Kopan Course No. 07 (1974)

By Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 1974 (Archive #029)

The following is a transcript of teachings given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at the Seventh Kopan Meditation Course held in November-December 1974. They form an auto-commentary on the course text, The Wish-fulfilling Golden Sun of the Mahayana Thought Training. You can also download the transcript of Rinpoche's teachings as a PDf file.

See also the introductory talks given by Lama Yeshe at this course: The First Clear Step, The Cycle of Death and Rebirth and Illness and Death are Natural.

Meditation One: Part I and Part II

Day Eleven
Saturday, 16th November
9 am

From the holy speech of the great yogi Guru Tsongkhapa, “This perfect human rebirth is more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel. Receiving this rebirth is almost only at this time, so please grant me the blessings to be able to take the meaningful essence without being distracted by the meaningless action of this life and to realize that this perfect human rebirth is difficult to find and quickly decays.”

As Guru Tsongkhapa said in his holy teaching, receiving such a perfect human rebirth is almost only at this time. The actual explanation of that will come afterwards. The reason it is difficult, the reason it is almost impossible to receive again is because to create such a perfect cause to achieve such a perfect human rebirth is extremely difficult. So this time, fortunately just like the beggar finding a jewel in the street, by opportunity somehow we have received this perfect human rebirth at this time. So this is the one time that we have received the perfect human rebirth and if this lasted forever it would be okay., something else. But this doesn’t last forever. If it could be found easily again, that’s something else. If it could be received again easily. But it is not like this. This perfect human rebirth that we have received now, if it was not that fragile, if it lasted for a long time, many eons, that would be something else. But it is not like this. It does not last for that long of a time period. It starts to become decayed even from birth. Every time, so quickly it becomes decayed.

So even though we have received the perfect human rebirth, we use it in a meaningless way. We use this perfect human rebirth for creating action that don’t bring results, don’t bring the essence. We often use it for creating meaningless actions, useless actions. Most of the time it is used for creating negative karma. So the perfect human rebirth is taken to create negative karma. As Guru Tsongkhapa said in his holy teaching, just like using the golden pot that is adorned by many precious jewels for vomited food. Just like this, once the perfect human rebirth which is released from those eight unfree states, using it to create negative karma that causes us to be born again in those unfree states is extremely foolish. Once we attain this perfect human rebirth which is released from the eight unfree states, again creating negative karma is extremely foolish. Just as the great, highly realized yogi Guru Tsongkhapa said in his teaching, just like this.

So if you check up, look at our life, in that case the human rebirth is sort of meaningless. When we check up our life, it is like we purposely took this human rebirth to create negative karma. In this case there is no actual meaning—if the human rebirth is used in that way, there is no meaning. Because in regards to creating negative karma, any other suffering sentient beings, even those tiniest creatures that we don’t see, they spend all their time continuously creating negative karma, so to create negative karma we don’t have to take especially a human rebirth. There is no point. Creating any negative karma, any action that is done, any work of this temporal life that is done with attachment is nothing special. It is not a special human action. Even the animals do this, the animals who are not human beings, the big animals such as elephants, the big sea animals like huge mountains down to the tiniest creatures that we only see through machines. However, only talking about the animals work, concern for their life, their one life, and they also have attachment to the happiness of that life. They also work, try to gain the means of living with attachment. They also try to make their life happy, same thing. Just this one life, they also try to make happy. They have their own methods. By finding many different and various methods, they try to make the temporal life happy. They kill other animals who are their enemy, who disturb their life’s happiness, by going round in different places. They also have many kinds of methods. They also try to make their life happy. They also cheat other animals. They have also their own politicians. They are also very clever in knowing how to cheat and kill other animals, very clever. How to control others, how to make oneself win. They are also very wise, even insects are very wise in how to make their life happy in regards to finding various methods. If you look at, if you watch, you know that always they fly around, always going around—their whole purpose is to make their life happy, to find happiness in their life. However they go up and down. Like the insects, the ant, wherever they go around, busy, up and down, going around, whatever this is, their main aim, what they have in their mind, they also know how to steal, they also know many of these actions that human beings do. Anyway, the work that is only done to gain the purpose of this life, to gain the happiness of the life, that is nothing special, not higher than the animals. Not more special than the action of the tiniest creature. That kind of mind we have is nothing higher, nothing special from that tiniest insect, nothing higher than from his mind.

So therefore now it comes to the point—even those non-human beings who haven’t received this body, who are not human beings, especially who have not received a perfect human rebirth, they also do similar work to gain the happiness of this life. Then what’s the meaning of the human life? What’s the meaning, what is the special meaning, the special purpose for which we are born as human beings, different from other sentient beings? So thinking like this—this has reason, this has meaning, receiving this human rebirth has meaning, has reason that the previous life created. So now what is the meaning? This is the most important thing to check up—the meaning, the special meaning of the human rebirth, the human life, what is that? The meaning of receiving the perfect human rebirth, the purpose for which the perfect human being exists and lives is to act in a higher way than an animal. Then, now check, it is necessary to check what are the actions that are higher than other sentient beings, which those animals cannot do but the human beings can do—what are those higher actions? Guru Tsongkhapa said this teaching in the form of a prayer, “Please grant me blessings to be able to take the meaningful essence by not being distracted by the meaningless works of this life.”

In order to make the present perfect human rebirth meaningful, to be able to take the essence, it is necessary to realize the perfect human rebirth, the great usefulness of the perfect human rebirth, the difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth, and how it is fragile, how it is perishable, and how it is impermanent. There are many other methods, many other ways, to make the perfect human rebirth meaningful, to be able to take the essence. But the best way to make the perfect human rebirth meaningful, the best way to be able to take the essence is training the mind in bodhicitta. So by training the mind in bodhicitta, one can definitely receive enlightenment, one can quickly receive enlightenment without experiencing many difficulties. However, training the mind in bodhicitta is the essential method—the best, essential method among all the methods. So therefore it is necessary to train the mind even in this moment as much and as purely as possible.

Therefore, think of this pure motivation in order that the action of listening to the Dharma become the cause of enlightenment, “I must make all sentient beings release from all suffering and lead them to the most sublime happiness of enlightenment. Therefore I must achieve enlightenment. For these reasons I am going to listen to these teachings on the graduated path to enlightenment.”

The listening subject is the Mahayana teaching that leads the fortunate person to enlightenment. It is well expounded by the great philosophers Nagarjuna and Asanga and it is a profound teaching, the essence of the great pandits Atisha and Guru Tsongkhapa’s understanding of the teaching. It includes the 84,000 teachings shown by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, and all these teachings are set up for the practice of one person’s achievement of enlightenment.

This teaching on the graduated path has four outlines. In order to have pure reference, the knowledge of the authors. In order to have devotion for the teachings, the knowledge of the teachings. The way of listening and explaining the teachings, and the way of leading the disciple on the path to enlightenment. The last one has two—the of following the guru who is the root of the path and the way of training the mind in the graduated path. The way of training the mind in the graduated path to enlightenment has two—persuading the mind to take the essence of the perfect human rebirth and the way of taking the essence of the perfect human rebirth. Persuading the mind in order to take the essence involves the perfect human rebirth—that is the part of the subject that we have been talking about. Yesterday we were talking about the evil thought of the eight worldly Dharmas. Yesterday we were talking about the different techniques, a few very simple techniques that can be used right away as the problems arise in our mind. Generally it is like this. As you practice the graduated path, as you practice the meditations, as you practice the graduated meditations which are explained in the teachings of the graduated path, as you practice gradually having wider, deeper understanding of the whole meditation, also at the same time according to the individual mind and individual wisdom, according to his experience, the person would find different meditations and different techniques to stop this mind disease. He finds different methods. As he finds different methods, this becomes very effective, and he can work right away to stop the negative mind arising.

Yesterday we talked about how to stop the mind confusion in situations when another person admires you, saying some nice words, or blames you. Generally it is like this. For instance, blaming, criticizing—if you say the same words to yourself, you don’t get angry. But if someone else says them we get angry. But if you repeat what the other person says you don’t get angry with what you repeat. If someone said, “You look like a dumb animal,” then perhaps you get angry at what you hear from the other person, but if you repeat it to yourself you get angry at what you hear from your voice. We don’t get angry with what we repeat, but they are the same words, the same meaning. If the words are what bother us, then think, “I don’t get angry if I repeat this to myself and the same words with a similar meaning don’t disturb me, don’t make me get unhappy and angry, so why should I get angry because they are said by some other person?”

For instance, if the tape recorder complains, if it says that you are a terrible person, it doesn’t help to break it. That doesn’t end your anger. There is no point in getting angry with that tape recorder, the radio, that machine. It is useless, a childish thing. Perhaps we may get angry with the person who recorded it, not the tape recorder but the person—the tape recorder is nothing. But again check up with the person—the person is also like the tape recorder. There is nothing to get angry with in his body—it is just like a machine, a box, a tape recorder. So there is nothing to get angry with in terms of him. As the tape recorder has no choice to not say, to not complain, the same thing with the person. As the tape recorder is fixed like this by the person, the person too has no choice, the person’s mind is controlled by ignorance. Even though he is getting angry, complaining with anger, he is uncontrolled. His body and mind are uncontrolled. So there is nothing to get angry with in terms of him. Just like there is no point, no use in getting angry with the tape recorder. Harming him, killing him, beating him, killing him doesn’t stop his ignorance. Even thinking in that way, thinking that is the solution, the method, that doesn’t stop the ignorance that controls him. So anger and speaking rude words doesn’t stop his ignorance. So just like this check up; this is very useful to check in different situations, when there is a person blaming or causing you to get angry, bothering you. When there is danger of anger arising, think like this.

The actual thing is to stop his ignorance, to make his ignorance, his anger, his attachment non-existent. Even though you burn his body completely, even if there is no part of his body left, that doesn’t help, it doesn’t stop his negative mind, the negative mind that bothers you. None of this is method. It just makes his mind unhappy, and you unhappy, and creates more negative karma that makes you again experience the suffering results.

(BREAK)

Student: You mentioned that numberless of our previous lives were in the six realms of suffering. Have we had numberless perfect human rebirths, this isn’t our first one is it?
Rinpoche: It is possible that we received perfect human rebirths before.
Student: A number of times?
Rinpoche: Possible, depends on individual.
Student: If we live this life following practicing Dharma but do not obtain enlightenment, chances are we don’t go down to the suffering realms but get chance to practice Dharma again?
Rinpoche: Everything depends on the individual, what he does in this life, how he lives.
Student: It seems like part of the essence of the perfect human rebirth is virtue and charity. When I think of that I think of ants who sacrifice their bodies in order to build bridges for other ants. Sacrifice themselves for the good of the ants.
Rinpoche: That can be possible, many other stories, many other animals who do things like this, yes.
Student: But the essence of that action, is that different from the essence that the human being has?
Rinpoche: Yes, many of the human beings—it is similar but the total thing is that by taking human rebirth, this is the highest essence to achieve, which an animal cannot achieve. The highest essence. But there are some animals, very rare, extremely rare, who create virtuous actions. Extremely rare. If there is not one single animal who creates good karma, if you ask precisely this, there are certain animals who practice good karma. But it is extremely difficult, extremely rare—there are only a few fortunate ones. For human beings it is easier to create good karma.
Student: How can I stop the ignorance of the angry person?
Rinpoche: By giving ice-cream! I am joking. Whether you dispel your ignorance, whether you dispel other beings’ ignorance, the method is only through the practice of Dharma, only through actualizing Dharma. The essential method is by realizing the mind nature. The nature of oneself. This happens only through actualizing Dharma. Anyway this talk will come later on in the part of the Twelve Links, the second part of the meditation.

So you see, if you check up like this when anger rises in your mind, even if the other person beats you, bothers you, he is completely controlled by his delusion, ignorance. So anything that we the ordinary people do to harm, to react—none of this becomes the method, the solution to stop that problem. Beating his body, cutting off his body in pieces doesn’t cease, doesn’t stop his ignorance. The ignorance is the main thing that controls him and makes him bother you. So in this way, none of the violent actions you discover are the solution. So it is not enough, not sufficient, as we are one person ceasing from ignorance, releasing from ignorance, there are many other numberless beings who are controlled by ignorance and delusions. Even though he doesn’t bother you, some other people bother. Always like this circling around. So it is necessary to release all sentient beings from ignorance. In order to release all sentient beings from suffering, delusions by oneself, then it is first necessary to release oneself from suffering and delusions. Otherwise because the mind is deluded and ignorant, you cannot help all the sentient beings by showing the different methods. Without releasing them from the delusions and ignorance, there is no perfect power, no perfect skill to show the different methods and no perfect understanding to know the different methods and know different sentient beings’ level of mind, how to lead each sentient being into enlightenment, or how to release each sentient being from suffering. So it is difficult without having the perfect knowledge and power. Just like this.

