HAPPINESS AND SUFFERING ARE IN OUR HANDS
[Rinpoche and students do motivation prayers in Tibetan]
The bodhisattva Thogme Zangpo said,
All suffering comes from the wish for your own happiness.
Perfect buddhas are born from the thought to help others.
Therefore exchange your own happiness
For the suffering of others—
This is the practice of bodhisattvas.24
All suffering comes from desiring happiness for ourselves. Deep down it is that. I don’t know what the psychologists would say, but deep down this is where all our life problems come from. I didn’t get to learn psychology, so I don’t know whether they would agree. Maybe they would say all our problems come from the people we dislike, the people we want to spit at! I don’t know what they would say.
The real psychology is what Thogme Zangpo says here. Deep down, all suffering comes from desiring happiness for ourselves. Of course, there is the happiness of this life, the happiness of this hour, of today or tomorrow; there is next life’s happiness, future lives’ happiness, which are all temporary. Then, there is liberation from samsara, nirvana, ultimate happiness, the blissful state of peace for ourselves. Then, there is peerless happiness, total cessation of obscurations, even the subtle ones, and the completion of all the realizations, sang gye, peerless happiness. The highest happiness that we should wish for, what we should achieve and what all sentient beings should achieve. That is peerless happiness, that is sang gye, the total cessation of obscurations and completion of realizations. That one is buddhahood. “Buddha” is Sanskrit. That is the highest, peerless happiness, a happiness that is forever, not just for one hour or one day and then we go back to samsara. It’s not like that. It is forever.
Then, Thogme Zanpo says, “Perfect Buddhas are born from the thought to help others.” I’ll give you an example. I saw on TV quite some time ago, there was a young man, maybe from England. He spoke about depression. He had been depressed for twenty-five years, a long time. He suffered so much from depression. Finally he found out from his experience that his cure was thinking of others, cherishing others, not himself. Thinking about others’ happiness, cherishing others, caring for others, that was what made him better. That was his experience, how he got better from depression. You must know this. Write it down.
If we rely on a psychologist, a psychiatrist, our life finishes and there is no recovery. Nothing. It’s in our hands. We are the doctor. If we know how to think, we are the doctor. You have to know that. We are the best doctor, the best guide. I think the most important thing is that in our everyday life, if we think properly, correctly, we have happiness. Right there, we have happiness! We do not have to go around the world to look for happiness. If we think correctly, happiness is there. Wherever we are, in the office, where we are sitting, happiness is there.
Otherwise if we think in the wrong way, we go around the world a hundred thousand times, but we are unable to find happiness. We go to the sun. We go to the moon. We go to the sun and the moon and have a snack on the way down, maybe durian and ice cream. Durian? I had some dried durian after lunch. Khen Rinpoche gave it to me.
I’m saying to have a snack when we come down from the moon and the sun, before landing on the earth. If we make our mind one of attachment, that functions to obscure our ability to see reality: both conventional reality, such as impermanence, and ultimate reality, emptiness. On that basis, all delusions arise, including attachment, the incredibly painful mind where it is difficult to separate from the object, to be free from the object of attachment. That is the nature of attachment.
When we are under the control of anger, pride and the many delusions, there is no happiness. The mind under the control of attachment is painful by nature; it is difficult to separate it from the object. The mind is so painful, kind of stuck, like oil soaks into paper. That is one major suffering we have.
It is all in our hands; it is up to us. After we learn the lamrim, if we want to think in a positive, healthy way, with non-anger, non-attachment, non-ignorance, if we want a virtuous, positive mind, the result will only be happiness, not only happiness today but liberation from samsara and highest enlightenment. If, on the other hand, all we want is to be under the control of delusions such as anger and attachment, if we allow our mind to follow the delusions, then we cause ourselves suffering. Nobody makes us. We make suffering for ourselves; we are the creator of our own suffering. We are the one who creates the problems.
When we meditate and study the lamrim, we come to understand that we are the creator of our problems and happiness. We are the creator of our hell; we are the creator of our enlightenment. We are the creator of our samsara; we are the creator of our nirvana. What we do with our mind is in our hands. When we are suffering, it is like we have no freedom. For our whole life we scream in pain. Even though we are creator of all our happiness, we do not know that; we have no idea.
Without knowing the Dharma, we have no understanding. We have no idea that we are the creator of all happiness up to enlightenment. So, if we do not know the Dharma, that is the problem. We do not know the meaning of life.
Almost every day, there are so many people in the world who commit suicide because they do not know the meaning of life, as I mentioned before. They are suffering so much. They do not have the karma to meet somebody to explain it to them, and even if somebody did, they would not believe it; they would get angry and run away.
So, it is totally in our hands. In our everyday life, happiness or problems are in our hands. It all depends on how we think. Our next life in the lower realms or the higher realms is in our hands; our samsara and nirvana are in our hands, enlightenment and hell are in our hands. We are the creator.
THE TWELVE DEEDS OF THE BUDDHA
When we are sick, we need to find a wise doctor. If we find an ignorant doctor who gives the wrong diagnosis and the wrong medicine, [we can never be cured]. We have to find a wise doctor! A wise doctor who knows exactly the disease we have and the right medicine we need to take. But if we have all the information, all the medicine, but we don’t take it, we will not recover. We have to take the medicine. Similarly, the Buddha, the Omniscient One, compassionately embraces every sentient being, no matter how tiny they are. The Omniscient One gave teachings and showed us the path. As Geshe Sopa said, he descended in the world and showed the twelve holy deeds so we sentient beings could learn the Dharma. To show why we need to practice the Dharma, he showed suffering.
The Buddha descended from Tushita, entered the womb of his mother and was born. As a child, he was like an ordinary person. When he was young, he was very competitive. As a young man, he married as his father wanted. Then, after the wedding, after he saw the suffering of old age, sickness and death, he ran away at night to practice the Dharma. Near the great river Naranjana, he cut his own hair and lived an ascetic life for six years. There is place in Bodhgaya where the Buddha lived his ascetic life. Then at Bodhgaya, he knew at dawn the next day he would become enlightened.
