Archive Result

Soundfile 19970710GRBH3P

Speaker Gelek Rimpoche

Location Bloomfield Hills

Topic Three Principles of the Path

Transcriber Jill Neuwirth

Date 4/14/2021

Basically what we talk is so far the bodhimind and love and compassion. Love and compassion, but you know we did not really, I mean this particularly at this level we did not really share with you how it’s been developed because we simply just show you a glimpse of what it is, what is has. So I think we have the, sort of basically talked a love and compassion almost enough. And still, still I would like to make a clear once again. Both love and compassion is a sort of, one single mind with two kind of aspects. One side, one aspects of the mind wishes, the one aspect wishes all the people being wish them well, free of pain, and free of pain is one side of wish, and wishing them well and happy and joy is another aspect. Actually, one mind looking through a two different windows. So one is labeled as compassion the other’s labeled as love. Pure love, I mean this is just rough introduction, but you know, if you think that love is that weak just simply wishing them it’s not worth or something, that’s not right. Just very simply introducing in the mind level. And the such a mind of a really caring and unable to almost bear it, unable to bear it suffering of other beings, and such a powerful sense of wishing to have joy to yourself and to others very strongly, that is the thought.

[0:02:42.4] That thought is doesn’t come up just by, just by reading or thinking or listening alone. Thinking much with door (?)[0:02:59.0] listening, and reading, and even praying doesn’t come that at all. So what does, where does that come from? How you get it? It is absolutely depends on the training of mind. So this is also a mind training. Training your mind to look in certain way to accept in certain way, to feel in certain way, that’s and then that also with a very strong reason. Very strong reason. Reason that you put out for yourself to be able to convince yourself and that is the, that is very important point. And particularly a lot of those Tibetan Buddhist tradition is that not depend on belief. Does not depend on though a lot of people do encourage saying prayers but does not depend on saying prayers. It does not depend on mantra. The Dalai Lama goes around everywhere you can see, every, every speech that he give around he said don’t keep on saying mantras. Don’t keep on saying prayers. Don’t spend time on that. And he’s going around everywhere talking that. This is an extremely important point. What happened is, if you cannot think, if you cannot process your thoughts, then your only chance is left to pray. Right? So it might be a convenient for uneducated, almost illiterate Tibetans to learn a certain mantras and keep on saying hundreds of thousands of times, and because that’s what they could do. But in the West people are educated and they’re bright and you can do far better than that of spending lot of time saying your prayers or doing your mantras.

[0:05:16.5] Actually what is in spiritual development after all, it is the mental development. All mental developments come out of mind training. Mind training is necessary, because of the karma. Whatever we do, whatever we act, we create positive or negative karma. So in order to avoid creating negative karma, in order to gain a positive karma, you train yourself not to indulge in the negative actions. And that’s how you, that’s why commitments become important in Vajrayana because commitment makes you, makes you commit to do certain things and not to do certain things. So by doing that, do or not do by commitment, then what happens is automatically your way of, your way of living and your way of thinking will become a changed. It becomes a positive. You know we have very, lot of people are very interested transforming a negativity. People always look at that. When you talk about negativity and transforming it, everybody’s very excited and they’re sort of, they sort of look for something like you have a white piece of cloth and put, dip them in a yellow color and came out like a yellow cloth then people are looking sort of something certainly you do some kind of process you do and then dip it out and tear out and oh, it’s yellow now. And that doesn’t work that way.

[0:07:07.0] The transforming negativity is, there’s a three different level of transforming negativity, and there ordinary, usual, everyday, mundane person like you and me and that type of transforming the negativity, and the person who is a little bit higher up has way of transforming, and very high person’s having high in spiritual, just sort of becoming almost close to buddha and that type of people having transforming negativities are slightly different, though it is the same process. So in our level, what we do is we recognize the negativities and acknowledge their faults and train our self act a different way. Function different way. That’s how you’re going to, how we transform because we don’t have that magic show yet. So, so it’s that can only be done by training your mind, not by saying prayers, not by sitting and looking in the air, though people teach and it is there. All there, and I have no criticism for Zen or Dzogchen, or don’t take that as a criticism for them, but without training your mind, it won’t work. It doesn’t work.

[0:08:49.1] Sometimes we are, I mean we are, we’ve been witnessing lot of, number of people who have been in Buddhism for years, I mean years, like decades, like twenty years, thirty years and you still see them very proud, they have huge pride, but proud, but they have huge pride and they get upset, they’re angry, they’re touchy, they are- well, if it’s just an ordinary person who had never been in dharma you probably call them, “Oh he’s a terrible person.” Or “She’s terrible person.” At that sort of level you still notice after twenty, twenty to thirty years, it is simply because you did not train your mind. They did not deal with you. Every practice there’s been focus outside. And did not look inside. Of course, you say sadhanas and then you build a deity pride, and you do not know how to gene- how to separate the true self and self that has been projected as a deity, so you don’t recognize them, and then they pride one day after day, day after day, adds up, “Oh, I’m somebody.” In reality I am nobody but it’s becomes, “I’m somebody.” That’s how they build pride up. Truly speaking, if you’re dealing with your mind looking inwards you, looking inwards your pride and then training yourself, you know what’s going to find? You be, you be very proud of yourself, however you’re very humble. And not what you call it? Not try to pretend that I’m somebody.

