THE KINDNESS OF THE MOTHER
[Rinpoche and students recite Prayers Before Teachings]
The bodhisattva Thogme Zangpo said, “The mother sentient beings, who have been so kind to you from beginningless time…” For example, I saw on TV how turtles travel for three hundred and seventy days to lay their eggs. I don’t know where they are coming from, but very far away. They travel for three hundred and seventy days, sometimes up in the lake, sometimes more down, to lay their eggs in one particular spot. They dig into the sand on the beach to lay the eggs and then leave them. They don’t stay; they leave. Then gradually the babies come out and try to get to the water. In the meantime, the birds and other animals come to eat them. It’s unbelievable. All the hardships they have to bear to travel to lay their eggs in one particular place, probably in that lake or in that ocean, I’m sure. There are other animals who eat them, so the mother lays the eggs in just that place.
They have borne hardships like that for us, not just once, but numberless times from beginningless rebirths. They have done that for us. They have been our mother, laid eggs, given birth to us numberless times, not just once. This is true of any sentient being, even our present mother, any human being, any ant, any mosquito, any tiny fly, everybody has done that for us; they have done just what the turtle does. Everybody has done that for us numberless times, not just once but numberless times. When we were born as a turtle, our mother turtle did that!
When we see how much animals suffer, how they have to bear hardships, we should use that to consider how they have done that for us not just once but numberless times when we were born as an animal to that mother animal. As our mother, she had to bear hardships for us. We have to relate that to our life, to how every sentient being has done that for us numberless times.
What’s the animal in the ocean with the long mouth? [Student: Whales? Crocodiles?] Yeah, crocodiles. They don’t lay eggs in the water but outside. They make a hole and lay the eggs outside, near the water. Before they go in the water, the mother puts water in her mouth then keeps all the babies in the water in her mouth. Their tails come out! She keeps them in the mouth to train them, so they get used to living in the water. I don’t know how long she keeps them there. Once they are trained, they go in the water. This is not just for fun. As a crocodile, our mother crocodile has taken care of us like that numberless times. Every sentient being has been a crocodile and taken care of us like that. We need to relate it to ourselves. They have been so kind. This is the kindness of the mother.
And not just once but numberless times; they have done this for us from beginningless rebirths. That is a very effective way to see their kindness. We can feel it in our heart. Not, “I’m a human being; they are crocodiles.” Not like that. We feel it in our heart that they are our mother.
I don’t know but I think many people in the West think the mother is the enemy. Children, all sorts. When they were young, they stayed with the mother of course, but after, what age? Thirteen? No, twenty or something, because the mother always tells them what to do, I think the child sees her as an enemy. I don’t know which age, but when they are old enough, they run away and most don’t come back.
Roger’s nephew ran away. I think many children run away, but he ran away for years. Maybe three years? I think one year. Do you remember? One year? He told me he ran away, but while he was with friends, he remembered how his mother had been so kind to him. Then, he returned home, kind of a good son. He remembered the mother’s kindness and then he went back. He died a long time ago. He became a monk for a few years. He helped us in Mongolia. Well, he was going to, but he left to help some girl who had problems. And then somehow he disrobed because of that problem. How many years ago did he die? Two years ago. He died in a car accident. He was a nice boy.
APTOS AND THE DOG
He helped in the Aptos house where sometimes I go. There is stupa in the rear, like the one in Borobudur in Indonesia, although not so extensive. It is shaped like that but in the Tibetan style. I asked him to make a different color roof from plastic, so he made it from different colored sheets, smaller and bigger, held by posts. He was able to do that. I have a buddha outside from Indonesia made from volcanic stone. He made different color beams with wires, beams coming out for that buddha. He was able to do things like that. He was trying to help his mother. Roger’s niece? Cousin? He was sent to help her. Then, he died. Why am I talking about him?
I have to tell you about the stupa we built in the rear of the house in America. Roger said we should have a dog. I said if the dog is in the hands of Buddhists, we have to make sure it will not be born in lower realms. We must take care of the dog. We must not allow a dog in the hands of Buddhists to go to lower realms! So, I think the news went to Vajrapani center, which is beyond Santa Cruz. They heard we needed a dog. A girl who works in a place where they keep animals had a dog nobody else would take. She had to go to Mexico, so she brought the dog to us. This dog was not easy to get close to. She bit quite a few people: Geshe Ngawang Dakpa and a few students, Peter from the Maitreya Project, Massimo Corona from Italy, Sogyal Rinpoche from France who has many centers in the world. He visited and the dog bit him when he tried to pat her. Her name is Om Mani Padme Hum. I gave her that name to leave a positive imprint on her mindstream, to plant the seed of enlightenment in her mind. That’s the reason I called her Om Mani Padme Hum. If you call a dog “Potato,” what’s the use of that? What’s the benefit? No benefit.
In Dharamsala during Lama Yeshe’s time, we had many dogs, many puppies mixed with Lhasa [Apso] puppies with flat noses. I gave them names of the whole path to enlightenment: “Renunciation,” “Bodhicitta,” “Right View,” “Dzogchen,” “Mahamudra,” “Dharmakaya,” “Rupakaya”—named after the whole path to leave positive imprints on their mind, to bring them to enlightenment, to liberate them from samsara. They can even benefit from just having the name. We have to think that. Even having the name can benefit the mind; it can free them and bring them to enlightenment. We have to help in every way we can. Otherwise, there is no meaning, no purpose.
After Lama passed away, somebody in the British embassy in Delhi, I think, asked for a dog, so I gave her a dog but I also gave her a commitment. I didn’t ask for money, but she had to recite the Foundation of All Good Qualities for the dog. We didn’t get to recite the Foundation of All Good Qualities this time. Normally, we recite it after the Heart Sutra and before the mandala, but this time we didn’t get it done. Lama Tsongkhapa wrote the whole path to enlightenment in the Foundation of All Good Qualities. The lady was not Buddhist but she was a very kind, sincere person, so I gave her this to read for the dog every day. She did that for one year, but then one day the gate was open, the dog went through it and she lost the dog. I was supposed to give her another dog but it did not happen. It was very kind of her to do that so sincerely. She was a very nice lady. Now all the dogs have died. I don’t know whether there is even one left.
I’m not going to spread out my talk! But I must mention this for you to learn. I said we must build a stupa at the rear of the house for the dog. That is why we built it. It was built by a student, a monk. What is his name? Brian. He was a monk for a few years. During that time he built it behind the house, a little bit like Borobudur but small and not empty, with so many tsa tsas inside. Outside there are many Kadampa stupas, big ones and many small ones, and Medicine Buddha statues and a small Mitukpa, which is very powerful for purification.
