Kopan Course No. 25 (1992)

By Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Kopan Monastery, Nepal, 1992 (Archive #944)

These transcripts are of teachings given by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche at the Twenty-Fifth Kopan Meditation Course, held at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in 1992. Lightly edited by Gordon McDougall.

You may also download the entire contents of these teachings in a pdf file.

Section Five: Lectures 17 - 20

LECTURE 17: 6 DECEMBER 1992 PM
THE EIGHT WORLDLY DHARMAS BRING ALL PROBLEMS
As the Kadampa geshes explained with their experience, the whole problem in life, even for who do not practice Dharma, even who doesn’t have any religion—fanatic? Huh?—even someone who is an atheist, anyway, who doesn’t follow any religion, even including those people, all the problems they have in their life, and those who accept religion, follow spiritual path, those who are Buddhists, anyway, even who is trying to practice Dharma, trying to practice the graduated path to enlightenment, so unable to develop the mind in the graduated path to enlightenment, experiencing many obstacles, having many obstacles to practice Dharma, to develop the mind in the path to enlightenment—those people who never accept any religion, even those who are Buddhist or even those who are trying to practice the graduated path to enlightenment, so all the problems, all their problems, all our problems, all the obstacles to develop the mind in the path to enlightenment, to generate the realizations of the graduated path to enlightenment, so the whole problem, all the obstacles, all these are based on or caused by the evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas, this attachment clinging to this life.

There are so many of those books in the shops or at the airport, everywhere, books about people’s lives. Even when we read books about people’s lives you can see the whole problem is based on this attachment clinging to this life. Even when we listen to other people talking about their life problems, you can see very clearly everything is based on, all their problems that happened due to discriminating thought, anger, that is because of attachment clinging to this life. So, these eight objects. So one can see very clearly even when we listen to somebody’s life story, have been experiencing problems one after another, whether the person lived in the East or lived in the West, wherever, in different places, so many problems the person has experienced, has gone through. So you can see everything’s caused by this.

Even by analyzing one’s own life story, experience of the problems, if one analyze one can see clearly everything is related to that attachment clinging to this life. One can see very clearly what made life so difficult, so suffocating, what has been making the life so difficult, not having freedom, not having peace in the mind, if one analyze, if one check, this evil thought of the eight worldly dharmas is the one that makes life so suffocating, so difficult, not having, life without freedom, life without peace.

So this thought of the eight worldly dharmas, the attachment clinging to this life is the one that makes oneself become a problem for other people, become problem in other people’s life as well as what makes other people to become problem in one’s own life, it’s also by this attachment. Even if one is extremely learned, even if one knows the whole text, sutra and tantra, root texts, commentaries, all the different commentaries, even if one can explain, can remember everything by heart, but the daily life actions—walking, sitting, sleeping, so forth—even one takes a religious life, but not becoming pure, but not being real, becoming false religious life, so again, even that is caused by this attachment, clinging to these eight worldly dharmas is abiding in the heart. It’s because of this.

That if even one tries to live ascetic life in solitary places, not seeing people and so forth, but again the life did not become pure, did not become real ascetic life, did not become real renounced life, even one doesn’t meet anybody, doesn’t eat food, that does not become a real ascetic life, does not become renounced being. That is also due to the attachment clinging to this life abiding in the heart and expecting for reputation. So one lives an ascetic life, in a solitary place, not seeing people, not eating, so forth, that people will find out and then they will praise how you are so good and this and that, great meditator, pure and so forth, all these things. Again attachment comes, and doesn’t allow the person to lead a real ascetic life, a real renounced life. Even if the person does all these things, it does not really become a renounced life. Even if the person lives there with nothing, lives there in the hermitage with nothing but still does not become a real renounced life, so again that is due to this attachment clinging to this life, clinging for reputation, praise from the people, so forth, so like that.

Even if one is reading scriptures, the subject is Dharma, even one is reciting prayers, the subject, prayers of Buddhadharma, even the subject is Dharma, but the person’s action reciting prayer, reading scriptures of Buddhadharma, the actions did not become Dharma. That even one is wearing dress which shows one is living an ascetic life, the renounced life—old, ragged, rags, clothes, lots of holes, lots of patches or very old cloth—even if one is wearing like this, which shows the renounced life, there’s no attachment in the food and clothing, so forth, the enjoyment, but then, but in the heart, again attachment entered in the heart, So if I act like this then people will see me renounced life. So however again there’s attachment clinging to praise, reputation, the comfort, the happiness of reputation, praise. People will make offerings, respect, like this. So again, this means attachment clinging to the happiness of this life. Again that did not become real ascetic life because mentally not ascetic, even physically ascetic, but mentally not ascetic, not renounced being.

This part that I have said, this last part is not so much Western people’s problem, this last part [RL]. The first part, the long part which I talked [GL, RL], this last part is not so much your problem [RL]. This last is more for Eastern side, the last part is not so much for the West. [RL] But anyway, I mention this.

The Kadampa geshes said with experience that even if you have hundreds of thoughts, but the whole problem is not having one thought. [RL] Even if you have hundreds of thoughts but the whole problem arises—it become a little bit long, but, you see, I meant to explain this, but it became long so I think maybe you may have lost the point [RL]. So as was said, non-religious people and religious people, even Buddhists, who are trying to practice the graduated path to enlightenment, all those other people who have problems in life, even this person who is trying to practice the graduated path to enlightenment having so many obstacles to practice and to develop the mind in the graduated path to enlightenment, what makes the mind stuck, unable to develop in the path to enlightenment, as Kadampa geshes explained with experience, there are many hundreds of thoughts but the whole problem is not having one thought, one thing is missing in the life, one thing is missing there in the mind. What that is? That is to reflect the impermanence and death, to remember, to always remember this, so that is missing. To always remember in the heart, so this is missing.

So because this one thought is not there, no matter how many hundreds of thousands of thoughts you have in the brain, there are so many problems in the life and so many obstacles, even who is trying to practice Dharma, so many obstacles to practice, to develop the mind in the path, but if one has this, even one doesn’t have all those hundreds of thousands of problems, but if one has this one thought, the mindfulness all the time remembering the impermanence and death, then it cuts off all the obstacles, all those obstacles do not rise, to practice Dharma, to develop the mind in the graduated path to enlightenment, all the actions, in everyday life, the actions, eating, walking, sitting, sleeping, so forth, all the actions in everyday life to become Dharma, besides meditation, besides studying Dharma, become pure Dharma, everything become pure Dharma.

“IT’S BETTER TO PRACTICE DHARMA” (DROMTÖMPA’S STORY)
The Kadampa Geshe Khamlungpa, a great meditator, said, in the text Opening the Door of Dharma: The Initial Stage of Training the Mind in the Graduated Path to Enlightenment that “I never heard great meditator felt cold, starved, hungry, starved, felt cold and starve, died. I never heard, I have never seen and I won’t see in the future, so it is talking about the benefits of practicing Dharma.”

I jumped a little bit, before, I was going to mention this one, there was a story about an one old man, who was reading a scripture. Dromtönpa, the translator of Lama Atisha who is embodiment of the Compassion Buddha, Chenrezig, so Dromtönpa saw this old man reading a scripture and asked, “What are you doing?” This old man answered, “I am practicing Dharma.” So Dromtönpa said, “It is good that you are reading the scripture, but isn’t it better to practice Dharma?” So the old man stopped reading the scripture and he thought, “Probably Dromtönpa might have meant to circumambulate the temple as the meaning of practicing Dharma.” So he stopped reading the scripture and he started to circumambulate the temple. So one day again Dromtönpa came by and saw the old man and Dromtönpa asked, “What are you doing?” “I’m practicing Dharma.” So Dromtönpa said, “It is good that you are circumambulating the temple, but isn’t it better to practice Dharma?”

Then the old man thought, maybe what he meant to practice Dharma means meditating, doing meditation. So he stopped circumambulating the temple and then he tried to meditate, so sitting with crossed legs and tried to meditate. [Rinpoche laughs] So then again one day Dromtönpa came along and saw this old man, then asked, “What are you doing?” So, “I’m practicing Dharma.” So Dromtönpa said, “It’s good that you are doing meditation, but wouldn’t it be better to practice Dharma?”

Then the old man got confused because he tried many things, he tried all these different things which he thought were Dharma but then Dromtönpa kept on asking to practicing Dharma, then, so now, he got confused, what he meant practicing Dharma. So then the old man asked to Dromtönpa, “What do you mean by practicing Dharma?” So then Dromtönpa replied, “Renounce this life!”

So now, you see, “renounce this life” does not necessarily mean, as I mentioned before, the person who lives ascetic life, who lives in solitary place, seeing nobody, not eating, not sleeping, wearing rags, old torn clothes or robes, as I mentioned before. Because of attachment seeking reputation, the motivation of doing these things is attachment seeking reputation, respect from people, offerings, the motivation is clinging to this life’s happiness, so even if the person lives in a solitary place with nothing, but the person’s action, life, did not become Dharma. It becomes worldly dharma, no differences from the person who has everything, living the life with the thought of the worldly dharma, clinging to the happiness of this life. It’s the same. In reality, same. As that person’s life did not become Dharma, the person who lives solitary place with nothing also did not become Dharma, not seeing people, not eating food, so forth, did not become Dharma. Worldly life is the same, both is the same, worldly life. Externally looking renounced, but not actually renounced. A renounced life doesn’t mean to be poor. If one interprets renunciation as being poor in this life, then one didn’t understand, externally poor, then didn’t really understand the point, one lost the point.

Renouncing this life means cutting off this evil thought of clinging the eight worldly dharmas, that which become foundation of all the problems that I mentioned before, yesterday and today, that which is the basis, that which is the creator of all our life problems and obstacles, and even the obstacles to practice Dharma. So the main attitude that which makes us to create negative karma all the time, you see, in our daily life, our attitude is not anger all the time, anger doesn’t take over the mind continuously, but what takes over our mind, what possessed mind all the time is by this attachment, the evil thought that which clings to the eight worldly dharmas. As I mentioned also yesterday, actions done out of the worldly mind, this attachment clinging to this life becomes nonvirtue, worldly dharma, nonvirtue, did not become holy Dharma.

REMEMBERING IMPERMANENCE AND DEATH
So I referred to yesterday that, the quotation that Dromtönpa, yesterday or some other time, Dromtönpa asked Lama Atisha, what the result will be of actions done out of worldly mind, the attachment clinging to this life, then Lama Atisha answered, “The result will be rebirth in the narak, the hell, and hungry ghost, animal.” So that was Lama Atisha answered to the disciple Dromtönpa.

Many of us, like myself, got up this morning, with what motivation? With attachment, one did not remember impermanence and death, there’s no mindfulness because not remembering impermanence and death, so one get up with the attachment, one get up with the concept of permanence, that I’m going to live long, for many years. So however, then because of that, then the attachment clinging to this life, so with this motivation one gets up.

Then, when one washed, again one did not remember impermanence and death, so again the motivation is attachment clinging to this life, with this nonvirtuous thought, then one did washing. So getting up becomes negative karma, washing becomes negative karma—all the washing, how many hours one wash, three or four hours washing in the bath tub, three or four hours washing, dressing, fixing up, from the hair down to the toes. So two or three hours that is spent in the morning, from the tip of the hairs down to the toes, washing, fixing, decorating, that, so since one did not remember impermanence and death so then the attachment took over the mind, you see, clinging to this life, so everything, that two or three hours that is spent, the washing, fixing, decorating, all these things, everything become negative karma.

Then when one went to work, again did not remember impermanence and death, so again the mind is overtaken by attachment clinging to this life, so again the work, doing job for eight hours or how many hours doing work become negative karma and then, eating, drinking, again those times one did not remember impermanence and death, so again, attachment took over the mind. So, you see, the attachment is constantly abiding in our heart. If we did not remember impermanence and death, so it doesn’t go away, we didn’t allow it to go away from our mind, from our heart. So all the eating, drinking, how many times we eat and drink in that one day, in the twenty-four hours, so everything becomes negative karma.

DEDICATING A CUP OF TEA
So for example, I used to mention that, this mug of tea, my mug is very big, much bigger than yours [GL], so if I didn’t watch my motivation before I drink tea, if I make offering to, while I’m drinking if I make offering to Buddha, then it becomes, everything becomes cause of highest enlightenment. Even without, even there’s no positive motivation, but you see you offer by thinking of Buddha, yourself as Buddha, your mind or yourself as Buddha, either you visualize Buddha in your heart, so if you make offering, every drink, eating, if you make offering, then everything become cause of highest success, enlightenment, even it didn’t have bodhicitta motivation, here in this case, related to Buddha, the holy objects, even statues, stupas, scriptures, because of the power of the object, without talking the actual being, even with the holy object, even the action, prostrating, respecting, offering, even it’s done out of anger, even it’s done as imitation, like small children doing prostrations, respecting, making offering, doing circumambulation, doing imitation what the parents do, so even the children’s doing imitation, just without any, without devotion, without any particular virtuous motivation, even that child just doing imitation becomes cause of enlightenment, the highest, the enlightenment.

So even normally, our daily life actions to become good karma, has to be made by our mind, which is virtue, and the action is made negative, bad karma, by our motivation which is nonvirtue. The action is made nonvirtue by the mind. Normally that is how it is, but there are exceptions, actions related with the holy objects, such as these holy objects, even the statues of Buddha, scriptures, stupa, without depending on motivation, the action becomes virtue, even the cause of highest enlightenment.

So if I drink all this tea with attachment, without those practices, just with attachment clinging to this life’s happiness, then how many times I drink tea, because the motivation is nonvirtue, so therefore how many, that much action of drinking tea become negative karma, all that become negative karma, so it is like, this much tea is like this much negative karma, it’s like that. So drinking tea with this motivation, non- virtuous motivation, is like drinking that much negative karma. So bigger the mug is, you know. So it’s like this.

So, for example, if you are going to Kathmandu, then, if you go from here, again without remembering impermanence and death, without meditating, without motivation, the motivation going to Kathmandu without possessed by the right view, emptiness, or bodhicitta, thought of enlightenment, without renunciation, by remembering impermanence and death, so such as these meditations, so without that, then if one goes with attachment clinging to this life, then we go down to Kathmandu then each, like drinking tea, then each step going to Kathmandu becomes negative karma. So it is like that.

THE APPEARANCE OF TRUE EXISTENCE
So that one day eating, drinking, wearing dress, talking, so again if there’s, without the mindfulness of emptiness or as I mentioned before, how everything is appearing as, the way things are appearing to oneself, at present, truly existent, a hallucination, the way things are appearing, I mentioned this yesterday or some other time, but I didn’t make clear. One’s own mind labeled I, there’s appearance of I, as one’s own mind labeled I, there is appearance of I. That is not the problem, that exists, the appearance of I that exists, that is not the problem. The problem is, the I is appearing as truly existent, as independent, as not merely labeled by the mind. So by having that the mind believes, apprehends, “This is true.” So this is foundation of all the delusions, this ignorance is the foundation of all the delusions, karma, all the sufferings, so this is the biggest problem, this is the fundamental suffering, this is our fundamental suffering.

So that’s why I said yesterday, the way the I and so forth, the way things appeared, which means truly existent, to our mind. That is illusion, which appears to us not merely labeled by the mind, that is illusion, that is hallucination, that doesn’t exist, but the appearance of the I is not illusion, that is like illusion but it’s not illusion. The I is like an illusion but it’s not an illusion. The truly existent I is illusion. Samsara and nirvana, the I, action, object, is not illusion, but like an illusion. But these things, the way it’s appearing to us, the way that things are appearing to us, until we become enlightened is truly existent, so they’re illusions.

So however, what I’m saying! I didn’t mean to come to talk again about emptiness, again the merely labeled [GL]. Anyway, so what I’m saying, without the right view and without bodhicitta, without renunciation of samsara, by remembering such as the nature of phenomena, the reality of phenomena, these causative phenomena, impermanence and death. So again the attachment, it’s constantly there abiding in our heart, since we don’t let it go away, since we don’t let it go, by applying the meditations the lam-rim, graduated path to enlightenment. So therefore the attachment is always there, so then again, so even when we talk, how many hours we talk, so again there’s, so without remembering those meditations, or without generating a virtuous motivation, so then, constantly, if we leave the mind as it is, then what happens is constantly the attachment takes over.

It’s like this, for example, like the Communist Chinese took over Tibet, that as long as some change doesn’t happen, then constantly taking over Tibet. So like that, as long as we don’t do anything, if you leave the mind as it is all the time then continuously that attachment takes over, if you leave it as it is, then this is what happens, constantly. So again how many hours we talk, conversation, so everything becomes negative karma, all the actions become negative karma because of the motivation.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PURIFICATION
In this way we can see how extremely important it is to do purification with Vajrasattva practice, to do purification with refuge by reciting Buddha’s name, by meditating on Buddha, visualizing Buddha, to do purification by visualizing Vajrasattva, to recite mantra, by reciting Buddha’s name, lama tonpa chom den..., by reciting one time it has power to purify 80,000 eons of negative karma. How is it possible? That is because of dependent arising, depending on the power of the holy object, depending your mind, your devotion, your quality of mind, and the nature, because of the power of Buddha’s holy mind, so then the name, reciting the name has power. How this is working is because it is the nature of the phenomena, it’s the power of the phenomena, like the nature of fire is hot, that it can burn is the nature of the phenomenon. By pouring water, whose nature is wet, on top of the fire it can be stopped. That is a dependent arising, that is the nature of phenomena, that the way it’s working. By hearing the name of a person who harms you, whom you think harms, the enemy, by hearing even the name you get angry, it has that effect, you get a negative imprint. By hearing the name of the person who has good heart or a person who is a bodhisattva, saint, who sacrifices the life for others, whose life-story is only cherishing others, only serving other sentient beings, like Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s past lives as a bodhisattva, somebody who is a very good person, extremely good-hearted, who does only good things for others, so by hearing the name it brings peace, it brings happiness, it brings joy in the heart, leaves positive effect in the mind.

Also, hearing somebody’s name that brings attachment, just hearing the name brings attachment, by visualizing that person it affects the mind, the attachment. Remembering, visualizing that person whom you think gave harm, bad, then it affects the mind, angry. So, even hearing the names, even the different visions, they have different affect to your mind.

So therefore, the Buddha one visualizes, somebody who ceased all the mistakes of the mind, completed all the qualities of realization, so by visualizing in the aspect of Buddha, with all those qualities of body, speech, mind, so it leaves positive imprint, so it leaves highest positive imprint, highest, best, positive imprint in our mind, so it becomes great purification by the power of the object. So that’s why these practices of purification become extremely important.

So when we check one day’s life, from morning until night, if we analyze our actions, how many become negative karma, by checking the motivation, the attitude, how many times the mind, the motivation becomes negative, so however, like this. So, more talks on this practice of purification might come later, more details on this.

PRACTICING DHARMA ELIMINATES CONCERN FOR THIS LIFE
It is true that in the monasteries in Tibet, like these Sera, Ganden monasteries, the conditions, only having black tea, as I mentioned earlier many of the monks who became extremely learned, great practitioners. For weeks, months they didn’t even have concrete food, solid food to eat, tsampa, only little tsampa sprinkled on top of the tea and then stir, and then drink. However, like this, of course, practiced Dharma, studied extensive Dharma, of course, because mind is completely occupied, while the mind has only Dharma nothing else, so therefore there’s no big worry, fear, concern of this life, because what the mind thinks is only Dharma, not seeking the comfort of this life, only Dharma, that’s what day and night the mind is so busy just— with Dharma—therefore mind is free from all the concerns, all the difficulties, all the worries, so however, that one never hear, in the monasteries the monks died, starved to death, hungry and died. One never hear these things.

So, same thing, like this, the real meditator, the pure Dharma practitioner never happened this one, even that person completely renounced the clinging to this life, attachment clinging to this life, never suffers, those problems, even one never expects, those problems never happen and that is due to the power of Dharma. Who doesn’t practice Dharma, who clings to this life, who doesn’t let go, unable to practice pure Dharma, these problems happen. But a person who completely let go, never experiences these problems.

For example, one Kadampa geshe, maybe Ben Kungyel, I’m not sure, one Kadampa geshe, he has leprosy disease, before he become great yogi, very high practitioner, that when he began to practice Dharma so he thought, I live in the street, just recite the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM, the Compassion Buddha’s mantra, just recite this mantra, and then remember impermanence and death every day, cut off the attachment clinging to this life. So mind stay in this and then live in the streets, just recite OM MANI PADME HUM so he completely decided like this, he completely made this determination. So as he made this strong determination, so whatever happens this disease, that it doesn’t matter, this is what I’m going to do. So as he made strong determination and then, and then I’ll stay on this rock—it’s not a road, I made a mistake! I’m going to stay on this rock and cut off the attachment clinging to this life by remembering impermanence and death, so with this determination, then I just recite the mantra.

