UNLESS WE MEET THE DHARMA, WE MISS THE POINT
A star, a defective view, a butter lamp flame,
An illusion, a dew drop, a water bubble,
A dream, lightning, a cloud:
See all causative phenomena like this.10
Kar ma [a star]. Relating to the I, there is no I, and not just that. Without relating to the object to be refuted, gag cha, just looking for the mere I, we cannot find it from the tip of the hair down to the toes, neither in the body or the mind. Nowhere in the entire collection of aggregates can we find the I. However, that is not emptiness. That is the wrong meditation on emptiness. We have to know that. If we don’t know that, even if we meditate on that for a thousand eons, we don’t realize emptiness. We are meditating on nihilism. We must know what nihilism is. Here, we are meditating on nihilism not on emptiness. You have to know that one hundred percent. You have to write that down in your book, otherwise you will make mistakes. Many meditators think this is a meditation on emptiness. Even those who debate well, those who are experts, think that this is a meditation on emptiness, on absolute nature. However, Lama Tsongkhapa negated that, proving it is not a meditation on absolute nature at all.
When we meditate on emptiness using the four vital points of meditation, the first is the definite understanding of the object to be refuted. If we miss that very first one, we are not meditating on emptiness. If we miss that, it’s trying to shoot our enemy with a gun or arrow but hitting our friend instead. We hallucinate that our friend is a thief and shoot them, whereas we don’t see the thief as our enemy.
To meditate on emptiness is to realize that the real I doesn’t exist, the real I that appears to us and that we believe in a hundred percent. Only those who understand the Madhyamaka Prasangika view of emptiness well, especially those who have realized it, [don’t believe in this real I]. Otherwise, no question—the ants on the ground, the mosquitoes going buzz, they believe in the real I. Even human beings who have so much education, doing science at university, believe in the real I that is not there. Because they believe in that, from beginningless rebirths up to now they have been suffering in the six suffering realms. From beginningless rebirths. Not just once but from beginningless rebirths.
All the Buddhadharma comes in three aspects, the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment: renunciation, bodhicitta and right view, emptiness. Unless we meet the Dharma, unless we meet the lamrim teachings, we miss the point. We might have received a precious human body but we still have not met the Dharma, we still have not come to know the ultimate reality of the I. And, because of that, we must suffer again endlessly in samsara.
Even cancer or the worst problem of the human world, something that brings such unbelievable pain, is nothing compared to the smallest hell suffering. Compared to the smallest suffering of hell realm, the greatest, most unimaginable suffering for a human being is nothing. Comparatively, it is great peace. And yet, we must continue to suffer in each of the six realms on and on.
We have suffered from beginningless rebirths up to now, since time without a beginning. We have to really think well on that—without a beginning. It’s not just words; it is something utterly terrifying. Without a beginning, suffering endlessly, unless we can find a perfect human body and use that to meet the Dharma. Achieving this human rebirth just once, unless we then get to learn the Dharma, we are just using this human body like an animal uses theirs. We are the same as the ants, the snakes, the tigers. We eat other sentient beings like they do, just as the big animals eat the small animals and the small animals eat the smaller ones. Unless we have the Dharma, we are no different.
IN THE CITY OF HALLUCINATION
As I mentioned yesterday, 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.
[Unless we look at the world as a hallucination,] everything is basically done with attachment to worldly concern. Nighttime, daytime, every single activity is like that. There are anger and other delusions, but mostly there is attachment clinging to the happiness of this life, clinging to pleasure, and because of that every action is nonvirtuous; everything becomes negative karma. Every action is meaningless, becoming suffering in this life and bringing about suffering in the lower realms as a result.
Whatever we do in this life, living as a farmer or a businessperson, whether we drop out of an airplane and try to fly while holding hands with the people around us, whatever we do has no meaning; it is only the cause of suffering. As I mentioned yesterday, even if we try to become a billionaire or go to the moon, if it’s done with the motivation of attachment to this life, it becomes nonvirtue. Even going to the moon is nothing, just nonvirtue. Whatever we do has no benefit for our future life. When we die, there is no benefit; and beyond this life, there is no benefit. [We must see this.] As the quote says, we should always train our mind in that way. That is Milarepa’s disciple’s advice. By meditating on the mind in this way, we can achieve enlightenment. I don’t remember the exact words, but that is the meaning.