[0:11:04.5] In normal Tibetan monasteries the disciplinary people, they’re like you know, two people who are in charge of the discipline of the monastery, every year they change. So the disciplinary people who normally say, “If you think you can wear the sky on your head and have the clouds touch your head with this,” you know with the string that tied your head you know, “If you think you’re going to have that,” he said, “I have no shortage of sticks to break your head.” That’s what, that’s normally they tell you. And that is- this is traditionally they do, they just say it, they just, they may not do it but they keep on threatening that all the time. So the simple reason is discipline is not simply discipline how you sit and how you say your prayers, but, but how you think and how you train your mind. And recognize pride as a pride and change that. This is extremely important. Such a changing of negative neurosis such as anger, or, and all this will not be make no- if you don’t train your mind, it make no difference. You may just say it and waiting something to pop up or you may keep on saying Om mani padme hum (repeats several times) that’s easy to say, see even me. That’s easy to say, you know? So if you keep on doing that for twenty-four hours, 365 days, maybe one day holiday, doing like for years, like sixty years, nothing going to happen to the person.

[0:13:05.4] You may build some merit, nothing going to happen to that person. Well, something will happen, that’s true. It’s not that nothing will happen. Something will happened because direct contact with the subject or object which roses, which rises, or is it roses? Audience: Rises. Rimpoche: Rises those neurosis are not in touch, so therefore it will be a little bit settled down because there won’t be, because you don’t contact direct object of those things. So that’s that. Otherwise nothing going to happened. And that is not the purpose of a ultimate Buddhism. The ultimate Buddhism is not here to reduce the power of, power of neurosis, but it’s here to eradicate it’s completely out of your system for which you really need thought processing. Processing of your thought, analyzing, checking by yourself, finding it right or wrong by you, for you, with the reasons. It’s become a strong with you. Nobody else can tell you, oh you’re wrong, or this or that, nobody can change. You are become a strong. You have your own foundation. You feet is on the ground. Otherwise, somebody else can say “Hey! You’re doing wrong!” Say “Jesus, I’ve been doing wrong for all this time, so what I’m supposed to do?” He says “No, no” He says blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He says, “Oh yeah, okay I’ll try this way.” Blah, blah, blah, blah. You know like the flag there in the wind blow from the east side then you go to the west and goes flap flap flap flap for a while. And then suddenly wind direction will change and goes toward the east, flap flap flap flap flap. So that’s what happens the individual. So because you have nothing in here, you have nothing in here, it’s empty.

[0:15:32.6] And then any advices to tell you what to do, function like Ronald Reagan. (Laughs) I’m sorry. Ah yeah, I shouldn’t say that today, I’m sorry really. It’s not appropriate. It’s not funny, I’m sorry because I just forgot he was sick, you know? So sorry about that. So you know, I mean that’s the person doesn’t have a principle. The person doesn’t have a why you don’t have principle, because you don’t provide principle. You don’t, you don’t think, you don’t analyze thought, you don’t analyze the points, you did not analyze anything. You simply listened or you simply read or you simply follow somebody. Somebody who told you. And that somebody could be with a big name, or with no name, but whatever may be very convincing person like used car sellers or something. Anybody who can convince you and then you just follow them. And that shows the lack of strong foundation. So in order to avoid that, basically you need to learn a spiritual path. Path is, you know, our job is here to try to introduce you the path. The path is like this, the Buddha did this, Buddha did that, Buddha training mind like this, like this, like this, like this. We talk to you, present you, and after that, we leave it up to you. We don’t- we’re not here to manage your life. We’re not here to, to tell you what you should do. Certainly not. That is not a my job for whatsoever. I’m here to present the path and how it’s going to follow, good, bad, whatever, that’s up to the individual. We have nothing to say. Nothing to do. You have to do it. If you ask questions, if we know something, we will definitely help you whatever we could. That practice is in the individual’s hand. Not an organization, not in a spiritual friend, not in hands of gurus, or the guides, or the lamas, and whosoever, it is not.

[0:18:26.3] So it‘s depends on the absolutely individual. Wherever you think, it is up to you. Normally they tell you well thinking in the morning, clean your house and lay your incense, burn your incense and lay you offerings, sit cross-legged, and this and that. If you can do that, that’s great. But if you can’t do that, just do it wherever, whatever you could. I spent half of my life saying my prayers in bed. Really true. In bed. So that’s what it is. Perhaps at the beginning level if you starting lying in bed and saying your prayers maybe, that maybe not work very well it’s looks some funny but when you get used to it then it’s, that’s how it help you know. It’s easier, too. Anyway. So the making difference to your normal mind and normal way of thinking, normal way of functioning, is if you have the thought process within you, “Is this good or bad? Do I care?” If I do, yeah it’s, “Do I care if I’m doing good or bad, do I care?” So naturally you begin to think and says yes, there’s something called karma, how does that work? And that’s makes me responsibility. So what happens? So that sort of thought will go, maybe you can have dialogue with yourself. As long as your companion doesn’t think you’ve gone crazy. So if you keep on talking to yourself your companion may say well, now he’s going crazy after going to Jewel Heart, becoming crazy. They may say that, but that is joke.

[0:20:32.0] But as, I mean, so you can have a dialogue with yourself, say, “Yeah, okay because I am responsible for me, for my deeds all this, if something good happens I’ll be responsible, I enjoy. If something bad happens, I’ll be responsible. Do I, so naturally I do care.” You know like that, I’m just throwing example. Naturally I do care, because I become responsible. I don’t want to be irresponsible person, right? So you have to think that way. Will I like to be irresponsible or do I want to be responsible? Our pride is such they will say, “Yeah I would like to be responsible. I don’t want to be irresponsible.” Right? They will, everybody will say that. So then if you wanted to be responsible, then I have to have to be responsible to my deeds and how best way? So things like that. You keep on thinking it. And if you keep on thinking- this is true meditation, believe me. This is the deepest and the best meditation. This, I mean, actually, actually Tsongkhapa labeled this as an analytical meditation. So which is the most powerful meditation than that of just sitting. Just sitting will somehow put imprint on your mind, you know, put imprint on your mind, you say, “Life is precious, life is precious, life is precious, life is precious.” of almost that way. This analyzing so you get convince yourself, life is precious. I cannot misuse, mistreat my life. I cannot abuse my life. My life is extremely precious. You yourself with reason you knew it. So when you knew it, somebody tells you your life is worth for a wooden nickel and you say no, he doesn’t even know anything what he’s talking about it. So you can there’s no way you can think maybe he’s right. So that’s how you have to make yourself strong and grounded. All the steps we have talked earlier, and each and every point of step you spend time and first familiarized, then second, sort of gain proper understanding, and third, then it is the subject of conversation. The subject of dialogue, subject of thinking and use that. And then, then, you don’t have to think about yourself because of this dialogue going within you, or this debate going within you, this analyzing going within you, will automatically affect yourself as a being, as a human being.

