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20001024GRAABWL

Side A of tape 107 of 10/24/00

We have never really counted the people that come to the Tuesday night meetings. So today I have and so far there are 102 people here. Welcome to the ongoing teachings on the Bodhisattvacharyavatara. I was hoping to finish this chapter before the winter. I don’t think that is going to happen. No way. As a matter of fact I realized that today is the last Tuesday night before I leave for Asia. Next Tuesday is Halloween and we are having a party and the next Tuesday after that is the election. The day after that I leave for Asia. Then we have another couple in December, I believe. So on election night we are not meeting because on that day I hope you will all go and vote and do so with your own conscience for whoever you want to vote. It is your choice. I have my own candidate but I have no right to tell you who to vote for. Just make sure that you don’t waste your vote.

If you people have any questions, I will give you the opportunity today. The last two sessions were a little tough and I did not let you ask any questions or make comments. But perhaps first I should finish two more verses. Verse 31 told us that all the phenomena we deal with and connect with in our life do not really exist from their own nature. From its own nature it does not exist. What does that mean? People who have a lot of Buddhist ideas know what we are talking about. The others don’t. It is like a Buddhist code word to say that it does not exist from its own nature, yet it does exist. It means that it doesn’t exist without depending on anything. Whatever we perceive and encounter and go through, is all real, but from its nature it is not there. Once Colleen read to me a passage of a book by Deepak Chopra called ‘Camelot’. A big fight was going on, the good magicians were dying and the bad magicians were taking over. Everything was getting lost. But the best person was sending messages from behind saying that all of it was not real, but false. Finally the people of Camelot were chased out and the bad magicians were taking over. The message still came in, ‘It is not true, it is not real, it is all false.’ I am sure a number of people have read that.

It is almost like that. Whatever we experience is all real and true and is happening. But it is not happening independently, of its own accord, but it is happening through terms and conditions. That is the meaning of not existing from its nature. If it did, it would not depend on terms and conditions. To say in that in this context does not mean that it is totally false. It is really happening. It is like a magician who produces a lot of magical things. Things are there, they are happening, you can see them, however, they don’t come out by themselves. Everything is almost like a magician’s show, everything we experience, everything that functions and happens. It is almost not real. When we understand that, there is no reason why we should be afraid of it. Almost everything we experience which blocks us is happening because we are afraid. Fear will block us from doing anything.

Early in the evening I was talking with Daniel. He said that these days he is working forty feet up in the air. At first he was very afraid. But then he thought to himself, ‘I am afraid of death, but Yamantaka has no death’, and then all his fears were gone. I said, ‘That is great, but be careful. Don’t jump off from there.’ We have a lot of hesitations because of fear. We have the fear of suffering, the fear of consequences. It is like George Bush says, ‘If you break the law in Texas, you have to suffer the consequences’. These can be very strong consequences, as we know. The numbers [of executions] are running into the hundreds. Suffering is a consequence. We are afraid of that. One of the good ways of breaking fear is knowing that it is not real.

I think there is a big language problem here. When we say, ‘It is real, but it is not real’ it sounds very strange. I don’t really think that the Buddhist texts are just telling you that all things are not permanent. They are telling you something much more powerful than that. I am not even sure what the language is. So far all the teachers, professors, Buddhologists and so on are simply using the words in English that say, ‘It is not real.’ The words in Tibetan will also say, ‘It is not true’. But there is a slight difference between not being true in what you say and not being truly existing. That is the reason why Buddha presented the two truths, the absolute truth and the relative truth. Although things are not real, we do experience them and we want to avoid negative consequences. In other words, Bodhisattvas are advised not to be afraid of taking risks, not to be afraid of what they have to do for the benefit of all beings, whether they are happy or upset, high or low, rich or poor, emotionally upbeat or downbeat. The Bodhisattva should not be held back because of fear.

What is the real key, the direct antidote, to remove the negative emotions such as anger? It is the understanding of reality, the understanding of the dependent nature, the understanding that things do not naturally exist. It is not through love and compassion. The direct opponent, the direct eradication of negative emotions is this, the true wisdom, knowing that everything is dependent arising, that nothing exists independently, knowing that all is a creation, created by me for me, for my own usage. It is created by us, for ourselves. It is not permanent, it is impermanent, its nature is dependent. Everything, whatever it may be, is going through that. This is a very important point, because it gives us room for everything that is happening, materially, scientifically, or spiritually. Everything has room, because it is naturally empty.

That reminds me of the words that the late Allen Ginsberg used

Nature empty, everything’s pure, naturally pure, that is what I am.

He used that as the translation for the Sanskrit

OM SVABHAVA SHUDDAH SARVA DHARMA SHUDDOH HAM

When you get to that level then you have busted the fear. When you have done that you have busted all other negative emotions, such as anger, jealousy, etc. All these emotional downfalls we have, get busted by that. This is the direct opponent of that, not love and compassion. These are all wonderful and necessary and beautiful and so on. But they are not the ghost busters for this particular ghost. I think up to here that is what they are talking about.

