Maybe there’s one question? If I don’t know the answer, I’ll stay silent. If it’s something that I know, then I’ll chat.

Student: Rinpoche, does the base where we put the label have to be inherently existent or not?

Rinpoche: The base is also labeled on another base. When Mexican money was made for the very first time, they first created the idea of the base in their minds. (Again, this is an elaboration, but it’s also helpful.) When you have all the ideas as to how to make the paper money but you haven’t yet actualized them, nothing has yet materialized from them, at that time the Mexican money doesn’t exist. At that time the money doesn’t exist, even though you have the idea of money.

When you then print all the figures such as a person’s face, the writing and everything else on the paper, but you haven’t yet labeled it money—well, with money I think the label is probably already there. I think that you already have the label; the label comes first. You want to print money, so you look at how to print money. You then create the base, the paper with the face of the leader of the country and all the rest of the design. In the case of money, I think the label comes first, then you create the base. The thought of putting the label, money, comes first, then you create the idea, the base.

When the money is materialized, at that time the base and the label, money, exist. But in the case of a child, you get the child first, though it’s possible that the parents will sometimes have the name first, before they have the child. Usually, I think, when parents have a child, when the child’s aggregates, or association of body and mind, are there, they then think of a name. When the base, the collection of the five aggregates—form, feeling, discrimination, compounding aggregates and consciousness—is there, the parents think of what name to give. They try to think of a name or look through books for one. For example, let’s say they choose the name “Roger.” So, until the name Roger is given, the base exists but Roger doesn’t exist. The base exists before, but Roger doesn’t exist until his parents give that name to the base. In the other case the parents have discussed names and chosen one, but the child hasn’t yet been born. The child’s aggregates are not there, but they have already decided upon the name. So, even though their minds have labeled “Roger,” Roger doesn’t exist, because there’s no base; the aggregates don’t exist. When the aggregates are not there, then the label doesn’t exist.

It’s the same as what happens in a dream. In a dream your mind labels this and that, but there’s no base for the labels. Let’s say you dreamt that you won a lottery and got a billion dollars. If that base existed, when you woke up, it should be there. But when you wake up, you realize that it was just a dream, that it’s not true. The billion dollars doesn’t exist; you don’t have it. Even though in the dream your mind labeled, “I have won a billion dollars,” the base didn’t exist in the dream, so that’s why when you wake up, you don’t have a billion dollars. In that case the billion dollars doesn’t exist, even though your mind labeled it. It is only when you actually get a billion dollars that you’re able to go shopping and buy a car or TV or whatever. Since that billion dollars exists, the base is actualized, and the label also happens.

This is quite useful for meditation, to get the idea of emptiness and of what the hallucination of inherent existence is. It helps you to recognize inherent existence, existence by nature, existence from its own side. Once you recognize that, you then know what emptiness, or ultimate nature, is, which is what we have to realize. It is the realization of emptiness that ceases delusions and karma, the cause of suffering. So, this analysis is quite helpful in understanding this.

When a child is in the womb or has been born but the parents haven’t yet labeled it “Roger,” at that time Roger doesn’t exist. In the other case, where the parents have already decided upon the label “Roger” but the base, the child’s aggregates, is not yet there, at that time Roger also doesn’t exist. Roger comes into existence when the base is there, because Roger exists in dependence upon the existence of the base. Without the base, Roger cannot exist, even though it might be labeled by the mind. Roger existing depends on the base existing. It is the same with Peter or any other name you call a child.

When the base is there, you can then give the label, the name “Roger.” The base is there, and then “Roger” is imputed by the mind. At that time, Roger then comes into existence. If a base is there, whenever the mind imputes “Roger,” Roger then comes into existence—with belief, of course. It is only at that time that Roger comes into existence.

Student: Rinpoche, in your book Ultimate Healing you mention, for example, that cancer is also just a label. When a doctor tells you that you have cancer, is it just a label or does the base exist?

Rinpoche: Actually, I haven’t finished my answer to her first question. I was just talking about the label….

When does Roger come into existence? When you do the analysis, what is the answer to that question? There’s the base and then the mere imputation of Roger by the mind, the mind makes up the label, “Roger,” with belief in that. Through analysis, you see that Roger is nothing other than what is merely imputed by mind in relation to the aggregates. The aggregates are not Roger. The aggregates exist before Roger exists. It is because the aggregates exist that “Roger” is then imputed by the mind. So, Roger exists in mere name, merely imputed by the mind because there is the base—or you could say, in relation to the base. Because the base exists, the label, “Roger,” exists.

Here, you can see that there are two phenomena: one is the base and the other is the label. They are not one because one is the base to be labeled “Roger.” They’re not two separate phenomena, but two different phenomena. They are not two separate phenomena, like your nose and your ear or this bell and vajra. The bell and vajra are not only different but they exist separately. However, Roger and his base, the aggregates, exist differently but they do not exist separately.

The I and the aggregates also exist differently, but they don’t exist separately. There’s no way the I exists without relating to the aggregates. Without aggregates, how can the I, the self, exist? There’s no way. It’s impossible. Our I, our self, doesn’t exist without the aggregates. In regard to the aggregates and self, the aggregates are the base to be labeled “self.” It can be said that these two are one in essence, but they exist differently. These two exist differently, but they do not exist separately.

When you do meditation on emptiness, such as the analysis of the four vital points, there is a real I, a real self, appearing to you all the time. Constantly your mind merely imputes I, but whenever the I appears back to you, it always appears back as not merely labeled by your mind, as having never come from your mind. When it appears back, it is totally false, a total hallucination. Your hallucinated mind, which is contaminated by negative imprints, projects this false view of inherent existence.

When you’re doing the analysis of the four vital points, you’re analyzing where this real I is. You’re analyzing whether this real I that appears to be not merely labeled by your mind, to have never come from your mind, really exists.

