[The students recite the short mandala offering.]

Maybe just one question. Yes, go on.

Student: Rinpoche, what ceremony were you doing down there?

Rinpoche: That’s the practice of making charity of nectar to the pretas, or hungry ghosts. What you give is water, but you recite a mantra that transforms the water so that the pretas see nectar. This practice not only purifies their negative karma, but they find a drink, which stops their unbearable suffering of hunger and thirst. But the greatest gift to them is meeting Dharma. At this time they are born as hungry ghosts, as spirits, and purifying their negative karma is one thing, but that then causes them to get a higher rebirth, either as a deva or a human. I can’t say that it happens with everybody, but it’s possible that some of them then meet Dharma, which is the best gift for them.

So, there are six realms of sentient beings, and one of them is the realm of the hungry ghosts. Their heaviest suffering is that of hunger and thirst. Due to their past heavy negative karma, they can’t find even a spoonful of food for hundreds or thousands of years, even tens of thousands of years. And for so long they can’t find a mouthful of water, or even a damp mark on the ground.

In our view as human beings, we might see a place as beautiful, with nice gardens and trees; but pretas don’t see these things. In their view, the environment is extremely hot, like brass burning in the hot sun. I mean, this is even the same place that we human beings see as very beautiful, which is the product of our good karma done in the past. What the pretas see is totally different, the product of their negative karma from the past.

It is similar even among human beings. Even in regard to the same weather, whether inside or outside the house, some people find it very hot and sweaty, and at the same time, other people don’t find it hot at all. For somebody it’s unpleasant and for somebody else it’s pleasant. Even for human beings, these different experiences are the production of their past karma. As I mentioned before, when many people look at the same person, they see that person differently. Not everybody has the same view of the person. When one hundred, two hundred or one thousand people look at that one person, they have different views. Even people from the same country and the same place have different views of that same person. Some find the person incredibly beautiful, while others find that same person very boring.

How you see things accords with your own mind. I’ve been mentioning how it depends on what kind of thought, or concept, you generate when you see an object. How you see an object at this moment depends on your way of thinking at this moment. But basically, as I mentioned before, it depends on your past karma.

Anyway, for pretas the ground is unbelievably hot, like copper burning in the hot sun. It’s very unpleasant. Due to some past heavy karma, pretas cannot find even a spoonful of food or a drop of water for hundreds or thousands of years. And their bodies are pitiful. Their limbs are thin and very dry, like dry wood. Due to past negative karma, their bellies are huge like mountains and their necks are very tiny. Their major suffering is that of hunger and thirst; they have the heaviest suffering of hunger and thirst. When they go to look for food, they walk like a very old person who has lost the power of their body and finds it a heavy burden. They experience unbelievable suffering when they walk.

There are also karmic guardians, yamas, who block the path when they go to find food. They see from afar that there is a waterfall or they think there’s water in a distant place, but when they finally reach that place, which is a great achievement with all their exhaustion and other obstacles, the karmic guardians block their access to the water. It is very difficult for them to walk, to carry their body. And even if they finally do reach the place where there is water, there’s suddenly no water; it has all dried up. Or they find that the water is filled with dirt or garbage or it has totally changed and become pus and blood. The pretas experience unbelievable exhaustion, then unbelievable disappointment.

There are general pretas and also pretas who have flames coming from their mouth. I don’t know whether you see them here in Mexico, but we saw them in India, at Buxa, where I lived for eight years with the 1,500 monks who wanted to continue their studies. At night monks would be outside in the courtyard where they did prayers and debated philosophy with each other. At night you quite often saw many flames going this way and that in the forest on the mountains. I’m not sure whether it was the same thing or not, but once when I was traveling at night, I saw a light around a tree. You might think that there’s somebody there, but when you then reached that tree, the light had moved a little bit back and forth, so you didn’t see anything. It was quite common to see flames in the forest at night. In India, I think you also sometimes see them on the ground. Anyway, there’s one type of preta like this.