Since I mentioned this, as the continuation of yesterday’s talk, there is very wonderful teaching from my root guru, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s younger tutor. He passed away a long time ago in that aspect, so now there is the incarnation. Rinpoche was invited to Switzerland the first time by Dagyab Kyabgon Rinpoche, a great lama. Although he was a monk before, he is now lay. He invited Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche to his home. I think it was about Christmastime, I’m not sure, but there were lots of fireworks, with various colors shooting out. Rinpoche was reciting Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, the migtsema prayer, so he used the fireworks for the visualization of the Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga where nectar comes to us and all sentient beings. He uses the many wonderful colors coming from the fireworks as nectar. Then, he reached Dagyab Kyabgon Rinpoche’s home which, because it was in the West and in Switzerland, was very luxurious. Rinpoche said this. I can sort of remember the verse from the great saint, Lingrepa,11 which said,
In samsara, the city of preconceptions,
Wander the zombies of the eight worldly dharmas.
You are in a terrifying charnel ground;
Have your guru perform an exorcism.12
Unexamined, it seems as if everything is OK, very pleasant “in the city of preconceptions” or the city of hallucination. That is the first thing that appears to the mind. That is what common people think, what they believe—“It’s OK, no problem. Everything is pleasant.”
It seems very pleasant in the city of hallucination. Remember that yesterday we meditated on how what we normally think is correct, without mistakes, what is not a hallucination, what is true, that this in reality is a hallucination. Remember, as I guided yesterday, this is a total hallucination; it is totally wrong. If we look at it like we did yesterday, in the city of the hallucination everything is an exaggeration. What appears to us, what we believe, everything is an exaggeration of ignorance, misbelieving that everything is true, everything is real, that there is a real I, a real friend, a real enemy—everything. So, the “city of hallucination” refers to the first hallucination, the basic hallucination.
Then, on top of that, we differentiate: this is good, this is bad; this is beautiful, this is ugly. Then, there is the second hallucination: attachment and anger. Attachment and anger arise in the city of hallucination. You have to know that—the city of hallucination, in our life.
This wrong concept of the eight worldly dharmas is created not only by ignorance but also by attachment and anger. With attachment to this life, we believe in the four pleasures as real and the four undesirable things as real. We like these four real desirable objects of this life and we dislike the four real undesirable objects. This causes our life to be up and down, depending on which set of four we meet, a real desirable object or a real undesirable object. But real! That’s why many millions and millions of people are depressed in the West. All this comes from the eight worldly dharmas, which are caused by the root, ignorance.
Our acts are “acts of illusion.” For example, in the theater, one person might act as a king and then a servant, simply by changing costumes. The eight worldly dharmas are like that, an act of illusion. If there were no words, it would stop there. But there is an unbelievable amount of creation, of illusion, all created by worldly concern. But all that is a hallucination, a life of hallucination. None of that exists in reality; it is empty. So much is happening but it is all empty.
I don’t remember the next verse but that is the essence of what His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche said. His Holiness was making a little joke, making fun of Dagyab Kyabgon Rinpoche. He talked about how Brahma created four faces for his wife because he was incredibly attached to her. He made her with four faces so he could look at all four faces. I think His Holiness was making a little bit joke, but he used this as an example. Dagyab Kyabgon Rinpoche has a wife.
Beauty is created by us. We merely label what exists but then ignorance also projects “beautiful” onto it, decorating it as real and beautiful. The whole thing is created by the mind. Something is real nice, is real beautiful, but all that is created by the mind. Everything comes from the mind. Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche used the example of Brahma, how he created his wife and then became so attached. He created four faces for her in order to look at her four faces. That is the story.
That is the reality, but Rinpoche was making fun. My memory is so bad that I don’t remember the exact verses, but the meaning is like that. This teaching is great advice showing what is false in life and what is truth in life. Our lives are kind of filled like that, with this double and triple hallucination, all of which is a creation of our mind. Everything comes from the mind.
THE TABLE EXISTS IN MERE NAME
There are very extensive philosophical Madhyamaka teachings using many different logical reasons to be learned, but here in lamrim is the essence. For analyzing the four vital points as a way of meditating on emptiness, establishing the object to be refuted is the first one.
