Lecture 29
REFUGE CEREMONY MOTIVATION: THE NATURE OF SAMSARA
[This discourse was given immediately after the course.]
Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche explained very extensively the qualities, the purpose and the need to take refuge. The very extensive, very deep reason is that because we ourselves are not completely free from the lower realms, we haven’t got the confidence that we can never be born in the lower realms. Therefore we are not free from the whole, entire suffering of samsara.
Basically, one reason is that we ourselves are not free from suffering and its causes. The other, more extensive reason is that there are numberless sentient beings whose mind is obscured and who are suffering in samsara. The most extensive reason for taking refuge is that. Because those numberless sentient beings are suffering, we want to help them. It’s the meaning of our life to have compassion for them and to have concern for them, and to free them from all the causes of the whole, entire sufferings, of all the obscurations. That is the real meaning of our life and we have that responsibility.
We alone can’t fulfill this without completing the mind training in compassion, and developing perfect power and wisdom, the omniscient mind. Without making ourselves completely qualified we can’t do perfect work for other sentient beings. This understanding is very logical.
Therefore, we need to have scriptural understanding and to actualize all the meanings that the scriptures contain, which is the whole graduated path to enlightenment. That itself is taking refuge in the Dharma. That has to be shown to us by somebody and that somebody is the Buddha. That’s how we have to rely upon the Buddha. And there’s a need for supporters, for those who help us in our practice, in actualizing the actual refuge, the Dharma. That helper is the Sangha. That is the function of the Sangha. By relying upon them, the Sangha guide us in that way.
As I mentioned earlier, just for us to be free from the lower realms, to not be reborn in the lower realms, doesn’t need all three objects of refuge, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. We don’t have to rely upon all three. But to be completely free, to liberate ourselves from the whole entire samsara, we need to rely upon all three, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Just relying upon one is not sufficient, we have to rely upon all three. Just as a person who has a very severe disease has to rely upon all three—the doctor, the medicine and the nurse—to take care of him, to look after him day and night, similarly we need all three objects of refuge.
REFUGE CEREMONY MOTIVATION: THE NEED TO BE FREE FROM ALL THREE TYPES OF SUFFERING
What is samsara? These aggregates are samsara. In The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment Lama Tsongkhapa defines samsara as the part of the continuation of these contaminated or defiled aggregates joining again and again, from one life to another life. That’s the definition of samsara by Lama Tsongkhapa.
What causes these contaminated or defiled aggregates to join from one life to another is karma and disturbing thoughts. As long as we follow delusion, as long as we are in samsara, we are without freedom, we are controlled by karma and delusion, and the contaminated seed of disturbing thoughts, the concept of a truly existent I and so forth.
This is the fundamental suffering of samsara, the third of the three types of suffering, pervasive compounding suffering. This is the very basis. If the aggregates are in this nature then those two other types of sufferings—the suffering of change and the suffering of suffering—arise like water bubbles rising in the water, or like an infection coming naturally from the body. Having this body, there’s infection. If we didn’t have this samsaric body there would be no infection. Without this body we wouldn’t need to scratch; we wouldn’t have the kinds of experience that we call pleasure but are only suffering, which, like leprosy, cause itching that we can’t stop scratching, making the suffering still worse.
If we didn’t have this contaminated body that is created by karma and delusion and the contaminated seed of disturbing thoughts, the suffering of change—that pleasure produced by scratching—wouldn’t happen and the infection wouldn’t spread, with more pus or water produced. Without this body we also wouldn’t experience those other two types of suffering. The way to liberate ourselves completely from this suffering, from the whole, entire suffering of samsara, is to make ourselves completely free from the third suffering, pervasive compounding suffering; from these aggregates created or controlled, or caused by karma and delusion, the contaminated seeds of disturbing thoughts, the seeds that make delusion arise by meeting the object.
First of all, one mistake is not having actualized the remedial path in the past, therefore the seeds have not been removed. As Lama Lhundrup went over the explanation of the whole path, we haven’t actualized that remedial path in past times, so the seeds of the delusions are still left on the mental continuum. They didn’t get removed.
The second thing is that when we have met the object we have not applied the meditation. We haven’t protected our mind, therefore what happens is the seed is there. It’s like after planting the seed in the ground, when there are minerals and everything else is there, when everything is kind of together, there’s no obstacle and the plant grows from the seed.
