THE SECRET OF THE MIND
[Rinpoche and students recite Prayers Before Teachings]
In A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life the great bodhisattva Shantideva said,
[5:17] Even those who wish to find happiness and overcome misery
Will wander with no aim nor meaning
If they do not comprehend the secret of the mind—
The paramount significance of Dharma.
About the secret of the mind, when my teacher, Geshe Sopa Rinpoche, gave teachings in Deer Park to us students, because he was giving teachings on the different texts on emptiness, such as the great commentary of the Root Wisdom, Geshe-la related the “secret” to emptiness, but in the commentary by Gyaltsab-je, he said that this “secret” is not related to emptiness. I think because Geshe-la’s main subject was emptiness, maybe he related the meaning of secret to emptiness, but Lama Tsongkhapa’s main disciple, Gyaltsab Rinpoche, explained that it is not emptiness.
Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the kind compassionate buddha, the Omniscient One, whose compassion embraces every single hell being, every single hungry ghost, every single animal—with not even one ant or one mosquito left out, not even the tiniest flies—every single human being—not only in this world but also in the numberless other universes, scientifically mentioned and which the Buddha mentioned—every single sura being, asura being and intermediate state being, his compassion embraces every single sentient being including us. In his life he taught 84,000 teachings. I can’t say these 84,000 teachings are the only ones he taught. His Holiness Sakya Trizin, the head of the Sakya sect who I took many initiations from, said what the Buddha taught was not just the 84,000 teachings; these were just the majority. That is because [he taught for] all the sentient beings who have different levels of mind, different levels of intelligence, different levels of karma, therefore it comes into three levels: the Lesser Vehicle teachings, the Greater Vehicle sutra teachings and the Greater Vehicle tantra teachings. (This is not Hindu tantra but Buddhist tantra.)
Those three are contained in the lamrim, the graduated path to enlightenment, as the graduated path of the three capable beings: the graduated path of the lower capable being in general, the graduated path of the middle capable being in general and the graduated path of the higher capable being. The lamrim is divided into these three categories. The goal [of the graduated path of the lower capable being] is to achieve a higher rebirth as a deva or human, a good rebirth, and to be free from the suffering of the lower realms: the suffering of the hell realm, the hungry ghost realm and the animal realm. The method for that is relying on the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, taking refuge in them, and then protecting our karma.
We abandon the cause of the suffering, the cause of the lower realms, nonvirtue, and only create virtuous action, virtuous karma, causing happiness and higher rebirth. That means abandoning actions such as the ten nonvirtues, which cause the lower realms, as well as the suffering in this life, of course, and then practicing the ten virtues, which brings happiness in future lives as well as this life. Even if our motivation isn’t the happiness of this life, of course it does that.
For example, by taking the five lay vows, we free ourselves from committing the five nonvirtuous actions of killing, stealing, committing sexual misconduct, telling lies and taking alcohol, which interfere with us practicing Dharma, creating virtue, making the mind wild, kind of unconscious. Instead of subduing the mind, it makes the mind wild, causing danger to our life and to others. Even if we can’t practice the five virtuous actions [through keeping] the lay vows, if we can keep four, three, two or one from those five, whichever ones we can, in that way we can protect our karma with a mind relying on the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, taking refuge in them, and then our protecting karma. That is the graduated path of the lower capable being.
Then, on that basis, with the graduated path of the middle capable being, the aim is to achieve liberation from samsara. To be free from samsara, the method is practicing the three higher trainings: the higher training of morality, the higher training of concentration and the higher training of wisdom. The higher training of morality means with refuge. Without refuge, it cannot be a higher training. Then, on the basis of that, the higher training of concentration or meditation, and on the basis of that, the higher training of wisdom. That is the path to achieve liberation from samsara, to achieve nirvana, the graduated path of the middle capable being.
Then, on the basis of that, [with the graduated path of the higher capable being,] the goal is to achieve great nirvana, the total cessation of all obscurations, gross and subtle, and the completion of all the realizations, sang gye. So, the goal is for sentient beings. To be free from lower nirvana, from the self-cherishing thought, the motivation is bodhicitta. We let go of the I, where, as I mentioned, all the suffering arises from, all the obstacles to practice Dharma. We let go of the I and cherish others, all the numberless sentient beings.
As I explained about the Buddha’s holy mind, his compassion cherishes all others, all the numberless sentient beings: the numberless hell beings, the numberless hungry ghosts, the numberless animals, the numberless human beings, the numberless sura and asura beings and the numberless intermediate state beings. Cherishing every single sentient being is where all the happiness arises from. We get all our happiness up to enlightenment from others, so we cherish them.
