Kopan Course No. 15 (1982)

By Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Kathmandu, Nepal 1982 (Archive #095)

These teachings were given by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche at the Fifteenth Kopan Meditation Course, held at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, November-December 1982. The teachings include a commentary on Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara [A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life.]  You may also download the entire transcript as a pdf file.

Section Five: 28 November - 1 December

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28 November, am

After the great thought of loving kindness and the great compassion we have what is kind of voluntary or willed—that might not be as clear as in Tibetan. According to the Tibetan term, which is lhag.sam, it is a special kind of thought, a higher thought that takes on something voluntarily, a volitional thought. In order to complete the extensive work of freeing all sentient beings from all suffering and placing them in sublime happiness, the state of omniscient mind, one makes the complete determination, one hundred percent, to do that by oneself, to do that work by oneself alone. “This extensive work for others—I will do it myself.”

If a mother’s most beloved child fell into a fire the other relatives might help. They wish the child to be free from the suffering of being burnt buy fire. The relatives and friends may help, but they may not have such an incredible determination, the volitional thought, themselves being willing to go down and pick him out. The one who actually makes the determination that no matter how much work it takes to help get the child out of the fire, no matter how difficult or dangerous it is for oneself, the one who makes a complete determination without hesitation, the one who does the work complete determination, is the mother. As soon as she hears that her child has fallen into the fire, or is in some danger, even though she is talking to somebody or eating food or driving a car, whatever different action she is doing at that time, what she constantly has on her mind is her child who is suffering. Constantly she feels that it is unbearable. What she has on her mind is only her child, feeling that it is unbearable that the child is in danger, that it fell into the fire. Constantly there is a strong, intuitive thought to help get the child out of the fire, without delay of even a minute or a second. When she reaches the place of the fire there might be others to help her, but they cannot immediately make the strong determination to bear the hardships of getting the child out of the fire themselves. But the mother, without any hesitation, in spite of everything, without being concerned about all the hardships or harms to herself, of the fire burning her, goes inside and takes the child out of the fire. The volitional thought is like this.

There is a difference between repaying the kindness and the great volitional thought. The question might arise about what the difference is between the two. When repaying the kindness there is a kind of intention, but it is not completely, one hundred percent decided. The root guru of His Holiness Dalai Lama’s tutors (His Holiness Ling Rinpoche and His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche), Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo explained it like this in his lam-rim teaching. (Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo was the root guru of present high Gelugpa, lamas, mostly from Sera, Drepung or Ganden in Lhasa. Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo is regarded as an embodiment of the deity Chakrasamvara, Heruka, in whose aspect Guru Shakyamuni Buddha manifested in order to guide sentient beings, revealing the skillful, secret method to them for them to swiftly achieve enlightenment.) He explained, “The thought of repaying the kindness is like having the intention to buy things from the shop, while the volitional thought is the complete determination that whatever it may cost you will pay it.—”I’ll pay it and take it!” This is the volitional thought.

The way to accomplish these extensive works for sentient beings, liberating them from all sufferings, enabling them to be in the state of the omniscient mind, is explained like this in the teachings. The way of the mighty ones (meaning Guru Shakyamuni Buddha) is not to wash away the negative karma by water, not to wipe off, eliminate, or relieve the suffering of sentient beings by hand, nor to transplant their realizations to others—others are liberated by the mighty ones revealing the truth or the absolute nature. “The mighty ones” means Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and the buddhas in general. The way they guide sentient beings is not by washing away the negative karma with water. What this is implying is that there is no way that the true suffering and the true cause of suffering, the two types of obscurations, can be washed away with water, it is impossible. Nor is it like taking thorns out of the flesh by hand. Both are implying that without sentient beings doing any practice, following the path, there is no way to free them from suffering. It is not like taking thorns out of the flesh by hand.

Then, how is it? What is the way of the mighty ones? If they do guide sentient beings, how do they guide or liberate them? It is not by transplanting either, like in the West when the doctors transplant the heart or brain of a monkey. (I don’t know if there exists a person who has got a monkey brain and who is still functioning. I didn’t hear. It might come as a surprise if that person made a monkey noise.) Anyway, the buddhas do not transplant their realizations into the minds of sentient beings—the buddhas themselves would become empty of omniscient mind. If their entire mind were transplanted into the sentient beings, the buddhas would become something that was not even a living being. It is not done by transplanting their realizations into the minds of the sentient beings without any need for the sentient beings to do any practice or to follow the path.

Well, then—how is it that Guru Shakyamuni Buddha guides sentient beings and how do they get liberated from their suffering? The only way is that the mighty ones reveal the teaching of the truth, the absolute nature of the self, the absolute nature of the “I” and all existence. Then the sentient beings do the listening, reflecting and meditation practices, following the path like this. By following what is revealed by the mighty ones they get liberated from the sufferings of samsara.

In this way you can understand that the creator of all the suffering of samsara experienced in the three times is one’s own mind. Also, the creator of all the happiness, the blissful state of peace, even the state of omniscient mind, the sublime happiness, is your achievement and experience—the creator of this is your own mind.

So in order to free sentient beings from all sufferings and to lead them into the state of omniscient mind, one must reveal the path. This is the way Guru Shakyamuni leads or guides us into the state of omniscient mind. In order to free sentient beings from all sufferings and to lead them into the state of omniscient mind, in order to guide them, one should reveal the path to them, the complete infallible path that leads to the state of omniscient mind. They should follow the path, so one must reveal it, reveal the key. In other words, one must explain the path. In order to be able to do this one must understand clearly and completely, without the slightest mistake, every single thought of the sentient beings and their different capabilities of intelligence and their personalities, their levels of fortune—in other words, their merit, fortune, luck, or good karma.

As there are various personalities, desires, and thoughts, different levels of minds, the methods that you are going to reveal to sentient beings have to also be varied. As there are various thoughts, intelligence, and fortune, the methods also have to be varied. So one should have the complete understanding of all the methods in order to reveal them even to one sentient being. As the personality changes and the intelligence increases one has to reveal various methods even to guide one sentient being at different times. When gradually leading him to omniscient mind one needs to understand and reveal various methods at different times.

Who is it that fully sees, without the slightest mistake in his understanding, all the different types of minds, all levels of fortune, all different personalities, and every single method that suits them, and who is able to reveal them without the slightest mistake? Only the omniscient mind. There is no other method at all apart from the omniscient mind. So I must achieve the state of omniscient mind.

We must have the altruistic mind, the effortless uncreated thought to achieve the state of omniscient mind, as I mentioned in the example about the mother who has the uncreated, effortless wish to liberate her most beloved child from the fire. Her wish to bring it into happiness is uncreated and effortless, she doesn’t need to put effort into it, she doesn’t need to do meditation first. She doesn’t need to do sessions in order to get the child out of the fire and bring it into happiness. She doesn’t need to do meditation sessions visualizing the fire and how her child is suffering. She doesn’t need to try to feel how this is unbearable.

If one has the uncreated, effortless wish to achieve the state of omniscient mind for the benefit of all kind mother sentient beings, if one has such a thought, such an attitude, an altruistic mind that is uncreated and effortless, one has the realization of bodhicitta. If you want to call yourself a “bodhisattva” you can receive that label then. At that time you can call yourself a bodhisattva.

If one wishes to achieve the peerless state of omniscient mind the path one should follow is the path revealed by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. This is the path that the founder himself, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, followed and through which he reached the state of omniscient mind. He revealed this path that he had experienced completely to his followers and after that many pandits analyzed and checked, as if they were checking refined gold to see whether it was pure or not, whether it was corrupted or not. Like that the pandits later checked the teachings taught by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha that were recorded and made into scriptures, to see whether they were pure or not. Then many meditators and yogis practiced them. They did the listening, reflecting, and meditation practices, uncountable numbers of them completing the experience of the path. They achieved their goal, the omniscient mind. It should be like this.

It is extremely important to examine the path before one devotes oneself and dedicates one’s life to it. It is important to examine the path before one starts practicing it so that one does not get misled, wasting one’s whole life and energy. One should examine whether the path leads to the goal that one is seeking. If your goal is to accomplish the method of achieving omniscient mind for the sake of sentient beings you should examine well before practicing. Examine and study it well to check whether it is the right or wrong path. Before putting it into practice, before wasting your whole life, check the path with sharp intelligence and with discrimination, with the intelligence that is able to discriminate between what is right and wrong. Check before you get whole piles of wrong conceptions, mountains of wrong conceptions.

Even though many may talk about their path leading to nirvana—check it! Has it been the experience of the founder himself? And afterwards, were many of his followers able to experience this path and to reach the same goal? Did many others reach that goal or not? It needs to be checked like this. Maybe it is just a doctrine. There is some kind of founder who revealed it, who made up that idea, this doctrine that he called “path.” Maybe it is not clear that he himself went through this path and reached that goal. Also, there might be no stories at all about anybody else following this path and reaching the same goal, the cessation of suffering—if that is what you are seeking. Maybe there are no stories or biographies to prove it, like the biography that is very popular in the West about the great yogi Milarepa, who became enlightened in one lifetime. Or those about the great yogis Tilopa and Naropa.

Even now you can see the caves where many monks left their handprints and footprints. There are so many signs of their powers of realizations of having attained the high tantra paths. The teachings that were left, taught from experience and that you can read, affect you and benefit your mind so much. Just reading life story, the hymns, and the teachings of Milarepa is so beneficial and effective for the reader’s mind, like nectar.

However, if there are no stories like these about things that happened in the past, nothing to talk about concerning now or the past, then it shows that it doesn’t have a good shape. It shows that it is difficult to rely upon. That itself shows signs and reasons.

The point I am talking about is the cessation of suffering, the cessation of the true cause of suffering. If this is what we are seeking, if what we are seeking is the state of omniscient mind, it should be like this. But if you are just seeking temporal pleasures you don’t need to check very deeply.

One great Tibetan pandit of the Sakya sect, a Sakya pandit advised like this, “As to business—even when we are doing small business, like buying a horse or a donkey (I am not sure, maybe not donkey—anyhow, possessions) we ask everybody first and finally we ourselves examine it. We seem to be putting so much effort into such a small work of this life. All the good and bad of all our lives are dependant on the holy Dharma; but Dharma becomes like the dog’s food—whatever you meet, whatever you come across you follow with faith without checking.” “Faith” means blind faith.

When we go to buy food for even one day’s meal, when we buy fruit or vegetables, we check which is better and then buy the better one. We check it. I am not sure about the supermarkets in the West. Maybe there is no need to check much since already other people have checked it. If they bring bad ones to sell there they only get problems, so they bring good ones. Anyway, in other places like the East where there are no supermarkets we check well before we pay the money. Before we give our precious things away we check, because we don’t want to waste it. So what this great Sakya pandit is talking about is the good and bad of all our lives, not only future lives, but this life as well.

For one who doesn’t understand the holy Dharma there is no method to stop the confusion of everyday life and transform it into happiness. Also, the person who understands Dharma but doesn’t practice it cannot keep his mind at peace; constantly his mind gets confused. But for the person who is living in the practice and who understands Dharma, whether there are good conditions or bad conditions, it doesn’t change his mind. It doesn’t shake or disturb his mind. So his life is always balanced, his mind is always at peace. If a person is living always practicing renouncing the dissatisfactory thoughts of worldly Dharma, while practicing the good heart against the self-cherishing thoughts, his happiness increases in this life.