Then, naturally, you will have more questions. You will say, ‘If everything does not exist by itself, if it is produced by me, then why should I try to get rid of negative emotions, why should I put in efforts to accumulate merits? Why should I work hard to cut down and eradicate negative emotions? Everything is not true, in the end it is all zero. It does not matter whatever I do now, it is not a big deal.’ That question will certainly come up. Even a stupid person like me will think that ‘In the end it does not matter, it is all going to be a big zero. So why should I worry about it?’

There is a big danger of misunderstanding the statement

Nature empty, everything’s pure, naturally pure, that is what I am.

You may think, ‘Oh, I am naturally pure, it is a done deal. Why should I have to worry about anything?’ The next verse addresses that point.

Verse 32

If everything is unreal like an apparition,

then who is there to restrain what anger?

Surely in this case, restraint would be appropriate,

because conventionally I must maintain that independence. Upon restraining anger,

the stream of suffering is severed.

If everything is pure and like a magician’s show, a manifestations, not truly existing, then why should I have to apply the direct opponent, work hard to remove my negative emotions and negativities? Who really gets rid of what? How do I do that and why? Not only should one not get upset and angry, but getting rid of anger is also not correct, because everything is pure, nothing is really there. These are the doubts you can raise.

The verse tells you that in absolute truth the negative emotions and that which gets rid of negative emotions, may not exist. However, in relative truth, it all exists. It is real, it is an experience. So because of the patience, which is the antidote to anger, we can get rid of anger and hatred and in the same way we can get rid of all other negative emotions. By doing so we can totally eradicate all suffering once and for all.

In other words, there are two truths - relative and absolute truth. In absolute truth nothing exists, but in relative truth all exists. Buddha recommended to look at the two truths - always. The example I am going to share with you may not be quite correct - it can be faulty. But if you look at it, people who are suffering emotionally and have great pain, will go and see healers and also allopathic doctors who will tell them, ‘Nothing is wrong. There is nothing, no problem.’ In the scope, within which these people are looking, with their knowledge, with their own little medical information that they have, or within the particular framework that the healers have, they can proceed. And from that angle, it is true, there may not be anything wrong. Yet from the experience of the individual it is true. That person cannot sleep, has a headache and so on.

Therefore, even in our ordinary field that we can understand, there are two truths. Things beyond our understanding naturally have a truth. I am saying this because we should not simply rely on Buddha’s words and statements and experience. But even today we can ourselves see, feel and encounter it as our own witnesses. Every second or third person goes through with something like that. So it is real. This is a difficult part. We like to believe only what is scientifically proven and shown to us. We have the tendency to do that. On the other hand, there are a number of people who have the opposite tendency as well. They will say that if it is scientifically right, then it must be wrong. People’s tendency can go anywhere. So the compromise is in the middle. There is relative and absolute truth. Buddha had that experience 2500 years ago. Today we begin to see what he was talking about. Until today, the spiritually developed people have known that, the rest of us will go and say something which we really don’t know. Now we begin to know.

Doing meditation, working with mantras, doing purification, doing circumambulation, doing prostrations, making mandala offerings, water offerings, flower offerings, etc, all of them work. They may not work ‘scientifically’, but in reality they do and that is real. We know it. That is what this particular verse is telling you.

There is also something more to this. We can have both of these truths, the absolute and the relative, we can accept them as truth, because there is emptiness, there is space. Don’t think that the emptiness we talk about here is like the emptiness of the ‘Never Ending Story’. We don’t mean that emptiness. I should not say emptiness, I should say ‘dependent nature’ and this gives you room for everything. There is room for people to make mistakes, room for people to correct mistakes, room for two truths. The relative truth is established on the basis of the absolute truth. If the absolute truth is not there, there will not be a relative truth, because it is static, not changing, it is permanent, there is no room, it is all filled up. Because it is empty, because it is impermanent, because there is space, things can function.

If we, you and me, were permanent, we would have to be more permanent than the statue of liberty. We could not go or come, we could not talk, we would be static. Because we are dependent arisings we can walk, talk, think, function, eat and shit - sorry. But it is true, we do all this and it is possible only because it is impermanent. Because of impermanence, the negative emotions are exhaustible. They can be finished. If they were permanent, they would have to remain there. Since it is changeable, it can change. It will change. There is tremendous room and there are tremendous things we can do and they don’t contradict. They work within each other.

Verse 33

So, when seeing an enemy or even a friend

committing an improper action by thinking

that such a thing arises from conditions,

I shall remain in a happy frame of mind.

