Lecture 13

PRACTICING DHARMA TO BENEFIT SENTIENT BEINGS

Refrain from making any unwholesome action,
Enjoy the life by creating complete wholesome action
Subdue one’s own mind,
This is the teaching of Buddha.

[Meditate]

Again meditate how all causative phenomena, all things, are changing within every second, and that these things can be stopped at any time, including your own life, your own body, your possessions, the surrounding people—friends, enemies, strangers and so forth. 

[Meditate]

Besides this, all existence—the I, action, object—all existence is completely empty. While it exists, all of existence is completely empty from its own side. Please concentrate on this. 

[Meditate]

[Rinpoche chants the Lion-face Dakini prayer, then the group chants the lineage lamas’ prayer.]

I mentioned before about the great meaning of the [refuge] verse, how the first two lines are taking refuge and the last two lines are generating bodhicitta.

Here, there are not just the two causes of refuge but also the additional cause, compassion for all sentient beings, the wish to free all sentient beings from all the obscurations and the samsaric sufferings and to do that by ourselves. This is the third cause along with the determination to be free ourselves from the whole entire samsara, the suffering realm, the defiled aggregates that join one life to another life, and faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, by understanding their qualities. By understanding whatever we can about their great qualities, although there is so much we can’t be aware of.

The whole path comes in two: wisdom and method. When we have actualized the entire path, which is our own mind, which completely eliminates the whole, entire obscurations, the stains of mind, when this path becomes our own mind, that is what makes our own mental continuum the omniscient mind, the fully enlightened mind. The mind become the dharmakaya and at that time the body becomes the completely pure holy body, the body of the form. These two are inseparable.

Then, without any mistakes, without the slightest mistake, without any difficulties, we are able to do unimaginable work for sentient beings, for even one sentient being, until that one sentient being becomes enlightened. We can do unimaginable works for even that one sentient being. So like this we can work for all sentient beings, to free them from the sufferings and to bring them in happiness.

As I mentioned before, there are the conventional Buddha and the absolute Buddha. Those who have some understanding of the qualities and those who don’t, there’s the opportunity to gradually come to understand the qualities, particularly when it comes to that subject. And then briefly, as I explained before, about the whole path and how it functions to remove all the delusions. That’s the function of refuge, how the Dharma guides us and all sentient beings. And like this, how the Buddha guides us and all sentient beings by revealing that unmistaken path, both the method and wisdom aspects. The Dharma wisdom is the wisdom realizing emptiness and the method is developed on the basis of compassion, the root, such as great compassion and so forth.

The way the Sangha guide us is to help us and all sentient beings practice, to free us from samsara, by being examples, an inspiration for us. In that way, they’re helping us to accumulate merit, to purify and to actualize the path, the actual refuge, within our own mind. In brief that’s how the Sangha guide. By relying upon the Sangha we allow them to guide us out of the whole, entire suffering of samsara, and all the mistakes of the mind by developing faith in their qualities, then relying upon them. That is taking refuge.

As I explained before, think, “In order to benefit all migratory beings, may I achieve full enlightenment.” Remember the meaning of “migratory being” and the whole, entire cause of suffering, and all the results of sufferings, true suffering, all the various types of general suffering of samsara as well as the particular sufferings of each realm that other sentient beings are experiencing. In that way generate compassion, then bodhicitta, the altruistic mind to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.

Dedicate the merits of listening to the Dharma, from your side, and explaining it, from mine. Dedicate the merits of listening to Dharma and so forth, and all the other merits.

THE NATURE OF THE MIND

Rinpoche: So, where are you? Okay. I thought you disappeared. Did you have any dreams last night?

Andrew: I don’t remember.

Rinpoche: Does that mean you didn’t have any because you don’t remember? Is that your experience?

Okay. So first, with regards to the mind, what is the mind? What is the mind, that you explained yesterday, something to do with the impulse of the brain, right?

The first time you started to believe in this explanation, when you started to believe in this, was it because of your own wisdom, your understanding, or what? Was it because you didn’t have any other explanation for what mind is?

Andrew: I believe it’s because it fitted in with other things I’ve been told previously. I have faith in science, I believe things explained by science and I was told this is what the brain is, some scientific evidence, so I believed it.

Rinpoche: It’s not because you didn’t have any other explanation before that and because this was the first explanation of what the mind is, or mainly because of science.

Andrew: I don’t remember. I think that it may have been the first explanation that I had of mind. I don’t remember when I exactly started believing it. I would say that surely when I was a kid, I had thoughts about what the mind was, but I never really thought about it. I believe that was the first explanation that satisfied my mind.

Rinpoche: Uh, huh. So the reason that you believe in this is because there was no other explanation of mind before that. Right? There was no other explanation of mind you heard before that, right? That was one reason, right?

Andrew: Correct.

Rinpoche: Okay. Not so much because of science, but because you didn’t have any other explanation of mind before that, is that right?

Andrew: I also found it satisfactory.

Rinpoche: Ah lay. I see. And do you think that this explanation that you thought was satisfactory was a hundred percent correct?

Andrew: No.

Rinpoche: Huh? Yesterday, you said yes.

Andrew: I think it’s probably ninety-five percent correct, yes.

Rinpoche: Then maybe tomorrow it’s eighty percent correct! Maybe after the course, one percent. I’m joking. No, I’m joking. Yeah?

Andrew: As I said, science is fallible, but scientists are always making and correcting their mistakes and there’s a lot left to be discovered about the brain. So I believe that extra five percent will eventually be discovered.

WESTERN SCIENCE IS ABOUT EXTERNAL DEVELOPMENT

Another student: In the future scientists will find out more about the brain, and then maybe the other five percent will be discovered. 

Rinpoche: That was my main question, but the other question is this. Did it come from your own wisdom to believe in that? Your own wisdom in the sense of not just labeled wisdom, but wisdom in the sense of actually believing it exists, actually believing things exist like that in reality. That kind of wisdom. That wisdom. There can be what is called wisdom but also what is maybe wrong understanding. The person might believe it is so, but it’s not like that. That’s not wisdom. It’s a wrong concept but a person might think that it’s wisdom. There are many examples like that.

Basically, this is the first time to hear something and because you’ve never had any other explanations you’ve had no chance to analyze, to compare. This is the first time. That’s one reason why you believe in it.

Secondly, in the West, in Western culture, I’m not sure, but I guess that for the majority of the people, the main refuge, the main thing they rely on, that they learn from, is the scientist. They decide whether something’s correct or not correct depending on what the scientists say. What you learn or what you believe, what becomes the culture, depends on what the scientists say. As you said, with very high technological development, there are many facts, as you said yesterday, remember? I mean those incredible things. Anyway that thought came.

When America was fighting in Iraq, it sent missiles, the ones you can shoot from far away to exactly the right place. Where the weapons are, the bombs, the main place, is very far away but they can hit a very small target. There are many, many technological developments, with the elements and so forth, with different atoms, by putting them all together, producing the different effects. All these things, all these are external developments. All this is external development. There are many proofs. That’s why there can be technological development. If there are many things and then also … [Someone sneezes very loudly] That’s a very interesting sound. The eight objects of worldly dharma. I’m joking.

When she was sneezing I was going to mention about health. Even in regards to health, it’s maybe still not fully perfect, but there are many facts, proof. That doesn’t mean everything is always correct, because there’s still development. Medicine and science are both developing, for example, the understanding of cancer and AIDS is expanding. There were some reports in newspapers, in Australia. Anyway, that was one topic that I wanted to raise.

The interesting part is, if we know the different definitions of mind, if we know the different explanations, then we can compare. Then we can really experiment with life, with death and life experience. We can compare the philosophy made up by somebody with life experience. Not somebody who is famous, who has made it up, but our particular, individual life experience. That’s one thing.

Through our own mental development, the development of the mind, we see more phenomena, such as remembering past and future lives. Then we realize their ultimate nature, how all these things are empty. There are so many phenomena we are not aware of, both of the mind and external phenomena. There are so many things that we are not aware of, that we cannot see. Through the development of the mind, our understanding gets expanded, becoming wider and wider and deeper and deeper. This is something that we actually realize, but then if scientists say it doesn’t exist, it becomes contradictory to our experience. That philosophy becomes contradictory to our experience, to our own personal actual experience of life, that our wisdom has discovered.

Such a philosophy has been made up, not with clairvoyance, not with the omniscient mind, not with the valid mind. It has not come from the valid mind, such as clairvoyance, the omniscient mind, seeing clearly a hundred percent the understanding of the nature of phenomena or evolution. It’s not like that, but hypothesizing that this might be this and in that way making up a philosophy.

When it’s contradictory to the actual life experience, then that philosophy becomes wrong. Our unhallucinated valid mind sees that we have two friends but the Buddha says we only have one. The Buddha says that in our view we have only one friend, but our valid mind sees that we have two friends or a hundred friends. Our valid mind sees we have a hundred friends at Kopan. But the Buddha says, in our view, we have only one friend. Even if the Buddha said that—and the Buddha wouldn’t say that because of his omniscient mind—but even if the Buddha said that, if it is the opposite to our own experience, it would be wrong, even if the Buddha said that. Understand

ATTAINING CLAIRVOYANCE

The other thing is, there’s philosophy and there’s life experience. Many people are born with great power, great mental capacity, and many people develop their mind in this life. When there’s more clarity in the mind, we remember more things; when the mind is more kind of foggy, more disturbed, when the mind is more polluted, more unclear, at those times there’s less memory. Even the very nearest things, such as the names of the people and familiar objects, we suddenly don’t remember.

But in time, through either practice or when certain conditions come together, the mind becomes freer from the preoccupation with strong attachment to sense objects, or from anger and so forth. When the mind is freer, more liberated from those distractions, calmer, finer, then things become easier to remember. It’s easy to remember things. Also during those states, when the mind is a little bit free from those distractions, there is more space and so it’s easy to feel compassion, if we meditate on compassion, or it’s easy to feel impermanence if we meditate on that. Also the ultimate nature, and it’s easy to feel devotion by thinking of the qualities of the holy object.