“Bad” means the suffering of this life, “good” means all the happiness of this life. From this life up to omniscient mind, all this is dependent on the holy Dharma. All the suffering of this life and all the uncountable future lives come from not having changed and subdued the mind. It comes from the disturbing, unsubdued mind. It is so important to practice Dharma in this life. Or another way of saying it, the common people’s way of saying it—”To be following a spiritual path.” It is like the key, you see how important it is to examine that practice before you put your life into it. The whole thing, the happiness and suffering of all coming lives depends on this life, which has maybe thirty, forty, or fifty years, or maybe only twenty years—one is not sure even about that, maybe just a few months. In this way you can see how important it is.

Even this human life is dependent on how we live it, as I said before—how we think, how we behave, how we conduct ourselves each day, each hour. It is mainly dependent on our attitude. This is something to keep in the heart.

Of course, how our life will turn out after some time, even now that we have met the Buddhadharma, is mainly dependent on our individual karma. But however our lives are going to turn out later (I don’t mean future lives but the coming years of this life), whichever path or spiritual practices you are going to devote yourself to, put your whole life into, before you do that you should really examine. That is extremely important. It is not something you should know only at the moment but something to remember in the future when different thoughts come into the mind, when the mind is very unsteady, very uncertain or shaky, at the times when the mind is collapsing. Maybe one does a practice for some time and then, somehow, one’s fortune runs out, the fuel or the kerosene runs out because of lack of fortune or merit. There are no matches either, so the light goes out. After some time the mind, somehow, goes completely dead and life turns out in a different way. Only after some time, before death, when there is not much time left to practice the holy Dharma, one develops strong repentance.

This teaching on the graduated path to enlightenment is complete. If it were not complete but had just one or two meditations or just some parts, then one would not make it to enlightenment but might just find a good rebirth or achieve the cessation of the sufferings of samsara.

Even when one is using correct meditation techniques, like doing single-pointed concentration and through this one is born into the form and formless worlds, it is still samsara. In short, it is very important that the teachings contain the complete method for achieving the state of omniscient mind. Besides this, one receives all the temporal achievements like a good rebirth and all those things, all happiness and perfections, by the way.

This was revealed by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha with his own complete experience, examined well by pandits, and has been the experience of uncountable numbers of meditators and yogis. Not only in the past, like all the stories and biographies, but even now. Many present Tibetan meditators are experiencing not only the lam-rim but also the tantric path. Month by month they are making progress in their minds, having a good time. They are having a really good time, a real holiday.

I stop here.

28 November, pm

As I mentioned this morning, if we start on the path that we are going to follow and practice without checking whether or not it will lead to the goal that we are seeking, if without checking the details more deeply we suddenly say, “Oh, I feel good about this!” Just after having done one or two practices we say, “I feel comfortable, I feel good,” satisfied with a few temporary seconds of peace or relaxation. If we are satisfied with that there is the danger that we might generate realizations that no buddhas have achieved. You have not achieved what you wanted but something else. That is fruitless, it is just a cause for exhaustion.

There is no greater work, no work more beneficial than achieving enlightenment for the sake of the kind mother sentient beings. There is nothing more important than this work, there is nothing more beneficial for sentient beings than this. Even concerning one’s own happiness there is nothing more important or beneficial than this, namely obtaining happiness for other sentient beings.

From the side of this person, from my side, the purpose of explaining the small, tiny bit that I understand of the holy Dharma—the teachings of the graduated path to enlightenment—the purpose and the goal is to accomplish the state of omniscient mind for the benefit of sentient beings. The listener, from his side, should keep this goal in the depths of his heart while listening to the teachings. Then it is perfect—then listening to the teachings has great meaning and also it becomes effective for the mind. That should be the goal of doing the meditation course. One should try to achieve the state of omniscient mind for all kind mother sentient beings—this is the purpose of the meditation course.

How swiftly one can achieve this, accomplishing the method, the state of omniscient mind for sentient beings, depends on whether there is bodhicitta in the mind or not. As long as there is no bodhicitta in the mind, as long as we are beggars, not having bodhicitta, having poverty of bodhicitta, there is no enlightenment. If there is bodhicitta then there is enlightenment. So according to how quickly one generates bodhicitta, enlightenment comes.

Achieving enlightenment swiftly depends on quickly finishing the work of accumulating extensive merits, as well as quickly purifying the obscurations. Whenever the work of accumulating extensive merits and purifying obscurations finishes one becomes enlightened. As long as there are merits left to be created and as long as there is some stain, some subtle dual view or a tiny impression left by the disturbing thoughts, the wrong conceptions of the ignorance holding true existence, as long as there is some small stain left like this, there is no omniscient mind. As long as there is merit left to be accumulated or even a tiny stain left, such as the impression of the ignorance of true existence, one cannot achieve the state of omniscient mind.

So then maybe the question arises: what is the best method to quickly finish accumulating extensive merits and purifying all those obscurations, the uncountable negative karmas accumulated from beginningless rebirths? The best solution or method is, again, the practice of bodhicitta. It is said by the great bodhisattva Shantideva in the Bodhicaryavatara in the chapter The Benefits of Bodhicitta, “All other virtues, like the water tree, bring fruits and then perish.” Actually, word by word maybe it is, “It is only in this nature: it brings fruits then finishes.” All virtues that are accumulated by somebody who does not have the actual realization of bodhicitta, any virtue done that does not possess the motivation of bodhicitta, even though it may possess the wisdom of shunyata, is like the water tree. Even though virtues may have been accumulated with the wisdom realizing voidness or done with the thought of renouncing samsara, still all these virtues are like the water tree.

“Water tree” means banana tree, it doesn’t mean that water is growing in the leaves. I think that the reason it is called “water” is because (this example is also useful to make us understand how essenceless the worldly actions, the worldly Dharmas, or the works of this life are) when you take of one leaf there is another leaf, then after you take off that one there is another one, and you take off that one and there is another one. Expecting that there is some essence inside, something to get, you take off one, and then there is another one, and after some time there is nothing to get out of that, it is essenceless. I think that because of this reason it is called “water tree,” this is my guess. I think that maybe it gives fruit only one year and then it finishes. All other virtues are like this; they bring their result and then they finish. There is nothing more, no increasing. But the bodhicitta tree brings fruits forever, increasing without ceasing, without finishing.

Somebody who is very much a beginner, not having realizations either of the wisdom understanding voidness or the thought renouncing samsara, or the actual realization of bodhicitta, still, if virtue is accumulated by this person with the motivation of the created bodhicitta, it gives results that one can enjoy even while one is in samsara. The whole graduated Mahayana path to the omniscient mind is the result of the virtue done with the motivation of bodhicitta, the bodhisattva’s path of the ten bhumis. The bodhisattvas have unbelievable powers, understanding, and realizations, and as they approach higher and higher in the ten bhumis, they get more and more amazing, unimaginable excellences or qualities.

The accomplishment of the path of secret mantra is the state of omniscient mind. The result is not just acquiring all the infinite qualities of the Buddha’s holy body, holy speech, and holy mind when one becomes enlightened, not just this. The result, the benefits of the virtue done with the motivation of bodhicitta is that one frees infinite sentient beings, each of them, from all suffering, leading them into the state of omniscient mind. Every single benefit done with the holy body, holy speech, and holy mind after one becomes enlightened, even each beam emitted from the Buddha’s holy body, leads so many uncountable numbers of sentient beings into the path of happiness, bringing them into the path of happiness.

Each and every single benefit for sentient beings is the result of virtue accumulated with the motive of bodhicitta, the result of virtue dedicated to achieve the state of omniscient mind for sentient beings. The more you enjoy the result, the more it increases, instead of becoming less.

One should not be satisfied with training the mind in bodhicitta only at the beginning of the session, just generating the motivation, “I am going to do the meditation practice to achieve the state of omniscient mind for the benefit of all sentient beings.” We shouldn’t be satisfied with generating the motivation once, practicing bodhicitta just at the beginning of the session and at the end with the dedication. During the meditation time it is especially easy because there is somebody who is reminding you, but in the break times especially, whatever action you do you should as much as possible try to do with the motivation of bodhicitta.

As Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen, whose biography I briefly mentioned at the beginning, said, “If you are going to eat, eat with bodhicitta; if you are going to sit down, sit with bodhicitta; if you are walking, then walk with bodhicitta.” In the quotation it might be, “Even if you are standing, stand with bodhicitta.” The quotation might be this, but it is the same thing. One shouldn’t be satisfied with generating bodhicitta only during meditation sessions, but especially during breaktimes. As much as possible, one should be doing this.

During the meditation sessions there is generally less opportunity to get angry. One does not get angry so much at that time, the strongly disturbing thoughts do not arise. Generally speaking, the mind is more disturbed during the breaktimes, especially if the senses meet with objects that disturb the mind. Then it is difficult to remember the meditation techniques and very easy for the mind to be disturbed, to be overwhelmed by disturbing thoughts. So it is especially important to practice bodhicitta at the time when one does normal actions and when one meets the objects that disturb the mind and cause disturbing thoughts to arise. Those who have heard much teaching on thought-training can understand. They remember how it is explained in the thought-training.

Even if you are trying to recover from disease or from spirit-harm, trying to dispel spirits or other beings harming you, even if you are trying to stop these harms, do that with bodhicitta, exchanging yourself with others. As explained in the thought training, from beginning till the end, it should be done with bodhicitta. From morning until night one keeps bodhicitta as the heart practice. If somebody asks, “What is your main practice?” The answer should be, “My heart practice is bodhicitta,” without exaggerating or telling a lie. Like the heart practice of the Kadampa geshes and the highly realized meditators, the great Indian and Tibetan yogis, like that.

Some people say, “My heart practice is this wrathful deity,” or “My heart practice is a protector,” “My heart practice is kundalini,” or “My heart practice is walking.” I mean, just knowing that you are walking, that type of meditation. You know you are walking. It is similar to knowing that you are stealing. You can go into the supermarket and you have constant fear because you know you are stealing. But you are not trying to stop the attachment of stealing, not doing anything about that attachment, the covetousness that forces you to steal and to accumulate negative karma. The covetousness is kept well, you keep it as your guide and master, and you are his follower—then you go to steal for him.

However, saying that, “My heart practice is breathing, watching walking, watching breathing,” is very poor. It shows that the person either has not met the Mahayana teachings that grant the state of omniscient mind, or that he is unfortunate—that even if the person has met and heard the Mahayana teachings he doesn’t know the essence, doesn’t know the essential heart practice of the Mahayana teachings. It shows an unskillful person who does not have the state of omniscience as his main goal and does not have a real understanding of bodhicitta being the principal cause of the state of omniscient mind.

A person might say, “I am a tantric practitioner, I am a practitioner of the secret mantra.” A person might even say, “I am of the Vajrayana. I am not Theravadin and I am not a Mahayana practitioner. My heart practice is (as I said before) kundalini, all these things, opening chakras, dzogchen, dzogrim, things like this.

The person who, even though he practices tantra, lives his life with the practice of bodhicitta, who even though he has realizations such as the illusory body and clear light (the very high tantric paths, the path of the secret mantra), says that, “My heart practice is bodhicitta,” this practitioner shows signs that he has an understanding of the heart practice of the Mahayana path to omniscient mind. If you can answer, when somebody asks you what your heart practice is, “My heart practice is bodhicitta, exchanging oneself for others,” if you can answer like this, without it becoming a lie, that is very good.