When I used to introduce a meditation like this, I would use the example of the table, just the name “table.” Where is it? If we don’t analyze the real table but just the table, where is it? I told you when we meditate on the I—the merely labeled I and then the real I—that is the biggest hallucination. So the table, just the table, without relating to the real table, where is it? There is no table anywhere. This is not the table, this is not the table, this is not the table. No part is the table. In the end it’s clear that there is no table.
However, that does not help to prove the existence of table; it does not help the conventional truth, how table actually exists. There is table, yes! It’s not saying there is no table. That would mean that there is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no liberation. That would mean that there is no Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. It becomes like that. So, realizing there is no table should finally help us realize how the table exists. The table exists in mere name. It should help with that understanding. You should write that down. If it did not help, if it could not help, that would be nihilism. If one understanding contradicted the other—how the table is unfindable but how it exists in mere name—that would be nihilism. That is the wrong meditation on emptiness. You have to know that.
The conclusion is if it helps to realize the table exists in mere name, then it is right meditation on emptiness. We have to know right meditation on emptiness. Some people might say they have realized emptiness but they cannot find the table. It should help to understand that the table exists in mere name.
This is so powerful. We have to practice good karma and abandon negative karma; we have to create the cause of happiness and abandon the cause of suffering. If nothing exists, there is no karma, so there is no need to practice, no need to do anything! It’s OK if we don’t eat, if we don’t work. We don’t need an education; we don’t have to go to school, to college, to university. Why do we need money to eat if nothing exists? Why do we need to eat if there is no hunger and thirst?
There was a Zen master who only accepted one disciple, a young boy. He was the only one and he was trying to meditate on Zen, believing in nothing. I don’t know whether I asked him that if nothing existed why did he need to go to the bathroom. Why did he eat? I don’t remember whether I asked that or not, if that is the consequence of nothing existing. So you see?
We can never touch the false table, the real table that appears from there, the truly existent table, the table existing by nature. We search for the real table—that is the correct meditation on emptiness—but where is it? Nowhere.
Not like before, [but when we meditate] deeply on emptiness, that is so powerful in training the mind in that, helping to realize that the table exists. The table exists in mere name. It is so powerful in helping us realize the table exists in mere name, not that the real table exists. It’s like the meditation on the merely labeled I that we did yesterday. How the table actually exists is so unbelievably subtle. That is emptiness, that is real emptiness.
In this way, the meditation on emptiness does not conflict with karma. When it is difficult to accept karma because of emptiness, this supports karma, showing karma exists in mere name. Therefore, we need to practice morality, abandoning harming ourselves and other sentient beings and benefiting sentient beings, who exist in mere name. [This correct view of emptiness] supports karma and morality. Otherwise, when we meditate on emptiness, when we think about emptiness, it seems contradictory to karma. That is the wrong way of thinking on emptiness. I don’t know if many people think like that or not. The conclusion is that if the real table is still there, where is that real table? When we check everywhere like that, every atom, we find nothing exists, neither there nor anywhere.
THE VARYING SUBTLETIES OF THE REFUTING OBJECT
[After] the vital point of understanding the refuting object, there is the vital point of pervasion. That means if the I truly existed (this first point), it should either be one with the aggregates or it should exist separately from them. That understanding is the vital point of pervasion.
Then, the next point is proving that the I is not one with the aggregates. Any phenomenon that exists has to exist as either oneness with the aggregates or separately them. We have to understand this vital point, that the real I is not oneness with the aggregates, and then we have to understand the next vital point that the real I does not exist separately from the aggregates. These four vital points are very important. This is the very important basic meditation, the way to analyze how the I exists.
Tsongkhapa explained in the Lamrim Chenmo that it is like searching for the vase on the vase. We search for the vase on the base, the parts of the form of the vase—on the big belly, on the bottom part and so forth—each part comprises the base. So, if we check the vase—not the real vase but just the vase—this part and this part and this part, nothing is the vase. We cannot find the vase. Then, thinking [that the vase does not exist at all], that is falling in nihilism. It destroys the dependent arising, it destroys that which exists. We destroy the vase that exists, which is a dependent arising, existing in mere name, and we fall into nihilism.
That is because we have not differentiated appearance—the object to be refuted—and the base to be labeled. It has not been differentiated. I need to check that last word precisely.