It’s like when you stir the water, mud comes up and it becomes very unclear; you can’t see through it. But when you don’t stir it up, if you leave the water tranquil, calm, without disturbing it, then the water becomes very clear, you can see through it. It’s the same thing with the mind, it’s exactly like that. Depending on what you do with the mind, sometimes it’s clear, sometimes it’s not clear.

There are many people who can remember; there are many people who are born with that power. There are children and old people. And then through development of the mind, through certain practices, through particular meditations as well as certain deity practices that help us see past and future lives, that help them appear in our mind. There are practices like that. There are ordinary forms of clairvoyance that we can achieve through meditation and through mantra practices and so forth.

It’s said in the teachings that the most definite clairvoyance, the most trustworthy, reliable clairvoyance, is obtained through calm abiding meditation, which has nine stages. For the mental development of concentration we have to go through nine stages, each stage meaning fewer and fewer obstacles, less and less scattering thought and less and less unclear, sinking thought. Not unclear singing thought but sinking. Not singing songs, but sinking thought. First the gross ones get stopped, then the subtle ones get stopped. Then, after the subtle sinking thought, the subtle attachment-scattering thought, when those are completely stopped, only then, only then do we have perfect meditation. Only then do we have perfect one-pointed concentration, without any obstacles, only that time.

Then, after this definitely happens on the ninth stage, we experience the special, extraordinary, extremely refined, rapturous ecstasy of body and mind. No comparison to LSD! Anyway, I’m joking. There’s no comparison to those other ordinary experiences, what is called happiness.

When we have achieved the special, extremely refined, rapturous ecstasy of body and mind, then, generally speaking, after this experience we have achieved calm abiding, we have achieved calm abiding meditation. After achieving this, if we let go, the mind follows all the virtuous objects. It’s able to follow many, many virtuous paths. Then, if we place the mind, if we keep the mind on one object, it’s like an immovable mountain, like a great immovable mountain. If we put the mind on one object, it stays on that object forever, as long as we plan. As long as we plan, it stays on that object one-pointedly, the concentration abides. The mind is able to stay focused on the object one-pointedly forever, as long as we have planned, like an immovable rocky mountain. But if we let it go then it follows all the virtuous paths.

So it has unbelievable benefits. For the meditators who achieve this, the state itself is kind of like liberation. Of course, it’s not ultimate liberation, but it’s some kind of liberation. There’s incredible, unbelievable freedom. There are no hardships in the body or in the mind, to practice Dharma. We are free from hardships. There are no difficulties to do any of the virtuous practices, and there are no hardships for the body and mind. The body is so extremely light, like cotton. It’s one of the best ways to be healthy.

After we have achieved this calm abiding meditation, it’s said that we have the most reliable clairvoyance. That’s why Lama Atisha explained in The Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment that in order to work for other sentient beings, we should practice calm abiding, this meditation, and then achieve clairvoyance, especially through the Six Yogas of Naropa.⁹

Before mentioning that, I’ll say that this happens even with the sutra path, the Paramitayana path, the path of the gone beyond. As I mentioned in one of the beginning days, there are five Mahayana paths and ten bhumis, which start from the right-seeing path, for the duration of the right-seeing path and the path of meditation. There are ten bhumis. After completing these, the meditator becomes enlightened. When he achieves the first bhumi, that meditator, that absolute Sangha, whether he’s lay or ordained, the arya bodhisattva who has achieved the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness has achieved the first bhumi. When this happens he is able to see back a hundred lifetimes. He has the mental capacity to be able to see a hundred lifetimes in the past and a hundred lifetimes in the future, both his own and others.

When the meditator’s mind reaches the second bhumi, he is able to see a thousand or two thousand, I’m not sure, lifetimes in the past, and that many lives in the future. Then, the first bhumi meditator is also able to go to hundreds of different pure lands, pure realms, the paradises of different buddhas and receive teachings, as well as at the same time being able to give hundreds of different teachings to other sentient beings. This absolute Sangha, the one who has achieved the first bhumi, has different qualities. There are about ten or eleven mentioned. When he reaches the second bhumi, the qualities are increased much more, a thousand or two thousand. They are increased much more, and it goes like this up to ten, where these qualities get increased more and more.

As well as this, in tantra, clairvoyance is achieved through the completion stage practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa. After a certain progress is made, there are those meditators who start to have clairvoyance, especially those meditators who have actualized the primordial mind, the extremely subtle mind, the clear light, those meditators who achieved the clear light, the illusory body and the unification [of the two.] The higher they achieve, I think, the more mental capacity there is to see.

These yogis can tell their own life and the lives of others. For example, our incomparably kind Lama Yeshe, who is now reincarnated in Spain, the boy lama. When Lama Yeshe was visiting one of the Muslim places, where there are pyramids. [Students: Egypt.] So Egypt. When Lama went to visit there, he remembered that so long ago, in one of his lives, he was there. He remembered. Many of my teachers, my gurus, it seems they’re able to tell others’ lives. All of them, even to the common ordinary view, have achieved this very high stage of tantra, the completion stage. They have these experiences. It’s not that they say, “I have this experience, I have achieved this realization.” It’s not that they advertise, “I have this realization, that realization.” Usually the practice is that, even though they have realizations and knowledge equaling the sky, they still act in their outside conduct as an ordinary person. They respect everyone; they are very humble. This is how the practice is in Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism. No matter how many of the highest realizations they achieve, they keep it secret, invisible. They practice the opposite to pride, humility.

These very high meditators have achieved the clear light and illusory body; they have actualized the extremely subtle consciousness, the subtle mind, the clear light and then the illusory body which means the astral body. There could be an astral body that is free and one that is not free. The astral body that is free comes through meditation. The astral body that is not free is probably the intermediate state body. That could be called an astral body, although there are other astral bodies, perhaps when you become a spirit. There are people who in the daytime look like human beings but at nighttime maybe become spirits. They maybe have meetings with the spirits or become slave to other spirits, having to collect flesh or to collect human breath. They have to collect things to give somebody who controls them, like a king in the human realm, someone in authority. The spirits seem that way. Generally, for the spirits there’s also a similar way of running things, where there’s a kind of powerful one and then the others have to become servants to that one and have to bring it things.

Anyway, there are many stories. Not only in the East, there might be a lot in the West. They are called living hungry ghosts. In the daytime, what appears is a human body, it is a human being, but at night it’s able to go to other people to give harm.

Anyway, the conclusion is, the more subtle body can be two types, that which is free and that which is not free, and after having achieved the clear light, this subtle body, this illusory body, this wind body, this astral body is the free one.

THE GENERATION AND COMPLETION STAGES OF HIGHEST YOGA TANTRA

This happens when a meditator achieves very high realizations within Highest Yoga Tantra. First of all, there are two stages, the generation stage and the completion stage. The generation stage has gross generation stage and subtle generation stage. With the gross generation stage, the meditator is able to meditate one-pointedly without distraction, and his mind is able to focus on himself as the deity, and visualize the mandala, the place, as pure, by stopping ordinary impure concepts He is able to stop the ordinary appearance of himself, then generate himself in the pure form, with pure appearance, pure thought, divine thought, in the particular deity that he will become enlightened as, the particular buddha that he practices.

He is able to concentrate very clearly on the whole thing. Dividing the twenty-four hours of a day into six parts, if you are able to concentrate very clearly on the whole thing for that period of time, then that is the definition of having achieved the gross generation stage. In the Highest Yoga Tantra path, this is the first one, the gross generation stage.

With the subtle stage the meditator is able to visualize himself as the deity and the entire mandala in a drop the size of a mustard seed. He is able to see all that very clearly. He can visualize himself as the deity and the entire mandala, like before, but so tiny, so tiny, in a drop the size of mustard seed. He can visualize everything. Again, when he is able to concentrate one-pointedly, very clearly, like before, for a long time—the length of time might be same as in the gross stage, I don’t remember a hundred percent—that is the definition of having achieved the subtle generation stage.

This becomes the preparation for the completion stage. The gross generation stage realization becomes the preparation for the subtle generation stage and the subtle generation stage realization becomes the preparation for the completion stage.

During the completion stage, according to those meditators who have experienced those paths, when the meditator has achieved the clear light and illusory body, and the unification of these two, the path of unification, there is an illusory body without depending on this ordinary body. There’s a subtle body in the form of the deity, a subtle wind in the form of the deity, so the practice is done without depending on this ordinary, gross body, which also appears as the deity.

During the generation stage, the meditator is able to visualize the whole mandala and his own deity into the space the size of a mustard seed. He is able to meditate on everything, on the whole mandala and deity—everything—no matter how extensive it is. Here, when the meditator achieves the clear light, the illusory body and the unification, according to the experience of the experienced meditators, according to what they say, he is able to transform the subtle wind, the wind body, in the deity, into mandalas equaling the number of atoms of a mountain. Even before becoming enlightened, even during this path he is able to do that. The more he develops, the more he is able to transform the subtle wind into more and more mandalas.

By developing, by doing practices like this, when we become enlightened there’s only the extremely subtle mind. At that time there’s no gross mind; the gross mind has completely ceased before that. The gross mind has completely stopped before that. There are the gross, subtle and extremely subtle minds, so the gross mind has stopped before that and even what is called the subtle mind has stopped. Now what is there is only the extremely subtle mind, the clear light, the completely pure, the extremely subtle mind. Also, the vehicle of that mind is not the gross body, not the concrete gross body like this, it’s the extremely subtle body, wind.

However, this point is the most secret point about tantra, the ultimate secret point, so probably I mentioned in the past many times anyway. Already lots of secrets have been revealed.

Since there’s no gross body, there’s no resistance. The gross body has resistance; there are limitations to covering the object, but with that one there’s no resistance at all. The mind is completely free from all the stains, completely free from the obscurations, both gross and subtle obscurations, therefore the mind sees every single existence directly, past, present and future. Wherever there is awareness, the omniscient mind sees all existence. All existence is covered by the omniscient mind. It’s covered by the completely pure holy mind, the omniscient mind.

