Lecture 20

November 29, 1980

PRECEPTS: TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL SENTIENT BEINGS

While you are thinking about all the sentient beings in the six realms who are suffering, think of how extremely kind they are. Not only have they been kind when they were your mother, taking care of your life with the four great kindnesses, they have been responsible for every happiness you have ever had, all your past, present and future happinesses and perfections, up to the greatest one, enlightenment. You have received every samsaric pleasure due to their kindness, even a cool breeze passing over your body on a hot day. Even the smallest pleasure comes from all these sentient beings who are suffering now, who are experiencing the unimaginable sufferings in the six realms.

Feel this. 

[Rinpoche pauses for meditation]

There is no difference at all between all these kind mother sentient beings who are suffering in each of the six realms now and your present life’s mother.

Think of all the kind mother sentient beings who are no different from your own mother, all the hell beings, the hungry ghosts, the animals, the human beings, the demigods and the gods. Think of them having to endure the unimaginable suffering of samsara. 

[Rinpoche pauses for meditation]

Think of how much they have to experience such unbearable suffering, and how there is no way to escape. 

[Rinpoche pauses for meditation]

All the noises you can hear now—the dogs barking, the birds singing, humans shouting—all those noises are the sound of suffering.

Now think: “There is not one sentient being who did not create negative karma for me, in order to take care of me. In past lives I’ve let each sentient being create negative karma numberless times in order to take care of me. 

“So many sentient beings who are suffering now in the six realms are doing so because of the negativity they created taking care of me. At times when they were my mother or father, I let them to create so much negative karma for my own happiness.

“Because of that, what I must do now is free all sentient beings from all sufferings and lead them to the peerless happiness of full enlightenment, and I should do it by myself. That is my responsibility; that is my work—to free each sentient being from suffering and lead them to enlightenment. I should take that responsibility by myself, and ensure it is obtained. 

“Therefore, I must achieve the omniscient mind; therefore, I’m going to take the purifying eight Mahayana precepts for the benefit of all mother sentient beings.” 

EIGHT MAHAYANA PRECEPTS CEREMONY

Now, repeat this prayer visualizing Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the cause of all temporal and ultimate happiness and perfections, particularly bringing peace to the world. 

[Rinpoche leads the students in the precepts prayers]

The merit you have created, the object of creating that merit—enlightenment—and those you have dedicated the merits to—sentient beings—none of these exist in the slightest from their own side. This is how it appears to your mind, how you think of it, how you grasp on to it. This is the object you grasp on to. 

Dedicate the merits to all sentient beings, understanding that all these things—the merit, enlightenment, sentient beings—do not exist at all except what is merely labeled. The subject, I, who is merely labeled, dedicates the merits, which are merely labeled, to obtain the object, enlightenment, which is merely labeled, for sentient beings, who are merely labeled—all are merely labeled by thought. 

While you are aware that the whole thing is merely labeled, dedicate the merits in this way: “Due to all these merits collected by me and other sentient beings, may the paramita of morality be completed purely, without degeneration, without pride. May all transmigratory beings have happiness and may their suffering be eliminated forever. Wherever there are bodhisattvas, may all their prayers be fulfilled, immediately. I dedicate all my merits to sentient beings, just as the brave Samantabhadra and Manjushri have dedicated their merits.” 

BODHICITTA SUBDUES YOUR MIND

Khunu Lama said, 

With bodhicitta you subdue your own mind.
With bodhicitta you subdue the minds of others.
With bodhicitta you respect everybody.
With bodhicitta you see everybody in equanimity.²⁰ 

Here, Khunu Lama advised that if you have bodhicitta generated in your mind, it is extremely easy to subdue your mind. Because of bodhicitta, unsubdued minds such as attachment, anger and pride will rarely arise. It is possible [for the unsubdued minds to arise], but it is not the same as before you had bodhicitta; there is much less. It’s very difficult for anger to arise.

And if you have bodhicitta generated in your mind, because your own mind is subdued, it’s also very easy to benefit other sentient beings, to subdue other people’s minds. Because your mind is a loving mind, a compassionate mind, if you work for others, it is very beneficial for them. With your speech, even though you just say a few words, it’s very beneficial, very effective, for the mind of the listener; it has great impact. It’s easy to transform the others’ minds, by the blessing of your speech, by the power of your mind of bodhicitta. Whatever verbal or physical actions you do are always done with the motivation to benefit others, so whatever you say will only be of benefit to other sentient beings.

You can feel that whenever you hear advice from those meditators whose minds are subdued by the loving compassionate thought, bodhicitta. Even if it is just a few words, that advice is very effective, very powerful for your mind. Whereas no matter how much you listen to somebody who is highly learned in the scriptures, very intellectual, but does not have realizations, somehow it doesn’t move the mind so much; it’s not that effective for the mind. You know the difference. If you have bodhicitta, even just a few words of advice can benefit others, transforming their unsubdued minds. 

STORIES OF SERKONG DORJE CHANG 

The first time we came to Nepal from India, we initially stayed in the Gelugpa monastery, upstairs. We stayed there maybe less than a year. Once, when the monks were doing nyung näs, they invited Lama Yeshe and me. This is the two-day Chenrezig fasting retreat where you take Mahayana ordination. Many people attended. 

The benefactor invited a lama from Sarnath, but the monks didn’t have much interest in him. They didn’t want to take ordination from him. Ordinarily, the person you take any kind of ordination from becomes your virtuous teacher, so they didn’t want to take it from him. 

Staying there, there happened to be a great yogi, Serkong Dorje Chang, who was no different from those previous yogis, Milarepa and Marpa. He was exactly the same as far as realizations, except he was a monk. Actually he, himself, was the embodiment of the reincarnation of Milarepa’s guru, Marpa. He passed away more than a year ago. He was a great hidden yogi. Although he didn’t reveal the great qualities of his realizations or his scriptural understandings, you could feel it. Just by seeing him, by watching his usual actions, you could easily see that he was no ordinary being. 

He was able to communicate with the deities and protectors you visualize in the merit field, the mind-bound protectors or yidam deities such as Tara. Outwardly, he appeared as a very simple monk, nothing special, kind of very foolish. Not even mentioning tourists, even Tibetan people who didn’t know him would see him circumambulating a stupa, wearing very simple robes, and they would have no idea of his special qualities, even though inside he was the embodiment of Marpa. They could not see that the quality of the realizations of his holy mind was equal to space. Outwardly, he looked like this, but in effect, there was no resistance for his full knowledge. There was never the slightest worldly thought; every thought was of the Buddhadharma. He never sought reputation or anything like that.

Every year, a benefactor invited Rinpoche and all the monks to his home to do a lot of pujas, such as reciting Praises to the Twenty-one Taras 100,000 times. This benefactor usually did business in statues, and I think, one day, he stole a famous statue. Right after he did that, he went to see Rinpoche at the monastery. Rinpoche asked him who he was, and when the man replied that he was Rinpoche’s benefactor, Rinpoche said, “I don’t have a benefactor like this. I don’t have any benefactors.” He completely rejected him. Very shamed, the benefactor quietly left the room. Afterwards, he might have screamed at the servants, complaining that Rinpoche hadn’t recognized him.

There was no reason why Rinpoche couldn’t recognize him because every year the man invited Rinpoche and all the monks to make pujas at his house. I think this benefactor didn’t understand why Rinpoche was showing this wrathful aspect. The benefactor became angry and I heard he stopped inviting monks from the monastery to do pujas at his house for some time. Then, maybe afterwards his mind might have changed. 

When people went to see Rinpoche, even without asking, straight away Rinpoche told them what was going to happen to them. They might have just gone to receive a blessing but, depending on who went, he would tell them their fortune. Once, a man came from the high mountains to ask Rinpoche for an observation about his business. Before he made the observation and gave the answer, Rinpoche completely shocked the person by telling him he had killed a human being and he needed to make prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas. After that, he didn’t dare ask about his business!

For certain people, Rinpoche gave advice or practice, saying it very straight. It happened many times that he would meet somebody while he was circumambulating a stupa, and even though they didn’t ask anything of Rinpoche, all of a sudden he would turn to them and say something straight off, like the man he told, “You will die next year. You need to do prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas, 100,000 or 300,000 times.” I heard the man listened to Rinpoche and did exactly as he advised. And he did die at exactly the time Rinpoche predicted. I think that has happened to several people.