Similarly, the second thing is by meeting the object, because the path has not been generated, we don’t know how to protect our mind. Since we don’t know the meditations of the lamrim, the graduated path to enlightenment, and we don’t apply the meditations in our everyday life, by meeting the object, delusion arises from that seed and it produces karma. It motivates karma that creates the imprint, that leaves the imprint that is the cause of the future lives’ samsara. That is left on the mental continuum, the consciousness.
In that way we collect so many causes of our future lives’ samsara. Even in one day, even in one hour, delusion arises. Without watching the mind, without protecting the mind by applying the meditation, we are not aware of the reality of the object, how it’s in the nature of impermanence, how it’s empty. Not knowing how its existence is empty from its own side, without being aware, then delusion arises on the basis of the hallucinated appearance and we believe in that. That creates karma which leaves imprints which are the cause of future lives’ samsara on the mental continuum, like having planted so many seeds in the ground. Even in one day, even in one hour, so many imprints are planted on the mental continuum that are the cause of future lives’ samsara.
As those seeds of future lives’ samsara become ready to produce the result, to throw their future result, samsara, that’s how the continuation of these present aggregates joins to the next life, and then that one joins to the life after that and that one joins to the life after that and that one joins to the life after that and so on like this. This is pervasive compounding suffering. These aggregates are compounding the future lives’ samsara with this seed, then from the seed the disturbing thoughts arise.
This is the main suffering we have. This is the most important suffering that we have to realize, that we must have the determination to be free from. The main suffering we need to renounce is this one.
What liberation means is also the cessation of this third kind of suffering. That is ultimate liberation. By knowing this fundamental suffering of samsara, this third kind of suffering, we know what liberation means, we know what ultimate happiness means. Otherwise, if we only understand suffering to be the suffering of suffering and the suffering of change, we can’t break free from samsara.
Even Hindus have the determination to be free from the suffering of suffering and the suffering of change. For example, even in Hinduism there is shamatha meditation, calm abiding, with the nine stages. Even though they have this meditation and they go through the form and formless realms, still it’s samsara. How they go to the form realm is by having renunciation of the suffering of change. They see how the desire realm pleasure that is dependent on the five external sense objects is in the nature of suffering. By meditating on that, by realizing that, the meditators achieve the four meditative states, the four states of concentration, of the form realm.
In the form and formless realms [these meditators] don’t have the suffering of change, which depends on external objects and experiencing the sense pleasures. They have inner pleasure through meditation but not external pleasure. Even Hindus are able to develop this kind of meditation, however, the form and formless realms are still in samsara. They are still suffering even where there’s no suffering of suffering or suffering of change—the temporary pleasures that depend on external desire objects. They are free from the suffering of change while they’re in those states, while they’re in the form and formless realms, but they are still suffering because they haven’t overcome the third kind of suffering, pervasive compounding suffering. They haven’t recognized as suffering the aggregates that are caused by karma and delusion, the contaminated seed of disturbing thoughts, which creates future lives’ samsara. This is the fundamental suffering and they haven’t realized it.
Because of that, they don’t have the determination to be free from this third kind of suffering; there is no renunciation from this. Even if they go to the highest realm in samsara, to the fourth category of the formless realm, the tip of samsara, because they’re not free from it, they don’t see the tip of samsara as suffering because there’s no other higher realm to compare it with. Until that point they have seen the realm they are in as gross compared to the next higher realm, but now there is nothing to compare it with thus there is no renunciation of that samsara.
This is because they have not realized the third kind of suffering—pervasive compounding suffering. They have not recognized it as suffering and therefore have no determination to be free from it. Therefore, there’s no renunciation of the whole, entire samsara. There’s renunciation of some part of samsaric suffering but there’s no renunciation of the whole entire samsara. That’s why even though they reach the highest realm of samsara they still get reborn, and because of their past karma they will get reborn again in the lower realms and so forth, again and again. They will continuously circle like this, until they renounce the whole entire samsara and realize emptiness. It’s like this until this realization happens.
