Title: Tayata Gate Gate
Teaching Date: 1995-09-19
Teacher Name: Gelek Rimpoche
Teaching Type: Tuesday Teaching
File Key: 19950919GRTGG/19950919GRTGG.mp3
Location: Ann Arbor
Level 3: Advanced
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Soundfile 19950919GRTGG.mp3
Speaker Gelek Rimpoche
Location ?
Topic Perfection of Wisdom
Transcriber Sally Tittmann
Date 10/30/2022
I would like to welcome everybody for this Tuesday meetings again. Once again we open. And I would like to welcome our youngest friend here, who we have not seen for a long time.
Very nice to see you, all of you.
Now, in this couple of Tuesdays that we will meet here I though we will talk on this holy mantra, TAYATA GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA. So this will be our subject for the next available Tuesdays, until the end of October.
So that is why we say the Heart Sutra. And there are a number of different translations of the Heart Sutra available, from Tibetan to English, from Sanskrit to English, from Japanese to English, from the Chinese to English. What we read here is I believe a Japanese translation into Tibetan, from Suzuki Roshi, who considered this as very very important. What do you say, it is very blessful or something, so from which Allen Ginsburg had taken this and worked this tune on this. So that’s why we have this. And you people who don’t have the text, we will be doing this every day for during this session while we are teaching this Gate Gate Paragate. So next Tuesday, you should get copies available. Either you do it by yourself of somebody from here does it. Whatever it is, it is your own duty to get yourself a textbook, rather than depending on somebody else always providing it.
So the reason I thought of talking about Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Soha, that one, is, I’ve been asked by Tricycle — they wanted to interview me on the subject. I said, that’s not going to work. It is very important, and it has a lot of different meanings, and the words TAYATA OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA is almost all the essence of the teachings of the Buddha available. Particularly the 5 paths, and all this. So if you just make an interview, and who knows who’s going to be the questioner. They’ll ask certain questions, I’ll answer certain things, they’ll ask certain questions, and I’ll say certain things, and we probably do a disservice. That’s why I thought we’ll spend some time. It is very common in buddhist practice, whether you are following Japanese tradition, or Chinese, or Sanskrit tradition, or Tibetan tradition… everybody says GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA — even those plays, in those operas, they have that, back and forth, all the time, and I thought it very important to know the meaning of that.
05:42
So I thought we’d spend a couple of weeks on that, talking. So afterwards, if it is useful we’ll edit it and give it to Tricycle. They can use it as an article if they like it. If not, even we don’t do a disservice to that. Because a little interview on that, like half an hour, or 45 minutes, you ask certain questions, you say what do you mean by Tayata, it’s not like this. And then you say, what does Gate Gate mean. And it doesn’t really make sense. So I thought not to do a disservice.
So that will be our next subject, for the next couple of Tuesdays.
So, when we talk about this particular, Gate Gate Paragate, I’m not talking just now — I’m not even naming them as a mantra.
So: TAYATA. What does that mean? There are a lot of qualities. The quality of the teacher, the quality of dharma. This particular mantra — let’s go for the quality of the teacher. In this case: Buddha. One of the most important things that happened is, traditionally we say, Buddha had first generated great compassion. Then accumulated merit. Finally total enlightenment came. And all this and that. Whatever it may be, Buddha definitely had a tremendous amount of compassion. This is one of the best, most important qualities, unlike any other teacher, the most important thing the Buddha had was two things: compassion and wisdom. These are the two most important things. The compassion is so powerful. So much so that Buddha almost feels how can I help all sentient beings? How easy we can free all sentient beings? How can we deliver joy to them? And that is the main concern of the Buddha all the time. So when they have that great compassion, and are focussing on all sentient beings, and also have a desire to be free, and they are looking at what matters. What can we do? What can I do? So that is the first question, when somebody wanted to help somebody, the first question is What can I do? Right? And that’s always true. What can I do?
So the Buddha also has that question, What can I do for all beings? So Buddha had the first question, What can I do? Of course the answer is, I have to liberate them. If I can liberate them, it can be most helpful. Right? If I can liberate them, it is most helpful. So therefore they check that compassion for them saying that they must liberate all.