Only a very few people received very profound explanations of the teachings from Rinpoche, but normally if you asked for teachings, even if you asked to read some scriptures, he would kind of completely reject you as if he didn’t know anything, as if he was completely ignorant. 

I had heard this story about him when I was in India, so I had a great wish to see him. The first time I went to see him with Lama Yeshe and our first Western student, Zina. She was Russian and her friend, an English boy, was Lama Yeshe’s English teacher.

When we reached his house, there was a very simple monk coming down the steps. When we asked if His Holiness Serkong Dorje Chang was giving interviews, this monk just said there was no need for a short time, or something like that. I didn’t pay much attention to what he said. He went downstairs to another door and we went upstairs and saw the manager, asking him if it was possible to see Rinpoche. Then, the same monk we had accidently seen downstairs came back and sat down on the bed. He was His Holiness Serkong Dorje Chang! I didn’t think that simple monk was Rinpoche, because I expected the head lama of a monastery to be in better robes.

At that time, Rinpoche just once gave some short advice for Zina and Clive, the English boy. They asked for general advice, but Rinpoche talked about guru yoga, how you could do a very short but very powerful guru yoga practice, visualizing the Guru as Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. It was very powerful advice. I couldn’t understand how you could do it.

Then Zina asked, “Could you read some of those?” pointing to some piles of texts next to Rinpoche’s bed. She was that kind of person, somebody who asked those kinds of things! She wanted a few lines from those scriptures, but Rinpoche said he couldn’t; he didn’t know anything about them, he knew nothing. At certain times Rinpoche told stories and at other times, with other people, he didn’t talk. 

Rinpoche could even see what I dreamt. Once, after I had had a fearful dream, I went to see Rinpoche. But before I could even explain to him, he already knew. He asked me questions, like, “Did you dream of a little girl”? He knew exactly. Then, he explained what it meant. Like this, there was no resistance. He looked like one thing outside but in effect, he had qualities equal to space. He could see completely all the bad actions you had done and he could tell you about them. If you couldn’t remember, he would tell you. 

The main point I’m telling you here is that the monks had invited Rinpoche, His Holiness Serkong Dorje Chang, to give the Mahayana precepts, and he was supposed to do it, so they didn’t want to take the precepts from another lama. Rinpoche came down in the early morning to give the motivation before the ordination. He came down and sat down on the bed, and then said, “If you want to practice the holy Dharma, if the virtuous friend says, ‘Lick that kaka while it’s hot,’ then you lick it! Immediately, without hesitation, while it’s hot, you lick it. That’s the real practice of Dharma.” That was all. That was his motivation. 

That’s all he said! I don’t think Rinpoche did the rest of the ordination; he just left. I think we had to take the ordination from the holy object. That’s how it happened! It was incredibly effective. He only said a few words, but it was so powerful and so effective. It was unbelievable advice.

Instead of saying many words, he simply exposed the heart of the advice. That’s one of the teachings that I received from him during that ordination time. 

BODHICITTA SUBDUES YOUR MIND (CONTINUED)

Khunu Lama continued,

With bodhicitta you respect everybody.
With bodhicitta you see everybody in equanimity.

One hindrance that doesn’t allow you to respect others is pride. If you have generated bodhicitta in your mind, any pride you have becomes less and less. 

With bodhicitta you do not criticize others, you only express the qualities of others, the good things about them, even the enemy who disturbs you. Instead of criticizing an enemy, saying bad things about them—even though their actions might be full of mistakes—a bodhisattva only expresses the good qualities about them. 

For us ordinary people in the world, as much as possible we hide the good qualities of the enemy who harms us, who treats us badly. We don’t express whatever good qualities they might have; we hide them as much as possible. And then, as much as possible, we stress their mistakes, their bad actions, their negative thoughts, announcing them to other people. Even though a bodhisattva might see another’s physical and verbal mistakes, they hide them as much as possible. The bodhisattva compliments the enemy as much as possible and announces their qualities. 

You respect the Guru Triple Gem by seeing their qualities; you respect sentient beings by remembering their kindness, like respecting your parents, not because they have realizations, attainment of the path, it’s not that, but because they’re kind. They are kind to you and so you respect them by remembering that kindness. With bodhicitta, instead of being proud and being careless of others, bodhisattvas respect all other sentient beings by remembering their kindness.

As it is said in the Eight Verses of Thought Training, 

Determined to obtain the greatest possible benefit
From all sentient beings,
Who are more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel,
I shall hold them most dear at all times.

The respect bodhisattvas have for others is not just from the mouth; they sincerely cherish them from the heart. With the thought that remembers their kindness, they completely respect and cherish all others. 

Then, with bodhicitta, you see everybody in equanimity. If you have bodhicitta you have no discrimination, feeling close to those who help and love you, seeing them as friends, and feeling aversion for others, those who harm you, seeing them as enemies. When you discriminate, you keep friends close and enemies distant. From that, attachment arises for those who help and anger arises for those who harm. Discriminating like this creates confusion in your mind, and you believe it is like that. And so, with discriminating thoughts of anger and attachment, you accumulate karma and circle in samsara. 

With bodhicitta, a bodhisattva has cut off the thoughts of distance and closeness, with the attachment and anger that discriminate. Because of that, on one hand the bodhisattva sees people such as friends and relatives—those who help, who give food, clothing, money, and so forth—as extremely kind. On the other hand, they also see people who treat them badly, those we would recognize as enemies, as extremely kind. They see that, no matter how terrible the harm, the action of harm itself is so beneficial, and the one who harms is so precious, like a wish-fulfilling jewel. The bodhisattva sees that person as extremely kind.

That simply means a bodhisattva has an equal attitude to all sentient beings, not like our minds, which are full of partiality. Seeing a parent or relative, a boyfriend or girlfriend, you feel very close, but when you see others you feel kind of distant. Without a sense of relationship, there seems no point in benefiting them. If, on the other hand, you had bodhicitta, you would have no confusion. Seeing one sentient being would not cause a sense of closeness and hence causing attachment to arise, and seeing another would not cause a sense of distance and hence causing anger or indifference to arise. 

As Khunu Lama said in the first two lines, if you want to subdue your mind, the best thing to do is practice bodhicitta, and if you wish to subdue others’ minds, the best method is to first train yourself in bodhicitta. 

Having trained your mind in bodhicitta, you can then talk about bodhicitta with others so that they too can practice bodhicitta; that is the best method. Even though there are many other methods to subdue the mind, to benefit other sentient beings’ minds, the best advice is the advice of bodhicitta, talking about it with others, persuading them to also train their minds in bodhicitta.

If you want to accumulate merit by respecting others, again the best thing is to train in and practice bodhicitta. A bodhisattva has an equal mind for all sentient beings; they are utterly devoid of the discriminating thought of closeness and distance. To quickly generate bodhicitta, you must start to train your mind in bodhicitta, right from this moment. 

Therefore, think, “I’m going to listen to the teachings of the lamrim in order to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all mother sentient beings.” Even with the motivation, you generate the thought of bodhicitta. 

REFUGE IN THE SANGHA MEANS IN ALL SANGHA

As I explained in the last few days, when you say, “I take refuge in the Sangha,” it doesn’t mean you take refuge in the Sangha you visualize in the merit field but you don’t have to take refuge in the Sangha you see around you here, in the monastery, doing pujas and so forth. It’s not that there are Sangha you take refuge in and Sangha you don’t.

There is no difference between one absolute Sangha and four fully ordained monks, four gelongs. The Sanskrit is Sangha and the Tibetan is ge dün, meaning “one who intends to virtue.” Ge is “virtue” and dün is “wish,” or “intention,” so it refers to those who are intent on gaining nirvana, but it can also refer to enlightenment, according to the practitioner. For a Mahayana practitioner, it can refer to enlightenment. 

When you say, “Ge dün la kyab su chi o” it means taking refuge in all the Sangha, all the absolute Sangha and all the Sangha who are gelongs in both the Mahayana and Theravadin tradition—the whole community. It does not only refer to the absolute Sangha, the one who has attained the true path and true cessation of suffering.

The four members of the Sangha, four gelongs (or bhikshus in Sanskrit) receives the name “Sangha,” and they are no different from one absolute Sangha. So, when you say “Ge dün la kyab su chi o,” you must remember the whole thing. You can recognize all of them as absolute Sangha; you can think of the whole merit field as absolute Sangha.

Otherwise, when you say this prayer, the Sangha in this monastery are not objects of refuge. So, you are saying you are taking refuge in these monks but not those ones. You would only be taking a particular refuge. 