With that motivation, we engage in the bodhisattva’s conduct, the six perfections, and through that we achieve full enlightenment, buddhahood, for sentient beings. So, the Buddha’s teachings of three levels comes down to the lamrim, showing us with three levels how to go to enlightenment, how to develop the mind toward enlightenment for sentient beings, how to develop the mind toward bodhicitta.
Without preliminary renunciation of samsara, without attaining that realization, although we don’t like suffering, we also don’t like renunciation, because we don’t want to let go of samsaric pleasures, the pleasures we cling to so much. We don’t want to give them up! Because of that, our mind does not develop bodhicitta.
As I mentioned yesterday or the day before, without meditating on our own suffering, without learning about our own suffering, there is no way to recognize or feel the unbearable suffering of others, so there is no way to generate compassion, and therefore no way to develop bodhicitta. Compassion is the preliminary step before bodhicitta.
Because John led the meditation all the way up to here, you can understand why it is so important to meditate on suffering, your suffering and others’ suffering. I heard many stories from Spain, how the Sangha who went to teach Dharma in Spain found the people told them they did not want to hear about suffering! Because they have not really studied lamrim well, they don’t know the reasons. Even in America we have a small center called Pamtingpa Center in Washington. I don’t know the name of the specific area. I heard they said they don’t want to hear about suffering. They told the nun who gives teachings that they don’t want to hear about suffering!
ONLY IN THE SOUTHERN CONTINENT CAN WE PRACTICE DHARMA
Of the samsaric beings in three realms—the desire realm samsaric beings, the form realm samsaric beings and the formless realm samsaric beings—only the desire realm beings experience all three types of suffering: the suffering of pain, the suffering of change and pervasive compounding suffering. When we don’t know about the entire range of suffering, without an outline of the whole of suffering, not even all of the suffering of pain, we cannot get the whole idea. What we know about suffering, even of our own samsara, is very limited, so of course our understanding of how much others suffer is very limited. Then, the renunciation of our own suffering is not there, and so feeling compassion for others does not happen or it is hardly there.
Then, the compassion we feel is very partial, only for somebody we like. Maybe we have compassion for the cats we like but no compassion for rats or spiders or snakes. We have no compassion for the other animals we don’t like. It’s like that. We only have compassion for people we like but no compassion for others we don’t care for. There can also be attachment to the animals we like or the people we like, such as friends. So, there is no way to develop bodhicitta; it’s blocked. It’s impossible. And there is no way to achieve enlightenment. It’s hopeless.
Because our understanding is limited, we don’t know that in the form realm there is the suffering of change and pervasive compounding suffering and in the formless realm there is only the pervasive compounding suffering. They do not have the two other sufferings but they still have pervasive compounding suffering. They are not free from that, so when their karma to be there finishes, past karma ripens then they get reborn in the lower realms of the desire realm.
We have been through that, achieving shamatha meditation, achieving the four levels of firm contemplation. We have achieved renunciation of the desire realm numberless times; we have been born in the form realm through meditation numberless times; we have been born in the formless realm numberless times, but because we did not achieve renunciation to the whole of samsara [we are still not free from samsara.] Even Hindus can attain the form realm and the four levels of the formless realm: limitless sky, limitless consciousness, nothingness and the tip of samsara. They can generate renunciation to that level by seeing, through the six analyses, that the next level is better, with more peace, than the level they are currently on. However, after the tip of samsara there is no higher realm of samsara so there is nothing to compare. Even though they have renunciation of the whole of the desire realm, the form realm and the first three levels of the formless realm, they can never renounce the tip of samsara because there is no higher samsaric realm to compare it to. So, they are stuck. This even happens to Hindu meditators.
I heard that at this time, of the three sets of delusion—gross, middle and small—the delusions are so subtle that the meditator believes they have achieved nirvana. They have not achieved it but they think they have. So, when the karma finishes to be in the tip of samsara, and the next rebirth manifests, in the lower realms or the human realm or whatever, they think, because they assumed they were in nirvana, that they had been deceived and there is no nirvana. They develop heresy, thinking nirvana is not true, and that heresy causes them to be reborn in hell.