[0:23:49.9] And because it affect as a human being deep in yourself the every outcoming of action, your dealings with people, your way of thinking, way of perceiving even, it’s big difference. There is big difference in there. There’s really big sort of surprise there. So that’s that is only comes out if you think and analyzes. And if you don’t think and analyze nothing will happened. You can spend sixty years, or eighty years, or a hundred years saying the same thing and nothing happens. Now the Tibetans, great traditional Tibetan masters what they have done one great advantage over any other presentation of meditation and what they have is combination of saying prayers and meditation together. Combination of saying mantra and meditation together. It’s united. Unfortunately, in the west the moment we talk meditation, people will straightaway think you have to shut your mouth and whatever you do, you know. And sit with a crossed leg or whatever and you think that is meditation and you don’t think, don’t think of combined them together. And you get your piece of paper saying certain prayers in your hand you say the prayer, you simply saying you’re thinking of what you’re saying the sound only and which is tremendous amount of disadvantage. So thought and saying prayers goes together, so then what will happened is then you have, then it’s happens that you have gained both together in one time. Actually the amount of time that you spend is one. One time. And what you worked is double the work. So that is the definitely advantage. And so same as with mantra. And if you don’t think about the mantra and if you don’t think, don’t meditate anything, training your mind you keep on saying Om mani padme hum two million times, so what? What the big deal? Nothing.

[0:26:25.9] So the actually it really depends on the individual how to think. So what to think we have already talked here. Now let me go this one, “Yet without habituation in the three higher trainings thought training accomplishes no enlightenment.” What does that mean? Tony? Audience: My understanding is without practicing the three moralities I think it’s moralities- (Inaudible) [0:27:06.2] Rimpoche: I understood that but here it says, “Thought training accomplishes no enlightenment.” Without habituation. Without habituation, right? So that is again, it is almost same thing, and it doesn’t affect individual no matter even think alone. Even you think. The ethics and what you call it? Moral and all this, it doesn’t affect individual. Affect, what I mean is I don’t mean affect, I’m not talking affect that you cannot eat meat and that affected, or you’re going to eat that meat and that- I’m not talking about that affect. I’m talking about the effect to the actual consciousness, actual soul of the people. Deep inside the people. So when the thoughts and the training affects that, then what is comes out is a big different. Without affecting no matter whatever you do, you can’t doesn’t do any good. I mean, it may do some good but doesn’t do good enough. It’s not good enough. So affecting the individual deeply is extremely important. And when you’re talking about here higher training, actually talking about ethics. A lot of people talk, a lot of- there’s a big issue on the ethics everywhere, everybody talks ethics. So the true, the ultimate ethics for our self is I am responsible for my deeds. You are each and every one of us responsible for each and every deeds what we have. This is the real ethics.

[0:29:26.8] It’s not that sort of, you know, the different ethics people talk at different level, you can’t have this, you can’t do that, you can’t do that, this is good, this is bad. Well, nobody should judge this is good, this is bad in each and every one of us judge this is good and this is not good for me. You have to be the judge and you cannot, you shouldn’t take anybody’s judgment that given to you. There’s no reason, no one has a right. And you have to be judge on the basis of knowing that each and every one of us responsible to our deeds, knowing that negative neurosis bring a negative result and positive thoughts bring a positive result. That is what is responsibility means. On that basis you judge yourself. Don’t let anybody pass judgment. That’s not right, it won’t help, it won’t do any good. So that is the real ethics. We’re not talking about it when a normal ethics you say, well it is, you know, normally people look in the sexual orientations and all sorts of things, you know? That each and every different people have their own way of looking, but what Buddha’s talking about, talking about, here actually they say three higher trainings.

[0:31:12.7] Three higher trainings is concentration, wisdom, and ethics. So you have a good way of concentration, you have great wisdom, and you follow it accordingly so it’s becomes ethics. So three way of making it habitual. So when you become the things habitual, actually what we’re doing is we’re changing from the old habitual pattern that we’re getting angry, and we cannot bear when somebody says to you something, whether in front of you or at your back, or you know, all this sort of thing could actually changing within you. Changing within you. And that change can only take if you are strong and you have a strong basis of the concentration, wisdom, and following the wisdom and concentration, behaving in such a way or functioning in such a way, behaving maybe not good word, but functioning in such a way. And that’s what it is. And in order to be able to function that way, that way, is again, is if you train yourself you can do it, right? If you don’t train yourself, no matter how much you tried at that moment it’s not going to work at all. It is sort of a stage you’re too late. What happens is when people get very sick and dying and then they call me, or go there, or do something, but virtually you can do nothing. It’s too late for that person because is now going and we can simply pray and do rituals but what guarantee do we have by praying and saying rituals and all this going to be answered? Actually, there is no guarantee. I shouldn’t be telling you that as a Tibetan lama, but true reality is there is no guarantee for that.

