December 5, 1997
THE THREE TYPES OF SUFFERING
If there are one or two questions?
[A student asks about refuge and taking lay vows. Mostly inaudible.]
Well, for example, when we are sick, we rely upon a doctor, medicine and a nurse, right? To get an education, to become a qualified teacher, a professor or whatever, we go to school, college, university and we rely upon the schoolteacher, we rely upon the education. To get the education being taught in a university, we rely upon the professor. Whatever qualifications we want to have, we must rely on those who already have them to teach us—a doctor, a teacher or whatever. So it’s exactly the same. When we’re sick, we rely upon a doctor, the medicine and the helper, the nurse.
The purpose of taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is very, very deep. The meaning is very profound. The purpose of taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is to be completely liberated, to be completely free from the entire suffering of samsara, which comes in three types. The first level of suffering is the suffering of pain, which includes the suffering of death, rebirth, old age, sickness and all the problems between death and rebirth. The purpose is to completely overcome all those sufferings.
And not only that, the purpose is to be completely liberated from the second type of suffering, which is unknown to common people. This level is the temporary samsaric pleasures, which is the suffering of change, so called because the nature of that feeling is only suffering.
When we analyze it, when we meditate on that feeling, on a temporary samsaric pleasure, we discover it is only suffering. But when we thoughtlessly let our mind be hallucinated, the nature of that feeling appears as pleasure. Our hallucinated mind, our concept, makes up the label “pleasure” associated with that feeling. When we analyze it, we discover it is only suffering, but when we do not analyze it, when our mind is hallucinated, it appears as pleasure.
At that time, if the mind is not living in the lamrim, the renunciation of samsara, we see this samsaric pleasure that is only in the nature of suffering as pleasure. So, when the mind is not in meditation, there is no protection and attachment arises. When there is not the protection of renunciation—the first of the three principal aspects of the path—attachment arises and takes over the mind. It clings to that pleasure by believing that it is real happiness. That becomes cause of samsara. That ties us again into samsara, the suffering realm. Attachment is this mental chain that makes us reincarnate again and again in samsara.
By using this as an example, we can get some idea of how temporary samsaric pleasure is in the nature of suffering. This meditation is extremely important. Even though we naturally have an aversion to the suffering of pain, if we don’t have an aversion to or a determination to be free from the suffering of change, temporary samsaric pleasure, by realizing how this is in the nature of suffering, we will never be liberated. We will never be liberated from this samsaric suffering, temporary samsaric pleasure.
For example, when we feel hungry and we start to eat, what happens is that there is a comfort, a pleasure at that time. The heavy suffering feeling of hunger, of not having food in the stomach, is stopped. But when the action of eating starts, a discomfort also starts, right after the food enters the stomach. At that time, this discomfort is unnoticeable because it is so small and for that period the feeling is labeled “pleasure” or “comfort.” The discomfort has already been created by the action of eating, but it is small. However, as the action of eating continues, the discomfort gradually increases. It grows and grows and grows. So, one suffering has been stopped but another suffering has begun. The previous heavy suffering of hunger is stopped but because the new suffering [of discomfort] is still so small, we label the feeling as “pleasure,” it appears as pleasure as we believe it to be pleasure. However, if we analyze it, we can see the feeling is like that. The reason the pleasure, the comfort, does not last is because the feeling on which we have labeled “pleasure” is in fact only suffering.
When we feel hot from the sun, because we desire the comfort of coolness, we jump into the river, into the cold water! That heavy feeling of the body being exposed to the heat of the sun is stopped by the action of entering the water. At that moment, the discomfort of coldness starts immediately, but it is so small it is unnoticeable. At first, we label this feeling “pleasure,” and it appears as pleasurable. But by continuing the action of staying in the cold water, the feeling of coldness becomes grosser until it is noticeable and then it becomes unbearable. Then we are too cold. What was desirable at first becomes undesirable.
This is the way it is in samsara. Not eating is suffering, eating is also suffering; being under the sun is suffering, being in the water is also suffering; not sleeping is suffering, sleeping is also suffering; standing is suffering, sitting is also suffering. Whatever activity we do in samsara, whatever style of life we have, it’s all suffering.
So, what is not suffering? As I mentioned before, the life that is not suffering is practicing the lamrim, practicing the renunciation of samsara, practicing that which liberates us from samsara, that which makes us achieve liberation from samsara. It is practicing right view, meditating on the ultimate nature, emptiness, which cuts the root of samsara—the root of all suffering, the root of the entire cause of suffering, karma and delusion. It is practicing bodhicitta, renouncing the self and cherishing other sentient beings. It is practicing these things and actualizing the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment. On top of that, it is practicing the quickest path to achieve enlightenment, the quickest way to liberate all our mother sentient beings from all suffering and its causes, the two stages of Highest Yoga Tantra.
Actualizing these realizations is not suffering. Living in the higher training of morality, the higher training of concentration, shamatha, and the higher training of wisdom—this fundamental path to achieve liberation—this is not suffering. To lead a life like this is not a suffering life. Practicing Dharma in this way is not a suffering life. Living any other way, all the rest is only suffering. Whatever we do, whatever we experience in samsara is only suffering.
Therefore, we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha to become completely free forever, to never again have to experience the suffering of pain, which is the cycle of death and rebirth and all the problems between. Not only that, we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha to become completely free forever from the second type of suffering, the suffering of change, the samsaric pleasures whose nature is only suffering.
Now, not only that, there is a third suffering, pervasive compounding suffering, which is the base. This level of suffering covers, pervades, becomes the foundation for the previous two sufferings, the suffering of pain and the suffering of change.