So, we have gone through all six realms of the desire realm numberless times. We have gone through these meditations and been born in the form and formless realm numberless times. Calm abiding is common to both Buddhists and Hindus and we have achieved that numberless times. We have achieved renunciation up to the tip of samsara numberless times. But we have to understand that even the tip of samsara is in the nature of suffering. Everything in samsara, from the tip of samsara to the very lowest hell realm, the eighth hot hell, the inexhaustible hot hell, is in the nature of suffering, like being in the center of fire, or like being in prison. We do not want to be in prison for even a second but we are in prison like that. It is like our naked body is wrapped in a thorn bush; we are sitting on a thorn bush.
We have to realize how everything up to and including the tip of samsara is in the nature of suffering, how it is most unbearable. Then, when we see that all sentient beings are suffering in samsara like that, we feel it is unbearable. The numberless sentient beings—the hell beings, the hungry ghosts, the animals, the human beings, the suras, asuras and intermediate state beings—are suffering so much in samsara. We feel it is unbearable, like being in the center of a fire. With that feeling, compassion arises. The more we see our suffering and then others’ suffering, the more we feel how unbearable others’ suffering is and the stronger our compassion for others becomes. And then we can develop strong bodhicitta.
In this world, in the southern continent, because there is pleasure but also so much suffering due to karma, it is very easy to see the suffering and to understand how samsara is so unbearable. We can generate strong renunciation, the first of the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment, and then bodhicitta and right view. We can generate strong renunciation in this continent, the southern continent where we are. And because of that, we are able to generate strong compassion for others and then strong bodhicitta for others, which allows us to achieve enlightenment quickly. Therefore, because we are born in the southern continent at this time, we are so unbelievably fortunate.
All the people of the northern continent live for a thousand years, and they are all like deva realm beings, so wealthy. Without any poverty, they cannot generate renunciation or compassion; there is no kind of opportunity. So, in the other continents it is difficult, whereas here it is so easy to develop the mind to enlightenment.
As I might have mentioned before, even if we don’t generate the tantric path but the sutra path and attain a pure land, because there are no tantric teachings in Amitabha pure land, bodhisattvas there pray to be born in the southern continent where we are, because tantric teachings exist here and they can achieve enlightenment here.
For that reason, we are unbelievably fortunate to be born in the southern continent where tantric teachings still exist, where we can achieve any of the four levels of tantra: the lower tantras of Kriya Tantra and Charya Tantra, or [Yoga Tantra] or Highest Yoga Tantra (Anuttara Yoga Tantra) so we can achieve enlightenment in one life. Whereas only practicing Mahayana sutra where we have to practice the six perfections, that takes three countless great eons to complete the collection of merits of wisdom and merits of virtue. But by practicing tantra we can achieve enlightenment so quickly, in one lifetime.
With Highest Yoga Tantra we achieve enlightenment even more quickly. The reason is having unbelievable compassion. First, such strong renunciation of our own suffering of samsara, and then compassion so strong that we can’t stand it for even a second that sentient beings are suffering in samsara. With that motivation, we practice Highest Yoga Tantra, which allows us to achieve enlightenment, the unified state of Vajradhara, in a brief lifetime of degenerate times. For that reason, we are so unbelievably fortunate. It is so important to recognize how fortunate we are. There is no time, no space, for committing suicide or getting depressed!
We should remember the eight freedoms and ten richnesses that give us the opportunity to practice Dharma. Each one we have is like the sky filled with wish-granting jewels. Thinking like that, remembering each of the eight freedoms and the ten richnesses we have, it’s unbelievable. We feel there is so much to be happy for, so much to enjoy!
I normally mention, when I watched soccer on TV, at the beginning I didn’t recognize when somebody won. Somebody put the ball in the goal and then they ran around, so fast, showing all the nerves outside, not smiling at all. I thought maybe they did something wrong. Later I realized it didn’t mean that; it meant they had won. They seemed completely freaked out, running around like that. Here, day and night, every hour, for our whole life we can do like this, we can run! Even at night-time in our dreams we can do like this, we can run with all our nerves out! So, there is no time for depression!
So, the secret of the mind. Even though we all desire happiness and want to eliminate all suffering, because we don’t know the secret of the mind, we are forced to wander in samsara. We have been wandering in samsara from beginningless rebirths because we don’t know the secret of mind in this life. If we don’t practice Dharma, we wander in samsara forever. Do you understand? You have to understand that. If we don’t know the secret of the mind.
