Archive Result

Soundfile 19870100GRRTOMLOVCOM_11

Speaker Gelek Rimpoche/Robert Thurman

Location Omega Institute

Topic Love and Compassion

Transcriber Jill Neuwirth

Date 2/20/2023

… He went to Hong Kong and something (Inaudible) [0:00:03.6] and he come back, and it’s one of my teachings in Tushita (?) I don’t know what I’m teaching, something. He said, Rimpoche, for the benefit of all sentient beings, I’m doing business. Could you believe it? It’s not gone too far, for the benefit of all sentient beings, I’m doing business. I mean, it’s become too extreme. So, that means, for the all sentient being is on here but not either here or no up here, I’m sorry Tibetan traditionally, you only go down in the heart, but the westerners go up in the brain, okay? Wherever you go, I don’t care. What I need to think I need to reach to the person, you know, the I, I need to reach me. So that’s whether it’s a down here or up here, it doesn’t matter. It’s immaterial. But we need to touch it. So, the benefit of sentient beings not been touched to the person but it’s on the lip, talk, talk, talk, talk, you know? But not on the touch with the individual. So that’s why it happens. For with the moment you started touching the real person, real me, really deeply started thinking, why should I care for all the sentient beings? You straightaway reject. Why should I bother for them? What I be- I don’t even know who they are. Why do I care?

[0:01:49.5] And particularly, when I look to my enemies, I definitely want them teach a lesson. If you have any enemies. I want teach them lesson. They are the one should really suffer. And we are the one who should really prosper. Why should I bother for them? These are the pure thoughts, pure answers you get from the pure individual. I mean, pure- I don’t mean it’s right one, but I mean, when you really get a touch with yourself, or with the self. These are the true naked thoughts it’s generate. I mean, who is going to care for everybody? Nobody. I am the most important. Then my friend, and my nearest, and my dearest, and then second step, their friends and the person I know. Like that. That is the situation way we’re used to it, way we are taught and we, I mean, we automatically learned, and we live in that environment. Why should we thought about them? That’s them. Right or wrong, this is the true answer you get, I mean, may not be true, but that is the answer what you’re going to get naked from yourself. I’m talking about really meditation, dialogue with yourself. That’s what you get. So what would you do? Would you going to agree? Or would you going to disagree? To me, it looks making all the sense. I’m going to agree, most probably. And that’s all the senses our sensible thoughts would suggest that. Yeah, I mean, that’s very right.

[0:04:08.8] But we’re wrong. Why we’re wrong? We don’t have enough information. We don’t really know things well enough. We haven’t thought enough. Since we don’t have enough information, we have limited information, we make decision according to that availability of information. So it is making the wrong decision. As Dr. Thurman here always says, case whereby I make a wrong decisions. Because he had limited information. It’s true. He may have all the information that they think what they needed from all the sources, but they are lacks information of compassion. They are lacked information of nature reality. They are lacked information of truth. So, even they make they think they’re making the best decision, it goes wrong. It becomes wrong decision. As you have mentioned, Ollie North. He thinks he’s making the best decision. I do believe him, I’m sorry. Professor doesn’t agree, but I do agree. I do think he really thinks he’s making the best decision. He thought about it at that time, and because his information’s limited, he never thinks the congress need to know. So, he thinks he can cover it up and that is the information available with him, so he made the best judgment, best decision. He did. According to his capability and information available. That’s why he confessed making safe. But he has a limited information. He didn’t realize, he never realized he’s going to be questioned by congress, in front of the camera, all this thing called a secret. Right? He never. So he has limited information there, so he made the wrong decision. Similarly, we have limited information. So we are making wrong decisions saying that I’m not going to care for others. So what is the true information? The true information is the true relation between others and me. Me and others, me and you, you, you, you, every individual. The true relation. That we don’t know. That was the lack, we’re lacked. So Buddha recommended here the famous Buddhist meditation of mother sentient beings. Mother sentient beings.

[0:07:44.2] And that is the true information actually. I can even logically prove to you how true it is, I’ll come to that. But before we come to that, this mother sentient being business, I have tried to substitute the mother by using different things because of several of my western friends don’t like their mother. They don’t like their mother at all, they hate their mother. So, I try to substitute it by using different things. By using father, by using girlfriend, by using boyfriend, by using every single thing that you can think of it. But I tell you unfortunately doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. And you really have to use the mother sentient being business. It just doesn’t work. And not only that, I’m also very happy and proud of myself to tell you that those of my friends who don’t like their mother, somehow I have been instrumental in their very good relation with their mothers. Yeah, really. So I have been very proud of that, too. It’s a true situation. So, now the question is how to apply that mother sentient being business, how do we sell it to ourself? The idea has to be sold, and we have to buy, let’s be in business, okay? So how do we sell? And if I take, say, hey, this is the true situation, mother sentient being business, would you like to buy? I will say no, I don’t care for it. Shut the door. Right? I will shut the door. So, you can’t. If you try to force yourself, you say, I’ll call the police. Right? So that’s what’s going to happen. So the first step comes in equanimity. (Speaks in Tibetan) [0:10:32.0] Equanimity. So first you don’t sell the idea of mother sentient being, but first you try to sell the true situation of yourself. Then you sell it, what second step what you have sell to yourself is equanimity. So the now, how- whoops. Okay, now, how to sell it equanimity. Give me a few minutes, I will the meditation and equanimity all come together. Please let’s rise and do the meditation because time is 11:54. So- okay, but- RT: You’re teaching us a guided meditation? Rimpoche: Yeah, what I’ll do is, I’ll do the equanimity here together, but as a procedure, or what is it? They call it something. (Speaks in Tibetan) [0:11:43.6] RT: As a, example? (Rimpoche and RT discuss terms) Rimpoche: As a formality. As a formality. Oh yeah, you have to keep on, okay? As a formality. That’s formality, right? We complete that. (Bell rings)