So, if this real I exists, it should exist as either one with the aggregates or separate from the aggregates. You then do all the analysis, and you find that it doesn’t exist as one with the aggregates. You analyze whether form is this real I, and you find that it’s not. You analyze whether feeling is this real I, and you discover that it’s not. You then analyze whether discrimination, the mental factor, is this real I or not, and you discover that it’s not. You then analyze the compounding aggregates, of which there are many. When you take feeling and discrimination out of the fifty-one mental factors, all the rest of the mental factors are called the compounding aggregates. You then check whether the compounding aggregates are this real I that appears to you and in which you believe. Through analysis you find that they’re not. When you then check whether consciousness is this real I, you discover that it’s not. And when you check whether the collection of all five aggregates is this real I, you discover that it’s not. None of the five aggregates is this real I, and all the five aggregates together is not that I.

This real I appears to us all the time, and we have no doubt that it is really there, but when we analyze, we can’t find it. When you analyze in this way, you can’t find it anywhere. There is nowhere that you can find it. From the top of your head down to your toes, there is nowhere that you can find it. It is not there on the collection of the five aggregates, where this real I always appear and you totally believe it exists. You can’t find it anywhere on these aggregates. As I just mentioned, from the top of your head down to your toes, on this, there is nowhere that you can find it.

You’ve been believing in this real I from this morning, and even from your birth, when your consciousness took place on the fertilized egg in your mother’s womb. Even from that time you’ve been totally believing that there’s a real I. You also believed it in the intermediate state just before you were born as a human being and in the life before that. And you have had the hallucination of this false I during beginningless rebirths. This false I has appeared back to you as not merely labeled by mind, and your mind has been believing one hundred percent that this false I exists. There is no doubt that this hallucination has been happening not only from the birth of this life but from beginningless rebirths.

Now here, today, you are doing meditation on emptiness, looking for this real I that appears to you and in which you totally believe, and you can’t find it. None of the aggregates is the I, and all the aggregates together is not the I. You can’t find that real I on these aggregates. From the top of your head down to your toes, you can’t find that real I anywhere, even though it has been appearing to you and you have made your mind believe in it one hundred percent, which is ignorance.

Trusting ignorance is like trusting a false friend. You think that person is somebody who likes you and always helps you, but it’s a total hallucination. In reality, that person doesn’t like you and is always trying to harm you. They cause you many problems, but your mind believes, “This is my friend. They love me. They take care of me and do all these many good things for me.” You label all these things in this way, but in reality that person hates you and only harms you. So, it is similar when you analyze and suddenly come to realize that the real I that has been appearing to you and you have been believing in is a complete hallucination. You realize that it is an enemy, not a friend. Anyway, that’s just to give you an idea.

With strong devotion to the guru, looking at it as buddha, with no faults and only qualities, and with strong prayers to receive blessings, or to have attainment, you follow the guru’s advice and engage in the practices of intense purification to purify your negative karmas and of collecting extensive merit. You then meditate on the lam-rim, the path to liberation and enlightenment. After having done much purification and having collected the necessary condition, merit, you make one-pointed request to the guru and then meditate on the path. One day somehow the time then ripens to see emptiness, to see the truth.

When you do this meditation, you look for and can’t find that real I. None of the aggregates, and even the group of all the aggregates, is not that real I existing from its own side. You can’t find that I anywhere, from the top of your head down to your toes. It exists nowhere. At that time, you also realize that the I doesn’t exist separately from the aggregates.

So far we have been believing in a real I, with the final meaning of real I being an I that is not merely labeled by mind. There is this very subtle mistake of seeing the I as not merely labeled by mind. Seeing the I as having nothing to do with your mind and as never coming from your mind are very gross mistakes; here we are talking about the very subtle mistake of seeing the I as not merely labeled by mind. You also realize that the I doesn’t exist separately from the aggregates, which now proves that what you’ve been believing so far, from this morning, from birth, from beginningless rebirths, is a total hallucination.

It’s said in the teachings that this is a great shock to even ordinary bodhisattvas, because they’ve been totally believing in this. Even if it started from birth, it would still be an incredible shock, but it started from beginningless rebirths, so it’s even more of a shock, even for ordinary bodhisattvas.

You’re seeing the truth of the I, the reality of the I, which you never experienced before. The idea that the I exists in mere name, merely imputed by the mind, comes as a total shock. That’s why incredible fear arises. This fear is not like the fear you suddenly feel when you meet a tiger or a snake. This fear is something very deep, because that real I is something that you’ve been holding on to during beginningless rebirths. You’ve had all this belief, wrong belief, in something that is just not there.

That I doesn’t exist. Here, I’m not talking about the merely labeled I; I’m talking, in particular, about the real I, the I that exists from its own side, or that is not merely labeled by mind. So, you can’t find that I. The base, these aggregates, is not that I, and it doesn’t exist even separately from these aggregates. So, you realize that it exists nowhere.

When they realize this, bodhisattvas who are of higher intelligence feel unbelievable joy. Because of their incredible happiness, the hairs from their pores stand up and tears come out. They’re tears from incredible joy. Some among the Western students have had these experiences of incredible joy, with tears coming. It has happened—they have described it to me.

And beings of lower intelligence experience a very deep fear.

So, you have to know these things; you have to know what will happen. These things can happen when you perform continual intense purification; collect the necessary condition, merit; make one-pointed request to the guru with strong guru devotion, which causes you to receive the blessings of the guru in your heart; and, fourth, meditate on the path.

I’m talking about this here at the beginning, but I think it’s something that has to explained one day, anyway. I think it’s very important to know about these things ahead of time; otherwise, if you don’t know what to do when this happens, there’s a great possibility that you will make mistakes.

It’s like what happens when you fly. After you are inside the plane, the flight attendants normally show you what to do in the case of an emergency. It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen, but it’s in case something happens and the plane has to make an emergency landing. Of course, if the plane does drop into the ocean, I don’t know whether there’s actually time to do everything. I don’t think the plane waits until you fix everything, and then lands on the water. Many airplanes drop into the water. Lama Yeshe and I flew in a huge Pan Am plane—it had two stories—straight from Nepal to New York, and that was the very first time we saw a Western country. Anyway, in the last two or three years I think a similar plane dropped into the water near England.

When we came to New York airport, the man in customs asked me, “Did you pack this suitcase yourself?” Of course, it probably means, Do you know what you have inside the suitcase? At that time, I think that Peter Kedge, who is now the director of Maitreya Project—the 500-foot Maitreya Buddha statue will be much taller than he is—might have been the attendant or secretary. I think that at that time Dr. Nick Ribush, the one who started Wisdom Publications and is now working on the archives, might also have been there.