I’m not sure whether I went through this or not. Hindus believe the I is permanent, that it is atman, but Buddhists don’t believe this. We believe the I is impermanent, that it changes even second by second because it is under the control of causes and conditions. Not only changing hour by hour, minute by minute, even within a split second it changes because it is under the control of causes and conditions. That is subtle impermanence. It changes within the shortest time, which, according to the Mahayana is a three hundred and sixty-fifth of the time of the sound of a finger snap by a young person. According to the lower school, Vaibhashika, there are sixty-five within a finger snap. It’s the shortest time; I think we would call it a split second.
Hindus believe the I is permanent, independent, existing alone without depending on parts, without depending on causes and conditions.
The four Buddhists schools—Vaibhashika, Sautrantika, Cittamatra and Madhyamaka—happened during the Buddha’s time. There are eighteen [sub]schools within the Vaibhashika (Tib: jedrag mawa) school, and one of them, nimade pepu, is a little bit different, believing the I is neither impermanent or permanent. Only that school is a little bit different. It is not exactly like Hindu philosophy that believes the I is completely permanent but posits it is neither permanent nor impermanent. Otherwise, all the other schools accept it is not only impermanent in nature but also that it is dependent in nature, depending on parts, not existing alone, not existing with its own independence, without depending on causes and conditions. The I also does not exist self-sufficiently, just as there can be no king without depending on the population. They think like that: that it is wrong that the I can exist self-sufficiently. It depends on the aggregates. Even though it appears to exist independently and we believe it, that is totally wrong. The Sautrantika school is also like that.
The Mind Only School posits eight consciousnesses. Although the other schools posit six normally, they say there are eight consciousnesses. The seventh consciousness is the basis of samsara and nirvana and the eighth consciousness is how things basically exist due to an imprint, a substance, left on the seventh consciousness that gets experienced as one object and one subject.
For example, the color blue gets experienced from one subject, with the perceiver, the mind, knowing the phenomenon, the object, blue. The Mind Only School posits that they both manifest together. There is no I that exists from its own side without depending on a substance left on the seventh consciousness manifesting out as subject and object. Without depending on that, the I does not exist. This means that there is no I that truly exists.
The lower [sub]school of Madhyamaka, Svatantrika, cannot accept that the I exists in mere name, merely labeled by the mind. For them, if the I were to exist in mere name, merely labeled by the mind, that would mean the I does not exist at all. For them, that means nihilism, which becomes the opposite to what they believe. They believe that the I exists being labeled by the mind, but while labeled by the mind, it exists from its own side. So, they accept both—the I exists from its own side and also labeled by the mind, but not merely labeled by the mind. Their view is that there is no I that totally exists from its own side, without the mind labeling it.
They cannot accept the I is merely labeled by the mind because they believe there must be something very subtle that exists from its own side. The I does not completely exist from its own side but there must be something from the object’s side, from the side of the I.
That view is the very subtle object to be refuted, according to Madhyamaka Prasangika. That is exactly what blocks us from seeing the Prasangika’s view of emptiness. That very subtle existing thing [that the Svatantrika’s posit] is what we need to disprove, what we need to refute to totally realize emptiness. We need to realize that even that very subtle view is false, that it is totally empty, that there is nothing at all from its own side. That is the method to see the emptiness of the I. There is nothing there from its own side! [Rinpoche shouts this last sentence.]
I have to make a noise because, as I said, I’m a Sherpa comedian! I’m a Sherpa comedian from Mount Everest, so I have to make a funny noise. There is totally nothing from there. That’s the Prasangika’s view; that’s the right view of emptiness. If we can realize that, we can eliminate the root of our samsara, we can eliminate all our suffering!
We can realize that there is no I that exists from the aggregates but there is I on the aggregates. There is no I from the aggregates but there is an I on the aggregates. It powerfully exists on the aggregates under the control of the name but there is no I from the aggregates at all. But, we have to understand that the I we see that is on the aggregates still does not appear to us as merely labeled. If we saw it as the merely labeled I, that would be OK; that would correct. The mistake is seeing the real I on the aggregates even though we see there is no I from the aggregates. That part is correct—that there is no I from the aggregates. But there seems to be an real I on the aggregates. The mistake is feeling that there has to be a real I on something.
There is no mug on this table; there is no mug on this flower, but because there are the parts of the mug together, this mug exists. The mistake is that we still see a real I on the aggregates. If we saw that the I was merely labeled, that would be correct.