In those other religions, whether [they assert] you can achieve liberation or not, if there’s no mention of the Prasangika view of emptiness—not just emptiness but especially the Prasangika view of emptiness—if that’s not taught in that religion, then that means there’s no opportunity to achieve liberation. And if there’s no renunciation of the whole entire samsara, if it’s not mentioned, there’s no way to achieve liberation.
It’s just like the machines that work by depending on many things. It’s simply like that. To say that is not being sectarian. It’s not because you simply cling to Buddhism, to being a Buddhist, and assert there’s no way others can achieve liberation and this and that, without using logic, without reasoning. It’s not saying that. In order to be sure this is true, the best method is to study the whole of Buddhism first and then study those other religions. If you have enough life, if you have enough time, if you have enough intelligence, enough merit, enough good karma, to be able to study and know the whole of Buddhism, even the scriptural understanding, as well as studying the other religions, then you can judge. Only then, even without realizations, there’s enough wisdom to be able to check the other religions and to judge whether it’s possible to achieve liberation or not. To be able to judge whether it’s possible or not, the best method is to study all the religions in the world, then you can see. Within that comes studying the whole of Buddhadharma, which is one of the spiritual paths revealed in this world. You have to study everything in order to analyze it.
On the basis of this, you can judge whether you can achieve enlightenment by practicing that religion. It depends on whether bodhicitta is mentioned, whether it’s explained how to generate the realization of bodhicitta, with all the steps of the path leading to bodhicitta. That is the very fundamental answer. If that religion’s path is developed on the basis of renunciation, emptiness and bodhicitta, how to develop bodhicitta, then there’s some basic answer that enlightenment is possible by practicing that religion.
Not only that, there have to be five paths explained. Lama Lhundrup explained the details, how each realization is working in your mind and becomes the remedy, the medicine, to remove the delusions. It’s like a machine, it’s like a scientific machine, how these things work. It’s like atoms meeting together to produce power and so forth. The way the mind develops is similar.
If there’s no mention of how to develop bodhicitta, with these five paths that remove the different levels of the delusions, how is it possible to achieve full enlightenment? Full enlightenment is just one. Ultimate emptiness is just one. There’s no difference. Ultimate emptiness is one. Bodhicitta is one. In reality it’s one; there’s no difference. There’s no different interpretation for the ultimate emptiness.
For example, a patient is checked by a doctor who diagnoses him as healthy whereas another doctor sees that the patient has cancer. The two different diagnoses are according to the different levels of knowledge of the doctors. One doctor has less insight, less knowledge, less education, less experience; the other has more knowledge, more experience. What they can find depends on how much knowledge they have, thus one labels the patient as OK and one says he has a cancer. It’s like that.
With the founders of the different religions, their understanding of suffering is limited, their recognition of the suffering of samsara is limited, therefore what they call liberation is not real liberation; it’s not the cessation of the whole of suffering. It’s just the cessation of one part of it, the cessation of one problem.
Regarding the cessation of the suffering of suffering as liberation is wrong in reality because there is still not the freedom from pervasive compounding suffering. Even if you’re temporarily free from the suffering of suffering, you will experience it again as long as you’re not free from pervasive compounding suffering, the third kind of suffering. Therefore, what those people, the founders [of other religions], call liberation from suffering—even if they call it liberation from the whole of suffering—is not that at all.
Until we become free from this samsara, we will continuously be attacked by the three types of suffering, such as the suffering of change. After a long time sitting we have a heavy pain and as soon as we stand up, that new action of standing up stops the great discomfort because the action of sitting is stopped. We stop that and start another new action, standing. That great discomfort, that tiredness, is stopped. Then, by this new, second action, standing, immediately after that action, the second after this action is done, immediately a new suffering, a new problem, starts. As soon as one suffering has stopped, another suffering has started.
Immediately that action of standing compounds the discomfort, the tiredness, of standing, but at that stage it’s subtle. It’s so small we don’t notice it. As we continue the action of standing the discomfort of standing gradually increases. When it becomes noticeable, unbearable, it becomes the suffering of suffering. At that time it becomes the suffering of suffering. While that feeling—the discomfort, the tiredness of standing—is unnoticeable, we label that feeling “pleasure.” What that feeling is, basically, is suffering. It’s another suffering, the tiredness of standing.
Like this, sitting is suffering, standing is suffering. Like this, eating is suffering, not eating is suffering; sleeping is suffering, not sleeping is suffering. Like this, until we become free from samsara, whatever we do is suffering. Until we are free from samsara.
