Archive Result

;;;Soundfile 19920105GRJHNLLR 2.mp3

Speaker Gelek Rimpoche

Location Netherlands

Topic Lam Rim

Transcriber Jess Willyard

Date 5-17-2020

0:00:03.5

If you save a life, it is the same thing. Whether Hindu saves a life, or Judeo-Christian person saves a life, or Muslim saves life, or atheist saves life, it’s saving a life it’s the same thing. But what makes it is their way to make it more powerful than the others. You know the question, is if you’re saving a life, you’re saving a life, it’s the same thing. But if you save the life in the Mahayana style, it is much more powerful and more useful and the gains, what that yields, what you’re going to get is much more beneficial, more powerful. Though you save one life, but one may get the result of saving millions of lives, and another may only get the benefit of saving a life. Your act is the same, but the result is different. And what makes that is the motivation. The key to this mystery is motivation. If your motivation is only saving a life, so then your act has saved a life, and you get benefit of saving a life. If your motivation is saving a life for the benefit of all beings, your act is saving a life for the benefit of all beings and you get the result of the benefit, doing for the benefit of all others, saving a lot of lives. So the result is tremendously different though the action is one. Right? And that is normal. It is very normal to us, if you think. Each, us, like ordinary person like us, an ordinary citizen, like us. If we say some good words to our international field, and we do some good contribution. But the same word, if it’s said by the Prime Minister, it makes difference. Right? Are you getting the picture? If ordinary Russians, let’s say, a couple of years ago, want to say, “you want a free market and democracy” and if you keep on saying that, and when Gorbachev comes and says “look, we want free market and democracy” the both of them saying the same thing, but it makes difference. When Gorbachev says, it happens. It makes difference. People pay attention. People listen to it. People think it is good.

0:03:55.6

When some ordinary Russians citizen says that, they’ll say he has good thoughts. But we do not expect anything happens. Right? Very similar to that. But the difference, saying the same word, either said by Gorbachev or the individual, it is the same word. But effects different. Because of the individual. Similarly here, you may save one live, but motivation makes the effect different. So that’s why Mahayanists are very proud of their techniques. They say “well, we have better ways of doing” they don’t say it, but it is indicated. Yeah, better ways of doing it. And that better way is nothing but the motivation. So that’s why people consider the motivation is important. And the motivation makes difference. Right? If one individual has a very sincere motivation of helping others, and try, work hard. And another individual wanted to gain benefit for that individual, personal interest, right? Personal interest, and do the same thing, you have two different results. The individuals who are totally really, without much self interest doing it, again, may or may not succeed. That’s different. But it has a lot of gains for that. And some individual, with a crooked mind…some individual with a crooked mind, personal interest, crooked minded. It makes difference. Why I’m giving pause, I’m thinking of Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. But I can’t say Boris Yeltsin is crooked, one may have doubt but that doesn’t mean you can say it, so I’m giving pause, because the example is coming on my head. I have to give pause.

0:06:42.2

So that’s what it is. So the motivation makes a difference. So the motivation was raised for the benefit of all sentient beings. For the sake of all sentient beings. So when you say “for the sake of all sentient beings”, you’re included. You are not left out. And other people will say well, “I’m dedicated for all sentient beings”, that is the mahayana key, the difference between the mahayana and theravadin or any other practice, that is the key difference. So we’re using that. That’s why it is considered one of the most important activities in the beginning, is correcting one’s thoughts and motivations. You do the same thing. You spend same amount of time. You put same amount of labor, but yields what you get is big difference. It is only because of the motivation. And when you say “for the benefit all sentient beings”, a lot of people say, “Well, I’m dedicated for other beings, I don’t care for myself.” A lot of people say that. And that is a total joke to me. And everybody cares for themselves. Nobody, there’s nobody who doesn’t care for themselves. They may not care for others. But those who say, “I’m dedicated for others, I don’t care for myself” is more caring for themselves rather than caring for others. You encounter that with everyone, very often, everyday, people use that.