I think maybe he did not get to explain the details, but His Holiness said that there is no I from the aggregates but there is an I on the aggregates. He did not talk about the real I, which is the main block to realizing the Prasangika’s view. I think His Holiness mentioned this to inspire my mind, that this is the understanding of the Prasangika’s view of emptiness. But then Kyabje Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche mentioned that realizing the Svatantrika view is [also] correct. Kyabje Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche explained that the mistake is thinking that there is the real I on the aggregates even though there is no real I from the aggregates. The real I, even the subtle one, is totally nonexistent. He said we need that realization.
When we meditate every day to increase the time of our concentration, we need to use the technique from the nine levels of the calm abiding meditation, how to do perfect meditation and overcome the two main obstacles, attachment-scattering thought and sinking thought. Other translators do not use “attachment” but I do. That’s just my own translation, “attachment-scattering thought.” There is gross and subtle. Then sinking thought—not singing like in singing a song—sinking thought, there is also gross and subtle. We have to overcome that.
The technique mentioned here is that we use the meditation on the basis of shamatha to develop our wisdom, to reach the special insight analyzing emptiness. That leads to the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness, by which we can cease the cause of karma and delusions. When we have gradually ceased karma and delusions, when we have finally ceased them totally, we are free from all suffering forever, not just for a few lifetimes or a few years. We are forever free from the suffering of pain, the suffering of change and pervasive compounding suffering.
[Tea offering]
Student: Shimpodu [delicious].
Rinpoche: When did you learn the word?
Student: Maybe two weeks ago in Dharamsala.
Rinpoche: Only then?
Student: Yes.
Rinpoche: One time at Lawudo I taught a very bad Tibetan word to somebody.
Student: What word was that?
Rinpoche: It is not something I can say in public! A Westerner came to Lawudo and I taught him “thank you” (tujeche). But I added some things. I didn’t tell him what it meant but it was “Your fart is very delicious.” But I don’t remember whether I taught him “thank you” or not. He went down to Namche Bazaar, where the police office is, (it’s from there you go to Tibet and Mount Everest) so I’m sure people laughed at him. I’m sure he said it in the chai shops. But he didn’t ask me what it meant. I don’t know whether he came back or not.
As I mentioned before, the 84,000 teachings of the Buddha come in three levels: the Lesser Vehicle teachings, the Mahayana sutra teachings and the Mahayana tantric teachings. These all come into the lamrim, the graduated path to enlightenment, and can be divided into renunciation, bodhicitta and right view, which is the whole essence, the heart. Without realizing emptiness, even if we meditate on a very high tantra subject, like dzogchen or dzogrim, without knowing the secret of the mind that I explained yesterday, there is a danger that it even becomes the path to be born in the lower realms, as a hell being, a hungry ghost or an animal. This is even by practicing the highest meditation of tantra. Then, there is the danger that it becomes the cause of samsara. Even if it doesn’t become the cause of the lower realms, it becomes the cause of samsara. For the highest tantra teachings to not become the cause of samsara, we need to understand emptiness, we need to practice emptiness, and that is not just anything called emptiness by different schools, it has to be the Prasangika’s view. Only then, practicing tantra, practicing dzogchen or dzogrim, will our practice become a remedy to samsara, not a cause of samsara.
Then, by eliminating that, we are able to eliminate all the rest of the delusions. The sense basis of the eye, then sense basis of the ear, the sense basis of the nose, of the tongue and all that, all those are based on the sense basis of the body. Like that, all the delusions are based on ignorance, so by meditating on dependent arising, we are able to realize subtle emptiness, the Prasangika’s view.
[A cat climbs up onto the throne with Rinpoche]
Student: Best seat in the house.
[The cat sits right up against Rinpoche legs, calmly cleaning itself]
Rinpoche: His Holiness the Dalai Lama has a brother called Ngari Rinpoche, an incarnate lama. He says when the cat puts the hands like this, leg like this, the cat is playing the guitar. This cat is the first one. No cat has come up on the throne before. I heard a cow baby, a calf, went on top of the throne of Ganden Tripa, the regent of Lama Tsongkhapa. I heard it went on top of the throne, but I don’t know what it means.
So what was I talking about?
Student: The 84,000 delusions.