That evening, ten million maras attacked the Buddha, throwing every kind of weapon at him, but everything became flowers to the Buddha, falling down, giving no harm at all. The Buddha did not move; he just continuously meditated. Without moving at all, he subdued the ten million maras with loving kindness.
That is a great teaching for us. Not getting angry, not fighting back. What ordinary worldly people do is act like a tiger, like all animals. When somebody attacks them, they attack back. That is nothing special. The Buddha did not move, and he subdued all the attacking maras with loving kindness. Even when they attacked with all the bullets of Mount Meru, trying to harm the Buddha, or manifesting as old ladies in the front showing their sex to disturb the Buddha, they could not destroy the Buddha’s concentration for even a second. Then, they manifested as young ladies showing their sex, trying to harm the Buddha, trying to distract him, but they could not.
Generating loving kindness for other sentient beings is the best protection, protecting us from harm from human beings and nonhuman beings. The Buddha showed us what we can do with our life, with our mind. Before, the Buddha was an ordinary being like us, with all the same problems, but he was able to change his mind into cherishing other sentient beings who are numberless, letting go of the I. Before, like us, he cherished the I and renounced others, which brought all the suffering and all the problems. But the Buddha was able to change. And not only the Buddha, there have been numberless sentient beings were able to do that and who have already become enlightened.
So, we are late! We are still not free from samsara even though numberless others have become enlightened by changing their minds to the thought to benefit others instead of cherishing the I. They benefit others, having let go of the I. Before, for beginningless rebirths, rather than cherishing others they cherished themselves instead, which only brought suffering. They might have had some happiness, but it was only samsaric happiness, which is in the nature of suffering, which is the suffering of change, which has come from pervasive compounding suffering.
Shakyamuni Buddha performed the twelve deeds, becoming enlightened in Bodhgaya in India. According to the Lesser Vehicle followers, it was the first time, but for the Mahayana, the Buddha was enlightened so many eons ago, and performing the twelve deeds was an act to teach us sentient beings. While the Buddha was taking birth here, in another universe he was enlightened. While the Buddha got enlightened here, in other universes he was doing different deeds at the same time. According to the Mahayana, the Buddha got enlightened many eons ago and this was to teach sentient beings about suffering and where the suffering comes from, the cause. And to teach us how we do not have to suffer, how we can eliminate it. And that there is a path we can take to achieve the cessation of suffering. He showed that by teaching the twelve links, showing us that even with this mind we have now, we can achieve enlightenment.
The mind has such incredible potential. He showed that. We do not have to always be depressed. He showed us why it is important to practice the Dharma, how to practice Dharma, all that through the twelve deeds. Our mind has buddha nature, buddha potential. He showed us this, clearly showing us how we can achieve enlightenment. To show that, he showed the twelve deeds.
ENLIGHTENMENT IS IN OUR HANDS
Maybe I mentioned, I’m not sure of the exact words, but even though Milarepa had killed thirty-six people and many horses through black magic in his early life, in his later life, when Marpa became his guru, Marpa made him build a nine-story tower alone [and made him do it three times]. Milarepa followed the advice of his guru. For many years, Marpa gave him no teachings, only scolding and beating him, purifying all his negative karma. Marpa was an enlightened being, not an ordinary being. He then manifested as the deity in the mandala and gave Milarepa an initiation. So, Milarepa became enlightened in that life. He achieved enlightenment in the brief lifetime of degenerate times. There are many others, but he is one who is famed in the world. There are many others who achieved enlightenment in one brief lifetime of degenerate times, like Gyalwa Ensapa or Chokyi Dorje. In their earlier life, they created much negative karma, but later they became enlightened. You have to know that.
If we work with our mind, we can become enlightened in the same life. We do not have to wait. We have not killed that many human beings. Many of us have not even killed one human being! So, you see? Milarepa killed dozens as well as the many animals. Many of us have not even killed one human being! You should know that. The purpose of reading Milarepa’s life story is for us to get courage, not to become depressed. It is so we use our mind to achieve enlightenment. We do not just pray to God and decide God will do it for us, that we don’t have to do anything. It’s not like that. Many people in the world who believe in gods or buddhas, think their life is totally in the hands of God or it is totally in the hands of the Buddha, and they cannot do anything.
There’s a family in Malaysia I stayed with once or twice before the center in Malaysia started. Tony Wong has a business printing books. His wife was Christian but he has a very strong connection with Kuan Yin, the female Chenrezig. His wife told him if he won the lottery, he was allowed to become a Buddhist, so he bought a ticket and he won the lottery. He became a Buddhist. Even before he had a connection with Kuan Yin, when you entered his office, you saw that on his side he had many friends who were incarnate Kagyü and Nyingma lamas. There were many statues of buddhas. On his wife’s side, there was Sai Baba and Jesus Christ on an altar.
Before the center happened in Malaysia, he invited me to go there a couple of times, organizing where to stay, what to do, everything. I had to go to his office on Saturday or Friday, when there were many sick people there. He chanted the long Chenrezig mantra for many hours. Many sick people went, women, men; something possessed them. The sick people did mudras. The office was full; there were even people sitting on the steps. He had a special connection with Kuan Yin, so at nine o’clock he went alone to get a prediction from Kuan Yin. There were jars of water left on the altar, with a picture of Kuan Yin.
He recited the longest Chenrezig mantra, but maybe there is one word in Sanskrit. I don’t know, but maybe he had done retreat. He asked Situ Rinpoche about this mantra that they recite, and Situ Rinpoche didn’t know, so he asked me. I said I would check.
Much later in London, Venerable Sarah, who was at the London center, gave me Mani Kumbum composed by Songtsen Gampo, the king of Tibet. I didn’t read the whole thing, but some. I saw the longest mantra there, which I asked Geshe Jampa Tegchok about. He was the abbot of Nalanda in France. He was also a teacher in Sarnath, where there was a Tibetan university. I gave it to him to translate into Tibetan, so he did, translating the meaning. Some he did not translate, saying it is secret, but he translated most of it. I got that many years ago.