For instance, we are doing meditation, we are doing purification, so actually as we are motivated at the beginning to enlighten other sentient beings, our work making this one hour purifying meditation, making meditation on the graduated path, actually this becomes service, work for other sentient beings. Just like the military, when he was in training, studying how to fight, how to use the guns, different weapons, he was not in the actual action of fighting, making war, killing others—the enemies of the country. He did not do the actual actions but he was training at the very beginning. His training at the beginning was recognized as service for the people in that country, even though it was not the right method. It didn’t mean he had to be in actual fighting, like this. So starting to do meditation, actualize the Dharma, starting to do purification of our own ignorance and suffering, this becomes work for other sentient beings, because as I said just before, without gaining self-support, which means without first of all receiving freedom oneself, everlasting happiness, the cessation of samsara and ignorance, freedom, without gaining this, we cannot make other sentient beings release from samsara.

This becomes a little bit long, but if you think there is anger, if you think because the body is different, of course I get angry at him, because it was said by a different person, another person, by another person who has a different body. Then also, in that case, besides thinking that his body has no freedom, is controlled by the delusions—also one can think like this. Also one’s own body that we have now that we believe is mine, my body, also this body originally did not continue from the previous body without depending on the parents—so this body originally came from our parents and it was their body. Only believing that it is mind, this is mind. However, thinking like this is very useful, very useful to help stop creating negative karma, to stop the negative mind from arising. In that way one takes care of one’s own life easily, not creating negative karma, or creating the cause of suffering. Also even if there is a terrible situation of suffering, sometimes it is also useful to think just like this. Think, “I am living in samsara so this is the nature of samsara, it is the nature.” If you think that this is the nature then you kind of expect it, and it doesn’t become a shock to you. You accept it, knowing that you are living in samsara, living in the boundaries of suffering. So why not, of course you will experience suffering. It is like you are expecting, sort of accepting it. So it doesn’t become a big confusion mentally. Even though you are experiencing or you are in a miserable situation, if you don’t think in such a way, if you don’t expect it, but only try to reject it without trying to realize the suffering nature or without thinking of the suffering nature, then the suffering becomes double. Whatever the suffering you are experiencing, it becomes double. It becomes heavier for the mind, because the mind creates it, the mind thinks it is so terrible, exaggerates it, and for you the suffering becomes very heavy, even bigger. This just depends on the way you think.

Just like as long as you put your finger in the fire, it is natural that the fire will burn, because burning is nature of the fire, hot is nature of the fire, so the method is trying to get the finger out of the fire. This is the method, trying to take your finger out of the fire. Not trying to put your finger in the fire and trying to make the fire cold, different from its nature, the heat that burns. So the whole method is trying to get oneself out of samsara. Just like this example of spontaneously trying to live in samsara. Then as there are different kinds of problems, meeting the life problems, not expecting, without trying to understand, trying to reject—that is like this example, exactly like this example of putting the finger in the fire then trying to stop it to not be burnt. However, anyway, to think like this is the nature because I am living in samsara. Thinking this is the nature of samsara—of course this will happen because I am living in samsara, and this is the nature of samsara. Just like thinking of course that it will burn because of the nature of the fire. In this way there is no worry.

Also it is useful to think that this is the result of my previous life’s karma. Each time you experience or meet different problems, if you think, if you accept, if you are conscious that this is the result of my previous karma, you are taking the fault on yourself, you are not pointing the fault onto the other person’s head. In this case he knows that this is his own fault. In this case he doesn’t find any reason to complain to others. Thinking like this, it only makes him conscious of not creating such negative actions again because of the shock, the experience of that suffering, that result. By thinking like this, the person becomes more conscious, instead of thinking that some other people gave me this time, caused me problems such as stealing my money, stealing my possessions—these things. By thinking, “In my previous lifetime I stole others’ possessions, I caused similar problems to other people, I bugged other people, therefore this is the result coming back. It is my own fault; no one else has fault.” The result of that karma that was created before is finishing. Instead of experiencing this suffering result after some time in the future lifetime, it is experienced now, in this time, so something is finished, result of certain karma is finished, is experienced. So in this way it is something that one can feel happiness for, rather than suffering after some time in the future lifetimes. In this way also it makes you more conscious, more careful in your actions.

So the Dharma that we are usually talking about, for instance, according to the story that happened in previous times—through this story we can understand clearly what is the actual Dharma. There was a conversation that happened by the great yogi Atisha’s disciple Drom.ton.pa, his closest disciple in Tibet. One there was a man who was trying to practice Dharma. He was going around the temple, and this yogi Drom.ton.pa, this ascetic yogi, met this man and told him, “You should practice Dharma.” The other person thought he was practicing Dharma by going around the temple. But afterwards he gave up going around the temple, and he thought practicing Dharma must mean reading texts. Then he sat down and read a text. Then again one day Drom.ton.pa met this man, and told him, “You should practice Dharma.” Then he gave up reading the texts. I think the last one was meditating, I am not sure! I think the man thought he might have meant sort of meditating, but then again Drom.ton.pa met him and told him to practice Dharma. So after two or three times like this, his mind was sort of confused, not knowing what to do, so he asked Drom.ton.pa, “What do you mean by practice Dharma?” So Drom.ton.pa told him, “Renounce this life.” Then he discovered, really discovered, the actual meaning of Dharma. Then he really discovered the way of practicing actual Dharma. So what he means is this.

The reason why I bring this story to make the eight worldly Dharmas clear. What Drom.ton.pa meant by “renounce this life” was actually “renounce the problems.” Another way to understand “renounce this life” is “renounce problems and the cause of problems.” The actual meaning is “renounce suffering, renounce this life.” Just even hearing the words becomes a big shock, especially to Westerners mind. But the way to understand is “renounce suffering.”

Also, Drom.ton.pa asked Atisha, “What result will the actions created with ignorance, greed, and anger bring?” Atisha answered that the result of actions done with ignorance, greed, and anger was that a person would be reborn in the suffering realms, the evil destinies, as a preta, animal, or narak being. So indirectly the actions done without greed, ignorance, or hatred are the cause of all happiness. Other actions are the cause of suffering. Indirectly we can understand the actions done without these three negative minds as good karma and the cause of all happiness. However, this goes together, renouncing suffering, the actual Dharma. This has the same meaning. That action done without those three poisonous minds is the cause of happiness. So same thing, renouncing suffering, the actual Dharma, this becomes a field of all happiness, besides becoming a cause of enlightenment. Besides becoming a cause of receiving the boundless state, nirvana, everlasting happiness, renouncing suffering—this Dharma, this is the cause that brings a happy rebirth, a happy life in the future. So besides bringing happiness in the future lifetime, renouncing the suffering of this lifetime, whatever it is called, this Dharma brings happiness even in this life.

For instance, the great yogis such as Milarepa, many yogis who lead ascetic lives, even though they had no possessions in that life and lived in solitary places in cave, like animals living on the mountains, their lives passed in happiness, their minds always peaceful, happy and having a situation that is well contained. Because of these things they didn’t have any mind confusion, life problems, even though they didn’t have many possessions. Milarepa didn’t even have a sack of tsampa. Tsampa means wheat flour. This is the most popular food in Tibet, typical Tibetan food. However Milarepa, when he was living an ascetic life, didn’t have even one sack of tsampa. He only lived on nettles. However his mind was always happy and well contained because of that situation—well contained, makes life happy, no problems of worldly life. Why? That is because of the Dharma. Why no problem of dissatisfaction, not being contained, why didn’t he have problems of means of living, food, clothing, and reputation? Not having all these problems, his life was always lived in happiness, and all of that was because of his Dharma practice, the power of his Dharma. His achieving enlightenment in that lifetime, achieving all the higher realization, all of that was due to the power of his pure Dharma, renouncing suffering, renouncing this life. His mind was happier than that of the king who had much power, who has many bodyguards, many armies, many weapons. There is nothing to compare.

So what I mean is that all this is due to his Dharma. Dharma doesn’t mean only bringing happiness in the future, and not in this life. This is completely wrong. Dharma brings happiness and peace in the mind right away at the same time that the person practices and lives in the Dharma. Right away there is peace in his mind; the effect of Dharma comes in his mind right away. As the person knows, the person discovers it is not something that the person has to wait for a long time, not something like this. Also by the mind living in the Dharma, the life problems become much less, just like the example I just talked about of Milarepa, his life story, just like this. The life problems with people like this—the biggest problems in the East and West, life problems with people, relatives, husband, wife, parents, children—anyway the life problems with oneself, everything gets stopped, becomes less. So the life becomes so free. The mind living in the Dharma life becomes so much more free, so peaceful. This is the way that even this present life becomes happy. You enjoy the happiness of the Dharma. Also Dharma is like the medicine to stop the diseases, such as hindrances caused by human beings and non-human beings. All this can be stopped, controlled by Dharma.

In previous time there was one yogi, who was a layperson in a family before he started to practice Dharma. So one day somehow he got some disease, I think leprosy. The wound spread around his body and to other people. He was sick from that disease for a long time. His family became scared of him, and they kept him aside. So his mind was terribly upset—he had no family, no people looking after him, he was out of the family. So he thought since I have to be out of the family I should make this action worthwhile and beneficial. So he made a complete decision in his mind—if I have to be out of the family I will just live in the road and recite mantras and beg for food from people. So he make the complete decision like this. He thought, “Whatever happens I don’t care, just reciting mantras and begging food.” He left his family and went near the road and there was a huge rock, a cave in the rock. He slept the first night in that cave. That night he had a dream that a white man or something put him on the rock, and that there was so much rain falling, everything became wet. And when he woke up, all the puss in his wounds had come out, and everything become very wet. From that time his leprosy was completely cured, without depending on any medicine. Then afterwards he become a great yogi. So this is just to explain that because of the power of his mind, his mind living in Dharma, having renounced suffering, that cured him and brought happiness in his life. Even his disease was cured by the power of the Dharma.

There are so many other histories about how the Dharma solves the life’s problem. There is so much to talk about, however the point is this—what I am talking about, renouncing this life means renouncing suffering and the cause of suffering. The hole thing is this, renouncing suffering is renouncing this evil thought of the eight worldly Dharmas, which only bring problems, so these are the main subjects to be renounced.

Renouncing this life or renouncing suffering, the whole thing means renouncing the mind that is the cause of the problems, the evil thought of the eight worldly Dharma. Therefore even these temporal techniques that I mentioned help to stop attachment from rising, so this practice itself is the Dharma. While the person practices this, the person is renouncing attachment, the person’s mind is rejecting attachment, the cause of problems. Rejecting attachment also helps anger not to arise. So you see, this is the actual Dharma. Whenever the person practices this, it solves the mind confusion and the mind illness right away. So it is clear that Dharma brings happiness even in this life. It is the best way of bringing happiness that doesn’t make the mind confused. The happiness that arises in dependence upon the worldly actions makes the mind more ignorant, more confused because that happiness is not the actual real happiness. Anyway, afterwards by doing the following meditations and feeling, understanding them clearly—this happiness that is received through Dharma, this happiness that is not received through attachment, all these actions rejecting attachment, renouncing the negative mind—this is the actual Dharma, all this is good karma. All these thoughts are pure thoughts, thoughts rejecting the evil thought. All these thoughts are pure thoughts. So the great ascetics such as Atisha, Guru Tsongkhapa, Milarepa, many of those yogis such as Guru Shakyamuni Buddha—how these yogis should be, what type of mind they should have—if pleasure and suffering are not equal to his mind, if uninteresting sounds and interesting sound are not equal to his mind, if praising and belittling are not equal, if receiving and not receiving materials are not equal to his mind, there is no way to become a yogi. They have to be equal. The yogi has to have the foundation of the mind that equalizes these two—receiving materials and not receiving materials, interesting sounds and uninteresting sounds pleasure and suffering, praising and belittling or abusing. The yogi at least has to have this foundation first. Then that yogi or that pure Dharma practitioner doesn’t care. If he has equalized these two situations he has no life problems As long as they are not equalized there are always life problems. This is like the essential talk of the Dharma. This is like if you are going to explain about human beings’ bodies, the evolution of the human beings bodies, how they exist there, what is the most important thing, this part of the subject is like cutting the body and showing all the important things which are inside—the heart and those important things, the red heart, showing the essential things.

On the basis of this the yogis then practice many other higher meditations. To enter the path to enlightenment first of all what is necessary? First thing, it is necessary to have the renouncing mind of samsara, the realization of the renouncing mind of samsara. What is the most important thing before the meditation? The most important thing is to cultivate the pure motivation. Just like this, what is the most important thing to practice Dharma? What is the first thing you need? To renounce the evil thought of the eight worldly Dharmas. That is the first thing that is necessary to practice Dharma. It is very useful even just to have the understanding of this important point. Then our mind, our wisdom is open, and knows what is necessary in order to follow the path, what the first thing is that it is necessary to have. In this way the person also knows what they need in order to practice Dharma. Even though we can’t do right away, even just having this wisdom, knowing the meaning of the Dharma, what it actually means, how the Dharma benefits life, what the actual form of practicing Dharma is, what one should have in the mind in order to practice Dharma—renouncing this evil thought of the eight worldly Dharma. Even just this understanding is greatly beneficial. Somehow you have wisdom. Somehow the door of wisdom is opened. Whether you practice or not, somehow you have the correct understanding. If you practice and act, then you have the chance to do a correct action without mistake. Like this. However, especially ... my talk is this. Generally it is very good, we cannot become like those yogis within one month, within three or four days, but it is very beneficial to the mind just knowing how they practice Dharma. How they make their life free and peaceful by practicing Dharma. This is very useful, and by knowing this then we receive some wisdom about how to make our own life happy, how to handle our own life. This is very useful. However, even though we can’t do the same as those yogis who achieved enlightenment in their lifetime, these meditations, the specific actions in which we think we are doing some special thing, at those times we have to be careful. This is very important. Usually in daily life’s action even though the mind cannot spontaneously live in the Dharma, in such specific actions such as listening to Dharma, especially in these times it is very important that the mind not get mixed up with the evil thought of the eight worldly Dharmas. If it is mixed up then the mind, then the action, whether we meditate or listen to Dharma becomes a worldly action. It becomes the action of this life. So this understanding, my brief explanation on this point, and your understanding is supposed to help to make those actions perfect Dharma.