0:09:13.3

But I definitely believe, the yield that you get is a big difference. And also when you say “for the benefit of all sentient beings.” you are included, you’re not excluded. You did not say “I dedicated for all sentient beings excluding myself. You don’t say that. And perhaps including myself is the moral way. So I’m important, then comes others. Though we are not supposed to say it, the books do not say it, but that’s what we do. It’s alright, really it’s alright because you can’t…it becomes impossible. Sometimes the mahayana practice becomes like the Communist Manifesto. You know what I mean? Communist Manifesto. They write all things, “for the benefit of all others, this and this and this and that. And a few years ago in Dharmsala, in India, a few young Tibetans formed a Tibetan Communist Party. They wrote a Communist Manifesto based on the Russian Communists, the Soviet Union Communist Party, in Tibetan. And they presented it to the late His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche, one of my late teachers. His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s junior teacher. So after the presentation to them I happened to be visiting him, and these people presented it and left. So he was going through, “People came through and founded Communist Party and said this is their manifesto.” So I said, “Did you go through?” He said, “yeah”. I said “What did you think?” He said “it’s reading like Bodhisattvacharyavatara”. And he said, “how much it’s being materialized is probably nothing, but it sounded like Bodhisattvacharyavatara” which is all like that, totally dedicated. (Speaks in Tibetan) That’s how it writes. So bodhisattva mahayana way.

0:12:02.9

So almost like impossible to handle it, but that. Even the Bodhisattvacharyavatara way is not almost impossible for us, but those bodhisattvas who are at that level, I think it is all very much perfect, making sense and functional and can function at that level. And, so when you are not at that level, probably it doesn’t seem to be functioning, it’s almost like impossible. Almost like a theory, it looks like someone has theoretical points. But for that individual being, at that level, I don’t think it’s theoretical, it’s practical. And it happens the way every minute of those individuals lives. It is interesting. It is almost beyond our individual comprehension. We can not comprehend. It’s gone beyond. That’s why it’s called “tathagatha” it’s gone beyond. Why it’s called “gone beyond”? It has gone beyond our comprehension. It only…you comprehend when you are at that level. When you are not at that level, then it is Bodhisattvacharyavatara. Haha!

(Break, then prayer to Setrabchen).

0:19:35.7

Ok, so, for the benefit of all sentient beings, so that much is over.

Now the next is the four immeasurables. May all sentient beings be parted from the aversion and clinging. (Speaks in Tibetan). The first is, equanimity. And, this is a little longer than usual. Usually sometimes you find “all sentient beings may remain in equanimity”, something like that. “All sentient beings may remain in equanimity, which is parted from the aversion and clinging”.

Here, the way it’s introduced here is slightly different. You generate a thought “how wonderful it will be if all sentient beings free from…if all sentient beings remain in equanimity. Equanimity means free from closeness, clinging on, or distance. When we have been talking earlier, when we look at our habitual patterns, you always have the problem of clinging or rejecting it.

0:22:11.1

So if you get free from all this, sort of, here you can think, how wonderful if all are free from this. And I pray it will be. I’ll make it happen. I have no power to be able do it just now, but in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, their power is unlimited. So they may help me or bless me to be able to do that. So usual meditation of the generating light of good thought, and making it happen to yourself. Filling the room with all sentient beings in the room, experiencing that better and it’s going beyond the room, then filling up the town, then filling up the country, then filling up the continent, the light filling up the whole universe, that usual meditation was taught in all different traditions. So you can use that with this. And then dissolving back. Here, to collect light back is important. I’d like to introduce that from the beginning. Because ultimately your practice will lead into vajrayana practice. In vajrayana, a lot of activities done from the heart level. And generate everything from the heart. And finally dissolve in the heart, because what’s happening is all energy. And ultimately in vajrayana what you do is you collect all the energies at the central channel at the heart level. Not only collect, but remaining in there. Not only remaining in there, it is dissolving in that. So it’s sort of three level work you do at the central heart channel. So to be able to collect all the energies at the heart level, from the beginning here, when you generate everything out of the heart, going out and doing the work, fulfilling the purpose and bringing back, it is important. Theravadin tradition, or any other tradition, might not emphasize the light dissolving back, because there is no vajrayana practice at the end involved. So as a vajrayana practitioner, you should also think of generating and dissolving. Leaving out is not a good sign for us. So, go out, fill whole universe whatever you have to go. (Audience member speaking). They use that, but they may not emphasize to collect it back, light. And you know that. All this vipassana and all this. Do they collect back or no? They don’t collect back. That’s the difference. Here in vajrayana you try and collect everything back from the beginning so it has a purpose for us, it has meaning for us.