Rinpoche: By meditating on dependent arising then we are able to realize the Prasangika’s view of emptiness, then that eliminates ignorance, that means all the delusions. Without taking much time, just about once we have received a perfect human rebirth in order to quickly realize this.
[The cat talks to Rinpoche]
Student: She wants you to move the stuff so she can go higher.
Rinpoche: She thought this was the place to wait for a mouse.
THE GURU IS THE MOST POWERFUL OBJECT IN OUR LIFE
We have to study well and we have to know well the first meditation of the lamrim, how to correctly follow the virtuous friend. That is the root of the path to enlightenment. We have to study that well, as it is explained in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, written by Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche, the great Heruka yogi. Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand explains the nine lamrim attitudes of Lama Tsongkhapa. That is the mind that correctly devotes to the virtuous friend with the thought, looking at him as all the numberless past, present and future buddhas of the ten directions. And the thought that from our side every single action of the guru is all the numberless buddhas’ holy actions. To have that realization helps us never have anger or heresy toward the guru, never having a nondevotional thought to the guru. Then, we need to not only correctly follow the guru with the mind but also fulfill all the wishes of the guru, following with our body, speech and mind all the advice the guru gives us. We need to remember the kindness of the guru, and then, the last one, we need to offer respect, offer service. If we have material substances then we should offer them to the guru to collect merit. And from the guru’s side, they will take the offerings not with attachment, but to collect merits for the disciple.
Milarepa had nothing physical to offer, so he offered his body, speech and mind to his guru. His offering to the guru was his practice, his realizations. That is what Milarepa said. That is the best offering. Of course, in the lamrim and even in the sutra, Dongpo Dupai Do, it is explained that we become closer to enlightenment just by offering.
The guru is the most powerful object in our life. The guru is the one we have received even one stanza, even one verse of teachings, even a lung, an oral transmission of teachings, and we think of ourselves as the disciple and the other one as the guru. With that recognition, with that relationship, to even offer a glass of water or a candy we become closer to enlightenment, as is mentioned in Dongpo Dupai Do. For example, if we place his shoes [for him to step into], we become closer to enlightenment. With every single positive thing we do, because he is the most powerful object, the one we collect the highest merit with and do the greatest purification with, with every single positive activity like that, we become closer to enlightenment.
Therefore, we have to know about guru devotion well. How to correctly following the virtuous friend well is the root of the path to enlightenment, so we have to study it well. In Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo just nine attitudes are mentioned. These are the most important attitudes we need in order to correctly follow the guru. Lama Tsongkhapa explained how following the virtuous friend is the root of the path to enlightenment but he didn’t give much explanation; he only explained the nine attitudes.
We need to study but studying is not enough. We need to purify the mind and collect extensive merits. I mentioned Manjushri’s advice before. We have to make the single-pointed request to the guru with great devotion to the guru. I’m not going to mention it much, but just to emphasize. Kadampa Geshe Chengawa13 said,
A disciple who has correct devotion to the virtuous friend, even if he is as foolish as a dog or a pig, will have no difficulty in becoming like Manjushri.14
We might be so foolish, so unintelligent, like a dog or a pig, but we will have no difficulty in becoming like Manjushri, the embodiment of all the buddhas’ wisdom.
Normally, to develop wisdom we do a meditation on Manjushri and pray to Manjushri, saying his mantra. His Holiness the Dalai Lama says that in the morning when we get up, we should recite OM A RA PA TSA NA DHIH. It’s very common for the monks and nuns to recite that in the monasteries when they get up. His Holiness said that it even helped him to develop wisdom. When he got up, he recited OM A RA PA TSA NA DHIH, the mantra of all the buddhas’ wisdom manifested in Manjushri to grant sentient beings wisdom. So, we will have no difficulties, even if we are so foolish, as foolish as a dog or a pig, but we have great devotion to the guru. We will have no hardships becoming like Manjushri. That is Kadampa Geshe Chengawa’s experience.