[0:12:15.9] Just sit, just be comfortable, okay? Please. Comfortable, and clear all your different thoughts that you have. I give you few seconds for that. Well, lying is not permitted, the lying down is not permitted for meditation. All other besides that are- (Audio cuts) [0:12:45.4] (Bell rings) (Rimpoche and RT discuss in Tibetan) Rimpoche: Welcome back to the afternoon session, and this om mani peme hung whatever I have given you, please try not to put on the bare ground, that means not on the bare carpet. And don’t jump over it. And try be little respectful, okay? So that’s what I would like to make a request. If you have something, some, you know, piece of something there, then it’s okay. (Speaks in Tibetan) [0:14:18.5] Now. Before I, led you into the meditation of ultimate love, but it is necessary- you know this, what we call it, altruistic spirit of enlightenment is something which you and I can develop within our self. In other words, our mind can get very well absorbed in that thought (Checks Tibetan term with RT) [0:15:21.2] RT: Absorbed, yes. Rimpoche: Absorbed in that. And once that happens, there is tremendous benefit. The benefit what you get, number one- and now I have to talk according to the Buddha’s saying, okay? Number one benefit is like that of- (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:16:02.7] So, if you develop this mind within you, no matter whatever the level you may be, but you may be known as sons of the Buddha. Son of Buddha. So don’t forget, Buddhism developed in India. In India they have the caste system. So that was the example what they communicate to the people. That’s why how Buddha taught.

[0:16:39.2] If your father is Agarwal, you will be Agarwal. If your father is Gupta, you will be Gupta. If your father is Dass, then you will be Dass. Right? So this is the caste system in India how it works. The son is bound to succeed the father. Inherited all the father’s wealth, family, whatever it is. His family is bound to be taking over. You understand? This is Indian old culture. So, in that context of the culture, Buddha referred all the bodhisattvas, what we call it bodhisattvas, are the sons of the Buddha. If you are born, as son of Gupta, you will be Gupta. So if you are born son of Buddha, you will be Buddha. You’re going to inherit it, whatever. Buddha’s sons are not limited to men alone. It is the female sons. They don’t call it daughter, they call it son, even it is female. Sorry, if it goes against the western culture, but it is. Because there are a lot of lady bodhisattvas, they are all son of Buddha. So, the moment you develop this particular mind, no matter whatever the level you may be, you are son of Buddha. By virtue of being son of Buddha, though your knowledge, your development, everything may be at zero level, well, we can’t be zero level, but, maybe this much, whether you will be higher and respected better than that of even arhats. Arhats like a great, you know, Sariputra, et cetera are arhats. But by virtue of being son of Buddha, you’ll be much more respected. Even better than those of arhat. Example for that Buddha has given, the son of the king is though not matured by knowledge, by education, even by building the body. But by virtue of being son, the old, well matured, great diplomatic ministers has to bow down because he or she is the son of king. So similarly, when we develop this mind, those of arhats who are sitting up there will bow down to us. Not only those of arhats- (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:20:14.6] Even the gods and everybody will have to bow down. You will become such an object to whom even those people will bow down. That is number one benefit. There are tremendous amount of benefits.

[0:20:34.6] Number two benefit will be- (Quotes in Tibetan) Buddhas and bodhisattvas of those enlightened beings will take care of so much of us, they even ignore the enlightened Buddhas and they will take care of us. Why? Because that’s growing. We’re growing. When the seed was started, you know, when little trees and little flowers started growing, you need all the protections. So they give it to you. Because they want to see you to develop. So they do take care of, even ignore the bigger tree and bigger flowers and take care of the little ones because all the attentions that we needed we get it. Example for that? (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:21:35.8] They worship or respect the rising moon, not the dying moon. (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:21:45.0] So what else you want? Not only that, Nagarjuna goes furthermore one step. Nagarjuna, no, Shantideva goes furthermore one step. What? (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:22:14.5] It’s like a gold solution. In olden days, it’s not like these days gold plating. In olden days they had a certain kind of solution developed through material and mantra together, when you apply- if I’m wrong, please correct. RT: Mm-hmm. Rimpoche: If you apply that, it becomes gold. Every method will become gold. Real gold. It’s not gold solution. If it’s been available in India till 1947, I don’t know about thereafter what happened. After 1947 it’s available because there’s a big confidential between all congresspeople. Some of them are my students, they told me personally. What happened most of them when they fought with British, the congress, the financing was done through this gold solution. And they did a limited production. Otherwise, they’re going to caught. But they did a limited production, it’s not a fake gold, it really made a gold. And villas, the rich Indian villa and para (?) [0:23:33.6] particularly villas most were built out of that. And they supported the Indian congress movement and British colonial movement’s supported by that. I don’t know if thereafter it’s available or not.

[0:23:48.7] So anyway, so they put the gold solution. When the gold solution was put on any matter, metals, it’s become a gold. Similarly, if you developed bodhicitta, and when you apply bodhicitta on any virtuous work, it has become perfect cause to the enlightenment. Not only that, if you develop bodhicitta once, accumulation of merit will be done by itself. That is ultimate love and compassion, okay? Accumulation of merit will be done by itself. Accumulation purification will be done by itself (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:24:41.3] And not only that, those of bodhisattvas who develop this mind, it’s entered in the city- (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:24:54.9] A city of happiness. You automatically enter into city of happiness. (Quotes in Tibetan) [0:25:14.7] City of happiness or what? (To RT) If I am using the wrong terminology please go ahead. Because I never learned this English, you know? It is the street language that I picked it up in the street. Really. So, that is the bodhicitta.

