HAPPINESS DEPENDS ENTIRELY ON OTHERS
[Motivation prayers.]
Maybe before the discourse, if there are some questions? Yeah?
Student: Lama Zopa can I ask ... relationships ...
Rinpoche: Um, I thought I answered that yesterday.
Student: ... I’ll take more.
Rinpoche: I don’t know that I have any more. Basically what I mentioned yesterday. Yesterday I mentioned about the purpose of life, that you should realize, should recognize, that you have taken the human body, and that this body is not for your own happiness but for other sentient beings to obtain happiness, to eliminate the sufferings of other sentient beings.
So each day, each hour, each minute, the purpose of survival, the purpose of this human body is for others to obtain happiness, and to eliminate the sufferings of other sentient beings. So live life with equanimity at least, with the thought of equanimity that as you don’t wish the slightest suffering or discomfort, even in a dream you wish for happiness, others are the same, exactly equal. As I am important, all others are important. As my happiness is important, all others’ happiness is important.
Then there are six ways of equalizing oneself with other sentient beings. There are six ways of meditating on equanimity. The simpler way is to understand, to meditate, on equanimity between yourself and this sentient being, the friend or husband or whoever you are living with, or working for. All the rest of the sentient beings exactly equal, wishing happiness and not wishing suffering. As you are is important, all others are important.
As I think I mentioned in the earlier time, right at the beginning of the discourses, your happiness depends on the other person, every day your happiness is dependent on other person, your comfort is dependent on the other person. The friend or the husband or wife, whatever it is, your happiness depends on him—by his kindness you receive comfort, depending on him, and his happiness depends on you. Similarly, the other person’s happiness depends upon you. As your happiness, comfort, and success depends on him, depends on other sentient beings, particularly the person with whom you always live together, eat together, that you see every day, this comes from them. So their happiness also depends on you. As I mentioned before, as you want loving kindness, compassion, you yourself don’t want any harm from them, any insult, any dislike, only loving kindness, compassion, only benefit, you don’t want the slightest harm from them, similarly all the rest of the other sentient beings, even this person with whom you live and eat, that you see every day, is also dependent on that. That person also wants from you only loving kindness, compassion, toward him or her. Only benefit and no harm. Only help, no harm. Like this.
As I mentioned, look at how others’ happiness depends on you yourself. The people that you deal with or you live with, in the office, at home—their happiness is dependent on your own attitude, how you behave, with body, with speech, and how you think. If you are angry, they don’t like you. If you have loving kindness or compassion they like you. So their happiness is dependent on you, how you behave toward them. If you show them a dark face, if you show them with wrinkles here, if you look at them, they are unhappy, they become unhappy, they become depressed. But if you look at them with a flat mouth with some wrinkles here, if you look at them then with narrow eyes, fine eyes, and there are some wrinkles here, if you look them like this, they very happy. If you look at them like this, it makes them happy. If you look at them like this, okay—even in the street, if you look at them like this, it makes them happy.
So you can see in everyday life how people’s happiness is dependent on you, even in the expression of their face. One expression of the face brings unhappiness to others, one expression of face brings happiness. So you can see how in everyday life others’ happiness depends upon you. Day-to-day life. Also you yourself depend on others—if you feel that they like you, they have loving kindness, compassion, then you are happy. They smile at you, you are happy. They praise you, and you are happy. And they give physical help, something, that makes you happy.
Similarly, your happiness is completely dependent on them, completely comes from them, from their support. So in the same way, their happiness is completely dependent on you. So they also need your support. If you have met Dharma, if you yourself have met Dharma, if you know karma, you can benefit them, not only for temporal happiness but for ultimate happiness. If you haven’t met the Dharma, then there’s no help for others; the opportunities are limited. You can help for temporal happiness, according to your capability, intelligence, and knowledge by remembering their kindness—even if you don’t know extensive kindness. They have been your mother numberless times and have been kind, or other extensive kindnesses explained from the lam-rim teaching. Day-to-day life kindness, at least that you can see that by eye.
The wife get much support from the husband, and the husband gets much support from the wife. So there is much support, much help. So remember the day-to-day life kindnesses that help, that you receive comfort. So at least if the person doesn’t know any teaching, in day-to-day this is what you can see with the eye. Remember that kindness. Then from your own side benefit as much as possible, according to your own capability. Understand this.
And then someone who has met Dharma—there’s so much opportunity to help in the ultimate way, to eliminate the root of suffering, ultimate happiness. But if the other person says, “You must kill this person,” things like that harm other sentient beings greatly. This doesn’t mean that you listen exactly to every single thing that the other person says, because you have to think about many other sentient beings. Even if he wishes some enemies to be killed, that doesn’t bring ultimate happiness for him, for you or for anybody. Even if the other person believes that by killing those enemies he solves his problems completely. That is due to hallucinations or due to not having Dharma wisdom, not thinking of long-run happiness. Not knowing that itself is creating negative karma, suffering. But acting with compassion, not getting angry at other person, the friend or family, with compassion trying to give advice or trying to be skillful—that is just an example. Otherwise, the conclusion is this: giving up many sentient beings for one sentient being’s happiness is not skillful. Giving up many sentient beings for one sentient being’s happiness, even that is temporal happiness. You should of make happiness for the majority of the sentient beings. You should think of the happiness of all sentient beings equaling infinite space. You should think this. You should think that you yourself will attempt to obtain happiness for all sentient beings, temporal and ultimate happiness. Also, this practice, this effort, is a great attitude, a great action, a great benefit for sentient beings equaling infinite space. So, being concerned with the happiness of one sentient being, two sentient beings, but ignoring the others is not skillful.
Student: Thank you for the teaching on happiness.
THE INNER ENEMY ONLY HARMS
Now you can see by talking about the evolution of samsara, the three types of suffering, how the karma and disturbing thoughts are so harmful, by explaining the twelve links.