After the discussion first of all you check like this—in the West, you saw so many problems, societies, countries, families, friends—many times they have different problems. Think, check like this. First of all, starting from your friends who go through many different problems in life, how each of those problems—from what kind of mind it came from, what mind caused those problems. Then as you find that the whole source is attachment, the evil thought of the eight worldly Dharmas, then as you find out all these problems came from the evil thought, you check up how all the friend’s problems came from attachment, the evil thought of the worldly Dharmas. Then you check with your parents, society, with the different people you saw having problems. How the main thing is this, how this is caused by the eight worldly Dharmas, whether it is true or not. Also you check up whether it is based on this or not, then after you check outside with other people, and then you check with yourself. Think of the different problems you had in your life, as you remember the different problems you had since you were born—whether they were caused by the evil thought or not. Like this you check up. That’s very useful. Then also, at the same time as you remember the problems, the people who bothered you, caused attachment, anger to rise in you, as you remember it can be possible that the effect will come in the mind. When the mind starts to become violent, if you remember the techniques and meditations, use them at the same time. So you get trained if you practice like this during the meditations—your mind gets trained so afterwards when you are actually with the person, actually involved in that situation, then you know how to handle that problem, how to keep your mind away from that problem. You become skillful and wise.

Day Twelve
Sunday, 17th November
9 am

Before explaining the quotation, just a brief history of this great pandit Shantideva. He was born in India, I don’t remember the period. Even when he was small, in childhood, when he was over seven he attained the Buddha of Wisdom, Manjushri. He was born as a prince. His parents wanted him to take the place of the king. It was about time for him to take the position of the king, the position of his father. So as the parents’ land population asked him, he couldn’t say no. The night before he was going to sit on the throne and take his father’s position, he had a dream. In his dream, Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom sat on the king’s throne. Manjushri said, “You cannot sit on the same bed, this is my bed, you cannot sit here as I am your Guru. You cannot sit on the same bed. This is my throne.” When he woke up from the dream he understood that what the dream meant was that he was not supposed to take the position of the king, that life. It meant that he should it give up. So he left, I think he ran away. Then he went to Nalanda. Nalanda is a famous school where there were thousands of pandits. This is where Atisha was from. Shantideva went there and was ordained by the abbot. He lived there for a long time. Usually in the monastery he didn’t do as the other monks did—reading prayers, meditating, working for the monastery, these things. He did not do these things as the other monks did. He slept. This is what the others saw him doing. The other monks saw him sleeping, eating, and making kaka. He did only three things. The other monks didn’t see him doing special prayers, teachings, saying prayers, other things. Therefore, many of the monks thought he was useless to the monastery, that he doesn’t help, doesn’t do anything, only three things. The other monks really believed that he was a fool monk, knowing nothing. They wanted to kick him out, to expel him from the monastery. But they couldn’t expel him without any reasons. So they thought of an idea. Usually in the monasteries the monks have to learn many texts, philosophical texts of sutra teachings, explaining about the precepts and the instructions on the precepts given by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. The monks have to recite this by heart. They have many oral teachings that they have to learn by heart and recite in the prayer hall in groups of monks. The other monks believed that Shantideva had not learned anything by heart. So they thought that they would invite him to recite a sutra teaching. They thought that if they invited him like, when he arrived he wouldn’t have anything to say, and they could make him leave the monastery. This was the idea. They requested Shantideva to give teachings, and he accepted. The monks put up a very high throne.

But when Shantideva came, without any difficulty, with his psychic power he sat on the throne and asked the monks, “Should I give teaching that was shown by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, or should I give the teaching that wasn’t shown by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha?” The monks asked for the teaching that wasn’t shown by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. So he began to give the teaching called “Following the Bodhisattva’s Actions.” He began to give this teaching by heart. Then, I don’t remember, there are certain ... I think it was the sixth chapter—the chapter that explains about shunyata, the absolute nature—when he started to explain this, to give the teaching on the absolute nature, he flew above the throne. He went higher and higher while he was giving the teaching. Afterwards he became very small, like the size of a fly, and then they couldn’t see him anymore, even though the teaching was still going on. They could still hear the teaching without any change of sound, as if he was still giving the teaching and sitting on the throne. Afterwards, hearing the fantastic, amazing subject that the teaching contained, all the monks there got a big shock, a big surprise that they didn’t expect. The way he looked, the way the people saw him, was as a person not knowing anything—whenever they looked at him he was always lying down. When people looked at him he looked very lazy, but actually he was a great bodhisattva and a holy person with such great attainment of high realizations, and great infinite compassion and bodhicitta for all sentient beings all the time. He was always concerned for other sentient beings, always benefiting other sentient beings. Actually that is his mind action, the main work, which he did day and night in daily life.

So this is one quotation from this teaching that he gave those monks, those disciples. This quotation is from the chapter that explains about the benefits of bodhicitta. “Even just thinking to benefit the sentient beings, the benefits are greater than making offering to all the Buddhas; so why not the benefits of the thought following the bodhisattva’s actions?”

Briefly talking like this, for instance, even if the person is not actually following the bodhisattva’s path for sentient beings, even the benefits of just bringing up the thought, the wish to receive enlightenment for the benefit of other sentient beings with hand prostrating like this are as infinite as infinite space. This benefit is much greater than making offerings to buddha realms full of jewels, as many as the grains of sand of the Pacific. Still these benefits cannot compare with bringing up the thought wishing to receive enlightenment for the benefit of sentient beings with hand prostrating like this; they cannot compare. The benefits of this great action of making offerings is still limited. So what this is emphasizing is that even bringing up this thought has incredible benefits—just wishing, just motivating, so why not actually doing the action, actually following the path for the benefit of sentient beings. Following the path, doing the action has much greater benefits than wishing to receive enlightenment for the benefit of sentient beings. However as this great bodhisattva Shantideva said in these teachings with his experience, by having the realization within his mind with his experience, he is also great bodhisattva who passed through the whole gradual path and received enlightenment. So therefore, as this has that great benefit, that much profit, why not try, train the mind in the pure thought of bodhicitta. So therefore it is wise, while we have the chance, while we have the capability to train the mind in this pure thought as much as possible. Therefore it is necessary to start even in this moment, to try to experience, to gain it perfectly, even in this moment.

Therefore in order for the action of listening to the Dharma to become the cause of enlightenment, it is necessary to cultivate pure motivation. So therefore think, “I must release all sentient beings from all the suffering and have the achievement of the most sublime happiness of enlightenment. In order to do this I must achieve enlightenment. Therefore I must complete the realization of the whole graduated path. Therefore I am going to listen to the teaching on the graduated path.”

The listening subject is the Mahayana teaching that leads the fortunate person to enlightenment and it is well expounded by the great philosophers Nagarjuna and Asanga. It is a profound teaching, the essence of the great yogis Atisha and Guru Tsongkhapa’s understanding. It includes the 84,000 teachings shown by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. All these teachings are teachings shown by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. All these teachings are set up for the practice of one person’s achievement of enlightenment.

The commentary on the graduated path has four outlines. In order to show the reference, the knowledge of the authors. In order to bring devotion, the knowledge of the teachings. The way of listening and explaining the teaching, and the way of leading the disciple on the path to enlightenment. The last one, the way of leading the disciple on the path to enlightenment, has two—the way of following the guru who is the root of the path and the way of training the mind in the graduated path to enlightenment. The last one has two—persuading the mind to take the essence with the perfect human rebirth and the way of taking the essence with the perfect human rebirth. So, the way of taking the essence with the perfect human rebirth, part of this meditation is persuading the mind to take essence with the perfect human rebirth.

Yesterday we talked about the evil thought of the eight worldly Dharmas, so actually it is like this. Any action that is the opposite of the evil thought of the worldly Dharmas, any action that is the remedy, any method that becomes the remedy of the delusions is Dharma. Therefore any action or method that becomes Dharma has to be the opposite of the evil thought of the worldly Dharmas. It has to be the remedy of the evil thought of the worldly Dharmas. Any action that is done with the thought that is not mixed with the evil thought of the worldly Dharmas, that is pure Dharma. That thought that is not mixed with the evil thought of the worldly Dharmas, devoid of the evil thought of the worldly Dharmas, that thought goes in the Dharma. That is the pure thought. So in this way we understand that any action of the evil thought of the worldly Dharmas, any action that increases the delusions is not Dharma. In this way, by understanding this important point, we understand what is Dharma and what is not Dharma. In this way we can understand, we can check up—by understanding this important point we have a little wisdom to check up whether our actions of doing meditation become Dharma or not. One can easily check up and recognize.

You see, as the Dharma becomes the remedy to the delusions, how does the Dharma stop suffering, stop problems from arising? The Dharma stops delusions, diminishes the delusions, the cause of suffering. By understanding this we can discover that the only method to stop the suffering problem is through the Dharma, because the only method that stops delusion is Dharma; there is no other method. So the daily life actions, starting from the morning time, getting up, then cleaning, washing, eating, drinking, wearing clothes, cleaning the room, talking to people, going outside, coming in—any action until night time, every daily action that the person does until nighttime, going to bed, sleeping, each action, each movement of the person’s speech, body, and mind, if the person can make all these actions the remedy to the delusions, then each action is Dharma. Dharma is not something that one can only practice in Tibetan monasteries. It is not like this, something that can be only practiced where there are Tibetans or something. It only depends on your mind; it is something to practice anywhere, wherever you are, West, East, in space, under the earth, wherever. It just depends on the capability of the person’s mind, on the wisdom of that person. It doesn’t necessarily have to mean always sitting with crossed legs and eyes closed, saying prayers; it doesn’t necessarily mean giving things away, making charity; doesn’t necessarily have to be something like this, a specific form of action. Just generally where you live, if you can, by your wisdom and power of mind, make your daily life actions the remedy to the delusions. If your daily life actions can be done with the pure thought that is not mixed with the evil thought of the worldly Dharmas, then each single action and movement becomes Dharma. The person’s mind is living purely in the Dharma. No matter whether he is making business, talking, or traveling around, the person—there is a possibility, even if the person doesn’t become a monk or nun, something specific with a specific appearance, if the person has wisdom and power, the person can always practice Dharma. But in order to do this, in order to put all the actions in the Dharma, to become Dharma, the person has to have the understanding of what Dharma means and has to recognize the delusions, the cause of suffering. Anyway, the person has to recognize the border of what is Dharma and what is not Dharma—the person should have this understanding. Then if the person understands the deeper nature of the delusions, the faults of the delusions, how the delusion cause him to suffer all the time, how delusions always cause problems to arise, as the person understands this more and more and wider, as the person’s wisdom grows, that much more the person can put his life in Dharma, that much more purely, due to that wisdom. In order to put all of daily life purely in the Dharma there is a need for wisdom and capability, for power. The method to build the power and wisdom is trying to recognize the delusions and recognize the deeper nature of the delusions and faults. Also, the faults of the delusions, how the delusions cause problems to arise and suffering. So trying to understand this deeper and wider is the first method, and then through this the person receives wisdom and also builds the power and energy in the mind. So as there is that much energy, the person can make his daily life actions that much more in the Dharma. Even if a person lives in a big family, with twenty children, lots of children, a big family, that person’s daily life actions always become the remedy to the delusions. If the person’s actions always become Dharma, the remedy to the delusions, actually that person’s mind is living in the renunciation of this life, even if he is surrounded by such a big family, with many possessions. So actually, who has renounced this life, who has not—you can’t really tell from the outside. You cannot judge, it is not something you can figure out from outside appearances, only the mind’s decision. Whether the person has renounced the attachment to this life or not doesn’t depend on the person having no possessions or having many possessions. If that were only a question of not having anything, then there are lot of animals and insects who don’t have any possessions, living in holes, without any collection of food to eat tomorrow, tonight, the day after tomorrow—then they should be highly renounced beings. Also there are animals living on very high mountains in the caves—many animals, such as yaks. Where we have the center on the mountain, nearby Everest, there are many caves. Before it was used by many meditators; there are many caves. One day I went round to see those different caves and all those caves have been used by yaks, animals—they are all full of kaka. They are very warm so I think at night time they sleep in those caves. I am joking. So it doesn’t have to depend on judging from the outside. Even though someone is living in the position of a king, with many surrounding people, many servants, jewel stores, many rich apartments, many possessions, that does not mean the person’s mind is not living in renunciation. We cannot tell if that person has not renounced the attachment to the happiness of this life. Renouncing this life or not is a mental action, not a physical action. Whether the person practices Dharma or not, it is a mental action. Many times the young people in the West read books, such as the great yogi Milarepa’s book and others. Somehow they understand renouncing this life, that it has certain knowledge, certain benefits, and they know somehow that it helps the life, to not have problem—that somehow it makes the mind happy and peaceful. In the life stories of the yogis there are so many benefits and realizations that they have experienced. But the readers really don’t know the important point—how to do it and the process, the way of doing it. They think renouncing this life just means physically separating, not having any possessions, being away from family and country, that renouncing this life means just that form of action. So by not having the actual understanding of renouncing this life, having the wrong understanding, with such a thought, all of a sudden they break things, give things away, and then they come to the East. Then the mind is continuously in problems. The problem is the mind is not renounced. The mind thing. So the problem gets bigger and bigger because the mind is not renounced, yet physically they tried to give up things. So the situation gets worse and worse. Afterwards they cannot stand not having possessions. They go through many difficulties, with wrong understanding, not really knowing what the main problem is. The main problem is not knowing the actual meaning of the Dharma. The main problem is that. Afterwards the person again seeks material things, he doesn’t find any other method to solve his life problems. So if the person doesn’t have the exact understanding, there can be problems like this, which that person purposely creates. Also among the students there are some who did this before, when they were coming from the West. I am telling what they experienced.