[0:25:46.0] So if that is the ultimate love and compassion, then you may raise the question, what is it? What kind is it? Okay. It very easy for me to say what kind is it. Make no sense to you. (Quotes in Tibetan, speaks to RT) [0:26:07.1] RT: The spirit that is combined with two aspirations, or two motivations. Rimpoche: Two aspirations. One aspiration- what’s happening? (Discusses recording issue) The one aspiration is a seeking enlightenment for myself. For me. I mean, not for me, by me. I want to be enlightened. That is one aspect of it. One face of it. Another face is a total dedication. Dedication for others. So combined these two different aspects together, so that’s why our professor has called altruistic spirit of enlightenment. Altruistic one face, spirit of enlightenment another face. Am I right? RT: Yes. Rimpoche: Okay. Something like that. Not exactly right, okay? (Laughs) Okay, that’s it, two face. That is the mind. Then you may say, oh, in that case, why do I say for the benefit of all the sentient beings I would like to obtain enlightenment. Would that be my bodhicitta? Okay, yes. That would be your bodhicitta, that would be the parrot’s bodhicitta as well. The parrot will also say, for the benefit of sentient beings I would like to eat a nut. (Audience laughs) If you train the parrot that way, and give good nuts, they will say it, right? Well, wouldn’t they say? If you teach a parrot to say for the benefit of sentient beings I would like to obtain enlightenment and you give good nuts, I’m sure they will do the same thing. Will they? Wouldn’t they? They will do it, right? So, we must make the slight distinction from the parrot when we say for the benefit of all sentient beings, I would like to obtain enlightenment. We must have something to move. In order words, we don’t want to be lip service. Lip service will not be bodhicitta for sure.

[0:29:09.6] It will not be a spirit of altruistic spirit of enlightenment, it will be simple lip movement. It will be only talking. But nothing, empty talk. Empty show. We not hit anybody. Will do no good. Make a lot of noise, that’s all. So, in order to make difference than that, how do we- what do we have to do. You have to develop that within you. I mean, it has to move from the bottom of your heart. How can you move from the bottom of your heart, is you have to go through a process. Otherwise, our heart is so hard it will not go. It will be artificial. Man made. Screwed it up, you know you screwed it, you pinned it and tried to look like it. You pinned by words You pinned by suggested mind. It won’t work. So it has to be your mind has to soak in that. In other words, you know, if you take piece of paper and put it in the water or oil, it soaks and that’s what you need. You have to pick up your mind in that manner and put it in and get it soak. If doesn’t soak, it writing down, it will be words. Won’t help. It has to be soaked. Now, how to soak? Three different systems. One, Maitreya, Asanga, et cetera, have seven stage of development. Seven steps. One, Nagarjuna, Shantideva, et cetera, has exchange stage of development. Exchange. The exchange is where you are, you put others. Where others are, you put you. And they exchange. It’s not that you and me changed physically, but place where we are, how we take attitude, that’s what system is. Great Tsongkhapa always have great things where there are difficulties. Throughout the path. Tsongkhapa really, when I say Tsongkhapa, maybe you may think since I am follower of yellow hat sect, you may think I’m doing a propaganda. But I’m not doing a propaganda. I say with the understanding, and with appreciation. Why? Wherever you have a problem, throughout the path, he always have a special technique to make it easy.

[0:32:39.6] So, even those exchange stage is right through which we can develop, seven stage development is also right, through which you can develop, but Tsongkhapa combined them together, made the eleven stage of development. Eleven stage of development. Okay? That makes much easier to develop this. Not only here, even impermanent level, Tsongkhapa have nine round of meditation. Even in those few techniques which I told you how to look into the renunciation path, these are the Tsongkhapa’s techniques. Even if the appreciation of life way of looking has he says technique. So tremendous amount of technique. Which has been, he was taught by Manjushri and he developed with hard work and gradually it seems to be picking it up by all other different schools and sects, that’s fine. But it is he who developed and picked it up. So he introduced here eleven stage of development. So I’m not going to do that today, that take long time. But I will do the seven stage of development. So, the seven stage of development, the first step is recognizing everybody as a mother sentient beings. Without equanimity, what we did before lunch, if I try to tell you, hey, your enemy is your mother, what are you going to tell me? Probably think I’m insane, or mad. And when you try to suggest that to yourself, your mind, when you dialogue with your own mind and you say, hey, this enemy of yours is your mother, or even for that matter you try to tell your father’s your mother. They’re all bound to be bounce back. However, as I told you earlier, the information we are lacked so much information. I have a mother. You have a mother. Everyone of us have mother. You may or may not like it, the mother. That doesn’t matter, we deal that later. But this mother of mine happens to be mother of mine this time. And suppose if I die before my mother, and I will take rebirth and what will do with my mother? Where will be my mother be?

[0:36:04.7] I have another mother, not the mother of this. I have another mother. When I have a next life, I have a different mother. You’re right or wrong? Yes, it has to be. Because this mother is not necessarily going to be my mother next time. Nor is last time. It switches around. Started changing. My son could be my mother next time, my father could be mother. So is my enemy as well. When you really think the life as a broad way, a lot of changings. Changings. As I mentioned to you, the enemy can be friend, friend can be enemy. You can agree because you see. Probably we don’t have much enemies. Unless we have a friend. We have a friend, that friend and we become very close friend, we set up company, we go into business, but he started cheating me, I started cheating him. Right? So then, your best friend with whom you set up the company and go in business setup, and when we started cheating each other, and we become enemy of each other. So that friend has now become enemy. Not only a small enemy, but your fight and go, even go to the court and fight. Sue each other. So is the companion, friend companion. Very good close and one heart one thing, and something happens, fights and divorce and then sue, and god knows what all this. This is change part of life. Changing. So we see this. So you can accept what I say. But what you don’t see in black and white is changing with mother. Cause we don’t see the changing of life. That is something which directly we cannot see with our eyes and then we cannot hear with our ears. But, with our logical reason, with our mental thoughts, by using our mental capability we can understand that. It changes. Not only changes, changes tremendously. We have unlimited life, we had. We have been number of time cockroaches, we have number of times a snake, we have been number of times a lobster, you might have eaten me a number of times, I might have eaten you a number of times. Yes.