0:26:42.0

You may generate, doesn’t matter, from here, you fill up Nijmegen, send to fill up all the way to Amsterdam and wherever, you know, Den Haag, goes beyond to Belgium, Paris, wherever you have to go. All the way across the Atlantic, no, English Channel, go to London, go to New York, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, go down, Honolulu, all the way to Tokyo, Beijing, maybe in Tibet. And fill out everything and go beyond that universe. Go beyond this universe what we seen and share and experience go beyond that, many other galaxies like that, many. So, filled up all of them. No matter where ever you send it. And have that bring in the quality of equanimity. Just by the touch of the light sent from you. The environments become pure, the inhabitants developed equanimity. And that will be the meditation over here. Dissolving back. And if you can’t do it, you don’t have that much time to go all the way from China, all the way to China, then just visualize it filled up then dissolve it.

(Marianne talks)

I just explained earlier, I said in vajrayana, ultimately you collect all energy at the heart level. Not only it collects it, it remains. Not only it remains, it dissolves in that. And that is the key practice in vajrayana, it will be introduced later. So that’s why it is important even from now. Sort of in the practice if you do, even from on, it is geared towards that, and that is useful. It is a matter of getting towards, you know?

0:29:02.4

You get my picture now? Marianne? So the capability to bring all beings into equanimity, as you wish it, as you pray it, as you receive the blessings to be able to do that, then you generate light out, do it! When you do it, in reality, it might not be happening. Here only you may be imagining to do it. But by imagining doing it, it is two purposes. One, so all the activities will follow by the thought of mind. So that’s why, one reason if you have a very positive attitude, a lot of positive happening. As a matter of fact, the Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism is one of the most positive, the most positive. Can you imagine? I mean, normal positive religions, the positive thoughts they teach. They will only taught you what ever you wish to. You want a car? You wish to have a new car? You kept thinking on a new car, having it. And you have a new house, you keep on thinking new house, and it’s happening, they tell you that, right? Here, forget about the car and house, you’re thinking that all sentient beings are Buddha, you know? You yourself is a Buddha, all sentient beings become Buddha, that is very, very positive. What’s more positive than that? It’s gone beyond car and house, or health and wealth, definitely. So the positive thought is a positive attitude too. Positive thoughts bring positive attitude. Positive attitudes bring positivity. Here is not only imagining, but your imaging has some strength! The strength comes from the enlightened beings, as you say, “I may be blessed to be able to do that!” Isn’t it? I will make them remain in the great equanimity. Bless me to accomplish this. So because of the blessings have it’s own power. Even you don’t have the power right now to do it, the blessings have meanings.

0:32:08.2

They have meanings for that. So that’s why it can be. So visualize that way, and dissolve the light back. Go to the next one. What is the next one. May all sentient beings…this is joyfulness. So I will explain the first one, and the rest of them you can repeat same thing right? So any way, these are the four equanimities, four immeasurables. Equanimity, free from suffering, remaining in joyful, it is love, compassion, and joyness and equanimity. Compassion is freeing from the suffering, and love is bringing the happiness and joy within that. What did I miss? The happiness. Ok? So these are the four equanimities. So each one of them, whatever the time you want to spend. If you want to spend time that way? You can, if you want a short cut also you can, so, in one way, it looks like you are imagining, you are playing with your mind, it very much looks like, if you look from that angle. If you look from that angle, where the positivity brings result, and blessings have meanings, and from that angle there is a lot of meaning in here. And also if you look from the angle of accumulation of merit, or purification from that angle, that is also a lot of meaning. It is doing a lot of things which you can not even comprehend. So that’s what’s happening with the four equanimities.

Audience: Rinpoche, I have a question, when you visualize radiating light out, does that mean…when you see yourself radiating light to all beings, do you also see yourself as blessed by Buddhas and therefore see yourself in the form of a Buddha or not?

Rinpoche: There are two things, you can do a form of Buddha, and you can do without form of Buddha. At the beginning this stage, if you do it, you can do it in form of Buddha. Bless me to be able to accomplish that. And a duplicate Buddha comes and dissolves to you. And just by dissolving that Buddha to you, you become a Buddha. You can, always you can do this sort of thing, you know? There’s no restriction. There is no necessary requirement. The whole purpose of it to accumulate merit and to have very strong positive attitude, a very strong positive willingness and very strong, committing yourself towards the goal of each individual. These are the more important, whether you make yourself in the form of Buddha, or you like to make yourself as the ordinary individual with the blessings of the enlightened beings, functioning on that. Doesn’t matter. It is not a major difference. But the main point here is to accumulate merit and to generate those positive thoughts and committing yourself for all these purposes.