(BREAK)

Student: Do you think a close relationship between people like friendship, which is generally based on attachment, represents a hindrance to obtaining the renounced mind?
Rinpoche: It makes the mind unpeaceful.
Student: Would you suggest these people cut their communications and live like hermits?
Rinpoche: It depends on individual.
Student: Friends also being problems means you can’t dedicate your time to practicing Dharma.
Rinpoche: It depends on the individual. Different methods depend on individuals. Sometimes somehow the person can still have relationships without following attachment, following certain methods that stop attachment from rising, like this can be possible. Different methods depend on individuals.
Student: This makes it difficult in the West for people to practice Dharma; it is a close society with everyone depending on each other.
Rinpoche: Different people, depends ... people have different environments, yes.
Student: Could you explain what you mean by merit and the dedication of merit?
Rinpoche: Merit or virtue—any good karma is a virtue, and by doing that action you create merit. Whether it is a virtuous action or not depends on the result what result it brings. Since any action that brings a white result is recognized as a virtuous action, as merit, a white result means a beneficial result, a result which is not suffering, a result which is happiness. Any of those actions is a virtue. Any action that brings a suffering result, nonvirtuous, that is negative karma, like this. Dedicating merit means using the merit for something. First of all, you create the merit then you dedicate, renounce it for something. For instance, usually at night time as we say the prayer, the way we should think is that we dedicate in order to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of sentient beings. So actually we dedicate the merits that we create in the day for sentient beings, like this. We think, “Due to these merits may I achieve enlightenment for the benefit of sentient beings, using the merits as it is the cause.” Making the merit become the cause of enlightenment, like this.
Student: Does everyone have the capacity for development to receive enlightenment?
Rinpoche: Yes.

Knowing the actual meaning of Dharma, one can check up with one’s own daily life actions—what is Dharma, what is not Dharma. This is the most important thing, the essential thing that one has to understand. This is one of the essential things in the course subject. So any person who has this understanding of the actual meaning of Dharma, even just having this understanding, not having the understanding of the other meditations, even just having this understanding, even this wisdom, that makes it worthwhile to attend the course. This is one of the most important things that one should understand at the beginning. This is the first, most important thing to understand in order to not make mistakes. This understanding is the best protection to protect yourself from wrong actions, from the mistakes in the daily life, which means creating negative karma. So many people who think that they are a religious person and are practicing Dharma, but do not know the actual meaning of Dharma, spend their entire life in the wrong way, the entire life feeding the cause of samsara. All of his practice is done with the wrong understanding of the Dharma.

(Page 42)

I think maybe if you close eyes and listen, maybe better.

(Rinpoche read paragraphs 1, 2, 3, quotation)
This quotation is very effective for the mind, very useful to remember, especially in certain times when one’s mind is in danger of creating negative karma.

Paragraph 4
This part of the subject is also very, very useful to use for the meditations, to remember. Usually, when there is temporal physical sickness, we worry so much and we try the best method that we find to stop it right away, but we never seek the inner reasons, the inner cause of these sufferings. Most of the time we think that all these physical problems, temporal sicknesses, are mainly caused by climate, food, a certain diet, the place—many external things, but we don’t check up. One thing that we are missing in our checking is this, the question that is missing—even though these external things such as climate, place, and food are conditions, they become conditions, why I have to suffer, why I have to get this problem? What makes these external things, the climate, place, diet, these external things, become the condition of my suffering problems? This question is missing. We know those things are the condition that causes the problems such as sickness to arise, so what knowledge is missing? What we need in order to completely cease all of the temporal problems, the continual problems, to cease all suffering and the cause of all suffering, to cease the whole thing—this knowledge is missing. As this knowledge is missing, we don’t know, so the wisdom of knowing the actual cause of all suffering is blocked. In this way, every time we try to find the method, to do something, it becomes a mistake, a wrong method. So the deeper we understand, as much as we understand the cause that makes these external things the condition of our suffering, the deeper we understand that, the more skill we will have in our method.

For instance, the trees and stones, these non-living things, don’t have pain. The elements don’t have pain. The nature of fire itself is hot and the nature of ice is cold, but they don’t have pain because they don’t have mind. Nothing causes these things—the elements, trees, rocks—to have pain because they don’t have mind. So why does the physical body have problems, why do external things become problems for our physical body? If there were no mind with this body, there would be no pain. When the mind has left the body, the body is just like a stone, a piece of wood, a log, exactly like that—there is sensation, no feeling, however much it is cut into pieces. Mainly the reason that the physical body easily gets problems and sickness, this and that, is mainly because of the mind. It is mainly because of the mind that exists with this body. Also external things become a condition of these physical problems, and that is also because of mind. So actually what makes the experience this is produced by the mind. It came from the mind. Then the question—why can’t we have a mind that doesn’t produce suffering, that doesn’t make the body suffer; why can’t we have a mind that doesn’t make the mind sick, doesn’t make the body sick? In this way we can see that there is something in the mind that makes the mind sick, that makes it suffer, and that makes the body suffer. There is something in the mind, something rooted in the mind. Also instead of having a mind that always causes us to experience suffering, why don’t we have a mind that always produces happiness, which always keeps us in bliss?

For instance, it is the experience of other higher beings that even if the body is cut in pieces, there is no suffering, the mind is living in a blissful state. Higher bodhisattvas, when they make charity of the body, even when the body is cut into pieces, the mind is always spontaneously in a peaceful state, with no feeling of pain. Why? Bodhisattvas don’t have the mind that makes the body suffer, they don’t have the mind that makes the condition of physical suffering.

For instance, how physical suffering and happiness relates to the mind—just a simple way. Sometimes when a person is beaten by a person to whom he is attached, by his close friend, when he gets slapped, when he gets hit, when he gets slapped by a close friend, he doesn’t feel that much pain. Perhaps sometimes he feels pleasure—he doesn’t care, he doesn’t get angry. But if some other person whom he dislikes slaps him, then he feels more pain, and also he gets so angry and feels more pain. But hitting is the same thing, same thing. So this way we can easily discover that it is up to the mind. It is just only a creation of mind. Hitting is the same thing, being slapped by the hand is the same thing. So the experience is changed by this way of thinking, by your mind. This is just an ordinary example of how things are dependent upon the mind. Not mainly on the body, but mainly on the mind. Just like this, the experience of feeling pleasure and not feeling pain being slapped by the friend—so just like this, you can have an equal feeling, an equal mind that produces similar feeling of pleasure, no matter who cheats or hits you, an enemy or stranger. You can have a similar feeling if you have a mind that makes you feel pleasure by being slapped by the friend. You can have a similar mind with every other sentient being and you can feel the pleasure of being beaten by any other sentient being. You can have a similar thought, equal—you can always have this mind which produces pleasure, which makes the experience of hitting a pleasure. So because of this example, just due to a little bit different way of thinking, the person feels pleasure instead of suffering. Same thing, the person who thinks in the same way toward all sentient beings, in this way whatever, even if the body is cut in pieces, whatever is done, the person can always feel bliss or pleasure. Whatever the problem caused by other beings, not getting angry, always feeling kindness, seeing beauty, seeing other sentient beings in beauty. So just like this example, as this can be possible, so the bodhisattvas can make the body not experience suffering even if it is cut in pieces, with the mind always in a peaceful state.

So the whole thing is this, the essence of this talk—if you always worry about the result of temporal problems that are produced by the mind, by the sick mind, why not worry about the sick mind that produces all these temporal sufferings? The sick mind is the root of the whole problem, so why don’t we worry about that as much as we worry about physical sickness? Why don’t we worry about the root of the problem, nothing physical, mind. It is worthwhile to have greater worry and try to work in order to take the root of the problem out of the mind. This is more worthwhile than worrying about the temporal problems and only trying to cure the temporal problems without trying anything to take the root of the problems out of the mind.

(Page 42)

The whole side is very useful to use for the daily meditations.

(Page 43)
Quotation

Chandrakirti, the follower of Nagarjuna, the great philosopher, is also one very well known Indian pandit who wrote profound teachings explaining absolute nature, shunyata. This quotation is also from the Madhyamaka teaching.

Paragraph 7

For instance like this. Why do samsaric gods, suras, asuras, have such higher enjoyments and possessions of a higher quality than human beings? That is not because they created so much good karma in their lifetimes. In their previous lifetimes they created much good karma, so they are experiencing the result in that period. Whenever that finishes, the period of experiencing that enjoyment, the result of that good karma is finished, and so again those beings have to experience the suffering results that were caused by other previous karmas or karmas created in their lifetime.

Similarly, there are other suffering beings in the animal realm such as nagas. They also have many possessions, many stores of jewels, and much enjoyment, but that doesn’t mean they have created good karma in their lifetime. They are finishing experiencing the result caused by previous good karma of charity. Why do they have such enjoyments, possessions? This is the result of previously creating good karma, making charity. The person makes charity and does not observe morality. Morality mainly means discipline of speech, body, and mind—there are certain things like keeping one precept, two precepts, all kinds of numbers of precepts like this. So not keeping any precepts or if the precepts are broken, not confessed, not purified, sometimes it is possible that due to that negative karma the person is born as an animal such as a naga, but because of previous karma and charity they have many possessions. Also the way of explaining karma is like this.

(Page 44)
No. 3 Paragraph 1

This example is to explain how difficult and how rare it is to receive the perfect human rebirth, trying to show this through examples.

There are three ways to check up how the perfect human rebirth is difficult to receive. The first one is checking through the cause of the perfect human rebirth—what is the cause of the perfect human rebirth. Whether it is easy, like a question to yourself—whether you desire a perfect human rebirth or not, whether it is possible to receive it again or not. It is not received intuitively, it is received with reasons, with cause. It doesn’t happen without reason, without cause, so what is the cause that brings the perfect human rebirth? Morality. Mainly morality and charity. Then you check up whether it is easy to observe morality and create charity. First of all check up morality, whether it is easy or not. There are five precepts, or thirty-six precepts, or two hundred and fifty precepts—eight different levels of precepts like this. The two hundred and fifty-three, the bigger number of precepts is difficult, of course, extremely difficult. Generally check like this.

Generally among the worldly people, those who keep the greater number of precepts such as the two hundred and fifty, or three hundred or something, are very rare, so few. Those who keep the thirty-six precepts are very few compared to the number of people who keep eight. The people keeping eight precepts is still rare compared to the number of people who keep five precepts. The people who keep five precepts are still fewer than those who are keeping two or three precepts. However, even just to keep one precept such as not telling lies is difficult, difficult. Check like this. Even just to keep one precept is difficult. Check just outside generally like this. Then after you check generally like this, then you check up on yourself. Whether you find it easy or difficult. Then by checking like this, first of all generally, then secondly on yourself—how it is for me, whether I find it difficult or easy, or not. Check like this. Checking like this, you get the experience, you see clearly your feeling of the difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth, and the feeling becomes stronger, greater, and your understanding is better in that way. Then check through cause.

Then secondly, check through numbers, the numbers of higher beings, the numbers of the beings in the upper rebirth. The number of rebirths of gods and general human beings. The number of upper rebirths is much less, less than the number of the suffering rebirths, the rebirths of the evil destiny. The number of the rebirths of evil destiny is like the earth, while the number of upper rebirths is like the dust—if you scratch your finger on the ground in the dust you can pick it up in the nail—so little, so few, like this. In numbers you check up like this, and also this is what Guru Shakyamuni Buddha explained. The number of rebirths of evil destiny is like the earth and the number of upper rebirths is like the dust that gets in the nail.

Then check the third time, check through examples. First of all think of the example of the tortoise, how difficult. First of all think of the tortoise after each one hundred years, how fortunate it would be to puts its neck in the golden ring that floats around on the Pacific. First of all try to understand this example, although receiving the perfect human rebirth is more difficult than the example.

Day Thirteen
Monday, 18th November
9 am

From the holy speech of the great bodhisattva Tenzin Gyaltsen, “The thought desiring to dispel each sentient beings’ mistakes and bring about knowledge in each of them is bodhicitta. This is the most wonderful thing among wonderful things.”