Now, as it is explained in the Bodhicaryavatara, “It is easy even if I get burned or if I am killed, even if my head is cut off—I won’t slander the inner enemy, the delusions forever. Whatever the circumstance, miserable or happy, I won’t slander it.” What it is saying is that even if somebody comes to burn your clothes, or cut off your limbs, that is only separating the consciousness from this body, but that’s all, nothing else. So if you haven’t created negative karma, if you don’t have disturbing thoughts, negative karma, you don’t circle in samsara, you don’t take rebirth in samsara. You don’t suffer in the lower realms. Even if you don’t get burnt or killed or have your limbs cut off by somebody, as long as there’s delusion, if you follows the disturbing thoughts, creating negative karma out of that, then continuously you circle in samsara, and experience the suffering of death and rebirth, and all those other problems go on and on without end.
So this within karma and disturbing thoughts there is no greater or a worse enemy than this inner enemy dwelling within your own mind. Also it is explained in the Bodhicaryavatara, “With my enemy, the disturbing thoughts, the length of time has no beginning. The other enemies do not last that long.” What he’s saying is that in relation to the inner enemy, disturbing thoughts, there hasn’t been a time that it has been a friend. It has been always harming—there hasn’t been even one second that the disturbing thoughts benefited. But those whom we point to now as an enemy have been friends and strangers in the past. They have not been harming us all the time.
More benefit, as I mentioned before, more benefit, less harm. So like this, the other enemy, the outside enemy, has not been the enemy from beginningless time. Also, in the Bodhicaryavatara it is said, “If you offer service according to the enemy, that one benefits you. All the time benefits you and obtains happiness.” If you take the side of the enemy, and if you offer him service, if you help him, he changes. The outside enemy changes his attitude from dislike to like, and changes his actions. So instead of harming, he benefits you.
In this way, the outside enemy becomes the friend, but now the inner enemy, the disturbing thoughts, however much you take the side of delusions, if you benefit the delusions what they do in return is only harm. Only harm, no benefit, no benefit any time, forever. The more you follow the disturbing thoughts, the more you receive harm from the disturbing thoughts. So like this. If you change your attitude, if you change your action towards the outside enemy and instead of giving harm, you benefit him, he becomes your friend and benefits you.
Then also it is mentioned in the Bodhicaryavatara, if you are going to cover the whole earth with leather, the leather won’t be enough. But putting leather on the soles of your shoes is like having covered the whole earth with leather! The meaning of that is this: I don’t remember word by word. If you’re going to destroy all the outside enemies, you will never finish. But once the inner enemy the anger is destroyed, it’s like having destroyed all the outside enemies. So the meaning of that is in relation to anger, the disturbing thoughts, ignorance, grasping things as truly existent—you can relate it like this. So here, if you have anger, then there’s the enemy; if you don’t have anger, there’s no enemy. If you have anger, there’s an outside enemy; but for those who do not have anger, there’s no outside enemy. It’s differentiated by that. It’s dependent on whether there’s anger inside—whether this person has an enemy outside or not depends on whether he has anger or not. If he does not have anger, he has no basis on which to label enemy.
So in other words, however much you destroy the outside enemy, it only increases. Actually, in reality, it causes the enemy to increase, even in this life, without talking about future lives. As in the histories, the world situation the fighting between countries has still not stopped for so many thousands of years—you can understand from the stories, from the histories. So it goes on and on like this. Once the inner enemy of anger is destroyed then the person has no enemy outside. It’s like having destroyed all the outside enemies.
Then the same thing—once ignorance, the root of samsara, is eliminated, there’s no enemy. It’s like all the outside enemies are destroyed. Having eliminated ignorance, the root of samsara in this life, all the future lives, all the enemies in all the coming lives are destroyed at once, in this life, at one time, like that. By having eliminated ignorance, the root of samsara, all the sufferings, all the problems that you experience as real, all is completely ceased. Completely ceased, impossible to arise, impossible to experience again because there’s no cause. The reason the suffering exists is because it is empty of existing from its own side, existing independently, existing without depending on thought and base, causes and conditions. By depending on cause, conditions, base, and thought, the result of suffering exists. Similar the cause, ignorance, comex from emptiness. Anything that exists comes from emptiness. They exist because they’re empty, dependent arising.
For example, the reason there’s ignorance today is because it came from the cause of yesterday’s ignorance. This is dependent on the cause—the characteristic of mind that does not know the absolute nature of the “I,” hallucinated, not knowing Dharma, the base, path and goal. So just like that characteristic of mind, on that thought labels ignorance. Ignorance exists by depending on cause and conditions, the base and thought labeling. So that is why ignorance is empty of existing from its own side, empty of independence. Once ignorance is completely eliminated, the cause, the root of samsara is completely eliminated. Developing the wisdom of shunyata, it is impossible for ignorance to arise because there’s no cause. Because ignorance is empty of independence, empty of existing without depending on cause and conditions, the base and thought, there’s no other way of existing. If it exists then it has to be a dependent arising, depending on cause and condition—the thought, the base.
So because it is empty, a dependent arising, we have the opportunity to eliminate it. If it’s not a dependent arising, if it’s not empty, then there is no opportunity to eliminate it, no opportunity for us to be free from samsara, from karma and disturbing thoughts. For example, anger arises by thinking that he or she is harming me; by interpreting the action as a harm, anger arises. But if you meditate and look at that person as a guru, a teacher of patience, completing the paramita of patience, benefiting, subduing my selfish mind, subduing the anger, these disturbing thoughts, helping me to complete the practice of patience, to complete the mind training in the graduated path to enlightenment—the anger stops and loving kindness arises.
Then the same thing in relation to the object you have attachment toward. Look at the object in a different way, and you can see that these disturbing thoughts are not independent, not truly existent, but are dependent arising. Depending on how you look at the object, the disturbing thought arises. With one way of looking at it, the disturbing thought stops. With one way of looking at it, it arises.