I’m explaining this part just to develop the basis for understanding karma and reincarnation. That is also the basis for generating compassion in depth, extensive compassion for all sentient beings. With an understanding of reincarnation and karma, we see the suffering and its cause with depth, from beginningless rebirths. We see that the continuation of other sentient beings’ suffering and the causes did not have a beginning. It helps to develop very deep compassion, and then that leads to bodhicitta, and bodhicitta leads to enlightenment. From that, we are able to gradually bring all sentient beings to enlightenment.

LAMA YESHE’S ASTRAL TRAVELS

Lama Yeshe used to tell some of us the story of a monk called Lama Gyupa who took care of the offerings and the altar at Tushita, the retreat center in Dharamsala. When there was a puja to do, he set up the altar and made the tormas, the offering cakes. He arranged the pujas. It was his job to take care of the altars there, making the offering, doing the water bowls, cleaning and so forth. He completed the great retreat, the three-year Highest Yoga Tantra deity retreat, which has 100,000 fire pujas of the main deity. He did the retreat there, at Tushita.

One evening in conversation Lama told us that, for example, if he had wanted, without the need of his gross body, with his subtle body, he could have gone into Lama Gyupa’s room during the night and killed him. With his subtle body, with his astral body, he could have gone into his room and killed him.

These great meditators who have achieved the clear light and illusory body, without the need of the gross body, can come into our room and see what we’re doing. With their subtle body those yogis can see what we’re doing.

Also, one morning at Thubten Wongmo’s house at Tushita, there was a fire next to the house. A big fire came. Lama was having breakfast. [Rinpoche asks Ven. Wongmo] How far was it to your house? The fire and to Lama’s room? Huh? a hundred feet? What? [Ven. Wongmo: Thirty meters.] Thirty minutes? Anyway, there’s some distance anyway. What? Thirty meters, ah lay. Oh, I thought thirty minutes.

Thirty meters, about that. So Lama was having breakfast on the roof when a big fire happened next to her house, very close to her house. Quite close to her house. Between Lama Yeshe’s house. I was just there, not doing anything, but the cooks were running down and putting water on it. Right? They put water on it? What did they do? Eh? No, I think you were there. Ah lay.

Anyway, the cooks and everybody else were quite worried but Lama was very relaxed, completely relaxed, very relaxed—not worried at all. He brought up a story that happened during Lama Tsongkhapa’s time. When was that? The fourteenth century? Anyway, before we were born! Before all of us were born. We were something else.

Anyway, Lama was completely relaxed, completely relaxed, He said, “It doesn’t matter.” He said nothing will happen. And then he brought up a story from Lama Tsongkhapa’s time. There are four Tibetan Mahayana sects in Tibet. This Gelug, the virtuous tradition, was started by Lama Tsongkhapa. Of course, the basic teaching came from Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, through Maitreya, Manjushri, Asanga, Nagarjuna and so forth, all the pandits, the yogis and so forth. It’s not that Lama Tsongkhapa taught something that the Buddha did not teach, that the Buddha did not reveal. It’s not saying that.

However, during Lama Tsongkhapa’s time a monastery caught fire. Whatever he was doing, Lama Tsongkhapa just relaxed there and with his subtle wind, the subtle body, the astral body, he stopped the fire that was burning the monastery down. The fire completely stopped.

Lama was completely relaxed, enjoying his breakfast, sitting on a chair on the roof, completely relaxed, not a single worry, and he brought up this story. Then the fire near Wongmo’s house didn’t last much longer. It immediately stopped.

Usually, these high lamas don’t say, “I have clairvoyance” but if you are having a conversation with them, asking their advice, if you check in the conversation, there are predictions, what’s going to happen in the future and so forth. There’s a word I don’t remember. Casual, casual? What’s it mean? Huh? What? It means, as usual having a conversation—casually, yeah. With many gurus, if we analyze what’s said in the conversation, we can tell that they can see our own life.

REINCARNATION STORIES

I thought to read a story from a newspaper.

I kept pictures of people, children who remember past lives. I kept one photo for some years but now it’s lost. In Punjab, a young daughter was born who was able to remember and explain everything about her past life: her parents, the place, everything. She took her parents of this life, and she guided them to her past life’s parents’ house, and all together they took a picture. I have a picture, with her and this life’s parents and her past life’s parents. This daughter, I think maybe she was eight years old or something, and she was holding a toy in her hand. Later, there was extremely clear evidence. She said she liked the past life’s parents more than this life’s parents.

It was near Dharamsala, so His Holiness sent a government person to see her, to find out about the story. I don’t know how, but I got the picture. It’s very interesting. Of course, the past life’s parents were a little bit older.

[Break in taping. Rinpoche seems to be talking about the practice of the consciousness entering a dead body.] I think the main aim is that. Because when your body becomes too old and cannot function well, then the young body that is dead, the young person, the youthful body, a person who has a youthful body and has died, then your consciousness can enter that body to work for other sentient beings with the young body. The main aim is to benefit other sentient beings with the young, healthy body.

What happened, the situation with these two girls, looks similar to this.

Later, there was danger of misusing this practice for one’s own power. For example, you could enter your consciousness into a king’s body in order to gain the king’s power and so forth. There was danger of using it with a wrong motivation to gain power for yourself and so forth. So the Dharma King of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo or Trisong Detsen—I’m not sure which one, maybe Songtsen Gampo—stopped this. He made a rule that nobody could practice this. So there’s no lineage of this practice now. It’s stopped. It is called transferring consciousness into a dead body.

I’m going to read something. What’s his name? [Students: Andrew.] Whether Andrew believes it or not. Anyway, these are stories, whether you believe it or not.

“Psychic researchers announced that a child born in rural India is the reincarnation of Civil War General Robert E. Lee. Little Chindar Sharma, now two years old, reportedly speaks in a slow Southern drawl.” I don’t know what it means, Southern drawl. “Reportedly speaks in a slow Southern drawl and responds only when called ‘General.’ And snaps to attention any time he hears the Confederate anthem, Dixie.”

And it is says, “This is the most convincing case of reincarnation I have ever seen, said Seigard Heln, a West German psychiatrist.”

There’s a whole book in the library about reincarnation. A professor from Wisconsin traveled East and West, to many, many countries, and he collected all the information. He went into villages, talking to young and old people who could remember past lives. He collected their stories. Probably this may be his thesis, I’m not sure. There’s a whole book about stories like this.¹⁰

[Someone asks an inaudible question.]

Huh? Andrew? So now, what you were saying yesterday was that all those who remember past and future lives, it’s just their visualization. [Andrew: Imagination.] Imagination. Visualization, imagination. Just imagine, right? So therefore, that is false, right? What they say is false? [Andrew: Right.]

This book about His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, how he was analyzed, found. I don’t think you may have seen this book. But there’s a very extensive story about how many high lamas went to check, went to look for reincarnation, and how they found His Holiness. They checked many different ways. There’s a special lake that predicts things, like seeing something on TV. There’s a lake where the protector is situated and it predicts whatever question is asked. You ask a question and look in the lake, like TV, and you can see very clearly. This is Tibetan TV. Without any electricity. Without any machine, just water. Just water and the higher being who is free from samsara, the protector.

One lama went there and stayed seven days, checking every day. Then he saw everything: the family, the house, everything. He checked for seven days then went to the home in Amdo. This lama went in disguise. He has passed away and is reincarnated in Dharamsala, Ketsang Rinpoche. He went in disguise, carrying His Holiness [the thirteenth] Dalai Lama’s sticks, or malas. Then the incarnation, the little boy, when he saw this disguised lama, he immediately mentioned his name and took the mala, took his things. He was able to remember certain names from his past life. There’s a whole book about that.

Then also my root guru, His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche, remembered his past life was lived in Ganden Monastery in Lhasa. When he was a child, before he went to the monastery, he remembered what Ganden monastery looked like.

There are many stories in Tibet. There was a Tibetan government official, I think Denma Rinpoche, a very high lama. I don’t remember, I got confused with the two lamas. Tenkye Rinpoche or Denma Rinpoche. Anyway, one of the lamas. For some reason, whatever it was, there was a particular governor who kind of made the rule that if this lama passed away, nobody could recognize the incarnation. This one governor made a rule. So what happened is, this lama passed away and reincarnated to him. That person who made the rule, said he cannot be recognized, so the lama reincarnated to him and was recognized. Tenkye Rinpoche or Denma Rinpoche, one of the lamas, I don’t remember.

LAMA YESHE AND ÖSEL RINPOCHE

It was the same thing with Lama Yeshe. Three or four years [before he died] I think maybe at Dharamsala or maybe here at Kopan, he mentioned to an American nun that he was going to be reborn to Maria, the Spanish lady. He told this nun that he was going to reincarnate to her. He told her, this nun, and he reincarnated as he himself had said.

So, all these are just not factual stories?

Andrew: They’re not what?

Rinpoche: Not factual story? Nothing happened?

Andrew: I think that, for example, you’re talking about the Dalai Lama’s rebirth and, as far as I heard of it, the [lama] had a dream and he had dreamed ... [Inaudible]. He could have made that up, he could have believed he saw that...

Rinpoche: What about his remembering his past?

Andrew: [Inaudible] ... items that he was supposed to recognize and he said, “This is mine, this is mine.” But I would expect a two-year-old child to say, if you showed him something, I think that he might say, “Yes, this is mine.”

Rinpoche: What?

Andrew: I think there’s explanations for it.

Rinpoche: What? You mean, a two-year child would say anything that you see is mine?

Andrew: Yes. Yes.

Rinpoche: The lama wasn’t offering them. He just came to the house, like that, and then the boy took the mala and mentioned the name of the lama.

Andrew: Well, another thing is I’d have to be there to see it.

Rinpoche: But what about Lama Yeshe?

Andrew: [Inaudible] ... I think that, for one thing, people have a very strong connection to Lama Yeshe and when he died, they wanted to see him again.