Anyway, Tony has cured many patients. One day a man went there, supported by his wife and friend. Tony gave him water to drink. Then, the next day he returned alone without support. There are so many stories of people being cured.
The first time I went to Malaysia, he drove me to a place near Singapore, where there was a Kagyü center. The car was driven by one of Lama Yeshe’s students. Tony Wong came with me and he started to explain how many people had recovered. He started explaining in Kuala Lumpur and still hadn’t finished when we reached Johor Bahru, [a city just before the Singapore border]. He put me in a wealthy family’s place. What normally happened was when a lama went there, Tony Wong or somebody took them to some friends or the family, they saw the lama and got some initiations. My feeling is they had little interest in teachings with logic, more in initiations and blessings. I think that had happened many times.
What happened, one day their son suddenly died. The father threw the statues given by lamas on the floor, saying, “The Buddha didn’t help.” He complained that the Buddha didn’t help him. He thought everything was in the Buddha’s hands, like everything was in the hands of God. He said the Buddha didn’t help and he threw all the statues on the floor, breaking them. There is this danger if you do not learn the Buddha’s teachings and understand the logic; you believe the Buddha will do everything or God will do everything.
I’m sure there are many people like this, thinking that either God or the Buddha will do everything. That is because they do not know karma. That meditation you went through a long time ago, the graduated path of a lower capable being, the graduated path of a middle capable being and the graduated path of a higher capable being, you went through that. John led. Then, you went through lower realms, karma, refuge, right? That family did not think about karma; they did not know about karma, how our positive actions result in happiness and our negative actions result in suffering. Not knowing that, they were totally ignorant. They thought it was the Buddha’s fault, that he did not help.
Unless we learn the teachings well, if we just follow other people, going for initiations when there are lamas but not really learning, it is like that. Because we do not know karma, nothing helps. If we think of karma, it is like that. It’s like getting a prescription from a doctor, and [buying] the medicine but not taking it. We have to take the medicine, otherwise whether the doctor makes the correct diagnosis or not, whether they give us the correct medicine, it cannot help. We could carry a huge suitcase of medicine around but never take any, so it cannot help. We are the ones who have to take the medicine. We are responsible. Do you understand? You have to know that well—in your brain, in your heart. We have the responsibility.
Otherwise, God or the Buddha, it’s exactly the same! The Buddha explained the whole path to enlightenment in the Kangyur, and then all the Nalanda pandits, the Buddha’s followers, made detailed commentaries on his teachings in more than two hundred volumes. If we take it, the disease gets cures. By taking the medicine the doctor gives us, the disease is cured. That is how the doctor helps us. We have to understand that. In the same way, by practicing the teachings the Buddha gave us to subdue our mind, we are cured of the cause of suffering, the delusions, and we cease creating karma.
First of all, the teachings are there; there are already teachings. The Buddha left them in the world and by practicing what the Buddha taught, we are able to free ourselves from the cause of suffering. So, the Buddha is helping us achieve not only liberation from samsara but enlightenment. Yes, we need to rely on the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, but most importantly it is in our hands. It is up to us. It’s the same as either taking the medicine or just collecting it. Whether we practice the teachings or not means we either purify our negative karma or not, we free ourselves from suffering or not. If we practice the teachings, we will achieve all this—ultimate happiness up to enlightenment. It is in our hands! It is up to us. We have to know that.
I think the main thing we have to understand is that we ourselves are the main creator of our happiness and our suffering. That is the main guidance the Buddha has given us. That is why he gave teachings, why he left his teachings in this world. We need to practice them; we need to actualize them. When we practice them, the Buddha is guiding us. I think the main thing is that it is in our hands. That is what I think.
If we follow the wrong doctor, the one who gives the wrong diagnosis and the wrong medicine, then a wise doctor cannot help us. If we fail to follow the Buddha but follow a wrong founder who shows us the wrong path, the Buddha cannot guide us because we are not following the Buddha. If we follow the wrong founder who shows us the wrong path, we will be misled, life to life, for hundreds and millions of lifetimes, causing us to suffer in samsara, in the lower realms.
So, you can see here, it is mainly what we do with our mind. If we follow the right guide, the right friend, the right founder, we have every happiness up to enlightenment. If we follow the wrong guide, the wrong friend, the wrong founder, we are misled into creating so much suffering in this life, and from life to life, including the lower realms. Everything depends on us. Our happiness, our suffering, everything up to enlightenment depends on us. We have the responsibility. So, we have to be careful.
OK. That’s my emphasis. I’m telling you that you are the main one. Through your judgment, your way of thinking about your life, it is all in your hands. Your happiness, your suffering, is up to you. You have to know that.
This is another subject, sorry. The bodhisattva Thogme Zangpo said that “Perfect buddhas are born from the thought to help others… This is the practice of bodhisattvas.” We have to listen to teachings to be of benefit to every sentient being, all the numberless sentient beings in each realm. We have to listen with a bodhicitta motivation. Even to achieve nirvana, the blissful state of peace, is not enough. We must achieve full enlightenment in order to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment “by myself alone.” That means the numberless hell beings, the numberless hungry ghosts, the numberless animals, the numberless human beings, the numberless sura beings, the numberless asura beings, the numberless intermediate state beings—everyone. Because we must bring them all to enlightenment, we are going to listen to the teachings.
HOW THE WHEEL OF LIFE CAME INTO EXISTENCE
I should at least finish this.
According to the story mentioned in the text Lung Tentsig, the Buddha lived at Shravasti in India for twenty-five years. He lived for four or five years in another place, but he was in the area of Shravasti for twenty-five years. Kyabje Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, one of my gurus and one I received many initiations and teachings from, met His Holiness in Shravasti to received teachings on the Foundation of All Good Qualities. Rinpoche praised the place a lot. After many years, I didn’t get to go there, so I sent an Italian student, Stefano, who I think was a monk at the time, to check the place. He said it was a very holy place. When you meditate there, the meditation just comes without effort. In other places, you have to put in a lot of effort, but there it just comes easily.
