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20000307GRAABWL

Side A of tape 86 of 03/07/00

We were talking last time about the meaning of the line When this is well understood in verse 84 of Chapter V of the Bodhisattvacharyavatara. This is really about was is to be avoided and what is to be adopted. Particularly it refers to the Bodhisattva activities. When something is really important, certain things can be ignored. I went very deeply and carefully into what should be done. But I did not go much into detail.

The Bodhisattvas have to make choices about whether it is for the benefit of all sentient beings or in any case, a lot of others. That overrides the personal self interest. However, there are times, purposes and efforts. All of these have to be considered.

For example, one should not do such an action at the wrong time. If you do, there will be a big problem. Buddha has given permission for Bodhisattvas to certain things if it serves a great purpose. But the time must be right, the conditions must be right. Everything must be right. Otherwise it is not appropriate.

For example, in one of his previous lives, Buddha was the captain of a ship. Somebody on board wanted to destroy the ship and kill all the passenger. He was carrying hundreds of people. Buddha as the captain had no alternative but to kill that person. It is a commonly known Buddhist story. By killing that person Buddha not only did not have the negativity of killing, but also the positivity of saving the lives of the passengers. I am circling round and round on this particular point. It can be very interesting. Even we ourselves encounter that problem very often. There are certain things which you are not supposed to do.

For example there was a person who told me, ‘There are these cockroaches in my apartment. They are so terrible. Whatever I do, I can’t stop them. There is no way I can pick each and every one of them up. I can’t do anything. So can I use insecticides?’ That is the choice. Either you get rid of the cockroaches or you will get sick because of the blessings that the cockroaches leave on your food. People do think a lot about this kind of dilemma.

I used to live in Delhi in India. In summer there was a tremendous amount of cockroaches. We could not help but using DDT. This is even forbidden here. There was a special spray against cockroaches and on top of that people are spraying DDT throughout the house. I have been doing that for years myself. However, the time you do that is before they actually multiply. So you don’t have to actually kill all of them. Besides you have to take any preventive measure you can take. In Delhi we were ignorant that these kinds of sprays themselves make you sick. We used to spray the whole house at a certain time in order to prevent cockroaches to come for a long time. It was a preventive measure to actually avoid killing hundreds of cockroaches. By spraying them, the ones that are there, die and next morning you can sweep them up. Otherwise, at night, when you go into the kitchen and turn on the light, you may step on them. That is just one dilemma we face.

Another example: If I take a certain medicine like antibiotics, I am killing a lot of viruses in my body, good and bad ones. There are two types of people who hesitate taking antibiotics. One does so, because it may not be the best thing for your own health. The other hesitates because he does not want to kill any living being.

When we talk about what Bodhisattvas are allowed to do and what not, the point is not whether it is the right or wrong thing to do. A number of things will be mentioned which are right under certain circumstances. I was trying to avoid talking about that here. But if I completely avoid it, that would not be right. That is why I am coming back to that verse eighty-four today.

Even if something is permitted under certain circumstances, it does not mean that it is the right thing to do. If you don’t have to do it, that is best. It is like when we talk about broken vows. You can purify a broken vow. You can purify negativities. That is fine. But it does not mean that you can go and break all your vows, because you can purify them later. So if you don’t have to break your vows, it is better not to break them. It is like an old Chinese porcelain cup. If you break that, you can take some crazy glue and join the pieces back together. So the vase can still be used after that. But it would be better not to break it in the first place.

So what you are going to here are certain things which are permitted under certain circumstances. If you don’t have to break them, it is always better. Like in the example of Buddha’s previous life as a ship’s captain, it was obvious that the choice had to be made to kill one person in order to save the lives of hundreds of passengers. You may be thinking, ‘Why did he have to kill that person?’ It was actually also for the benefit of that person himself. There were a number of enlightened beings on that ship. To kill them would have become one of the five limitless negativities.

There are ten negativities, three by body, four by speech and three by mind. It is almost like the ten commandments. I used to joke that Buddha must have had a conference call with the Western spiritual leaders of the time and they drew the conclusion to have ten of these. For the mind part of the ten negativities there is no exception whatsoever. The mind part is extremely important.