There’s a preta with even more suffering. The general pretas have huge bellies like a mountain and tiny mouths like the eye of a needle, so even if they do find some food, it’s difficult for the food to go through their mouths. Some pretas experience even more suffering because their necks have two or three knots. Even if a tiny drop of water goes inside, it’s difficult for it to reach their stomach because of these knots. It’s just unimaginable. And in the case that it does somehow go down, it burns when it reaches the stomach, like putting a match to a kerosene lantern. It becomes only suffering. The pretas with knots in their necks have the heaviest suffering among the pretas.

There are those general sufferings and the particular suffering of food obscurations, which are of three types: outer, food and inner obscurations. Outer obscuration is the many obstacles that block the pretas from getting food. The food obscuration refers to when the pretas actually reach food and drink but it disappears or becomes pus and blood. The inner obscuration means that the food cannot go inside, and even if it goes inside it brings so much suffering.

Since pretas experience most unbearable suffering, Buddha, who is so kind and so compassionate, taught methods to help the pretas. There’s a special mantra to recite. This mantra is wish-fulfilling for the pretas; it has that power. Visualizing yourself as Chenrezig, Compassion Buddha, you chant the mantra and make water charity to them by visualizing nectar flowing down from Chenrezig’s hand. That’s the practice you’re supposed to do. This mantra has the power to enable the pretas to receive nectar. Without any obstacles, they are able to drink the nectar, and it purifies their negative karma, stops that suffering rebirth and causes them to have a higher rebirth. A higher rebirth is an unbelievable gift for them. So, you free them from those unbelievable, heavy sufferings.

We fast, refrain from eating and drinking, as Dharma practice, to purify our negative karma and collect extensive merit in order to achieve liberation and enlightenment. Take nyung-näs, the two-day Compassion Buddha retreat, for example. On the first day of a nyung-nä, there’s one meal and you can drink; on the second day, there’s nothing: no food and no drink. It is only on the second day that you can’t drink, not even a drop of water. (Some people don’t even swallow their saliva on the second day, but collect it in a bottle and throw it out.) There is nothing for just one day, and even that is done for ultimate happiness, to achieve liberation from samsara and then full enlightenment for sentient beings. Now, this one day (or half-day) of not eating and not drinking is done for the happiness of all sentient beings, for the happiness of the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, asuras, suras and intermediate state beings, to free them from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment.

You do the practice of nyung-nä to purify your past negative karmas, the numberless negative karmas you have collected during beginningless rebirth, which cause you to be born in the lower realms and to experience those most unbearable sufferings. But even if you do it to benefit sentient beings, you find it very difficult to do this practice. You find it difficult to live without eating and drinking for even one day, even though it’s for Dharma practice, even though it’s only benefiting you, enabling you to purify so many eons of past negative karma, so that you don’t have to experience the most unbearable sufferings of the lower realms.

If you do one nyung-nä, the general benefit is that you purify 50,000 eons of negative karma. You purify 50,000 eons of negative karma, the cause to be born in the lower realms and suffer the most unbearable sufferings of the hell beings, hungry ghosts and animals. But, of course, it’s not just that. It all depends on how you do the nyung-nä. If you do it with strong loving kindness and compassion for sentient beings, with bodhichitta, the result is even more than that.

During a nyung-nä, there’s recitation of OM MANI PADME HUM, which brings powerful purification and collects skies of merit. It’s just amazing! You also take the Eight Mahayana Precepts, which is another unbelievably powerful practice that makes your life rich and meaningful. Doing this is of unbelievable benefit to the numberless sentient beings because you take the Eight Mahayana Precepts with the motivation of bodhichitta, for the benefit of the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, asuras and suras. You take the precepts for everybody, not only for your friends, but for your enemies and for strangers.

There is benefit to the world and to the country where you live, including benefit to the economy. If you live in vows, there’s so much benefit to the entire country. The rains come at the right time and things grow well, with no obstacles such as insects eating the crops or too much rain destroying them. Everything goes smoothly and is fruitful. People have plenty of food, and it helps the economy a lot.