[0:33:38.0] So we with best hope and best thing to do but when we are well, when we are, when we’re healthy mentally, especially mentally, even physically something wrong doesn’t matter very much. But I’ve been diabetics for years and doesn’t affect me at all but sometimes I started getting forgetting things and Tony tells me it’s because you ate Nutrasweet. And that makes difference. If you forget, then you make difference, right? But physically a little bit wrong doesn’t matter as long as mentally you are alert and capable then you don’t have to depend on anybody’s prayer, you don’t have to depend on anybody’s mercy, you don’t. It is in your own hand. You are the driver, you’re on the driver’s seat. You can do it. That has guarantee. That has guarantee because of karmic principle. The other one is no guarantee because, because it is simply you pray and, I don’t know, you may call it divine intervention or you may simply call it simply what you’re trying to do is you just simply praying the conditions will be different and that’s what you try to change. It’s not karmic guarantee though. So it’s doing practice, doing this when you are well and healthy it makes big difference. When you’re sick, it’s too late. It’s too late. And when you’re dying, it’s certainly it’s too late, you won’t even hear it. Even you hear it it’s not in a one minute job. So this is years of efforts that you build. You know if it’s one minute job everyone would have become a buddha, why not? So it’s not.

[0:35:40.2] So it is the years of efforts, or years and it’s life after life’s efforts put in. That’s what it is. And I’ll just remembering like Allen Ginsberg, I think two years ago Allen was on a summer retreat and after that I said, “Look, Allen you spend few more days here, don’t go.” I said, “I’d like to do things with you, talk to you about it.” But I said, “If you get sick and if you’re about to die, then we can’t do anything because everybody will hope you live longer and don’t die.” So I had, we had to talk that when you are well and there’s no question of, of dying or living at that moment. So this is true, you know? You know, what even the life after, how do we go, what do we do, we don’t talk about that to the sick people. You talk to the sick people, “Oh yeah, you’re going to live long, blah, blah, blah.” Right? Give you sort of false hope. Whatever may be, that goes for the doctors and nurses and family and clergy, what is it? Audience: Clergy. Rimpoche: Clergy. All of them do the same thing because nobody’s going to go there and say, “Hey, you’re going to die poor fellow, tonight or tomorrow morning.” Nobody’s can do that, right? So, so even you do it, it’s too late. Even you do it, if you don’t have some substantial thing it’s too late. And if you have something solid, substantial, doesn’t matter. Remember Buddha says, “The great practitioners are looking forward for dying.” He said, “It is like so excited that’s their returning home.” Returning home. They’ll be very excited looking forward.

[0:37:44.8] They, the mediocre people, or medium level people, you may not say mediocre, right? But medium level of the people will not be looking forward to dying, however, however, it is acceptable and it’s okay. It’s okay if I’m going, I’m going, that’s fine. It’s time to go. And at least lowest person, the lowest, lowest achievement is at the time when you’re going to die you should not have any regret. Oh I regret I haven’t done this, I regret I wasted my time, I regret I this, all this regret list is coming up in your thoughts by the time you know you’re dying, if you have all this regret thoughts coming, then no matter whatever you might be and you are, you’re spiritual path has been extremely shaky. So, so that’s why the biggest regret to the spiritual path followers that I haven’t done something good for myself.

[0:39:08.4] Incidentally, I saw a movie on the television the other day. I don’t even know what the name of the movie is, but there’s a bus driver and somebody in car crashes and three people dies and somehow they’re not gone yet completely because they haven’t accomplished something, they’re not completed something. So the boys become their some sort of spokesperson, and one has to, one has to return some stamps that they stole from somebody. The other has to see their children, their son, her son. The third one is what- do you remember? Audience: I think sing a song. Rimpoche: Oh sing a song, that’s right. So I saw that you know? But the funny thing is, funny thing is the thoughts of those movie producers the simple thought of accomplishment in life is material only they’re thinking. Material, like, you know? Singing a song and become a great singer or, well, that’s not bad returning of the stamps that you stole from somebody for years ago, or seeing your son, that’s not wrong. It’s good and wonderful. But that’s not the purpose of life. So when I’m watching that, I see the movie, I enjoy the movie, and my thoughts goes on saying that what a poor choice of a purpose of life. Extremely poor choice. I say it is very important to a person to family, it is, no doubt. But it is very poor choice.

[0:40:59.7] Choice because, the purpose of life is, in this life if possible you should become fully enlightened. If not possible, at least you have very strong commitment of altruistic service influenced by the love and compassion. Even that’s not there, making yourself free from the sufferings. And these are the three main things. These are the three main things. The Kadampa teachers have said earlier, “If I have life for one week to live, I make my life worthwhile. If I have one month to live, I will make myself free from the samsara. If I have one year to live I make myself enlightened.” So these are the Kadampa lama means earlier Tibetan teachers, very, very early who are dealing with the transition of the Buddhism between India and Tibet and that period groups, people so-called Kadampa lamas. So they used to say that. So the purpose of life is not simple as that. The mission of life, if you like it. This life is extraordinary life. We all know that. It also have its purpose, it’s mission. The mission is to liberate yourself and others. That is the mission of life. Goes for everybody. Everybody. Don’t ever think it is my goal, yeah sure. It is the purpose of each and everybody because the tools what we have this life is extraordinary. Extraordinary. It definitely big difference than any other life. So wasting this life is not very good. And, and, and by the time- (Audio cuts) [0:43:18.8] -who have the karmic guarantee in your hand, karmic guarantee in your pocket and you go. So then can nothing to be worried. Completely relaxed and go.