Sometime later I arrived there with some students and we did prayers there. There was only a Chinese temple, with Indian workers taking care of the place. They asked me to build a monastery there. That is the only place where Indian workers asked me to build a monastery. It’s very interesting. I was going to build seven rooms for students to do meditation there, but you always have to look for students to run a center. In Tushita Dharamsala and Root Institute in Bodhgaya, and in many places, you always have to find students to run the center and it is difficult. It has to be beneficial. Because of the difficulties there, I cancelled building the rooms in Shravasti.
The text Lung Tentsig says that when the Buddha was abiding in Shravasti, he thought it might be beneficial, for Gume Tsechin, the head of the family there, to build a park for the four directions’ Sangha. The temple did not have drawings on the outside, outside the door, and it appeared ugly. This was explained to the Buddha, so the Buddha instructed them what to draw outside the door. The Buddha himself showed them the path, the Wheel of Life, and the five realms of the transmigratory beings, and around the wall of the temple, the Buddha’s life story. The Buddha explained it clearly.
While the Buddha was still alive and abiding in the outlying country Dadrog, that country’s king, Oddiyana, offered to the king, Tsulshin Nyingpo, priceless armor. It was offered as a present but King Tsulshin Nyingpo could not find an equally priceless present to give back to King Oddiyana. He discussed it with his ministers, who told him to ask the Buddha. They thought drawing the Buddha’s holy body and sending it to Oddiyana might be good. The king requested the Buddha and the Buddha gave his permission but the artist could not draw the Buddha’s holy body because it was too magnificent. So, the Buddha sent the shadow of the holy body on white cloth, and the artist drew it by copying that. The Buddha said to fill it up with various colors. After finishing the Buddha’s holy body, the Buddha said to place underneath it taking refuge—the basis of the higher trainings—the precepts, and the twelve dependent-related limbs drawn around, with the evolution forward and backward. Then, on the Wheel of Life, to put the verse I translated yesterday that shows the true path. The Buddha explained this.
So King Tsulshin Nyingpo sent this to the king of the outlying country. The minute he heard the Buddha’s name and the minute he saw the drawing of the Buddha’s holy body, just by seeing that he got unimaginable devotion, and he went for refuge to the Buddha. Then, he meditated on the twelve dependent-related limbs, forward and backwards, and he directly realized emptiness! He became an arhat; he achieved that result. The details are explained in the text Dulwa Lunamche. As soon as he heard the Buddha’s name and saw the drawing of the Buddha, he got unbelievable devotion. And then he realized emptiness directly and, through that, achieved nirvana, arhatship.
That shows us how having the Wheel of Life is of unbelievable benefit. It is the sublime method to liberate sentient beings from the suffering of samsara. It shows the four noble truths, the twelve dependent-related limbs and, through this, how sentient beings circle in the wheel, how they are involved in samsara and also how to become free from samsara. The Wheel of Life shows this. The Buddha explained how to draw this and, through this, the various methods are revealed.
Following that, almost all the temples have some form of the Wheel of Life outside. At the Kopan nunnery there is one that is more correct. Even in the outlying countries in the center of Tibet, everywhere, almost all the temples have this drawing of the Wheel of Life outside the door, at the entranceway of the temple, just as the Buddha advised. Geshe Sopa said that although there are maybe no Tibetan monasteries in countries like Sri Lanka and Burma, they still have the Wheel of Life drawn outside, although there are some differences. As I mentioned yesterday, in Tibet some of the drawings of the Wheel of Life are correct and some are not. Some don’t have pure references, so they are not correct.
If you are going to draw it correctly, according to the Buddha’s instructions, in the center there are attachment in the form of a pigeon, anger in the form of a snake, ignorance in the form of a pig. Then, the pig is eating the pigeon and snake’s tails. You have to draw it like that. That shows that attachment and anger come from ignorance, that they are under the control of ignorance. Geshe Sopa said that in other drawings the bird is drawn as what? [Ven. Ailsa: A rooster.] Geshe Sopa said that it is usually drawn like that, with the tails of the snake and rooster in the pig’s mouth, but in the root Vinaya text and its commentary, the Buddha explained it is not like that, as I told you already yesterday. In the root text, in the center there are attachment, anger, ignorance, the pigeon, snake and pig, in those forms, with the other two being eaten by ignorance, the pig. That is what the text says.
[Tea offering]
THE NUMBERLESS BUDDHAS CAN SEE OUR MIND
As I described, because buddhas have purified all the subtle obscurations, a buddha’s holy body has no resistance; it covers all existence. The way a buddha directly sees all existence is not with binoculars! When we use binoculars, we can see far, but it is not like that. A buddha sees all past, present and future phenomena directly, because the buddha’s holy mind pervades all existence; it covers all existence. Not by looking from far away with binoculars. A buddha’s holy body and holy mind has no resistance.
We have not actualized the path; we have not actualized any path to enlightenment. Nothing. So life is a very dark space, with no sun or moon, no stars. It is totally dark, clouded, foggy. Our mind is so obscured like that. Our body and mind have so much resistance but a buddha’s holy body and holy mind has no resistance. A buddha is able to see directly the numberless sentient beings of the past, present and future: every mosquito, every ant, every tiny fly. A buddha is able to see them directly, individually, without mixing. A buddha can see the minds of the numberless sentient beings without mixing. A buddha directly sees what we need, directly sees our sufferings, our problems, our mistakes.
If our life were totally in the hands of the buddhas, because the buddhas do not want us sentient beings to suffer for even a second, [we would not suffer]. With their great compassion embracing all sentient beings, they have the power to guide us, to reveal the methods to bring us from happiness to happiness, up to enlightenment. But you see, as I said before, our suffering or happiness is totally dependent on what we do with our mind. It totally depends on that.
When we have not met the Buddhadharma, when we do not follow what the Buddha taught, we only have our own ignorance to follow. We only follow our ignorance, our attachment, our anger. We only follow our mistakes. Then, what we experience, the result, is only suffering—suffering now and suffering in the future.