Also then mentioned in Bodhicaryavatara by Shantideva, once the inner enemy, disturbing thoughts are eliminated, then it’s like having destroyed all the outside enemies. So even if the leather you put on your feet is very small compared to the earth, wherever you walk on the earth, no thorns can go inside. By having this small leather on the sole of the shoes, it is like having covered the whole earth with leather by shoes!
That’s a very effective example. What Shantideva is trying to explain to us is that if you put effort to destroy the outside enemy that brings only problems, only more and more disaster. Instead of putting the effort outside to harm others, to hurt others, all the outside harms came from the inside, the delusions, the inner enemy, so put all your effort with the body, speech, and mind to destroy the inner enemy, the disturbing thoughts. This is a one time work. It is very worthwhile.
It also mentions even devas, even the worldly gods, devas, non-devas, asuras, human beings, animals, those other beings, worldly gods, those non-gods—even if they all become your enemy, even if they arise, they cannot lead you to the naraks. The powerful enemy, the disturbing thoughts, destroys even the great mountains in one second. People have so much fear of atomic danger, but if there’s no anger, if everyone practices patience, everyone has bodhicitta, compassion, loving kindness, bodhicitta, even if there’s that many atomic bombs equaling the number of atoms of all the mountains in each country, nothing gives harm. However many weapons there are in the world, nothing gives danger, nothing causes harm.
On the other hand, if there are disturbing thoughts, if there is karma, the bodyguard who is supposed to protect your life may kill you. Even the weapons that you have as a protection for your life kill you. The person himself uses the weapon to kill himself, even though he kept the weapons to protect his life. To protect for his long life.
Therefore you can see now your greatest fear is the anger that you have in your mind. The anger, selfish mind, these things are the greatest danger to the world, to yourself. Then all those guns, all those atomic bombs—the world can be destroyed within one hour, that is not the danger of the atomic bomb, that is the danger of the anger. The third war, the atomic danger to the world—all these depend on whether the mind follows, whether the anger arises or not. It is up to that question, whether the person follows the anger or not.
If there’s no bodhicitta, loving kindness, compassion, if there’s no practice of patience, then the world is in danger every minute. The fear is not the weapon but the fear is the mind, the unsubdued mind, disturbing thoughts.
If all the sentient beings become your enemy, they cannot lead you into the narak fire, but if there’s delusion, disturbing thoughts, it leads you into the fire of the narak. By leading yourself to create the cause, karma, it brings you into the fire of the narak.
THE SIX PERFECTIONS
To be able to free all the sentient beings from suffering, to lead them to enlightenment, you need to achieve the two kayas: dharmakaya and rupakaya. In order to achieve the enlightenment depends on accumulating the method—the merits of fortune—and the merit of transcendental wisdom. The merit of fortune causes you to achieve the rupakaya, in either the sambhogakaya or nirmanakaya aspect. These are manifestations for sentient beings. These are the manifestations of a buddha, the various aspects of a buddha to do work for sentient beings.
The merit of transcendental wisdom causes you to achieve the dharmakaya, so you have to practice method and wisdom both. By separating the wisdom or the method you cannot achieve the enlightenment, the dharmakaya or rupakaya. In other words, the unification of the holy body and the holy mind of a buddha. To do that you should practice the six paramitas or perfections:
- the paramita of patience
- the paramita of charity
- the paramita of moral conduct
- the paramita of perseverance
- the paramita of concentration
- the paramita of wisdom
The first five accumulate the merit of method, and then wisdom accumulates the merit of transcendental wisdom.
The six paramitas ripen your own mind and then the four practices drawing other sentient beings, subduing the mind of other sentient beings, ripening the mind of other sentient beings.
CHARITY
Then just to briefly mention the definitions and a little bit of details of each one. The first one is charity. The definition of charity is the thought of giving the body, the possessions and your merit to others. That is the definition of the paramita of charity. The mind training in the thought of giving is called the paramita of charity.
Every single good thing that comes from that, even the merit, everything that comes from that you give to others. Completely dedicated for others, with the thought giving for others. Completely dedicated for others. So it’s very important thing when you do charity to not expect to receive something from that person in return. And to not have pride is very important. If you feel pride when you make charity, if you feel pride in morality, in moral conduct, if you feel pride then the merit does not become strong, it becomes very weak. There are three types of charity: the charity of material, charity of miscellaneous, making the charity of body, possessions. Then dedicating the merit, I’m not a hundred percent sure whether that goes in that section or not, the charity of miscellaneous. It might go in the Dharma charity.
The charity of miscellaneous. It’s very good when you make charity like this. When we dedicate the merit when we make charity, when we hear the shunyata teachings, remember. What you hear all the time, “merely labeled, merely labeled,” on and on. Like this. The merely labeled “I,” the “I” which is merely labeled on the aggregates, and this action of charity—the action done with this thought of giving, on that which is merely labeled “making charity.” The object is merely labeled. Same thing when you dedicate the merely labeled “I,” the action, merit, virtue, anything that it brings, which is not the cause of the suffering of suffering, which is the cause of happiness, is virtue. It’s merit; it’s virtue. The merit which is merely labeled on this, then merely labeled enlightenment, for the sake of merely labeled sentient beings—dedicate with this awareness.