In this way, every day all the time there is great peace in the mind. All the time, wherever you are there is a good environment. Everybody around you is happy. They get, in other words, good vibrations or feelings, and it brings peace to their minds because you are being an example. If one keeps bodhicitta as the main practice, the only concern is to benefit others; automatically the thought to hurt others never rises. The practice of bodhicitta gives the disturbing thoughts of giving harm to others no opportunity to arise, it only strengthens and encourages thoughts of benefiting others.

I’ll stop with a quotation from the Bodhicaryavatara, “One can be liberated in such a short time by depending on bodhicitta.” (Bodhicitta is not directly mentioned, but that is what it means.) By depending on bodhicitta one can be liberated from unceasing, powerful negative karmas, the way one can be liberated from great dangers by depending on a brave person. One can even be liberated from the powerful, unceasing negative karmas that are the heaviest negative karmas. These are the five uninterrupted negative karmas: taking the life of one’s father or mother or an arhat, causing blood to flow from holy beings, the tathagathas, or causing disharmony among the Sangha. Even these heaviest negative karmas that result in unceasing suffering for so many eons one can be liberated from, without it taking much time, by depending on bodhicitta. In such a short time one gets liberated from them.

It is also said, “Like the fire that burns and destroys the whole world at the end of time, like that bodhicitta completely burns all the great negative karmas.” In conclusion, Shantideva says, “So you who care, you who are aware, you who are conscious and care about suffering—In other words, you who care about happiness, why don’t you practice bodhicitta?”

In this way life is happy and all the karmas of coming lives are also happy due to the practice of bodhicitta.

I stop here.

29 November, am & pm

As I mentioned last night, if from morning until night every single action of the three doors of body, speech and mind could be done with the motive of bodhicitta—if there is no actual realization of bodhicitta then with the created bodhicitta—even while you are living in the city there is no need for you to go to an isolated place or to some particular place to practice Dharma, doing the practices of purification and accumulation of extensive merits. While you are working in the office or while you are doing business in the shop, each action becomes a method for accumulating merit. Each action done with the motivation of bodhicitta brings accumulation of unimaginable, extensive merits, in such a short time, even in a second. Similarly, all the heavy negative karmas that we can remember and those that we cannot remember, done in this life, in other past lifetimes, all those obscurations get purified in one second. As the Bodhicaryavatara says, “That is like the fire at the end of time, it burns the great negative karmas in one second.” It means bodhicitta is like that.

The purpose of listening to the Bodhicaryavatara is to develop the good heart and to subdue the mind. To develop a good heart not only toward your friends or those who love your, or toward those who give and who add to your happiness, but to develop a good heart especially toward the enemy. That is the person with whom we should especially practice the holy Dharma. The most important, the most kind person, is the enemy. So the person toward whom we should develop the good heart, the ultimate good heart—the bodhicitta—that is the enemy. When the enemy disturbs your happiness you should not let that disturb your mind. If your mind cannot become happier when somebody disturbs you or treats you badly or when you get into trouble or when other people give you problems, at least there should be no change in the mind. Even if there is not more happiness or more peace, the mind is in tranquility.

The main purpose of listening to this is to practice bodhicitta. So if the motive for listening to these teachings is the motivation of bodhicitta, the action of listening becomes a cause for enlightenment. From the heart you should think, “At any rate I must achieve the state of omniscient mind in order to accomplish the work of freeing each sentient being from all the suffering and leading them to the state of omniscient mind. Therefore I am going to listen to the commentary on the Bodhicaryavatara.

I am not sure what I am going to talk about, so I don’t know how many chapters can be finished. Anyway, I start tonight. While trying to go to India it probably goes to America. One tries to fly to India, the aim is to fly to India, but without landing in India one goes straight to America. Anyway, I am joking. I don’t know how many chapters. The chapter chosen is this one; it says, Guarding Alertness here in the English translation.

There are about ten chapters. The first one is The Benefits of Bodhicitta, the second is Practicing Confessing Negative Karmas. The third is Taking the Bodhisattva Vows, and the fourth one explains cautiousness or carefulness. A person who does not have, in Tibetan terms bag.yöd, would easily hurt himself. A person who is not aware while walking or working can easily hurt others and can easily hurt himself. The fifth chapter is Keeping Alertness or Awareness, protecting alertness or awareness. The sixth one explains patience. The next one, the seventh, shows perseverance. Then comes how to accomplish the stable thought or concentration. The ninth is about wisdom, about absolute nature. It talks about nothingness, absolute nature. The tenth is the Dedication.

Generally, one is supposed to start from the beginning, but somehow, this time, I think we jump into the middle.

The general outline of Guarding Alertness talks about the moral, righteous action—in other words, moral conduct. The exact translation of tsul.trim is “righteous action,” “correct action.” This particular explanation is given on the way to practice righteous law or righteous action, which means keeping all virtues pure through the method of remembrance and awareness.

Before reaching the actual subject there is an introduction or general explanation. It explains the reasons why, after having generated bodhicitta one should follow the bodhisattva’s precepts, the bodhisattva’s deeds. It also explains that by practicing just one of the various methods for achieving enlightenment one cannot achieve buddhahood. Just practicing one of these methods, just the wisdom part, one cannot accomplish buddhahood. It also explains the gradual way of practicing the bodhisattva’s deeds and precepts.

Even if one has generated just the wishing thought of bodhicitta it has great benefit. There are two, the wishing thought of bodhicitta and the entering thought of bodhicitta. As I mentioned the other day, the willing thought, the effortless, uncreated attitude, the wish to achieve the state of omniscient mind for the sake of sentient beings—the entering thought is the thought that follows the bodhisattva’s deeds.

Even having generated just the wishing thought has great benefit, but if one does not practice the bodhisattva’s deeds and precepts as a heart practice, accomplishing enlightenment is not possible. Therefore one should follow the bodhisattva’s deeds.

Guru Shakyamuni Buddha said in the sutra teachings, “It is the victor of concentration (‘King’ is probably better), the king of concentration, therefore one should do this practice as a heart practice, as the essential one, as the essence, because for the youthful one who does this practice as an essence it is not difficult to accomplish or to find the perfect, complete enlightenment.”

This means that for those who do the bodhisattva’s deeds or precepts as a heart practice it is not difficult to accomplish the highest, perfect, and complete enlightenment. One highly realized pandit Kamalashila explained in the teachings The Graduated Meditation: “The bodhisattva who has generated bodhicitta realizes that without subduing one’s own mind one cannot subdue the minds of others.”

So the bodhisattva puts himself into the practice of the six paramitas: the paramitas of charity, moral conduct, patience, perseverance, concentration and wisdom. Without doing this practice enlightenment cannot be achieved.

There is something about this commentary on the Bodhicaryavatara that I forget to mention. The commentary that I shall be explaining here is basically that of Lama Tsongkhapa’s disciple. You may recognize him—you see Lama Tsongkhapa in the center and to his right and left sit Lama Tsongkhapa’s two closest disciples, the common ones. I think it is the one on the left side of the tangka, the one with an older-looking aspect, the one who took the place of Lama Tsongkhapa. His holy name is Gyaltsab-je. Basically, the commentary that I am talking about is Gyaltsab-je’s commentary. It explains that by following just a part of the path of the method and wisdom, just a part of the path to enlightenment, one cannot achieve enlightenment. It also explains the method to achieve enlightenment. The method that one is going to practice to achieve enlightenment should be the infallible method. No matter how much effort one puts into a mistaken path one will never achieve the result that one wishes. Even if the path that one enters is unmistaken, but not complete, again one won’t receive the result. So, therefore, it is extremely important to practice the complete method. One should complete the method and wisdom to achieve enlightenment—compassion, the root cause of bodhicitta and then bodhicitta, the absolute bodhicitta. One should complete the methods of charity, moral conduct, patience, and those things in order to achieve enlightenment.

Now it explains the graduated practice of the bodhisattva’s deeds, that is, the cause of the six paramitas and their essence, the branches of each one, the definitions or the meaning according to each one, and their results.

The cause of the six paramitas is bodhicitta, which possesses the wisdom of absolute nature and compassion, which was generated by relying upon and devoting oneself to the virtuous friend. This virtuous friend is of the particular Mahayana type, the virtuous teacher. There are Theravadin types and Mahayana types. He should be particularly of the Mahayana type. The cause is also extensive studies of the extensive Mahayana scriptures.

Now, the nature of each one. What is the nature of charity? The nature of charity is the thought of giving, the virtue, the thought of giving. The thought of giving which is in the nature of virtue. With that virtuous attitude one does the actions of body and speech. First of all there is the thought of giving, which is virtue; then that is put into speech in order to give teachings, if one is giving teachings. That is Dharma charity; through speech and movements one does the action of giving the teaching. Then with the body one makes material charity, putting it into action.

Next comes the nature of the righteous action, which means abstaining from the action of giving harm to the object, sentient beings. It also includes the thought of protecting the object, sentient beings, from harms as well as having completely given up the thought of seeking liberation for the self, seeking happiness for the self.

Then patience: the nature of patience is keeping the mind in virtue (it could possibly be in another state also, not particularly in virtue), without being overwhelmed or disturbed by harms or suffering. When one receives harms from the elements, from non-living things, or when one receives harms from other living beings, the mind doesn’t get disturbed. Or when one is sick or has problems, like a shortage of means of living, or having a bad reputation, the mind doesn’t get disturbed or overwhelmed by the suffering. The mind abides strongly in the nature of extreme patience, in the wish to continuously practice Dharma. The nature of patience is this.

Then comes the nature of perseverance. Generally, the definition is: the mind that is happy to practice virtue, happy to practice the virtue of all the six paramitas, doing the work for sentient beings. With this attitude, the three door of body, speech and mind are persuaded to do the actions. If the person is doing prostrations with this mind that is happy to be practicing virtue, he continuously puts the body into the virtuous action of doing prostrations, the virtuous action of body. Similarly, reciting mantras. This mind is constantly reflecting on the meaning of the teachings and then putting them into the action of meditation, analytical and single-pointed meditation. The stable thought, sam.den, or the stabilized thought is abiding or placing itself one-pointedly on a virtuous object. If one is doing single-pointed meditation or shamatha on the object Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, that is concentration on the virtuous object. What you are visualizing, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, that itself is virtue. Whatever you visualize or concentrate on, Manjushri, Chenrezig or whatever, that itself is virtue. If you are meditating on bodhicitta then bodhicitta is the virtue and one is placing and abiding the mind one-pointedly on that. When one is meditating on emptiness one is one-pointedly placing the mind on that emptiness; that is the virtuous object.

Then wisdom: there are two types of wisdom. One realizes absolute nature and then analyzes this absolute truth. There is also conventional truth, or all-obscuring truth, kun.tok. One focuses on conventional truth, understanding it and discriminating existence, the conventional truth. One is analyzing conventional truth, the all-obscuring truth.

Next there are the different branches of each paramita and the meaning of each of the names.

I stop here.

29 November, pm

Please listen to the teachings by generating at least the effortful motivation of bodhicitta, thinking, “At any rate I must achieve the state of omniscient mind for the benefit of all kind mother sentient beings. Therefore, I am going to listen to the commentary on the Bodhicaryavatara.”

I shall be talking about the branches of each practice within each of the paramitas and then about the meaning of each of their names. First the branches.