That first time in New York I was very impressed by the way the customs did their job. But I don’t think I brought any drugs there—no Buddha sticks, anyway. I’m not sure whether you have Buddha sticks here. This was a long time ago, in the hippy times in Nepal, and there was then a lot of LSD. I was going to tell you about it yesterday, but it didn’t happen.

One student, a tall American or English guy, gave Lama Yeshe and me LSD. No, we didn’t take it! I think there were two small, flat, yellow pills. I think he also gave a pill to Lama Lhundrup.

Around the time we arrived in Nepal from India, for a few years you saw Western people with pale faces, hippies, everywhere in Kathmandu. When you went out, you saw them on every corner. That was my experience. During those times they were everywhere, but not these days.

When they take drugs, people have different experiences. Many students have told me of the effects drugs have. Some people, those who had positive connections, see deities and mandalas, and others experience a lot of fear. All those experiences are related to karma; they have to do with the person’s present karma.

Since I came to this point, I would also like to mention this. I think it’s okay to explain it now—we don’t need to wait until later, until we’ve covered many subjects. So, the really shocking thing in life is finding that the I is a mental fabrication. You now have some idea of this. Through analysis, you discover that none of the aggregates is the I; you discover that the real I is just a mental fabrication. It comes from a superstitious mind. As I have already mentioned two times before, ignorance has left a negative imprint that fabricates the real I, and you then allow your mind to totally believe in that fabrication. You don’t have a single doubt about it: for you, that real I exists; it’s there. You believe that if this I is not there, it means there’s no I, there’s no self. This is not true, but it’s the way you think. It’s not true, but you believe if this I is not there, it means that you don’t exist.

When all the conditions come together—continual, strong practice of purification; the collecting of extensive merit; strong guru devotion, looking at the guru as buddha, with no faults and only qualities, and accomplishing the guru’s advice, which causes you to receive the blessings of the guru in your heart; and meditating on the lam-rim, the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment, especially right view—suddenly one day everything clicks. It has never clicked before. You had never discovered before that the I you had been believing in so far is false; but one day because all these conditions of strong purification, collection of merit and receiving the blessings of the guru through strong guru devotion have come together, everything suddenly clicks in your mind.

I’m using the word “click” to give you some idea of what happens. It doesn’t depend on going over something. At that time it could be just two or three words. You can have some experience of the lama’s instruction from even two or three words. They wake you up. When you have made your mind ready, everything just clicks.

It’s like planting a seed. You plant the seed and give it water, minerals and everything else it needs, then one day a sprout suddenly comes from the seed. In the same way, one day you suddenly recognize that the I that appears to you as something real is the false I is, the object to be refuted, or gak cha in Tibetan. Once you recognize this false I, this object to be refuted, it doesn’t take much time. Right after that, you then use the logic of dependent arising. The logical reasoning is: “The I doesn’t have true existence because it is a dependent arising.” This is the king of logic. There are many different ways of reasoning to see the truth of the I, the ultimate nature of the I, but this is like the king among all those many ways of reasoning. So, “The I doesn’t have true existence because it is a dependent arising.”

Here I’m saying “dependent arising,” not “Tibetan rice.” Quite a number of years ago, maybe six or seven years ago, at Kopan I talked about dependent arising for a few days in the beginning of the course. There was one old lady from London there—I’ve forgotten her name. She’s a very kind, very nice old lady, a student from the London center. She speaks English in a very special, melodious way. For example, when she says “writing,” it sounds like “wri-ting,” with a long, slow kind of tune. It’s how she speaks.

She had attended teachings in London when I had gone there, but the first time she came to Nepal, for the first three days she thought I was talking about Tibetan rice. It was only after three or four days that she asked Namgyal, the English monk who started a center in Goa six or seven years ago (though I’ve never been there), “What is it about Tibetan rice?” If I was saying “Tibetan rice,” it didn’t make much sense. There’s not much connection between Tibetan rice and the I. Anyway, she must have a lot of patience. Namgyal then explained to her that it was “dependent arising,” not “Tibetan rice.”

So, it doesn’t take much time once you recognize that this is the false I, the object to be refuted. You then think, “This is a dependent arising.” You have the idea that this means it is a hallucination. So, after that, it doesn’t take much time. The meditators say that what then happens to your mind is that you immediately lose that real I. This doesn’t mean that it comes out through your nose, ears or from down below, you open the door or window, and it goes to Africa or some other country or to the stars or to some beach or under the ocean. Here, losing the I means that you’re now discovering that this I hasn’t ever existed at all; it hasn’t existed from this morning, from birth, from beginningless rebirths. This I has always been totally empty. You’ve been believing that this I is there not only from this morning but from beginningless rebirths; but now you start to realize that it’s not there. From where it is appearing, it is not there. So, losing means seeing it is empty, seeing it has never existed during beginningless rebirths.

The numberless buddhas, omniscient ones, realize that phenomena do not exist from their own side, that they have never existed from their own side; they realize that phenomena are totally empty. They realize that phenomena exist, but they’re totally empty of existing from their own side. Numberless beings, all those who have realized emptiness—arya beings such as buddhas, bodhisattvas and arhats and even ordinary beings—also see that this real I that you’ve been believing is there during beginningless rebirths is not there. They all see that there’s no such thing there, that it’s totally empty.

Now, on the day you start to see this, it appears as though you are losing the I, but actually you’re seeing that it is empty. You’re losing the object of ignorance that you have strongly, completely believed in. You’re losing that, because it doesn’t exist. You start to discover that on that day.

At that time you have to understand that you’re losing the I, because the I that you have been believing in is not the merely labeled I, which exists. During beginningless rebirths up to now, you’ve been believing in an I that is not merely labeled by mind, which doesn’t exist at all, which hasn’t been there at all from the beginning. When you experience losing the I, what comes to your mind at that time is that there’s no I at all. It is not that you think, “Oh, this is the merely labeled I. This is the truly existent I.” No. At that time it appears as if there’s no I at all. There’s no merely labeled this, this, this. If the merely labeled I comes at that time, you’re not meditating on emptiness; you’re not discovering emptiness.

