Archive Result

Tape 13 side A -08/06/96

Tonight we have a very special guest. It is Rilbur Rinpoche who has been here for almost a month and has given teachings on the week ends for the senior students. Rinpoche will be leaving tomorrow. I asked him to join us tonight and so we are very happy to have him here. Many of you know Rilbur Rinpoche, many don’t. He is one of the very senior lamas and he lives in Dharamsala in India with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. He is visiting the United States, giving teachings and has been teaching here for the last two week ends. Tomorrow, Rinpoche will go to Washington DC and then will go to California to give a variety of teachings, including Heruka initiations and teachings, Vajrayogini initiations and teachings, also Lama Chöpa.

At the same time I would also like to welcome a very dear friend of mine who has flown in from Malaysia, just has a 30 hour almost non-stop flight behind her and still looks very fresh.

Since Rilbur Rinpoche is here he will give some advice. Today I may therefore not be able to cover that much of the Bodhisattvacharyavatara.

Rinpoche insists that I talk a little bit first. So lets open at verse twenty-one and verse twenty-two:

Verse twenty-one

If even the thought to relieve

Living creatures of merely a headache

Is a beneficial intention

Endowed with infinite goodness,

Verse twenty-two

Then what need is there to mention

The wish to dispel their inconceivable misery,

Wishing every single one of them

To realise boundless good qualities?

So if one has the thought of solving a single person’s difficulties, that creates tremendous amounts of merit or good karma. It becomes helpful and beneficial.

Just for the new people that are joining us today for the first time I briefly introduce the subject: :

We are in the middle of reading the Bodhisattvacharyavatara. We are using the translation called ‘The Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’. We are within the first chapter which is about the benefits of the bodhimind. Bodhimind is the technical name used here. It is ultimate compassion, ultimate love, unlimited, unconditioned compassion and love. That is the real essence of the bodhimind. So we are really talking about the qualities and benefits of that love and compassion. Within that we are saying now that if we are trying to solve a problem for one individual, it helps tremendously - not only the individual with the problem, but also the person who is solving the problem. I mention very often, when we realize them, our main job is to make ourselves free from the misery of negative neuroses, such as anger, hatred and jealousy.

When you realize that and you see how difficult it is, how much you are suffering from it, then it is so important to switch the focus and realize that everybody else, the person that you share your life with, that you live with, your companion and everybody has the same problems. You have to recognize that. That becomes extremely important, instead of remaining with the attitude, ‘How can I get out of this problem? What shall I do?’ Don’t do that. That is what I have been telling people ever since we started the Bodhisattvacharyavatara. The way how to get out yourself is by caring for others who are having the same problems. Realize that, work for it, try to relieve the pain. Find out the best way to do that. And when you can relieve the other person’s pain, you will be happy, satisfied. Are you with me? That is extremely important, rather than saying,’ How can I do [things for myself]?’.

Also you have to remember that the way to work like that is not so much by withdrawing inside yourself, under the pretence of meditation and saying mantras. Indirectly, in other words you are finding another cocoon in which to hide and if you try to keep yourself in that cocoon, thinking, ‘How can I develop?’ you will still go round. So the way to do it is, the moment you realize there are difficulties and you want to be free, you see that also in all other people. Begin with the people you share your life with, your family members, your kids, parents, etc. Everybody is in the same boat. Think, ‘As much as I have that difficulty, they have the same difficulty’. Begin with one to one, on an individual level, rather than with all sentient beings as a big, impossible long shot. It is a long shot. It has tremendous benefit thinking of all sentient beings, no doubt. But it is a long shot to solve each and every single person’s problem. So whatever we can do, right in front of our own nose, who comes face to face with us, each one of them, try to pick up their problem and try to help them, rather than making it more complicated, more confused, and add up your own neuroses on top of their neuroses. That makes it only more difficult. Instead of that, whatever wisdom you have, whatever compassion you can get, whatever caring mind you have, try to solve their problem, try to help them. If you can solve that, how happy you will be. Even if it is only a little bit of a problem. That is the Bodhisattva’s way of building happiness - by serving others.

So verse twenty-one says that relieving someone of any problem, even just a simple headache, with the desire, motivation and influence of bodhimind, compassion, has tremendous benefit. Not because you resolve the headache. Not because you happen to be a doctor and give the right drug to get rid of that headache. But you have the motivation to relieve the suffering that people are experiencing, just as you yourself are experiencing. Try to relieve that, with the desire to relieve that, to bring them joy, relieve their suffering. When you have that motivation, you create a tremendous amount of benefit. It is not because you prescribe the right drug for the right illness, but because of the mind, the motivation. That is why you get benefit.