Rinpoche: When he died what?

Andrew: After Lama Yeshe died, all his students wanted to see him again, so when they see Lama Ösel they might be tempted to interpret things he does as things that Lama Yeshe did and ignore other things he does that don’t have anything to do with what Lama Yeshe might have done. 

Also, it comes to another thing, it’s very easy to see things that you want to believe. Or if you think someone likes you, you pay attention to all the things they do that you think show that they like you and ignore everything else. And you might totally think ... [Inaudible] because you want them to like you. I’m okay, I’m okay, and then the next time that student saw Lama Ösel he did the same thing. Little kids are subject to a lot of movements ... [Inaudible] even for her to say, it’s maybe because she wants to see signs of Lama Yeshe, and interprets what Lama Ösel does as Lama Yeshe.

Also, if Lama Ösel is raised constantly with the knowledge, he’s being told about Lama Yeshe, I’m sure, or people are mentioning this, he’s got this atmosphere all around him ... [Inaudible] pressure who he’s supposed to be, what he’s supposed to be doing.

Rinpoche: You mean he might be taught how to act as Lama Yeshe did?

Andrew: He could learn to act like Lama Yeshe.

Rinpoche: You mean he was taught how to act like Lama Yeshe? Is that right?

Andrew: Not intentionally.

Rinpoche: I didn’t teach him how to act as Lama Yeshe. There’s no teaching. For example, in regards to the wishes, not just acting, not just dancing, even there are many characters, even when he was two years old, three years old, the food he liked and the style that he eats, even the food and the style that he eats, that’s exactly as Lama Yeshe.

Andrew: Right, but you notice those things.

Rinpoche: Anyway, it’s my experience that he’s not taught. It’s my understanding that it hasn’t been taught, so what do you say on that point?

Andrew: For example, you’d say that he likes the same food as Lama Yeshe, did you say?

Rinpoche: Generally, ordinary example, ordinary identifications, what food he likes, what food he doesn’t like, the style of eating, everything, according to the past life. For example, oranges. In the past life when Lama Yeshe ate oranges, he just sucked the juice and left the stuff on the plate. Lama Yeshe did that, do you remember? Those who are close to Lama Yeshe would remember this. So, Lama Ösel did exactly the same when he was very small.

However much you say, this and that, it’s my understanding it was not taught. If that is true for me, whatever you say, anyway, but for me, this is a hundred percent proved, it’s true for me. Nothing of this is taught. This is my understanding. Do you accept my understanding or not? You accept your understanding. Anyway, that’s what I’m saying and finish. So do you accept my understanding or not?

Andrew: I think your understanding is a misunderstanding.

Rinpoche: No, yeah, why is it a misunderstanding?

Andrew: I think that you want to believe that that’s Lama Yeshe.

Rinpoche: No, I did analysis, I did many analyses. It’s not that I just want to find one child call Lama Yeshe, it’s not that. That’s cheating. There’s many analyses. I’m not that foolish. I’m foolish but not that foolish. You have to be very careful. There are many analyses that have to be done, many different ways the analysis has to be done.

Andrew: I think that ... [Inaudible] a child does so many actions.

Rinpoche: So anyway, now, the conclusion. So now, okay, one life, but you haven’t discovered one life. You haven’t realized one life.

Andrew: No.

Rinpoche: You haven’t realized one life? Right?

Andrew: Right.

Rinpoche: You haven’t realized, so therefore you can’t say there’s no reincarnation. You can’t say there’s no past or future life. How can you say without realizing?

Andrew: I can’t say that I’ve realized it but I’m convinced of it. That’s the difference.

Rinpoche: Convinced because?

Andrew: Because it’s logical.

Rinpoche: How is it logical?

Andrew: Through the process of thought. 

Rinpoche: What’s the main logic?

Andrew: The main logic? The main logic for me is, when I was a kid they started teaching me stuff like two plus two equals four and that was right and then I [learnt] more and more things like ... [Inaudible].

Rinpoche: Okay, now I’ll give an example. Okay, for example, do you remember any friend who cheated you?

Andrew: Yeah.

Rinpoche: Okay. Didn’t those friends also tell you the truth?

Andrew: Ah, yes.

Rinpoche: So, there is a possibility somebody can tell the truth and also a lie, right? Because somebody tells the truth you should believe everything that person says? Because there are facts, the truth happened, what the person said. So you should believe everything the person says.

Andrew: No, I don’t think you should ever believe everything someone says.

Rinpoche: Why not? You should believe because this person said many truths also.

Andrew: Right, and ... [Inaudible] talking about something you have no knowledge of, it’s better to believe them, but you should ... [Inaudible] from your own experience, analyze what somebody tells you. I don’t think I would, I hope I would never accept anything somebody told me without thinking about it at least a little bit. Even if my mother told me something she read in the newspaper that I found ridiculous, I wouldn’t believe it. Even though I trust my mother in most things.

Rinpoche: I’m your mother! Therefore, you don’t believe, a person, a friend who tells you some truths. It doesn’t mean that you should believe everything that person says, right?

Andrew: Right.

Rinpoche: Okay, now, it’s the same thing with what scientists explain. Even though there are many facts, airplanes, and so forth—what am I saying? I’m lost.

It’s the same thing. With scientists, even though there are many facts, they make many mistakes. You yourself have mentioned that many times. There’s no reason to believe everything the scientists say just because they say it. There’s nothing to believe. You have to analyze that, right? You have to analyze on that. You have to analyze the same thing on this definition of your mind. Anyway, I’m joking. Definition of mind, the impulse of the brain, whatever you explained.

Now the main point. We don’t do other things. Now this explanation of mind, what is mind, what the scientists explain now, now I have one question. Now this question, this explanation of mind, do you think it will change a lot? After some time, as the scientists develop more about subject of mind?

Andrew: No, I think it will change some.

Rinpoche: Some? So something will change about it? So all that is not true. So what you explained about the definition of mind yesterday, all that is not true?

Andrew: It’s not necessarily true.

Rinpoche: So in your explanation of mind, there is some true and some not true?

Andrew: Possibly.

Rinpoche: So it’s not sure? So that part is not sure? So that definition of mind you gave yesterday is not sure, right? So you need to learn more? So you need to analyze.

Andrew: That’s why I’m at Kopan.

Rinpoche: Yes, Kopan, but I think, anyway that’s what I’m joking. So I think these points are very important. The question I put is very important to think about. Because in science there have been many changes of definitions. In Buddhism, these definitions don’t change. The Omniscient One, who completed the path, practicing for so many lifetimes and having achieved the omniscient mind, he then gave explanations once and these don’t change. From the first time they were explained, there’s no change to that, such as the explanation of the four noble truths, that doesn’t change, the explanation of the path, there’s no change. It’s one time.

What the Buddha taught has been verified by many pandits, many yogis. They analyzed, they experimented; it’s not blind faith. They didn’t just practice blind faith. The study these boys [at Kopan] are doing, the debating, this special form of study is to analyze what is correct. Rather than just memorizing text with the explanation straight, you go through, you study in the form of debate, checking every single definition; why this? why that? It’s like a rocket or an airplane, trying to understand every single purpose of every piece of a machine. Why? Trying to learn every single piece of a machine, what’s needed, and then the functions of each one. So this way, you have the full idea. You have the full idea of the path, without missing anything, all the details, like somebody who knows about the whole airplane, the whole mechanism, every single piece, and how it’s put together, how it functions, each one like that.

Debating is really to do analysis, rather than having blind faith. You do analysis, then try to prove if it’s correct or not. Then when it is proved to your mind that this is completely a hundred percent correct, no mistakes, you don’t receive any harm. As I mentioned the other day about the three ways of not receiving harm: from direct valid perception, from an inferential valid mind and from a valid quotation. It should be pure, correct, and then you don’t receive harm from any of these. So like that, you see.

So, these pandits, these yogis, analyzed what the Buddha taught and then they put it into practice. They also achieved all the realizations, they had all the experiences. There are numberless ones like this, in India, in different countries, then in Tibet with the Tibetan lamas. Even the recent meditators have had all the experiences. For example, we can still visit many caves in Nepal and Tibet where Milarepa practiced, this one who achieved enlightenment in his lifetime, seeing where he achieved the different realizations of the path. The caves are named according to what Milarepa achieved, what realizations he achieved. There are different caves where he realized emptiness, the Six Yogas of Naropa, tummo¹¹ and so forth. Even if we can’t see the actual past yogis who achieved enlightenment, we can go to the holy places where they practiced, these pilgrimage places, to take blessings. People also do practice there, do retreat, to receive blessings to develop the mind.

Anyway, we’ll stop there.

Anyway, it’s useful to do analysis, okay?

It seems you have great intelligence, so I think it’s very important that you use that intelligence to make it very beneficial in the right way, in the correct way, beneficial for the world, for sentient beings. Then that will be beneficial for you yourself. To make beneficial intelligence, meaningful intelligence.

The conclusion is this. Since what the [scientists] say is not all true, then there’s nobody you can trust in the world. You can trust only yourself. You can only believe yourself. There’s nobody left in the world to believe. That’s what happens. Other than you, other than this mind, you cannot believe. In this world all you can believe, all you can trust, is only yourself. Sort of like that, anyway.

Even that is not sure, because your understanding depends on what other people teach you. So again, even that is not sure.

Anyway, thank you so much.

 

Lecture 14

SAMSARA AND NIRVANA ARE COMPLETELY EMPTY

Refrain from making any unwholesome action,
Enjoy the life by creating complete wholesome action
Subdue one’s own mind,
This is the teaching of Buddha.

As the Buddha advised, the solution for happiness, for peace of mind, the solution to cut off problems, the solution to end the whole, entire suffering and it causes, the solution to achieve full enlightenment for sentient beings, is by ceasing all the mistakes of mind. For this we need to meditate, to look at causative phenomena, according to their nature, seeing how their nature is impermanence. Our own life, ourselves, our own body, our possessions, the surrounding people—friends, enemies, strangers—and so forth, all these causative phenomena are in the nature of impermanence; they’re changing, decaying within every second. They do not last even each second. These things can be stopped any time. Because these things are existing now doesn’t mean that they will exist forever, every day. 