There shouldn’t be any conventional phenomena appearing to your mind at that time. What you’re discovering is just emptiness: the total loss, total emptiness of the self. I want to say this again. The I that you’ve been believing truly exists is the one that is everything and does everything, but in reality it’s not there. From birth and from beginningless rebirths, this is the I that does everything; this is the I that helps others, that harms others, that creates the cause of happiness, that creates the cause of suffering. For your mind, there’s no other I. This is the only one. This is what you have been believing for so long.

So, at that time, what appears to you is no I at all. That experience doesn’t mean there’s no I; it doesn’t mean that the I, the self, doesn’t exist. The I exists, because the I is now having the experience of seeing emptiness. And what is that I? That is the merely imputed I. The merely imputed I is having the meditation experience.

Why is it that at that time to the mind there’s no I at all? Why does that experience happen? This is explained in the teachings of [Keutsang Jamyang Losang], a great bodhisattva and great practitioner. This lama was at Tashi Lhunpo, the Panchen Lama’s monastery in Tibet, when there was great danger from an approaching flood. When a huge wall of water was towards the monastery, this lama wrote on a rock, “If it’s true that I have bodhicitta, the water should turn back.” The flood water then turned back because of the power of his holy mind, of his bodhicitta realization.

So, [Keutsang Jamyang Losang] explained in his Mahamudra commentary that when you are having the experience of losing the I and maybe seeing emptiness, at that time no I at all appearing to the mind shows that there’s no true existence, no inherent existence, on the merely imputed I. It shows that inherent existence, existence from its own side, is a mental fabrication; it doesn’t exist. That extra thing projected by the negative imprint left by ignorance doesn’t exist. It’s a sign that proves that, while the merely imputed I exists, the extra thing on top of that merely imputed I doesn’t exist.

You have to know that you’re not falling into nihilism. If you’re not aware, what happens is that you become afraid that you’re falling into nihilism, because during that time for the mind there’s no I, no self, at all. No conventional phenomenon should appear; otherwise, it doesn’t become meditating on emptiness.

So, there should be only emptiness, the non-affirming negation in English or me gak in Tibetan. This is emptiness, but not the emptiness of material substance, not the emptiness of space. For you at that time there is the emptiness of the I. You have believed in an I that is not merely labeled, a truly existent I. Because there’s no other I for your mind, if you haven’t studied beforehand so that you have some idea of what happens, you might have great fear, thinking that you are falling into nihilism. You might think that your meditation is not correct and that you’re in danger of falling into nihilism. That can happen.

Fear also arises even for bodhisattvas of lower intelligence. The fear is very deep, and you mightn’t allow yourself to complete your experience. When you start to experience that fear, you can become confused, thinking that you’re falling into nihilism, but you’re actually proceeding in the right way to realize emptiness.

From that experience of seeing, or discovering, emptiness, you then have total faith that you can definitely achieve liberation from the oceans of samsaric suffering and its cause, from all the delusions and karma. You have total confidence that you can achieve liberation.

So, it’s very important to have some idea beforehand of what will happen during those times. Otherwise, you will become confused. On that fortunate day you will be experiencing something that never happened during beginningless rebirths. When it’s now happening, can you imagine how precious it is? You now see that you can proceed to achieve total liberation from every suffering of samsara and its cause. If you know some teachings on emptiness but don’t know all the details, there’s the danger that when you experience this, you won’t know what is going on. You’ll be completely confused and then think you’re falling into nihilism, which you are not. At this incredible time, which, for your mind, is like the sun shining in the darkness of the world, you might stop and not allow yourself to complete the experience.

So, after the total loss of that I, you have the realization that it’s totally empty, totally false, that it never existed from the beginning. You now see it as totally nonexistent as it is totally nonexistent. It is not that you are now seeing something that has been existing as nonexistent.

After this, when that I is totally lost, the meditators say that as a result you realize that the I that exists is what is merely imputed by mind. As a result of seeing the I is empty, you see that the I exists, but exists in mere name, merely imputed by the mind. You then realize conventional truth, truth for the all-obscuring mind. You have realized truth for the absolute mind, and now you realize truth for the all-obscuring mind.

At that time you see that the I is empty, but you also see that the I exists, being merely imputed by mind. You see that the I exists in mere name, and along with that you see that it’s empty of existing from its own side. So, there is the unification of emptiness and dependent arising. When you realize that, when you see that those two are unified, that is the completion of realizing emptiness. That wisdom is the ultimate wisdom realizing emptiness. That is the only realization that can directly cease the defilements, the delusions. There’s no other realization that can do that. Bodhicitta doesn’t directly cease the ignorance that caused the negative imprint, and nor does any other realization. It is only the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness.

That means that if you don’t achieve this wisdom, then endlessly you will have ignorance and all the other delusions, then continuously reincarnate in samsara and suffer. The cycle of death and rebirth will be endless, and you will endlessly experience all the sufferings of samsara between rebirth and death. As it is beginningless, it will then be endless. This is why we have to do something in this life, and even in regard to this life, we can’t wait many years; we have to do something now. Having received the necessary education in this and done listening, reflecting and meditation practice, we have all the opportunities to do something. We have to put as much effort as possible into gaining this realization.

Now I have to put some fuel, some petrol.

[There is a pause while Rinpoche drinks.]

That’s a new life, but I now want to mention just a little bit about the old life during beginningless rebirths….

As I mentioned before, if you look for the real I, you can’t find it anywhere. None of the five aggregates is the I, and even all five together is not the I. None of the five aggregates (form, feeling, discrimination, compounding aggregates, consciousness) is even the merely labeled I, the I that exists. Individually, they are not even that I. And all together, they are not even the merely labeled I. You should understand that. And the merely labeled I, which exists, doesn’t exist even on these aggregates. From the top of the head down to the toes, it exists nowhere. You cannot find even the merely labeled I from the top of the head down to the toes. You can’t find the merely labeled I in the nose, in the ears, in the belly, in the fingers or anywhere else. You can’t find it anywhere. It exists but you can’t find it on this base; and it also doesn’t exist separately from this base.