For the physical activities there are exceptional cases. Take the first one, killing. If a Bodhisattva sees some crazy person who is about to kill a number of human beings and especially Bodhisattvas for the sake of a little food or money, and if this Bodhisattva is in the position to prevent this person from killing these people, and if his only alternative is to kill that person, then it is permitted. If he can call the police, or distract him, or hit him on the head or do something else short of killing, that is of course better. But if there is no other way to prevent him killing a number of people the Bodhisattva is allowed to kill that person – not for his own purposes.

We don’t get into such a position at all. But we get into situations similar to that. These rules are different from the normal law. In normal law, for self defense you get a lesser penalty. Instead of murder it may be misdemeanor. Here it is tougher. If it is for personal interest, and you are in such a position, you might as well give your life. But if you cannot do that, then you are not allowed to give your life. We will talk later about on what grounds you can give your life.

So for the benefit of saving a lot of lives it may under certain circumstances be permitted to kill a human being. Of course, if you don’t have to, you are much better off not to kill. It is better to keep the old Chinese porcelain vase intact, rather than having to fix it with crazy glue.

Next, lets talk about stealing. The example given here is terrible. It would be illegal in this country. We are talking about tax. If you know for certain that the king – we are talking in the context of Buddha’s time – is using the funds for the destruction of life, like making B2 bombers, it is recommended not to pay your taxes. Here it is illegal. Don’t do it here. In general, if that is the situation, you could choose to do that, because it helps beings. By paying your tax the life of other people will be harmed. So that is permitted, even though it is most definitely stealing. According to the Buddha’s rule, if you don’t pay your tax you are stealing. You get the complete negativity of stealing. There are many details about how big the negativity is. I studied that for years. It includes customs duties. There are so many details. It is much more complicated than US laws, really. You have to find out the value of the item in both countries, then include the commissions, then you have to count the net profit. So how great the negativity is depends on the value of the neglected tax or customs duty. It is as complicated as the tax system itself. So the only reason not to pay tax has to be to help save lives. It has to be compassion, not miserliness. Here in this country we cannot withhold tax, because it would also be illegal. But you may know, for example, somebody who is about to make a donation for some wrongful thing. Preventing him from doing that is in one way preventing generosity from taking place and is normally a negativity. But for a great purpose it may be permitted to do.

The next one, sexual misconduct, has big questions associated with it. What is sexual misconduct? Buddha talks about sexual misconduct on the point of monks and nuns. They were the ones close to Buddha. Any sexual activity, even heterosexual, is a negativity for those who have the vows of celibacy. In the texts you will find that every sexual activity is wrongful, because this concerns the disciples of the Buddhas who were mostly monks and nuns. For lay people it is different. There are lay vows and if you break these lay vows then you commit misconduct. As long as you are not breaking any vows, whatever you do is your business, nobody else’s. In exceptional cases, for the purpose of saving lives, etc, just like in the case of killing and stealing, sexual misconduct may also be permitted.

The next is lying. According to Buddha you commit the worst black lie if you pretend to have spiritual development without having it. When you know you don’t have it, but you pretend that you do, that is the biggest lie, because you are misleading a number of people. Personally, I would not be so concerned if a used car dealer tells me that a particular lemon over there is a perfect, wonderful car. It is a lie, no doubt. But it is about a hundred Dollars or so. It is not a big lie misleading a lot of people. It may not be so bad if a used car dealer says the lemon is a good car, because he has to make a living and feed his family. Again, lying may be permitted if it saves lives.

Using harsh words is another negativity of speech. It could be between spouses, parents and children or anybody. Harsh speech is not permitted to be used towards anybody. It is a negativity. But if you can prevent or stop a huge killing, using harsh words for that purpose may be acceptable.

The last negativity of speech is what is normally called ‘idle gossip.’ Usually, you could say whatever you want to, as long as you don’t get emotionally involved. If gossiping is combined with attachment, anger, jealousy, etc, then that idle gossip is a negativity. Here too, there are exceptional cases. For example, with compassion, you may want to keep somebody company and for that purpose talk about songs, music, the king, prostitutes, food and drink, etc. Anything is okay, whatever you need to talk about to keep that person going.