So what he is saying is that among all the thoughts, what is the best thought, among all the wonderful thoughts, what is the best thought? The most wonderful among all other wonderful thoughts is bodhicitta. Why is it the most wonderful thought? Because it has incredible benefits for oneself and for the sake of others. It is a thought wanting to dispel each of the sentient beings’ mistakes. “Mistake” means their wrong actions, wrong understandings, and their wrong conceptions that produce all other delusions and prevent enlightenment and the cessation of samsara, even the temporal samsaric happiness. Besides wanting to dispel all the sentient beings’ physical problems, their physical sickness and mind disease, besides that, also wishing that each sentient being attain infinite knowledge.

Just as the great bodhisattva Shantideva said in his teaching, “There are infinite benefits that cannot be imagined by the mind—even just by thinking to cure the sentient beings who have brain disease, there is no question how great the benefit is, the thought wanting to dispel all the sentient beings’ unhappiness.”

These have the same meaning. What it is emphasizing is that even just wishing to cure only one problem such as brain disease has infinite benefits that cannot be imagined, guessed, or measured by the mind. Since this has that much benefit, there is no need to talk about the benefits of the thought wishing to release each sentient being from suffering. How can those benefits be imagined? Therefore, as this precious thought of bodhicitta has that much unimaginable benefit, it is foolish not to practice this while we have the chance to train the mind in such a pure thought, especially at this time, having met the Mahayana teaching that explains the practice of bodhicitta. Therefore, it is necessary to train the mind even in this moment as much as possible—this also makes the present, the momentarily existing perfect human life meaningful. So motivate like this, and also that the action of listening to the Dharma become the cause of enlightenment, “I must release all sentient beings from all suffering and the cause of suffering and lead them to the most sublime happiness of enlightenment and the cause of happiness. Therefore I must achieve enlightenment. In order to achieve enlightenment I must complete the whole realization of the whole graduated path. Therefore I am going to listen to the teaching on the graduated path.”

The listening subject is the Mahayana teaching that leads the fortunate person to enlightenment. It is well expounded by the great philosophers Nagarjuna and Asanga. It is a profound teaching, the essence of Atisha and great Guru Tsongkhapa’s understanding. It includes the 84,000 teachings shown by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. It is set up for the practice of one person’s achievement of enlightenment.

This graduated path has four outlines. In order to show the reference, the knowledge of the authors. In order to cause devotion to arise, the knowledge of the teachings. The way of listening and explaining the teachings, and the way of leading the disciple in the path to enlightenment. The last one, the way of leading the disciple in the path to enlightenment, has two—the way of following the guru who is the root of the path and the way of training the mind in the graduated path to enlightenment. The last one has two also—persuading the mind to take the essence with the perfect human rebirth and the way of taking the essence with the perfect human rebirth.

Part of this subject, the meditation on persuading the mind to take the essence with the perfect human rebirth, the great usefulness of the perfect human rebirth, and the difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth—we reached the subject of the difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth.

By training the mind in meditation on the great usefulness of the perfect human rebirth continuously, when the meditator, the person’s mind, feels great loss even spending a few seconds doing meaningless actions, when the person has an unbearable feeling, and cannot stand to spend even two or three seconds doing some meaningless action, and when the person has such incredible great energy, at that time the person has the achievement of this meditation. That is the definition of having the achievement of this second meditation on the great usefulness of the perfect human rebirth. So meditators, those who want the complete experience of this meditation, continue practicing this meditation until they achieve that experience. Why does the person get such great energy and fear spending even just two or three minutes or seconds wasting this perfect human rebirth? This is caused by understanding. The energy that person receives is through understanding the great usefulness of the perfect human rebirth to attain the ultimate and temporal goals, and especially that this perfect human rebirth is highly useful in each minute and second. This perfect human rebirth can do incredible things, can create such incredible causes of happiness, which other sentient beings in other realms cannot do even in eons. Even if they live in those realms for eons, they cannot do this. So briefly like this, the usefulness of the perfect human rebirth, the great difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth. In terms of talking about the cause of the perfect human rebirth, I explained yesterday how difficult it is in regards cause, how difficult it is to create. So it is easy if you check the cause well. Then with this experience, our own experience finding out how difficult it is, in this way we can figure out how difficult it is to receive the perfect human rebirth. In this way we can guess whether we will receive a perfect human rebirth in a future life or not. We can guess from this present life’s experience. By knowing how one lives life, by knowing this, we can easily guess whether one can receive a perfect human rebirth next time or not. This is not something that you cannot guess or understand by yourself. It is something that doesn’t have to depend on someone to check up, or depend on someone predicting. It is already predicted in the teaching explained by the enlightened being Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. It is already predicted and explained.

For instance, besides practicing and following the karma or cause that brings the perfect human rebirth, even just listening to the explanation we can’t stand listening to it. Talking about karma, talking about discipline, we can’t stand it. We feel in our minds that it is a very heavy thing—even if we ourselves are not doing the actual action, we don’t even want to hear about discipline, things to not allow attachment. Also many people think, “Without attachment how can the person have a life? How can the life exist without attachment? How can the person enjoy happiness without attachment?” Many people believe that. Those who don’t really understand about mind think that mind is oneness with attachment, mind is in the nature of attachment, something that cannot be separated from attachment. It is not true—those kinds of wrong conceptions, talk, coming without checking. These kind of people think that renouncing attachment or not allowing the attachment to arise means sort of completely stopping happiness, completely stopping all peace, which is the completely wrong idea. Also many people think that if there is no attachment to food, how can the person enjoy food? However, mainly these are due to not really knowing the cause of suffering, and the cause of actual happiness. Due to this ignorance, the wrong conceptions, then the person’s methods are all wrong. Just like this. When the person is feeling cold, they think the warmth, feeling warm is the real pleasure. That is received from the fire, so then the person try to get in the fire, closer and closer to the fire. Like this example. He burns himself because of this wrong conception. However, this is simple, as I have already discussed.

For instance, even though there is attachment to one person, attachment to that specific person doesn’t always exist—it changes after some time. There is anger rising for that person, or sometimes the indifferent thought arises for that person. As it changes like this to one object, in the same way we can make it change for all the objects, not having attachment for all objects. We can make the mind not have anger for all objects. All these things, these different types of negative mind can be purified by achieving realization, as it is a creation of mind, same thing, the negative mind is a creation of our mind.

In Australia, I think in Melbourne, in of the Universities, I don’t remember, Lama Yeshe gave a lecture on how problems are caused by attachment. So after that, I think there were many students from the University who asked all kinds of different questions like this—how can a person live without attachment, how can the person have pleasure without attachment, things like that. They were very brilliant. They understood whatever subject there was in the lecture, they were very clever. Of course the questions they were asking were coming from what they usually think, how their mind is, what they usually think.

So briefly like this on the cause of the perfect human rebirth. In relation to charity, charity doesn’t have to be always physical things. There are different ways to make charity. There are maybe different explanations on the different ways of making charity, on the part of the six paramitas, the bodhisattvas deeds (Page 138)—if you look there maybe you can find different ways of making charity.

For instance, in just the present time we are making charity to all sentient beings. For instance, in the last few days, as we have been doing meditation, each person has dedicated his merits for the benefit of all sentient beings. That is charity, that is increasable charity. That is the best way of making charity, the best charity. Why do I say the best way of doing it? Because merit is something that is not a physical thing, not a material thing, it is not something that you physically give or share with other people. Usually when ordinary people make physical charity of material things like this, it is difficult for it to become it real charity, a pure action. It is difficult because you are giving some physical thing to other people, so most of the time it is easy to get involved with self-cherishing thought. It is easy to get involved—the worst thing is this—what makes the charity impure is the evil thought of the worldly Dharmas. This makes the action not become a virtuous action, not pure, again it disturbs the action from becoming pure. The attachment that is attached to the reputation, that is attached to the happiness of this one life. Most of the time this attachment is attached to the reputation, thinking “If I do this, give this,” thinking, “If surrounding people see me making charity to these people they will think I am a very generous person. They will admire me and I will gain reputation.” With expectations like this in the depth of the mind, the person who makes charity is not really showing sincere compassion for that person, the beggar or whoever it is. That action is a cause of samsara because it is done with attachment. If I help someone expecting something back in the future, thinking, “If I give this to him afterwards when he comes rich I can take things from him,” expecting to receive something back from him, this is charity, however, it is not sincere charity, not pure action. It is more concerned with himself. The person’s thought that makes the charity is more concerned with himself than with the other person. So it is like for his purpose that he is making charity. That kind of charity, that thought is not the renounced thought. That action is not Dharma, because that action is the work of the delusions, the work of the attachment. People have different expectations like this that make the action of charity not sincere.

(BREAK)

Student: Could you explain in more detail the mental techniques for equalizing pleasure and pain?
Rinpoche: It is not so simple. This needs more explanation and understanding. The first thing one should understand is the nature of pleasure, and with this understanding, as there is a deeper understanding, the person has power to make them equal, to not care whatever happens, whatever suffering or pleasure comes. So the first important thing is knowing about suffering nature and knowing the nature of pleasure. This explanation will come afterwards.
Student: How is it possible for us to use the dream state?
Rinpoche: To use the dream state there are many different techniques, many ways, but however now perhaps it is good, this is just my idea, perhaps it is good just before going to bed to think, “Whatever dream I get at night, may all sentient beings see all phenomenal existence as a dream.” Like this you dedicate the dream for other sentient beings. I think this is what I can say now. But there are many other techniques to become conscious of what you do in the dream and, in the dream, practicing Dharma or whatever meditation you are doing in the day you can do at night in the dream. This is by having a little bit of control, and to be able to do this you have to have much more training during your daily life’s practice. There are specific techniques. By training the mind for a long time, whenever the person has a dream he has the choice or control to continuously do the practice.
Student: Does that mean we are creating karma while we sleep even though it may be indifferent karma?
Rinpoche: We can create karma in the dream.
Student: Do you say ultimately we can control thoughts while asleep?
Rinpoche: Possible yes, possible.
Student: If there are unlimited buddhas, what is the point of ourselves obtaining enlightenment? Buddha has all this knowledge, but how can we help by obtaining enlightenment ourselves, how can we help?
Rinpoche: Good question. Just simple way, for instance—now we are starting to recognize our own life, our own nature, our knowledge, just even knowing what the Dharma is, what good karma is, what negative karma is—just even this single small knowledge, this understanding, receiving this knowledge, even this small knowledge is the help of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. We receive this due to the kindness of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s teaching, and this is the way we receive help from all the buddhas. So similarly, receiving knowledge depends on many things—by receiving explanations, reading the holy texts, sometimes even in reading if the person’s mind has been trained in the Dharma before in previous lifetimes and there are many impressions sometimes it is possible that when the person’s mind is ready, the person can just remember, he receives the certain knowledge of the Dharma. Like this. There are many different ways that enlightened beings help, not only by giving teachings. Explaining teachings is one of the main things, the essential way, the highest way to do it, but there are many other ways to help according to sentient beings.

So just now, our knowledge, understanding, this new subject, our life—many things come from the teaching of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. As we receive this help from Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, we receive help from all the infinite Buddhas, as when we receive enlightenment we benefit other sentient beings. Buddha’s help is not like bringing a lot of food by helicopter and dropping it. When the Tibetan refugees escaped from Tibet, on the border as they were coming to India there were a lot of airplanes bringing food—many sacks of rice, dahl, different types of food. But Buddha’s help for sentient beings is not like this. There are numerous ways, so many different ways to help, to benefit. As there are different realms, different living beings who have different karma, different levels of mind, like this there are so many different types of methods, ways to help, to guide sentient beings from suffering. Anyway, this talk will come afterwards in the refuge part.

However, I think the example may be better than talking, the actual thing. If a person fell down a hole, a precipice, and there is no way to come up without someone’s help, a compassionate person who is concerned for the person who is suffering down there sends down a rope to pull him up. So the person who is down there, if he doesn’t recognize the rope that is sent to him, shown to him by the compassionate person, if he doesn’t recognize, touch, or hold the rope, there is no way to get out of the hole. This is the case even though the compassionate person sent a rope, and tried help. But if the person doesn’t recognize it and hold it, there is no method—this depends on both people. For the person down in the hole to find that pleasure or peace getting out of there depends on both sides. It depends on him and on the compassionate person who is helping. Although that person was given help by the compassionate person, if he doesn’t follow that help or guidance, there is no way to get out. Just like this. Why even if there are infinite enlightened beings are we still in suffering? I think this is the doubt. It is like this. Anyway, the meaning of that, the deeper, further explanation will come afterwards in the section on refuge, and karma.

There is that much for the cause of the perfect human rebirth. Regarding number, most numbers of sentient beings in samsara are those who are experiencing suffering in the narak realms. There are more beings who are animals and pretas than those who take and find upper rebirth, happy rebirth. Happy rebirth means the rebirth that is taken in the human realms and the sura and asura realms. The numbers of sentient beings suffering in the narak realms are just like the numbers of dust. The number of the animals is like the number of grains of sand in the Pacific. The number of pretas is an incredible number, just like the raindrops or snowflakes that cannot be counted, which is unimaginable.