Hopefully, more details of this meditation might come at another time. Here in the beginning I just want you to get some idea of it. So, this is one important point. The merely labeled I exists. It’s the one that does everything, but you can’t find it from the top of your head down to your toes. Also, it doesn’t exist separately from the aggregates. You cannot find even the merely labeled I on these aggregates.

According to Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche…. Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche is a great lama from whom I received many teachings and many initiations. The first connection happened because there were people who had a lot of lung, and Geshe Lama Konchog…. It seems that Geshe Lama Konchog is somebody who actually completed the path to enlightenment, but we had no idea. He lived at and was very important to Kopan Monastery, in Nepal; he was one of the teachers in Kopan Monastery, after Lama Yeshe passed away. We had no idea what his life was like. Exactly like Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, he lived an ascetic life for many years in Tsum, a very remote part of Nepal near Tibet, where there are caves used by Milarepa, the famous great Tibetan yogi who became enlightened in the brief lifetime of a degenerate time. It takes fifteen days to walk to Tsum from Kathmandu.

This great yogi, Milarepa, lived his life with nothing. He was naked, apart from some cover on his lower body. His sister was very worried that her brother was living like this, so she bought a big roll of woolen cloth from one family and offered it to Milarepa so that he could make some clothes to cover his body. Milarepa then cut the cloth into small pieces and put all the pieces on all his fingers and toes and even on his sexual organ. He then sang a song to the sister, but I don’t remember the song.

Anyway, that cave was there in Tsum, as well as another cave. Last year I went to Tsum and did Milarepa tsog offering in Milarepa’s cave. Geshe Lama Konchog’s cave was above that. There was no actual road to it, just a very steep track. I went up the track on my hands and knees, like an animal. Geshe-la lived there in that cave for six years, I think. He completely cut his connection with people; no people came there for six years. It’s amazing! He lived with us at Kopan Monastery and never told us any of this. You could see that he was a practitioner who had experience of bodhicitta and who talked about emptiness, but you never heard him talk about the tantric path or his experiences or the things he had done. Usually, you would tell that kind of story, but even the abbot, Lama Lhundrup, never heard about how he lived. Even Lama Lhundrup was completely shocked when he heard, after I had been to Tsum, about all the things Geshe-la had done.

I think Geshe Lama Konchog lived without depending on food. I heard that he lived on wind. There’s a technique that you can use with the wind, but I haven’t seen the text yet. You can also take the essence of water and of flowers, which you take in the form of pills. You just take a few pills each day. In this way you can live without any food.

So, Geshe-la completely cut all links with people, even though there were villages here and there. It’s just amazing—he did exactly what the Buddha did. He wore very ragged clothes. These were very primitive people in Tsum, but they’d never seen anyone wearing such ragged clothes. One family who lived near the road didn’t know what he was. The father took dust from under the bed where they slept together and threw it on Geshe-la as he was passing on the road below their house.

The monk who was looking after the main gompa at Kopan Monastery is a relative of the man who threw the dust and, before he passed away, Geshe Lama Konchog would sometimes say that this was a little inauspicious—not for him but for the person who threw the dust.

Geshe-la was totally renounced, wearing only ragged clothes. Tsum is a very primitive place, and it is still a very pure place. Before I went there with Roger and one old Chinese lady from Malaysia, only two other Western people had ever been there. This old lady from Malaysia wanted to help the nuns there in the nunnery to build accommodation and to build a school and a dispensary, and so she said she wanted to see the place before she gave the money. The plan was for us to go much later to do the consecration when all the building was finished, but this Malaysian lady hired a Russian helicopter and wanted me to come with her. So, it suddenly happened that we were going there.

We arrived up there quite early in the morning. The idea was to go back early, but the visit took a few hours.

It’s a very clean, very pure place, like Solu Khumbu, where I was born, used to be. Before I went to Tibet, Solu Khumbu had no shops. There was no sweet tea, no coffee, nothing. Maybe somebody had a flashlight, but for light, you usually burnt a piece of wood with sap. You would put the piece of burning wood between the stones in the wall of the house and use that for light while you were making food. Otherwise, there was no light. Or you would light some dry bamboo when you had to go outside. There was nothing. After I went to Tibet, where I spent three years, I escaped from Tibet through Bhutan to India and lived for eight years in Buxa. I told you that story. When I then came back to Nepal with Lama Yeshe, there was then sweet tea and there was coffee. Many things had changed.

There are now chai shops and restaurants along the whole road to Solu Khumbu. Before, only a few families lived at Lukla, where there’s an airport; now it’s become like a city compared to what was there before. Because people come from all over the world to go trekking, everything has now completely changed.

Tsum, where Geshe Lama Konchog dedicated his life to Dharma, is still very pure. Everything—the people, their manners, the way they live their lives—is exactly like it was many years ago.

Anyway, Geshe-la lived there in a cave, and people didn’t know he was there. One day some people saw him there with his long hair and threw stones at him from outside the cave. They went away, but after a few days, nine very strong people came from different areas to force Geshe-la out of the cave. They didn’t know who he was. It seems that Geshe-la left that cave and went way up the mountain to stay in another cave where there’s a huge rock. From there, he later came down and lived under a huge tree. He meditated there under that one tree, without any shelter, for two years.

With us in the helicopter was Geshe-la’s disciple, Tenzin Zopa, who has finished his studies at Sera Monastery and is now the resident teacher at our center in Malaysia. Tenzin Zopa was sitting in front of me; he pointed out the tree where Geshe-la had meditated for two years, but I couldn’t see it from my side.

I had met Geshe Lama Konchog one or two times during Lama Yeshe’s time. After Lama passed away, Geshe-la suddenly appeared one day at Kopan, and he then stayed there for a long time, helping to teach and guide the Western students at Kopan, doing divinations for people who were sick, and doing very effective pujas to heal people.

One day something pushed Geshe-la to come down to Kopan, so he just rushed down. Of course, I had done some prayers for him to come down. Because Lama had passed away, we needed help. Without much preparation, he just came down the house of Tenzin Zopa’s family. He lived at Kopan for quite a number of years, then went back to Tsum to pack up his things. At that time, he showed Tenzin Zopa the tree where he did retreat for two years without any shelter. So, he never told us about it. Of course, if you dedicate your life in this way, you would definitely achieve a lot; you would have so much attainment.