If someone has the recognition of the refuting object then it’s good to make charity with awareness of emptiness. Do the dedication. Another simple way that gives the feeling of emptiness, to not cling to things as truly existent, is while you are making charity or dedicating, you look at it, you think, “I am dreaming, dedicating. I am dreaming making charity.” Object, subject, action—as if you were making charity in the dream. Think that I am dreaming, look at it as a dream. So while you are looking at it as dream then doing the practice of charity and dedication, there’s a natural understanding that even if things are appearing as existing form their own side it’s not true. It affects the mind to not grasp, not cling to the appearance of true existence. It gives that idea by looking at it as dream. So this is the advice, if somebody who doesn’t know how to meditate on emptiness, doesn’t know what emptiness means, what truly existent means, if the merit that you accumulate, the dedication, is done with the thought of ignorance grasping at true existence, then it becomes poison and the lo-jong, the thought-training advice or the samaya is, “Don’t eat poisonous food.” That means dedicating the merit, accumulating merit stained by the wrong conception of true existence. This way the merit that you accumulate doesn’t get stained by the wrong conception of true existence, so it is pure.
Then, in regards the material charity that you cannot give to others. If it’s a monk, in celibacy, they cannot give the three types of robes to other sentient beings.
Then main charity of those who are living in the ordination of renunciation is the Dharma charity. But the bodhisattvas who are living in the ordination of renunciation but also have wealth can make material charity too.
One who has taken bodhisattva vow has to practice when reciting. Those who have taken mahaanuttara tantra initiation have to recite the Six-Session Yoga prayer, so there it says, “I dedicate my body, possessions, merit, everything to sentient beings.” The prayer is recited in order to practice awareness, to remind you. So you are constantly supposed to have that awareness that everything belongs to others, everything is others’. So as soon as you think this in the mind, it is the wishing thought of bodhicitta.
Then especially for those living in the ordination of renunciation, if you do not train the mind in this then it breaks the other pratimoksha vows, like the bhikshu’s, not the root vow but the branches. If one has bodhicitta it helps so much, it becomes great protection to not degenerate the pratimoksha vows. Even if you transgress from them it does not become an obstacle to enlightenment, or negative karma. Then so that’s why Kadampa Geshe Sharawa said, “To those who are living in the ordination of renunciation I don’t talk about the benefits of giving but I talk about the shortcomings of holding.”
What you should not give to others—if you are a monk, there are three types of robes that you wear. If somebody wants to kill himself, making charity of poisons, guns, those things that harm. Things that harm others are not objects of charity. Then, those who are fasting, who have taken vows, who are not eating in the afternoon—like brahmins, those who keep very clean, do not eat black food, those people making charity of black food like garlic, onions, meat, and those things. Those are not objects of charity for those types of people.
The charity of fearlessness. This is for somebody who has great fear, worry, and then you talk about thought transformations, especially transforming the suffering into happiness. Then what you call in the West “counseling,” giving advice that protects the person from fear, the troubles, and I think also giving medicines also protects from the fear of disease, things like that. Those dangers. Death, untimely death. So it could become material charity, but also charity of fearlessness.
Then if the mouse attacks the cat, or the worms are attacked by ants, the flies attacked by ants—if you see this help if you can, if you can’t, if there’s no way to help, what you can do? But there are some things that you can help, help as much as possible. Protect it if it’s not dead. This is the charity of fearlessness. If there are animals in the water, suffering there, you take them out of the water. Like those things.
Then Dharma charity. When you recite prayers, mantras, you can visualize all sentient beings around then, making Dharma charity to them. Especially creatures around—dogs, birds, whoever, who are around—by reciting verbally you are planting the seed in their mind which leads to enlightenment. Dharma charity. Even if you are gossiping. Keep the motivation, even if it is gossip for the other person—whatever you are talking about—the family, world, friends, relationships. Even the most basic, common thing in the West—talking about sex, things like that. Even if it’s gossip for the other person, your motivation is to benefit these people. Bodhicitta motivation. You are talking with these people but you come to the conclusion, you talk it in a way that benefits their minds. You generate loving kindness, compassion toward others, renunciation of samsara, the wish for them to find satisfaction by talking about the shortcomings of desire. You have this aim to benefit to other people, to pacify the unsubdued mind. Even these talks become Dharma charity. Otherwise it becomes gossip—anything that is done with disturbing thoughts, anger, attachment. If you have this aim, if you have this motivation, it definitely benefits.
So it is said here in the Bodhicaryavatara, “If no beggars living on this earth is the completion of charity, then how have the buddhas completed it, if still there are starving migratory beings?” So completing the paramita of charity is not making no beggars in this world. It’s not that. It is not even not having miserliness. Arhats do not have miserliness, so the Bodhicaryavatara says, by thinking of the benefits of charity, the shortcomings of miserliness, and giving one’s own body and possessions, even the merit without miserliness, from the heart to others, when the training of this thought is completed this is the paramita of charity! So in regards the body, when it comes to the point that you can give it as easily as a cup of water, or vegetables—though when you are very hungry maybe there are a few vegetables, maybe difficult to give to others—but generally when you reach the state where it is as easy to give your body as it is to give vegetables, this is the completion of the paramita of charity.
There are three things: giving, protecting,and keeping pure. Three things. Until you reach the right time, until the right time comes, you protect the body from the obstacles. Keeping the body pure is not using the body to create nonvirtue. That is keeping the body pure. This is done with this creating cause to receive the eight qualities in the next lives. I won’t go through that. I think in the lam-rim texts you can read about that. That’s better. Then you can argue with yourself.
Virtue, giving to sentient beings from the heart, then protecting from anger. Increasing virtue, protecting and keeping it pure. Then accumulating virtue, unstained by worldly concern and selfish mind. By practicing virtue, by practicing rejoicing, if you feel happiness, the merit that is accumulated by you in the three times, all the past merit of the present and future, whatever merit that has been accumulated by listening to the teachings, that merit becomes double by practicing rejoicing. “How wonderful it is that I have accumulated merit by listening to the teaching.” Oh, I think it’s time to stop. The tongue is not functioning well.
So each of these four things—giving, protecting, keeping pure, increasing. I think I will stop here.