Actions done with the pure mind unstained by the worldly concern of this life, that is Dharma. That brings the happiness of future lives. Then, the mind that is even purer than that, unstained by the attachment to samsara, to the future lives’ samsaric pleasures, that mind causes nirvana, the ultimate happiness. Now, actions with bodhicitta cause enlightenment, to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings. Knowing the secret of the mind means that. If we want happiness we have to know this, otherwise we are like the bees who get into a pot through a hole but are unable to come out. They cannot see how to escape, so they buzz around and around. If we want happiness and do not want suffering, unless we know the secret of the mind, as the great bodhisattva Shantideva said, we are totally blind. What we do is only engage in worldly concern for this life, and then all our actions of body, speech and mind become nonvirtue, the cause of suffering. Then, with attachment to future samsara, the self-cherishing thought, what we do is only suffering.
Sorry, tea.
[Tea offering]
IGNORANCE EXAGGERATES GOOD AND BAD
Connecting to my previous talk, Milarepa’s disciple, Gampopa said,
By looking at the world as a hallucination, whatever is done is meaningless, the cause of suffering, whatever you think there is no benefit. Always train to look at your mind in that way.
This is very important advice. You must write it down. This is his experience, how he sees our life, but it takes a little bit of time to examine the world [in this way] as a hallucination.
Please let me explain. Lama Tsongkhapa said that it is the nature of ignorance to exaggerate. Therefore, things appear to us as good or bad, and from that attachment and anger arise. Normally we think that attachment and anger arise together with the beautiful or ugly object, but that is not what happens. First, we make the reason—“This is good; this is bad”—and then attachment and anger arise. They do not come together. It’s important to know that all this comes from how our basic ignorance exaggerates [the qualities of an object]. We have to know that the whole thing comes from a totally false object and is then built up on that basis. There is nothing true in that; it is all false, a hallucination.
First of all, there is ignorance and then what arises from that is attachment, anger and all these wrong concepts. These wrong concepts come from the way the mind misapprehends the object. Logical reasoning can prove that is wrong; it can prove the way of apprehending the object is wrong. You have to understand this. It is very important. Let me clarify. Through logic, we can prove the way of apprehending the object is totally wrong, therefore these concepts [such as attachment and anger] are wrong concepts.
MEDITATING ON HOW THE I EXISTS
It is the nature of the ignorance to exaggerate. I have to make that clear to be able to fully understand [why we misapprehend the I]. How we create the I—and that of course includes me—is from the base to be labeled “I.” We have the five aggregates—the aggregates of form, feeling, cognition, compounding aggregate and consciousness.8 That mind merely imputes the I. That same mind that focuses on the aggregates merely imputes the I. There is nothing else; that is all.
[Rinpoche makes a noise] Sorry, my Sherpa comedy! I mentioned in Spain or Germany, I’m the Himalayan comedian, I’m the Himalayan Sherpa comedian because I make all kinds of noises. So I told the people there that.
So, the mind focuses on the aggregates and that mind merely imputes I. That is it. The I is nothing more than that. That is the reality. It’s nothing more than that. Anything more than that is a hallucination. Even something slightly more than that is a hallucination. That would means the I exists from its own side. So, what is the I? Nothing else. That is the reality of the I. What is “you,” what is “me?” The I exists but it is unbelievably subtle. It exists, but it is so subtle it’s like it does not exist. You have to know that. You have to know the reality of what the I is. Without following what is projected by ignorance, that is the reality.
So, we are going to meditate on this, to practice the awareness of this, just for a little bit.
[Students meditate for some time]
In the first second, the mind focusing on the aggregates merely imputes the I. Now, in the next second or the next shortest time, the I appears back. It should appear back merely labeled by the mind but for us sentient beings that doesn’t happen. Even for arya beings, except in equipoise meditation on emptiness, it doesn’t appear merely labeled by the mind. Until we achieve enlightenment, how the I appears back to us is a hallucination.
A buddha doesn’t have that hallucination because the subtle negative imprints left by ignorance, delusion, have totally ceased by actualizing the remedy, the path. Therefore, a buddha doesn’t have a dualistic mind or a dualistic view. A buddha’s mind has been totally purified; it has become the buddha’s holy mind, the transcendental wisdom of the dharmakaya. To a buddha, the I is merely labeled by mind and it appears back merely labeled by the mind.
For us sentient beings, even arya beings and higher bodhisattvas, until the subtle negative imprints are totally ceased by completing the remedy, the path, there is the hallucinated appearance. The I appears truly existent. But of course these higher beings, who have a direct perception of emptiness of the I, do not believe the appearance. Even though the I appears to exist from its own side, they do not believe this.