Finally, I would like to quote Maitreya Buddha,

Sometimes it may be permitted to engage in otherwise negative actions. However, if influenced by hatred, nothing is permitted. Attachment may have some exceptional situations where it is permitted. Actions influenced by hatred are not permitted, because hatred destroys compassion. Attachment may not necessarily destroy compassion.

I wanted to bring these points up, not only because you people need to hear them, but also with the transcripts in mind. People do need these references. To summarize, out of the ten negativities, the seven of body and speech can change under certain circumstances. I have been circling over this little verse eighty-four for a long time, because I want to avoid misunderstandings. People may go out from here and say, ‘I heard it is all right to kill’. This is bound to happen, but no, it is not all right to kill. Now I would like to close this point unless there are questions.

Aud1: I know of an actual case. There was a soldier in Vietnam who was ordered by his commander and the rest of his unit to help with killing civilians in a village. He was told that either he would help with this killing or he himself would be killed. He joined in but later brought the story out into the open so that all the soldiers involved, including himself, could be brought to justice and the family members of the killed could find out about their relatives. Was that the right thing to do?

R: If he was capable of giving his life and if that was beneficial for him, that is what he should have chosen. But he was not capable of giving his life. In that case he had no other choice and within that he did the right thing. A little later in the text there will be more explanations about what makes you capable. The Buddhist texts will tell you exactly about that but if you don’t read it, it is not the fault of the books but your own fault.

Another thing: In the western system, at this point the information about whether you are capable or not would be attached. But in the Buddhist system that is not the case. It appears in a completely different category somewhere else. The information is there, but it is not well organized. It is complicated, some here, some there.

I would like to emphasize that in this context we are talking about ethics. The subject in this particular verse is called Accepting responsibility for the benefit of others. The second point we are touching on is Giving necessary things and Dharma. That is the subject of the next verse.

Verse 85

I should divide my food among those who have fallen to

Lower realms,

Those without protection, and practitioners,

And eat merely what is sufficient for myself.

Except for the three robes I may give away all.

In this verse food is just one example. It is really talking about necessary items.

End of side A of tape 86

Side B of tape 86 of 03/07/00

The verse says to ‘divide my food among those in the lower realms’. You cannot really feed the beings in the lower realms. I don’t know how you could give them anything. There is no way, except for the animals. But what is recommended is to set aside one portion for them. Then the verse says to give ‘to those without protection’. That is really for those who are sick and those who badly need it. You should give a portion to them. The third category to give to is practitioners. These are the sangha members who need it. Finally, what is left is for your personal consumption. That means you don’t use everything you have. If you get it, if you have it, that is great. Then you divide it on the basis of the idea in this verse. Food is just one example. Then it goes into detail about how you should eat, when you should eat, how much you should eat, what you should and what you should not eat. You can go into a lot of detail, but I want to bring up only a few.

If you are eating food yourself, you are really eating, because you need to. However, how can an individual take advantage of eating food by making it into a Dharma practice? You do it by generating mindfulness. For example, you may have bought your food with your own money, but still it is the result of someone else who worked hard to produce that. If it is a vegetable, that is there because of a gardener working hard for hours, maybe for 24 hours. He put in his sweat and labor and you are eating the result of that. Although you have bought it with your own money you have to remember the kindness and compassion and care that the gardener has put in.

In the case of meat eaters like myself, it is even more than the care and compassion of the food producer. We have actually snatched the flesh and skin and blood from out of someone’s body! Someone got killed for it. This is heavier for us than simply eating fruit or vegetables. You owe to this individual being. We may have paid our money and bought it from the supermarket, however, it was part of someone’s body. Without any willingness on their part we have snatched that flesh from their body and we are consuming it. We have not killed that animal, so we have no negativity of killing. However, there is the negativity of eating it. How much you owe to that person! This was somebody’s life. It is much more than somebody’s 24 hours worth of work and care. Remember that.

