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20020702GRAABWL

Bodhi CD of 7-02-02

We are in the chapter on enthusiasm and have discussed the first few verses.

In the previous chapter we have talked about how to overcome our anger and hatred, particularly hatred. These are our addictions. Nobody has to teach us how to get angry or how to develop hatred. It automatically happens. Particularly we Americans have this interesting character. Basically we are wonderful human beings, kind and nice. Generally all human beings are like that. But if they are attacked people get really upset.

Look what has happened during World War II. The country was divided into those who wanted to get involved or not. There was a big debate over whether what was going on in Europe was of any concern to America. Then Pearl Harbor came and everybody was united overnight. The same thing happened with September 11th. Suddenly everybody was ready to say, 'Go and get Osama bin Laden.' In a way this is a good human quality. On the other hand it is also some kind of anger which changed into hatred.

In the Tibetan tradition it has been said by the early Tibetan kings as far back as the 7th century, 'We will not attack anyone, because we are spiritually oriented people. We don't want to hurt anybody. But if anyone attacks us we will never let them get away. That is the system of temporal rule combined with the spiritual system. Now the Tibetans can only hope and dream, because when the Chinese came we couldn’t' really chase them. But in America we can.

I mentioned a number of times that yes, we have to go and get Osama bin Laden, in order to stop their aggression, otherwise they are continuously going to hurt us and other people. That is a bad thing and we have to stop that. At the same time I also said that each and everyone of us has our own Osama bin Laden hiding, not in the mountains of Afghanistan, but in the mountains and caves of our own heart. This is the most important. If we are not going to get that hatred in our heart, who else is going to get it? It is our own responsibility. To overcome this hatred is patience.

Patience here is not the kind we normally would talk about. I have you the example of being dumped by your girlfriend who then tells you to meet her the next day at 2 in the afternoon somewhere in the desert, in the middle of nowhere. You may be happy to go there and wait until 7 'o clock or even beyond. But that is not patience. Simply waiting does not make patience. Patience has to be oriented at creating positive karma.

Likewise patience will pick up enthusiasm. Without enthusiasm patience will be something forced. That will not help. We can force our dead-tired, overloaded donkey to carry a heavy load uphill in the Himalayas. You can drag and push and pull it, but you won't get very far. So what you need is enthusiasm. Yes, you do have an overloaded donkey, but that donkey must have an interest to go on and so does the driver of the donkey. Otherwise the donkey will fall down. If you try to pull it up again, it won't work. The donkey will lie down and simply collapse. That won't do.

Any positive deed we want to create, like generosity, morality, patience and so on, need enthusiasm. Without that, it will be like paying a tax. You don't want to, but you have to, because if you don't, you will get into trouble. the IRS will get you. Without enthusiasm virtue doesn't have sharpness and doesn't have power.

Enthusiasm comes in two ways. In one way you are naturally interested. That is not a very reliable enthusiasm. The one which you develop by yourself is the reliable enthusiasm. So we really have to develop the interest and urge for ourselves, otherwise our practice will be lifeless. It will simply be a chore you must do.

It is like with cooking. If you are in the mood to prepare a certain dish and you have the materials available, then you are excited and really like to cook well. If you don't, you just have to eat something and you throw things into the pot and quickly stir fry something, just to fill up your stomach. That is no big fun.

Even at your job you need enthusiasm. Lets say you have a shop and want to sell things. If you are enthusiastic about it, you can sell things better. Your customers will experience it differently. They will feel that there are really attractive things to buy here, wonderful and useful. If someone sells books like this, they can tell people about the books, they will know what it is in them and will even know related subjects. The customer may have come to buy one book, but will leave with a dozen. That is enthusiasm.

In your own practice you have to do that too. That is why enthusiasm is one of the six paramitas, the transcendental activities which go beyond.

You have to go beyond that. What makes it interesting, what gives it force, that is the enthusiasm. We often say, ‘I am losing interesting, but I don’t want to give it up.’ That is because of lack of enthusiasm. If you have enthusiasm, the question of losing interest doesn’t even rise. We are human beings who have such a wonderful opportunity in this life. Many of our other lives never had that. This life of ours has 18 special qualities. However, this life of opportunity is shortlived. We don’t live forever. If you cannot take advantage of this wonderful life, after losing it, things become extremely difficult. One of the keys not to lose it is enthusiasm. That is why it is part of the 6 perfections. Verse 2 tells us that enthusiasm is ‘finding joy in what is wholesome’. Wholesome or not - what we are talking about is positive work, positive karma. We should have interest in that and push for that. That is enthusiasm according to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life.

Generally, enthusiasm itself is something wonderful already. When you receive a new job, how excited you are! You are looking forward to going there. You do well and give it your full energy. That enthusiasm makes it work.

Again, enthusiasm here means a tremendously strong interest in the positive work you want to do. What is the focal point of enthusiasm? Positive actions. What aspects does such a mind have? Joy, happiness, excitement. The combination of these, really looking forward to positive work, gives you the meaning of this particular kind of enthusiasm.