PURIFICATION AND VOWS
So tonight I thought to do a little bit meditation on shunyata, and see if we can do meditation on the four analyses. We’ll do the rest of the paramitas, maybe tomorrow afternoon or day after tomorrow morning. If there’s time then I’ll go through them. I am thinking perhaps to do the Great Chenrezig initiation, the great kriya tantra initiation, so people who want to do nyung nä practices, the two-day Chenrezig retreat that involves a lot of prostrations to Chenrezig and the Thirty-five Buddhas and recitation mantra and taking the eight Mahayana precepts, you can do it. By doing these two days in retreat, one nyung-nä, it purifies 80,000 eons of negative karma. This is the general idea, but still it’s dependent on individual—how perfectly you practice, with thought of shunyata and strong bodhicitta. It’s all dependent on that.
It is mentioned that even by reciting one Chenrezig mantra, a full monk who broke all the four vows, who received the defeat of killing, stealing, telling lies, and intercourse, by reciting one mantra, all that negative karma get purified. So there’s an inconceivable, unbelievable benefit of reciting this mantra. In other words, this is like Vajrasattva, a powerful deity to purify. I think we have so much negative karma on a daily basis, the cause of problems—we accumulate them and we don’t want the problems, we don’t want to experience the results. So in that case what we should do then is purify. Studying the teaching of karma, listening, reflecting, and meditation, abandon as much as possible negative karma and practice as much as possible virtuous actions, the cause of temporal happiness and ultimate happiness. All these practices are very powerful methods. Unbelievable negative karma gets purified by each of these practices: prostrations, taking Mahayana precepts, reciting mantra. They are very powerful things to put together.
So if you don’t want problems, do something with the cause. That is the main thing. And especially if you want to help every sentient being, practice Dharma, practice purification. So now by going back in the West, normally what I advise and tell the centers is to make the Dharma centers for other sentient beings—to eliminate their sufferings, to obtain happiness for others, to lead them to enlightenment, and especially to benefit them for ultimate happiness. That is missing for them and that they need. Even if life is so busy, so much to do, on Saturday and Sunday do a nyung nä, this two day retreat, and finish these sessions so it’s kind of fixed. This is not a question of one-month retreat, it’s not a question of even one week—it’s two days, a weekend. So in one year to do one nyung-nä, or in six months to do one nyung-nä. It’s unbelievable, those two days; an unbelievable cause of happiness. Each time you generate bodhicitta, there is infinite merit. Each time you do the seven-limb practice, infinite merit. Each prostration, inconceivable merit. Anyway I’m not going to go over talking the benefits. Geshe-la may have spoken of the unbelievable benefits of prostrations.
Therefore, it’s a very practical thing to do. If you are concerned with making life meaningful, you cannot stop the disturbing thoughts in one day, in a one month meditation course, uncontrollably accumulating negative karma. Each year you do some practice, then whenever death happens, even though you have created negative karma, so much is purified. At the time of death it is very thin. Not heavy. Even if you didn’t reach the state of complete purification in this life, so much preparation for the happiness of future lives, up to enlightenment, even for the happiness of this life, is done. That is one thing.
Then the other thing is that even if you don’t do a nyung-nä, by taking the eight Mahayana precepts, if you are going to do retreat, to recite mantras, you have to concentrate, you have to repeat them for a long time. But on these eight Mahayana precepts you need only a few minutes in the morning. It depends on how quickly you say your prayers. You need only ten minutes in the morning, that’s it. Then until the next day comes, until the sun rises, there’s unbelievable merit to achieve, abstaining from killing, all these things, the eight precepts. There are branches also. Just taking the vow without bodhicitta is unbelievable merit that you can enjoy even while you are in samsara. You have so many hundreds and hundreds of lifetimes to enjoy the result.
Now, taking each of these vows with bodhicitta, bringing infinite merit for the sake of all sentient beings. You can see the purpose in the prayer—it mentions all the purposes for sentient beings to stop their problems. The more people there are in this world living in the eight Mahayana precepts, the less dangerous the world becomes. The rest of the sentient beings receive less danger, less harm. Whether you are working in a factory or not, or sitting in an elevator, all day going up and down. Whether you are doing a car race, this sport, even if the legs are broken, even if you are in the hospital, still the merits are there. Still the merits from taking this vow in the morning, even if your ribs are broken, if you are in hospital, you accumulate so much merit taking the eight Mahayana precepts. This doesn’t need concentration. To do perfect retreat you need much concentration. So easy, unbelievable merit—the profit is unbelievable. Like this.
Again this starts with the seven-limb practice. This is unbelievable merit—if you practice each of them, the seven-limb practice, there is unbelievable merit. There are prostrations, offerings—every prostration that is done to Buddha, as I mentioned before, the other day, everything becomes a cause of enlightenment, to benefit all sentient beings. So this is a really practical thing to do, because to get liberation from samsara, we need to generate the path. As I mentioned the other day, death comes before completing the path to the liberation in this life. For the sake of the sentient beings to achieve enlightenment, we need to generate the path. So therefore we need to continuously practice Dharma to develop the mind in the path, and take the body of the happy transmigratory being in our next lives. Therefore we need to create the cause. From this moment we need to create the cause, to make preparations—however many hours, how many minutes we have to live, we have the opportunity to practice. The actual cause of the happy transmigratory being is only moral conduct. If a lifetime living in the vows is difficult, then this is a very practical thing: eight Mahayana precepts. Just do it for twenty-four hours. Then one can also take them like this: the eight Mahayana precepts for one year. One year or even longer—like fifteen days altogether, in the morning, one time taking.