It’s like I explained about the mirage. When you have been through the desert and know it is a mirage, you are not fooled by it. Or like the person who realizes they are dreaming while they are dreaming. There is the appearance of things and events but they do not believe they are real. Because arya beings have a direct perception of emptiness, how could they believe that things exist as they appear, existing from their own side? On the other hand, we completely believe it is true.
For us sentient beings, like me, who have no realization of the emptiness of this I, the I appears to exist from its own side when it appears in the next second, in the next shortest time. It appears as truly existent, as existing from its own side, because there is a negative imprint left on the mental continuum from beginningless rebirths by our ignorance.
In the first second, the mind merely imputes the I, then in the next second or the next shortest moment, that negative imprint projects true existence, projects an I that exists from its own side, that exists by nature. If we use everyday language, the I appears as real. When the I appears back to us, this negative imprint collected from beginningless rebirths by ignorance on our mental continuum decorates this truly existing I [onto the merely labeled I], making the I appear real. Do you see? The real I, the hallucination, is decorated by ignorance onto the merely labeled I. It is that which makes the I appear real to us.
Then, in the third second or the third shortest moment, our mind believes this hallucination. “This I is a hundred percent true, real!” That is ignorance. That is the root of our samsara. We have created it right now. Do you understand? We have created the root of our samsara right now, the root of all our suffering including depression, dissatisfaction, the suffering of pain, the suffering of change and pervasive compounding suffering. This is the root where all the suffering comes from. Believing this hallucinated I is true, that ignorance is the root of our samsara. Now you see. We totally believe this is real, this is true.
And as I mentioned, we live our life for this. We live our life to make this real I happy, to get power and happiness for this real I—which is not there. We work from childhood, through kindergarten, school, college, marriage, children, all to get power and happiness for this real I. Day and night we work for this real I. Making food, even going to the toilet, making pipi and kaka, every movement is done for this real I. Everything we say, everything we do with our body, speech and mind, every single thing is done for this real I—which is not there. Which is not there. Do you understand?
It’s created by our ignorance. This I has been projected, decorated by our ignorance, not by our wisdom. Then, if we have power and influence and there is someone we don’t like, we harm them. We can even start a war, like the First World War. I heard it originally started from one person. So many millions got killed, then the Second World War.
The I appears real and the mind decides this is completely true. Then, anything we dislike, we harm or destroy. There have been the First and Second World Wars, so we can start the Third World War, with so many millions and millions of people getting killed, suffering and suffering. And this is without counting the animals, just the people. It comes from this ignorance, this wrong concept that creates the false I, this object to be refuted. The ignorance creates the false I; it believes the I to be real.
Then, if there is anything we do not like, if somebody complains about us, we put that person in prison right away. We have a court case and put them in prison; we torture and kill them. In the world, we create problems like this all the time: problems within the country, problems within society, problems within the family, our own problems. It’s unimaginable.
Every single thing we do is done for this real I, which is not there. Do you understand? We need to learn what is false in life and what is true in life. That is what we are learning now, what is true in our life, what is false in our life. We have to know that.
Like this I, the body exists in mere name, merely labeled, but to our hallucinated mind, it appears the wrong way. As projected by ignorance, by the negative imprint, it appears as a real body, so that too is a hallucination. It’s the same thing with the mind; [it appears as] a real mind. The mind exists in mere name but because of the negative imprint left by ignorance, when it appears it is projected as real, as existing from its own side; it appears as a real mind.
Form is similar. Although merely labeled by the mind, when it appears, the negative imprint decorates the real form on the merely labeled form. Anything we see is like that. Form, all the thangkas, lights, everything we see here we see as real from its own side. When we look outside at the sky, there appears to be a real sky from there, a real road from there, real trees from there, real food, real people, real animals, real everything. Although everything exists in mere name, it does not appear that way. That additional appearance of real phenomena is the hallucination. It is a total hallucination.
Then, sound. Sound is merely labeled by the mind but when it appears, the negative imprint left by ignorance decorates a real sound existing from its own side. Whatever we hear—the sound of dogs, the sound of music, the sound of somebody [tapping] a paper cup, the sound of talking—we don’t hear it as merely labeled sound but as real sound. We hear a cough and it appears as a real cough from there; laughing appears as real sound. All sounds appear like that. Even if we fart, the sound of the fart appears to come from there. All sounds are real sounds. But that is a total hallucination.