10:30
So then the question comes: liberate… from what? Free… from what? How? And what? So, naturally, it is again, where are the sufferings coming from? Why do you have to liberate? You know, we seek help. Why do we need help? Because we have a problem, or, we needed help here to do something. So when Buddha looks and says, I need to liberate. The question comes, liberate from what? From the suffering. An interesting thing here. A number of Americans will tell you, I have no suffering. This is very common. In our summer retreat, somebody said, I have no suffering. I have a problem with that “suffering.” It is true. People don’t have it, thinking of having a problem is a problem. So what is happening is, you all do have suffering. Don’t kid ourselves. We do have suffering. Basically, we have a suffering of birth, aging, illness and dying too. We make them look beautiful. You can’t make sick beautiful though, because we know that suffering. Dying also can look beautiful, because we don’t see it. But people die and then they put make up on the dead body, and put a nice coffin and then you don’t even know the person is dead, right? Put them in a nice box, and there is no… The funny thing in this country, is in a way it is nice, no doubt. But on the other hand, when somebody dies, he dies in the hospital, and then you don’t have really the feeling of death either. There is no body getting rotten, there is no smell, nothing is tangible feeling . They all make it so nice, make it look like, a little cardboard box. But that also makes it look beautiful. But individual, if that is in the box all the time, it is very difficult too.
13:27
But there is suffering in that. And then aging is something that we cannot hide. Except that we put make-up on that. And take your hair, and what else? Probably you worry that your husband will see you before you put on your make-up, or something. Otherwise, you do have make-up, and put it on, but that is all you can do, but that suffering of aging is there, no matter whoever you deny. So, basically, we do have suffering. Everybody. Whoever claims he does not have suffering, it is not reality. It is not true.
There is suffering. And on top of that, emotional sufferings are tremendous. The fear of being lonely, fear of losing something which you don’t even know that you’re afraid of losing. And all of them are there. So, then the Buddha said, I would like to help them. So then the question of how the Buddha can help, is not only giving you a temporary shelter, or food, or medicine… That’s help, no doubt. But Buddha as Buddha, as an enlightened being, as somebody extraordinary can do better than that. And needs to do better than that. So, looking at it, he said, What can I do? So the answer he got is, Hey, I can make them totally free from everything. That we call liberation. Liberate from what? Liberate from the cause of suffering, rather than suffering itself. You know, the cause and the result. If you try to work with the symptoms, you cannot reach very far. If you work with the cause you can totally cure it and become totally free. That’s what the Buddha thought. Buddha said, I can do that.
15:51
So then, what causes suffering? What is the making of the people’s suffering? What makes it? So the ultimate cause is the delusion, or even the ignorance. The most important thing is, Buddha found, ignorance. So Buddha thought, I need to liberate everybody from ignorance. So what kind of mind can liberate ignorance? The answer is wisdom. Wisdom is the only key which can clear the ignorance. That’s it. That’s what Buddha thought. So, Buddha thought, all right, let me show the wisdom. The first thing he thought is, What am I going to show? Until I have it, how can I show it to others? So the discovery the Buddha made, Unless I am able to help myself, and understand and experience, and gain the wisdom, how can I show others? And that’s why one of the most important things in Buddha’s teachings has become, unless you are able to help yourself, you will not be able to help others. It is for that reason.
So, helping yourself is the foremost important thing for Buddha — in order to help others, you must help yourself.
19:15
So Buddha recognized the cause of all our problems is ignorance, the antidote for the ignorance is wisdom. So, in order to show the wisdom, to share the wisdom with others, one has to experience. Not only does one have to experience, but one has to be perfect on that. So that’s why the experience of the Buddha’s, cutting through the ignorance is the wisdom only.
And what is the wisdom? The wisdom here is the famous Buddhist wisdom. They call it “emptiness.” Right? What is emptiness? The emptiness is nothing but the balance with not too extreme of either side, and the balance point. What people do have is the extreme of eternalism, or the extreme of nihilism. The extreme of eternalism or the extreme of nihilism. Or you may say the extreme of existence or the extreme of non-existence. The extreme has been cut. When you balance the extreme of existence with the extreme of nihilism, when you get into the middle of it, that is what they call the Central Path, or the Middle Path. That’s what the Buddha called the Middle Path. The Dalai Lama keeps on saying, I have proposed to the Chinese the Middle Path! The Middle Path is coming from here. The Middle Path is not extreme existence or extreme non-existence, meaning, it’s the reality of ourselves, the absolute truth of our beings. To understand it better is really looking deeply into the mystery of life. What makes us be people? What makes us be human beings? Why can we think? Why can we function? Why? Why? Why?