0:37:19.7

So that’s why it’s immeasurable. Immeasurable, you can not measure. That means it is the object on which you are doing is immeasurable. It’s all beings everywhere. You can not measure it. The purpose what you are doing is immeasurable. It’s for all sentient beings. Not for me alone. The thinking, the mental exercise, is also immeasurable. Going around the world and going beyond that and it is not an empty tour, but everything fulfilling it. And that also automatic. Just the touch of light purifies environment and transform the inhabitants. That’s what Buddha’s supposed to do. And when you become a Buddha. But on the other hand, you have the other beings their karma which also equally powerful, so you keep on power balancing things there. Otherwise, that’s what purpose is. So here, without thinking the obstacles and karma balance, here you’re just simply a mental exercise for the accumulation of merit, mental exercise to bring positivity, mental exercise for result Buddha stage what you should be doing. All of them doing together, that’s why it’s immeasurable. Get it? Second round, you will get it. Third round, you get it. Every time, first time it’s difficult to get it.

0:39:25.6

So that’s the four immeasurables. And then goes back to the Ganden Lha Gyema actual text. And it’s very interesting Marianne Soetors just brought this and showed me. And she had done the transcription of some of that crazy talk that I did for, I don’t know, when was that? Do we have any idea, when did that happened?

Audience: In ’89 you said you order the tapes. So…’88 or even before.

Rinpoche: Ok didn’t tapes give any date?

Audience: The tapes did not give…no.

Rinpoche: Now the typing is much better than before, to tell the truth, really. Typings better they’re organized, they have date. They begin to organize. At least we have better tapes now.

Anyway, so, it is here. So I’m sure every member here if you, sort of order, she will give you on the course, right? Whatever is the course, so you can have that here. So, I don’t even know what I talked so, you can read, there may be some vajrayana points here but…

Audience: It’s rather detailed also…

Rinpoche: Well this is rather detailed, so you can read it. Ok. You can read it.

0:41:41.2

Anyway, so then, the detail one you can get here. Now the next one is from the heart of the protector of the hundreds of the deities, that verse. Before that verse, this verse is the invocation but they’re also generating the field of merit. And a little exercise you have to do here. Before you say that if you could create a nice space with a Tibetan/Indian cultural background we can say “throne”, but throne or no throne, but a nice little comfortable space in front of you and then you imagined field of merit. The merit what you’re going to get. It’s like business. You go and get profit. So where are you going to invest? Ok, the farmers put the seed down because they want the yield back in autumn, right? So you work hard during the spring because you are putting the seed down. The whole purpose of putting the seed down, getting profit in the yield in the autumn. That’s what you are doing. And similarly here, you do need the field where you put the seed, right? The farmers need the land in order to put the seed down, right? You can’t go and put it on somebody else’s land, then they’ll take it away, right? Or you maybe pay rental or something. I’m just joking. Commission…but here if you have your own land you don’t have to pay…

0:44:11.9

So, it’s creating it. Creating a supreme field. Field right? Field where you put the land. And supreme, we use the word supreme because it’s best. Best field. So you have to create it. How do you create? Just sit over there, sit over there, just visualize a figure, it’s a figure of Tsongkhapa, who are inseparable then that of your own spiritual master. And then, who are inseparable then that of all the enlightened beings, and that is your supreme field. You visualize. Actually it’s enough. Actually it’s enough because all the enlightened beings, what their job is, they always wanted to help us. But they need opportunity. The ones that have the opportunity, they are there. And we are not giving them opportunity. Normal because they’re not even thinking, they are so busy riding bicycle or going shopping or doing business or paying our bills or whatever it is. Leading our life, so busy, you are not giving them the opportunity. Here you just sit down and visualize and begin to give opportunity, so they are there to fill the purposes! Because they got the opportunity. In Tibetan, we have a saying, “If you have performed a ring, there’s always a kind compassionate hook we can always pull.” You know what I mean? Nobody got that. Did you get it? If you have a profound sort of you know, thought or rely on… it’s going to hook!There’s no place to hook! Right? There’s no hook so, wherever it hit, it may even cut you! So that is the problem.

0:46:49.6

Audience: You said just now that it was important to know where you put your seed. And if you put it in somebody else’s field, you have to pay the rent.

Rinpoche: I’m just joking.

Audience: Yes I know.

Rinpoche: And also meaning there too, yes.