So you see, it is in our hands. It is up to us. Everything is up to us, as I said before. The buddhas cannot do it for us. Like the example I gave before. When we follow the wrong founder, the wrong guide, the wrong friend, the wrong advice, we will never become free from suffering. Constantly, from life to life, for hundreds and millions of lives, we suffer. But by following the Buddha, the right founder, the right guide, we are able to develop our mind and go from happiness to happiness up to enlightenment.
Following our ignorance, our self-cherishing thought, is like following the wrong guide, the wrong friend. That is why we have been suffering from beginningless rebirths up to now. We have been suffering endlessly in samsara.
What I’m saying now is that the numberless buddhas know what we are thinking. If we are praying, the numberless buddhas can see that. Numberless buddhas can see our mind; they know what we are asking for, what we are praying for. When we follow our self-cherishing thought, our ignorance, anger and attachment, we suffer in samsara.
The conclusion is this. For those who believe in God as the creator, the God they believe in should have compassion for all sentient beings. That means that God wishes all sentient beings to be free from suffering, to have happiness. Therefore, for people who believe in God, the first thing is to think of sentient beings and not to harm them, but to cherish them, to bring them happiness. That is the first thing.
The second thing is to pray to God. The first thing is not to pray to God but to not harm sentient beings and to benefit them. That makes the best offering to God. That is what pleases God the most. That is what pleases the buddhas and bodhisattvas the most, to stop giving harm to sentient beings, and on the basis of that, to causing happiness to others.
If we can do that, we will not receive harm from others. Because we stop giving others harm, we will not receive harm. Because we cause others to have happiness, that is the cause for us to receive happiness. If we do not harm others and cause them happiness, our work to be free from suffering and achieve happiness happens naturally, by the way. Working for others, causing others to have happiness, that is what makes the buddhas and bodhisattvas happy, that is what pleases them the most.
There are so many people who believe in God the creator. If possible, for them the first thing should not be God but sentient beings, to stop giving them harm. Then, praying to God is the second thing. Then, the world would have no war; there would be so much peace and happiness everywhere. Not only for human beings, even animals would not suffer or be killed.
Every day millions and trillions of chickens and fish are killed by human beings. I don’t know how many. Not only thinking of human beings but animals, how many hotels in the world, how many hotels in one city, kill billions, zillions, trillions of chickens and fish every day to be eaten by human beings. So, besides human beings, [if people stopped harming,] even the animals would get so much peace and happiness.
This is the education that there should be in the world. For those who believe in God, praying should be the second thing, not the first; the first should be sentient beings. And then, by the way, every happiness is achieved and every suffering is eliminated. That happens by the way. Otherwise, like what happens in the world, you might talk about “God, God, God,” but cheat and kill other sentient beings. You cheat and kill those you get all your happiness from. Do you understand?
THE ELEMENTS OF THE WHEEL OF LIFE
As I also mentioned, the Wheel of Life shows how sentient beings go higher and lower in their lives, like being tied to a bucket at a well that is dropped down to pick up water and then raised, going up and down, around and around, again and again and again. Like that, sentient beings go around, circling in rebirth after rebirth, being born and dying, again and again and again. The Wheel of Life is drawn like that, with one side white, to show the human rebirth and the human intermediate state stretched out like white woolen cloth, and the intermediate state of the deva, yellow color, facing upward. Then the left side shows the intermediate state of the lower realms, black with the beings going down.
The white path signifies the virtuous path, the path of the happy transmigratory beings. The black path shows the path to the lower realms, the nonvirtuous path of the suffering transmigratory beings. The central hub signifies the three poisonous minds and right and left panels show the virtuous and nonvirtuous paths.
Then, within the four noble truths, the Wheel shows the cause of the suffering, the all-arising truth, with the delusions in the center and karma around. That shows the result, true suffering. Sentient beings, motivated by the cause, delusion, and having the three poisonous minds, create the various actions, virtuous and nonvirtuous, because they’re under the control of those two, karma and delusions. Then, the result is to be reborn in the six realms and constantly experience suffering, tormented with the three sufferings.
The realms in the Wheel of Life are drawn as five, instead of the sura and asura realms shown separately. As I described yesterday, the three lower realms down below signify mainly the suffering of pain, then human beings and the desire realm devas, asuras, show the suffering of change. The form realm is drawn but the formless realm is not. Here it says the form realm devas show the suffering of pervasive compounding phenomena. Geshe-la said in the form realm there is also the suffering of change, but I think in the formless realm there is only pervasive compounding suffering.
Nagarjuna said,
If you have the grasping at the I, karma is motivated.
From the karma comes rebirth.
From those three paths—I-grasping, karma and rebirth,
There is no beginning and no end.25
When we swirl a stick of burning incense around, it makes a circle in the air that seems continuous. Like that, we circle from life to life, with no beginning and no end, unceasingly, always circling. Delusion creates action; action creates delusion; action, delusion, action, delusion, circling without beginning and without end, circling through the twelve dependent-related limbs.
That is the forward evolution but the twelve links can be shown backwards. There are different ways of drawing the twelve dependent-related limbs, but Geshe-la says the main reference comes from Kadam Pachu, a text that Atisha taught to Dromtönpa.
He explained it like this. Ignorance is depicted as an old blind mother. Compounding action is depicted as a clay maker [a potter]. A clay maker produces many different pots, big and small, and compounding actions are like that. Consciousness is depicted as a monkey; name and form as a boat; the six sense bases are depicted as an empty house that usually has six windows and no people inside, nobody looking out. Contact is depicted as two people kissing; feeling as a man with an arrow stuck in his eye; craving is depicted as drinking wine; grasping as taking a fruit. Becoming is depicted as a pregnant woman; birth as the child being born. As I think I told you, in certain countries, like Tibet, China or India, they use the son. Old age and death is depicted as people carrying a dead body.
From the sutra, it says that all the six realms are held by impermanence. As I mentioned, the Lord of Death, impermanence, holds the whole wheel in its mouth, depicting they are all in the nature of impermanence, under the control of impermanence and death. The cannibal is impermanence and death. The cannibal is drawn here in the form of Yama, the Lord of Death, in a terrifying aspect.