So which means even one doesn’t know so many other prayers or practices, but what you know is just OM MANI PADME HUM, but most important thing is the mind, the real practice of Dharma is the mind being free of this attachment clinging to this life, thought of the eight worldly dharmas. So, mind keeping, mind becoming Dharma, mind living in Dharma free from this attachment, then just recite, even what you know is just OM MANI PADME HUM, only this, then just live the life by reciting OM MANI PADME HUM. So, point of story what it’s talking is kind of saying that.

So however, when this Kadampa geshe made this determination to practice Dharma, he sat on the rock, and that night during that night, sleeping on that rock, then much sweat or much water came out from the body and then got better, his leprosy the next day got better. So, due to the mind, due to the attitude which becomes Dharma, so that itself healed the leprosy disease, the determination, letting go the attachment clinging to this life.

There are so many stories like that. What it’s talking about is, even if you don’t expect, even you renounced the comfort of this life, happiness of this life, even one has renounced, experiencing no clinging, but because of the power of Dharma, happiness comes. In other words, like all those Kadampa geshes, like Milarepa, like Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, all those, the lineage lamas of the graduated path to enlightenment, so this is, it works like this, because of the power of Dharma.

RINPOCHE’S LIFE STORY: ROLWALING
We would play in the field where there was water, and we would come back home when my mother shouted from the window that lunch was ready. We would come back for the meals.

We would mix earth with water on small flat stones, then some boys would act as benefactors serving this as food to the other boys, who would pretend to be doing pujas. Near our house was a large rock with mantras carved into it, and I would sit a little way up the rock and pretend that I was giving initiations. The other boys had to try to take the initiation. I didn’t know any prayers, so I would just make some kind of noise and pretend I was praying.

My mother sent me to the monastery, and I was carried there on someone’s back. I would stay there two or three days and then run home. I escaped down to my home quite a number of times. Because of this, my mother sent me to another place, Rolwaling, from where there is no way that I could come home alone. Rolwaling is in a much more secluded part of Solu Khumbu than Namche Bazaar, with very few tourists going there. The whole of the Rolwaling area is actually a holy place of Padmasambhava, the great yogi who was invited from India to purify the land of Tibet and to subdue the spirits that were interfering with the building of Samye, the first monastery in Tibet.

There are some quite amazing caves related to Padmasambhava. The people there tell stories of how Padmasambhava would fly from another place and stay some time in one of the caves. Beyond Lawudo Cave there is a huge mountain, with an airstrip built by the Japanese and two villages. The area is called Kunchung, and there is Padmasambhava cave on the steep hill there. Padmasambhava’s foot- or handprint, where he touched the rock, is supposed to be there, and also a syllable ah.

I went there once with some Western students, and we offered tsog very quickly—in two or three minutes. It had to be very short because it was late and if we had tried to go down the steep hill in the dark, I think we might have had to roll down. Around this area, there are many Padmasambhava caves and many footprints and other related things, such as long-life nectar. This whole area is regarded as a hidden, holy place of Padmasambhava.

Rolwaling also has Padmasambhava caves. There are snow mountains all around and grassy slopes, with villages in the distance. Not on the road but a little way up the mountain, there is a Padmasambhava cave with a rock in the exact shape of his hat. If you clean well, offer incense, and do a prayer written by Padmasambhava, nectar drips from a rock inside the cave. There are marks in the ceiling from where the drops come. Wandering yogis living ascetic lives pass through the area and stay in the caves. There are many wonderful caves with water inside.

I could not escape from Rolwaling to my home because you have to cross very steep snow mountains for two days. Some people who are very fast might do it in one day, but normally it takes two or three days. When you come down the snow mountains, down below are different colored lakes, some white, some blue. There is snow all around, and also rocks. Sometimes when people are crossing the steep snow slopes, an avalanche comes down and all the people disappear. In a minute, because the avalanche turns everything upside down, you don’t know where the people are; they disappear deep inside it.

With my teacher I went back and forth between Thangme and Rolwaling about four times, but only once, on the way back to Thangme, where I was born, was there a small avalanche. It wasn’t near us, but everybody going down in the middle fell down. All the luggage was scattered all over the place. The people fell way down to where there were some rocks above the lake, but they weren’t worried. They were singing songs when they came up to collect their things.

My second alphabet teacher, a full monk who was also my uncle, carried me on his back and gave me food. In Solu Khumbu it is the custom that most of the people, including many of the monks, drink alcohol. There are some who do not drink. My teacher made food before we left home and as we walked he passed the cooked meat and other food back to me. I remember that one time we fell down some steps and I gave a small scream, Ahhhhhh!

There is a very dangerous place where you have to cross deep crevasses that go many, many stories down to very blue water. We crossed the snow with ropes tied around our waists, so that if someone suddenly fell down, the person in front of them could hold them up. The first person guiding the group would be someone who had traveled the route before and knew the road well. There were no particular tracks.

There was another very dangerous mountain where I think a Westerner was killed. It was a huge mountain with water running down it and rocks constantly falling, huge rocks and small rocks. The huge rocks would come down wooroodoo!, then the small rocks would drop, tiiing! There were a lot of different noises. It was terrifying. I don’t know why, but every time we had to cross this path we would stop and everyone would drink alcohol, the strongest one made from potatoes. The Sherpas make about thirteen different foods from potatoes, which is the main food in Solu Khumbu. And one of the things they make is very strong alcohol.

So, everybody drinks some alcohol, then they generate heat by rubbing their hands together. They are then able to carry their huge loads across. They carry two or three square butter tins, plus their food and blanket and things to sell. Just hoping that it will be all right, they cross. I don’t know whether or not there is another route, but somehow we always had to go through this.

You then climb up through the water and rocks to the top. We went back and forth four times, but somehow no rocks fell down while we were crossing. But every time we had reached the top of the mountain on the other side and were resting and drinking, the rocks would come down woorooroo! Many times I thought, “Oh, somebody at the end will be killed.” But every time the rocks came down right after the last person had reached the other side. But all the way across everybody recited whatever mantras they knew.

There are four Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist sects - Sakya, Kagyu, Nyingma, and Gelug - and the main sect in Solu Khumbu is Nyingmapa. All the monasteries there were Nyingmapa, but later when I returned from many years in Tibet, India, and Kathmandu, there was one Gelugpa monastery, with monks and nuns. It was founded by a very highly realized ascetic lama, who had actualized all the lam-rim realizations (shamatha, renunciation, bodhicitta, emptiness) while living for many years in a mud hermitage in Tibet. He had clairvoyance so he could give advice to people and guide them. This lama started a monastery down below Lawudo, the cave where I sometimes go, which is larger than we have built here at Kopan.

So most of the people carried their very heavy loads and recited Padmasambhava’s mantra as they crossed. You would see them constantly reciting OM AH VAJRA..., intensively with one- pointed concentration because of their fear of death, Some people recites OM MANI PADME HUM's. Whatever they knew they would recite intensively as they crossed.

If you have the realization of impermanence and death, your own life becomes equal to Dharma. No matter how many years, months, days you live, you live your life equal with Dharma. With that realization your actions naturally become Dharma and you continuously practice Dharma. It is not that your life is longer and the duration of your Dharma practice is shorter. You life is equal to your Dharma practice.

I don’t remember what I did during that time, whether I recited any mantras or not. I don’t remember at all. But I do remember that I was carried by my teacher. Of course, as soon as everybody reached the other side, where there was no danger, all the prayers stopped.

Anyway, my conclusion is this, I lived for seven years there in Rolwaling, this place that is more hidden. In the summer time and in the autumn, tourists would come. Not all the time - just sometimes. Sherpa porters would guide them and sometimes bring to my teacher’s house, or sometimes we would go down to see them in their tents. The Rolwaling Valley has a river running through it and mountains all around. On one side of the river there is a monastery and a large stupa with a road running around it; on the other side of the river there’s a very nice green place where the Western trekkers used to camp. One or two times I went there to see the trekkers.

The bridge crossing the river to that spot is just two tree trunks tied together. You have to walk on that, and it’s not very wide. One day I went to give some potatoes to the Western people in their camp - I don’t remember who they were. My teacher told me not to go, but I think I pushed. Somehow I wanted to go to give the Westerners the potatoes. So my teacher put some potatoes in a brass container that was used for eating rice or drinking chang, the local beer. So off I went, alone. I went onto the bridge, and when I reached the middle of it, in my view the bridge tilted, and I fell down into the water. The river was quite a wide one.

My head came up, then went down. According to what my teacher told me, my head was facing upriver, then later I was facing downriver. I was getting close to more dangerous places where the river is very, very deep. So my body was carried by the river, with my head coming up from time to time. When my head came up, I saw that my teacher was running towards the river. The monastery was quite far from the river. There was some flat ground, then a huge mountain with the monastery a little way up it. There is a gompa with other houses around it. My uncle was a fully ordained monk at that time and there were other married lamas living there. They were practitioners who did a lot of retreat, but not monks.

I saw my teacher running down the mountain to the flat ground. He was wearing very simple cloth pants and was holding these up as he ran to catch me.

At that time, the thought came in my mind, “Now this what people call 'Lawudo Lama' is going to die. This is going to end.” I did not have much understanding at that time, and I had no idea of emptiness, but this thought came. Just the thought came, but there was no fear at that time. Now it would be difficult for me if death comes, but at that time my mind was completely comfortable. There was no fear at all - just the thought, “This what people call 'Lawudo Lama' is going to die.”

I was about to reach the very deep water where it would be very difficult for my teacher to catch me, when he finally grabbed me. I was dripping wet. I’m not sure but I think my teacher said, “I told you not to go!” I think it must be a shortcoming of not listening to my teacher that somehow I fell down and dropped the container and the potatoes - everything. I heard from some people that one of the Western tourists came with his camera and was taking pictures as I was being carried along by the water.

I stayed in Rolwaling seven years, memorizing prayers and reading texts, including all the many hundreds of volumes of the Buddha’s teachings (Kangyur) and the commentaries by the Indian pandits (Tengyur). Lay people would ask us to read these as a puja, so my teacher would read all day long. I don’t know how long it took to read - many months, I think. Sometimes I went outside to go to the toilet and would spend more time out there, just hanging around. I didn’t return to the reading very quickly.

I spent seven years like that in Rolwaling and then in a place called Pagri in Tibet, we did pujas in people’s houses every day for three years. I took getsul ordination, the thirty-six vows, there in the monastery of Domo Geshe Rinpoche, who is regarded as an embodiment of Lama Tsongkhapa. I wasn’t a monk before that. I saw many monasteries, but somehow because of my karma, I became a monk only in that monastery, which is a Gelugpa monastery. According to the prophecy of the protector and of many high lamas, and to the stories told by his disciples, the Lawudo Lama, who was a married Nyingmapa lama, was a great ascetic practitioner.

I lived in Pagri three years and memorized a lot of texts. You have to memorize two sets and then be examined on them in the gompa in front of all the monks. When I did the examination on the first set, Tibet had already been overtaken by the Communist Chinese. I stayed six months in that monastery. I did puja every day in family houses, but I memorized the texts in the mornings.

RINPOCHE’S LIFE STORY: AFTER TIBET
I then escaped from Tibet through Bhutan, where I stayed seven days in the main city, Bhator. After that I went to Buxa, a concentration camp during the time of the British where they imprisoned Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. A lot of fighting happened during that time, with many people killed, so that place was built like an army prison, with big forts on each mountain. The monks Sera, Ganden, and Drepung, who wanted to continue their studies, were put there, along with monks from the other sects. All the four sects were put together in that one place.

On a certain number of days each week, everybody would also come together to do pujas. At other times each college would do their own pujas, debating and things like that.

There came TB and also some other disease. I went for a holiday to Darjeeling a few times, and I also went to Delhi. I was invited by the second British nun, who was called Freda Bedi (the first English nun died in Darjeeling). She was a follower of the Theravada first, but later, after she met the Tibetan lamas, she followed Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism. She visited Buxa, where all the monks lived together, and she visited especially all the incarnate lamas. She invited many of the incarnate lamas to a school she started to educate them in English. Hindi was also taught, but I think that her main aim was to teach English.

I spent six months in Delhi, and it was at that time that I got TB. First I caught smallpox and had to stay fifteen days in the smallpox hospital, which was very far from the school. When I came back, I got TB, and then went to the TB hospital. I cried three days in that hospital. The reason I cried for three days was that there was no opportunity to learn English. In the beginning a lama who was in a higher class and who also had TB was going to stay, but then no one was going to stay in the hospital. At that time I somehow had a great ambition to learn English, so I cried for three days and wouldn’t speak to anyone, not even the Indian boys staying in the same ward.

When I went into hospital, I had to change into hospital clothes, pants and a shirt. In the break-times, I would go outside, where you can could see the passing traffic through the fence. I would stretch my legs towards the fence, put the book between my legs, and then I would cry. The Indian boys would gather around and tell me, “Lama, don’t cry. Don’t be upset!” But I didn’t speak to them for three days.

I met one very nice Indian man in the old men’s ward who agreed to teach me English. I had a book that contained normal conversational English, given to me by Thubten Tsering, His Holiness Ling Rinpoche’s secretary, who lives in Delhi. I liked this book and I used to go to see this Indian man in his bedroom and learn some of the words. Then I got better.

So, I stayed six months in Delhi then at the end had to do an English examination and they arranged for us to have an interview with the Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. He was very, very old and his skin was kind of blue. He was lying down, but on a kind of chair, not on a bed.

I again went back to Buxa to continue to study. I did a little debating, but more like playing. Unfortunately I don’t think I have created much karma to study whole texts. I have received teachings on some of the philosophical texts, so some imprints have been left on my mind. At that time I think I spent more time learning English, but in a useless way, because I tried to collect and memorize English words the way we learn Tibetan texts. I once thought to learn the whole dictionary by heart. The Tibetan way of learning involves a lot of memorization, so I believed that if I memorized a lot of words, it would be okay. I didn’t know that you have to concentrate on the accent and train in speaking. In any case, there was also no opportunity to practice there, apart from using a few words if you met some Indian officials. I memorized many, many words from different books, and all the Time magazines. I would forget and then memorize them again, forget and memorize again, forget and memorize again, just as with the Tibetan texts. I spent a lot of time doing this but it was useless; it wasn’t the way to learn English.

For eight years I received different teachings there and did a little debating. I then came to Nepal and went to Lawudo. At that time I checked all the texts that had belonged to the other lama, Lawudo Lama, mostly handwritten manuscripts. I think he must have put a lot of effort into copying texts. There were many practices of different deities and commentaries. However, there was one Kadampa text that is a foundation practice for all the four sects The Very First Mind Training, Opening the Door of the Dharma. I read this text from the beginning to the end, and I spent some months there. It was only then that I came to know what Dharma is. Before that, I didn’t understand the meaning of Dharma. Even though I had recited, memorized, done pujas, and all those other things, I didn’t understand the definition of Dharma. It was only at that time that I came to know what Dharma is.

This is the conclusion of my talk - it’s just taken me a long time to reach it. I expanded on other things.

Only after seeing this text did I come to know what Dharma is. After understanding what Dharma is, I then checked back over everything I had done, and I could not find anything that had become Dharma. That is what I wanted to tell you, but it just took me a long time.

[End of Discourse]

LECTURE 18: 7 DECEMBER 1992

THE THREE SCOPES

As Lama Atisha explained in the Lamp for the Path, “With the realization of one’s own, with the realization of the suffering within one’s own mental continuum…” Probably this might be simpler—“By realizing one’s own suffering, wishing to completely cease all the sufferings of others, that is the great capable being.” So by realizing one’s own suffering, wishing to completely cease all the sufferings of others, that is great capable being.

So, on the basis of what I described past two or three days, on the basis of the realization, the graduated path of the lower capable being, what I mentioned before, just to make clear, on the basis of the root of the path to enlightenment, the guru devotion, seeing, from one’s own side, in the pure appearance, seeing pure, enlightened being. So on the basis of that, then the realization of the usefulness of the perfect human rebirth, and difficult it is to find again, these things, this part of the subject that which, path that which persuades the mind to take the essence of this life, to make this life meaningful. Then how to take the essence, the meditation on the impermanence and death, then, the sufferings of the three lower realms and refuge, karma.

So on the basis of having those realizations, realizations of those meditations, then on top, then having realization of the graduated path of the middle capable being. Before mentioning that part, having all these realizations from guru devotion up to karma, completely cuts off clinging to this life, seeing that the works, seeing the attitude seeking happiness of this life, working for this life, the attitude clinging, the attachment clinging to this life, and then body, speech and mind working just for this life’s happiness, seeing complete nonsense, seeing no meaning, completely empty.

Then in the practice, then by realizing the shortcomings of the ten nonvirtuous actions and understanding the benefits of living in the precepts, living in the morality, abstaining from ten nonvirtues, so on the basis of this, then by meditating the general sufferings of samsara, the sufferings of each realm, deva, human being, the evolution of samsara, the topic, so reflecting all these, how one is circling in samsara through the twelve dependent related links. So, that, meditating on the true suffering and the true cause of the suffering, the karma and disturbing thoughts, however, then seeing the whole entire samsara is only in the nature of suffering, like the nest of poisonous snakes or being in the samsara is like being in the very center of the fire, being, that being inside of the very center of the fire, where there’s completely hot, red, in the very center of the fire. Being in samsara is like being in the very center of that hot red fire, that the inside the fireplace, not inside the flame, but where there’s extremely hot red, just being inside of that. So like this, being in samsara is so unbearable, like being in the center of a fire, only in the nature of suffering.

So by meditating all these general and particular sufferings of each realm, and cause of the sufferings, so one see, and all the samsaric happiness, perfections, that are only in the nature of suffering, however, like a poison, not having slightest attraction. So, so unbearable that, when one think of one’s own suffering of samsara, like an arrow has gone inside the heart, so unbearable, however, not having slightest, not finding attraction even in the dream, not finding attraction to samsara, samsaric happiness, even in the dream.

However, it is so unbearable that, if one is caught in the prison, there’s the wish to be free from this, at this minute, right now, there’s strong wish to be free from that, that if one is caught in, if one fell down in the fire, there’s a wish, it is so unbearable that strong wish to be free from this, just every minute, every second, there’s such strong wish, in every minute, every second, continuously to be free from this right this minute, right this second. So like that, so this is, the wish to be free from this, oneself to be free from being caught in the fire, burning, being burned by fire, feeling hot, so it’s so unbearable that, you see, the wish to be free, the aversion to being in the fire and wish to be free from this constantly rises, so strongly, constantly it rises. Without need to think of the reasons that the nature of this fire is hot, and how it’s hot, that without need to think of all the reasons, that constantly, there’s unbearable aversion, being in the fire, then there’s constant strong wish to be free from this.

Then, if one feels like this, to be free from this samsara, so like that if one feels constantly day and night, then one has realization of renunciation of samsara. So at that time one has realization of the graduated path of the middle capable being.

Seeing the samsaric happiness, delusion, the true cause of the suffering, the disturbing thoughts, the attachment, anger, so forth, the samsaric happiness like poison that kills, that does great harm to the life. Then, seeing, like how we feel with, when a person, when somebody provokes us, when somebody gives terrible harm that which hurts one’s own mind so much, one see that person, enemy, completely, hundred percent that is harmful being, undesirable object, hundred percent we look at it extremely bad, enemy, uninteresting. However, like that, one see one’s own delusions like that, you see, enemy, that extremely harmful, enemy that has been, who has been harming, torturing oneself from the beginningless rebirth, the enemy who has been harming from the beginningless rebirth until now, from the time without beginning, these delusions, enemy, has been harming me.

So however, by meditating, by recognizing, realizing, how one’s own delusions have been harming to oneself, that interfered or didn’t allow to achieve, so far to achieve liberation, full enlightenment. So, for example, with outside enemy, there’s not the slightest wish to listen what the enemy says, what the enemy wishes, there’s no slightest wish to help the enemy or to follow the enemy, so like that, so what there is in the mind, what there is in one’s own heart is only how that is harmful, how that person is harmful, how that person is bad, hurt me, so much harm what he or she gave to me. So similar like this, so, not having slightest thought, wish to follow the enemy, the delusions. Only thought to destroy the enemy, the delusions.

However, so, on the basis of having this realization, graduated path of the middle capable being, the renunciation of samsara like this, then the practice that, practicing those pratimoksha vows, whether it’s ordained person or whether it’s lay person, you see, either lay vow or if it’s ordained, then those higher vows.

By realizing one’s own sufferings, what Lama Atisha explained, the definition of the higher capable being, so by realizing one’s own suffering, suffering that which is possessed by one’s own mind [Tibetan], one’s own mental continuum, [Tibetan] so, wishing to completely cease [Tibetan] all the sufferings of others.