Audience: But how do you know, you were saying “just sit and think of the enlightened people or enlightened person”. How do you know that what you are projecting, what you are thinking is not somebody else’s field? Can you see what I mean?

Rinpoche: Because you create it.

Audience: But then why must I create it there?

Rinpoche: Because you worked. You don’t work, you don’t get result.

Audience: Yes, but why must I create it outside and not here?

Rinpoche: You can create in here, but it’s easy to deal with outside because the things you follow up thereafter is easy to work outside. You can create here too. There’s no problem. You can create here too. You can create out there too. It’s easier to do outside than inside. Particularly this type because if you do it everything inside, and then you may probably, instead of generating merit, there’s possibility of generating tremendous ego too. So, I mean, it’s always easier to do outside, to do. It’s easier. Because we are going to pray. You’re going to make offerings. You’re going to purify all of those seven limbs and follow thereafter, which makes it easier, externally. It’s not better than me you can not do inside, you can definitely do inside, too. So from the beginning I mentioned there’s an unlimited way of doing it. So we can not talk all the unlimited ways, but we can talk one. That’s what it is!

0:49:00.9

Here we go! So what else now? Where are we? Ok. When you have that field you provided, it is nobody else’s field because you made it. And you created the space so it’s your field. And also you’re connection, because you built it. And you also use your own spiritual master. It ensures the connection. Linking. So each one of them has a lot of reasons. I’m trying to make it short. So you use the word ‘inseparable’. Sometimes people find very difficult to build a connection with somebody who you don’t even know, who you have nothing to do. So they find it difficult. So that’s why we are using the word ‘inseparable’. Anyway, so create the merit and just creation alone is enough. But to satisfy our rational mind, we invite wisdom beings. The purpose of the invocation is just satisfied our rational mind. Our rational mind, we say “we already talked about it, and nothing had happened”. So to make it satisfied, you have word to say, ritual to perform. It is saying the word, putting in meditation, and touching with the enlightened beings. It’s combination is also ritual. It’s a ritual. And the ritual plus involving the enlightened beings, plus you own creation, all the pluses making it real. To satisfy our rational mind, to make it real, you say, “from the heart of the protector of the hundreds of deities”, I request you to come here on it’s tip. So you say that. As you say also, not only you have the field of merit in front of you, you also look back and look beyond and beyond from the pure lands, and you invite them from the pure lands.

0:52:01.5

As you say “heart of the Maitreya”, all this, if you want to go in detail, I’m sure it’s in here. And real it, conclude it, don’t try to meditate the whole of this. And remain it, concise and short. So the next time when you sit here and say, “from the heart of the protector”, all this you say, you have something to think, visualize and combine together, happening. So if you have all this detail thing goes, then, people will keep on saying it. The other people, they won’t wait, and you have to be stubborn, you can’t hold both people like that, right because I’m not finished with my meditation. You can’t do that, right? So make it yourself, concise. The moment you say “from the heart of the protector of the land of joy”, not only you have it built up here, figure here and also the invocation goes, from that it comes. Like a fresh cloud, like that of fresh yogurt. Isn’t it? Does this say yogurt? Curd ok, curd. Alright, that’s what it is. So just visualize that. And not only you created the picture the actual beings come from there and dissolve inside the picture what you provided and it becomes inseparable. The word inseparable here has meaning. You can not separate. You can not say “hey come here…hey hey it’s going inside there”. You can not point it out. Once it dissolved, it dissolved, like water into water. You can’t say, “here’s my drop going”, for a little while, it may go down, after that it becomes oneness. If you put oil in the water, then you can always point it out. “Here, here’s the oil”. So that is separable. When you put water in the water, or milk in the milk, it is inseparable. Where you can not figure out, which is what. So similarly, your supreme field, your spiritual master, which is linked in, and actual enlightened beings you invited. It becomes inseparable.

0:54:45.7

And there’s more meaning behind that. if you talk about it. In the dualistic mind is…something you should get rid of it. And inseparable will over power the dualistic. That is a different story together, I don’t intend to go in it. That’s that. Followed by the seven-limbed prayer. There’s steps, which I say, step one, step two, step three, step four, step five, step six, step seven. Why seven? And there’s step eight too, but step eight is the mandala offering, which I’ve not included in the seven steps. But why this seven? This seven has a lot of meaning. According to the Bodhisattvacharyavatara, which I mentioned earlier, this quotation sort of puts here and there and a lot of places, but here they use. It says enlightened beings, buddhas thought, they put their thoughts, they had a meeting, they put their thoughts for a long time, how best way, how’s easiest way for the people to accumulate merit, purify, all this word, they can do together, what’s best way? So after the meeting they draw a resolution, saying resolution one, resolution two, resolution three, four, five, six, then resolution seven. They came out seven resolutions. They say “hey these are the best”. So they are all agreed for that. That’s why, so the buddhas found, these are the most useful. So that’s why these seven are there.

