by relating the liquid—the boiled water—mixed with the flavor of the tea leaves. By relating to this phenomenon, the [combination of] the liquid and the flavor of the leaves, that’s all the tea is, but how the tea exists does not appear to us in that way—as merely labeled by the mind relating to that phenomenon.
For us sentient beings who haven’t ceased the subtle imprints left by the concept of true existence, ignorance, that projects inherent existence, dualistic view, onto objects, when there’s the appearance of the tea, it doesn’t appear to us as merely labeled by mind. It appears to us as not merely labeled by the mind. It seems to exist from its own side, as inherently existent or independent. The tea that appears to us seems undifferentiable from the base—the liquid and the flavor of the leaf. The appearance and the base are mixed or undifferentiable.
Because those two, which are different, appear undifferentiable, that appearance is a hallucination. All phenomena appear to us in that way and therefore they are all hallucinations. The appearance is that the tea in the mug does not appear merely labeled by the mind; it exists from its own side as independent tea in the mug, real tea in the mug. This is the object of refutation, in this case, the object of refutation on the merely labeled tea.
Prasangika’s object of refutation
It can normally be said that for us ordinary sentient beings who haven’t realized the emptiness of the tea and so forth—the emptiness of all phenomena—that we are unable to see things as illusory, as a dream. In our everyday life, we see a real this and a real that—that’s what appears to us and what we talk about, how we think. We believe the appearance. We apprehend the object as being real and we believe it. If we avoid using philosophical terms, normally things appear real. We say, “That is a real this; that is a real that.” However, that is the object of refutation; that is the hallucination.
If we can recognize that [what we apprehend] is the hallucination, the object of refutation, it takes just a minute or a second to realize the emptiness of that phenomenon. Without using other terms to explain the hallucination, the term we normally use in our ordinary, everyday life for the object of refutation is what we call “real.” Without using the philosophical terms such as inherently existent, truly existent, existing by nature, independent and so forth, for ordinary people like us, those who haven’t studied the scriptures, when we talk about “real this” or “real that,” if we were to then analyze what that “real” is, we would see it relates to the subtle object of refutation within the Prasangika school’s view.
There are four doctrines or four schools of Buddhist philosophy, differentiated by the level of subtlety of analysis of what reality is. Each school defines what emptiness is through their own analysis and they have their own object of refutation as well as their own different point of view about what is the root of samsara, ignorance.
Since this subject has come up at this time, maybe I should leave this and talk about it when we get to the explanation of the twelve links [of dependent origination.]
Normally in our daily life, without analyzing, without examination, things appear to our mind as real. We think there is something real there and we believe there is something real there. All these “real” appearing things are the subtle object of refutation according to Prasangika Madhyamaka, the fourth and most subtle of the four schools of Buddhist philosophy. The Madhyamaka school has two [subschools], Svatantrika and Prasangika, and the Prasangika school’s view of this subtle refuting object, this subtle hallucination is extremely subtle.
So, this is what we are talking about when we talk about something being “real.” The tea, the I, action, object, the noise we hear of the kettle, the handle being dropped—that which appears as real. We hear the real sound of the handle dropping. According to our mind, there is a real sound from its own side. Somebody coughs and we think there is real cough, a real sound of nose blowing, a real airplane noise. None of these things appears as merely labeled but rather as something from its own side. All these are Prasangika’s subtle refuting object, which means the subtle hallucination.
When we don’t analyze the objects, there are all these appearances, all these hallucinations, all these things appearing as real—real this and real that—which are the object of refutation of all the four schools, something they all think is the ignorance that is the root of samsara.
This appearance of a real object is the hallucination that is the object of refutation of the Vaibhashika, Sautrantika, Cittamatra and Madhyamaka schools, both the Svatantrika and the Prasangika.
The most subtle object of refutation is that the appearing thing is not merely labeled by mind, but there has to be something existing from its own side. [According to the other schools,] the I, action, object and so forth, these phenomena exist by being labeled by the mind but not merely labeled by the mind. There must be something from its own side, otherwise how could it exist? This is the right view according to the Svatantrika school. If things were merely labeled by mind, that would mean that things did not exist from their own side and therefore how could they exist?