[0:39:29.7] And I have been your mother a number of times, you have been my mother number of times. No one on the earth can deny that. Not even the Buddha can deny that. Not even god can deny that. No one on earth can deny that. So we switch around, our consciousness switch around. You have been male, you have been female, I have been male, I have been female. Yes. I know in short, since we don’t have much time, in short, you cannot bring a single person or single living being who not had been your mother. You cannot point it out, single living being, you say, oh, this one has not been my mother. You cannot. Nobody can. Even Buddha cannot. That is true. Every lifetime, think about this, it is very, very, very interesting. There have been time that my total survival have been dependent on little cockroach. That mother cockroach had protected that baby cockroach to his or her total survival. Today, our mouth can be fed by our two hands. So, we say all funny things to our mother. We say, I hate my mother. It’s easy for me to say today, because I can feed myself with two of my hands. But when you cannot, who fed you? Who protected you? In a single twenty-four hours, how many times the mother had saved my life? If I left it outside in the sun, too strong a sun would have burned all my eyesight. I would have been blind. If I left it somewhere outside in the, nobody taking care of, the animal might have come and eaten me up. The crows might have poked my ears out. Or the eyes out. Eyeballs out. Or I might have electrocuted myself. I might have fall from the bed number of times. All of them had been protected by day and night. I don’t like to get up the middle of the night, do they? But they have to. They did with joy.

[0:43:03.9] When they found little baby, they found they thought they found treasury. They cherished as treasury. They protected, helped. They really found, they think they found some kind of jewel, they cherished that way. They choose to die themselves rather than sacrifice the baby. They’ll be no mother who be willing to die herself instead of the children. With the exception of a few. That’s a different matter. Audience: (Inaudible) [0:43:51.2] Rimpoche: Yeah. I mean, they would like to die themselves rather than let the see the baby suffering. Once, when (Tibetan name ?) [0:44:10.2] was traveling, (Tibetan name) great Mongol Chinese Tibetan (?) scholar [0:44:19.7] and was based in the place called Tashi (?) [0:44:25.9] in Amdo area, now it is the Hunan province, from there she traveled to central Tibet. She was with caravans, they have to go. So those caravans are they go together have been attacked by a robbers very often on the way. So got bunch of robbers come and attack his caravan, and their habit is throwing the knife across the animals like that. So they cut the animal’s across. You know they have the load at the back, the animals. So, they cut the ropes, the ropes will throw away and people will run away that they can come back and collect the loads. That’s what they throw knife, sort of indiscriminately everywhere. So they cut one mare. RT: Mare, yes. Rimpoche: Mare with baby inside. A cut across. And the baby fall out. (Tibetan name) [0:45:29.8] was young and he was hiding behind the rock and he’d been observing that. And he recorded this, what he observed. The baby fell out. And mind you, it’s cold, it’s winter. A temperature is something like a twenty, thirty degree below zero. And that little horse, or mare, had been licking the baby, baby that fall out. That’s what he noticed. Her intestines are out, everything’s out in that cold. Not bothered, but bothered about the baby, been licking. So that much love, a mother give. And this is very useful for meditating. (Audio cuts)

[0:46:37.3] … the enemies and friends on that, they’re very, very useful. Who knows who is, who can guarantee your enemy is not that horse, and you yourself is not that baby. Who knows? No one can say that. That is the true situation. So I told you, I tried to use substitute mother by father, by girlfriend, by boyfriend, by all sorts of things, doesn’t work. This is the reason why doesn’t work. And those of you who’ve been mother, themselves know how much love and care you have for your own baby. I don’t think I can know at all. What you also should not forget, your mother had carried you in the same manner as you care for your own children. And that’s why you cannot hate your mother at all. Your mother had been so kind. We must remember the kindness, otherwise we are shameful person. We don’t even know who had been good to us and who had been bad for us. So this is what a mother has done to us. This time. But every other time all other mothers have done same thing to us. Every other time. In short, let me conclude, I give you material for meditation. In short, every living being, one time or another, had been my mother. I cannot leave any single living being out. Every time, whenever they’ve been my mother they have protected me, developed me, brought me up, and even they died for my protection. A countless number of times. This is the true information I’m telling (?) [0:49:35.6] to you. It comes from the word of the Buddha. It comes from the word of great sages. It comes from the mouth of the people who knew past, present, and future. They all agree. They all say this. It is the truth. So, in reality, we try to be harsh, bad, mean, cruel, all this, all different creatures, but, but these creatures including the ghosts and enemies and everybody, had been some time or another, good, like that to us.

[0:50:23.3] So if I do not remember their kindness, I’m something wrong with me then. As we all know in this world, if somebody been good to you all the time, if you do not remember their kindness, you’ll be considered what? Ungrateful person. So we are not going to be ungrateful person, are we? Would you like to be, ungrateful person? No. We like to be a person with a reasonable respectable. Can’t be ungrateful. So in that case, I do, I sort of in debt to all my gratitude to all, all sentient- each one of you. And beyond that, every one of living human beings. Beyond that every one of sentient beings. Even you think carefully, I have been number of times depending my total survival that little ant which I can easily step on today. And when I was that level, and that mother had protected me, stepping by you. So I owe my gratitude to all living beings. So when I owe them, what do I do, I have to pay them back. When you owe somebody something, the American- if you owe to the American Express, and when you don’t pay them, they can come and chase you and do this, but here they don’t come and chase you. In addition to them, you have to remember they don’t come and chase you. So, the furthermore, it is your morality that you have to pay. And when you owe something somebody, when they don’t chase you, definitely it’s your obligation, your moral obligation, more than somebody who’s chasing you. So you really owe them much more. So you have to pay them back. And how can you pay? How can I pay? How can I pay them? By paying cash, number one, I don’t have, number two, when even I have, that won’t help. If they’re sick I give a little medicine. That is temporary help. In another word, food, clothes, shelter, medicine, is a temporary help. So I owe them much more than that. So I want to do something for them. When I want to do something for them, I find out what they wanted. They want happiness.