One text says you need to repeat the prayer fifteen times in the morning. I think probably if you think I’m going to take the eight precepts until such and such a date, you can do that. Or you can say that you’re going to take the eight Mahayana precepts on the fifteenth, thirtieth, and eighth, all those days. Anyway in one month you’re going to take the eight Mahayana precepts, and instead of repeating the prayer every morning you can do the prayer one time in the morning, and then in the “until tomorrow the sun rises” time you think I’m going to take it until such and such a date. Then you take them. But of course it’s better, on those days, if you could repeat the prayer in the morning because it makes it fresh and more precise, more effective. All this has reference, Lama Tsongkhapa’s disciples.
When Guru Shakyamuni Buddha was in India, during those times, one arhat gave a butcher a vow not to kill at night-time. Because for him it was easy to keep the precepts night-time, but in the daytime it was difficult. But if he kept the vow at night-time, by taking the vow from a teacher, there’s merit, there’s benefit. If you don’t make a vow in the front of a holy object, there’s no benefit, even if you don’t do the action, there’s no benefit. So there’s a big difference between taking the vow and not doing the action, and not taking the vow. Guru Shakyamuni gave someone else the vow to live in moral conduct and to not have sexual misconduct in the daytime. The night-time is difficult, so in the daytime. For that person it was easier to keep it in the daytime, so he gave him the vow to refrain in the daytime. This is much better than not living in the vow at all. Every day there’s merit, even though there’s no merit at night-time. So there are references. This is one very practical thing to do, preparation for the happiness of future lives up to enlightenment. This also benefits the whole world, and the whole world.
The other thing is the Vajrasattva mantra. The long one twenty-one times, the short one twenty-eight times, OM VAJRASATTVA HUNG. Now, the reason to recite this before going to bed, at the end of the day, is that if you do not confess with this method then the negative karma that you accumulate during the day with body, speech, and mind becomes double the next day and then becomes triple on the third day. It increases more and more, so even if you haven’t killed a human being, even if you didn’t go to war, even if you did not become a butcher, there are so many other negative karmas that accumulate. Even if you think, “I haven’t done any heavy. I won’t go to the lower realms,” it is said like this,
The wise person’s negative karma, even though it’s great, becomes small. The foolish person’s negative karma, even though it’s small, it becomes great.
So if you practice confession, especially with the Vajrasattva mantra, the most powerful one, the Maha-anuttara Tantra Vajrasattva, father and mother embracing, even if you have degenerated the Maha-anuttara Tantra vows today, it does not become double or triple tomorrow. By doing this practice, even if you don’t do many retreats, meditation, other things, when death comes, but it purifies all the past negative karmas. Your negative karma is very light at the time of death.
If you never do confession practice, even if you don’t do heavy things, the negative karmas become like mountains, like earth, at the time of death. That’s what it means when it says for the foolish even if your negative karma is small, it becomes great.
Particularly Vajrasattva has this advantage. This is what to do if you want happiness, now and in the future. This Vajrasattva and especially the four opponent powers should be practiced. This way there are thinner obscurations, so it is easy develop the mind in the lam-rim.
STUDYING THE LAM-RIM
Concerning lam-rim meditation, I would suggest the book, Essence of Nectar, which is not too detailed with stories and many things, but not too short. It’s quite extensive, it’s very good to use like a pocket dictionary of lam-rim. It’s very good. If you understand the extensive one you can use the short one, Lama Tsongkhapa’s Hymns of the Experience of the Path of the Graduated Path to Enlightenment, then you can expand by yourself. The Essence of Nectar has both of the preliminaries there, the jor-chö practice is there, the whole preliminary practice is there, before the actual meditation starts. All the prayers that come before the actual meditation are the methods of pacifying the obstacles, creating causes for realizations. All the jor-chö is there. So that’s why it’s very easy, it’s all in one book. I think there is a very short, brief one at the end of the Essence of Nectar, I think.
Then those who do Lama Chöpa—on the basis of Lama Chöpa, you can expand. That’s an incredibly effective Guru Puja. For a while you do, you train the mind from the beginning meditation to the end. So you do the jor-chö prayer in the Essence of Nectar, if those are very long you can use some short ones. You can use the Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga prayer and then you can use the lam-rim part from the Essence of Nectar, or from Lama Chöpa. You can make the prayer shorter, even though prayer is short but the important thing to, by knowing each practice to not just become words to really become the practice. That’s important. Prayer, if it is successful, has everything. You can take even the short one, Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, something short, as long as it also has the essence. Today start from guru devotion, read to yourself, then whatever is not finished do tomorrow. If you have time tonight do a little bit, go, read, think of the meaning. Go on like this up to the end. Then again you go back, and do day by day like this. For a while, until you understand, have all understanding and until you get the feeling with each one, “Now if I really try this meditation, I think I will have realization. If I really put effort.”
Then after that you put main effort in guru devotion, to have realization. That is the main one. Then if you have more time spend time on the perfect human rebirth, usefulness, trying to generate the realization. If you still have more time you can start to have the realization of the lam-rim path by putting the mind more in these meditations every day. Before death you will have one of the realizations, either shunyata or guru devotion. If not then just put all the effort into one realization, but still go over the basis of some lam-rim prayer, doing the direct meditation on lam-rim.
So one of the most important things, on this basis, every day do the meditation, Yonten Shirgyuma, so either from Lama Chöpa a prayer that shows all the path—it is very important to recite every day, after the preliminaries. When you read it mindfully think of the meaning, a direct meditation. This way each day you plant the seed of the path, the whole path. If it has sutra then also tantra. This way each day you become closer and closer to that path, the graduated path to enlightenment, so you are closer to enlightenment and closer to benefiting all sentient beings.
After you have the guru devotion realization, then do the perfect human rebirth—and one after another go step by step to have this realization. Train the mind in guru devotion because that’s the most difficult realization, and the most important one. Take tantra initiation and do shunyata meditation—one part training the mind in the lam-rim, one part training the mind in tantra, the first stage of generation, one-pointed concentration on that, or one-pointed concentration on the Six Yogas of Naropa, or tum-mo meditation. This makes life meaningful.