For instance, one thing, logically it can be checked up like this. Besides Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s explanation about karma, we can easily check up like this. For instance, how difficult the rebirth of the human being is to find. For instance like this. Just here on this flat, round ground, just here, check whether there are more animals or people here, just on this place. Just check up. Just on the round ground. It is so easy to see that there are less human beings than insects, non-human beings on the ground. There are all kinds of different insects crawling on the ground, inside the ground, so many tiny insects going round, things we see, things we don’t see. Even one flower, one stem, leaves—of course why not this big ground. Even on the surface there are insects crawling around, even if we dig up one handful of dust there are different kinds of insects, tiny ones. However, even on a plant or a small place, or in one or two handfuls of dust taken out of the ground, there are more insects than people who are sitting here. There are so many insects, so many non-human beings also underneath this ground. Like this. So just like this example. Human beings are so few, so few. Just like this example.

It is the same thing in one country if you compare how many people and how many insects and animals are on the ground, under the ground, in the water—if you check up the bushes, the plants. Even in one tree, there are all kinds of insects, many tiny insects, so many, it is extremely difficult to count each one. So really if you check up with one country’s people and animals, and the insects in the field, on the ground, under the ground, there is nothing to compare, the human beings are so few.

For instance, even in a house we see insects, and of course outside. Wherever we look we easily find insects, not only on the ground. So just like this, like this example here, in one country, on all this earth, the number of the human beings is nothing, nothing compared to the number of creatures. We forget about checking outside, even on our body, crawling around, also those who have warm hairs ... anyway! This is also easy. Sometimes there are so many bugs on one person, on his body, clothing, in the hair, it is easy to find out. But the person is just one. Like this. It is really incredible if you think like this. Also in the stomach, I am not showing the brains. Maybe the doctors know, I am joking! Anyway, look at the oceans—there are so many, all kinds of different insects under the ocean, in the water—all kinds of different insects, tiny ones and big ones, all kinds of different types. Especially in the water, especially in the oceans. In the Pacific, the sea. There are piles like mountains, piles of different creatures. Even fish, as you know very well, all kinds of different types of fish and different types of shellfish. Sounds like “selfish” or something. It is incredible because ... also we saw, in this time just physically traveling, the place where we the five-day meditation course was nearby the sea—seventeen or eighteen steps below building was the sea. This was the first time seeing the sea that has the shellfish, those living beings. Just around there on the edge it was full of the smell of the flesh, rotten flesh, meat. On the edge of sea because the sea waves came every morning time and nighttime, the waves brought many sea animals, and on the edge there were piles and piles, just like stones, like that. They were full of seashells and some have bodies, some don’t have bodies, many were eaten by birds, just shells.

First of all as I was walking I saw the big shells, then afterwards I checked the stones, and on each stone there were so many tiny sea animals. There were so many eggs laid on the stones, it is impossible almost to step over them. It is just like growing grass, many birds come, and the birds eat the water animals—as they come I think they eat the animals on the edge of the sea. I think they don’t leave any meat there. Again, besides that, there are all kinds of very, very small insects like ants, going so fast, very fast—eating the meat left in the shells. So it is incredible. Anyway, what was I talking about!

Also in the ocean, like in the mountains, there are piles of insects, creatures like this, not knowing where they were born, not knowing their parents, nothing, being born then being eaten by another one. This is the nature of samsaric beings. Also, for instance, a simple thing, if you keep fruit, even in the fruit there are animals. Even in the fruit, even in the corn that is grown. Many, many times you find animals. Corn and wheat—maybe my eye is wrong but I find many times. So many. So if you keep fruit one, two, or three days, as it gets rotten, again it gets animals. So easily. If a dog dies, in two or three days, many hundreds of worms get inside the flesh, very easily. If you keep water for some time, it very easily gets more creatures. Very easily. So just like this. Underneath the ground there are incredible, unbearable creatures, and on the surface, of course, as we see. Also in the space. Look at it in the summer time. Especially how many flies, making so much noise. Big flies, small flies, all kinds of insects in different shapes flying, besides birds. Many things. So much in space. Anyway, like this.

Thinking like this we can easily check up why the number of human beings is so little, nothing compared to the number of creatures. So besides this there are so many animals in the intermediate stage, beings passed away, beings from certain samsaric realms, from the narak and the human realms, passed away their life again after death and before rebirth in the intermediate stage, those beings that finished one life and then in the intermediate stage are ready to take an animal rebirth. They are going to be born as animals, creatures; there are so many numberless beings in the intermediate stage who are going to be born as animals, creatures. The proof that there are numberless animal beings in the intermediate stage is, you see, like our body, the example I have just given, if we don’t wash frequently—the clothes and hairs—then easily because of the warmth and dirt of the body, as there is the condition, animals are born. Same thing with rotten food, meat, things like this. It is very easy to get animals, even though it doesn’t have any holes on the outside. Like food or things. However, why it is so easy to get is because there are so many great numbers of intermediate beings, animals in the intermediate stage finding the place to take rebirth.

This is also a good thing to check up—why are there less people and more creatures, it’s a good thing to check up. Why is there such big a difference between the numbers? Because the cause that brings the human rebirth is extremely difficult, and the cause that brings rebirth in a suffering realm, in evil destinies such as that of animals, creatures, is so easy, so simple—we intuitively create, very easily create, just by talking, even a small movement, we very easily create. While walking, eating, or sleeping, if we don’t know the karma, if the mind is not conscious of the action, very easily we create. The answer is like this. Even the sura, asura, and the human rebirths—however, the most difficult thing is the perfect human rebirth, the most rare thing.

Then the third time is trying to discover the difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth through example. With details, talking about it takes much time, but this example has great meaning. The turtle underneath the sea for a long time, crawling around, that is the beings who are in the evil destinies, born in the suffering realm. Like this, the suffering narak, after finishing that karma, again is born there, then passes away, then again born as an animal, a narak, or sometimes a preta, always taking rebirth in that suffering realm. One after another like this. The turtle spending more time underneath is like sentient beings who are suffering in the lower suffering realms. Coming up once after each one hundred years is like those suffering beings born in the evil destinies taking the upper rebirth of a happy being. Then the ocean, the infinite Pacific is like the upper realms and the golden ring is the teaching of the Buddha. The golden ring not staying at one place, always moving around, is like the way the teaching of the Buddha doesn’t exist all the time at one place, doesn’t permanently exist at one time, but is always going around, finishing at one place then again spreading to another place—like this the golden ring moves around on the surface. The blindness of the turtle represents how sentient beings are ignorant, not knowing karma, not knowing the cause of happiness, not knowing suffering and the methods. Even if the tortoise fortunately comes near the golden ring, his neck doesn’t go inside. Getting his head inside the golden ring is like receiving the perfect human rebirth. The neck touching, or the head near the golden ring is like the person being born in a religious country where there are teachings, but from the person’s side not following them. Simply like this, how the examples help the understanding of the difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth.

(Page 45)
Impermanence and Death

The outline is this. Now part of this is the way of taking the essence with the perfect human rebirth, the actual method of how to take the essence with the perfect human rebirth, explaining how to take the essence with the perfect human rebirth. According to the outline, there are two—bringing up the thought of seeking a better future life and following the method of happiness for the future life. Then bringing up the thought of seeking a better future life has two—the shortage of life and remembering death and thinking of the happiness or suffering which comes after death, the happiness or suffering of the future rebirth. Part of this subject is remembering the shortage of life and death, which is extremely useful. So I just read first.

(Page 46)
(Rinpoche reads paragraphs 1 and 2)

During the meditation time it is useful to remember the first, “How long is the lifespan” down to the second paragraph, Page 46, “Even if the duration of my life ...”. That’s very useful to think about. Then the last part is useful to think about, which has outlines. I think I will read this.

(Rinpoche read “Is Death Definite”, “Is Time of my Death Definite” “Why Should I be Afraid of Death”)

This one of the very highly realized yogis in Tibet, realizing past, present, future, said ... (Rinpoche reads the quote ) …which is true, it is true. If you check the situation in the present time you can discover this by yourself.

(Page 47)
Guru Shakyamuni quotation

Tomorrow means for the individual generally there is tomorrow, no need to worry.

So check up like this. Regarding the shortage of the human life, first of all check up just as it is here, first making the life very long, as if there are 100,000 years to live. First check on that long life, even the person who has that long of a life—it looks very long but one snap of a finger has sixty-five split seconds, shortest seconds, but however also the scientists say they count many thousands of seconds, I think according to the camera.

Comment: They said 1.22 zeros to one second.

Anyway, that’s very useful for the meditation. If you can use this for meditation it is very useful for our mind. That number of seconds is called a minute, that many minutes is called an hour, that many hours is called a day, that many days is called a week, that many weeks is called one month, that many months is called a year, that many years is called 100,000 years—like this. So again check, just as we said like this, check from the shortest time, how it finishes. As each of the shortest seconds pass, gets shorter, the minute that is made up of that many seconds gets shorter. As the minute gets shorter, also the hours get shorter, the week gets shorter, and as the week gets shorter the month gets shorter, as the month gets shorter the year gets shorter—so you see, now we can check up. Usually we people believe, make the definition that after finishing each year, each new year, we say now I have reached such and such an age. I have lived that long, only after each new year. It is all dependent like this. 100,000 years finishes so quickly—that length of the life gets very quickly shorter as the shortest second changes, passes away, as it becomes less. Another way of saying that is that even though life is that long, the split second, the shortest second, there are certain numbers of shortest seconds in life that can be counted. So each of those shortest seconds finishes so quickly. The 100,000 years runs, just quickly finishes each time the shortest second continuously finishes. Like this. So fast. If you check up in this way according to how the shortest second finishes then you can understand, guess, get a clear idea how that length of life of 100,000 years quickly finishes. It is not a concrete, independent, unchangeable thing. If you check up our feeling, the way we think, this is what we feel. So check like his. Then in this way we can see how 100,000 years so quickly finishes. It finishes and gets shorter, shorter that fast.

I think it is time? Like this, first you check such a long life finishes, because if you understand how that long life finishes then it is easy to understand ourselves, such a short life that we have that we cannot count, cannot guess. We don’t know how many days will exist, so it is easy to understand, discover the shortage of our own life, if you can see clearly how that length of life, those 100,000 years, quickly finish.

After discussion do meditation on the great difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth, checking the three—cause, numbers, and examples. Also try to remember as I explained this morning regards numbers. Also you can find more examples, more stories. After that do meditation on the life shortage and death, which is extremely useful to stop the negative mind. Anyway, a little more explanation on this will come afterwards. But for we ordinary people who don’t have that mind control and do have attachment, have delusions like huge mountains, it is difficult to control and easy to get into problems with people, friends, different things, with ourselves. If you are concerned and if you want to have peace, without these problems, this means controlling the negative mind, the most difficult thing, attachment. The simple method for we ordinary people, which we can use right away, is part of this meditation—impermanent life and death. This is most useful and can help right away. There are many other profound techniques and methods but they are difficult because first we need the deep understanding and practice, so to use them right away is not like candy that we can take right away to solve the problem. It is not like this, it is difficult. So this part of the meditation is a very instant method, very, very helpful. Anyway more explanation can be done afterwards.

Day Fourteen
Tuesday, 19th November
9 am

From the holy speech of the great bodhisattva Tenzin Gyaltsen, “If one desires to benefit all the living beings, it is necessary to have bodhicitta. If one wants to be a friend of all the living beings, it is necessary to have bodhicitta. If one desires to have trust from all living beings, it is necessary to have bodhicitta. If one wants to be a teacher of all living beings, it is necessary to have bodhicitta.”

Among the actions that are done to benefit other sentient beings, the most beneficial action is that done with bodhicitta. Among the thoughts, the best most beneficial thought among the pure thoughts is bodhicitta. Generally there are different types of negative and pure thoughts. Even among the pure thoughts the best, the most beneficial thought is bodhicitta. However, there is much to talk about in terms of the stories of the holy beings, such as the bodhisattvas, how their actions were done with the pure thought benefiting other living beings. There are many texts that explain about it.

The action done with this thought never gets involved in self. Besides the action not getting possessed by the evil thought that is attached to the happiness of this life, besides this, the action isn’t possessed by self-cherishing thought. The action of bodhicitta is possessed only by the thought of cherishing others, concerned more about others than oneself, which is the purest thought, more pure than just the pure thought that does not possess the evil thought. However, due to the power of the pure thought of bodhicitta, any action that is done with it is always powerful and effective. Even just general actions, general conversation, if they are done with this pure thought, the topic becomes effective and beneficial for other people. In the same way, giving medicines to other people, giving treatment to other people becomes beneficial as well. Due to the power of the mind, the action becomes greatly beneficial and effective. It can cure the other person’s problems, such as sicknesses. Whatever is done, reciting mantras, doing meditation, any kind of action that is done in daily life is always beneficial, no question—as long as it benefits other beings there is no question that it benefits oneself, no question, no doubt. There are many stories that were experienced by many of the bodhisattvas, how benefiting others benefited them. Also with this pure thought of bodhicitta there is no such thing as partisanship, wanting to benefit certain people, certain beings who like me and not wanting to benefit certain people who don’t like me, who complain about me, and wanting to harm them and also not caring about the people who are dangerous and have a careless mind toward them. Usually even if we want to benefit, our thought wanting to benefit is not for all sentient beings. Even if we want to make charity, somehow we give only to those whom we like. We give charity only those who are of the same religion, or, even with beggars some people do this—they only give money to the beggar who looks more beautiful, who is better looking, and to the one who is terrible looking they don’t give money. There are some people who do this. Anyway, these are just examples.