What is this suffering, this association of body and mind, these aggregates that receive the label “I?” Why do we have to experience suffering? Why does this body have to experience the suffering of old age, sickness and death? Why does the mind have to experience fear, worry and all those mental pains? Why don’t we have a body and mind that is totally bliss, never, ever experiencing suffering?
It is because these aggregates, this body and mind, are created by impure causes. They come from karma and delusions. If these aggregates, this body and mind, were not created by karma and delusion, there would be no reason at all why this body and mind would have to experience suffering. There would be no cause for this body and mind to experience suffering. Why these aggregates, this body and mind, experience all these sufferings is because they are caused by karma and delusion, created by the impure mind.
SEARCHING FOR THE I: THE OBJECT OF REFUTATION
The very root is the impure mind, the mind which is totally hallucinated. While there is no I at all, there is no self at all on these aggregates, [we believe it exists.] The I is totally nonexistent inside the body, totally nonexistent on the aggregates. There is no I at all on the aggregates, the association of body and mind. The I that exists is what exists in mere name. While there is an I that exists, it’s not talking about one inside the body or on the aggregates.
Anyway, the conclusion! Just by saying this for a while makes it a little uncomfortable so I’ll clarify the I that exists. There is no I in this body; there is no I on these aggregates that are the association of body and mind. But that does not mean that the I does not exist. The I exists. The I exists in mere name, or merely labeled by the mind. These two mean the same thing.
So, what is this I? This I that experiences happiness and suffering, this I that creates virtue and nonvirtue, this I that does actions such as walking, sitting, sleeping? It is that which is merely labeled by the mind. That is the I that exists. But even though it exists, it does not exist anywhere in the body, anywhere on the aggregates, the association of body and mind.
This is the reality. Therefore, if we look for it, if we analyze it, we cannot even find the I that does exist, the I that is merely labeled by the mind.
Usually the texts say “on the aggregates.” Whether the I exists on the aggregates or not, it appears to us that there is an I on the body, on the mind, on the mental continuum. When we think about reincarnation, there appears to be an I on the aggregates, the aggregation of body and mind. However, the I that appears is totally nonexistent. That is what we have to realize, what we have to discover.
Especially those of us who haven’t realized emptiness, we have fixed concept that there is an I on the aggregates, inside this body. We have this fixed idea or belief, but normally we don’t use the term used in the texts, “on the aggregates.” Even though the concept is there, we don’t say it that way. When somebody punches us or calls us a name, or when something sad happens or we lose something, people put both their arms around us like this. Of course, if we are very, very happy, very excited, then it’s also like that. “I’m so happy!”
In Japan or somewhere, I think they point to the nose to indicate the I. Huh? What? [Some students advise Rinpoche] What? Oh, I see. In Taiwan? Nose? In Taiwan, they point to the nose! No, I don’t think it’s the inside of the nose. Just on the outside! Anyway, I haven’t yet heard of anybody pointing to the big toes to show they are so happy!
When the people in Taiwan are angry, do they point to the nose? Even at that time? When they talk about the I and they are very angry. “How dare you say that to me?” At that time, do they still point to the nose, or here? Huh? Huh? Maybe when the mind is peaceful they point here and they are very angry they point there! No, I’m just joking.
Actually, when we have a strong emotion and we point our finger at ourselves, at [the heart or the nose] where we intuitively think the I is, we are pointing our finger at the I that is to be refuted. We are not aware of it, but this is exactly the object to be refuted. To put it another way, we are pointing to the I that is not there at all but that we believe is there. We are pointing to the I that is the object to be refuted, the I that doesn’t exist.
This I we are pointing at is the one we must realize is empty, totally empty from there. Even without saying “there,” it is totally empty. It is totally empty anywhere. It is totally nonexistent anywhere. At that time, we are not pointing to the I that exists; we are not pointing to the merely labeled I; we are pointing to the emotional I, the I that is not merely labeled by the mind. That means we are pointing to the I that doesn’t exist at all. It exists nowhere, neither inside the body nor anywhere else.
During that time, we are living with a total hallucination. The way the I appears and the way we apprehend the I is totally wrong. It is a total hallucination, totally nonexistent. Our idea of the I, what is the self, is totally wrong.
So, to go back. The I that exists, that experiences happiness and suffering, that creates virtue and nonvirtue, that does actions such as walking, sitting, sleeping, is merely labeled by the mind.
There is not even this merely labeled I in the body, which is the concept we normally have of where the emotional I is. That is just the emotional I, not even the merely labeled I. That emotional I, that which is not merely labeled by the mind, is the hallucination; it is the object to be refuted. I think there are many other hallucinations, there are many other very gross ideas of the I, much grosser than that.
Even the merely labeled I is not on the aggregates. Even the merely labeled I, which is the base that receives the label “I,” is not there on the aggregates.
That is the reality. Normally we talk about truth and falsity and this is the truth. On the other hand, in our normal life, how the I appears to us, the way we apprehend it and believe it to exist, that is false. We believe there is a real I in this body, appearing from there. Even believing that there is a merely labeled I, the I we label, that is there on the aggregates, that is a wrong concept. That concept is totally false. When we analyze it, we discover that this concept is totally false, that I is totally nonexistent. When we analyze it, we do not discover there is an I existing from its own side, not merely labeled by the mind. We realize exactly the opposite, that the I is totally nonexistent.
While the reality is like this—that there is not only no emotional I but also no merely labeled I existing on the aggregates, which is the base of the labeled I—we have the appearance of such an I. While the truth is like this, in our everyday life we have the appearance of the I on these aggregates or in this body. There is the appearance of the I, but not appearing as merely labeled by the mind. That means that the I appears as existing from its own side.
This is introducing the most subtle hallucination, the object to be refuted.