It is common when people die in Tibet and Solu Khumbu, people make tsa tsas to help the person who has died to purify their negative karma. If they are destined for the lower realms, it helps liberate them from that. So, they make many tsa tsas and statues and take them to the mountain and put them in a cave where they are protected from rain. Or they build a small stone stupa, kind of square, and put that inside. Even in Solu Khumbu, it’s very common to make tsa tsas of Mitukpa, the Immovable Buddha. Even His Holiness has said that after you eat meat, you collect the bones and recite the mantra and bless the bones. This purifies the animal, liberating it from lower realms and allowing it to get a higher rebirth, meet the Dharma and achieve enlightenment.
The mantra is very powerful. If somebody who is dying sees the mantra, the heavy negative karma of abandoning the holy Dharma gets purified. If we create the negative karma of abandoning holy Dharma, the negative karma is so very heavy it is like destroying all the temples, all the scriptures, all the holy objects in the world. It’s more than that. The negative karma includes lacking respect for the whole Dharma, such as thinking, “This text is Hinayana. I’m Mahayanist, so this is nothing.” Or, “I’m a tantric practitioner and this is a Mahayana sutra so it’s not important.” Not liking [a particular teaching] is abandoning the holy Dharma, such as thinking this is Hinayana and you are Mahayanist. The Buddha has revealed different teachings because there are different levels of mind of sentient beings. One teaching does not fit everybody, so the Buddha taught the Lesser Vehicle teachings and the Greater Vehicle teachings, which includes the Mahayana sutra and the Mahayana tantra. There are different levels of teachings. For those who have great intelligence and merit, there are the Mahayana sutra teachings, but to think that the Hinayana teachings contradict the Mahayana teachings is to avoid the Dharma. And tantra, to think tantra is Hindu tantra or that the Buddha did not teach tantra, that is avoiding holy Dharma.
This can happen very easily. For example, because we think, “The Abhidharmakosha is of no benefit to me,” we renounce it. Even though it is difficult to understand, we have to think, “May I understand it in the future.” Even though we cannot understand it now, we do not decide it is of no use to us. It is the Buddha’s teachings, so if we think like that, we give it up. We must not do that. We have to understand all the different karmas and what is the heaviest negative karma.
This Mitukpa mantra purifies the very heavy negative karma of abandoning the Dharma. Criticizing the Sangha is very heavy negative karma, but even that gets purified just by seeing this mantra, as well as purifying the karma of killing our father or mother, killing an arhat, causing blood to flow from a buddha, or causing disunity in the Sangha.
I thought I would take the dog around the stupa myself every day and then let everybody in the house do it, but I didn’t get it done as I thought. The one who took most care of the dog is the cook, the Swiss nun Anet. She took the most care, taking the dog around the stupa to purify its mind. So much was done, but other people did it. I was not there when the dog died. I was here or somewhere else. Holly was there. The dog died but there was no particular sign, like the tongue hanging out or a kind of sad face. Not like that. It was as if it was asleep. I think she kept it like that for three days after the breath had stopped. Then, blood came out? Blood? Then, blood came out through the nose. Did you do the meditation about the death process or not? [Ven. Yarphel: Yes.]
You did! And nobody died? The indestructible seed, the size of a bean, half white and half red, opens. Was Om Mani Padme Hum female or male? Female. The blood comes from the heart, shoots up and comes out through the nose. Down there, normally the white seed comes out. It should be like this. For a female, white seed from the nose, blood from down there. But for the male I think blood and then sperm comes out. Male and female are a little bit different. Therefore, with the dog, after three days the blood came out, after blood was there a smell? Then, she took it away.
NOT KNOWING WHEN A PERSON IS DEAD
You have to know, it’s said in the text that generally, after death, the consciousness stays three days. It does not leave immediately. You have to know that, because in the West you have not learned that. Society does not know that. Many times the hospital definition of death does not cover that. So many times people have been taken to the cemetery in a coffin, but then they scratch the coffin. They have not actually died; the consciousness is still there, and they are just temporarily unconscious. The consciousness is there but they do not seem to be alive. But then they wake up and scratch at the coffin. It has happened many times in Kalimpong, in India, and in the West. They are put in the coffin but then they scratch at the coffin. I think recently it happened and the person was OK; they were able to get up.
What happened in Nepal a long time ago, the father of the family was taken to Pashupatinath to burn, but he was not dead, just temporarily unconscious. Probably, his heart beat was not there and he was not breathing, but after the family put on the wood to burn, he became conscious. Because people there believed that nobody who goes to a cemetery returns, the workers there putting wood on the pyre thought it was very inauspicious, so they beat him and killed him. It happened like that. Once I saw a man had been taken to the cemetery but he did not seem dead. He could not breathe but he did not look dead. Many times people at the cemetery come back to life.
That is because the hospital definition of death is not complete. Because something is missing, this happens. It’s very dangerous. There are many people not dead, the consciousness is there, but the heart has stopped beating. But then, after some time, they come alive again. The hospitals in the West do not have the whole understanding about the evolution of death and the evolution of rebirth. I have even seen this in India.
So, when our dog, Om Mani Padme Hum died, its face was not particularly sad; it looked just asleep. So, it’s possible that because it went around stupa many times, maybe it died with a virtuous thought, maybe it had a peaceful death. I thought I might meet a child, an incarnation of the dog, but I haven’t so far.
Not for a sudden death from an accident, but in general with death, the consciousness stays for three days. Of course, a meditator in the state of meditation at the time of death, meditating on the clear light, the nature of mind, can stay in that state for days or weeks. Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s guru, was in meditation for eighteen days. There was the previous Ganden Tripa—the Ganden Tripas are the Regents of Lama Tsongkhapa—I think this was three Ganden Tripas ago, who was in meditation for a long time, for twenty days or something. He was sitting up sometimes.
I saw a lama in meditation like this in Buxa in India, the place where Prime Minister Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi-ji were imprisoned, where so many people were killed during British times. I was there for eight years studying, like child studying Buddhist philosophy. For some years before he passed away, Pari Rinpoche, a very high lama from Tibet, acted crazy. Our house was quite close [to his] and we could hear him singing the namtar, Tibetan songs, historical stories. Once, I was taken by a monk, the disciple of our teacher, Geshe Rabten, to meet him. He had Tibetan tea in the silver, lotus-shaped cup. He put the butter, the grease from the Tibetan tea, on my face. You are not supposed to clean it off. It’s very good luck to have something like this happen from a great practitioner, but his manager wanted to clean it off with towel. Then, the lama told me stretch out my tongue and he said it was good. He was taking snuff and he told me to take some but the manager would not let me. You are supposed to accept whatever the lama offers because it helps to develop wisdom. He was a great lama.