Whatever place we stay is a place of suffering; whatever friend or companion we have is a friend or companion of suffering. From this explanation of the suffering of change, we can understand how any place, wherever we are, is a place of suffering, and whoever we’re with is a companion of suffering. Whatever enjoyment we experience in samsara is the enjoyment of suffering.
Besides being attacked by the three types of sufferings constantly, we have to experience the general sufferings of samsara, the six types, such as leaving the body again and again, always going to higher and lower again and again, that nothing is definite—relationships and so forth—and not finding satisfaction. Then joining again and again, how this mother came from another mother and that mother came from another mother. We join like this again and again. Even if this whole earth was made into pills and we counted them, we couldn’t count the number of mothers we have had.
As I mentioned before, this body is a collection of the blood from our mother and her mother, her mother’s mother and so forth, and the sperm from our father and our father’s father, his father’s father, his father’s father and so forth. This is its nature. This body is a collection of those. This is how it is, the nature of samsara.
Then, there is the suffering of being without a companion. When we are reborn, we are reborn alone. And when we die, we also die alone, without a companion. When we experience the suffering in the lower realms, in the hells, only we ourselves can experience the karma we have created, only we can experience the suffering result. Even the negative karma we have created for others, for our relatives and friends and so forth, we alone have to experience. Nobody comes to share it with us. We experience the suffering result; nobody comes to share the suffering. We have to experience it alone.
REFUGE CEREMONY MOTIVATION: THE BENEFITS OF TAKING THE VOWS
Until we are free from samsara we have to experience these sufferings, the general and particular sufferings of each realm, continuously. Therefore think, “At this time, while I have this perfect human rebirth, I have met the virtuous friend and have met Buddhadharma, at this time I must achieve full enlightenment, great liberation, for the sake of all sentient beings. Therefore I’m going to take the refuge ceremony and take the upasika39 vows.”
If you’re taking only refuge without any of the five precepts, think you’re only taking the refuge ordination. If you’re taking the five precepts, the upasika vows, if you’re taking all five or one, two, three or four vows, then think like that.
Think, “Therefore, by relying upon the Buddha as the founder of refuge, the Dharma as the actual refuge and the Sangha as those who help me actualize the actual refuge within my mind, by relying upon those three, I’m going to take only the refuge vow, or the refuge and the upasika vows.” Like that, OK?
Please make three prostrations. Here’s the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha statue, so by thinking it’s the actual living Shakyamuni Buddha, make three prostrations first. After that, make three prostrations to the lama who gives the refuge, or the upasika vows.
[Part of recording missing. Rinpoche seems to talking about Khunu Lama Rinpoche’s explanation of the refuge mudra.] He lived outside for many, many years, near the River Ganga, looking like a sadhu. Afterwards, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and His Holiness’ tutors took teachings from him. Afterwards, when he started living in monasteries, everybody took teachings after they found out that he was a great bodhisattva, a great holy being.
I also took many teachings from him, including the oral transmission of the Bodhicaryavatara and the commentary on the wisdom chapter. I requested the commentary but I didn’t get the whole commentary alone. I received the commentary at other times with the public, but as soon as Rinpoche started the wisdom chapter, talking about emptiness, I fell asleep! As soon as he began that, much sleeping started, unfortunately.
Rinpoche explained, this is namaste. This is what Rinpoche explained. This is not having an empty hand because this [the thumbs in the closed palms] is the offering jewel, the wish-granting jewel. This [right] hand signifies method, the method path, and this [left] one wisdom. Method—renunciation, bodhicitta and so forth—and the wisdom realizing emptiness, the wisdom realizing emptiness from the sutra path and from the tantric path. So the [two palms together] signifies those two paths.
Inside is empty, which signifies the two enlightened results you can achieve. This one is the dharmakaya and this one is the rupakaya. By actualizing in your mind method and wisdom, the path, what you achieve is the dharmakaya and the rupakaya, enlightenment, for sentient beings.
This has the whole explanation of the base, the two truths, and the two paths, method and wisdom, and the two results, the rupakaya and dharmakaya. Putting your palms together has the whole explanation. So, put your palms at the heart like this and please repeat the prayer of the ceremony.