[0:43:40.0] And in order to have that, and if you become, it’s become habitual that you functioning in the right way, it’s become your habit so don’t have to put any efforts in it. You don’t have to you know, you don’t pull and push. We do that all the time. But when it’s become sort of automatic habits you don’t have to do that anymore, it’s sort of naturally, like, like we don’t have to teach people how to get up. We get up, right? When we wake up we get up. Or you may lounge a little bit, but you get up. You don’t have to teach that. And that’s, just like that. You don’t have to teach, you have to eat food. We’re hungry we’ll eat it. Right? We don’t have to taught us we have to go to toilet because if demand comes we automatically run. Right? So in that manner, even your spiritual work, if you’re becoming like that within you and that has become habituation. So then every, at least 90% of your deeds will become positive so therefore, for your future bound to be, I mean not bound to be, but your future has no other chance than that of being good. Because all causes of sufferings are gone. It’s not there. So that’s your karmic guarantee. It’s far better than, far better than hundred million people praying for you. It’s far better than that. So anyway, so that’s what I mean, you train your mind, you make it able for you, and you function and that’s how you take over your life and you control your life, not your neurosis. That’s what it is.

[0:45:48.9] Actually we’re fighting for, Trungpa Rimpoche used to always talks about fighting war between you know, Chogyam Trungpa talks about fighting war and Shambhala warriors and this and that and all this, and he goes on talking and beginning I keep on thinking, “What is he talking about it?” I just didn’t get it. And now more I’ve been acquaintance with American culture and people’s way of thinking, I appreciate what Trungpa did most, accept the uniform which is like the Indian civil police uniform but I don’t think, I wonder what that for, but besides that and everything that warrior business and everything it is true because it is a war between the positive and negative. What is at stake is yourself, the person, the person itself whether it’s going to be totally controlled by the negative as we do all the time, or it’s going to be changed and you going to gain control. It’s a fight between yourself and neurosis. Your neurosis. So when you control your neurosis reduce them, or like a shamble (?) [0:47:19.0] of dust or something and when you have control by yourself and then you become dharma practitioner, you become a perfect Buddhist. Or you become a perfect person. You become a perfect spiritual person and that, that’s it. And without which, no matter whatever you do, you say prayers, you be nice here and there, good here and there, try to mean here and there a little bit, you know keep on doing that it’s gets nowhere.

[0:47:50.9] So that’s why thought training, higher training, thought training accomplishes your goal. So what I did here is I introduced the purpose of life, mission of life, and it is achievable. You can make it. It is only what you need is the willingness and the commitment. Commitment for yourself, and to you, by yourself, for you. I’m not seeking commitment for buddhas, I’m not seeking commitment to Jewel Heart, not seeking commitment to me, I don’t care. Really true. I’m not seeking any that, I’m seeking your commitment to you, for you, by you. And because this is an opportunity. Here you can do it. There’s a possible, there’s every ways and means of doing it, and there’s help, there’s support system, there’s everything. You can do it. If you don’t do it, you know the days go so fast, you don’t realize it’s almost half the year gone. Not almost, but it’s already gone half the year, see? I’m still thinking half year, almost half the year gone. Remember that winter we are sitting here and so cold, have to shut everything and even then you be shivering? And now we have to open everything and even then we are hot. So it is like yesterday. So the time goes so fast, we have no idea. It really goes fast. You know those bills that we have to pay monthly every month? You just paid yesterday and it’s here today again, right? So that is how our life and time goes.

[0:49:52.0] So even little, not too much, but little- begin with a very little, always little, not big one. Because you know, first thing when you’re excited little bit then you like to do lot of things and how long it’s going to last in people? To some people it lasts three days, some people last three weeks. Some people last only three years. So not going to do any good. So beginning it should not be so much- what you call it? So excited and wanted to do it and spend all the time you have in between and then after a little, then gradually go down. It’s not right. At beginning you have to give little time, which we, which will not be neglecting your job, your responsibility, your family, whatever it is, we do have time, we all say, “I don’t have time, I’m overworked, I’m over- I don’t have time.” But we do have time. To tell you the truth, if we want we do have time. Those people who tell you I don’t have time, they have time to go and do everything, including spending time in discotechs, or gambling stores, or gossiping, or all this. We do have time. It’s not that we don’t have time, it is true we do have time. We also have a tremendous amount of time to sleep. Half the life we’ll sleep. You know that. And a lot of people like to sleep nine or ten hours, it’s unbelievable. Yeah really they do. I mean, traditionally in Tibet when we’re training the disciplinary people will say, “The sun is on your butt but you’re not- it’s still not dawn yet on your head.” So you get into trouble. In other words sun shined and it’s already on your blanket, the sun’s hitting, however you still haven’t woke up yet. So this is the cause of punishment.

[0:52:13.9] But here we’re not talking about the dawn or sunrise, we’re talking about twelve, or eleven, or one, or two some people don’t get up. It is, it is terrible. The most lazy, most lazy, I mean it’s really, really the lazy. And if you can- you know, I used to, I used to get up because I used to get up early in the morning 4, 4:30 or 5 latest. If I don’t, I get beat on my knee. You know, when a kid I probably sleeping like this knees up and when I don’t get up someone will come and hit the stick here. So I woke up and get up immediately. So I used to do that now of course can’t get up at all but I don’t sleep til 12 or 2 or 1. But people do which is not very good. If you can get up in the morning and you what you can do is tremendous and especially you know beautiful days like this. I mean it’s winter it’s a little difficult but beautiful days like that you can enjoy the fresh air, you can enjoy birds, you can enjoy the trees, you can enjoy the green grass, everything, you know and everything there. And then on top of that, what you can accomplish you can do all your household chore. You can do your spiritual chore. Everything yet, even you can have your breakfast. Even after that it’s not yet 8:00. You still have lot of time to do. You know that is great. That shows you how much we’re wasting time. But you do need certain amount of sleep because our body will demand. But not like ten or eleven hours, you know. Or even nine I think is a little too much unless you’re old and sick. Otherwise it’s a- thank you. Thank you.