After Geshe-la had come to Kopan after Lama had passed away, he told me two times, the first time during a meeting in Lama Yeshe’s room, “I have completed Guru Puja and Vajrayogini.” He made it sound like something that was not important, like just a passing comment. I didn’t know what to think. I was thinking, “What does he mean?” One meaning of completed is having finished a certain number of recitations; the other meaning is that you have completed the path, which means you are enlightened. So, because of my bad thoughts, because of much pollution, I didn’t think of the second meaning. I don’t think he told other people this. Since he just told me that as if it was something unimportant, I didn’t pay much attention. So, I think it means that he was enlightened. You would never know from Geshe-la, but all the stories of what he did are amazing.

So, what I was talking about? Sorry, now I have to find a way back….

Geshe Lama Konchog’s incarnation comes from Tsum. He’s very dynamic. He’s now four or five years old, but very special. When people ask him questions, even though he’s very small, he tells them exactly what to do. When somebody from Singapore who was sick asked his advice, he told them what to do and at what time to do it. Even though he’s so small, he can tell such things.

Since in his past life he collected unbelievable merit, there’s great hope that this incarnation will benefit the world, like the sun shining. I think he will guide himself, as he has so much power.

Why did I mention Geshe Lama Konchog? I don’t remember. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I will mention this and then stop there.

So, now we will look at the old life, at this situation. We believe that there’s an I inside this body or that there’s an I on the aggregates. We believe this I is not merely labeled by mind but is existing from its own side. In a gross way of thinking, we believe that there’s an I inside our body, somewhere here in our chest. We believe that all the time, day and night.

Within our view of the I, there are all these different false I’s. We think that the I exists alone, without depending on its parts; we think that the I exists with its own freedom, without depending on cause and conditions; we think the I is permanent, even though it’s impermanent; we think that the I is self-sufficient, that it exists without depending on the aggregates and the continuation of the aggregates. We believe all these wrong views, even though they’re not true, even though there are no such things there.

Not only that, but we also believe in the false view that is the object to be refuted according to the Mind Only School. The Mind Only School believes that the perceiver of an object, the mind, and the object perceived come into existence together. For example, the mind that perceives this mug and this mug come into existence together. They believe that there are eight consciousnesses, one of which is a mental consciousness called kun zhi kyi nam she, the basis of all liberation and samsara. So, the Mind Only School explains that an imprint left on this consciousness manifests at the same time as the perceiver and the object perceived. This is how things exist. Without depending on the substance, or imprint, being manifested—as the perceiver, or mind, and as the object—it’s not possible for things to exist.

So, we also have this wrong view. The I appears to us and we believe it really exists without depending on the imprint left on this consciousness being manifested. This false I is there; we have this wrong view.

The Madhyamaka School has two divisions: Svatantrika and Prasangika. What the Svatantrika School thinks is right is a wrong view according to the Prasangika School. For the Prasangika School, the object to be refuted, or the false I, is an I that exists without depending on appearing to a non-defective mind and that non-defective mind labeling it, and that exists from its own side.

[Rinpoche pauses because of a dog fight in the background.]

We have done this numberless times in the past, been born as a dog and barked.

Numberless times we have experienced animal sufferings.

When you see animals attacking each other, if you can do something to help, then, of course, you should do it. If there’s nothing you can do to help, it’s very good to recite the buddha’s name: “de zhin sheg pa jig pa tam chä dang dräl wa la chhag tshäl lo, I prostrate to the Tathagata who is Free from All Fears.” Chant this very strongly. If dogs outside are attacking an animal or a cat has found a mouse and you can’t help, recite this buddha’s name. Generally, you can take very strong refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and pray for that animal to be freed from the danger; but in particular, you can recite the name of this buddha.

Of course, basically, the function of a buddha is to bring all sentient beings to enlightenment; but if you recite this buddha’s name, it protects weaker beings who are experiencing fear and suffering because they are being controlled by a more powerful being. If a situation has happened where you can’t do anything to help, my suggestion is that you can do this. Generally, you can recite the name of any buddha, but this buddha performs this particular function. This buddha promised in the past to provide this particular help to sentient beings; therefore, reciting this buddha’s name can be very helpful.

I have experienced this two times. One time was when I was taking teachings from Geshe Sopa Rinpoche at Deer Park. I was going back to the house where I was staying, and outside the house a spider was attacking a fly. The fly wasn’t dead—I remember that. So I said, “If it’s true, then this should work.” I then chanted this buddha’s name, and the spider suddenly left the fly alone. A similar thing happened, but I don’t remember whether it was at the same place or at the Aptos house in California.

It also happened another time in New Mexico, when International Office was there. While the woman who was driving me around was putting fuel in the car, a dog came chasing a rabbit. The rabbit ran across the road first, then the dog came along afterwards. I thought the dog was going to kill the rabbit, and I didn’t know what to do. I was thinking about what to do, and the thought came to recite this buddha’s mantra. Afterwards, the dog came back, but it looked disappointed. I couldn’t see what happened, but it came slowly across the road with what looked like a sad face.

Anyway, with total faith you just pray. If you are able to help, you help; but otherwise, if it’s a situation where you can’t help, then it’s good to recite this buddha’s name. Our responsibility is to do whatever we can do.

Now, just a few words more…. We believe that there’s a real I in this body, somewhere inside our chest. So, as I told you a long time ago and have now told you many times, it’s not there. In reality, it doesn’t exist at all. That’s the reality.

You have this view, this hallucination, that there’s a real I there inside this body…..

That’s right—I didn’t finish explaining about the Svatantrika School. According to them, the object to be refuted, the false I, is the I that exists from its own side without depending on appearing to a non-defective mind and that non-defective mind labeling it. Now, what they believe is the right view is that the I is labeled by mind, but not merely labeled by mind. They believe there is I on these aggregates, and it should exist from its own side. They believe the I is labeled by mind, but not merely labeled by mind, because for the I to exist there should be something from its own side.