There are three precepts of things to be abandoned and three precepts to practice.40 By taking refuge in the Dharma, what you should abandon is giving harm to other sentient beings. Normally I emphasize this. Without taking all those five precepts, all five or any of the precepts, just taking refuge, still we abandon harming others, so that is the upasika only refuge vow.
I asked His Holiness the Dalai Lama how it is possible to not take the vow to not kill when you take refuge, because taking refuge, if you give harm to other sentient beings, that’s not Dharma. So, the fundamental Dharma is to not give harm, even if you can’t practice benefiting others. At least the Dharma that avoids giving harm to others has to be practiced otherwise there’s no Dharma left. If you can’t practice avoiding giving harm to others, there’s no Dharma practice, there’s no spiritual practice, there’s no real meditation left. The purpose of doing meditation is to stop giving harm to others, to inspire the mind or to build the capacity to not harm others. That’s the purpose of meditation, that’s the goal of meditation, to be able to stop giving harm to others, to gradually stop every single harm toward other sentient beings and to do all the benefit to them.
This is the real thing. Therefore I thought if you don’t stop giving harm, killing, how is it possible to take refuge in the Dharma? Somehow it doesn’t seem right. His Holiness explained that it’s because there are some people who can’t avoid killing. They can’t abandon killing but they want to take the refuge vow. His Holiness said that even if the person can’t stop killing there are other harms he can stop. Whether it’s small or great, there are other harms the person can practice avoiding. So it makes sense. It makes sense.
However, normally my emphasis is that during the refuge ceremony, because killing is the greatest harm we can do others you should at least try to take that vow. For example, generally speaking, if we have to choose between being killed or beaten, of course we would choose being beaten. Being killed is more fearful. It’s the same thing toward others. By taking refuge in the Dharma you should avoiding killing. That is normally the basic emphasis I have been trying to make—not just taking the refuge vow but from the five upasika vows at least taking one, to not kill.
However, it doesn’t have to be only this particular vow to not kill. From the five precepts it could be to not tell lies or to not steal. It could be any of those from the five—to not take alcohol or not have sexual misconduct, whatever. If you are only able to take one then it could be any one of those that does great harm to other sentient beings. If you can take one from these five, then that’s great, because it makes a huge difference. This is very important.
I think the benefits of the eight Mahayana precepts are extremely important to understand. Of two people making charity, giving money, to a beggar, there is one person living in the one vow and one person not living in any vow. The person living in the vow and the one not living in the vow give the same amount of money, one rupee, but the merit created by the person living in the vow is as huge as the earth whereas the merit created by the person not living in the vow is as big as a handful of dirt. In regards to the merit, the profit that is the good karma, there are huge differences. There are huge differences. One is almost nothing, kind of lost, compared to the other person who is living in one vow and making charity of one rupee to a beggar, whose merit is the size of the earth.
It’s mentioned that for a person who lives in one vow the merit of making offerings to the buddhas of butter the size of a nail with a wick the size of a hair is incomparably greater than the merit of the person not living in a vow who offers oceans of butter with wicks the size of Mount Meru. For the person who doesn’t live in the vow, the offering is very large but the merit is very small, almost nothing, compared to the person who lives in one vow and only makes a tiny offering, butter the size of a nail with a wick inside the size of a hair. This merit is unbelievable, unimaginable, it’s so much. It’s far greater than the merit of the other person who doesn’t live in any vow but who makes light offerings to the buddhas of oceans of butter and wicks the size of the greatest mountain. It’s explained like this in the sutra teachings on karma.
There are huge differences. In daily life, there is a huge difference between living in one vow or not living in any vow. Even if a person not living in any vow doesn’t kill, steal, commit sexual misconduct and so forth there are big differences. The person is not doing any of these negative actions but not living in the vow, not having taken the commitment, doesn’t have the benefits, doesn’t accumulate the merit that living in the vow does. That person doesn’t accumulate the merit of living in the vow. So, there are big differences.
For example, sleeping. Even if you sleep all twenty-four hours, even if you become unconscious, for somebody living in the vow and somebody not living in the vow, there are huge differences. It’s the same, neither of these people kills, steals, commits sexual misconduct and so forth, both are sleeping or unconscious twenty-four hours a day, therefore they aren’t committing any negative actions, but there are huge differences between the merit created by each of them.