Causes and conditions and results are not independently controlled by us. We went through that a number of times. Just simply because you want something, it is not necessarily going to happen - you can work for it and then you can get it done. That does not sound like Buddhism, it sounds like the normal material corporate world. ‘You work for it and you will get it’. So because it is not under my control, it is under the control of others. That means under the control of causes and conditions. It is not that somebody wanted it and it happens.

Every phenomenon, every life, every existence, comes under three headings. It either naturally exists, is a projected thing or is under the control of others. Almost every phenomenon we deal with falls under the category of being controlled by others. ‘Others’ doesn’t mean, as I said, controlled by other persons, but by terms and conditions. Who created the terms and conditions? I myself. That makes me responsible. It is my creation, my deeds, my things, however, I created them, I lost control. That is exactly what happens. All of our suffering will come because we created the causes and lost control over them. It is really true. If you have control you would not let that suffering happen. You don’t want that suffering. You want everything to be wonderful and beautiful and even more wonderful and beautiful and more and more. But that is not happening. Because of that reason, if enemies, friends or whoever is hurting or harming me, are going against me, we have to understand that these persons are not doing it out of their independent choice. They are doing it because they do not have control. They are controlled by causes and conditions and that is why all these results are coming. There is therefore no reason why I should be unhappy about it.

Verse 34

If things were brought into being by choice,

then since no one wishes to suffer,

suffering would not occur

to any embodied creature.

Every suffering and whatever we do and experience we create. But we do not have control. If we could control suffering, no one would have to go through suffering, because no one wants to suffer. That is the bottom line statement. So no one really has control over suffering, although we create it ourselves. Who really has the control then? Causes and conditions. Who can change causes and conditions? Only me. But by the time I start to experience the results, I have lost control.

Side B of tape 107

It is almost as if the person was an agent and is acting under orders of the negative emotions of their own. Remember, in the lam rim teachings under the heading of equanimity it is said, ‘Well, you should not get angry with the enemy.’ Then you say, ‘But he slapped me.’ The answer is, ‘Yes, he slapped you, but what is it that really hit your body? He or his hand?’ Of course it is his hand. ‘So you should really get angry with his hand rather than with him.’ Then you say, ‘Oh, don’t be childish. I know a hand does not move by itself. It is the person who did it.’ Then the answer is ‘But the person also doesn’t act out of their own control. The person is moved by negative emotions. So if you want to be angry you should be angry with the negative emotions of the person rather than with the person.’

Now I would like to conclude this. Verse 34 is saying that if suffering did not depend on causes and conditions and if it just comes by itself and if you can get results just by wishing, then nobody would really have suffering, because nobody wants any suffering. Indirectly this is saying that simply wishing for something can not bring it about. It cannot do or undo something. It totally depends on the causes and conditions. They control and function.

If you want to get upset with somebody, because they dumped you or whatever the reason may be, you have to know that this is all because of that person’s negative emotions. It could be anger, attachment, hatred. That is the fault, not the fault of the individual person. You have to understand that. So watch your own anger, don’t be so angry. That is what this verse is saying. Since suffering is not under my control, my wish and my desire alone cannot change it. I have to work for that. When things fall apart, don’t just simply get upset. That anger is not going to correct anything. That unhappiness which we have created ourselves is not going to help at all. On the contrary, if you create compassion towards the person who is creating suffering for you, then it will make a difference. If we create anger against violent acts it will do no good. But if you can create compassion for that individual person, you can think, ‘Poor fellow. He is totally controlled by negative emotions. He or she is fit to be the object on which I can meditate compassion.’ By meditating compassion you are gaining positive deeds. These very positive deeds can defeat the negative causes and can make a change in the conditions. The angrier you are, the more your unhappiness will increase and everybody will be more unhappy. If you can change the anger into compassion, at least you will get some positive result. That is how the Bodhisattvas are told to function. That is what we try to learn from this and we try to follow. This is called patience, the patience of Dharma understanding.

Remember, there are three kinds of patience: the patience which can accept suffering, the patience of understanding and the third patience we haven’t touched that. I guess thats it for the time being.

I was a little surprised that we won’t have much time this year, but we can still have a couple of Tuesdays in December. In the meantime you people have heard quite a lot and you could think about it. I should say that you should meditate on it, but I said, ‘Think about it.’ In truth, meditating means thinking. When things are happening in your life, that is the time you need the things you have learnt here. Make sure that you bring them out of your memory chips which you have inserted in your brain somewhere. Make use of them. If you can’t make use of them, call somebody else, talk about it. Really, truly, changing your life for the better is changing the way how you function. True Dharma is correction. It is the correction of the addiction of the negative emotions into positive things. If you can’t do that, at least bring them to the neutral level. It is not important whether you have developed clairvoyance, becoming a better psychic, whether your success in life has become better or worse, whether you make more money or less money. These are not the measurement of your spiritual development. Your spirituality should work with the question, ‘Am I becoming a better person?’ That is not meant from the economic point of view but as a real person. We can definitely use Ronald Reagan’s slogan: ‘Are you better off today than four years ago?’ You can use that question and ask yourself, ‘Am I better off spiritually than four years ago?’ This is not about how much money you are making, what kind of job you have got, how famous you are, not from that point of view, not even from the health point of view, but as a person. That is the person. When there is a crisis in your life, how do you deal with that? Is the way you deal with it now better than the way you dealt with things four years ago? That may be the key here too.