After he passed away, I went to see him with the same monk. He had passed away and he was meditating like this. He was in meditation for a week or something. On his nose was a spot of water, like dew. It was fantastic. He must have been a great practitioner. So many monks came to see him, to take blessings.
Even with the dog, who had a slow death, not a sudden one in a car accident or something, but a natural death, the consciousness stayed for three days. For common people it stays for three days, not just meditators. You have to know that. That is why she kept the dog, burying it only after the consciousness left and there was the sperm and blood. At that time the consciousness leaves, then there is smell. Before that there is no smell. If there is smell from the body, the consciousness has left.
That is one thing. The other thing is you hold the skin and then you do like this. [Rinpoche pinches the skin on his arm] If it stretches up, then the consciousness has left. If it goes back like this, the consciousness is still there. So there are three things.
So, she was able to help the dog. Now there is another dog, called Uma, Middle Way. But it doesn’t bite anybody; it’s totally the opposite to Om Mani Padme Hum.
I was at Geshe Sopa’s place in Madison taking teachings and before I returned home to Aptos, I sent a message to build two small stupas at the door of the Aptos house. Because I have diabetes, I go around them; they are this size or maybe a little bit bigger, full of tsa tsas and statues of the Buddha inside. There are three levels like steps: one level, outside the big Kadampa stupa, is lined with Mitukpa tsa tsas, very beautiful. I got the first one in Australia. I was given the first one by a nun called Bonnie who is in retreat in Dharamsala. I’m not going to talk more about that because it would take a long time. She gave me the first tsa tsa, which had such beautiful hands. So, the three levels are full of tsa tsas, lined up so nicely. And around, on the steps on the way to the house, are flowers.
I was supposed to go around but I didn’t get to go around much, only sometimes behind the stupa, and not every day. Sometimes I went around reciting a Dharma text like the Diamond Cutter Sutra or a very important Guhyasamaja text. I would go around the house with people and things like that. I would only sometimes go around three times when [people] came. Because I have diabetes, it is exercise for that, and because it is a stupa, it is unbelievable purification of negative karma, Because the diabetes comes from negative karma, it purifies that.
Generally, what I’m saying is that although you might not have a dog, it is so important to have a stupa, a small or a big one, in the house or outside the house. If you have a commitment to recite mantras, you can go around so you don’t fall asleep. If you sit, you might fall asleep, so by going around, at least you create good karma with the body. It is unbelievable purification. There are extensive benefits to having even one small stupa or one statue, especially if it has the four dharmakaya relics mantra inside: the Stainless Pinnacle deity mantra is one, the Ornaments of Enlightenment is another. Even if there is one mantra. I’m just saying this to show the importance of the stupa, if you have some mantras such as a four dharmakaya relics mantra inside. Then, by going around the stupa or statue even once, it purifies all the negative karma to be reborn in the eight hot hells, and when you die it is very easy to be born in the pure land, such as Amitabha Buddha pure land. It is so easy to achieve realizations, so easy to achieve enlightenment. It is so easy without taking much time to be free from samsara, so unbelievably easy.
Whether you have a dog or not doesn’t matter, going around has such unbelievable benefits, such purification, just for you or your family or maybe outside people. It is so easy to be liberated from samsara and achieve enlightenment. It’s amazing.
If you do commitments, you can fall asleep or have many distractions, but when you go around the stupa you are doing virtuous things. For example, in Aptos there are many relics in my room—many relics of the buddhas, many holy pictures around the room—and once I had to make phone call to a student in Italy which took an hour, so I took the opportunity to go around the stupa while I was talking. At least you collect the cause of enlightenment with your body, making your life meaningful, even if your talk is not virtuous.
Roger and Holly work in the office, so I told them if they have to take phone calls all day long, while they are talking they should circumambulate the table outside with the three levels of holy objects, full of statues, with many Kadampa stupas, then at least they would be doing virtuous action, creating the cause of enlightenment with the body, even if the talk does not become virtuous. Then, you don’t waste this perfect human body. Life is very short. Death can happen at any time, and this practice is very good, and it’s not expensive!
Generally, because people don’t know how to die, then when problems come, they cry. They don’t know about purification. Purification is a great opportunity but they don’t give themselves that opportunity. For example, even if guests comes, we talk to them and show them around, and even if they know nothing about karma, [seeing the holy objects] purifies so much of their negative karma, even though they might not believe in reincarnation and karma.
I didn’t mention this yesterday. Sorry, my talk is getting longer and longer.
THE IMPORTANCE OF HOLY OBJECTS
If we offer to holy objects—to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, or statues, stupas, scriptures—if we do prostrations, make offerings or circumambulate the holy objects, even if it is done with a motivation that is non-Dharma, out of worldly concern, with attachment clinging to this life, even if the mind is not Dharma, by the power of the holy object, our action becomes virtuous. It becomes the cause of enlightenment. Generally, for our actions to become the cause of enlightenment, they first of all have to become Dharma, which means first of all our mind has to become Dharma and then bodhicitta. Unless this happens, our actions cannot become the cause of enlightenment. But this is the exception. When we circumambulate, prostrate or make offerings to holy objects such as statues, stupas and scriptures, the action alone not only becomes Dharma but also the cause of enlightenment. Even for dogs, birds or even flies, going around a stupa becomes the cause of enlightenment.
There is the famous story of the man who met the Dharma when he was eighty years old and then became a monk, renounced samsara and achieved the arya path in that life, realizing emptiness directly, meaning he achieved nirvana. The Buddha saw that this was because so many eons ago, he was born a fly and there was a stupa. Cow dung was floating in the water around the stupa, so the fly followed the smell of the cow dung. It didn’t think that it had to go around because it was a stupa; it went around just because of its attachment to smell of cow dung. Going around the stupa became a circumambulation, just one, and that virtuous action was the cause to be a human being and become a monk in this life, and at eighty years old—I’m not going to tell the whole story, it would take time—he became an arya being through realizing emptiness directly, and maybe in that life achieved nirvana.
So, we can have a big stupa or a small stupa, anything. What am I saying? Oh, and even for insects going around it, it becomes the cause of enlightenment. There are four dharmakaya relics. Even without putting the mantra inside, it is already a holy object. For example, if children playing in the sand build something they think is a stupa, they create the cause of enlightenment. It does not have to be the exact shape, but by piling the sand up [Rinpoche indicates piling up the sand] and thinking it is a stupa, they create the cause of enlightenment. This is mentioned in the texts on the benefits of building holy objects. Even for children playing like this, it becomes the cause of enlightenment.