They cannot distinguish between the object that exists—the I, the tea or whatever—with being merely labeled by the mind, being empty of existing from its own side. While the tea exists, it is empty of existing from its own side and is merely labeled by the mind—they cannot put together the emptiness of the tea existing from its own side and the tea being a dependent arising. Even with this subtle hallucination, they think there should be something that exists from its own side, not merely labeled by the mind.
However, even this subtle thing that is left there in the appearance, even this is totally empty, so this one is the hallucination, the object of refutation according to the view of the Prasangika Madhyamika school. The absence of this subtle true existence is a hallucination, the refuting object. This thing appearing from its own side that is left, even this is a hallucination; even this doesn’t exist at all; even this is completely empty.
This is the ultimate view, the emptiness, the reality of all phenomena. So, even though there are so many different presentations of emptiness by the four schools of Buddhist philosophy, in reality, there is only one emptiness and only one type of ignorance that is the root of samsara.
Where is the tea?
So anyway, going back to the tea! Now we can see when we look at our mug filled with tea what the “emptiness of the tea” means. It is the emptiness only, tong pa nyi. To repeat, there is the liquid mixed with the flavor of the tea leaves and maybe some milk, all put into a mug. That, which we call “tea,” is merely labeled by the mind, because it depends on the reason of the mug, the liquid and the leaves in the mug. This is exactly what the tea is. What is the tea is this, that which is merely labeled by the mind because there is liquid flavored by the tea leaves inside the mug.
From this analysis you can see now where the tea is. The tea is not there on this liquid. There is no tea on this liquid. This liquid is not tea; this liquid is the basis to be labeled “tea.” This is the base upon which our mind makes up the label “tea.” So where is tea in there?
As there is no tea on the liquid and that liquid is not tea, it is the base to be labeled, where is the tea? There is the base to be labeled—the liquid—and tea that is the label, two different things. The liquid is not the tea because it is the base. The tea is the label. First, we see the label, the liquid in the mug, and then seeing the liquid in the mug becomes the reason for the mind to make up the label “tea.” Therefore, it is clear that what we see first, the liquid in the mug, is not tea. It is not tea and there is no tea on that liquid.
If we were to analyze it, we would see that this is the reality of how the tea exists, but it doesn’t appear to us that way. Unless we are analyzing in this way, we are unaware of the reality of the tea and in our mind there is no differentiation between the liquid that is the base to be labeled and the label itself, “tea.” That is the object of refutation.
The real tea in the mug means the tea that is merely labeled by the mind that appears to our mind in this aspect, as inherently existent, as independent, as appearing from its own side. When we say “real” it refers to all this, how, when we are not analyzing it, all these hallucinations appear to us as real, as true. The tea that doesn’t exist—the “real” tea—doesn’t exist at all. We can’t drink that “real” tea. There’s nothing to drink because it doesn’t exist. However, the tea that does exist—the tea that is merely labeled by the mind—looks to our mind as if it doesn’t exist at all.
Have you got any idea about what I am saying? Any idea? Anyway, when we drink tea, when we are enjoying tea, we don’t think we are enjoying the merely labeled tea! This is just one simple example. We don’t think that way; we think we are enjoying the tea that is not merely labeled by mind, that is not empty [of existing from its own side].
Because we have seen the liquid in the mug, the boiled water flavored by the tea leaves and mixed with milk, our mind merely labels it “tea.” After that, there is the appearance, the projection onto this merely labeled tea, the hallucination that there is an independent tea, something that appears from its own side. It appears to us this way and we believe it. This appearance is what we point to and call tea, thinking it is “real” tea. We believe it to be real; this is how we refer to it when we point to it. This is the meaning of “real.” But it is a hallucination, completely empty, completely empty right there of tea.
This is emptiness of the tea, called chö nyi. This emptiness is not just any emptiness. This particular emptiness is the emptiness of true existence, of existing from its own side, therefore it is emptiness only, tong pa nyi, because it cuts off ordinary emptiness, the absence of tea.
In this way, we can understand that while the tea exists, it is empty; and while the tea is empty, it exists. It exists, merely labeled by the mind. Those two are unified; those two become supports for each other. The wisdom realizing that the tea is empty helps to lead us to the realization of the conventional truth of the tea, that the tea definitely exists and how it exists, by being merely labeled by the mind. And understanding that subtle dependent arising helps us understand that the tea is empty.
Anyway, we can enjoy the tea whether it is empty or truly existent!