[Meditate]

And besides this, while all these things exist, while all of existence exists, they are empty from their own side. 

[Meditate]

I, action, object, permanent phenomena, impermanent phenomena—all these things that are called, all these things are named, are labeled, are names. The name has to come from the mind. The name has to come from the mind. Therefore, nothing exists from its own side. There’s nothing from its own side. On top of that, all these things exist being merely imputed by the mind.

Because nothing exists from its own side, everything exists being merely imputed by the mind. This is the way things exist in reality. Therefore, nothing exists [inherently], there is not the slightest atom of inherent existence. Nothing exists inherently in the slightest, even an atom, even that much, the slightest, nothing exists from its own side.

So, everything is completely empty. The I is empty, action is empty, objects are empty; everything is completely empty.

But even though this is reality, they appear to our hallucinated mind as if they exist from their own side. Therefore, all existence is like a dream, like a dream. Life is like a dream. Existence is like a dream. Self, action, object, here, including the building, what appears a solid building, all the sense objects that appear real, concrete, from their own side, all these are completely false, empty. But while all existent phenomena are empty, completely empty, they appear as if they exist from their own side. Everything, including life, including the whole life, the life now present, this moment, including life, then all the rest of existence—it’s all like a dream, like an illusion. All of existence is not an illusion, but it’s like an illusion. All existence is not a dream but it’s like a dream. There are differences, we have to know.

Therefore, it’s nonsense, it doesn’t make sense to follow the thought of ignorance, anger, attachment. There’s no basis, no reason, at all. Reason means valid reason, not illogical reason—there’s no valid reason at all for the three poisonous minds to arise, and therefore, there’s no reason at all to cling to the I, the phenomenon, the subject, that experiences happiness and suffering, that creates happiness and suffering. It’s also empty. In reality, the I, the self, is also empty. It’s empty from its own side. So, there’s nothing to cherish, there’s nothing to cling onto. There’s nothing to grab onto. There’s nothing to cling onto. There’s nothing to cherish. 

[Meditate]

Even that is a complete hallucination—that this self is so precious, so important, so precious. We apprehend that there is a real self-existing I—in the sense of existing from its own side—and then we believe it and then feel that this I is so precious, so important. All that part is a hallucination. 

[Meditate]

So concentrate on this a little bit, that the I is empty. 

[Meditate]

[Rinpoche chants in Tibetan.]

The I is completely empty of existing from its own side; the action is completely empty of existing from its own side; the object is completely empty of existing from its own side, as are all the sense objects: form, sound, smell and so forth. The five aggregates, the general aggregates, are completely empty from their own side. Each of the aggregates is completely empty from its own side. The form aggregate is completely empty from its own side; the feeling aggregate is completely empty from its own side; the compositional factors aggregate is completely empty from its own side; the discriminations aggregate is completely empty from its own side; the consciousness aggregate is completely empty from its own side.

That means all the senses, that which perceives objects, are completely empty. The consciousness, the mind, that perceives objects is completely empty from its own side. Even the object, form, is completely empty from its own side. Sound is completely empty from its own side; smell is completely empty from its own side; taste is completely empty from its own side. Sweet and sour, hot and so forth—taste, real concrete taste from its own side—that’s completely empty, false. Tangible objects—rough, soft, something hard from the side of the floor, from the side of the cushion—all are completely empty from their own side.

Samsara is completely empty from its own side; nirvana, liberation, is completely empty from its own side. Happiness is completely empty from its own side. Suffering is completely empty from its own side. Problems are completely empty from their own side. The cause of the suffering is completely empty from its own side. And the cause of happiness, virtue, is also completely empty from its own side. Enlightenment is completely empty from its own side. Hell is completely empty from its own side.

That means everything that appears real from its own side is completely empty from its own side.

THE MEANING OF THE HEART SUTRA MANTRA

The very essence, the very heart, is the Heart Sutra, the teaching for the person of highest intelligence. The mantra is TADYATHA GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA. Within the Heart Sutra teachings, there are teachings for the person of lower intelligence, of middle intelligence and of highest intelligence, and this mantra is for the person of highest intelligence.

TADYATHA means how we proceed to liberation, to the cessation of suffering and its causes, or to full enlightenment, to great liberation. If the wisdom realizing emptiness is combined, is developed with the realization of bodhicitta, that means we have entered the Mahayana path, and can proceed along the five Mahayana paths to full enlightenment. If it’s wisdom alone—developing the wisdom realizing emptiness with the cooperative condition the renunciation of samsara but not combined with bodhicitta—then the path we follow will only lead us toward the liberation for the self. This is what TADYATHA shows.

GATE means to go beyond and the two GATEs mean to go beyond from the path of merit and the path of preparation or conjunction. Then PARAGATE means to go completely beyond from the right-seeing path and PARASAMGATE to go completely beyond from the path of meditation. BODHI is enlightenment. It can also be related to the Lesser Vehicle path, where it just means liberation, whereas in the Mahayana it’s related to full enlightenment, to the Buddha, to the fully actualized omniscient mind which is able to directly see all of existence, all of the two truths, the truth for the all-obscuring mind and the truth for the absolute mind. These two truths contain all of existence.

So, BODHI, enlightenment. Before taking refuge in BODHI I need to take refuge in the handkerchief. The tissue paper, I need to take refuge to the tissue paper.

In Tibetan, the translation of BODHI is jang chub, relating to the Mahayana path, meaning the mind that has ceased all the gross disturbing-thought obscurations and subtle obscurations to knowledge and, because of that, the mind is qualified, enriched, with all the qualities, all the realizations.

In some texts there is an OM after the TADYATHA, in some texts there’s no OM. If there’s an OM, then, by proceeding along these five paths, especially within the tantra path, it actualizes the remedy by completely purifying the ordinary body, ordinary speech and ordinary mind, transforming them into the completely pure vajra holy body, completely pure vajra holy speech and completely pure vajra holy mind. This is signified by the OM. The OM consists of three syllables, three sounds, AH, O and MA. OM is the integration of these three sounds: AH, O and MA becomes OM. According to the Sanskrit, the creation of these three sounds, it is integrated and becomes OM, which signifies the impure body, speech and mind that we have now, and then the completely pure vajra holy body, holy speech and holy mind, that we will achieve in the future by purifying, ceasing, our ordinary body, speech and mind. We do this by actualizing the remedy, these five Mahayana paths, which contains all of tantra, including the two stages of Highest Yoga Tantra, generation stage and completion stage. There are two different ways to count but generally the completion stage has five stages: the isolation of body, speech and mind and then the illusory body and the unification.

The meaning of SVAHA is that the base of all these realizations is established within our own heart or mind. In other words, the root of the whole path to enlightenment, the realization of guru devotion, seeing from our own side the virtuous friend as an enlightened being. Starting from this, which is the root of the path, from there up to enlightenment. So that contains the whole of the lamrim, all the graduated path to enlightenment: the graduated path of the lower capable being in general, the graduated path of the middle capable being in general and the gradated path of the higher capable being. That one, the graduated path of the higher capable being, doesn’t have “in general.” SVAHA establishes the base in our own mind. It starts from there, so it establishes it from the beginning of the path, from guru devotion, from there up to enlightenment.

So TADYATHA, relating to the Lesser Vehicle path, shows how to achieve liberation for the self; relating to the Mahayana path, it shows how to proceed to achieve full enlightenment.

This shows how somebody who has realized emptiness should proceed along the path to full enlightenment.

[Rinpoche chants Lion-face Dakini practice, then the prayer preliminary to teaching.]

WHY WE ARE AFRAID TO DIE

First of all, if there is only one life then why do we have to be afraid of death? The majority of people, even the creatures, are afraid of death. Why are the majority of the people scared to die? The majority of people should be happy to die. If there is only one life it should be the opposite, the majority of the people should be happy to die. Whenever it happens. Well, [Rinpoche snaps his fingers] after this, there’s nothing. After this, nothing. [Rinpoche snaps his fingers] So, what’s there to be afraid of? What do people think about it? Andrew, yeah, go on.

Andrew: If you have only one life, of course you’re afraid to die because…

Rinpoche: What?

Andrew: If you only have one life, of course you’re afraid because when you die it’s over.

Rinpoche: I was coughing so I didn’t hear. Sorry.

Andrew: If you have only one life, when you die, your existence is over so you’re afraid of that, because that is all you have.

Rinpoche: This is all what you have? Then?

Andrew: Then you should make the most of this life, and you’re afraid to die, that’s the end of your life, that’s the end of you. You should be afraid of death because it’s the end of your existence.

Rinpoche: So it doesn’t matter. It’s okay.

Andrew: I don’t want to die.

Rinpoche: How long do you want to live? How long do you want to have your existence?

Andrew: Ideally I would like to live forever.

Rinpoche: Then, you were going to say something?

Another student: What about self-killing?

Rinpoche: Self-killing, yeah. Self-killing, yeah. Then what were you going to say? Yeah?

Another student: Death is an unknown, and there aren’t many people who can tell us that much. It’s an unknown, so it’s a scary feeling.

Rinpoche: Yeah, yeah. I think that’s a common experience. What’s your name, please?

Lydia: Lydia.

Rinpoche: What Lydia said is a common experience. I think that is very common thing.

Student: It’s also instinct, because every animal has instinct to preserve life.

Rinpoche: To preserve life? Do the animals commit suicide? [Inaudible comments from students] They suicide themselves? Huh? What? What? Mosquitoes, do they commit suicide? They couldn’t find any blood and then they commit suicide. Maybe they take tablets or something. Maybe they should sneak into the bathroom or somewhere and take dying tablets. Stealing from people.

What animals commit suicide? [Students: Whales.] Hmm. They commit suicide themselves? How do they do it?

Student: They swim up onto the beaches so that they can’t swim back. That’s what whales do, big fish.