Even without the mantra, it is already a holy object. By circumambulating, prostrating, making offering, whatever we do, it becomes the cause of enlightenment. It’s unbelievable. Then, when we put in the four dharmakaya relics, every atom has unbelievable power, meaning the stupas and statues we fill with this mantra have infinite benefit.
We just finished a stupa in Solu Khumbu. There was a big stupa before, but the earthquake destroyed it. When I went there, the old women said they wanted to see the stupa rebuilt before they died. They asked Tenpa Choden, the manager of Kopan Monastery, and he built them a stupa, the same shape as the Boudhanath stupa, but not the same size, smaller. There are so many unbelievable benefits explained by the Buddha in the Kangyur. There are stupas here and in different centers. I have to go there to the mountain to bless it. They are waiting. The old people, the fathers and mother who live there, as well as the children and animals, collect merits, the cause of enlightenment, without knowing much Dharma. They do not have much opportunity to listen to the teachings and learn the Dharma, so in this way it purifies all their negative karma and creates the cause of enlightenment and liberation from samsara.
It’s not that building a stupa is just Buddhist tradition, Buddhist culture. It’s not like that. If you read the benefits in the Kangyur, they are unbelievable, especially the benefits of the four dharmakaya relics. In your home you can have a big table where you create three or four levels, putting inside many tsa tsas, stupas, statues, all beautifully set up, and placing offerings around them. Then, every day you can go around the table, creating so much purification as you do your commitments. You have this precious human rebirth just this one time, so doing this is so important. And it’s not expensive at all.
Now, I’ll go back. Where was I? I can’t remember. [Ven. Amy: The kindness of the mother.]
THE KINDNESS OF THE MOTHER (BACK TO)
There are so many beings—people and animals—who bear great hardships for their babies. At the airport I watch families with three or four children. Some are crying, “I want this; I want that,” crying and crying. Just watching for five minutes I get bored. Once in America, I think in San Francisco or somewhere, there was a Muslim lady taking care of a boy and a daughter. She was totally paying attention, looking after them. They were close to us, and they moved back to where there was a pillar, looking at some pictures, but she was constantly looking after them, The girl was not old. I thought that just as she looked after her two kids, in exactly the same way she has done that for me. In exactly the same way, she took care of me when I was born to her. That helps us feel close to that person in our heart when we think that, but of course that is not just one time. That person has taken care of us numberless times when we were born to her. She has been our mother not just once but numberless times.
When we think about somebody like that, there is no longer a wall between us; we feel close to them in our heart. We feel close like that with everybody, not only with human beings but also with any kind of animal. I think it is good to see how they take care of their children, how they protect their children.
I think I mentioned about the deer in Spain and Germany. This was quite recently, I think. The mother deer was there with a few of her children close by when three tigers approached. The mother deer stood there; she did not run away but offered her body to the tigers to protect her children. That is why they didn’t eat the children right away. The tigers were starting [to attack] but she just stood there, protecting her children, not running away, just looking at them. She has done that same thing for us numberless times in the past, giving up her life to the enemy for us.
We see all kinds of things like this on TV or in the movies. Whatever we see, we should relate that to ourselves, to when we were born as that kind of animal. Here, I’m giving the example of animals. All sentient beings have been deer, and when we were born to them, they took care of us like that.
The text says this. If mothers sentient beings who have been kind to us from beginningless rebirths are suffering, what is the use of us being comfortable, being happy? For example, if our mother was being attacked by a tiger down on the ground, while we are up in a tree singing songs because we are free from the tiger’s attack, how cruel that is, not helping our mother, not protecting her from the tiger. Just thinking we are free and then singing a song—that so selfish. We only think of our own happiness, but there are numberless sentient beings who have been experiencing unbelievable suffering from beginningless rebirths.
Our mother, who we were born to, created negative karma for us. She did not have bodhicitta; she did not have renunciation; she did not have the realization of emptiness. She just had attachment, such strong attachment to us. Her actions of body, speech and mind became negative karma to take care of us. She bore so many hardships protecting our life from many hundreds of dangers each day, bearing hardships and creating so much negative karma for us, resulting in her having to suffer in the lower realms, as a hell being, a hungry ghost or an animal, not just once, but from life to life. One negative karmic action results in five hundred lifetimes in the lower realms, and every day she creates millions and millions and millions of negative actions, creating the cause to suffer in the six realms, and especially in the lower realms.
If we do not practice Dharma in this life—even if we meet the Dharma, learning it intellectually, like getting a university degree or something so we can make money to teach, but we never practice, we never subdue the mind, we never reduce the delusions—we will have to be born in samsara continuously, so we will have to be born to sentient beings. And as our mother, they will have to create so much negative karma and suffer endlessly. Therefore, practicing Dharma now is so important, not just for our happiness but for the happiness of the numberless sentient beings. It is so important to realize emptiness, to realize bodhicitta, to realize renunciation. And this is without talking about tantric realizations. Practicing Dharma is for the happiness of every sentient being, for each of the numberless sentient beings in each realm to be free from samsara, so we do not have to be born to them again and again, and they do not have to suffer for us again and again.
That is one thing, The other thing is to free them from samsara, to help them and to bring them to enlightenment. Practicing Dharma is not a small thing. It is not just to free ourselves from being reborn in the lower realms. It is for every hell being. There are numberless universes and there are hell beings in every universe. So, it is for everyone, to free them from samsara and to achieve enlightenment. At least we do not have to be born to them and cause them to continuously suffer. For example, it is for the numberless ants in the numberless universes, for them to become free from samsara and bring them to enlightenment.
By coming to Kopan at this time to do this course, that is not just for you, not just for your own happiness, it is for every sentient being. It is so that you can help free them from samsara and bring them to enlightenment by yourself. You are doing this Kopan course for that. You have to understand the big way. Before, you just thought small, just for yourself. Now, you are thinking for every creature, even the tiny flies, for everyone, to free them from samsara and bring them to enlightenment. That is why you came to Kopan, to learn meditation, to learn Buddhadharma, the lamrim. You should understand it that way. Every day doing the course—having discussions, doing meditations, listening to teachings—is for that, for you to achieve liberation from samsara and then to help the numberless sentient beings be free from samsara and bring them to enlightenment. You are doing it for that.
So the text asks what is the use of us being comfortable if numberless mother sentient beings are suffering? Like the example I gave, we are on top of the tree, without the danger of being attacked by the tiger, so we sing songs while our mother, who suffered for us and gave us our human body, is being attacked by the tiger. Therefore, to liberate numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and to generate bodhicitta is a bodhisattva’s practice.