I keep on saying, ‘In the year 2000, we are not going to have time to meditate all the time, we are not going to have eight hours to put in. We are not going to have time to sit for three years in a cave or under a tree. We are not going to have that at all. So we must find the best techniques how we can make our daily chores, our commitments, paying our usual bills, beneficial. That is what we have to make into our spiritual path. To do this depends totally on the motivation. That is what I have been saying ever since we have been meeting here.

The unlimited, unconditioned love and compassion will not just select one or two persons. When you have the desire to relieve everybody’s problems and bring everybody to the ultimate level of joy, you are bound to have a tremendous amount of merit. That is what verse twenty-two is saying. So the benefit of this mind is tremendous, it is immeasurable, really.

We have just covered that when looking at the vows. Once you have the vows, then even if you are just sleeping, or if you are high all the time, it will be beneficial. So it depends so much on the power of that mind, how you set up your mind. The mind has tremendous power. We all know that. The mind is what makes everything different for us. If you depend on physical things only, it is very limited. If you want to say mantras, how many can you say? Ten, fifteen, twenty perhaps. There may be a few people who will be able to say a couple of thousands or a hundred thousand or something. So it is really limited. And the more we go into the year 2000 and further, we will be much more busy, there will be much more pressure. It is not like the good, old days, really. I was really shocked when I met some of the Tibetans who recently came from Tibet to the United States. Each one of them has two jobs! They are working like sixteen or fourteen hours a day, each one of them, just to make a living. That must be the same for you too. Those of you, who hang around, half working, half not working, are very lucky persons - if you can manage continuously. Otherwise there is tremendous pressure. When you have two jobs, where is the time to meditate, to say mantras, where is the time when you can hide in your cocoon? There is none. Therefore you really have to make the best use of what is available right in front of you. Simply learn how to motivate yourself and use that. Even if you don’t have bodhimind, you can have some kind of artificial bodhimind working towards that direction. Try to develop that and even before you develop that, try to pray that you may develop that. It works. Then try to bring that mind up. Then every single thing you do will become beneficial. Every single chore that you do regularly: doing your laundry, ironing your clothes, going shopping, waiting in the malls, driving across the highways. Each one of them will become beneficial. One has to learn that. That is what bodhimind does. How to develop the bodhimind and how to practise after that, what sort of attitude the individual should have, we are going to go through with this in this teaching. By the time you have completed this, you will have some solid thing about how you should focus your life in the spiritual path. This is the guidance and direction that this will give you.

But now we have Rilbur Rinpoche here who is really a great being and I have been yapping on a lot, which is not very nice and he will hopefully address us.

Rilbur Rinpoche (RR) as translated by Gelek Rinpoche(GR):

I have been asked to speak and so I have to say something. Especially, if there is something which brings joy temporarily and blissful pleasure permanently, I should definitely speak about that. But this invitation to talk came all of a sudden, so I really don’t remember much. However, I have observed Gelek Rinpoche talking and you people listening and I would like to make some comments as good as I can. What I observe is that you people are very fortunate, because you have a nice teacher here. He is also a great Mahayana master who is sharing the essence of the Mahayana teaching which is called Bodhisattvacharyavatara. This is very fortunate and if you read the text itself it says there that unless you have accumulated a tremendous amount of virtuous merit, you will not have such an opportunity. You have a qualified teacher giving you the essence of the Mahayana teaching. I rejoice in that.

Today I would like to talk about the benefit of learning a spiritual path. I would like to quote from the Buddha who said that learning is the light to clear the darkness of ignorance. Learning is the best wealth. It can not be stolen by thieves or anybody else. It is the best friend who will never let you down, no matter how low you may be and how great the difficulties you may be in. It is also the best weapon to protect you and destroy your enemy, ignorance. It is also the friend who shares with you the best method.

It is very important to learn because the spiritual path is such that one cannot really properly follow, unless you really know what you are doing. So the first step is definitely learning. I met a number of people around the world and many of them told me that their bag had been stolen, that they had forgotten this thing and that thing was gone, etc. But the wealth of learning is such that you will not leave it on the bus and leave without it. Somebody that takes your bag can never take your knowledge. So this is something you will not lose, unless you forget. It is travelling around with you, wherever you go. So spiritual knowledge is the best wealth you can really accumulate.

It is the best wealth. I have seen many times at airports that people cannot lift their bags because they are too heavy, they cannot carry them, so they can only drag and push them around. Some other possessions people have to hide from customs officials and law enforcement people. They are afraid to show them. With the spiritual wealth you don’t have to do that. You don’t have to drag it around, you don’t have to hide it from the customs officers or the law enforcement. You don’t have to lift it up, but can take it with you wherever you go. You can move around with both hands free and that wealth will move with you.

I also had some personal experience. When I was in Tibet, the communist Chinese have arrested me, put me in jail and went through everything I had in my pockets. They looked through everything. I had a watch and they took that. I did not get it back. They took my shoes and even my socks and my belt and still kept on searching after that. If there was anything I wanted to have in jail, I had to hide it. But the knowledge of whatever I learnt of the spiritual path, they could not take from me, they could not strip it off me, it went with me. Therefore material wealth is unreliable. It does not necessarily go with you, even in this life time.