A person who is sleeping all night or a person who is in a coma, who can’t speak or do anything—just a slight movement of a nerve or something—they don’t have the merit of living in the vow, they don’t create the good karma of living in the vow, even if they don’t do the action of killing or stealing and so forth during their period of sleep or coma. But the person who lives in the vow, even if he is sleeping twenty-four hours or is unconscious or in a coma, how many years he lives in a coma, the merit is there until he dies.
Living in one vow makes a huge difference in life. And it makes even more of difference if you take two vows, three vows, five vows, or a lot more, the 36 or 253 ordination vows or the 364 fully ordained nun’s vows. There are huge differences between those living in one, two or five vows and somebody not living in even one vow, so there’s no question about somebody who lives in 36, 253 or 364 vows. Even if they don’t make much charity, even if they don’t do many preliminary practices, or many extensive offerings every day—even if they only do those external practices very occasionally, there’s a huge difference between that person and somebody who doesn’t live in even one vow who does all that very extensively, doing so many preliminary practices, making offerings, making charity to so many beings, helping so many sentient beings. The merit created by a lay person or a monk or nun who lives in the vows and who only occasionally does these external practices is still huge. Even if it’s a small thing it creates unbelievable merit. Without the vows, even making extensive offerings doesn’t create much merit, so there’s no comparison.
Therefore, the person who is able to live in the vows has the most profitable life. And then especially, among that, the person who is able to live in a greater number of vows, in the most number of vows, has the greatest profitable life. This is very important. It’s explained in the benefits of the eight Mahayana precepts. You may have heard it already but this point is very important. This point is very important.
I think many people who don’t understand the Dharma don’t understand how, by living in the vows as a nun, monk or lay practitioner you can serve the world, how you benefit the world. I think there are many people who don’t understand Dharma and can’t see this, especially those who don’t understand karma. Because there’s no understanding of karma, it’s difficult to understand how living in the vows, particularly as a monk or nun, benefits the world, how it serves other people.
The common understanding is that to serve others you mix with people, like working in a hospital. You physically mix with people and do service for other people. The general understanding of service in the world is physically mixing with the people and being their servant, like that. That is the only understanding. But the most important, the most important service to the world, or service to other people, is disciplining the mind, controlling the mind. Generally, that is totally left out. That part, the most important service for other sentient beings, the most important service to the world, that which brings peace to the world—controlling the mind, disciplining the mind, then disciplining the speech and the body—that is completely left out. The most important service is completely left out. People don’t understand this—to stop your body, speech and mind becoming harmful to others—so that one is completely left out. The real one, the real service for other sentient beings, the real service for the world, that is completely left out because people don’t understand the main point.
The understanding of service is physically mixing with people and doing something to their body. Even that is mainly concentrated on the body, and not so much on helping the mind. Even helping the mind is left out. Again, there’s a big thing missing in the education of what it means to serve others, to serve the world, what it means to bring peace to the world. That education, that real understanding, is not there in the majority of the common people’s minds. Therefore, they don’t understand how useful it is, how beneficial it is to the world, to people, to live in the vows as monks and nuns.
Basically, this is through not understanding karma, not understanding the Dharma. Not understanding that world peace has to come through watching and disciplining the mind, from each individual’s side. Disciplining the mind means living in morality, which means abstaining from the harmful actions toward ourselves and toward other sentient beings. Common people don’t understand this.
Not understanding karma, not understanding the benefits of the vows, many people complain about it. Many political people can’t understand how it serves the world.
The reason why the world doesn’t have peace is because people don’t discipline their minds. They don’t place their body, speech and mind in morality, abstaining from harmful actions. Basically, they don’t control the mind; they don’t watch the mind, keeping it in a positive attitude. They don’t develop a good heart, abstaining from the harmful thoughts, without letting harmful thoughts arise.
By taking one vow to stop killing, in this way, besides human beings, all sentient beings don’t receive harm from you. This way all sentient beings don’t receive harm from you. As long as you are living in this vow, all sentient beings don’t receive the harm of killing from you. In that way, by all sentient beings receiving the absence of the harm of being killed by you, that is peace. All sentient beings receive peace from you. That is the real peace. The absence of harm that other sentient beings receive from you is real peace. That you can do. That you can do. That, each of us has in our hands, whether we choose to do it or not. We can do that for every sentient being, by living in the vow.