That is the motivation. It has become a long talk! So think, “Not just for myself to be liberated from samsara but to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings, to free the numberless sentient beings from oceans of samsaric sufferings and bring them to enlightenment, I’m going to listen to the teachings.”
What is the time? Do you need a pipi break? Pipi? Need a pipi or need something else? What do you think, or continue? OK, pipi.
[Students offer mandala]
OK. Thank you.
THE RICE SEEDLING
My teacher, Gen Sopa Rinpoche, said the purpose of the Buddha descending in this world is only to free sentient beings—that means us sentient beings—from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and to lead them to liberation and the state of omniscience. Only for that purpose, for no other purpose. It is explained in the sutras,
The Great Ones do not wash away sin with water;
They do not rid beings of suffering with their hands;
They do not transfer realizations of suchness onto others.
They liberate by teaching the truth of suchness.19
The Great Ones (the buddhas) do not wash away negative karma with water, like Hindus washing their bodies in the River Ganga and thinking they are purified. They do not take out the sufferings of transmigratory beings with their hands, like pulling out a thorn that has gone into the flesh. The buddhas do not eliminate the suffering of transmigratory beings, including us, with their hands. Then, the third one, they do not transfer their realizations into our mind. They liberate us sentient beings by revealing the truth, ultimate reality.
I have been talking about that for many days and we have been meditating on it.
For the method to subdue the sentient beings, who are objects to be subdued, the Buddha has taught what is far-famed, the 84,000 teachings.
At the beginning, after he achieved enlightenment, the Buddha taught the first turning of the wheel of Dharma, the four noble truths, revealing exactly what is to be practiced and what abandoned. Maitreya Buddha said in the Ornament of Sutra, Do De Gyen? [Ven. Ailsa: Sutra Alamkara.] In Sutra Alamkara, Do De Gyen,
The illness is to be diagnosed,
The cause is to be abandoned,
Health is to be achieved.
The medicine is to be relied upon.Likewise, suffering, its cause,
Cessation, and path are to be
Diagnosed, abandoned,
Reached, and relied on.20
To abide in happiness, we must abandon its cause. To become free from disease, we first must know the disease, and then we must abandon its cause. It’s giving an example. Abiding in happiness is what is to be achieved; that is the health here. And the medicine is to be relied on, to be depended on, to be followed. This talks about suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of the suffering and the path that leads to that. So, what is to be known is suffering; what is to be abandoned is the cause of suffering; what is to be achieved is the cessation of suffering; and what is to be relied on is the path.
Geshe-la explained that, for example, for somebody who is tormented by a very heavy sickness, to be free from it, they first have to recognize the sickness and see the shortcomings of the sickness. We need to know where the sickness came from, to look for the cause, and then cut the cause. For that, we need to consult the wise doctor and take the profound medicine. In the same way, the Buddha taught true suffering, in order for sentient beings, who are tormented by the suffering of samsara, to know the essence of the suffering of samsara and its shortcomings. I have mentioned already how suffering comes from the cause, from karma and delusions, which needs to be renounced, abandoned. After the truth of suffering, the Buddha taught the second noble truth, the true cause of suffering, the cause of all arising, which is karma and delusions.
[Knowing what suffering and its cause are], we generate the wish to be free from suffering and the cause of suffering, to achieve liberation. To actualize that, the third noble truth, the true cessation of suffering, is taught. After that, the Buddha taught the method to achieve liberation, the true path to meditate on the graduated path. These are the third and fourth truths, the true cessation of suffering and the true path. The quotation from sutra says the truth of suffering should be known; all-arising should be abandoned, cessation should be actualized, and the path should be relied upon.
Sufferings include birth, old age, sickness, death. That is the result, true suffering. The cause are karma and delusions; they are the cause of circling in samsara. Freedom from samsara is cessation, true cessation of suffering, or liberation. The method to achieve that is the true path. That’s what is taught by the Buddha generally.
Then, in particular, he taught that human beings are under the control of karma and delusions from one life to another, getting reborn in samsara without interruption. That is why we circle in samsara. By ceasing karma and its cause, delusion, the result, suffering, ceases. That is how we can be liberated from samsara. To show this, he taught the twelve dependent-related limbs, tendrel, which explains the evolution, from ignorance and karma. He taught how old age and death come from birth, which comes from becoming, which comes from craving and grasping, and taking it back like that, down to ignorance.
He explained the first dependent arising in the Lesser Vehicle sutra, the Sutra of the Plant or something like that. [Ven. Tsenla: Rice Seedling.] Rice feeling? [Ven. Tsenla: Rice Seedling. Seedling.] What? Rice seedling? OK.
The Buddha taught this extensively from the Mahayana sutra and the Lesser Vehicle sutra and also the Rice Seedling, where the Buddha held a rice seedling in his hand and said that any bhikshu who sees dependent arising will see the Dharma. I think “seeing the Dharma” means “emptiness.” He explained this by showing that dependent arising has two aspects: outer and inner dependent arising. Outer dependent arising is in the natural world, in the world of the farmers who are cultivating crops like rice by planting the seeds and nurturing with water and what, lu? [Ven. Tsenla: Minerals.] They put water, minerals and heat. And then the seeds procrastinate? Procrastinate? [Ven. Ailsa: Propagate?] They propagate. The sprout comes and then the stems and leaves and flowers. The result gradually happens.
Having the previous evolution happen, the later evolution happens. Without the previous evolution, the later evolution cannot happen. He used that as an example. With inner dependent arising, the dependent arising that comes from ignorance up to old age and death, he used that example to understand this.
So here, in this sutra, ignorance is the cultivator, the farmer, in the field of karma. A field is like karma, and ignorance, the famer, plants the seed of consciousness, making it wet by the water of craving and grasping. Then the stem being actualized is name and form.
The very first ignorance of holding the I as not merely labeled by the mind, holding the real I, that one motivates the action. Ignorance is like the cultivator. From the field, various crops grow, bad or good. Similarly, the result of karma is a samsaric rebirth, a good or a bad one. Various rebirths arise from karma, so that is compared to the field. Until the result is ripened, the consciousness holds the potential of the seed of bad and good karma. So consciousness is like the seed. Water and heat moisten and warm the seed and make it ripen, until it arises as the stem. Like that, becoming with the wetness of the craving and grasping… What is the word you used before? [Ven. Ailsa: Propagate.] Propagate. I’m not sure. The wetness of craving and grasping “propagates” the seed of karma. It makes it ripen, grow—that is what it means. It makes it actualize the next life. That is becoming, due to the water and the minerals. In the mother’s womb, the consciousness joins [the sperm and egg], taking birth. That is like the stem growing to become the plant. There are some other quotation about this.