Then, smell. The smell of a fart! The smell of Lawudo incense; it’s all real. We don’t see it is merely labeled smell; we see it as a real smell, a real bad smell or a real good smell. That is a total hallucination.
Then, taste. When we eat chili, it is so hot and that hot taste seems to exist from its own side, not merely labeled. But again, this is due to the negative imprint that decorates it as a real taste. If it is salt, it is the real taste of salt or if it is sweet—such as when we eat ice cream—the taste of sweetness appears as real sweet.
Then, tangible. There appears real gentle touch, real soft touch. Every tangible thing is truly existent, not merely labeled. All this is a total hallucination. Form, sound, smell, taste, tangible. When we are walking on the road or sitting on the floor, we see [the surface] as something hard from its own side; it is not merely labeled hard but hard from there, real hard from there. That is a total hallucination.
The seat we are sitting on seems something real from there, not a merely labeled seat but a real seat appearing from there. That is a total hallucination. The whole thing is a total hallucination. Nothing is there in reality. Nothing, not even something the size of an atom, is there. This is an extremely profound meditation. If we can do a mindfulness meditation on this, that is the best mindfulness meditation. We look all these phenomena, which are all hallucinations, as hallucinations.
From beginningless rebirths we have been suffering in samsara. We are still not free from suffering because we believe all this is true, and because of that we get attached. On that basis, from attachment anger arises, and all the 84,000 delusions arise. On the basis of ignorance, on the basis of all the delusions, we suffer our whole life like this.
This is the best meditation, the most profound meditation. If you can do this meditation, this is excellent. For example, if you are walking on the beach, in the water there are fish, there are animals who live in the water. Many people who go to the beach have attachment to the water. On the basis of their ignorance, they see real water from there and the discriminating thought, seeing real bad and real good. Then, attachment arises. I’m sorry to say this, but many who are born in the water as fish were human beings before. It could be some of those human beings now [were fish before]; it could be the other way around, but I’ll explain it in different way for the practice of mindfulness, to generate compassion for them.
While you are walking there, you see all those thousands of real people lying naked in the real water. As you walk along the beach with the practice of mindfulness, you look at all this as a hallucination. That which is a hallucination, you look at as a hallucination. Don’t forget this.
While you are walking with this meditation, consider the reality of life—what is false and what is true in your life. This [hallucination] is false. By meditating on the false, by looking at the false as false, that meditation is also on what is the truth in your life. That is a fantastic reason to go to the beach. It is so worthwhile to go to the beach to do a meditation like this. Then, your mind will be subdued and there will be incredible peace in your heart.
You can do the same thing when you go to a department store. Even if you have nothing to buy, you can go there for the meditation. There is the women’s makeup department with all the makeup for the face and the body; there are the children’s and adults’ clothing departments—there is so much to see. You can go to each level and do the same meditation, looking at that which is a hallucination as a hallucination. That is so meaningful. It helps you see the truth of your life. It is amazing. That is one way.
You can do the same at the market, or even when you go for a walk on the beach and other places. That is the most unbelievably beneficial mindfulness meditation. That mindfulness is so profound. If you go for a walk, with that meditation you eliminate ignorance, the root of your samsara, the root of all the suffering. You can eliminate attachment, anger, pride, all the delusions, by meditating on emptiness like that. That is one way.
Since I mentioned it, you can do a similar meditation while you are trekking in the mountains, such as to Everest. Is there anybody here who is planning to go to Mount Everest, who wants to climb Mount Everest? I’m not sure. There is a Sherpa man in New York who climbed Mount Everest twenty-five times. I only met one man who climbed it five times. I told him to receive teachings from Kyabje Khyongla Rato Rinpoche. He was very surprised. Anyway, whether you are going trekking or on a pilgrimage, you should plan to do this. Even if you are planning to do a pilgrimage from home for many weeks and months, you should plan to meditate like this while you are walking on the pilgrimage, seeing the holy places, the temples. If you can practice mindfulness like this while you are doing the pilgrimage, meditating on emptiness, it is so worthwhile. Even just in your own room, try to practice mindfulness like that, as I explained.
Sorry, I didn’t even finish the lung.
Practicing mindfulness in this way is a very good meditation, becoming the remedy to all the delusions. The other way is to meditate on subtle dependent arising, seeing the merely labeled I doing the merely labeled action of walking on the merely labeled road. Or seeing the merely labeled I doing the merely labeled action of eating the merely labeled food. Whatever you are doing, practice subtle dependent arising. As I mentioned, the merely labeled I you meditate on is an extremely subtle phenomenon, extremely subtle, but you are looking at the truth of your life—not the hallucination but the truth.