He said that the most fortunate person is the one who has the strongest possible devotion to the guru. That’s the luckiest person, the most fortunate person; that’s the one who gains all the realizations explained in the lamrim, all the realizations up to enlightenment. Even in the early times, when the mind is so dull, so foolish, later in life [realizations happen]. For example, early in his life when his father died and he and his mother were badly treated by his aunt and uncle, his mother told Milarepa to learn black magic, which he did. He went to the area where the family was and dug a hole, meditating for seven days. Then he did black magic, causing rocks to fall from the mountain, smashing the house where relatives were having a wedding and dancing and singing, killing them all. There were also many of their animals downstairs, horses, who were all killed. After that, he went to practice Dharma. When he met his guru, Marpa, he had nothing to offer. He asked for both the Dharma as well as a means of living, which Marpa provided.
Marpa made Milarepa purify his negative karma to have quick realizations. Marpa made him build a nine-story tower, which still exists in Tibet. I haven’t seen it but others have gone to Lhokha to see it. Marpa made him build it alone, not even allowing porters. After he had finished, Marpa made him destroy it and put the stones back where he got them from. Then he made him build it a second time, and then destroy it and put the stones back. The skin of his back became blue and hard from carrying so many stones. He served Marpa like this three times, even though no teachings were given. He was only ever scolded and beaten during this time.
Nowadays, especially in the West, if a guru were to give a disciple a spanking, the disciple would bring a court case against the guru and the guru would be thrown in prison! Even a spanking, even a scolding, the next day the guru would be in prison. Marpa never gave teachings to Milarepa, but one day he went with the other disciples for teachings. When Marpa saw him there, he immediately scolded and beat him, throwing him out. For years he refused to give Milarepa any teachings, only making him work. But from Milarepa’s side, he never felt any heresy or anger for his guru, Marpa, never.
When the perfect disciple and the perfect guru meet like this, enlightenment is so easy. Just as with dough we can make pizza, noodles—so many things—with the perfect guru and the perfect disciple enlightenment becomes as easy as kneading dough.
Milarepa was the perfect disciple who could bear any hardships in order to exactly follow the guru. Marpa wanted to let him to bear hardships even longer so that he could achieve enlightenment even more quickly, but Marpa’s secret wisdom mother pushed him into giving Milarepa teachings and Marpa listened. Already enlightened, Marpa manifested as the deity in the mandala and initiated Milarepa and gave him teachings. Then, Milarepa went to the mountains, to different places like Tsipri, to meditate.
Even there, exactly following his guru, he bore so many hardships, eating only nettles, without salt or chili, nothing, only the nettles that grew around there. One day, a thief came to steal his things, but because he had nothing, he made some nettle soup for the thief. When the thief tasted it, he asked for chili and salt, so Milarepa put in another nettle for the chili and another for the salt.
Milarepa achieved enlightenment in that life. If Marpa had not guided him in that skillful way, making him build that tower, because he had killed all those people and animals, [he would not have been able to] purify all that karma and the karma collected from beginningless rebirths, and he would not have been able to achieve enlightenment quickly in that life, meaning he was able to liberate sentient beings from samsara and bring them to enlightenment more quickly.
When there is the perfect disciple and the perfect guru, enlightenment is so easy, like kneading dough. If we wish to have realizations, we must not waste this perfect human life, which is very short. This body is like a machine. We don’t have the power to live forever. The breath can be stopped at any time; the heart can be stopped at any time. We are just not sure when. Life is very short and even this short life can end at any time.
We now have this precious opportunity. We have met the Buddhadharma at this time; we have studied the lamrim; we have met Mahayana teachings through which we can achieve enlightenment, and not only Mahayana sutra but also Mahayana tantra. With that, we can achieve enlightenment in one life, and with highest tantra we can achieve the full unified state of Vajradhara within a few years. Therefore, we must plan to not waste our life but to be able to achieve the greatest meaning of life. We must plan to learn, to practice—even highest tantra—in order to be able to liberate numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment by ourselves.
I have heard there are members of the Sangha as well as lay people who are kind of attracting people with their Dharma talks who don’t really believe in guru devotion, in correctly following the virtuous friend. They somehow find it difficult to believe in that subject. Without the merit to understand guru devotion, correctly devoting to the virtuous friend, they do not believe it. And maybe they think it has been made up by Tibetan lamas. In early books written by tourists, it was called “Lamaism” and they thought that it had not come from India, not from the Buddha. Lamaism was about the lamas on their own trip. These early writers had not studied Buddhism; they really did not understand that [Buddhism] is very scientific. Just as a television or a plane or a clock only works depending on all the parts, how we get realizations of the lamrim subjects, of the whole path to enlightenment, the whole thing is based on the root of the path to enlightenment, correctly following the virtuous friend. All this is like television, like the plane, like the clock. Only by depending on each part, how each is connected to the other, are we able to tell time. Like this, [all the subjects] in the lamrim depend on each other. We are able to get realizations by depending on each.