THE HIGHER SCOPE AND BODHICITTA
So when you have renunciation of samsara, renunciation of one’s own samsara, realization of the renunciation of one’s own samsara, as I explained before, so, that time then one has realized, the suffering that is possessed by one’s own mental continuum. Then, the consciousness, the principal consciousness, the consciousness of mind—there are six consciousnesses—so this consciousness that which is similar to the wish to completely cease all other sentient beings’ sufferings, the disturbing-thought obscurations and the subtle obscurations, which means, the disturbing-thought obscurations, which means all the delusions and even the seed of delusions that which gives rise to the delusions, which makes possible to rise delusions; to cease all the delusions, even the seed of delusions, then even the subtle imprints, the subtle obscurations, even the subtle imprints that is left there on the mental continuum, to cease completely.

So this is bodhicitta, so with this realization of bodhicitta, this is the attitude of the higher capable being, the bodhicitta realization. Here it is not talking like the, by thinking, first meditate the, how the samsara is in the nature of suffering, quotations and logics, we do analysis and then try to transform the mind into the wish, the aversion to the samsara and generate the wish to be free from this. Only by thinking of the reasons, by doing analysis what samsara is, how it is in the nature of suffering, only then generating the wish to be free from this, then only rising the wish to be free from this, aversion, then only feel some aversion to the samsara. Otherwise, the mind is not in that experience, otherwise the mind does not feel that, the mind does not feel that and is opposite and the mind is, the mind when we don’t meditate the renunciation of samsara, when we don’t meditate to see how the samsara is the nature of suffering, the mind that gets controlled by the wrong concept, the wrong concepts and attachment, so one sees attraction to the samsara.

Also only when we first meditate on one’s own samsara, meditate how one’s own samsara is the nature of suffering, then we think of other sentient beings how they are kind and so precious, how the other sentient beings are also suffering in the samsara, that even what they want is happiness, but they are devoid of happiness; what they do not want is suffering, but they constantly experience suffering, but they constantly keep themselves busy that day and night creating the cause of suffering and they constantly run away from the cause of happiness or they destroy the cause of happiness.

When we think like this of how other sentient beings are so precious, so kind, how all one’s own past, present and future happiness, perfections, including enlightenment, how everything we have received by depending on the kindness of other sentient beings and then how they are suffering, so that only then one feels some responsibility, only then our mind feels, some thought of responsibility rises, to do the work for other sentient beings, to free all other sentient beings from all the sufferings and to obtain happiness for them and then to do perfect work for all other sentient beings. There’s no other way that one can do this, there’s no other solution, there’s no other way that one can do this except only by oneself achieving full enlightenment. Only by building up all these reasons, then only then is there some wish to reach enlightenment, can we generate some thought of enlightenment.

So depending how strong the renunciation is one feels with one’s own samsara, depending on how much aversion, wish to be free from this samsara, how strong one feels, then when you think of other sentient beings, how they are suffering, how they are also experiencing suffering of samsara, as the renunciation is that much stronger to one’s own samsara, the compassion that which arises by reflecting how other sentient beings are experiencing suffering of samsara, so compassion arises stronger. So depending on that then also the thought of enlightenment, the thought to achieve the bodhicitta, the thought oneself to achieve enlightenment is also that much stronger.

So, in the first place if one’s own suffering of samsara, there’s no feeling in the heart, if it becomes just words, just mere words, there’s no feeling in the heart, only words, only in the lips, between the lips, then same thing, then also one of, the compassion, then compassion for other sentient beings experiencing the suffering of samsara, so this also becomes, one cannot feel in the heart, it just becomes words, the compassion just only on the lips. Then the thought of achieving enlightenment, there’s no feeling in the heart, only on the lips, it just becomes words, so like that.

WE MUST TRAIN IN THE WHOLE LAM-RIM
So therefore, when we practice, when we train the mind in the graduated path to enlightenment, so we have to train our mind from the beginning of the path, and not just choose which meditation you like. “This one I don’t like—the three lower realms suffering, I don’t like to meditate on this. The kindness of others, that’s good.” [GL]. “Equanimity maybe good, maybe not good [GL, RL] Maybe good, maybe not good. Sometimes good.” [RL] “The renunciation of samsara meditation, that how samsara is in the nature of suffering, not so much [GL, RL] not too interesting.” [GL]. However if you meditate, this one “I like, this one I don’t like. If you do like that, I like bodhicitta, so I just do this.” So however there is no way to really develop bodhicitta by leaving out all these realizations, all those from guru devotion, perfect human rebirth, impermanence and death, lower realms’ suffering, all these things, there’s no way to really generate renunciation of samsara, the preliminary realization to bodhicitta, the renunciation of samsara which is the preliminary to bodhicitta. Without that it is impossible to have the realization of bodhicitta that, even if there’s a wish to generate bodhicitta, even if one thinks that is good, even if one thinks that’s a very positive thing, however, practically can’t develop bodhicitta, practically cannot have the realization of bodhicitta without all those fundamental, wither preliminary realization of the renunciation of samsara.

So renunciation to the whole entire samsara comes in three groups, renunciation to the desire realm, the desire realm perfections, happiness of desire realm. Then form realm, formless realm, you see, one has to see the whole three realms how they are in the nature of suffering.

So, to really develop, to really generate the realization of bodhicitta, it is very important to train the mind from the very beginning of the path, on the basis of guru devotion, then train the mind in the perfect human rebirth, then useful, difficulty, impermanence and death, then the lower realms suffering, refuge, karma, all these things. So, otherwise, without actualizing the realization of the graduated path to enlightenment step by step, on the basis of guru devotion, then the renunciation of samsara, so like this, step by step, so without doing that, so sometimes, that, depending what you like, from those meditation depending what you like, then sometimes spend more time in that meditation, sometimes spend more time in bodhicitta.

Of course it leaves an imprint on the mind, it leaves a positive imprint on the mind, but it does not help to really have successful development of one’s own mind in the graduated path to enlightenment, to actually realize bodhicitta in this life, and then to be able to correctly practice tantra, to be able to complete the Highest Yoga Tantra path, the completion stage and the generation stage. In order to achieve full enlightenment, to generate the tantra path, both the generation stage and completion stage, to complete this path one needs to have realization of bodhicitta as a preliminary, in order to complete the Highest Yoga Tantra path, the generation stage and the completion stage, successfully to complete especially the completion stage, you have to have bodhicitta, there’s no way to complete this path and achieve enlightenment without bodhicitta, there’s no way. One needs to have realization of bodhicitta as a preliminary and the realization of emptiness.

So, meditating on path, depending on what you like, without training the mind step by step, without laying the foundation, the guru devotion realization, from one’s own side seeing purity, the enlightened being, then having the realization, laying the foundation of the realization of the renunciation of samsara. In order to have the realization of the renunciation of the whole entire samsara, that depends on first having the realization renunciation of this life. So by realizing the perfect human rebirth, impermanence and death, by realizing this part of the meditation, then completely cut off clinging to this life, by having realized perfect human rebirth, difficulty of finding it again, it is difficult to find this perfect human rebirth again, then impermanence and death. So by having first the renunciation, the realization of the renunciation of this life then one can generate the realization of the renunciation of the whole entire samsara, which is the preliminary to bodhicitta.

Then with this realization of bodhicitta, then not only the Highest Yoga Tantra, as one feels so unbearable that the sentient beings are experiencing suffering of samsara, so unbearable that, sentient beings are in samsara even for one hour, or a minute, even such a short time like this being in samsara, one feels that for many eons sentient beings have been experiencing suffering of samsara, feeling so unbearable. So, feeling such strong compassion for other sentient beings, this becomes the main reason to practice tantra, especially the Highest Yoga Tantra. One feels it is so unbearable that sentient beings are in samsara, experiencing the suffering of samsara even an hour, a minute, it is like for many eons that they are suffering. Therefore, one feels responsible that I must bring them to enlightenment, as quick as possible, quicker and quicker. So then for that reason then I must achieve enlightenment quicker and quicker, as quickly as possible. Then for that reason, the one solution is then to practice tantra, the short cut path to enlightenment, then, especially Highest Yoga Tantra. So this is the reason why there’s a need to practice tantra.

So, with realization of bodhicitta, by receiving initiations, the four initiations from the qualified vajra master and by leaving, which can definitely plant the seed of the four kayas within one’s own mind. Then, by receiving the initiation, that ripens the mind to be able to practice tantra, the generation state and completion state. So then one trains one’s own mind in the generation stage first, which is the preliminary to the completion stage, which makes completion stage successful. So the completion stage, which has five categories or five steps: the isolation of body, the isolation of speech, of the mind, the clear light, then the illusory body, then the unification, then no more learning, which is enlightenment.

Only by having the realization, by laying the foundation, guru devotion, then renunciation of samsara, bodhicitta, then the realization of the tantric path, the generation stage and completion stage. Otherwise, even if we know all those subjects but we didn’t train the mind from the beginning and we just do whatever we like, then, even we spend one hundred years or one thousand years [RL] doing, not training the mind, not establishing the realizations step by step—even we spend one thousand years just doing the meditations which we like— we can never, can’t really develop, can’t complete the whole path, we cannot make the whole graduated path to enlightenment within our own mind.

So, I mention this, complete this one then maybe have tea. On the basis of realization the lower capable being, then middle capable being path, on the basis of all these realizations, which means the renunciation of samsara, then, having the bodhicitta, the principal consciousness aiming at enlightenment, oneself to achieve enlightenment, similar to the wish that, to cease completely all the sufferings of other sentient beings. So, the whole entire suffering of samsara, the disturbing-thought obscurations, including the seed, then the subtle imprints, the subtle obscurations, to cease completely.
With this attitude, in the practice of the six paramitas, the bodhisattva’s deeds, practicing one of those, this being is a higher capable being. So with the bodhicitta practicing the paramita of charity, morality, patience, perseverance, concentration, wisdom, with bodhicitta practicing one of these six, any of them. With the realization of bodhicitta, practicing, from the six paramitas practicing one of them, any of them. So that is the highest capable being.

So having bodhicitta means not the slightest thought of working for oneself, completely abandons the thought of working for self—it is completely renounced, completely given up. There is no thought of working for oneself, only the thought of working for other sentient beings. Only cherishing other sentient beings. With that attitude, then, in the conduct or practice, of the six paramitas, then practicing any of them in order to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. So, that is the highest capable being.

So, I think, better to have tea.

[Blessing of the tea]

THE NATURE OF SAMSARA
So, yesterday’s subject, one important thing yesterday and day before yesterday that is, the root of the subject is that, elaborating from the graduated path of the middle capable being and what is samsara, how that is in the nature of suffering, how the samsara is in the nature of suffering, that, little bit about that, and until one gets liberation from the samsara, whatever style of life, wherever one looks at samsaric beings, the people in the world, wherever one looks, whatever style of life, whatever group, whatever style of life, rich and poor, it’s only in the nature of suffering. We talked about how each of those lives has only problems, and then talked about the person that even the Sangha, those that unable to keep the vows, how even that is in the nature of suffering, so again it is the suffering life. Then we talked about the person who is living in the pure Dharma practice, how that one doesn’t have those emotional problems, all those problems that we see in the common, in the rest of world that we see in the life there’s so much problems, this person, whether it’s lay or whether it’s ordained, who lives in pure Dharma practice, who is renounced, who is cut off the attachment clinging to this life, doesn’t have all these problems. So we talked about that and so basically talked about what is Dharma, what is not Dharma, just last two days talk, then that, what is Dharma, what is not Dharma, like that.

If one does not remember impermanence and death, then this attachment takes over the mind, overwhelms, controls oneself, then every single action—eating, walking, sitting, sleeping, talking, everything from morning until night—our daily life’s actions from morning until night become negative karma, by that attitude which is nonvirtuous, which is nonvirtue.

THE THREE TYPES OF WORLDLY DHARMA
Especially practitioner of Highest Yoga Tantra who has experience of clear light, illusory body, who has control over the winds, freedom over the chakras, channels, winds and drops, the kundalini or drops, the seed, the sperm seed, so who has complete control over these, who has achieved complete control over these things, the yogi who experiences the clear light, those very high tantra realizations, the completion stage clear light, illusory body, their experience of bliss is a hundred times, many hundreds of times much more than ordinary people’s the sexual pleasure, so comparing to that the ordinary sexual pleasure that is nothing.

There’s greater and greater experience of happiness as one develop the path, just experiencing that’s not a mistake. Complete happiness, complete enjoyment, is only when you become enlightened, the complete enjoyment or happiness, the highest. It is the same thing with the person who’s the politics. Just doing politics, that alone doesn’t mean it is wrong. It is wrong if the person is doing politics with negative thoughts, with nonvirtuous mind, attachment, the black mind, the completely black mind, the worldly mind, the eight worldly dharmas.

There are three types of eight worldly dharmas. The completely black one is done with attachment clinging to this life, that is completely black one. Then, the other one is I think the mixture, the mixture one, in Tibetan ___________, means mixture color, ___________ is mixture of color, there’s black and white, you know, kind of different color, so mixture the eight worldly dharmas, so that [RL] I don’t remember a hundred percent, but I think that might be done with the self-cherishing thought. There’s no attachment clinging to this life but the action is done with the self-cherishing thought. Then there’s white worldly dharma, which is having concept of true existence, that, these eight objects which I explained before—comfort, receiving material things, praise, interesting sounds, and the four opposite ones—have true existence. You have the concept apprehending that these eight dharmas that they exist from their own side. So, the actions done with the concept of true existence, these are the eight white dharmas. So the eight worldly dharmas has three types, explained like this, black, mixture and white. So all these are to do the different types the wrong concept, you see.

I’m not one hundred percent sure but I think the mixture and white might comes also in the commentary of the Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga practice where it says, Lama Tsongkhapa made life meaningful, made his own eight freedoms and ten richnesses meaningful in such this degenerated time, which means such a difficult time to practice Dharma, when there’s so much obstacles to practice Dharma. Then, having done extensive listening, the whole entire teaching, then attempting to practice, Lama Tsongkhapa made his own perfect human rebirth, made meaningful by avoiding the eight worldly dharmas. What Lama Tsongkhapa renounced was not only black worldly dharma but also mixture and white eight dharmas, all three. So, in other words, so by having abandoned all these three types of worldly dharmas, then made his own life, which is qualified eight freedoms, ten richnesses, highly meaningful.

THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN BEINGS
That such this difficult time, degenerated time, that which means there are five degenerations, because the degeneration of delusion, delusion become so gross, become so strong. When human beings started on this Earth, even for a long time, even much later, the very first original human beings didn’t give rise to strong delusions. But because their consciousness came from the form realms, because of the imprint, seed is there on the mental continuum, because they did not remove it in the past by having completed the remedy of path, the seed is there, and by meeting objects because habit of the past, so then delusion again arose. By meeting different objects then gradually it manifested, it came out from the imprint. So then, then by doing nonvirtuous things, their original body which is in the nature of light, even that degenerated, become grosser, due to imprints, then attachment, past life habits, by seeing objects, then attachment arose. By eating, attachment arose, then eating the impure ingredients, some earth, some impure ingredients, so just by those impure food, like the tobacco and so forth, opium, tobacco, so forth, so these have much pollution, so, completely pollutes the body and then through that the mind.
Attachment arose by seeing that object then, some earth, the humidity, some impure ingredients, and the body which has light before became impure, degenerated by eating that impure earth, then as a result of past karma, then the sex came out. Then because the imprint is there, the imprint of attachment is there, not removed, so by seeing the object again sex, then attachment arose, then as creating the result similar to the cause, so that has happened due to past karma, so then due to past habit, attachment risen, so then, as the human beings start to have sex, so then other human beings they threw stones, so they threw dust over the people who are having sex. So that time didn’t have a house, they didn’t need house before that, but then after the body become degenerated by those wrong ingredients, with attachment, then, because people throw dust and things like that, because they feel shy, the human beings who are having physical relationships saw reason came to build a house. After that, so seems the purpose of building house started from that time [GL, RL].

Due to their good karma, by planting grains in the morning they are able to grow them on the same day and able to enjoy the crop in the evening, in the afternoon. But then later some people, due to past habit, past imprints—probably in the Western psychology terms, subconscious or what they use the word, or what the scientists call instinct. They use the word instinct because they don’t talk about imprint, seed, of delusions—jealous, miserly arose. Some people became miserly, even there’s enough and there’s no need to collect grain in the house, they horded grain. There’s no possessor, there’s no owner for the land, there’s no owner for the crops, they just grow due to their good karma. Some people because of the past habit, result of past karma, the imprint to miserliness arose, attachment, even there’s no need to collect grains, some people started this, tried to collect for themselves. Then slowly started to become owner, then which means slowly started fighting. Therefore then the reason to have king, someone to control them, so then, only then, they felt there’s need somebody to control the people, so then, that’s how the reason to have king came.

THE FIVE DEGENERATIONS
Because of the five degenerations delusions became so much gross, such this degenerated time, the degeneration of delusion became extremely gross. So because of that, sentient beings became so difficult, so stubborn, because of degeneration of delusions. Then there’s the degeneration of sentient beings, where it is so difficult to do positive actions, so difficult to generate virtue, so difficult to bring in the right path, to follow in the virtuous path. This is the degeneration of sentient beings.

Then, the degeneration of time, where there are lots of quarrels, wars, famines, disease. Many new diseases are coming, incredible diseases that cannot be cured, more and more coming. So the degeneration of time, all this is happening because of degeneration of delusions, there’s degeneration of delusion, the delusion has been developing, becoming more and more gross.

Then, the degeneration of view. It is so easy for people to find faith in the wrong view, to follow the wrong view. So few are able to generate, are able to understand and have faith in the right view. So there’s two types of view, worldly view, the view of the worldly people, which is the karma—that from positive action comes happiness, and from negative actions, suffering rises. So the karma, view of the worldly people. This is without talking about emptiness, this is without talking the ultimate right view, the Prasangika’s view of the emptiness, which is unified with the understanding of subtle dependent arising, first that emptiness. So, without talking about ultimate view, the emptiness, just talking about view of the worldly people, just karma, just reincarnation and karma. So even though this is the experience, even though this is the reality but very little number who is able to understand and who find faith in this, so little number, and who find faith in the wrong view, that there’s no reincarnation, that there’s no such thing as karma, then they are so many.

THE DEGENERATION OF LIFE
There’s the degeneration of the view, then also degeneration of life. So those earliest, original human beings lived uncountable number of lives, so many thousands of years that the label “uncountable” is used, just to say that this is so many. It’s not that it did not have beginning, the consciousness came from the form realm and the consciousness took place on the light, light on the earth, took place on the light, it, this idea might be a little bit similar in the pure realm, being born in the lotus in the pure land of Buddha. So there, I’m just guessing, in the lotus there’s some light and then consciousness took place in the light, then like those animals, like those insects that born in the vegetables, green vegetables, so their body also green, consciousness came from outside, so because this is what they live on, what they eat, born there, so their body is also green. So depending on which type of flower, which type of vegetable or which type of flower the insects is also according to the color of the flower.

I’m not a hundred percent sure but I thought I heard light inside a lotus and then consciousness took place and then, that took body. I thought I saw somewhere but I’m not a hundred percent sure, so however, for the original human beings, their consciousnesses took place on the light, then that’s how they have the body of the light. However, that’s nothing special because even the flies that eat cow dung have light in the nighttime, even they have light in the nighttime. Even those fish have light, batteries [GL], the light, when they run in the water it affects, it makes noise. Also there’s this one, there’s very interesting, this is unbelievable [GL], that the deepest ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, in the teachings mentioned that is described as the major place of the animal sufferings, it mentioned others, but the main thing is there, that very dark, that cannot see anything, the big ones they eat whatever is around them, other animals whatever is around them, so the small ones eat the big ones, however, so, like a mountain, the deepest ocean, like mountains of the insect, the animals, small and big, piled up, just piled up like mountains, so they just eat each other.

So however, it seems somewhere where there’s very deep water, very down, so much, so there’s is a fish that looks exactly the same as a person who dives in the water, carries a light here [GL], there’s a light, a flash-light here, always dives under the ocean, there’s one big fish that looks exactly the same [GL]. So that is quite amazing [GL]. I think there has to be some relationship to the person [RL, GL], with the light. So attached to be in the water, to go down, this there must be some connection, there has to be with that. Otherwise there’s no reason why this fish is born with a light [GL]. That is not in that animal program, this is another program of animals, another animal program that I’ve seen.

The one man in England, one very nice guy [GL], very nice man, seems he spent unbelievable amount of his life taking picture of animals, different animals, about their life. So when I was doing retreat in Australia, evening time animal programs were shown. The first night was unbelievable, really unbelievable. Incredible how he made it, that how the animals they support each other, other animals, you see, they live on other animals. And one of the things was how they support each other, community, how they live together and then one is how they eat, they live on other animal eating. The way he, the story, another animal eating another one or another animal helping to another one, when there’s a problem, another animal. However, it’s unbelievable, there are different points you can think of, the community living together and kind of different animals helping each other, that’s one thing. But there’s so much of this, another eating another one, you know, it’s unbelievable.