Rinpoche: They jump over the boat? What? What?

Student: They swim out of the sea onto the beach and then they can’t swim back.

Rinpoche: But do they know? They do it intentionally? They intentionally commit suicide, like people?

Student: We don’t know.

Student: They’ll put them back in the ocean and they’ll swim back to that place and die. And there is no explanation for it, but they are, in effect, killing themselves.

Rinpoche: Sorry, could you repeat that?

Student: Okay. Someone mentioned that the whales go up on the beach, and that they die, and you asked, ‘Do they do this on purpose or is it just an accident?’ Sometimes they get together and put them back out into the ocean, and they will all come back.

Rinpoche: Oh, you mean a group of whales takes one whale, no, I got this imagination. No, please repeat. I didn’t hear properly. So just one? One whale alone?

Student: No, sometimes it’s one whale. Often times it’s groups of maybe ten, fifteen. One whale, they all come through and land on a beach, and when this first was observed, tried to rescue the whales.

Rinpoche: The people? Tried to put back in the water and they come back? Oh, I see! Now I understand completely.

I think it’s not necessarily that they’re doing it intentionally, like human beings, thinking, “I want to kill myself because I have this relationship problem,” or “I can’t find a job,” or “Nobody likes me; nobody loves me, I’m alone.” Huh?

Student: You could find similar reasons for whales, though. If you had to swim in a polluted ocean like the North Sea, that would depress you if you were a whale.

Another student: No proper food, oil ... [Inaudible]

Another student: Maybe they don’t know about karma.

Another student: It’s like birds migrating from north to south to get away from the winter, and then the whales migrating. The sensory gets mixed up, it just keeps going, it’s instinct, it’s not thinking, “I want to kill myself,” but all they know is they have to go. It’s instinct.

Rinpoche: My feeling is more of that. What’s your name?

Student: My name? Stephen.

Rinpoche: As the Stephen label said—I’m joking, anyway. I’m joking. As Stephen said, I wouldn’t think myself that, like a human being, with all these labels to commit suicide, to kill oneself. But I think it’s due to karma. No, it’s their time to die. And the conditions for death are there. There are different ways to die, to be killed by another animal, to be eaten by another animal, or you just die. So some of them have conditions for death according to karma, according to their past karma, just being where there’s no water and they die. There are different conditions of death according to their karma. Now it’s the time, the karma is ripened, so when the karma is ripened to die, and to experience such condition of death, then that’s what forces them to do that. It’s similar, it’s the same for people who commit suicide. It’s the same, karma.

SPIRIT HARM AND PUJAS

When there’s something wrong that we have done in this life due to past karma; when there’s something heavy, wrong, done in this life. When we have committed some negative karma out of a selfish attitude and a negative motivation, related to attachment. So when something is done, something heavy is done, then what happens is, due to this, this negative karma from some wrong action that is done, that upsets other beings.

There are other beings, nonhuman beings such as nagas or such. They are worldly beings, nonhuman beings; they are outside beings who give harm. Because the person has done some heavy mischievous action, some heavy unrighteous action, they find a way to give harm. When the person is creating much good karma, increasing his power, his fortune, others, even human beings, are unable to harm that person, or can give less harm. Even human beings. When the person does some heavy unrighteous action out of the self-cherishing thought and one of the poisonous minds—it’s usually attachment—when there’s a lot of cause created from the person’s side, others, outside beings—people or even nonhuman beings, spirits and so forth, other worldly beings—they are able to give harm. Sometimes due to the person’s mischievous actions, they get disturbed, unhappy.

There is a relationship between the person’s mind and actions, and outside things. Then together, when this kind of thing happens, the person can become completely crazy. That is one thing. There are many mental problems and physical problems; many things happen like this. It’s a very common experience. Of course, basically, all problems come from karma, from the person’s mind, from disturbing thoughts, the self-cherishing thought, these things, but there are also things such as sickness and many, many life problems like disharmony, related also outside conditions.

[These can be helped] by doing pujas, by checking what kind of other conditions caused this problem, this disease, or this disharmony. There are many catastrophes happening in life. One after another people get sick or problems happen constantly, one after another. Many people turn against you or suddenly things just turn out wrong. So many things. So much failure. Nothing succeeds; everything goes wrong, everything becomes wrong, business and jobs, anything. Things like that.

It’s a very common experience that doing pujas helps. First, besides all the karma and delusion from the individual’s side, you check what comes from outside, the beings who are related to that problem, who give harm. The Buddha gave different advice to do different meditations and pujas relating to those different beings who give harm.

First, you give them presents. If it’s a sick person, then you make a substitute of that person, a figure of that person, and then with various types of food or whatever, you visualize a whole kind of city, like a city with stores, food and materials. You make it extensive, like oceans, like a city. You visualize this and then you make charity to those spirits, to those other different worldly beings. By describing how beautiful and well decorated all this is, how many presents, materials and food there are, how extensive it is, by telling it like this, somehow for those spirits or those worldly beings, it appears that way, due to their karma.

First you make charity for them, then you give them teachings. You give teachings to not harm other beings. Just like the example of planting a chili seed and then getting a chili plant, hot, and by planting a sweet seed getting a sweet fruit, such as raisins or whatever. Exactly like that, by planting different seeds you get different fruit. If you do negative karma, nonvirtuous action, then you experience a suffering result and by doing a wholesome action, a virtuous action, then you experience a happy result. Therefore, if you give harm to others, you’ll experience suffering. That’s how it is if somebody gives you harm, similar harm. So you use that as an example to show them not to give harm to others.

So after giving material presents and making that substitute person, the sick person, you then give teaching to them.

There are many different types of meditation. This is a very common experience. It also depends on the person who does the puja, who does the meditation; it depends on how much quality that person has, how much compassion the person has and also whether there’s a realization of emptiness or not. The most powerful, the most effective one is somebody who has bodhicitta and the wisdom realizing emptiness; that is the most qualified one. With bodhicitta then the result is quick and there is great effect. There’s great, immediate effect. Those other beings stop giving harm immediately; the person is healed immediately or stops experiencing the problems.

No question, of course, someone who has experience of completion stage tantra realizations, no question, that’s the highest among sentient beings, the best person to do public service, healing and all those things.

Others cannot harm a person who has realized emptiness, and especially who has bodhicitta. They have to listen to that person, because of the realization, the great compassion for the spirits, for everyone, for all sentient beings. They all respect that person because of the power of the realization. Also the teachings, the puja, the words are the Buddha’s; they are the Buddha’s words, the Buddha’s teachings, so that also has power. Also mantras, even from that side it has power.

This is a common experience in the East and also in the West with those especially effective meditators, lamas, who do pujas or meditations. For example, it’s happened many times that the doctors say a person is going to die soon, that same day, but then by having done some small puja, making charity to the spirits, things like that, to those other beings who are related to the problem, immediately the person recovers. This is a common experience for those who do these pujas or meditations.

STORIES ABOUT SPIRITS AND PUJAS

Geshe Lama Konchog hasn’t come to give teachings yet but his life is especially full of these stories, how when he was living in those high mountains in Nepal, in Tsum and different places, by doing pujas for a person who was seriously sick, that person recovered. His life is full of such experiences.

Just yesterday or the day before yesterday, we were discussing this. I think a child of a Tibetan family in Switzerland was about to die. The doctor said he was going to die soon and there was no hope. A relative of the family rang a geshe called Geshe Donyö who was related to the family. I don’t think he was used to doing those various pujas in the public service or dealing with those things that help with different problems. He’s a learned geshe, learned in regards to the actual path to enlightenment, but not familiar with all these different things, doing public service, healing and all those sorts of different things.

Geshe Lama Konchog was in France, so Geshe Donyö rang Geshe Lama Konchog to check what could be done. There are two geshes in France. The geshe at the lay center, Vajrayogini Center, is called Geshe Tengye and the geshe at the monastery for Western Sangha, Nalanda, is called Geshe Jampa Tegchok. Nalanda is the main center where a large number of Western Sangha study and Geshe Tegchok is a very good, very qualified teacher.

Geshe Lama Konchog told them to do this very short meditation, this very short puja, giving four torma cakes, made out of flour, four tormas or four cakes. One is for the landlords, the beings who are situated in that area; then there one for the de gyä, the ten guardians and one for the pretas, the hungry ghosts and one for the yakshas or rakshas. I’m not sure of the Sanskrit, but in Tibetan it’s jung bo. So there are different types of those worldly beings. You make charity to each one, with light and food for them and things like that. These meditations, these practices are the Buddha’s techniques that are taught to benefit other sentient beings.

So Geshe Lama Konchog told these two geshes that if you do this small puja called chag sum that’s enough. Just by doing it, [Rinpoche snaps his fingers] it will be enough. Then these two geshes did this puja immediately.

Just before, the mother had been ringing her husband who had gone somewhere. She had tears coming, crying, saying that the baby was dying. Then somehow, when the husband returned home, the baby was playing outside in the field. It was outside of the house, playing. I just remembered this because yesterday or the day before yesterday, Geshela explained what happened during his recent trip to the West. Just in conversation he remembered the situation and so he talked about it.

This is a very, very common experience. The reason why these beings exist is because of these pujas. If they are done by qualified masters, then they work. And all these things are also dependent arising, depending on cause and conditions. So that’s the proof that these beings exist. This is very, very common.

There was a lady in Spain who got cancer or heart disease. I don’t remember. Maybe it was cancer but I don’t remember; I got mixed up. There was another patient there, another lady, whose heart was so swollen, it had become too big, that the doctors said it was very, very risky. There’s a geshe at one of our centers in Spain, Nagarjuna Center in Barcelona I think. That center has a Dharma teacher, a very good geshe, very learned. He also does very effective public service, stopping people’s problems and things like that. But he, himself, is a very good practitioner, and learned in Dharma. “Learned geshe” means one who has finished studying, who has taken the degree at Sera Monastery. Sera, Ganden and Drepung were the biggest universities in Tibet and they have been established similarly in India.