[0:54:14.3] So it is also important, sometimes to watch yourself. And you know, then you don’t get up early you go to sleep and then you don’t go to bed at night, you stay up til 2 or 3, which I do nowadays. Two or three. I’m not in position to talk to you not to do because I’ve been doing myself. But actually the traditional Tibetan teachers will tell us and those who doesn’t know how to get up early morning it’s like a cow. And those who doesn’t know how to go to bed at night is like a horse. The horse is standing up and eating and their bells will be dling dling dling all night, you know, because they eat mostly at night and all this horses. So, so we have to be, you know, each one of those earlier Tibetan masters left a saying like this has a very strong meaning to our selves. In other words, I’m telling you have a discipline in your life now, bottom line. The discipline in your life, discipline by yourself, you control it, you discipline. You know what happening, is the thoughts, the thoughts, you know the laziness takes over the thoughts. Sometimes you know, sometimes doubts, sometimes this, sometimes that. So when they taking over, they control your functioning, so you just don’t want to get up, you just don’t want to do this, you just don’t want to think about it. These are the different negative neurosis taking over.

[0:55:56.9] So when you have control, you don’t let this negative neurosis control you. You simply say, “Hey, who are you? Why are you telling me this? What’s your reason? Give me your reason, I’ll give you my reason. Let us see who wins.” And that’s how you function. That’s how you put discipline in your life. It’s not that somebody else tells you, “Hey, you get up 7 in the morning. Hey, you go to bed latest by 12 at night.” That’s not- that doesn’t work. That’s not the way. The way is within you and everything, this is just example. Everything. Anger, you do the same thing. Attachment, you do the same thing. Pride, you do the same thing. Jealousy, you do the same thing. “Alright I know you. Fine. So give me your reasons. Why should I get jealous?” I give you very good reasons. Don’t think they have no reason. They do have very good reasons. If you don’t do it, you will be doormat. And if you don’t- they give you all kind of very, very strong reasons. So then you have to have a counterargument for that, convincing your mind enough and that’s how you function.

[0:57:21.6] Anyway, I think this is over and then comes, and empower me to- what is that? Audience: Pacify the- Rimpoche: Pacify distorted mental wandering and- Audience: Decipher the ultimate meaning of life. Rimpoche: Ultimate meaning. You have by heart. Ultimate meaning of life, okay. So, so if you have these three, actually, three higher trainings are fine but if you have just become habitually functioning well, is that enough? That is the question. The second answer is, even you know it, even you become habitually it is good but you do need concentration power because you may have lot of surprise. You have to have concentration power. If you cannot concentrate and then whatever you focus, it’ll be shaky focus. It will not be strong focus, it will be shaky focus. So in order to not to have shaky focus, in order to have it strong you need good concentration. Now in the Zen tradition or all these people will tell you talk you teach you for concentration. But that is the single point they made as a principle in their tradition, and they taught that as a principle. So that’s why tremendous amount of sitting and sitting and training the people to be able to sit and think in one thing. But it’s very hard to do it. Very hard to do it. But if you have, if you gain the focusing power it’s not only great for your spiritual path, it also great for your work. If you are artist, if you are doing creative work, if you’re a lawyer, if you’re a PhD doctor, if you are nurse or whatever it is. Whatever may be, if you have a concentration power, your work will become much easier to you. Your understanding, your everything. It’s become very, concentration power is extremely important. Concentration alone cannot do it. You can sit there and look and look and look, but you have to have wisdom. So whatever I’ve been telling you, that’s why it said, “Empower me to pacify distorted mental wandering.” Mental wandering is the, you don’t focus. You started thinking something. You started thinking here and at end you ended up somewhere downtown Manhattan or something. So that is what called mental wandering, mind doesn’t focus. You may be reading a book and you read about ten pages and you don’t know what you have read, you don’t think about it. Just keep on reading. People do that, right? So the best way to do to gain concentration power is read shorter time. Think shorter time. Read short and then think about it. And then take a break and then read. Don’t sit down reading too long, you lose your mind control. Anything you think, do short focus sharp concentration. And then when your mind trained you be able to extend that short period into longer and longer and then you be very concentrated all the time.

[1:01:17.2] So concentration alone will not do, you need wisdom. If you don’t have wisdom you keep on concentrating, keep on looking and then what? Keep on looking at whatever, you know? From the, you know, traditional Tibetan teachers will tell you you can learn concentration from the yak’s horn to cow dung. You can concentrate on anything. So you can- the power of concentration can be gained, you can gain if you keep on concentrating. So yak’s horn to cow dung. So then the recommended concentration is image of Buddha or something, whatever. Subject or object. So if you keep on concentrating and you gain concentration, that will reduce the delusions like a anger, attachment, et cetera, reduce. But it does not eradicate. In order to eradicate that, you have to have wisdom. The wisdom, without wisdom is extremely impossible to function. And very true, you cannot function without wisdom. So the concentration and wisdom combined. Training our self in that manner we’ve been analyzing at the beginning, at end of the analyzing you have conclusion, you are focusing on your conclusion, teaches you concentration. Your analyzing will shows you the wisdom. That is how you accomplish. It’s not that- what that is basically a very broad way of introducing the principle of path, or the, the foundations. So I still left two verse here which is dealing with Vajrayana. We’ll talk about that next Thursday. And if you have any questions…Sir?