So anyway, I guess this is not that part, I think it’s different one. He showed I think two or three programs but the first one is, I thought, really very good lam-rim, very good teaching of the graduated path to enlightenment, so good for renunciation of samsara, to understand the animal sufferings, their life and like that.

Anyway, so, there are flies, there are animals who have lights in their bodies. Therefore it’s nothing special that the original human beings’ bodies where the nature of light. So we have been like those animals who had light numberless times, we have been born like those original human beings numberless times, having light. So however, that’s nothing special, that alone didn’t make us to end whole our, didn’t benefit to end our whole entire suffering and causes of samsara, you see, that didn’t help to end our samsara, that’s just part of nature of samsara.

So however, anyway in case one think, How’s that possible, the body having nature of light. So anyway, it’s like that. So, because one doesn’t see now, in our present time you don’t see, if one thinks that way.

However, now the, so the degeneration of life. So original human beings they lived incredible length of time, then, gradually decrease as their mind become more and more gross, the delusions rises stronger and stronger, then life become shorter, shorter, shorter, shorter, like this. So, the degeneration of life, life become very short. So, then, so many obstacles for life. So however, five degenerations happening like rainfall, like waterfall, like water flood.

So, at this time, it is very difficult to practice Dharma. Lama Tsongkhapa did extensive listening, reflecting, meditation practice on the whole entire teaching of Buddha, and integrated in the graduated path to enlightenment and actualized the path. Now all this, now the way Lama Tsongkhapa practiced and made his life meaningful is by having abandoned the black worldly dharmas, mixed worldly dharma, white worldly dharmas, all three. So, this is how Lama Tsongkhapa practiced, did pure practice, like that.

VIRTUE AND NONVIRTUE DEPEND ON MOTIVATION
So I was talking about how just experiencing happiness that doesn’t make wrong, that itself doesn’t make wrong, so I explained up to Buddha, which means highest happiness, the one who has completed enjoyment, highest happiness, complete happiness is Buddha.

As I mentioned before, a person who does politics that only doesn’t mean wrong, but if the person does politics with the thought of the eight worldly dharmas, the attachment clinging to one’s own this life’s happiness, to have power, reputation, wealth and so forth, that mind is a negative mind so that person’s method of politics becomes black, becomes black politics. It becomes nonvirtue, black politics becomes nonvirtue, which harms even to that person her or himself, which results only in suffering.

Without the worldly mind, however, then that person’s politics become Dharma. Without the attachment clinging, seeking for power, attachment clinging to this life, power, reputation, so forth, however, clinging to this life’s happiness, without that, then that person’s method, politics, that become Dharma, that become pure Dharma. Then that become pure Dharma and especially unstained by selfish-cherishing thought, especially without self-cherishing thought then that becomes pure. With bodhicitta, then it becomes Mahayana Dharma, it become pure, that person’s politics becomes Mahayana Dharma, without self-cherishing thought, only with the bodhicitta. So, it become only pure service for other sentient beings, cause of enlightenment, and that become cause to achieve enlightenment, so like that. So dependent on the attitude.

So, therefore, experiencing happiness is not a problem. The person doing politics is not a problem, the problem is that, the mind. If there is self-cherishing, if there is attachment clinging to this life, if the motivation is attachment clinging to this life, if there’s self-cherishing thought then it become a problem. The person having wealth becomes a problem, the person having friend becomes a problem, person having wealth, all these things, then it become problem. What makes all these things to become problem, to become dangerous to one’s own life, is because it’s done with this attitude, with the thought of the eight worldly dharmas, self-cherishing thought.

Experiencing comfort is not the problem, the problem is clinging to that comfort; that is the problem, that is what makes it a problem to the person. . So this is the way to understand it. It is not contradicting, it’s not saying, because it describes eight worldly dharmas, so it’s not saying that it’s wrong to experience comfort, it’s not saying that—that it’s a mistake to experience comfort, it’s not saying that. The same thing, renouncing this life doesn’t mean to be poor. It doesn’t mean to be materially poor, it doesn’t mean externally to be poor, it doesn’t mean that. It means cutting off the clinging, cutting off the attachment clinging, that which is the creator of all the problems, all the confusion, all the unhappiness.

That’s why in the tantra practice, in the Highest Yoga Tantra practice, during the initiation it talks about the lama making offering to the disciple who is generated in deity, not only this time but also other times, such as these times. It signifies that, from now on whatever you enjoy, whatever sense enjoyment you are having, that you should use to develop wisdom, to develop the Highest Yoga Tantra path, the wisdom, bliss-voidness. When you have sense enjoyment you should use the sense enjoyment to develop the Highest Yoga Tantra path, maha-anuttara tantra path in your mental continuum, without letting the sense enjoyment to become cause of samsara. Without this wisdom if one has sense enjoyments, if one has sense pleasures, then attachment can arise, attachment clinging to this life, the thought of the eight worldly dharmas that which is black. This can rise, and the action can become that, the sense enjoyment, experiencing sense pleasures can become attachment clinging to this life. If this becomes the motivation, then, the actually experiencing sense pleasures become cause of samsara. But with wisdom, with this meditation, if one enjoy the sense pleasures with this wisdom, then your experiencing sense pleasure does not become cause of samsara, it becomes cause of enlightenment.

So whether experiencing sense pleasures is wrong or right is all to do with what motivation you experience sense pleasures. What is the motivation? Same thing, doing a job. What is the motivation for that, what is the motivation? Having wealth, the same thing. You see, it covers to everything like that, with what motivation. Whether the action become right or wrong, that is up to the individual person’s mind, the motivation. If their motivation is nonvirtue—without talking about self-cherishing thought—if the person’s motivation become nonvirtue, the attachment clinging to this life, then that person’s action, whatever the person is doing, is nonvirtue. So that means the result is only suffering, with problems, sufferings, in this life and problems after this life.

DISCRIMINATING WHAT IS DHARMA AND WHAT IS NOT DHARMA
You can only tell whether what the person does is right or wrong, if you understand the person’s motivation. Only if you understand the person’s mind, only then you can tell that person’s action is wrong. Otherwise, from the outside, it is difficult to judge, difficult to know a hundred percent that that is wrong, if one doesn’t understand the person’s attitude, motivation. Without realizing that, difficult to say the outside action is wrong.

This reason also goes same to that person who eats meat, this is the same. Whether it’s right or wrong, that individual person who is eating meat, whether that person’s action of eating meat, only one can discriminate by understanding that person’s level of mind. Only by understanding that only then one can tell whether what the person’s doing is right or wrong. It covers all these things. That, if the person’s motivation is negative, then the action become negative then it becomes harmful even the person him or herself, so, because the result of the action is only suffering, no happiness, so then it is wrong, this way it is wrong.

While the action can be great benefit, any action the person is doing, while it can be great benefit, but not doing that, the action the person is only small benefit, that also can be said wrong. Maybe it is, it is still virtue but has small benefit. But while the person can do greater benefit, there is something that the person can do action that is great benefit, virtuous action that which has great benefit, but not doing that, while that person has the opportunity or while can do this, but chooses the virtuous action that has small benefit, so, there is different way to say wrong, that is unskillful. That also can be definition of one type of wrong.

So however, there are many things which one has to understand about the motivation, the level of mind, Only then one can judge, only then one can understand. The deeper one can understand the other person’s mind, then the deeper one can understand their actions, whether it’s mistaken, or whether it’s positive action that which has incredible benefit towards other sentient beings, even if the outside action looks nonvirtuous.

Anybody who does politics is bad! Even if the Buddha does politics it’s bad. Thinking like that is due to not having understood what Dharma means. That basic problem is not having understood what the definition of Dharma is, what is Dharma, what is not Dharma. That one did not become clear. The Dharma is dependent on attitude, the action becoming Dharma, whether it become Dharma or not, whether the action become Dharma or not is dependent on the attitude. So basically not having understood well what Dharma means, so then it becomes confusion, so this is just one example, there are many other things, one cannot understand.

Anyway the thought just came, so I thought I’d mention it. I think the best politician is Buddha, because Buddha has omniscient mind knowing everything—past, present, future, everything—so that is one quality of the best politician. Then, the perfect power to reveal any method, to manifest as many million as possible, even for one sentient being, to free them from suffering, to bring them happiness. And, so all these are still methods. Then, there’s no cheating, there’s no danger to cheat sentient beings, there’s no danger to cause loss to other sentient beings, because his compassion towards other sentient is beings fully developed, compassion towards every sentient being fully developed. So there’s no slightest danger to cheat, to mislead, there’s no slightest problem. So, you see, the politics is a method, and Buddha has all these qualities, so Buddha is the most, best, highest, best politician being to guide sentient beings, to free sentient beings from all the sufferings and to lead to highest enlightenment. So, this thought just happened, just came.

Understanding what Dharma is, is a very big subject. It helps us understand so many other things, understanding what Dharma is. On the top of that, those who heard lam-rim many times they would know, but specially for whom this is the first time or even those who heard lam-rim before but not clear yet. Now, today, these three things to, even just to understand the words is very important. So, that, very important because by knowing this only then you know what you are doing, only then you can judge your actions, in our everyday life even we’re doing meditation or working, however, even we believe we are practicing Dharma, even one believe, I am practicing Dharma, even one does actions that which one doesn’t call Dharma, only then you can judge, only by knowing these three things, these three points, then only, only then, you have wisdom to judge. Like before I explained what is Dharma, what is not Dharma, which means what is the cause of happiness, by explaining the definition of Dharma, then you have wisdom to judge.

So if you are eating food, then judge whether your action of eating food becomes Dharma or not. You have the wisdom, even having the intellectual understanding what Dharma means, so suddenly one can discriminate whether the action of eating become Dharma or not. By having the wisdom understanding what is holy Dharma, what is not holy Dharma, from morning until night—getting up in the morning, dressing up, washing, having breakfast, but here there’s no breakfast [GL, RL], but, only I have the breakfast [RL, GL]. But here you have breakfast tea [RL], anyway, so, eating lunch, talking, meditation—every single action, starting from this morning until now, which ones become Dharma or not, you count, you check from this morning, each one check, by having even intellectual understanding what Dharma is. Then you have the wisdom to discriminate, to determine actions become Dharma, how many did not become Dharma. Any action you found that becomes Dharma, you can rejoice. By rejoicing, the merit get increased, the merit becomes double, triple, that, like money interest in the bank that the interest comes all the time, so each time when we rejoice the merit get increased more than the actual time what we created.

The actions that we found not become Dharma, nonvirtue, by recognizing that, then before going to bed, before finishing the day, we can purify, we can purify by reciting the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha mantra, or the Thirty-five Buddhas’ holy names with prostrations and also Vajrasattva. There are many practices to purify negative karma. So by recognizing how many actions become negative karma, that helps to purify, that awareness, that recognition helps to purify the negative karma, not only today’s but all the past lives’ negative karmas. And not only that, but by doing Vajrasattva practice, then the negative karmas what we accumulate today does not multiply tomorrow and day after tomorrow, double, triple like this, then as weeks goes, as months goes, as year goes, so then becomes like mountains. Like one atom, slowly, slowly multiplying become mountains, the Earth, in the same way, one tiny negative karma without purifying, such as with a Vajrasattva practice, then if you let it, even it’s so tiny negative karma, if you don’t purify it then it multiplies day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, then it becomes, when the time of death comes, by that time become like mountains, like this Earth, by multiplying, so becomes very, very heavy, even that one negative karma. Here we’re just talking about that one tiny negative karma, without purifying before finishing the day.

Since I brought up the subject here, it is mentioned that in the teachings by Pabongka Rinpoche, the great enlightened being, Chakrasamvara, he mentioned in the lam-rim, in the teachings of the graduated path to enlightenment that a, if one kills one tiny insect today, then if one doesn’t purify before going to bed, before finishing the day, if one does not purify, it get multiplied, become double tomorrow, triple the third day. So after fifteen days, that negative karma becomes the same heavy karma as if you have killed one human being. Even though there is no story that one has killed a human being, but in the reality, by the increase of that one negative karma of having killed one tiny insect today, then after fifteen days it becomes in the reality the same heavy karma as having killed one human being, after eighteen days, it increases one hundred thousand, three hundred, I think maybe three thousand then the last one is seventy-two, between that whether there’s one hundred I’m not sure—I’ll check. I’m not sure, I don’t remember, I’ll check again. The last one is seventy-two, so that much negative karma gets increased after eighteen days.

So however, so therefore it’s regarded extremely important to purify before going to bed with the Vajrasattva practice, which has the power not only to purify the past but it helps to not multiply negative karma.

So I think, so three things, without renunciation of samsara, there is no way to achieve liberation from samsara; so without bodhicitta, there is no way to achieve enlightenment; without the wisdom realizing emptiness, there is no way to cut the very root of samsara. So today it is very important, these three things to understand, at least to have the intellectual understanding. Only then we can judge our daily actions whether they become cause of enlightenment or not, whether they become remedy to cut the root of samsara or not, whether it become cause of liberation or not, only then we can judge, only by understanding this then we have freedom to judge, only then we know what we are doing to our life. What you are doing towards others, what you are doing towards yourself.

REMEMBERING IMPERMANENCE AND DEATH
The other, I brought up this thing, but I didn’t get to clarify. I think one person said that while one drinks tea, by remembering impermanence and death, it only makes to drink more, because it is the last chance. I think this is also a very important point, especially for those who haven’t studied lam-rim or haven’t thought well in lam-rim. We have to understand why we have to remember impermanence and death, what the goal of this is, what is the aim of remembering the impermanence and death. If you don’t know, if you don’t have a clear idea, purpose, why to remember, why need to remember impermanence and death, then when you don’t have a clear idea, then these things happen. So, this is the end of my life, so why not have more? So this is what happens, so that is the lack of not having understood, of not having remembered the purpose of remembering impermanence and death.

In the outline of the lam-rim, it says how to take essence to this life, then the graduated path of the lower capable being comes, to achieve happiness in future life, then middle capable being path to achieve liberation comes, then higher capable path to achieve enlightenment comes. It starts with the meditation on impermanence and death, taking all these three essences, the happiness of future life, liberation, enlightenment. So therefore, the purpose of meditating on impermanence and death, if one does not do that, then one cannot cut attachment, one cannot cut the attachment clinging to this life. In this way our life’s activity becomes the work of attachment. Then this motivation is nonvirtuous, so all actions become nonvirtue, which means the result is the rebirth in the hell, preta, animal realms. And besides when one is born as a human being, there are so many problems one has to experience. To stop this, remembering impermanence and death stops attachment. This way your action does not become negative karma, this way you don’t experience rebirth in the lower realms, all those many eons of suffering. And then, this way your action is directed to the cause of happiness in future lives.

Then, not only that, by remembering impermanence and death, it cuts attachment also to samsara. It helps to cut the attachment clinging to the future life’s samsara, happiness, perfections. So it helps to generate renunciation of samsara. That’s how remembering impermanence and death helps to cut attachment even to future lives samsaric happiness, so it causes renunciation of samsara, so remembering impermanence and death directs the action towards liberation, become cause of liberation. Then also remembering impermanence and death it helps to practice bodhicitta, it helps, it persuades to practice bodhicitta. Then that cuts off self-cherishing thought, so this way your action—the drinking tea or whatever—is directed towards enlightenment, becomes the cause of enlightenment, in order to bring all sentient beings to enlightenment. So then remembering impermanence and death benefits for all this, to stop all the obstacles, to achieve all this happiness.

So the essential point is that, by thinking in this way, one didn’t think the actions becoming negative karma, because attachment, so actions become negative karma, didn’t think and didn’t think of the karma, so then analysis of karma is completely left out, so then to have as much possible, so that’s it and nothing else, you see. Then what’s the point of thinking of impermanence and death? It doesn’t make any sense.

This is the aim that we want to cut, that we don’t want, to create the cause of suffering. The action of drinking tea becomes the cause of suffering, so therefore you remember impermanence and death, then you can cut it. But if one is not aware of these things, this attachment, the action of drinking becomes nonvirtue, so the result is only suffering. So if one analyzes like this, checking like this, remembering impermanence and death has great meaning. It becomes so beneficial, it becomes so important. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense that, if one doesn’t relate to karma, the lowest thing is, first thing is to stop negative karma, the cause of suffering, so by remembering impermanence and death, the first thing, the lowest thing to stop creating negative karma. So then that the most powerful way, the quick way to, as us beginners then by remembering impermanence and death.

Again I talked a long time. So I’ll stop here.

[Dedications, short mandala.]

Please dedicate the merit to generate bodhicitta. Jang chub sem chog...

[End of Discourse]

LECTURE 19: 8 DECEMBER 1992

RENUNCIATION
The practice of the having realization of the graduated path to enlightenment, the fundamental path [depends on three things]: the renunciation of samsara, and bodhicitta, wisdom realizing emptiness; these three.

So, without renunciation of samsara, the complete determination for oneself to be free from the samsara, so without that, any meditation practice that we do doesn’t become cause to achieve liberation, the ultimate happiness, the cessation of the whole entire suffering, the general sufferings of samsara, the six types, the four types, three types, suffering of pain, suffering of change, pervasive compounding suffering, then particular sufferings of each realm, then karma and all the disturbing thoughts. So, any meditation practice that we do, does not become cause to achieve liberation from the entire samsara. So that is one, that is extremely important point to understand.

So these are the basic guidelines. If you don’t understand these points then you can’t tell your practice, even one spend the whole life, you cannot tell whether your practice, where your practice will lead you; your meditation practice, where you will lead. You cannot discriminate. Even you are doing meditation all the time, every day, all the time, but you cannot discriminate, you cannot tell what, by doing this practice what you gain, where, to where the practice will lead you.

So the importance of these three, the benefits of these three, from what source coming, from what undesirable things, sufferings, from which mistakes, by having these realizations it protects you from which mistakes of the mind, from which problems; and where, by having achieved these realizations, what, to put it in a simple way, what happiness, what you can achieve, what you can get, to be free from mistakes of the mind and sufferings is one thing, so what level of happiness you can achieve. So I just put it in this simple way, like that.

So without the renunciation of samsara, whatever practice, spiritual practice, what we regard as spiritual or meditation practice, Dharma practice, cannot cause to achieve the ultimate liberation, the cessation of the whole entire suffering and causes for oneself, because renunciation means with the meditation that, training the mind in the meditation that which makes you to realize the nature of the samsara, these aggregates caused by karma and delusions, that which takes again future life samsara. By rising delusions from the imprint, seeds, the motivating karma, leaving the imprint on the mental continuum, then that imprint gets actualized. The future life samsara gets actualized from that.

So, by training the mind in these meditations, all the shortcomings, meditating on all the shortcomings on samsara, all these general and particular sufferings of samsara, then one sees the nature of samsara only in the suffering like being in the center of a fire, that which gives strong determination constantly to be free from this, without effort, naturally, because one feels so unbearable being in the fire. So similar like this, constantly after one has realized how one’s own samsara is in the nature of only suffering, as one feels so unbearable, so the wish to be free from this, the determination to be free from this, comes strongly and it comes naturally, constantly, and that rises constantly.

So however, by realizing how samsara is in the nature of suffering, then that causes to generate aversion to samsara, no interest the samsara, no attraction. So that means cut off, by realizing, by meditating, by realizing how the samsara is the nature of suffering, then it cuts off attachment. It cuts off attachment clinging to samsara, to samsaric happiness, samsaric perfections.

So, that’s what it means, renunciation of samsara, that which means not having attachment, having cut off attachment clinging to samsara, samsaric happiness, perfections.

So, without meditating on the shortcomings of samsara, without meditating on that, the general and particular sufferings of the samsara, then one cannot see how samsara is in the nature of suffering, then, as I mentioned a few days ago, then one follow, what one apprehend is only hallucination, samsara is beautiful, as if it is a beautiful park.

So also I didn’t get to mention two things. I mentioned that, the impermanence, samsara which is impermanent but looking at it as permanent, apprehending it as permanent, it appears as permanent then apprehending that is true, then the body, the happiness, what these samsaric aggregates experience, how that is in the nature of suffering and, it is suffering of change, even what we label pleasure does not last. That which appeared as pleasure, not real pleasure, not true happiness but as pleasure, on the feeling that which is suffering, discomfort, one labeled pleasure and appeared as pleasure, then even that does not last. By continuing the actions it compounds this feeling that which one label pleasure, by continuing the actions which compounds this, then it doesn’t last, it decreases.

So, some feeling which is suffering then one labels pleasure and appears as pleasure then one believes that is true; one believes that is pure happiness, real pleasure. Then, another beautiful park, looking at samsara as a beautiful park.

Then mentioned about the body, we look at this body as clean, not dirty, however, as Nagarjuna explained in the Jewel Garland, in the reality it is the container of thirty-six dirty things: pus, blood and so forth, all those liquids and the many different things. All those things what the body contains, what comes out of the body.