For those want to know how to do lam-rim meditation, it is like that. Then for those who don’t have time to do meditation, who are very busy with their families and other many things, do the Mahayana ordination, the nyung-nä, the eight precepts. Then do direct meditation on lam-rim, with some preliminary practice.
When you go to work remember the purpose of life. If you’re doing six-session yoga, you can do the motivation during that time. This practice contains dedicating everything to sentient beings, so when you do direct lam-rim meditation prayer in the morning, and when you go from your bed, from your room, when you go to work, generate wishing motivation bodhicitta, thinking, “In order to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, I’m going to work for these sentient beings.” The other people who employed you need your work, they need your help, so pray that by doing work for them you will generate the whole path to enlightenment, especially bodhicitta in their minds, that your service for them will become the cause of generating the path in their mind. Then also pray again and again, “Just by seeing me, hearing me, touching me, talking about me, remembering me, anyone, all sentient beings’ suffering may be pacified immediately and they receive all happiness.”
In a family it’s very important to remember again that the purpose of life is for others, to eliminate sufferings, to obtain happiness for others. So think, “Oh how wonderful it is that that I am found useful, even for one sentient being.” Practice a bodhisattva’s attitude and conduct. This becomes similar to bodhisattvas’ attitudes, and in this way doing the activities, unstained by selfish mind, they become purest Dharma, even if you don’t know karma, don’t accept karma, don’t accept reincarnation.
MEDITATION ON THE EMPTINESS OF THE I
We are going to recite some mantras before the meditation on emptiness.
There are strong nectar beams from Guru Shakyamuni Buddha purifying all the obscurations in your mind, in the minds of all sentient beings, and entering your own four places—the forehead, neck, heart, and secret place. Concentrate strongly on the white nectar beams. You receive the realizations from guru devotion up to enlightenment, especially the wisdom realizing emptiness, which eliminates the root of samsara. Sutra, tantra, all the profound path are generated in your mind and in the minds of all sentient beings.
This lung was given before or not? [Discussion with Ven. Wangmo.] During the purification time the strong white nectar rays pacifies all the wrong conceptions, which interferes with the achievement of liberation and enlightenment, and one’s ability to extensively benefit all sentient beings, all the wrong views that one has. [Tibetan] TADYATHA OM MUNÉ MUNÉ MAHAMUNAYÉ SOHA.
“I must achieve the state of omniscient mind for the sake of all kind mother sentient beings equaling infinite space, so therefore I’m going to listen and meditate on emptiness. Myself and all sentient beings’ suffering from beginningless rebirths until now is due to not having realized emptiness, the absolute nature of the I. By realizing emptiness, by destroying all the obscurations, and then by achieving enlightenment, I will lead every sentient being to the freedom from all the sufferings of samsara, to peerless happiness, to enlightenment, by myself alone. Therefore I’m going to meditate on emptiness. Please Guru-Buddha, grant me blessings to generate the realization of emptiness, the direct remedy to eliminate the root of samsara in this session, right on this cushion.”
Now, first of all to get a rough idea in the beginning, all sufferings, the sufferings of samsara, the suffering of suffering, suffering of changes, pervasive suffering, the compounding pervasive suffering, and karma, all the disturbing thoughts came from ignorance not knowing the absolute nature of the I. First meditate on this. The I, the being, the person—think of yourself. This is not earth, which means the body, this is not the body. This I is not the body, okay, not the earth element. Not the water, the liquids inside. This I is not the heat, the fire element. This I is not air, not space inside. Not consciousness. Not space inside. This I is not all of these six things. This I is neither each one nor all together. First of all think of the self—the I is here at Kopan. The I is on this cushion meditating. Whichever makes the I rise stronger. Think I have done this and that.
[Meditation]
Then look at the real self. Now analyze this body, the earth element, this body is not this I. This water element is not this I, this real I. The heat element inside is not this real I. The fire element is not this I, not me.
The consciousness is not me. The real self. The space inside is not the real self, me. All together is not, the whole group is not real, is not the real self, me, separately from the earth element, the water element, the fire element, the air element, consciousness, space—the I doesn’t exist. What exists is the I merely labeled on these aggregates. There is no other I except this I existing and doing activities.
Again think, think I, I. See how it appears to you. Constantly think I, I.
[Meditation]
Now think, within you inside the chest, wherever you feel the I, there is a light. You see it very clear inside the body, like a lighted room. So where is the darkness of that I that appeared before? Can you find it or not? The I that exists from its own side, truly existent, the real self? See whether you can find or not. Is it findable or not? Check. From the head down to the feet, especially in the chest.
[Meditation]
Do you find? Do you find something or not? Did somebody find something? When you start to search inside, it looks like the I can be found, but as soon as you start to search it becomes unclear. Does the I existing from its own side, as real, appear or not? Think, “What is the reason I say I am at Kopan?” Find the reason. “Where I am now, I am at Kopan.” Why do I believe I am at Kopan? There is no other reason at all, except that the aggregates are here at Kopan. The body-mind association is at Kopan. While you’re putting this reason, look at what happened with the I. What happened? What happened in the way of perceiving the I?
[Meditation]
When you put the reason, there is no other reason at all except the aggregates are here. The I, the real self disappeared and became empty.
[Meditation]
So the previous I doesn’t exist, the I that appears to exist from its own side is empty on these aggregates. So now think, “That I is completely empty, but that doesn’t mean there’s no I at all.” There is an I, the meditator. There is an I existing because, “I’m meditating now, searching, the I is searching and could not find.” So the I that is meditating is merely labeled on these aggregates, on the action of the consciousness, and it exists.