As it is explained in the sutra, wherever we are in the six realms, there is no place we are not harmed by death; there is no place we do not die. Wherever we are, we are not free from the mouth of the Lord of Death.
The two folds of this dongka, [Rinpoche points to his dongka, the shirt] signify the fangs of the Lord of Death; they are to remind us that we are in the mouth, that we are not free, that we are in samsara. They are to show us that we are in the mouth of Lord of Death, in the nature of impermanence, inside the fangs. This is to remember impermanence and death all the time. We are already inside the fangs, so death can happen at any time. [Rinpoche makes a crushing gesture] Death can happen at any time, so this is to always be aware of impermanence and death. That is the significance.
THE TWELVE LINKS
So, just some details. An old, blind lady who wishes to go to a happy place and have clean food and drink, because she is old and blind, cannot reach that place. Because she is old and blind, she stumbles into undesirable places with rocks and precipices or ponds or the ocean that she can fall into, causing her to experience so much suffering. Because she is blind, she cannot recognize what food is clean, so she eats old, rotten food, poisonous food, which harms her. Because she is blind, she cannot recognize it and she has to experience so much pain.
That is the example. The meaning is that due to ignorance, being under the control of ignorance, we cannot understand the profound ultimate reality, emptiness, the meaning of no self. That is the meaning. Being under the control of this ignorance, we cannot achieve wisdom because we do not know the method. We cannot achieve a higher rebirth as a deva and human being; we cannot achieve definite goodness, the happiness of liberation free from karma and delusions. Unable to achieve definite goodness, we fall down in the precipice of the lower realms, the evil-gone realms, we fall down in the ocean of samsara. Then, we have to experience so much suffering, all kinds of sufferings. That is the meaning.
The Nalanda umdze, the chant master, who studied from Geshe Jampa Tegchok and Geshe Jampa Gyatso and all the learned teachers, met an Italian girl who wanted him so much to be her husband. He disrobed. He was planning to be with her for twenty years then to become a monk again. That was his idea. But of course, there is no way that could happen once he became involved.
Now this is the end of the course. I’m sure by now you all have clairvoyance. Probably, you are all omniscient!
Falling in the mud is a good example of [being in samsara]. When we do, it is very difficult to get up. We are attached to samsara, therefore our whole life is spent destroying our enemies and looking after our friends, causing us so much suffering. Like that, it goes on and on. By depending on ignorance, we wander in samsara and experience all the various sufferings.
The second link of the twelve dependent-related limbs, karmic formation, duje kyi lä, is motivated by ignorance, the first link, which causes us to circle in samsara without freedom. The various karmas, the good karma and bad karma we create with our body, speech and mind, is signified in the Wheel of Life by the clay maker [the potter], who makes all kinds of pots, big and small, good and bad. Like that, compounding actions lead to the results: the samsaric realm we are in with this body, our possessions and so forth.
The third link is consciousness. What is that consciousness? Consciousness is the mind that goes from life to life. Sometimes you ask the question about what goes from life to life. It is the contaminated consciousness that holds the power of karma to be reborn in samsara again. That is consciousness, the third link. In the Wheel of Life it is signified by a monkey jumping from one tree to another.
The fourth link is the name and form. Of the five aggregates, feeling, cognition, compounding action and consciousness, these four are “name.” “Form” refers to the physical part. The example is passengers who get on a boat and are taken from this side to the other side. Consciousness is like the boat going from this life to the next. Consciousness is conceived on the parents’ sperm and egg, and our body is like a boat that temporarily caries our consciousness, the traveler, from here. When we leave this life, the consciousness goes to the next life. The body and the consciousness are not together forever; it is just for a short time, like the traveler being taken across the river in the boat.
The Seventh Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Kelzang Gyatso,
After you are born, you have no choice for even a second.
You are always running toward the Lord of Death.
We say, “I’m alive, I’m alive,” but actually we are always running toward the place where we are going to die, where there is danger to die. In Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, the bodhisattva Thogme Zangpo said,
Loved ones who have long kept company will part.
Wealth created with difficulty will be left behind.
Consciousness, the guest, will leave the guesthouse of the body.
Let go of this life—
This is the practice of bodhisattvas.26
Death can happen at any time.
The fifth link is the six sense bases, kechig drug. This is shown by a house where no one is staying. The six sense bases are actualized already but the guest, the senses, have not happened yet. The guests—the eye sense, the ear sense and so forth, have not yet happened. The sense bases have happened but the senses have not yet happened, so this is called “the six sense bases.”
The sixth link is contact. Contact is signified in the Wheel of Life by a man and woman kissing. When they kiss, their lips touch, just that. There is no immediate great feeling. Great feeling only arises gradually. From there, pleasure arises. Like that, contact with the object, the sense bases and consciousness—all three meet, and gradually from that feeling arises.
Feeling, the seventh link, is signified in the Wheel of Life by a man who has been hit in the eye by an arrow. That is feeling. When an arrow goes in our eye, there is so much pain that we cannot see other people or other objects; all we are aware of is pain. So, to express feeling that example is drawn.
Sorry, I didn’t get to write anything after that. I don’t know what happened. I think I lost the text.
Then there is craving and grasping, the eighth and ninth links. For craving, there is the drawing of a man and woman relaxed and drinking wine. That signifies craving, attachment. Grasping is stronger than that. When craving gets stronger, it is called grasping. Grasping is signified by a monkey taking fruit from a tree. Like in the shop, when we go shopping, we first want that thing—there is craving—and then our hands reach out to get it—grasping. When craving gets stronger, when we go to get what we want, that is grasping, which is signified by a monkey taking fruit from a tree.
The tenth link is becoming, signified by a pregnant woman with a big belly. Motivated by ignorance, karmic formation leaves the potential, the imprint, on the consciousness, and now craving and grasping made it stronger, ready to ripen. That is signified by the woman with a big stomach, pregnant and about to give birth. What did you say yesterday? I said “procrastinate.” [Ven. Sarah: Propagate.] Propagate. Do you think that is correct? [Student: Procreate?] Procreate. Yeah, like that, becoming, about to give birth.
The karmic imprint left on the consciousness by ignorance is now made stronger by craving and grasping.