[0:53:57.9] I mean, you can’t deny, every one of us want happiness. Right? Every one of days living beings want happiness. Why do you think this little ants are running around? Looking for happiness. Looking for food, looking for shelter, looking for protection, looking for place to hide. Even the cockroach, why they come in your kitchen? Because there’s food available for them. Because there’s warmness there. They are coming for survival. They’re not coming to invade you. That’s why they all wants happiness. They’re all seeking happiness. And here, you by chance, we are by chance, we have a method. We have an opportunity. We have capability to pay, to give them, to guide them. To bring permanent happiness to them. And when such an opportunity rare, difficulty. When I’m in like this condition, if I don’t try to help them, when I’m going to do? Who else can do? These mother sentient beings also are helpless. And if they don’t hope for me, who else they look for? Say you have a son. And you’re blind. You about to fall in the pits where there’s a huge fire. And you’re walking on the edge like this. Edge like this. And if the son sits from distance and looked and watched and started laughing, what kind of son is that? And if that mother also did not put her hope in her son, who else she can? If the son does not go and help her, who else will? So, this is the situation. All our mother beings are blind just now. Blind of not knowing what is right and what is wrong. The blind of not, ignorance, is blind, totally blind. You look at it, everybody, fifty percent of people in United States is truly blind. They have two eyes are working, but they don’t see the truth. They don’t see what right and what wrong. They don’t see that killing is bad. So, they kill it. They will no hesitation for whatsoever, because they don’t know it.

[0:57:40.5] And they kill under every excuse. Excuse of protection. Particularly for the sake of protection they kill it. They lie. They cheat. They do all these ten things. Because they just don’t know it. So that’s why I call it blind. So result, they’re going to fall. Fall down the pit of the fire. So you see them doing it. How can you watch? You have to do something and get hold and pull it up. Oh, I’m sorry. (Laughs) Yeah, really, you have to. And if you don’t do it now, when are you going to do it? So, you do it by caring for them. You develop, you know you, when you realize how important they have been to me, how important, how kind they have been, how I’m indebted to them. Then you don’t want to see them sick, you don’t want to see them experiencing pain, every pain, whatever they experience, you want it to be remove it. Removing the pain is compassion. The desire of removing pain is compassion. Not only you wanted remove their pain, you want them to be happy and harmonious, pleasure. That is love. Love and compassion is facing this way or that way. When you have recognized a mother being, remembering their kindness. And you have to pay them back. Love compassion is automatically developed. You don’t have to pull the lever there. The moment when you care, when you know somebody have been so good to you when you really realize that, and then it’s automatically you’re caring and you wanted them to be free from the pain, you want them enjoy, will automatically come to you. Okay, love and compassion is automatically developed to you when you meditate in that manner, it is automatic. It is result, it’s automatic it comes to you.

[1:00:21.1] When that comes to you, you have reached sixth stage now. When you come to when you reach there, you know, first is recognizing them as mother being. Second, remembering their kindness. Third, when you remember the kindness you have to pay them back, it’s automatic. (Speaks in Tibetan to RT) [1:00:45.3] RT: Love. Love. Rimpoche: Compassion. They’re all automatically coming one after another. Way how I told you to proceed, though I introduce you seven, but I used Tsongkhapa’s eleven stage technique here applied. Okay? And when you have love and compassion, when you love for somebody, you want to do anything, even breaking law. You have no hesitation to do that. I mean, you go to that extent. Don’t we? Similarly, when we love to the all sentient beings, you want to do everything whatever you can. So, you take a special mind, okay? I don’t care whatever, I am going to help them ultimately I am going to do, take a resolution, pass a resolution saying that I am going to do it. When you do that, okay, that’s your commitment, I will do it. Then ask question, can you do it? And you start watching yourself a little bit more. Said, well, at this moment, to tell you the truth, I don’t have any power to do. But where is the power, who has the power? Hey, the enlightened level, there is power. Because there is tremendous capability, the maximum capability, everything’s there. Without putting much efforts in it. Everything. Hey, if it’s necessary for me to go there to become thatm then I can do this. Otherwise, I can’t. So therefore, I really wanted to do that for you. Now you got the two face. And when that mood from the bottom of your heart, just now I’m talking from my mouth, you’re getting only the sound. You understand- you gain some understanding of that. Put it in your heart. Think about it. Think, think, think. Not only today, but think constantly every day. Every day, keep on thinking on those line up, don’t lose the line. Keep on thinking. And one day, it will be part and parcel of you. And it really your heart will be soaked in that. It will be, be sort of, not put it in, like you said the word was put in my mouth. Not in that way, you develop- (Speaks in Tibetan to RT) [1:03:38.4] RT: Simultaneously. Spontaneously. Rimpoche: Spontaneously you getting that. And when you get it that time, and then you’re really developing a good love. Not even fit to be a bodhicitta love, but getting good love. From there we move.

[1:03:59.8] Okay, that is the really true picture of love and compassion to all sentient beings. And with the method of how to develop it. Okay? So I hope it will make some sense to you. It’s very hard to make sense to you. But when you keep on focusing by yourself at the same this om mani peme hung helps tremendously. This is the external force you get. Internal force you have to develop within you. External force comes here. In addition to that, good little purification. When you do all this together, result is bound to be guaranteed to come. Thank you. That’s it. If you like to meditate, you meditate. Here’s the material. If you don’t like to meditate, that’s your choice. Okay? RT: (Inaudible) [1:05:26.2] Rimpoche: Whatever. (Laughs) If you like to meditate, you meditate. Even you touch and try to help others, it will be helpful. Thank you. Any questions? Very normalizer (?) [1:05:43.9] (Laughs, speaks in Tibetan to RT) Any questions? Yes? Audience: I don’t think I understand what purification is. I mean, if you do one of those bad things on there, and do it, I don’t understand how somebody’s takes that away from you. (Inaudible) [1:06:14.2] Rimpoche: As I told you there are four powers will purify (Inaudible) [1:06:19.8] Please remind me tomorrow (Inaudible) [1:06:24.7] Yes sir? Audience: Thought you might just speak for a moment on mantra and what’s the purpose and how, what we can expect from the mantras? Rimpoche: Mantra has its own power. When you do this, this sort of visualization, and if you say the mantra by mouth, the sound of mantra has its own power. The word of the mantra has its own power. And the visualization has another power. And all that adds up together, I mean to say, this is slightly supernatural thing. It may not be acceptable by the philosophers and scientists but that’s how it works. And either it has its own sound power, it has its own divine power, divine power. And just what you can understand that now. It has. You know that? That’s what it works. If you have doubts on this, when you develop mantra fully, and if you want to do something (Inaudible) [1:07:47.0] by mantra. You can turn whole world inside out by mantra power. It’s more powerful than atomic bomb. When you fully develop.