SEARCHING FOR THE I: THE LABEL AND THE BASE
How does this happen? Why does our mind make up the label “I”? There is no other reason at all except that there is the base, the aggregates, this association of body and mind that we have. This base exists.
If somebody asks us what we are doing, we reply, “I am sitting,” or “I am listening,” or “I am talking.” There is no other reason to believe the I is doing this except the aggregates, are doing these things. The body is doing the action of sitting now, so the mind makes up the label “I.” Because there is the base, the aggregates, the mind makes up the label “I.” This body is doing the action of sitting, so I am sitting. In that way, the I is merely imputed by the mind.
It’s the same with listening. The mind—the primary sense consciousness—is doing the action of listening and, because of that, we impute that “I” am listening. Again, it is merely imputed by the mind. The same thing with talking—because the aggregates are doing the action, again the mind makes up the label “I.”
The aggregates are doing the different activities, or are going to be doing the different activities, or have done the different activities in the past, so we make up the label “I,” thinking that this I does or did these activities. This I is merely imputed like this, and we do this continuously, twenty-four hours a day. We do it every day from birth up to death.
This includes birth itself. When we think about birth, it appears to our mind as a real birth, something that has nothing to do with our mind. We think the birth never came from our mind; it came from its own side. We think birth exists from its own side, not merely imputed by the mind. This is how it appears to us.
It’s the same with death. When we think about death, again, we have a totally false view of death. It seems to be a real death, a death that never came from our mind, a death that totally exists from its own side. Again, that is a totally false view. Such a death is totally nonexistent. That death we normally believe, our idea of death, is totally nonexistent. What is death? The death that exists is what is merely labeled by the mind. Death comes from our mind, it is merely labeled by our mind, and it’s the same for birth. So, birth and death exist but they are totally empty.
As I mentioned before, because of the aggregates, our mind makes up the label; it merely imputes the I on those aggregates. The actions we do are also merely imputed, relating to the activities of the aggregates, which are the base. From beginningless rebirth up to enlightenment it has been like this. The I that exists is completely like this, totally empty from its own side. So, what exists is merely labeled by the mind.
Now, to finish this subject, to pack this subject up! What makes our mind make the label “I”? Is it because there is a base, the aggregates? Our mind is continuously making up the label, merely imputing the I, merely imputing doing this and that. But the problem starts like this. After our mind has made up the label, we believe in that label and then whatever we label appears back to us.
That’s how it is for our whole life, from birth, from the time we first opened our eyes, from the time our senses contact an object: our eye sense contacting form, our ear sense contacting sound, our tongue sense contacting different tastes and so on. This has happened from the time we left our mother’s womb and opened our eyes and our senses started contacting objects, and it will continue like this until our death, when the senses absorb. For that entire duration of time there is the view of the eye sense, the view of the ear sense, the view of the tongue, body and nose sense.
These are all appearances. These appearances are our whole world: what is bad, what is good, what is beautiful and ugly, what is desirable and undesirable, what is dirty and clean and so forth. Everything is to do with the view, this appearance. The whole thing comes from our own mind. Our mind makes up the label and we believe in it. Everything comes from our mind; it is all our view, our appearance, not just the I. It is all a creation of our mind, merely imputed by our mind. Not just the I, but everything else.
How does the appearance of I come from the mind? Because without the mind labeling it, there is no I. It is easy to understand. There is no appearance of the I without the mind labeling it. The I comes from the mind. The appearance of the I comes from the mind.
THE MIND IS THE CREATOR: EVERYTHING IS A REFLECTION OF OUR MIND
From this example of how the I is merely imputed by the mind, how it comes from the mind, we can understand how it is the same for all other appearances. All objects appear to us in this way; they are our appearance, the view of our own mind.
From this analysis, from this discovery, we can understand how, when somebody criticizes or gets angry with us or upsets us, all this comes from our mind. The creator is not out there; the creator is our mind. Even if we see that somebody is angry with us or is criticizing us, even if we have this view of what people are doing, it comes completely from our mind.
There are two things. One is that our mind makes up the label and we believe in that appearance, and then we create our view of that object. If our mind is pure, we see a pure object, we label it pure, we put it in a pure light. If our mind is impure, our label is impure and our view of the object is impure.
How we see things, how we see living beings and nonliving things, is the same thing. I’m making too many words! How we see an object, whether pure or impure, or how pure or impure, is totally a reflection of our mind. You can say these are a description of our mind, of the quality of our mind, how pure or impure it is. What we see, the view of our senses, is a description of our mind, of the quality of our mind. It is like we are seeing the reflection of our face in the mirror. Whatever shape we see in the mirror—beautiful or ugly, clean or dirty, whether the nose is straight or crooked—is all a reflection of our own face.
It is exactly like this. Not only what we see but what we hear, smell, taste and touch, the whole thing, the entire appearance, comes from our mind, and whatever quality we see in the object is a description of our own mind, a reflection of the quality of our mind.
Since our mind is the creator, whenever we encounter problems, whenever we experience some undesirable things, there is nothing external to blame.
So, of the two things, how things come from our mind, how they are a creation of our mind, is one thing. We make up the label and believe in it, and then there is the appearance. That’s one way we experience the sense objects in our everyday life.
THE MIND IS THE CREATOR: APPEARANCES ARISE DUE TO IMPRINTS
The other thing is this. Behind the appearance is the imprint. A positive or negative imprint is left on our mental continuum, and then this imprint manifests. For instance, a negative imprint manifests and suddenly we have a car accident. We think because we are completely healthy and young that everything will always be OK, but suddenly a car accident happens, we are horribly injured, and our life totally changes. Or we have a beautiful house and everything looks OK, but suddenly a fire breaks out and the whole thing changes. Or somebody is a very close friend and it seems kind of impossible for them to become an enemy, but suddenly from being a close friend one minute, they turn and become totally the opposite, a hated enemy, angry with us, giving up on us or leaving us.