That is one way to do the mindfulness meditation on emptiness. Whichever way you do it gives an understanding of how the negative imprint projects something real and how none of this is true. It gives that understanding. So there are different ways you can do that.
I’ll tell you one thing. When we are angry, if we can suddenly go back [to that feeling] and see that this I exists in mere name, if we can meditate on that, the minute we go back to that state, the anger is gone. The anger cannot exist because it is built on the hallucination. I quoted Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings. That is very important to write down. The awareness of the truth of our life is so important to know. When we think of the merely labeled I, there is no place for anger. [Rinpoche snaps his fingers] Then, after that, when our mind is distracted, when the real I appears, the anger comes back.
We can clearly see what Lama Tsongkhapa explained from our own experience, how ignorance creates the real I. It creates the real I, the real form, the real sound, the real person, whatever. Then, the mind discriminates good and bad, beautiful and ugly, and then attachment and anger arise after that. You have to know that.
This proves what Lama Tsongkhapa said. At that time, when we see the merely labeled I, there is no place for anger to arise. Anger is gone. [Rinpoche snaps his fingers] But when the mind is distracted, the real I comes; again there is good and bad and anger comes again. With logical reasoning we are able to prove this wrong concept is wrong. We believe anger and attachment is the correct mind, but we have to know it is a wrong concept. The proof is here.
First of all, there is ignorance that creates the real I, then the mind discriminates good and bad, beautiful and ugly, exaggerating the qualities of the object, making them appear real. Then, attachment and anger arise, adding an extra exaggeration. In reality it is not there. The object that ignorance, attachment and anger believe is there is not there; that real, beautiful thing, that real, ugly thing is not there. It is all built on the basis of ignorance, a projection, an exaggeration.
Now listen. Our life is full of exaggeration. First there is ignorance, then, on top of that, we project beautiful or ugly. And then, attachment and anger arise. So many wrong concepts! We live our life with these hallucinations, always suffering. By looking at our own hallucinated world and that of others, we get the idea of what Lama Tsongkhapa said. There are two things. First ignorance exaggerates, and then, on that basis, the mind exaggerates beautiful and ugly, the second exaggeration. Looking at the hallucinated world in that way gives the whole idea of what is false.
Whatever is done with that misunderstanding has no meaning; it is the cause of suffering. It is the cause of the suffering of the lower realms. Everything done with worldly concern, with attachment to this life, everything becomes nonvirtue. Every action of body, speech, and mind becomes nonvirtue, the cause of the lower realms.
Even if we want to become a billionaire, there is no benefit. It just develops unbelievable dissatisfaction, unhappiness. There’s no benefit. No benefit. Even if we go to the moon, spending so many millions and billions of dollars, there is no benefit. It doesn’t help us stop being reborn in the lower realms or getting a higher rebirth; it doesn’t help us gain a human or deva rebirth. Whatever we think, there is no benefit. Therefore, we must always be habituated to looking at our mind. That can be done in many ways. Looking at our mind can be looking at the absolute nature of our mind or the conventional nature of our mind. There are these two main ways.
Many meditators think that meditating on the mind as formless, colorless and shapeless is meditating on emptiness, but it is not emptiness, it is the conventional nature of the mind. There are many different ways of getting habituated to looking at our mind. For example, whenever attachment or anger or whatever negative thought arises, not even looking at the ultimate nature, by even looking at the conventional nature of the mind, like looking in a mirror, by focusing the mind on that, the delusions go away.
SUBDUING THE MIND, THERE ARE NO ENEMIES
Like that, we can transform our mind into the three secrets of the mind, as I explained before. By transforming our mind into the secret of the mind it becomes virtue, especially bodhicitta. With tantra, all the form that appears [is the guru-deity’s holy body], whatever sound we hear is the guru-deity’s holy mantra, whatever thought arises is the guru-deity’s holy mind, the dharmakaya. There are many different ways.
I quoted this before:
[5:17] Even those who wish to find happiness and overcome misery
Will wander with no aim nor meaning
If they do not comprehend the secret of the mind—
The paramount significance of Dharma.
Unless we know the secret of the mind, it is like that. This is true of the whole world, not only those on the beach, those doing business, those going by plane, by car or by ship. I haven’t been on a ship but I hear they have dances of ships and all kinds of things for people to enjoy. The people who know the secret of the mind are so few; the people who don’t know the secret of the mind are numberless.