[1:03:35.5] Audience: This is not something you talked about. I’ve read several different places this phrase “this degenerate age” and I’m wondering, was there a time in the past that wasn’t a degenerate age or is there a time in the future that’s not going to be a degenerate age or is this something that’s going to end automatically, or is it something that is incumbent on humanity to pull itself out of it? Rimpoche: Degenerated age I think, what they call it, what they call it in Sanskrit? Audience: Kaliyuga. Rimpoche: Kaliyuga. Well, during the Buddha’s period, when Buddha was alive, and there’s a great many spiritual teachers at that time is alive together which is call, which was called, fortunate period. Things are happen like this. And then it’s keep on degenerating, getting worse and worse and worse. And finally, might not be finally yet, but nowadays it is called degenerated age because say people- you know a lot of people use their intelligency not for a positive benefit for yourself or for others and they do have a tremendous intellectual capacity misusing them to harm yourself and everybody. So this is the period. This is the fortunate period this is the, what you call? Degenerated age period because we produce tremendous amount of harmful things. We make bombs, we make chemicals that destroys everything, which is also human products, not, not anybody’s product, but human products. We do all this.

[1:05:54.4] And that’s the, and then also we give much more reasons to our negative neurosis support and rather than the positive way of functioning. I mean, it’s almost become a impossible many of them without which you cannot function. Cannot. I mean, you cannot manage without car. We cannot manage without all this sorts of things, you know? So that’s why it’s called degenerated age. However, I’d like to say one thing on this. There was a great teacher, actually they’ve been calling this degenerated age even in thirteenth century in Tibet. They’ve been saying that all the time. Must be traditionally Indian that I’m saying. So one of the disciples goes to his master and saying, “Oh it is so terrible master. It is degenerated age, how terrible it is.” and blah, blah, blah and the master looks at him says, “What? Degenerated age?” Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. He said, “The general degenerated age has nothing to do with me or you and you have nothing to do with degenerated age in general in the time (?) [1:07:21.9] But don’t make yourself degenerated and make yourself a fortunate one, and then that’s good enough. So don’t worry about degenerated age.” That’s what one of the great Kadampa teachers said. It’s not me making it, so don’t worry about it Kaliyuga or whatever. Kaliyuga or? Audience: Kaliyuga? Rimpoche: Kaliyuga whatever. So that’s that. So don’t worry about degenerated age in general. But make yourself a fortunate age and don’t make degenerated age for yourself. So that’s make big difference. In other words you have to concern yourself. So whatever the faults may do, you do the right thing. That’s what it is.

[1:08:30.9] Very much American, independent. Audience: Rimpoche? You seem to place less emphasis on sitting meditation within this sangha in this particular lineage maybe. The Karma Kagyu lineage with which I was associated with for a long time places a lot of emphasis on sitting practice within which of course you sit in shamatha and vipashyana. There’s also studying the dharma and critical thought process but is that just difference in schools of thought? Rimpoche: No it’s me. Yeah, it’s me. It’s me. It’s me. It has nothing to do with the tradition, it’s me. And Dalai Lama seems to be doing the same thing. It’s me. Because to tell the truth it’s what’s going to make difference to you. What’s- our mind is in such a- in a way it’s great, in a way it’s such a stubborn. How can you can convince your mind, how you can convince yourself by forcing you sit here and don’t move, but don’t look at the right, and slap here. Don’t look at the left, slap here. Can we force our self do that? No. We’re educated people. We’re educated people, we’re intelligent person. We know reasons. We look in the reasons. Use reasons as convincing our self. When you make that, you don’t have to force yourself because you do it. You know what I mean? Audience: Well, yeah it’s good news to me, I don’t like sitting anyway. Rimpoche: Yeah, that’s right. I mean not saying that does bad uses at all. It is one way of doing it. That’s fine. I have no criticism at all. But the thing is, when it is make difference to you it has to make difference in your mindstream. Okay, if you make the sitting as a habitual pattern, it will help a lot slow down those neurosis thought. It will slow down a lot. No question. But that’s not good enough. That’s not good enough. We must eradicate neurosis out of our system completely. This is our goal. We have the possibility. We have the opportunity. We can do it. So don’t want to waste our life not to achieving our good goal. Our goal is not to reduce negative power, our goal is to eradicate the negative neurosis completely. Even you don’t become enlightened completely, but at least to that level, that’s our goal. So the concentration alone is not capable of delivering that.

[1:11:34.1] The difference between Buddhism and non-Buddhist tradition and Indian teaching system is this: Cho je (Quotes in Tibetan) [1:11:44.7] What happened there was a great teacher anti-Buddhist teacher called Chandragumi (?) [1:12:00.8] Chandragumi. In India. Anti-Buddhist teacher. And he had challenged all the Buddhist institutions everywhere saying you come and debate with me and the king will be the witness. King, traditional Indian debate system is not, it’s more than this Presidential debate, you know what we see in television. And what they do is they, the system they do is whoever losses that whoever loses that has to follow that other person. If some kind of anti-Buddhist teacher who had long hair and all this, if he loses they’ll cut, they’ll shave him and put a red or yellow robe and let him become a follower at end and his followers thereafter. And if a Buddhist scholar is lost he has to wear grow beard and wear long hair and wear white clothes and follow the same thing, same tradition and that is the law of the land. And that’s why they call king as witness because it is the king who will finally order what to do. So, so what happened is he’s a great guy an extremely great scholar and wonderful person so he came a mon- the big Buddhist university type of institution called Nalanda. He came to Nalanda and said I’m here to challenge you, the institution itself. So if win, I call for debate, if I win all of you become my disciples. If you win I and my disciples will become your disciples, follow you. So the all the Buddhist teachers and monks are so scared they couldn’t fight with him, they couldn’t debate with him. They keep on doing it, sitting there and what they keep on doing it they’re saying prayers to Mahakala, hoping that Mahakala will do something.