22:53
The true reality, what is our ???. You know, in Buddhism, it’s not important who we are, but it is important what we are and where we are. That is really important. Where we are, what we are. It doesn’t matter who we are. If we don’t have a name, it doesn’t matter. Nobody has a name. The name is given. It’s not reality. But that doesn’t make you become me or I become you, but sure we do have a separate identity. However, when you look deep down, that Middle Path, which Buddhists call emptiness. So that is a confusing one. The moment you use the word emptiness, emptiness will give you the idea of absolutely nothing. You know, empty. My bowl is empty. My cup is empty means that there is no water. So the idea of emptiness, the word will give you nothing. So if you get the nothing idea, you go nihilist. If you go to the extreme of existence, I’m solid here, and nothing can shake me, I’m here forever, will be too extreme existence. So we are balancing between these two points. That is called the Middle Path.
What are you balancing? How do you balance? In my case, in me? If you read this Heart Sutra, it will tell you no tongue, no nose, no ear, no eye, no absolute, no something, tipsy topsy blah blah blah. But I do have a nose. I do have an ear. I do have an eye. What am I talking about? What I’m talking about is what I’m not talking about. And what I’m not talking about is dependent origination. We are all dependent originated. Our existence has been dependent on a number of factors. The body, the consciousness (or the soul), or even the name or label, or a combination, combined together, we exist. If I don’t have a body, if I’m a formless ghost, even I exist — you don’t see me. For you, I’m not existing, because I don’t have an identity, I don’t have a face. I don’t have a body to touch. I don’t make noise that you can hear. So, in order to function, to be able to exist, I have to depend on it. So, the meaning of empty is dependent origination. So what you are not talking is the ???. The essence of emptiness is dependent origination, and the essence of dependent origination is the emptiness. That is the path. That is the only path which can cut the ignorance.
27:25
Buddha experienced that and shared that with us, and that’s why it makes quality, extraordinary quality of the teacher who shared the experience, rather than who just said blah blah blah.
TIBETAN
One who sees and then feels and experienced and sharing. That’s why we say Buddha is equivalentless teacher — because of that reason. Not only that. That’s why Buddha is a reliable master — the master who shares his personal experience, which is followed by a number of other of us, who can repeat almost the same thing — can repeat the same thing, if followed the same way. It is almost like a science. No matter whoever the person may be, you follow the same path, you get the same result. So a number of our friends, like Thurman, always tells you this Inner Science. But a number of people will laugh at that. I don’t know. But, whatever it is, it is the mechanism that works within the one individual which can be repeated by anybody. If you do it the same way, you get the same result. Whether it is science or not science, whatever it is. That’s why it’s called reliable in Buddhism.
Quality of the teacher has to be the teaching is reliable. Reliability of the teaching meaning whoever doesn’t follow it gets a result. It’s not that you think you’re going to get somewhere after some time. No matter how many years you go around, it doesn’t matter, but I’m getting somewhere, it’s not giving you any result at all. So there’s some problem somewhere. That’s the quality of the person who shares this mantra, called TAYATA GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA.
30:31
When we say TAYATA it’s like this. When you translate that word, it becomes like this. Like what? Like this. What we just now said, quality of the teacher. Not only that, the quality of the teacher. Quality of the teaching will also have two things: direct teaching, and indirect teaching, in this particular one. Direct teaching and indirect teaching. What is direct teaching? It is the absolute reality of every phenomenon, and every existence. It is again what we call emptiness. What is that? What is the thing called emptiness? What is it? Here we may now twist a little bit from the ultimate buddhapalita system of the emptiness. We slightly twist, and it’s easier for people to understand, is if we follow… I’m saying this for the benefit of one or two people who understand what I’m talking about… I’m twisting from the buddhapalita style a little bit and try to take the system of the Cittamatra, mind-only school of thought. That is for those people.
According to the Mind Only school, thought, what every existence, every human being, everybody around here, is the same thing. It is the mind is the one who has produced, who has created, it is the reflection of the mind only. However, within that reflection, some are better, some are worse. And why? Some are enlightened, some are non-enlightened. Why? So the answer for that is because some are free of dualistic recognition. Or some are in control of the dualistic perception, and some are free of dualistic perception, and that makes the difference. That is the answer for that.