One of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s tutors, almost the same as his guru, was Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche. Before in Tibet, he wasn’t His Holiness’ teacher but his “debate partner,” somebody who helped His Holiness discuss the Dharma. This is why he has the title “tsenshab” or debate partner. Although not his teacher in Tibet, His Holiness took many teachings from Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche in India. He was the son of Serkong Dorje Chang, who lived in Nepal, in Swayambhunath, and passed away there. 

The one I’m talking about now, Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche, was also called Serkong because of his father. His father Serkong Dorje Chang passed away and, after his reincarnation, he became a disciple of his son. This Serkong, Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche, the one who is in Dharamsala, was given the ordination name of Serkong.

Rinpoche used to advise us when he was giving a commentary on refuge, when you say “Ge dün la kyab su chi o” you must also include those monks in the monasteries in Tibet they call dob dobs. I think the tourist books call these “monk police” or something. They have a particular dress; they paint black on their face. Just as some actresses in America paint white around the eyes and mouth—which is very nice theater—they paint black on their face. Their robes are kind of short, with many folds, and they are thick with butter, which the dob dobs spread on them. They put ribbons on their arms to kind of protect the monastery, but they also do a lot of work for the monastery. I think they also fight a lot; they compete with each other a lot. I don’t know how that tradition happened. They serve the drinks during pujas, but normally they kind of fight and compete a lot, trying to be tough. Rinpoche advised us we even have to remember them in the merit field.

If you practice like this in everyday life, as the lamas advise in the teachings, by remembering the base that is the Sangha, then at all the other times, whenever you see them, the thought to discriminate doesn’t arise, the thought to criticize doesn’t arise. Even if in your view you see things that they do that you feel are mistakes, you have no thought to criticize them. In that way, you don’t accumulate negative karma, and the thought to respect them arises. 

AVOIDING NEGATIVE ACTIONS TOWARD THE SANGHA

You must not use things belonging to the Sangha without their permission, even small things like a broom or robes. It is said that those who do things like this create the karma to be reborn in the ordinary hell realm, but in the hells called “Hell like a Broom" or “Hell like Robes” where they are a hell being in the shape of a broom or robes. Some sentient beings are born in the ordinary hell realms having a body in the shape of a pillar because their habit was to spit on the monastery’s wall and spit in the pillars. Due to creating that karma, they are reborn extremely thin, looking like a pillar. 

When the manager of the monastery receives offering for the Sangha, like food and tea, but he only gives them a part and keeps the rest, even though there is still plenty for the Sangha, this is the sort of result that happens. There is the story of a monk who was reborn as an ordinary hell being in the form of a pot. I don’t remember the story exactly, but I think once, in a previous life, while he was mashing medicine in a pot, while having a conversation with another monk he became angry and he broke the pot. Because the pot belonged to the Sangha, he was reborn as a hell being in the form of a pot.

There are also beings reborn as hell beings in the form of sticks. You see beings with all sorts of unbelievable forms in the sea. Once, when I was on a beach near Brisbane, there were very strange sentient beings. They must have been ordinary hell beings in those shapes. Some have little holes inside like mouths, but closed, and when the big waves come the holes open and they suck in the creatures in the water. Then the hole closes very tightly, trapping the creatures inside. I can’t say what karma created that—I don’t have an omniscient mind—but it’s very interesting. You also find beings in the forests with all sorts of different shapes, like leaves or sticks, and so forth.

Think, “I must achieve enlightenment for all the kind mother sentient beings and therefore I’m going to listen to the commentary of the graduated path to enlightenment.” Please listen to the teaching well by setting the bodhicitta motivation and ensuring the right conduct for listening to the teachings. 

I think I’ll continue the preliminary practice and the guru yoga, the short Jorchö practice that is done with the Lama Tsongkhapa merit field. 

One thing that I didn’t mention yesterday when I talked about the qualities of reciting “Ge dün la kyab su chi o,” the qualities of Serkong’s prayer. If you have studied their qualities in detail—the particular qualities of the protectors, dakas, dakinis, arhats and solitary realizers—the twelve qualities and the three higher trainings and the bodhisattvas’ qualities—the six paramitas and those things, what is elaborately explained in the extensive scriptures, if you have studied those and can remember them in detail, then think that they are generated in your mind and in the minds of all sentient beings. 

RINPOCHE RECOVERS BY RECITING THE REFUGE PRAYER

There are great meditators who do various actions such as healing sick people just by the refuge practice, without doing the other various tantric practices. It depends on the true cause of refuge, how strong it is within your mind. Once, when I was coming down from Lawudo, I had to run to the airstrip which is very close to the mountain. You have to come down from the cave and then go up again, so that means it takes a little time. Because the plane usually comes quite early in the morning, I thought I might miss it, so I rushed to the closest airstrip, the one built by the Nepalese and Japanese. However, I didn’t get to fly that day because there were some other people there first and the plane was full. 

So, the next day, I decided to go to the other airstrip, which can take a day, depending on how fast people walk. However, I couldn’t walk down to that airstrip because I had rushed from the cave to the airstrip the day before, and I was unable to walk normally. I went down to the town, where the check-in office, the immigration and the main post office are—it’s where all the tourists are. It was quite steep, and I couldn’t walk fast because I had a tremendous pain in my leg. 

My uncle, who had come with me to carry my things, was worried about me. He was worried how he was going to take care of me for pipi and things like that. I was reciting as many malas of the refuge prayer as I could while I walked. I didn’t recite them for the pain, that wasn’t the purpose, but somehow, the pain completely disappeared, and I was able to walk normally. When I told my uncle the pain had completely gone, he didn’t believe me. He just kept advising me to walk slowly. But after some time, when he saw I was able to walk normally, he could see that the pain had disappeared, and he believed me.

That morning, I stopped at one of a benefactor’s homes on the way, at the family home where there was an old mother who used to come to Lawudo before. I think at that time there was pain. Then, after one mala round of the refuge prayer, when it reached “Sang gyä kyab su chi o,” the pain disappeared again. I told my uncle. The first day he was very surprised that it had gone away. He explained to me that he was worried, wondering while we were coming down how he could look after me at the other people’s houses. On the second day, when I recited “Sang gyä kyab su chi o,” the pain completely disappeared. The next day, I was able to get a flight.

GURU YOGA: THE FOUR IMMEASURABLE THOUGHTS

With refuge you are able to do various works for others, various actions: pacifying actions, controlling actions, increasing actions and wrathful actions. By taking refuge you are protected from spirit harm. Although doing refuge practice well is not easy, it is very powerful for the success of all your wishes, even temporal ones. 

After reciting the Sangha line three times, “Sang gyä kyab su chi o,” and taking refuge and then bodhicitta, you should generate the thought that you are utilizing the result in the path. You should do that meditation. Then, feel great happiness, thinking that you yourself will become enlightened in the essence of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, and that all the other sentient beings will also become enlightened in the essence of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. Feel great joy, thinking, “Now my wish has been fulfilled.” 

Then think, “This is just a mere visualization. In fact, I and all my kind mother sentient beings, from beginningless samsaric lifetimes until now, have been circling in samsara and experiencing suffering. That is because of a mistake. What’s the mistake? It has been caused by the mind being under the control of attachment and hatred, discriminating some as close and others as distant. That is the mistake.”

After thinking like this, meditate on the four immeasurable thoughts to generate and increase bodhicitta. You should feel like a child feels for their mother who is so kind to them. The more they think about how she is suffering, the more compassion arises, and the more they wish her to be free from suffering. That thought becomes stronger and stronger. Similarly, with the thought of love, they decide they must help their mother. That thought becomes stronger and stronger the more they think about how their mother is so kind and how she is suffering. The more you meditate on the four immeasurable thoughts, the more your bodhicitta develops; that wish to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of others becomes more and more powerful. You avoid the mistake of discriminating some close and some distant, causing attachment and anger to arise.

Think, “How wonderful it would be if all the sentient beings were devoid of attachment and hatred, discriminating some close and others distant.” This immeasurable wish arises very strongly. 

By thinking like this, the immeasurable wish then comes, “How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were to abide in equanimity, free from attachment and anger that discriminates some close and some distant.” 

Then, “May they abide in this equanimity.” That is the next line of this immeasurable prayer.

Then, “I will bring them into equanimity by myself.” That is immeasurable will.