These are just examples. So many positive imprints are left by positive actions, good karma, prostrations, and so many negative imprints are left by negative actions, bad karma.
All the desirable objects we see, all the things desirable to our senses, are products of our positive imprints, the seeds on our mental continuum, being experienced. It is like having planted various flowers or fruits in the garden or field, and then whichever is the more powerful grows first; it manifests first by having gathered all the conditions together. Similarly, whatever desirable or undesirable sense objects we experience, all these manifestations are products of the imprints manifesting.
This is one explanation of how everything comes from mind. It is like a TV show or movie. What manifests, what is actualized there on the TV or movie screen, comes from the TV station or the projector, by putting a roll of movie film into the projector and shining light through it. The story we watch comes from that roll of film. No matter how far away the scene is, it comes from that film that is projected onto a screen. All those mountains or different countries, all those wars with fighting and killing, all those people playing music, all those happy and unhappy people, all the many different things are printed onto that roll of film. Our mind, the mental continuum, is exactly like that roll of film, with all the positive and negative imprints left by the positive and negative actions we did in the past.
When we put the roll of film in the projector and shine the light through it, we can see the story on the screen. In the same way, in our everyday life, the imprints left on our mind are being constantly projected out, causing us to have positive or negative experiences.
So, this is second way to understand how everything comes from the mind. We can meditate and realize how what we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we taste, what we touch—all the objects of our senses, come from our mind.
That’s why, during his lectures in the West and the East, His Holiness, the Dalai Lama always emphasizes that Buddhism doesn’t believe in an external creator, somebody separate from us who creates our life, our happiness and our problems. His Holiness mentions this all the time. We can understand this from our everyday experiences, how it is all up to our concepts.
How we see things depends on how we label, what kind of label we make. Therefore, if the label we create is a negative one, we have a negative appearance. Whether it’s a person or a non-living phenomenon, the object appears to us as negative, and we see it as negative.
There is a whole evolution before we see the object as negative, as bad. It’s not just seeing something that is negative like this. [Rinpoche snaps his fingers] A whole evolution comes from our mind, causing us to see the object as bad, as negative. Then, when the object appears to the eye sense as bad, that affects our feelings. We see the object as bad and we get an unpleasant feeling from the contact.
Due to that, the emotional mind arises and creates a negative label again, and so it creates circles. It creates more problems like this. The more our mind creates a negative label, the more we see things—people and other phenomena—as negative. As I mentioned before, instead of pleasure and comfort, we have more unpleasant feelings, and this makes our life unhappy.
Therefore, we need to train our mind to always look at our life’s situations in a positive light, as good. Whatever circumstances happen, we should always look at them as good, as positive. By thinking of the benefits of a problem, we can see it as positive. Problems have benefits. They can benefit us by purifying our mind and allowing us to collect powerful, extensive merit, to develop our mind on the path to enlightenment. They can especially benefit us to develop compassion, loving kindness and bodhicitta for other sentient beings and to develop the realization of patience.
These are the benefits when we encounter problems in life. Thinking of those benefits makes us label the problems as positive. Then we see the problems as positive; we see nothing bad, and that creates a pleasant feeling. It makes our life happy, secure and stable.
Anyway, that part just happened. That part was just additional. But to come back to her question. I’m not sure she’s still there! I guess she’s still there!
THE MIND IS THE CREATOR: IGNORANCE IS THE ROOT OF SAMSARA
The I is merely labeled by the mind, but when the I appears back to us, it doesn’t appear as merely labeled by the mind. It doesn’t appear back as it is, merely labeled by mind. As I mentioned before, that’s how the problems start.
Yesterday, I mentioned about negative imprints. There is an imprint left on the mental continuum by past ignorance, by the mind that is unknowing to what is false and what is truth. This unknowing mind does not know that the I does not exist from its own side, that it is empty from its own side. We believe the I exists from its own side, but the reality is that the I is empty from its own side. For those of us who haven’t realized emptiness, the way we apprehend the I is as existing from its own side. But the reality is that it is empty. The I does not exist from its own side. That is the ultimate nature of the I, the very nature of the I.
So, when the I appears back to us, it appears back as something totally the opposite, as something not merely labeled by the mind. There seems to be something from its own side. This subtle hallucination is the object to be refuted. That false I is something slightly more than what is merely labeled by the mind. In our perception, the way the I appears to us, and the way we believe it to be, is something slightly additional to what is merely labeled by our mind. That means it exists from its own side. There is something just slightly more, something from its own side. That is the false I.
How does this false I happen? How does this appearance—the hallucination of an inherently existent I—happen? This is decorated over the merely labeled I, projected by the negative imprint that is on our mental continuum, left by the past ignorance.
The subtle false I, the object to be refuted, is something slightly beyond what is merely labeled by the mind. But this appearance is still not the root of the problem. What is the root of the problem? Where does all the suffering of samsara come from? Why do we have to die and be reborn? Why do we have to experience old age, sicknesses and all those problems, the oceans of suffering of human beings, suras, asuras, hell realm beings, hungry ghosts and animals? Where does the cause of suffering, karma and delusions, come from? It all comes from this wrong concept, ignorance.
We apprehend the I as being slightly more than merely labeled by the mind and we believe this appearance one hundred percent. That is why ignorance is called the unknowing mind. It is unknowing that the I that appears as something more than what is merely labeled by the mind is totally nonexistent, empty. We cannot see this, and because of that, we believe the way we apprehend the I; we think that it exists from its own side, that it exists inherently.