The wealth of knowledge that I had learnt stayed with me and travelled with me. As long as I have my body and mind together, that knowledge will be with me. That knowledge has become my best friend. It gave me all sorts of methods how to exist in prison. It showed me how to act, how to think, particularly how to endure the sufferings of torture. It became a really good friend when I had to go through hardship. That knowledge is what I have received from a great many masters, like for example the lam rim and the training of the mind. That has become a really handy, useful, reliable friend who will not let me down and will not cheat me.

In prison, although I went through a lot of physical difficulties, I was able to keep my mind at peace and in harmony. It helped tremendously. I saw that all the treatment and the torture in jail was the reality, the ugly face of samsara, the cycle of life that goes round. It is the result of the negativities that we have indulged in. That is also a great opportunity to purify the heavy negativities we have accumulated. That not only helped myself, but I could share it with other people and that helped them too. Some other people could not think properly, so they started crying and screaming in prison. So I talked to them and said, ‘Don’t cry, don’t feel bad, enjoy this as a great opportunity, etc. ‘. So it became very helpful. In this way the spiritual knowledge is your best friend. It gives you a lot of solutions. Even though there may be physical difficulties and even torture, you can still maintain your mind at peace.

There were about two hundred people with me in prison. If you looked very carefully, quite a number of them had the experience of learning spiritually, particularly the lam rim and training of the mind. All of them had physical difficulties, but they were still making jokes and having fun. They were very relaxed and totally different from those who neither had that learning or never thought about it or meditated on it .

end of side A of tape 13

Tape 13 side B - 08/06/96

You could see the difference. It was like black and white. You could see it absolutely clearly with each and every individual. I would like to give one example. If I don’t give any names, it would not be right. There was a guy who was one of the chief judges in Lhasa, called Drang Döpa Mikyö Dorje. He happened to be a judge, but not a very nice person. He spent most of his time drinking and gambling. When he was arrested, he was so nervous, he could not sit down, he was literally shaking, crying and after a while, no tears were coming any more, but he was still sobbing and hoping, ‘Do you think they will let me go free?’ He knew that all others with him were prisoners and yet he was still asking, ‘Do you think they will let me out?’ So he was crying, could not sleep at night and had all these difficulties. I am sure that he had asked other Rinpoches the question before, but he asked me too, so I tried to explain to him the best way I could. He would listen and became quiet for a little while, and then he became hysterical again and I tried to calm him down again. At the end of all that, when they were all released, he hold me, ‘The help you gave me in prison was really great. Otherwise, by now I would have gone totally crazy. I managed to go through with all this, because you people comforted me and shared with me. This was very helpful.’

Now with learning, you need to have a complete spiritual path which will not let you down. Just because something claims to be a spiritual path, that does not guarantee you any ultimate development or that you will not be let down. We are all educated human beings. As educated human beings, we should behave better than dogs. If you throw a piece of liver to a dog, the dog will probably immediately eat it. It won’t even examine it. As educated human beings we should not behave like animals and look for a perfect path. We should make sure that the path is unmistaken. A perfect, unmistaken path will not let you down.

It is very important to observe the dharma or teaching and check very carefully whether it is useful to you and helpful to you, if it is good for you. You should observe that for yourself, rather than accepting what somebody presents as a spiritual path. In other words, you should not follow blindly. Not only should you observe the teaching, but also the individual teacher. Find out whether he or she is good for you or not and observe very carefully.

The great Kadampa master Geshe Potowa said,

Before you take a teaching you have to observe the teacher very carefully. Once you have taken teachings, you have to give the best respect and follow whatever that person’s teachings are. You should not think otherwise, because then it would become a big problem for you.

Another great master said,

The blessings of the great lamas or gurus or Buddhas do not depend on the teachers themselves, but on the individuals and how they treat their masters. They will receive the blessings accordingly.

In the spiritual path it is extremely important to observe the path, the teacher, the teaching and finally follow it with the proper devotion.

Right now you people are on the perfect path. As I said earlier, a great Mahayana master is giving a great Mahayana teaching. So it is all perfect for you. What you really should do when you come here once a week is gather together and listen. That is wonderful. But what you do with this and every night when you go home, you should think, ‘What did he say last Tuesday?’ Try to analyze and think about it. When you try to think, many of these things will be useful and helpful for your mind. Try to remember that and remember that every day. Like the great Tsong Khapa has said,

The purpose of the Dharma is to have it working in practice with you, in your life.

So whatever you learned, try to think about it and apply it as much as possible. Think about it at least daily. That way it becomes more effective. It is great now, but it will become even better and greater.