Remember that at this present moment you do not have the power to do this, to bring all the sentient beings to equanimity. Who does have that perfect power? The Guru Triple Gem have the perfect power, and the Buddha is the embodiment of all this. Therefore think, “I should become the Omniscient One in order to bring all other sentient beings into equanimity.” The whole thing depends on first transforming your own mind and generating the whole path, from guru devotion up to enlightenment.

So, finally request, “Please grant me blessings to be able to do this.” 

When you transform your mind, when you generate the graduated path to enlightenment, at that time, you receive the blessings of the merit field. That is why you make this request, “Please grant me blessings to be able to do this.” This is the last immeasurable request. With this and with the prayer of the immeasurable love, the prayer of the immeasurable compassion and the prayer of the immeasurable joy, each of these prayers contains four immeasurable practices. 

GURU YOGA: THE MERIT FIELD VISUALIZATION

Then, you generate special bodhicitta with the prayer, 

In order to benefit all my mother sentient beings quickly and more quickly, I must achieve the precious state of perfect and complete buddhahood. 

Saying “quickly” twice refers to the various classes of tantra. The first “quickly” refers to the first three classes: Kriya, Charya and Yoga Tantra. By practicing one of these types of tantra you will attain enlightenment far more quickly than by following the Paramitayana. The second “and more quickly” refers to practicing Highest Yoga Tantra, Maha-anuttara Yoga Tantra, the highest path of Secret Mantra. By practicing this, you can attain enlightenment in one brief lifetime, or even in twelve or three years. 

In effect this is saying that Highest Yoga Tantra is the quickest way to achieve enlightenment. As Manjushri advised Lama Tsongkhapa, “Without need to explain in more detail, study the teachings and then practice the yidams—the mind-bound deities—and even the protectors, and you will attain enlightenment in one brief lifetime of these degenerate times.”²¹ Manjushri gave this profound advice to Lama Tsongkhapa. This is the meaning of “quickly and more quickly.” 

Think, “I’m going to meditate on the commentary of the lamrim, the profound path of Guru-Buddha yoga.”

After having generated special bodhicitta, the merit field is again extremely pleased by this. Then, the whole merit field gradually absorbs: all the lineage lamas of the blessing of the practice up to Vajradhara, all the lineage lamas of the extensive path up to Maitreya Buddha, and all the lineage lamas of the profound path up to Manjushri. 

Vajradhara, Manjushri and Maitreya Buddha also absorb into Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, and then all other deities of the merit field who are around also absorb from the crown gradually upwards. Then, all the gurus absorb to the root guru who is in front of the Buddha, Lama Losang Thubwang Dorje Chang, and the root guru absorbs into Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s heart. 

Then, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha descends and absorbs into you at the very center of the two eyebrows, the same place where the Buddha has that single hair, dze bu in Tibetan, one of the holy signs of a buddha. He melts into light and absorbs into you between your two eyebrows, blessing your mind. 

From this, visualize Lama Tsongkhapa as you can see in the thangka. Lama Tsongkhapa is in the center, surrounded by his two main disciples: on the right is Khedrub-je and on the left is Gyaltsab-je. Khedrub-je is in the aspect of being a little bit wrathful and Gyaltsab-je is in a more peaceful aspect, and a little bit older. They are sitting on a raised throne on a lotus and moon disc, supported by snow lions, the same as with the refuge merit field. If there are four snow lions supporting the throne, this signifies Buddha’s quality of the four fearlessnesses; if there are eight, that represents the Buddha’s quality of the eight types of control. 

Lama Tsongkhapa wears the three types of robes, saffron colored. He is smiling, with a very pleasing aspect to his face. The color of his holy body is like rose—his complexion is whitish with a little bit of red. He sits in the vajra posture and his hands are in the mudra of expounding the Dharma. Both hands hold the stems of a lotus; the lotus in the right hand has a sword and the lotus in the left hand has a Prajnaparamita text. You can visualize this according to whatever you are studying at the time. For instance, if you are studying a tantric text, to make it auspicious for you to understand the meaning of those teachings, you can visualize the text as that the tantric text you are studying.

Then, you should visualize the pure realm of Tushita, where Maitreya Buddha resides. To visualize this, generally Mount Meru has four levels above the ocean where the demigods reside. The lowest of Mount Meru’s four levels is inhabited by nagas, the second by garudas, the third by rakshasas and demons and the fourth by the treasure-guarding yakshas.²² The highest of the four levels of Mount Meru above the water is the Heaven of Thirty-three.²³ 

I think, however, a description of the different levels of Mount Meru where the worldly gods reside is another subject. It is not the object of our eye, not something we can see, but we can be born in one of those realms due to karma. On the other hand, with their psychic powers, beings like Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and his disciples, Maudgalyayana and Shariputra were able to travel to these realms without any hindrances.

This is similar to how something we see as water is seen differently by beings with other levels of mind. What to us is a bowl of water, is nectar to a buddha or a god, whereas a hungry ghost does not see it as either water or nectar, but as a bowl filled with pus. We human beings only have the karma to see it as water; the hungry ghost only has the karma to see it as pus. 

There are certain places that are recognized as holy places. Some highly fortunate meditators, who have very thin obscurations, whose karmic obscurations are purified, will see such a place as a pure realm, with dakas and dakinis there. What they see will be completely different from what we see. And those whose have very thick karmic obscurations will see the same place very differently; they will just see bare mountains covered in rocks and thorn bushes. They will see it as a very ordinary place. 

Similarly, the place called Shambhala, Kalachakra’s pure realm—if you have a strong karmic connection with Kalachakra and if you don’t have thick karmic obscurations, you can travel there, you can see it as a pure realm. With their same body those yogis can travel there and see Kalachakra’s pure realm, Shambhala. For us, ordinary people who don’t have a karmic connection and who have very thick karmic obscurations, no matter how much we travel, we will only see snow mountains, nothing else. We can circumambulate the place, on and on, but we will see nothing, not even a tiny part of the pure realm of Shambhala.

In the sutra teachings, it is very much emphasized that all existence comes from mind. It is like this. I think scientists said before that there were no beings on the moon but recently they have started to believe there are.

The side of Mount Meru that faces the southern continent—our continent—is lapis lazuli, blue, so the brightness of that makes our water and sky blue. The side of Mount Meru that faces the eastern continent is silver, so in the eastern continent the color of the water and the sky is white, not blue like ours. The northern side of the Mount Meru is gold, so in the northern continent the color of the sky and the water is yellow. And the western side of Mt. Meru is made of rubies, so in the western continent the color of the sky and the water is red. So each different continent has different colored water and sky. 

You can check whichever reasoning is more logical—what the scientists say or what is explained in the teachings. However, the main point here is to do the visualization to collect merit, to purify obscurations and to generate the path to enlightenment; that’s the purpose of doing the visualization.

On the very top of the fourth level of Mount Meru there’s the Heaven of the Thirty-three and then, higher than that, in the space above the Heaven of the Thirty-three, there is the celestial realm comprising the four heavens of the sky-dwelling gods. Below this, demigods can come and fight, but here they can’t, so the first realm is called the Heaven of No Dispute. The second is Tushita (Tib: Ganden), the Heaven of Contentment. This is the god realm of Tushita, not the pure realm, which is above it in the sky, like a monastery is separated from a city. Then there is Nirmanarati, the Heaven of Delightful Emanations and the fourth is Paranirmitavasavartin, the Heaven of the Delight in the Illusory Manifestation of Phenomena.

Tushita pure realm is the place where the thousand buddhas of this fortunate time descend to this earth from. There are bodhisattvas in this pure realm. The base is golden and all the ground is in the nature of lapis lazuli, as smooth as the palm of the hand, like glass, not like the ground on this earth, sometimes up, sometimes down, with stones and thorn bushes and things like that. It is very comfortable, without any stones or bushes or any kind of ugly, undesirable objects. To step on it is like stepping on your spring bed at home, where your feet go down and come up, something so comfortable to sit on. Here, there are people with very soft beds who put blankets on them and sit on them because that’s much more comfortable than sitting on the floor. It’s more fun, more relaxed. The ground in Tushita is very even, very comfortable, of a blissful nature, without stones and bushes and undesirable objects like that. 

The golden base has lapis lazuli drawings done with lapis lazuli, round, like the shape of an eye. There are many beautiful flowers, like lotuses, not tiny, huge, each petal the size of a bed. You can lie down on a single petal. Then, there are extremely beautiful lakes and ponds surrounded by wish-fulfilling trees, granting you whatever you need, whatever you request. On the bottom of the lakes, the sand is made of various jewels and gold and things like that. There are various beautiful birds flying around those ponds and lakes; with their songs they continuously make very beautiful tunes of the Dharma.