We are consuming food to keep our body alive. But think about how many different living beings are inside our body. There are bacteria and germs and so on. So here you think that you are eating this food, but you are also feeding these hundreds of other beings in your body. We feed them right now and think that in the future we may be able to guide them and lead them to the level of enlightenment. There are people who say the following prayer before they eat:

The hundreds and thousands of beings in our body are fed by our food right now. In future may we be able to benefit them with Dharma and bring them to the level of enlightenment.

It is great to make food offerings to the enlightened beings, no doubt. But this is more important.

There are other kinds of awareness. According to the Vinaya rules, the rules for the monks and nuns, Buddha has said that the monks and nuns should have ten kinds of awareness when they are eating food. These may not all be applicable to us, who are lay people. But the first is that in as much as you are using this food to stop the hunger, you are using the food as medicine, just to survive. At the same time you should remember that the food you are eating is the cause of what you later discard. If you have problems with obesity, that is, if you eat too much, think about that.

If you are eating meat, remember that it has been snatched from another living being. If you are only eating vegetables, think about how many insects have been killed, so that we may now utilize this vegetable. If you are eating a lot of yogurt, you should think that it is like human beings’ brain. That helps not to have so much attachment to it.

Then think, that food is also the creator of trouble. When we want to consume something, food or clothes or whatever, we are likely to create trouble between our friends, children and parents, etc. We argue about how to get these things, in other words, about money. This is the cause of a lot of fights and trouble. Whatever people may say, all fights are because of things like that. The bottom line, what it all boils down to is food, clothes and name. So Buddha said to remember that when you are eating.

Then, while you are eating, think that this food is of dependent nature. Because of that food you raise attachment, anger, jealousy, and other negative emotions.

Another point to think about is that you have to take a lot of hardship to get food. This was written 2500 years ago. Today we just go to the supermarket and find everything there.

The next thing is that you have to prepare and cook the food and make so much effort. Again, these days we don’t have to do so much, because everything is automatic. There is instant TV dinner.

The next point is that if you over-eat, you become fat and you can’t even breathe properly. Not only that, you also cannot digest the food properly and most illnesses come anyway, because we don’t eat the right stuff. If you eat too little, it is also bad for you.

There are so many details. I don’t want to go into all of them.

In Tibet it was said,

Use your food as if it were medicine. Use it without creating attachment and hatred. It is not there to make yourself fat or overweight. It is not there for you to build up your ego. It is simply there to sustain your life.

So it is recommended to eat just enough to sustain your life. How much is just enough? If you divide the stomach in four quarters, one quarter should be filled with food, another with liquid, the third should be left empty so that air can circulate and you can digest properly and the last one should just be empty, so that there can be movement. If you completely fill it up, you won’t even be able to breathe.

There is tremendous detail on this in the scriptures. I can’t go into it, but this tells you that food is a major point to develop attachment. So the Bodhisattvacharyavatara even tells the Bodhisattvas how to eat properly. Normally we take that completely for granted. If you go into detail, there is so much. It talks about what food to eat, and when and how much. It is more detailed than the kosher business. Just remember the four quarters of the stomach.

I am going to leave it there for today. Are there any question?

Aud1: You said that one quarter of the stomach is for air and the fourth is empty. Isn’t that the same ?

R: Actually the third is for more the development of gas. You need that for digestion. Then the fourth should be empty, because the room is needed for the further movement of the digested food.

Aud2: What should you decide to do if society expects you to do things like going to war?

R: We haven’t talked about that yet. According to Buddhism you should follow society. Even if it is totally wrong what society asks you should follow. Otherwise they will think that you are crazy. It is also relative truth. That is a truth which society accepts. Sometimes what society accepts may be absolutely wrong. What the individual is thinking may be absolutely right. But if you keep on doing that, then even the wrong thing will become right. Don’t let me give examples. There are plenty of them in our lives. That is why propaganda is done. They want make people believe in one thing, politically, economically and even spiritually. When so many people believe in one direction, something in the nature of it shifts, because in nature it is emptiness. Therefore, it can become something else. Lets take the example of Clinton. What did he really do wrong ?He did something wrong by not telling the truth. That did a lot of damage to himself. But did that damage anybody else?