Charity, which is the thought of giving, contains Dharma charity, material charity, and charity of fearlessness or charity of granting, giving refuge. (I think that without samsara there would be much less work with the body. Since you don’t have a suffering nose, a samsaric aggregate nose, there would be no need for handkerchiefs and all the effort, and no need for medicine. Maybe the doctors wouldn’t find patients to give medicine to if all the patients became enlightened and free from samsara. [Rinpoche referring to blowing his nose.])

Dharma charity: if you are going to talk about Dharma to somebody, if you are in some Dharma conversation, you motivate to make Dharma charity to the other person, doing it with the motivation of bodhicitta, so that with the Dharma conversation you are making Dharma charity. Also giving teachings, explaining meditations, or reciting mantras, or saying holy words like The Essence of Wisdom, reciting prayers or mantras of sutra and tantra.

Concerning tantra, if there is a danger of heresy arising in a person instead of faith when hearing the subject—if instead of developing inspiration to practice the holy Dharma heresy and bad thoughts arise, like criticism towards the founder of the path and Buddha’s teachings—there is a danger that he is creating negative karma, throwing himself over the precipice of the naraks. If there is such a danger then that person is not a receptacle. You are supposed to keep it secret from that person, because it does not benefit him in generating and increasing his faith and inspiration to practice the holy Dharma. Usually you are not supposed to talk about tantra unless people have had the fundamental lam-rim teachings and are living in the practice of the three principals of the path to enlightenment. But sentient beings have different personalities of mind. I think that nowadays many Western people first have interest in tantra, also with the help of LSD and other things. I think it is some kind of preparation or preliminary. You get those visions and then you read tantra books like The Book of the Dead and Lama Govinda’s books, that talk about tantra, I think—I have seen the book, but I haven’t actually read it. I guess he talks about the visions at the time of death, talks about death. When somebody takes drugs he must also get visions of going to different realms.

I think that at times such as these, with this type of sentient being, drugs are a suitable method to start to open up. It is different in a country where everybody talks about reincarnation and having a good rebirth, or something like that, where not only are many people able to remember past lives, but where it is common for people to grow up with that faith, even if they themselves cannot remember past lives. And, of course, those who take teachings and who study logic from the teachings with clear, extensive explanations, they do not need drugs. But for many people I think it is a suitable method, a kind of preparation to start opening the mind at first. Then some of the books of tantra teachings appear and the person is able to relate his visions well with what those teachings talk about. Then he wants to practice and to know more about the tantra paths. He tries to look more deeply into it, eventually trying to find some teacher or guru, either in the West or in the East. Then there are those who meet lamas or gurus who practice tantra and who have an understanding of the whole tantric path to enlightenment—kriya tantra, charya tantra, anuttara yoga tantra, and the mahaanuttara yoga tantra. When these people meet a guru who has experienced this path and who lives in the practice of these teachings, who is skillful in the way of guiding the disciple to enlightenment, their interest in tantra becomes the preliminary cause for practicing lam-rim, the three principals of the path to enlightenment, the preliminary for the tantric path.

There are three principal paths to enlightenment, to generate the realizations of the tantric path. The person hears the whole, complete teachings without mistake from beginning to the end and then he knows how to practice gradually, without getting mixed up, according to the level of his mind, without getting confused. Gradually, as he is practicing skillfully according to the level of this mind, he is able to generate an unmistaken experience of the path. First the fundamental lam-rim and then the graduated tantric path.

I believe that those beginning visions that come from outside causes, like LSD and these things, benefit in opening the mind to the understanding or feeling that the mind can exist without this body. The mind or consciousness can travel, like in those experiences that one can relate to the intermediate state or the visions that come at the time of death. These experiences open the mind to enter into the Dharma, the graduated path to enlightenment. I believe it is one way that Buddha is guiding this type of sentient being at this particular time in order for them to start a method, a beginning. But if one uses it as lunch, dinner, and breakfast, as everyday food, then I am not sure whether it is still beneficial.

The point is this: (that’s right!) saying the words, the teachings of these holy beings, when one recites verbally The Essence of Wisdom or mantras it can become Dharma charity. You motivate in the beginning to make Dharma charity to the people who are around you, to the human beings, birds, and animals—to all the sentient beings who are around you. You recite verbally so that they can hear. Even if you are alone in your room, where there are not even fleas, one can still do Dharma charity by reciting these prayers verbally, visualizing all sentient beings around you and that you are giving them teachings. While you are reciting The Essence of Wisdom, at the same time you think that this mainly talks about absolute nature, and that all sentient beings who haven’t realized absolute nature before now have realized it, that they have understood the meaning. They have heard the words and have realized the meaning of the teaching.

Just the mantra Tayatha om gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi soha shows how to enter and how to follow the path to nirvana, the state of omniscient mind. One can relate it to nirvana or one can relate it to the five Mahayana paths. The question is, how to follow the path to enlightenment? “Tayatha” means “It is like this. Go to the path of merit (that is the first meaning), then go to the path of preparation, go to the right-seeing path, go to the path of meditation, go to the path of no-need-for-training.” “Bodhi” is enlightenment. “Soha” means, “Take the root of enlightenment by entering this path, starting from the path of merit, take the root of enlightenment, the bodhi.”

Actually, when we have generated the realization of bodhicitta we have entered into the Mahayana path of merit, for the root of enlightenment has been taken.

That is one way to think. We can also think that when we hear teachings on bodhicitta or when we hear teachings on lam-rim, the graduated path to enlightenment, for the first time, when we start listening to this particular teaching on bodhicitta, starting to plant the seed of the realization of bodhicitta, at that time the foundation of enlightenment has been laid in our mind.

The point I am talking about is that in this mantra particularly, all the five Mahayana paths to enlightenment are contained. Reciting this mantra one time in the ear of another sentient being, even to creatures, plants the seed of the five paths. Even though he cannot practice bodhicitta now, in this life, even though he cannot enter the path, still, after a certain number of eons he can. The impression or seed is planted there, so either next life or after a certain number of eons, hundreds and thousands, billions of eons, the person has the opportunity to make progress, to hear the teachings and to enter into the path. That comes from the seed of having heard the mantra once. This is how we can help creatures who can hear the sound of Dharma. The best we can do to help them is to try to plant the seed by reciting the holy teachings that reveal the infallible path to nirvana or the path to enlightenment. Otherwise, no matter how long these creatures or animals stay with us, no matter how long they live, there really is no particular advantage. For we human beings who have met the holy Dharma it makes sense to have a long life. For we who have the inspiration to develop our minds, not developing negative minds and disturbing thoughts, but to develop a virtuous mind, for us it makes sense to try to have a longer life. If there are any hindrances, you prevent them with external methods, like with medicine or various meditation practices. Through the methods of sutra and tantra you prevent hindrances, and try to have a longer life.

For one who has met the holy Dharma and who is practicing, even one hour that one is able to make the life longer makes big sense. Even if there is only one hour left to live, during that hour one can accumulate extensive merits. One can purify unimaginable obscurations through the practice of bodhicitta or through the thought training practice, taking other sentient beings’ sufferings and dedicating one’s own happiness and virtues to them. One is taking their sufferings and the cause of their sufferings, the obscurations, and then dedicating one’s own happiness and virtue to them.

Then there is the practice of refuge. There are various practices according to how broad an understanding the person has of the various teachings. If a person has only one hour left or even one minute, there is still a great opportunity. There is so much that you can do with your life to benefit your own future life and to benefit others. In that way, by the way, the present dangerous and fearful condition is transformed into happiness.

But these animals are just living on the result of past good karma, even if they get food, like food from cans, that the Nepalese and Indians and people from many primitive countries cannot afford. Also in the West (the person does not necessarily have to come from a primitive country), many people who live in the cities cannot afford dog food in the supermarket. The reason these animals are getting good, rich food is because of the result of previous good karma. They are just living on the result—it is just running out, finishing. They are living a longer life just to finish the past good karma, like the person who never makes any profit on the money he has, that he got from his job or through gambling. He is never tries to make a continual income from that—if he has one hundred dollars he just lives on that. Instead of trying to makes more from that he is just living off it, making it less and less. It is recognized by the world that this is kind of poor and unskillful, it is foolish. There is not one single opportunity to do better, to accumulate more merit depending on the previous good karma.

This is similar to the worldly person, the millionaire who has not the slightest, single Dharma wisdom understanding virtuous and non-virtuous karma. Instead of accumulating more merits on this result, his human body and his riches, wealth, and enjoyments received from his previous good karma, instead of accumulating more extensive merits and more causes for happiness, being overwhelmed by ignorance, he is creating the causes for suffering. He is utilizing all these enjoyments and his precious body only to create more causes of suffering. He is living his life just to finish, to run out of the good karma that was accumulated. He is living longer just to finish it off.

If we have animals at the house or around us, even in the forest, whether they belong to oneself or not, it is very good to say these precious mantras that contain all the qualities of Buddha’s holy body, holy speech and holy mind, like Om Mani Padme Hum. It contains the complete path, the method and wisdom to achieve enlightenment. One should make Dharma charity like this, with the thought of loving kindness, with compassion, being concerned with their happiness and suffering, that which they do not wish.

Nagarjuna was a great, distinguished pandit, the great propagator of the Mahayana teachings, especially of shunyata. When he lived in a cave there was a pigeon living over his cave. Nagarjuna recited teachings verbally every day, which the pigeon was able to hear. After the pigeon died he was reborn as a human being and became Nagarjuna’s disciple. He became an expert on the teachings that he had heard in his past life as a pigeon.

There was another pandit, Vasubandhu, in Tibetan Lopon Ignye, who recited from the Abhidharmakosha every day when he lived in a cave. The pigeon who lived on top of the cave heard these teachings all the time. After the pigeon died, the great pandit Vasubandhu checked with his clairvoyance where this pigeon was reborn and he found that it was born somewhere down below in the valley. Then he went there (I don’t remember hundred percent), but he went down to the family that he had seen through his psychic powers, his clairvoyance. He asked the family to give him the child. Later on the child became a monk and became his disciple called Sthiramati—in Tibetan Lodro Tenpa. He became a great pandit and wrote six volumes of commentaries on the teaching that he had heard when he was a pigeon.

However, it is not that just by leaving the impressions they get stuck there. It is not like that—he just became a pandit, he wrote commentaries, then finished—it is not just that. An incredible change took place. As a pigeon he just planted the seed, and then in his next life he not only became a human being, but did incredible work, having so many realizations, and very deep, extensive understanding of the teachings. The result that happened in his next life is unimaginable. The cause is nothing, just hearing the words.

Planting seeds by reciting mantras gradually benefits the being to make more and more progress in this life. By planting this seed of reciting mantras and by reciting the teachings of the infallible path it gradually leads to enlightenment. So there are incredible benefits and advantages from making this kind of Dharma charity. There is Dharma charity, material charity, and the charity of fearlessness, guiding sentient beings from danger. Among these three charities the best, the most beneficial is the charity of Dharma. As I just explained, even the mantra gradually leads to enlightenment.

I believe that those animals who are around people who recite scriptures, the holy teachings, animals who live where there are sounds of Dharma, even though they have taken an animal body now, something is done, they have got that much small profit. So sometimes, when I have time (but I am very lazy), I go to the buffaloes. We have several buffaloes and cows in the cowshed. I didn’t get much done, but several times I try to recite mantras, some rounds of the rosary of the mantra from The Heart Sutra and the Chenrezig mantra.