The whole space is continuously filled with very scented smell. Just seeing it, just remembering it, brings an incredible sense of bliss in your mind.

In the very center of this pure realm, which is complete with all these richnesses, there is a beautiful palace, a mansion of Dharma. In the front of that is the place where Maitreya Buddha gives teachings, Kunga Dawa. In the center of this is a jeweled throne, held up by snow eight lions. On the throne is the Teacher, the King, the Undefeated, the Savior, Maitreya Buddha, whose holy body is the color of gold, like refined gold, radiant like 100,000 suns rising. He has one face and two arms, and his hands, which at his heart, are in the mudra of turning the wheel of Dharma, the same as Lama Tsongkhapa.

He holds the stem of a naga tree with flowers. In the flower on the right there’s a Dharmachakra [Dharma wheel]; in the flower on the left side, there’s a vase, the same vase that the thousand-arm aspect of Chenrezig holds. Chenrezig’s vase is filled with purifying nectar pouring from it, signifying that Chenrezig is purifying true suffering and the true cause of suffering but I’m not sure of the exact significance of the vase that Maitreya Buddha holds, maybe to spread the Dharma teachings.

The holy body is well adorned with jewels, jeweled ornaments and scarves. Above his crown is an enlightenment stupa, which signifies Shakyamuni Buddha. That is because, due to the kindness of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, Maitreya Buddha becomes enlightened in the essence of Shakyamuni Buddha. Even when he becomes enlightened, he will still respect Shakyamuni Buddha as his guru. This is similar with Tara and the other buddhas. Tara has Amitabha Buddha at her crown to show respect to the guru, because she became enlightened by the kindness of the guru. 

Maitreya Buddha is seated on the throne in a sitting position, signifying his promise to descend right now in this world. He looks at you with a very pleasing smile. 

I’m going to stop here.

Lecture 21

November 30, 1980 (morning)

GREAT EQUANIMITY IS CHERISHING ALL BEINGS EQUALLY

You need to train the mind in all-obscuring bodhicitta and absolute bodhicitta. The training in all-obscuring bodhicitta has been handed down from Guru Shakyamuni Buddha to Nagarjuna and then to Shantideva. According to this advice, you train the mind in equalizing and exchanging yourself with others. This has two thoughts: the thought of seeking enlightenment and the thought of seeking to do the work for others. In order to generate the thought of seeking enlightenment, first, the thought of seeking to do the work for others should be generated.

According to the seven points of cause and effect technique, in order to generate the thought of seeking to do the work for others, you should first train the mind in equanimity, which means cutting off attachment and anger, the minds that discriminate friend as close and enemy as distant. This equanimity meditation does not mean equalizing the thought of anger and attachment toward all sentient beings. It doesn’t mean this. Some think it is like that, but that’s completely wrong. 

It’s like having a field that is unfertilized and covered in rocks; you can sow seeds in the field but nothing will grow. Like that, if the mind is not trained in the equilibrium meditation—cutting off anger and attachment, discriminating sentient beings as friend or enemy, as close or distant—then whatever love and compassion you generate will be partial. You won’t be able to generate love and compassion equally toward all sentient beings, only a limited number, only those who help you, who do not harm you.

According to the Mahayana thought training of equalizing, within the practice of equalizing and exchanging yourself with others, this great equanimity is different from the equilibrium meditation which is preliminary to the seven points of cause and effect. However, the other meditation technique, which goes inside this meditation, is contained in this equalizing and exchanging yourself with others. The other one, the equilibrium meditation, is just cutting off, just renouncing the attachment and anger that discriminates some close and others distant, that’s all. This great equanimity is cherishing all sentient beings equally. The conclusion, the essential thing is that you cherish all sentient beings just as you cherish yourself. 

It includes seeing the shortcomings of the self-cherishing thought and the benefits of cherishing others, which contains the kindness of mother sentient beings. This way of meditating on kindness is stronger than remembering the kindness according to the other bodhicitta advice. In this context, the benefit of cherishing others, remembering their kindness and wishing to repay that kindness are combined in these meditations.

The actual practice of exchanging self and others is doing the tonglen practice, by particularly remembering the object of love and doing the practice of giving, and then remembering the particular object of compassion and doing the practice of taking other sentient beings’ sufferings. Tonglen not only contains the practice of great love and great compassion, it also contains the practice of special intention, carrying the responsibility to do the work for other sentient beings, the determination to be able to fulfill this. This is the strong thought, “I must achieve the omniscient mind.” 

The meditation on equanimity that involves cutting off anger and attachment, discriminating friend and enemy, discriminating close and distant, is the general way of generating equilibrium. It is not particularly a Mahayana meditation; the followers of the Theravada path also practice this. 

The meditation on equalizing yourself with others that is the preliminary of exchanging yourself with others is different from the other equanimity and very different from the mind that we have now, which discriminates close and distant, and which causes you to do some actions that benefit others, to eliminate the sufferings of only some sentient beings, but not all sentient beings. You must overcome this unequal mind, making it equal, one that cherishes all the sentient beings equally, just as you cherish yourself. You must wish to benefit all sentient beings equally and wish to eliminate all the sentient beings’ sufferings and offer benefit and happiness to all the sentient beings. 

THE EIGHT MAHAYANA PRECEPTS: MOTIVATION AND CEREMONY

I thought, as a motivation, it might be beneficial for some of you—not everybody—to follow Lama’s advice on the different techniques of equalizing and exchanging yourself with others. Every morning, this will become the motivation for the ordination. 

Think, “I must achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all the kind mother sentient beings, those who are experiencing unimaginable suffering now in the six realms. Therefore, I’m going to take the Mahayana ordination.” By remembering the visualization, repeat the prayer. 

Think, “By living in the perfect enjoyment of living in the eight precepts, I am creating so many causes, all these hours and minutes, to be able to effortlessly do unmistaken perfect work for other sentient beings, from now until all sentient beings have become enlightened.” Feel great joy by remembering this.

Think, “Just as previous bodhisattvas have done, I’m going to protect these eight Mahayana precepts until sunrise tomorrow for the sake of each sentient being, to protect each sentient being and lead then to every happiness. 

[Rinpoche gives the eight Mahayana precepts ordination]

It’s good to make the vow. If you’re going to keep silence, remember at this time that you are going to keep silence in order to abstain from the negative karmas of speech, such as gossiping and telling lies. That way, when delusions arise which might mean you would say something negative that might harm others, you can refrain from it.

If you make a vow in front of a holy object, in front of the merit field, it is much stronger, much more powerful than just deciding in your mind to refrain from doing something, such as not speaking, without having made a commitment in front of somebody you have devotion to. 

Generally, as with any other precepts, one of the big differences between taking precepts and just making a decision in your mind that you are not going to do something, is that you have made that decision in front of somebody, your guru or a holy object. That makes a big difference in the mind. It is so much more powerful when you vow in front of somebody you would feel ashamed of breaking their trust. It helps to be able to practice. It’s the same with the other precepts, such as not wearing perfumes, malas or ornaments.

Lecture 22

November 30, 1980 (afternoon)

THE POISON OF SELF-CHERISHING

Khunu Lama Rinpoche sees working for the self as poison.

How could someone in whom bodhicitta
of the supreme vehicle exists ever turn
toward the poison of self-cherishing, even for a moment?
How could they give up the nectar of cherishing others?²⁴  

It’s not just an ordinary poison like the one that grows in the mountains. I don’t know the name but if somebody takes it, they die very quickly. [Rinpoche asks a student] Do you remember? It’s a particular poisonous plant and if humans eat it, the whole body becomes horrible and you can die very quickly. It’s a very powerful poisonous plant. I think it’s the same name as used in the thought training text, the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, when it talks about the poisonous plant in the forest. Do you remember? What is it called in English, or in American language? [Students’ replies are inaudible]

It causes hallucinations. We had a lot growing in the mountains, and when the goats ate it they made a very nice sound! But I don’t think human beings can eat it. On the mountains, a lot of it grows in the potato fields, near where people live, and the goats and other animals can eat it, but people can’t. Maybe Tibetan doctors use it for medicine, I’m not sure.²⁵ 

One of the students tried it when he was staying up in the mountains at Lawudo for six months. I think he was just curious. I think he heard the story about the Buddha and I guess he wanted to suffer! He was the same person as in the story about wanting to kill the dogs. He cooked a big-sized pot of it—I think he might have used the biggest pot— and he invited another student, Massimo, to try it. At that time Massimo had come to attend a Vajrasattva retreat that we were doing with a geshe in a cave nearby, beginning at three o’clock in the morning. The geshe was a fast one and had already finished the mantra count but neither I nor Massimo had finished so he moved to a different room. 