The next link is birth. The drawing shows the baby getting born from the mother. This shows the next life, the next rebirth.
Then, the last link is old age and death. Those two things are put together. Then, from that there are many sufferings. Old age is not the only one. Fighting and—I don’t know—we can count depression and so many sufferings in that.
But if it is a gelong, a bhikshu, who is living purely in vows, there is so much happiness. There is no fear of death. There is so much happiness. That is the essence.
Nagarjuna in Heart of Dependent Arising said,
The first, eighth, and ninth are delusions,
The second and tenth are karma.
The remaining seven are sufferings.27
We start with three delusions and the two karmas, the two actions. While we are experiencing the seven results, the seven types of suffering, every day, with ignorance we believe the real I is true. So, ignorance, the root of samsara, means we start the twelve links every day, every hour, every second. It is endless. So many sets of twelve links are started but not finished—every day, every hour, every minute, every second. So much has been started with ignorance; there is so much to be experienced in the six realms, meaning we must suffer in all the oceans of samsaric sufferings of each realm: the oceans of suffering of the hell realm, the oceans of suffering of the hungry ghost realm, the oceans of suffering of the animal realm, the oceans of suffering of the human realm, [the oceans of suffering of the sura and asura realms]. We have already started the twelve links [for each of these] every day, every hour, every minute. It’s kind of endless. We have to meditate like that, looking at how we are caught in samsara, how we are suffering in samsara, looking at the numberless twelve links we have started and not finished.
If we want to be free from samsara, we must practice Dharma every day, every hour, every minute, every second. The conclusion comes to that. We need renunciation, bodhicitta and right view to be free from samsara. We need to meditate, as I explained, looking at the hallucination as a hallucination. We need that meditation to become our life. We also need awareness of the merely labeled I, the merely labeled action, the merely labeled road, the merely labeled action of eating, the merely labeled food, all that. When we can think like that, we then know everything is empty. We need to at least do that, even if we cannot meditate on the most profound meditation on emptiness.
THE IMPORTANCE OF MEDITATING ON EMPTINESS
Of course, there is the other main aspect, bodhicitta. But we need emptiness to be free from suffering, to be free from these numberless sets of twelve links that we have started but have not finished, to be free from the endless suffering of samsara. That is why meditating on emptiness for one minute or a few seconds becomes so unbelievably important.
We need to study, to take teachings from a qualified teacher. That is so important, to leave more imprints on our mind. We need to listen to teachings, to study, even just reading the Diamond Cutter Sutra. If we can do that, it is very good. Somebody was going to do that. A lady promised to do that every day for a year. Even if we cannot understand it, it is very good just to read it. But, we should read it mindfully, not like a tape recorder. Reading it mindfully leaves positive imprints on the mind, even if we do not understand it. Reading the Diamond Cutter Sutra creates skies of purification, leaving so many imprints and making it easy to realize emptiness in this life or the next life.
Any meditation on emptiness leaves so many imprints when we read it mindfully, making it easy to realize emptiness. It is difficult only for those people who don’t have many imprints of emptiness on their mind, but for those who do, it is not difficult to realize emptiness. So, even if we do not understand it, to still be able to read it is unbelievably fortunate.
I’m not going to repeat it again, because I already talked yesterday about how [in the Wheel of Life drawing] the Buddha points to the true path, to the verses. If we want to practice the true cessation of suffering, there is the true path.
Geshe Sopa said that even if we meet the Buddha directly, he has nothing extra to show us. He has already shown true suffering, true cause of suffering, true cessation and true path. There is nothing more than this to be taught, even if we met the Buddha directly. That is why the Buddha regarded having a drawing of the Wheel of Life outside a gompa so important. And then to have a monk explain it when people come, so they can understand. As I said yesterday, that is why having a monastery and nunnery, why having monks and nuns, is important, because it becomes easy for people to understand the Dharma. Geshe-la said that we who follow the Buddha should spread this understanding. Then, it is the basis for spreading the teachings of the Buddha in the ten directions. With that, he prayed for peace to happen in the world.
The conclusion is that it is so important to meditate on emptiness even for a few seconds—of course, for hours is better but even for some minutes or seconds—to become free from these endless sets of twelve links, from this endless suffering of samsara.
I’ll stop here. Maybe, we can do the Vajrasattva initiation in our dreams! Go to bed, and then you will have a dream.
Actually, when you go to meditate, see how in reality [everything] is exactly like a dream. Nothing is true; nothing is real, so it is exactly as a dream. You have to know, it is exactly as a dream. If you come to that conclusion, that is the best.
With the three higher trainings, we can become free from samsara. And then, with the help of great compassion embracing all sentient beings and with bodhicitta, with that unbelievable help we cease even subtle obscurations, and along with the direct perception of emptiness, we achieve enlightenment for sentient beings. We liberate numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment.
So, the Wheel of Life is a very important meditation. When we see the Wheel of Life, it reminds us that we are all in that, and that there are numberless Wheels of Life, numberless sets of twelve dependent-related limbs. We need to become free from all that. That reminds us to meditate on emptiness.
I have to say something about the benefits of Swayambunath. I brought the text that describes how in the time of one of the buddhas—I don’t know which one—the most precious Swayambunath stupa was inside the mountain. In those times, the people’s lifespan was many thousands of years. Then, it became shorter and shorter, and different buddhas came at different times. This has been a holy place for thousands and thousands of years. It’s unbelievable.
There are some benefits of making offerings to the stupa. I thought I could read a few so you can understand. OK, I’ll stop here.
WHAT TO DO AFTER LEAVING KOPAN
Next is taking refuge and Vajrasattva. People can sit there. Even those who are not taking refuge and Vajrasattva can sit there. Until you fall asleep you can sit there!
In case I forget, people may have questions about what to do after you leave here. Normally, there are questions. I didn’t get to print it out, but I think I have already told you about transforming your kaka mind into gold, changing your kaka life into gold, into a wish-granting jewel. Sorry if that sounds bad. Anyway, it is very smelly! You can transform your suffering life into every happiness up to liberation from samsara and enlightenment. This is the morning motivation. I think for every course we should have a book to give, like the refuge book. That is the most important thing.