This geshe checked, he did a divination, and told this lady to recite a few hundred thousand Guru Shakyamuni Buddha mantras, TADYATHA OM MUNE MUNE MAHA MUNEYE SVAHA. I think Geshela told her to do four or five hundred thousand, but she did one or two hundred thousand, then the heart became smaller, just by reciting the mantra. Just doing a very simple practice, visualizing Shakyamuni Buddha and purifying, just doing a simple meditation, the heart became so much smaller.

There was a case of a lady who had either cancer or a heart problem. A geshe asked her, “Did you make pipi in the beach?” You know, “Did you make pipi in the water at the beach?” She said “Yes, I did pipi.” Sometimes there are cases that, by polluting certain places where those other beings are situated, they become upset and then the person gets sick. These things are common. This is very common. It’s basically to do with nagas, so there are meditations, pujas to do at the place where they’re situated, where the person disturbed them, where the person polluted the environment. Beings are situated there and they get disturbed, they receive harm. This is where you do the puja. They have also received pollution, they have been injured, diseased, so you purify them, you give them presents and purify them, making them healthy. When they are cured by making them happy, the person recovers. If you find the right place where the person did the pollution and disturbed them—you have to do the puja at the right place—then the person recovers quickly.

There are many of these common experiences and there are many methods taught by Buddha to deal with them.

I forgot why I was mentioning this!

SUICIDE

Oh, ah lay, yeah, that’s right, committing suicide.

So, I think there’s this self-cherishing thought creating attachment and those things, and due to the negative motivation maybe some nonvirtuous action is done, and then those other beings find a way to harm you. Because of the heavy, negative karma, then your fortune, your power is decreased, then those beings are able to find ways of harming you and they also get disturbed. Those outside, worldly beings associate with the delusions, the negative karma. Then, what happens is, because of some problem, the thought comes into the person’s mind that there is nothing else to do, he has nothing else he can think about, he has no space for other things, only to kill himself. There is no space for other thoughts. The only thing he can think is the best thing is to kill himself. That kind of thought comes very strongly.

Even though normally he might think it’s completely crazy to commit suicide, to kill oneself, but due to this negative karma happening, some nonvirtuous action happening, then somehow relating to those outside beings, then associating together, somehow it makes a very fixed idea. It’s like a crazy, wild person, a completely crazy person. It’s a complete hallucination. It’s related like that. There is nothing else he can think about, only this. There’s no space for other things. And then he just does it. The mind becomes very stubborn, the mind becomes very stubborn.

He is experiencing the karma; the karma has ripened. The mental state is like that. Before experiencing the karma, he probably thought it’s crazy to commit suicide; he could never believe he could do it. He thinks it’s completely crazy. But when the karma, when the cause is created, [Rinpoche snaps his fingers] and when it’s experienced, [Rinpoche snaps his fingers] the mental state becomes like this. That is because the cause has been created but it didn’t get completely purified. It didn’t get completely purified so this thing happens as a result of the negative karma.

There was a student in Switzerland. I think he was a Western student who was also able to speak the Tibetan language. He heard the Dharma at different times, on courses. I’m not sure how much time he spent time in the East, but maybe he heard more Dharma in the West, from time to time.

He had plans to do a long retreat. He had all these positive ideas, but somehow his girlfriend left him. One day his girlfriend left him and then he hanged himself in his house and died. I think he had wishes to practice, to do retreat, there were all these positive ideas—“I should be doing this, I will do this, I will do that”—but somehow he became more involved in other things. All those positive things were there, but somehow, I guess, while he had his life, he had the time, he was busy with other things, and somehow he didn’t get to practice much during that time, even though he had some basic idea of what had to be practiced.

So, first some karma is created, some heavy nonvirtuous action happens, out of the self-cherishing thought, attachment, these things. Then the result is some depression happens, some upsetness, some problem happens. During that time this relationship is also with outside beings who harm, and then this thought, then this mental state becomes fixed. There’s no space for other things. When the karma is experienced, it becomes like that. It creates its own world. That mental state creates its own world. 

PERFECT HUMAN REBIRTH: THIS BODY IS SO PRECIOUS

Committing suicide is regarded as heavy karma. One reason it’s very harmful, the first reason, is because at this time we have received a human body, a precious human body. First of all the mind has all the potential to achieve the happiness of future lives, liberation from samsara and full enlightenment, everything—we can achieve all that and we can do any service for, cause any happiness for sentient beings. We ourselves can achieve any happiness we wish and also we can cause other sentient beings equaling the infinite sky, infinite space, to obtain happiness—temporary happiness, ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara and peerless happiness, full enlightenment. We can even cause that one for other sentient beings.

First of all, the mind has the full potential to do this, but we can’t do it without a human body, without this precious human body, which gives us the opportunity to listen and to be able to speak, to communicate. With this body we are able to understand the meaning. Because we have taken this body, we are able to understand the meaning of the words. On top of that, we are also able to communicate. The main thing is to be able to understand the meaning of the words, especially Dharma, the teachings of the right path that can cease the whole, entire suffering and causes. We can understand the meaning of the teachings by having this human body.

If we don’t have this human body, even though the mind has the potential, there’s no opportunity. It’s extremely rare and difficult. For example, the mind has the full potential but the body is a pig; it’s a pig body or a crocodile body or an octopus body. An elephant’s or even a goat’s, a chicken’s, even an animal that people keep. If our body is something else like this, first of all I’m not sure if we are even able to hear the Dharma or not, even the words, or even the sound of the Dharma. I’m not sure; it’s extremely difficult to hear the sound of the Dharma.

Then, the most important thing is we can’t understand the meaning. There’s no way to understand. However many billions of eons we explain to a goat, or we explain to a duck or to the dog that we keep—to those dogs that we have here—however many billions of eons we explain what is the meaning of nonvirtue, what is the meaning of virtue. What is the cause of happiness, what is the cause of suffering. What is the definition of virtue, nonvirtue. The cause of happiness is virtue, the cause of suffering is nonvirtue. However many billions of eons we explain that to them, there’s no way they can understand the meaning. There’s no way they can understand the meaning. And in the same way, we can explain the meaning of virtue, the action, the intention, that brings the result of happiness, that is done with a positive motivation. The first thing is that which brings the result of happiness and the second thing is it is done out of a positive attitude. That’s the definition of virtue: the action which is the intention, which is our own mind, karma, the action, the intention, which is our own mind. However many millions of eons we explain this to these dogs outside, there is no way they can understand the meaning.

How can we help others? How can we help others’ minds? The best help to others is helping the mind, helping them transform their harmful mind into beneficial, virtuous thoughts, to change the mind. By changing the mind, then they can change their actions, then this way, only this way, they can create the cause of happiness and they can eliminate the cause of suffering. Through this they can be liberated from samsara; they can achieve liberation. Then they can also achieve full enlightenment by ceasing all the obscurations, by actualizing the path.

There’s no way to really help, to give real benefit to others, without benefiting their mind. But although the mind has all this potential, on top of that, only if this consciousness takes a human body, has a human body, that human body gives us the opportunity not only to hear the Dharma but also to be able to understand the meaning and to communicate. We are able to practice, able to experiment, able to achieve realizations.

Therefore, the human body is so precious, unbelievably precious. It’s more precious than this earth full of diamonds, than this earth full of dollars, however many atoms there are in the whole, entire earth, even that many dollars. Even that much—what is it called? “I trust in God.”

Even the whole sky filled with billions of dollars, diamonds and gold, even with wish-granting jewels—jewels that by praying we can get any material possession, any enjoyment we want—even the whole sky filled with wish-granting jewels compared to this precious human body is nothing. When we compare the value of that much wealth and the value of this precious human body, all that is nothing compared to the value of this precious human body.

Without this precious human body, even if we owned that much wealth, we couldn’t benefit from it; we couldn’t achieve whatever happiness we wanted, including enlightenment. There’s no way to do this. And especially for other sentient beings. Without this precious human body, even if we owned that much wealth, we couldn’t cause all the happiness for all sentient beings. We couldn’t do that.

But, even if we didn’t have the tiniest amount of gold, diamonds, these possessions, if we have this precious human body, we can practice the Dharma and develop the mind. If we have this precious human body we can do all this. We can cause any happiness for other sentient beings, including peerless happiness, full enlightenment. Therefore, this human body is unbelievably precious.

As you’ve already gone through the meditations on the eight freedoms and ten richnesses, that’s the answer—its usefulness and how difficult it is to receive again. These are the meditations.¹² These are the reasons why we should live, why human life is so precious, why life, this body is so precious.

Therefore, if we commit suicide, we stop all these opportunities. We stop for ourselves all these opportunities for happiness through developing the mind. It doesn’t happen. We ourselves have stopped it, interfered with it. And especially, to do work for every sentient being, for sentient beings equaling the infinite sky, those who need us to help them cause temporary happiness and ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara, and to lead them to full enlightenment. All these happinesses we can cause, but with suicide we interfere with this. We have stopped the development of the mind that having a human body allows us. Suicide becomes a great interference that stops all those numberless sentient beings receiving benefit from us; it stops us from developing our mind and from practicing the Dharma with this human body.

POWA AND THE END OF LIFE

The other thing is, in the powa, the practice of transferring the consciousness, if you don’t become enlightened in this life, then the quick way to become enlightened is to practice the tantric method of transferring the consciousness to the pure land of a buddha, the pure field of a buddha such as Amitabha or Shambhala, to the different buddhas’ pure lands. There’s a meditation practice where you practice for one whole night or three nights, until you get the sign which means you have trained.

It’s important to only practice powa, transferring the consciousness to a pure land, by yourself through your meditation at the correct time. You can’t just do it at any time, just because you have some problem, because there’s a relationship problem or because your friend no longer loves you. You can’t do powa for that. Because you couldn’t find a job, then you do powa. Not like this. Not like this.