[1:08:03.0] You don’t misuse it (Inaudible) No way. (Laughs) (Inaudible) [1:08:37.8] Audience: I’m sorry, I just need some (Inaudible) the three aspects of the mantra power, the sound is the power, the visualization has a power and- Rimpoche: Visualization has a power, mantra has its own power, a sound has power, the word has the power. Every word, every word has tremendous power. These words are not words. They are something else. They are living beings. They are (Inaudible) [1:09:04.6] power. And when you fully develop what will happens is, the whole feeling will change. With every sound with mantra. Every person you see around you, divine (Inaudible) [1:09:22.2] Audience: … I don’t know why but immediately when you said that about the mantra, I believed very strongly. I know it’s possible, but the all I am- can I ask you the first is om mani padme hung, I feel a great peace when I repeat it. If I keep repeating, will it for instance, if I am angry or something is distracting me, to shift my thoughts I say it. Rimpoche: Good. Audience: It will come. Rimpoche: It will. Not only that, if you keep on saying it, I have noticed with a number of people that you (Inaudible) [1:10:17.6] move yourself a little bit. As you will develop certain kind of mudra of your own, your movement. You learn to do it. And that comes don’t feel bad have them do it (?) [1:10:33.3] Go ahead and do it. And don’t think somebody else will feel you’re crazy if you started doing like this. Just go ahead and do it.

[1:10:44.3] it helps. Yes Sir? Audience: And this goes back to this morning. There were, there is the four results of karma, and it was like, or, I don’t remember what the results were of, but you have old age, sickness- RT: The four streams. Audience: Yeah, yeah. And then there’s the four cause, which were like, craving, and identity, and ignorance, and false views. Ignorance and false views. Rimpoche: Okay. Audience: You said this morning we had enough of an explanation about the mantra, but I was left unresolved yet today, and I would like to hear, very simply perhaps? Rimpoche: Okay, I’ll do that. I will do that with more time tomorrow or day after do that. And I don’t want to cut on Professor’s time, so. So tomorrow probably since you’re not going to be here. RT: Tomorrow Rimpoche has to excuse himself in the latter part of today and then tomorrow he- there’s no session in the afternoon tomorrow. So it will be in the morning, yes. And tomorrow morning, well, you can have a session if you want to hold, but there is no childcare and generally they take off prior to. And but people can have by popular (?) [1:12:17.0] to have Rimpoche- I myself have to be away tomorrow. And so Rimpoche will be conducting morning session by himself. And the afternoon will be off. And this is the plan. But if you can persuade Rimpoche to work to meet you later in the day, then that’s up to you and Rimpoche. Rimpoche: Or may sleep. RT: And people can absorb only so much. This is- Rimpoche: Actually, if you look in the material, we have covered tremendous amount of material. If you’re really practicing you have more than enough for years to go. Really. Tremendous amount of things we’re talking, and you may like to discuss and talk and get it out more clear, that’s my feeling. And though three principles we’re supposed to finish, the amount (Inaudible) [1:13:17.8] is when I learned this, I make all the facilities of every environment on this, it was years and years of work we build up this level. Now there’s everything’s condensed and more time everything put together. RT: But even the three principles themselves are condensed from huge volumes, lam rim chen mo by Tsongkhapa, this just gets into see this revelation by Manjushri to go to what was considered the seed of what’s called the lam rim chen mo, the great stages of the path of enlightenment. And that book is six, seven hundred Tibetan pages, that’s more than a thousand English pages. This itself is very, very modern, very condensed. Rimpoche: Yeah, probably. I’ve got three pages here.

[1:14:03.8] RT: But then tomorrow, Rimpoche, you have to bug Rimpoche to make him teach about the shunyata and the selflessness. He’s trying to sneak away- Rimpoche: Shunyata we did a lot. RT: The three principle paths version. The three principle path particular, special, powerful, short version of that is very important. Don’t let him escape. He likes to escape that one. So please don’t let him. (Audience laughs) Otherwise, we can come back before six we can fully Saturday and Sunday. Rimpoche: Oh, we have Sunday. RT: Yeah, we have a lot of time. So, we’ll take a break now, for about, fifteen minutes, maybe twenty minutes until a quarter of, and then I will meet with you until five. We will do the- we will sorry that Rimpoche is not here, to do this one, but I will refer to it I guess on Saturday when I come back to it. Because I think, originally I had not planned on this formality. (Bell rings) Originally I had not planned not to be here in the morning, I had an arrangement for taking my kids somewhere, but that has fallen through. So I can’t be here. So I had originally planned to teach this chapter tomorrow, but it’s okay. I’ll have to come back to Rimpoche, it’s something that I especially want Rimpoche to be there for. This is, you all don’t realize, but this is a very interesting thing in a sense that Tibetans don’t usually read the Vimalakirti sutra, it’s not commonly read by Tibetans. So, to use a sutra like that is something unusual like, it’s experimental for Tibetans as well. Audience: What does he think of it? RT: Oh, he likes it. Luckily, Vimalakirti’s reincarnation was a very famous Tibetan lama. (Laughs) In fact, the latest reincarnation was one of his own, like, spiritual grandfathers. A teacher’s teacher. He even met him when he was a small boy. Pabongka, his name is Pabongka. So therefore, he’s sort of forced to concentrate on him, and actually he likes it a lot because he’s very creative and unusual among Tibetans, Rimpoche himself. He’s a little bit of a free thinker. Not certainly orthodox (?) [1:16:42.6] Tibetans have a kind of theory that sutras are written for, or rather they were recorded teachings given to people of ancient time, of Buddha’s contemporaries. Who were much more meritorious and fortunate and developed because they were able to- they were born in an era when they could meet the Buddha, actual Buddha. And so, the- and for later generations and later centuries it’s too concise and too difficult. So, there are great masters in the later traditions such as Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti, Aryadeva, et cetera, others, who created systemizations of the teachings from the sutras. I mean, the sutras still remain the base, and they have to revere them. But they sort of take the main things and organize them.