33:41
What does dualistic here mean? If you are going well, according to the reality, and you don’t have delusions, so there is no dualistic feeling, but if you are not going well with the reality, you are going opposite of the reality, then you are mistaken. So those people who are perceiving mistakenly, they are in trouble; those who are free of mistaken perceptions, they are free. That’s what they are saying.
So, what is it? What makes you confused, and what makes you not confused? If you are going according to the actual reality, you are not confused. If what you perceive and actual reality are separate, then you are confused. That’s what they say. Those who are confused get into trouble, those who are not confused don’t get into trouble.
What does confused mean? How you perceive things is not reality: you’re confused. Those who understand reality, they are not confused.
So what makes you not confused? What are you talking about? You are talking nothing other than that of the Middle Path alone. Free of two extremes, that perfect Middle Path. Those who have it, they are not confused. Those who don’t have it, they are confused. And besides that, that is the only goal for liberation. According to the Buddha’s experience. I’m talking from the Buddhist ??? view. When I say this is only, I’m not saying that other religions don’t have liberation. Do not misunderstand. Here, what I’m talking from the Buddha’s experience, and on that point of view, Buddha said, This is the only door. That’s why they call it, only one door called liberation. There is no second door. According to the Buddha’s experience, that’s what it is.
36:48
So, what is that? Perfect understanding, here. No matter, the mind may perceive, the mind may focus, and even perceive, every other existence, whatever they are, you perceive them. However, what you relish, or what you enjoy, or what you taste, within you, are different. As you and me, as an ordinary being, when you look at certain things, we will perceive that as it is. When we look at another person, and we will see the person, our perception is whatever the identity??? what we have, and we see the identity only, and we don’t see the inner person. If I use the word inner person, it will make you understand better; however, I’m giving you confusion.
Let’s say Doug over there. And when you say “Doug”, we see the beard, we see the long pony tail, and we see the tall guy. And we perceive that, and we will just say “Doug” and when we see that face again, we say, Oh, this is Doug. And we leave it there. And anything beyond that we don’t see. But when we are free of confusion, we will see, that is Doug’s identity, however, there is inner Doug, which is in reality the nature of emptiness. And then we are free of those confusions.
On an ordinary level, we say now, — there is 50 people here? 60 people? — and we will look at each other, and we will perceive one person, right? We will perceive each and every individual person, and we have a little identity, and we cut it there, and we label them, and we leave it there, and we can go on and count a number of people, and leave it there. That is, with the sort of maximized perception. What do we call it TU JE, in Tibetan, which is manifest and maximized perception. However, and when you begin to see it, really, and then you begin to really get into it, we do see the inner beings of the individual, and then this idea of Sentase (????). The example is honey. No matter if you pick up from beehives, from whatever beehives you may pick up, you get one taste: honey. Likewise, the deeper being in there, the way we perceive will be different. What we see and identify will be the same thing, the perceiving will be different. And those people who are not confused, they will perceive it in oneness. I’ll leave it there. Maybe you are enough confused.
So, that is the direct quality of the dharma of this particular few words.. Quality only I’m talking about. I’m not talking about meaning at all. I’m talking about quality.
42:21
People talk about dualistic and non-dualistic and all this, people talk. A lot of people talk. Particularly those who are in new age. They talk a lot: dualistic, non-dualistic, blah blah blah blah blah. And what does that mean? This is a big question. What does that mean? To me, both of the people, to even have an understanding of emptiness — understanding, I use the word understanding — not a direct encounter, but an understanding of emptiness — who will see the emptiness on each and every individual and leave it there, and I’m here, as a watcher, then I watch all of your emptiness. John’s emptiness, Mary’s emptiness, Bob’s emptiness, and Doug’s emptiness, and Dan’s emptiness and all this — I see all this different emptinesses. I’m here, watching, and all these different emptinesses there. Even on the emptiness, ok? And that is the dualistic emptiness perception — even though it is emptiness perception. Number one, we don’t even have emptiness perception, we’re not even nearby when you go through GATE GATE PARAGATE, then you know where we are. So, that’s why we’re not even nearby. Even then, let’s perceive it because we’re using the word all the time: dualistic, non-dualistic and all that.