Since I’m talking about this here, I’ll take the opportunity to tell you about the four harmonious brothers. They were four animals: an elephant, a monkey, a rabbit and a bird. A long time ago in India, there was one kingdom where the economy was flourishing, with the rains coming at the right time, the crops growing well and plenty of food. Life was very easy for the people in that kingdom.

The king thought, “I did this—it’s happened because of me.” However, all the ministers and many other people thought that same thing. Everybody thought that they were responsible for the prosperity. One of the ministers suggested that they go into the forest and ask the sage there who was actually responsible.

So, they all went to see the sage, who said, “It’s none of you. This prosperity has happened because of the four harmonious brothers living in the jungle. The elephant lives in the five vows and has spread the practice to the other elephants. The monkey lives in the five vows and has taught the other monkeys the practice. The rabbit also lives in the five vows and has spread the practice to the other rabbits. And the bird lives in the five vows and has caused the other birds to practice the five lay vows. It is because of that that there’s so much economic development in the kingdom.” That is what the sage, who was clairvoyant, explained.

I think the animals were embodiments of Shakyamuni Buddha and Ananda and Buddha’s other attendants. So, in the form of animals, they taught the other animals about the five lay vows. The kingdom then really flourished. Also, the animals respected each other. The younger ones respected the older ones, and this respect spread out as well. Respecting each other is part of good conduct, bringing the benefits of peace, harmony and many other good things.

That is the reference, but you actually come to know the effects that come from each of the vows.

Now, to go back…. Rebirth as a hungry ghost basically came from heavy negative karma of miserliness. It’s the result of being stingy, of not practicing generosity because of attachment.

In making water charity to the pretas, the first lot of water is for the general pretas. The second lot of water charity is for those who have flames coming out, who have more suffering. The third is for the pretas with the most suffering, those with two or three knots. Even though we don’t see hungry ghosts, the people who can see them say that there is like a forest of hungry ghosts. Compared to the number of hungry ghosts, the number of human beings is nothing. There is an unimaginable number of hungry ghosts. The water charity is of tremendous benefit for them, helping an unbelievable number of them. There are also different mantras you can recite. Those mantras are due to Buddha’s compassion. The Buddha has ten powers, and one of the inconceivable qualities of the Buddha is the ability to make a mantra that has the power to make it very easy for pretas to find food and drink.

The other part of the practice is giving food. There are three types of food that I give. I have seen that some Chinese monasteries have a small bowl with a few grains in it for the pretas. However, even if you give just a small amount of food, the mantra makes them see a mountain of food and an ocean of drink. It’s unbelievable that this mantra has that power, enabling the pretas not only to find food but to find so much. So, it is of incredible benefit to them.

It’s good to learn about these things that you can do to bring so much benefit to the different beings who have unbelievable suffering. Compared to their suffering, the suffering of human beings is nothing. This is a very simple practice—you just have to know the mantras—but the pretas receive an ocean of benefit. It’s very, very good to do this practice. Buddha’s kindness and compassion have made it so easy to help the pretas by giving them vast oceans of nectar and food.

So, I’ll stop here. After you have eaten, maybe we’ll go for a walk, from here to Lhasa, then come back tomorrow.

It seems that we are going through some topics on emptiness meditation. That subject normally comes at the very end of a lam-rim teaching, as in Lamrim Chenmo. But here I think I’ve gone crazy—the very last teaching has become the first teaching.

There are many practices like the water charity to the pretas that are very simple and very good and of unbelievable benefit to others. It good for you to make charity to the general pretas and then to the pretas with flames coming from the mouth, which collects far greater merit than from making charity to all the general pretas. And using the mantras to enable the pretas with knots to receive one drop of water collects an unbelievable amount of merit, more than from making charity of water to all the pretas who have flames coming from their mouths.

However, that’s not the reason that I make water charity to the pretas. The merit isn’t my main focus. My main focus is relieving their unbelievable suffering.

Okay, thank you.

“Jang chhub sem chhog rin po chhe….”

[The group chants the short mandala offering.]