[1:14:09.5] So finally, the one day what happened a crow followed in and looking on the offerings, looking here and there is not eating anything. So they begin to think or maybe the crow can carry a message for me. For us. So maybe we should have a message written. So they wanted help hope is Nagarjuna or Chandrakirti or one of them will come back, they left monastery they’re gone in the out in the fields and in the mountains, you know it’s not nothing to do no longer monks or anything they just go on in that way. So they’re hoping one of them will come back and challenge this guy because they’re scared they would lose for sure. In the meanwhile, this crow came and took the message and deliver it to Nagarjuna where he is in South India. This is way North India. So to cut a long story short, and finally Chandrakirti came because Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti they have a debate and discussion and Chandrakirti volunteered to go. So Chandrakirti came. And at that time the monks in that monastery plus the learning institutions this guy stand there in the morning every morning he will hit a stick on those people’s head when they’re going out. There’s a one bald head, two balded head, three balded head, he will hit the stick on the head like this. Like this keep on then they will go out and by the time when they come back they said one bald head, two bald head, and hitting and every day they have to hit stick twice and because they’re afraid of debating. So, so he locks them up in a one big hall and when they go out and hit them and when they go back and hit them. And then once they are going out and then Chandrakirti joined with them because he happened to be the last person. So he said one bald head, two bald head, whatever two hundred, three hundred whatever it is there you know. And then extra came. He said, “Oh the new one, where it’s coming from? Where this head is coming from the hit one?” And Chandrakirti replied, “Head is coming from neck.” And he said, “Oh you are the challenger now.” So, so then they had the debate. Why did I bring that all for? (Audience laughs)

[1:16:39.0] Audience Buddhist and non-Buddhist traditions, the difference. Rimpoche: That’s right, thank you. So he had the debate and finally this guy was lost. The anti-Buddhist guy is completely lost, then he flew in the air. He flew in the air so he, there’s another siddhi or something who flewed him, flew after him and tried to bring him down. So finally they got him down, so then they put him in prison. And there’s no prison room so they him old library where every sheet is loose and thrown there. So he was thrown in that. So he’s using those traditional books as his bed and everything and whatever, he’s lying there. And he’s say, since he’s a very learned person he’s reading a lot. And one day it says, it happens to be one of the pages under his sitting position fold up and read it and it happens to be Buddha talking about this guy himself and how great he was and he going to be and then, with the challenge and Chandrakirti will subdue him and he will become a great Buddhist teacher. One of those the banners (?) [1:18:03.0] of the world, so fantastic one. So he had big thought and then he begin to think and he understand a lot of Buddha’s message while he was in prison because loose pages, pages, pages not in order, missing pages, everything they throw in one little room and put him, lock him in there. So he get a lot of things to read. And finally he become great Buddhist teacher. And he wrote praise to Buddha, praising how great Buddha is. And in that praise he says, in the tradition that I follow we concentrate so much, we concentrate and concentrate and concentrate so much we bring our self to the full form state. And full formless state. Divided them we bring our self seventeen stage high and go in the tip of existence. Yet when the power of concentration exhaust we have a fallback. You the Buddha what you shared is you don’t take steps even to go into the full form and formless but when you gain the concentration power you immediately shift the focus using analytical power rather than concentration power. This makes your teaching, this makes your way of leading big difference and great so I admire you, I bow you, and I am become your follower. That’s how he did it. So that’s the way it is. Cho je tin (Quotes in Tibetan) [1:20:03.2]

[1:20:11.2] Even you don’t get a big- even the first stage of concentration power but you destroy the samsara completely fruit of sufferings completely eradicate. We sit and sit and sit and go and peek at the samsara and come back. That’s different he know, he noticed. That is the historical fact and that is the example. And that’s my scriptural proof. Okay? Yeah? Audience: Last Tuesday someone asked Aura, you asked Aura, how do you solve the problem of shame or anger or pride or whichever one of those and she said that you have to recognize it and then get over it. From what I’m learning- Rimpoche: Get over it is John Madison’s language. Audience: So what I’ve learned tonight is that there’s an in between factor and that’s using- of course you have to recognize it and then it’s then to apply concentration and wisdom and then you’ll eventually dissolve it instead of getting over it. Rimpoche: No, I don’t think she used the word get over it, she used the word move forward. Remember that? And she said, what did she say? She said recognition, move forward and- Audience: Recognize (Inaudible) [1:21:41.7] She said recognize, self-forgiveness, and then move on. Rimpoche: That’s a self-forgiveness she said. But I have little problem with question self-forgiveness, I made statement that time, remember? So anyway, that wasn’t the question because when you’re using a embarrassment and shame as a one of the tools to recognize negative neurosis with you some people have additional problem because it’s a beat yourself more, that was the question and I turned to Aura saying, “What would you say for that?” And she give three points. Recognition, self-forgiveness, and move forward. Self-forgiveness is, she was thinking right but word, the word I didn’t like much, because that may be useful to some people but, forgiveness itself is a word that I don’t like much. And nobody can forgive anybody anything either, and it is you who make difference. Well, this may be against the social system you know, but it’s okay. So that’s what it is.

[1:22:59.7] Thank you well I better close the shop. Once again I would like to remind you all, I don’t know how many of you new and coming to the summer retreat it is another great opportunity for you because I was try to do a complete, not this, but more detail than that what we call it stage of path, what you do, what you do next and all this, not up to the enlightenment but up to a level of the mahayana perfections and to be able to do it and, and we try to be, try to do with the best ability to be able to communicate with you in true American everyday language rather than those Buddhistic terminologies we’re using. So I’ve been jokingly saying that this will be the beginning of the birth of Tibetan American Buddhism. So we hope to be a good one and that’s going to be from the August 24th-31st, right? So one week and if you still interested and if you wanted to come and if you can make it you should be registering soon because Kathy was telling me yesterday the head count is already150 now so when it is already 150 then I don’t think there’s so many rooms left. So I don’t want to become a more than 200 or 220 then we will not be able to- (Speaks to audience)