[1:17:33.1] Every few centuries a particularly great figure usually comes and does that. And so therefore- and the one that you’re reading there by Tsongkhapa, about a very short one, which acts as a revelation from Manjushri to Tsongkhapa is considered like, the latest, sort of the most shortest version of the latest kind of revision, or like you know, renewal for the new kind of people, type of thing. However, the greatest elucidator of that teaching of Tsongkhapa in recent Tibet, was someone named Pabongka Rimpoche. And fortunately, he turns out to be a reincarnation of Vimalakirti. (Laughs) It’s very funny, I think. He passed away in the earlier part of the century. Audience: (Inaudible) [1:18:38.5] RT: People’s convictions? Well, no, that’s not his specific nature. He’s actually a bodhisattva, it may be as we see later in the sutra, he may be some kind of like emanation of Buddha, actually, of another Buddha from another universe. But we will see about that, exactly who he is. But and he’s especially noted for his critical eloquence. That is to say his sort of ability to help people find the flaws in their own views. That is one of his special abilities. But also he has other kinds of special abilities, as you’ll see. Not only that, that’s, you see, that’s the function in the zero room, you could say, the critical element. And you notice the way, even Rimpoche teaches even compassion, you know, he has, he shows how you debate with yourself. He said, do I believe that everyone is my mother, no. I don’t believe that, no. Why not? What is the reason? You know, that’s they all perceive that way, even when they’re talking on compassion. Particularly the critical intelligence is especially important in wisdom. In trying to become free of all kinds of deluded and delusional ideas. Conceptualizations that anchor one’s misapprehensions and misunderstandings which is mostly what they are. Rationalizations of one’s misunderstandings. In fact, actually in Sanskrit, the word vishti, in the sutras often said, it doesn’t usually say acyually false conviction. Just says conviction. Pure of conviction. As if conviction itself, is something a little bit not correct. Because what that means is that, you see, if you are imprisoned by a particular like ideology that forces your perceptions into a certain mold, has to fit with that, cause that’s what you think things are, so everything has to fit with that. That’s a kind of imprisonment, you see. An enlightened person actually is openminded. They don’t have a preconceived idea. Therefore, they are attentive to something new, some other perspective, somebody else’s perspective in fact, and reality has always an open possibility, has open potentialities. So in a way, to be imprisoned by dogmatic convictions, one of the four bad streams, and the causal sense is conviction, it isn’t actually said to be false conviction, just conviction. And there is something called correct conviction or authentic conviction. But ironically, that authentic conviction is the conviction of being open minded, and not being fanatically, having any fanatical conviction. So that is the right conviction is to be open. Do you follow? Yes?

[1:21:21.9] Audience: I appreciate this more because I have been brought up in the Catholic religion, and though I’d had a lot of debate with father and he sort of shuffles things, I have one a system for the modern (Inaudible) [1:21:48.3] RT: Really? Audience: But, still, there was this conviction that all of the Catholics and- RT: Right. Audience: And it is a feeling of great happiness when I hear this discussion and resolve becoming a heretical kind of undermining your society. RT: That’s right. In fact, that’s true. When I was first a student of Buddhism in my teens, And I was very, very drawn to it, I was simultaneous quite critical of my original Protestant tradition. Extremely critical, I could say. In my first ten years of being Buddhist, I was a bit fanatic Buddhist. And quite anti my original tradition. And after about twenty years though, I began to really find basic harmony in the traditions. Especially along the line of the love and compassion aspect. On the- and, furthermore, I found material and resources in both traditions, and in fact, not only them, but also Judaism, Islam, and other, even the dreaded Islam, I found material in there that in fact can completely undermine the fanaticism in all of the traditions. I mean, there are fanatical Buddhists. The definite fanatical Buddhists who say just this, and say that, like for example Rimpoche says om mani peme hung, well there’s thousands of mantras, all very powerful in Buddhism. But then there are some sects in Buddhism, not necessarily just Tibetan, but there are other countries, if I take a particular mantra, and like that’s the only thing, and anybody says another one they’re a heretic. You see? So religious fanaticism does happen also in Buddhism. It definitely happens in Catholicism. It definitely happens in the monotheistic religions as well, but I finally felt with the help of Buddhist philosophy, or what they call inner science, the Buddhist science of the mind and spirit, resources in all of the traditions to completely critically liberate people’s minds, if they use them- I mean, you can’t ever force anybody, but if they use them to cure themselves of any sort of fanaticism. Any sort of surrender of their life to some sort of ideology.