Now, the right view of this school of philosophy, the Svatantrika School, is the object to be refuted according to the next Madhyamaka school, the Prasangika School. What the Svatantrika School thinks is completely right—that the I has existence from its own side and is not merely labeled by mind—is what you have to realize is totally empty, totally nonexistent, when you realize the right view of the Prasangika School. It is only the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness of the Prasangika School that can directly cut the ignorance that is the root of samsara and all the other delusions and defilements. You have to realize that the I is totally empty of existing from its own side and of not being merely labeled by mind. What the Svatantrika School thinks is right is totally wrong; that’s what you have to realize is totally empty.

So, actually, there is only one emptiness; you have to know there’s only one. Even though there are different schools that talk about their own view of emptiness, in reality there is only one emptiness. It is only the view of emptiness of the Prasangika School that can actually cut the ignorance that is the root of samsara, the root of all suffering.

With total belief that there’s a real I in this body or an I existing above the aggregates, while it’s not there at all, you then study from kindergarten, learning your ABC, to primary school to college, or university, to get a degree for this I, which is not there. You do this for so many years for this I, which is not there. You get a degree for this I, which is not there, then get a job and make money to buy a house for this I, which is not there. You then get married for this I, which is not there, and have children for this I, which is not there.

If somebody robs your house or crashes into your car, you get angry and call the police, telling them, “They harmed me.” You get so mad that the person harmed you, which is not there at all, which doesn’t exist. For this I, which is not there, you call the police and get them to talk to that person or arrest them. You have the person put in jail and sue them for the protection of this I, which is not there. That person is put in jail for many years for this I, which is not there.

There are then all the harms you give others, for the happiness of this I. You go fishing and kill fish, and you kill so many other animals for meat and kill insects. You also harm other human beings by killing, stealing, telling lies, sexual misconduct, abuse and so many other things. You do so many things for this I, for the happiness of this I, but it’s not there. You give all these harms to others for this I’s happiness.

You also engage in court cases for many years to harm back to somebody who did something to you. You spend so much time and so much money to harm someone, for this I, which is not there.

You find a husband or wife for this I, which is not there; you then have children for the happiness of this I. I mean, there are some people who have children thinking to really help them, not for their own happiness. For other people, it is like keeping puppies or other animals. You don’t live for the happiness of the puppies; they’re for your happiness. It is similar when you have children with that motivation of your own happiness. Of course, there are very good-hearted people who help their children to have a better life and things like that. But, usually, having children is mostly for the happiness and comfort of this I; you think, “I’ll be unbelievably happy if I have children.” Anyway, whether children happen or don’t happen, this I is not there.

As I mentioned the other day, first you are unable to find a companion for this I; then when you have found one, you can’t find satisfaction. You’re still not happy. Your mind doesn’t become happier and happier. It’s not like that. You then separate from that person. All this is done for this I, which is not there. All this unbelievable confusion in the life, all this, with the same story happening again and again, is for this I, which is not there.

With ignorance, anger or attachment as the motivation, you engage in so much negative karma. All your actions are done with attachment clinging to this life, grasping to this life, or anger, ignorance, jealousy or pride. You create so much negative karma thinking to find happiness for this I, but it’s not there.

You build up a business worth millions, billions, zillions of dollars for this I. Always thinking that you’re going to live for a long time, you run this huge business and become wealthy, for this I. Of course, there are people who are doing business to help others, to help the poor to have hospitals, schools and so forth. But much of business is done for the happiness of this I, which is not there. The whole world is always busy going around doing business, with much worry and fear when the business is not working, for this I, which is not there.

Now, if you meditate in this way, if you analyze in this way, you see that these things are happening with us and with others. While you are walking along a city street, look at all the people in the restaurants and in the offices. Of course, there are buddhas and bodhisattvas among the people you see; but generally speaking, everybody is running around keeping so busy, and their faces always look worried. When you look at the faces of people in the streets or offices, you see many people who look worried. First of all, they’re believing in a real I, which is not there. Then they’re thinking that something is going to happen to this I; they’re thinking that people don’t like them, their family doesn’t like them, nobody loves them. They feel lonely, upset and very unhappy, because of the selfish mind. So, you believe that there’s an I there, and you then cherish that one as so important. That I is not there, but you cherish it. You think, “This person doesn’t love me, my family doesn’t love me, nobody loves me.” This makes you upset, and you go around with a sad face.

You can see that so many people are so busy. Teenagers are always so busy. Everybody is busy trying to achieve happiness for this I, which is not there. All this is a very important meditation. You should check. You should watch people at home, in city streets, at the movies; you’ll see that everybody is busy looking for happiness for this I, but it’s not there.

It’s also the same with animals. When you look at animals and insects such as ants, you see that they are kept so busy looking for happiness for this I, which is not there.

Therefore, of course, the day you realize the truth of the I, the emptiness of the I, it comes as a huge shock when you realize that it’s not there.

Without that realization you can’t liberate yourself from suffering and you can’t liberate the numberless other sentient beings from suffering. So, we have a responsibility to help all sentient beings, especially to free them from all their suffering, and bring them to enlightenment.

If you don’t mind, I’d like to do King of Prayers for the many people who are dying in Tibet under the Mainland Chinese. Even His Holiness is sending letters asking for help. It would be a great thing to recite King of Prayers for all the Tibetan people, who are so oppressed. They have kicked everybody out, and nobody can go inside Tibet, so they have nobody and no news. We will also pray for all the Chinese people, for all the many people who are dying in the war in Iraq and in other places and for all the many people who are dying of cancer and other sicknesses. Many millions of people are experiencing sicknesses. So, we will do King of Prayers, the bodhisattva’s extensive prayer, for all those people who have died in war, from sicknesses and in different situations and also for all those who are living.

For, I think, the third time, His Holiness has written letters asking the world leaders to help, because after Tibetans are injured in Tibet, they don’t go to hospital but just stay at home because they can only go to hospitals operated by the Chinese. It’s a very heavy situation. No news can come out because they won’t allow any journalists to enter Tibet. It’s unbelievable. So, we will pray for the Tibetans and for the rest of the world.