Now, when you are at the level of GATE GATE, the first GATE, second GATE, gone gone, first gone, second gone, we don’t have a perception. And maybe the second GATE you may have, a little bit. Second gone. We have a little bit of perception of those. So we have the dualistic perception of emptiness itself. And when you become PARAGATE, then you have non-dualistic emptiness. And non-dualistic emptiness here means, an individual who sees emptiness is not like somebody who’s watching the football game, but somebody who’s really playing — the player in there. So you are the emptiness, and you are the within the emptiness
SOUND STOPPED…
45:34
The answer to that question, “Why do enlightened beings have a better life and why do we have a worse life?” Why? The answer to that, the Buddha gives you a totally different answer. Nobody made it. Nobody created it. Nobody created in that way, so it is our own deeds. Those who are enlightened, they have done good deeds, and that is why they have a better life, and we have worse deeds, that is why we have a bad life. It’s as simple as that. Nobody made it. Nobody forced it on you. So people may have a little difficulty when you say Nobody made it. But what does that give you? It tells you another thing: you are responsible for yourself. No one is responsible. The responsibility of yourself is yourself. You are your own. That may be different from normal Judeo-Christian tradition. Some people will tell you Buddhists are atheists, whatever it is. That’s what the Buddha tells you: you are responsible. You are not made by anybody in the condition wherever you are, good or bad. Whatever you are is your own deeds. So those who are enlightened beings that’s why Buddha made a bid deal right at the beginning, the Buddha and ourself is total equal level. And then enlightened beings had opportunity, worked hard, to get it. And those of us who left it out, and maybe you didn’t get an opportunity, or we didn’t get through, we didn’t make it. It’s like the true American spirit: there is opportunity, you are responsible, you work hard, you achieve the American dream. Materially, that’s what it is. And spiritually, and Buddhism is like that, equal to the American dream: you are responsible to yourself and you get opportunity — you have opportunity — you will get it, you will make it. If you don’t, you ???. It’s as simple as that.
Buddhism does not guarantee anybody liberation either. It cannot. Because we are responsible for ourselves. Buddhism can provide opportunity, sure. If you take it, you get it, if you don’t take it, you don’t get it. And the chances are, you don’t take it. Why? Ok, I made a ??? here. I’ll tell you a little later.
So, since you are responsible to yourself, and whenever you have opportunity, can you develop instant enlightenment? The answer is no. There is no instantaneous enlightenment. At all. if you are looking for some kind of enlightenment, where an enlightened being comes down to you, and hits you on your head, or gets in your dream and gets in your body, and changes your internal things inside, and tries to look for the next ???, then you are totally mistaken. You’re crazy, if you are looking for that. You are absolutely crazy. There is no such thing called instantaneous enlightenment. Then you may say, Oh yeah, I have read the story of tis great mahasiddha, and this great master, and this and that, they have that. Yeah, sure, they did have that, but they worked for a number of lives even before that, to get to that level. But you get a recording of the last minutes of the final conditions which ever create the direct result, the final conditions have been recorded. It doesn’t work that way. It works gradually. And if there is instantaneous enlightenment we won’t be here, believe me. All these enlightened beings have great compassion, they really want to help everybody, they might have gone and overtaken us a long time ago. But even overtaking us is not necessarily that great. In this country, people who do the channeling, they think it’s great, but I don’ think it’s that great. It may be helpful — helpful to the people who talk message, and helpful to the people who do the medium business, they make some money. In this way, they may be helpful, but as a person, as a reality of a person, I don’t think it’s that much to that individual at all. — because, it is the third person borrowing your body and functioning within you, it is simply you are renting your body to that person, and rent isn’t paid by your clients! So, instead of that person paying you… So I don’t think it’s that great. But if there’s anybody around her who does that or who has great faith… I’m not insulting any individual. I’m not telling anybody anything. Basically, as a Buddhist teacher it’s my job to have to say Everything’s not good! Everything’s not good enough! That’s my job. That’s what it is.