(A dog barks.)

He is showing the usefulness of his life.

Not only are we drinking milk from them; it is not just that they are used by us, but I think there ought to be some difference between the animals that die in the hands of a Dharma practitioner, someone who seeks liberation and enlightenment, and the animals that are not in the hands of such Dharma practitioners. I think there ought to be some difference when they die.

I also go to see the chickens. The chickens probably get more mantras than the cows, for the cows live down a bit with barbed wire around, and somehow, sometimes, very late at night I do not make it—a little bit lazy mind. So I think the chickens get more mantras. It seemed like they were listening, the chickens. This is in the evening when they are about to sleep. I guess they went to bed, everybody is lined up. They all sit on the stick in lines very nicely, kind of very cute looking, kind of like they are going to some meditation or puja. They might have a leader for the puja, but maybe they don’t tell.

In Dharamsala there are several small dogs. There are three or four grown ones and, I think, by now twenty puppies. Before, a Tibetan nun was there, now she has gone to Australia. She was with one girl from New Zealand who taught the boys art and English for some years, I think two or three years, I don’t remember exactly, but a long time, anyway. I told them to recite for the dogs. I did it several times before I started retreat and then I asked them to carry on. So all the dogs, all the puppies hear Maitreya Buddha’s prayer every day. It is several pages, much longer than The Essence of Wisdom. Then they do Maitreya Buddha’s mantra thirty times because, somehow, that is very beneficial for them. If these mantras are recited every day, at the time of death they are guided by Maitreya Buddha and their consciousness is reborn in the pure realm of Tushita, Maitreya Buddha’s pure realm. So when the girls were busy during the day taking initiations and teachings, sometimes at twelve o’clock at night they recited this prayer for the dogs very loudly.

1 December, am

Eight Mahayana Precepts

Before taking the Mahayana ordination, which does the function of purifying negative karmas, restoring degenerated precepts, and accumulating virtue, one should receive the lineage of the ordination. So one has to take the ordination from a lama. Then, after one has received the lineage of the ordination one can take it from a holy object, even if there is no guru who grants the ordination. That means that one can take it in front of a Chenrezig statue, if there is one, or a Guru Shakyamuni statue on your altar, or you can take it even if there is no altar. The main thing is the visualization.

The omniscient mind of Shakyamuni Buddha or the omniscient mind of the Compassionate Buddha, the Compassionate-Eye Looking Buddha, is in front of oneself; there is no place that is not covered by Chenrezig, the Compassionate-Eye Looking Buddha’s omniscient mind. All existence is the object of his omniscient mind, all existence is covered by the omniscient mind. As there is omniscient mind there is the Compassionate Buddha, even though at the moment one is unable to see him in that aspect due to thick mental pollution. Because of the obscurations of the mind one is unable to see him in that aspect at the moment.

As the omniscient mind is one of the aggregates of the Compassionate-Eye Looking Buddha and as that mind is in front of oneself wherever one is, there is the Compassionate Buddha. Since there are the aggregates of the buddha, there is the Compassionate Buddha, that which is labeled on that, in front of oneself. As we cannot at the moment see him in that aspect we visualize him in this pure aspect. Then we take the ordination in front of that.

So in order to take this ordination one first receives the lineage of the Mahayana ordination.

This ordination can be taken by those who have the Pratimoksha vows, by monks and nuns who have thirty-six, two hundred and fifty and even three hundred and fifty vows or whatever it is—the nuns, the bhikshunis’ precepts. This particular Mahayana ordination can be taken by lay people and even by those who are living in the Pratimoksha ordination. If one has taken these higher precepts or ordinations that have a higher number of precepts, and if, while one is living in this ordination one takes the five lower Pratimoksha precepts, it causes one to lose those thirty-six or two hundred and fifty precepts—it makes them empty. If one has taken these higher ordinations one cannot take the lower ones, in order not to completely break the higher ordinations. But this one, this particular Mahayana ordination can be taken by anybody, even by monks and nuns. This ordination has to be taken while visualizing all the buddhas and bodhisattvas, which is different from the Pratimoksha ordination. Also, this ordination should be taken with the motivation of bodhicitta.

One particular thing about the ordination is to abstain from black food. This Mahayana ordination, which has eight precepts, is stricter than that Pratimoksha ordination that has eight precepts. And it has this particular thing about abstaining from black food, keeping the body clean of black food. There are eight root precepts and eight branches. By breaking the small ones, the eight root vows can easily be degenerated—this can cause the main ones to be degenerated. By preserving the eight small ones one is able to keep the eight main root precepts purely.

The basic fundamental thing is that that which benefits all sentient beings is practiced and anything that does not benefit is not practiced. Something that benefits oneself and all sentient beings—that is practiced; anything that harms and disturbs oneself and all sentient beings, anything that does not benefit all sentient beings—that is renounced. That is the basic thing about the Mahayana ordination. Even though there are only eight root precepts and eight branches, this, in short, is the essence.

In order to take this Mahayana ordination one should offer the mandala. The main point is not to make business—the lama gives the ordination while the disciple makes the mandala offering, making business or exchanging. The main purpose is for the disciple to accumulate merit. If we are able to plant crops in a field it doesn’t make any difference to the field whether you plant there or not. By planting, the field won’t think, “Oh, I am so happy! I have got so many crops planted, how happy I am! How great I am!” It doesn’t think like this. If you don’t plant at all there is no upset, nothing. The planting of crops is done for the sake of the field. It is similar with all this.

Actually, one should be given a brief idea about the preliminary practices before the ordination, starting with refuge, but maybe not now. One gets a brief idea about the offerings and the purification of the place if one does the visualization. From the words about purifying the place and those things, one can understand.

All these things are for oneself to accumulate merit, without mentioning creating the cause of temporal happiness, benefiting temporal happiness, fulfilling one’s temporal wishes. Without a question one is creating the cause for all this; but one is also creating the best cause, the utmost need, the cause to generate the realizations of the graduated path to enlightenment for sentient beings. And one has the opportunity to take this ordination again and again. One has the opportunity to live one’s life purely, which is what “ordination” means. One protects oneself from the dangers of creating negative karma.

In the Pratimoksha vows, in the practice of the Theravadin or Lesser Vehicle path, there is more emphasis on the actions of body and speech, of protecting oneself from the negative karma of body and speech. In the Mahayana practice the most important thing, the greatest emphasis is on the mind, on protecting oneself from the true cause of suffering, not letting the true cause of suffering, the disturbing thoughts arise, and when one discovers that they are arising, trying to stop them. In that way, you protect yourself from true suffering. This is what is meant by “living in the precepts,” “living in the ordination,” or “taking ordination;” it means making the decision to protect oneself from those sufferings so that one is able to offer extensive benefits to all sentient beings.

Then you do the guru practice, visualizing the lama who grants the ordination in the essence and the aspect of the Compassionate-Eye Looking Buddha. Like you have been visualizing when you recite the mantra, in that aspect, with a thousand eyes and a thousand arms. I am not saying that I am Chenrezig. This is a guru yoga practice, visualizing the guru in the aspect of buddha, in the pure form. It is a little bit related to tantra practice.

In the practice of Pratimoksha, the disciple asks for and follows the advice of the abbot. He respects the abbot and offers him service, as if to the founder of the teaching, Shakyamuni Buddha. In Mahayana teachings the guru practice is to think that in essence he is the buddha, an enlightened being, not having the slightest stain of obscurations and having complete realizations. Thinking that he is in essence an enlightened being, one does the offering of service and follows his advice. In the tantric guru yoga practice one not only thinks that he is in essence an enlightened being, but one also visualizes him in the pure aspect, as Chenrezig and those deities. It is profound.

Whether the guru, the virtuous teacher, whether he who initiates you and gives you teachings, from his side is an enlightened being or not, from the side of the disciple practicing guru yoga this becomes purification in itself, a skillful and quick method. This practice quickly purifies the obscurations and one is able to swiftly achieve the unified state of no-more-learning, the omniscient mind. One can achieve this state without taking many lives, even in this life, during this degenerate time with very brief lives. Without taking many eons or many lifetimes one is able to achieve the unified state of no-more-learning, the state of the unification of the pure, holy body and mind. So as I just mentioned, the purpose is this; it doesn’t mean that I am an enlightened being.

Then, as I mentioned in the example of planting crops in the field, one does the mandala offering and all the other preliminary practices. All these offerings, the seven limb practice, mandala offerings, and prostrations are all done to the merit field, the guru-buddha and the bodhisattvas, the Triple Gem, for oneself to create the cause of happiness.

So please offer the mandala. Those who can, visualize as it is explained in the teachings, with all the different categories of devas and their realms where there are incredible enjoyments, and also the human continents with all the perfections and enjoyments in the world. You visualize all objects of attachment, everything, and then you make offerings to the merit field.

MANDALA OFFERING

What makes the ordination a Mahayana ordination is the motivation of bodhicitta, so meditate strongly, without a wandering mind.

From beginningless rebirths until now, I myself and all mother sentient beings have been suffering in samsara, experiencing the general sufferings, such as the three types of suffering, and the particular sufferings, those of the narak, preta, and animal beings, numberless times in the past. We have experienced all this suffering of samsara without beginning, being overwhelmed and under the control of ignorance. While I and others do not have any inherent existence from our own sides, except what is merely labeled on this, we believe that that which is merely labeled exists from its own side because it is appears as if it were not merely labeled. We are completely grasping and clinging to that. While this ignorance, while those samsaric pleasures are in fact only in the nature of suffering, we are completely clinging to them as if they were pure happiness.

Like this oneself and others are overwhelmed by these wrong conceptions. One sees one’s own body and that of others as completely pure. This body which is in the nature of impurity, the container of the thirty-six impurities, like a can containing thirty-six different types of filthy dirty things, like pus and blood, one believes to be pure. As Nagarjuna says, “This body is the container of thirty-six different impurities, of dirty things.” One can understand this when even a small thorn has gone into the flesh. When there is a small cut one sees what comes out. As well as from the ears, the nose, and the mouth, and from that which comes out of the lower doors, the lower holes, one can understand how the body is a container of impurities, as it is explained in the teachings.

However, a body such as this, which is completely in the nature of impurity we completely believe to be clean, completely clean and pure. Such are our wrong conceptions.

These phenomena which are in the nature of impermanence, such as the “I,” such as the consciousness, the person, we think are permanent. Even though life is in the nature of impermanence, changing each second by causes and conditions, we believe it to be permanent. So far we have experienced the sufferings of samsara without beginning due to these wrong conceptions, the disturbing thoughts. If one thinks about all this, about how our minds have been under the control of this, experiencing the samsaric sufferings without beginning until now, it is something that makes one so upset, that makes tears come out.

If you follow these wrong conceptions continuously, without end you will have to experience the sufferings of samsara, the circling of death and rebirth, all the time like this. If you think, from the heart, of all the endless samsaric sufferings, if you think of all these problems that we experience, those that you can remember in this life and those we will have to experience without end, on and on, it is something that cracks the heart. If we think of the sufferings that we experienced in the past without beginning, like the sufferings of the lower realms, if we think of the endless sufferings of samsara that came from wrong conceptions and disturbing thoughts, if we deeply think of this, from the heart, it is something that cracks the heart. It is like that.

Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and all the buddhas took the Mahayana ordination, this one which has eight precepts, followed the Mahayana path, and became enlightened. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha or Chenrezig have enlightened numberless sentient beings in the past and are guiding us even now. Even now Guru Shakyamuni Buddha and Chenrezig are guiding us by letting us accumulate merit through taking and keeping ordinations, by making such methods available. Those who can take and keep only eight take eight precepts. Those who have that much capability of mind can take eight precepts. Like this he makes available such a method for accumulating merit.

I, myself, have the same capability as Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, as Chenrezig, to benefit all sentient beings. Being concerned only with my own happiness is not different from the selfish attitude of the mute animals. The mother sentient beings are the field from where I receive all my three times happinesses, all my perfections. Until I become free from samsara I shall receive all happiness and perfections by depending on the kindness of sentient beings. Even the omniscient mind I shall receive by the kindness of sentient beings. The beginning of my practice of Dharma, the path to omniscient mind, arises by the kindness of sentient beings. Then, in the middle, to continue is also by the kindness of the sentient beings, and to complete it is again by the kindness of the sentient beings. Even today, all our happiness and comfort, everything, all the perfections, we receive by the kindness of sentient beings. Each day’s comfort, every single pleasure that makes one survive as a human being who is able to practice Dharma every day, all this we receive by the kindness of sentient beings; it comes from sentient beings.

Therefore, I must free all sentient beings, each one, from all suffering and lead them to the omniscient mind. There is no way to do this except with omniscient mind, therefore I must achieve the state of omniscient mind. For that reason I am going to take the Mahayana ordination, which is the fundamental cause of generating the path of the omniscient mind, for the sake of all sentient beings.

Please make three prostrations. Then keep the palms together at the heart in the mudra of prostration, remembering the great compassion and qualities of Chenrezig. With that understanding faith, in the respectful manner in the mudra of prostration, you visualize, thinking that all the buddhas and bodhisattvas are around Chenrezig, as if the whole space is filled with them. Please repeat the prayer.

This whole prayer has a very deep explanation. You might wonder why “elephant” is used as an example, why not use “one American guy” as an example, better than elephant. I am joking.

So here, please think well! You remember, trying to get the whole world in your mind. Be aware of all the six realms of sentient beings, for whom you are taking the precepts, for whom you are going to dedicate your day today, for whom we are going to dedicate twenty-four hours until the sun rises tomorrow, for whom we are going to dedicate our lives bearing the hardships of accumulating merit for sentient beings. Remember your parents, friends, and enemies (if you have enemies), and all the rest of the sentient beings. While you are reciting this be aware of the six realms, be aware of all of them and of all the sentient beings and their problems. Be aware of the famines that are happening now. We are not talking about past famines, but the famines that are happening now and the ones that sentient beings are going to experience in the future. All this you should think of. Remember all the hospitals and all the patients in the hospitals, so incredibly pitiful. So many are not sure whether they are going to be alive to be alive today or not, some are having unbelievable, incredible pain and there are no medicines to help them recover. All this you remember. You remember all the hospitals and all the patients. Also remember those sick people who are not in hospitals. Even though the day has gone and night has come, even though the day is finished, they don’t know how to spend the night. It is difficult to get through the night. For all these patients who are having incredible pain, one is taking the ordination, and also in order to completely stop all sentient beings’ diseases.

What we are doing is accumulating merit. We are not creating the cause for suffering but creating the cause of enlightenment for them, to liberate them from suffering. Experiencing cold in the morning and pains while sitting, as well as hardships while we are keeping precepts, all those are extremely worthwhile. Comparing these hardships to the problems of other sentient beings, like those patients—it is nothing. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, for example, gave his body as charity to other sentient beings so many times, to animals and humans, fish, tigers; during so many lifetimes he gave charity to others. Jesus is another example, he also took the sufferings of others. Suffering for others is very good, very effective for the mind. Taking on all these hardships is something one should do gladly, happily, like the swan that so happily goes into the water. It should be like this, with a happy mind, with this attitude in the mind. The bird with a long neck, a swan, when he sees a pond he goes there very happily, without thinking that it is difficult. With great happiness he enters the pond. It should be like this.

Constantly remember to really practice, as much as possible, the awareness of the kindness of other sentient beings, especially during the breaktimes, with as much understanding of the kindness of sentient beings that you have, of those around you, and even of those that you don’t see. As much as possible think that, “The purpose of my life, the purpose of my being alive today is for sentient beings, to eliminate their suffering and to obtain happiness for them, leading them to omniscient mind. The purpose of my living today is to work for them.”

Then again and again think this, “I belong to sentient beings; my body, speech, and mind belong to sentient beings. I am their slave, I am their servant, offering my service to sentient beings, eliminating their problems and helping them to fulfill their wishes of happiness.” Think this again and again, especially during breaktimes, and feel great happiness in the mind for having received and having taken the ordination. Think, “Today I am doing something good, even though my life has been meaningless, useless for other sentient beings, since I was born, since beginningless lifetimes, since I was born until now. But today I am doing something good for all sentient beings, I am offering something to all sentient beings. I am accumulating merits by living in these precepts.

I am sorry. This morning because of introducing those other things, it took longer. So if you have pain or anything, a cold, I apologize. Thank you very much.

1 December, am

After having experienced these five paths you achieve the three kayas: the dharmakaya, the sambhogakaya, and the nirmanakaya. By having generated or by having gone on these five Mahayana paths, all the three types of obscurations are completely finished. The obscurations accumulated with one’s three doors—body, speech, and mind, are transformed into Buddha’s vajra holy body, vajra holy speech, and vajra holy mind.

The meaning of the path, the goal, all the infinite qualities of the Buddha’s holy body, holy speech, and holy mind are contained in this OM (Rinpoche is talking about the mantra TAYATHA OM GATE GATE PARA GATE PAPASAMGATE BODHISOHA). When we are reciting this mantra it is like Guru Shakyamuni Buddha giving us advice on how to achieve enlightenment, which is signified by OM, in order to accomplish the extensive work for sentient beings. He is saying, “Go, go, go beyond, go completely beyond!”

The example of four people, each of whom has a different attitude when either listening to teachings or reciting mantras, is helpful to understand the different levels of virtuous motivation, and which goal one can achieve and which goal one cannot achieve depending on the motivation. In other words, which goal is caused by the various ways of doing the action of reciting mantra.

There are four people who are reciting the prayer Essence of Wisdom. The first one recites with the motivation of bodhicitta, with the wish to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. So his action of reciting the Essence of Wisdom prayer becomes the cause for omniscient mind. The next person recites the prayer with the motivation to achieve nirvana for himself, with the motive, “If I could only be liberated from samsara!” Just that. That action does not become a cause for omniscient mind, only for nirvana. The third person is reciting the prayer Essence of Wisdom with the motivation seeking happiness for future lives—such as being wealthy and only finding the bodies of happy transmigrating beings.

The Tibetan term for happy transmigrating being is de.dro.wa. De is “happiness,” dro is “migrating.” I think dro relates mainly to the aggregate of consciousness from among the aggregates. Not so much to this physical body because it does not continuously migrate. The aggregate that migrates is the consciousness. The being’s consciousness, being under the control of karma and disturbing thoughts, migrates in the six realms and because a person’s consciousness does that, that person, that being is called a “migrating” or “transmigrating” being. I haven’t got a clear idea of what the extra word “trans” likes to do, but anyway, “transmigrating being.” Being under the control of karma and disturbing thoughts, he migrates in the six realms. He is one who migrates in the six realms. De.dro.lu.de, “the body of a happy transmigrating being.”

The third person’s action, reciting the prayer with the attitude just wishing for happiness in future lives, doesn’t become the cause of omniscient mind and it doesn’t become the cause of nirvana. It doesn’t even become the cause of nirvana since it is not done with the thought renouncing samsara. The fourth person recites the prayer just to prevent sickness with the attitude, “If only this life could be happy!” Because he is clinging to the happiness of this life he is trying to have a longer life. Or he is reciting the prayer to prevent hindrances to his success in wealth, things like that, or maybe he is saying this prayer to protect himself from others’ harm so that he can be happy. With this attitude, the fourth person’s action of reciting the prayer does not become the cause of omniscient mind, it does not become the cause of nirvana, and it doesn’t even become the cause of the happiness of future lives. You see, in order for it to become the cause of happiness of lives beyond this one, the action must be the holy Dharma. That fourth person’s action, reciting the prayer with such a motivation, doesn’t become holy Dharma, it becomes worldly Dharma. The prayer itself is Dharma, the words are Dharma, but the person’s action of reciting doesn’t become holy Dharma. The words are holy words, but the action doesn’t become holy Dharma, it becomes worldly Dharma, because it was done with worldly concern, only seeking the happiness of this life.

This advice or explanation in regards to motivation is given so that with the understanding of these different levels of attitude one is able to judge one’s own actions. I can judge whether my action, like doing this prayer, becomes the cause of omniscient mind, whether it becomes the cause of nirvana, or whether it becomes the cause of the happiness of future lives, whether it becomes holy Dharma. With this understanding one is also able to discriminate and to transform one’s motivation, being able to transcend the motivation.

For example, those who have attended the course for the very first time, for whom this is the very first course, don’t have any sadhanas to do, daily prayers, sadhanas or meditation, daily commitments of things to do. But a person like me, when we do commitments, I think it is very important to check the motivation. We spend many hours on those sadhanas and prayers, but not on the motivation. We try to do the meditations that are in the sadhanas, visualizing mandalas, visualizing and building up and constructing mandalas and all those various practices. We try to do what is written there, spending many hours with those visualizations and many things in the tantra practices. But actually, at end of the day after having done them, if you think back on all those prayers on which you spent many hours, doing them very quietly in your own room without others disturbing you, if you think back to see whether those tantra meditations became a cause for omniscient mind (the tantra meditations that are so secret, there is nothing more secret than that, the most profound words and subject), when you check back whether all these prayers and meditations became the cause of nirvana, actually, for practitioners like me, when we look back we cannot find that it became even the cause of nirvana, liberation for oneself.

It might be the cause of liberation, since it is done with the fear of being born in the naraks, is rushed with the fear of being reborn in the naraks. “If I don’t do this commitment, or if I don’t do this, then ......” It is a kind of concern for the happiness of future lives, so it might become Dharma. But according to the subject, the meditation is tantra, the path of the secret mantra and that practice is supposed always to be the cause of omniscient mind. Even though one might be unable to do those particular very secret meditations properly, such as the mahaanuttara tantra path, still whatever you recite and whatever meditations you do should become the cause of omniscient mind.

You think of those other advantages, the advantages of bodhicitta, you think that you have the freedom to make your actions become the cause of these advantages, and you see that it has not happened. It might have become Dharma, the cause of happiness in future lives, but it was wasted. Though it could have become the cause of nirvana, though it could have become the cause of omniscient mind, one didn’t transform it into that. So because now one will not get all these advantages, it was wasted.

Not nowadays, but I used to feel, sometimes when my attitude was a little bit more careful, that if half of the rosary was recited for one’s own liberation or for one’s own happiness, even for the happiness of future lives, since it was not done with the motivation of bodhicitta, since it was not done from the heart for the sake of others, I felt that it was wasted, not worth it. So again one repeated from the beginning of the rosary. When I discovered that half of the rosary was not done for the sake of others, with the motivation of bodhicitta, I felt that the mantras that had already been recited were kind of empty.