Ignorance obscures us from seeing the reality, how karmic formation plants the seed of the next reincarnation. The consciousness joining [the sperm and egg of the parents] leads to the next life. In that way, the transmigratory beings become ignorant, deluded. The other quotation [from the Assuttava Sutta] explains it a little differently from the previous one. About the twelve dependent-related limbs, it says,
When this is, that is;
With the arising of this, that arises.
When this is not, that is not;
When this ceases, that ceases.21
When there is this, that will arise. Because this is born, that will be born. Like that, because of ignorance, compounding action arises. The quotation continues,
Which is this:
From ignorance as condition, the formative mental functions;
From the formative mental functions as condition, sensory consciousness;
From sensory consciousness as condition, name and form;
From name and form as condition, the six sense bases;
From the six sense bases as condition, contact;
From contact as condition, sensation;
From sensation as condition, craving;
From craving as condition, clinging;
From clinging as condition, being;
From being as condition, birth;
From birth as condition, old age and death, grief, lamentation, suffering, distress and tribulation all together come to be.
Thus there is the rise of this whole complex of suffering.22
It says sorrow arises and menagdompa, yelling? Screaming from suffering. [Ven. Sarah: Lamentation.] Lamentation. I didn’t know. Then there is the suffering, unhappy mind, and then fighting. All these things happen. So, from this ignorance, this whole great heap of suffering arises. That is the evolution from the side of the delusions.
The other way of listing the twelve related limbs is backwards, where we see how old age and death come from birth and so on, all the way down to how compounding action comes from ignorance. Before the evolution of dependent arising started from ignorance, but here it’s going back to the root, ignorance. The quotation says,
But from the fading away and cessation, without any trace remaining, of ignorance, there is the cessation of the formative mental functions;
From the cessation of the formative mental functions, the cessation of sensory consciousness;
From the cessation of sensory consciousness, the cessation of name and form;
From the cessation of name and form, the cessation of the six sense bases;
From the cessation of the six sense bases, the cessation of contact;
From the cessation of contact, the cessation of sensation;
From the cessation of sensation, the cessation of craving;
From the cessation of craving, the cessation of clinging;
From the cessation of clinging, the cessation of being;
From the cessation of being, the cessation of birth;
From the cessation of birth, old age and death, grief, lamentation, suffering, distress and tribulation cease.
Thus there is the cessation of this whole complex of suffering.23
By stopping ignorance, compounding action is stopped; by stopping that, consciousness gets stopped. It goes on like that down to existence or rebirth, where it says that by stopping that, old age and death cannot happen. By taking it backwards we can see that by ceasing old age and death, we stop rebirth; by stopping that, we stop becoming, and so on down to compounding action, where by stopping compounding action, ignorance ceases.
It then says that meditators who wish to achieve liberation need to meditate on this. We need to become expert in the evolution of the four noble truths, of the twelve links [forward] and backward. So, for these four noble truths, there are some good quotations. Some things are not easily understood, but so that sentient beings can easily understand the four noble truths, the Buddha compared [the twelve limbs] to outside crops, explaining them in a forward order as well as a backward order. He showed not only how each individual being circles in samsara but also how to cease circling in samsara and achieve liberation. This is clearly explained by example.
THE WHEEL OF LIFE
To make it even easier for sentient beings to understand, the Buddha had the Wheel of Life drawn. Among the Buddha’s disciples, of the hearer-listeners of the Hinayana, the Lesser Vehicle, there are two arhats: Shariputra, who was excellent in wisdom, and Maudgalyayana, who was excellent in psychic powers. From time to time, they would both go into the other realms by their psychic powers and then return to explain to the Buddha’s disciples how the hell beings are suffering and so forth. Chungawa, the Buddha’s younger brother, did not like the morality of celibacy at all, so with their psychic powers they took him to show him the sufferings of the lower realms, proving to him the shortcomings of desire. In the human realm, there is so much desire for pleasure, so they showed Chungawa the shortcomings, how desire results in the sufferings in the lower realms. In that way, they led him to engage in the holy Dharma.
The Buddha’s disciples were around them when they explained this to the Buddha’s attendant, Ananda, which is what the Buddha explained in the sutra, Dulwa Namche, Clarifying the Vinaya. With their psychic powers, Shariputra and Maudgalyayana traveled to the lower realms to take back news of the suffering there. And they also took the Buddha’s younger brother to show him how the sufferings there were the shortcomings of desire.
Because we cannot see it like that, outside the monasteries are drawings of the Wheel of Life, usually on the part at the front. What do you call it? [Student: Porch.] You call the porch the one on the outside? “Porch” sounds like a boat! [Ven. Tsenla: Veranda.] [Student: Entrance.] Entrance.
The Buddha instructed the monks to draw the Wheel of Life, with five or six realms. (The suras and asuras count as devas, so in some drawings there are five realms.) The five types of transmigratory beings means hell beings, animals, hungry ghosts, humans and devas. At the bottom are drawn the hell beings, animals and hungry ghosts, with the devas and human beings on top.
It can also be drawn with the four continents: the eastern continent, Exalted Body, Lupagpo; the western continent, Cattle Gift Land; the southern continent, Dzambuling, where we live; and the northern continent, Unpleasant Sound. When we offer mandala, all the reasons for these names are explained, such as even the tail of the cow of the Cattle Gift Land is a wish-granting tree that gives whatever we need, all the enjoyments of that continent. And the northern continent, Unpleasant Sound, Draminyen, refers to the beings there hearing a negative sound [about their next rebirth] from the sky a week before they die.
In the center of the wheel, attachment, anger and ignorance are drawn [as three animals]. Then, on top, outside the wheel, is the Buddha’s holy body, with his hand pointing to the true path. On the other side there are verses, such as the one from the Dhammapada,
[23:327] Delight in heedfulness! Guard well your thoughts. Draw yourself out of this bog of evil, even as an elephant draws himself out of the mud.
The white circle shows the true cessation of suffering. Sentient beings are drawn transferring to another life and taking rebirth, in the manner of being pulled from a well in a bucket. I don’t think you see this in the West much, but in India many places have wells with a bucket tied with ropes to a stick. You pull the rope and the bucket brings the water up. It goes down and brings the water up. In that manner, sentient beings transfer their consciousness and then get reborn. The Buddha instructed the monks to draw this.