This student invited Massimo to have some. He tried a little bit but he couldn’t stand it at all. I think the other student tried very hard to eat it. He usually came to the cave every day, but at that time he didn’t show up at all. It was kind of quiet and I didn’t know what was happening. Maybe he was having a blissful reaction. 

After a couple of days he came down. When I asked what had happened, he explained that he had almost died. He saw bugs everywhere, the place was full of worms; the whole place was moving, like an old dead dog whose body is crawling with maggots. He could also hear people talking all around, even though there was nobody. I never knew he was having this kind of reaction. He couldn’t get up for the whole day but the next day he felt better. That might have caused him to give it up! 

He had electricity in his tent, even though on the mountain nobody had it. He had some special thing that had special powers to catch the heat, like a recharger, like rechargeable batteries. I asked how he managed to have electricity in his tent, and he said in the daytime, if he was very fortunate and it wasn’t not foggy, the sun would recharge his batteries and then at nighttime he used them to have light in his tent. It wasn’t that powerful but it was very comfortable, very nice!

There’s a purple flower that grows quite high that the animals can eat even though it is a poisonous plant. For them it becomes a means to stay alive but for us I think it causes a shortage of life. 

A bodhisattva always sees working for the self as like a poisonous plant. We don’t dare eat a dangerous poison, where even smelling it makes us sick and eating it causes death. Just as we immediately throw this poisonous plant when we understand its dangers, a bodhisattva renounces working for the self. Working for the self is the object to be completely renounced. Just we dare not eat even a tiny bit of that poisonous plant when we understand its shortcomings, a bodhisattva feels the same about the self-cherishing thought that always works for the self. They don’t dare follow the self-cherishing thought, even for even a second. On the other hand, a bodhisattva always sees working for others as nectar. That way they are able to bear great hardship to do the work for others with great perseverance.

WITH SELF-CHERISHING THERE IS NO PERSEVERANCE

The perseverance of a bodhisattva is unbelievable. An hour is made of sixty minutes; twenty-four hours added together make a day; thirty days make a month and twelve months make a year. Then year after year, you can count a whole eon. A bodhisattva will persevere an eon just to generate one realization on the graduated path to enlightenment. These eons are different from normal eons, the ones that can be counted; these are an incredible amount of time. If a bodhisattva can only generate one lamrim realization each eon, they have to endure so much hardship to do that. But they can do it without depression, without agitation. 

Whereas for us, when we hear it takes fifty years, or seventy years, to study the Dharma, we give up completely, even though that length of time is nothing. Following the path for even ten years, enduing hardships in order to become enlightened, seems unbearable. To us, it doesn’t seem unbearable that sentient beings are suffering in samsara but it does seem unbearable that we might not be happy if we don’t become enlightened, that we won’t achieve our own happiness.

We should have the mind that feels it’s unbearable to waste even a second. Instead we should feel that we must do everything we can to liberate sentient beings from samsara, to enlighten them. It should feel unbearable that other sentient beings have to wait to be freed from samsara, therefore we can’t wait even a minute to lead other sentient beings out of samsara. This is the mind we should try to generate. 

On the other hand, what we normally feel is completely the opposite. We can’t stand not working for our own pleasure, our own comfort, for even a minute. We are careless when it comes to others’ pleasure but, when it comes to our pleasure, if we have to wait to get it for even a minute, even a second, it’s unbearable. 

Even if it takes a bodhisattva an eon to generate one kind of realization in order to benefit sentient beings, no matter what hardships there are or how long they have to experience them to follow the path, it will seem like nectar to them. They will feel so happy, like drinking nectar. For the benefit of others, for the sake of even one sentient being, a bodhisattva would give up their life; they would make charity of their holy body not just once but countless times, equaling the number of dust particles on this earth. Working for others is like nectar for them.

WITH SELF-CHERISHING, YOU WASTE YOUR LIFE

When you see other sentient beings happy, enjoying the good life, the luxurious life, having a better life than you have, you feel jealous. Instead of rejoicing in others having a comfortable life with samsaric perfections, a good job, many friends and so forth, instead of feeling how wonderful it is for them, wanting your kind mother sentient beings to be happy, you feel just the opposite. You feel jealous and upset because you don’t have their possessions, their happiness, you don’t have the position that gives them power. You feel you are poor, powerless, not like them, a sense of dislike arises for them and you feel jealous. 

Even if you are equal to them in power, position and possessions, you feel competitive and you are still not happy. There is still a problem. You might have the same position or the same car as they have, but it’s not right. You are the only one who should have it! Whether you say it or not, you dislike others who are equal to you because you want to be special. You want to be the only one with the money, the possessions, the car, the property and so forth. Because of your self-cherishing, when others having the same things as you—the same power and rank, the same rich apartment—jealousy and dislike overcome you.

Normally, as long as you have enough in life, as long as you have all the things you want, you feel happy. But when others have more, there’s a problem. It’s like the people in California—although my visualization of California is very limited—where everybody has lots of friends, expensive cars, swimming pools and so on, and everybody has a good time, but when they see somebody with more than they have, it becomes an unbelievably big problem; it’s like they are living in the hell realm in comparison. They decide there must be something wrong with them and perhaps the only solution is to have a short life. These kinds of thoughts come.

There was a lady in New York or Washington about two or three years ago who went to the top of the tallest building and jumped off. I think she wanted to express her feelings. However, she hadn’t created the cause to die, and because the cause wasn’t created, the result couldn’t be experienced. She planned it, going into the building and up to the very top and then jumping from the roof, but because it was so high it was very windy and so she was pushed back into a window. She smashed through the window, breaking all the glass, and ended up back in a room in the building. Maybe she chose the highest building because she thought if she jumped from a low one she would only break her leg or something and her suffering would continue, whereas if she jumped from a high building her suffering would cease. However, because her karma to be in a human body had not finished, she did not die. Karma is definite; she had not created the karma to die and so she did not experience that result at that time.

Even though you might have a precious human life, if you are unable to make it meaningful, you can finish your life without friends or money, just worrying about yourself, about the comforts of this life. If you end your life feeling very depressed, upset and fearful, if you haven’t made your life meaningful, all these things come from the self-cherishing thought. On the other hand, even if you were unable to practice the Dharma when you were younger, if at the time of death you can have a peaceful mind, ending your life happily, with a good heart, I think I can say with confidence that you will have a good rebirth. 

As Khunu Lama Rinpoche advised,

When you have bodhicitta 
You see self-cherishing as poison and stop it.
When you have bodhicitta
You see cherishing others as nectar and embrace it.²⁶ 

In your everyday life, you should work less for the self and work more for others. You should try to do this more and more, day by day. You should try to follow the bodhisattva’s actions as much as possible, and in this way develop a good heart. 

Developing a good heart is not like pressing a button—one press and the whole room lights up. You can only develop a good heart gradually. That is the way to train the mind in bodhicitta. So, generate the bodhicitta motivation, thinking, “I am going to listen to the commentary on the graduated path to enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.”

I think we’ll have a pipi break.

GANDEN LHA GYÄMA VISUALIZATION

This is how to practice the profound path of guru yoga called the Blissful Realm of a Hundred Devas, Ganden Lha Gyäma, the secret advice passed down from the lineage lamas year to year. With this practice, you can practice mahamudra and the second level of Highest Yoga Tantra, the completion stage, which has five stages. It contains the secret advice of the practice of the Maha-anuttara Yoga path, which cannot be explained without having received a Maha-anuttara Tantra ordination. 

There is also a danger to the Lama if they explain it to those who are unqualified. So, by leaving out those parts, those four particular profound practices of the Mahayana tantric path, I will just give a general explanation of practice of the guru yoga of the Blissful Realm of a Hundred Devas, Ganden Lha Gyäma.

Without needing to repeat what I explained yesterday about how to visualize the pure realm of Tushita, which would mean it would kind of become long, you can visualize the essence. Then, it will be very simple. Once you have understood the essence, it’s not necessary to remember every single word. You should make your visualization of the main points of the pure realm of Tushita as beautiful as you can. Doing that, you then naturally also generate the wish to be there. That itself becomes the cause to be born in the pure realm. 