These are just examples but we are limited in regards our beneficial thought. Also in regards helping and the action of helping there is limitation—it is not equal for other living beings. So in that way, with this partial mind helping others, somehow it helps some people but causes confusion to some people. Because you don’t help some people, they get hurt. Somehow it is not really perfect, the help done with a partial mind, somehow it is not a perfect method.

However with bodhicitta, whenever you create any merits, even when you give, even when you create merit by giving one paisa to a beggar or by talking few words, any merits that are created, since there is the pure thought, the merits are always dedicated for other sentient beings. So all the time, any beneficial virtuous action is always dedicated, always done for the benefit of all sentient beings. Always done for all sentient beings. No matter if you don’t like or like the sentient beings. Without any discrimination. Even the sentient being who are going to cut the body in pieces—without any discrimination. Like this. Actions done with this thought, this method never bring one single tiny problem or confusion, only benefit. Then also one thing—this action done with such a pure thought can definitely help, benefit to release sentient beings from all suffering, because the action done with such thought, the thought itself,, is basically concerned with releasing other sentient beings from the delusions. Not just releasing the beggar from the suffering of feeling hungry but concerned even with releasing him from all the causes of suffering. It is just like this with every sentient being. So therefore there is the need for bodhicitta, it is necessary to have this beneficial thought of bodhicitta.

Then, to be friends with all living beings, for instance, generally like this. Generally we make friends, most of the time we become friends with some expectations. Most of the time, you know, we purposely make friends, and we are involved with expectations, something. Totally, like this. We are always expecting the friend to do what I want, what I wish—basically there is some idea like this, the basic idea. So for this reason we become friends expecting something with the evil thought that is attached to the happiness of this life. We want something to bring the happiness of this life, something to receive help from him. Generally our ordinary people’s idea is like this. The idea, the purpose of making and becoming friends is not so much concerned with helping them, or releasing them from ignorance or from the cause of suffering, but receiving something from them that helps for the comfort of this life. So this is just generally thinking without going through the details. According to individuals there are different expectations, generally like this. This expectation came through the evil thought, and with this we give the present, to become a friend, we call for a party in order to become friends. However even though they as we expect, as our evil thought expects, perhaps they may do something, give some help, give material things or do something as we wish, expect, but this is not enough. Even though that is done it is not enough, we are not satisfied. Just one time giving help, giving that material, or doing that thing, the person who receives the help is not satisfied. Again there are more expectations. This is the nature. Again there are more expectations. Then the friends, their nature, their desires, are not as permanent as they were at the beginning. Somehow they won’t be always with the same desires, not in the same situation. So afterwards you don’t get other people doing things as you want. Afterwards it changes, this is its nature, it definitely changes—the person doesn’t stay the same nature. Afterward the person definitely changes. That is the nature of the samsaric beings. They definitely change afterwards.

First of all you become friends, so when the other person changes, when you don’t receive things that you expected from them, then dislike rises, anger rises, and as anger rises, you become their enemy, and they become your enemy. Like this. So like this it always changes—this is the nature, it is common, it is the experience of our life. Especially how quickly it changes in the West, the relationships. Nothing is definite in our life. With this egocentric thought, this evil thought that is attached to the happiness of this life, there is no way to be equally friends with all sentient beings. The friends that are made, begun with the egocentric thought, this evil thought attached to the happiness of this life, that friend doesn’t last, that friend always changes, cannot last, because that friend that is recognized as a friend in dependence on the physical conditions. However, the friendship that is begun with bodhicitta always lasts, because it does not depend on physical conditions. To be a friend with bodhicitta does not depend on the physical condition, does not depend on how rich, how much material that person has, and does not depend on receiving material help. It does not depend on physical help. The other one depends on the physical conditions. So it is completely opposite. There is a big difference between them. So that’s how with bodhicitta one can be equally friends to all sentient beings, without discrimination. Rich and poor, giving help and not giving help, giving material help or not giving material help—it does not depend on these things. So in this way, becoming friends with bodhicitta never raises confusion, because it does not depend on the physical condition. In this way being friends with sentient beings with bodhicitta never causes confusion, never raise problems. Even if all sentient beings become the enemy, if all sentient beings rise up as the enemy, since the person has bodhicitta, his friendship with those sentient beings never changes no matter how much the other people change, up and down. He never changes, never changes. His being a friend to them never changes. It is always the same thing, whether other beings become an enemy or friend, whatever changes happen, it doesn’t change this person’s life or his thoughts. With this pure thought, no matter how much they change, also from your side you can always see them as your friend, as your mother, as your relative. From the person who has bodhicitta, from his side, we can see always other sentient beings in beauty, as greatly kind, extremely greatly kind—we don’t see even one enemy, as much as other beings try to be the enemy. This person who has bodhicitta doesn’t find one single enemy. However, there is no confusion in the person’s mind, there is always peace no matter how much they change—friend, enemy, up and down—the person who has bodhicitta always is concerned to release them from suffering and the cause of suffering. So that’s what it means.

One of the biggest problems in our life is this. Since we were born until now, most of the problem has been this with people. Your mind has no method, so that’s why as other people change up and down, you change up and down also. I am not going to talk much on this, it takes time. Perhaps it may come in other subjects. However, by understanding this, we can understand that even to be a friend it is necessary to have bodhicitta, because in that way the feeling does not change. We are much more sincere and equal toward all sentient beings. There are many benefits like this.

Also, another reason bodhicitta is useful—even if you want to have trust from other people, because you have this pure thought there is no cruel mind, no evil thought that makes you cheat other people or cause them problems. Totally like this. So even if you have trust, for instance, usually like this. People who always tell lies, who always talk so much, changing so fast—usually people don’t rely on that kind of person much, they don’t trust him much, usually. Usually it is like this.

Also, similarly, by having this pure thought, even if one becomes a teacher, one only does beneficial actions for other living beings—teaching, no danger of betraying, no danger of reading the wrong way. Also there is no danger of not giving teachings. This being only does whatever is most beneficial for other living beings. So even if one wants to be teacher for other living beings, the best way is by having bodhicitta.

This became quite a long talk but I think it is alright! One thing, if you write down these things, sometimes if you keep these things in the mind, it is useful. After some time when the person is not always in the place where you can listen to Dharma, hear Dharma, sometimes in different places, sometimes the life gets into miserable situations, not knowing what to do, how to help to one’s mind, with people, with yourself, things like this. So in those times it is useful to remember or read your notes; this is very useful, very useful. It is just like you are feeling very hot and then taking a cool bath all of a sudden.

(BREAK)

Student: In a friendship relationship between two bodhisattvas is there nothing other than learning and teaching?
Rinpoche: Learning and teaching. That depends on them.
Student: Is that all there is?
Rinpoche: No, no, there can be different kinds of help; it doesn’t have to be only teaching.
Student: Then I don’t understand what you said about a friend when he is a bodhisattva and when he is not. From what you said the only friendship they can have is that of teaching and learning.
Rinpoche: No, no. Help doesn’t have to be only teaching. Did I say that? I don’t remember. Maybe someone wrote it down.
Student: Is it possible to have bodhicitta without having skillful means?
Rinpoche: With the bodhicitta and without skillful means? Even if there is bodhicitta there is need of wisdom. That doesn’t mean the person has to completely understand the way of helping, just having bodhicitta, there is need to know all the skillful methods.
Student: Does that come with bodhicitta?
Rinpoche: Yes, if there is bodhicitta it comes faster. Gaining the wisdom knowing these different skillful methods is the best way of achieving the wisdom.
Student: I have a general idea what my future holds in store for me if I follow my natural desires. What I wonder—are you happy, satisfied, and realized the teaching of the Buddha?
Rinpoche: I didn’t say I am a realized person. I am nothing experienced, a foolish person, I told you at the beginning of the course.
Student: But are you satisfied being a foolish person, are you satisfied?
Rinpoche: I am foolish but I am also happy too. By having the chance to practice such things I am happy.
Student: Could you just answer me, what other relationships there are between two bodhisattvas other than learning and teaching, between two friends?
Rinpoche: Is there any other help besides learning and teaching? There can be other help depending on them, there can be different actions. Through different physical actions, different methods, no such definite action.
Student: There can be another type of communication other than learning and teaching?
Rinpoche: Possible.
Student: But you can’t be specific to say other than learning and teaching—what they can communicate or give each other.
Rinpoche: Their minds working together for sentient beings can be communication.
Student: That’s learning and teaching.
Rinpoche: There can be communication. There’s always communication. The bodhisattva helps the other bodhisattva because bodhisattvas help all sentient beings and all sentient beings include bodhisattvas.

However, it is necessary to have the pure motivation wishing to receive enlightenment in order to release all sentient beings from suffering and lead them to enlightenment. For these reasons we listen to the teachings on the graduated path. The listening subject is the Mahayana teaching that leads the fortunate person to enlightenment. It was well expounded by the great philosophers Nagarjuna and Asanga and it is a profound teaching, the essence of the great yogis Atisha and Guru Tsongkhapa’s understanding. It includes 84,000 teachings shown by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and all these teachings are set up for the practice of one person’s achievement of enlightenment.

This teaching, commentary on the graduated path has four topics in the outline. In order to show reference, the knowledge of the authors. In order to bring up devotion, the knowledge of the teachings. The way of listening and explaining the teachings. The way of leading the disciple on the path to enlightenment. The last has two—the way of following the guru who is the root of the path and the way of training the mind on the graduated path to enlightenment. The last also has two—persuading the mind to take the essence with the perfect human rebirth and the way of taking the essence with the perfect human rebirth. The way of taking the essence with the perfect human rebirth is divided into three—the graduated path of the lower being, the graduated path of the middle being, and the graduated path of the higher being.

The graduated path of the lower being has two—bringing up the thought seeking better future lives and following the method that brings happiness in future lives. Bringing up the thought seeking better future lives has two—remembering the shortness of the human life and death and after that, thinking of suffering or happiness that follows death.

As the person continuously trains the mind in the three meditations—the perfect human rebirth, the great usefulness of the perfect human rebirth, and the great difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth—when he receives such a great feeling or energy, even wasting this perfect human rebirth for a minute or two or three seconds, he will feel great loss, incredible loss, like losing a sack of gold. Losing it in the water, just like that, great loss. If someone drops a big luggage of jewels and gold from a bridge into a deep river, that person feels incredible loss. Just like this, if the person feels like this when even for a short time he is wasting his perfect human rebirth, even for a few seconds, then that person has the achievement of the third meditation, the great difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth. That is the definition of receiving the realization of this meditation, the difficulty of receiving the perfect human rebirth.

Realizing the usefulness of the perfect human rebirth, the person avoids meaningless actions, and besides not doing meaningless actions, negative actions, the person cannot stand even spending one minute or a few seconds without working, doing something, without practicing Dharma, without working on something to take the essence with the perfect human rebirth.

Yesterday we briefly talked about the meditation on the shortness of this human life. First of all, it is useful to think of the person who can live 100,000 years. Check how that quickly finishes, how it changes and gets shorter even in each split second, each shortest second. This time I am not going to repeat. This person has that much length of life but all of this time, even though the person has that much length of life, spontaneously it changes, it gets shorter and shorter. Within the time one snaps their fingers there are so many shortest seconds, so even in each of the shortest seconds the length of life quickly finishes, becomes that much shorter and shorter. Thinking like this, we can see how it is impermanent. This is also the method of trying to realize the subtle impermanence of life. Doing meditation in such a way it helps us to realize how even that long life changes so fast, spontaneously, even in such a short time, besides this meditation giving the understanding of the gross impermanence of life. So if that person who has that long of a life finishes so quickly, why not mine? For me definitely I don’t have that much length of life to live, that is for sure, for many reasons. For me I am not sure how long I will live, how many days I have to live, how many years, not sure. Perhaps maybe twenty-five years, maybe thirty years, not sure. Somewhere around these numbers. The future time and the past years, including all, I may have sixty or seventy years. Somewhere around that number I may have to live. The length of my life is nothing compared to that 100,000 years. Even this short human life, my life ... let’s say including the past and future I will live sixty years. This short human life that has sixty years, this also exists like this. A certain number of split seconds is called a minute, a certain number of minutes is called an hour, a certain number of hours is called a day, a certain number of days is called a week, a certain number of weeks is called a month, a certain number of months is called a year—then by collecting each year, it becomes sixty years. So, the same thing, as the second changes, also the minute changes, and by the minute changes so does the hour, and by changing the hour also the day, by changing the day also the week, by changing the week also the month, by changing the month also the year, and as the year changes the whole sixty years, this length of my human life, changes. So all of this change is completely based on the very first thing, the change of the shortest seconds of my life. The whole thing is based on this. So this sixty years spontaneously changes. Since the time when my mind was conceived in my mother’s womb, since life started, it began to change. Totally like this. Spontaneously as the shortest second changes the whole sixty years of human life spontaneously changes. As it changes that fast, as the shortest second changes so fast, spontaneously, also the human life gets older and older, that fast, by each split second. As each split second changes, life gets older and older, so fast. As it gets older and older, by each shortest second, since the time when mind is conceived in the mother’s womb until death time, there are certain numbers of seconds, shortest seconds. They are not something that cannot be counted—they can be counted. Since the mind was conceived in the mother’s womb, since life started, all the time the shortest second that makes a certain length of life always finishes, spontaneously finishes, gradually. As each of the shortest seconds finishes gradually, it has been finishing since life started. And that much more quickly life gets closer and closer to death. This is a scientific thing, this is nothing that you cannot discover, cannot realize without believing. This is a scientific thing that you can check up—even if you don’t believe by checking you can discover it. As our life started in the mother’s womb, the minute it started life has been running, flowing to death, each shortest second that makes life finish all the time. Just like this.