I’ll repeat this just one more time. We believe the way the I appears to us, as not just merely labeled by mind but something more than that. This wrong concept is the principal cause, the root that makes this body experience suffering. That’s why, in a place like this, there is pain. Even when you sit, if you’re not careful, immediately there’s pain. Probably already now, after a couple of hours! Anyway, I’m joking. Even here at this place, I’m sure, there is a lot of pain!
OUR AGGREGATES ARE IN THE NATURE OF SUFFERING
That shows that all the aggregates are in the nature of suffering. The aggregates are caused by past karma and delusions and are contaminated or defiled by the seed of the disturbing thoughts. Lama Tsongkhapa, in his lamrim text, explained that this is the definition of what samsara is.
The main cause of the defiled aggregates is karma and delusions. The meditator who has attained the path of meditation on the five paths to achieve liberation still has samsara but doesn’t have to reincarnate. The continuation of their aggregates doesn’t circle to the next samsara, unlike our present life’s aggregates that have to continue into the next life and keep circling within samsara. Because our aggregates are caused by past karma and delusions and contaminated by the seed of disturbing thoughts, they are in the nature of suffering; they are pervaded by suffering.
Therefore, not only are the aggregates the container of all the problems of this life, they become the foundation of this present samsara and all the suffering of the coming future lives.
How does that happen? Because this seed of delusion is there on the mental continuum. And the seed of delusion is there because we haven’t actualized the remedial path. There are five paths to liberation, without talking about the five Mahayana paths, such as the third path, the right-seeing path, and the fourth one, the path of meditation. On the right-seeing path we cease the intellectually created delusions and on the path of meditation we remove the simultaneously born delusions. So, until we have actualized those remedial paths, the seed of delusion is still there.
In our everyday life, if we are not practicing mindfulness—watching the mind and applying the antidote as soon as a delusion arises by applying the appropriate lamrim meditation—since we are not living in the practice of lamrim, there is no protection. If the mind is not living in the realization of lamrim—renunciation, bodhicitta, emptiness—then by meeting the object, the seed gives rise to a delusion.
Then the delusion motivates an action, karma, which leaves an imprint, a seed, on the mental continuum. This then brings a result that is actualized in the future samsara. There are many seeds left on the mental continuum from the past lives which have the potential to bring results in the future samsara. With these present aggregates, when the delusions of craving and grasping arise that leaves imprints on our mental continuum, ready to throw us into the result of the future life in samsara.
That’s how these aggregates compound our future samsara. These present aggregates, this samsara, compound the future samsara by compounding the cause of the future samsara. This is the third type of suffering, the pervasive compounding suffering. It is the continuation of this present samsara and how, being under the control of karma and delusions, it circles to the next life. Then, according to the karma, we reincarnate and take on the aggregates of the future samsara, in the hell realm or as a hungry ghost, an animal, a sura, an asura or a human being. And then we have to experience the sufferings of each of those realms again and again, again and again. Our experience of the suffering of samsara becomes endless. Only when we can cease the cause of samsara, karma and delusions, can we break the continuation of the aggregates circling from one life to another, samsara.
Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo explained that it is like being naked, having to carry on our back a thorn bush or big load of barbed wire, tied with ropes. Being stuck with this rope, wherever we go, in the snow mountains like Mount Everest, in the countryside, in a city or wherever, East or West, we constantly have to experience pain and suffering. Another example is having to carry a great pile of burning firewood on our back, tied with the ropes.
Until we cease karma and delusions, we are always stuck with this samsara, these aggregates, which are totally in the nature of suffering. We are always bound to this samsara by karma and delusions, from the tip of samsara, the fourth and highest realm of the highest realm of samsara, down to the lowest hell realm, the inexhaustible hell, whichever state we reincarnate in, there is never one second’s break from suffering. There is no pure happiness for even one second.
IS SHAMATHA A SAMSARIC PLEASURE?
In the formless realm there is no suffering of pain or suffering of change, samsaric pleasures. That should be examined. In the form realm, is there the second type of suffering, samsaric pleasure? Is there? What do you think?
[Students respond, inaudible]
So, the form realm also has samsaric pleasure because it has the suffering of change? What about the formless realm? When you meditate on bodhicitta, when you generate the thought of benefiting others, you feel pleasure, you feel peace and joy. Is that samsaric pleasure?
[Students answer, inaudible]
There are many things. Is the ecstasy, the bliss of the body and mind, achieving the shamatha meditation, samsaric pleasure? Is that samsaric pleasure? [Students reply] So, that depends on the motivation whether it is samsaric pleasure or not? So that bliss is suffering? The bliss achieved from shamatha meditation is suffering? Is it contaminated bliss? Is it suffering or not? The bliss is one example. The other example is experiencing bliss through tantra meditation, such as in the Six Yogas of Naropa. Is that samsaric pleasure or not?
[Student answers, inaudible]
So, if the person has no realization of emptiness, that’s samsaric pleasure? Hmm. Through the Six Yogas of Naropa, you generate some sort of suffering? If somebody were to have an experience of great bliss, without the realization of emptiness, that would be samsaric suffering. Hmm? Until you realize emptiness, it is samsaric suffering. Any experience of happiness is samsaric suffering until the person has an understanding of emptiness. So, all happiness is samsaric suffering?
Samsaric pleasure cannot be completed, but that pleasure can be completed. The bliss derived from the Six Yogas of Naropa can be developed and it can be completed. So, there are differences. Samsaric pleasures cannot be developed or completed, but the bliss from meditation can be continued and can become completed. When we achieve enlightenment it is completed. So, there are big differences.