Everybody wishes to achieve happiness and eliminate suffering but because they do not know the secret of the mind, they wander meaninglessly in samsara from life to life, from beginningless rebirths. Therefore, we are now so fortunate, at this time, to be able to come to Kopan to do this course. We are unbelievably fortunate, at least to come to know the secret of the mind. Don’t forget. Think of how many human beings are suffering in the world without knowing the secret of the mind. Shantideva continued,
[5:18] This being so,
I shall hold and guard my mind well.
Without the discipline of guarding the mind,
What use are many other disciplines?
If we do not protect the mind, whatever we do outside is of no benefit. Sorry, I left that verse out when I quoted before. Harmful sentient beings are like the sky, meaning they are limitless, numberless. To be free of them by killing them, that would be limitless, but when we destroy our anger we have no external enemies at all. As Shantideva said,
[5:13] Where would I possibly find enough leather
With which to cover the surface of the earth?
Yet (wearing) leather just on the soles of my shoes
Is equivalent to covering the earth with it.
To protect our feet, if we had to cover the whole earth with leather, there would not be enough leather, but it is sufficient just to wear a pair of shoes to stop being stung by thorns. It is like covering the whole earth in leather. He continued,
[5: 14] Likewise it is not possible for me
To restrain the external course of things;
But should I restrain this mind of mine
What would be the need to restrain all else?
By subduing our mind, our anger, all our external enemies, those who have harmed us in the past are subdued, meaning we have no external enemy. Therefore, subduing our own mind is the best. This is like the Buddha said,
Do not commit any unwholesome actions.
Engage only in perfect, wholesome actions.
Subdue one’s own mind.
This is the teaching of the Buddha.9
It is incredibly important to subdue our mind. Even if we know all the Kangyur and Tengyur by heart—the Kangyur with more than a hundred volumes, the Tengyur with more than two hundred—even if we know the entire sutra and tantra by heart, unless we subdue our mind, we are not practicing the Dharma. It’s like playing a tape recorder. We are not practicing the Dharma unless we subdue our mind. Even if we don’t know much, if we can subdue our mind a little bit, that is the practice of the Dharma. This is so important.
I will stop here.
DEDICATIONS
[Rinpoche and the students recite prayers in Tibetan]
“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, all the three-time merits collected by numberless sentient beings and numberless buddhas, may I, my family members who are dead and who are alive, everybody, and all of us here, all the students, be guided by Lama Tsongkhapa, being our Mahayana virtuous friend in all our lifetimes. May we never be separated from the pure path admired by all the buddhas. May we actualize in our hearts and in the hearts of all other students Lama Tsongkhapa’s unmistaken teachings in this life.”
[Rinpoche and the students recite prayers in Tibetan]
We must pray for the world; we are responsible.
“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, all the three-time merits collected by numberless sentient beings and numberless buddhas, may the wars happening now and in the future be stopped immediately and may all the sicknesses and famine be stopped immediately. May all the dangers of fire stop immediately.” Like the fires that happened for many months in California, where numberless big and small animals and many human beings were killed. “May the danger of fire, the danger of water—the tsunamis and so forth—the danger of air and the danger of earth—earthquakes, avalanches, landslides and so forth that happen again and again—may all these stop immediately and may perfect peace and happiness prevail in everyone’s heart by generating loving kindness, compassion and bodhicitta in everyone’s hearts.
“May the Buddhadharma, where sentient beings receive peace and happiness from, last a long time. May sentient beings meet the Buddhadharma and achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible. May I be able to cherish every sentient being more than the sky filled with wish-granting jewels.
“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, all the three-time merits collected by numberless sentient beings and numberless buddhas, may any sentient being who sees me or who I see, who hears my voice or name, who remembers me, who touches me, who talks to me, who sees my picture—just by that—may they be free from all suffering and achieve all happiness including enlightenment.”
Then the last dedication:
“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, all the three-time merits collected by numberless sentient beings and numberless buddhas, which exist in mere name, may the I, who exists in mere name, achieve buddhahood, which exists in mere name, and lead all the sentient beings, who exist in mere name, to that buddhahood, which exists in mere name, by myself alone, who exists in mere name.”
Notes
8 Also translated as form, feeling, discriminative awareness, compositional factors and consciousness. [Return to text]
9 See FPMT Essential Prayer Book, p. 79, which can be found in the FPMT Catalogue. [Return to text]