53:09
So you are responsible to yourself, and it has to be greater development. There never could be instant enlightenment. Earlier, in Tibet, there was a joke — or a dirty story. Not dirty in that way! In a sense they said somebody thought this great master will make you enlightened within 7 days. What you require is you give up all your belongings to the organization where the master belongs to — or the master himself. And finally go after a big cave — just opposite of the Potala there is called Cha po ri, a medical college cave, and before cha po ri was built there was a big cave, and a big hall underneath. So what they do is they make a guy to meditate there, without giving any food or letting them sleep for 7 days — for 6 days, and the night of the 6th day it’s very easy for him to kick and throw in that hall, so that’s called instantaneous enlightenment. So that is an example of instantaneous enlightenment. So therefore, if there is instantaneous enlightenment, it’s not available. It is GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE. It is not TAYATA OM BODHI SOHA! It says TAYATA GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA! It doesn’t say TAYATA BODHI SOHA. It doesn’t say that, ok? So that’s what it is.
Even those earlier enlightened ones, they have gone very gradual development of the individual, gradually, day by day, hour by hour, month by month, year by year, making efforts, and that builds up. And that makes perfection. That brings the perfection. So that is the quality of the indirect teaching of the dharma — in this particular thing. It is a gradual process. Process of the 5 paths.
Now the next thing that I’d like to discuss here, is the question: Is GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA a mantra? Or is it tantra? Or is is a sutra? Those people who know what a mantra is, what a sutra is, what tantra is. If I say this is tantra, nontantric Buddhist practitioners, even in the Thai tradition or the Burmese and Ceylonese (?) tradition, even then, they say this: GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE— they have that. And non-vajrayana, all the yanas, will also have that. All the vajrayana people will have that. So in reality this is the vajrayana answer. In reality, absolutely it is the mantra, however it is used as the sutra everywhere.
57:33
Anti-mahayana, anti-vajrayana buddhist people will also use this GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA. I used the word anti. Even that they use this. So it is everything. So from the vajrayana practitioner, which we are supposed to be, from our point of view, what does mantra mean? Actually, MAN TRA. MAN is mind. TARA if protection. MAN-TARA: Mind Protection.
What are you protecting the mind from? You are protecting your mind from ignorance. Ignorance is the biggest obstacle, the internal evil — there is something called evil — is ignorance. Ignorance of not only not knowing, but ignorance of wrong knowing is the problem.
So protecting your mind from the internal evil of ignorance is the meaning of mantra. It covers all mantras that you say, whether you say OM MANI PADMA HUM, OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SOHA, or all the wrathful mantras, and whatever you say, that is the purpose of the mantra. The purpose of the mantra is to protect from the ignorance. And what you mean, by protecting from ignorance? By letting your mind not be influenced by the ignorance, but leading you to ultimate liberation, or ultimate enlightenment. How? Through the two qualities of the direct and indirect quality of this particular mantra. And direct message. That’s why it’s MAN-TARA. We say MANTRA but it is MAN-TARA.
1:00
So that is the direct and indirect quality of the message itself.
Now let’s have a direct explanation. So, that means: TAYATA: like this. Like what? Like those! Stories that I told you. The quality of the individual teacher, the quality of the direct meaning, and the quality of the indirect meaning. That’s what TAYATA.
The next word — there are two different ways of saying it — rather, it is a translation from Sanskrit. One used TAYATA OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA. Another one doesn’t use OM, and says TAYATA GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA. So what is recommended is, TAYATA OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA. Having OM is considered most important here. But in our printed books we don’t have OM. Because in the great monasteries in Tibet they don’t say OM. They will say TAYATA GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA. But the teachings will tell you, OM should be there. But monasteries don’t say OM. So it is a tradition. So maybe the tradition doesn’t follow exactly what the teaching says, who knows? Or maybe… who knows what.
So we don’t hear TAYATA GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA we don’t hear OM. But if you would like to put OM there, that’s fine. It’s considered good. You have to put it in with your own hand.
OM has a lot of meanings too. But there is a difference between Buddhism and Hinduism, for using OM. Buddhists insist you have to think the message of the OM when you use the word OM. You have to think the message of the OM. The Hinduism will say, the sound itself is good enough to focus. They don’t emphasize the thinking, the message of the OM, and they simply say the sound focus is enough. So that is why a lot of people say OOOOOM, nine times … a big one… bang! OM…. it goes on. That’s true! Because the Hindu teachings will say, the OM itself is such a great powerful mantra, the sound is enough. But Buddhism will say No. The Buddha will say no. The sound of OM can mean anything. Anybody can produce an OM sound. It doesn’t give you direct purpose (?). Buddha says you have to remember what OM means, what is the message that OM is carrying? What is the OM’s message?