So since this seven is connected with the individual invitation and so forth, so when we’re inviting somebody, when we need something to be done from somebody, with the help of someone. When you invite the person, what would you do? When they come to the door, you say, please come in and sit down. But Americans they may like to talk near the door, you know. They don’t invite sometimes, “oh good to see you” they talk near the door, then “goodbye”! But that’s not the way. They may say that’s civilized way but, on the other hand I feel that’s the uncivilized way. The civilized way is when you invited somebody you say please come in and sit down. Give the best seat in your house right? Because it’s your guest! You’re supposed to give the best seat for the guest! If it’s a guest. If it’s not a guest if somebody comes to see you, it’s different. You may not have to give the best seat. If you invited your guest then you have to. So, you give the best seat here. So the second verse comes in:

Oh venerable gurus with white smiles of delight

Actually when you want to invite the guest, you want to invite the guest in a good mood. You don’t want to invite him with a long face right? So that may not work very well.

0:58:43.8

Did you get it? Not a long face, invite them with a smile and in good mood. So good mood, a lot of things can happen. When there’s a bad mood lots of things happen. So invite in the best mood. Good mood, you know? So then you invite them and you make them, request to sit, to be there. Don’t run away! Yeah, because you know you have things, important things to do. So you want them to be there. So that is the first one.

Then the second is though they have come in good mood, but unless you press them a little bit, if you press them a little bit, their mood will be even better. Right? If you invite somebody you haven’t seen in a long time. “Hey you look nice. You lost weight.” What else do you say? “You look healthier” All sorts of nice little words make lot of difference. Right? You can’t say, we invite somebody and we say, “please come in you look terrible…have you been sick…what happened to you?” You change the mood also. So that’s joke, total joke there’s no meaning in it. So similarly you praise a little bit. “You look great”. And instead of saying “you look great”, you say “you look fantastic, you’re outstanding”. Right? “you’re outstanding. Your speech, the words what you say, it is wish fulfilling music for a fortunate ear”. Right? “Your mind, wow look at your mind, it is sharp, you comprehend everything!” So what better praise you can do then that? You’re praising somebody, so you have to say, “you look fantastic, your mind is great, your speech is, sort of, music to the fortunate ear.” Right? And that’s really good praise! You can’t say, “you look horrible, fat, and you are totally dumb and sleepy”, that’s not going to be a praise, so you do the other way around. I’m thinking of myself. Ok? So, not only you are praising that, it’s not only you are exaggerating, but you do have that quality! And if you acknowledge that quality, it serves two purposes. Not only acknowledging quality, it accumulates merit, but also acknowledging it, and also seeking it. You are worthy to think, worthy to hear it. You are worthy to remember. And I respect you, I bow to you. Remember everybody’s doing something when you are bowing, and you’re smiling, all you people do something.

1:02:54.7

All the time. There is a purpose right? If there’s no purpose, nobody will smile to each other. You will go. But to keep you relations in life, to keep your good contact, you do to get something you do those nice gestures, right? Normally. Similarly here we’re doing the nice gesture of not only requesting to sit but praising, it is seeking the quality. Not only are you acknowledging that they have these qualities, but you are also saying, “hey I want those qualities for me”. So not only you’re acknowledging they have the quality, but you also indicate I want the quality. So it’s like double, triple purpose here. One is worth while just be the seeing. You have capability of just by seeing, to liberate people. I admire that. I want that quality. You have the capability of just by hearing your sound, you have the capability of liberating. I admire that quality. I want that quality. And just by remembering you, you have capability, make me feel good. Make me fulfill my wishes. And I admire that quality. I want that. I’m sure it is normal in the Judeo-Christian prayers too, you do the same thing, I’m quite sure. Though I have no knowledge of it. Though you people know it. Even if you are not “born again” but you are born with it! Hahaha! Right! I’m sure you know it. That’s the same thing here. That’s how it works.