Around the Wheel of Life are twelve drawings depicting the twelve dependent-related limbs, showing the evolution from ignorance to old age and death and backwards, showing how old age and death come from birth and all the way backwards. And the whole thing, the six realms of sentient beings, are all in the nature of impermanence, all under the control of impermanence and death—the whole of samsara: the hell beings, the hungry ghosts, the animals, the human beings, the suras and asuras, [are all under the control of] the Lord of Death. The Lord of Death is not a deity. Some artists draw it like a deity, with a crown of skeletons, but it is not. The Lord of Death holds the whole Wheel of Life in its mouth, showing how all the six realms are under the control of impermanence and death. Nobody is free from impermanence; everybody is under the control of impermanence. Holding the whole of samsara in its mouth signifies this.
It might come a little bit later, but to give an idea even before, in the very center of the wheel there are a pig, a snake and a chicken. The pig represents ignorance, and from the pig’s mouth comes the snake, representing anger, as well as the chicken, representing attachment. The snake and the chicken both coming from the mouth of pig shows that anger and attachment come from ignorance.
A chicken? [Student: Rooster.] A rooster and a snake. I don’t know, most of the Wheels of Life I have seen come from Nepal [where it looks like a pigeon]. I’m not sure, but it seems that what they show is not according to sutra. The Buddha explained that both the snake and the pigeon’s tails come from the pig’s mouth. That is why a pigeon is used [in Nepal]. Pigeons have so much attachment; the husband or wife pigeons have so much attachment. If a human being spits snot on the ground, the pigeon picks it up and gives it to their wife or husband, they have that much unbelievable attachment. That is why the pigeon is used there.
In other drawings, the snake comes from the chicken. What is it called? Rooster. Probably that means that anger arises from attachment. When we have attachment and our attachment does not get what it wants, we get angry. When there is some harm to attachment, anger arises. From the sutra, both tails come from the mouth of the pig. That ignorance is the cause of suffering, the cause of samsara.
There are many types of ignorance, and here the pig represents the main type of ignorance, the one I have been talking about for many days. While the I that exists is what is merely labeled by the mind, the way it exists is unbelievably subtle; it’s like for our mind it does not exist. It exists but it’s like it does not exist. That’s the reality, but when the I appears back to us, it appears in the wrong way, as you have heard many times. It appears as real and we believe in that. That is this ignorance, the root of our samsara, this ignorance holding the I as real. The pig signifies that—the root of our samsara, not other people’s samsara, our samsara. That is the true cause of suffering, all-arising, where all the delusions arise from.
One side of the wheel is black, one side is white, which depends on the motivation of the karma that is created out of that ignorance. With anger, the action becomes nonvirtue. With attachment, if it is attachment to this life, the action also becomes nonvirtue, the cause of the lower realms. If the mind is unstained by attachment to this life, but has attachment to future lives’ samsara, although that is still the cause of samsara, it is not the cause of the lower realms. Because it is the cause of the upper realms, it is a virtuous action. It is Dharma, but still the cause of future lives’ samsara.
So, there is the black side of the wheel, showing naked human beings having created negative karma, chained and being dragged down to the lower realms by yamas, being reborn in the lower realms. The white side signifies good karma, where the human beings are well-dressed, carrying prayer wheels or whatever methods to collect merit and do purification. These well-dressed beings are getting a higher rebirth in the deva or human realm or in a pure land.
Delusion and then karma—those two—are all-arising; they are the cause of samsara. The main suffering of the three lower realms is the suffering of pain: the suffering of rebirth, old age, sickness, death and so forth. Dissatisfaction, separating from desirable objects, meeting undesirable objects, never finding satisfaction no matter how many desirable objects we find, even millions, billions or zillions of dollars, what we expect would make the mind happier and happier, it doesn’t happen; the mind becomes unbelievably dissatisfied. The suffering of pain, depression, all that—this is suffering of the three lower realms. Then, the suffering of change is the main suffering in the human and deva realm, the suras and asuras of the desire realm.
Although rarely shown, sometimes in the Wheel of Life drawing there are seventeen categories shown. These represent the seventeen categories of the form realm. Human beings, suras and asuras show the suffering of change with all the samsaric pleasures of food, music, sex and so forth. All these samsaric pleasures signify the other suffering, the suffering of change. I think the form realm also has the suffering of change. According to Geshe Sopa Rinpoche, there are four firm contemplations, samten zhi, attained by achieving shamatha. Through meditation, we get reborn there. In the form realm, there is seventeen levels, seventeen categories. There, there is suffering of change.
Now, after that, there is no drawing for the formless realm. There is no suffering of change there, only pervasive compounding suffering. Although formless, they still have mind, which is in the nature of suffering; they still have pervasive compounding suffering. So, they have suffering like the three lower realms and the upper realms of the desire realm, the human, sura and asura realm. Although they have no form they have mind, which is still not free from karma and delusions, still under the control of karma and delusions. Their mind is pervaded by suffering, contaminated by the seed of karma and delusions. From the seed, delusion arises, suffering arises, the future lives’ suffering arises. In the formless realm, although they do not have the suffering of pain or the suffering of change, they have pervasive compounding suffering, which means when their karma to be there finishes, they get reborn in the lower realms or as a human being, a sura or asura.
In the drawing of the Wheel of Life, the twelve drawings of the twelve dependent-related limbs show how we circle in samsara. We’ll go through that tomorrow.
Yama, the Lord of Death, is drawn holding the Wheel of Life in its two hands. That shows that the whole the six realms’ beings are under its control. The whole of the six realms’ beings must suffer, with true suffering and the true cause of suffering. The two hands holding the Wheel of Life shows that.
Above the white circle, there is the Buddha, pointing out here, showing the cessation of suffering, how if we don’t like suffering and want to be free of samsara, here is the true path. Sometimes the white one is done here. And there is the verse we have seen:
Delight in heedfulness! Guard well your thoughts. Draw yourself out of this bog of evil, even as an elephant draws himself out of the mud.
This means we should attempt to renounce nonvirtue and attain the path to liberation by attaining the three higher trainings, as I explained to you when we talked about the secret of the mind. The path of lower capable being and middle capable being is refuge, protecting karma, guarding morality and attaining the three higher trainings to achieve liberation, first to achieve a higher rebirth [as a lower capable being], and then to achieve liberation [as a middle capable being]. Then there is bodhicitta and the six perfections that can take us to enlightenment.