If your focal point is having interest in non-virtuous actions, that becomes the opposite of this enthusiasm. Your interest has been corrupted and captured by negative actions. Consequently you will spend your time and energy on pursuing negative actions, instead of positive ones. So telling you to develop joyful energy for positive actions, indirectly tells you, ‘Do not enjoy putting efforts into negative actions.’ That message has to be understood clearly.

Putting efforts into negative actions actually is a kind of laziness. I have often told you that there is a difference between eastern and western laziness. Now I can also include ‘mid-western laziness’. There is intellectual laziness, electronic laziness. There is busy laziness. For me, it is eastern laziness, sitting on a soft cushion, enjoying a nice view, drinking a beautiful cup of tea and continuing to sit there in the corner, becoming a couch potato. That’s my laziness.

In the west, it is different. No one likes to be a couch potato - except a few of us, who carry their weight in front. The rest of us don’t. Mostly the western laziness is being busy for nothing, running here and there, trying to do this and that. You do everything except what you are supposed to do, right? That is laziness. It goes in the direction of having interest in non-virtuous activities.

Then, what is positive and virtuous? I am talking about learning, analyzing, meditating. If you are lazy, the consequences of that will take you further away from your result, instead of bringing you closer.

In the Mindfullness Sutra Buddha says,

Laziness is one of the bases of the negative emotions; it helps the delusions to fulfill their desires, which takes you away from the result that you hope to achieve.

For Buddhist this is getting further away from Buddhahood and for Christians being taken away from God.

Whoever has laziness, therefore, is never going to have Dharma at all. That is what Buddha’s Mindfulness Sutra says. We don’t just have one laziness, but a zillion different ones. They constantly pop up every day of our lives. The moment we wake up our laziness will take over. We don’t want to get up. We would like to lounge around. That is the beginning of laziness already in the first hour of the day.

I was trained in my childhood, the moment I woke up to say,

My wisdom eye may open, my practice of sutra and tantra may be completed, may I be helpful to people and to Buddhism in general.

I was trained to say that, if not, I would get beaten on my knees with a stick. I still lounge, but within the lounging, I have that thought. That is what you should do. You should not completely submit to laziness. Get yourself set up for the day. From the moment you open your eyes, control your laziness a little bit. Try to bring in some positive thinking. In Tibet they say that if you have a problem at the begining of the (lunar) month, you will still have that problem at full moon. Therefore, you have to generate enthusiasm right from the beginning. Just do not let laziness take over. Don’t submit to it. Keep the control in your own hands. That will also make you look forward to the day. You will have excitement and interest in your activities in general, particularly your spiritual activities. We have to build up our excitement wherever we can. Otherwise there will always be this ‘I am burnt out’. I am tired of hearing that. I have been hearning that for decades. People say that, but to me they are persons, not burnt trees or something.

But our mind is such that it will make us feel like a burnt log that has been taken out of the fire place. That is submitting to laziness.

I suggest that you make this resolution, ‘I will not get burnt out ever again’. We have to try to overcome every laziness in any possible way and build up our enthusiasm in every possible way. This is our encouragement, really giving us the power to move. Whatever you do, enthusiasm is what gives you the power, the drive, the sharpness.

Some time ago, a group of bankers in Singapore came to me and asked, ‘Would you be able to give us some practice that gives us back the sharpness that is ready to kill the opposition’. That was a number of vice-presidents asking me this. They were actually losing their enthusiasm. Laziness was beginning to take over and economic desaster was coming. Here we don’t want to let spiritual desaster happen. We don’t want to give it any opportunity.

Buddha said in the sutra lhak sam gul wa,

The real key to cut suffering and its causes completely and freeing yourself from lower realms, is enthusiasm. It is praised by the Buddhas and one should have it all the time. Whatever great achievement in samsara and beyond, it is the result of enthusiasm. If you are an intelligent person, why don’t you pick up enthusiasm? What is it that keeps you from becoming Buddhas? Ignorance, sleep and laziness. Why don’t you develop enthusiasm to overcome all your problems?

Maitreya Buddha said,

One of the best virtuous activities is enthusiasm. Because of it you can become a fully enlightened Buddha, you can become an arhat, you can become an arya, a special person. You experience joy and stability. Enthusiasm is the key to all attainments of samsara and non-samsara. It is the key to overcoming your fear. It will deliver Buddhahood to you.

We need a practice. For that we need enthusiasm. We need the practice of generosity, of morality, patience, of meditation. We need to say our sadhanas, our mantras. We need to meditate. We need to practice the ‘Odyssey to Freedom’. To be able to take that journey to freedom, we need to have enthusiasm. If you don’t have that, you will be on an odyssey to nowhere. Enthusiasm makes that much difference.

Buddha says furthermore in the Bodhisattva teachings,

Bodhisattvas! It is easy to give up your life. It is worth to sacrifice your life to build up enthusiasm.