KHUNU LAMA RINPOCHE
So that, as is mentioned in the Bodhicaryavatara, also as great bodhisattva, great pandit, great bodhisattva, Kunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen, who is His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teacher, from whom His Holiness received the commentary of the Bodhicaryavatara, The Guide to a Bodhisattva’s Life, who lived, who is from India, from Kunu, in Ladakh, who is the same as those ancient great pandits, able to remember the whole entire teaching, sutra and tantra, everything, like whole library, all the root texts, commentaries by pandits, Buddha’s teachings, everything in the heart—who can explain anything from any text. So, who lived with the sadhus in the River Ganga in Varanasi, where the people burn the bodies, where there are many sadhus. So Rinpoche lived there with the sadhus for many years. A great bodhisattva, and even in ordinary view a great bodhisattva. So, however, he was in reality a great yogi, an enlightened being. However, that, lived renounced life with nothing, like the sadhus.

After His Holiness took teachings from him, he became far-famed and all the high lamas and abbots of the monasteries came to learned from the bodhisattva. So then everybody took teachings. So I have received many teachings from Rinpoche, by having good fortune, a little merit, so, able to meet many times and receive teachings here in Nepal, also Bodhgaya in India: the Lamp for the Path, I think also the Praise to Bodhicitta. There is a special text written by this great bodhisattva, I think one hundred, maybe more than a hundred, I’m not sure, praises to, talking about the benefits of the bodhicitta. So, that then also three principles of the path, then instructions; then also Bodhicaryavatara in Bodhgaya.

I went to request to give commentary on Bodhicaryavatara, just personally to receive; so, everybody was so busy, every day there are lines of people from different parts, from Kunu, Ladakh, from different parts of India, so in the afternoons every day there are lines of people all the time to receive blessings from Rinpoche and things like that. Then, Rinpoche said he didn’t have time to give the commentary but he would give the oral transmission, but when we reached the part of the wisdom chapter, then Rinpoche started to give commentary but I fell asleep [GL, RL]. So as soon as Rinpoche started to give commentary on the wisdom chapter I fell asleep [GL]. So I think there might be some greater obstacle to realizing emptiness, to understand teachings on emptiness, because I slept during that time, so become very heavy karma to realize emptiness, to understand the teachings on emptiness, in the future. So, very kindly Rinpoche did like this.

Also Rinpoche advised to translate Bodhicaryavatara into English because that time there was no copies in English, there was no Bodhicaryavatara in English. I think there was one, I didn’t see but translated by Dawa Samdrup who made the first dictionary from Tibetan to English; no, from English to Tibetan, I think. So Rinpoche said even though there’s somebody translated, this person, Dawa Samdrup, who was the first translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, when His Holiness came to India. I think the very first book by His Holiness, there are two small books, Introduction to Buddhism—not the Opening the Eye of Wisdom—I think was translated by Dawa Samdrup, and the first one was by the Theravadin monk.

So, Kunu Lama Rinpoche was saying that he translated but it doesn’t matter, even someone has translated but doesn’t matter [RL]. So, but Rinpoche said, but you must have good knowledge from both sides, Tibetan translation, so I didn’t have good knowledge that time [RL], from both sides! [RL] So time to time, thinking maybe to do something. I think Rinpoche probably maybe might have mentioned because it would benefit. Then, the course book, that time it was not, just notes from the courses, so I asked Rinpoche to pray to benefit other sentient beings, so he did prayer, so it should have some benefit I think. [RL]

SEEING THE BODY AS DIRTY
Rinpoche said that after we chew the food then spit out, then it become very good if you’re trying to practice, when the food comes out, it become very different, if the food makes you proud, then when you vomit it out, you can’t eat that food. So Rinpoche is using this as a reason how the body is dirty, because otherwise we could eat it [RL, GL]. But I think the dogs do, no? [GL] The dogs they eat their vomit [RL]. Maybe the dogs they don’t think it’s dirty so much.

Anyway, it’s true that before we eat, before putting on the plate it’s clean, but after it’s gone inside the body, once it comes out then you can’t eat. [RL] Whichever way it comes out [GL, RL]. So if the body was clean, then we should be able to eat the food when it comes out of the body, should be able to eat the food after. If the body is clean. But because the body is dirty, so once it’s gone inside, once it’s come out through the body then can’t, it becomes dirty. So if even try to go to eat, it makes us vomit.

So, Rinpoche used to say that can see how the body is dirty by what comes from there, what comes from the eyes, what comes from all the [RL] holes of the body, that, so also, what is explained in the teachings, in the Bodhicaryavatara, these things, so when you see how the body is dirty, the nature of suffering, dirty. This is one very powerful meditation to cut off attachment to, one’s own body and to others’ bodies, to not create the hallucination and believe that it’s true. By believing in the hallucination, attachment rises; then that become cause of samsara, attachment ties us to samsara, that ties oneself constantly to samsara, the suffering realm, the aggregates caused by karma and delusion. Now this is a very powerful meditation, especially in our life when there’s a problem of dissatisfaction in a relationship and so forth, when there’s a problem from the emotional mind, and attachment then creates extra problems, disharmony in the relationships and creating many confusion between other people, not only confusion between oneself and other person but also making much confusion between many people, due to this dissatisfied mind, attachment. So, this is a very powerful meditation.

I think this is also a very good meditation for Western scientists, how they see the body through machines. It was probably the same person from England, I’m not sure. On TV in Adelaide, they showed how the body is full of worms. It’s in the blood. It’s very interesting, incredible, that inside the blood there’s full of these kind of shapes like that, it’s full of kind of sentient beings, running up and down in the blood [GL, RL]. Going through the blood like this, so there are many, through the blood and going like this. The whole body actually inside there’s a whole kind of [RL], in the blood there’s many sentient beings inside. I think it’s the same when you put the machine, you pick up a drop of old water from the, in the container of the flowers, water which is old, a few days ago, you take a drop and put on glass then put this machine, you can see these sentient beings there [RL].

Anyway, so inside the body there are many like this, going up and down, like a train station [GL]. Like a big office, some are coming out then [RL, GL]. Like those big parliament offices or something [GL]. Maybe like a hotel, rushing, some are going out, some are coming in. [RL] I think this is a very good meditation. In the blood, so much doing like that up and down, full. Then inside stomach [RL, GL]. But I think it might be small but with the machines maybe it becomes big. It’s very amazing.

And there’s one worm, a long one, do you remember what it does? Do you remember that? Uh? Roger says it’s just a regular worm [RL, GL]. A permanent worm, maybe. It is said in the Dharma, it is said in the teachings of Buddha, it is, I think 21,000 worms, usually it is said in the Tibetan teachings. So there’s a practice that when you put, when you eat food, there’s a practice that you make charity, there’s also prayer when you eat food that you are making charity to all the worms inside the body. So it is said, there’s also practice, prayer, what you do. So many meditators they do make, do this practice of making charity. Now we give food, the dedication is that, the prayer is that now you are giving food, satisfying them with food but later they become your disciples to give Dharma. Later then to guide them, by making this connection then later to guide them by Dharma, by giving teachings to them. And by being born as human beings, so forth.

So this is very good meditation to control the dissatisfied mind, desire, especially that which creates a lot of problems, not only problems within your mind but problems between many people, as I mentioned those past days. So, one very powerful meditation. So this way there’s no slightest, the whole outside is just covered up with skin, the whole thing is covered up with skin, but the skin itself, again if you look at with a magnifying glass, the skin inside, when you don’t see clear, it looks like smooth, but when you put magnifying glass that you see more clear how it is, kind of like, the pores are like mountains or something [RL], something a lot of bumps [RL]. It’s just because, the attachment rises just because not seeing the, not thinking this nature what is inside. So attachment rises when one doesn’t think of this inside things. When the mind is aware of the inside things, then attachment doesn’t rise. So, like that.

So it’s just, looking at it clean, by ignoring, by not being aware of the nature of the body and not remembering, not thinking, then believing in the hallucination that it’s clean. Clean, beautiful. Then attachment rises. So then that brings so many other problems and besides that it obscures to see the reality, not only in nature of suffering, also to realize the emptiness, so like that.

So point what I was talking, by doing these meditations, the body which is dirty looking as dirty, one is able to cut off attachment.

Then other thing is, that it has no self-existence. As we talked at the beginning for many days, it has no self-existence, it has no true existence, what exists is being merely labeled by the mind. Nothing exists from its own side, so there is nothing to cling to. In other words, to put it in a simply way, as we believe there’s nothing there, as we apprehend there’s nothing there, as we apprehend—I’m not saying there’s no body, no I, no object, I’m not saying that. But I’m saying as the object appears as independent or not merely labeled by the mind or the way we apprehend, means the way we see, it means what appears as not merely labeled by the mind, as true, as a hundred percent true, that’s how we see or how we apprehend it. According to the way we see, apprehend, there’s nothing there. The object, the way we apprehend, the way we see, it’s not there. So this is the reality. So, when we meditate this way, nothing, there’s no way to rise attachment, cut off attachment.

So what renunciation means is cutting off attachment to samsara. That is the point I was trying to make. Attachment becomes cause of the actions. If there’s attachment then actions are done out of attachment to samsara then they become cause of samsara, the cause of suffering. So, without the attachment, by cutting off the attachment, by cutting the actions done with the mind, everyday life actions done without attachment, the attitude, then it doesn’t become cause of samsara. So this becomes cause of liberation, so there’s huge differences. Like earth and sky the differences.

[Short mandala]

May the I that is empty achieve the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment, that which is empty, lead all sentient beings who are empty to that enlightenment as quick as possible.

[End of Discourse]

LECTURE 20: 9 DECEMBER 1992 AM

THE SUFFERING OF SAMSARA

The practice of Dharma, or spiritual path or meditation, whatever one does, it doesn’t become the cause to achieve liberation, cause to achieve the cessation of the whole entire suffering and causes. It is the same thing. Not only the meditation, the practice of a spiritual path, Dharma, our daily actions from morning until night, the twenty-four hours’ actions, if there is no renunciation of samsara, if the twenty-four hours actions’ is done without the motivation, the renunciation of samsara, then the twenty-four hours actions, our actions, does not become the cause to achieve ultimate happiness, the liberation from the samsara, from the suffering realm, the cessation of the whole entire samsara.

So this ultimate happiness, the cessation of samsara, the cessation of the whole entire suffering realm, this is what we need to achieve, this is what we need to experience. This experience we never had before, never experienced from the beginningless rebirth, from the beginningless of our rebirth.

As far as samsaric pleasure, happiness of samsara, there is nothing new left which we have never experienced before. There is not any happiness or pleasure of samsara which we never experienced before. As long as the pleasure that we experience is pleasure of samsara, it is nothing new. Everything we have experienced numberless times. We have even been a king, that the ordinary people in the world think to be president, to be leader of a country, to be leader of many millions of people, ordinary people or people in the world believe that it is a new experience, such a thing is a new experience in the life. This is because of lack of understanding of karma, of reincarnation, and lack of understanding of the nature of samsara. Because of that, lack of understanding or not remembering. Even if one has heard, even if one has understand, but not remembering, not being mindful, and then this hallucination comes, as if it is the first time to experience, as if it is a first pleasure to be a millionaire, to become millionaire, as if that is the first experience, as one never experienced before. Or to be president, to be king of a country. Including relationships. Even though in reality, everybody has been one’s own mother, father, brother, sister, friend, enemy, stranger. Oneself has also been father, mother, brother, sister, friend, enemy, oneself has been enemy towards all sentient beings in the past. Everybody have been one’s own enemy, friend, also oneself has been friend towards all sentient beings from life to life in the past, also oneself has been enemy.

KARMA: NOTHING IS DEFINITE IN SAMSARA
It is mentioned in the sutra teaching, the father becomes son, mother becomes wife, the enemy becomes friend. It is said after this that relationships always, definitely change. Therefore, in samsara, nothing is definite. Nothing is definite in samsara. As long as we are not liberated from samsara, this is the experience that happens all the time.

So there happened a story that, in India, maybe around the time when the Buddha was in India, so there are two disciples here, so I am not sure exactly, but [RL] which are which [RL, GL]. Maybe that is Shariputra, I’m not sure. So one is called Sharipu, one is called Maudgalypu, two arhats, principal, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s main disciples. So, Sharipu, I assume that might be Sharipu [RL], so among the disciples, who is excellent in the wisdom, then this one, in case it’s Maudgyalapu, then [RL] who is excellent in psychic power, among Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s disciples, who is excellent in psychic powers.

So Sharipu was going for alms in the village or in the town. So Sharipu saw one family, in the family house. He looked through the door and saw inside that, the father used to catch fish from the water pond which they had behind the house. So the father died and was born as a fish in the water pond which is behind the house. As he was looking through the door, Sharipu saw in the house, there is a son carrying a baby on the lap and eating fish and there was one dog waiting for food in front of them and there was the wife. So how Sharipu saw with the psychic powers, with his clairvoyance. So the father used to catch fish from the water pond behind their house. So anyway, somehow due to that karma, then the father died and was born as a fish in the same water pond where he would catch fish in his past life. So the fish the son was eating, the whole family was eating the fish, was that son’s father’s meat. And the the son’s mother died with attachment to the property, to the home, to the family, so the mother was born as a dog to that family. Then that son’s enemy, who did harm to the son, was attached to the wife, so died and born to that wife, born to them, so the son was carrying the baby, who is his enemy. Then eating father’s fish [RL, GL], eating the father’s meat. Eating the father’s flesh. [RL, GL] My words get mixed up. Like soup [RL, GL]. Then the son is beating the dog, his mother, with a stick and the dog was chewing the.... [RL, GL].

However, Shariputra said that, so as he was seeing the whole thing what happened, so then he said this verse, “Eating the father’s flesh, beating the mother, carrying the enemy on the lap, carrying the enemy who was born on the lap. I laugh at the samsaric existence.” Because the whole relationship completely changed, but you see the people themselves are not aware, they cannot recognize, they don’t know, they don’t recognize.

However, similar, if we think about one’s own home, one’s own family, it is all like this, those dogs, cats, those animals that we keep with us, who are around, who live with us, then the friend, enemy, stranger, however the whole family, like this, it is a similar story as what Shariputra saw when he was going for alms, the complete change in the relationship of that family.

Oneself has been friend towards all sentient beings, life to life, and also enemy, has killed all sentient beings, life to life. The continuation of consciousness did not have a beginning, so the reincarnations did not have a beginning. So as the consciousness took a body, the body which needed a mother, so other sentient beings become one’s own mother, so all sentient beings have been one’s own mother numberless times.

The relationship changes even within one life, that person become enemy, towards oneself, then again becomes friend, then again becomes enemy, again becomes friend. So even within one life with one person there are many changes happening. Again stay together, again separate, then after some time again stay together. So there’s changes enemy, friend even within a year, even within a month, even within a week, even within a day, morning friend evening becomes enemy. Even within one life it’s not definite. So no question if we think the long way, if we think life to life, no question.

KARMA: NOT SEEING IS NO PROOF THAT KARMA DOESN’T WORK
Because we don’t have an omniscient mind and we don’t have even clairvoyance to see hundreds, thousands of past lives, one thousand times or one hundred times, even to remember past lives. Even ordinary consciousness, even it’s not very deep clairvoyance, even one doesn’t have very deep clairvoyance to be able to remember one hundred thousand past lives or one thousand past lives or even one hundred past lives, one’s own, one hundred thousand past lives, even those ordinary clairvoyance can see, just even one past life, even to remember life before this, and also to be able to see the future life relationship. So, even ordinary clairvoyance, so therefore cannot see, cannot remember, cannot see. Even we believe that we were born from this mother, came out of the body on such and such a date, such a year, such a date, even one believe, but one does not remember. Most ordinary people cannot remember. Even we believe in this but we don’t remember, even without talking past lives, life before this, consciousness before took place on the fertilized egg, without talking that, just even this life, experiences of this life, particularly in those childhood times, beginning of this life, in the womb, after the womb, while we were in for about nine months being in the mother’s womb and how we came out, we don’t remember. Even if we believe but we don’t remember. So, as I mentioned another day, there are so many things we did, we experienced, we did, we have seen, but we don’t remember by now, in this life, so many things which we did, which we experienced, we have seen, but we don’t remember now.

So however that as His Holiness Zong Rinpoche, one very high lama from whom I received many initiations and many teachings, many commentaries of tantra, also gave teachings, especially in America, some of in the centers of this organization, especially in America. So His Holiness often used to say, when Rinpoche talked about reincarnation, when Rinpoche talks about that people believe there is no reincarnation, because they cannot see, so Rinpoche used to use, “ You cannot see even the back side of your head.” [GL] Here this word tak-ko in Tibetan language. So then Rinpoche used to say, “You cannot even see the back side of your head.” Here, he was meaning that you try to use the reason that because you can’t see previous lives they don’t exist, so you must use the same reasoning to proof that the back of your head does not exist.

Using this reason, you can say because you don’t see you have AIDS, so therefore, because your mind doesn’t see a hundred percent you have AIDS, then it doesn’t exist, so why do you have to go to see doctors to find out. Because, the reason because you don’t see, so that is the reason it doesn’t exist, then because you don’t see it, then just stay at home, you don’t go to hospital to check. The reason follows the same.

Some people think following one’s own wisdom, but however even for physical checking for diagnosis one goes to the hospital to have x-rays and to see doctors. So one believes whatever the doctor recommends, or labels, one believes whatever the doctor says. So somebody who has the name “doctor” then one believes everything, one believes what the doctor says. Because you don’t know, so here in this case, you don’t know, your own mind cannot see, discriminate, cannot see what is right, what is wrong, cannot see, so here you rely upon some other person, and his knowledge, somebody who has knowledge that you don’t have and that he or she has, so you rely upon somebody, and then you rely upon that person’s comment, that person’s advice, that person’s explanation what disease you have, whether one has disease or not.

In our daily life there are so many things that we believe what other people say. So for example, what the doctor explains, we believe in this. Also, oneself has neither omniscient mind nor clairvoyance to remember that oneself was born to this mother, and born out of the womb such and such a date. Oneself does not remember, but we normally believe what the parents said, which means what other people tell you, so we believe. So there are many other things such as geography, past histories, all those past histories, it’s not that your own mind is able to remember. The general or the most people, it’s not that they can remember, their own mind can remember all the past histories, either through omniscient mind, or clairvoyance, they can see those histories hundreds, thousands of years ago. But however believe what other people explain to you. There are so many things in our life, because you yourself do not have omniscient mind nor ordinary clairvoyance that can see things, so you rely upon somebody’s explanation. Our daily life is full of this. If we check, like this. If we are aware, if we can recognize, our daily life is full of this.

But then when it comes to the subject of karma and reincarnation, the Buddha is talking about, the omniscient one is talking about karma, Buddha’s explanation of karma, the particular story of one sentient being, like the world is full of the experience of karma. Before, in the early part of the life, that the person’s body is young, very healthy, beautiful, but somehow in the later part of the life, the whole body completely change, become something else, become completely that can’t believe, [GL] hard to believe. The, body, the limbs shrink or whole shape is completely changed, it’s not the person that you saw before at all. Before that experience, before this experience happening, it’s hard to believe, the person is very healthy, beautiful, everything’s okay, but, even somebody tells you, you are going to become like this, it’s very hard to believe. But however due to arthritis disease and so forth, however due to karma, when the body completely changed, never like before, so however there happened people that two legs slowly, slowly get joined. Or arms, slowly get changed, going backwards, slowly being changed. So that, early life everything okay, but later life completely changed.

Also, there happened in Tibet, many like this, that during the revolutionary times, times when they were torturing the people in public, killing or torturing those Tibetans who were forced by the Chinese, Communist Chinese to torture those other lamas and monks from the monasteries They forced lamas to go on all the four limbs on the floor like an animal or horse. Then they forced women to ride on the lama’s back. So, torturing, things like that. Then Tibetans were forced to destroy the statues, those very precious holy objects in the monasteries. Many of these people become crazy, sooner or later so many of them become crazy and their bodies become deformed. Their arms and legs twisted backwards, becoming deformed. In their later life the whole body completely become deformed. So many people become like that.

REALIZING HOW FORTUNATE WE ARE
I went in Spain one time, many years ago, to visit one freak place, where there are many people who have deformed bodies. Normally what I would like to see in the city for sightseeing, either something terrible, something extreme [RL], something most terrible, something extreme, otherwise it’s boring [GL, RL]. So, an old folks home, that’s one, or where people keep dead bodies, where they study the bodies, parts of the bodies in the house, the hospitals where they carry away dead bodies, different parts of the body, so those places and freak places [GL]. The other thing is the garden. If there is very beautiful nice flowers in a garden, then if I can remember the practice of offering, it helps to accumulate merit, because even the flower doesn’t belong to you but the flower what you see in your view, your own appearance, the flower, so that can be made offering, to the guru, Triple Gem, one can make offering if there’s a beautiful form like that. So there’s some meaning. So if one uses it for practice, seeing the beautiful flower if one use to practice Dharma then it has meaning. That makes life meaningful, one create the cause of enlightenment by making offering to Buddha.