1:05:09.9

Next phase: offering. If you don’t mind I’m going to do one more. The next verse will be:

Pleasing water offering, various flowers, fragrant incense, light, scented water

So next is offering. Offering is very important. Why it is important? It is the part of generosity. Yeah, generosity. Generosity is known as one of the great activities in all the religious traditions, right? Judeo-Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Buddhism, Sikh, whatever. Including New Age. Yeah. It is the generosity. The generosity can be so many generosities. When you are making a generosity offering to a fantastic field of merit, and that is one of the best investments. This is the Buddhist tradition, we say that. It might have problems, so I’m cutting it, I’m toning it down a little bit. The problem what I’m noticing is, in the East Asia culture, Tibetan, Chinese, for that matter Japanese too now. And what we noticed is they think…so their generosity is always focused in one direction. They give unlimited money, or whatever it is, to monasteries, to monks, to the Rinpoches, to this and that. And they lack in the hospitals and things like that, for really needing things. So this might have something to do with this. Because you say fantastic field, you invest it’s a fantastic investment. And nobody want to invest in the lesser expenses. Lesser yield. Very few people do it. So that may have been culturally effected. So anyway, that’s their tradition. Not only I offer, I offer to the best field of merit with I can accumulate. Right? So, what you offer? Everything. The best whatever you can think of it, including flowers, incense and so and forth. Ok? So that’s what it is. So how much you can offer, and what you should offer, is two different things. What you can really offer is limited. For us very limited. But when you are working for a purpose like this, you don’t want to be limited. So that’s why you make unlimited offer. And the way and the how you make the unlimited offer is Buddha had introduced offering system of Samantabhadra offering. Samantabhadra is a Sanskrit word it’s the name of particular deity. How they do it? Manifest it. Manifest it. Actually you may have glass of water. But the glass of water may be manifested in multimillion glasses of water. One becomes ten, ten becomes hundred, hundred becomes thousand, that manner. Even the praises that you give. Each one individual manifested ten and each manifestations of the body have ten more head. Each head with have ten more tongues. Each tongue will multiply in the millions. So, in short, whole the space been filled up, and whole the ground been filled up. Whatever you could visualize. So it’s not that tiny little incense and tiny little flower and tiny little glass of water. But it is the incense that filled up, the incense smoke filled up everywhere. You don’t want too much smoke that you bring your tears. I’m just joking. But, filled up the flowers. Like Holland, you have tulips filled up the ground, right? When I was here this last time or last time before, came with Matthew. May or April. Before we landing, Nancy looks down from the airplane, she said “why they painted all this ground?” Really she thought it’s painted, it’s yellow and red painted. I said “it’s not painted, it’s tulips!” “Whoa”, so that’s how the ground is filled up. So in that manner not only the Holland is filled up, but whole Europe. Not only the whole Europe, but whole universe filled up with tulips! Right? Actually the tulips filled up universe now. Everybody can get tulips! So you make offerings like that. And if possible, then it is not only ordinary tulips, but the tulips that have been generated out of my wisdom. It is grown out of bliss and void. It will be able to bring the bliss and void within the object to whom you offer. And if you have vajrayana practice, and then it becomes vajrayana practice. And for the benefit of all sentient beings, it’s mahayana practice. For multiple and just offering for the sake of offering, it’s a Buddhist practice! Ordinary Buddhist practice. So, see the difference, every point. So the generosity offering is one of the best way to accumulate merit. And not only merit, also to have good wealth. If you don’t have generosity offerings, if you become enlightened, then you have a poor enlightened being. Not a wealthy enlightened being. So Shariputra, one of the great disciple of the Buddha, said “all other buddhas are wealthy. And their lands are pure, their retinues are pure. What happened to our buddha? We keep on begging our food all the time.” The Buddha goes and begging around, right? So, “Buddha is so poor. What is this?” So Buddha said, “you really want to see my pure land?” Once he put his toe down on the ground and Shariputra experienced all this.