On the right side of Maitreya Buddha, there is Lama Atisha. In Tushita, he’s in the aspect of the deva’s son Nanga Trime (Stainless Space). On the left side of Maitreya Buddha, there is Lama Tsongkhapa, in the aspect of the deva’s son Gyaltsab Jampael Nyingpo (Son of the Victorious One). These are the names of the holy places in Tibet that they are called in the pure realm.

They are the principal ones. Then there are a multitude of surrounding bodhisattvas in the ten directions, coming from the buddha realms; there are unimaginable numbers surrounding them. Maitreya Buddha is giving Prajnaparamita teachings to uncountable numbers of surrounding Sangha and disciples. You should think as if you are hearing him giving these teachings, and it is an extremely enchanting tune. It’s not that you are outside visualizing it all and you can’t hear what he’s teaching. You are there and you can hear it all. You should think like that.

Then, the wish-granting trees are blown by the wind, making the beautiful, sweet sound of the holy Dharma, the enchanting sound of the holy Dharma. There are the various beautifully colored birds flying around and on the ponds, and there are beautiful flowers filling the whole space with the incredible, beautiful sounds of the holy Dharma. They not only make sounds there; you can also clearly hear those beautiful sounds of the Dharma. And the meaning of the holy Dharma appears in your mind; you have that kind of understanding. 

The whole space in Tushita pure realm is filled with scented smells. You can also experience those smells. Your visualization should be as if you are actually clearly seeing Tushita, with all beautiful features and the particular decorations. It is as if you are actually seeing all the qualities of the place and the particular deities so clearly; it is as if you are actually there. 

After you have visualized this, make a strong, dauntless request from the heart to Maitreya Buddha and the surroundings deities for them to also guide you there. If you make requests like this then when you do the Ganden Lha Gyäma practice, visualizing the pure realm like this, it becomes the cause to not be born in the impure realms but rather to be born in the pure land. It also becomes preparation, training, to transfer the consciousness at the time of death to Tushita pure realm. 

Then, visualize this. At the heart of Maitreya Buddha is a golden mandala base. In the scriptures there is different idea, it’s like a very shiny golden table. What’s it called? [Rinpoche discusses with students] I don’t know. Is that the real name? In Tibetan, it doesn’t matter.²⁷ There is this reflection at the heart. On this is a heap of white clouds, piled up, like you see above the peak of Mount Everest, extremely fine, very beautiful. The essence of this is the transcendental wisdom that has great compassion for all of us who are on this suffering planet. Yesterday I said “country” but I think that’s wrong; I think you should use the term “planet”—all of us on this suffering planet.

Then, above that is your own kind root guru. I didn’t follow the English. I didn’t make the complete meaning. That’s not the way to begin. Like the Tibetans, I try to follow the Tibetan language. 

In the center of that cloud is the Dharma King of the three realms, Tsongkhapa, father and sons, with the three piles of transcendental wisdom beings who are essence of all the buddhas’ omniscient compassion and power, inseparable in essence from your own kind root guru. They are seated on the throne, lotus and moon disc. It becomes so clear it is as if you have actually met them. 

I just mentioned the three piles of beings, but I will check whether I need to explain it or not. This is one of the practices of Maha-anuttara Tantra. If it needs to be explained, I’ll do it next time. 

Then, you should sweetly chant the invocation, with a dauntless request from the very depth of your heart, as if you have reached there in front of Maitreya Buddha and you are requesting him, 

I have no fortune in this life 
To come to your pure land, 
So please, descend to this world 
To be my savior, my leader.²⁸  

Having made the request to Lama Tsongkhapa in Tushita, he hears the invocation, your beautiful chanting. Have no doubt that he will descend, right in that second, even between the time it takes to uncross your legs. Lama Tsongkhapa hears this and understands this immediately. This is something that even bodhisattvas who have achieved the great path of merit and have attained the concentration of continual Dharma cannot see. With their clairvoyance, they can see unimaginable distances and with the clairvoyance of the deva’s ear they can hear things unimaginably far away, so why shouldn’t Lama Tsongkhapa, who is omniscient, be able to see that you are invoking him?

I think I’ll stop here.

BRINGING THE LAMRIM INTO YOUR LIFE IS THE REAL CURE

Khunu Lama Rinpoche said, 

Meditate upon bodhicitta when afflicted with disease.
Meditate upon bodhicitta when sad.
Meditate upon bodhicitta when suffering occurs.
Meditate upon bodhicitta when you get scared.²⁹  

This is the way to meditate on bodhicitta. Whenever you get sick, whenever you are unhappy, miserable, scared, whenever there is great fear in your mind, this is how to bring thought training, tonglen, into your practice. This is the essential method—by clearly visualizing sentient beings who are devoid of happiness as the objects of your practice of love, and then dedicating your body, surroundings, possessions and merit to those, and then, as the objects of your compassion taking their suffering by visualizing it clearly as black smoke entering you.

You may have read about this method many times in books or heard it from the holy speech of the virtuous friend, but if you apply this thought training method whenever there is confusion, it is the best medicine to eliminate that confusion; it is the best therapy.

I remember seeing autistic children in Brisbane, Australia. There was a place where they keep them together. Most of them looked very nice, kind of intelligent. They really didn’t seem to have any mental problems. Usually, when somebody has mental problems you can tell from their appearance, but this was not so for these autistic children.

There was a little boy called Michael. He had several teachers, but one teacher told us kind of proudly that she had read some teachings of Nagarjuna, some philosophy. As she was playing with Michael, she said she was going to do some psychotherapy. I didn’t realize exactly what she meant, what kind of method she was talking about. Then, we watched as she started playing cards with the boy, getting him to tell stories or describe the figures from the playing cards, deciding what they meant. I guess she was trying to bring him back, to make his mind more normal so that he could communicate.

This lamrim meditation is very practical. The practice of thought training is an extremely profound, highly skillful method; it benefits in so many ways. It’s just made of that one practice, bringing the mind inside and applying the remedies. It’s a matter of whether you practice it or not, whether your mind becomes familiar with it or not. 

Without talking much, even though people have read many books and heard many teachings on these practices, when they meet problems they go to a psychologist or somebody to deal with their problems. Even after many years of listening to the teachings and reading Dharma books on the profound Mahayana thought training methods, as soon as they have a problem, such as a relationship problem, they go to a therapist or a psychologist.

Going to talk to a lama is like going to a therapist. If they know the lamrim, if they are living in the practice, when you receive advice from them, it is the remedy for many mental problems. It is the remedy to cure the unsubdued mind. In that way, it can be far more valuable to receive advice from a meditator who lives in the practice than from a professional psychologist.

What they will tell you is just something you have heard before or what you have read in the books. It’s just a matter of seeing the mistake you have been making—not putting the advice into practice. Lama Tsongkhapa said at the very beginning of the Lamrim Chenmo, the Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment teachings, his great commentary on Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, that you listen to teachings, you listen, listen, listen, listen, and you study them, you study, study, study, but when you want to meditate, you do nothing with the teachings that you have heard. What you meditate on is something completely different than what you have studied. It has nothing to do with the practice. It’s just for reputation, just to able to debate well or write books and be a scholar. It has nothing to do with the practice of taming the unsubdued mind. 

When you want to practice, after all this listening and studying, you then go to ask somebody, “Oh, how should I begin to practice the Dharma? Shall I begin from enlightenment?” You can begin with the enlightenment that is the complete realization of guru devotion! Anyway, I’m joking. 

Lama Tsongkhapa used this example. When you train a horse, before you race it in a horse race, you show it the road, so that on the actual day of the race you can take it where you want it to go; it will know and not wander all over the place. You won’t end up racing in the forest or over the cliff! Similarly, you listen, listen, listen, and study, study, study. Then, when your horoscope tells you that you only have a year to live, at the time when you really want to practice, you go to ask somebody how to begin to practice the Dharma. This is because you haven’t heard the teachings from the very beginning, you don’t know how to practice, and so when you want to practice you don’t know how to. You shouldn’t follow this example. If you have to ask this kind of question, that means you are keeping your everyday life and the Dharma—your lamrim meditations and your thought training practices—kind of separate. You are not living the Dharma; there are gaps between your life and the teachings, so that when a problem comes, the question arises, “What should I think? What should I do?” 