We must attempt to attain the true path and renounce true suffering and the true cause of suffering, and enter the Buddhadharma, like an elephant stuck in the mud must struggle to get out. Just as the elephant is stuck in the mud, we samsaric beings are stuck in samsara. We have to know that being in samsara means living with suffering—the suffering of pain, the suffering of change and pervasive compounding suffering. When we experience problems in our daily life, we should be aware of that. Problems happen because we are in samsara. We do not see the suffering of change and pervasive compounding suffering, only the suffering of pain, and maybe not all of the suffering of pain, so that is to remind us that we are in samsara and we need to be free from samsara. Therefore, we need to listen, reflect, meditate and practice the lamrim, the path to enlightenment.
We are like the elephant stuck in mud. I saw a house, not a large one but one big enough for an elephant to freely go inside. The elephant went inside and then collapsed. I also heard that in the explanation. To destroy our Lord of Death, we must be heedful. What was the word you told me once? [Student: Conscientious.] If we are extremely conscientious, conscientiously engaging in the Vinaya, the Dharma, we can abandon samsara, the cycle of rebirth and death. We can abandon that, then that becomes the last suffering of samsara. Then we become free forever from samsara.
The Buddha told the monks to draw this. Please understand, if you are buying a Wheel of Life, most Wheels of Life don’t have that, because the artist did not read what the Buddha said in the Kangyur. What is there is mostly the pure land, and sometimes not even the pure land. The pure land is not the main subject, the four noble truths is the main subject, what the Buddha taught in Sarnath to the five disciples. What the Buddha taught at Rajgir, the Prajnaparamita teachings, and the third turning of the wheel of Dharma, that is not there. With many thangkas from Nepal, the artists have not read or studied. Some teachers might draw a pure land, but not this, not the true path. Many artist-disciples follow that, sometimes there is not even a pure land, not only no true path but not even a pure land. Many times it is missing. For the four noble truths, they explain true suffering and the true cause of suffering, but how do we get rid of that, how do we make ourselves free from samsara? By following the true path we achieve the true cessation of suffering. But that is missing in most Wheels of Life.
Many times the Buddha’s hand like this and the white thing representing the true cessation of suffering are missing. So, either you give the artist the correct order for them to draw or you get the wrong Wheel of Life. You have to know that.
OK, maybe I’ll stop here.
[Students offer mandala]
It’s very sad because most artists have never studied; they only copy what is taught. Then, if somebody wants to learn, it is not correct. Many thangkas you buy to take to the West are like that. You have to pay a lot of money, but sometimes it is difficult to explain that to the person. You need to instruct them how to draw it correctly. I tried to have the true path drawn well for the Wheel of Life for the nunnery.
Sometimes, with the Lord of Death there is a skeleton representing impermanence. I think His Holiness mentioned this. It’s not like the skeleton often depicted; it’s there to show impermanence. It is very, very important to be correct.
The Buddha said that there should be a monk at the monastery who can explain the Wheel of Life when people come. From there, we can understand why it is important there are monks and nuns, why there are monasteries; we can understand that from the details they explain. If they are explained correctly, we can understand on a deep level, not just like on a Hari Krishna trip!
We’ll stop here. Tomorrow, we’ll do the twelve links.
DEDICATIONS
“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, all the three-time merits collected by the numberless sentient beings and numberless buddhas, may bodhicitta, the ultimate good heart, where all happiness comes from including our enlightenment and that of all sentient beings, be generated in the hearts of all sentient beings: in the numberless hell beings, the numberless hungry ghosts, the numberless animals—the numberless fish, chickens and goats we eat…” When you come from Kathmandu, there is room a bit up, not in Kathmandu but more up. The goats are taken there. I think they feel unsafe because they all have these big eyes; they are not sure what is going to happen next. There are many goats in this room and they sense they are going to be killed, so they are all afraid. Can you imagine if they were human beings? Can you imagine how frightened they are? Because they are animals, they are going to be killed.
“May bodhicitta be generated in numberless ants, mosquitoes, in the tiniest flies, in all the insects under the ground, in the oceans, in the bushes—may bodhicitta be generated in all of them and in all human beings.” There are numberless universes with numberless human beings, as well as suras and asuras. “May bodhicitta be generated in all of them. In those who have generated it, may it be developed. May bodhicitta be developed in all our hearts, in the hearts of all the students, of all of us here, in all our family members, those who are dead already and those still living.”
Some family members are already in the lower realms. Can you imagine that? They are in the lower realms but if you met them you would not recognize them. They could be animals, goats or fish, or hell beings or hungry ghosts. You don’t know. Even if you caught and ate them, you would not know.
“May bodhicitta be generated in us, including our family members.”
I was told that for Thanksgiving Day in America, what is that big bird? Turkey. Sixty-five million are killed on Thanksgiving Day in America. How can America expect to be perfect, to have all the freedoms, all the comforts? How long can that last when sixty-five million turkeys are killed for one day?
We practiced purification for them. We did Vajrasattva, the King of Prayers and extensive bodhisattva prayers for them. I told the students to pray. But many of the turkeys were Americans [before]! Because they killed turkeys before, they were reborn as turkeys. People just do not know that many were turkeys before. And the fish. The fishermen killing fish, they were fish before. We circle like that. Can you imagine? I told the students, especially in America, the practices they should do.
They kill more than in Nepal. I thought Nepal was the country killing so many animals, due to wrong religious beliefs, as sacrifices, but in America in one day they kill so much more. The country has to suffer one day. It’s very scary. The only thing is to generate bodhicitta. I mentioned to them the various practices they can do, such as the Vajrasattva Tsog Offering, to dedicate for the turkeys.
[Rinpoche and students do dedications in Tibetan]
We are responsible to pray for the world: “Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, all the three-time merits collected by the numberless sentient beings and numberless buddhas, may the wars happening now and in the future be stopped immediately. May famine, disease, the dangers of fire, water, air and earth be stopped immediately. May the global problems stop immediately. May perfect peace and happiness prevail in everyone’s hearts, by generating loving kindness, compassion and bodhicitta. May the Buddhadharma—where beings receive future lives’ happiness and peace from—last a long time. May all beings meet the Buddhadharma and achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.
“May we be able to cherish every single sentient beings 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 the numberless sentient beings and numberless buddhas, which exists in mere name, may the I, who exists in mere name, which does not exist from its own side, which is totally empty from its own side, achieve buddhahood, which exists in mere name, which is totally empty from its own side, which does not exist from its own side, which is totally empty from its own side, 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.”
Thank you very much.
Notes
19 Quoted in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, p. 247. [Return to text]
20 Quoted in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, pp. 429–30. [Return to text]
21 Quoted in Geshe Sopa’s Steps on the Path to Enlightenment, vol. 2 (Wisdom Publications), p. 324. [Return to text]
22 See Assutava Sutta: The Spiritually-Unlearned at accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.061.niza.html. [Return to text]
23 Ibid. [Return to text]