[A student asks a question, inaudible]
No, just experiencing bliss doesn’t mean that the happiness is completed. Here the definition of completed doesn’t mean just the experience of bliss. It means by completing the path. So, don’t the beings of the formless realm have pleasure? [Student replies] Do the beings of the formless realm have pleasure? They have pleasure. They have the suffering of change; they have samsaric pleasure.
Are you saying that as long as a person doesn’t have an understanding of emptiness, all the peace that they experience through meditation is suffering? [Student answers] I didn’t say all bliss is suffering. I didn’t mention that. Unless you want to hear that! I’m joking.
Kendall was saying that if there is no understanding of emptiness, then all bliss is suffering. I’m saying that all the inner peace we develop through meditation, as long as we don’t have an understanding of emptiness, is the suffering of samsara. Anyway, that can be checked.
REFUGE FOR OURSELVES AND OTHERS
So, to conclude. Even if we are in the form or formless realms, even though there are times we do not experience the suffering of pain and the suffering of change, we still have to constantly experience pervasive compounding suffering, which refers to these aggregates caused by karma and delusions and contaminated by the seed of disturbing thoughts. This continuation that circles to the next life is always there.
From beginningless rebirths until now, there has not been even one second’s break from this third type of suffering of samsara, the continuation of these aggregates. There has not been even one second to experience pure happiness. Therefore, because this is the main suffering we have to be liberated from, we should put all our effort into being completely liberated from it. As long as we are not liberated from this, as long as we have this type of suffering, that makes it possible to experience the two other types of suffering: the suffering of change and the suffering of pain, and all those other problems. One meaning of pervasive compounding suffering is that it becomes the foundation for those two other sufferings.
This is the main reason we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. As I mentioned before and I’ll repeat again, we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha not just to be liberated forever from the suffering of pain, not just to be liberated forever from the suffering of change. The fundamental suffering to be completely liberated from forever is pervasive compounding suffering. That means to be free from samsara forever.
Because this suffering comes from its cause, karma and delusions, that means only by ceasing the cause of suffering, karma and delusions, can we be completely liberated from all sufferings. This is the ultimate liberation.
Is this possible to achieve or not? It is possible to achieve. Why? Because there is a path. Why? Because there is a method. There is a path. Since the beginning of this course, every meditation we have done is the path, the path to the cessation of all suffering and its cause, karma and delusions. Not only that, since we have also been meditating on bodhicitta, this is the path to enlightenment. Not just liberation from samsara but liberation from even the subtle defilements, to achieve enlightenment and to free all sentient beings from all suffering and bring them to full enlightenment.
The whole path to liberation and enlightenment is based on the method, the meditation practice that we have been doing since the beginning of the course up to now. What we have been experiencing, meditating on, is the fundamental path. Renunciation is the foundation of bodhicitta and bodhicitta is the foundation of the Mahayana path to enlightenment. We can achieve this because the method exists. And we have already been practicing the method during this one month.
To give a simple example. When we meditate on bodhicitta, we only meditate on compassion, feeling compassion for others. When we meditate on loving kindness, we feel [love for others]. When we meditate on renunciation, we see how samsara is in the nature of suffering and we get the wish to be free from samsara. When we meditate on impermanence and death, we become free from attachment to this life. That is renunciation to this life.
Whatever meditation we do, our mind is transformed into the path, from emotional negative thoughts, the cause of samsara, into the cause to achieve liberation and enlightenment. Even if it is a small experience, that shows that we can achieve the realizations. This might be a small experience, but when we meditate on each of these subjects, our mind is transformed, becoming a positive, healthy mind, a pure mind, during that time. When we meditate on the perfect human rebirth, we feel that this body is unbelievably precious and that there is nothing more important than practicing Dharma. That is more precious than all the material possessions in this world.
We get this feeling, which is called effortful experience. The fact that our mind can actually be transformed into the feeling explained in the meditation, even with this small experience, proves that if we continue the meditation and if we practice correctly, with all the necessary conditions such as purification and collecting merit, we can achieve the realizations of the path to enlightenment.
The path is like medicine. The path to liberation and enlightenment is the medicine to cure the sicknesses, the actual remedy to cease karma and delusions. Or in other words, it can completely cure all mental sicknesses and then, through that, cure all physical suffering.
The path to liberation and to enlightenment, and the scriptures that explain the entire path, is the conventional Dharma. The absolute Dharma is the true path of wisdom directly perceiving emptiness, and the cessation of suffering. This is the actual refuge, like the actual medicine to cure all disease. It is the foundation. This is what we have already been practicing. So, it’s like we have already been taking the medicine because we have already taken refuge in the Dharma from the heart.
That means that we have naturally taken refuge in the Buddha as somebody who has revealed the path. Just as when we rely upon treatment, we naturally rely upon doctors, in the same way, we naturally rely upon the Buddha who revealed the path.
And then, we need the support of the Sangha, those who follow the path; we need their inspiration, teachings and example. They are like the nurse who helps with the treatment. To practice Dharma we need the support of the Sangha. We naturally rely on the Sangha, who are the helpers to actualize the actual Dharma refuge within our mind. So like this, we just naturally rely upon the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
When we practice the path taught by the Buddha, when we meditate, this naturally happens. As I’ve explained before, this refuge is not like any other form of refuge. This refuge is so important, so urgent, just as when we have heart attack or something we have to immediately go to the emergency hospital. Taking this refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, trying to be completely liberated from karma and delusions, the cause of all suffering, is a billion times more important than that emergency hospital!