However many number of vows you take, other sentient beings receive more peace, the absence of more harms, from each vow you take. The greater number of vows you take, the more peace you bring to the world. You give more peace to all the sentient beings. You can see this is very logical and very practical.
Even if you’re not involved in those big meetings on world peace and so forth, even if you don’t go to those meetings, while you’re in your retreat room, while you’re in the hermitage, while you’re in your own room, you’re bringing peace to the world. You’re giving peace to all sentient beings by developing your own mind, by developing your peaceful mind, your good heart. That’s incredible! What you’re offering to sentient beings, and what sentient beings are receiving from you, is incredible peace. The more you develop the mind, the more compassion that’s developed, the more bodhicitta that’s developed, the greater peace they receive, the more benefit they receive from you.
Please repeat the prayer.
[Rinpoche begins the ceremony.]
REFUGE CEREMONY MOTIVATION: THE GENERAL PRECEPTS
You’ve already heard about the precepts; what is to be abandoned by taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and what is to be practiced by taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
There are also the general precepts, such as any time before eating and drinking, even fruit or candy, before you eat you make an offering to the Buddha first. Do this by visualizing the Buddha in your heart or in the front, whatever. Also, in the morning when you first get up, make three prostrations to the Buddha and before going to bed make three prostrations to the Buddha. There are precepts about listening to teachings again and again, practicing compassion for others and so forth. There are about seven.41
I think Marcel has already read them to you. If you don’t remember, please, you must read them and write them down in a notebook because these are the fundamental practice. These precepts, the things to be abandoned and to be practiced, are the Buddha’s skillful means to help us to stop those heavy karmas. And, by the way, in our daily life, since we have to get up and go to bed, this is the way to accumulate merit by the way, so life doesn’t become empty.
We eat many times a day. We eat on and on, many times in one day, we eat and drink. Guru Shakyamuni Buddha is the nature of compassion and because of that, all these things—doing these actions before eating, drinking and so forth—are skillful means to stop our life becoming completely empty, by the way. And with those things, however many times we do them in one day, at least, by the way, as we drink, we create some unmistaken causes of happiness. Those actions become the cause of happiness. With those actions we at least create some good karma. Creating good karma happens without effort, just by the way. All those skillful means, those instructions, are to help us achieve happiness, to guide us to have the long-term happiness of future lives, liberation and enlightenment.
Even though we don’t do these things for the success of this life—they’re not motivated by the thought clinging to the happiness of this life—these things also become the main cause of success and happiness in this life as well.
REFUGE CEREMONY
Now do three prostrations.
From the heart, sincerely dedicate this way. “Through all the three-times’ merits accumulated by me, by the buddhas and bodhisattvas, may I, my family, friends, enemies, strangers, all sentient beings, may we be able to complete the paramita of morality by keeping it without mistake, pure, without pride.”
[Rinpoche recites the verse in Tibetan.]
Please dedicate for bodhicitta, to generate bodhicitta.
Jang chhub sem chhog rin po chhe…
To generate bodhicitta without delay even a second.
“May I, my family, all sentient beings, in all lifetimes, be able to live in pure vows and in this way to quickly achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings.” This is the way to achieve liberation or enlightenment, therefore dedicate the merit so that you and all sentient beings are able to live in the pure vows for all lifetimes, until enlightenment.
OK, thank you.
[End of refuge ceremony.]
Notes
39 Upasika (Skt.) is a female lay follower of Buddhism; upasaka is a male lay follower of Buddhism. [Return to text]
40 Actions to be avoided and practiced are: what to avoid: (Buddha) don’t follow a wrong founder, (Dharma) don’t harm others, (Sangha) don’t be influenced by those following wrong paths; what to practice: (Buddha) respect holy objects. (Dharma) respect the written texts, (Sangha) respect the Sangha; the general advice: take refuge three times in the morning and three times at night, offer the first portion of food or drink, guide others with compassion, listen to teachings as much as possible, always rely on the holy beings with all your heart, never give up your refuge. [Return to text]
41 Normally six are listed. See the footnote above. [Return to text]