If I die, where is my enthusiasm going to be? Don’t forget that your death is not going to be the end of you. You will continue. We do not just disappear or evaporate in the air. We are not going to be gone with the wind, but we will continue. So even if we lose one life for the sake of building enthusiasm, it is worthwhile, according to Buddha. He specifically mentioned it.

Sakya Pandita said,

Even if you are dying tomorrow, do not lose your interest in the subject you are working on. Even if you do not achieve your goal in this life, in your next life your efforts will be like your own wealth that you take back from someone you have asked to safeguard it for you.

So even if nothing great happens for you in this life, and even if you lose your life over it, it is worth it. This may not be so far away. If you die today, your next life may be here the minute after, or the next hour or next week or next month. If you include the nine months of being in the womb, even then, it will be within the next year. So it is not such a big deal. You are not losing that much time. But in return you will have something wonderful. People work for lives and lives to get that. And we do have the opportunity now. We really are the most fortunate of the fortunate ones. We happen to have such a rare window of opportunity which has opened in the mid west at this point in time. If we cannot take advantage of it, we will be gone for eons and eons. We will become lost souls. Then one day, somewhere, some time, after eons, we may find another window of opportunity. We have already lost our way. We are lost souls from a long time. Now we happen to be here, experiencing this window of opportunity. We have got to take that.

I really want you to think very carefully about that. Enthusiasm is something you have to build for yourself now. If you are a very highly developed person you don’t have to put in any efforts. You are automatically there. But we are not at that point. We have to work for and earn our enthusisam. And this is something you and I and everybody can do. The way to work on that is to focus on the preciousness of human life on the one hand and on its short livedness on the other hand. Then achievement of Buddhahood or arhatship or at least a positive future life are within our reach. Bring all that together with the six perfections and build up your enthusiasm. Know that if you miss the boat now, you will wait for the next one a very long time. I don’t mind missing the boat that travels to Heaven’s Gate that is hiding behind the Hayle Bopp’s comet. But I do mind missing the boat that would take me to liberation, to the joy that has never known suffering. I am sure that none of us would like to miss that boat. That boat is enthusiasm.

Are there any questions?

Audience: What is the difference between desire and enthusiasm? And what is the difference of openening the wisdom eye and completing one’s practice?

Rimpoche: I think enthusiasm is sort of a good desire. I have a problem with people objecting to any desire. To me, not every desire is bad. I have a very strong desire to become enlightened and I don’t consider that to be bad at all. That goes for everyone of us. We all have a very strong desire to be liberated. Otherwise, why do you spend your time coming here? Heat or cold, we always have a room packed with people every time we meet. It is because of our desire to be liberated, to be without suffering, to have the joy that is without suffering.

Opening of the wisdom eye and completing one’s practice are two separate things. Opening the wisdom eye means that you gain wisdom. That wisdom will help to become grounded and to understand and to develop. Wisdom is itself an achievement, but it also a tool to achieve buddhahood or arhatship, to achieve a path.

Audience: Can you explain a bit more what is the joy has never known suffering?

Rimpoche: For us, I think it is a big question, whether we have that. It is a wonderful word, but we really don’t know what true joy is. I don’t think we have experienced it yet. So many of the changes become joy for us. Perhaps one of the best experience we have is sexual joy. We have all experienced it. It doesn’t matter whichever way it develops. Sexual joy is sexual joy. Whether that is really joy or not, though, I am not even sure. I don’t want to say that it is not joy, but I also don’t want to say that it is joy, because it does bring a lot of pain, a lot of suffering. Most of our pains and difficulties are actually the creation of that activity. Our desire of seeking joy cannot be satisfied. The last time we had it was worse than the time before and this time it is even worse. It goes down more and more. It cannot fulfill our desire. Then, in order to fulfill that desire we do all kinds of things. Sometimes we even get mixed up between joy and pain. Pain is read to be joy. We volunteer for pain. That is where you get all these leather strips and whips and so on. What else are they for? We couldn’t figure out the difference between pain and joy. That is because we don’t know joy. Joy that has never known suffering really has value and meaning. It is not just change, it is not just pain, it is not just zzzzzz, it is not just a kick. It is true joy that gives you harmony, peace and pleasure in the outer body, the inner mind and the secret spiritual development.

For that joy we need to work hard. We need to work much harder than for the joy you get in the clubs. It is worth much more. And it will remain forever with the individual in that wonderful nature. That is what we call simultaneous born bliss void . It is not the kind of joy that pops up for two seconds and goes away. It remains with the individual life after life, day in, day out, everywhere. It is something we cannot describe, because we have no experience of anything like it.

A lot of people think that sexuality is spiritual. There may be a connection. But sex is sex. Spirituality is spirituality.

Audience: Is it something that we already have, but are not connected with?

Rimpoche: No, if you don’t know what it is that means that you don’t have it. If I have a 100 dollars in my pocket, I should know. When I don’t know it is as good as not having it. A lot of people will say that they have spiritual development, but they just don’t know it. That is not true. When you don’t know it, you don’t have it. When you have it, you know it.