1:04
And third it is not vegetarian food, it is OM’s message! (It’s OM restaurant! Colleen has an OM restaurant, vegetarian, macrobiotic food.)
OM actually refers to the body, mind, and speech. The combination of it. That was the message. The message of the enlightened beings have indestructible body, indestructible speech, indestructible knowledge and quality. Or immeasurable quality, immeasurable knowledge. Unlimited speech, and indestructible body. That’s the OM, and EVAM and vajra and all of this have common meaning here and there. It’s not my subject today.
But OM is recommended here. But I’m not explaining what OM is here. That’s not my subject.
So, OM.
GATE. First, GATE means gone. Gone, gone, what is the translation? People translate it a lot of different ways. GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA. The first is gone. Gone from where? To what? And how? These are the questions. Actually, the first gone here is referring to out of 5 paths, when you try to work to the enlightenment level, and I say gradual development, like, say 5 paths. Path of Accumulation, Path of Action, Path of Seeing, Path of Meditation, and Path of No More Learning. That’s 5 paths.
Let’s not go in the details within each. But I may have to go into detail at the second level. But when the first gone, means “gone gone”. And then what is it? Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, and bodhi soha — transformed into enlightenment. Five. GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA. Five. Five paths.
First gone is the Accumulation of Merit level. That is the first path. Second gone is the second path, the Path of Action. Third gone is gone beyond. So the first two paths, the Path of Accumulation and the Path of Action, is ordinary path. The persons who are at that level are called Ordinary Beings, like you and me. We are all in that ordinary category.
1:09
And then third and fourth and fifth is gone beyond, and then Extraordinary Beings, Special Beings. So that’s why gone beyond, gone beyond perfectly, and then transformed.
So, Path of Accumulation, Path of Action, Path of Seeing, Path of Meditation, Path of No More Learning. So that is the GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA. So when you are doing this, and I have to tell you on the path of Accumulation, or Merit, why it is called Path of Accumulation: what signs do you have? Do you have any? And the second gone is Path of Action: What do you have? Path of Seeing: What do you have? Path of Meditation: what do you have? All of these I have to go through. That’s why I’m reserving the rest of the month.
But one thing I have to tell you, the division of those five paths has nothing to do with compassion. Has nothing to do with contemplation, or anything. It is the totally based on the wisdom path. Path of Seeing, here, (the third path): why the people are called Extraordinary above that? It is because you encounter with the true reality. It was the time you see face to face with emptiness. It is the time for you to become one taste, what they talk about one taste. It is the path where you see where you have no more dualistic point. It is the path on which you obtain the Bhumi level, or become a landlord, or whatever it is! So that’s why it’s called Special Beings. You don’t have a suffering of dying, aging, rebirth.
TIBETAN
So, everything, whatever you had, is done through your willingness, witness, prayer, compassion. You don’t have uncontrolled death, uncontrolled illness, uncontrolled aging. You don’t have that. You’re free of that. That’s why is called Special Beings. All of them does not depend on compassion. All of them not depend on effort and accumulation and contemplation. It is all depends on the level, the sharpness, the high clarity of the wisdom.
An example here is very interesting. An old Tibetan example. The old Tibetans had an old matchlock, a fire-starter kit, a little stone, and you carry another stone, and you keep on rubbing it, rubbing it, rubbing it, rubbing it, and it becomes hot. And after a little while it starts giving you smoke. After a little while, it catches fire. So that is the example. And so, the level that you get is when you actually get the fire. Fire is going, that’s what you needed. But before you get the fire, you need to get the rock to become very hot, and when they come very hot the smoke will come. In order to get very hot you need to rub. If you don’t rub it’s not going to get hot at all. So this is the example for this.
So that’s what it is, and I’m sorry I went a little over. But. I hope it’s not too boring and too difficult, but it’s a very important point. Really, what you have to remember is that it’s GONE, GONE, GONE ALTOGETHER BEYOND. I’m not sure, “altogether beyond”, a transform. That’s what GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SOHA. That’s what it is. So that’s going to be the subject. A very little one, but a very important one.
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