Aud3: I think it would do damage to your children if you do what he did.

R: You think so, why? Let me tell you. It is right, he did the wrong thing and it was not good for him and for a few people close to him. But by keeping on emphasizing and repeating and exaggerating that, it has become terrible. A lot more problems have been created through that. Society goes in that direction. You can minimize the problem and it will stay small. You can maximize it and it will be huge. That is because of the society. If you look into the absolute reality then whatever an individual did wrong is only a matter for that individual and the people connected to him. However, if you maximize that, you will get the maximum effect.

It is the same with the Tibetans. They go around and keep repeating that Tibet should be independent. More and more people are saying it and through that the idea of independence builds up. The Chinese do the opposite, saying at every occasion that Tibet is not independent. Through that the view builds up in society that Tibet is not independent. Society makes its own rules. It creates its own efforts [momentum]. Society helps the people and harms the people. It is dependent arising. Nothing arises independently. If you think from that angle, that is how it works.

Then there are a number of people in society. Their emotions will be effected. Their anger will rise, their emotional feelings will rise and make things different. So society is important. Who is the society? We are. There is not somebody else who is called ‘society’. We are all part of it. Society can bring about good things like peace. How are we going to bring about peace in the world? Through ourselves. As the good old American saying goes, Charity begins at home. No one can give peace, not the Republican party or the Democratic Party, not the President, or the Secretary General of the United Nations. No one can do that. Peace can only be created by the members of the society. This is how relativity functions. It is all in our hands. If we want something good to happen, we have to begin with ourselves. If we want to do something bad, we begin with ourselves. That is my observation of how the world works.

Then there are a number of people who want to exploit that way of functioning for their narrow objectives, whether it is political, economical, cultural or religious. That is the whole idea of the interest groups and lobby groups. Also all the PR people do nothing else but explore everything, then project something else, withdraw something else. Society has provided that room and this is the way how reality functions. Reality will be shaped by the projection and perception of society.

Aud2: Still, I am a practitioner and have to make ethical choices about what I myself should do. I see something and it seems to me that it is unjust and hurts people. It does not have any inherent being. It is all these consciousnesses interacting. Since it has no inherent being, I could decide to work in a direction that might change these unjust circumstances. Or I could just say, ‘Since it has no inherent being, I should let it go, as it is going to fall apart on its own’. Which is the ethical thing to do?

R: Who knows if it is going to fall apart? If I was in such a situation I would make the choice on the grounds which had less negativity for me and which has more benefits for me. I would make that decision for me and for me alone. I will not make that decision for everybody. I am not the spokesperson for ethical conduct of any group. For an individual it is important to notice that it is definitely their concern and that they have to take care of it. Nobody else will take care of it. How do you judge which is more negative? If it is hurting somebody. If it is not hurting anybody, there is probably no negativity.

Aud3: In the case of the scandals around the President, rather than being negative about it, perhaps we should react positively and concede that we should watch the people that we elect to lead our nation more carefully and hold them to their word.

R: But in the case of Monica Lewinsky, by questioning that, what good can you make out of that? Virtually nothing. Perhaps you can prevent some future president from doing that. That is about it. But what benefit does it bring to society, to the people?

There are other problems being created in that regard. At the time, and even now, there are many people who were very angry. They wanted to punish the President. I have a problem with that. Who am I to punish somebody else? I am not an agent appointed by God, nor does God give me any commission. By punishing somebody I just create my own negativity and thus I feed into this cycle. Somebody else will punish me in turn later. This will go on and continue. So for me, I should better stop there.

Some guilty people may get away with not being punished. In the recent case in New York, the Armadillo case, the police officers who shot a black man were found not guilty by the court. However, if they were guilty, their own karma with punish them. They will punish themselves. For sure, no question.

Remember O. J. Simpson. Fifty percent of Americans think that he should have been punished. But if he has really done it, he will bring that punishment on himself. If he has not done it, he will not receive punishment for that from anybody, not matter what happens.

It is getting late and we have to stop. Thank you.

End of Side B of tape 86 of 03/07/00