Aud1: I understood what you said about impermanence, but I am not sure what is the absolute truth.

R: There is something called the absolute truth, but don’t worry about it now.

Aud1: Is that the Buddha?

R: Buddha is truth. You are the truth, I am the truth. You as a person, as a human being, may be a relative truth. That might not be an absolute truth.

Aud2: Just to make sure if I got it right: Absolute truth seems to be an unchangeable truth and relative truth a changeable truth. So if it is saying ‘Don’t worry, because it is not real’, what it really means is ‘Don’t worry, because it is a changeable situation. You can change the conditions and the way it affects you at any time you choose. You can change it from the things that causes you harm into something else. Is that correct?

R: That was a long statement. You can temporarily hang on to the essence of it: Absolute truth is unchangeable and relative truth changeable. I said ‘temporally’, because it will shift a little bit. But for the time being you can hang on to that.

Aud2: I have another question: There are permanent and impermanent things. Does Buddhism view the different deities like White Tara and Kuan Yin as permanent or impermanent beings?

R: What does it matter what Buddhism views? Lets not worry about that. Let us worry about what we encounter. The Buddhist view is totally irrelevant. Buddhists may view a lot of things. That becomes a philosophy. We don’t care.

Aud3: To me the door to emptiness on the relative level is when you have breaks, when all of a sudden your mind breaks up and goes to those who are causing troubles for your others. It is the discontinuity of the continuum. There is some kind of warp in the continuum. There is a space between words and thoughts, between heart beats and each other. Relatively speaking, there is no absolute truth.

R: I understand that almost all of the practice goes in the space between thoughts and words, not only the emptiness, but every practice. If you visualize, where do you draw your visualization? There is space between thoughts and words. But maybe I am wrong and we are all talking some strange thing [laughs]

Aud3: If you have wisdom and skilful means and you find all these opposites that exist in the Dharma teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, that there is a rhythm between...

R: Relative and absolute, thoughts and words, maybe yes.

Aud3: Earlier you were saying that there is no self. So there is no real source for the suffering or the anger.

R: I know you have had great interest in that for a long time and you have worked on that for a long time. As you said in your statement, the emptiness begins here. I am with you on that.

Aud3: I am interested in the opposites like also in the taoist tradition of yin and yang. When you go too far with any extreme the yin becomes a yang. It turns into the other side. Mostly there is a lot of dualisms, like wisdom and skilful means, the union of emptiness and bliss. I am suggesting that there is a deeper emptiness behind that.

R: When we are talking about freedom from dualism we are talking about a different level. I don’t know about Taoism, but if you keep on turning right all the time, you get to the left. That is true. It works the other way too. When you turn left, eventually you get to the right. That is natural.

Aud3: To make it simple: [Rinpoche laughs] There is a self and there isn’t a self. Like we have two I’s and we can see those at the same time. But there is one higher experience if one could listen deep enough, between all opposites.

R: Hey, you were not here when Ram Dass was here. He produced three I’s!

Aud3: I was trying to get to the third ear, but I will tell you about that later. The heart is the third ear.

R: Good. Any more questions?

Aud4: Can you explain dependent origination without using reincarnation as a basis?

R: Oh, very simple. Look at this rose here. This was planted by the root. So the root is the real cause. Then the dirt, moisture, heat, etc, are the conditions. Then there is the efforts being put in, all the love and care and then may be miracle growth. All of these together, the combination of all these, has created this beautiful yellow-pink rose. If there was no root, there would be no flower. It there was no moisture, even the root would die. If the ground was not there and just the moisture, it would perhaps grow a little bit, but not too much. If heat was not there, it would not come out. We would not see that rose under the snow. You can only see it in the glass house. What else is left? If love and affectionate labor was not there, probably a raccoon would eat the root and there will be nothing left. And if all this is provided, but there is no Miracle Growth, the rose might not be that good. I am quite sure there are some insecticides too, otherwise it might not have grown. All these things become the conditions. All that has nothing to do with reincarnation. It is right here, for you. Take it home, okay? Thank you.

During my absence the Tuesday night group will continuously meet. Aura, Sandy and everybody will be here and lead the group. If I am not coming that does not mean that you should not meet.

end of side B of tape 107 of 10/24/00