This is for our own liberation, but on top of that, there are numberless sentient beings suffering in the same way, just like us. To free those numberless other sentient beings, to liberate those numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering, we need to actualize the path. For all this, we need to rely upon the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Therefore, there are these two reasons why we want to go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The first reason is so that we ourselves can become completely liberated from the whole of suffering and its causes. We’re not taking refuge in a cow; we’re not taking refuge in a rock or a tree, or the sun and moon! We’re not taking refuge in a buffalo! We’re taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, who can guide us. We’re taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha to be liberated from all suffering and its causes because they have all the qualities that allow us to be liberated, so we can rely on them.
The second reason is that they have all the qualities to allow us to not only liberate ourselves but to liberate all sentient beings from all suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment. That’s why we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and we don’t take refuge in a buffalo or a cat or a dog! What else? We don’t take refuge in a mouse! The Buddha, Dharma and Sangha have all the qualities to liberate us.
I just want to mention one more thing and then we’ll stop. Sorry. It went on and on! I have completely broken all the rules!
To just not get reborn in the lower realms—the hell, hungry ghost or animal realm—can happen without needing to take refuge in all three. By taking refuge in just the Buddha, even by just thinking of the name, by just remembering the Buddha, if we die with just the thought of the Buddha, we will not be reborn in the hell realm, the hungry ghost realm or the animal realm because that thought protects us. Even if we die remembering the Heart Sutra or another Dharma text, no question if we are thinking about renunciation, emptiness and bodhicitta, even just relying on a Dharma text, taking refuge in a Dharma text, means we won’t be reborn in the lower realms. And if we remember a Sangha member we have faith and devotion for, a nun or monk or somebody, at the time of death, if we die with that thought, we will never be reborn in the lower realms. Just remembering that Sangha we have faith which saves us from reincarnating in the lower realms. It’s very powerful.
I also want to say this. I quite often mention this. The scientific knowledge that has allowed us to cure diseases benefits mankind. However, will all that scientific knowledge help at the time of death? Will it help stop us reincarnating in the hell realm, the hungry ghost realm or the animal realm? At the time of death, it is very difficult to be saved from reincarnating in the lower realms. It’s extremely difficult. But here, if we just remember the Buddha, if we die with the thought of the Buddha, that protects us from the lower realms. If we remember just one monk or nun we have faith in, if we die with that thought, we are saved from the lower realms, we don’t get reborn in the lower realms. I’m talking about these objects of power that are of great benefit at this most crucial time, death. In regard to the effect they have, there is a huge difference.
Now here, we are thinking about becoming completely liberated forever from samsara; liberated from the whole of suffering and its causes forever. For this, we need to take refuge in all three, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Just taking refuge in one alone is not enough.
On top of that, we are practicing the Mahayana teachings. Therefore, our refuge involves compassion. We don’t take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha only out of renunciation, to free ourselves from samsara, by fearing samsara and understanding that they have the qualities, the power to help us do that. With these two causes, fear of samsara and faith in the power of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, taking refuge with our whole heart in that way is the Hinayana way of taking refuge. According to the Mahayana way of taking refuge, on top of that we need one more cause of refuge, which is compassion. We see that numberless sentient beings, like us, are suffering, and we generate compassion, determining to free them from all suffering and bring them to enlightenment.
To be able to do that, we rely on the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. We understand and fear our own samsara, we have faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and compassion for other sentient beings, wishing to free them. Then, with our whole heart, we take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. That is the Mahayana way of taking refuge.
THE BENEFITS OF TAKING REFUGE
You have already taken the actual refuge in your heart since you are seeking the path to liberation and enlightenment. The actual refuge is already taken. But now, this refuge is taking the refuge vow. To make certain you rely upon the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, you take the refuge vow in order to devote yourself to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
There are refuge practices that come from that, but I’m not going to speak about them until tomorrow! Usually, when I give refuge, I emphasize taking at least one lay vow, which is abstaining from killing. That means abstaining from intentionally or purposefully killing. You vow not to do that. Of the five lay vows you can take, I always emphasize you should take at least this one. The reason I emphasize this normally is because taking refuge in the Dharma involves not harming others, and of all the harm we can do others, killing, the taking of others’ lives, is the most harmful one, generally speaking.
But still, if you cannot take any of the five lay vows, that doesn’t mean you cannot take the refuge vow. You can still take the refuge vow. Without taking any of the five lay vows, there are refuge instructions and practice to do.
Living in the vow is protecting your life, like taming a crazy elephant. A crazy elephant is totally without discipline, running everywhere and harming itself and others. When you discipline your mind, you no longer harm yourself or others. Life does not become dangerous for yourself, and it does not become dangerous for others.
So, taking and living in the vow means receiving protection for your life. You are protected from creating negative karma that brings so many problems in this life, in the life after this and in all future lives. Even in the god and human realms it brings so many problems, so much suffering and loss. Living in the vow means you have protection from all suffering, including problems of this life.
Not living in the vow means there’s no protection in your life. When you are sick, depending on the disease, the doctor will tell you which food not to eat and which to eat, which behavior is harmful to your health and whether you should do this or that exercise. If you want to get better, you follow the doctor’s advice.
Taking precepts is similar, but this is not just for health. As I mentioned before, this is to completely liberate yourself, so you are totally free from all suffering and its causes, from the oceans of each samsaric suffering. And not only that, it’s also the foundation to complete the path and achieve full enlightenment.
To be able to liberate all sentient beings from all suffering and bring them to enlightenment, which is the goal of somebody practicing the Mahayana path, is the purpose of taking and living in the vows. It is to achieve enlightenment in order to benefit the numberless other sentient beings.
Now the specific reasons. Without taking and living in the vows there is no morality, no discipline, then the person engages in many negative karmas. Without talking about the results of those negative karmas—all the problems now and in the future—those negative karmas obscure the mind and that makes it more difficult to have realizations.