This is mentioned by Gyalwa Ensapa, Lama Tsongkhapa’s disciple’s disciple, who achieved enlightenment in a brief lifetime of degenerate times, not like Milarepa but very comfortably, without bearing many hardships. That was due to Lama Tsongkhapa’s presentation of the teachings. He said,
In short, whether we achieve great or small realizations depends on whether we have meditated with great or small devotion. Therefore, may I keep as my heart practice the instruction to reflect only on the qualities of the kind guru, the source of all realizations, and not look at the faults. May I fulfill this commitment without any obstacle.15
This is the experience and advice of Gyalwa Ensapa, who achieved enlightenment in a brief lifetime of degenerate times. If we desire to achieve enlightenment, it is like that. If we don’t want that, it’s different, but if we want to achieve enlightenment, to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment, this is the practice.
ALL EXISTENCE IS MERELY LABELED BY THE MIND
A star, a defective view, a butter lamp flame,
An illusion, a dew drop, a water bubble,
A dream, lightning, a cloud:
See all causative phenomena like this.
The star shows deep emptiness. As I mentioned, first there is the merely labeled I. From that awareness, we then see all of existence in the same way: hell and enlightenment, samsara and nirvana, problems and happiness—in reality everything is merely labeled by the mind, which means that the way things exist is most unbelievably subtle. Nothing exists from its own side. Like that, it is emptiness.
Then, the second one is defective view, rab rib. As I mentioned yesterday, [as soon as the merely labeled I appears] in the next moment the real I appears, and then in the third moment, we believe in that real I. We create ignorance when our mind believes this. What appears to the mind is the real I and we believe that is true, thus creating ignorance, creating samsara. This comes in the third of the shortest possible moments.
The first moment there is the merely labeled I, merely labeled by the mind. Then, the next moment the I appears real, which is totally false. The real I is projected or decorated on to the merely labeled I by the negative imprint left by ignorance. The hallucination is created. Then, in the third moment, due to ignorance, we believe it is real.
So, defective view, rab rib, how the I appears real to us, then seeing everything—the body, the mind, the aggregates, the whole thing, hell and enlightenment, samsara and nirvana, problems and happiness—the whole thing is real for us. Everything appears real to us and we believe it. All that is rab rib. We need to practice awareness of that. All these things are rab rib; we are living our life in rab rib. From birth up to now, we are living our life in rab rib. From the life before and even before that, from beginningless rebirths we have been living in rab rib, in the defective view, in the hallucination, in the illusion, believing it is real. Instead of seeing it as the hallucination it is, instead of seeing emptiness, we see it totally in the wrong way. We believe it is real. That is rab rib.
That is an incredible meditation to do. That is meditating on what is truth in our life and what is false in our life. It is huge, unbelievably huge, clarifying what is truth or false. Not seeing this is why we are still not free from samsara, from the samsaric sufferings: the suffering of pain, the suffering of change and pervasive compounding suffering. We are still not free.
We’ll just do this and then stop.
[Rinpoche recites kar ma rab rib, followed by a dedication. The students then offer a mandala.]
DEDICATIONS
“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 bodhicitta, the source of all happiness and success up to enlightenment for me and for every sentient being, be generated in the hearts of all the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, suras, asuras, intermediate state beings, in everyone’s hearts. For those who have generated bodhicitta, may it be developed.
“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
10 See FPMT Essential Prayer Book, p. 79, which can be found in the FPMT Catalogue. [Return to text]
11 Lingrepa (1128–88) was a great lay practitioner and important Kagyü teacher; the Drukpa Kagyü line originated from him. [Return to text]
12 Quoted in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand (Wisdom Publications), p. 335. [Return to text]
13 Geshe Chengawa (1033–1103) was one of Dromtönpa’s main disciples. [Return to text]
14 Quoted in The Heart of the Path (LYWA), p. 114. [Return to text]
15 Quoted in The Heart of the Path (LYWA), p. 171. [Return to text]