WITH TONGLEN, PROBLEMS BRING HAPPINESS

When you have problems, you need to remember the lamrim and the thought training teachings and apply whichever is more effective. Then, practice the essence of thought training, the tonglen practice, as much as possible, as much as your mind is capable of. When your mind becomes incapacitated by a disease such as epilepsy, you may no longer be able to practice, but, while you are capable, you should practice thought training as much as possible.

When the mind becomes completely incapable, unconscious, with no power or freedom to think on a meditation subject, by practicing thought training, tonglen, using your problem, that itself accumulates extensive merit and purifies unimaginable obscurations. It is the best method to accumulate merit and do purification.

Things such as disease and fears come from negative karma and the unsubdued mind. So, without purifying them, as long as you have the body of the suffering transmigratory being you will have to experience all these problems continuously. Even if you are born as a human, you will still have to experience many problems of body and mind, like getting sick. That shows there is need for purification. However, practicing thought training purifies the causes and so it lessens the results—the diseases, fears, unhappiness and all these things of this life and future lives. 

Having to experience suffering, fear and disease becomes very worthwhile, highly beneficial, because you are utilizing the problem and it becomes the cause to achieve enlightenment. When you practice tonglen, by generating strong love and compassion for other sentient beings, you naturally feel very happy, even though your body might be full of disease—even leprosy, which is very scary, which other people run away from. No matter what problems you have, your mind is extremely happy. Before, when you were facing a problem you were naturally unhappy, but with the tonglen practice, because you generate strong love and compassion for other sentient beings, you mind is immediately transformed and you feel very happy. 

You can also think like this, “In the past, while I have been practicing thought training, tonglen, I have prayed to experience all the sufferings of sentient beings by myself. Now my prayers are being fulfilled. I have achieved what I prayed for. What I visualized before—taking on others’ suffering—has now been actualized. How wonderful it is, how wonderful it is, how wonderful it is. How wonderful it is that I’m experiencing this for the benefit of all sentient beings.” When you can constantly think like this, great happiness arises in the mind. 

Usually, when you face problems such as disease and fears, you exaggerate the problem. You think about it over and over, and it becomes greater and greater. The more you dwell on it, the more terrible it seems. You think, “How terrible this is!” You recite it over and over like a mantra. Obsessing about it like this makes the problem even worse; you become more unhappy, more scared. By exaggerating, your mind makes it worse, heavier.

While you are experiencing those problems and practicing tonglen, on the other hand, depending on how strong your love and compassion is for those you are doing the practice for, you experience less and less fear and worry. The more you cherish others, the less this happens.

Not only that, meditating on bodhicitta completely eliminates the cause of the disease, making it impossible for the results to manifest, the disease itself and the causes of unhappiness, karma and delusion. Bodhicitta makes it impossible to experience the true suffering and the true cause of suffering. When you practice bodhicitta, you do unimaginable purification and collect extensive merits, quickly and easily realizing the infallible right view, emptiness only.

Bodhicitta becomes the indirect cause of emptiness, the direct remedy to the true cause of suffering, karma and delusion. If you meditate on bodhicitta, you can quickly make it impossible to experience all these things. Therefore, it is extremely important in your everyday life to train the mind as much as possible in bodhicitta. 

HYMNS OF EXPERIENCE COMMENTARY: THE TRANSIENCE OF LIFE

This morning I thought to continue Lama Tsongkhapa’s Hymns of Experience from where I stopped. 

It is said that when you are in undesirable circumstances, the best method is to meditate on bodhicitta. Also, you should listen to lamrim teachings with a good heart, with a bodhicitta motivation. Think, “I am going to listen to the commentary on Lama Tsongkhapa’s Hymns of Experience in order to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all mother sentient beings.” 

I’m not going to repeat the previous stanzas. 

This life of leisure is even more precious than a wish-granting jewel; 
That I have found such an existence is only this once; 
So hard to find yet like a flash of lightning it is easy to vanish; 
Contemplating this situation it’s vital to realize that all mundane pursuits 

Are like the empty grain husks floating in the winds 
And that we must extract the essence of human existence. 
I, a yogi, have practiced in this manner; 
You, who aspire for liberation, too should do likewise.³⁰ 

Instead of thinking of reincarnation as just a Buddhist concept, you should relate it to that American lady who discovered there is a life after this one. This is happening to many people in the West these days. Even though they haven’t been to Dharamsala or Kopan and met the Tibetan lamas, they have discovered there is a life after this one. There are many books by people who have had this experience.

One book I brought from the West three years ago describes a lady from America. I didn’t try to read the whole book from the beginning; I just read the very last part. The book describes how after she was clinically dead she left her body and what she saw while she was out of her body. She saw her family and realized that there was some work she hadn’t finished, I think to do with her son, some property or something. Anyway, there was something she had not finished, so she had to go back.

The conclusion she reached at the end of the book was that she had definitely discovered there was a life after this one. And she said that she clearly saw that all she had done in this life was completely meaningless; she had completely wasted her time. When she discovered there was a life after this one, she saw that all the work done one-pointedly only for the happiness of this life was not enough. There was no preparation for the happiness of future lives. In that way she discovered that her whole life had been meaningless. 

It is very effective to think about Lama Tsongkhapa’s advice in this way. First of all, have a strong conviction that every happiness comes only from Buddhadharma, nothing else. Happiness doesn’t come from negative karma, from nonvirtuous actions, only from virtuous actions, from the Buddhadharma. 
 
Since that is the only the cause of every happiness and perfection, and since you want every happiness and perfection, ask yourself this question: “Am I able to practice the Buddhadharma or not?” If you consider it, of course you are able. From your side, all the conditions are perfect. You have attained a perfect human body, you have met a virtuous friend who has revealed the teachings to you, who has revealed this Buddhadharma, so all the conditions are perfect. There is no true reason at all why you can’t practice the Dharma. If you are not practicing the Dharma, it is only because from your side something is missing, from your side you are not practicing.

How can you possibly feel that is still OK not to practice the Dharma even though all the necessary conditions are there? If you don’t practice the Dharma in this life, you certainly won’t practice it in future lives. You need four determinations. The first is that you do really have the right conditions. The second is that, because you have them, you therefore must practice the Dharma. The third determination is that, because death is definite and when death comes, depending on the positive or negative karma you have accumulated, you will transmigrate to either another body of a happy transmigratory being or a lower realm suffering being—there is no third alternative—you must therefore practice the Dharma now, in this body.

The last determination, the fourth one, is that, because you understand that the actual time of death is indefinite—it may even occur tonight or within the next few hours or minutes—you must therefore start to practice the holy Dharma right now. It’s very effective to think in this way.

We’ll stop here.

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Notes 

²⁰ V. 72. [Return to text]

²¹ In other courses, Rinpoche has quoted Manjushri’s advice as specifically practicing three yidams: Yamantaka, Heruka and Guhyasamaja. [Return to text]

²² Nagas are snake-like beings of the animal realm, who can protect the Dharma or bring great harm. Garudas are bird-like beings, often associated with Vajrapani and depicted in iconography with a snake in their beaks, symbolizing their ability to protect humans from naga harm. You will see garuda depictions throughout South-east Asia. Rakshasas are human-like beings, usually depicted as being very evil, even man-eaters. Yakshas are spirits, usually described in Tibetan Buddhism as blood-drinking, flesh-eating cannibals, but in other forms of Buddhism they can be either malevolent or benevolent. [Return to text]

²³ The thirty-three refers to the main gods of the realm (thirty-two are presided over by Indra) but just generally refers to the fact there is a pantheon of gods there. According to Vasubandhu, the gods of the Realm of Thirty-three are half a krosha tall (about 1,500 ft.) and live for one thousand years, each day of which equals one hundred of our years, so that means 36 million of our years. [Return to text]

²⁴ V. 162. [Return to text]

²⁵ Rinpoche is referring to datura, a poisonous plant which grows prolifically in the Himalayas. See also The Hallucinating Mind, excerpted from Kopan Course No. 27. [Return to text]

²⁶ V. 257. [Return to text]

²⁷  Rinpoche’s 1986 Tushita teachings on Ganden Lha Gyäma refer to this as “a clear reflection of the infinite knot appearing in a very clear golden mandala base.” [Return to text]

²⁸ In the 1986 Tushita teachings, this is translated as: “I am requesting you, the Dharma King, Omniscient One, Losang Dragpa, and Sons, /who are seated on the top of the water holders like piled-up white curd, / to descend here at this place from the heart of the Savior of the Hundred Devas of Tushita.” [Return to text]

²⁹ V. 175. [Return to text]

³⁰ Vv. 13 and 14. [Return to text]