The specific thing is, the purer you can live in the vows, whether as a lay or ordained person, the more your mind will be disciplined and the more you will live in morality. That means you will have better meditation, a clearer mind and a better memory.
It will also help you to not become a vegetable in your later life. There are many people in the West in their sixties or seventies who have that disease. What’s it called? Huh? [Students prompt] Alzheimer’s disease. You will not have to experience Alzheimer’s disease. That is according to my view. It is just my own analysis. Due to not living a pure, disciplined life, the mind becomes more and more unconscious, and that leads to Alzheimer’s. That is just my analysis. Why? The other way is the person who lives to sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, but has a very clear memory. For example, like the geshes or any of the high lamas, the texts they memorized in Tibet thirty, forty or fifty years ago, they never forget the texts. Even though they haven’t recited them since then, they can remember all prayers they memorized in Tibet, because they have lived very pure, moral lives. That is why they have such a clear memory. If you check how they have lived, you can find out.
For those not living a pure, moral life, it is the opposite. Although I haven’t checked, I haven’t done like they do in the West, researching the life of a person with Alzheimer’s. Actually, if you did research those people’s lives, how they lived when they were young, you may find many had similar behavior or lifestyle. I think it’s very important to research this. From that, you could help in society, especially educating young people how to stop these things happening.
When I talked with a student in Manhattan who does consultations with people, I said it was very good to do research with people who are sick with Alzheimer’s, researching their life story, so that you can help educate other people about the cause. If you can get some idea of what causes this, you can educate others to not engage in those activities. This is a very important contribution to the world.
There are other examples. Millions of people die of AIDS in so many different countries. It also helps to live in the vows; it helps to have not so many people dying with this extra disease in the world. I think some of you can remember, people often asked His Holiness the Dalai Lama about AIDS and the increase in the world’s population and how it causes difficulties for the economy. Many people asked him things like that and he always answered, “Become a monk or nun!” That’s the solution His Holiness always gave, the solution to not increase the population so there would be no problem for the economy, and also for AIDS.
Living in the vows, with purer morality there is much clearer meditation and it is much easier to accomplish meditations such as shamatha. To achieve perfect concentration is much easier. By having stable concentration and then by realizing emptiness, by combining shamatha with emptiness, you are able to overcome all delusions. That leads to the higher path, the right-seeing path and then the path of meditation. That’s how you get liberated from samsara. You overcome death and rebirth and all these sufferings. This is just talking for yourself. Then there’s the Mahayana path to benefit sentient beings.
There are two more reasons for taking the vows and then we’re finished. Then it’s completely finished. There are two advantages I would like to mention.
You can take one vow, two vows, up to all five of the five lay vows. If let’s say you take one of the pratimoksha vows, from the time you take it until your death, continuously day and night, including however many hours you are sleeping—eight hours, ten hours, twenty-four hours—even during your sleep you continuously collect good karma, merit, the cause of happiness. Even if you just take one vow, you continuously collect merit, good karma, the cause of happiness, while you are eating, walking, trekking, going up and down! You are continuously collecting merit and your life is never meaningless; it doesn’t become meaningless by living in this one vow. Even during the hours you spend lying down at the beach in the sun, you continuously collect good karma, the cause of happiness, all the time. That’s the great advantage. Even if you go into a coma for three or four years, even a longer time, your life is not meaningless because you continuously collect merit by living in the vow.
Of course, the more vows you take, the more merit you continuously collect. It makes life meaningful; it continuously gives meaning to your life, becoming useful at least for you.
Actually, this practice, taking refuge and taking vows, is the most practical way of taking care of yourself. How can you take care of yourself? The best way to take care of yourself is by practicing Dharma. That means to abandon creating negative karma, which would mean you have to experience the result of that negative karma, suffering. When you stop creating negative karma and collect good karma, the cause of happiness, the result you experience is happiness. So, the best way to take care of yourself is to practice Dharma. When you are not practicing Dharma, you are not taking care of yourself; you are not loving yourself. When you are practicing Dharma, you are taking care of yourself and protecting yourself from suffering. The best way to take care of yourself, the best way to love yourself, the real way to protect yourself, to guide yourself, is only Dharma. And living in the vows is the essential method for that. It is the one very practical Dharma practice to protect yourself from suffering and its causes.
That is the first thing, remembering the benefits of taking and living in the vows. The other one, it is said by Buddha in the Heap of Flowers Sutra (Metog Tsekpai Do) (Sometimes I get mixed up with another story!) that if all the three realms’ sentient beings—the beings of the desire, form and formless realms—all became the most powerful, wealthy kings, wheel-turning kings—which means not just kings of one country or one continent but of the universe—and they all made offerings to the Buddha of oceans of butter and mountains made out of wax for light offerings, and if we compare that merit that all those wheel-turning kings make to just one person living the vows making a tiny offering to the Buddha, such as the wax for a light offering the size of a mustard seed, that one person would collect far more merit than all those wheel-turning kings.
By having taken even one vow, whenever you collect merit, virtuous actions, by prostrating, by making offering to the Triple Gem, by making charity or doing good things for other sentient beings, anytime you collect merit in everyday life the merit increases to that degree, as I have just explained, greater than all sentient beings as wheel-turning kings making all those offerings to the Buddha but who are not living in the vows.
The second benefit to remember is that the merit increases. Whatever virtuous action you do in everyday life, the merit increases so much. Therefore, the greater number of vows you take and live in, of course the merit increases more and more, more and more. It’s like buying a rosary for one rupee but with that rosary you get a thousand or a hundred thousand or a million rupees or dollars.
That is the second benefit, the incredible, unbelievable advantage of taking and keeping the vows, making it so easy to create the cause of happiness in everyday life.
I think, that’s all! We’ll stop here.