I think it is extremely important that your attitude is as pure as possible, even if you do one minute of meditation or five hours of prayers and meditation, whether your commitments are few or many. I think that even with fifteen minutes of meditation, or even one round of the rosary that you have decided to recite each day, the most important thing is for your attitude to be as pure as possible. The question is not so much the subject being profound, this and that, the most important thing is that your attitude when doing it should be as pure as possible. As much as possible it should be like the person of the first example, whose action of reciting the Essence of Wisdom became the cause of omniscient mind—as much as possible one should be in that group. Then the small practice—that one round of rosary, fifteen minutes of meditation, or even just watching the breath, even if it is keeping mindfulness on the breath, doing meditation on impermanence related to the breath, this becomes so effective for the mind. If it is done as much as possible with the motivation of bodhicitta from the heart, if it is done for others, it is so effective for the mind. The selfish attitude becomes less while the thought of cherishing others becomes stronger, so the mind is very happy. There is that much greater peace.

While reciting the compassionate Buddha’s mantra with the motivation of bodhicitta you should also be doing the practice of taking other sentient beings’ sufferings on yourself. While you are meditating on the kindness of the enemy particularly, and on the kindness of the mother and of all sentient beings, while you are reciting the mantras and while you are meditating on the kindness of others, you should also be doing the practice of taking the sufferings of others onto yourself. At the same time you are doing the mantra you are praying, wishing to experience the sufferings of others yourself, and also you are doing the practice of dedication, wishing and praying, “May others experience all my happiness and all my perfections!”

Reciting this mantra, this is my LSD in this life, my taking tranquilizers. The mind becomes such a compassionate nature, very calm. There is so much relaxation, such great peace while reciting the Compassionate Buddha’s mantra and generating such a will, doing the prayers and the meditation of the Mahayana thought training of taking and giving. If your mind is depressed or aggressive, at that time it is very good to do this. When something has gone wrong in your life and you have some problem with your husband or wife, problems with a friend, with the job, with sickness; like you find out that you have cancer, you suddenly have a heart attack, or find out that you have hepatitis, then you make the hepatitis happy.

Somehow, I like this mantra, Chenrezig, the compassionate Buddha’s mantra, so much, somehow. There are many other powerful mantras, there are so many, but this one is incredibly beneficial for the mind, to calm and subdue it. It is so beneficial for pacifying the very vicious and painful thoughts, like this painful, selfish attitude. So I try to do ten thousand. I try, that is my wish, but I do not manage all the time. Sometimes I can’t remember to do even one.

These examples of motivations are something to keep in the heart, so that each time when we try to do practices of the holy Dharma we are making preparations to become bodhisattvas. Even though one is not a bodhisattva yet, even though one is not a Mahayanist yet, one is making preparations for that by generating the motivation and training the mind in bodhicitta. One is trying to make oneself closer to becoming the fortunate being, a bodhisattva.

In regards to Dharma charity, now you understand why, among the three charities, Dharma charity is the more important one: sentient beings, who are suffering in samsara, are only liberated through Dharma. There is no other way to achieve enlightenment, it is only possible through Dharma. There is no other way to achieve enlightenment, not by a very fast airplane, not by the Concorde. The Concorde won’t make it to liberation or enlightenment.

When the American astronauts landed on the moon, they sent news people from the French press, from Paris and also from America to ask His Holiness the Dalai Lama what His Holiness thought about the Americans landing on the moon. His Holiness explained, “It is the highest accomplishment of science,” like this, “Very good.” Then somewhere in the middle His Holiness said, “But the ancient Indians, the famous poets, described those planets as celestial places.” Then at the end His Holiness’ conclusion was this, “However, without eliminating the three poisonous minds, no matter what high external development you make, it won’t bring peace in the mind.” That was the conclusion in the newspaper, it was answered like that. Maybe one should ask these three astronauts who landed on the moon whether their poisonous minds lessened.

The second charity is material charity. Material charity does not mean that whatever a person asks you for you have to give; it is not like that. You see, some things might harm that person. Maybe a person is going to kill himself because of being so depressed or because of some problem, but being unable to find anything to kill himself with, he asks you for it. Then if you have guns or some other weapon and there is the danger that this person might kill himself, then anything that might harm this person, like poison, is not the material with which to make charity.

There are elaborate explanations of the six paramitas in the Great Commentary on the Graduated Path to Enlightenment by Lama Tsongkhapa, and also at the end of the previous course’s book, the Wish-fulfilling Golden Sun, there is some explanation of each one. So you can get more explanations and more ideas from that.

I left out one thing about why Dharma charity is the most important one. You can understand from the example that I mentioned yesterday, about planting seeds or impressions that gradually lead to enlightenment.

The third charity is the charity of fearlessness, guiding others from fears and dangers. If you see two animals attacking each others like when ants attack a living worm (the dead one they can have), if there is a way of helping, you should help. If there is a way you can manage to get rid of them, protecting the worm from the danger of the ants, by shaking or by blowing, whatever it is, keeping the ants away from the worm is the charity of fearlessness. When a cat catches a mouse one should not leave it saying, “Oh, it is their nature.” If that were the case, the same logic should be applied when somebody is attacking you or when somebody is treating you badly. There should be no help, because that is also the nature of things. Somebody is killing you, but why should there be anybody helping you? Why are you seeking refuge? Why are you seeking somebody to protect your life from danger? You know, you don’t need it. Or is that not nature? If that were the case, we wouldn’t need to take medicine, because it is our nature to get sick. Why should we put effort into taking medicine? It is similar, similar reasoning. It is completely wrong; there is no benefit for yourself and no benefit for others. That kind of idea is of no benefit. It is completely wrong. It benefits neither body nor mind, nothing.

According to the capability that one has, one should also protect people from dangers, trying to guide those who have fear, protecting their lives from dangers. All these are the charity of fearlessness.

About the eight Mahayana precepts, in regard to the meal: if, after you have taken one meal, you decide to stop, decide not to eat more, but then after some time you change your mind, thinking, “Oh, I should have more!” then that isn’t one meal. First you decide, “Now I am not going to eat anymore,” but you change your mind later and eat again. This does not constitute one meal. It is not the precepts of taking one meal. Once the decision has been taken “Now I am not going to eat more,” one should completely decide this, it should be final.

1 December, pm

If one sees somebody about to kill an animal, buying the animal from that butcher or person and thereby protecting that animal from the danger to its life is the charity of fearlessness.

When somebody is going to experience untimely death this is one of the methods: one goes to buy an animal, whether it is a small one or an animal with a large body. For example, one buys animals that are in danger of being killed in restaurants.

In Solu-Khumbu, and also in Tibet, if they have some superstition, a dream or something that has happened that makes them have doubts or fears of death, or when they have been sick for a long time, the common thing is that they go to ask a lama. If there is anybody available in that country or that area, like a meditator, or somebody who is able to predict, to explain, and to make observations, either through dreams or through making observations by taking refuge in the Triple Gem, they go to see him. This is one of the methods if there is danger to one’s life; this is one of the things to do. People buy animals—goats, chickens or whatever—and then they just keep them at the house until the animals die. They give them food and take care of them. Sometimes they take the goats to high lamas and ask for prayers or some blessings for them.

If it is a small creature one can buy more depending on how much one can afford. If it is a small creature one can liberate many more from the danger of death. One puts them into water where there is less danger; one should not put them back into the same water that they came from. It definitely works, it definitely benefits for such things as untimely death. You caused others to have longer lives and that itself is a karmic cause for one’s own life to be prolonged. It prevents the hindrances that cause untimely death, prolonging one’s life.

My mother questioned one old lama who lives quite close to the Lawudo cave. He mentioned to her that she would die soon if she did not do some of these methods, like liberating others from the danger of death. If she did this she would live for a certain number of years. I think she did maybe two or three times. One time she brought a goat here. I don’t know, it was around here, then it was given to the Nepalese man who always comes to milk the cows, for him to take care of. Maybe it had already become his food.

She says that according to the horoscope and the predictions made by the lama, now she only has one year left to live. So I say, “That’s okay you don’t need to worry, that’s okay.” She always says, “I am in the preparation for departure. I am a person in the preparation for departure, in the process of departure to the next life, to other realms.” So I say, “It is enough that you have been doing each day, all day reciting Chenrezig mantras, and you don’t gossip much, you don’t criticize other people with bad thoughts.” I just talk like this, but actually, she has a much better heart than me, there is no comparison. Compared to her heart, mine is completely black. If she is not gossiping, if there is nobody to help her gossip, she always will be reciting mantras, all the time. She has some short Chenrezig prayers that she does maybe two or three times. Many years ago, when she went to Tibet with my father, she heard so many teachings from one very highly realized yogi, the root guru of Trijang Rinpoche.

There is one very high lama who lives on a mountain in Nepal, at Jumbasie, who is also my guru. In general appearance he is not of the Gelugpa sect, he is Nyingmapa, but Rinpoche himself has taken many teachings from other sects, from His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s tutor, His Holiness Serkong Rinpoche, and lineage initiations that have continued through the Gelugpa lamas, such as Yamantaka initiations and other teachings. He is the learned guru Trulshik Rinpoche, learned and also living in pure moral conduct. At the same time he is a noble bodhisattva with an incredibly good heart.

When my mother went to Tibet, so many years ago, she learned some prayers from the lamas and she remembers them. She doesn’t know how to write, she can’t read at all, not even the letter “ka.” She cannot read the alphabet, she cannot even recognize the first syllable. Nothing. So if she could comprehend something by her mind at that time, then that’s it, if she could not—that’s it. She can remember very clearly those prayers that the lamas taught her so many years ago.

She did Chenrezig retreat here some years ago and I taught her some prayers. But after a few years when I was listening to her reciting, some were a little bit broken. Some words were left out, half and half, some syllables were missing. It was like broken teeth, sort of. But she says, “I don’t know if it is proper or not, I don’t know if it is correct or not, but anyway, I say this.” She has so much thought of loving kindness. Of course, she gets angry sometimes, but normally the nature of the mind is so great in thoughts of loving kindness. To anybody who comes to her house she always wants to give something, whatever there is, she always has a great wish to help.

She was in Dharamsala two years ago, not last year but the year before. Every day she went to His Holiness’ temple to circumambulate the palace, at the same time reciting mantras. Maybe she ate a little bit of her morning breakfast, but most of it she kept in her pocket, then she went down and gave it to the Indian beggars who are around on the road to the temple. I always remember her kindness so much. She helps anybody around her. She is so aware, so concerned about people who are working, concerned about their tiredness and their exhaustion. She always has so many thoughts for other people. When she is walking along the road she is always saying about people that she sees, about anybody, “How pitiful they are! Maybe they are feeling cold.” She has so much thought for others, even for those people just passing on the road, for people she doesn’t know.

This dedication prayer that you heard some time ago:

I won’t accumulate any non-virtue,
I will practice perfect virtue,
Subduing one’s own mind is the teaching of the Buddha.

This is one of her dedications. It came from the teachings, the scriptures. Somehow, she has some very effective dedication prayers. This is one of the prayers that she says at the end.

When she was staying in my room and I heard this it was so effective for my mind. It was very useful for remembering the activity of the Dharma, which is to subdue the mind. So I told her, “When you are with me you must say this several times, and you must say it very loudly so that I can hear.” Actually, this is a very vast subject, this one stanza. It contains the explanations and teachings of the four noble truths. I will mention something about it later.