So the previous experience is that there is some real self or I existing from its own side. That previous I, appearing from its own side, is the refuted object. Not seeing that I proves that the I appearing from its own side is empty. That is the absolute nature of the I. So now, if the I existed from its own side, without depending on the aggregates and thought labeling, if this were true as ignorance believes, then when your aggregates stood up, the I would be still sitting here, meditating. Sitting is to do with the body—the mind cannot sit. So the I would still be sitting here, the body still sitting here. Same with eating. If the existent I did not depend on the aggregates, if it were independent, it would be like this. The independent I would be at Kopan doing the course. So then when the body reached the West, the I would still be on this cushion, doing this course. So if we follow ignorance it is completely ridiculous.
According to your belief following ignorance, you were born from an independent father and mother who don’t exist. You went to an independent school, which doesn’t exist, and then learned from an independent teacher, who doesn’t exist, and studied independent subjects that don’t exist. Then you married an independent husband who does not exist, and quarreled with an independent wife who doesn’t exist, and had independent children, who don’t exist, in the independent house which doesn’t exist, and bought an independent car, which doesn’t exist. You shopped in the independent shops that don’t exist, and bought independent materials from independent supermarkets, which don’t exist, with independent money, which doesn’t exist. You came by an independent airplane, which doesn’t exist, to independent Nepal, which doesn’t exist, to an independent Kopan, which doesn’t exist, and are doing an independent course, which doesn’t exist, receiving independent teachings, which don’t exist, from independent geshes, who don’t exist.
To get some idea how the independent I does not exist— you are like the person who saw the rope at dusk time and labeled it a snake. After he labeled it a snake, it appeared as a snake to him. All existence is like this—samsara, nirvana—like the piece of rope in the road. And like him, you are not aware that you have merely labeled it—subject, object, action, the whole thing from birth until death. You think, “Because the aggregates exist, I exist.” This is the reality. Knowing the words is not enough— you need to practice awareness all the time and use these shunyata words when anger, dissatisfied mind, attachment, or pride, or jealousy arise, to destroy ignorance. Then the words became meaningful.
So I think I didn’t finish the four analyses. Never mind, a little bit. From this short meditation you get some idea of the I that exists and the I that doesn’t exist. By meditating how the I is a dependent arising, you get liberated from eternalism; you get the definite understanding that the I exists in mere name, in conventional truth.
By realizing the absolute truth of the I, you get the realization of the conventional truth; that I exists in mere name. Without choice, no matter how much you try to think that the I doesn’t exist, by realizing the absolute truth of the I, then you realize that the strong indestructible understanding on these aggregates that the I exists in mere name so then that the I exists, so powerful, no choice. This is realizing conventional truth, the subtle dependent arising of the I.
THE FOUR ANALYSES
If I go over the four analyses the most important one is the first one. I just mentioned the first one, okay. If you cannot recognize what “truly existent” means, the best way is to do the four analyses. When we believe in a real self, that itself is the truly existent I. So remember your great fear when you are about to have a car accident, or when you have strong attachment, very strong unbelievable attachment—how does the I appear? Or when somebody gave you a present, or you won the examination or something—try to remember the I at that time, you go back to those situations and see how the I appears, the emotional I, strongly arising. Then don’t think immediately, “Oh this doesn’t exist.”
Then also look at the aggregates. Then think, “If this I exists, it should be either oneness with them or separate from them.” Don’t think immediately, “Oh this doesn’t exist in oneness with the aggregates, even separately it doesn’t exist.” By checking you will understand.
The vase or, say, the tables, okay, tables, then shoes or pillows or plates—if these things exist, they have to be either oneness with the aggregates or separate. It is the same with the real self that we feel in the chest, within the body, in some particular location. Looking at the aggregates, one labels I, okay? Now, when we look at the I, what the ignorance holds as the I, that one is merely imputed on the aggregates but appears to exist from its own side completely. If this exists it should be oneness with the aggregates. If the aggregates are I then there is no purpose in accepting the I as something separate from the aggregates.
Then the next one— because the aggregates are many, the I becomes many. Then the third one, as the continuation of the aggregates the body stops, the continuation of the body completely stops, when the gross consciousness stops, the I has to stop. When this principal body stops, the I has to stop, so this mistake comes. When this body is burned, is there the danger that the I is stopped? There is this danger without going into details, past or future lives all becomes one. Or it is separate, no connection at all? Then in this case, there is no way to remember past lives, it would be like two separate beings. So this mistake arises. And then the mistake in terms of karma, experiencing the result without having created the cause. These things arise, so the conclusion is that the truly existent I is not one with the aggregates.
There is no other way, no other third way, except that it has to exist separately from the aggregates. If the I exists separately from the aggregates, it’s like this. When the I has to go back to the West, the aggregates don’t have to be in the airplane, and since the body doesn’t have to be in the airplane, you don’t need a ticket. Nobody asks you for tickets. Also you don’t need a seat, you don’t need a number for the seat, because you don’t have a physical body. You don’t need a job to make money. Since you don’t have a body, there’s no hunger and thirst. So many mistakes come. You doesn’t need a house if the I exists separately from the aggregates. You don’t need clothing.
The I, the real self doesn’t exist as oneness with the aggregates, or separately from the aggregates. Think that this real self completely empty, like the million dollars in your hand, or like a rabbit’s horn –this is exactly the same as one million dollars in your hand. Then think that the mistake is that you’ve been believing this from beginningless lifetimes, addicted to this, so this is the whole problem. But this is completely empty, like the million dollars in the hand. Then you start one-pointed concentration by using the remembrance and awareness from the meditation of samatha. Then you continue to develop the wisdom of emptiness, doing the analyses and the fixed meditation on emptiness, to eliminate the root of ignorance, samsara ignorance, even the root of, even the seed of that is able to, you are able to eliminate, by possessing the skillful means, bodhicitta, then tantra, then able to achieve enlightenment. So the outline of the four analyses is finished. There are some things to meditate on. Then I am sorry—a very long time. And sleep for one month next time. Maybe the watch might stop. Yeah.