Those other things are very helpful, besides old folks home, are freaks places. Those things are helpful to realize, to recognize that what an incredible opportunity we have. Our bodies are healthy and we have all the opportunities to practice, to develop the mind in the path. That have received precious human body, those freedoms, richnesses, and have met many fully qualified Mahayana virtuous friends that even we meet the actual Buddha, even we actually see Buddha, there is nothing more special to teach than what they teach. So we have met so many perfectly qualified Mahayana virtuous friends, have met the Buddhadharma, the unmistaken path to peace, so not just the Buddhadharma, not just only Hinayana teaching, not just only Lesser Vehicle teaching, but Mahayana teaching, then especially tantra, Mahayana tantra teaching, the quick path to enlightenment, that one has met the whole teaching, the whole path, that everything that the Buddha taught, so to, by practicing, only from one’s own side if one doesn’t practice, but if one practice, without doubt, without any doubt then one can be definitely liberated from the whole entire suffering of samsara. And not just that, not just liberation from samsara, can achieve full enlightenment.

It reminds one, it helps to recognize, to reflect on karma, so all these they are experiencing are the result of karma. All the undesirable things are the result of negative karma, the result of delusion. So itself becomes meditation on the karma and to recognize how our own perfect human rebirth, to see clearly how precious it is and how incredible things we can do now while one has all the opportunities, while we are healthy, while we have all the opportunities not only to benefit ourselves, buy especially to benefit all sentient beings by actualizing the path. That we can cause all the temporary happiness, especially ultimate happiness, liberation, full enlightenment towards other sentient beings.

There were people who had all kinds of bodies at this freak place. There was one person whose face this much the normal face, big, very large head, big face, but the body is very small. So I tried to shake hands all those people there. So while I’m shaking hand, the thought came into my mind while I’m shaking hands with them whether it is real or not. Whether this is real or not. [RL, GL] I don’t know what it is exactly but the karma, that particular karma, not only in Spain but also [GL], but also in India, Varanasi, near the River Ganga where they bring the bodies, where they burn the bodies, because the Hindus regard that water as very holy and then bring the body inside, before they burn the body they wash the feet with water, they think purify all the evils, so they think purify all the sins or something. So that place normally they have many beggars, but it is not just one you see also other places this small body, this much body, but huge head and face. So there must be some specific karma for this I think.

So there are all sorts of people who have unimaginable bodies, like that. Then there is one place where there are small children. There is one little girl that all the inside teeth, the gums, all are outside, all coming out, and the eyes are like, what’s the animal in Australia? This, the animal that I was holding, who eats eucalyptus. Koala! The eyes looks like koala, very small eyes and all these outside. So if you see suddenly I think you would get frightened, like here somewhere, if you see suddenly then I think [RL] you will be frightened. So with me there was one Italian student, so he said it was so terrifying [RL] that he didn’t want to see.

What I was talking about, in the world especially because of degenerated time, because of the degeneration of delusion, delusion becomes too strong, so strong and gross, the people create all sorts of negative karma, very heavy negative karma, all sorts of negative karma, therefore, there are so many people, various new diseases coming, that there is no cure for, various new diseases coming more and more, and also people born with all sorts of strange bodies. In India sometimes you see in the road, but I think in the West it seems they are kept in one place, so everything looks okay [RL, GL]. Not exposed, not outside.

However, our lives are full of things that we can’t understand, but because we don’t have either omniscient mind or clairvoyance to see things, we believe other people’s explanation. So same thing, so the same reason, if you believe in all these things, many of these things that we believe other people’s explanations, then it is same with karma. For example, in the past life having practiced charity and in this life, we have the enjoyment, wealth. In the past life we practiced morality so therefore in this life we have this human body. All these things about reincarnation and karma, these things what Buddha explained in the teachings. This is what the Omniscient One explained. It is the same that since one doesn’t have omniscient mind to see these things with your own wisdom, even with the ordinary clairvoyance. So the way to understand these phenomena, such things as karma and so forth, the reincarnation, the karma, so through somebody who has more knowledge, who has a mind that is more developed, who can see these things, who has clairvoyance, who has omniscient mind who can see these things. So the only way that we can discover, that we can realize the reincarnation, karma, is through their explanation of one who has advanced mind, that knowledge than oneself.

So the highest is Omniscient One, who has completed all the knowledge, all the realizations, all the understanding, so that is Buddha, the Omniscient One. So therefore Omniscient One who has perfect power and also completed the mind training in compassion so there is no cheating. Because of that there is no danger of cheating sentient beings or telling lie. However, the only way to realize this is, since oneself doesn’t have capacity at the moment to see, to be able to remember, to see these things, the only way to realize, to discover these things, reincarnation, karma is by relying upon other’s explanations. The highest one is the Omniscient One. So, only through Buddha’s explanation, through Buddha’s quotations, can one can discover, one can realize these subjects, that these phenomena which one cannot see, lack of capacity, lack of development of the mind.

[Blessing of tea]

RINPOCHE’S TEACHING STYLE
Somehow it didn’t happen. I thought to mention this, but somehow didn’t get to mention last few days. However, especially those who are first time to listen, first time to hear the teaching of the Buddha, especially for those who are the first time to hear Buddhadharma, it’s a little late actually to mention this [RL, GL], it’s got a little bit late to mention this but anyway, it is one’s own freedom that whether to devote to the virtuous friend or not, however, that even one quality that is what is mentioned teachings, for me it is like the stars in the daytime where even one quality what’s mentioned the teachings, qualities of the virtuous like the stars in the daytime. When the sun rises you can hardly find a star there. So like that, however it is very important that since we came from very far with much material expenses, or combined with trekking [GL, RL], I guess there’s no beach in Nepal [GL, RL]. So I guess what can be said is trekking.

However since we came up to here from such a far place, with many hundreds thousands of dollars expenses [GL], for some people it may be easy, for most people difficult. Some have even worked for this for so many years. So however my essence without talking too much, [RL, GL], the essence is that my speech doesn’t have any beauty. There is no beauty, there is no politeness, I don’t apply politeness in my talk, no sweet words or politeness or scholarly words. It is very poor speech. My speech is very poor speech, filled with a lot of coughs [GL, RL], not only broken English, not having correct grammar, especially accent—terrible! [GL] Especially the accent is terrible. I didn’t learn well. I think learning is a question of paying attention [GL], how other people speak, but I didn’t pay attention. So I think that is the mistake, didn’t pay enough attention how other people speak. So, no humor [GL], no smile. No charisma! You cannot any find charisma there. [GL] So there are a lot of obstacles, coughing and many things, many obstacles bothering you in the ears [GL[, buzzing your heart. Like if you beat a drum this way it buzzes the other side, the other side of the drum [RL] it vibrates. So you see, each of my coughs vibrates your heart [GL, RL].

However, there are hundreds of things like this, but what I want to tell you. So however, even one doesn’t want to practice Buddhism, but I think it is very important to understand that is very important. Then after one has understanding then there is freedom whether you want to practice or not. Whether one wants to devote one’s life in that or not. To understand is very important.

Now, I repeat the words many times. I know what I’m doing [GL, RL]. I’m aware of what I’m doing [GL]. And also remember when I was talking about emptiness, sometimes I tried to rush, started to talk fast so I mentioned dependent arising like that very fast so I think somebody heard “Tibetan rice” [GL, RL]. So I think, I was talking about Tibetan rice [RL, GL]. And then also didn’t speak the American accent - d-e-p-e-n-d-a-n-t a-r-i-s-i-n-g [GL, RL]. So then I think many maybe did not hear what I was talking about.

So of course it is generally best not to have repetition so it saves time and [RL], however it might help somebody who didn’t understand well, due to accent or many reasons or wandering mind. If mind got distracted then the last, if not second then the third part maybe caught up, or maybe give some idea.

HOW TO LISTEN TO THE TEACHINGS
The important thing is how to listen. In the beginning of the lam-rim teaching it talks about how to listen—how to explain, how to teach from the side of the lama and then from the disciple’s side how to listen correctly. And how to listen correctly becomes a very important point. With the recognition, in order the make the teaching what one listens beneficial for one’s own mind. Here it is not a school, college, university which has aim for degree. The purpose of listening is just to learn the words so that you can get degree, if you pass examination then you get degree and you can find a job. Here the purpose is mainly to benefit your mind, mainly to benefit the mind. That is the main aim of the meditation course. That is the main aim of teaching the graduated path to enlightenment, mainly to benefit for the mind. So that’s the purpose. To put it simply, to pacify, to pacify the delusions such as the attachment, thinking the samsaric happiness and the perfections of samsara, that which is the cause of samsara which become obstacles for oneself to achieve liberation from the suffering, the whole entire suffering realm, the samsara. To achieve this for oneself, to pacify this

The other thing is to eliminate ignorance—the concept of true existence, which is the root of the samsara, the whole entire suffering and causes. Then self-cherishing thought that which is another greatest cause for obstacles, which interferes to have the greatest success for oneself and for all sentient beings, to cease all the mistakes of the mind, to achieve the full enlightenment and which interferes to bring oneself, to bring all sentient beings, to free all sentient beings from all their sufferings and to bring the peerless happiness, the full enlightenment. To bring from suffering to happiness, temporary happiness then to liberation, enlightenment. So according to the level of their mind. So the self-cherishing thought which interferes, which is the greatest obstacle for this. So in short, so to pacify these things, to subdue these things, our mind which is overwhelmed, possessed by these wrong concepts, by the delusions, so to pacify, to subdue these things. So if we are able to pacify these things, then there is no obstacle to achieve liberation or to achieve enlightenment, to cut the root of samsara.

So however, it is explained in the teachings that 84,000 delusions which are branches of the ignorance, anger, attachment. So this chronic disease of the mind which continuation has been existing from beginningless rebirth until now. So something which, chronic disease of the mind that which did not have beginning from beginningless rebirth, so by listening to teaching of Buddha, particularly the teachings of the graduated path to enlightenment, to subdue or to cease or to end.

It is explained how to make teachings that we listen to beneficial for one’s own mind. It depends on how one listens to the teachings. There is also the part from the side of the lama who explains the teachings, the motivations and so forth. There is a whole thing how to explain but there is also how to listen.

So the lama who gives teaching, by looking at it as a skillful doctor, as a wise doctor, then the teachings what one listens as a medicine, then as I just explained before what the teaching are. Then for oneself, teachings are like medicine, oneself as a patient, severe patient. Somebody who has cancer or AIDS is a severe patient that or who has very, very serious disease or very old disease that is not easy to recover. However, here the disease is mental disease, illness of the mind—all these delusions which are sickness of the mind, which continuation did not have beginning. So very severe, oneself as very severe patient of delusion who has sicknesses of delusions, chronic disease of delusions. So to listen to the teachings with these three, by looking at like this, one who gives teachings, the lama who gives teaching, the wise doctor, the medicine, the teaching as the medicine, then oneself as severe patient.

Then there is listening to the teachings with the six recognitions—with the recognition of the fully enlightened beings, the holy beings, then the wish for the teaching to exist for a long time, for the teachings that show the unmistaken path to peace to exist a long time. That it can cure the disease, the chronic disease of delusion. Then the teacher who teaches Dharma as a representative of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, even if one doesn’t see Buddha directly, in that aspect receiving teachings, but thinking, that recognition that, so receiving teaching through this aspect.

I am just mentioning the main points, there many details and there are many details the conduct of listening to the teachings. It is not like studying, but even universities and schools have discipline. Especially here the main purpose is to subdue the mind, so there are also many things explained. The teacher who gives teaching, who teaches Dharma doesn’t create negative karma and also from the side of the disciple doesn’t create negative karma with disrespect for the teachings and so forth. However there many, in the teachings explained also respectful manners, how to subdue manners how to listen to teachings. In order to save from creating negative from both sides they cannot give teachings to somebody who is standing, a disciple who is standing and so forth, so there are many details mentioned. So, there should be no disrespect for teachings, then there is no danger to create negative karma. To protect them from both sides from creating negative karma, there are many disciplines mentioned, whom you can give teachings to, whom you can’t give teaching to, according to the manner of the person.

Traditionally, every time the lineage lamas they give teachings, every day they explain the motivation before listening to teachings, to give the extensive profound view. Every time before doing the actual discourse, the lama often explains the motivation. And again all three, not just the graduated path of the lower capable being, but of the middle capable being, and the higher capable being as well. So he explains in profound, extensive way. Then at the end of listening to the teaching with this pure motivation of bodhicitta and then listen to the teaching with righteous conduct according to the traditional practice of the lineage lamas, who through these practices what is explained in the teachings that they completed the path and achieved enlightenment.

So, even the manners, to sit in a subdued peaceful manner, because here the main aim is to make the mind peaceful, to subdue the mind, the delusions. There are many things here, many disciplines here, which are not in universities colleges or schools, where the whole study is not focused on subduing the mind. If you are able to learn the words well then you can get the degree and you can find a job. So it is as simple as that. But here the meaning, the purpose is very deep, very vast. It is a question of developing the mind in the path. Something which can be the most difficult thing but the most important thing. Depending on the individual person, something which can be very difficult thing, most difficult thing to do, but it’s the most important thing than anything else in the life.

I just remembered something about my mother. [RL, GL] My mother cannot read. She cannot recognize even one syllable of Tibetan letter. But her heart is a hundred times much better than my mind. She never studied texts. I might have many more words of Dharma, but her heart is a hundred times much more better, her mind is much more, her good heart is one hundred times greater than my mind. She has incredible compassion, so much compassion for people. Even if she doesn’t know all the words of the different sufferings of sentient beings, even though she has no idea. But anybody who she sees around her, she has so much compassion. Who works for her, who cleans, who does things, who brings food, even people she sees in the street, people who go barefoot, who are poor, she has so much compassion. Just an unknown person, a stranger, not just people she knows or takes care of her, not just that. She has so much compassion, so much concern for them, always she will keep herself last, think of herself as the lowest person, the last person—others are always first. Everyone, it doesn’t matter whether they are young or old, however they look, educated or uneducated, rich or poor, whatever, everybody is first. Whatever there is, thing to have.

She did not study Dharma because she didn’t have much intellect, but she goes to see those high lamas in Solu Khumbu, here in Nepal, India. So, in the early times she went to Tibet with my father. I don’t remember what my father looked like. I have no idea. People describe him as a person who didn’t get upset very easily. They’re not saying that he didn’t get angry. The saying is that he had a very big stomach. That doesn’t mean a physical stomach, but it means he doesn’t get upset easily. I don’t know how to say. A person who doesn’t get disturbed easily. Placid, plastic [GL, RL]. I hope my father’s not plastic, [GL, RL] or rubber [GL, RL]. My father’s not rubber. [GL, RL]

I think my father must have died when my mother was carrying me, just a small baby. It must have been around that time he might have died. Anyway, I think at the beginning, in the early times, she went with father to Tibet to receive teachings from one very high lama whose monastery is behind Mount Everest, called ?Dzasumbu. The lama’s holy name is Rumbu Sangye, who is the root guru of Tulshig Rinpoche, who is highly qualified, very learned, strict in morality and also good heart, who has all the three important qualities. Who is also my guru that I received some teachings from. So these two lamas are the main lamas in the Solu Khumbu area where I was born, there two are the main lamas, that the people in Solu Khumbu they go, the Sherpas. When Tibet was independent, they go to receive the teachings on the preliminary practices, tantra teachings, the ordinations from these two lamas. So nowadays, the other root guru Rumbu Sangye passed away many years ago, so now there is only Tulshig Rinpoche who lives in Solu Khumbu, who has established, there’s nuns and also monks, kind of like a hermitage. It is a little down, not high up, area called Jumbesi.

So however, my mother doesn’t have much intellect, because she did not study text and cannot even read the alphabet. So with so much devotion, unbelievable devotion to go for teachings just to get blessing. She said only the times when the lama says some simple things between the teachings, not the actual teaching, talking about the path, and all, if it’s tantra then talking about chakras, winds, all the technical things, not that one. [RL] Not very important, but the simple advice that when you are near to lama, the guru, how one should behave, how one should conduct oneself. So things like that, simple advices. So these ones, she is able to understand. What she understands, then she doesn’t forget. The few things that she understood, she doesn’t forget.

One of the lamas—I think the one who passed away in Tibet, but I’m not sure—said that when you are in front of the lama, guru, you shouldn’t keep your hands all over, that you should keep your hands like this, which means in a subdued manner like this, calm, subdued. She remembered this. All the time whenever she goes to see lamas, those other high lamas or when she sits down, when she comes to see me or when she sits with me all the time her hands go like this [RL]. Also my uncle as well. Not only her, but also my other uncles, those who went to receive teaching from the same lama.

The lama sometimes gives advices when you recite OM MANI PADME HUM, you don’t move two beads, you have to count each one by one. So the lama told that you cannot recite OM MANI PADME HUM once then you pass two beads. So this one she is able to remember. [GL] And that when you recite OM MANI PADME HUM you only have to recite OM MANI, the Compassionate Buddha’s mantra, so this is what she recited all day long, day and night. So the lama told your mind should not wander during that time. So this she heard, this she understood. [RL] So later after she heard this, when she was here at Kopan, that time, our incomparably kind Lama Yeshe was here at that time just before took the aspect the actual serious sicknesses, before passing away. So my mother was here. So during that time she spent all day long upstairs reciting mantras without closing her eyes, trying not to let her mind wander, putting all the effort. [RL] So things like that. So simple things she understands.

So however, there many disciplines of listening to the teachings that are explained in the text, that are practiced by the lineage lamas. If one doesn’t do them involves the negative karma, disrespect. So leaning on the wall, the pillars, walls, or things like that. Also if the leg has pain one can stretch, if one is sick then it is permitted to relax the body, because there is no other choice, that is permitted. If one is sick one can lay down and also stretch. However, if it’s possible. one should not do it towards the altar or the guru or where there are the statues, stupas, scriptures, like that. So if there is another way to stretch, then one can stretch. If not then there is no choice, if one is sick.

Not just this, there are many such details in the teachings at the beginning of the lam-rim, beginning of the graduated path to enlightenment. So from both sides, from the guru’s side and also from the side of the disciple to save from creating the negative karma of disrespect. So if you know those details, then in the future we know how to listen to the teachings, we know how to behave, how to discipline correctly, how to stop creating negative karma, disrespect, things like that, towards the Triple Gems, the guru-Triple Gems. So if it is not explained then there is no way to find out, there is no way to know these practices, how to listen to teachings correctly, how to make it beneficial for one’s mind and also manners, how to listen to the teachings with righteous manners that all the lineage lamas who completed the path, who actualized the realizations of the path to enlightenment which they did, which they practiced.

So however, this just happened by the way. So it’s not just only to hear the teachings, it’s not only just understanding the words. Here the purpose is not only that. That alone doesn’t fulfill the whole purpose.

So however, now, listening to the teachings with these six recognitions, then one uses the teachings that one listens to subdue one’s own mind. This way you are using your own mind, your own delusion as target and the teaching as the weapon to destroy the delusion. So one uses the teaching this way. One turns the teachings towards one’s own delusions. So this is the way to make the teaching beneficial to one’s mind.

Now to finish this part. So the essence what I was going to mention before. The very important thing that if there is something that one doesn’t understand, then where that word is connected, which sentence, which subject it is connected, so it can be discussed with the old students who have heard it many times, who are familiar with my garbage English [RL, GL]. So you can discuss it later. The most important thing is to know the point that I’m talking about, why I’m saying this. That is very important. Even if there is a very long talk but what is the point, what is the essence of the talk. To understand that. If you miss the point, then it may not be much benefit to the mind. Even word by word, even one cannot catch up or memorize, but to understand the point, if there are different reasons, even one doesn’t understand all the words but the point of each reason. To get the point that is very important. Then this way one does not forget. This way one comes to know the essence of the subject. Then it becomes more beneficial for one’s mind.

There can be many mistakes, grammar and those things. There can be mistakes in the explanation of Dharma due to not remembering or forgetting, due to limited understanding, Dharma is so vast like oceans, like sky, so vast, so deep. However the limitations of my understanding Dharma, not like those geshes, Lama Lhundrup and those geshes who have done all the sutra, all those extensive scriptures, who have done study. It’s not like that. So there can be mistakes. So the mistakes that I’m talking about, completely wrong path, normally I do like that, so, even one doesn’t practice, it’s very important to listen, to pay attention and to analyze, to pay attention and to check, analyze, that is very important. For the benefit of one’s own life, for your own life, peace, not just temporary peace, happiness but since we all want happiness, since we all are looking for happiness, so as regards happiness, there’s temporary happiness and ultimate happiness. So if we want temporary happiness means, actually it means also we want, according to the wish it means according to the wish, means also want ultimate happiness as well, if one can achieve. Since we want temporary happiness, means also we want ultimate happiness as well. That the question whether one is able to practice the method to achieve the ultimate happiness, that is something else; otherwise regards wishing for happiness, this I would think, since one wish for temporary happiness, for sure one would wish, ultimate one, naturally there would be the wish for everlasting happiness.