1:14:06.7

If you read below, sutra, they’re all there, it’s translated in English, available now, Thurman’s translation, the Vimalakirti sutra. It’s very interesting sutra. It’s available in English. If you read it you will see all of them there. So that’s what it is. And you don’t want to be poor buddha, you want to be wealthy buddha, right? Otherwise you’ll be enlightened, but poor one. It shows two different things. If you don’t work, you don’t get it. So here, you have to make sure that you practice generosity. This is one of the best ways to do the generosity. So I don’t think it’s also enough, just by visualizing I offer everything and when you don’t really offer that’s also not true. It’s not right, you should offer. When you offer, you should offer the…there are a lot of reasons. The generosity should not be practiced because generosity bring wealth, and if you want to become wealthy, and you do generosity. That is waste. Though, it gives result, it’s waste. It like becomes aid. You know the rich country give aid for the poor countries, but you attach strings, on the condition you do this, this, this. So it’s like aid given with strings. So, doesn’t work that good, you don’t appreciate it. The recipients do not appreciate that. But they have to take it because they don’t have it. Haha! But they don’t appreciate. Here they don’t have to take it if they don’t appreciate it.

And if you have emptiness practice here…so to whom what you give. Object what you give. Who’s the giver. All three are the nature of empty. And there’s no inherent existence. So such of this, each one of those practices, each one of these points, can become a very big practice. If we know how to handle it. But for our purposes, we just stick to, just whole thing filled up. And without any hesitation, without any attachment I offer it to my supreme field of merit. So that accumulates merit. And when you accumulate that way, and when you generate the field of giving, when you really have to give you should give it. Because well yeah, I sort of practice generosity, but I can not give you this shirt because I have to wear that on Monday. And I can not give that shirt because I have to wear that on Tuesday. I can not give this shirt, I have to wear it on Wednesday. I can not give you this because I have to wear it on Thursday. I can not do that, that’s on Friday, that’s on Saturday. So each week, you know if you keep on doing that way, doesn’t work. You have to give it. But you don’t have to give all the time. Because, go over yourself with the quote, no that’s not right.

1:17:58.4

Because your valuable. So you have to know where you draw the limit. So when ever you give, you give the good ones. Don’t give the bad ones. Because, well, it’s going to go bad, so you better eat it. So the Tibetans say, Tibetans have teaching tradition that says: “One should not be giving from the yellow part of the vegetable, and the blue part of the butter. Get it? Makes sense?

Does that mean you don’t give yellow vegetables? But the yellow part of the vegetables! And the green part of the butter, ok?

Ok, up to here, and I will stop here. Because the next is purification which has lots more explanations, we’re going to leave it. So trying to make this a short one. I’m not going to go in detail. Detail, you got here. And even you want more detail, there’s 21 tapes. Haha! So there’s more then that, so there’s much more detail. So, we read the detail here, listen to this, think about it, make a little concise. And concise, what comes on your mind, pops up on your mind. But when you get angry, and somebody irritates you, our anger pops up in our head right? Similarly, if you build up, when you say this word, this thought should pop up in your head. And then your practice will be under control. Not perfect. It’s under control. So you say the words, the thought comes up, pops out the head. Then it becomes under control. Just now you’re looking at it. Huge thing going over there. So we are observing. But then you practice, get into it, and then it becomes under control.

1:20:09.8

So when the word says concise thinking that pops up on your head, and you coordinate. And then it is under control. Really, that’s how it works. So any questions?

(Question inaudible)

Rinpoche: Well, when you’re visualizing, with ritual, with a purpose when you’re visualizing, It is a lot, crazy thinking. It’s not crazy thinking, it’s not psychiatric thinking.

Question repeated: His question is whether, how do you know if its only your own imagination, or if there is really a field of merit?

Rinpoche: It is your imagination. It is your imagination. And not only is it your imagination, there is living beings there. It is your imagination for sure.

Audience: Yeah, there’s no difference between….

Rinpoche: There is difference actually. Not only you imagined, but there is also living beings in there. Living enlightened beings come in. We have mentioned earlier, all the enlightened beings have unlimited ways of doing it. Right? Did you get it? So therefore, therefore when you provide opportunity for them, so they’re there. To functioning. So it is your imagination, and also they’re real. So both. And without imagination, it doesn’t work. It’s similar any of you do ordinary work, you have to have goal right? You have to have aim, purpose. Imaginative, and then you fill, and dream, then you fill up. In life, people have dreams. And you work, and you fulfill your dream, right? And very similar. Imaginative! And then it fills up.

I think it can work in common. If you leave it imaginative only, then it is like going crazy. Right? You can think of anything. Going crazy. There is no control, no order, nothing. You go, crazy thinking. And if you do crazy thinking, you’ll also hear crazy. And then you’ll act crazy. Right? But here you have orders, systems, you have everything there. It is imaginative, yet, it is your dream, it functions. That’s what I feel. Maybe I’m wrong. Hopefully not. Haha!