I want to say this. The most important thing, the minute you wake up, what you should practice, is transforming your mind not just into the Dharma but into bodhicitta. Whatever you do in your life—listening, reflecting, meditating—do it for sentient beings. Do everything for every being. In the numberless universes there are numberless ants, so live your life for every ant, live your life for every mosquito, live your life for every hell being, for every hungry ghost, for every animal, for every fish, for every chicken, for every human being, for every sura [and asura]. Whatever you are doing—eating, drinking, sleeping—everything you do is for sentient beings. Even if you are going to drink a milkshake, it is for sentient beings. Everything is for the numberless sentient beings, not only for one or two. To live your life for every sentient being is the best.
Even if you only know a little Dharma, if you have a good heart, if you do that, your life is the best life, the happiest life, the most meaningful life, the healthiest life. Wherever you are, you can have such a happy life.
Ani Fran is going to send an email to everyone about this. Wherever you are, even if you are in prison or on top of Mount Everest, this is what you do. This meditation is the first thing to start your life, the first thing to do to achieve enlightenment.
Then, I think after that maybe the next most important thing is [to study] Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. That might be easier for most people. But for some people, maybe study Lama Tsongkhapa’s lamrim. There is great, middle and small. There is also a commentary on renunciation, bodhicitta and right view. Anyway, it is most important to read Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand from beginning to end. I’m not saying in one day! I’m not saying in one hour! I’m not saying that, but read whatever you can in a day, even just a page, from the front to the back, or even half. That is so important. Read it three or five times from beginning to end, depending on how you feel.
Then, respectfully mark anything you do not understand in orange, not like a professor correcting students in color. I was not there, but once when Jeffrey Hopkins gave a lecture to the nuns at Chenrezig Institute, he said that because he used to mark students’ papers in black, he created so much karma to be born in the black line hell, the second hell realm. So, not like that. Mark the book with orange highlighter. Because Western pens don’t last, Kyabje Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche marked texts with saffron color. He put saffron water in a bottle and then marked the texts with that. It lasts a long time. The pen marks the text lightly, respectfully, like painting a thangka, like offering color or holy dress to the buddhas. Like that—nicely, respectfully, only creating positive karma. It depends on the motivation.
Or you can buy a notebook and nicely write down what you do not understand, and then you can discuss it. You can ask students who have studied well or with a geshe so you do not have the danger of getting a wrong understanding.
You do like that [read Lama Tsongkhapa’s lamrim texts] three times, or if you still need it, you can read them more times, like five times. Somebody said that you should read Lama Tsongkhapa’s lamrim texts nine times. Then, what you did not understand before, it leaves positive imprints and after nine times you understand. Don’t read like monks doing puja, or like a tape recorder being played, not like that, but mindfully. You have to at least leave a positive imprint on the mind. If you do that, that itself is meditation.
You can do meditation while walking. Meditation does not have to be [on a meditation cushion]. A general idea is this. For one year or six months you can meditate on guru devotion, correctly following the virtuous friend, on that outline. You can do the guided meditation on the outline of the lamrim when you have read the commentary. Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand has outlines and there are outlines in books by Wisdom Publications or Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. Or you can read The Essential Nectar. That is not too short and not too elaborate, with examples. It is quite good for daily meditation. Once you know the lamrim commentary, use The Essential Nectar as a guide to the lamrim.
In the evening you can do a Vajrasattva practice for purification, then King of Prayers. Then, in the morning maybe do prostrations. If you can do one hundred prostrations while reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names, that is excellent. I think Lama Tsongkhapa did about seven hundred sets of Thirty-five Buddhas with many prostrations.28 Through that, he achieved realizations like rainfall and he had no fear of death. Likewise, your mind can be so happy that whether you live or die, it is so easy. Taking another body becomes like putting on new clothes. Practicing purification, collecting merits, single-pointedly requesting the guru, all that is in the Lama Chöpa Jorchö.
So, for six months or a year, meditate on the guru, and then renunciation, and then, after that, bodhicitta, and after that, emptiness. You can do it like that. Then, if you still think you need to do more, you can do it like that for another year or two. You can do it twice or three times; it’s up to your mind.
You can meditate like that until you get realizations, and then you can do effortless meditation on correctly following the virtuous friend. Do this for however many months or however long it takes, until you get a stable realization of guru devotion. Go through the outline like that, doing the same thing with renunciation, and then after that bodhicitta and then emptiness.
You don’t have to do them one by one. You can do two different meditations a day, such as guru devotion and renunciation. You can do two different meditations if you can, until you achieve realizations, but at least one. That makes your life so unbelievably rich, so meaningful. Even if you do not achieve any realizations in this life, it makes it so easy to achieve realizations in the next life, to quickly achieve enlightenment so you can free the numberless sentient beings from oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment.
That is the idea. Reading the lamrim is the most important thing. When you begin any meditation, always begin with bodhicitta. Even if you have no realizations, nothing, if from very beginning you begin with the bodhicitta motivation, everything you practice—from guru devotion and renunciation—everything is directed toward enlightenment for sentient beings.
One very important thing is because you have the motivation in the morning, every day in your life, whatever you do, everything you do is for sentient beings. Even if you are shopping for something, it is for sentient beings. Everything is for sentient beings. That is the best life, thinking of sentient beings the most, in order to free them from suffering and bring them to enlightenment. Whatever you do, everything should be for sentient beings. That is the most important thing. It keeps your life happy and healthy; it is the best.
OK, thank you very much. That’s all.
[Students offer mandala]
Notes
24 See The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, v. 11. [Return to text]
25 I have been unable to verify this quote but it closely resembles one from Nagarjuna’s Heart of Dependent Arising quoted below. [Return to text]
26 See The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas, v. 4. [Return to text]
27 See Steps on the Path to Enlightenment, vol. 2, p. 346. [Return to text]
28 Lama Tsongkhapa completed 3,500,000 prostrations to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas. See treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Tsongkhapa/TBRC_p64. [Return to text]