The definition of “the righteous law” or “moral conduct,” is “the thought of protection,” which has three branches. This is the righteous law of abstaining from the vices. In short, one abstains from those actions that harm oneself and that harm others, from those vices.

The person who has taken the bodhisattva vows abstains from the opposite of the precepts, from those vices, such as praising oneself and criticizing others with a selfish attitude, with disturbing thoughts, and with attachment. Then, not giving teachings when one has their lineage and understands them. One does not give teachings to other people, not because there are any hindrances, but because one is being miserly and attached, with a jealous mind not wanting the other person to understand and become more learned than oneself. With this kind of selfish attitude one does not give teachings. Similarly, not making charity while one has possessions. With a selfish mind, with miserliness, one does not make material charity, even though doing that does not become a hindrance for oneself.

I think that if somebody who has taken bodhisattva vows doesn’t give to a beggar when he comes along because of a selfish attitude or miserliness, what happens is that one has received the vice of the third precept of not giving material possessions. If one has something to give when a beggar comes along (that is one example), and giving doesn’t become a hindrance for oneself to accomplish the work to achieve enlightenment:, one is not giving anything just because of one’s selfish attitude. You have no interest because you don’t like that person, the way he appears to you, the way he looks, the way he begs—something that just has to do with your selfish attitude. Then one has received that vice. Maybe you give when somebody with a nice appearance comes along.

So at the time one should remember to keep these precepts for the benefit of other sentient beings. Even if it is one paisa or two paisa that one has to give as charity, if it does not become a hindrance to accomplishing the work to achieve enlightenment, by giving that one is practicing the righteous action of abstaining from the vices.

If there is somebody one gets angry with, an enemy, somebody who treats you badly and who is always doing the opposite of what you wish, if even for a second the thought deeply rises, wishing from the heart for that person to suffer, you have received the vice of giving up the thought of loving kindness for sentient beings. If you rejoice and are happy when that person is in trouble, that is the wrong rejoicing, the opposite of the thought of loving kindness. When you think, “I won’t do anything for his happiness!” and it is not just the words coming, but something from the heart, then even if it came for just a second, the vice of having given up the thought of loving kindness for sentient beings is received. From among the eighteen root vows this one is broken, degenerated.

If one gives up the thought wishing to achieve enlightenment for even one sentient being, one has also given up the thought of doing it for all sentient beings, because the wishing thought is dependent upon leading all sentient beings to enlightenment. The wishing thought, the wish to achieve enlightenment is generated in dependence on each sentient being. So if even for a minute, even for a second, the thought rises deeply from the heart, “I won’t do anything for his happiness!” one has broken the precepts, and receives the vice of having given up the wishing thought. Because in the wish to achieve enlightenment in order to lead all sentient beings into the sublime happiness, this person is also included. It is similar with heresy.

In order for the other bodhisattva vows to be completely broken, these four things need to be gathered: not having repentance, not having the wish not to do it again, not regarding the action as detrimental, delighting or taking pleasure in the action, and having no shame or consideration. If these four things are gathered within four hours one has received the bodhisattva root downfall. Giving up the wishing thought and the arising of heresy do not need these four things to become a root downfall of the bodhisattva’s precepts. If these two things rise from the heart, that very second one receives the root downfall. This means that it is not just the words coming in the mind, just the words clicking without any feeling, but it must come from the heart. Of course, it is better not to let even the words arise, because if one is able to protect oneself and to stop them, it helps very much to not actualize them from the heart. So these two, giving up the wishing thought and rising heresy, if these rise from the heart, that second one receives the root downfall.

One has to be very careful about heresy. Especially when one hears the stories on karma from the sutra teachings one really has to observe the mind well, otherwise heresy might arise. Most of those stories are not just common stories; so many of the stories that were recorded in Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s biography are about his holy actions when Guru Shakyamuni Buddha was in India in the nirmanakaya aspect, doing the works for sentient beings. When Guru Shakyamuni Buddha went for alms in the villages or the cities with his followers, whenever sentient beings made offerings, Guru Shakyamuni, as his omniscient mind sees all three times very clearly, immediately predicted, without the slightest mistake, “Due to your karma of making such an offering, in a future life you will be this or that Buddha who has such and such a name.” Also when there were human beings or animals with particularly usual bodies, or human beings experiencing particular sufferings, when something was happening and Guru Shakyamuni Buddha saw that this was a suitable time to explain the karma of those suffering sentient beings, then Guru Shakyamuni would explain it to them and to his followers. When there were incredibly unusual bodies of animals, like those that had one body but so many different heads, Guru Shakyamuni would explain.

Nowadays, during these degenerate times, so many strange things happen with people and animals. You see so may strange things, the so-called “freaks.” One problem is that in the West it is so hidden, while in the East, like in India, in Varanasi, if you go to the river Ganges it is very much exposed. Many things are not hidden, because by exposing them they get money. Either they themselves purposely do it, or they are obliged by others to do it. However, in the West it is hidden; all the ugly things are hidden as much as possible. Anyway, I am not going to talk much about that part of the story.

When I go to the West and my students ask me, “What do you want to see?” I am not interested. Maybe sometimes flowers, because if there is some special flower maybe I could get a seed and make offerings to the gurus. That is one of the guru offerings, so one reason for having interest in flowers is that one. But otherwise, to see other things is a little bit tiring, kind of exhausting. But to go to see the freaks’ places, the old folks’ homes, and the places where the dead bodies are kept— those are my three best interests. It helps my practice, the meditation on renunciation, and for a bodhisattva, it helps to develop the three principal paths to enlightenment.

I saw one old folks home in America, in Madison. There was one student who lived there a long time, I don’t know her name, one young girl. The reason she was there was so that she could take teachings from our teacher, Geshe Sopa Rinpoche. He is Lama Yeshe’s teacher. In regards the geshes and learned monks who fled from Tibet to foreign countries, he is nowadays, in ordinary view, one of the most learned and most well-known ones from all those famous monasteries in Lhasa. He is unbelievably learned. Also, he is living in the West, but in pure moral conduct. It is an amazing way of living life, Geshe-la’s life in the West. There is no change, no degeneration. So many years, more than twenty (I think the story is getting long). Geshe-la has one old servant in the West, called John or Elvin. He is a well educated person and has lived with Geshe-la for many years, offering service and taking care of Geshe-la—or geshe-la taking care of him. Because of having lived with a learned teacher, somehow, by the way he learned a lot about all the extensive teachings and philosophies, all those extensive scriptures. He himself says that he was so surprised, so amazed because Geshe-la’s way of living life here was the same as in the monastery in Tibet. He told us that the only change that happened was that now Geshe-la drinks a lot of coffee, while in Tibet he drank a lot of Tibetan tea.

Geshe Sopa Rinpoche is incredibly noble, with a good heart, and he is unbelievably humble. There is that much incredibly extensive, deep, complete knowledge of all the teachings, without the slightest mistake of the whole Buddhadharma, but at the same time there is incredible humility, not like some professors or people who have studied a little bit of philosophy. Not like those who have some understanding of philosophical teachings, whose understanding is like atoms, but whose pride is like mountains. Not like this. If there is humility it is a result of the practices, it shows the achievement of the practice. This girl moved there (the story gets very long), so that she could take teachings from Geshe-la. I don’t think she took teachings at the university, she took the teachings for the inside disciples, at his house. She worked at the old folks’ home, so that is how we got a chance to see it.

One time, I think it was in Santa Cruz, there were only two dead bodies: one old mother who had died six months before and one black man who died maybe one year earlier. The oldest bodies I have seen were in Sydney, Australia. I have seen some fresh ones also, they put them in a box with chemicals and water. Nick or somebody pulled it up. (Dr. Nick, I think some of you must know). Because he is a doctor they could show it to him, so I was able to see, I was able to make pilgrimage.

The first section was full of faces in a glass cage. On top the main parts of the body were hanging, then the different parts. Then way inside were the babies, twins, probably six months old children they had put with their arms holding each other; and there were fetuses in jars. The students who came with me, who drove me there—one was just a friend—they went straight to where the babies and fetuses were, way inside. But it was very difficult for me to go straight inside without looking at the others. It was so interesting, the face that I saw at the door. The first one was so interesting it was like seeing the Buddha, sort of. When you see the Buddha you are never satisfied, you want to see more. To turn your face away is disturbing, uncomfortable, I think I spent five minutes with the first and second faces. Then Nick said, “Oh, it is more interesting way inside!”

Then we came outside. I don’t remember whether I or Nick who mentioned it, saying, “So actually, we are like that,” and the student who drove the car, the girl said, “Sh, I don’t feel that way. I am okay. I don’t feel that way.”

I saw the freaks in Spain. I also asked about the old folks’ home, but it was quite far, so somehow we couldn’t make it. The freaks’ place was the closest. That was very helpful. It is a place where the missionaries are actually taking very good care of them. Anyway, I am not going to talk about that.

I think for Dharma practitioners these are very useful things to go and look at. I think it is a very good way to give you encouragement when you feel there is weakness in your practice. Also, one can do prayers for them, one can make dedication. Their sufferings help us to develop compassion, renunciation, and bodhicitta. So what we can do from our side is dedicate the merits for them to find a perfect human body after this life, to meet perfect gurus, and to accomplish the teachings.

In this way one can understand that sentient beings’ karma is various, not fixed. We cannot say that it should be this way and that way, there is nothing fixed.

Going back to those many stories; when there was some strange thing happening and Guru Shakyamuni Buddhas saw that the time was suitable to explain the cause of that sentient being’s old karmas, suddenly, with his psychic powers everything was seen, and then Guru Shakyamuni explained to the hundreds and hundreds of people gathered there, and the disciples asked Guru Shakyamuni Buddha questions like, “Why is this animal like this?” or, “Why does this person have a problem like this?” Then Guru Shakyamuni Buddha indicated all the past karma, explaining why that being had such a body or why he had such a hard life. So all those stories about karma in the sutras are Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s predictions.

For one who has taken bodhisattva vows, and even for one who hasn’t taken them, it is very easy for heresy to arise when one reads or hears about those karma stories, since those four conditions need not be gathered. If it did not come from the sutra teaching, if it was not said by Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, but was just like a fairy-tale or something not true, in that case there would be no danger. But if one thinks that those stories from sutra are impossible and heresy arises, in that second one has received the root downfall. If one has received a bodhisattva root downfall one won’t achieve the Mahayana right-seeing path in that life. This was said by Lama Tsongkhapa in his great commentary on lam-rim.

There are some points where heavy negative karmas can easily happen. Generally, heresy is one of the greatest hindrances to understanding the teachings. Even if one hears the teachings in future lives one will reject them. Even if one hears the teachings one can never accept them, no matter how much it is explained with logic or clear explanations. Somehow, one cannot accept them, there is a karmic block.

Just to end this topic—when you hear something, then just think, “Oh, there might be such a karma,” and leave it at that in order to stop heresy from arising.

However, the four noble truths, that is scientific; there is revealed a path to be practiced. If one practices that path correctly one is able to liberate oneself from suffering; that is the whole thing. If you try to argue about all the things that are written in the books, there won’t be enough life. If you are going to argue about all the things that are written in all the books in the world, if you want to raise all your questions, there won’t be enough life. I think that is all. Good night!

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