Usually we don’t think that way. Usually we don’t think with experience, with feelings like this. Even though we may intellectually say things, change all the time, however we don’t really feel it in our life, so we are not really experiencing, not really feeling, and we don’t really clearly see it even though we say intellectually. That’s why there is no change in the mind. As much as the person says, there is no change in the mind. The mind is not getting better. That is mainly because of not really feeling it, the person not having the real feeling. Just like this. Usually we don’t see it this way.

As the year finishes, somehow as the body changes, perhaps sometimes you may think, “I am really getting older, closer to death.” But we don’t check up with each shortest second, we don’t check up. That is because the continuity of life existing is very subtle and there is continual life existing—that’s why we don’t see it.

For instance, as there is a great pile of rice and a mouse takes each grain, slowly, slowly from the back—there are certain a number of rice grains that make that big pile, but the mouse takes a grain each time, each minute, so fast. But still we see the big pile of rice there, not finishing, always existing there, not becoming less. We only notice when it gets a little bit down, to half or something, then we see that it has finished, that much is lost. As the mouse takes each grain we don’t see it, but each time the pile is becoming less. As each grain is taken that big pile finishes quickly. Just like this, there are a certain number of shortest seconds in this sixty years of human life, and as they change so fast, so the human life finishes that quickly. Starting from birth time it gets closer and closer to death time, each shortest second. Like this. Just like this. Just like a stone falling down on the ground, in space there is no time that the stone stops without falling down. Just like this, since our life started, since we were born, life has just been finishing, running to death, each time closer to death. Even now, this present time, while we are talking, while you are listening, even now life continually, spontaneously gets shorter and closer to death. However the whole life since we were born is always running, always facing death. There is not one second, minute, or hour in which life exists without changing, without finishing, without getting closer to death. Just like a waterfall, another way of saying, like a waterfall. If you watch the waterfall as it is continuously coming down, flowing, each time, each minute, each second, one goes, another one comes, one goes, another one comes—like this it always changes.

But then why, even if there is death, why one should be scared of death? Why one should worry about death? It doesn’t matter even though the human life finishes that fast—perhaps it can be possible that you think like this. However, like this, because there is the previous continuity, the continuity of the mind that existed before this rebirth, this present human rebirth is taken by that mind. So as there was previous continuity of mind before this present rebirth, when death happens the mind stop with the physical body—like a candle flame finishes with a candle, not like this. As there was mind existing before this rebirth, same thing, even though the physical body disappears the mental continuity still exists. If there is no mental continuity after the death, if the mind is completely ceased at the time of death, then why do we always try to keep the life, make the life longer, keep healthy? It is better to die, better for death to occur right away, then no problem. The person doesn’t have to work, nothing, no problem, no life problem, doesn’t have to run, doesn’t need even a little movement to gain happiness. That is the most simple thing. If the mind doesn’t continue after death, if is it just zero, blank, then it is better to die as quickly as possible, rather than always experiencing different problems, always having this fragile body containing so many problems, which needs so many things. All these things are just foolish things, all the methods trying to make life longer if there is no mind continuity after the death. In this way it doesn’t cause problems for oneself or other people. Also there is no need for meditation, for religion, for spiritualism. There is no need to build anything, no need to make arrangements for the life to exist longer—all of these are unnecessary.

However, it is not like this. Mind continues after that, and mind takes a different body in a different realm. That depends on whether I will receive a suffering rebirth or a happy rebirth after death. So there are two ways to go—either to be born in the sura, asura, or human realms, or to be born in the evil destinies, the three suffering realms. It is definite that I will take one of those rebirths. That decision about which rebirth will be taken is made by karma, made by this life’s and previous life’s karma.

So now checking karma. The cause that brings rebirth in the happy realms is good karma, and the cause that brings rebirth in the suffering realm is negative karma. For instance, in one day how much karma do I create, and do I create more positive karma or negative karma? In one day I create more evil karma. In my daily life’s action, the karma I create more is negative karma. This is the same thing in one month—in this one month I create more negative karma. This year, same thing, in this life, since I was born, more negative karma than positive. Similarly in previous lifetimes, I create more negative karma than positive. Therefore at death time there is a greater collection of negative karma than positive karma, also perhaps we think that we did many positive actions. Some people who meditate a little bit, who spend their life a little bit in meditation think, “I did many positive things,” and may have a little bit of pride. But actually if you really check up in among all those efforts that you made, the effort of doing meditation, all those actions, if one checks up specifically, the person hardly finds the actual method that can really benefit the future life’s happiness—the action that is the real action of happiness, the cause of happiness and peace. Even though we think like this, “I did this and that,” first of all, as we figured out, half of the sixty years of the human life finishes by sleeping. If all the sleep was a virtuous action that would be something else, but that is quite hard, difficult. We sleep uncontrolled—there is arrangement before sleep. When sleep comes it happens, there is no choice. So half of the life finishes by sleeping and then only part of the day is left. Then in part of the day, most of the life the period of the babies, the childhood is finished by playing, things like that. Then the rest of the day is left. However, so far most of the day was spent in distraction, in meaningless actions, it was used for meaningless actions. So if you collect the times that we created positive karma, the days we created positive karma, there are so little days. It is a very short time, a very, very short time.

Even though we have created positive karma from virtuous actions, it is not perfect, not perfect. To make the virtuous action perfect it is necessary to have these three—first, pure motivation, second, actual action, third, the dedication. These three make virtuous action perfect. If any of these three are missing then the virtuous action doesn’t become perfect. So even though we do something it is difficult to make it perfect by gathering all these three. If one of these three is missing then it is not so powerful—the virtuous action is not that powerful. So the negative, evil actions, mostly, we create perfectly. How? For instance, we have the motivation and the actual action has no doubt, and then after doing the negative action we feel happy, rejoicefulness. If a bug eats us, then killing it between our nails the mind feels sort of happiness, thinking now I have stopped the one who eats my flesh, who causes me pain. Anyway, this is just an example. The negative actions are very strong, very powerful. There is a little bit of positive karma at least, we have created some positive karma, and some virtuous actions are perfect, but because we have no control over anger and negative mind, anger or heresy rises and the merits of the virtuous actions that are not dedicated completely are destroyed. The anger, the negative mind makes the virtues or merit useless, incapable of bringing the result of happiness. Just like the seed that is burnt, which has no power to bring the result. Also even for perfect virtues—if this uncontrolled negative mind rises, it prevents bringing the result quickly. This negative mind postpones bringing the result of happiness quickly. The result of happiness is caused by merit, virtue. The negative mind arising postpones bringing this result, like for one hundred eons, a certain length of time, according to the object with whom you get angry, or toward whom heresy arises, according to the living being, the object, depending on whether it is a higher object having higher realizations or an object at the same level having the same realizations. If the object is higher, having a negative mind or heresy toward that object will disturb bringing the result of happiness created by virtues.

At the death time there is a greater collection of negative karma; it is stronger, more powerful than positive karma. Therefore it is more definite to be born in the evil destinies, in the suffering realms because of these reasons.

Now then, the person may think, “That is the future, who cares about that?”

Even though one has to experience suffering, the future is not today, not this month, day, or year, for sure not for several years. The person may think it is the future, sort of a long time. However, whether it is a long time or a short time, whatever it is, you cannot share that suffering. If you could share maybe that would be something else—”Please could you experience my karma, the suffering result of the karma that was created by me.” Like this. If there were such thing there wouldn’t be any sentient beings left. If there were a choice like this, if we didn’t have to suffer the result of the karmic cause we created, if some other beings could experience it for us, then there wouldn’t be any ignorant suffering sentient beings left. Beings who have compassion for all sentient beings would have taken all the karma and experience all the suffering on our behalf. Also numberless enlightened beings would have taken all the suffering and experienced the suffering on our behalf. Also they would have transplanted their realization and enlightenment to us very easily. But this is an impossible thing. That’s why we are suffering still.

That future suffering has to be experienced by oneself alone. There is nothing to share. Who will experience it? It has to be experienced only by me because that is who created the cause. The cause was created only by me. Therefore the result has to be experienced by me, whether it is happiness or suffering.

So what difference does it make... it is the same thing, if I am suffering now I don’t like it, and if I will suffer in the future, I will be the person who suffers that same thing. So what is the difference. It is just a matter of time. The person is the same thing, the experience of suffering is the same thing. Ask yourself, “Do I want to experience that suffering or not?” So of course the answer, if you really check up, definitely the answer will be, “I don’t like to suffer, whether in the present thing or in the future. I don’t like to experience that.” If it is really checked up with wisdom then there is definitely the mind wanting to renounce the suffering, this definitely arises. If death were not definite that would be something else. But death is definite. It is definite that one day all these planets, sun, moon—all we see now in the East, in the West, everything will emptiness. Just space, nothing left but space. Just space, darkness, complete darkness, nothing left. Definitely this will happen. If even all these things disappear, why not myself? At that time I will not exist on this earth. Death is a definite thing, like this.

How is death definite? At death time nothing can stop it. Even if we try to make the life longer, it continuously finishes, becomes decayed. Even if we try to make the life longer, it spontaneously decays. Even if we try to make life longer due to previous karma, if we have created the karma to have a certain length of life, even that spontaneously becomes decayed. Also at death time not having the chance to practice Dharma, dying without the chance of practicing Dharma as one wants, even though one has wish—many beings die just with ignorance, without any wish to practice Dharma before that in the lifetime. So check like this.

In the afternoon do meditation on the shortness of the human life, check like this. First of all check on the person who has 100,000 years to live, and check on yourself—how that quickly changes, becomes older, each time closer to death like this. Then think, why I should be concerned with that? Put the question. Then because of the mental continuity before rebirth, the same thing after death. Even so, why should I worry? Even so, why worry? Then think of two ways to be born—happy and in the suffering realms. That decision is made by the karma—not your choice, but by karma. So check each day how much karma was created—was more positive karma or negative karma created in the day? Check each day, month, year, check previous lives. Therefore it is definite that I will be born in the suffering realm. If death is not definite that is something else. Death is definite, nothing can stop it. Think of the example of all these planets finishing, all becoming empty. This is very helpful. Usually we say, “Of course I will die.” Ordinary people will say this. It doesn’t mean they really feel and see it. “I will die after some time,” they say, but that doesn’t mean they really understand, feel it. Nothing can stop death and even trying to make life longer, it spontaneously becomes decayed. We die without having sufficient time to practice Dharma.

Then think a second time, after checking this, how the actual time of death is indefinite. Whether you know when you are going to die, check up. Also before thinking that the actual time of death is indefinite, think of the three reasons that death is definite—how it is finishing, how all things become empty, how nothing can stop death, even if there is previous karma to make life longer still it spontaneously finishes, and without having the chance to practice Dharma in life, death happens. After this do meditation the future situation, what is going to happen, what will definitely happen in a certain time or place. No matter how much we dislike or try to reject thinking like this, it is something that will definitely happen in a certain time or place. So somehow, try to bring the future situation into the present, do visualizations like this as if you are dying at your home, on the bed, then go through the changes of the body. Then afterwards imagine the family crying, worrying, things happening, and then putting the corpse in the box, in the coffin. Then being carried to the cemetery, singing prayers, some people trying to cry. Visualize this process, whatever you do in the West, which will definitely happen. This is one of the most effective meditations on death, to make the mind realize. Then the body is burnt, or buried.

All these are methods, meditations on death. Meditation on death is a powerful, practical method to not create negative karma. It is a method to build energy, to grow wisdom and energy, to stop creating negative karma and to stop experiencing suffering rebirths in the evil destinies. This is the method. If you are scared of death, even just hearing of death, another person dying, just hearing the word death the wise are scared, have that much fear. This is a method to stop future suffering, especially the suffering in evil destinies and the fear of the suffering. This method is a method to stop the fear of death, to stop uncontrolled suffering death. If there is fear of death ahead of time and that is used to stop the future suffering, to stop negative karma, to stop uncontrolled death, to stop the fear of death, that is wise, very skillful. Then we do not have to worry or fear during the lifetime. At the actual death time having a lot of fears or worries or suffering doesn’t help at all. The time is finished.

After meditating that death is definite by checking on three things, think of the process of death as you do in the West—how things are done with the body, the changes of body. After that do the meditation on the topic “The actual time of death is indefinite.” Then the subject that comes after that, the evolution of death.

I think this is very wise. We have suffering, our minds live in suffering, but with wisdom we use suffering to achieve enlightenment. So this is how the poison, instead being a cause to harm the life, is used as a medicine for the life to exist longer. It is very practical thing that definitely helps to stop the mind’s confusion and the usual life problems.