First of all you must know the signs of death. There’s the inner sign and the outer sign, death, the inner sign and the secret sign of death. Then there are dreams in which there are signs of death. There are ways of checking the signs of death. The most definite one is checking how the breath comes through the nostrils. That’s the most definite way of checking how many years before death is going to happen. When the death is going to happen, the breath coming from the nose is the most definite way to check. You do this especially at the beginning of each month, probably the first three days. In the early morning of the third day, I think, something like that. There’s a whole explanation on how to find out after how many years or how many months you are going to die.

Even if the sign of death has happened, even if the dreams have happened, it still doesn’t mean you can do powa. First you do all the necessary meditations, the pujas, to prolong life, such as taking long-life initiations, making tsa tsas,¹³ making the paintings or statues of the long-life deities, the enlightened beings, who are especially to grant long life for other sentient beings. Then there are the meditations, the purification practices such as Vajrasattva, the Thirty-five Buddhas, with the prostrations and so forth, and Samayavajra, Dorje Khadro fire puja and so forth. There are various practices to purify and various practices to accumulate merit, such as mandala offerings. The most powerful purification, the best way of accumulating merit is following the advice of the virtuous friend, doing service, then practicing bodhicitta and meditating on emptiness. You need to do those powerful means of purifying heavy negative karmas, which purify the cause of the negative karma that causes untimely death as well as practicing methods that accumulate so much merit. You need to attempt to prolong your life through meditation. There are many different techniques.

Having done all these things, betraying death and so forth, if there are still the signs of death happening, then that means now it’s time to die. Now it’s time to die. First you try all the other methods. Then if you’re going to wait until death comes, you might die with very heavy pain or you might die in such incredible conditions, where you have no opportunity to meditate, such as in an incredible disaster or with heavy pain or a loss of memory. You might die in some bad state where there’s no opportunity to meditate at that time, to do powa, transferring the consciousness. Therefore, rather than waiting until death comes, once you know that now death is going to come after a year or six months, it’s advised to use powa. After having done all the necessary things to prolong life, if still the signs of death continuously come—which means now you’re going to die, now there’s no hope, now it’s time to experience death—within six months, approximately, then you can use powa, the actual action of transferring the consciousness to the pure land of a buddha.

There are many of these pure realms, like Amitabha or Kalachakra or the pure lands of Shambhala, of Tara Cittamani, Vajrayogini and so forth. According to the advice of my root guru, His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche, in these pure realms there is the opportunity for you to become enlightened.

Powa, transferring the consciousness, is called the “[practice of] the evil being” because it’s a method for any evil being like us to quickly become enlightened, with force. Even if you have trained by doing the retreat, you can’t use it any time, such as when you are depressed. It doesn’t mean you can use when you have problems in life. You can only use it before death, one year or especially six months, around that time—that is the time you can transfer the consciousness to the pure land by doing powa. It’s like that. Otherwise, it’s said in the teachings that if you do powa at the wrong time, you create the karma of having killed the deity. That’s in the powa root text, I think.

I need to finish this discussion I began.

I think, for many people, even though their philosophy according to their culture which is influenced by science says that there is only one life, actually, in the very inside of the heart, most people really don’t understand what happens at the end of life. What’s her name? [Students: Lydia.] As Lydia said, there’s no clear understanding about the ending of life. In the very inside of the heart people aren’t sure. There’s a suspicion or there’s a fear; it’s not clear.

As I mentioned at the very beginning, if it’s true according to that philosophy, then why should you be afraid? I mean, this way, you don’t have to be reborn as an animal, you don’t have to worry about old age. You don’t have to worry about wrinkles or white hairs. You don’t have to color the white hairs. You don’t have to fix up the face. You don’t have to go to hospital to stretch the skin, to fix the skin hanging down, to stretch it again and again, but gradually it changes again. You don’t have to go to hospital to stretch it, to fix it up again, with all those unbelievable expenses. Taking all that trouble to fix it up and then it degenerates again.

There are so many other diseases as well as relationship problems, so many other things like not succeeding, not getting satisfaction, all these things—all these oceans of suffering—that you don’t have to experience. But even if you follow this philosophy and say there’s only one life, in your heart, your life experience, it’s the opposite to the philosophy. The philosophy has been intellectually created and taught by somebody but here, in your heart, inside, you’re scared because you’re not sure. You have no idea what’s going to happen. That’s why the heart feels that way.

Then, what Andrew said. Is your name Andrew? Andrew I can remember. Since there’s no experience of having realized there is reincarnation, past or future lives, since you only have the experience of this one life, that is ignorant experience. That is the experience of ignorance, of not knowing. Not seeing past and future lives. There’s the experience of ignorance and there’s the experience of wisdom. All experience is not the experience of wisdom; there’s experience according to ignorance and there’s experience according to wisdom.

CURING DISEASE WITH MEDITATION

When I was doing retreat in Adelaide, in South Australia, I spent a few hours in the afternoons listening to the radio. A student from Buddha House worked at one of the radio stations. I think she had an audience of maybe six thousand people. I used to listen to her program, to her questions as she interviewed people on different problems, problems in the city, problems in people’s lives.

One time, her colleague Philip was interviewing people about health problems. There was one guy who told his experience with some medicine, saying that it was completely contradictory to what the doctors said, how the treatment had not helped him. He explained the whole evolution, how that treatment completely didn’t help but was completely the opposite, contradictory to what was needed for his disease. He very sincerely explained the whole thing.

Then Philip said that his comment was too early. I think that Philip thought there was danger. He was explaining his own experience very clearly but announcing it like that could create a big shock for the doctors, and not just the doctors but for the general Western society. I think it could make a big shock because of the fixed ideas that people had been taught and believed. What most people follow is all fixed. I think it gives a big shock, even the idea of meditation for cancer, even though it’s true that meditation cures cancer. There have been a few cases just with a simple meditation. This is my own experience that just giving some mantras or some simple meditations people have been cured. There are many other people [this has happened to]. There’s a person in Australia who had cancer but by doing meditation he recovered by himself. What’s his first name. Ian? [Ven. Roger: Ian Gawler.] Ian Gawler, not in Goa, Ian Gawler. He’s completely recovered.

He established a place to teach meditation. He receives people from all over Australia, he receives people. And there’s a book about how many people recovered from cancer through meditation.¹⁴

I did a healing course for the first time just recently in Australia, in Melbourne, at Tara House. One of the organizers is an old student, a hundred percent completely open-minded and sincere, very compassionate, very sincere. He’s somebody who enjoys his family and also has a very open mind and is very kind. He joined this cancer group with Ian Gawler; he asked him to work with him. He did a year’s work and because he had some experience, I asked him to work together. So he explained all this. He showed me the book, and said these were only a few examples of people who have recovered.

Anyway, this idea of meditation curing diseases such as cancer has become frightening to society because it goes against the other belief that is set up; it makes people change their concepts. It becomes huge. It hits the personal feelings of jobs, that people are afraid of losing their jobs or afraid of what they have studied, what they have learned no longer being valid and they have to change the basic concept. There’s fear, so they reject it, even though there is a lot of evidence that people actually get cured. They reject it but that is completely wrong. There are these things are happening.

IT’S WISE TO PREPARE FOR DEATH

The conclusion is that we can’t say past and future lives don’t exist just because we can’t remember them. We can’t say they don’t exist. It’s possible that past and future lives exist. It can be possible. It can be possible. Even if it’s not a hundred percent sure, it can be possible. Therefore, it’s wiser to make preparations for the next life, it’s better, it’s wiser, before it gets too late. I’m not talking about lunch!

What was I saying?

Before we regret it and have to actually experience the result, the suffering, before our life ends, it’s wise to make preparations for the happiness of future lives. It’s wise to make preparations for liberation, for the cessation of the whole, entire suffering and its causes. It’s even wiser to achieve full enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.

As I mentioned earlier, we have universal responsibility, we are responsible for all sentient beings, to pacify them, to free everyone from all the suffering, to obtain happiness for all sentient beings. Therefore, especially for the sake of sentient beings, we need to develop our mind. We need to free ourselves from suffering and its causes, the mistakes of the mind. This way we become fully qualified, completely training the mind in compassion, perfect power and omniscience, to be able to perfectly guide all sentient beings, to be able to do perfect work for all sentient beings.

Therefore, practicing the lamrim, actualizing the graduated path to enlightenment, becomes extremely important. This is the whole answer. This becomes the whole answer, to actualize the path. The whole thing depends on this, actualizing the graduated path, learning, studying and especially actualizing it. This is what we’re trying to do on this course. Therefore, we should feel extremely fortunate.

I think I’ll stop here.

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Notes

⁹ Six advanced tantric practices devised by the great Indian pandit, Naropa (1016–1100); they are: the yoga of inner fire (Tib: tummo), of illusory body, of clear light, of the dream state, of the intermediate state (Tib: bardo), and of the transference of consciousness (Tib: powa). [Return to text]

¹⁰ This will almost definitely be Ian Stevenson’s Children Who Remember Previous Lives: A Question of Reincarnation or his Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation. Rinpoche has often referred to these books. [Return to text]

¹¹ Tummo (Tib.) is the Highest Yoga Tantra inner fire meditation where the energy residing at the navel chakra is used to bring the psychic winds into the central channel. [Return to text]

¹² Like other lamrim subjects on this course, perfect human rebirth was covered by another teacher and so not included here. The eight freedoms are the eight states from which a perfect human rebirth is free: being born as a hell-being, hungry ghost, animal, long-life god or barbarian or in a dark age when no buddha has descended; holding wrong views; being born with defective mental or physical faculties. The ten richnesses are being born as a human being, in a Dharma country and with perfect mental and physical faculties; not having committed any of the five immediate negativities; having faith in the Buddha’s teachings; being born when a buddha has descended, the teachings have been revealed, the complete teachings still exist and there are still followers of the teachings; and having the necessary conditions to practice Dharma, such as the kindness of others. See Rinpoche’s Perfect Human Rebirth for a full explanation. [Return to text]

¹³ A print of a buddha’s image made from plaster or clay from a carved mold. [Return to text]

¹⁴ The book is almost definitely Ian Gawler’s You Can Recover from Cancer. [Return to text]