So I stop here.

REFUGE
It can be done also later, near the end or somewhere. Also can be done again if you, that if somebody wishes later, to do later also can be done. So those who already decided, those who are taking today, then maybe I thought to do now. Okay. So break or not? Break. Okay.

[Short mandala]

Thank you.

Yeshe Khadro:
Just the people who are taking it to come back?

Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
For example, if one is going to recite mantra without refuge and with refuge, so there are great differences in the merit, in the benefit; by having refuge in the mind, then if one does the practice, the sadhana or if one does meditation or recitation of mantra then—Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, a lama from whom, after Lama Yeshe passed away took so many initiations and various other teachings—Rinpoche explained that by having refuge, if one recites mantras, those practices, then the merit is, the benefit is a hundred times much more than doing the practice without refuge, without taking refuge.

So it is mentioned in the lam-rim, in the teachings of the graduated path to enlightenment that, only by having the refuge within one’s own heart then, one enters in the Buddhadharma. If one doesn’t have refuge in the mind then, even if one knows the whole entire teachings of Buddha, sutra and tantra, the whole entire teaching by heart, all the commentaries, everything, even if one can explain everything by heart without mistake, it doesn’t mean that that person has entered into Buddhadharma. What differentiates whether one is inner being or outer being, outside of the Buddhadharma is outer being. So Lama Atisha said that is defined by having refuge. If one doesn’t have the refuge in the mind, then one is outer being; if one has refuge in the mind, then one becomes inner being, like that.

As Lama Lhundrup explained, as he gave explanation on the refuge that one’s own mind is qualified with the understanding fear, in other words aversion to the samsara, then in particular the three lower realms, those sufferings. Then the other qualification is the faith in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, that they have that capacity, the power to save oneself from the suffering of samsara, in particular the three lower realms’ sufferings. So the mind being qualified of the understanding fear of samsara and then faith to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha that they have the power to save oneself from the samsara and particular, the three lower realms. This is the cause of refuge. So once one’s mind is qualified with these two—understanding fear of samsara and then faith to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha—they have the power to save, then one’s own mind is perfected in the two cause refuge. So now what means to take refuge, then one’s own mind qualified of these two: understanding fear of samsara then the faith to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, that they have the power to save oneself. So, to liberate oneself from the whole entire samsara and then in particular, the three lower realms.

Then completely, one-pointedly, then relying upon, the whole heart, then relying upon the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. Doesn’t matter whatever happens with my life, either one is dying or living, happy or miserable, whatever happens is up to you, the whole heart relying upon, depending on Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. So that is what means taking refuge.

MAHAYANA REFUGE
According to the Lesser Vehicle Path, Hinayana, this is the same. Now the Mahayana way of taking refuge, the cause of taking refuge is, before just only two, now three. So the additional one, the additional cause of refuge, is compassion, compassion towards all sentient beings. Besides understanding fear of samsara, then faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha has the power to save oneself from the whole entire suffering of samsara. Then one looks at the other sentient beings and that they are also similar like me, they are also suffering in samsara. So then you feel unbearable compassion, wishing others to be free from the suffering of samsara. So with these three causes, your mind is qualified with these three causes, then with the whole heart rely upon Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, yourself and all sentient beings together, taking refuge to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. So visualizing that all sentient beings are also taking refuge to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. Then they are also reciting the, “I am going to take refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha”. As you recite the prayer, then also all sentient beings in the form of human body, then also reciting the prayer with yourself as the leader, all sentient beings follow you. So then all together taking refuge to, relying upon the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, that your own mind, by having, with the mind which is qualified of these three causes. So that is the Mahayana way of taking refuge.

Faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha has the power, the perfect power to save oneself and all sentient beings from the whole entire suffering of samsara. That is the faith.

So it is mentioned in the lam-rim teachings that by having refuge then one enters the Buddhadharma. Then by having refuge, then it becomes the foundation for pratimoksha vows, lay vows, then those monks’ and nuns’ vows. It becomes the foundation for everything. Without refuge there is no foundation for all those other vows. Then by having refuge in the heart, it purifies all the past, all these negative karmas accumulated from the beginningless rebirth until now, it purifies.

KARMA: GOOD LUCK MEANS GOOD KARMA
Then by having refuge within one’s own heart, immediately, within an hour, besides in our everyday life, within an hour, minute, even a second, we can accumulate extensive merit; putting it in ordinary terms: good luck, extensive merit, extensive good luck. Because some common people use the term, whether the person has luck or not. If I am lucky then I will win the lottery or I will pass examination or something, a degree or able to find a friend or something, whatever.

So they are using the term “luck” but actually what they are talking about is karma. They don’t know what luck is, they don’t know exactly what they are talking about, but actually they are talking about karma. [GL] They are talking about karma. Merit is good karma, good karma is the cause of success. This is what they are talking about, but they use the different term “luck.”

Usually business people believe luck is something independent, truly existent, luck is something independent. That you don’t create luck, your mind doesn’t create the luck, but good luck, bad luck is something there. I think, but I’m not sure. [RL] Good luck and bad luck. There is something there. There is good luck and bad luck but not sure what it is. (RL) So everyday life they talk good luck, bad luck, (RL) but not sure what it is.

Anyway, so good luck, bad luck, something that is dependent on our attitude, a virtuous or nonvirtuous motivation. So nonvirtuous motivation creates bad luck and virtuous motivation creates good luck. So it’s like that. So it’s something came from the mind. So therefore you can create good luck, you can stop bad luck and you can create good luck.

When the person’s merit is low, the person lives on merit, past good karma, and then have success, but after some time, because the person doesn’t create any more good karma, they are not attempting to create more cause, more good luck. So then just live on past, like the person just live on the money that is collected from their past time work. Then if one doesn’t work, if one stops working, doesn’t work any more then that money that one lives on, use from past work then just, it only finishes, becomes less and less. So same thing with good karma. So who have much success in business and so forth, then that’s living on the past good karma. So you don’t attempt any more, you don’t attempt to create merit, then the merit, like the money became more you use, more you spend, it becomes less and less. So like that, the merit became less and less as one lives on the result, the past good karma.

So anyway, the person’s merit, either merit is low, finished or merit is low, that merit that brought all the success in business or whatever it is; either that one finishes or become very small because the person did not try to accumulate more, or—the other thing —the person suddenly did something very, very heavy negative karma. So this is more powerful than the merit that the person accumulated in the past, the good karma. Now this negative karma becomes much more powerful, which brings the cause of obstacles. So then suddenly while the person is having success, things are okay, then suddenly there is a big obstacle and nothing is working, nothing is working in the life. So many obstacles, first this obstacle, then another obstacle, then another, like that. Suddenly their business collapsed, even the person had been having so much success, but then suddenly collapsed and that even one has to worry, never worried before about paying rent, things like that, but now something never happened before, then all of a sudden, reached the point even to worry about day to day living.

So there are things like that in the, there are changes happening like in the life, there are changes happening, as goes through year to year like this, there are different changes in the life happening. So that is depending on karma. The person doesn’t create any more good karma, then they live on the past one, then that became less and less or finished, or not finished but the person creates some other very heavy karma, negative karma. So then that other one is smaller, the other one is much stronger. So then that brought all the obstacles in the life. So like that there are different ways how the unsuccess, the problems, how they arise.

HOW TO ACCUMULATE MERIT
When things like that are happening, there are many methods explained in the texts on how to accumulate merit, that there are various methods to extensively to accumulate merit, that making offerings to holy objects, Triple Gem, the powerful object the Sangha, things like, the food offering, or whatever, food, drink, whatever one can, money, so forth. Then also, making a statue and things like that or things like a Tara Puja.

What a Tara Puja it is all about, again, is purifying, confessing, purifying the negative karma, it involves accumulating merit by making offering, such as the mandala. So offering mandala four times, the four mandala Tara Puja is regarded very powerful for success. It involves the seven limb practice which involves confessing the negative karma, and then those very, very powerful means of accumulating infinite merit, extensive merit. Practicing rejoyfulness, doing prostrations, making offerings. So those things, making offering to Tara. The eight types of offering, again and again.

So the whole method, the whole point is there is a lot of offerings within that. So actually performed offerings, then visualize, then much more extensively you visualize and offer. So the offering to Tara by visualizing, then in order to accumulate most extensive merit then by visualizing guru, but in the, as the aspect, as inseparable like this. So mandala offering and then taking refuge, bodhicitta. So each time when you generate bodhicitta, there is infinite merit, one accumulates. So this is repeated four times. So this is what is called Tara, doing Twenty-one Tara praises, so the reason why it brings, why it pacifies obstacles, why it brings so much success in the life, by doing these pujas, is because it involves purifying the past negative karma and accumulating merit. Doing those very powerful methods of accumulating extensive merit. So that is why, that it is creating the cause of success. There are many other different methods to increase the luck or to increase the merit.

The individual person doing those practices, purifying, accumulating merit, purifying past negative karma, cause of unsuccess, and accumulating merit for success. Then also other thing, the offering to the stupa, those holy objects, the Sangha and so forth, like that. Even printing mantras and prayers, prayers, mantras or deities, the figures on the cloth, paper then putting on the high mountain, putting on the very high mountain. So there are many other means to increase luck or merit. By depending on the power of Buddha and Dharma, Sangha, the Guru, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, by depending on their power, like that. So when we are accumulating merit, good karma, that time then we are accumulating extensive good luck.

So with the refuge, by having refuge in one’s own heart, which means the understanding fear and then faith to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha and relying upon them. So because of this, that even that one has nothing to offer. Because of this then one does the practice of offering. So every offering, prostration, respect, everything that is done towards the Buddha, everything that is done towards a Buddha, even a statue, everything becomes a cause of highest success, the full enlightenment. Every single thing becomes cause of the highest success, highest happiness, enlightenment. So this is like the benefits of the eight Mahayana precepts. There is so much temporary happiness but there is also the highest ultimate happiness.

Every single action, the offerings, prostration, respect towards the Buddha, even the statues, the stupas and so forth, everything, that the result, there is inconceivable result which one experiences, even while one is in samsara, so many hundreds, many thousands, thousands of lifetimes. Then this is without talking about all the infinite qualities of Buddha’s holy body, holy speech, holy mind.

THE FLY ON THE COW DUNG
So like the story, the old man who only began to practice Dharma when he was over eighty years old. He became monk and then in that life he achieved, he actualized renunciation of samsara, actualized the whole path to enlightenment, the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness. And then he became arhat in that life, even he began practicing Dharma only after, when he was over eighty. When he was over eighty (RL) so he became arhat in that life. Then after arhat, became arhat because you have completely removed even the seed of delusions, that means you don’t have delusion, no negative karma. So you are completely, also completely liberated from the whole suffering of samsara. So that is according to the Lesser Vehicle Path, this is the highest what you can achieve. So the old man achieved this. And then of course after achieving this you never go back to samsara. There is no cause. So then you enter in the Mahayana Path, when the time is ready Buddha sends light to the arhat and then there is some words but I don’t remember, Buddha gives advice. Then that arhat enters Mahayana Path, then achieve enlightenment. So now, then free all sentient beings from all the sufferings and bring to enlightenment.

Now all, now we have to think about the cause. (RL) The important point of this story is that now we have to think about the very original cause. What gave him the chance to become a monk after eighty years old? Normally it is difficult. Why did Buddha tell him that he can become a monk even though he was rejected by the first abbot, Sharipu? But Buddha said, “I have completed the merit, two types of merit I have completed. So because of that then omniscient mind can see that you have karma to become a monk.” So his karma to be a monk happened an inconceivable times ago, length of lives ago. One time, when he was a fly, (GL) there is one fly there. (RL, GL) There is one fly, one fly that goes into the spider’s web. (RL, GL) So he was a fly. Buddha told him he had the karma because an inconceivable length of time ago, one of his lives he was a fly. So the fly followed the cow dung, smell of the cow dung, which traveled around the stupa. (GL) So it is not because the fly is knowing this is stupa and so precious and I must purify. (RL, GL) Not because of that. The fly just follows the smell of the cow dung. So by the way it became, you might say by good luck, by luck (GL) it became, that fly circumambulating the, it became, by the way it became circumambulation of the stupa.

That was the merit. That small merit (GL) without motivation of bodhicitta, without renunciation, without doing anything, (RL) just completely the attachment, the mind completely the attachment to the smell of the cow dung. So that one time became circumambulation just by the way. So that’s all. So that’s the merit, that’s why he can become a monk. So then from that he is able to actualize path, arhat, then enlightenment. So then able to bring all sentient beings to enlightenment. So all that if you search back, if you think back to the original cause (RL), so that small merit, that tiny merit, so that is because of the power of the stupa. It was not from the side of the fly’s mind, (GL) because the mind is only attached to following the smell of the cow dung. But how it became virtue is that by the power of the stupa, as I mentioned yesterday. Generally our daily activities to become good karma, it depends on our virtuous motivation. But then there are exceptional actions which do not depend on motivation to become good karma; such as these actions, respect, offering prostrations, so forth to holy objects, such as the, even the statues, stupas, scriptures, even these holy objects. So due to the power of the holy object, so the action became not only good karma, not only cause of happiness, not only cause of temporary happiness, not only liberation from samsara, but it became every single one become the cause of enlightenment.

So even without refuge in the mind of the fly (GL), by depending on the power of the holy object, by circumambulating this incredible thing happened. So ultimately he become enlightened then able to bring all sentient beings to enlightenment. That is the ultimate goal. [RL]

We human beings who have refuge in the mind, who has these understandings and then faith, so knowing all these things, how incredible that we can create so many causes of happiness with relationship with the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, so many practices what we can do. So every day there are so many opportunities, within one day, within an hour, a minute, so much opportunity, that even one has nothing to offer, but one can offer one’s own body, speech and mind or one can visualize numberless offerings and one can offer to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, to accumulate, like mandala offering, we visualize the whole universe, all those golden mountains, all these precious things, so in that minute we accumulate inconceivable, infinite cause of happiness, infinite merit we can accumulate, constantly and even when we eat, drink, as I mentioned yesterday or other one of those days. Even when we eat, drink, so that each time, not only offering before, but each time when we eat, drink, so if we think of Buddha in the heart, then either yourself Buddha, or Buddha in the heart, then each drink, each time we eat, making offering, nectar, making offering to Buddha. So every single thing, every single eating, drinking becomes inconceivable cause of happiness, merit. Every single thing becomes highest cause of, highest the full enlightenment. So every single eating, every single drink. So it is unbelievable.

So that means every single drink, eating becomes beneficial, beneficial for every single sentient being. Why? After you become enlightened, especially after you become enlightened, then you are able to bring all sentient beings to enlightenment, by freeing them from all the sufferings. So each of your actions, drinking, eating, as it becomes cause of enlightenment, so it becomes cause for you to bring every sentient being to enlightenment. So it is unbelievable. The benefit is unbelievable. So like this example.

REFUGE: HOW IT CREATES EXTENSIVE MERIT
So in every day, every hour, minute, we have unbelievable opportunity by having the refuge. I mention this, people who don’t have refuge in the mind, who don’t have faith to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. What is left for that person, the only way to create good karma is if that person has compassion. The other way to create good karma, the only chance what for that person who doesn’t have faith in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is only if that person has a good heart. Then there is opportunity to accumulate merit. So if the person has no good heart, no compassion, no good heart, then there is no opportunity, that blocks all merit. So now only opportunity the person has to accumulate merit, good karma, cause of happiness is only object of sentient beings, only with the sentient beings. That is the only opportunity. And that depends on how much good heart the person has.

So if the person doesn’t have good heart, then the person doesn’t benefit other sentient beings, doesn’t practice charity, doesn’t help others sincerely from the heart. So this person, the non-religious person, this person’s only opportunity to accumulate merit is with the sentient beings; not with Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, but with the sentient beings. So if the person doesn’t have compassion, no good heart, no opportunity even to accumulate merit even with the sentient beings, even that is no chance. So only if there is compassion, good heart, then there is chance that the person can accumulate merit with the relationship with the sentient beings. So helping others, physically helping, whatever the person can do, material, with the body, speech, and mind, whatever the person can do.

We who have refuge in the mind, faith in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, there is additional opportunity, besides having the opportunity to accumulate merit every day, every hour, minute with the relationship of the sentient being, besides that we have incredible opportunity to accumulate merit with the relationship with Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, much more powerful objects. There is also benefits of the refuge, like this example of the old man. By having refuge, there is so much more. Even that fly, without refuge that became circumambulation, then from that all these things happened, up to enlightenment; then, able to bring all sentient beings to enlightenment, so all this comes from that.

Then, one doesn’t receive harm by having refuge in the mind. One doesn’t receive harm from human beings and non-human beings, spirits and so forth. Then, whatever one wishes, whatever one wishes get succeed quickly.

So just simple example, without telling other stories, just that man, just Mr Lim who was here last few weeks. Because with his whole hear, he trusted Tara, he completely relied upon Tara. Because of that, his cancer was completely cured, his stomach cancer was completely cured. Even there is not much extensive understanding of Dharma, but because his mind has this quality, complete trust, reliance upon Tara, his stomach cancer was completely cured from that. Not only that, then he was able to cure many other people, including his son who has a very, very bad heart, and somebody who was possessed by a spirit. This person was possessed by a spirit and stayed at home, never coming out, so the other people can see even fangs coming there, his face changed, the fangs coming out. Then he stayed in the room and didn’t come out, closed everything. So even the spirit possessed inside, either one of the family’s son. So then he always has water from the altar which he gives other people to heal. So he sprinkled the water on this person, then gradually he get pacified, became peaceful, then he let open the doors and windows, like that. So that person has completely recovered.

Not only that he himself get completely healthy but that he was able to heal some other people, that is due to the power of refuge, relying upon Tara. So the wishes quickly get fulfilled. Anyway this is just a small example, but I think the best, small example. So there are so many stories like this.

Then all those great yogis, Lama Atisha and Lama Tsongkhapa and so forth, who did incredible extensive benefit for sentient beings and for the teachings are also powerful objects of refuge.

REFUGE PROTECTS FROM THE LOWER REALMS
Then next one: one doesn’t get reborn in the lower realms by having refuge. At the time of death, if even one just remembers Buddha, the thought of Buddha, if one dies with that thought of Buddha, with just the thought of whatever Buddha, Compassion Buddha or whatever, Tara or whatever, without thinking even Dharma and Sangha, just thinking of Buddha, one doesn’t get born in the lower realms.

Even just with thought of Dharma—the Heart Sutra or a lam-rim text—without thinking of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, all three, just even one text, even if one dies with that thought, one doesn’t get born in the lower realms. That saves from the lower realms’ suffering. Then one get reborn in deva or the human realm, causes to receive the body of the happy migratory being. And then even by remembering, without remembering all Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, just even remembering one Sangha whom one has devotion for, whom one has faith in. If one dies, even just the thought remembering one Sangha, who one has faith in, even that saves from the lower realms, one doesn’t get born in the lower realms.

So there happened one story. There was a snake that somebody put in a fire. This snake got caught into the fire. So the snake saw a monk and the monk put water over the fire, so the snake was happy with the monk. So the snake died with the thought of monk. Then next life the snake was born as human being and became monk. So because of that positive wish, dying with that positive mind, so then that’s how, born as human being and then become Sangha, become monk.

I used to tell people that, when I was giving refuge, that there is no comparison between the highest scientific knowledge of the West and having refuge. Even with highest scientific knowledge of America or of the Western countries, even that knowledge cannot save you from the lower realms. When you die it can’t protect you from the hell, preta or animal realms. There is no relation between how you die and all that science, all that scientific knowledge, no matter how highly developed. When you die there is no connection, there is no benefit, you can’t apply that one when you die. It cannot protect scientists from being reborn in the hell, preta or animal realms. But if you can remember, just the thought of Heart Sutra, one Dharma text, one lam-rim text, or Guru Shakyamuni Buddha or one Sangha, someone that you have faith in, with a positive mind, if you die with that thought, this saves you from the lower realms. One doesn’t get reborn in the lower realms.

So all that value of all that scientific education and the power of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha—if you compare the benefit for the mind, especially at the most critical time, death, there is no comparison. All that becomes nothing compared to the power that positive thought remembering Buddha and Dharma or Sangha. Even just one object of refuge has incredible power and incredible value.

REFUGE LEADS TO ENLIGHTENMENT
So now the last one is to quickly become enlightened.