[1:24:15.0] Which always results in fanaticism. Yes? Audience: We participate somehow in religion we left behind after you gain some insight whether you that participation help purify it (Inaudible) [1:24:36.2] RT: Purify it? Audience: Yeah, purify the religion on a (?) [1:24:37.4] basis. RT: Well probably. In some sense, although I didn’t really, yes that’s possible- for example if you know that Vimalakirti, he goes to all the other teachers of all the other religious groups if you remember in the second chapter. He listens respectfully to all of their teachings and philosophies. Participates in their rituals. But he holds the Buddha as foremost, it says. Remember it says that? So yes, it can help. And also I think we should try if one gets very involved in Buddhist practice and realizes anything or gains anything from it, that one way of being grateful about that is to try to help develop Buddhism. Buddhism itself needs a lot of life development actually. It’s very strange there are certain people who expect, it’s like prophecies even, that they expect that, in our century, Buddhism has been more or less institutionally destoyed in Asia, more or less. From being the majority world religion, Buddhism was the majority, larger than Islam or Christianity, in 1900. And from being that status, even having more or less lost India, it still was majority. So, like, you know eight hundred years earlier when it had India, a large part of India, it was definitely like supermajority. But still it was majority around 1900, and now it is almost destroyed institutionally. There’s like refugees like Rimpoche and others, there’s some refugees from the different countries around, and Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand are sort of squeaking along. Just barely under militarism and different things, you know. They’re in their last moments. Nepal, and then refugees. So, and yet it has become very widespread in America, actually, quite. And in Europe. Quite interestingly so. And so certain Buddhist thinkers in the Asian countries expect that the new persons who are sort of not going to it because they were born in it, and so therefore they are looking seriously at its content and trying to put it into practice. They might actualy create kind of renaissance. As that bounces back toward Asia. There’s certain historians from Japan who actually have such a theory. Mmhmm?

[1:26:48.6] Audience: I don’t know if this is a good time, but at some point you were talking a couple days ago about monasticism, and how that’s- you know if you don’t have monasticism you really don’t have Buddhism fully. RT: That’s right. Audience: And you know, the fact that whatever monasticism there is in the United States or America or even in Europe is pretty small. RT: Right. Audience: And just, you know, do you see a path, or you know, how that might proceed and that kind of thing? RT: Well, no, I mean, I have no prophecies, to debate about. But I see perhaps a mutual- His Holiness has certain hopes about it, as do I. We’ve discussed a lot and thought about it a great deal. I also had sort of a circuit of that personally. I was a monk for five or six years and then I became, I resigned being a monk, and then I was quite anti-monastic, I was into like, modernity doesn’t need monastic, you know? They have told me Vimalakirti’s kind of thing. But only the last five years or so, have I reevaluated and realized that monasticism is incredibly necessary. Although not personally for me in this lifetime. It’s extremely necessary as a whole, very valuable and important institution. And needs much strengthening. And I have all complicated historical arguments of what I’m writing a book about, and et cetera, et cetera, which I wonder if I’ll ever finish, but I am working on it. But what His Holiness hopes is that Buddhist monasticism which could be and should be restored in much of Asia, even under socialist forms of government when they withdraw from this sort of rabid communistic sort of, idea that religion is the opiate and you can’t do that, so when they realize that only way that a society can have any happiness or any success is in fact if people are spiritually somewhat free. Which he expects to take place, in fact. Although they’re doing a pretention of that now, it hasn’t yet taken place, but it will take place, he expects. At which time, there will be a restoration of Asian monasticism. But at that time, he would like to see the Buddhist monastics take lessons from developed mainly by Christian monastics. Over the centuries of sort of intermediate types of orders (Audio cuts) [1:29:06.3]

…Greece. Not quite so it’s the original Buddhist law had a regulation that no monk could work at all. Couldn’t farm, couldn’t do any productive labor at all. Just had to live as a mendicant. And therefore in Tibet, even though they didn’t go daily begging, but the monastery as a whole was a charitable government and populus supported institution. And it was well worth- the people loved supporting it, and they were freaking out the Chinese communists by Tibet nowadays by the fact that as soon as they got a slight liberalization which is not really genuine, but there was a cosmetic for the tourists liberalization the last four or five years, but the first things the Tibetans did given the slightest free time, was they went and started rebuilding their monasteries. They didn’t go out and start a private plots to improve their diet when they’re practically being starved for twenty, thirty years, they did not. They didn’t try to set up a business. They did, somewhat that, too, yes, but some practical things- they’re not practical, but the main effort that they did was they began to rebuild these institutions that the communists had been telling them were parasites, were completely useless, were totally unnecessary, had no value, were like darkness and delusion. But the Tibetans just quickly went back and rebuilt them. Began to try to rebuild them, even with whatever scanty means they have. Because for them the monastery was, you know, temple, theater, community center, mental hospital, physical hospital, spiritual gateway to the other realm, et cetera. I mean, it was nothing that the monastery did- I mean, school, university, I mean the monasteries were the core of their civilization. Because the Tibetans are very individualistic fundamentally. And a monasticism, the essence of what is monasticism if you- since you turned me on that topic, the essence of monasticism is, it is the institution dedicated to individualism. To the individual. When a society creates a monastery, it means it allows its individuals to pursue their own fulfillment to the ultimate, completely without any feedback to the society, if necessary, it may actually will make great feedback and in fact historically they always did, there were libraries and they preserved learning, and blah, blah, blah. But the essence of them is to decide it will support people to be totally free to simply develop themselves. And that really is- that’s when you say, you know lip service to individualism, to individualism there’s lip service. You know? But then when every individual has to pay only taxes, when every individual has to go in the army, and everyone has to produce, when no one is allowed to have a scholarship, there’s no free lunches, type thing, no matter what they do it’s not worth as long as they’re only producing some sort of materialistic idea, that’s not individualistic, that’s a beehive mentality and a beehive philosophy.

[1:32:02.9] What are they doing in some monastery, they’re developing their souls, say the managers of a beehive that’s a waste. We don’t allow it. That’s a collectivistic mentality, whether it be capitalist, or communist. Whether they be lip service to the individual or not. Where in individualism, where the individual’s liberty is truly respected is when the society will actively support the individual’s use of their own lifetime, precious human lifetime, according to their own conscience and spiritual dictates. As long as they’re not harming others. And that’s a monastery. And that’s why actually monasteries were very difficult, for example, it took a Tibetans, at the time, Buddhism as a thought system and text and statues and you know, sort of ideology- ideas were introduced into Tibet, it took two hundred years to build one monastery.