And this also becomes a prayer for any of your family members who have passed away and for any FPMT students who have passed away up to now. It’s also a prayer for everybody.

[The group recites King of Prayers.]

We will dedicate all the merit we have collected by reciting King of Prayers, as it says there, for all sentient beings, especially for all the beings in the lower realms. It’s very important to give the merits to all sentient beings, to all the beings in all the six realms and the intermediate state.

As I mentioned before, we will also dedicate the merit for those members of your family who have passed away and for all the people who have died in Tibet, including the Chinese. The conditions now in Tibet are unbelievably heavy. We will dedicate the merit especially to all those who have been injured in the demonstrations; they are staying at home because they are afraid to go to a hospital. The situation in Tibet is extremely heavy, and nobody can tell what is happening because no journalists have been allowed in.

Also dedicate the merit for all the people who have died—every day so many people are dying in Iraq or in wars in the rest of the world, as well as from cancer and other sicknesses—and for all the people who are sick in hospital or at home. So, this prayer is for everybody. May everybody achieve liberation and enlightenment as quickly as possible.

“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, may bodhicitta be actualized in my heart and in the hearts of my family members, of all of us here, of all the students and benefactors of the FPMT—so many people in this part of the world and other parts of the world are dedicating their lives to this organization to benefit sentient beings and the teaching of Buddha—and in the hearts of the many people, living and dead, for whom I have promised to pray, who rely upon me and whose names have been given to me. May bodhicitta also be actualized in the hearts of all the world leaders, in the hearts of all the people of the different religions, in the hearts of everybody in this world, as well as in the hearts of all sentient beings, without even a second’s delay. In those whose hearts bodhicitta has already been generated, may it be increased.

“Jang chhub sem chhog rin po chhe….” [3x]

We then dedicate all the merits for His Holiness the Dalai Lama to have stable life and for all his holy wishes to succeed immediately. The second prayer is for the success of all His Holiness’s holy wishes. We will all pray together. Even if you don’t know the prayer, just think that in your heart. With everybody united, the prayer becomes very powerful.

The reason we have this incredible opportunity to have this perfect human rebirth with its eighteen precious qualities and to meet and practice Dharma is that we have created good karma in the past, we have practiced Dharma in the past. However, all this is due to Buddha’s compassion in having revealed Dharma. So, His Holiness is the embodiment of all the buddhas’ compassion, which means that he’s the one who does everything to take care of us sentient beings. Every Dharma understanding that we gain and any good thing happening to us in our life come from the buddhas’ compassion, and since His Holiness is the embodiment of all the buddhas’ compassion, everything comes from His Holiness. So, pray for His Holiness to have stable life and for all his holy wishes to succeed immediately.

[Rinpoche chants the long-life prayer for His Holiness in Tibetan, followed by the prayer for the fulfillment of His Holiness’s wishes.]

[The students then sing Rinpoche’s long-life prayer in Spanish.]

Thank you.

“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, by me, my family members and anybody connected to me merely being in this universe, world, country, place or house, may the negative karma of all the sentient beings who are living in this universe, world, country, place or house immediately be purified.”

That means that your simply being in this universe, world, country, place or house benefits sentient beings. What is that benefit? The negative karma of all the sentient beings living in this universe, world, country, place or house is immediately purified.

“May they never be reborn in the lower realms. May all their mental and physical problems, such as sicknesses and spirit harms, immediately be pacified. May they all find faith in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and in karma, or cause and effect. May they actualize bodhicitta, and may everybody achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.

“Also, may all wars, famines, torture, poverty, sicknesses, dangers from fire, water, air and earth and all the other undesirable things happening in the world be stopped immediately, and may nobody in this world ever experience them again.”

There are two types of poverty: mental poverty and physical poverty. Mental poverty is being poor in Dharma, not having or not understanding Dharma. Physical poverty is being poor in material possessions.

May your simply being in this universe, world, country, place and even house naturally be able to benefit all sentient beings in these ways and bring everybody to enlightenment.

“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and all the merits collected by others (by the numberless sentient beings, including the bodhisattvas, and on top of that, the buddhas—putting all these merits together is unbelievably powerful), which exist but do not exist from their own side, which are totally empty, may the I, who exists but is totally empty of existing from its own side, achieve Lama Tsongkhapa’s enlightenment, which exists but doesn’t exist from its own side, which is totally empty, and lead all the sentient beings, who exist but do not exist from their own side, who are totally empty, to that Lama Tsongkhapa’s enlightenment, which exists but doesn’t exist from its own side, which is totally empty, by myself alone, who exists but doesn’t exist from its own side, who is totally empty.”

So, we will do the lam-rim dedication.

“Der ni ring du bä lä tshog nyi ni….

“May the general teaching of Buddha, and particularly Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching, be completely actualized in my own heart in this very lifetime and in the hearts of all my family members and everyone connected to me, in the hearts of all the students and benefactors of the FPMT, in the hearts of the many people in different parts of the world who dedicate their lives to the organization to benefit sentient beings and the teaching of Buddha, in the hearts of those who rely upon me, for whom I have promised to pray and whose names have been given to me, in the hearts of everybody in this world and in the hearts of all sentient beings.

“Chhö kyi gyäl po tsong kha päi….

“Dag dang zhän gyi dü sum dang….”

There’s also a baby who died a few days ago before being born, [Estella Garcia Angullo].

“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and all the merits collected by all the sentient beings, including the bodhisattvas, and by all the buddhas, may this child, [Estella Garcia Angullo], who died before birth and didn’t have the opportunity to meet and practice Dharma, whether now in the intermediate state or born in the lower realms, immediately be liberated from all those sufferings and reincarnate in the pure land of a buddha where they can become enlightened in that life. If that’s not possible, may they receive a perfect human body and meet a perfectly qualified Mahayana guru and the Mahayana teachings, and have all the necessary conditions to actualize, through listening, reflecting and meditation practice, correct realizations of the whole path, both the common path, the three principal paths, and the uncommon path, the two stages: the generation and completion stages. May they achieve the state of Vajradhara, with all the seven qualities, including embracing, as quickly as possible.”

Everybody should pray strongly for this.

So, that’s it. Good night, or good morning. Good night. Thank you.