The author of this text you are studying is called Shantideva, which means something like ‘Great God of Peace’. That is the literal translation. He was undoubtedly a great learned master. However, sometimes people would call him ‘The one who only knows three things’. They would call him ‘Three timer’, they called that. And what did he know? How to eat, how to sleep and how to shit. Did Rinpoche already tell the story? Oh, he did! So if you already know it, I won’t go into it, there is no use adding up. That would not have any purpose. But we have a saying in Tibetan,

If there is something important, you have to make sure it is remembered. And when it is great Dharma, you have to do it a hundred times more.

But I am not going to repeat it any more today. But since Shantideva composed this text himself, it is totally based on his personal experience. So it is very helpful to your mind. Every time when you listen here, go back home and think about it. It will make a big difference to your life.

You people should realize that you have a great advantage. Not only do you have a teacher who is a Mahayana teacher, a qualified great master living here, but also he is also talking to you on a normal life basis, person to person all the time. It is very fortunate and convenient too. This is very beneficial. There are other lamas and some are quite open, others are not, however they don’t speak English and you need a translator. Even if they do speak English, they don’t speak it very well and you half think that he said it this way and half you think that he must have meant it that way. Then you have to re-translate and re-translate. Many other centers have a lot of these difficulties. You don’t have that, so you are very fortunate. It is very convenient for you. Then you should also pray that Rinpoche may live long. If you do that, what happens is, one of the best ways to prolong your own life is to pray for the longevity of the teacher. So do that also.

I have mentioned something last weekend, but because some of you have not be there I would like to repeat it again here. Rinpoche is always thinking how he could best contribute to the happiness of the people who come here every week, how he could make them a little kinder, gentler, how he contribute so that they reduce their anger, their attachment, their fear. I noticed that he thinks all the time about that. He always thinks how he could contribute to each and every individual. That is where you are very fortunate. [GRinpoche: which is not true!] I spent one month here and I noticed how he was always thinking how best he could bring peace to these peoples’ minds, how best he could help them to become better persons. He may say that it is true or not, but we can see it, it is reality. Rinpoche is also looking for a bigger center, better accommodation for you. He is always worrying about it, thinking and talking about it. I said the other day and it is very important: When Buddha was alive he had a lot of disciples and they were all moving around, wherever Buddha went. They followed him and there was no strong center or sanctuary there. Then Buddha told one of his benefactors, ‘Did you build any sanctuary?’ and the person said, ‘No.’ Then Buddha said, ‘You should build sanctuaries. Wherever they are sanctuaries, Buddhism will develop and will be helpful to all of them.’ That is why they did build a sanctuary and Buddha did spend almost twenty-five summer retreats in there. That has been an extremely helpful source of the Buddhist teachings which are available even now. Likewise here, Rinpoche is also thinking about having a bigger and better center. In short, the development of Buddhism and the benefit of many beings and American Buddhism and the help for American people will be based on that. I feel that you people should put all your efforts into that. Everybody should put their efforts together and try to help. That is important, not for you as such, but for the future generations and for everybody.

I have been noticing that in order to have a good center, you need to have money and I noticed Rinpoche wondering how to pay the bills. He is talking about it all the time. So I don’t think one individual can pay that much, but everybody should put their thoughts together and find some ideas and try to make some money too.

Tomorrow I am going to California, but for now I really want to tell you, what you need to do is to find some peace of mind, try your best in this. Think about it. When it is helpful to you, follow it. If it is not, throw it away. In Buddhism, especially in Tibetan Buddhism, they don’t tell you, ‘Go and meditate’, ‘Go and do this and that’, ‘Move here, move there’. They simply give you teachings. Then you simply listen, think about it, observe if it is helpful. And if you don’t need to do it or want to do it, nobody can force you. But if it is helpful, you have to do it yourself. Tibetan Buddhism goes in a very relaxed manner. Buddha himself has said,

Whether you are a disciple, observer, or whatever you may be, check this message of mine. If you find it is worthwhile, pure gold, take it. If not, throw it away in the garbage.’ So it is very relaxed. Take advantage of that.

So if you observe it yourself and find it useful, practice and follow it. If you don’t, no matter who says it, even Buddha, throw it away. Don’t accept something, because Buddha said so. I don’t have much to say, but whatever I said, remember that once an old monk came here and told you that. Thank you.

GRinpoche: I would like to thank Rilbur Rinpoche for giving advice and sharing his experience with us. At the same time I would like to take the opportunity today to celebrate Debbie’s birthday. She has been working very hard with total dedication, no self-interest whatsoever, totally dedicated to benefit her friends and people around her, bringing some help through Jewel Heart. She worked so hard, under great pressure, with physical, financial and mental difficulties. She keeps the Jewel Heart function together under great difficulties. We are very grateful for what you have been doing year after year. Happy Birthday to you, Debbie!

end of side B of tape 13