In order to be free from the whole entire samsara, you need to take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, all three; not just one. With just one alone, one cannot be liberated from samsara. By taking refuge to all three only then you can be free from samsara. So that’s why the Buddha is founder of the path, or like the doctor who gives medicine, Dharma is like medicine, Sangha is like the nurse who help the severe patients. So like that. To be liberated from samsara completely then you need the help of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. You need to actualize the path first. Then for that, then somebody has to reveal the path, true path and true cessation of suffering. It is not just one meditation, just watching on the sensation of your breathing or on the sound or something, not like that. The whole, the true path and true cessation of suffering, the whole thing, whole path to liberation, somebody has to reveal. So that is Buddha. So therefore one rely upon, when one practice the path, when one has interest, when one has wish to actualize the path, when one practices, that is taking refuge to the path. Then that path has to be revealed by somebody, and this is revealed by Buddha. So therefore naturally taking refuge to Buddha. Then Sangha who helps, who is example for one’s own Dharma practice, who inspires to practice morality and to actualize the path. So one need to depend on the help of the Sangha. So like that.

THE PROSTRATION MUDRA
Then now, then think. So now we are going to take refuge.

So first make three prostrations, here to the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha thangka, painting. So think, there is actual Guru Shakyamuni Buddha living there. By visualizing actual living Buddha then make three prostrations. Okay.

You see, palms together at the heart in the mudra of doing prostration, like this. This signifies jewel. Not empty hand. Signifies jewel, like this. So like that. Offering the jewel, the wish-granting jewel, like this. So this can signify, the two hands can signify the true path; can signify the two truths, conventional truth, absolute truth, the base, and can signify true path, method and wisdom, to achieve enlightenment. To achieve enlightenment; method and wisdom, the whole path to enlightenment. So it contains the whole lam-rim path there.

Then this, this one, outside is this one is rupakaya, the enlightenment, the result what is to be achieved, the rupakaya, the holy body of form. Then the inside one hollow, empty, signifies Buddha’s holy mind, dharmakaya. This signifies dharmakaya, holy mind and holy body. So these two are the result, the result we aim to achieve. Or the aim of the prostration, the goal of doing the prostration is to achieve dharmakaya, Buddha’s Holy Mind, then this is rupakaya, the dharmakaya manifest, sambhogakaya, nirmanakaya, those different forms, according to different level of others, different level of the sentient beings. So that by manifesting, then giving teaching and then reveal the various methods, by manifesting. So without manifesting, just only the holy mind without manifesting, then cannot work for other sentient beings. So this has a great, this contains all the path, enlightenment, everything.

So then prostrating like this to the holy objects, Triple Gem, holy objects, remembering the meanings of this, then becomes a cause to achieve enlightenment; the unification of the holy mind and the holy body, which is enlightenment.

Then think, “As long as I am in the samsara, these aggregates caused by karma and delusion which creates again future samsara, by rising delusion and creating karma. So as long as I am in samsara I will have to suffer continuously the six types of suffering, the four types and three types, suffering of pain, change, compounding pervasive suffering and then sufferings of each realm, all these things. So therefore at this time, while I have received a perfect human rebirth, which is extremely rare one to find, then another extremely rare one to find, to meet the Buddhadharma.” Then think also, “I have met virtuous friends. So at this time while have all the opportunities, I must achieve the full enlightenment, which is release, which is liberation forever from the samsara, the whole entire sufferings. So for this, to achieve this for sentient beings I must, so for that reason I am going to take refuge.”

So now those who are taking only refuge without precept, then think, only refuge vow, only refuge upasika vow. Okay? So by relying upon Buddha as the Founder, Dharma as the actual refuge, Sangha as a helper to actualize refuge within one’s own mind.

Then, those who are taking precept then think whatever number of precepts you are taking then think upasika five vows, four vows, three vows, two vows, one vow, like that. Okay. Therefore I am going to take upasika this number of vow. Okay, like that.

Then if you are taking only refuge, that’s also possible. Only refuge vow, only refuge upasika vow it’s called. But normally I emphasize even those who are taking only refuge, I emphasize that maybe it’s good to take from the five, one. Because by taking refuge in Dharma what you should do is not harm other sentient beings, so therefore killing, so usually I emphasize that because that is the greatest harm for others. So, intentionally killing or however whatever vow from the five one takes, maybe not killing but some other vow. So usually I emphasize that. Because there are big differences in our daily life, as it is mentioned in the benefits of the precepts. A person who without living in any vow, makes butter lamps from butter like oceans and wicks piled up the size of Mt Meru then makes offering of this light—that many oceans of butter, great mountains of wicks, then they light and make offering to Buddha. The material what you offer is so big, but benefit is so small, compared to a person who lives in one vow, and then makes small offering, with butter the size of a nail and a wick the size of a hair, made into a lamp and offered to Buddha. This person who lives in one vow, making tiny offering has far more greater, much more greater merit than the first person who offers such huge material, oceans of butter, mountain, great mountains of wicks, offered to Buddha. This second one has far more greater merit than the first one. The comparison is between one handful of dirt and the rest of the Earth. Even if the person lives in one vow, then any merit, any practice that you do, even giving one grain of rice to an ant, making charity to ant, whatever practice you do, the merit is unbelievable, far greater, so much than the person who doesn’t live in any vow. Then doing the same thing, very small merit. So it makes huge differences, between daily life, person who doesn’t live in any vow, practice of virtue, and person who lives in the one vow, practice of virtue. There are huge differences. So therefore it makes life incredibly meaningful, so rich, in good karma, merit and cause of happiness. So like that.

TAKING REFUGE IN THE TRIPLE GEM (THE CEREMONY)
Then please repeat the prayer. [ceremony]

Now first one is taking refuge to Buddha. So you should remember the meaning of Buddha. Having ceased all the mistakes of the mind and completed all the realizations. The absolute Buddha is the dharmakaya, Buddha’s holy mind, the nature of Buddha’s holy mind. Then conventional Buddha, that is the nirmanakaya, sambhogakaya, those aspects, those aspects anyway, those, that is conventional Buddha. So taking refuge to both, okay. Rely upon them. [ Students repeat] No. [GL, RL]. Rely upon them that much more, thousand million times than rely upon the doctor. Rely upon the doctor even who cures the disease but only temporarily, not forever, temporarily. So like that, okay. Here the Buddha not only ceases the whole entire suffering but even the whole cause, all the cause, Buddha can cease completely. So by that reason. [ceremony]

Now the next one is taking refuge to Dharma. So relying upon absolute Dharma. That means the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness, the true path and cessation of the sufferings. That is absolute Dharma. Conventional Dharma is the scriptures, which explains the whole path. So now we are taking refuge to both. [ceremony]

So rely upon them much more thousand, a million times more than medicine, which even if it cures disease but only temporarily.

Now next one is taking refuge to Sangha. Sangha is two: absolute Sangha which can be lay, ordained, just one being, one person, one being who has realization of the absolute Dharma, okay: true path and true cessation of suffering. Conventional Sangha, that is conventional Sangha is the four fully ordained, living in full ordination, that purely, who can ordain, then conventional. That is conventional Sangha, who don’t have the absolute Dharma realization. So four members who are living in pure vow, so conventional Sangha. So taking refuge to both, okay. [ceremony]

Taking refuge to Buddha, next one, taking refuge to Dharma. [ceremony]

So end of the third repetition, I snap finger, then that time without wandering mind one should think, those who are taking five vows five, those who are taking whatever number that you are taking, then I have received upasika vow this, okay? Then in case if there is somebody who is taking only refuge, then think only refuge upasika vow, okay. Like that. Then from that time I become your Lopon. Lopon means the leader, a leader leading the disciple in the path to liberation. How? It means by giving the vow, by giving refuge and by giving vow, then leading the disciple into the, leading, bringing them into the practice, bringing them into the path. So then this one, this practice, this practice of refuge, this practice of the pratimoksha vows, these vows of, which is the path to liberation. So this vow, which is practiced, then this takes you to liberation, to enlightenment. So that is what it does, by taking refuge and these vows. So that happens by depending on the one who grants the refuge, the precept. So it is called Lopon, Lopon means a leader of the disciple, leading in the path to liberation. So it means Lopon, means the master or the Dharma teacher. [ceremony]

What means guiding me. So now think, as arhat as they kept these, abstained from these negative karmas and kept this morality and then that made them possible to achieve liberation, so like that, I’m going to also abstain from these negative karmas whatever number of vows you have taken, I’m going to abstain from these negative karmas and then live in these precepts, in morality, okay. So then not just to achieve liberation but to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, okay. [ceremony]

Then when I say, This is the method, then you say lekso.

Okay, now you can completely relax, okay. That, so by taking refuge to Buddha, then what one should abandon is following the wrong founder who reveals the wrong path, against to the path that is revealed by Buddha, so if one does that then Buddha cannot guide because it’s like if one take the wrong prescription from the wrong doctor, then the wise doctor cannot help you. It is similar. So, by taking refuge to Buddha what one should practice is even the broken statue, even the painting of Buddha, broken Buddha means not complete, even one see in the road or in the garbage, then one pick up and think that actual living Buddha, then put in a higher, clean place. Otherwise, if one step over, if one leave it there becomes disrespect, then that becomes careless, disrespect then that becomes heavy karma because as I mentioned before the holy object has karma, heavy negative karma from the sufferings, so to pick up and then put, to think of as actual living Buddha and then by remembering the qualities then put in a high, clean place. Then, whether it’s broken statue or anything, you see, like that.

REFUGE PRECEPTS
Then, by taking refuge in Dharma, what one should do is, what one should abandon is giving harm to other sentient beings and then, what one should practice, by taking refuge in Dharma that is that, to respect the Dharma texts, that even one torn page from Dharma text, if it is in the garbage or something, then one pick up and think, This reveals the path which liberates me from the samsara, guides to liberation, enlightenment, so then by thinking the actual Dharma then you put in high, clean place, so respect for that. So otherwise then, other sentient beings, other people they step over, then they create much negative karma, even they don’t know, even they don’t have faith in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, still they create negative karma because that is the nature of the phenomena.

For example, if one is not careful electricity can kill you, if one doesn’t know how to protect oneself, that, so in the wrong way if one touch electricity so it can kill you. So that does not depend on whether you have faith, whether the person, if the person doesn’t believe that electricity doesn’t burn you, it’s not that. So shouldn’t think, as long as you think only people who have faith in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha then create negative karma, only they create negative karma who have faith in Buddha and Dharma, Sangha, but who don’t, they don’t create negative karma, so that’s wrong. So that, it is same that fire, electricity can kill you if you touch in wrong way, without those protections then if one touch, it can kill you. Same that does not depend on only having faith, that is the nature of phenomena, that is the power of the object, that electricity can do that is the power of the object, it does not depend if you don’t believe that it doesn’t have it, it’s not that. It’s the power of the object.

Now similar, the electricity can benefit so much, but also if you’re not careful the electricity itself is dangerous. So same thing with these holy objects, it has much power like the electricity, so therefore if you don’t know, if you treat the wrong way, then it becomes negative energy or negative karma, then become dangerous for oneself. So, similar like electricity, when you touch that, you touch with the protections, with all the protections, then doesn’t harm you, similar.

So here Buddha is explaining that, giving all this advice to save us from those heavy negative karmas, from the sufferings. So if you don’t respect even the broken statues or torn pages of the Dharma texts, so if you disrespect then that damages the mind and then becomes very heavy obstacle, mind got stuck, how much you try to practice, it doesn’t, try to meditate, it doesn’t get developed, mind got stuck or then many obstacles rises, things like that. So mind become very stubborn or very solid, difficult to change, to transform.

Then, taking refuge in Sangha, what one should abandon is following the wrong guide, one who mislead you. So if one follow the wrong guide who misleads you, then the Sangha cannot help. Then what one should practice is that anybody whom we see, anybody who is wearing robes, yellow or red robes, whether it’s following the Mahayana tradition or whether it’s following the Hinayana, however, any Buddhist who wearing ordained robe, the robe of ordination, then one respect by thinking, This is my guide, who liberates me from the samsara. So one respect by thinking of the qualities, especially the morality, so forth, those qualities which one doesn’t have. So then by thinking, one respect.

Then, even the robes, that the Kadampa Geshe lineage lamas, then if they see even a piece of robe in the road, piece of red robe in the road, they put on the crown, they put on their head and remembering the qualities of the Sangha, then they put on the high, clean place, so they respect like that.

However, that, the same thing, one shouldn’t sit on Dharma texts, one should not use as a seat, cushion, Dharma texts, however, one should not step over. So that is again damaging the mind, the disrespect, stepping over Dharma texts. So then, stretching feet towards Dharma texts, those. Then, carrying the Dharma texts with the cushions, so with the seat that you use underneath, so carrying together, so those become disrespect, so should carry separately, not with the cushion, like this. And putting shoes on the top of Dharma texts, things like that. Except there is danger to blow by the wind, Dharma text to be blown by wind, then you can put material on the top, otherwise cannot put even the statue on the top of Dharma texts. You can put the Dharma texts on the top of statue but not the statue on top of the text. So like that, it’s explained in the teachings.

But if one has many missing pages, if there’s many like this, and there’s no place to keep, then one can burn, one can offer fire, there’s no place to keep, if there are many, then one can offer fire on a clean place, a roof, like that. That, one can burn all the letters there, one can think they all become empty, thinking that, can think that or can think, as some lama mentioned, that all those absorbed in the letter AH then absorbed to the heart, as essence of Dharma, so can also think that.

The Sangha’s robe, what they cover on the seat with, there’s a square thing that, called a ding-wa which covers on the seat, so robes that are left there, so if one step over also, because of the power of the object then it becomes also heavy negative karma, disrespect and heavy negative karma. So for example, Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, the guru from whom I have received many initiations during recent years, if there are many monks sitting there and they are all disciples, when he comes, he just walks through, not stepping over a cover, this thing that covers the seat, the square one called ding-wa, so Rinpoche doesn’t even step over these seat cover. So Rinpoche walks between, where there is no robe. So even great, very high practitioner of tantra, who has bodhicitta, all has all the realizations of the path, even they practice, even they do like this. So, follow the precepts of refuge practice.

Now, then after this, now there are seven general precepts, so whenever one eats and drinks, before one should offer to Buddha, make offering to the Triple Gem, even candy, whatever it is, before one eats, then first one make offering to Triple Gem, then one takes as blessing, to make the life beneficial for all sentient beings. Then, before one goes to bed, when one gets up in the morning, three prostrations to Buddha, before one goes to bed, three prostrations to Buddha. And so all these things are Buddha’s, the kind compassionate Buddha’s skillful means in the daily life, anyway every day we get up, every day we go to bed, but by the way, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s, kind compassionate Buddha’s skillful means by the way us to accumulate so much merit, good karma, you know, anyway we eat every day, drink, but by the way to accumulate merit. So Buddha advised to do like this. Even though we create negative karma but also, not only creating negative karma, also to create good karma, the life to not become completely empty, so for that reason Buddha advised, so normal our activities, with that then to accumulate merit.

So now, then practice of compassion toward other sentient beings as much as one can, then the rely upon holy beings. If we rely upon holy beings, then we become holy being. If we rely upon evil beings then we become evil. So which example we take. So it’s like, there’s a story happened, one person, there are two people, one is alcoholic, one is not alcoholic, so two people, so they went to Lhasa, the main city of Tibet, Lhasa, so the person who is alcoholic had met a friend who is not alcoholic. So then this person who is alcoholic become non-alcoholic because have met a friend who is not alcoholic, so because of that influence, so then he become non-alcoholic.

So this person who was not alcoholic before had met a friend, an alcoholic in Lhasa, so then he became alcoholic [RL], who was not alcoholic before, then went to Lhasa, have met a friend who is alcoholic, because of that influence then he becomes an alcoholic [RL], so there are those two people who completely changed after being at Lhasa, depending on what kind of friend they made. So like that. So by relying upon holy beings, then one become holy, that is the purpose. Then able to benefit extensively for other sentient beings.

Then listening to the teachings as much as one can. But, generally it is like this, that I think that I heard that Hong Kong, Singapore, I don’t remember in Taiwan, but anyway I heard that, anyway, somewhere I heard that if anybody is giving teachings somewhere there then one must go to listen, otherwise it breaks the vow. Anybody is giving teachings in that city, then one must go to listen otherwise it breaks the vow. I heard that one but I’m not sure about that one [GL]. Anyway I heard.

So here in the refuge vows, there is to listen to teachings as much as one can. There are two ways one can listen to the teachings. The first is without establishing the guru-disciple relationship, without thinking guru-disciple, just like school, university, college, you can listen without making the relationship. Like learning Buddhism in university from a professor, that’s one, if there’s benefit, to check and also to, even one doesn’t want to devote as guru but just to learn.

So the other thing is taking teachings with the recognition of guru-disciple by establishing the relationship, then with recognition of guru-disciple then listening to the teachings. So that is a serious matter. That is a serious thing. So there’s two ways like that. Even one listens, they are like this.

However, if there’s nothing to learn, if there’s no particular benefit for the mind but still one has to go, that I’m not sure that that is part of the bodhisattva vows. I have a question there about that.

So however in the refuge here it means, so generally if one listen to the teachings, if one take the opportunity as much as possible, then this way one learn more, one has more deeper, more extensive understanding, more imprints, so if it’s correct teaching, then more extensive, deeper, correct understanding, correct practice, then realization comes easier, so like that. But this doesn’t mean, there’s anybody who is giving Dharma talk, one must go to listen otherwise breaking vow, it’s not that.

Then, when your life is in the situation, danger to create the heavy negative karma by rising anger and so forth, the dissatisfied mind of desire or anger, something, that, danger to create big confusion, then that time, trying to control the mind by applying the meditations such as impermanence and death and so forth, emptiness, so forth, anyway, three principles of the path. And then, so try to control the mind when there’s strong anger to arise, such a situation.

If one does prostrations three times in the morning, three times before going to bed, so by, with the refuge prayer, going for refuge to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, however, with the mind, with the whole heart relying on the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, if one do prostrations, then that is taking refuge, whether there’s prayer or not, so if one does prayer with that, then that is good, so it can be combined with the prostrations. So this way, three times, you see, taking refuge in the morning, three times taking refuge in the evening, so in the night, so it is integrated with prostrations.

Or the other way is, this prayer, the one stanza: “I go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha until I achieve enlightenment. Due to the merits having accumulated charity and so forth by me, may I achieve enlightenment in order to benefit for all the migratory beings.” If one can recite this prayer three times in the morning, three times in the evening, if it comes with other prayers, if it comes with other sadhanas, with other prayers, then, that’s okay. If you are not doing anything, then one can do this prayer which covers, which has practice, the special practice, most beneficial practice generating bodhicitta, so, which means, each time when you think of this meaning, due to the merits having accumulated charity and so forth, may I achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all the migratory beings.

Then if you think this, therefore I’m going to practice bodhicitta. So one think this and put palms together at one’s heart, you know, then just right this second one has accumulated merit, infinite like sky, it is explained in the sutra teachings, I think called ?bonpa ______ do, in one sutra teaching explained that if you think like this, Due to the merits of having accumulated charity and so forth by me, may I achieve enlightenment in order to benefit for all the migratory beings, therefore I’m going to generate bodhicitta, so, putting palms together at the heart if one think this and one accumulate merit infinite like the sky. So infinite cause of happiness, so if one can do that, then extremely good. So if one can do this, then it makes life most meaningful by generating thought of bodhicitta, that and the purpose having heard lam-rim teachings, teachings on the graduated path to enlightenment, so purpose of having heard, having met teachings of the graduated path to enlightenment, the purpose is fulfilled if one generate the thought of enlightenment, bodhicitta.

So I think that’s all.

Yeah, then, so now try to feel great happiness in the mind that, the benefits what I explained before, from now on until death, we took the vows until death, so every day, every single virtue when we accumulate the merit is so much, like size of earth, like ocean. Before, without taking any vow, the merit, when we are helping other people, other sentient beings, making charity, giving food to the animals, so forth, making offerings, when we create good karma before we took the vow, the merit was so small, now it’s like ocean, like earth, so from now on, so by realizing this, then one should feel joy, great happiness, thinking that now my life become highly meaningful. And so how many vows that one took, that we took, so that many harmful actions we stopped from now on, harmful actions towards all sentient beings, numberless sentient beings, we stopped, from now on.

So therefore, all sentient beings they receive that much peace from now on from you, starting from the family, starting from nearest group of sentient beings, so this is the peace, practical, so practical peace we are offering to the sentient beings in our everyday life, this many world peace we are offering to the world, to other sentient beings. So this is one thing to remember. The second thing to remember is this, what we are offering, what you are doing to the world, what benefit you are giving to the world, what benefit you are giving to all sentient beings, so this is second thing to remember. So therefore one must feel great happiness.

Yeah, then, thank you very much. Make three prostrations like before.

[Break in recording]

[End of Discourse]